High-Quality Nonpolar a-Plane AlGaN Film Grown on Si-Doped AlN Template by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

High crystalline quality and flat a-plane aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) films are obtained on Si-doped AlN templates with a moderate silane (SiH4) flow rate by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The effects of the SiH4 flow rate on the surface morphology, crystalline quality, stress state, and optical property of a-plane AlN templates and AlGaN films are comprehensively investigated. As the SiH4 flow rate increases from 0 to 7.0 nmol min-1, the full width at half maximum of X-ray rocking curve values along [0001]/[1-100] directions for the AlGaN films are monotonically reduced to 1124/1143 arcsec. Meanwhile, the surface root mean square roughness value is decreased to 0.88 nm. These achievements are attributed to the suppression of the anisotropy degrees and in-plane stress of AlN templates. In addition, an excess SiH4 flow rate leads to deteriorated surface morphologies and increased basal plane stacking fault (BPSF) densities for both AlN and AlGaN films. This work suggests that doping AlN layers with an appropriate SiH4 flow rate is a promising route to obtain high-quality a-plane AlGaN films for efficient nonpolar deep ultraviolet (DUV) devices. Schematic cross-sectional structure. High crystalline quality and smooth nonpolar a-plane aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) films are obtained on Si-doped AlN templates with Al-composition-graded interlayer by pulsed flow-mode metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). An appropriate Si-doping level can effectively alleviative the structural and in-plane anisotropy.image (c) 2024 WILEY-VCH GmbH