Epitaxial growth of InN film on intermediate oxide buffer layer by RF-MOMBE

In this paper, we report the studies on the hetero-epitaxial growth of wurtzite indium nitride (InN) thin films on oxide buffer layer by RF metal-organic molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MOMBE) system. Oxide buffer layer was pre-sputtered using RF sputtering technique. The structural properties and surface morphology were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). We also investigated the optical properties by temperature-dependence photoluminescence (PL). Near-infrared emission peak centered at 0.75 eV was observed from PL measurement. The irregular and asymmetric PL line shape was caused by absorbed moisture and surface electron accumulation in InN films. According to the fitting results of PL spectra measured at 20 K, we could estimate the bandgap and Fermi level is 0.65 eV and 113 meV, which confirm to previous reports. Our results reveal that the oxide thin film could be a suitable buffer layer for engineering the growth of InN on sapphire wafer, and it might be also applicable for other lattice-mismatched III-V hetero-epitaxial systems.

► We demonstrate the hetero-epitaxial growth of InN on ZnO.
► By fitting the PL spectrum at 20 K, the bandgap and Fermi level can be estimated to be 0.65 eV and 113 meV.
► Antisite defect (NIn) might be dominant in our samples.