Abstract
Two symmetrically nonequivalent silicon carbide (SiC) substrate orientations, (0001) Si-terminated and \((000\overline{1} )\) C-terminated, were used in the physical vapour transport growth of bulk aluminium nitride (AlN) single crystals. The crystals grown on Si-faces always exhibit an Al-polar growth surface. AlN growth on \((000\overline{1} )\) C-terminated surfaces of the SiC substrates was performed to obtain N-polar growth surfaces. An abrupt interface was observed between the AlN crystal and the C-face substrate which is in contrast to the growth on Si-faces where hexagonally shaped SiC hillocks are formed. The growth on C-faces is usually dominated by multi-site nucleation. Applying similar supersaturation conditions that led to step-flow growth on Si-faces to the C-faces resulted in a spiral growth mode, even on highly off-oriented substrates. The obtained broad X-ray diffraction rocking curves of such samples (full-width at half-maximum ≈380 arcsec) indicate the presence of more misfit dislocations and significant misfit stress. In addition, polarity inversion is observed in C-face grown crystals. Though the structural properties of the crystals grown on C-face are inferior to that of the crystals grown on Si-face, the incorporation of unintentional Si impurity was found to be lower (<2 wt%).
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Notes
The term “growth surface” is used for a (0001)-oriented AlN surface that had been the growing surface at a specific time and is not necessarily an as-grown surface.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank SiCrystal AG, Nürnberg, for providing SiC substrates for this work. The financial support given by the Bavarian Research Foundation (BFS) through research project (No. 890/09) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Sumathi, R.R., Gille, P. Role of SiC substrate polarity on the growth and properties of bulk AlN single crystals. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 25, 3733–3741 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-014-2083-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-014-2083-z