Carrier Gas Dependent Evaporation Energy of GaN Estimated from Spiral Growth Rates in Selective-Area Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

GaN was grown in spiral growth mode by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy in selective areas having screw-type dislocations. Relationships between the growth rate and supersaturation provide a novel way to estimate the evaporation energy of GaN, which turns out to be carrier gas dependent: 4.3±0.9 eV for N2 and 2.1±0.4 eV for H2. The latter is significantly smaller, probably due to enhanced etching by H2. Suppression of excessive nucleation by etching in H2 may be responsible for the formation of step-free GaN surfaces at low temperatures in selective areas free from screw-type dislocations.