Growth of non-polar a-plane III-nitride thin films on Si(100) using non-polar plane buffer layer

A non‐polar $ (11 \overline {2}0) $ GaN thin film has been grown on Si(100) substrate for the first time with inserting a non‐polar plane AlN/MnS buffer layer using two growth techniques; metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD). An a‐plane GaN film is not accompanied with the polarization problem along the c‐axis growth direction. By cathodoluminescence measurements, the band‐edge emission from the GaN film prepared by MOCVD was obtained at 370.4 nm (= 3.347 eV) at room temperature. A broad yellow luminescence emission related to deep level was also observed. (© 2003 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)