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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy Growth of Mg3N2 and Zn3N2 Thin Films
Published on: May 11, 2019
Droplet Controlled Growth Dynamics in Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Nitride Semiconductors
Mani Azadmand1, Luca Barabani1, Sergio Bietti1
1L-NESS and Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
Abstract:
The growth dynamics of Ga(In)N semiconductors by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy (PAMBE) at low temperatures (T = 450 °C) is here investigated. The presence of droplets at the growth surface strongly affects the adatom incorporation dynamics, making the growth rate a decreasing function of the metal flux impinging on the surface. We explain this phenomenon via a model that considers droplet effects on the incorporation of metal adatoms into the crystal. A relevant role is played by the vapor-liquid-solid growth mode that takes place under the droplets due to nitrogen molecules directly impinging on the droplets. The role of droplets in the growth dynamics here observed and modeled in the case of Nitride semiconductors is general and it can be extended to describe the growth of the material class of binary compounds when droplets are present on the surface.
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