Influence of the substrate misorientation on the properties of N-polar InGaN/GaN and AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Smooth N-polar InGaN/GaN and AlGaN/GaN multiquantum wells MQWs and heterostructures were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition on 0001 sapphire substrates with misorientation angles of 2° –5° toward the a-sapphire plane. For all investigated structures the tendency toward formation of multiatomic steps at the film surface and at interfaces increased with increasing misorientation angle. Thereby the crystal misorientation led to a stronger degradation of the interface quality and periodicity of InGaN/GaN in comparison to the AlGaN/GaN MQWs. While the alloy composition of AlGaN films was unaffected by the misorientation, the indium mole fraction in the InGaN layers and the wavelength of the MQW related luminescence decreased with increasing misorientation angle. The properties of the two dimensional electron gas 2DEG , which formed at the upper interface of semi-insulating GaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructures, were strongly anisotropic. Whereas the resistivity of the 2DEG measured perpendicular to the surface steps/ undulations decreased with increasing misorientation angle, the resistivity measured in the parallel direction was significantly lower and unaffected by the crystal misorientation. Electron mobility values as high as 1800 cm2 /V s were determined for conduction parallel to the surface steps/undulations. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.3006132