• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.461-467
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• 2008

It was studied the effect of a pre-deposited ultrathin Al layer as part of a buffer layer for the growth of GaN. AlN buffer layers were deposited on a Si(111) substrate using an RF sputtering technique, followed by GaN using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Several atomic layers of Al were deposited prior to AlN sputtering and the samples were compared with the others grown without pre-deposition of Al. And it was also studied the influence of AlN buffer layer thickness on the growth of GaN. The peak wavelength of the photoluminescence (PL) was varied with increasing the thickness of the GaN and AlN layers. The optimum thickness of AlN on a Si(111) substrate with an ultrathin Al layer was about $260{\AA}$. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed coalescent surface morphology and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed a strongly oriented GaN(0002) peak.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2020

In this research, 50 nm thick AlN thin films were deposited on the patterned sapphire (0001) substrate by using HVPE (Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy) system and then epitaxial layer structure was grown by MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition). The surface morphology of the AlN buffer layer film was observed by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and AFM (atomic force microscope), and then the crystal structure of GaN films of the epitaxial layer structure was investigated by HR-XRC (high resolution X-ray rocking curve). The XRD peak intensity of GaN thin film of epitaxial layer structure deposited on AlN buffer layer film and sapphire substrate was rather higher in case of that on PSS than normal sapphire substrate. In AFM surface image, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed rather low pit density and less defect density. In the optical output power, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed very high intensity compared to that of the epitaxial layer structure without AlN thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.161-166
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• 2013

AlN buffer layers have been used for the growth of GaN layers on Si substrates. However, the doping of high concentration of carriers into AlN layers is still not easy, therefore it may cause the increase of series resistance when it is used for the electrical or optical devices. In this work, to improve such a problem, the growth of GaN layers on Si substrates were performed using metal buffer layers instead of AlN buffer layer. We tried combinations of Ti, Al, Cr and Au as metal buffer layers for the growth of GaN on Si substrates. Surface morphology was measured by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM), and optical properties and crystalline quality were measured by photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD), respectively. Electrical resistances for both cases of AlN and metal buffer layer were compared by current-voltage (I-V) measurement.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.558-563
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• 2008

TiAlN films were deposited on WC-5Co substrates with different buffer layers by D.C. magnetron sputtering. The films were evaluated by microstructural observations and measuring of preferred orientation, hardness value, and adhesion force. As a process variable, various buffer layers were used such as TiAlN single layer, TiAlN/TiAl, TiAlN/TiN and TiAlN/CrN. TiAlN coating layer showed columnar structures which grew up at a right angle to the substrates. The thickness of the TiAlN coating layer was about $1.8{\mu}m$, which was formed for 200 minutes at $300^{\circ}$. XRD analysis showed that the preferred orientation of TiAlN layer with TiN buffer layer was (111) and (200), and the specimens of TiAlN/TiAl, TiAlN/CrN, TiAlN single layer have preferred orientation of (111), respectively. TiAlN single layer and TiAlN/TiAl showed good adhesion properties, showing an over 80N adhesion force, while TiAlN/TiN film showed approximately 13N and the TiAlN/CrN was the worst case, in which the layer was destroyed because of high internal residual stress. The value of micro vickers hardness of the TiAlN single layer, TiAlN/TiAl and TiAlN/TiN layers were 2711, 2548 and 2461 Hv, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.645-651
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• 2014

GaN is most commonly used to make LED elements. But, due to differences of the thermal expansion coefficient and lattice mismatch with sapphire, dislocations have occurred at about $109{\sim}1010/cm^2$. Generally, a low temperature GaN buffer layer is used between the GaN layer and the sapphire substrate in order to reduce the dislocation density and improve the characteristics of the thin film, and thus to increase the efficiency of the LED. Further, patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) are applied to improve the light extraction efficiency. In this experiment, using an AlN buffer layer on PSS in place of the GaN buffer layer that is used mainly to improve the properties of the GaN film, light extraction efficiency and overall properties of the thin film are improved at the same time. The AlN buffer layer was deposited by using a sputter and the AlN buffer layer thickness was determined to be 25 nm through XRD analysis after growing the GaN film at $1070^{\circ}C$ on the AlN buffer CPSS (C-plane Patterned Sapphire Substrate, AlN buffer 25 nm, 100 nm, 200 nm, 300 nm). The GaN film layer formed by applying a 2 step epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG) process, and by changing temperatures ($1020{\sim}1070^{\circ}C$) and pressures (85~300 Torr). To confirm the surface morphology, we used SEM, AFM, and optical microscopy. To analyze the properties (dislocation density and crystallinity) of a thin film, we used HR-XRD and Cathodoluminescence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.534-537
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• 2002

We have studied conduction mechanism that is interpreted in terms of space charge limited current (SCLC) region and tunneling region. The OLEDs are based on the molecular compounds, N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine (TPD) as a hole transport, tris (8- hydroxyquinolinoline) aluminum(III) $(Alq_3)$ as an electron injection and transport and emitting later, copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and poly(vinylcarbazole) (PVK) as a buffer layer respectively. Al was used as cathode. We manufactured reference structure that has in ITO/TPD/$Alq_3$/Al. Buffer layer effects were compared to reference structure. And we have analyzed out luminance efficiency-voltage characteristics in ITO/Buffer layer/TPD/$Alq_3$/Al with buffer-layer materials.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.699-704
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• 2017

Recently, the use of an aluminum nitride(AlN) buffer layer has been actively studied for fabricating a high quality gallium nitride(GaN) template for high efficiency Light Emitting Diode(LED) production. We confirmed that AlN deposition after $N_2$ plasma treatment of the substrate has a positive influence on GaN epitaxial growth. In this study, $N_2$ plasma treatment was performed on a commercial patterned sapphire substrate by RF magnetron sputtering equipment. GaN was grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD). The surface treated with $N_2$ plasma was analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) to determine the binding energy. The XPS results indicated the surface was changed from $Al_2O_3$ to AlN and AlON, and we confirmed that the thickness of the pretreated layer was about 1 nm using high resolution transmission electron microscopy(HR-TEM). The AlN buffer layer deposited on the grown pretreated layer had lower crystallinity than the as-treated PSS. Therefore, the surface $N_2$ plasma treatment on PSS resulted in a reduction in the crystallinity of the AlN buffer layer, which can improve the epitaxial growth quality of the GaN template.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.273-273
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• 2008

This paper describes the frequency response of two-port surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator made of 002-polycrystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) thin film on 111-poly 3C-SiC buffer layer. In there, Polycrystalline AlN thin films were deposited on polycrystalline 3C-SiC buffer layer by pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system, the polycrystalline 3C-SiC was grown on $SiO_2$/Si sample by CVD. The obtained results such as the temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of the device is about from 15.9 to 18.5 ppm/$^{\circ}C$, the change in resonance frequency is approximately linear (30-$150^{\circ}C$), which resonance frequency of AlN/3C-SiC structure has high temperature stability. The characteristics of AlN thin films grown on 3C-SiC buffer layer are also evaluated by using the XRD, and AFM images.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.3-6
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• 2009

Aluminum nitride (AIN) thin films were deposited on a polycrystalline 3C-SiC intermediate layer by a pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system. Characteristics of the AIN/SiC heterostructures were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The columnar structure of AIN thin films was observed by FE-SEM. The surface roughness of AlN films on the 3C-SiC buffer layer was measured using AFM. The XRD pattern of AlN films on SiC buffer layers was highly oriented at (002). Full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve near (002) reflections was $1.3^{\circ}$. The infrared absorbance spectrum indicated that the residual stress of AIN thin films grown on SiC buffer layers was nearly negligible. The 3C-SiC intermediate layers are promising for the realization of nitride based electronic and mechanical devices.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1321-1323
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• 1998

We investigated drain leakage current in GaAs power MESFET. The device we studied by 20 simulation has a $1000{\AA}$ thick AlGaAs buffer layer under n-GaAs active layer. The calculation shows that the leakage current through GaAs substrate is significantly reduced by the buffer layer.