Structural Characteristics of MOCVD Grown AlN Films with Different Carbon Concentration

Abstract

The structural characteristics of MOCVD AlN films with different carbon doping concentrations grown on sapphire were investigated by XRD (θ–2θ scans, ϕ scans and rocking curves), HRTEM and Auger spectroscopy. The AlN:C films have very high crystalline quality and low resistivity. The epitaxial relationship between AlN and Sapphire is: (0001)_AlN //(0001)_Sap, [1̄21̄0]_AlN//[01̄10]_Sap and [101̄0]_AlN //[2̄110]_Sap. With increasing carbon concentration, the AlN films have higher carrier concentrations, and lower resistivities even though they have higher defect density. The resistivity decreases by 8 orders of magnitude with C doping. When the carbon concentration reaches 11%, an interfacial layer of ≈5nm was observed in HRTEM images. This layer suggests that some C in the film is diffusing into the sapphire substrate. However, optical diffractograms obtained from the negatives of the HRTEM showed no appreciable change in the structure of the interfacial layer compared to the pure substrate.