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The influence of AlN interlayers on the microstructural and electrical properties of p-type AlGaN/GaN superlattices grown on GaN/sapphire templates

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Abstract

AlN with different thicknesses were grown as interlayers (ILs) between GaN and p-type Al0.15Ga0.85N/GaN superlattices (SLs) by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). It was found that the edge-type threading dislocation density (TDD) increased gradually from the minimum of 2.5×109 cm−2 without AlN IL to the maximum of 1×1010 cm−2 at an AlN thickness of 20 nm, while the screw-type TDD remained almost unchanged due to the interface-related TD suppression and regeneration mechanism. We obtained that the edge-type dislocations acted as acceptors in p-type Al x Ga1−x N/GaN SLs, through the comparison of the edge-type TDD and hole concentration with different thicknesses of AlN IL. The Mg activation energy was significantly decreased from 153 to 70 meV with a 10-nm AlN IL, which was attributed to the strain modulation between AlGaN barrier and GaN well. The large activation efficiency, together with the TDs, led to the enhanced hole concentration. The variation trend of Hall mobility was also observed, which originated from the scattering at TDs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Baojuan Sun for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the National High Technology Program of China under Grant No. 2007AA03Z403, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 61076013, 51102003, 60776042 and 60990313, the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education under Grant No. 20100001120014. The author would like to acknowledge the support given by all the staff during the measurements at the beamline 1W1A at BSRF.

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  1. State Key Laboratory for Artificial Microstructure and Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Li, Lei Liu, Lei Wang, Ding Li, Jie Song, Ningyang Liu, Weihua Chen, Yuzhou Wang, Zhijian Yang & Xiaodong Hu

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  1. Lei Li
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Li, L., Liu, L., Wang, L. et al. The influence of AlN interlayers on the microstructural and electrical properties of p-type AlGaN/GaN superlattices grown on GaN/sapphire templates. Appl. Phys. A 108, 857–862 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-6984-5

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