Current Applied Physics

Korean Physical Society (한국물리학회)
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Correlation between pit formation and phase separation in thick InGaN film on a Si substrate

  • Woo, Hyeonseok (Division of Physics and Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University) ;
  • Jo, Yongcheol (Division of Physics and Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University) ;
  • Kim, Jongmin (Division of Physics and Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University) ;
  • Cho, Sangeun (Division of Physics and Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University) ;
  • Roh, Cheong Hyun (Display Materials and Components Research Center, Korea Electronics Technology Institute) ;
  • Lee, Jun Ho (Display Materials and Components Research Center, Korea Electronics Technology Institute) ;
  • Kim, Hyungsang (Division of Physics and Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University) ;
  • Hahn, Cheol-Koo (Display Materials and Components Research Center, Korea Electronics Technology Institute) ;
  • Im, Hyunsik (Division of Physics and Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University)
  • Received : 2018.07.17
  • Accepted : 2018.10.05
  • Published : 2018.12.31
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Abstract

We demonstrate improved surface pit and phase separation in thick InGaN grown on a GaN/Si (111) substrate, using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy with an indium modulation technique. The formation of surface pit and compositional inhomogeneity in the InGaN epilayer are investigated using atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and temperature-dependent photoluminescence. Indium elemental mapping directly reveals that poor compositional homogeneity occurs near the pits. The indium-modulation epitaxy of InGaN minimizes the surface indium segregation, leading to the reduction in pit density and size. The phase separation in InGaN with a higher pit density is significantly suppressed, suggesting that the pit formation and the phase separation are correlated. We propose an indium migration model for the correlation between surface pit and phase separation in InGaN.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea

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