Growth study and impurity characterization of Al_xIn _1-xN grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition

Al_xIn_1-xN films with 0.14<x<0.24 were grown on GaN templates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Growth parameters temperature, pressure, V/III ratio, growth rate and carrier gas ratio (H ₂/N₂) were explored and the films were characterized by atomic force microscopy, high resolution X-ray diffraction, cathodoluminescence (CL) and secondary mass spectrometry (SIMS). In particular, crystal quality and the surface morphology were sensitive in particular to the growth rate. Uniform emission from a high quality Al_0.82In_0.18N at 335 nm was observed by a monochromatic CL image, suggesting that the layer was compositionally homogeneous. SIMS results showed that the incorporation of carbon in AlInN was stronger at higher growth pressures. However, the carbon incorporation was rather insensitive to other growth parameters such as V/III ratio and carrier gas ratio. In the case of oxygen, its incorporation was not strongly affected by the growth parameters within the range explored in this study.