Growth Of Indium Nitride Research Articles

(111) and (100) YSZ as substrates for indium nitride growth

Wurtzite and zincblende InN have been grown on (111) and (100) oriented YSZ respectively using a PAMBE technique. Despite a 3D growth mode, the Hall mobility, carrier concentration and PL intensities in the case of (111) YSZ substrates surpassed that commonly obtained using sapphire substrates. An unexpected Hall mobility dependence on growth temperature was identified for both orientations. (111) YSZ shows promise as an alternative to sapphire, which may enable device quality InN to be achieved. XRD and EBSD measurements on the (100) films identified both the zincblende and wurtzite phases as present within the films. Analysis of the RHEED suggests the film nucleates in the cubic phase but as growth progresses the wurtzite phase forms and grows to dominate the film. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Growth and characterization of InN on sapphire substrate by RF-MBE

Indium nitride (InN) films were grown on sapphire substrates by radio-frequency plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MBE). Atomic force microscopy (AFM), reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), double-crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were used to characterize the InN films. The results show that the InN films have good crystallinity, with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of InN (0 0 0 2) DCXRD peak being 14 arcmin. At room temperature, a strong PL peak at 0.79 eV was observed. At 1.9 eV or so, no peak was observed. In addition, it is found that the InN films grown with low-temperature (LT) InN buffer layer are of better quality than those without LT-InN buffer layer.

The influence of structural properties on conductivity and luminescence of MBE grown InN

Within the last few years indium nitride (InN) gained substantial interest due to its controversially discussed apparent band gap and its predicted highest maximum electron mobility among several III–V compounds, including Al(Ga)N and GaAs. The band gap of epitaxial InN has been recently reported to be around 0.7 eV rather than the previously accepted value of 1.9 eV obtained from polycrystalline films. Thus, InN could be a promising material for applications in infrared opto-electronics or high-speed electronics. However, the structural quality of the InN epilayers is still inferior to GaN and needs to be improved. Also, the role of many contaminants in InN and their effect on the epilayer's conductivity and/or luminescence properties is still under investigation. This work describes recent studies of InN growth by molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire (0 0 0 1) substrates. The effect of buffer layer variations including a prior substrate nitridation step is discussed. Structural properties (X-ray diffraction, AFM and TEM images) and chemical profiles (SIMS) will be correlated to Hall data and Photo-luminescence spectra. The role of oxygen and hydrogen as possible donors in InN will be discussed.

Indium nitride (InN): A review on growth, characterization, and properties

During the last few years the interest in the indium nitride (InN) semiconductor has been remarkable. There have been significant improvements in the growth of InN films. High quality single crystalline InN film with two-dimensional growth and high growth rate are now routinely obtained. The background carrier concentration and Hall mobility have also improved. Observation of strong photoluminescence near the band edge is reported very recently, leading to conflicts concerning the exact band gap of InN. Attempts have also been made on the deposition of InN based heterostructures for the fabrication of InN based electronic devices. Preliminary evidence of two-dimensional electron gas accumulation in the InN and studies on InN-based field-effect transistor structure are reported. In this article, the work accomplished in the InN research, from its evolution to till now, is reviewed. The In containing alloys or other nitrides (AlGaInN, GaN, AlN) are not discussed here. We mainly concentrate on the growth, characterization, and recent developments in InN research. The most popular growth techniques, metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy, are discussed in detail with their recent progress. Important phenomena in the epitaxial growth of InN as well as the problems remaining for future study are also discussed.

The effect of V:III ratio on the growth of InN nanostructures by molecular beam epitaxy

We have investigated the growth of thin layers of indium nitride (InN) on gallium nitride (GaN) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using two different nitrogen sources. Using thermally cracked ammonia as the nitrogen source, we explored the effect of the V:III ratio by varying the ammonia pressure. With a low V:III ratio, we did not detect InN growth, and instead observed the formation of irregularly shaped indium islands on the GaN surface. With higher V:III ratios, nanostructure growth was observed for thin (≈2 ML) layers. Further deposition resulted in the growth of polycrystalline material. The differences between the two pressure regimes may be explained in terms of the interplay between equilibrium thermodynamics and growth kinetics. We performed similar experiments at higher V:III ratios using a modified nitrogen plasma source. Stranski–Krastanov growth occurred, and we were able to obtain high-temperature in vacuo STM images of the as-grown nanostructures.

High Mobility Nitrides

AbstractThe highest mobility nitrides ever grown were indium nitride polycrystalline thin films. The original reactive ion sputtering unit used to produce those films is still in existence and has been substantially upgraded. In this paper we describe some of the parameters that are important for high purity indium nitride growth, while providing the most recent results for films grown with the upgraded system. A long lag time (greater than 100 hours of growth time) has been observed before obtaining stable material properties for a given set of growth conditions.