Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaN
Atomically thin metal adlayers are used as surfactants in semiconductor crystal growth. The role of the adlayer in the incorporation of dopants in GaN is completely unexplored, probably because <i>n</i>-type doping of GaN with Si is relatively straightforward and can be scaled up with av...
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| author | Henryk Turski Pawel Wolny Mikolaj Chlipala Marta Sawicka Anna Reszka Pawel Kempisty Leszek Konczewicz Grzegorz Muziol Marcin Siekacz Czeslaw Skierbiszewski |
| author_facet | Henryk Turski Pawel Wolny Mikolaj Chlipala Marta Sawicka Anna Reszka Pawel Kempisty Leszek Konczewicz Grzegorz Muziol Marcin Siekacz Czeslaw Skierbiszewski |
| author_sort | Henryk Turski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Atomically thin metal adlayers are used as surfactants in semiconductor crystal growth. The role of the adlayer in the incorporation of dopants in GaN is completely unexplored, probably because <i>n</i>-type doping of GaN with Si is relatively straightforward and can be scaled up with available Si atomic flux in a wide range of dopant concentrations. However, a surprisingly different behavior of the Ge dopant is observed, and the presence of atomically thin gallium or an indium layer dramatically affects Ge incorporation, hindering the fabrication of GaN:Ge structures with abrupt doping profiles. Here, we show an experimental study presenting a striking improvement in sharpness of the Ge doping profile obtained for indium as compared to the gallium surfactant layer during GaN-plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. We show that the atomically thin indium surfactant layer promotes the incorporation of Ge in contrast to the gallium surfactant layer, which promotes segregation of Ge to the surface and Ge crystallite formation. Understanding the role of the surfactant is essential to control GaN doping and to obtain extremely high <i>n</i>-type doped III-nitride layers using Ge, because doping levels >10<sup>20</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup> are not easily available with Si. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T01:36:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ac6e34f015b74552b38fcc42e64da3e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1944 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T01:36:42Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Materials |
| spelling | doaj.art-ac6e34f015b74552b38fcc42e64da3e92023-11-23T13:32:34ZengMDPI AGMaterials1996-19442022-08-011517592910.3390/ma15175929Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaNHenryk Turski0Pawel Wolny1Mikolaj Chlipala2Marta Sawicka3Anna Reszka4Pawel Kempisty5Leszek Konczewicz6Grzegorz Muziol7Marcin Siekacz8Czeslaw Skierbiszewski9Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-668 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-142 Warsaw, PolandAtomically thin metal adlayers are used as surfactants in semiconductor crystal growth. The role of the adlayer in the incorporation of dopants in GaN is completely unexplored, probably because <i>n</i>-type doping of GaN with Si is relatively straightforward and can be scaled up with available Si atomic flux in a wide range of dopant concentrations. However, a surprisingly different behavior of the Ge dopant is observed, and the presence of atomically thin gallium or an indium layer dramatically affects Ge incorporation, hindering the fabrication of GaN:Ge structures with abrupt doping profiles. Here, we show an experimental study presenting a striking improvement in sharpness of the Ge doping profile obtained for indium as compared to the gallium surfactant layer during GaN-plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. We show that the atomically thin indium surfactant layer promotes the incorporation of Ge in contrast to the gallium surfactant layer, which promotes segregation of Ge to the surface and Ge crystallite formation. Understanding the role of the surfactant is essential to control GaN doping and to obtain extremely high <i>n</i>-type doped III-nitride layers using Ge, because doping levels >10<sup>20</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup> are not easily available with Si.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/17/5929dopingmolecular beam epitaxysurfactantnitrides |
| spellingShingle | Henryk Turski Pawel Wolny Mikolaj Chlipala Marta Sawicka Anna Reszka Pawel Kempisty Leszek Konczewicz Grzegorz Muziol Marcin Siekacz Czeslaw Skierbiszewski Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaN Materials doping molecular beam epitaxy surfactant nitrides |
| title | Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaN |
| title_full | Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaN |
| title_fullStr | Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaN |
| title_full_unstemmed | Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaN |
| title_short | Role of Metallic Adlayer in Limiting Ge Incorporation into GaN |
| title_sort | role of metallic adlayer in limiting ge incorporation into gan |
| topic | doping molecular beam epitaxy surfactant nitrides |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/17/5929 |
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