In this paper, a single crystalline GaN grown on Si(1 1 1) is reported usin
g a GaN buffer layer by a simple vacuum reactive evaporation method. Scanni
ng electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence me
asurement (PL), and Hall measurement results indicate that the single cryst
alline wurtzite GaN was successfully grown on the Si(1 1 1) substrate. The
surface of the GaN films is flat and crack-free. A pronounced GaN(0 0 0 2)
peak appears in the XRD pattern. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of t
he double-crystal X-ray rocking curve (DCXRC) for (0 0 0 2) diffraction fro
m the GaN epilayer is 30 arcmin. The PL spectrum shows that the GaN epilaye
r emits light at the wavelength of 365 nm with an FWHM of 8 nm (74.6 meV).
Unintentionally doped films were n-type with a carrier concentration of 1.7
6 x 10(18)/cm(3) and an electron mobility of 142 cm(3)/V s. The growth tech
nique described was simple but very powerful for growing single crystalline
GaN films on Si substrate. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser
ved.