The characteristics of an amorphous oxynitride layer formed by nitridation are studied with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in order to reveal the role of nitridation before GaN growth in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The intensity variation of the N 1s peak with nitridation time is analyzed quantitatively using a diffusion-based model. The effective diffusion coefficient of nitrogen-related species in the amorphous layer is estimated to be 4×10−18 cm2/s at 1000 °C. The thickness of the amorphous layer is on the order of monolayers because of this small diffusion coefficient. The nitrogen concentration in the layer, however, is as high as the order of the site density of O atoms on the sapphire surface. These characteristics imply that the role of the amorphous layer formed by nitridation is to modify surface energy with high-density N atoms rather than to form a buffer-like layer.
High quality GaN films are grown on sapphire(0001) substrates by low pressure MOCVD using TMG and NH3 as source materials. Effects of surface nitridation and buffer layer thickness on the quality of over-grown GaN films are investigated. It is revealed by atomic force microscope (AFM) observations that surface roughness of the annealed buffer layers strongly depends on the nitridation time. Dislocation density and surface morphology of the high temperature GaN layer depend on the buffer layer thickness. It is found that sufficient surface nitridation of sapphire makes the buffer layer just prior to the high temperature growth very smooth, which is essential to obtain flat thick-GaN on it. It is also found that thickness of the buffer layer largely influences the dislocation density in the over-grown thick GaN. In order to obtain good surface morphology and low dislocation density at the same time, both nitridation time and buffer layer thickness must be optimized.
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