Aluminum Gallium Nitride Alloys Grown via Metalorganic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy Using a Digital Growth Technique

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 388 - 393
• Main Authors: Rodak, L. E., Korakakis, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.04.2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alloys; Aluminum; Aluminum gallium nitrides; Aluminum nitride; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Diffraction; Digital; Electronics and Microelectronics; Epitaxy; Gallium nitride epitaxy; Instrumentation; Lattice parameters; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Semiconductors; Solid State Physics; Superlattices; metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy; Aluminum gallium nitride; digital alloy
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-010-1455-2

This work investigates the use of a digital growth technique as a viable method for achieving high-quality aluminum gallium nitride (Al x Ga 1− x N) films via metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy. Digital alloys are superlattice structures with period thicknesses of a few monolayers. Alloys with an AlN mole fraction ranging from 0.1 to 0.9 were grown by adjusting the thickness of the AlN layer in the superlattice. High-resolution x-ray diffraction was used to determine the superlattice period and c -lattice parameter of the structure, while reciprocal-space mapping was used to determine the a -lattice parameter and evaluate growth coherency. A comparison of the measured lattice parameter with both the nominal value and also the underlying buffer layer is discussed.