Layered growth of molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) was successfully achieved by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method on c ‐plane sapphire substrate. Growth of monolayer to a few monolayer MoS2, dependent on the pulsed number of excimer laser in PLD is demonstrated, indicating the promising controllability of layer growth. Among the samples with various pulse number deposition, the frequency difference (A1g–E12g) in Raman analysis of the 70 pulse sample is estimated as 20.11 cm–1, suggesting a monolayer MoS2 was obtained. Two‐dimensional (2D) layer growth of MoS2 is confirmed by the streaky reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns during growth and the cross‐sectional view of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The in‐plane relationship, (0006) sapphire//(0002)MoS2and [21̄1̄0] sapphire//[01̄1̄0]MoS2 is determined. The results imply that PLD is suitable for layered MoS2 growth. Additionally, the oxide states of Mo 3d core level spectra of PLD grown MoS2, analysed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), can be effectively reduced by adopting a post sulfurization process. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

One of the epitaxial issues pertaining to the growth of AlGaN/ GaN HEMTs on Si is the decrease of parasitic losses that can adversely impact the RF device performances. We characterized the microwave losses in coplanar waveguides (CPWs) on GaN-based high-electron-mobility-transistors (HEMTs) and their buffer layers on Silicon substrate, up to 40 GHz. The RF losses depend not only on the crystalline quality but also on the residual tensile stress in AlN buffer, as well as its thickness.The mechanism of interfacial lossy channel induced by the piezoelectric field is discussed. Adopting a thin high-low-high temperature (HLH) AlN buffer can help to reduce the tensile stress leading to a reduction of RF losses. We suggest that a thinner p-type AlN and/or p-AlGaN-on-thin AlN near the interface can suppress the electron interfacial lossy channel, which helps the GaN-HEMT-on-HR Si to remain in a high frequency range and at high-temperature operation.

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Reducing radio frequency (RF) transmission loss is a key requirement when fabricating GaN‐on‐Si RF devices. To get a better insight into the RF loss mechanism in the GaN‐on‐Si structure, the RF loss of an AlN/Si template is investigated by varying the growth temperature of AlN during a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process. The results show that the RF loss of the AlN/Si template is dominated by the interface loss due to the p‐type conductive channel at the AlN/Si interface, which is induced by the thermal diffusion of Al during the high‐temperature growth. Although a low growth temperature of the AlN nucleation layer can suppress the RF loss in the AlN/Si template, it results in a low crystalline quality of AlN for practical use. Optimizing the growth temperature of the AlN nucleation layer is essential to obtain a good balance between the crystalline quality, morphological quality, and RF loss such that the AlN/Si template is suitable for epitaxial growth of the complete GaN‐on‐Si RF device structure.

The improvements in electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown using metalorganic (MO)CVD by engineering structure, barrier strain, and unintentional carbon incorporation, are demonstrated in this work. Both normal HEMT structure (with a high temperature (HT) AlN buffer) and advanced HEMT structure (with a highlow-high temperature (HLHT) AlN buffer, and a HT AlN interlayer (IL)) present a breakdown voltage higher than 200 V, while a much smaller breakdown voltage of 17 V is measured on the conventional structure using a low-temperature GaN buffer. The HT AlN IL inserted in the middle of the conventional HEMT structure introduces a reduction in the tension of the AlGaN barrier, which results in an improvement of the surface morphology (0.46 nm). As a consequence, the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) mobility increases by remarkable 46% (1900 cm 2 V À1 s À1 ). The HLHT AlN buffer, substituting for the HT AlN buffer, leads to the enhancement of GaN crystalline quality, which contributes to the performance improvement for HEMTs. The advanced HEMT, using both an AlN IL and an HLHT AlN buffer, produces increases in the DC maximum drain current by 35.5% ($680 A mm À1 ), and in the transconductance by 15% (114 mS mm À1 ) in comparison with the normal HEMT with an AlN buffer. The very low leakage current in the advanced HEMTs is caused by optimizing the design of the buffer and modifying growth parameters. Lastly, the reduction of AlGaN barrier tensile strain by inserting the HT AlN IL is promising for an improvement in AlGaN/GaN HEMT reliability.