Article

Epitaxial Growth of GaN/AlN on <i>h</i>-BN/Si(111) by Metal–Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition: An Interface Analysis

R. LoganathanDepartment of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan32001, Taiwan R.O.CMuzafar Ahmad RatherDepartment of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan32001, Taiwan R.O.CKun‐Lin LinTaiwan Semiconductor Research Institute, Hsinchu30078, Taiwan R.O.CChien‐Ting WuTaiwan Semiconductor Research Institute, Hsinchu30078, Taiwan R.O.CTung‐Yuan YuTaiwan Semiconductor Research Institute, Hsinchu30078, Taiwan R.O.CKun‐Yu LaiDepartment of Optics and Photonics, National Central University, Taoyuan32001, Taiwan R.O.CJen‐Inn ChyiDepartment of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan32001, Taiwan R.O.C

2023en

ABI

Abstract

Among III-nitride semiconductors, hexagonal boron nitride ( h -BN) has a two-dimensional crystal structure and can be used as an insulator for nanotransistors or a substrate release layer for flexible electronics, which heavily rely on its interface properties. In this study, h- BN films were successfully grown on 150 mm Si(111) substrates by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition using AlN as a nucleation layer, and van der Waals epitaxy of GaN on the h- BN films was investigated, including the challenges of exfoliation of epilayers. As a result of the accumulated stress in GaN films during growth, self-exfoliation of GaN films was observed on GaN of thickness 1 μm and more. This issue was resolved by decreasing the h- BN thickness from 8 to 3 nm and lower, which results in improved crystal quality as evidenced by the smaller linewidth of the (0002) GaN X-ray rocking curves. Based on the exfoliation behavior of a series of GaN grown with different thicknesses, a self-exfoliation mechanism was proposed and an interface binding energy of 54 meV was estimated for the h- BN/AlN interface.

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.2c01078

Citations and references

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