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High-quality GaN grown on nitrogen-doped monolayer graphene without an intermediate layer

氮掺杂单层石墨烯上无中间层沉积高质量氮化镓

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Abstract

GaN on graphene/Al2O3 substrates grown via van der Waals epitaxy compensates for the deficiencies and defects caused by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on substrates with significant mismatches to GaN. However, the absence of dangling bonds on graphene leads to insufficient nucleation sites; hence, a thin layer of AlN or ZnO nanowalls should be deposited on graphene as an intermediate layer. In this work, high-quality GaN crystals with a low biaxial compressive stress of 0.023 GPa and low screw dislocation density of 9.76 × 107 cm−2 were successfully synthesized by MOCVD on nitrogen-doped graphene without a buffer layer. First-principles calculations demonstrated significant improvement in the adsorption energy of the Ga atom on the surface of nitrogen-doped graphene compared with that of pristine graphene, in agreement with the experimental observations of nucleation. In most cases, GaN films were obtained by forming C–Ga–N and N–Ga–N configurations via atomic nitrogen pretreatment on monolayer graphene. Therefore, it is hoped that the efficient method of atomic modulation of high-quality GaN films grown on nitrogen-doped graphene via interface manipulation used in this work will promote the industrial development of innovative semiconductor devices.

摘要

在石墨烯/ 氧化铝衬底上通过金属有机化学气相沉积法 (MOCVD)范德华外延生长的氮化镓(GaN)可以减少由于氮化镓与衬底 严重晶格失配产生的缺陷. 然而, 石墨烯表面缺少悬挂键导致氮化镓成 核位点很少, 因此, 常利用薄层AlN或ZnO纳米壁作为中间层沉积于石 墨烯上. 在无缓冲层的氮掺杂石墨烯上, 我们利用MOCVD法成功地直 接获得低应力(0.023 GPa)和低螺位错密度(9.76 × 107 cm−2)的高质量氮 化镓晶体. 第一性原理计算结果表明, 与本征石墨烯相比, 氮掺杂石墨 烯表面对镓原子的吸附能力明显提高, 这与氮化镓低温生长成核实验 观察到的结果一致. 在大多数情况下, 氮化镓在经过氮原子预处理的单 层石墨烯上倾向于形成C–Ga–N和N–Ga–N的成核位点. 本研究证明了 通过界面调控可在氮掺杂石墨烯上生长高质量的氮化镓薄膜, 是一种 有效的原子调控方法. 本方法为新型半导体器件的工业发展提供了新 思路.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2021YFA0716400), the General Program of Natural Science Foundation of China (62274134), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (61925404), Wuhu and Xidian University Special Fund for Industry-university-research Cooperation (XWYCXY-012021005), the National Key Science and Technology Special Project (2009ZYHW0015), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JBF201101). Yanqing Jia and Chaochao Yan are appreciated for assistance in the experiments and valuable discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Discipline Laboratory of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Technology, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710071, China

    Danni Chen  (陈丹妮), Jing Ning  (宁静), Dong Wang  (王东), Boyu Wang  (王博宇), Jianglin Zhao  (赵江林), Jincheng Zhang  (张进成) & Yue Hao  (郝跃)

  2. Shaanxi Joint Key Laboratory of Graphene, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710071, China

    Danni Chen  (陈丹妮), Jing Ning  (宁静), Dong Wang  (王东), Boyu Wang  (王博宇), Jianglin Zhao  (赵江林), Jincheng Zhang  (张进成) & Yue Hao  (郝跃)

  3. Xidian-Wuhu Research Institute, Wuhu, 241005, China

    Dong Wang  (王东)

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  1. Danni Chen  (陈丹妮)
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  2. Jing Ning  (宁静)
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  3. Dong Wang  (王东)
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  5. Jianglin Zhao  (赵江林)
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  6. Jincheng Zhang  (张进成)
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Contributions

Chen D and Ning J designed and engineered the samples; Chen D and Zhao J performed the experiments; Chen D and Wang D performed the data analysis; Chen D and Ning J wrote the paper with the support from Zhang J and Hao Y; Wang B contributed to the theoretical calculation. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jing Ning  (宁静) or Dong Wang  (王东).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Jing Ning received her PhD degree from Xidian University in 2015 under the supervision of Prof. Jincheng Zhang. Currently, she is a professor at Xidian University. Her research interest focuses on wide-bandgap semiconductors, novel 2D materials and novel 2D material-based devices.

Dong Wang received his PhD degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2009 under the supervision of Prof. Xun Hou. Currently, he is a professor at Xidian University and is also the vice president of Anhui Semiconductor Industry Association. His research interest focuses on wide-band-gap semiconductors and novel 2D material-based devices.

Danni Chen is currently studying at Xidian University for a Master’s degree under the supervision of Prof. Dong Wang. Her research interest focuses on wide-bandgap semiconductors and novel 2D materials.

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Chen, D., Ning, J., Wang, D. et al. High-quality GaN grown on nitrogen-doped monolayer graphene without an intermediate layer. Sci. China Mater. 66, 1968–1977 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2320-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2320-8

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