Supplie, O.; May, M.M.; Stange, H.; Höhn, C.; Lewerenz, H.-J.; Hannappel, T.: Materials for light-induced water splitting: In situ controlled surface preparation of GaPN epilayers grown lattice-matched on Si(100). Journal of Applied Physics 115 (2014), p. 113509/1-7
10.1063/1.4869121
Open Access Version
Abstract:
Energy storage is a key challenge in solar-driven renewable energy conversion. We promote a photochemical diode based on dilute nitride GaPN grown lattice-matched on Si(100), which could reach both high photovoltaic efficiencies and evolve hydrogen directly without external bias. Homoepitaxial GaP(100) surface preparation was shown to have a significant impact on the semiconductor-water interface formation. Here, we grow a thin, pseudomorphic GaP nucleation buffer on almost single-domain Si(100) prior to GaPN growth and compare the GaP 0.98N0.02/Si(100) surface preparation to established P- and Ga-rich surfaces of GaP/Si(100). We apply reflection anisotropy spectroscopy to study the surface preparation of GaP 0.98N0.02 in situ in vapor phase epitaxy ambient and benchmark the signals to low energy electron diffraction, photoelectron spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. While the preparation of the Ga-rich surface is hardly influenced by the presence of the nitrogen precursor 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), we find that stabilization with UDMH after growth hinders well-defined formation of the V-rich GaP 0.98N0.02/Si(100) surface. Additional features in the reflection anisotropy spectra are suggested to be related to nitrogen incorporation in the GaP bulk.