The Influence of Graded AlGaN Buffer Thickness for Crack-Free GaN on Si(111) Substrates by using MOCVD

GaN films with different thicknesses of Al composition graded AlGaN buffer are grown on substrates of Si(111) by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The thicknesses of graded AlGaN buffer are fixed at 200 nm, 300 nm, and 450 nm, respectively. Optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy are employed to characterize these samples. We find that the thickness of the graded AlGaN buffer layer plays a key role on the following growth of GaN films. The optimized thickness of the graded AlGaN buffer layer is 300 nm. Under such conditions, the GaN epitaxial film is crack-free, and its dislocation density is the lowest.