Effect of Growth Temperature on

Composition of AlInN Alloy Grown by

GSMBE on Si (111)

ENGL 5390 : Writing for publication

Individual presentation by

Mahesh Pandikunta
 Abstract
• InxAl1-xN alloys span the range of III-Nitride bandgap energies from InN (0.7eV) to AlN
(6.2eV), covering the infrared to deep-UV region of electromagnetic spectrum.

• Several papers described growth and characterization of AlInN alloy on GaN or AlN
template using various processes.

• However, very few papers described the growth of InAlN using Gas-Source Molecular
Beam Epitaxy (GSMBE).

• Results on the growth and characterization of InxAl1-xN alloys (0.02 < x < 0.08) using
GSMBE with NH3.

• Characterization of grown samples by HRXRD, SIMS, SEM, and Optical reflectivity

measurements.

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 Experimental growth process
• Two-inch Sb doped n-type Si (111) wafers were used as substrates.

• The Al and In were evaporated from effusion cells.

• Epitaxial growth of InAlN consists of four-steps:

a) substrate preparation by wet chemical etching,

b) thermal cleaning of the substrate surface in the growth chamber,
c) epitaxial AlN buffer layer growth at 900 ºC with Al and NH3 precursors, and
d) InAlN alloy growth at the temperature ranging from 550 to 650 ºC with Al, In and NH 3
precursors.

• For all samples, the effusion cell temperatures and NH3 flux were kept constant.

• Typical growth rate was 0.2 µm/h for both AlN and InAlN. Film thicknesses were ~ 200
nm
for AlN and ~ 500 nm for InAlN.
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 X-ray diffraction study of AlInN
Sample# 1
Sample# 2
10000 Sample# 3
Sample# 4
Sample# 5

Intensity (cps)
1000
Intensity (cps)

100

10

34.5 35.0 35.5 36.0 36.5 37.0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
2 (deg.)  (deg.)

Fig. 1 2Ɵ-ω angular positions of AlInN (left peak) and AlN (right peak) Fig. 2 Asymmetric (101’1) long range phi scan shows
for various samples grown at different temperatures peaks at every 600 for sample# 5

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 SIMS characterization
6
10 12 100

Al mole fraction (%)

10
5 10

In mole fraction (%)

Al
Ga
95
8
Intensity (ct/s)

In
4 Si
10

6 90
3
10
4
10
2 85
2
1
10 0 80
0 200 400 600 800
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Depth (nm)
Depth (nm)
Fig. 3 The SIMS depth profile for sample# 1 Fig. 4 In and Al mole fractions as a function of depth
measured by SIMS

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Scanning electron microscopy -SEM

AlInN

AlN

Si (111)

Fig.5 The cross section Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image shows clear contrast between AlN and AlInN

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 Optical reflectance and band gap
calculation
50 40

40
30

Reflectance (%)
Reflectance (%)

30

20
5.74eV
20 5.44eV

10 10

0
0
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 300 450 600 750
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)

Fig 7. The optical reflectance and band gap calculation for samples grown at 560 °C (red) and 640 °C (black) temperature

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 Bandgap energies and InN molar
fractions
0.08
(a) 5.8 (b)
InN molar fraction x

0.07

Energy (eV)
5.6
0.06

0.05 5.4

0.04
5.2
0.03
540 560 580 600 620 640 5.0
0 0.015 0.030 0.045 0.060 0.075 0.090
Growth Temperature ( C) InN molar fraction x

Fig. 8 (a) Molar fraction of InN in AlInN alloy as a function of growth temperature and (b) Band-gap energy as a function of InN molar
fraction. Red circles show data from optical measurements with error bars and solid (black) line is the fitted curve.

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 Conclusions
• AlInN layers were grown using GSMBE process on Si substrate of (111) orientation for the
first time.
• AlInN alloy compositions are calculated to be between 2% to 8% using HRXRD for alloy layers
of 400 nm thick.
• The layer composition, structural properties, and band gap have been studied to show good
morphological growth of the alloys with strong Indium incorporation.
• X-ray measurements show the best layer properties observed at growth temperature of 640
°C corresponding to 3% In incorporation.
• From HRXRD, it has been shown that the layers have good crystalline quality.
• The molar fraction of InN in AlInN alloy was measured as a function of growth temperature.
• In & Al mole fractions studied as a function of growth thickness/depth as measured from
SIMS.
• The optical reflectance study shows good reflectance at band gap energy of 5.44 eV, which is
compatible with literature.

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 References
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(2010).
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A. Georgakilas, H. Kirmse, W. Neumann, and P. Komninou, Applied Physics Letters95, 3
(2009).
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1-Regular Papers Brief Communications & Review Papers 46, 3394 (2007).
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Letters 90, 3 (2007).
• V. G. Antipov, S. A. Nikishin, and D. V. Sinyavskii, Sov. Tech. Phys. Lett. 17, 45 (1991).
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Questions

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