Properties of surface and interface structure of AlN/3C-SiC/Ge/Si (111) heterostructure

AlN thin films were grown at a temperature of 720 degrees C on (111) silicon carbide buffer layer deposited in turn on (111) silicon substrate by introducing Ge at the SiC/Si interface. The growth method used is the solid source molecular beam epitaxy (SSMBE). The morphological and structural properties of the AlN epilayers before and after Ge deposition were studied by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction. It is found that the formation of oriented grain becomes more favorable by increasing Ge quantity at the interface. The surface roughness (RMS) values of the AlN thin films decreases as Ge amount increases at the substrate surface. XRD studies show that wurtzite-type AlN structure with (0002) orientation becomes favorable with increase in Ge amount and the full width at half maximum of AlN (0002) rocking curve reaches its minimum with 1 ML of Ge concentration. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.