From GaN Crystallinity to Device Performance: Nucleation Mode Vs Surface Energy of Single-Crystalline AlN Template

In this paper, the surface state of the single-crystalline AlN template's impact on the epitaxial growth of gallium nitride (GaN) was studied. Subsequently, Schottky barrier devices were fabricated and analyzed. The results indicate that surface states subjected to different treatments exhibit varying epitaxial growth modes at the initial nucleation stage, which have a correlated effect on surface topography, crystalline quality, strain and other material characteristics of the epitaxial GaN. Higher surface energy leads to a reduction in screw dislocation of GaN material, but has less influence on edge dislocation. Single-crystalline AlN templates with higher surface energy are more likely to exhibit Stranski-Krastanow and Frank-van der Merwe growth model and achieve high-quality epitaxial materials. Schottky devices prepared using GaN material with lower screw dislocation density exhibit lower reverse leakage current. First-principles simulation analysis revealed that the migration barrier of gallium and nitrogen atoms on the surface can be overcome with the larger surface energy of single-crystalline AlN template. This facilitates their migration on the surface, resulting in higher quality material epitaxy. The conclusions of this work provide insights for quality control of epitaxial GaN materials on single-crystalline AlN templates, as well as for studying device leakage in the backend of the device fabrication process, or similar homogeneous compound semiconductor heteroepitaxy studies.