Journal of ELECTRONIC MATERIALS

DOI: 10.1007/s11664-015-3855-9
Ó 2015 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

Study of Surface and Interface Roughness of GaN-Based Films

Using Spectral Reflectance Measurements

Z. BENZARTI,1 M. KHELIFI,1 I. HALIDOU,1,2,3,4 and B. EL JANI1

1.—Unité de recherche sur les Hétéro-Epitaxies et Applications, Faculté des Sciences, 5019
Monastir, Tunisia. 2.—Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université
Abdou Moumouni, BP 10662, Niamey, Niger. 3.—e-mail: halidouibrahim@yahoo.fr. 4.—e-mail:
ibrahim.halidou@fsm.rnu.tn

GaN films were grown using SiN treatment of sapphire substrate by met-
alorganic vapor-phase epitaxy in a home-made vertical reactor at atmospheric
pressure. The growth was interrupted at different stages to investigate the
impact of interface and surface roughness on the optical properties of the GaN
layers. A transition from a three-dimensional (3D) to two-dimensional (2D)
growth mode was revealed by real-time in situ laser reflectometry
(k = 632.8 nm) as well as by atomic force microscopy images. A theoretical
model is proposed to determine the refractive index evolution during GaN layer
growth based on the Bruggeman effective medium approximation. Ex situ
multiwavelength reflectivity signals were fit to the thin-film interference
equations to derive the evolution of the effective refractive indexes for the
surface and interface GaN layer, thereby determining the refractive index of
the GaN layer during growth. Ex situ spectroscopic ellipsometry measure-
ments of the GaN layer refractive indexes at different growth stages were
compared with calculated results. Moreover, an empirical law was developed to
fit the refractive index evolution during GaN layer growth and used for in situ
reflectivity signal simulation in order to deduce the growth rate. Finally, good
agreement was observed between the experimental and theoretical findings.

Key words: GaN, MOVPE, multiwavelength reflectivity, refractive index,

ellipsometry

INTRODUCTION substrates.5–9 The optical material parameters

of selected theoretical models are obtained by
In the last few years, optoelectronic devices made of
minimizing the difference between experimental and
group III nitrides (GaN, InxGa1xN, and AlxGa1xN)
theoretical reflectivity signals during the growth
have been the subject of extensive research and
process. The nonlinearity of the reflectivity equations
development for use in short-wavelength applica-
leads to multiple solutions for unconstrained opti-
tions in the green through near-ultraviolet spectral
mization methods, causing the optimization algo-
regions.1 Devices including light-emitting diodes
rithm to fall into local minima. Indeed, to reach the
(LEDs),2 laser diodes,3 and photodiodes4 have been
global minimum in the optimization method and thus
used for display panels, optical storage, printing, and
identify unique optical parameters, the model’s
solar-blind detection applications. Accurate model-
coefficients have to be constrained to intervals that
ing and design of such devices requires accurate
respect their physical meanings.10,11
determination of the refractive index dispersion of
In the present work, growth of GaN layers on
the materials. Different approaches have been
SiN-treated sapphire substrates was carried out,
proposed to deduce the optical parameters of
with the deposition of the GaN layers being inter-
thin absorbing films deposited on transparent
rupted at various stages of the process to better
understand the surface coverage mechanism during
(Received February 20, 2015; accepted May 14, 2015) the initial stages of epitaxial growth of GaN at high

temperature. Multiwavelength reflectivity curves
corresponding to these deposition sequences were fit
to reflectivity equations based on the thin-film
optical interference principle, thereby determining
the refractive index evolution of the epilayer during
the growth process. This refractive index evolution
is influenced by the GaN surface and GaN/sapphire
interface roughness. It has been demonstrated that,
during the growth process, the roughness of the
surface and interface layers could be correlated to
the refractive index layer evolution by modeling the
roughness as an effective layer with its own thickness.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
GaN layers were grown using SiN treatment by
metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) on
sapphire (0001) in a home-made vertical reactor at
atmospheric pressure. Trimethylgallium (TMG) and
ammonia (NH3) were used as Ga and N precursors,
respectively. The carrier gas was a mixture of H2
and N2. After a nitridation step at 1080°C in
NH3 + N2 + H2 ambient, SiN treatment was carried
out by introducing SiH4 into the growth chamber.
This treatment promotes a kind of in situ epitaxial
lateral overgrowth (ELO) process by randomly
nanomasking the sapphire substrate surface
with a SiN layer. Afterward, the temperature was
decreased to 600°C in order to deposit a GaN buffer
layer. After a temperature ramp from 600°C to
1120°C, the GaN epilayer was finally grown. The
growth was monitored in situ using a He-Ne laser
reflectometry (k = 632.8 nm) setup. More details of
the growth process and the optimum growth condi-
tions have been reported elsewhere.12–14
Ex situ reflectivity measurements were per-
formed at room temperature in air for all samples.
Polychromatic light from a halogen lamp was used
as the light source. The reflected light was detected
using a charge-coupled device (CCD) operating in
the wavelength range from 200 nm to 1100 nm for
light incident normally onto the surface with mini-
mum spectral acquisition time of 70 ms. This cam-
era served to capture the refracted beams and to
transfer the image data to a personal computer
(PC). The resulting multiple reflections constitute
the sample reflectivity recorded for a spectral
wavelength range. The sample surface morphology
was analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM)
in tapping mode. To validate our ex situ reflectance
signal simulations, ex situ spectroscopic ellip-
sometry (SE) experiments were performed at room
temperature using an automatic ellipsometer
(SOPRA GES5).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Epilayer Growth Process
Figure 1 shows a typical real-time in situ reflec-
tivity signal recorded during the complete growth
Benzarti, Khelifi, Halidou, and El Jani
process. The nitridation and SiN treatment steps
are not indicated as no change is observed in the
reflectivity signal, as reported in Ref. 15. The
reflectivity signal increases with the GaN buffer
layer deposition (stage I), owing to the difference
between the refractive index of sapphire and GaN.
During the temperature ramp from 600°C to 1120°C
(stage II), the reflectivity signal starts to increase
due to recrystallization of the GaN buffer layer,
then it decreases indicating surface roughening of
the layer. The signal drops significantly once the
TMG flows are turned on in the reactor during the
growth of the high-temperature GaN epilayer.15
The appearance of the oscillations (stage I) indi-
cates the beginning of the coalescence process, and
the GaN epilayer undergoes a transition from a 3D
to 2D growth mode. To study the GaN epilayer
property evolution, the growth was interrupted at
different stages (labeled from E to I) during the
process. The stages were selected to cover all the
steps of the coalescence process. From run to run, all
the growth conditions of the samples (E to I) were
similar. The only difference between the investi-
gated samples was the thickness; i.e., layer E
(0.3 lm) was selected during the three-dimensional
growth phase (stage I), layer F (0.8 lm) corresponds
to the phase of the transition from a 3D to 2D
growth mode (stage II), layer G (1.6 lm) was
selected at the beginning of the 2D growth mode,
and finally layers H (2.3 lm) and I (4.5 lm) corre-
spond to the 2D growth phase (stage III). These
thickness values were determined from the in situ
reflectivity signal period.16 These results were con-
firmed by scanning electron microscopy measure-
ments, as listed in Table I; one can see good
agreement between both findings.
Figure 2 shows AFM images of the layers. The
growth process and its evolution from a 3D to 2D
mode are revealed. Indeed, one can observe the
formation of islands. During the growth process,
islands congregate and their size increases to form
wide-sized islands, as shown for sample E. Once the
islands reach their maximum size, the coalescence
process and the transition from a 3D to 2D growth
mode are activated in the optimal growth conditions
(sample F). In this stage, the lateral growth rate
increases. As soon as coalescence is accomplished,
the two-dimensional growth mode takes place from
layer H to layer I, where one can see regular oscil-
lations of the reflectivity signal with steady
maxima.
Epilayer Deposition Modeling
Interference between light reflected from the
surface and interface generates reflectance oscilla-
tions. Moreover, the surface roughness causes laser
light scattering when the size of the defects is larger
than the laser wavelength.17 Also, the scattered
intensity unperceived by the detector is propor-
tional to the total area of the defects. To correlate
Study of Surface and Interface Roughness of GaN-Based Films Using Spectral
Reflectance Measurements
= 632.8 nm G H
TMG ON
Reflectivity (a.u.)
F
E
i ii I II III
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Time (s)
Fig. 1. In situ reflectivity signal versus growth time of GaN layer
elaborated on sapphire substrate using SiN treatment. The different
stages are: (i) buffer layer deposition, (ii) temperature ramp from
600°C to 1120°C, (I) 3D growth mode, (II) coalescence process, and
(III) 2D growth mode.
Table I. Thickness of GaN layers as obtained from
in situ reflectivity and SEM measurements
Thickness (lm)
In Situ Reflectivity
E 0.30
F 0.80
G 1.60
H 2.30
I 4.50
the interference patterns in the reflectance spec-
trum with the scattering defects in the epilayer, the
effective medium approximation (EMA) can be
applied. The surface and interface roughness are
assumed to be apparently smooth layers, commonly
called effective layers, with their own thickness.
Accordingly, their effective refractive index is pre-
sumed to be equivalent to the refractive index of the
two adjacent optical media.18,19 Three effective
medium models, namely using the Lorentz–Lorentz,
Maxwell–Garnett, and Bruggeman approximations,
were used to calculate the refractive index of the
effective layer. These models can be expressed as
follows:
X ej  eh
hei  eh
¼ fj ; (1)
hei þ 2eh j
ej þ 2eh
where e is the dielectric function of the effective
medium, eh is the dielectric function of the host
material, and fj is the fraction of the jth constituent.
The refractivepindex
ffiffi is related to the dielectric con-
stant by n ¼ e. The only difference between the
three EMA models is the choice of the host materi-
al.20 In the Bruggeman EMA, eh ¼ e. Consequently,
I
the rough part of the studied samples can be seen as a
patchwork of air domains in a GaN matrix or vice
versa. The thickness of the effective layer is assumed
to be equal to the depth of the deepest hollow as
extracted from AFM images, as shown in Fig. 3. We
considered that the effective refractive index could
be defined by using the rule of mixture as follows:
 
dair dair
neff ¼ nair þ 1  nGaN ; (2)
deff deff
where neff , nair , and nGaN denote the refractive
indexes of the effective surface layer, of air, and of
GaN, respectively.dair is an equivalent ‘‘air thick-
ness,’’ and deff is the effective surface layer thickness.
6000 7000 Furthermore, the in situ reflectivity signal drops
during the temperature ramp, owing to conversion
of the buffer layer from a 2D to 3D layer. Therefore,
the interface roughness should be included in the
model formulation. The effective refractive index is
related to the effective interface layer and is defined
as an equivalent value of the refractive indexes of
the GaN buffer and thin SiN layers. Figure 4 pre-
sents a simple diagram for modeling the surface and
interface roughness during GaN epilayer deposition
on SiN-treated sapphire substrate.
Determination of Refractive Index Evolution
SEM
To determine the refractive index of the grown
0.28 GaN layers, experimental multiwavelength reflec-
0.81 tivity data were fit using equations based on the
1.58 general thin-film optical interference principle.
2.15 Figure 5 shows a comparison of the theoretical
4.54 ex situ multiwavelength reflectivity signals with the
experimental findings; the good agreement between
them is evident. This accordance is due to the validity
of the proposed schema (Fig. 4) in which the rough-
ness is accurately modeled as effective layers at the
GaN surface and GaN/sapphire interface. It is worth
noting that the sapphire surface is assumed to be a
perfectly smooth substrate. In fact, the sapphire
wafer used exhibits a small surface roughness.
However, its effect is presumed to be negligible, and
the flatness is not considered. Moreover, we have
carried out sensitivity analysis on the effect of the
sapphire refractive index on the resultant refractive
index of the GaN layer. Several simulations were
performed, and we found that variations of the sap-
phire index by as much as ±0.02 had only a negligible
effect on the computed results.
The effective refractive index of the effective
surface layer is shown versus wavelength in Fig. 6.
It is worth noting that the effective refractive index
(neff) of the effective surface layer varies widely
during the growth process evolution. To understand
this behavior, Fig. 7 shows a plot of the effective
refractive index (neff) versus the layer thickness for
a selected wavelength of k = 632.8 nm, the wave-
length used in the in situ reflectivity measurements
during growth. This behavior is strongly related to
 Benzarti, Khelifi, Halidou, and El Jani

Fig. 2. 3D AFM images of GaN samples.

the evolution of islands during the growth. Indeed, refractive index of air. During the growth, the size
in the early stage of the growth, the hollows are very of the islands increases and they congregate, prob-
deep and the islands are separated from each other ably owing to the dominant effect of the vertical
by a large amount of air. Thus, neff is close to the growth velocity.21 Once the maximum island size is
Study of Surface and Interface Roughness of GaN-Based Films Using Spectral
Reflectance Measurements

900
800
700
600

Z[nm]
500
400
300
200
100
0
1.0µm 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
X[µm]

(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Example of longitudinal cross-section (b) made in an AFM image (a) of the sample F.

Air
deff Effecve surface layer
GaN layer
GaN
SiN+ GaN buffer Effecve interface layer
Sapphire
Fig. 4. Proposed schema for modeling the surface and interface
roughness as effective layers with their own thickness in GaN epi-
layer growth on SiN-treated sapphire substrate.
reached, the coalescence process is activated and
neff increases towards the refractive index value of
the GaN layer (samples F and G). This can be ex-
plained by a transition from a 3D to 2D growth
mode. After this stage, neff decreases along with the
reduction of the GaN effective layer thickness until
it vanishes (samples H and I). This phase corre-
sponds to a 2D growth mode.
Breiland and Killen developed an effective inter-
face model for multilayer structures with smooth
interfaces to calculate the refractive index of a GaN
layer during growth.22 This concept is closely
related to the ‘‘equivalent layer’’ concept.22–24 Brei-
land and Killen exploited this concept to determine
the optical parameters and growth rate from the
in situ reflectivity signal. Hauge showed that any
multiple-layer film can be modeled as a single layer
on an ‘‘effective substrate.’’25,26 In the present
study, it is assumed that the effective surface layer
and the smooth GaN layer can be considered
together as equivalent to one layer with total
refractive index nf (i.e., the GaN layer refractive
index), expressed as follows:
 
deff deff
nf ¼  neff þ 1   nc ; (3)
dtotal dtotal
where dtotal and deff represent the total thickness of
the GaN layer and the thickness of the effective
surface layer, respectively. nc is the refractive index
of a smooth GaN layer. The calculated results
obtained for the wavelength of k = 632.8 nm are
listed in Table II. It is worth noting that the total
refractive index increases with the thickness evo-
lution of the GaN layer until it reaches a steady
value corresponding to the refractive index of a
smooth GaN layer. Fitouri et al. found a similar
behavior, once the coalescence process takes place.27
The nf profile versus thickness is given in Fig. 8. To
fit the refractive index with respect to the thickness
evolution, the following empirical law is proposed:
 
dGaN  d0
nf ¼ nbulk GaN  Dn  exp  ; (4)
d0
where nbulk GaN = 2.376, Dn = 1.29, and d0 =
170 nm. dGaN is the GaN thickness, nbulk GaN rep-
resents the refractive index of a smooth GaN layer,

Dn is assumed to be the difference between  GaN
nbulk
and the initial refractive index, and dGaNd0d0 rep-
resents a relative thickness.
Accordingly, one can conclude that this variation of
the refractive index of the GaN layer is the main factor
responsible for the behavior of the in situ reflectivity
signal obtained during the growth of the GaN film on
the SiN-treated sapphire substrate. Such behavior is
related to the initial 3D growth mode up to the 2D
growth regime. A similar approach was also success-
fully applied by Leycuras et al.17 to monitor the evo-
lution of both the refractive index and growth rate
during the surface transformation of an As-doped Ge
layer deposited on a GaAs substrate. Those authors
reported that the effective refractive index (neff) of the
 Benzarti, Khelifi, Halidou, and El Jani

(a) Layer E Experimental

(b) Experimental
Theoretical Layer F Theoretical

Reflectivity (a.u.)
Reflectivity (a.u)

400 500 600 700 800 400 500 600 700 800
wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)

(c) Layer G Experimental (d) Layer H

Experimental
Theoretical
Theoretical

Reflectivity (a.u)
Reflectivity (a.u)

400 500 600 700 800 400 500 600 700 800
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)

(e) Layer I Experimental

Theoretical
Reflectivity (a.u)

500 600 700 800

Wavelength (nm)
Fig. 5. Ex situ multiwavelength reflectivity curves of samples E (a), F (b), G (c), H (d), and I (e) (open circles: experimental, solid lines: theoretical fits).

smallest thickness of Ge was lower than the refractive On the other hand, modeling of the ex situ mul-
index of Ge (nGe) (3.2 instead of 4.3); in other words, the tiwavelength reflectivity spectra also showed a
layer encompassed 3D Ge islands. These islands coa- refractive index variation of the effective interface
lesced when neff just reached nGe at the Ge/GaAs in- layer lying intermediate between the refractive
terface. For thicker layers, the homogeneous layer index of the GaN buffer layer and the thin SiN
thickness (neff = nGe = 4.3) increased along with a layer. Figure 9 displays the variation of this
decrease of the layer roughness. refractive index versus thickness. For samples F, G,
Study of Surface and Interface Roughness of GaN-Based Films Using Spectral
Reflectance Measurements
2.7
2.4 F G H I
Effective surface layer

Refractive index of GaN layer

Effective refractive index

G
2.3
2.4 F
2.2

H
2.1 2.1

= 632.8 nm
E 2.0

I
E
1.8
1.9
500 600 700 800 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Thickness (nm)
Wavelength (nm)
Fig. 8. Evolution of refractive index of GaN layer versus thickness
Fig. 6. Calculated effective refractive index of the effective surface
obtained for samples E, F, G, H, and I.
layer profile versus wavelength for samples E, F, G, H, and I.

= 632.8 nm = 632.8 nm
Effective surface layer 2.1
2.4 G
800 F G H I
F
Effective refractive index
Effective refractive index

Height of islands (nm)

2.0
2.2 600

H
400 1.9 Effective interface layer
2.0
E
200
I 1.8
1.8 E
0

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 1.7

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Thickness (nm)
Thickness (nm)
Fig. 7. Calculated effective refractive index for k = 632.8 nm, along
with AFM-measured island heights of the effective surface layer Fig. 9. Evolution of refractive index of effective interface layer versus
during GaN layer growth. thickness obtained for samples E, F, G, H, and I.

Table II. Calculated GaN layer refractive index results

Sample deff/dtotal 1 2 deff/dtotal neff nf

E 0.997 0.003 1.951 1.953

F 0.829 0.170 2.361 2.364
G 0.442 0.557 2.368 2.373
H 0.004 0.995 2.055 2.376
I 0.001 0.998 1.829 2.377
Smooth GaN layer 0 1 1 2.378

and I, the curve is a horizontal straight line at  

dGaN  150
2.04. However, for layer E (the roughest com- nf ¼ 2:04  1:04  exp  : (5)
pared with the other layers), the refractive index 150
of the effective interface layer is about 1.75,
which corresponds to a compound effect of the
refractive indexes of air, SiN, and the GaN buffer Procedure Validation
layer. It can be noted that this refractive
index behavior is similar to that of the GaN To assess the accuracy of the proposed method for
layer. The coefficients of the empirical law were calculating the refractive index of a GaN layer on
also determined, as follows: SiN-treated sapphire during the growth process,
 Benzarti, Khelifi, Halidou, and El Jani

Experimental
(a) Experimental (b) Layer F Theoretical
Layer E Theoretical

0.4

0.5

0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Wavelength (µm) Wavelength (µm)

(c) Experimental
(d) Layer H
Experimental
Theoretical
Layer G theoretical

0.5
0.5

0.0 0.0
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Wavelength (µm) Wavelength (µm)

(e) Experimental
Layer I Theoretical

0.5

0.0
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Wavelength (µm)
Fig. 10. Experimental ellipsometry spectra (open circles) along with signals fitted using the Sellmeier equation (solid lines) for samples E
(a), F (b), G (c), H (d), and I (e).

two validation procedures were carried out: (i) a
comparison between the GaN layer refractive
indexes obtained from the multiwavelength signals
and ellipsometry spectra, and (ii) in situ reflectivity
simulation.
Comparison with Ellipsometry Results
For further insight into the variation of the
refractive index of the GaN layer, ex situ spectro-
scopic ellipsometry (SE) was performed on the
samples. We measured cos D and tan w in the en-
ergy range from 1.4 eV to 5.4 eV. We extracted the
refractive index by fitting the (SE) spectra using the
simple Sellmeier dispersion relationship.28 We
clearly observed a good fit of the experimental (SE)
spectra using the Sellmeier equation, especially for
thicker samples, as shown in Fig. 10. The discrep-
ancy for thinner layers can be explained by the fact
that the (SE) parameter w is sensitive to the pres-
ence of a few thin overlayers on the surface, such as
an oxide or roughness layer. Figure 11 shows the
Study of Surface and Interface Roughness of GaN-Based Films Using Spectral
Reflectance Measurements

= 632.8 nm Rexp
2.4 = 632.8 nm
4 Rth
Refractive index of GaN layer

G H I
2.3
F

In-situ reflectivity (a.u.)

3
2.2
ellipsometry
reflectivity
2.1
2

2.0

1
1.9
E
1.8 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

Thickness (nm) 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Time (s)
Fig. 11. Comparison between GaN layer refractive indexes as
determined by ellipsometry and from multiwavelength reflectivity Fig. 12. In situ reflectivity signal simulation for k = 632.8 nm.
spectra for samples E, F, G, H, and I.

= 632.8 nm

Refractive index of interface layer

evolution

Refractive index of GaN layer

2.4
of the refractive index versus thickness as deter-
2.0
mined by ellipsometry and from multiwavelength
reflectivity spectra. This good correlation between
the two results confirms the evolution of the 2.0

refractive index during the growth.

1.6
In Situ Reflectivity Simulation 1.6

Using the developed empirical laws, which

express the variation of the refractive index of GaN
and effective interface layers, an in situ reflectivity 1.2 1.2

(i.e., depending on time evolution) simulation was

carried out. Figure 12 depicts the theoretical results
along with the in situ reflectivity signal, showing
good agreement between them.
To determine the vertical growth rate variation
during the growth process, the following time-de-
pendent relationship proposed by Liu and Watson29
was used:
 
t  t0
Vc ðtÞ ¼ Vcf  ðVcf  Vc0 Þ  exp ; (6)
s
where Vc0 and Vcf are the initial and final growth
rates, respectively. t0 is the initial time, and s rep-
resents the reflectance recovery time.
Consequently, the time-dependent thickness can
be expressed by the following equation28:
Zt
dc ðtÞ ¼ dc0 þ
t0
where dc0 is the initial GaN thickness at the initial
time t0.
The present model, which takes account of the
roughness during the growth, is considered as a
good alternative to the Liu and Watson model,29
particularly in growth stage I (Fig. 1), where their
model fails. The main advantage of the model that
500 1000 1500 2000
Thickness (nm)
Fig. 13. Calculated refractive index of GaN layer and effective
interface layer during growth process.
we propose is the assumption of a variable refractive
index during the growth process. The refractive
index of the GaN layer increases up to the refractive
index of 2D GaN, as depicted in Fig. 13. The value
reached is quite close to the value of 2.45 reported
by Liu et al.30 The refractive index of the effective
interface layer increases up to a steady value of
2.21.
The growth rate profile is reported in Fig. 14. The
characteristic time constant s is 2331 s, the initial
Vc ðtÞdt; (7) growth rate Vc0 is 0.3 nm s1, and the growth rate
converges to the value of 0.49 nm s1 in the 2D
growth mode. The low growth rate during the first
stage of GaN layer growth (stage I) can be at-
tributed to the low stacking of GaN on the SiN
mask. Therefore, the GaN nuclei are deposited
randomly on voids created by the SiN mask. It takes
time for the nuclei to organize themselves on the
substrate surface. Accordingly, the vertical growth
rate increases as the roughness decreases, thereby

λ = 632.8 nm
GaN layer growth rate (nm/s)
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
3000 4000 5000
Time (s)
Fig. 14. Time-dependent growth rate profile of GaN layer.
improving the surface quality of the final GaN
epilayer.
CONCLUSIONS
GaN layer growth was investigated following SiN
treatment of sapphire substrate by MOVPE in a
home-made vertical reactor at atmospheric pres-
sure. The growth was interrupted at different
stages of the growth process to analyze the evolu-
tion of the morphological and optical characteristics.
A theoretical model is proposed to correlate the
roughness to the refractive index of the GaN layer
during the transition from a 3D to 2D growth mode,
as revealed by the real-time in situ reflectivity sig-
nal and the AFM images. The roughness at the
surface and interface of the GaN layer during the
evolution are modeled using apparently smooth
layers, so-called effective layers. The experimental
ex situ multiwavelength reflectivity spectra are fit
to the thin-film interference equations to calculate
the variable refractive index of the GaN layer dur-
ing the growth process. Thereby, a direct relation-
ship between the refractive index variation and the
GaN layer thickness is derived. Experimental
refractive indexes measured by ellipsometry during
the GaN layer growth and theoretical values cal-
culated using the proposed model are compared and
found to show good agreement. Furthermore, the
growth rate evolution during the GaN layer growth
is deduced by exploiting the theoretical refractive
index relationship to simulate the in situ reflectivity
spectrum. The current findings show that this
model achieves successful prediction of the refrac-
tive index during the GaN layer growth process.
Benzarti, Khelifi, Halidou, and El Jani
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Dr. A. Rebey, and
Dr. A. Khalfallah for helpful discussions. This work
is supported by DGRST.
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