Wet etching characteristics of cubic GaN (c GaN) thin films grown on GaAs(001) by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) are investigated.The samples are etched in HCl,H 3PO 4,KOH aqueous solutions,and molten KOH at temperatures in the range of 90～300℃.It is found that different solution produces different etch figure on the surfaces of a sample.KOH based solutions produce rectangular pits rather than square pits.The etch pits elongate in 1 0] direction,indicating asymmetric etching behavior in the two orthogonal <110> directions.An explanation based on relative reactivity of the various crystallographic planes is employed to interpret qualitatively the asymmetric etching behavior.In addition,it is found that KOH aqueous solution would be more suitable than molten KOH and the two acids for the evaluation of stacking faults in c GaN epilayers. direction,indicating asymmetric etching behavior in the two orthogonal <110> directions.An explanation based on relative reactivity of the various crystallographic planes is employed to interpret qualitatively the asymmetric etching behavior.In addition,it is found that KOH aqueous solution would be more suitable than molten KOH and the two acids for the evaluation of stacking faults in c GaN epilayers.
High quality cubic GaN (c GaN) is grown by metalorganic vapor deposition (MOCVD) at an increased growth temperature of 900℃,with the growth rate of 1 6μm/h.The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of room temperature photoluminescence (PL) for the high temperature grown GaN film is 48meV.It is smaller than that of the sample grown at 830℃.In X ray diffraction (XRD) measurement,the high temperature grown GaN shows a (002) peak at 20° with a FWHM of 21′.It can be concluded that,although c GaN is of metastable phase,high growth temperature is still beneficial to the improvement in its crystal quality.The relationship between the growth rate and growth temperature is also discussed.
