We report the influence of {111} stacking faults on the cathodoluminescence (CL) emission characteristics of cubic GaN (c‐GaN) films and cubic GaN/AlN multi‐quantum wells. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements indicate that stacking faults (SFs) on the {111} planes are the predominant crystallographic defects in epitaxial films, which were grown on 3C‐SiC/Si (001) substrates by plasma‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The correlation of the SFs and the luminescence output is evidenced with a CL setup integrated in a scanning TEM (STEM). By comparing the STEM images and the simultaneously measured CL signals it is demonstrated that SFs in these films lead to a reduced CL emission intensity. Furthermore, the CL emission intensity is shown to increase with increasing film thickness and decreasing SF density. This correlation can be connected to the reduction of the full width at half maximum of X‐ray diffraction rocking curves with increasing film thickness of c‐GaN films. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The existence of anti-phase domains in cubic GaN grown on 3C-SiC/Si (001) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy is reported. The influence of the 3C-SiC/Si (001) substrate morphology is studied with emphasis on the anti-phase domains (APDs). The GaN nucleation is governed by the APDs of the substrate, resulting in equal plane orientation and the same anti-phase boundaries. The presence of the APDs is independent of the GaN layer thickness. Atomic force microscopy surface analysis indicates lateral growth anisotropy of GaN facets in dependence of the APD orientation. This anisotropy can be linked to Ga and N face types of the {111} planes, similar to observations of anisotropic growth in 3C-SiC. In contrast to 3C-SiC, however, a difference in GaN phase composition for the two types of APDs can be measured by electron backscatter diffraction, μ-Raman and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy.

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In this contribution we report on the optical properties of cubic AlN/GaN asymmetric multi quantum wells (MQW) structures on 3C-SiC/Si (001) substrates grown by radio-frequency plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and spatially resolved cathodoluminescence (CL) at room temperature and at low temperature are used to characterize the optical properties of the cubic AlN/GaN MQW structures. An increasing CL emission intensity with increasing film thickness due to the improved crystal quality was observed. This correlation can be directly connected to the reduction of the linewidth of x-ray rocking curves with increasing film thickness of the c-GaN films. Defects like stacking faults (SFs) on the {111} planes, which also can be considered as hexagonal inclusions in the cubic crystal matrix, lead to a decrease of the CL emission intensity. With low temperature CL line scans also monolayer fluctuations of the QWs have been detected and the observed transition energies agree well with solutions calculated using a one-dimensional (1D) Schrödinger-Poisson simulator.