Gallium adsorption on (0001) GaN surfaces

We study the adsorption behavior of Ga on (0001) GaN surfaces combining experimental specular reflection high-energy electron diffraction with theoretical investigations in the framework of a kinetic model for adsorption and ab initio calculations of energy parameters. Based on the experimental results we find that for substrate temperatures and Ga fluxes typically used in molecular-beam epitaxy of GaN, finite equilibrium Ga surface coverages can be obtained. The measurement of a Ga/GaN adsorption isotherm allows the quantification of the equilibrium Ga surface coverage as a function of the impinging Ga flux. In particular, we show that a large range of Ga fluxes exists, where 2.5 +/- 0.2 monolayers (in terms of the GaN surface site density) of Ga are adsorbed on the GaN surface. We further demonstrate that the structure of this adsorbed Ga film is in good agreement with the laterally contracted Ga bilayer model predicted to be most stable for strongly Ga-rich surfaces [Northrup et al., Phys. Rev. B 61, 9932 (2000)]. For lower Ga fluxes, a discontinuous transition to Ga monolayer equilibrium coverage is found, followed by a continuous decrease towards zero coverage; for higher Ga fluxes, Ga droplet formation is found, similar to what has been observed during Ga-rich GaN growth. The boundary fluxes limiting the region of 2.5 monolayers equilibrium Ga adsorption have been measured as a function of the GaN substrate temperature giving rise to a Ga/GaN adsorption phase diagram. The temperature dependence is discussed within an ab initio based growth model for adsorption taking into account the nucleation of Ga clusters. This model consistently explains recent contradictory results of the activation energy describing the critical Ga flux for the onset of Ga droplet formation during Ga-rich GaN growth [Heying et al., J. Appl. Phys. 88, 1855 (2000); Adelmann et al., J. Appl. Phys. 91, 9638 (2002).].