AlN epitaxial thin films were grown on both vicinal (0001)-oriented native single crystal AlN substrates and AlN templates grown on vicinal (0001)-oriented sapphire to develop a surface kinetic framework for the control of surface morphology. A Burton, Cabrera, and Frank (BCF) theory-based model is formulated and utilized to understand the dependence of the surface kinetics on the vapor supersaturation, σ, and substrate misorientation angle, α. The surface energy of the Al-polar surface of AlN was experimentally determined using BCF theory to be 149 ± 8 meV/Å 2. The critical misorientation angle for the onset of step-bunching was determined to be ~ 0.25° for a growth rate of 500 nm/hr and temperature of 1250ºC. Transitioning from a surface with 2D nuclei to one with bilayer steps required a decrease in σ or an increase in α, whereas the suppression of step-bunching required an increase in σ or a decrease in α.

As the building blocks of deep UV light emitting diode (LED) technology and high‐power electronic devices, AlGaN alloys have attracted considerable attention. In this study, AlGaN films with varying compositions doped with Si were deposited on homoepitaxial AlN layers grown on AlN single crystal substrates. The room temperature resistivity of AlGaN alloys of different compositions grown on AlN and sapphire substrates with a constant Si doping level of 6x1018 cm‐3 was compared. AlGaN films grown on AlN substrates consistently exhibited a lower n‐type resistivity than those grown on sapphire. An n‐type resistivity of 0.1 Ω cm was obtained for an AlGaN film with 80% Al content and a sheet resistance of 235 Ω/sq. for an AlGaN film with 70% Al content. The carrier activation energy as a function of Al content in AlGaN for these n‐type films was measured. For compositions below 80% Al, the activation energy was around 15 meV due to impurity potential screening. For higher Al compositions, the carrier concentration was limited by a high compensation ratio, except for AlN, which has activation energy of 250 meV. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Metal-polar, Al-rich AlGaN films were grown on both single crystalline AlN and sapphire substrates. The role of surface morphology and surface kinetics on AlGaN composition is presented. With the reduced dislocation density of the films grown on AlN substrates, atomically smooth bilayer stepped surfaces are achieved with RMS roughness of less than 50 pm for a 5x5 µm 2 AFM scan area. By controlling the surface supersaturation through adjusting the growth rate, a transition from 2D nucleation to step flow was observed. The critical misorientation angle for step-bunching in nominal Al 0.70 Ga 0.30 N grown with a growth rate of 600 nm/hr on AlN substrates was found to be 0.4°. The composition of bilayer stepped AlGaN was strongly dependent on substrate misorientation angle, where a compositional variation by a factor of two for a change in misorientation angle from 0.05 to 0.40° was observed; this is explained by the different surface diffusion lengths of Ga and Al. Step-bunching resulted in strong compositional inhomogeneity as observed by photoluminescence and scanning transmission electron microscopy studies.

In order to understand the influence of dislocations on doping and compensation in Al-rich AlGaN, thin films were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on different templates on sapphire and low dislocation density single crystalline AlN. AlGaN grown on AlN exhibited the highest conductivity, carrier concentration, and mobility for any doping concentration due to low threading dislocation related compensation and reduced self-compensation. The onset of self-compensation, i.e., the “knee behavior” in conductivity, was found to depend only on the chemical potential of silicon, strongly indicating the cation vacancy complex with Si as the source of self-compensation. However, the magnitude of self-compensation was found to increase with an increase in dislocation density, and consequently, AlGaN grown on AlN substrates demonstrated higher conductivity over the entire doping range.

Chemical surface treatments were conducted on mechanically polished (MP) and chemomechanically polished (CMP) (0001)-oriented single crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates to determine a surface preparation procedure for the homoepitaxial deposition of AlN epitaxial layers by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. MP AlN substrates characterized by atomic force microscopy exhibited 0.5 nm rms roughness and polishing scratches, while CMP AlN substrates exhibited 0.1 nm rms roughness and were scratch-free. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of MP and CMP AlN substrates indicated the presence of a surface hydroxide layer composed of mixed aluminum oxide hydroxide and aluminum trihydroxide. Wet etching with sulfuric and phosphoric acid mixtures reduced the amount of surface hydroxide. Ammonia annealing at 1250 °C converted the substrate hydroxide layer to AlN and increased the rms roughness of MP and CMP AlN substrates to 2.2 nm and 0.2 nm, respectively. AlN epitaxial layers were deposited at 1100–1250 °C under 20 Torr total pressure with a V/III ratio of 180–300 in either N2 or H2 diluent. High-resolution x-ray diffraction measurements revealed that AlN epitaxial layers deposited on MP substrates were strained due to nucleation and coalescence of AlN grains on the mechanically damaged surfaces. AlN deposited on CMP substrates was epitaxial and strain-free. Thermodynamic models for nitridation and AlN deposition were also proposed and evaluated.