Microstructure and composition analysis of group III nitrides by X-ray scattering

The importance of Group III-nitride structures for both light-emitting devices and high-power field effect transistors is well known (J.W. Orton, C.T. Foxon, Rep. Prog. Phys. 61 (1998) 1). In both cases, different alloy composition and doping levels or type are utilised and the device performance also depends critically on the interface quality and defect density. We have used high resolution X-ray scattering to measure the state of strain in the individual layers on an absolute scale to derive the alloy composition, i.e. we have avoided the conventional method of using the substrate as an internal reference since it could be strained. The composition and individual layer thickness are derived through simulation of the profile with this additional strain information and the best-fit profile is obtained with an automatic procedure. These structures are laterally inhomogeneous arising from defects breaking up the structure into narrow vertical columns of nearly perfect material and this produces significant broadening of the diffraction pattern. This broadening in the diffraction pattern has been modelled using an extended dynamical scattering model (P.F. Fewster, X-Ray Scattering from Semiconductors, Imperial College Press, World Scientific, Singapore, 2000) to yield the size distribution of perfect crystal regions. The measurement of the rotation about an axis defined by the growth direction of the GaN with respect to the sapphire is determined and is found to be small. However, a poor quality sample indicates that a large range of rotations is possible in these structures. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.