Preparation of AlN film grown on sputter-deposited and annealed AlN buffer layer via HVPE

AlN films grown on sputter-deposited and annealed AlN buffer layer by high temperature hydride vapor phase epitaxy(HVPE)have been fabricated and structurally characterized.The crystalline quality and surface morphology of as-grown AlN films with various V/III ratios were studied and compared.The XRD results showed that the crystalline quality of the AlN film could be optimized when the growth V/III ratio was 150.At the same time,the full width at half-maximum(FWHM)values of(0002)-and(10¯12)-plane were 64 arcsec and 648 arcsec,respectively.As revealed by AFM,the AlN films grown with higher V/III ratios of 150 and 300 exhibited apparent hillock-like surface structure due to the low density of screw threading dislocation(TD).The defects microstructure and strain field around the HVPE-AlN/sputtered-AlN/sapphire interfaces have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy(TEM)technique combined with geometric phase analysis(GPA).It was found that the screw TDs within AlN films intend to turn into loops or half-loops after originating from the AlN/sapphire interface,while the edge ones would bend first and then reacted with others within a region of 400 nm above the interface.Consequently,part of the edge TDs propagated to the surface vertically.The GPA analysis indicated that the voids extending from sapphire to HVPE-AlN layer were beneficial to relax the interfacial strain of the best quality AlN film grown with a V/III ratio of 150.

Influence comparison of N2 and NH3 nitrogen sources on AlN films grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy

A comparison of the nitrogen sources(N2 and NH3)influence on AlN films grown by high-temperature halide vapor phase epitaxy(HVPE)is reported.The x-ray rocking curves(XRCs)indicate that the full width at half maximum(FWHM)of(0002)plane for AlN films using N2 as nitrogen source is generally smaller than that using NH3.Optical microscope and atomic force microscope(AFM)results show that it is presently still more difficult to control the crack and surface morphology of AlN films with thicknesses of 5-10µm using N2 as the nitrogen source compared to that using NH3.Compared with one-step growth,two-step growth strategy has been proved more effective in stress control and reducing the density of threading dislocations for AlN epilayers using N2 as the nitrogen source.These investigations reveal that using N2 as nitrogen source in HVPE growth of AlN is immature at present,but exhibits great potential.