Method to grow group III-nitrides on copper using passivation layers
View Patent ↗Group III-nitride epilayers can be grown directly on copper substrates using intermediate passivation layers. For example, single crystalline c-plane GaN can be grown on Cu (110) substrates with MOCVD. The growth relies on a low temperature AlN passivation layer to isolate any alloying reaction between Ga and Cu.
1. A method to grow a Group III-nitride on a copper substrate, comprising:
providing a copper substrate;
growing a passivation layer on the copper substrate; and
growing a Group III-nitride epilayer on the passivation layer by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the copper substrate comprises crystalline copper.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the crystalline copper comprises single crystal Cu (110), Cu(100), or Cu(111), or oriented polycrystalline copper.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passivation layer comprises AlN, SiN, or TiN.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of growing a passivation layer comprises physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, sputtering, reactive sputtering, or pulsed laser deposition.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the passivation layer is between 2 and 50 nm.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Group III-nitride comprises an AlGaInN alloy.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the AlGaInN alloy comprises GaN.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the GaN comprises single crystalline c-plane GaN.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Group III-nitride epilayer is grown at a growth temperature of greater than 500° C.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Group III-nitride epilayer is grown at a growth temperature of less than 1085° C.