Reduction of cracks in GaN films grown on Si-on-insulator by lateral confined epitaxy

Abstract GaN was grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on plain Si-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, and on SOI which was pre-patterned for lateral confined epitaxy (LCE), with square mesas, separated by dip trenches. It was found that GaN films grown on plain SOI exhibit reduced crack density. Moreover, using LCE on SOI substrates dramatically increases the crack-free area of the layer. Areas of 100 μm×100 μm were grown completely crack free, and stress was released by strong bending of the GaN/Si/SiO 2 composite islands.

[1]  J. Nye.  Physical Properties of Crystals: Their Representation by Tensors and Matrices , 1957 .

[2]  Subramanian S. Iyer,et al.  Approach to obtain high quality GaN on Si and SiC-on-silicon-on-insulator compliant substrate by molecular-beam epitaxy , 1995 .

[3]  Gregory H. Olsen,et al.  Calculated stresses in multilayered heteroepitaxial structures , 1977 .

[4]  Jaime A. Freitas,et al.  Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of GaN on Si(111): Stress control and application to field-effect transistors , 2001 .

[5]  J. Chaudhuri,et al.  Calculated elastic constants of wide band gap semiconductor thin films with a hexagonal crystal structure for stress problems , 1995 .

[6]  J. H. Selverian,et al.  Strength and toughness measurement of thin brittle coatings on substrates Part I. Theory and measurement , 1993 .

[7]  Robert Bruce Lindsay,et al.  Physical Properties of Crystals , 1957 .

[8]  J. Bläsing,et al.  Crack‐Free InGaN/GaN Light Emitters on Si(111) , 2001 .

[9]  W. Brantley.  Calculated elastic constants for stress problems associated with semiconductor devices , 1973 .

[10]  H. Morkoç,et al.  GaN, AlN, and InN: A review , 1992 .

[11]  Joseph Salzman,et al.  Thermal microcrack distribution control in GaN layers on Si substrates by lateral confined epitaxy , 2001 .

[12]  Dimitris Pavlidis,et al.  Photoluminescence properties of GaN grown on compliant silicon-on-insulator substrates , 1997 .

[13]  A. Steckl,et al.  Growth and characterization of GaN thin films on SiC SOI substrates , 1997 .

[14]  A. Sheleg,et al.  Study of the elastic properties of gallium nitride , 1978 .