Evaluation of a new plasma source for molecular beam epitaxial growth of InN and GaN films

An RF plasma source has been integrated into a molecular beam epitaxial system for growth of nitride films. Using an optical detector on the source, the presence of nitrogen atoms in the N 2 plasma region is deduced as a function of operating conditions. The plasma source has been used to grow hexagonal wurtzite films of InN and GaN. The film-substrate interface is more abrupt for GaN than InN films. For site competition the active nitrogen species from the plasma is found to incorporate more readily than As 2 .