Growth and Characterization of N-Polar GaN Films on Si(111) by Plasma Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Smooth N-polar GaN films were epitaxially grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) on on-axis p-Si(111). The structural quality of the as-grown GaN films was further improved by insertion of AlGaN/GaN superlattice structures, resulting in reduced threading dislocation density and also efficient stress management in the GaN film to mitigate crack formation. The structural quality of these films was comparable to N-polar GaN grown on C-SiC by MBE. Convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) imaging and KOH etch studies were performed to confirm the N-polarity of the sample. Room temperature photoluminescence measurements revealed strong GaN band-edge emission.