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Structural and optical properties of PA MBE AlGaN quantum well heterostructures grown on c-Al2O3 by using flux- and temperature-modulated techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2015

Valentin N. Jmerik ,
Dmitrii V. Nechaev ,
Sergey Rouvimov ,
Valentin V. Ratnikov ,
Peter S. Kop'ev ,
Mikolai V. Rzheutski ,
Eugenii V. Lutsenko ,
Gennadii P. Yablonskii ,
Maher Aljohenii  and
Abdulaziz Aljerwii
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Valentin N. Jmerik*
Affiliation:
Ioffe Institute, Centre of Nanoheterostructure Physics, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
Dmitrii V. Nechaev
Affiliation:
Ioffe Institute, Centre of Nanoheterostructure Physics, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
Sergey Rouvimov
Affiliation:
Ioffe Institute, Centre of Nanoheterostructure Physics, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia; and University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA
Valentin V. Ratnikov
Affiliation:
Ioffe Institute, Centre of Nanoheterostructure Physics, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
Peter S. Kop'ev
Affiliation:
Ioffe Institute, Centre of Nanoheterostructure Physics, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
Mikolai V. Rzheutski
Affiliation:
Stepanov Institute of Physics of NAS Belarus, Minsk 220072, Belarus
Eugenii V. Lutsenko
Affiliation:
Stepanov Institute of Physics of NAS Belarus, Minsk 220072, Belarus
Gennadii P. Yablonskii
Affiliation:
Stepanov Institute of Physics of NAS Belarus, Minsk 220072, Belarus
Maher Aljohenii
Affiliation:
KACST, National Nanotechnology Center, 11442 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Abdulaziz Aljerwii
Affiliation:
KACST, National Nanotechnology Center, 11442 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Alyamani
Affiliation:
KACST, National Nanotechnology Center, 11442 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Sergey V. Ivanov
Affiliation:
Ioffe Institute, Centre of Nanoheterostructure Physics, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: jmerik@pls.ioffe.ru
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Abstract

AlGaN-based quantum well (QW) heterostructures grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on c-Al2O3 substrates have been studied. The high-temperature (785 °C) synthesis of AlN buffer layer nucleated by a migration-enhanced epitaxy and including several ultrathin GaN interlayers was the optimum approach for lowering the threading dislocations density down to 108–109 cm−2. High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF STEM) has revealed the step-like roughness of the AlN/Al2O3 interface. Also, the formation of Al-rich barriers induced by temperature-modulated epitaxy and the spontaneous compositional disordering have been found in the AlxGa1−xN (x > 0.6) barrier layers. The origin of these phenomena and their influence on parameters of the mid-UV stimulated emission observed in the QW heterostructures were discussed. The fine structure of the QWs formed by a submonolayer digital alloying technique has been displayed by HAADF STEM, and optical properties of the QW structures were studied by temperature- and time-dependent photoluminescence spectroscopy.

Keywords

molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)nitridenucleation and growth
Type
Reviews
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 30 , Issue 19: Focus Issue: Nitrides and Oxynitride Materials , 14 October 2015 , pp. 2871 - 2880
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

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