SYNTHESIS OF THICK GALLIUM NITRIDE LAYERS BY METHOD OF MULTI-STAGE GROWTH ON SUBSTRATES WITH COLUMN STRUCTURE

Subject of Research.The paper deals with processes of formation and transformation of defects during multi-stage growth of thick gallium nitride layers with hydride vapor phase epitaxy on GaN/Al2O3 substrates with buried column pattern formed with the use of metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. Methods. The growth of initial GaN layers was performed with the use of metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. On the surface of the initial layers columns with the height of 800 nm were generated by means of ion etching. These columns were overgrown with 3-4 µm-thick GaN layers. On thus formed substrate multi-stage growth of GaN layers was performed with the use of hydride vapor-phase epitaxy. The total thickness of GaN layers was 100-1500 µm. The grown layers were studied by optical and electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Main Results. Density of threading dislocations in the layers grown by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy was (3-6)·107 cm-2, that was one order of magnitude lower than in the used substrate, and two to three orders lower than dislocation density in typical GaN layers grown on commercial sapphire substrates. Raman spectroscopy data were indicative of low level of mechanical stress in the layers and their high structural uniformity. It was established that under multi-stage growth conditions, non-catastrophic cracks (those that do not cause sample destruction) are able to transform into macropores and appear to be an important structural element, serving to stress relaxation in the bulk of thick gallium nitride layers grown on foreign substrates. Practical Relevance. The results of the study can be used in the development of III-nitride heterostructures for optoelectronics and high-power and high-frequency microelectronics

Analysis of Erbium and Vanadium Diffusion in Porous Silicon Carbide

Experimental data on diffusion of erbium and vanadium in porous and nonporous silicon carbide at 1700 and 2200°C have been used for modelling diffusion in porous SiC. It is shown that the consideration of pore structure modification under annealing via vacancy redistribution allows for satisfactory description of dopant diffusion. As expected, important contribution to the diffusion in the porous medium is found to be made by the walls of the pores: in SiC, the vacancy surface diffusion coefficient on the walls appears to exceed that in the bulk of the material by an order of magnitude. When thermal treatment transforms pore channels into closed voids, pathways for accelerated diffusion cease to exist and diffusion rates in porous and nonporous SiC become similar