On the kinetics of growth of highly defective GaN epilayers and the origin of the deep trap responsible for yellow-band luminescence

The kinetics of growth of GaN/(0001) sapphire heteroepitaxial films have been examined in the relatively low substrate temperature range, 560–640 °C, using the reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) specular reflection intensity monitoring technique. In particular, an alternate element exposure method of growth was employed in which Ga and N atoms were supplied separately (rather than simultaneously, as in conventional molecular beam epitaxy) to the substrate with the inclusion of a time delay between successive Ga flux and N flux exposures. We interpret the observed time dependent recovery of the RHEED specular reflection intensity during the time delay phases to be associated with Ga–N surface molecule migration on Ga-terminated surfaces and the activation energy for this migration process was determined to be 1.45±0.25 eV.