Influence of vicinal sapphire substrate on the properties of N-polar GaN films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

The influence of vicinal sapphire substrates on the growth of N-polar GaN films by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition is investigated. Smooth GaN films without hexagonal surface feature are obtained on vicinal substrate. Transmission electron microscope results reveal that basal-plane stacking faults are formed in GaN on vicinal substrate, leading to a reduction in threading dislocation density. Furthermore, it has been found that there is a weaker yellow luminescence in GaN on vicinal substrate than that on (0001) substrate, which might be explained by the different trends of the carbon impurity incorporation.