Baking and plasma pretreatment of sapphire surfaces as a way to facilitate the epitaxial plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of GaN thin films
Sanjie Liu, Gang Zhao, Yingfeng He, Yangfeng Li, Huiyun Wei, Peng Qiu, Xinyi Wang, Xixi Wang, Jiadong Cheng, Mingzeng Peng, Francisco Zaera, Xinhe Zheng
Abstract
The growth of high-quality epitaxial gallium nitride (GaN) thin films is achieved by using a baking and plasma pretreatment of the substrate prior to the GaN plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD). It is found that such pretreatment makes the GaN films grow coherently on sapphire substrates, following a layer-by-layer growth mechanism. The deposited GaN film shows high crystalline quality, a sharp GaN/sapphire interface, and a flat surface. The possibility of growing high-quality GaN epilayers in this way broadens the range of applications for PE-ALD in GaN-based devices.
Topics & Concepts
SapphireMaterials scienceEpitaxyLayer (electronics)Atomic layer depositionGallium nitrideOptoelectronicsPlasmaSubstrate (aquarium)Atomic layer epitaxyWide-bandgap semiconductorThin filmNitrideGalliumDeposition (geology)NanotechnologyOpticsLaserMetallurgyPaleontologyBiologyQuantum mechanicsGeologyOceanographyPhysicsSedimentGaN-based semiconductor devices and materialsGa2O3 and related materialsZnO doping and properties