Gallium Nitride On Silicon For Consumer & Scalable Photonics

Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a unique material system that has been heavily exploited for photonic devices thanks to ultraviolet-to-terahertz spectral tunability. However, without a cost effective approach, GaN technology is limited to laboratory demonstrations and niche applications. In this investigation, integration of GaN on Silicon (100) substrates is attempted to enable widespread application of GaN based optoelectronics. Controlled local epitaxy of wurtzite phase GaN on on-axis Si(100) substrates is demonstrated via metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). CMOS-compatible fabrication scheme is used to realize [SiO2-Si{111}-Si{100}] groove structures on conventional 200-mm Si(100) substrates. MOCVD growth (surface treatment, nucleation, initiation) conditions are studied to achieve controlled GaN epitaxy on such grooved Si(100) substrates. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy techniques are used to determine uniformity and defectivity of the GaN. Our results show that aforementioned groove structures along with optimized MOCVD growth conditions can be used to achieve controlled local epitaxy of wurtzite phase GaN on on-axis Si(100) substrates.