Dislocation core structures in Si-doped GaN

Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the core structures of threading dislocations in plan-view geometry of GaN films with a range of Si-doping levels and dislocation densities ranging between (5 +/- 1) x 10(8) and (10 +/- 1) x 10(9) cm(-2). All a-type (edge) dislocation core structures in all samples formed 5/7-atom ring core structures, whereas all (a + c)-type (mixed) dislocations formed either double 5/6-atom, dissociated 7/4/8/4/9-atom, or dissociated 7/4/8/4/8/4/9-atom core structures. This shows that Si-doping does not affect threading dislocation core structures in GaN. However, electron beam damage at 300 keV produces 4-atom ring structures for (a + c)-type cores in Si-doped GaN. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.