Time of Flight Mass Spectroscopy of Recoiled Ions Studies of Gallium Nitride Thin Film Deposition by Various Molecular Beam Epitaxial Methods

Abstract

Gallium Nitride (GaN) thin films were successfully grown by electron cyclotron resonance molecular beam epitaxy (ECR-MBE), gas source MBE (GSMBE), and chemical beam epitaxy (CBE). Time of flight mass spectroscopy of recoiled ions (TOF-MSRI) and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) were used in-situ to determine the surface composition, crystalline structure, and growth mode of GaN thin films deposited by the three MBE methods. The substrate nitridation and the buffer layers were monitored and optimized by TOF-MSRI and RHEED. For GSMBE, the gallium to nitrogen ratio is found to correlate well with ex-situ optical properties. In the case of CBE, carbon incorporation determines the surface morphology, crystalline quality and optical activity of the epilayers.