Epitaxial growth of GaN, AlN and InN: 2D/3D transition and surfactant effects

Abstract

The influence of foreign species on the growth mode has been studied, with special emphasis on the role of In. It is demonstrated that the growth mode, i.e. 2D or 3D, first depends on the competing kinetics of Ga and N. In this view, we show that the surfactants modify both the Ga droplet formation process and the N desorption rate. Next, we discuss the role of strain relaxation in nitride heterostructures. In particular, we show that GaN and InGaN can experience a Stranski-Krastanow growth mode leading to the formation of quantum dots. A mechanism of quantum dot nucleation is proposed in the case of GaN on AlN.