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We report on the absence of strain relaxation mechanism in Al 0.6 Ga 0.4 N epilayers grown on (0001) AlN substrates for thickness as large as 3.5  μm, three-orders of magnitude beyond the Matthews–Blakeslee critical thickness for the formation of misfit dislocations (MDs). A steady-state compressive stress of 3–4 GPa was observed throughout the AlGaN growth leading to a large lattice bow (a radius of curvature of 0.5 m −1 ) for the thickest sample. Despite the large lattice mismatch-induced strain energy, the epilayers exhibited a smooth and crack-free surface morphology. These results point to the presence of a large barrier for nucleation of MDs in Al-rich AlGaN epilayers. Compositionally graded AlGaN layers were investigated as potential strain relief layers by the intentional introduction of MDs. While the graded layers abetted MD formation, the inadequate length of these MDs correlated with insignificant strain relaxation. This study emphasizes the importance of developing strain management strategies for the implementation of the single-crystal AlN substrate platform for III-nitride deep-UV optoelectronics and power electronics. 

A two-band transport model is proposed to explain electrical conduction in graded aluminum gallium nitride layers, where the free hole conduction in the valence band is favored at high temperatures and hopping conduction in the impurity band dominates at low temperatures. The model simultaneously explains the significantly lowered activation energy for p-type conduction (∼10 meV), a nearly constant sheet conductivity at lower temperatures (200–330 K), and the anomalous reversal of the Hall coefficient caused by the negative sign of the Hall scattering factor in the hopping conduction process. A comparison between the uniform and graded samples suggests that compositional grading significantly enhances the probability of phonon-assisted hopping transitions between the Mg atoms.

 

Abstract Process chemical potential control and dislocation reduction were implemented to control oxygen concentration in N-polar GaN layers grown on sapphire substrates via metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). As process supersaturation was changed from ∼30 to 3400, the formation energy of the oxygen point defect increased, which resulted in a 25-fold decrease in oxygen incorporation. Reducing dislocations by approximately a factor of 4 (to ∼10 9 cm −3 ) allowed for further reduction of oxygen incorporation to the low-10 17 cm −3 range. Smooth N-polar GaN layers with low oxygen content were achieved by a two-step process, whereas first a 1 µ m thick smooth N-polar layer with high oxygen concentration was grown, followed by low oxygen concentration layer grown at high supersaturation. 

Abstract In this work, an alternative scheme to estimate the resistivity and ionization energy of Al-rich p-AlGaN epitaxial films is developed using two large-area ohmic contacts. Accordingly, the resistivities measured using current–voltage measurements were observed to corroborate the Hall measurements in the Van der Pauw configuration. A free hole concentration of ∼1.5 × 10 17 cm −3 and low ionization energy of ∼65 meV in Mg-doped Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 N films is demonstrated. Nearly an order of magnitude lower hydrogen concentration than Mg in the as-grown AlGaN films is thought to reduce the Mg passivation and enable higher hole concentrations in Al-rich p-AlGaN films, compared to p-GaN films. The alternate methodology proposed in this work is expected to provide a simpler pathway to evaluate the electrical characteristics of Al-rich p-AlGaN films for future III-nitride ultraviolet light emitters. 

Heteroepitaxial crystallographic tilt has been investigated as a possible strain‐relief mechanism in Al‐rich (Al>50%) AlGaN heteroepitaxial layers grown on single‐crystal (0001) AlN substrates with varying miscuts from 0.05° to 4.30°. The magnitude of the elastic lattice deformation‐induced tilt increases monotonically with the miscut angle, tightly following the Nagai tilt model. Although tilt angles as high as 0.1° are recorded, reciprocal space mapping (RSM) broadening and wafer bow measurements do not show any significant changes as a function of the heteroepitaxial tilt angle. While crystallographic tilting has been shown to be effective in controlling strain in some other heteroepitaxial systems, it does not provide any appreciable strain relief of the compressive strain in AlGaN/AlN heteroepitaxy.