Photoelectric properties of GaN layers grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates and SiC/Si(111) epitaxial layers

The photoelectric properties of GaN/SiC/Si(111) and GaN/Si(111) heterostructures grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy under the same growth conditions on identical silicon substrates, but with different buffer layers, are experimentally investigated. The GaN/SiC/Si(111) structure is formed on a Si substrate with the SiC buffer layer grown by a new atom-substitution technique and the GaN/Si(111) structure, on a Si substrate subjected to pre-epitaxial plasma nitridation. The significant effect of carbon-vacancy clusters contained in the SiC layer on the growth of the GaN layer and its optical and photoelectric properties is found. It is experimentally established that the GaN/SiC/Si(111) heterostructure has a higher photosensitivity than the GaN/Si(111) heterostructure. In the GaN/SiC/Si(111) heterostructure, the coexistence of two oppositely directed $p$–$n$ junctions is observed. One $p$–$n$ junction forms at the SiC/Si interface and the other, at the GaN/SiC interface. It is shown that the occurrence of an electric barrier in the GaN/Si(111) heterostructure at the GaN/Si(111) heterointerface is caused by the formation of a thin silicon-nitride transition layer during pre-epitaxial plasma nitridation of the Si(111) substrate.