Substrate-independent oriented crystal growth of gallium nitride.

摘要

In the last ten years, there have been significant attempts by the research community to obtain large-area, single-crystal quality gallium nitride (GaN) substrates, which is yet unavailable. GaN is an essential wide bandgap semiconductor that allows the realization of blue light emission and finds unique applications in lighting, microwave communication and data storage systems.; This work proposes and demonstrates a novel scheme for substrate independent oriented crystal growth of GaN over large-areas. This technique utilizes the bulk crystallization of GaN by exposing a thin film of molten gallium to nitrogen plasma at low pressures. Results with growth of c-plane oriented GaN on polycrystalline boron nitride and amorphous quartz substrates are used to demonstrate the proposed concept.; The resulting films are characterized using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) for elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for morphology, Raman spectroscopy for quality, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for structural defects, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for texture analysis and composition. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)