The III-nitrides include the semiconductors AlN, GaN and InN, which have band gaps spanning the entire UV and visible ranges. Thin films of III-nitrides are used to make UV, violet, blue and green light-emitting diodes and lasers, as well as solar cells, high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and other devices. However, the film growth process gives rise to unusually high strain and high defect densities, which can affect the device performance. X-ray diffraction is a popular, non-destructive technique used to characterize films and device structures, allowing improvements in device efficiencies to be made. It provides information on crystalline lattice parameters (from which strain and composition are determined), misorientation (from which defect types and densities may be deduced), crystallite size and microstrain, wafer bowing, residual stress, alloy ordering, phase separation (if present) along with film thicknesses and superlattice (quantum well) thicknesses, compositions and non-uniformities. These topics are reviewed, along with the basic principles of x-ray diffraction of thin films and areas of special current interest, such as analysis of non-polar, semipolar and cubic III-nitrides. A summary of useful values needed in calculations, including elastic constants and lattice parameters, is also given. Such topics are also likely to be relevant to other highly lattice-mismatched wurtzite-structure materials such as heteroepitaxial ZnO and ZnSe.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/72/3/036502/pdf

X-ray diffraction of III-nitrides

Ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an InGaN multi-quantum-well (MQW) structure were fabricated on a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) using a single growth process of metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. In this study, the PSS with parallel grooves along the sapphire direction was fabricated by standard photolithography and subsequent reactive ion etching (RIE). The GaN layer grown by lateral epitaxy on a patterned substrate (LEPS) has a dislocation density of 1.5×108 cm-2. The LEPS-UV-LED chips were mounted on the Si bases in a flip-chip bonding arrangement. When the LEPS-UV-LED was operated at a forward-bias current of 20 mA at room temperature, the emission wavelength, the output power and the external quantum efficiency were estimated to be 382 nm, 15.6 mW and 24%, respectively. With increasing forward-bias current, the output power increased linearly and was estimated to be approximately 38 mW at 50 mA.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1143/JJAP.40.L583/pdf

High Output Power InGaN Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated on Patterned Substrates Using Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

With the increasing requirements for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) regarding stability, miniaturization and integration, novel materials such as wide band gap semiconductors are attracting more attention. Polycrystalline SiC has first been implemented into Si micromachining techniques, mainly as etch stop and protective layers. However, the outstanding properties of wide band gap semiconductors offer many more possibilities for the implementation of new functionalities. Now, a variety of technologies for SiC and group III nitrides exist to fabricate fully wide band gap semiconductor based MEMS. In this paper we first review the basic technology (deposition and etching) for group III nitrides and SiC with a special focus on the fabrication of three-dimensional microstructures relevant for MEMS. The basic operation principle for MEMS with wide band gap semiconductors is described. Finally, the first applications of SiC based MEMS are demonstrated, and innovative MEMS and NEMS devices are reviewed.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/40/20/S19/pdf

Group III nitride and SiC based MEMS and NEMS: materials properties, technology and applications

Gallium nitride (GaN) is an extremely promising wide band gap semiconductor material for optoelectronics and high temperature, high power electronics. Actually, GaN is probably the most important semiconductor since silicon. However, achievement of its full potential has still been limited by a dramatic lack of suitable GaN bulk single crystals. GaN has a high melting temperature and a very high decomposition pressure; therefore it cannot be grown using conventional methods used for GaAs or Si like Czochraslski or Bridgman growths.Since there is no GaN bulk single crystal commercially available, all technological development of GaN-based devices relies on heteroepitaxy. Most of the current device structures are grown on sapphire or 6H-SiC. However, since their lattice parameters and thermal expansion coefficients are not well-matched to GaN, the epitaxial growth generates huge densities of defects, with threading dislocations (TDs) being the most prevalent (109–1011 cm−2). As a comparison, homoepitaxially grown GaAs exhibits ~102–104 dislocation cm−2, and homoepitaxial Si almost 0. Actually this large density of TDs in GaN drastically limits the performance and operating lifetime of nitride-based devices. Therefore, there is currently a tremendous technological effort to reduce these defects.Metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) is currently the most widely used technology. Actually, all optoelectronic commercial device structures are fabricated using MOVPE. In MOVPE, the most appropriate precursor for nitrogen is ammonia (NH3), whereas either trimethyl or triethylgallium may be used as a gallium source. MOVPE of GaN requires a high partial pressure of NH3, high growth temperatures (~1000–1100°C) and a growth chamber specially designed to avoid premature reactions between the ammonia and gallium alkyls. Since sapphire (or 6H-SiC) and GaN are highly mismatched, direct growth of GaN is impossible. Therefore, the growth of GaN on any substrate first requires the deposition of a buffer layer, which, to some extent, accommodates the mismatch. Using appropriate nucleation layers allows a reduction of the dislocation density to the low 108 cm−2 range.Though laser diodes (LDs) were demonstrated in the late 1990s with such defect layers, the real breakthrough in laser technology was the dramatic improvement of the LD lifetime at the end of 1997, with the lifetime reaching 10 000 h. This was made possible by implementation of epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technology, which significantly reduces the dislocation density to below 107 cm−2.In ELO technology, parts of the highly dislocated starting GaN are masked with a dielectric mask, after which growth is restarted. At the beginning of the second growth step, deposition only occurs within the openings, with no deposition observed on the mask. This is referred to as selective area epitaxy (SAE). The TDs are prevented from propagating into the overlayer by the dielectric mask, whereas GaN grown above the opening (coherent growth) keeps the same TD density as the template, at least during the early stages of growth.Currently, two main ELO technologies exist: the simpler one involves a single growth step on striped openings. In this one-step-ELO (1S-ELO), growth in the opening remains in registry with the GaN template underneath (coherent part), whereas the GaN over the mask extends laterally (wings). This leads to two grades, namely highly dislocated GaN, above the openings, and low dislocation density GaN, above the masks. With this technique, devices have to be fabricated on the wings. Conversely, in the two-step-ELO (2S-ELO) process, the growth conditions of the first step are monitored to obtain triangular stripes. Inside these stripes, the TDs arising from the templates are bent by 90° when they encounter the inclined lateral facet. In the second step, the growth conditions are modified to achieve full coalescence. In this 2S-ELO technology, only the coalescence boundaries are defective. ELO technology produces high quality GaN, with TD densities in the mid 106 cm−2, line widths of the low temperature photoluminescence near band gap recombination peaks below 1 meV, and deep electron trap concentration below 1014 cm−3 (compared with mid 1015 cm−3 in standard GaN). Numerous modifications of the ELO process have been proposed either to avoid technological steps (maskless ELO) or to improve it (pendeoepitaxy, PE). To further reduce the TD density, multiple-step-ELO and pendeo have also been implemented.However, even ELO quality GaN is not good enough for the next generation of LDs. ELO samples do not yet offer a full surface suitable for laser technology. What is needed for LDs with at least 30 mW output power is high quality freestanding GaN with TDs close to or even below 106 cm−2. To reach this crystalline perfection, elaborate technologies are currently being implemented. They, at some stage, involve TD reduction mechanisms occurring in the ELO process.Self-supported GaN with at least ELO quality at an affordable cost is believed to be the next breakthrough in GaN technology.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/67/5/R02/pdf

Metal organic vapour phase epitaxy of GaN and lateral overgrowth

We show that pure Ge grown selectively on SiO2/Si substrates in 100 nm holes is highly perfect at the top surface compared to conventional Ge lattice-mismatched growth on planar Si substrates. This result is achieved through a combination of interferometric lithography SiO2/Si substrate patterning and ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition Ge selective epitaxial growth. This “epitaxial necking,” in which threading dislocations are blocked at oxide sidewalls, shows promise for dislocation filtering and the fabrication of low-defect density Ge on Si. Defects at the Ge film surface only arise at the merging of epitaxial lateral overgrowth fronts from neighboring holes. These results confirm that epitaxial necking can be used to reduce threading dislocation density in lattice-mismatched systems.

High quality Ge on Si by epitaxial necking

Pendeoepitaxy, a form of selective lateral growth of GaN thin films has been developed using GaN/AlN/6H–SiC(0001) substrates and produced by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. Selective lateral growth is forced to initiate from the (1120) GaN sidewalls of etched GaN seed forms by incorporating a silicon nitride seed mask and employing the SiC substrate as a pseudomask. Coalescence over and between the seed forms was achieved. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that all vertically threading defects stemming from the GaN/AlN and AlN/SiC interfaces are contained within the seed forms and a substantial reduction in the dislocation density of the laterally grown GaN. Atomic force microscopy analysis of the (1120) face of discrete pendeoepitaxial structures revealed a root mean square roughness of 0.98 A. The pendeoepitaxial layer photoluminescence band edge emission peak was observed to be 3.454 eV and is blueshifted by 12 meV as compared to the GaN seed layer.

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Dale Batchelor

Papers

Pendeoepitaxy of gallium nitride thin films