Plasma characteristics and the growth of group III-nitrides by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy

Improved quality and controllability of growth processes are key issues for the maturation of III-N technologies. One of the most important concerns for the growth of III-N materials in ultra high vacuum is the ability to provide an effective nitrogen flux to the growth surface. This work has sought to correlate radio frequency (rf) plasma parameters and their impact on the growth of GaN by plasma-assisted metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy. Utilizing optical emission spectrometry, the atomic nitrogen production has been optimized as a function of rf power and N2 flow rate. Growth experiments indicate that the abundance of atomic nitrogen alone does not control growth. Increasing energy per molecule in the rf source, with a constant level of atomic nitrogen, dramatically decreases the GaN growth rate. High levels of atomic nitrogen with a low energy per molecule resulted in restoration of the growth rate to ∼0.5 µm/h.