Growth study of chemical beam epitaxy of GaNxP1−x using NH3 and tertiarybutylphosphine
Abstract A study in the growth of GaN x P 1 − x epilayers by chemical beam epitaxy using tertiarybutylphosphine (TBP), ammonia (NH 3 ), and elemental Ga or triethylgallium is reported. Monitoring reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) intensity oscillations, we observe that both group-III- and group-V-induced incorporation rates are increased when NH 3 is introduced into a single cracker with TBP. From the difference in the periods of group-V-induced RHEED intensity oscillations, a 16% N incorporation is expected, but X-ray rocking curve measurement shows only 0.08% N. Using separate TBP and NH 3 crackers results in no enhancement in incorporation rates. We conclude that the cracking efficiency of TBP is increased with NH 3 co-injection.
Luminescence quenching and the formation of the GaP1−xNx alloy in GaP with increasing nitrogen content
A study of the luminescence properties of epitaxial GaP containing atomic N grown by molecular beam epitaxy using NH3 and PH3 as the column V sources was conducted. The 77 K photoluminescence spectra of the N‐doped epitaxial GaP showed a continuous redshift, from 5691 A (2.18 eV) to 6600 A (1.88 eV), resulted when the N concentration exceeded ∼5–7×1019 cm−3. This energy shift was found to be consistent with energy gap predictions using the dielectric theory of electronegativity for the GaP1−xNx system. The data also indicate that the emission intensity was maximum for N∼1×1020 cm−3, and then monotonically decreases with increasing N content. This is consistent with the formation of an indirect band‐gap semiconductor.
The gas source molecular beam epitaxial growth of AlxGa1−xP on (100) GaP
The growth of AlxGa1−xP for Al mole fractions between 0 and 1 has been achieved on (100) GaP substrates using gas source molecular beam epitaxy with elemental Ga and Al, and P2 cracked from PH3 as the source materials. The observed reflection high energy electron diffraction pattern of the GaP surface indicates that an exponential increase in the incident P2 flux is required to maintain good morphology beyond 690 °C. This temperature was found to correspond closely to the congruent vaporization temperature of Ga from the growth surface. The addition of Al on the surface was found to substantially increase the Ga congruent vaporization temperature from the GaP surface. The growth rates for AlxGa1−xP as a function of growth temperature between 600 and 750 °C were determined by transmission electron microscopy. Using elemental Si as an n‐type dopant, free electron concentrations as high as 1.65×1019 cm−3 in GaP and 1.5×1019 cm−3 in Al0.28Ga0.72P were achieved.