Comprehensive study of blue and green multi-quantum-well light-emitting diodes grown on conventional and lateral epitaxial overgrowth GaN

Growths of blue and green multi-quantum wells (MQWs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are realized on lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO) GaN, and compared with identical structures grown on conventional GaN. Atomic force microscopy is used to confirm the significant reduction of dislocations in the wing region of our LEO samples before active-region growth. Differences between surface morphologies of blue and green MQWs are analyzed. These MQWs are integrated into LEDs. All devices show a blue shift in the electroluminescence (EL) peak and narrowing in EL spectra with increasing injection current, both characteristics attributed to the band-gap renormalization. Green LEDs show a larger EL peak shift and a broader EL spectrum due to larger piezoelectric field and more indium segregation in the MQWs, respectively. Blue LEDs on LEO GaN show a higher performance than those on conventional GaN; however, no performance difference is observed for green LEDs on LEO GaN versus conventional GaN. The performance of the green LEDs is shown to be primarily limited by the active layer growth quality.     

Lateral Epitaxy Overgrown (LEO) GaN 导热系数的数值研究

利用修正的Callaway模型对含杂质、位错、以及同位素的LEO GaN的导热系数进行了研究,计算表明同位素对LEO GaN的导热系数影响较大,而位错和杂质大于一定值时其值才对导热系数产生影响.     

斜切蓝宝石衬底MOCVD生长GaN薄膜的透射电镜研究

利用MOCVD技术在斜切角度为0.3°的c面蓝宝石衬底上生长了非故意掺杂 GaN 薄膜, 并采用透射电子显微镜对材料的质量和材料内部缺陷进行了分析. 研究发现斜切蓝宝石衬底上外延的GaN材料中,位错在距离衬底0.8 μm附近大量湮灭, 同时位错扎堆出现.基于上述现象, 提出了斜切衬底上GaN材料中位错的湮灭机制, 解释了斜切衬底能够提高GaN晶体质量的原因.     

Dynamics of threading dislocations in porous heteroepitaxial GaN films

Behavior of threading dislocations in porous heteroepitaxial gallium nitride (GaN) films has been studied using computer simulation by the two-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics approach. A computational scheme, where pores are modeled as cross sections of cylindrical cavities, elastically interacting with unidirectional parallel edge dislocations, which imitate threading dislocations, is used. Time dependences of coordinates and velocities of each dislocation from dislocation ensembles under investigation are obtained. Visualization of current structure of dislocation ensemble is performed in the form of a location map of dislocations at any time. It has been shown that the density of appearing dislocation structures significantly depends on the ratio of area of a pore cross section to area of the simulation region. In particular, increasing the portion of pores surface on the layer surface up to 2% should lead to about a 1.5-times decrease of the final density of threading dislocations, and increase of this portion up to 15% should lead to approximately a 4.5-times decrease of it.     

界面形核时间对GaN薄膜晶体质量的影响

利用金属有机化学气相沉积技术系统研究了界面形核时间对c面蓝宝石衬底上外延生长GaN薄膜晶体质量的影响机理. 用原子力显微镜、扫描电子显微镜、高分辨X射线衍射仪以及光致发光光谱仪表征材料的晶体质量以及光学性质. 随着形核时间的延长, 退火后形成的形核岛密度减小、尺寸增大、均匀性变差, 使得形核岛合并过程中产生的界面数量先减小后增大, 导致GaN外延层的螺位错和刃位错密度先减小后增大, 这与室温光致发光光谱中得到的带边发光峰与黄带发光峰的比值先增大后降低一致. 研究结果表明, 外延生长过程中, 界面形核时间会对GaN薄膜中的位错演变施加巨大影响, 从而导致GaN外延层的晶体质量以及光学性质的差异.     

Dislocation glide in GaN films grown by the lateral-overgrowth method induced by low-energy electron-beam irradiation

The effect of irradiation on the dislocation structure of epitaxial GaN films, grown by the lateral-overgrowth method, is studied using the electron-beam-induced current mode in a scanning electron microscope. Low-energy electron-beam irradiation is found to lead to the gliding basal-plane dislocations even at very low excitation levels. Changes in the relative contrast of two segments of adjacent basal-plane dislocations may also indicate dislocation movement in the prismatic planes.     

位错形态与GaN外延薄膜电阻率之间的关系

利用金属有机化学气相沉积（MOCVD）,通过改变生长过程中成核层退火阶段的反应室压力,在蓝宝石衬底上制得了不同阻值的GaN外延薄膜。利用原子力显微镜（AFM）、X射线衍射（XRD）和透射电子显微镜（TEM）对所生长的GaN薄膜的表面形貌、位错密度和位错形态进行了研究。结果表明,GaN的电阻率与位错形态之间存在密切联系,由此建立了模型来解释两者之间的关系。由于刃型位错附近存在负电荷,因此可为电子提供传导通道。在低阻GaN中,绝大多数位错发生弯曲和相互作用,在平行于基底方向上形成负电荷的导通通道,GaN薄膜的电导率较高。在高阻GaN中,位错生长方向垂直于基底,负电荷很难在平行于基片方向上传导,GaN薄膜的电导率很低,由此得到高阻GaN。     

纤锌矿GaN外延层薄膜热膨胀行为的变温Raman散射研究

本文对纤锌矿结构GaN外延层薄膜的热膨胀行为进行了研究,结合热膨胀系数的物理意义与变温Raman散射时声子频移的变化规律,研究了热膨胀系数与变温Raman散射之间的关系.结果表明:通过测量Raman声子E_2(high),A_1(TO)和E_1(TO)频移与温度之间的线性关系,结合相应声子Gruneisen参数的涵义,可对纤锌矿结构GaN外延层薄膜在一定温度范围内的热膨胀系数进行测量.本文提供了一种表征纤锌矿结构GaN外延层薄膜热膨胀行为的有效方法,为进一步研究III族氮化物外延层薄膜在生长过程中热膨胀系数的匹配、降低外延层薄膜中的位错密度并提高发光二极管的发光效率提供了理论依据.     

GaN薄膜的热导率模型研究

准确预测GaN半导体材料的热导率对GaN基功率电子器件的热设计具有重要意义.本文基于第一性原理计算和经典Debye-Callaway模型,通过分析和完善Debye-Callaway模型中关于声子散射率的子模型,建立了用于预测温度、同位素、点缺陷、位错、薄膜厚度、应力等因素影响的GaN薄膜热导率的理论模型.具体来说,对声...     

In源流量与Ⅲ族流量之比对InGaN/GaN多量子阱性质的影响

利用x射线三轴晶衍射和光致发光谱研究了生长参数In源流量与Ⅲ族流量之比对InGaN/GaN多量子阱结构缺陷(如位错密度和界面粗糙度)和光致发光的影响.通过对（0002）对称和（1012）非对称联动扫描的每一个卫星峰的ω扫描，分别测量出了多量子阱的螺位错和刃位错平均密度，而界面粗糙度则由（0002）对称衍射的卫星峰半高全宽随级数的变化得出.试验发现多量子阱中的位错密度特别是刃位错密度和界面粗糙度随In源流量与Ⅲ族源流量比值的增加而增加，导致室温下光致发光性质的降低，从而也证明了刃位错在InGaN/GaN 关键词： x射线三轴晶衍射 界面粗糙度 位错 InGaN/GaN多量子阱     

X-ray measurement of a microdistortion tensor and its application in an analysis of the dislocation structure of thick GaN layers obtained by hydrochloride gaseous-phase epitaxy

The method of two-and three-crystal x-ray diffractometry (TCD) is used for studying the dislocation structure of thick GaN layers grown by chloride gaseous-phase epitaxy (CGE) on sapphire, as well as on a thin GaN layer, which is grown by the metalloorganic synthesis (MOS) method. Five components of the microdistortion tensor 〈?_ij〉 and the sizes of the coherent scattering regions along the sample surface and along the normal to it are obtained from the measurements of diffracted intensity in the Bragg and Laue geometries. These quantities are used to analyze the type and geometry of the dislocation arrangement and to calculate the density of the main types of dislocations. The density of the vertical screw dislocations, as well as of the edge dislocations, decreases (by a factor of 1.5 to 3) during growth on a thin GaN layer. The diffraction parameters of the thick layer on the MOS-GaN substrate suggest that it has a monocrystalline structure with inclusions of microcrystalline regions.     

The influence of AlN/GaN superlattice intermediate layer on the properties of GaN grown on Si（111） substrates

AlN/GaN superlattice buffer is inserted between GaN epitaxial layer and Si substrate before epitaxial growth of GaN layer. High-quality and crack-free GaN epitaxial layers can be obtained by inserting AlN/GaN superlattice buffer layer. The influence of AlN/GaN superlattice buffer layer on the properties of GaN films are investigated in this paper. One of the important roles of the superlattice is to release tensile strain between Si substrate and epilayer. Raman spectra show a substantial decrease of in-plane tensile strain in GaN layers by using AlN/GaN superlattice buffer layer. Moreover, TEM cross-sectional images show that the densities of both screw and edge dislocations are significantly reduced. The GaN films grown on Si with the superlattice buffer also have better surface morphology and optical properties.     

Berkovich nanoindentation and deformation mechanisms in GaN thin films

The deformation mechanisms of GaN thin films obtained by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method were studied using nanoindentation with a Berkovich diamond indenter, micro-Raman spectroscopy and the cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) techniques. Due to the sharpness of the tip of Berkovich indenter, the nanoindentation-induced deformation behaviors can be investigated at relatively lower load and, hence, may cover wider range of deformation-related phenomena over the same loading range. The load-displacement curves show the multiple “pop-ins” during nanoindentation loading. No evidence of nanoindentation-induced phase transformation and cracking patterns were found up to the maximum load of 300 mN, as revealed from the micro-Raman spectra and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations within the mechanically deformed regions. In addition, XTEM observation performed near the cross-section of the indented area revealed that the primary deformation mechanism in GaN thin film is via propagation of dislocations on both basal and pyramidal planes. The continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) technique was used to determine the hardness and Young's modulus of GaN thin films. In addition, analysis of the load-displacement data reveals that the values of hardness and Young's modulus of GaN thin films are 19 ± 1 and 286 ± 25 GPa, respectively.     

SiC/AlN上外延GaN薄膜的黄带发光与晶体缺陷的关系

利用室温光致发光(PL)技术研究了在6HSiC(0001)上用金属有机物化学汽相沉积(MOCVD)外延生长的GaN薄膜“黄带”发光(YL)特点,与扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)技术得到的GaN薄膜的表面形貌质量和内部结晶质量的结果相对照,表明“YL”发光强度与GaN薄膜的扩展缺陷多少直接相对应通过二次离子质谱(SIMS)技术获取的GaN薄膜中Ga元素深度分布揭示出镓空位(V_Ga)最可能是“YL”发光的微观来源分析认为,虽然宏观扩展缺陷(丝状缺陷、螺形位错等)和微观点缺陷V_Ga及其与杂质的络合物(complexes)都表现出与“YL”发射密切相关,但V_Ga及其与杂质的络合物更可能是“YL”发射的根本微观来源室温下获得的样品“YL”发射强度和光谱精细结构可用于分析GaN薄膜缺陷和晶体质量.     

Effects of Dislocation on High Temperature Transport Characteristics of Unintentionally Doped GaN

High temperature transport characteristics of unintentionally doped GaN have been investigated by means of high temperature Hall measurements from room temperature to 500^o C. The increment of electron concentration from room temperature to 500^o C is found to vary largely for different samples. The dispersion of temperature dependence of electron concentration is found to be directly proportional to the density of dislocations in GaN layers calculated by fitting the FWHM of the rocking curves in x-ray diffraction measurements （XRD）. The buildup levels in persistent photoconductivity （PPC） are also shown to be directly proportionM to the density of dislocations. The correlation of XRD, Hall and PPC results indicate that the high temperature dependence of electron density in unintentional doped GaN is directly dislocation related.     

Exposure of defects in GaN by plasma etching

The effect of plasma exposure to n-type GaN surfaces has been examined. Etch pits are formed as a result of preferential sputtering at the sites of threading dislocations. Dark spots which are visible before plasma exposure can be attributed to screw dislocations, while those that emerge after plasma exposure are edge dislocations. The optimum condition for revealing defects clearly is derived, and has been adopted for the study of dislocations in a series of GaN epilayers grown under different conditions. A distinct trend in the dislocation density can be observed as the dopant concentration of the film varies. PACS 61.72.Ff; 68.37.Tj     

Nanoindentation characterization of GaN epilayers on A-plane sapphire substrates

Gallium nitride (GaN) epilayers was deposited on a-axis sapphire substrate by means of metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. The GaN epilayers has been investigated in their repetition pressure-induced impairment events from nanoindentation technique and, the relative deformation effect was observed from atomic force microscopy (AFM). From the morphological studies, it is revealed that none of crack and particle was found even after the indentation beyond the critical depth on the residual indentation impression. The ‘pop-in’ event was explained by the interaction of the deformed region, produced by the indenter tip, with the inner threading dislocations in the GaN films. Pop-in events indicate the generation and motion of individual dislocation, which is measured under critical depth and, no residual deformation of the GaN films is observed.     

Microstructural properties of GaN grown on a Si(110) substrate by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy: Dependence on the ammonia flux

The microstructural properties of a GaN thin film grown on a Si(110) substrate under various ammonia (NH₃)-flux conditions were observed to study growth mode and defect evolution. The surface flatness of GaN thin films was improved with the increase of the NH₃ flux while the thickness was decreased by increasing the NH₃ flux. In addition, the crystalline quality of the GaN film grown under the lower NH₃ flux (100 sccm) was better than that of the film under the higher NH₃ flux (400 sccm). The different dislocation behaviors depending on NH₃ fluxes were observed; the low density of dislocations was measured and most of dislocations penetrating the thin film was mixed- and edge-type dislocations when GaN was grown under the low NH₃ flux condition while the high density of dislocation and many mixed- and screw-type dislocations penetrating the film were observed in the GaN film grown under the high NH₃ flux. These phenomena are demonstrated by using a kinetic model related to the role of NH₃.     

Strong-coupling theory of mobility collapse in GaN layers

Within the framework of strong-coupling theory we study the effect of highly negatively charged threading dislocations on the electron mobility collapse in n-GaN layers. An analytical expression is derived showing the way in which the electrically active dislocations establish the critical carrier concentration at which the collapse occurs. Results are presented suggesting that the experimental collapse data can be utilized for determining the characteristic magnitude of the statistical filling factor of dislocation related traps in the GaN bandgap.     

Berkovich indentation-induced deformation behaviors of GaN thin films observed using cathodoluminescence and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy

Presented in this study are the Berkovich nanoindentation-induced mechanical deformation mechanisms of metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD) derived GaN thin films, investigated by using the cathodoluminescence (CL) and the cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) techniques. The multiple “pop-in” events were observed in the load-displacement (P-h) curves and appeared to occur randomly with increasing the indentation load. These instabilities are attributed to the dislocation nucleation and propagation. CL images of nanoindentation show a very well-defined rosette structures with the hexagonal system, and clearly display the distribution of deformation-induced extended defects/dislocations which affect CL emission. By using focused ion beam (FIB) milling to accurately position the cross-section of an indented area, XTEM results demonstrate that the major plastic deformation is taking place through the propagation of dislocations. The present observations are in support to the massive dislocations activities occurring underneath the indenter during the loading cycle. No evidence of either phase transformation or formation of micro-cracking was observed by using XTEM observations. We also discuss how these features correlate with Berkovich nanoindentation-induced defects/dislocations microstructures. Finally, this study has significant implications for the extent of contact-induced damage during fabrication of GaN-based optoelectronic devices.