KEYWORDS: Gallium nitride, Epitaxial lateral overgrowth, Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, Transmission electron microscopy, Luminescence, Atomic force microscopy, Near field scanning optical microscopy, Picosecond phenomena, Scanning electron microscopy, Excitons
We report on growth and characterization of epitaxial lateral overgrown (ELO) (112-0) a-plane GaN by metalorganic
chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The ELO samples were grown using a SiO2 striped mask pattern consisting of 4
&mgr;m wide open windows and 10 &mgr;m or 20 &mgr;m wide SiO2 stripes. Different growth rates in Ga- and N-wings along with
the wing tilt create a major obstacle for achieving a fully coalesced flat surface in ELO-GaN. To address this problem we
have employed a two-step growth method that is able to provide a high height to width aspect ratio in the first growth
step followed by enhanced lateral growth in the second step by controlling the growth temperature. Depending on the
growth conditions, lateral growth rate of the wings with Ga-polarity were from 2 to 5 times larger than that of the N-polarity
wings. We investigated the effects of growth parameters on wing tilt, which was observed to be ~0.25° from the
Kikuchi lines using large angle convergent beam electron diffraction (LACBED) and accompanied by some twist (0.09°)
between the two opposite wings. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed that the threading dislocation
density in the resulting fully coalesced overgrown GaN was reduced from 4.2×1010 cm-2 in the window area to 1.0×108 cm-2 in the wing area, and that the wing areas contained relatively high density of basal stacking faults, 1.2×104 cm-1.
The recombination of carriers/excitons localized at stacking faults was evident in far-field near bandedge
photoluminescence (PL) measured at 10 K. Moreover, atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements revealed two
orders of magnitude higher density of surface pits in window than in wing regions, which could be decorating
dislocation termination on surface.
Time-resolved PL measurements for the a-plane ELO-GaN samples revealed biexponential decays. The recombination
times were significantly increased ( &tgr;1
=80 ps and &tgr;2
=250 ps) compared to the standard a-plane epitaxial layers (<45 ps),
and ratio of the slow decaying component magnitude to the fast decaying one was more than 1.5, showing considerable
reduction of nonradiative centers by lateral overgrowth. In addition, room temperature near-field optical microscopy
studies revealed the improved optical quality in the wing regions of the overgrown GaN. As revealed from far-field PL,
the band edge luminescence at room temperature was more than two orders of magnitude weaker than the yellow
luminescence. Therefore, the overall spectrally integrated near field PL was collected, and its intensity was noticeably
stronger in the wing areas with both Ga and N polarity. The much weaker emission at the windows and meeting fronts of
the two opposite wings were consistent with the observations of high density of dislocations in the window regions and
new defects originating at the meeting boundaries from TEM.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to study pendeo-epitaxial GaN layers grown on polar and non-polar 4H SiC substrates. The structural quality of the overgrown layers was evaluated using a number of TEM methods. Growth of pendeo-epitaxial layers on polar substrates leads to better structural quality of the overgrown areas, however edge-on dislocations are found at the meeting fronts of two wings. Some misorientation between the "seed" area and wing area was detected by Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction. Growth of pendeo-epitaxial layers on non-polar substrates is more difficult. Two wings on the opposite site of the seed area grow in two different polar directions with different growth rates and wings grown with Ga polarity are 17 times wider than wings grown with N-polarity, making coalescence of these layers difficult. Most dislocations in a wing grown with Ga polarity bend in a direction parallel to the substrate, but some of them also propagate to the sample surface. Stacking faults formed on the c-plane and prismatic plane occasionally were found in the wings. Some misorientation between the wings and seed was detected using Large Angle Convergent Beam Diffraction.
The microstructure of wet oxidized layers for vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELS) was studied by transmission electron microscopy. These oxides were formed by reaction of AlxGa1-xAs(x approximately equals 0 - 0.2) with water vapor at elevated temperatures (approximately 400 - 450 degrees Celsius). Due to the excellent carrier confinement provided by the oxidized layer, VCSELS have very low threshold currents and high efficiencies. This study revealed the accumulation of excess As at the interfaces with the oxidized layers and occasionally at the sample surface. To avoid this As accumulation on the sample surface, GaInP layers were grown on top of AlGaAs/GaAs layers. In this case no As was found at the layer surface. In addition, substantial shrinkage was found after oxidation, and the formation of large pores at the interface between the oxide and the high Al content layer, which might be detrimental for the device performance. The dependence of the oxide and interface quality on the composition of the oxidized layers, oxidation time and temperature are discussed in relation to the optical quality of VCSELs.
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