Influence of compressive strain on the incorporation of indium in InGaN and InAlN ternary alloys

In order to investigate the influence of compressive strain on indium incorporation in InAlN and InGaN ternary nitrides, InAlN/GaN heterostructures and InGaN films were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. For the heterostructures, different compressive strains are produced by GaN buffer layers grown on unpatterned and patterned sapphire substrates thanks to the distinct growth mode; while for the InGaN films, compressive strains are changed by employing AlGaN templates with different aluminum compositions. By various characterization methods, we find that the compressive strain will hamper the indium incorporation in both InAlN and InGaN. Furthermore, compressive strain is conducive to suppress the non-uniform distribution of indium in InGaN ternary alloys.