Growth and characterization of cubic GaN

We have grown high-quality cubic GaN epilayers on GaAs and 3C-SiC substrates by molecular beam epitaxy technique using dimethylhydrazine or ammonia/nitrogen plasma as a nitrogen source. An X-ray diffraction peak width of 16 min and a low-temperature photoluminescence peak width of 19 meV were achieved. Various surface reconstruction transitions have been observed for cubic GaN(001) surfaces, recently. These results, along with previously published studies on cubic nitrides, are summarized, and the current status of the growth and characterization of cubic nitrides including AlN and InN is discussed.