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The fabrication of AlN by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

Maosong Sun1, 2, Jinfeng Li1, Jicai Zhang1, 2, and Wenhong Sun2, 3

+ Author Affiliations

 Corresponding author: Jicai Zhang, Email: jczhang@mail.buct.edu.cn

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Abstract: Aluminum nitride (AlN) is the promising substrates material for the epitaxial growth of III-nitrides devices, such as high-power, high-frequency electronic, deep ultraviolet optoelectronics and acoustic devices. However, it is rather difficult to obtain the high quality and crack-free thick AlN wafers because of the low surface migration of Al adatoms and the large thermal and lattice mismatches between the foreign substrates and AlN. In this work, the fabrication of AlN material by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) was summarized and discussed. At last, the outlook of the production of AlN by HVPE was prospected.

Key words: hydride vapor phase epitaxyaluminum nitridetemplatesfree standing substrate



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Fig. 1.  Gibbs energy diagram for different chemical species during the growth AlN grown by CVD[34].

Fig. 2.  (a) The chemical reaction between the values of Ki and the change of temperature. (b) The relation between temperature and partial pressures[35].

Fig. 3.  The schematic diagram of low-temperature HVPE equipment[36].

Fig. 4.  (Color online) The photo of thick AlN substrates: (a) the free-standing AlN wafer[37], (b) and (c) the 1.75-inch and 1-inch diameter AlN wafers[39], and (d) 2-inch 75 μm AlN wafer[40].

Fig. 5.  (a) The double crystal XRC-FWHM values of (0002) and (10${\overline 1}$0) planes for AlN films grown from 950 to 1100 °C[41], (b) the relationship between XRC-FWHM values of AlN (0002) rocking curves and growth rates at temperatures of 1150, 1175 and 1200 °C[42].

Fig. 6.  The SEM cross-section images of AlN films at temperatures (a) 1100, (b) 1150, (c) 1200 °C[42].

Fig. 7.  (Color online) The surface morphology of AlN grown at initial stage[45].

Fig. 8.  (Color online) The AFM pictures of AlN with various thickness (a) 390, (b) 650, (c) 1200 nm grown on sapphire substrates[44].

Fig. 9.  (Color online) (a) Schematic diagram of the HT-HVPE system with high-power lamp[46]. (b) The vertical cold-wall HT-HVPE system with induce heating method[47]. (c) The conventional HVPE system with internal heating part.

Fig. 10.  (Color online) Nomarski micrographs of AlN layers: (a) directly growth, (b) two-step (c) three-step[54].

Fig. 11.  The TEM images of the AlN films: weak beam dark field (a) g = 0002 and (b) g = ${\overline 2}$110. (c) and (d) The schematic diagram of dislocation evolution by step-growth technique[55].

Fig. 12.  (Color online) (a) The XRC-FWHMs values of AlN films grown on AlN templates and sapphire substrates without nucleation layers[55]. (b) Dark-field TEM image of dislocation evolution in AlN grown on AlN/sapphire templates with g = (11${\overline 2}$0)[58].

Fig. 13.  (Color online) The AFM images of AlN grown at different temperatures: (a) 1150, (b) 1200, (c) 1400, and (d) 1450 °C[58].

Fig. 14.  (Color online) The XRD θ–2 θ scans of AlN nucleation layers grown at 850 and 650 °C[61].

Fig. 15.  The dark field TEM images for AlN epilayer grown with buffer layers, g = 11${\overline 2}$0[63].

Fig. 16.  (Color online) The schematic diagram of dislocation evolution by ELOG technique[65].

Fig. 17.  (Color online) The optical microscopy pictures of AlN grown on: (a) patterned substrate and (b) flat substrate[66]. The cross-sectional SEM of AlN grown on patterned 6H-SiC with trench along (c) <1${\overline 1}$00> and (d) <11${\overline 2}$0> direction[67].

Fig. 18.  (Color online) (a) The section STEM images of AlN films with voids. (b) The dependence of Raman shift of E2 (high) mode on the position of samples with and without voids[71]. The horizontal line is the stress-free frequency 657.4 cm–1[72].

Fig. 19.  (a) The corss-sectional SEM of voids in the interface below the 100-nm AlN buffer. (b) The photograph of self-separation AlN substrates with thickness of 79 μm[76].

Fig. 20.  (Color online) The photographs: (a) the PVT-AlN substrates, (b) the free-standing AlN substrates[79].

Fig. 21.  (Color online) The optical microscopy figures of AlN thick films grown by HVPE on (a) on-axis and (b) miscut 5° PVT-AlN substrates[80].

Table 1.   The freestanding AlN fabricated with different techniques.

ParameterChemical etching
technique[83]
Self-separation
technique[76, 77, 84]
Homo-epitaxial growth
technique[79, 81, 85]
Size (cm2)5 × 54 × 63 × 3
Thickness (μm)11279114
FWHM of symmetric (arcsec)2907203431
FWHM of skew-symmetric (arcsec)1322110432
AdvantageSimpleLow costHigh quality
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[1]
Avrutin V, Silversmith D J, Mori Y, et al. Growth of bulk GaN and AlN: progress and challenges. Proc IEEE, 2010, 98, 1302 doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2010.2044967
[2]
Paskova T, Hanser D A, Evans K R. GaN substrates for III-nitride devices. Proc IEEE, 2010, 98, 1324 doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2009.2030699
[3]
Mishra U K, Parikh P, Wu Y F. AlGaN/GaN HEMTs — An overview of device operation and applications. Proc IEEE, 2002, 90, 1022 doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2002.1021567
[4]
Adivarahan V, Sun W H, Chitnis A, et al. 250 nm AlGaN light-emitting diodes. Appl Phys Lett, 2004, 85, 2175 doi: 10.1063/1.1796525
[5]
Hirayama H, Yatabe T, Noguchi N, et al. 231–261 nm AlGaN deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes fabricated on AlN multilayer buffers grown by ammonia pulse-flow method on sapphire. Appl Phys Lett, 2007, 91, 071901 doi: 10.1063/1.2770662
[6]
Jain R, Sun W, Yang J, et al. Migration enhanced lateral epitaxial overgrowth of AlN and AlGaN for high reliability deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes. Appl Phys Lett, 2008, 93, 051113 doi: 10.1063/1.2969402
[7]
Zhang J C, Zhu Y H, Egawa T, et al. Suppression of the subband parasitic peak by 1 nm i-AlN interlayer in AlGaN deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes. Appl Phys Lett, 2008, 93, 131117 doi: 10.1063/1.2996580
[8]
Hirayama H, Fujikawa S, Noguchi N, et al. 222–282 nm AlGaN and InAlGaN-based deep-UV LEDs fabricated on high-quality AlN on sapphire. Phys Status Solidi A, 2009, 206, 1176 doi: 10.1002/pssa.200880961
[9]
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[10]
Adivarahan V, Wu S, Sun W H, et al. High-power deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes based on a micro-pixel design. Appl Phys Lett, 2004, 85, 1838 doi: 10.1063/1.1784882
[11]
Sun W H, Zhang J P, Adivarahan V, et al. AlGaN-based 280 nm light-emitting diodes with continuous wave powers in excess of 1.5 mW. Appl Phys Lett, 2004, 85, 531 doi: 10.1063/1.1772864
[12]
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    Received: 25 October 2019 Revised: 24 November 2019 Online: Accepted Manuscript: 26 November 2019Uncorrected proof: 27 November 2019Published: 09 December 2019

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      Maosong Sun, Jinfeng Li, Jicai Zhang, Wenhong Sun. The fabrication of AlN by hydride vapor phase epitaxy[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2019, 40(12): 121803. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/12/121803 M S Sun, J F Li, J C Zhang, W H Sun, The fabrication of AlN by hydride vapor phase epitaxy[J]. J. Semicond., 2019, 40(12): 121803. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/12/121803.Export: BibTex EndNote
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      Maosong Sun, Jinfeng Li, Jicai Zhang, Wenhong Sun. The fabrication of AlN by hydride vapor phase epitaxy[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2019, 40(12): 121803. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/12/121803

      M S Sun, J F Li, J C Zhang, W H Sun, The fabrication of AlN by hydride vapor phase epitaxy[J]. J. Semicond., 2019, 40(12): 121803. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/12/121803.
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      The fabrication of AlN by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

      doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/12/121803
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      • Corresponding author: Email: jczhang@mail.buct.edu.cn
      • Received Date: 2019-10-25
      • Revised Date: 2019-11-24
      • Published Date: 2019-12-01

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