Anisotropic strain relaxation and high quality AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on Si (110) substrates

We have investigated the growth and relaxation mechanisms of anisotropic lattice misfit strain in AlN and GaN layers on Si (110) substrates. A qualitative model is proposed to explain the relaxation process. It is revealed that the anisotropic misfit strain is quickly relaxed in the low temperature AlN layer by the formation of interface misfit dislocations, small misoriented grains, and lattice distortion. As a result, isotropic properties and atomically smooth surface are observed in the high temperature AlN layer. Based on this isotropic AlN layer, a high quality GaN layer and AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with a high electron mobility of 2160 cm2/(V · s) have been obtained. This work will have important impacts on the understanding of the epitaxy of isotropic semiconductor films on anisotropic substrates.