Influence of Fe-doping on GaN grown on sapphire substrates by MOCVD

The influence of Fe-doping on GaN grown on sapphire substrates by MOCVD was investigated using microscopy, in situ optical monitoring, double-crystal X-ray, Hall and photoluminescence. The growth from 3-D mode to 2-D mode for undoped GaN, and the growth from 2-D mode to 3-D mode for Fe-doped GaN was observed, respectively. The 2-D mode during the initial stage of the Fe-doped GaN buffer growth suggests that Fe plays a role of surfactant. A slight Fe-doping did not significantly degrade the crystalline quality of GaN buffer, confirmed by the FWHM of X-ray rocking curves. More than 4 orders of magnitude increase in the resistivity of Fe-doped GaN was achieved as compared to the undoped GaN. As a deep energy level acceptor, the compensation of Fe atom at the vacancy of Ga atom can be explained as the results of increased resistivity and suppressed yellow luminescence.