Effect of Growth Temperature on Structural Quality of In-Rich InxAl1−xN Alloys on Si (111) Substrate by RF-MOMBE

Abstract

In-rich InAlN films were grown directly on Si (111) substrate by RF-MOMBE without any buffer layer. InAlN films were grown at various substrate temperatures in the range of 460–540°C with TMIn/TMAl ~3.3. Structural properties of InAlN ternary alloys were investigated with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is shown that the deposited In0.8AlM0.2N (0001) films can be in epitaxy with Si (111) substrate with orientation relationship of [2̅110]InAlN//[11̅0]Si. Also, the growth rate around ~0.25 μm/h almost remains constant for growth in the temperature range from 460 to 520°C. Cross-sectional TEM from InAlN grown on Si (111) at 460°C shows that the epitaxial film is in direct contact with Si without any interlayer.

Study of high In-content AlInN deposition on p-Si(111) by RF-sputtering

“…AlInN layers have been grown by different techniques, such as metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) 9) , molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) 10,11) , and sputtering deposition [12][13][14] . Among them, the sputtering technique allows the deposition of AlInN at a low substrate temperature, because of the enhanced kinetic energy of the constituent ions given by the sputtering process of the targets itself.…”

Growth Mechanism and Properties of Self-Assembled InN Nanocolumns on Al Covered Si(111) Substrates by PA-MBE

“…Finally, the diffraction pattern of the AlN disappeared and the spotty Patterns (iii)–(iv) distinctive of the nanocolumns were clearly observed. Likewise, (Δa/a^0) increased to 13.5% which is the lattice mismatch between InN and AlN [22], indicating that the InN is relaxed in the NCs, as noticed in Figure 1b. According to the results, the growth mechanism of the InN started by a layer–layer (2D) nucleation on AlN, followed by 3D islands, as a Stranski–Krastanov growth mode [23].…”

“…Three peaks were identified: the Si substrate peak coming from (111) planes, and two peaks from (0002) diffracting planes corresponding to the AlN and the InN. Dotted lines were positioned considering lattice parameters reported in the literature [14,21,22]. The peaks of the AlN layer and the InN NCs matched with the reported (dotted lines); therefore, we have NCs completely relaxed in hexagonal phase, which is consistent with the RHEED results.…”

Structural Characterization of Al0.37In0.63N/AlN/p-Si (111) Heterojunctions Grown by RF Sputtering for Solar Cell Applications

“…The analyses reveal an epitaxial relationship between the AlInN and AlN layers with the silicon substrate, which is 90° in-plane rotated from the most reported layer in the system, which is the following: (0001) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] AlInN || (0001) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] AlN || [112] Si.…”

“…Different techniques have been used to grow AlInN, such as metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) [ 10 , 11 , 12 ], molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ], and the sputtering technique [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Unlike MOCVD or MBE, the sputtering technique uses an electrical discharge to extract the target species, where the generated ions and atoms are provided with kinetic energy by the sputtering process itself, thus overcoming the phase separation issues related to the heating procedures.…”