Summary
Misfit relaxation and related defects in AlN/GaN epitaxial heterostructures were studied using an MBE-grown AlN/GaN multilayer with graded AlN thicknesses starting from 3 up to 100 nm. Transmission electron microscopy techniques were employed. Principally elastic behaviour was observed below 6 nm AlN thickness, with some roughness and undulations due to local destabilization of the growth front. Above 6 nm, there is introduction of misfit and a-type threading dislocations. The threading dislocations were frequently found to adopt inclined zig-zag line directions across the heterostructure, thus contributing to the relief of alternating compressive-tensile elastic strain.
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Dimitrakopulos, G. et al. (2008). Electron Microscopy Characterization of a Graded AlN/GaN Multilayer Grown by Plasma-Assisted MBE. In: Cullis, A.G., Midgley, P.A. (eds) Microscopy of Semiconducting Materials 2007. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 120. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8615-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8615-1_15
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