Studies of Defect Structure in Epitaxial AlN/GaN Films Grown on (111) 3C-SiC

Several aspects such as the growth relation between the layers of the GaN/AlN/SiC heterostructure, the consistency of the interfaces, and elemental diffusion are achieved by High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM). In addition, the dislocation densities together with the defect correlation lengths are investigated via High-Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HR-XRD) and the characteristic positron diffusion length is achieved by Doppler Broadening Spectroscopy (DBS). Moreover, a comparative analysis with our previous work (i.e., GaN/AlN/Si and GaN/AlN/Al₂O₃) has been carried out. Within the epitaxial GaN layer defined by the relationship F4¯3m (111) 3C-SiC || P63mc (0002) AlN || P63mc (0002) GaN, the total dislocation density has been assessed as being 1.47 × 10¹⁰ cm^-2. Compared with previously investigated heterostructures (on Si and Al₂O₃ substrates), the obtained dislocation correlation lengths (L^e = 171 nm and L^s =288 nm) and the mean distance between two dislocations (r_d = 82 nm) are higher. This reveals an improved crystal quality of the GaN with SiC as a growth template. In addition, the DBS measurements upheld the aforementioned results with a higher effective positron diffusion length LeffGaN2 = 75 ± 20 nm for the GaN layer.