Low-Temperature Epitaxial Growth of the Quaternary Wide Band Gap Semiconductor SiCAlN

R. Roucka; J. Tolle; A. V. G. Chizmeshya; P. A. Crozier; C. D. Poweleit; D. J. Smith; I. S. T. Tsong; J. Kouvetakis

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.206102

Low-Temperature Epitaxial Growth of the Quaternary Wide Band Gap Semiconductor SiCAlN

R. Roucka, J. Tolle, A. V. G. Chizmeshya, P. A. Crozier, C. D. Poweleit, D. J. Smith, I. S. T. Tsong, and J. Kouvetakis

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 206102 – Published 2 May 2002

Abstract

Two compounds SiC and AlN, normally insoluble in each other below $\sim 2000 ° C$ , are synthesized as a single-phase solid-solution thin film by molecular beam epitaxy at 750 °C. The growth of epitaxial SiCAlN films with hexagonal structure takes place on 6H-SiC(0001) substrates. Two structural models for the hexagonal SiCAlN films are constructed based on first-principles total-energy density functional theory calculations, each showing agreement with the experimental microstructures observed in cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images. The predicted fundamental band gap is 3.2 eV for the stoichiometric SiCAlN film.

Received 28 November 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.206102

Authors & Affiliations

R. Roucka¹, J. Tolle², A. V. G. Chizmeshya³, P. A. Crozier³, C. D. Poweleit¹, D. J. Smith^1,3, I. S. T. Tsong¹, and J. Kouvetakis²

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287
²Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287
³Center for Solid State Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287