Characterisation of nitride thin films by electron backscattered diffraction

In this paper, we describe the technique of electron backscattered diffract ion (EBSD) and illustrate its use in the characterisation of nitride thin f ilms by describing our results from a silicon-doped 3 mum thick GaN epilaye r grown on a sapphire substrate misoriented by 10 degrees towards the m-pla ne (10-10). We show that the EBSD technique may be used to reveal the relat ive orientation of an epilayer with respect to its substrate (a 90 degrees rotation between the GaN epilayer and sapphire substrate is observed) and t o determine its tilt (the GaN epilayer was found to be tilted by 12 +/- 3 d egrees towards [10-10](GaN)). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.