B. El Jani

Porous silicon as an intermediate buffer layer for GaN growth on (100) Si

We report preliminary results on the growth of GaN on (100) Si substrate using porous silicon (PS) as an intermediate buffer layer. The growth was in situ monitored by laser beam reflectivity. Analysis of the evolution of the reflectivity signal indicates a change from relatively flat surface to rough one as the growth temperature (Tg) is increased. At a temperature of about 1050°C, the growth rate is very low and the reflected signal intensity is constant. When the growth temperature is varied, no drastic change of the porosity of the intermediate layer was detected. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of the GaN/SP/Si structure revealed a good surface coverage at 500°C. When Tg increases, the structure morphology changes to columnar like structure at 600°C, and well-developed little crystallites with no preferential orientation appear at 800°C. These observations agree well with the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. A preferential hexagonal growth is obtained at low growth temperature, while cubic phase begin to appear at elevated temperatures.

GaN growth on porous silicon by MOVPE

Abstract GaN films have been grown at 1050 °C on porous silicon (PS) substrates by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy. The annealing phase of PS has been studied in temperature range from 300 to 1000 °C during 10 min under a mixture of ammonia (NH 3 ) and hydrogen (H 2 ). The PS samples were characterized after annealing by scanning electronic microscope (SEM). We observed that the annealing under the GaN growth conditions does not affect the porous structure. For the growth of the active GaN layer we used a thin AlN layer in order to improve wetting between GaN and PS/Si substrate. The growth of AlN and GaN films was controlled by laser-reflectometry. We estimated the porosity of PS samples from the evolution of the reflectivity signal during the AlN growth. The crystalline quality and surface morphology of GaN films were determined by X-ray diffraction and SEM, respectively. Preferential growth of hexagonal GaN with (0002) direction is observed and is clearly improved when the thickness of AlN layer increases. Epitaxial GaN layers were characterized by photoluminescence.

Study of GaAs layers grown on Ge substrates by MOVPE and in situ monitored by laser reflectometry

Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) of GaAs on Ge substrate has been studied by laser reflectometry (LR) with 632.8 nm laser beam. The layers were grown by varying substrate temperature and the V/III ratio. The relative difference between refractive index of film and substrate results in pronounced easily detected interference oscillations in the reflected beam intensity. The oscillations period provides an accurate and immediate measure of growth rate. In addition, the variations of extrema of oscillations and the average value of reflectance provide an estimate of the quality and surface roughness. A procedure for quantifying the roughening observed during the in situ LR monitoring of growth was presented. Furthermore, the measured interference effects were analyzed by calculating the reflectance. In order to explain the reflectometry behavior, the film was also characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electronic microscopy.

New photoluminescence lines in Vanadium doped GaAs grown by MOVPE

We examined the electrical and optical properties of vanadium-doped GaAs grown by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy using vanadium tetrachloride (VCl4) as a novel dopant source. Samples with various vanadium incorporations were investigated. All samples were n type. The electron concentration dependence on the VCl4 flow rate was established. At 15 K, by comparison with undoped layers grown in the same conditions, photoluminescence spectra of V-doped exhibited three new emission bands: at 1.41, 1 and 0.72 eV. The 1 and 0.72 eV band emissions were attributed to V 2þ and V 3þ intracenter emission, while the 1.41 eV band was suggested to be a donor-bound transition. The identity of the donor is tentatively attributed to a donor complex that associates vanadium to an arsenic vacancy. From Hall effect as function of temperature, the donor ionisation energy was estimated to be about 102 ^ 5 meV. q 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.