The evolution of a GaN/sapphire interface with different nucleation layer thickness during two-step growth and its influence on the bulk GaN crystal quality

Abstract

The role of the nucleation layer thickness on the GaN crystal quality grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition is explored. The surface morphologies of a low-temperature GaN nucleation layer (NL) investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy shows the nuclei grain size increases with increasing thickness. After annealing, island-like morphologies of the low-temperature GaN NL are obtained. Increasing the NL thickness is beneficial for obtaining larger island size, however, the uniformity of the island size is deteriorated. The high-resolution X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that bulk GaN crystal properties are closely connected with NL thickness, which can be well explained by the dislocation generation and propagation process in the GaN films. All the obtained results indicate that the NL thickness effectively controls the size and density of the islands and thus determines the crystal properties of GaN films.