Initial stages of molecular-beam epitaxy growth of GaN on 6H-SiC(0001)

Abstract

We studied the atomic H etching of 6H-SiC substrates and the initial stages of GaN/6H-SiC molecular-beam epitaxy growth. Atomic H etched 6H-SiC(0001)Si and (0001̄)C surfaces show a (∛×∛)−R30° and a (1×1) reconstruction respectively, with 0.7±0.2 monolayers of remnant O on both surfaces. GaN/6H-SiC(0001)Si growth is initiated by the formation of islands that develop into flat-top terraces through coalescence. Growth steps of one or integer numbers of the GaN atomic bilayer height are observed. GaN grown on 6H-SiC(0001̄)C is rougher with islands of irregular shape. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy studies show that Si 2p and C 1s photoelectron inelastic mean free paths in GaN are 22±1 and 20±1 Å, respectively.