Two-domain formation during the epitaxial growth of GaN (0001) on c-plane Al2O3 (0001) by high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Abstract

We study the effect of high power pulses in reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy on the structural properties of GaN (0001) thin films grown directly on Al2O3 (0001) substrates. The epilayers are grown by sputtering from a liquid Ga target, using a high power impulse magnetron sputtering power supply in a mixed N2/Ar discharge. X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman, micro-photoluminescence, and transmission electron microscopy investigations show the formation of two distinct types of domains. One almost fully relaxed domain exhibits superior structural and optical properties as evidenced by rocking curves with a full width at half maximum of 885 arc sec and a low temperature band edge luminescence at 3.47 eV with the full width at half maximum of 10 meV. The other domain exhibits a 14 times higher isotropic strain component, which is due to the higher densities of the point and extended defects, resulting from the ion bombardment during growth. Voids form at the domain boundaries. Mechanisms for the formation of differently strained domains, along with voids during the epitaxial growth of GaN are discussed.