Low-temperature growth of crystalline GaN films using energetic neutral atomic-beam lithography/epitaxy

Crystalline and polycrystalline gallium nitride films have been grown on bare c-axis-oriented sapphire at low temperatures (100 °C to 500 °C) using energetic neutral atom-beam lithography/epitaxy. Surface chemistry is activated by exposing substrates to nitrogen atoms with kinetic energies between 0.5 and 5.0 eV and a simultaneous flux of Ga metal, allowing low-temperature growth of GaN thin films. The as-grown GaN films show semiconducting properties, a high degree of crystallinity, and excellent epitaxial alignment. This method of low-temperature nitride film growth opens opportunities for integrating novel substrate materials with group III nitride technologies.