Method of producing periodic table group 13 metal nitride semiconductor crystal and periodic table group 13 metal nitride semiconductor crystal produced by this production method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9899568-B2
Application number	US-201414257448-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2014
Priority date	Oct 21, 2011
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

For a Periodic Table Group 13 metal nitride semiconductor crystal obtained by epitaxial growth on the main surface of a base substrate that has a nonpolar plane and/or a semipolar plane as its main surface, an object of the present invention is to provide a high-quality semiconductor crystal that has a low absorption coefficient, is favorable for a device, and is controlled dopant concentration in the crystal, and to provide a production method that can produce the semiconductor crystal. A high-quality Periodic Table Group 13 metal nitride semiconductor crystal that has a precisely controlled dopant concentration within the crystal and a low absorption coefficient and that is thus favorable for a device, can be provided by inhibiting oxygen doping caused by impurity oxygen and having the Si concentration higher than the O concentration.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gallium nitride crystal grown in a direction orthogonal to a nonpolar or semipolar plane thereof,
wherein, in a cryogenic PL spectrum of the crystal, measured at temperature of 20 K or below, an I 2 /I 1 ratio is not greater than 0.1, where I 1 is a peak intensity of a band edge emission and I 2 is an intensity of an emission at 3.41 eV.

2. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein a Si concentration within the gallium nitride crystal is higher than an O concentration within the gallium nitride crystal.

3. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein the I 2 /I 1 ratio is not greater than 0.05.

4. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein the I 2 /I 1 ratio is not greater than 0.01.

5. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , having a dislocation extending in a direction parallel to a growth direction of the gallium nitride crystal.

6. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 5 , wherein a density of the dislocation is not greater than 1.0×10 8 cm −2 .

7. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein a Si concentration within the gallium nitride crystal is at least 1×10 17 cm −3 .

8. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein an O concentration within the gallium nitride crystal is not greater than 3×10 18 cm −3 .

9. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein a Na concentration within the gallium nitride crystal is not greater than 1×10 17 cm −3 .

10. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein a growing direction of the gallium nitride crystal is orthogonal to the nonpolar plane thereof.

11. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 10 , comprising a gallium nitride crystal grown on a base substrate formed of gallium nitride for which a main surface of the base substrate is a nonpolar plane.

12. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein a growing direction of the gallium nitride crystal is orthogonal to the semipolar plane thereof.

13. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 12 , comprising a gallium nitride crystal grown on a base substrate formed of gallium nitride for which a main surface of the base substrate is a semipolar plane.

14. The gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 , wherein a size of the crystal along a growth direction thereof is at least 10 μm.

15. A substrate, comprising the gallium nitride crystal according to claim 1 .

16. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising
manufacturing the semiconductor device with the substrate according to claim 15 .

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the semiconductor device comprises a light emitting element.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the semiconductor device comprises an electronic device.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Chem Corp
• Mistubishi Chemical Corp

Inventors

• Saito Yuya
• Itoh Sumitaka
• Terada Shigeru
• Kimura Hiromitsu

Classifications

• C01B21/0632

  with gallium, indium or thallium · CPC title

• C30B29/403

  AIII-nitrides · CPC title

• C30B19/12 Primary

  characterised by the substrate · CPC title

• H01L29/2003

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L33/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic