Monitoring of indium x-ray peak to optimize In_xGa_1-xN layer grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Indium droplet formation during the epitaxial growth of InxGa1-xN films is a serious problem for achieving high quality films with high indium mole fraction. In this paper, we studied the formation of indium droplets on the InxGa1-xN films grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using single crystal x-ray diffraction. It is found that the indium (101) peak in the x-ray diffraction spectra can be utilized as a quantitative measure to determine the amounts of indium droplets on the film. It is shown by monitoring the indium diffraction peak that the density of indium droplets increases at lower growth temperature. To suppress these indium droplets, a modulation growth technique is used. Indium droplet formation in the modulation growth is investigated and it is revealed in our study that the indium droplets problem has been partially relieved by the modulation growth technique.