Growth of cubic InN on GaP(100) with GaN buffer by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition

Abstract

Growth of cubic InN (c-InN) under N-rich condition was achieved by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition on GaP(1 0 0) substrates with a cubic GaN (c-GaN) buffer layer. Insertion of the c-GaN buffer layer suppressed In droplet formation in c-InN. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy investigations showed that the InN layers have zincblende structure with only a small fraction of oxide phase inclusions and no significant hexagonal InN is present. By systemically varying growth conditions, it was found that the c-InN growth is dominated mainly by In adatoms' surface diffusion and InN surface decomposition and three distinct regimes of c-InN growth are observed. The growth of c-InN on c-GaN/GaP(1 0 0) templates eventually followed a three-dimensional growth mode in the thermally activated growth regime and density and size distribution of c-InN dots significantly changed with substrate temperature and growth rate. These results provide a stronger understanding of the growth mechanism to design and engineer InN-based nanostructures with desired shapes for potential technological applications.