Molecular beam epitaxy of N-polar InGaN

Abstract

We report on the growth of N-polar Inx Ga1-x N by N2 plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Ga-polar and N-polar InGaN films were grown at different growth temperatures and the composition was estimated by photoluminescence (PL) measurements. A growth model that incorporates the incoming and desorbing atomic fluxes is proposed to explain the compositional dependence of InGaN on the flux of incoming atomic species and growth temperature. The growth model is found to be in agreement with the experimental data. The peak PL intensity for N-face samples is found to exhibit a two order of magnitude increase for a 100 °C increase in growth temperature. Besides, at 600 nm, the N-face sample shows more than 100 times higher PL intensity than Ga-face sample at comparable wavelengths indicating its superior optical quality. The understanding of growth kinetics of InGaN presented here will guide the growth of N-polar InGaN in a wide range of growth temperatures. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.