Formation of a thin nitrided GaAs layer

Nitridation technique has been receiving much attention for the formation of a thin nitrided buffer layer on which high quality nitride films can be formedl. Particularly, gallium nitride (GaN) has been considered as a promising material for blue-and ultraviolet-emitting devices. It can also be used for in situ formed and stable passivation layers for selective growth of $GaAs_2$. In this work, formation of a thin nitrided layer is investigated. Nitrogen electron cyclotron resonance(ECR)-plasma is employed for the formation of thin nitrided layer. The plasma source used in this work is a compact ECR plasma gun3 which is specifically designed to enhance control, and to provide in-situ monitoring of plasma parameters during plasma-assisted processing. Microwave power of 100-200 W was used to excite the plasma which was emitted from an orifice of 25 rnm in diameter. The substrate were positioned 15 em away from the orifice of plasma source. Prior to nitridation is performed, the surface of n-type (001)GaAs was exposed to hydrogen plasma for 20 min at $300{\;}^{\circ}C$ in order to eliminate a native oxide formed on GaAs surface. Change from ring to streak in RHEED pattern can be obtained through the irradiation of hydrogen plasma, indicating a clean surface. Nitridation was carried out for 5-40 min at $RT-600{\;}^{\circ}C$ in a ECR plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy system. Typical chamber pressure was $7.5{\times}lO^{-4}$ Torr during the nitridations at $N_2$ flow rate of 10 seem.(omitted)mitted)