Application of highly silicon-doped marker layers in the investigation of unintentional doping in GaN on sapphire.

To provide a route to the assessment of the impact of inclined facets on unintentional n-type doping during the growth of c-plane GaN on sapphire, thin (100 nm), highly Si-doped (at 10¹⁹ cm⁻³) marker layers have been incorporated into a GaN epitaxial layer grown by a method involving a transition from initial three-dimensional island growth to later, two-dimensional, planar growth. Imaging of the completed epitaxial layer in cross-section by scanning capacitance microscopy reveals the shapes of the islands, which were present during the early stages of growth and the relationship between the facets present and the incorporation of unintentional dopants. The results show that unintentional dopants are mostly incorporated on facets inclined to the [0001] direction, and suggest that gaseous impurities present in the MOVPE reactor are one source of dopant species.