Properties of Amorphous Gan Grown on Silicon

The success of crystalline GaN as an optical and electronic material has motivated an enormous effort to explore all aspects of the material. Little is known and reported about the amorphous phase of this semiconducting wide band gap material. In this paper, we report on the properties of amorphous GaN (a-GaN) grown on p-Si at 443K using electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma-assisted metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Silicon is a potential alternative to sapphire due to its high quality and readily available as a large diameter and low cost substrates. The film was analyzed by a variety of methods, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The current-voltage characteristics of a-GaN/Si heterojunction were measured from room temperature to 363K. Rectification behavior and photovoltaic effect were observed for this anisotype heterojunction. The electrical characteristics of Ni Schottky barriers on a-GaN were also investigated.