Pendeo-epitaxial growth of gallium nitride on silicon substrates

Abstract

Pendeo-epitaxy (PE)1 from raised, [0001] oriented GaN stripes covered with silicon nitride masks has been employed for the growth of coalesced films of GaN(0001) with markedly reduced densities of line and planar defects on Si(111)-based substrates. Each substrate contained previously deposited 3C-SiC(111) and AlN(0001) transition layers and a GaN seed layer from which the stripes were etched. The 3C-SiC transition layer eliminated chemical reactions between the Si and the NH3 and the Ga metal from the decomposition of triethylgallium. The 3C-SiC and the GaN seed layers, each 0.5 µm thick, were also used to minimize the cracking and warping of the GaN/SiC/silicon assembly caused primarily by the stresses generated on cooling due to the mismatches in the coefficients of thermal expansion. Tilting in the coalesced GaN epilayers of 0.2° was confined to areas of lateral overgrowth over the masks; no tilting was observed in the material suspended above the trenches. The strong, low-temperature PL band-edge peak at 3.456 eV with a FWHM of 17 meV was comparable to that observed in PE GaN films grown on AlN/6H-SiC(0001) substrates.