III-N material grown on REN epitaxial buffer on Si substrate

1. A method of growing III-N material on a silicon substrate comprising the steps of:

providing a single crystal silicon substrate;

epitaxially growing a single crystal rare earth oxide on the silicon substrate;

epitaxially growing a single crystal rare earth nitride on the single crystal rare earth oxide; and

epitaxially growing a layer of single crystal III-N material on the single crystal rare earth nitride.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth oxide includes selecting a rare earth oxide with a cubic crystal structure.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth oxide with the cubic crystal structure includes epitaxially growing single crystal erbium oxide (Er 2 O 3 ).

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth nitride includes selecting a rare earth nitride with a cubic crystal structure.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth nitride with the cubic crystal structure includes epitaxially growing single crystal erbium nitride (ErN).

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth oxide and the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth nitride include using the same rare earth metal.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth oxide and the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth nitride using the same rare earth metal includes using erbium to form Er 2 O 3 and ErN.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the layer of single crystal III-N material includes epitaxially growing GaN.

9. A method of growing III-N material on a silicon substrate comprising the steps of:

providing a single crystal silicon substrate;

epitaxially growing a single crystal rare earth oxide with a cubic crystal structure on the silicon substrate;

epitaxially growing a single crystal rare earth nitride with a cubic crystal structure on the single crystal rare earth oxide; and

epitaxially growing a layer of single crystal III-N material on the single crystal rare earth nitride.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth oxide and the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth nitride include using the same rare earth metal.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth oxide and the step of epitaxially growing the single crystal rare earth nitride using the same rare earth metal includes using erbium to form Er 2 O 3 and ErN.

12. A method of growing semiconductor REN material on a silicon substrate comprising the steps of:

providing a single crystal silicon substrate;

selecting and epitaxially growing one of a single crystal buffer including multiple layers of rare earth oxide and a single crystal buffer including a layer of rare earth oxide and a layer of rare earth oxynitride on the silicon substrate, the selected single crystal buffer having a lower portion adjacent the silicon substrate with a crystal lattice constant substantially matched to silicon and having an upper portion adjacent an upper surface with a crystal lattice constant substantially matched to a semiconductor rare earth nitride; and

epitaxially growing on the upper surface of the selected buffer a single crystal semiconductor rare earth nitride layer.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the step of selecting and growing the buffer includes selecting and growing multiple layers of rare earth oxide, and the multiple layers of rare earth oxide include a lower layer RE 01 and an upper layer REO 2 , the multiple layers are each further selected to have a crystal lattice conforming to the equation a REO2 <a REO1 .

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the step of selecting the buffer having the lower portion with the crystal lattice constant matched to silicon includes selecting a REO material for the lower portion conforming to the equation a REO1 <2a si , and the step of selecting the buffer having the upper portion with the crystal lattice constant matched to the semiconductor rare earth nitride includes selecting a rare earth oxide material for the upper portion and a semiconductor rare earth nitride material so as to conform to the equation a REN <(½) a REO2 .

15. The method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the step of selecting and growing the buffer includes selecting and growing the layer of rare earth oxide and the layer of rare earth oxynitride, and the layer of rare earth oxide and the layer of rare earth oxynitride are each further selected to have a crystal lattice conforming to the equation a REON <a REO1 .

16. The method as claimed in claim 15 wherein the step of selecting the buffer having the lower portion with the crystal lattice constant matched to silicon includes selecting a REO material for the lower portion conforming to the equation a REO1 <2a si , and the step of selecting the buffer having the upper portion with the crystal lattice constant matched to the semiconductor rare earth nitride includes selecting a rare earth oxynitride material for the upper portion and the semiconductor rare earth nitride material so as to conform to the equation a REN <a REON .

17. III-N material on a silicon substrate comprising:

a single crystal silicon substrate;

a single crystal epitaxial rare earth oxide positioned on the silicon substrate;

a single crystal epitaxial rare earth nitride positioned on the single crystal rare earth oxide, wherein the single crystal epitaxial rare earth nitride includes a rare earth nitride with a cubic crystal structure; and

a layer of single crystal epitaxial III-N material positioned on the single crystal rare earth nitride.

18. The III-N material on a silicon substrate as claimed in claim 17 wherein the single crystal epitaxial rare earth nitride with the cubic crystal structure includes single crystal erbium nitride (ErN).

19. The III-N material on a silicon substrate as claimed in claim 17 wherein the layer of single crystal epitaxial III-N material includes single crystal epitaxial GaN.

20. The III-N material on a silicon substrate as claimed in claim 17 wherein the single crystal epitaxial rare earth oxide includes a rare earth oxide with a cubic crystal structure.

21. The III-N material on a silicon substrate as claimed in claim 20 wherein the single crystal epitaxial rare earth oxide with the cubic crystal structure includes single crystal erbium oxide (Er 2 O 3 ).

22. The III-N material on a silicon substrate as claimed in claim 17 wherein the single crystal epitaxial rare earth oxide and the single crystal epitaxial rare earth nitride include the same rare earth metal.

23. The III-N material on a silicon substrate as claimed in claim 22 wherein the single crystal epitaxial rare earth oxide and the single crystal epitaxial rare earth nitride include erbium in the form of Er 2 O 3 and ErN.