GaN Epitaxial Growth Process at High Growth Temperature by NH₃ Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Abstract

We have investigated in detail dependence of annealing GaN buffer layer and GaN growth processes on a sapphire substrate at a high temperature of 1000 degree C. The GaN layers are grown by NH 3 gas source molecular beam epitaxy. The behavior of GaN buffer and epitaxial layer has been observed by in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction and the surface morphologies of as-grown and chemically etched GaN layers by atomic force microscopy. It is found that there is distinct difference in the surface morphology of epitaxial GaN layer between at growth temperatures of below 950 degree C and that of 1000 degree C. It has been considered that the growth kinetics of GaN epitaxial layer extremely depends on the growth temperature.