HR-XRD and AFM Analysis of AlN/SiC Structures for Optoelectronic Device Applications

Year 2024, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 264 - 273, 29.06.2024

Özlem Bayal , Durmuş Demir , Ahmet Kürşat Bılgılı , Naki Kaya , Mustafa Kemal Öztürk , Şükrü Kalaycı

https://doi.org/10.54287/gujsa.1435807

Abstract

In this paper, we examined the successful growth of AlN on SiC substrate using molecular beam epitaxy technique (MBE). The AlN buffer layers are grown with (100, 130, 140 and 150 nm) thickness. XRD technique was used to analyze the four samples of Wurtsite structure including strain cases, dislocation densities and other micro-structural properties. XRD peak broadening data are used to determine crystallite size and strain values by using Williamson-Hall (WH) method. High resolution X-Ray Diffraction (HR-XRD) peak analysis method is used with Scherrer, WH, modified WH, uniform deformation model (U-DM), uniform stress deformation model (US-DM), uniform deformation energy density model (UDE-DM). Crystallite size, strain, stress, energy density values are determined by using young module. According to the results obtained from our data, it is observed that the energy value sharply decreases and then increases. This behavior of energy density is consistent with the strain and stress behaviors. It has been noticed that AlN buffer layers grown without tension and relaxation are more suitable for optoelectronic devices. Therefore, it is understood that the thickness values of AlN buffer layers are important.

Keywords

AlN, SiC, OCVD, HRXRD

References

• Akbas, S., Oztürk, M. K. (2023). Comparative study of neutronic, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of accident tolerant cladding materials: SiC, TiC and ZrC. Materials Science and Engineering: B, 290, 116352. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4181421
• Akpinar, O., Bilgili, A. K., Baskose, U. C., Ozturk, M. K., Ozcelik, S., & Ozbay, E. (2020). Swanepoel method for AlInN/AlN HEMTs. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 31, 9969-9973. https://doi.org/10.31466/kfbd.954421
• Ambacher, O. (1998). Growth and applications of group III-nitrides. Journal of physics D: Applied Physics, 31(20), 2653. https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/31/20/001
• Ayers, J.E. (1994). The measurement of threading dislocation densities in semiconductor crystals by X-ray diffraction. Journal of Crystal Growth. 135(1), 71-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0248(94)90727-7
• Baş, Y., Demirel, P., Akın, N., Başköse, C., Özen, Yunus., Kınacı, Barış., & Özbay, E. (2014). Microstructural defect properties of InGaN/GaN blue light emitting diode structures. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 25, 3924-3932.
• Chierchia, R., Böttcher, T., Heinke, H., Einfeldt, S., Figge, S., & Hommel, D. (2003). Microstructure of heteroepitaxial GaN revealed by x-ray diffraction. Journal of Applied physics, 93(11), 8918-8925. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1571217
• Çörekçi, S., Öztürk, M. K., Çakmak, M., Özçelik, S., & Özbay, E. (2012). The influence of thickness and ammonia flow rate on the properties of AlN layers. Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 15(1), 32-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2011.06.003
• Durukan, İ. K., Öztürk, M. K., Özçelik, S., & Özbay, E. (2017). Analysis of the Mosaic Defects in Graded and Non Graded In x Ga 1-x N Solar Cell Structures. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 21(1), 235-240. https://doi.org/10.19113/sdufbed.58096
• Lester, S. D., Ponce, F. A., Craford, M. G., & Steigerwald, D. A. (1995). High dislocation densities in high efficiency GaN‐based light‐emitting diodes. Applied Physics Letters, 66(10), 1249-1251.
• Lin, M. E., Sverdlov, B., Zhou, G. L., & Morkoc, H. (1993). A comparative study of GaN epilayers grown on sapphire and SiC substrates by plasma‐assisted molecular‐beam epitaxy. Applied Physics Letters, 62(26), 3479-3481. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.109026
• Mote, V.D., Y. Purushothani, & Dole B.N. (2012). Williamson-Hall analysis in estimation of lattice strain in nanometer-sized ZnO particles. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Physics, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/2251-7235-6-6
• Nakamura, S. (1995). InGaN/AlGaN Blue-Light-Emitting Diodes. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, 13(3), 705-710. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.579811
• Nakamura, S., Mukai, T., & Senoh, M. (1994). Candela‐class high‐brightness InGaN/AlGaN double‐heterostructure blue‐light‐emitting diodes. Applied Physics Letters, 64(13), 1687-1689. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.111832
• Nakamura, S., Senoh, M., Iwasa, N., & Nagahama, S. I. N. S. I. (1995). High-brightness InGaN blue, green and yellow light-emitting diodes with quantum well structures. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 34(7A), L797. https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.34.L797
• Pandey, A., Shankar, D., Janesh, K., Nidhi, G., Garima, G., Raman, R., Davinder, K. (2021). Growth, structural and electrical properties of AlN/Si (111) for futuristic MEMS applications. Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 123, 105567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2020.105567
• Rong, X., Wang, X., Chen, G., Pan, J., Wang, P., Liu, H., & Shen, B. (2016). Residual stress in AlN films grown on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Superlattices and Microstructures, 93, 27-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spmi.2016.02.050
• Sasaki, T., & Matsuoka, T. (1988). Substrate‐polarity dependence of metal‐organic vapor‐phase epitaxy‐grown GaN on SiC. Journal of Applied Physics, 64(9), 4531-4535. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.341281
• Speck, J. S., & Rosner, S. J. (1999). The role of threading dislocations in the physical properties of GaN and its alloys. Physica B: Condensed Matter, 273, 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-4526(99)00399-3
• Uehara, K., Yang, C. M., Furusho, T., Kim, S. K., Kameda, S., Nakase, H., & Tsubouchi, K. (2003). AlN epitaxial film on 6H-SiC (0001) using MOCVD for GHz-band saw devices. In IEEE Symposium on Ultrasonics. Vol. 1, pp. 905-908. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ULTSYM.2003.1293546
• Williamson, G.K. & W.H. Hall. (1953). X-ray line broadening from filed aluminium and wolfram. Acta Metallurgica, 1(1), 22-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-6160(53)90006-6
• Yang, S., Reina, M., Hideto, M., Kazumasa, H., & Hiroshi, H. (2011). Raman Scattering Spectroscopy of Residual Stresses in Epitaxial AlN Films. Applied Physics Express, 4(3), 031001. https://doi.org/10.1143/APEX.4.031001