Demonstration of Si-doped Al-rich thin regrown Al(Ga)N films on AlN on sapphire templates with $\gt10^{15}/cm^3$ free carrier concentration using close-coupled showerhead MOCVD reactor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the successful growth of Si-doped Al-rich Al(Ga)N films on sapphire using MOCVD, achieving high free carrier concentrations and controlling composition with pulsed deposition techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a pulsed MOCVD deposition method for high-quality, Si-doped Al-rich Al(Ga)N films with controlled composition and high free carrier concentration.

Findings

Achieved free carrier concentration >10^{15}/cm^3 in Al-rich Al(Ga)N films.

Controlled Al composition >95% using pulsed deposition.

Maximum carrier concentration of 4.8×10^{16}/cm^3 in thin films.

Abstract

Thin Si-doped Al-rich (Al>0.85) regrown Al(Ga)N layers were deposited on AlN on Sapphire template using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) techniques. The optimization of the deposition conditions such as temperature, V/III ratio, deposition rate, and Si concentration resulted in a high charge carrier concentration (>$10^{15}/cm^{3}$) in the Si-doped Al-rich Al(Ga)N films. A pulsed deposition condition was employed to achieve a controllable Al composition greater than 95% and to prevent unintended Ga incorporation in the AlGaN material deposited using the close-coupled showerhead reactor. Also, the effect of unintentional Si incorporation on free charge carrier concentration at the regrowth interface was observed by varying the thickness of the regrown Al(Ga)N layer. A maximum charge carrier concentration of $4.8\times 10^{16}/cm^3$ and $7.5\times 10^{15}/cm^3$ were achieved for Al0.97Ga0.03N and AlN films with thickness <300 nm compared to previously reported n-Al(Ga)N films with thickness $\ge$400 nm deposited using MOCVD technique.