Growth of N-polar GaN by ammonia molecular beam epitaxy

The homoepitaxial growth of N-polar GaN was investigated by ammonia molecular beam epitaxy. Systematic growth studies varying the V/III flux ratio and the growth temperature indicated that the strongest factor in realizing morphologically smooth films was the growth temperature; N-face films needed to be grown approximately 100 °C or greater than Ga-face films provided the same metal flux. Smooth N-face films could also be grown at temperatures only 50 °C greater than Ga-face films, albeit under reduced metal flux. Too high a growth temperature and too low a metal flux resulted in dislocation mediated pitting of the surface. The unintentional impurity incorporation of such films was also studied by secondary mass ion spectroscopy and most importantly revealed an oxygen content in the mid 1017 to the mid 1018 cm−3 range. Hall measurements confirmed that this oxygen impurity resulted in n-type films, with carrier concentrations and mobilities comparable to those of intentionally silicon doped GaN.