Selected Energy Epitaxial Deposition and Low Energy Electron Microscopy of AlN, GaN and SiC Thin Films.

Abstract

The total energies for various p(2x2) geometries of GaN and AlN(0001) have been computed. Vacancy structures were the most stable configurations for the anion and cation terminated surfaces. In metal rich growth conditions, the calculations favored the adsorption of metal atoms on the cation terminated surface; the adsorption of H stabilized the N terminated surface in the presence of H. Films of AlN and GaN were grown on Si(111) and off axis 6H-SiC(0001) substrates under real time observations in the LEEM. The metals were deposited using evaporative sources; N-atoms were obtained via RF plasma source. Additional homoepitaxial growth of GaN films at typical rate of 20 nm/h was achieved between 600 and 700 C using TEG seeded and NH3 seeded supersonic beams. AFM revealed faceted growth surfaces. XPS indicated the N/Ga ratio at the growth surface approached unity with an increase in the ammonia to TEG flux ratio. TEM analysis of AlN films and subsequently deposited GaN layers grown using evaporated metals and NH3 seeded He supersonic molecular beams showed the latter to be epitaxial with a thickness of approx. 0.1 um and a defect density on the order of 2x10(10) cm-2. The AlN buffer layers contained about an order of magnitude higher defect density relative to GaN. N incorporation efficiencies greater than 41% are achieved using NH3 kinetic energies of 0.40 eV during GaN film growth. A compact arc heated supersonic nozzle has been constructed, tested and used to generate high intensity beams of both atomic nitrogen (N) and electronically excited molecular nitrogen (N2). It has now been run successfully for several hours in both an arc discharge mode as well as a glow discharge mode generating (N2).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA325406

Entities

People

  • E. Bauer
  • E. Chen
  • H. Henry Lamb
  • I. S. Tsong
  • Robert F Davis

Organizations

  • North Carolina State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Vapor Deposition
  • Chemistry
  • Compound Semiconductors
  • Electron Microscopy
  • Epitaxial Growth
  • Films
  • Kinetic Energy
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Measurement
  • Microscopy
  • Molecular Beams
  • Nitrogen Compounds
  • Pressure Measurement
  • Semiconductors
  • Solid State Physics
  • Thin Films

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Semiconductor Device Technology
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flight
  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene