Structural characterization of Al0.55Ga0.45N epitaxial layer determined by high resolution x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/26/4/047801

Abstract

Structural characteristics of Al_0.55Ga_0.45N epilayer were investigated by high resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM); the epilayer was grown on GaN/sapphire substrates using a high-temperature AlN interlayer by metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique. The mosaic characteristics including tilt, twist, heterogeneous strain, and correlation lengths were extracted by symmetric and asymmetric XRD rocking curves as well as reciprocal space map (RSM). According to Williamson-Hall plots, the vertical coherence length of AlGaN epilayer was calculated, which is consistent with the thickness of AlGaN layer measured by cross section TEM. Besides, the lateral coherence length was determined from RSM as well. Deducing from the tilt and twist results, the screw-type and edge-type dislocation densities are 1.0×10⁸ cm^-2 and 1.8×10¹⁰ cm^-2, which agree with the results observed from TEM.

Keywords: Al_xGa_1-xN high-temperature AlN interlayer high resolution x-ay diffraction transmission electron microscopy

Received: 15 November 2016
Revised: 20 January 2017
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	78.55.Cr	(III-V semiconductors)
	68.37.Yz	(X-ray microscopy)
	68.37.Lp	(Transmission electron microscopy (TEM))
	71.20.Nr	(Semiconductor compounds)

Fund:

Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Project of China (Grant No. 2016YFB0400100), the Hi-tech Research Project of China (Grant Nos. 2014AA032605 and 2015AA033305), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61274003, 61422401, 51461135002, and 61334009), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant Nos. BY2013077, BK20141320, and BE2015111), the Project of Green Young and Golden Phenix of Yangzhou City, the Postdoctoral Sustentation Fund of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. 1501143B), the Project of Shandong Provinceial Higher Educational Science and Technology Program, China (Grant No. J13LN08), the Solid State Lighting and Energy-saving Electronics Collaborative Innovation Center, Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and Research Funds from NJU-Yangzhou Institute of Opto-electronics.

Corresponding Authors: Bin Liu, Rong Zhang
E-mail: bliu@nju.edu.cn;rzhang@nju.edu.cn

Cite this article:

Qing-Jun Xu(徐庆君), Bin Liu(刘斌), Shi-Ying Zhang(张士英), Tao Tao(陶涛), Zi-Li Xie(谢自力), Xiang-Qian Xiu(修向前), Dun-Jun Chen(陈敦军), Peng Chen(陈鹏), Ping Han(韩平), Rong Zhang(张荣), You-Dou Zheng(郑有炓) Structural characterization of Al_0.55Ga_0.45N epitaxial layer determined by high resolution x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy 2017 Chin. Phys. B 26 047801

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Structural characterization of Al0.55Ga0.45N epitaxial layer determined by high resolution x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy

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Structural characterization of Al_0.55Ga_0.45N epitaxial layer determined by high resolution x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy