Low temperature epitaxial growth of III-Nitride semiconductors on silicon carbide templates by remote plasma metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Group III-Nitride (III-N) semiconductors are of high interest due to their thermal and electrical properties. Opposed to other III-V group semiconductors III-N semiconductors are hexagonal wurtzite structures that have a direct bandgap across the entire composition range. This wide bandgap range covers from the deep ultra-violet to the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This makes the III-N semiconductor group ideal for LEDs, laser diodes and photodetectors. This thesis presents an in-depth study to the growth of III-Nitrides on Silicon Carbide (SiC) templates. Due to the difficulty in growing bulk crystals for the III-Nitrides, non-native substrates must be used. Because of this, there exists a lattice mismatch between the substrates and thin films grown on top. SiC proves to be an ideal substrate as the lattice mismatch is around 3.5%. Thin films of III-N were grown upon commercially purchased SiC templates using remote plasma enhanced metal organic chemical vapor deposition (RP-MOCVD) in the Lakehead University Semiconductor Research Lab. Results were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Ramen spectroscopy.