Heteroepitaxial growth of GaN on various powder compounds (AlN, LaN, TiN, NbN, ZrN, ZrB 2 , VN, BeO) by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

We investigated the nucleation and growth behavior of GaN on various powders by hydride vapor phase epitaxy. In relative comparison, the nucleation tendency of GaN on each powder can be summarized as AlN > LaN, TiN, NbN > ZrN > ZrB2 > VN, BeO, indicating that the number of nucleation sites increased from right to left. LaN and NbN have not yet been reported as buffer materials for GaN growth. Of these, NbN is expected to be a good buffer material because the interatomic distance on the NbN (111) plane has only 2% difference from that on the GaN (0001) plane.