Theoretical studies and design of quantum well lasers employing InGaN require material parameters for both GaN and InN. However, the Luttinger-like effective-mass parameters for InN are currently unavailable. In this work, we extract effective-mass parameters for wurtzite GaN and InN from their electronic band structures calculated using the Empirical Pseudopotential Method (EPM). We obtain the electron and hole (including the heavy- (HH), light- (LH), and crystal-field split-off (CH) holes) effective-masses at the Γ point in the kz and the in-plane kx-ky plane) directions using a parabolic fit. In addition, the hole effective-mass parameters are derived using the 6×6 effective-mass Hamiltonian and the k.p method. Our results will be useful for material design in wide-gap nitride-based semiconductor lasers containing InGaN.

Calculated sheet carrier concentration as a function of Al mole fraction in the quantum well (QW) formed at the GaN/AlGaN heterointerface is calculated and compared to experimental data. Close agreement between experiment and theory is observed. The calculated sheet carrier concentration reflects the maximum carrier concentration possible in the GaN QW for a given Al mole fraction and can not be used to argue in favor of either interface charge or piezoelectric effect as giving rise to the carriers. Based on experimental data the charge density in the AlGaN layer is estimated to be 4 × 1012cm-2

The calculations are based upon a simple technique to determine valence band alignments. Calculated values are compared to experimental data showing excellent agreement. A calculated valence band discontinuity of 0.42eV for AlN/GaN is well within the experimental bounds.

We present a theoretical study of atomic structures, electrical properties and formation energies for a variety of possible reconstructions with 1×1 and 2×2 periodicity of the GaN(0001) and (0001) surfaces. We find that during MBE growth in the (0001) direction 2×2 structures become stable under N rich growth conditions while Ga rich environment should yield structures with 1×1 periodicity. Considering MBE growth on (0001) surfaces, among the investigated structures only those with 1×1 periodicity are predicted to be stable. During MOCVD growth, where H terminated surfaces may occur, only structures with lx1 periodicity are found to be stable for both growth directions.

The electronic structure, geometry and energetics of Ga vacancy pairs and N vacancy pairs in both wurtzite and zincblende GaN are investigated via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using an empirical tight-binding (TB) model with total energy capabilities and supercells containing up to 216 atoms. Our calculations suggest that, by pairing, N vacancies, which in isolation act as shallow donors, can lower their collective formation energy by about 5 eV. In doing so, however, these N vacancies lose their shallow-donor character as the lattice relaxes in response to this aggregation. Contrasting with the N vacancies, the Ga vacancies are found to retain their isolated shallow acceptor behavior and do not gain significant energy upon aggregation. The possible implications for larger aggregate defects are discussed.

GaN semiconductor is characterized by strong bonding and high vapor pressure of nitrogen. The strong bonds limit an efficiency of annealing procedures required for variety of semiconductor technologies, for example, post-implantation annealing, or doping by diffussion. Maximum temperatures employed up to now (at ambient pressure) in GaN annealing have not exceeded about 1100°C. A desired increase of annealing temperatures would cause a decomposition of GaN unless an elevated pressure of N2 is supplied. In this work, we report onapplication of high pressure annealing procedures (temperatures up to 1550°C and pressures up to 16 kbar) which enabled us to study variation of the properties of epitaxial films and bulk crystal of GaN. In particular, we discuss the following results obtained using high pressure annealing: i) structural quality improvement and increase of the thermal strain in as grown epitaxial layers of GaN/A12O3, The annealing at above 1300°C resulted in the decrease of the X-ray rocking curve width from about 700 arc sec. down to 470 arc sec., ii) drastic increase of bandedge (bound exciton) photoluminescence intensity iii) enhancement in removal of implant damage, iv) increase of diffusivity of Zn and Mg atoms (introduced by implantation and/or diffusion from external source). For Zn in epitaxial layers of GaN/A12O3 a diffusion starts at 1200–1250°C, v) enhancement of the blue-photoluminescence intensity in Zn and Mg implanted GaN. The performed experiments give an evidence of the importance of the defect (dislocations) in diffusion of Zn and Mg in the GaN semiconductor.

Recent progress in the development of dry and wet etching techniques, implant doping and isolation, thermal processing, gate insulator technology and high reliability contacts is reviewed. Etch selectivities up to 10 for InN over AIN are possible in Inductively Coupled Plasmas using a Cl2/Ar chemistry, but in general selectivities for each binary nitride relative to each other are low (≤2)b ecause of the high ion energies needed to initiate etching. Improved ntype ohmic contact resistances are obtained by selective area Si+ implantation followed by very high temperature (>1300°C) anneals in which the thermal budget is minimized and AIN encapsulation prevents GaN surface decomposition. Implant isolation is effective in GaN, AlGaN and AlInN, but marginal in InGaN. Candidate gate insulators for GaN include AIN, A1ON and Ga(Gd)Ox, but interface state densities are still to high to realize state-of-the-art MIS devices.

Films of GaN and related materials can be processed by methods that invoke thermal decomposition, induced by intense illumination with a pulsed laser. At elevated temperatures, the nitride semiconductors undergo decomposition, with the effusion of nitrogen gas. We exploit this mechanism as an alternative to etching for the patterning of nitride films and for the opening of buried interfaces. Films of GaN have been etched to a depth of 1 μm in less than three seconds. This interface decomposition allows in particular the separation of nitride films from transparent growth substrates such as sapphire.

Heterostructure modulation doped transistors (MODFETs) based on AlGaN/GaN structures have demonstrated impressive DC and microwave performance often despite high transistor access resistance. One approach to reducing the access resistance is to use selective area Si-implantation. While several reports exist on Si-implantation in GaN, little work has been done on implantation in AlGaN. In addition, more information on the annealing of implantation damage in GaN is needed to optimize its use in FETs and thyristors.

We report the electrical and structural properties of Si-implanted Al0.15Ga0.85N based on Hall measurements and Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) spectra, respectively. Al0.15Ga0.85N shows less damage accumulation than GaN for a room temperature Si-implant dose of 5×1015 cm-2 based on the minimum channeling yield (26% for AlGaN as compared to 34% for GaN), however, as with GaN, this damage is difficult to remove by thermal annealing at °C.

Evidence is presented for phase separation in In0.27Ga0.73N/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQW's). After annealing for 4 min at a temperature of 1100 °C, the absorption threshold at 2.95 eV is replaced by a broad peak at 2.65 eV. This peak is attributed to the formation of Inrich InGaN phases in the active region. X-ray diffraction measurements show a shift in the diffraction peaks toward GaN, consistent with the formation of an In-poor phase.

The selective area etching of wurtzite GaN (0001) and AlGaN (0001) with SiO2 masks is investigated for different temperatures of 800 to 1 100°C and different ambient gases of H2, N2 and Ar including NH3. The etching rate of GaN increases with increasing annealing temperature under H2 ambient. This etching is attributed to the chemical reaction between Ga-N and H2. On the other hand, the etching of GaN does not occur in the N2 or Ar ambient gas. The NH3 gas in H2 ambient suppresses the chemical reaction, while the NH3 gas in N2 enhances it. The surface etching of Al0.1Ga0.9N is not observed even in H2 ambient.

The photoluminescence (PL) of GaN grown on SiC is studied as a function of etch depth for two types of etches, photoelectrochemical and chemically assisted ion beam. It is found that as the etch proceeds deeper toward the substrate, the PL exhibits an increasing blue-shift and an increase in emission intensity of the donor acceptor pair band, which indicates increasing biaxial compressive stress and increasing impurity concentration near the substrate. The PL spectra of the dry etched GaN tended to have slightly higher intensities than comparably wet etched GaN.

We have etched GaN grown by plasma source MBE in aqueous solutions of KOH in an electrochemical cell under HeCd laser illumination and additional current control.The etch rate was dramatically enhanced up to 8 μm/h by an applied current density of 6.4 mAcm-2. Photocurrent control leads to etched GaN surfaces exhibiting mirror-like appearance with uniform interference color. According to mechanical profilometry, they have a roughness of less than 3.5 nm after etching of several hundred nanometers, which is comparable to the roughness prior to etching. This etching process allows in situ control via photocurrent and induced yellow luminescence.

We report on fabrication and characterization of cleaved laser facets and photoelectrochemically wet etched laser facets in III-Nitrides grown by MOVPE on c-plane sapphire. The roughness of the cleaved facets in the InGaN/GaN double heterostructure (DH) laser cavities with a 1000-Å-thick active region is ≈25 rim, while that of the wet etched GaN facets is ≈100 nm. A theoretical model is developed for the maximum allowable laser facet roughness, which yields a value of 18 nrm for uncoated GaN and 22 rm for the uncoated DH. Optically pumped laser action at room temperature is demonstrated in the cleaved DH laser cavities. 2 Above the incident threshold pumping power of 1.3 MW/cm2, the differential quantum efficiency increases by a factor of 34, the emission linewidth decreases to 13.5 meV, and the output becomes highly TE polarized. Wet chemical etching a 1-mm-long laser cavity into the GaN homostructure is found to increase the differential quantum efficiency by a factor of 2.

Due to limited success in wet etching of GaN and AIN, dry etching techniques have become more relevant for the processing of the GaN films. Here we demonstrate the results of an alternative dry etching process, namely, pulsed laser etching, for GaN and AIN. In this method, a KrF pulsed excimer laser (λ=248 nm, τ=30 ns) was used to etch epitaxial GaN and AIN films. The dependence of the etching characteristics on the laser energy density and the number of pulses has been studied. The etch depth showed a linear dependence on the number of pulses over a wide range of laser energy densities. The threshold intensity for GaN etching was determined to be 0.33 J/cm2. The etching rate was found to be a strong function of laser energy density. Above the threshold, the etch rate was found to be 300–1400 Å per pulse leading to etching rates of 0.1–1μm/sec depending upon the laser energy density and the pulse repetition rate. It is shown that the etching mechanism is based on laser induced absorption, decomposition and layer by layer removal of the GaN.

Single crystalline GaN-layers were implanted with radioactive 167Tm and 169yb ions, and their lattice sites were determined using the emission channeling technique. After the decay of 167Tm to 167Er, photoluminescence studies were performed. Upon room temperature implantation, rare earth atoms immediately occupy relaxed substitutional sites with an average relaxation of about 0.025 nm. Isochronal annealing treatments up to 800 °C and co-implantation of oxygen to a dose an order of magnitude greater than that of the Tm or Yb do not influence the rare earth lattice sites. A variety of different rare earth related luminescence lines are observed, and co-implantation of oxygen strongly changes the line intensities.

With 150KeV Mg+ ion implantation, the optical and structural characteristics of GaN films were studied. Post-implant annealing up to 1000°C was performed in N2 ambient with a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system, without an encapsulation layer. We observed a green band photoluminescence from Mg-implanted GaN. This green band photoluminescence should be associated with Mg induced defect-clustering in GaN. We also use the x-ray diffraction method to study the correlation between structure defects and implantation. We observed an extra shoulder peak at the small angle side of the GaN[0004] diffraction peak. The origin of this shoulder may be attributed to implanted magnesium induced GaN lattice strain.

Photoluminescence spectra of high quality GaN epilayers, grown by MOCVD on sapphire substrates and implanted by isoelectronic ions: As, P, and Bi, were investigated. Post implant annealing was done at temperatures of up to 1150 °C, in a tube furnace under flowing NH3 or N2, and in a rapid thermal annealing system in ambient of N2. The PL of GaN: P annealed at 1150 °C in NH 3 exhibited strong pair-type modulated structures on the short wavelength shoulder of an emission band.The band at 2.914 eV is due to the recombination of bound exciton to P-hole isoelectronic traps (P-BE), and the modulated structure results from electron-hole recombination at pairs of neutral donors and a hole on P isoelectronic traps. The PL of GaN: As, GaN: Bi showed an emission with peaks at 2.597 eV and 3.241 eV, due to the recombination of an exciton bond to As and Bi isoelectronic-hole traps. We also studied thermal quenching excitation spectra, and PL kinetics. The experimental results are discussed using a simple spherical potential-well model for isoelectronic traps: As, P, and Bi replacing nitrogen in GaN.

Changes in luminescent spectra, current-voltage, and capacitance-voltage characteristics were studied versus time of working at forward currents for light-emitting diodes based on InGaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. The samples of blue and green LEDs with a single quantum well InGaN active layers were studied during 102-2.103 hours at currents 30–80 mA. An increase in efficiency at the first stage and a decrease one at the second stage were detected. The main changes were detected at low currents in blue diodes for tunnel components of current and radiation. Activation of acceptors Mg because of residual H atoms are going out of complexes Mg-H and creation of donor type defects are proposed as models for two stages. A model of injection stimulated (non-thermal) underthreshold creation of defects can explain the results.

We report on the growth of InGaN films, and the fabrication and characterization of GaN homojunction LEDs and InGaN double heterostructure (DH) LEDs on HVPE GaNon- sapphire substrates. The use of these substrates facilitates the III-nitrides growth process, as it avoids the use of complicated buffer layers. We have achieved InGaN films with strong and sharp band-to-band photoluminescence (PL) from 370 to 540 nm. Typical In 0.o9Ga0. g9N/GaN DH films had double-crystal XRD FWHM ∼ 300 arcsec, and 400 nm peak PL emission with FWHM ∼ 100 meV. DH-LEDs were fabricated with InGaN layers with various compositions, and produced strong electroluminescence (EL) in the blue and blue/green regions.

We report a new Ni/Pt/Au (20/30/80 nm) metallization scheme to achieve a low ohmic contacts to p-type GaN with a carrier concentration of 9.4 × 1016 cm-3. A Mg-doped GaN layer (0.5 μm) was grown on (0001) sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). All metal thin films were deposited on the p-GaN layer in an electron-beam evaporation system. Samples were annealed by a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process at a range of temperatures from 300 °C to 850 °C under a flowing Ar atmosphere. A circulartransmission line model (c-TLM) was employed to calculate the specific contact resistance, and current-voltage (I-V) data were measured with HP4155A. The Ni/Pt/Au contacts without the annealing process showed nearly rectifying characteristics. The ohmic contacts were formed on the samples annealed at 500 °C for 30 sec and the I-V data showed a linear behavior. The specific contact resistance was 2.1 × 10-2 Ωcm2. However with increasing the annealing temperature above 600 °C, ohmic contacts were again degraded. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profiles were used to investigate the interfacial reactions between the trilayer and GaN. AES results suggested that Pt plays a significant role in forming ohmic contact as an acceptor at the interface. Atomic force microscope (AFM) also showed that the samples with good ohmic contact have very smooth surface.