AVS 46th International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Processing Division Monday Sessions
       Session EM-MoM

Paper EM-MoM9
Growth of GaN Thin Films and Device Structures on Silicon Wafers by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Monday, October 25, 1999, 11:00 am, Room 608

Session: Nitride Epitaxy
Presenter: I.E. Berishev, University of Houston
Authors: I.E. Berishev, University of Houston
D. Starikov, University of Houston
N. Medelci, University of Houston
A. Bensaoula, University of Houston
I. Rusakova, University of Houston
E. Kim, University of Houston
Correspondent: Click to Email
GaN grown on Si wafers has large perspectives in various device applications due to low cost of the substrate and easy integration with well developed Si circuits. More over, molecular beam epitaxy is advantageous in this respect due to low growth temperature and advanced methods of in situ characterization. We report the growth of GaN - based heterostructures and light emitting devices on Si (111) wafers by molecular beam epitaxy with a RF nitrogen plasma source. We found that the buffer layer between the Si and the GaN epilayer is the most critical factor responsible for the properties of the active device layers. To that end, several buffer layers, including AlN, GaN and Si-@sub x@N@sub y@ were studied in situ by RHEED and time of flight mass spectroscopy of recoiled ions and ex situ by transmission electron microscopy. Inter-diffusion between Si and Al(Ga) was studied by SIMS. We found that diffusion of group III elements into the substrate is much stronger than diffusion of Si into the upper layers. Optimized growth conditions for the buffer layer, the thick GaN layer, and p-type GaN layer allowed for injection light emitters to be fabricated. Ternary alloys, including InGaN quantum well active regions, are currently under development. Our most recent data on X-ray diffraction, photo-luminescence and electro-luminescence of fabricated light emitting diodes on Si (111) wafers will be presented at the conference.