TEM and AFM studies of structural defects in α-GaN films

Abstract

Interest in wide band-gap GaN and related group-III nitrides has grown recently due to their potential applications for short wavelength optoelectronic devices. One of the main obstacles for their application is the high density of defects formed during heteroepitaxy. Though important progress has been made by using a low temperature A1N buffer layer% recently reported films still contain a defect density (mainly threading dislocations) on the order of 1010 cm-2. This paper reports our current studies of structural defects in α-GaN thin films grown on a-plane (110) and c-plane (0001) sapphire substrates by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE). Atomic force microscopy (AFM), conventional and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to investigate the nature and origin of these defects.Single crystal α-GaN films were grown using a low temperature A1N or GaN buffer layer in an inductively-heated, water cooled, vertical OMVPE reactor operated at 57 torr.