Effect of TMBi supply on low-temperature MOVPE growth behavior of GaN

Undoped GaN and diluted GaNBi alloys were grown on (0 0 0 1) sapphire substrate by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) at 480 °C. By using in-situ laser reflectometry, it is found that the increase of TMBi flow rate leads to a reduction of the average value of reflectivity oscillations. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images gave a clear observation of the TMBi increasing amount effect on the surface morphology. The appearance of different structure (islands and columns) on GaN surface could be responsible to the reduction of the reflectivity oscillations average value. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed that the observed structures were only composed of Bi compared to the flat GaN surface. Moreover, the surface morphology between islands and columns is improved when we increase the TMBi flow rate. This improvement is consistent with the decrease of root mean square (RMS) roughness, as measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM).