Columnar Structures and Stress Relaxation in Thick GaN Films Grown on Sapphire by HVPE

Thick GaN films with high quality are directly grown on sapphire in a home-built vertical hydride vapour phase epitaxy （HVPE） reactor. The optical and structural properties of large scale columnar domains near the interface are studied using cathodoluminescence and micro-Raman scattering. These columnar domains show a strong emission intensity due to extremely high free carrier concentration up to 2 × 10^19 cm^-3, which are related with impurities trapped in structural defects. The compressive stress in GaN film clearly decreases with increasing distance from interface. The quasi-continuous columnar domains play an important role in the stress relaxation for the upper high quality layer.

Columnar Structures and Stress Relaxation in Thick GaN Films Grown on Sapphire by HVPE

Thick GaN films with high quality are directly grown on sapphire in a home-built vertical hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) reactor. The optical and structural properties of large scale columnar domains near the interface are studied using cathodoluminescence and micro-Raman scattering. These columnar domains show a strong emission intensity due to extremely high free carrier concentration up to 2×10¹⁹cm^-3, which are related with impurities trapped in structural defects. The compressive stress in GaN film clearly decreases with increasing distance from interface. The quasi-continuous columnar domains play an important role in the stress relaxation for the upper high quality layer.