We presented an experimental work on InN nanostructures grown on a GaN buffer layer deposited on sapphire (0001) by Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy. InN islands of controlled sizes were fabricated by using specific growth conditions and taking advantage of self-organization that results from Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. Then nanometric islands as small as 25 nm were characterized by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. AFM measurements revealed that the current shape of islands correspond to truncated hexagons. In-plane residual strain field was deduced from the E2 phonon frequency shift in micro-Raman spectra recorded on islands of various sizes. Careful analysis of these data made clear that the key parameter in determining the strain magnitude was the height of the islands: this was not surprising, keeping in mind that the shape was roughly independent of the size. Nevertheless, the dislocation density was believed to increase as function of the island thickness, leading to various degrees of strained relaxation, as probed by the present micro-Raman study. This conclusion was reinforced by the strain variation on the facets of single islands with respect to its value at the centre.

In this work, we carry out TEM analysis on GaN layers grown on sapphire and doped in situ by MBE. In parallel, photoluminescence and electroluminescence experiments are used to determine the possible emission of the grown layers. It has been shown previously that the emission peaks at Er concentrations of about 1% and that their intensity dramatically decreases with increasing Er concentration probably due to compositional quenching. We report on the evolution of the microstructure versus composition and try to explain the quenching effects that can be related to the microstructure.

Comparison of room temperature, frequency degenerate and nondegenerate femtosecond pump-probe reflectivity measurements reveal an additional component in the transient reflectivity (ΔR) decays for near bandgap probe in GaN that is attributed to a reduction of bandedge broadening due to screening of internal electric fields by photogenerated carriers. Pump-probe measurements with pulses spectrally centered at 363 nm show a ΔR component with a nanosecond decay time that is essentially absent from data obtained from nondegenerate experiments performed under identical pumping conditions, but with a probe at 385 nm far enough from the bandedges to minimize the electric field contribution and monitor primarily the carrier lifetime in the band states. The observation of significantly shorter decay times for 385 nm probe suggests that the carriers leave the band states on a picosecond time scale, but the slow decay of the field screening observed with 363 nm probe implies that they recombine from trap states at longer times. In addition, this field screening provides a mechanism for generation and detection of strain pulses in strained GaN and AlGaN epilayers that is used to measure the longitudinal sound velocity in bulk GaN and AlGaN with up to 0.4 Al content.

We have studied the microstructure of heavily Mg-doped Al0.03Ga0.97N films grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy in the lateral overgrowth mode (ELOG). A new type of defects with a platelet shape has been observed. According to TEM analysis, these defects are embedded in the overgrowth regions. The platelet is normal to the ELOG stripe direction [1100]AIGaN, forming trapezoidal trenches on the film surface. The thickness of the platelet is about 100nm. We have identified these defects as inversion domains using convergent beam electron diffraction and HR-TEM. Mg segregation at the coalescence boundaries between ELOG islands is believed to result in the formation of the defects.

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. B 68, 153313 (2003)], we reported the first experimental observation of the strong coupling regime in a GaN-based microcavity. The λ/2 GaN optical cavity was grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a Si(111) substrate. The upper mirror is a SiO2/Si3N4 dielectric mirror and the silicon substrate acts as the bottom mirror. With such a relatively simple and low-finesse microcavity, a Rabi splitting of 31 meV was measured at 5K. On the basis of this very encouraging result, approaches to fabricate high-finesse GaN-based cavities exhibiting strong coupling with stable polaritons at room temperature are discussed.

Growth conditions, structural and optical properties of GaN quantum dots (QDs) grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy will be examined. It will be shown that, depending on the Ga/N ratio value and on growth temperature, the growth mode of GaN deposited on AlN can be either of the Stranski-Krastanow or of the Frank-Van der Merwe type. It will be shown that vertical correlation results in a red shift and in a narrowing of the photoluminescence spectra.

Growth of Eu-doped GaN quantum dots embedded in AlN will be described. Intense photoluminescence associated with Eu has been measured, with no GaN band-edge emission, as an evidence that carrier recombination mostly occurs through rare earth ion excitation. Persistent photoluminescence of Eu-doped GaN quantum dots as a function of temperature has been put in evidence, as a further confirmation of the recombination of confined carriers through Eu ion excitation.

We report the growth and characterization of bulk GaN single crystals by temperature-gradient recrystallization at high pressure and high temperature (HPHT), using apparatus adapted from that used to synthesize gem-grade diamond crystals. The bulk crystals are grown on seeds that were synthesized by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) and subsequently removed from their sapphire substrate. Our largest crystals to date are 15×18 mm in diameter; however, the process is scalable to 50 mm and above. The crystals are transparent and well faceted, and dislocation densities below 100 cm−2 have been achieved. Additional characterization of the GaN crystals is also presented.

V-like columnar inversion domains with a divergence angle of about 4.5° ± 1° grown in AlN films with N-polarity were studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy. Such domains emerge at the surface forming a small islands in form of hexagonal, truncated pyramids. A model of such pyramid was proposed. TEM studies indicate a displacement of c/2 along the [0001] direction at the inversion domain boundary. A boundary itself is composed of long segments located on the {1100} planes, which are alternated by short segments on some inclined planes.

Freestanding GaN templates with (1010) orientation (M-plane) were obtained by halide vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) on nearly lattice-matched LiAlO2 and subsequent removal of the substrate by wet chemical etching. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum from both sides of the GaN template investigated is dominated by peaks at 3.47, 3.42 and 3.36 eV, tentatively attributed to an exciton bound to the neutral shallow donor and two unidentified structural defects, respectively. The quantum efficiency of the exciton-related emission exceeds 10%, whereas that of the combined emission from the defect-related bands (red, yellow and blue) is below 0.1%. The evolution of the PL spectrum with temperature and excitation intensity is analyzed in detail. Effects of polishing and etching on the PL properties are also discussed.

We report on detailed temperature dependent, time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) studies of Si-doped AlGaN epilayers. In these samples, the Al concentration varies from 25% to 66%. The samples were found to exhibit metallic-like temperature-independent conductivity. The deep level “yellow” emission, whose presence would indicate the existence of a large number of defects associated with growth, Si incorporation, and/or alloy formation, is absent. In addition to emission corresponding to the donor-bound exciton, the PL spectrum exhibits features associated with transitions involving localized carriers. This assignment of the emission mechanisms is based on the activation energies extracted from the temperature dependent photoluminescence (PL) quenching. Specifically, at room temperature the PL spectrum is dominated by transitions involving localized states. The localization energy varied from sample to sample and was observed to be between 115 meV to 200 meV. The PL intensity decay in the lower Al mole fraction epilayers exhibits a slow component associated with the presence of donor-bound excitons.

This paper reports on the LP-MOCVD growth optimisation of GaAlN/GaN heterostructures grown on Silicon Carbide substrates for HEMT applications, and on the first device performances obtained with these structures. The critical impact of some growth parameters on the physical properties of the GaAlN/GaN epilayers has been identified and studied using High Resolution X-Ray diffraction (HR-XRD), AFM, C-V and sonogauge measurements. The SiC substrate surface preparation (both ex-situ and in-situ) and the nucleation layer growth conditions (growth temperature, thickness, composition and strain) have been found to be key steps of the GaAlN/GaN/SiC growth process. SiC substrates from different suppliers have been evaluated and their influence on the physical properties of the GaAlN/GaN HEMT structures investigated. Static characteristics of the devices such as maximum drain current Idss or pinch-off voltage have been correlated with the nucleation layer composition of the HEMT structure and the defect density of the SiC substrate. First devices measured at 10 GHz using a load pull system exhibited CW output power in excess of 2.8 W/mm for a gate length of 0.5 μm. Under static measurements, we found an Idss around 1 A/mm and a pinch-off voltage of –5 V.

A newly reported narrow bandgap for indium nitride means that the indium gallium nitride system of alloys can be a candidate for new high efficiency solar cells covering most of the solar spectrum. In this paper, n-InN films were grown on p-Si (100) substrates. We characterize, for the first time, photovoltaic properties using n-InN/p-Si hetero-junction grown by RF-MBE.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is rapidly becoming the substrate of choice for the development of high frequency and high power electronic devices employing the III-V nitride family of materials. This heteroepitaxial growth system continues to receive considerable attention, as materials issues remain the fundamental limiters to device performance. The heteroepitaxial growth of gallium nitride (GaN) thin films on stepped and step-free 4H SiC surfaces is reported. Step-free SiC surfaces are created by mesa patterning of a SiC wafer and subsequent epitaxial growth in a process described previously. This process results in a collection of both step-free and stepped surfaces on a given sample. We have employed an established metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process to grow first a thin (1200Å) aluminum nitride (AlN) nucleation layer and then a 2 μm thick GaN thin film. We have interrupted growth at various stages of AlN and GaN growth to evaluate the growth evolution using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show marked differences in the manner in which the initial AlN layer deposits. Nucleation is random with elongated grains on step-free SiC surfaces, while stepped surfaces have round nuclei of uniform dimensions and a high degree of spatial correlation with the nuclei arranged in rows. These differences diminish as the AlN layer approaches the desired thickness. Growth of the GaN epilayer is also markedly different on the two types of surfaces with step-free surfaces leading to random and low density nucleation of crystallites that remain as single grains for long growth times, whereas the stepped surfaces have large numbers nuclei that rapidly grow laterally. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals that grain sizes are 2–3X larger on step-free surfaces.

We report the nanofabrication and characterization of triangular lattice array of photonic crystals (PCs) with diameter/periodicity as small as 100/180 nm on III-nitride Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) using electron beam lithography and inductively-coupled-plasma dry etching. Under optical pumping, a maximum enhancement factor of 20 was obtained from the PCs for emission light intensity at the wavelength of 475 nm at room temperature. Under current injection, the total power at 20 mA of 300 × 300 μm2 unpackaged LED chips revealed an increase by 63% and 95% for 460 nm blue and 340 nm UV LEDs, respectively, as a result of the PC formation. Our results show that the fabrication of PCs enhances the power output significantly on the III-nitride LEDs, which currently have very low external quantum efficiency especially in the UV range.

Growth of non-polar III-nitrides has been an important subject recently due to its potential improvement on the efficiency of III-nitride-based opto-electronic devices. Despite study of non-polar GaN and GaN-based heterostructures, there are few reports on epitaxial growth of non-polar InN, which is also an important component of the III-nitride system. In this study, we report heteroepitaxial growth of non-polar InN on r-plane sapphire substrates using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that when a GaN buffer is used, the following InN film appears to be non-polar (1120) a-plane which follows the a-plane GaN buffer. The room temperature Hall mobility of undoped a-plane InN is around 250 cm2/Vs with a carrier concentration around 6×1018 cm-3. Meanwhile, if InN film is directly deposited on r-plane sapphire without any buffer, the InN layer is found to consist of a predominant zincblende (cubic) structure along with a fraction of the wurtzite (hexagonal) phase with increasing content with proceeding growth.

The need for efficient UV emitting semiconductor sources has prompted the study of a number of heterostructures of III-N materials. In this work, the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) properties of UV-emitting GaN/AlN multiple quantum well (MQW) heterostructures were investigated in detail. In all samples studied, the structure consisted of 20 GaN quantum wells, with well widths varying between 7 and 15 Å, clad by 6nm AlN barriers, grown on top of a thick AlN buffer that was deposited on sapphire by molecular beam epitaxy. The observed energy corresponding to the peak of the emission spectrum is in agreement with a model that includes the strong confinement present in these structures and the existence of the large built-in piezoelectric field and spontaneous polarization present inside the wells. The observed emission varies from 3.5 eV (15 Å well) to 4.4 eV (7 Å well). Two activation energies associated with the photoluminescence quenching are extracted from the temperature dependence of the time-integrated PL intensity. These activation energies are consistent with donor and acceptor binding energies and the PL is dominated by recombination involving carriers localized on donor and/or acceptor states.

Moreover, the temperature dependence of the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the PL feature indicates that inhomogeneous broadening dominates the spectrum at all temperatures. For the 15 and 13 Å wells, we estimate that the electron-phonon interaction is responsible for less than 30% of the broadening at room temperature. This broadening is negligible in the 9 Å wells over the entire temperature range studied. Well width fluctuations are primarily responsible for the inhomogeneous broadening, estimated to be of the order of 250meV for one monolayer fluctuation in well width.

In this study, a thermally-energetic Mg source with an independent, valved-flux control was used to study the behavior of Mg incorporation into GaN. To observe effects of the thermal energy of the Mg flux on Mg incorporation, two Mg flux temperatures were investigated: one (900°C) well above the melting point of Mg and one (625°C) slightly below the melting point of Mg. Alternating Mg-doped and undoped GaN layers were grown at steps of increasing Mg flux, retaining a constant thermal energy, from below the saturation limit, to above the saturation limit. Results were analyzed and compared using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). For a constant measured Mg flux, the incorporated Mg increased by more than an order of magnitude when the Mg thermal source temperature was raised from 625°C to 900°C. During SIMS analysis, the energy spectra of sputtered Ga atoms were fairly constant for a Mg flux above the saturation limit, and shifts for a Mg flux slightly below the critical flux for saturation, indicating a conductivity change, and possibly providing a quantitative means of optimizing p-type conduction. Furthermore, Mg incorporation into GaN strongly depends on the III-V flux ratio. During this study it was also observed that Mg incorporation into GaN was enhanced on a rough growth-layer surface under N-rich conditions, while a smoother growth-layer surface resulted in lower Mg incorporation, even under N-rich conditions1.

In this paper we present experimental and theoretical study of intersubband transitions at telecommunication wavelengths in GaN/AlN hexagonal-phase quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire substrates. Crossed structural and photoluminescence experiments show that strong in-plane carrier localization occurs due to thickness fluctuations at GaN/AlN interfaces. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and photo-induced absorption spectroscopy performed on doped and undoped samples reveal a systematic blue-shift of the e1-e2 transitions with doping due to many body interactions. A good agreement is achieved between experiments and self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson calculations.

AlxGa1-xN films grown by MOCVD on sapphire and SiC substrates have been investigated by spatially resolved confocal photoluminescence microscopy and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and mapping. The sample on SiC has a rougher topography, but it is much more uniform in emission intensity and wavelength than the sample on sapphire.

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) study shows that a short-time interdiffusion process occurs at the interface of buffer/Si in the GaN/Si wafers grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Increasing the growth temperature of the buffer layer from 1150°C to 1210°C reduces the dropping rate of Al concentration in the silicon substrate from ∼20nm/decade to ∼30nm/decade near the interface. The impact of the interdiffusion on the band structure is investigated by photocurrent spectroscopy measurement. The experimental results indicate that different build-in electric fields are formed in the GaN/n-Si(111) and GaN/p-Si(111) devices as the consequence of the MOVPE growth.