Wurtzite GaN epitaxial growth on Si(111) using silicon nitride as an initial layer

We report single crystalline GaN films grown on Si(lll) using Si3N4 as an i nitial layer by a simple reactive evaporation technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) indicate that the GaN ep ilayer has a wurtzite structure of high quality. The photoluminescence spec trum at room temperature exhibits a strong emission of the GaN epilayer at the wavelength of 365 nm with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of only 8 nm (74.6 meV), and no yellow luminescence is present. The silicon nitride not only acts as a growth buffer layer, but also effectively prevents oxyge n and silicon diffusion from the substrate to the epilayer. This simple but effective technique makes it possible not only to grow high-quality GaN on Si, but also to eliminate yellow luminescence (YL) in GaN epilayers, (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.