An Integrated Approach to the Bulk III-Nitride Crystal Growth and Wafering

Recognizing that native substrates are crucial for future development of III-nitride-based devices, this MURI investigated several approaches to III-nitride crystal growth 1 growth of GaN from the vapor phase, 2 growth of GaN from the Na flux, 3 ammonothermal growth of GaN and 4 growth of AlN by sublimation. While all approaches generated important findings, the latter two processes have been developed the furthest and are currently being pursued commercially. Following basic studies of solubility and transport in the alkaline supercritical ammonia solutions, seeded growth of GaN has been achieved at rates exceeding 20 mday. The process is commercially appealing due to simple equipment, scalability, high output volume and low growth temperature. Seeded growth of AlN has been achieved on SiC and AlN seeds. While growth on SiC enabled growth over large areas, it produced defective material with dislocation density in the 108 cm-2 range. In contrast, growth on spontaneously nucleated AlN seeds produced smaller but near perfect crystals with dislocations densities below 103 cm-2. Following these findings, an iterative scheme for gradual crystal expansion was developed, which allowed a diameter expansion of about 5 mm in each step. The quality and properties of grown single crystals were assessed by structural, optical, thermal and electrical characterization techniques.