Large Area Lateral Epitaxial Overgrowth (LEO) of Gallium Nitride (GaN) Thin Films on Silicon Substrates and Their Characterization

摘要

Pendeo-epitaxial lateral growth (PE) of GaN epilayers on (0001) 6H- silicon carbide and (111) Si substrates has been achieved. Growth on the latter substrate was accomplished through the use of a 3C-SiC transition layer. The coalesced PE GaN epilayers were characterized using scanning electron diffraction, x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The regions of lateral growth exhibited approx. 0.2 deg crystallographic tilt relative to the seed layer. The GaN seed and PE epilayers grown on the 3C-SiC/Si substrates exhibited comparable optical characteristics to the GaN seed and PE grown on 6H- SiC substrates. The near band-edge emission of the GaN/3C-SiC/Si seed was 3.450 eV (FWHM approx. 19 meV) and the GaN/6H-SiC seed was 3.466 eV (FWHM approx. 4 meV).