Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-pfhbr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T04:15:45.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effect of Interface Manipulation for MBE Growth of AlN on 6H-SiC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Koichi Naniwae
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202
Jeff Hartman
Affiliation:
Dept. of Material Science and Engineering, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC
Chris Petrich
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202
Robert F. Davis
Affiliation:
Dept. of Material Science and Engineering, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC
Robert J. Nemanich
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202 Dept. of Material Science and Engineering, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC
Get access

Abstract

AlN layers were grown on 6H-SiC(0001) by molecular beam epitaxy using ammonia as the nitrogen source. Clean (√3×√3)R30° SiC surfaces was prepared by in-situ annealing alone and also by in situ annealing consisted of followed by Si deposition and subsequent annealing. The surface morphology of the AlN films observed by AFM was significantly changed by the nucleation procedure. When the AlN growth was initiated with Al flux exposure on a SiC surface prepared by thermal annealing, the surface roughness of the AlN was significantly reduced. Two-dimensional growth of AlN was observed with reflection high-energy electron diffraction from the very beginning. Atomically flat AlN surfaces with a RMS-roughness of ∼0.3 nm were obtained. On the other hand, when film growth was initiated with an ammonia flux exposure on a Si rich SiC surface, a high density of bumps was observed. The bumps seemed to originate from SiNx formation at the heteroepitaxial interface. It was found that control of the Si composition and the V/III ratio at the growth interface is crucial for the AlN film quality.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Kuramata, A., Kubota, S., Soejima, R., Domen, K., Horino, K., and Tanahashi, T., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 37, L1373 (1998)Google Scholar
2. Jonson, M.A., Fujita, S., Rowland, W.H., Bowers, K.A., Hughes, W.C., He, Y.W., El-Masry, N.A., Cook, J.W., Schetzina, J. F., Ren, J. and Edmond, A., Solid-State El. 41, 213 (1997)Google Scholar
3. Owman, Fredik, Hallin, C., Martensson, Per, Janzen, E., J. Crystal Growth 167, 391 (1996).Google Scholar
4. Ramachandran, V., Brady, M.F., Smith, A.R., Feenstra, R.M., and Greve, D.W., J. Elect. Mat. 27, 308 (1998).Google Scholar
5. Torres, V.M., Edwards, J.L., Wilkens, B.J., Smith, David J., Doak, T.B., and Tsong, I.S.T., Appl. Phys. Lett, 74, 985 (1999).Google Scholar
6. Kaplan, Surf. Sci. 215, 111 (1989)Google Scholar
7. Xue, Q., Xue, Q. K., Hasegawa, Y., Tsong, I. S. T. and Sakurai, T. Google Scholar
8. Weeks, T. W. Jr., Bremser, M. D., Ailey, K. S., Carlson, E., Perry, W. G. and Davis, R. F., Appl. Phys. Lett., 67, 401 (1995)Google Scholar
9. King, S. W., Nemanich, R. J., and Davis, R. F., J. Electrochem. Soc., 146, 2648 (1999)Google Scholar
10. Hartman, J. D., Naniwae, K., Petrich, C., Ramachandran, V., Feenstra, R.M., Nemanich, R.J. and Davis, R.F., Proc. Int. Conf. on SiC and Related Material, NC, USA, 1999 (in press).Google Scholar
11. Starke, U., Schardt, J., Franke, M., Appl. Phys. A., 65, 587 (1997)Google Scholar
12. Benjamin, M.C., Ph.D. Dissertation, NCSU, p 31.(1996)Google Scholar
13. Coati, A., Sauvage-Simkin, M., Garreau, Y., Pinchaux, R., Argunova, T. and Aid, K., Phys. Rev. B 59, 12 224 (1999)Google Scholar