Improved nitrogen transport is crucial for enhancing the growth rate of GaN crystals using the Na-flux method. This study investigates the nitrogen transport mechanism during the growth of GaN crystals by the Na-flux method using a combination of numerical simulations and experiments. The results indicate that the temperature field affects the effect of nitrogen transfer, and we propose a novel bottom ring heating approach to optimize the temperature field and enhance nitrogen transfer during the growth of GaN crystals. The simulation results demonstrate that optimizing the temperature field improves nitrogen transfer by causing convection within the melt to float up from the crucible wall and sink at the crucible center. This enhancement improves the nitrogen transfer from the gas-liquid interface to the GaN crystal growth surface, thereby accelerating the growth rate of GaN crystals. Additionally, the simulation results indicate that the optimized temperature field substantially reduces polycrystalline generation at the crucible wall. These findings are also a realistic guide to the growth of other crystals in the liquid phase method.
© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.