Cubic InN on -plane sapphire

InN has been grown directly on r-plane sapphire substrates by plasma-induced molecular beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy investigations have shown that the InN layers consist of a predominant zinc-blende (cubic) structure along with a fraction of the wurtzite (hexagonal) phase whose content increases with proceeding growth. The InN layer is defect rich with a high number of stacking faults and twins. As a consequence a very high residual doping of was estimated. The lattice constant for the zinc-blende phase of InN was found to be a=4.986 Å. The optical investigations were strongly affected by a high number of defects, but nevertheless indicated an absorption edge below 0.6 eV. For this unusual growth of the metastable cubic phase on a noncubic substrate an epitaxial relationship was proposed, where the metastable zinc-blende phase grows directly on the r-plane of sapphire.     

Temperature dependence of the built-in electric field strength of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on Si(111) substrate

Photoreflectance spectroscopy was used to measure the barrier electric field strength F of as-grown AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on Si(111) substrate with two-dimensional electron gases in the temperature range from 80 up to 295 K. The Al-contents were in the range from 12 to 20%. Despite the difference of Al-contents and the large temperature variation we find only minute changes of F. This behaviour is explained by an almost constant strain state and thus a constant piezoelectric polarisation, which was concluded from the analysis of the GaN free excitonic transitions observed by photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy. Self-consistent conduction band calculations point to a pinning of the potential of the bare surface at 0.6 V, attributed to a large density of surface donor states.     

Band transitions in wurtzite GaN and InN determined by valence electron energy loss spectroscopy

Valence electron energy loss spectroscopy (VEELS) was applied to determine band transitions in wurtzite InN, deposited by molecular beam epitaxy on (0001) sapphire substrates or GaN buffer layers. The GaN buffer layer was used as VEELS reference. At room temperature a band transition for wurtzite InN was found at (1.7±0.2 eV) and for wurtzite GaN at (3.3±0.2 eV) that are ascribed to the fundamental bandgap. Additional band transitions could be identified at higher and lower energy losses. The latter may be related to transitions involving defect bands. In InN, neither oxygen related crystal phases nor indium metal clusters were observed in the areas of the epilayers investigated by VEELS. Consequently, the obtained results mainly describe the properties of the InN host crystal.     

Microstructural assessment of InN-on-GaN films grown by plasma-assisted MBE

The structural properties of InN thin films, grown by rf plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Ga-face GaN/Al₂O₃(0001) substrates, were investigated by means of conventional and high resolution electron microscopy. Our observations showed that a uniform InN film of total thickness up to 1 μm could be readily grown on GaN without any indication of columnar growth. A clear epitaxial orientation relationship of , was determined. The quality of the InN film was rather good, having threading dislocations as the dominant structural defect with a density in the range of 10⁹–10¹⁰ cm⁻². The crystal lattice parameters of wurtzite InN were estimated by electron diffraction analysis to be a=0.354 nm and c=0.569 nm, using Al₂O₃ as the reference crystal. Heteroepitaxial growth of InN on GaN was accomplished by the introduction of a network of three regularly spaced misfit dislocation arrays at the atomically flat interface plane. The experimentally measured distance of misfit dislocations was 2.72 nm. This is in good agreement with the theoretical value derived from the in-plane lattice mismatch of InN and GaN, which indicated that nearly full relaxation of the interfacial strain between the two crystal lattices was achieved.     

Growth of InN layers by MOVPE using different substrates

This study presents the MOVPE growth of InN films onto different substrate materials, including sapphire, nitrided or not, GaN and AlN buffer layers deposited onto sapphire, and Si(111).For InN growth onto nitrided sapphire, different growth parameters were investigated in order to determine the best growth conditions. We found that a low V/III molar ratio has to be used in order to increase the growth rate. A light nitridation treatment gives the best electrical properties: mirror like layers with a mobility of 800 cm²/V  s were obtained. At room temperature, reflectivity experiments show the existence of a transition at 1.2 eV, while photoluminescence appears around 0.8 eV.Using the same growth conditions onto GaN buffers (with thicknesses ranging from 15 to 1000 Å), we found that the best mobilities are obtained above a given buffer thickness.By comparing also with AlN buffer layers and silicon substrates, we found that our previous conclusion still holds; lightly nitrided sapphire substrate leads to the best electrical properties and morphology.     

Optical studies on a coherent InGaN/GaN layer

Photoluminescence (PL), photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and selective excitation (SE-PL) studies were performed in an attempt to identify the origin of the emission bands in a pseudomorphic In_0.05Ga_0.95N/GaN film. Besides the InGaN near-band-edge PL emission centred at 3.25 eV an additional blue band centred at 2.74 eV was observed. The lower energy PL peak is characterized by an energy separation between absorption and emission–the Stokes’ shift–(500 meV) much larger than expected. A systematic PLE and selective excitation analysis has shown that the PL peak at 2.74 eV is related to an absorption band observed below the InGaN band gap. We propose the blue emission and its related absorption band are associated to defect levels, which can be formed inside either the InGaN or GaN band gap.     

In-plane photovoltage measurements on MBE grown InN

Temperature dependent measurements of the in-plane photovoltage (IPV) arising from Fermi level fluctuations constitute a powerful tool for determining surface and bulk states and trap activation energies in nominally undoped semiconductors. In this work we report the first IPV measurements on high quality InN grown using the MBE technique. The temperature dependent IPV results coupled with Hall mobility and carrier density measurements provide ample evidence for the existence of a high density of states within the range 54 to 68 meV below the conduction band. Temperature dependent PL measurements indicate a band gap of 0.77 eV where a very weak temperature dependence is observed between 77 and 300 K. These results are shown to be in accord with the IPV measurements.     

Strain effects on optical polarisation properties in （11^-22） plane GaN films

We present the theoretical results of the electronic band structure of wurtzite GaN films under biaxial strains in the （11^-22）-plane. The calculations are performed by the k.p perturbation theory approach through using the effectivemass Hamiltonian for an arbitrary direction. The results show that the transition energies decrease with the biaxial strains changing from -0.5% to 0.5%. For films of （11^-22）-plane, the strains are expected to be anisotropic in the growth plane. Such anisotropic strains give rise to valence band mixing which results in dramatic change in optical polarisation property. The strain can also result in optical polarisation switching phenomena. Finally, we discuss the applications of these properties to the （1132） plane GaN-based light-emitting diode and lase diode.     

Stability and electronic structure of single-walled InN nanotubes

Based on density functional theory calculations, we predict the stability and electronic structures of single-walled indium nitride (InN) nanotubes. Compared with other group III-nitride nanotubes with a similar diameter, strain energies of InN nanotubes relative to their graphitic sheet are the lowest, suggesting the possibility of the formation of InN nanotubes. Considering the stability of a graphitic InN sheet, InN nanotubes are in metastable states with the stability between GaN nanotubes and AlN nanotubes. Contrary to the case of carbon nanotubes and BN nanotubes, the bond-length of both horizontal and vertical In–N bonds in InN nanotubes decreases as the tube diameter increases. InN nanotubes are all semiconductors with an almost constant band gap of about 1 eV. The existence of a direct gap in zigzag InN nanotubes and the small band gap indicate that they may have potential applications in light emitting devices and solar cells.     

Fe掺杂GaN光电特性的第一性原理研究

基于密度泛函理论体系,计算了本征GaN材料和12.5%的Fe掺杂GaN体系的光电特性,分析了晶体结构、能带结构和电子态分布、介电函数、吸收系数、折射率、反射率、能量损失谱和消光系数,从理论上讨论了掺杂对体系光电特性的影响.计算所得理想GaN的禁带宽度为3.41 eV,Fe的重掺杂体系明显变窄,为3.06 eV,但仍为直接带隙半导体.本征GaN材料与Fe掺杂GaN体系的静态介电常数为5.74和6.20,折射率为2.39和2.48,能量损失最大值在20.02 eV和18.96 eV,最大吸收系数能量均在13.80 eV左右.计算结果为Fe掺杂GaN高压光电导开关材料及器件的进一步研究提供了有力的理论依据和实验支持.     

Properties of Si-doped GaN and AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown by RF-MBE on high resistivity Fe-doped GaN

Silicon-doped GaN epilayers and AlGaN/GaN heterostructures were developed by nitrogen plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on high resistivity iron-doped GaN (0001) templates and their properties were investigated by atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction and Hall effect measurements. In the case of high electron mobility transistors heterostructures, the AlN mole fraction and the thickness of the AlGaN barrier employed were in the range of from 0.17 to 0.36 and from 7.5 to 30 nm, respectively. All structures were capped with a 2 nm GaN layer.Despite the absence of Ga droplets formation on the surface, growth of both GaN and AlGaN by RF-MBE on the GaN (0001) surfaces followed a step-flow growth mode resulting in low surface roughness and very abrupt heterointerfaces, as revealed by XRD. Reciprocal space maps around the reciprocal space point reveal that the AlGaN barriers are fully coherent with the GaN layer.GaN layers, n-doped with silicon in the range from 10¹⁵ to 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ exhibited state of the art electrical properties, consistent with a low unintentional background doping level and low compensation ratio. The carrier concentration versus silicon cell temperatures followed an Arhenius behaviour in the whole investigated doping range. The degenerate 2DEG, at the AlGaN/GaN heteroiterfaces, exhibited high Hall mobilities reaching 1860 cm²/V s at 300 K and 10 220 cm²/V s at 77 K for a sheet carrier density of 9.6E12 cm⁻².The two dimensional degenerate electron gas concentration in the GaN capped AlGaN/GaN structures was also calculated by self-consistent solving the Schrödinger–Poisson equations. Comparison with the experimental measured values reveals a Fermi level pinning of the GaN (0001) surface at about 0.8 eV below the GaN conduction band.     

稀土元素Lu，Sc掺杂GaN光电特性的第一性原理研究

基于密度泛函理论,采用广义梯度近似（GGA+U）平面波超软赝势方法,计算了本征GaN和稀土元素Lu、Sc掺杂GaN体系的电子结构和光学性质.结果表明：计算得到本征GaN的禁带宽度为3.37 eV,与实验值（3.39 eV）接近. Lu掺杂后GaN体系带隙变窄,而Sc掺杂后诱导了深能级杂质,带隙变宽,但仍为直接带隙半导体.掺杂后体系均发生畸变,晶格常数和体积增大,且在费米能级附近产生杂质带. Lu、Sc掺杂GaN体系的静态介电常数较本征GaN（4.50）均有所增大.Lu、Sc掺杂后体系介电常数虚部整体左移,光吸收边往低能方向移动,发生了红移现象.计算结果对稀土元素Lu、Sc掺杂GaN高压光电材料的开发和研究提供了理论依据.     

Band gap energy and bowing parameter of In-rich InAlN films grown by magnetron sputtering

The crystal structure, band gap energy and bowing parameter of In-rich In_xAl_1−xN (0.7 < x < 1.0) films grown by magnetron sputtering were investigated. Band gap energies of In_xAl_1−xN films were obtained from absorption spectra. Band gap tailing due to compositional fluctuation in the films was observed. The band gap of the as-grown InN measured by optical absorption method is 1.34 eV, which is larger than the reported 0.7 eV for pure InN prepared by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. This could be explained by the Burstein-Moss effect under carrier concentration of 10²⁰ cm⁻³ of our sputtered films. The bowing parameter of 3.68 eV is obtained for our In_xAl_1−xN film which is consistent with the previous experimental reports and theoretical calculations.     

Structural and optical properties of an InxGa1−xN/GaN nanostructure

The structural and optical properties of an In_xGa_1−xN/GaN multi-quantum well (MQW) were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and photoluminescence (PL). The MQW structure was grown on c-plane (0 0 0 1)-faced sapphire substrates in a low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor. The room temperature photoluminescence spectrum exhibited a blue emission at 2.84 eV and a much weaker and broader yellow emission band with a maximum at about 2.30 eV. In addition, the optical gaps and the In concentration of the structure were estimated by direct interpretation of the pseudo-dielectric function spectrum. It was found that the crystal quality of the InGaN epilayer is strongly related with the Si doped GaN layer grown at a high temperature of 1090 °C. The experimental results show that the growth MQW on the high-temperature (HT) GaN buffer layer on the GaN nucleation layer (NL) can be designated as a method that provides a high performance InGaN blue light-emitting diode (LED) structure.     

Polarized transmission intensity studies at and below energy gap of wide-gap single crystalline CaGa2S4

Polarized transmission intensity studies have been performed on wide-gap single crystalline CaGa₂S₄ at room temperature. The effective value of the partial birefringence in (100) plane is determined to be comparatively large varying from 0.14 to 0.50 with increasing photon energy from 1.9 to 3.5 eV. Four structures, which were preliminary ascribed to the critical points of interband optical transitions are displayed by ellipsometric examination with the aid of a spectroscopic phase-modulated ellipsometer in the spectral range 1.5–6.3 eV. These points, together with band gap singularity, are believed to largely contribute into the optical properties below the energy gap of biaxial CaGa₂S₄. The pseudo values of two major components of dielectric function tensor of CaGa₂S₄ are given for the first time.     

Electronic structure,optical dielectric constant and born effective charge of EuAlO3

EuAlO₃ (EAO) is synthesized by the sol–gel process. The Rietveld refinement of the X-ray diffraction data shows that the material has orthorhombic structure with Pbnm space group. The density functional theory calculations are initiated with the experimental lattice parameters. The full potential linearized augmented plane wave method and projector augmented wave method are used to investigate the ground state properties of EAO. An indirect band gap of 1.8 eV is observed with the valence band maximum at the Γ point and the conduction band minimum at the R point. The X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) spectra of EAO are obtained in the energy window of 0–1000 eV. Using the electronic density of states, the valence band (VB) spectrum of EAO is generated and compared with the observed VB-XPS spectrum. The optical dielectric constant and the refractive index of the material are calculated for the photon energy radiation. The optical properties show a considerable anisotropy in the material. The Born effective charge of various elements and the dielectric tensor of EAO have been calculated.     

Ab-initio study of electronic and optical properties of InN in wurtzite and cubic phases

We have performed systematic first principle calculations for the electronic and optical properties of a narrow band gap semiconductor InN in cubic and wurtzite phases by ‘state-of-the-art’ DFT calculations within generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and Engel-Vosko's corrected generalized gradient approximation (EVGGA) using full potential linear augmented plane wave (FPLAPW) method as implemented in WIEN2k code. The total energy for the wurtzite phase of InN was found to be smaller by 0.0184 Ry/molecule by cubic phase which confirms the greater stability of the wurtzite structure than the cubic one. Band structure, effective masses, density of states, valence charge densities, and dielectric functions are computed and presented in detail. The critical points are extracted out of calculated dielectric function, compared with available measured data and are explained in terms of transitions occurred in the band structure along different symmetry and antisymmetry lines. The valence band maxima and conduction band minima are strongly dominated by N-2p states and located at the Γ-symmetrical line which predicts its direct band gap nature in both phases.     

The charge neutrality level and the fermi level pinning in A<Superscript>3</Superscript>N (BN,AlN, GaN,InN) nitrides

The electronic band structure and position of the charge neutrality level (CNL) in BN, AlN, GaN, and InN compounds with cubic and hexagonal lattices are calculated within the density functional theory (DFT-GGA). It is shown that the charge neutrality level is shifted from the middle of the BN and AlN forbidden band to the upper half of the GaN forbidden band and to the allowed energy region in the InN conduction band as the cation atomic weight increases. This determines semiinsulating properties of BN and AlN, n-type conductivity of GaN, and n ⁺-type conductivity of InN upon saturation of these materials by intrinsic lattice defects due to hard radiation. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 24–31, December, 2008.     

Structural and optical characterisation of InN layers grown by MOCVD

In the following, we report investigations of the dependencies of the structural, optical and electrical characteristics of InN thin films grown by MOCVD on the growth temperature. The layer thicknesses range from 70 to 400 nm. Their carrier concentrations range from 7×10¹⁸ to 4×10¹⁹ cm⁻³. Hall mobility values from 150 to 1300 cm²/V/s were determined in these films. The variation of the growth temperature and V/III ratio brought about different growth modes and rates. Using TEM, in addition to measuring layer thickness, we also determined the growth mode along with the structural quality of the InN layers. The surface roughness was obtained from AFM measurements. The layer crystalline quality was also investigated by means of X-ray diffraction in the rocking mode. Photoluminescence measurements performed at room temperature and at 7 K gave emission at around 0.7 eV.     

Critical point transitions of wurtzite indium nitride

The optical transmission, photoluminescence, and reflection spectra have been measured on a high-quality wurtzite indium nitride (InN) single crystal in the range of 0.5–20.0 eV. The fundamental bandgap of intrinsic InN has been extracted by taking into account the Burstein–Moss shift, bandgap renormalization and Urbach band tail effects, and found to be very close to the recent strongly re-established value of ∼1.2 eV. With the aid of Adachi's dielectric function model for the vacuum ultraviolet reflection spectra and the empirical pseudopotential method approach for the electron band-structure, we are able to identify up to nine electronic transitions, showing clear picture for the critical point transitions in InN. The temperature dependence of these interband transitions has also been revealed.