In situ measurement of adsorbed nitrogen atoms for PA‐MBE growth of group III nitrides on Si

Abstract

An atom probe of two parallel electrodes is proposed to monitor adsorbed (ADS) nitrogen atoms in situ during growth of β‐Si3N4 using indirect exposure of effusing active nitrogen beam from the radio frequency induction coupled plasma cell. The β‐Si3N4 film is a component of a double buffer layer (DBL) AlN(0001)/β‐Si3N4/Si(111) to grow high quality the group III nitrides and their alloys on Si. Atom current between the parallel electrodes corresponds to flux of the ADS nitrogen atoms on the inside surface at the atom potential, VA. The ADS atom current received influence of wall and shutter of the cell, because adsorption of nitrogen atom depended wall condition such as temperature and the concentration of adatoms on the wall (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Epitaxial growth of β‐Si3N4 by the nitridation of Si with adsorbed N atoms for interface reaction epitaxy of double buffer AlN(0001)/β‐Si3N4/Si(111)

“…For the nitridation of Si by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE), which can lower the nitridation temperature than NH 3 -MBE, the control of nitrogen flux is an important issue because the nitridation area and rate is affected by the amount of nitrogen atom flux [18,19 ]. For uniform and slow nitridation adsorbed (ADS) nitrogen adatoms by indirect exposure of N+N* was used, because the life time of nitrogen atoms is long enough to reach substrate after reflection from walls of the growth chamber or shutter.…”