An aberration-corrected STEM study of structural defects in epitaxial GaN thin films grown by ion beam assisted MBE.

Ion-beam assisted molecular-beam epitaxy was used for direct growth of epitaxial GaN thin films on super-polished 6H-SiC(0001) substrates. The GaN films with different film thicknesses were studied using reflection high energy electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, cathodoluminescence and primarily aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy techniques. Special attention was devoted to the microstructural characterization of GaN thin films and the GaN-SiC interface on the atomic scale. The results show a variety of defect types in the GaN thin films and at the GaN-SiC interface. A high crystalline quality of the produced hexagonal GaN thin films was demonstrated. The gained results are discussed.