Effect of the Growth Interruption on the Surface Morphology and Crystalline Quality of MOCVD-Grown h-BN

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is one promising material class for applications in DUV optoelectronics due to the layered structure and ultra-wide bandgap. The synthesis of h-BN with smooth surface morphology and high quality on dielectric substrates is the key to construct efficient functional devices thereon. In this study, we reported wafer-scale h-BN on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition utilizing the flow modulation epitaxy (FME) with growth interruptions. The effect of the growth interruption location within FME on the surface morphology and crystalline quality of h-BN films was systematically investigated. The interruption after the TEB injection could promote the mobility of B adatoms, and the interruption after the NH3 injection could further relieve the passivation of N terminal growth fronts and mitigate the parasitic gas-phase reaction between growth precursors. By simultaneously employing interruptions after TEB and NH3 injections, the growth rate of h-BN increased significantly from 0.16 nm/min to 4.76 nm/min, and the surface roughness of 2-nm-thick h-BN was reduced to 0.587 nm. In addition, h-BN grown with an interruption solely after the NH3 injection presented the best crystallinity because the relatively slow growth rate reduced the possibility of impurity incorporation.