Growth of GaN single crystals by Ca3N2 flux

This paper reports recent progress on GaN single crystal growth by Ca(3)N(2) flux. The isothermal phase diagrams of the Ca-Ga-N system were predicted from the corresponding binary systems by CALPHAD. Well-crystallized GaN crystals up to 1.5 mm were grown from the Ca-Ga-N system at 900 degrees C under 0.2 MPa N(2) pressure. It was found that the crystal size depended on the molar ratio of starting materials, the temperature and the duration of growth. A growth mechanism involving two-step reactions is proposed. (c) 2007 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.