Growth of A3N whiskers and plate-shaped crystals by molecular-beam epitaxy with the participation of the liquid phase

It is shown that InN and GaN whiskers and plate-shaped crystals can be grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), and the growth mechanism on gallium arsenide and sapphire substrates is investigated. A comparison is made with the theory. It is proved that the growth mechanism corresponds to the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism, and the parameters of the crystallization process are determined. The nanometer sizes of the crystals grown give hope that the crystals and the VLS growth method itself can be used to obtain quantum-size objects (quantum dots and wires) by MBE in the promising system of elements A³B⁵-AlGaInN. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 25, 55–63 (September 26, 1999)