Reduction of Threading Dislocation Density in InN Film Grown with in situ Surface Modification by Radio-frequency Plasma-excited Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the thickness of N radical irradiated InN template with crystallographic quality and electrical properties of InN film grown with the previously proposed method, in situ surface modification by radical beam irradiation. In this study, three InN samples were grown with this method on different thickness of irradiated templates. The crystallographic quality of InN films was analyzed by X-ray diffraction and the electrical properties were studied by Hall effect measurement. InN grown on 100 nm thick irradiated template shows lower full-width at half-maximum of X-ray rocking curves and lower carrier concentration compared to InN grown on 200 nm and 450 nm thick irradiated templates. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that threading dislocation density in the InN film decreased by an order of magnitude to ~4.6×10⁹ cm⁻². These results suggest that this method is possible for reduction of threading dislocation density in InN and the thickness of irradiated template should be minimized for higher crystallographic quality and electrical properties of the entire InN film.