TEM Study of Bulk AlN Growth by Physical Vapor Transport

We are attempting to grow bulk AlN that would be suitable as a substrate for nitride film growth. Bulk AlN films were grown by physical vapor transport on 3.5° off-axis and on-axis 6H SiC seed crystals and characterized by TEM, x-ray-diffraction, Auger electron microscopy, and SEM. TEM images show that the bulk AlN does not have the columnar structure typically seen in AlN films grown by MOCVD. Although further optimization is required before the bulk AlN is suitable as a substrate, we find that the structural characteristics achieved thus far indicate that quality bulk AlN substrates may be obtained in the future.