AVS 45th International Symposium
    Vacuum Technology Division Monday Sessions
       Session VT-MoP

Paper VT-MoP7
Study of Field Emission Properties of GaN grown by ECR MBE

Monday, November 2, 1998, 5:30 pm, Room Hall A

Session: Vacuum Technology Poster Session
Presenter: I.E. Berishev, University of Houston
Authors: I.E. Berishev, University of Houston
O. Kameli, University of Houston
D. Starikov, University of Houston
A. Bensaoula, University of Houston
I. Rusakova, University of Houston
V.P. Ageev, General Physics Institute, Russia
M.V. Ugarov, General Physics Institute, Russia
A. Korabutov, General Physics Institute, Russia
Correspondent: Click to Email
GaN thin films were grown by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on Si (111) wafers. X-ray diffraction and both scanning and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the thin films in order to determine their crystal structure and surface morphology. The films consisted from clearly defined columns about 100 nm in diameter. Despite the large defect density, a strong room temperature photoluminescence signal was observed from these samples. The origin of this luminescence and its role on field emission will be discussed. The surface of the films exhibited random array of sharp tips at the microscopic level with about 5x109 tips/cm2 density. The field emission characteristics, voltage threshold and emission current, of these thin films were order of magnitude higher than any published data. The dependence of the emission characteristics on the doping level, substrate orientation, film thickness, and post-growth surface modification were investigated. Potential GaN/Si-based field emission devices will be discussed and preliminary results will be presented.