Comparative study on structural and optical properties of nitrogen rich InN on Si(110) and 6H-SiC

Abstract

Nitrogen rich indium nitride (InN) thin films were deposited on anisotropic silicon [Si(110)] and 6H-silicon carbide (6H-SiC) substrates by reactive radio frequency sputtering technique. The surface quality of the InN films on Si(110) substrate was compared to that deposited on 6H-SiC substrate. Both deposited films showed wurtzite nanocrystalline InN films with a (101) preferred growth orientation. One Raman active optical phonon of E₂(high) and two Raman and infrared active modes of A₁(LO) and E₁(TO) of the wurtzite InN thin film were clearly observed for both samples. Morphological characteristics showed higher surface quality for InN grown on Si(110) compared to that on SiC substrate. Owing to the large lattice mismatch, it was found that the crystallinity of InN films grown on 6H-SiC substrate degraded as compared to that grown on Si(110).

Keywords:

• InN
• Silicon(110)
• SiC
• Anisotropic
• Nanostructure

Financial support from ERGS, PRGS (grant no. 1001/PFIZIK/844071) and University Sains Malaysia is gratefully acknowledged.