Influence of buffer layer and growth temperature on the properties of an undoped GaN layer grown on sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The influence of low-temperature buffer layer thickness on the electrical properties of GaN film is investigated, and the surface morphology is also examined by atomic force microscopy. A best surface morphology does not show best electrical properties, which could be attributed to the usual growth mechanism for GaN film on sapphire substrate. The influence of the growth temperature for the final GaN layer is also investigated. When the growth temperature increases to 1100 degrees C, the mobility is greatly enhanced to 600 cm(2)/V s with a background carrier density of 3.3x10(16)/cm(3) at room temperature. The emission energy of the near band gap exciton at a low temperature shows a blueshift with increasing growth temperature due to an enhanced thermal stress. The calculation based on a thermal stress model agrees very well with the photoluminescence measurement. This result could partly explain the reason that the previously published values for the near band gap exciton emission energy are scattered. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)02016-7].