N-polar GaN evolution on nominally on-axis c-plane sapphire by MOCVD part-I: Growth optimization

Abstract

The present work is part-I of a study that demonstrates the influence of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process parameters on the evolution of gallium nitride (GaN) deposited in a two-step growth process on c-plane sapphire substrates with a particular emphasis on nitrogen-polar GaN (N-polar GaN). First, the temperature domains of sapphire nitridation that result in Ga-polar and N-polar GaN epilayers were identified. Then, the structural and morphological evolution of low-temperature GaN nucleation layers were examined at the observed temperature domains of nitridation. Subsequently, a series of experiments were performed to study the influence of Ga and N precursor flow rates and epilayer growth temperature on the surface evolution of N-polar GaN. The observed results were analyzed in terms of thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of GaN growth. This work reports high-surface quality N-polar GaN epilayers without surface hillocks, exhibiting surface roughness about 1.5 nm over 2 × 2 μm2 area and with good crystalline quality on nominally on-axis c-plane sapphire substrates at low epilayer growth temperatures.