Reduced threading dislocation densities in high-T/N-rich grown InN films by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

We explore the effect of growth kinetics on the structural properties of In-polar InN films on GaN templates grown near the thermal dissociation limit by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Unlike the common growth temperature limit (T ≈ 500 °C) for In-polar InN grown under In-rich conditions, slightly N-rich conditions are demonstrated to shift the available growth temperature window to much higher temperatures (by >50 °C). InN films grown in this high-T/N-rich regime show significantly reduced off-axis X-ray diffraction rocking curve peak widths and record low threading dislocation densities (TDD ∼ 4 × 10⁹ cm⁻²) even for film thicknesses <1 μm, as compared to state of the art In-rich growth. The reduction of TDD is attributed to more effective TD inclination and annihilation under N-rich growth, delineating prospective routes for improved InN-based materials.