| The III-nitrides have received considerable attention in recent years for applications that require a wide band gap semiconductor. Specifically, short wavelength light emitters are required for full color displays, laser printers, high-density information storage, and underwater communication. High-temperature and high-power devices are needed for a number of applications including avionics, automobile engines and future advanced power distribution systems.; Unfortunately, III-nitride substrates are not available. This dissertation explores three alternative substrates (LiGaO2, LiAlO2, and Si) for the growth of thick and potentially freestanding GaN substrates. The requirement to grow a protective layer of GAN by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and the need for high rate deposition by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) motivated the development of a single deposition system capable of growing in both modes.; The successful growth of high quality GaN on LiGaO2 by MOCVD was first demonstrated. Nitridation of the LiGaO2 substrate using NH3 prior to growth leads to the reconstruction of the substrate surface and to the formation of a thin layer of nitrided material having the same orientation as the substrate. It was found that the thick GaN layer grown by HVPE spontaneously separated from the underlying LiGaO2 substrate upon cooling if proper nitridation was performed. This then eliminates the need for substrate removal by HCl etching and gives a reusable template substrate.; The related substrate LiAlO2 is also closely lattice matched to GaN. LiAlO2, however, is more stable, particularly in an HCl ambient making it suitable for thick HVPE growth of GaN.; Finally, it was shown that epitaxial GaN could be fabricated by a low-temperature deposition sequence on silicon substrates. Measurements revealed that a thin compliant SiOx layer was an effective intermediate layer for the GaN film grown epitaxially on Si. The deposition temperature of 560°C is one of the lowest deposition temperatures reported for single crystal GaN by vapor phase epitaxy.; A study of GaN annealed in HCl, H2, NH3 and N 2 ambients was performed. It was found that films grown by MOCVD followed a dissociative sublimation mechanism, while HVPE films decomposed to yield liquid gallium. |
