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Simultaneous Quantification of Indium and Nitrogen Concentration in InGaNAs Using HAADF-STEM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2014

Tim Grieb ,
Knut Müller ,
Emmanuel Cadel ,
Andreas Beyer ,
Marco Schowalter ,
Etienne Talbot ,
Kerstin Volz  and
Andreas Rosenauer
Tim Grieb*
Affiliation:
Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Knut Müller
Affiliation:
Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Emmanuel Cadel
Affiliation:
Groupe de Physique des Matériaux (GPM) UMR 6634, Normandie Université, Université et INSA de RouenCNRS, Av. de l’Université, BP 12, 76801 Saint Etienne du Rouvray, France
Andreas Beyer
Affiliation:
Materials Science Center and Faculty of Physics, Philipps University Marburg, Hans Meerwein Straße, 35032 Marburg, Germany
Marco Schowalter
Affiliation:
Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Etienne Talbot
Affiliation:
Groupe de Physique des Matériaux (GPM) UMR 6634, Normandie Université, Université et INSA de RouenCNRS, Av. de l’Université, BP 12, 76801 Saint Etienne du Rouvray, France
Kerstin Volz
Affiliation:
Materials Science Center and Faculty of Physics, Philipps University Marburg, Hans Meerwein Straße, 35032 Marburg, Germany
Andreas Rosenauer
Affiliation:
Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. grieb@ifp.uni-bremen.de
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Abstract

To unambiguously evaluate the indium and nitrogen concentrations in InxGa1−xNyAs1−y, two independent sources of information must be obtained experimentally. Based on high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images taken with a high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) detector the strain state of the InGaNAs quantum well is determined as well as its characteristic HAADF-scattering intensity. The strain state is evaluated by applying elasticity theory and the HAADF intensity is used for a comparison with multislice simulations. The combination of both allows for determination of the chemical composition where the results are in accordance with X-ray diffraction measurements, three-dimensional atom probe tomography, and further transmission electron microscopy analysis. The HAADF-STEM evaluation was used to investigate the influence of As-stabilized annealing on the InGaNAs/GaAs sample. Photoluminescence measurements show an annealing-induced blue shift of the emission wavelength. The chemical analysis precludes an elemental diffusion as origin of the energy shift—instead the results are in agreement with a model based on an annealing-induced redistribution of the atomic next-neighbor configuration.

Keywords

InGaNAsHAADFSTEMannealingatom probe tomography
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 20 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 1740 - 1752
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2014 

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