F. Brunner¹, A. Mogilatenko¹, A. Knauer¹, M. Weyers¹, and J.-T. Zettler²

Published in:

J. Appl. Phys., vol. 112, no. 033503 (2012).

Abstract:

In-situ curvature measurements were employed to quantify stress generation during metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy growth of Si-doped GaN sandwiched between undoped GaN layers. It is shown that the creation of tensile stress in Si-doped GaN is closely linked to the density of threading dislocations in the material. Accompanying characterization by in-situ reflectance measurements and TEM analysis supports the model that the doping induced stress formation is caused by a surface-mediated dislocation climb process. In addition, curvature measurements reveal an unusual partial relaxation in GaN:nid grown atop of highly doped GaN:Si layers. This relaxation is assigned to a notable dislocation annihilation at the upper GaN:Si⁺/GaN:nid interface found by TEM probably due to the formation of a thin SiN_x masking layer.

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