Nitridation behavior of sapphire using a carbon-saturated N₂ -CO gas mixture

The authors previously developed a sapphire nitridation method using carbon-saturated N₂ -CO gas mixture to form a high-quality AlN film for III-nitride-based optoelectronic devices. In this study, the nitridation behavior of (0001) (c) plane and (11̄20) (a) plane sapphire was studied to elucidate and optimize the process at temperatures of 1823 and 1873 K. The AlN film thickness, surface morphology, crystal quality, and interfacial phenomena were investigated as functions of nitridation time and temperature. Fundamentally, the AlN film grows as a result of the diffusion process that occurs in the AlN film. The voids found at the AlN/sapphire interface indicate that the Al₂O₃ dissociates into Al³⁺ and O ^2- ions, and that the ions diffuse in the AlN film. However, the growth rate of AlN film does not obey the simple diffusion model. The AlN film thickness has a maximum and decreases slightly with time, which indicates that the thermal decomposition of AlN film must be considered when comprehensively describing the nitridation process.