Control of GaN surface morphologies grown on 6H-SiC (0001) using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract We report the structural and surface morphologies of GaN layer directly grown on 6H-SiC (0 0 0 1) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The structural properties of the GaN layers grown under Ga-rich conditions have been strongly influenced by the surface oxide-desorption through Ga-metal deposition and flash-off at high temperature. The resulting AFM surface morphology exhibits atomic steps with