Cubic III-nitrides: potential photonic materials

The growth and characterization of some cubic III-nitride films on suitable cubic substrates have been done, namely, c-GaN on GaAs by MOVPE, c-GaN and c-AlGaN on MgO by RF-MBE, and c-InN and c-InGaN (In-rich) on YSZ by RF-MBE. This series of study has been much focused on the cubic-phase purity as dependent on the respective growth conditions and resulting electrical and optical properties. For c-GaN and c-InN films, a cubic-phase purity higher than 95% is attained in spite of the metastable nature of the cubic III-nitrides. However, for c-AlGaN and c-InGaN films, the cubic-phase purity is rapidly degraded with significant incorporation of the hexagonal phase through stacking faults on cubic {111} faces which may be exposed on the roughened growing or substrate surface. It has been shown that the electron mobilities in c-GaN and c-AlGaN films are much related to phase purity.