journal article·2024-11-01Open access

Self-activated epitaxial growth of ScN films from molecular nitrogen at low temperatures

Chandrashekhar P. Savant, Anita Verma, Thai-Son Nguyen, Len van Deurzen, Yu-Hsin Chen, Zhiren He, Salva S. Rezaie, Jakob Gollwitzer, Benjamin Gregory, Suchismita Sarker, Jacob Ruff, Guru Khalsa, Andrej Singer, David A. Muller, Huili G. Xing, Debdeep Jena, Joseph Casamento

APL Materials· Volume 12· Issue 11

Abstract

Unlike naturally occurring oxide crystals such as ruby and gemstones, there are no naturally occurring nitride crystals because the triple bond of the nitrogen molecule is one of the strongest bonds in nature. Here, we report that when the transition metal scandium is subjected to molecular nitrogen, it self-catalyzes to break the nitrogen triple bond to form highly crystalline layers of ScN, a semiconductor. This reaction proceeds even at room temperature. Self-activated ScN films have a twin cubic crystal structure, atomic layering, and electronic and optical properties comparable to plasma-based methods. We extend our research to showcase Sc’s scavenging effect and demonstrate self-activated ScN growth under various growth conditions and on technologically significant substrates, such as 6H–SiC, AlN, and GaN. Ab initio calculations elucidate an energetically efficient pathway for the self-activated growth of crystalline ScN films from molecular N2. The findings open a new pathway to ultralow-energy synthesis of crystalline nitride semiconductor layers and beyond.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Metal and Thin Film Mechanics · Semiconductor materials and devices · GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University 1 , Ithaca, New York 14853,

School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University 2 , Ithaca, New York 14853,

Department of Physics, University of North Texas 3 , Denton, Texas 76203,

Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University 4 , Ithaca, New York 14853,

Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Cornell University 5 , Ithaca, New York 14853,

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University 6 , Ithaca, New York 14853,

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7 , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142,

Funding

Semiconductor Research Corporation · Defense Sciences Office, DARPA · National Science Foundation · Cornell Center for Materials Research · Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy

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