Homoepitaxial growth of AlN on nitrided sapphire by LPE method using Ga–Al binary solution

A novel liquid phase epitaxy method was proposed for growing an AlN layer using Ga–Al binary flux under normal pressure. In this method, nitrogen gas was injected into the flux. Then a nitrided sapphire substrate was used as a template to achieve homoepitaxial growth. Advantages of using a nitrided sapphire substrate were demonstrated; the optimum flux composition was investigated. We grew 1‐µm‐thick c ‐axis oriented AlN layer for 5 h at 1573 K. The full width at half maximum values of X‐ray rocking curves for AlN (0002) and (10−12) were, respectively, 50 and 590 arcsec. Moreover, the surface morphology and interfacial structure were observed using a scanning electron microscope, laser microscope, and high‐resolution transmission electron microscope.