The AlN lattice-polarity inversion in a high-temperature-annealed c-oriented AlN/sapphire originated from the diffusion of Al and O atoms from sapphire

AlN films are widely used owing to their superior characteristics, including an ultra-wide bandgap, high breakdown field, and radiation resistance. High-temperature annealing (HTA) makes it easy to obtain high-quality AlN films, with the advantages of a simple process, good repeatability, and low cost. However, it is always found that there is a lattice-polarity inversion from a N-polarity near the sapphire to an Al-polarity in the HTA c-oriented AlN/sapphire. Currently, the formation mechanism is still unclear, which hinders its further wide applications. Therefore, the formation mechanism of the polarity inversion and its impacts on the quality and stress profile of the upper AlN in the HTA c-oriented AlN/sapphire were investigated. The results imply that the inversion originated from the diffusion of the Al and O atoms from the sapphire. Due to the presence of abundant Al vacancies (VAl) in the upper AlN, Al atoms in the sapphire diffuse into the upper AlN during the annealing to fill the VAl, resulting in the O-terminated sapphire, leading to the N-polar AlN. Meanwhile, O atoms in the sapphire also diffuse into the upper AlN during the annealing, forming an AlxOyNz layer and causing the inversion from N- to Al-polarity. The inversion has insignificant impacts on the quality and stress distribution of the upper AlN. Besides, this study predicts the presence of a two-dimensional electron gas at the inversion interface. However, the measured electron concentration is much lower than that predicted, which may be due to the defect compensation, low polarization level, and strong impurity scattering.

Recent Advances in Fabricating Wurtzite AlN Film on (0001)-Plane Sapphire Substrate

Ultrawide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor materials, with bandgaps far wider than the 3.4 eV of GaN, have attracted great attention recently. As a typical representative, wurtzite aluminum nitride (AlN) material has many advantages including high electron mobility, high breakdown voltage, high piezoelectric coefficient, high thermal conductivity, high hardness, high corrosion resistance, high chemical and thermal stability, high bulk acoustic wave velocity, prominent second-order optical nonlinearity, as well as excellent UV transparency. Therefore, it has wide application prospects in next-generation power electronic devices, energy-harvesting devices, acoustic devices, optical frequency comb, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, and laser diodes. Due to the lack of low-cost, large-size, and high-ultraviolet-transparency native AlN substrate, however, heteroepitaxial AlN film grown on sapphire substrate is usually adopted to fabricate various devices. To realize high-performance AlN-based devices, we must first know how to obtain high-crystalline-quality and controllable AlN/sapphire templates. This review systematically summarizes the recent advances in fabricating wurtzite AlN film on (0001)-plane sapphire substrate. First, we discuss the control principles of AlN polarity, which greatly affects the surface morphology and crystalline quality of AlN, as well as the electronic and optoelectronic properties of AlN-based devices. Then, we introduce how to control threading dislocations and strain. The physical thoughts of some inspirational growth techniques are discussed in detail, and the threading dislocation density (TDD) values of AlN/sapphire grown by various growth techniques are compiled. We also introduce how to achieve high thermal conductivities in AlN films, which are comparable with those in bulk AlN. Finally, we summarize the future challenge of AlN films acting as templates and semiconductors. Due to the fast development of growth techniques and equipment, as well as the superior material properties, AlN will have wider industrial applications in the future.

Crack-free high quality 2 μm-thick Al0.5Ga0.5N grown on a Si substrate with a superlattice transition layer

We reported the successful growth of a crack-free high-quality 2 μm-thick Al_0.5Ga_0.5N film with a smooth surface grown on planar Si by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition.