A new approach to the epitaxial growth of group-III nitrides by using a so-called anti-surfactant was considered. The presence of Si atoms as an anti-surfactant on AlGaN surfaces modified the nitride epitaxial growth kinetics. These phenomena appeared to be independent. However, the growth mechanisms implicated a common surface event which included the formation of a monolayer-thick Si-N mask (nano-mask) within the fractional coverage at the surface. The Si-N nano-mask affected the morphology of the deposited GaN surface (including quantum structures) and also contributed to the termination of threading dislocations in GaN films.

Anti-Surfactant in III-Nitride Epitaxy: Quantum Dot Formation and Dislocation Termination. S.Tanaka, M.Takeuchi, Y.Aoyagi: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics - 2, 2000, 39[8B], L831-4