Abstract
        GaN-based materials received great deal of attention because of the potential applications for optoelectronic devices 
operating in the whole visible spectral range and in electronic devices such as high temperature, high power, and high 
frequency transistor. The III-nitrides form a continuous alloy system with direct band gap ranging from 6.2 eV (AlN) to 0.7 
eV (InN) with 3.4 eV for GaN. Consequently, the growth and physics of GaN-based materials have attracted tremendous 
scientific attention. This article reports the use of plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to grow AlN on (111) Si 
substrate at 850 ºC under UHV conditions for 15, 30, and 45 minutes. The films were characterized by high-resolution x-ray 
diffraction (HR-XRD) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. XRD phase analysis of (0002) plane of GaN exhibits two intense and 
sharp peaks, namely Si(111) and AlN(0002) diffraction peaks, at 28.4° and 36.1° respectively. Micro-Raman results show 
that all the allowed Raman modes of AlN and Si are visible.
        Keywords
        AlN, Plasma-assisted MBE, Thin films, Micro-Raman spectroscopy.
        Citation
        L. S. CHUAH, Z. HASSAN, H. ABU HASSAN, The growth of AlN thin films on Si (111) substrate by  plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 2, 3, March 2008, pp.137-139 (2008).
        Submitted at: Feb. 11, 2008
 
        Accepted at: March 16, 2008