Growth of cubic III-nitrides by gas source MBE using atomic nitrogen plasma: GaN, AlGaN and AlN

Cubic GaN, AlGaN and AIN epilayers were grown on 3C-SiC(0 0 1) substrates by gas source molecular beam epitaxy using radio-frequency NI plasma containing atomic nitrogen species. Due to the enhancement of growth rate by this plasma source, cubic GaN epilayers with the thickness of several micrometers were obtained, and the quality of epilayers was so much improved that they showed an X-ray diffraction peak width as small as 9 min. Cubic AlxGa1 - xN and cubic AIN epilayers were also grown, and the variations of X-ray diffraction peak position and emission energy were observed according to the Al content. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.