We report epitaxial growth of AlN films with atomically flat surface on nano-patterned sapphire substrates (NPSS) prepared by nano-imprint lithography. The crystalline quality can be greatly improved by using the optimized 1-μm-period NPSS. The X-ray diffraction ω-scan full width at half maximum values for (0002) and (10"Equation missing"<!-- image only, no MathML or LaTex -->2) reflections are 171 and 205 arcsec, respectively. The optimized NPSS contribute to eliminating almost entirely the threading dislocations (TDs) originating from the AlN/sapphire interface via bending the dislocations by image force from the void sidewalls before coalescence. In addition, reducing the misorientations of the adjacent regions during coalescence adopting the low lateral growth rate is also essential for decreasing TDs in the upper AlN epilayer.

By employing a single AlGaN layer with low Al composition, high quality and uniformity AlGaN/GaN heterostructures have been successfully grown on Si substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The heterostructures exhibit a high electron mobility of 2150 cm²/Vs with an electron density of 9.3 × 10¹² cm⁻². The sheet resistance is 313 ± 4 Ω/◻ with ±1.3% variation. The high uniformity is attributed to the reduced wafer bow resulting from the balance of the compressive stress induced and consumed during the growth and the thermal tensile stress induced during the cooling down process. By a combination of theoretical calculations and in situ wafer curvature measurements, we find that the compressive stress consumed by the dislocation relaxation (~1.2 GPa) is comparable to the value of the thermal tensile stress (~1.4 GPa) and we should pay more attention to it during growth of GaN on Si substrates. Our results demonstrate a promising approach to simplifying the growth processes of GaN-on-Si to reduce the wafer bow and lower the cost while maintaining high material quality.

Epitaxial growth of AlN films on c-sapphire using a multilayer structure has been investigated by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition adopting multiple alternation cycles of low- and high-temperature (LT–HT) growth. It is found that the surface morphology and crystal quality can be greatly improved using three alternation cycles with X-ray diffraction ω-scan full width at half maximum values of 311 and 548 arcsec for the (0002) and (10−12) peaks, respectively, which are induced by the alternation of the three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) growth modes caused by the LT–HT process. The first 3D–2D cycle is found to play a major role in threading dislocation reduction, while the second and third cycles mainly account for tensile stress relaxation.

Influence of sapphire pretreatment conditions on crystalline quality of AlN epilayers has been investigated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Compared to alumination treatment, it is found that appropriate sapphire nitridation significantly straightens the surface atomic terraces and decreases the X-ray diffraction (0002) full width at half maximum (FWHM) to a minimum of 55 arcsec, indicating a great improvement of the tilting feature of the grain structures in the AlN epilayer. More importantly, there is no inversion domains (IDs) found in the AlN epilayers, which clarifies that optimal sapphire nitridation is promising in the growth of high quality AlN. It is deduced that the different interfacial atomic structures caused by various pretreatment conditions influence the orientation of the AlN nucleation layer grains, which eventually determines the tilting features of the AlN epilayers.