Influence of AlxGa1-xN nucleation layers on MOVPE-grown zincblende GaN epilayers on 3C-SiC/Si(001)

Abstract The suitability of AlxGa1-xN nucleation layers with varying Al fraction x for the metal organic vapour phase epitaxy of zincblende GaN on (001) 3C-SiC was investigated, using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The as-grown nucleation layers exhibited elongated island structures on their surface, which reduce laterally into smaller, more equiaxed islands with increasing AlN composition. During high-temperature annealing in a mixture of NH3 and H2 the nucleation islands with low Al fraction ripened and increased in size, whereas this effect was less pronounced in samples with higher Al fraction. The compressive biaxial in-plane strain of the nucleation layers increases with increasing AlN composition up to x=0.29. GaN epilayers grown over nucleation layers that have low Al fraction have high cubic zincblende phase purity and are slightly compressively strained relative to 3C-SiC. However, those samples with a measured Al fraction in the nucleation layer higher than 0.29 were predominantly of the hexagonal wurtzite phase, due to formation of wurtzite inclusions on various {111} facets of zb-GaN, thus indicating the optimal Al composition for phase-pure zb-GaN epilayer growth.