Graphene-Nanorod Enhanced Quasi-Van Der Waals Epitaxy for High Indium Composition Nitride Films

Shuo Zhang; Bingyao Liu; Fang Ren; Yue Yin; Yunyu Wang; Zhaolong Chen; Bei Jiang; Bingzhi Liu; Zhetong Liu; Jingyu Sun; Meng Liang; Jianchang Yan; Tongbo Wei; Xiaoyan Yi; Junxi Wang; Jinmin Li; Peng Gao; Zhongfan Liu; Zhiqiang Liu

doi:10.1002/smll.202100098

Graphene-Nanorod Enhanced Quasi-Van Der Waals Epitaxy for High Indium Composition Nitride Films

Small. 2021 May;17(19):e2100098. doi: 10.1002/smll.202100098. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Authors

Shuo Zhang^{1

2}, Bingyao Liu^{3

4

5

6}, Fang Ren^{1

2}, Yue Yin^{1

2}, Yunyu Wang^{1

2}, Zhaolong Chen^{5

6}, Bei Jiang⁵, Bingzhi Liu^{5

6

7}, Zhetong Liu^{3

4

5

6}, Jingyu Sun^{6

7}, Meng Liang^{1

2}, Jianchang Yan^{1

2}, Tongbo Wei^{1

2}, Xiaoyan Yi^{1

2}, Junxi Wang^{1

2}, Jinmin Li^{1

2}, Peng Gao^{3

4

6

8}, Zhongfan Liu^{5

6}, Zhiqiang Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Research and Development Center for Semiconductor Lighting Technology, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China.
² Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Electron Microscopy Laboratory and International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁴ Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁵ Center for Nanochemistry (CNC), Beijing Science and Engineering Center for Nanocarbons, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁶ Beijing Graphene Institute (BGI), Beijing, 100095, China.
⁷ College of Energy, Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials Innovations, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory for Advanced Carbon Materials and Wearable Energy Technologies, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, China.
⁸ Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China.

PMID: 33788402
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202100098

Abstract

The nitride films with high indium (In) composition play a crucial role in the fabrication of In-rich InGaN-based optoelectronic devices. However, a major limitation is In incorporation requiring a low temperature during growth at the expense of nitride dissociation. Here, to overcome this limitation, a strain-modulated growth method, namely the graphene (Gr)-nanorod (NR) enhanced quasi-van der Waals epitaxy, is proposed to increase the In composition in InGaN alloy. The lattice transparency of Gr enables constraint of in-plane orientation of nitride film and epitaxial relationships at the heterointerface. The Gr interlayer together with NRs buffer layer substantially reduces the stress of the GaN film by 74.4%, from 0.9 to 0.23 GPa, and thus increases the In incorporation by 30.7%. The first principles calculations confirm that the release of strain accounts for the dramatic improvement. The photoluminescence peak of multiple quantum wells shifts from 461 to 497 nm and the functionally small-sized cyan light-emitting diodes of 7 × 9 mil² are demonstrated. These findings provide an efficient approach for the growth of In-rich InGaN film and extend the applications of nitrides in advanced optoelectronic, photovoltaic, and thermoelectric devices.

Keywords: graphene; high indium composition; nitrides; quasi-van der Waals epitaxy.