Growth behavior of GaN film along non-polar [1 1 –2 0] directions

We studied the atomic assembly mechanisms of non-polar GaN films by the molecular dynamics method as a function of the N:Ga flux ratio at a fixed adatom energy on non-polar planes. Our study revealed that high quality crystal growth occurred only when off-lattice atoms (which are usually associated with amorphous embryos or defect complexes) formed during deposition were able to move to unoccupied lattice sites by thermally activated diffusion processes, which attests to the experimental difficulties in obtaining smooth surfaces due to dense stacking faults lying in non-polar GaN. Furthermore, surface structures on different planes played an important role. We further suggested favorable conditions for growing high quality GaN films and nano-structures along non-polar directions.