Method for Controlling the Polarity of Gallium Nitride Layers in Epitaxial Synthesis of GaN/AlN Heterostructures on Hybrid SiC/Si Substrates

Abstract

The effect of the inversion of polarity in gallium nitride layers from the N-polar GaN layer to the Ga-polar GaN layer was discovered during the sequential growth of GaN films on hybrid SiC/Si(111) substrates by nitrogen plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and chloride–hydride vapor phase epitaxy. A new method has been developed for the formation of crack-free Ga-polar GaN/AlN heterostructures on hybrid SiC/Si(111) substrates. The method includes two stages of growing gallium nitride layers. At the first stage, the transient N-polar GaN layer is grown on the SiC/Si(111) surface by nitrogen plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. At the second stage, two layers are grown on the obtained N-polar GaN layer by chloride–hydride vapor phase epitaxy, namely, the AlN layer and then the GaN layer, which at this stage grows in the Ga-polar orientation. Etching in a KOH solution affects only the N-polar GaN transition layer and leads to its complete removal. This procedure separates the main Ga-polar GaN layer from the SiC/Si(111) substrate completely. The method enables one to grow crack-free and elastically unstressed thick GaN layers and transfer them to substrates of other materials.