Optical and structural studies of high-quality bulk-like GaN grown by HVPE on a MOVPE AlN buffer layer

Abstract

High-quality 400 µm thick GaN has been grown by hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) on (0 0 0 1) sapphire with a 2 µm thick AlN buffer layer. The material's crystalline quality and homogeneity was verified by x-ray diffraction (XRD), low-temperature photoluminesence (LT-PL) and LT cathodoluminescence. Plan-view transmission electron microscopy images reveal a low dislocation density of ∼1.25 × 107 cm−2. The residual stress of the material was studied by two complementary techniques. LT-PL spectra show the main neutral donor bound exciton line at 3.4720 eV. This line position suggests virtually strain-free material with a high crystalline quality as indicated by the small full width at half maximum value of 0.78 meV. The presence of well resolved A- and B-free excitons in the LT-PL spectra and the absence of a yellow luminescence band prove the high quality of the HVPE-GaN in terms of purity and crystallinity. These findings are consistent with the XRD results, implying the high crystalline quality of the material grown. Hence, the material studied is well suited as a lattice parameter and thermal-expansion-coefficient matched substrate for further homoepitaxy, as needed for high-quality III-nitride device applications. Strain-free homoepitaxy on native substrates is needed to decrease considerably the defect density and in that way an improvement of the device's performance and lifetime can be achieved.