Spatial distribution of carrier concentration in un-doped GaN film grown on sapphire

Abstract

The depth and lateral dependent carrier concentration of un-intentionally doped GaN film grown on sapphire substrate have been studied by temperature-dependent Hall effect measurement, confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. The depth-dependent free carrier concentration extracted from the depth-profiled Raman spectra confirms a non-uniform spatial distribution of free carriers in the GaN film with a highly conductive layer of ~1 m thickness near the GaN/sapphire boundary. The temperature dependent Hall data have been analyzed using two-layer model to extract the carrier concentration in the GaN bulk film and in the parallel conduction channel adjacent to the GaN/sapphire boundary. The carrier concentrations of the two layers derived from the Raman technique and the Hall measurements agree with each other. The lateral-dependent carrier concentration of the 2-inch GaN epitaxial wafer has also been studied by micro-Raman spectroscopy and C-V measurements. The line-shape fitting of the Raman A1(LO) coupled modes taken from horizontal lateral-different positions on the wafer yielded a rudimentary spatial map of the carrier concentration. These data are compared well with a lateral-dependent carrier concentration map of the wafer revealed by C-V measurements. The study in the article indicates that Raman spectroscopy of the LO phonon-plasmon mode can be used as a nondestructive and reliable, in situ diagnostic for GaN wafer production.