Printed with permission of The Institute of Pure and Applied Physics (IPAP)

JAPANESE JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Vol.42 (2003) pp.2549-2559
Part1 No.5A, May 2003

Invited Review Paper

RF-Molecular Beam Epitaxy Growth andProperties of InN and Related Alloys
Yasushi NANISHI, Yoshiki SAITO and Tomohiro YAMAGUCHIThe fundamental band gap of InN has
been thought to be about 1.9 eV for a longtime. Recent developments of metalorganic
vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and RF-molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MBE) growth technologies have made it possible to obtain highquality InN films. A lot of experimental results
have been presented very recently, suggestingthat the true band-gap energy of InN shouldbe less than 1.0 eV. In this paper, we review
the results of the detailed study of RF-MBE
growth conditions for obtaining high-quality
InN films. The full widths at half maximum(FWHMs) of ω -mode X-ray diffraction (XRD),
ω –2θ mode XRD and E 2 (high-frequency)phonon-mode peaks in the Raman scattering spectrum of the grown layer were 236.7
arcsec, 28.9 arcsec and 3.7 cm-1, respectively.
The carrier concentration and room temperature electron mobility were 4.9 × 1018cm-3
and 1130 cm2/Vs, respectively. Photoluminescence and optical absorption measurementsof these high-quality InN films have clearly
demonstrated that the fundamental band
gap of InN is about 0.8 eV. Studies on thegrowth and characterization of InGaN alloys
over the entire alloy composition further supported that the fundamental band gap of InN
is about 0.8 eV.
KEYWORDS: InN, InGaN, band gap, RFMBE, characterization, PL, optical absorption, XRD, EXAFS,
Raman scattering

1. Introduction
InN is a very attractive material for future
optical and electronic devices. This is becauseof its outstanding material properties such as
smallest effective mass, largest mobility, highest peak and saturation velocities, and smallest direct band gap in nitride semiconductors.
However, until now, InN has been the leaststudied of nitride semiconductors. This ismainly due to the difficulty in obtaining highquality InN crystals, which is due to the low
dissociation temperature, high equilibrium
vapor pressure of nitrogen molecules and thelack of suitable substrates for InN.
Studies on InN started in the beginningof the 20th century with an attempt to growbulk InN from a melt.1) The attempt was not
successful because of the low dissociation
temperature and high vapor pressure of nitrogen molecules.2)
The next step in growing InN moved beyond the equilibrium approach to the nonequilibrium approach using various substratematerials by various growth methods including DC, RF, and magnetron sputtering. 3–5)
The InN films obtained by these methods inthe 1970s and 1980s were all polycrystalline,
some with an aligned orientation along thec-axis; the films also contained an extremely
high defect density.
The physical parameters of InN were determined using these crystals. The first estimated direct band gap was about 1.9 eV.6)
However, other studies reported values ranging from 1.7 to 3.1 eV.3,7–11) The most commonly cited measurement on optical absorption is that of Tansley and Foley;12) theyreported band gap energy of 1.89 eV at room
temperature.
In the late 1980s, improvements ingrowth techniques have made it possible toobtain single-crystalline InN. Single-crystalline
InN was reported by Matsuoka et al.13) for the

Department of Photonics, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Noji-Higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan(Received January 10, 2003; accepted for publication March 11, 2003)©2003 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

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JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

first time in 1989 using metalorganic vapor
phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Subsequently, several
efforts14,15) were made to improve the quality of InN and high-quality films with carrier
concentrations on the order of 1018 cm-3 andmobilities of 730 cm2/ Vs16) were obtained.
Growth by MOVPE, however, has an inherent disadvantage because it must satisfy theconditions for NH3 pyrolysis and InN dissociation, which impose conflicting temperature
requirements.
In contrast, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)
equipped with an RF plasma source has an
essential advantage over MOVPE for obtaining high-quality InN. In this growth method,
neutral and ionized excited-state nitrogenatoms and molecules can be generated separately by plasma sources. Thus, the crystal
growth temperature can be set independently without considering the nitrogen source.
The first attempt to grow single-crystalline InN by the RF-MBE method was reportedby Hoke et al. in 1991.17) Improvements incrystal quality were realized by various techniques such as insertion of low-temperature
GaN,18) AlN,19) and InN20) buffer layers. Withina relatively short period of time, MBE growthstudies produced high-quality films with residual electron concentrations of 1.6 × 1018
cm -3 and a room temperature mobility of1180 cm2/ Vs.18) Such rapid progress is probably due to the inherent advantage of the MBE
growth method.
Photoluminescence (PL) and optical absorption were used to study single-crystalline
InN films that were grown using MOVPE and
MBE. These studies revealed that the fundamental band gap of single-crystalline InN was
about 0.8 eV21–25) instead of 1.9 eV, determined by optical absorption using polycrystalline InN.
In this paper, we review the detailed
studies of InN and InGaN growth by RF-MBE.

Table I. Lattice mismatch values of III-N semiconductors and sapphire substrates.
–

First, fundamental studies on basic growth
processes are reviewed; these include theinitial growth stage, two-step growth processes, the precise control of V/ III ratio, andthe resultant crystal properties of the grownfilms. Then we describe how precise controlof growth temperature and insertion of lowtemperature intermediate layers can be used
to grow higher-quality InN films. Our groupused a wide variety of techniques to determine the crystallographic, electrical, and optical properties of high-quality InN films. The
techniques include X-ray diffraction (XRD), in
situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), extended X-ray absorption finestructure (EXAFS), Rutherford backscattering(RBS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), coaxial
impact-collision ion scattering spectroscopy(CAICISS), Hall effect measurements, PL, cathode-luminescence (CL), optical absorption,
photo modulated reflectance, infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry, and Raman scattering.
Typical results are described in §4.
Finally, InGaN films were grown over theentire range of alloy composition on sapphire
substrates by inserting InN buffer layers. Results on optical absorption, CL, and PL measurements are presented.

–

–

–

[1120]III-N || [1120]sapphire[1010]III-N || [1120]sapphire

AlN-34.6%+13.3%

GaN-33.0%+16.0%

InN-25.4%+29.2%

1-µm-thick layer of molybdenum. They were
set on an In-free molybdenum holder after
being cleaned with organic solvents. Highpurity (6N) In and Ga were used as group III
materials and were evaporated from standard
effusion cells. High-purity N2 gas (6N) was
supplied to the RF plasma cell after passing
through a Saes Getter purifier (model Monotorr Phase II 3000) to eliminate impurities
including H2O, H2, O2, CO, and CO2 gases.
Nitrogen gas of 2 sccm, which produced apressure of 1 × 10-4 Torr, was supplied for InN
growth. The typical growth rate of InN was
approximately 500 nm/ h. Growth temperatures were carefully monitored with a pyrometer at each growth run.

2.2 Initial growth stage
In contrast to GaN and AlN that growon sapphire substrates with their a-axis ori–
entation rotated 30º to become [1010]GaN,AlN–|| [1120]sapphire, InN tends to grow with both–––[101 0] InN || [112 0] sapphire and [112 0] InN ||–[1120]sapphire and easily form polycrystals.26)
This is due to the fact that lattice mismatchvalues of these two cases are very close,
which is not the case for GaN and AlN, wherelattice mismatch is much smaller when the–a-axis rotates by 30º to become [1010]GaN,AlN–|| [1120]sapphire. The lattice mismatch valuesof nitride semiconductors and sapphire substrates for these two cases are compared inTable l.
Figure 1 shows the X-ray diffraction(XRD) pole figure of InN measured using–
asymmetric {1012} reflection. The InN film
was grown at 550ºC directly on a (0001) sapphire substrate without nitridation. This InN
film has three domains: (A) the main domain––
with [1010]InN || [1120]sapphire, (B) the domain––
with [1120]InN || [1120]sapphire, and (C) anotherdomain rotated by approximately 19º in the
opposite direction from the main domain.
The detailed atomic arrangements for thesethree cases are shown in ref. 27.
The ratio of domain (A) to domain (B) isvery sensitive to growth temperature. Domain(A) is dominant when the films are grownat higher temperatures (540ºC). Domain (B)is dominant when they are grown at lower

2. Fundamental Study ofGrowth Process
2.1 Growth system and standard
growth conditions
The growth of InN by RF-MBE was carriedout in an MBE growth chamber equippedwith a high-speed turbo-molecular pump(1500 liter/ s) that evacuated the chamber
up to 1 × 10-10 Torr. This MBE system is also
equipped with a SVTA radical cell (model 2.75)
to serve as the nitrogen source. The substrates used were mainly (0001) sapphire substrates. The back surface was coated with a

Fig.1. X-ray diffraction (XRD) polefigure of the InN grown
directly at 550ºC.
–
Asymmetric InN {101 2} refl ections areused.

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)5

0

50 100 150 200 250 300 350
φ [º ]

0

50 100 150 200 250 300 350
φ [º ]–|| [1120]sapphire orientation, which results in the–––[1010]InN || [1010]AlN || [1120]sapphire-oriented
27)
film.

0

50 100 150 200 250 300 350
φ [º ]of the limitation of the pyrolysis temperatureof NH3 gas.
In this RF-MBE growth study, InN buffer layers of about 30 nm thick were grown
at 300ºC for 10 min and then annealed at
550ºC.31) Figure 4 shows the RHEED patterns
and surface morphologies of an InN buffer
layer grown at 300ºC (a) before and (b) after
annealing at 550ºC. This figure indicates thatthe surface morphology was improved by annealing at 550ºC.
When the InN film is grown directly on
the sapphire substrate at higher temperaturesnear 550ºC, the film easily forms three-dimensional morphology, as shown in a typicalcross-sectional SEM image in Fig.5.20)
The crystal quality of the buffer layergrown at 300ºC is poor due to inadequate In
migration on the surface. However, the crystallinity as well as surface flatness of the InN
film was remarkably improved by consecutive

2.3 Two-step growth
To grow high-quality InN films, obtaining
atomically flat surfaces is essential. The application of the two-step growth method, which
involves low-temperature buffer growthat about 550ºC prior to the main epitaxial
growth at about 1000ºC, is very effective forgrowing flat and high-quality GaN and AlGaN films on sapphire substrates by MOVPE.
Studies on the surface morphologies of InN
MOVPE films, however, have indicated thatflatter surfaces can be obtained when thegrowth temperature is higher. A reductionin the growth temperature to approximately 550ºC makes the surface less flat.30) The
growth of InN at temperatures below 500ºC
is effectively impossible for MOVPE because

Intensity (arb. units)

temperatures (520ºC), as shown in Fig.2. A
steeper transition from domain (A) to domain(B) occurs when the V/ III ratio is low. This isprobably due to the greater migration of In
under these conditions.28,29) Thermodynamically stable conditions can be realized moreeasily if the V/ III ratio is low, as can be easily produced in GaN RF-MBE growth experiments.
These results imply that InN tends to include a multidomain structure and form polycrystals if the optimum growth conditions
such as growth temperature and V/ III ratio
are not carefully selected in the initial growthstage. 28,29) The nitridation of the sapphire
substrates prior to InN growth is a very effective way of determining the a-axis direction to––[1010]InN || [1120]sapphire at all growth temperatures (Fig.3). We assume that nitridation results in the formation of an AlN or AlON layer–on the substrate. This layer has the [1010]AlN

Intensity (arb. units)

Intensity (arb. units)

Intensity (arb. units)

Fig.2. XRD φ scan measurement
for InN grown with growth temperatures of (a) 520ºC, (b) 530ºC
and (c) 540ºC. The solid line showsthe –peaks for the asymmetric InN{112 2} refl ections, whereas thedotted line shows the peaks for–the asymmetric sapphire {112 3}
reflections.

(a) before annealing

0

50 100 150 200 250 300 350
φ [º ]

Fig.3. Result of φ scan measurement of the InN film after the nitridation
pro–
cess. The solid line shows the peaks for the asymmetric InN {1122} reflections,–whereas the dotted line shows the peaks for the asymmetric sapphire {1123} reflections.

(b) after annealing
–

200nm

Fig.4. RHEED patterns (e || [1120]) and surface morphology obtained by SEM observationof InN buffer layer; (a) before and (b) after annealing at 550ºC.

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JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

Part1

Invited Review Paper

InN
Sa Sub.
200 nm

Fig.5.

Cross-sectional SEM image of InN grown at 550ºC.

annealing. Improvement in crystal quality isevident from the RBS results before and after
annealing at 550ºC. Figure 6 shows a comparison of RBS yield between (0001)-aligned
and random directions from low-temperature-grown InN buffer layer without (a) andwith (b) annealing at 550ºC. The χ min valuesof InN buffer layers with and without annealing were 14% and 66%, respectively. The
quantity χ min varies from near 0 for nearly
perfect single crystals up to 100% for amorphous or polycrystalline materials. Based onthese studies, the two-step growth temperature
diagram shown in Fig.7 was fixed as the diagram for a standard growth process of RF-MBE.

from the surface at the selected growth temperature below the dissociation temperature.
This implies that InN should be grown underN-rich conditions.
On the other hand, high-quality GaN canbe grown under slightly Ga-rich conditions
due to the enhanced migration of Ga. Thisshould be the case also for InN growth by
MBE, as was implied in the experiment presented in §2.2.
Considering all these limitations for InN
MBE growth, V/ III ratio should be controlled
as close as possible to stoichiometry from the
N-rich side. Also, to guarantee sufficient migration of In, the growth temperature should
be set at the highest possible temperature
without noticeable dissociation of the InN
film. By keeping the growth temperature,
beam equivalent pressure of In, and N2 flowrate all constant at 550ºC, 3.2 × 10-7 Torr,and 2.0 sccm, respectively, the effective V/ III
ratio on the growing surface was carefully
controlled by changing the RF-plasma power
between 230 and 250 W.

2.4 V/III ratio and crystal polarity
The control of V/ III ratio is by far themost important issue to obtain high-quality
InN by MBE. At temperatures below the dissociation temperature of InN (approximately
550ºC), the vapor pressure of nitrogen molecules over InN is much higher than the In vapor pressure over In metal.32) To suppress thedissociation of InN films, one should have anitrogen pressure higher than the equilibriumpressure during the entire growth process.
Once the beam equivalent pressure of
In exceeds the equivalent nitrogen pressure
from surface stoichiometry, In droplets should
form on the surface. They cannot evaporate

900<0001> Axis
Random

800
700

In

Counts

600
500
400

O

300

Substrate

200

A1

100
0
200

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

650

700

750

800

Channel(a) Low-temperature-grown InN buffer layer without annealing at 550ºC.
In

900<0001> Axis
RandomSimulation

800
700

Substrate
Thermal Cleaning
temperature
10 minCounts

600

800ºC

500
400

Substrate

O

300
200

550ºC

A1

0
250

300

350

400

450

InN growth
1h

300ºC

100
200

Nitridation
1h

500

550

600

650

700

750

RT

800

InN buffer layer
10min

ChannelTime(b) Low-temperature-grown InN buffer layer with annealing at 550ºC.
Fig.6. RBS results of low-temperature-grown InN buffer layers (a) without and (b) with annealing.

Fig.7.

Two-step-growth temperature diagram.

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

7

InN film
Substrate1µm(a) Grown at plasma power of 230 W.

240-W growthFig.8.

250-W growth–

RHEED patterns of InN epilayer. (e || [1120]).

Figure 8 shows the RHEED patterns of
the InN films grown for 1 h with RF-plasma
powers of 240 and 250 W.33) These films areabout 250 nm thick. The RHEED patterns
have clear streaks, indicating that the InN surfaces are smooth at the atomic level. The root
mean square (RMS) roughness characterized
by AFM for these two surfaces of an area of
1 µm × 1 µm were 1.5 and 3.6 nm, respectively, which confirmed the excellent surface
morphology of these two samples. The InN
grown at an RF-plasma power of 230 W,
however, did not show any RHEED patterns,
due to its surface having many In droplets.
The cross-sectional SEM images of these
InN films are shown in Fig.9.20) A high density of In droplets is observed for the sample
grown under an RF-plasma power of 230 W,
apparently due to a lack of an active nitrogensource. The pit size of the InN grown at 240
W is much smaller than that of the 250-W
sample. Presumably, the 240-W sample wasgrown under a condition closer to surface
stoichiometry, and the 250-W sample shouldhave been grown under a deeper N-rich condition.
Figure 10 shows a comparison of theω –2θ scan XRD of InN between the 240-W
and 250-W samples. Diffraction peaks corresponding to the (0002) and (0004) from
Wurtzite InN and the (0006) diffraction peakfrom sapphire are observed for the 250-W
sample. A very small peak corresponding to
the In metal occurs in scan for the 240-W
sample, which is probably due to the slightly
In-rich condition.33) The full widths at half
maximum (FWHMs) of the InN (0002) peak ofthese two samples were approximately 300
arcsec. Figure 11 shows a comparison of

8

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

InN film
100nm
Substrate(b) Grown at plasma power of 240 W.

InN film

100nm

Substrate(c) Grown at plasma power of 250 W.

Fig.9. Surface morphology of InN grown at plasma powers of (a) 230 W,(b) 240 W and (c) 250 W.

the ω -scan X-ray diffraction rocking curve of(0002) InN between the 240-W and 250-W
samples. These two curves are similar in termsof their FWHM of 25 arcmin. The carrier density and room temperature mobility of thesefilms were approximately 3 × 1019 cm-3 and760 cm2/ Vs, respectively. Thus, the precise
control of V/ III ratio is needed to obtain highquality InN by RF-MBE.33)
The polarity of InN grown by RF-MBE wascharacterized by CAICISS and it was foundthat the polarity of InN is much more sensitive to growth temperature than that of other nitride semiconductors.34) N polarity wasobserved for the low-temperature growth of
InN at 300ºC, whereas the high-temperature
growth of InN over 550ºC primarily showed
In polarity.34)
This result is consistent with that of a
GaN decomposition experiment by an in situ
gravimetric monitoring (GM) method using
free-standing GaN (0001), in which the etch-–ing rate of the GaN (0001) surface is reported
to be higher than that of the GaN (0001) surface at high temperatures. The relationship is
opposite in the low-temperature region.35)
The above experimental results are explained as follows.35) The decomposition of
GaN is limited by the Ga surface in the hightemperature region where each topmost
Ga atom on the GaN (0001) surface combines with three N atoms (three back bonds)–
whereas Ga atom on the GaN (0001) surface
each forms one back bond with only one N
atom in the bulk. On the other hand, thelimiting surface is the N surface in the lowtemperature region. Thus the decomposition
rate of GaN (0001) is faster than that of GaN–(0001 ) because each N atom on the GaN(0001) surface combines with one Ga atomin the bulk (one back bond), whereas each–
N atom on GaN (0001) form back bonds tothree Ga atoms in the bulk.35)
The condition of the InN surface in thePart1

Intensity (arb. units)(0004) InN(0006) Sapphire(101) In

30

35

40

45

50

55

2θ (deg)

60

65

240W
250W

Intensity (arb. units)

240W
250W

(0002) InN

70

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15

15.5

16

16.5

17

17.5

ω[º ]

Fig.10. ω –2θ scan XRD curves for InN grown at plasma powers of 240 W
and 250 W.

etching mode should be the same as that of
the GaN surface, and InN (0001) is thus more–stable than InN (0001) at high temperatures.
–
Also InN (0001) should become more stable
than InN (0001) at low temperatures.
Considering the discussion of V/ III ratio
control and the polarity mentioned above,–
more stable growth is expected on InN (0001)
surfaces, as InN growth should be carried out
at low temperatures. The study of InN growthon the substrate with well-controlled polarity
is under way and the result will be presented
in a separate paper.

3. Improvement of Crystal
Quality
3.1 Growth temperature
We carefully controlled growth temperature and monitored the corresponding Raman
scattering spectra to improve the crystalline

Fig.11. ω -scan XRC of (0002) InN grown at plasma powers of 240 W and
250 W.

quality of InN. The raman spectra obtained
are shown in Fig.12 for InN films grown at
550, 530, 520, 500, and 460ºC. The theoretically expected E2 (high-frequency)-mode, E2(low-frequency)-mode and A1 (LO)-mode areclearly observed at 491, 88, and 589 cm-1, respectively.25)
The peak positions and FWHM of dominant E2 (high-frequency)-phonon-mode peaks
are summarized in Table II. The dependenceof peak position on growth temperature may
be due to the difference in residual stressbetween the films. An FWHM as narrow as
3.7 cm-1 for the E2 (high-frequency)-phononmode peak was obtained for the film grown
at 550ºC. This FWHM is the narrowest value
ever reported for InN films.25) These results
indicate that the crystalline quality was improved by increasing the growth temperature
within the dissociation limit of InN.

3.2 Low temperature intermediate
layer
The thickness of the layer grown by RFMBE presented in §2.3 and §2.4 was about
250 nm. InN in and around the buffer layeron the sapphire substrate should contain a lotof defects and the electrical and optical properties in the region of defects are expected tobe very poor.
To improve the overall quality of the InN
films, thicker layers should be grown. The
growth of thicker InN layers, however, is noteasy because once In droplets are formed
during growth, it is very difficult to remove
them, thus one cannot achieve continuous
stable growth.
We found that low-temperature-grownintermediate layers are very effective in obtaining thicker (>250 nm) and higher-quality
InN layers. The details of this technique are
given in ref. 36.

Intensity (arb. units)

E2 (Low)
A1 (LO)E2 (High)
550ºC Growth

Table II. Peak positions and FWHM of dominant E2 (high)-phonon-mode peaks.

530ºC Growth
520ºC Growth
500ºC Growth
460ºC Growth

100

200

300

400

500

-1

600

700

Raman shift (cm )Growth Temperature[ºC]

E2 (high) peak position[cm-1]

FWHM of E2 (high) peak
[cm-1]

550

491.9

3.7

530

491.4

4.0

520

491.2

4.4

500

491.1

4.4

460

491.2

4.1

Fig.12. Raman spectra for InN films grown at 550ºC, 530ºC, 520ºC, 500ºC
and 460ºC.

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

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104

5 mm
(a) without intermediate
layer

Figure 13 shows a comparison between
optical microscope images of 600-nm thick
InN layers grown with and without intermediate layers. Two intermediate layers 10 nm
thick each were inserted into sample (B).
The surface of this InN was mirror-smooth,
whereas the surface of InN grown without anintermediate layer (A) has black and white areas. Here, areas with In droplets look white.
By growing films with thicknesses up
to 1500 nm, we studied the dependence ofelectrical properties on film thickness. The
results are shown in Fig.14. Much improvement in electrical properties is obtained withan increase in film thickness.

4. Characterization
Here, we summarize the crystallographic,
electrical, and optical properties of 1.5-µmthick InN layers. For crystallographic characterization, the ω -scan X-ray diffraction rocking curve (XRC) and ω –2θ scan XRD results
were used. A typical XRC is shown in Fig.15.
The FWHM of this curve is 236.7 arcsec. Fig-

2

1019

1018

(b) with intermediate
layersFig.13. Optical microscopy images of InN grown (a) without and (b) withintermediate layers.

Mobility

1000

0

500

1000

100
2000

1500

Film Thickness (nm)Fig.14. Dependence of electrical properties on film thickness.

ure 16 shows a typical ω –2θ XRD curve, which
gives an FWHM of only 28.9 arcsec, indicating an excellent crystallographic quality of the
film.
The local atomic structure near In atoms was investigated using EXAFS oscillation of the In K edge.37) The signals from thefirst-nearest neighbor atoms (N) and secondnearest atoms (In) from In atoms were clearlyobserved. The atomic bond lengths of In–N
and In–In were estimated to be dIn–N=0.215
nm and d In–In=0.353 nm, respectively. The
In–In bond length of 0.353 nm is close to thea-axis lattice constant of 0.3536 nm, which
was calculated using XRD. Thus, the obtained
local atomic structure agreed with the ideal
structure of sp3 hybridation bonds.37)
A series of data obtained by Hall-effectmeasurement are summarized in Fig.17.
Samples of various thicknesses grown undervarious conditions are also shown in this figure. The best 1.5-µm-thick film obtained so
far in this study has a carrier concentrationof 4.9 × 1018 cm-3 and a room temperature

mobility of 1130 cm2/ Vs. The source of thishigh-level residual carrier concentration, however, remains unclear.
The room-temperature PL spectra of a
250-nm-thick film grown with precisely controlled temperatures, as described in §3.1,
are shown in Fig.18. Here, Ar+ laser at 514.5
nm with a power density of 2.2 W/ cm2 wasused as an excitation source. An InGaAs photodetector with a cutoff wavelength of 2.05
µm was used. The wavelength of the PL peak
position did not show any noticeable changeeven if the excitation power was changed
over two orders of magnitude from 65 mW/
cm2 to 6.5 W/ cm2.
The PL spectra at room temperatureand 77 K observed for 1.5-µm-thick InN are
shown in Fig.19. Very strong and sharp luminescence was observed at 77 K with an
FWHM of 24 meV. The FWHM at room temperature was 38 meV. This PL should originate from the fundamental interband transition of the InN film. No PL corresponding to
1.9 eV transition could be observed from any

15.5

16

16.5

17

17.5

θ (deg)Fig.15. ω -scan XRC of (0002) InN for the sample with film thickness of1500 nm.

10(0006) Sapphire

Intensity (arb. units)

Intensity (arb. units)(0002) InN

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JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

Mobility (cm /Vs)

Carrier Density-3

Carrier Density (cm )

1020

30

32

34

36

2θ (deg)

38

40

42

Fig.16. ω –2θ XRD curve for InN sample with film thickness of 1500 nm.

Part1

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PL Intensity (arb. units)

2

Mobility (cm /Vs)

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Invited Review Paper

1000

100

10
18
10

19

10

20

10

10

21

10

22

10

460ºC Growth
480ºC Growth
500ºC Growth
510ºC Growth
520ºC Growth
530ºC Growth
540ºC Growth
550ºC Growth
Sapphire Sub

23

0.7

-3

0.75

Carrier Density (cm )

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.95

1

Photon Energy (eV)Fig.17. Electrical properties of InN films measured by Hall-effect measurements.

Fig.18. Room-temperature PL spectra of the InN film grown at 460–550ºC.

PL Intensity (arb. units)

5

0.7

α2 (

10 8 cm -2 )

77K
RT

0.75

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.95

4
3
2
1
0
0.65

1

0.7

Photon Energy (eV)Fig.19. PL spectra both at room temperature and 77 K for relatively thick
InN film.

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.95

1

Fig.20. Room-temperature optical absorption coefficient squared of InN
grown at 550ºC versus the phonon energy.

of the ellipsometry data analysis with those of
the Hall-effect measurement, the isotropicallyaveraged effective electron mass in InN is 0.14
m0.38)

5. InGaN Growth andCharacterization
InGaN films with the entire alloy composition were grown on (0001) sapphire substrates at 550ºC by RF-MBE after a low-temperature buffer layer was grown at 280ºC.

The In beam flux was varied from 1.0 × 10-8
to 4.0 × 10-8 Torr so that the In compositionof InGaN could be adjusted between x=0 (forGaN) and x=1 (for InN).39)
The solid composition of the grown layer
was determined by XRD. Here, all the layers are assumed to be fully relaxed. The solid
composition versus In beam ratio (In flux tototal flux ratio) is plotted in Fig.21. Unlikein the case of MOVPE, the solid composition was simply determined by the In-to-Ga

1
without phase separation
with phase separation

0.8
In Composition

InN films grown in this study.
The optical absorption of InN grown at
550ºC was also studied at room temperature.
The optical absorption coefficient squared
versus the photon energy is shown in Fig.20.
All of these results obtained by opticalmeasurements suggest that the fundamental
band gap of the high-quality single-crystalline
InN grown by RF-MBE is approximately 0.8 eV
at room temperature. This supports the mostrecent proposal 21–25) that the fundamental
band gap is about 0.8 eV, which is much lower than the commonly accepted value of 1.9
eV.
The InN samples grown in this study
were sent to UC Berkeley so that their opticalproperties could be characterized by opticalabsorption, PL, and photo-modulated reflectance techniques. The results were essentiallythe same as those presented in this paper.24)
Measurements by infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry and micro-Raman scattering
were also used to study the vibrational andelectronic properties of the high-quality InN
obtained in the study. Combining the results

0.75

Photon Energy (eV)

0.6
0.4
0.2
0

0

0.2

0.4
0.6
In/(In+Ga)

0.8

1

Fig.21. Solid composition versus In beamflux-to-total flux ratio. Solid compositionof the grown layer was determined by
XRD. Samples shown by 쏹 have not phaseseparation in ω –2θ XRD, whereas sample
shown by 쎱 has a slight phase separationin ω –2θ XRD.

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)11x=0.53

x=0.94x=0.37-0.47

x=0.7333
34
2θ [deg]

35

31

32

33
34
2θ [deg]Fig.22. ω –2θ XRD curves for InxGa1-xN (x=0.16, 0.37–0.47, 0.53, 0.63, 0.68, 0.73, 0.94, 0.97).

flux ratio. A large difference between solid
composition and vapor phase composition
were reported when high-quality InGaN layers were grown at 800ºC by MOVPE.40) All
the InGaN layers with various solid compositions grown at 550ºC in this study have sufficiently good crystalline quality to emit strong
PL at 77 K, which will be shown later in thissection. The easy control of InGaN solid composition is another advantage of the RF-MBE
growth method.
Figure 22 shows the ω –2θ XRD curves
for InxGa1-xN (0<x<1). We confirmed that we
can successfully grow InxGa1-xN films over theentire composition range (x=0.16, 0.37–0.47,
0.53, 0.63, 0.68, 0.73, 0.94, 0.97). Phase
separation did not occur in InxGa1-xN films
with x >0.53.39) This is probably due to therelatively low growth temperature and the insertion of an InN buffer layer.
Because of the slow atom migration at
low temperature, complete equilibrium might
not have occurred during growth. In addition,
the thermodynamical calculations by Kangawa et al.41) showed that the mixing enthalpy
of InGaN is much smaller on an InN substrate
than on a GaN substrate. They reported thatthe mixing enthalpy of InGaN became evensmaller than that of free-standing InGaN
when they were grown on InN. These effects
can probably explain why we could grow In-

12

X=0.16

X=0

400

500
600
700
Wavelength (nm)800x=0.68

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

35

Intensity (arb. units)

32

300

X=0.37-0.47

Fig.23. CL spectra at 77 K for the InxGa1-xN samples (x=0, 0.16, 0.37–0.47).

x=0.1631

Intensity (arb. units)

x=0.97

Intensity (arb. units)

Intensity (arb. units)

x=0.63

X=0.98
X=0.94

X=1

X=0.73
X=0.68

X=0.63
GaN over the entire alloy
composition range.
X=0.53Figures 23 and 24
show the CL and PL specX=0.37-0.47
tra obtained at liquid-nitro600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Wavelength (nm)
gen temperature, respectively. CL and PL emissions
were observed for all samFig.24. PL spectra at 77 K for the InxGa1-xN samples (x=0.37–0.47, 0.53, 0.63,
ples, confirming their good
0.68, 0.73, 0.94, 0.98, 1).
crystalline quality.
Figure 25 shows theabsorption and PL spectra of 10 samples
6. Conclusions
with different alloy compositions ranging
Recent developments in growth andbetween x =0 and x =1.0. The luminescencecharacterization of InN and related alloys arepeak position and absorption edge roughly
reviewed. InN and InGaN growth on (0001)
agree for all the samples over the entire alsapphire was studied by RF-plasma-excited
loy composition range. Figure 26 shows
molecular beam epitaxy. In this growth methpeak energies obtained from the CL and PL
od, neutral and ionized, excited nitrogen atspectra as functions of In composition. Thisoms and molecules are generated using afigure also includes the results reported byplasma source. Thus, the crystal growth temother authors.42–44) The plots of the luminesperature can be set independent of the recence peak positions in Fig.26 can be fit toquirements for pyrolysis of a nitrogen source.
a smooth curve E g=3.48-2.70x -bx (1-x ) withThis enabled us to grow InN at a relatively
a bowing parameter b =2.3 eV.39) Here, thelow temperature without noticeable dissociaMoss–Burstein effect is not taken into action of the InN surface.
count.
It was shown that nitridation of the sapThese results on the optical properties ofphire substrates prior to growth is very effecInGaN over the entire alloy composition range
tive for producing single crystals. It was also
are consistent with the InN bandgap energy
suggested that an atomically flat surface isof about 0.8 eV.
essential for obtaining high-quality InN films.
The two-step growth method involving low-Part1

2.5

3

0.5

0.4
0.2
1

2

2.5

3

1

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

0
3.5

1.5

PL Intensity (arb. units)

X=0.16α ( ×105 cm-1 )CL Intensity (arb. units)

1.5

0.5

0.5

X=0.731

0.5

1Photon Energy (eV)

0.5

1.5

2

2.5

3

0
3.5

PL Intensity (arb. units)

0.5

α ( ×105 cm-1 )

1

1

0.5

0.5

2

2.5

3

0
3.5

0.2

0.5

1

0.5

2

2.5

3

2.5

3

0
3.5

1.5

X=0.97
1

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

0
3.5

0
3.5

1.5

PL Intensity (arb. units)

1.5

α ( ×105 cm-1 )PL Intensity (arb. units)

2

1.5

2

0.5

Photon Energy (eV)

X=1
1

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

0
3.5

Photon Energy (eV)Fig.25. Absorption and PL spectra at room temperature of InxGa1-xN samples with different
alloy compositions between x=0 and x=1.0. Dashed line shows CL or PL spectrum. Dottedline shows absorption spectrum.

temperature buffer layer growth at around
300ºC and consecutive annealing at 550ºC
was shown to be very effective in obtaining
smooth surfaces.
The control of V/ III ratio and growthtemperature is also extremely important. To
obtain high-quality InN films, the growthtemperature should be set as high as possible
within the dissociation limit of InN. V/ III ratio, on the other hand, should be controlled
as close as possible to stoichiometry from the
N-rich side.
The growth of thick InN without In droplets is very difficult. Once the beam equivalent pressure of In becomes higher than theequivalent nitrogen pressure, In droplets

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

In Composition : x

Photon Energy (eV)

X=0.63

1

1.2

0.4

1.5

0.5

1.4

0.6

1

1.5

Fig.26. Peak positions of CL and PL spectra at 77 K as functions of In composition. This figure also includes the results reported by other authors.42–44)

0
3.5

0.8

Photon Energy (eV)

0.5

3

1

PL Intensity (arb. units)1

α ( ×105 cm-1 )PL Intensity (arb. units)

1.5

1.5

2.5

2

Photon Energy (eV)

X=0.53

1

2

X=0.94

Photon Energy (eV)

0.5

1.5

2.5

1

Photon Energy (eV)1.5

X=0.37-0.47

0
3.5

Photon Energy (eV)Photon Energy (eV)

CL Intensity (arb. units)

1.5

α ( ×105 cm-1 )0.6

Band Gap (eV)20.8This Study (CL)This Study (PL)Ref. 42
Ref. 43
Ref. 443

α ( ×105 cm-1 )

1.5

1α ( ×105 cm-1 )11.2

α ( ×105 cm-1 )

0.5

0
3.5

1.4

X=0.68α ( ×105 cm-1 )0.5

α ( ×105 cm-1 )CL Intensity (arb. units)

1

PL Intensity (arb. units)

3.5

1.5

X=0

Invited Review Paper

form which do not evaporate from the surface. This degrades film quality. The insertionof low-temperature intermediate layers wasfound to be effective in obtaining relatively
thick InN. As the crystal quality is poor in andaround the low-temperature buffer layer, theoverall InN crystal quality improved with increase in InN thickness.
Thick, high-quality InN with an XRC
FWHM of 236.7 arcsec and ω –2θ XRD FWHM
of 28.9 arcsec was obtained. As for its electrical properties, a carrier concentration of 4.9
× 1018 cm-3 and a room temperature mobilityof 1130 cm2/ Vs were obtained. Optical absorption and PL were also studied using highquality InN. A very strong, sharp lumines-

cence was observed both at 77 K and room
temperature; the corresponding FWHMs were
24 meV and 38 meV, respectively.
These results obtained by optical measurements suggest that the fundamental
band gap of high-quality single-crystalline InN
is about 0.8 eV at room temperature.
InGaN films with an entire alloy composition were grown at 550ºC without noticeable
phase separation. The plots of the band gapsof these InGaN films against In composition
also suggest that InN fundamental band gap
should be approximately 0.8 eV.
Thus, this study offers a series of sufficiently convincing results to unequivocallystate that the fundamental bandgap of InN isabout 0.8 eV rather than long-believed valueof 1.9 eV. This finding also suggests that the
optical application field of nitride semiconductors covers the range from ultraviolet (6.2 eV)
to infrared (0.8 eV), which correspond to thewavelength used for optical communications.

Acknowledgements
The authors thank M. Hori and K. Kano
for MBE growth experiments. Thanks arealso due to H. Harima for Raman scattering
measurements and T. Miyajima for EXAFS
measurements. The author acknowledges
the help of J. Wu, W. Walukiewicz in opticalcharacterization, A. Kasic in infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry and S. Pereira in RBS measurements. They also thank T. Araki, N. Teraguchi, A. Suzuki and V. Y. Davydov for fruitful
discussions. This work was supported by the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) #13450131, 2002 and Academic Frontier Promotion Project.

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

13

Part1

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Invited Review Paper

Yasushi Nanishi wasborn in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan in 1945.
He received a B.E. degreefrom Nagoya Institute ofTechnology in 1969 and
M.E. and Ph. D. degrees
from Nagoya University in1971 and 1986, respectively. From 1971 to 1994,
he was a member of a
research staff at NTT LSI and Opto-electronics Laboratories, Atsugi, Japan. From 1978 to 1980, he wasa visiting scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 1994 he has been a professor in the
Department of Photonics at Ritsumeikan University.
He has been engaged in the research fields concerning GaAs MES FETs, Liquid Phase Epitaxy of GaAs,
growth and characterization of bulk GaAs, correlation between GaAs crystal defects and FET performances and Plasma Excited Molecular Beam Epitaxy. His latest interests are in MBE growth of Nitride
Semiconductors and its application to both electronic
and optoelectronic devices. He has been a leader of
NEDO's regional consortium project and METI's national project on high-power, high-frequency GaN
electronic devices. He is a member of The Japan Society of Applied Physics, The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, The Japanese
Association for Crystal Growth and American Material Research Society.

Yoshiki Saito was bornin Hyogo Prefecture, Japan on April 7, 1975. Hereceived his B.E., M.E. and
Ph. D. degrees in Scienceand Engineering from Ritsumeikan University in
1998, 2000 and 2003, respectively. He is currently
belonging to Faculty of
Science and Engineeringof Ritsumeikan University. His current research interests are growth and characterization of InN and related alloy semiconductors by RF-Plasma-Excited Molecular Beam Epitaxy. He is a member of The Japan
Society of Applied Physics.

Tomohiro Yamaguchi
was born in Nagano Prefecture, Japan on March
1, 1978. He received his
M.E. degree in Scienceand Engineering from
Ritsumeikan University
in 2001. He is currently
working toward the Ph.
D in the Department of
Photonics, Ritsumeikan
University. His current research interests are the initial
growth study and characterization of InN and related
alloy semiconductors. He is a member of The Japan
Society of Applied Physics, The Japanese Association
for Crystal Growth and The Institute of Electronics,
Information and Communication Engineers.