General aspects of the vapor growth of semiconductor crystals - A study based on DFT simulations of the NH₃/NH₂ covered GaN(0001) surface in hydrogen ambient

Vapor growth of semiconductors is analyzed using recently obtained dependence of the adsorption energy on the electron charge transfer between the surface adsorbed species and the bulk [Krukowski et al. J. Appl. Phys. 114 (2013) 063507, Kempisty et al. ArXiv1307.5778 (2013)]. Ab initio calculations were performed to study the physical properties of GaN(0001) surface in ammonia-rich conditions, i.e. covered by mixture of NH₃ molecules and NH₂ radicals. The Fermi level is pinned at valence band maximum (VBM) and conduction band minimum (CBM) for full coverage by NH₃ molecules and NH₂ radicals, respectively. For the crossover content of ammonia of about 25% monolayer (ML), the Fermi level is unpinned. It was shown that hydrogen adsorption energy depends on the doping in the bulk for the unpinned Fermi level, i.e. for this coverage. Surface structure thermodynamic and mechanical stability criteria are defined and compared. Mechanical stability of the coverage of such surfaces was checked by determination of the desorption energy of hydrogen molecules. Thermodynamic stability analysis indicates that initially equilibrium hydrogen vapor partial pressure steeply increases with NH₃ content to attain the crossover NH₃/NH₂ coverage, i.e. the unpinned Fermi level condition. For such condition the entire range of experimentally accessible pressures belongs showing that vapor growth of semiconductor crystals occurs predominantly for unpinned Fermi level at the surface, i.e. for flat bands. Accordingly, adsorption energy of most species depends on the doping in the bulk that is based on the possible molecular scenario explaining dependence of the growth and the doping of semiconductor crystals on the doping in the bulk.