Low-temperature grown wurtzite In<sub>x</sub>Ga<sub>1−x</sub>N thin films via hollow cathode plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition

Haider, Ali; Kizir, Seda; Özgit-Akgün, Çaǧla; Goldenberg, Eda; Leghari, Shahid Ali; Okyay, Ali Kemal; Bıyıklı, Necmi

doi:10.1039/c5tc01735a

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…(023) reflections 16,17 of the hexagonal wurtzite phase of InN were observed. We note that changes in deposition temperature and plasma power do not alter the peak positions, while the intensity of the peaks increases with increasing deposition temperature.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atomic layer deposition of InN using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma

Deminskyi

Rouf

Ivanov

et al. 2019

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

InN is a low band gap, high electron mobility semiconductor material of interest to optoelectronics and telecommunication. Such applications require the deposition of uniform crystalline InN thin films on large area substrates, with deposition temperatures compatible with this temperature-sensitive material. As conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) struggles with the low temperature tolerated by the InN crystal, we hypothesize that a time-resolved, surface-controlled CVD route could offer a way forward for InN thin film deposition. In this work, we report atomic layer deposition of crystalline, wurtzite InN thin films using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma on Si(100). We found a narrow ALD window of 240-260 °C with a deposition rate of 0.36 Å/cycle and that the flow of ammonia into the plasma is an important parameter for the crystalline quality of the film. X-ray diffraction measurements further confirmed the polycrystalline nature of InN thin films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show nearly stoichiometric InN with low carbon level (< 1 atomic %) and oxygen level (< 5 atomic %) in the film bulk. The low carbon level is attributed to a favorable surface chemistry enabled by the NH3 plasma. The film bulk oxygen content is attributed to oxidation upon exposure to air via grain boundary diffusion and possibly by formation of oxygen containing species in the plasma discharge.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atomic layer deposition of InN using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma

Deminskyi

Rouf

Ivanov

et al. 2019

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…39,40 Recently, we have reported a and c axis lattice parameters of a ∼20 nm InN grown using HCPA-ALD as 3.50 and 5.61 Å, respectively. 23 For a thick InN film (∼48 nm) reported in the present case, shift of lattice parameters towards the ideal values of stain free InN indicates the relaxation of the film. Strain reduction with the increase in thickness of the polycrystalline InN thin films has been reported in the literature as well.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Towards this goal, we recently have demonstrated the low-temperature atomic layer deposition of ternary In x Ga 1−x N, B x Ga 1−x N, and B x In 1−x N alloys on Si substrates using a remotely integrated hollow-cathode plasma source. 23, 24 Nepal et al have reported atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) of InN thin films on sapphire, the conventional substrate material for III-nitride growth, utilizing quartz-based inductively coupled plasma source. 25 On the other hand, silicon, the material of choice for micro-electronics industry, offers cost-effective, large wafer-diameter, high-quality substrates with inherent CMOS manufacturing compatibility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-temperature self-limiting atomic layer deposition of wurtzite InN on Si(100)

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this work, we report on self-limiting growth of InN thin films at substrate temperatures as low as 200 °C by hollow-cathode plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (HCPA-ALD). The precursors used in growth experiments were trimethylindium (TMI) and N2 plasma. Process parameters including TMI pulse time, N2 plasma exposure time, purge time, and deposition temperature have been optimized for self-limiting growth of InN with in ALD window. With the increase in exposure time of N2 plasma from 40 s to 100 s at 200 °C, growth rate showed a significant decrease from 1.60 to 0.64 Å/cycle. At 200 °C, growth rate saturated as 0.64 Å/cycle for TMI dose starting from 0.07 s. Structural, optical, and morphological characterization of InN were carried out in detail. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed the hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structure of the grown InN films. Refractive index of the InN film deposited at 200 °C was found to be 2.66 at 650 nm. 48 nm-thick InN films exhibited relatively smooth surfaces with Rms surface roughness values of 0.98 nm, while the film density was extracted as 6.30 g/cm3. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements depicted the peaks of indium, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen on the film surface and quantitative information revealed that films are nearly stoichiometric with rather low impurity content. In3d and N1s high-resolution scans confirmed the presence of InN with peaks located at 443.5 and 396.8 eV, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) further confirmed the polycrystalline structure of InN thin films and elemental mapping revealed uniform distribution of indium and nitrogen along the scanned area of the InN film. Spectral absorption measurements exhibited an optical band edge around 1.9 eV. Our findings demonstrate that HCPA-ALD might be a promising technique to grow crystalline wurtzite InN thin films at low substrate temperatures.

show abstract

“…Detailed self-limiting growth characteristics for PA-ALDgrown AlN, GaN, and InN can be found elsewhere. [28][29][30] Ultrasoniction for the lift-off process was carried out in a manual Bransonic MH 1.9 l ultrasonic cleaner (Branson-Emerson) at room temperature for 30-60 s. The final dry Aretch process was accomplished using a 4-in. wafer compatible ICP etch reactor (SPTS Technologies, ICP-F 615-LL) with an Ar flow of 20 sccm, while the coil and platen power were maintained as 450 and 100 W, respectively.…”

Section: A Materials Growth and Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene as plasma-compatible blocking layer material for area-selective atomic layer deposition: A feasibility study for III-nitrides

Deminskyi

Haider

Kovalska

et al. 2017

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (PA-ALD) is a promising method for low-temperature growth of III-nitride materials. However, selective film deposition using PA-ALD is challenging mainly due to the plasma-incompatibility of conventional deactivation/blocking layers including self-assembled monolayers and polymers. The main motivation behind this work is to explore alternative plasmaresistant blocking layer materials. Toward this goal, single/multilayered graphene (SLG/MLG) sheets were investigated as potential growth-blocking layers for III-nitride grown via PA-ALD. Prior to PA-ALD growth experiments, partially graphene-covered Si(100) samples were exposed to N 2 /H 2 and N 2only plasma cycles to evaluate the plasma resistance of SLG and MLG. While SLG degraded fairly quickly showing signs of completely etched areas and rough surface morphology, MLG surface displayed certain degree of plasma-resistance. Based on this result, III-nitride PA-ALD experiments were carried out on MLG-patterned Si(100) samples. Crystalline III-nitride film deposition was observed on both Si(100) and graphene surfaces, confirming the rather ineffective nucleation blocking property of graphene surface against PA-ALD process. However, as graphene layers feature relatively weak van der Waals bonds at the substrate/graphene interface as well as between the multilayer graphene interfaces, conventional lift-off process was sufficient to remove the deposited excessive nitride films. InN and AlN-coated samples were ultrasonicated, and blocked/unblocked surfaces were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometer. While $50 nm thick films were measured in the open Si(100) areas, graphene-coated sample portions exhibited limited material growth in the range of 5-15 nm. Although not completely, the MLG surface has considerably blocked the PA-ALD growth process resulting in a usable thickness difference, enabling growth selectivity with postgrowth etch process. An Ar-based physical dry etching recipe was utilized to completely etch the unwanted nitride films from graphene coated area, while about 30 and 40 nm thick InN and AlN films remained on the nonblocked parts of the samples, respectively. As a result, selective deposition of PA-ALD grown AlN and InN has been achieved via graphene-assisted lift-off technique along with subsequent dry-etch process, achieving a maximum growth selectivity of $40 nm. With further process recipe optimization and integrating with a suitable patterning technique, the demonstrated graphene-assisted lift-off technique might offer an alternative feasible pathway toward area-selective deposition of III-nitrides and other plasma-necessitating materials.

show abstract

Low-temperature grown wurtzite In_xGa_1−xN thin films via hollow cathode plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition

Abstract: Hollow cathode plasma assisted atomic layer deposited InxGa1−xN alloys show successful tunability of the optical band gap by changing the In concentration in a wide range.

Cited by 22 publications

References 51 publications

Atomic layer deposition of InN using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma

Atomic layer deposition of InN using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma

Low-temperature self-limiting atomic layer deposition of wurtzite InN on Si(100)

Graphene as plasma-compatible blocking layer material for area-selective atomic layer deposition: A feasibility study for III-nitrides

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Low-temperature grown wurtzite InxGa1−xN thin films via hollow cathode plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition

Abstract: Hollow cathode plasma assisted atomic layer deposited InxGa1−xN alloys show successful tunability of the optical band gap by changing the In concentration in a wide range.

Cited by 22 publications

References 51 publications

Atomic layer deposition of InN using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma

Atomic layer deposition of InN using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma

Low-temperature self-limiting atomic layer deposition of wurtzite InN on Si(100)

Graphene as plasma-compatible blocking layer material for area-selective atomic layer deposition: A feasibility study for III-nitrides

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Low-temperature grown wurtzite In_xGa_1−xN thin films via hollow cathode plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition