Using nano-cathodoluminescence performed in scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM-CL), we have investigated a photonic-bandgap-crystal (PBC) laser structure at T = 17 K. In cross-sectional STEM images the full device structure is clearly resolved. The most dominant luminescence originates from the 3-fold MQW of the active region. The MQW shows a distinct peak wavelength change in growth direction indicating different structural and/or chemical properties of the individual quantum wells. In detail, a clear shift from 427 nm to 438 nm from the first to the top QW is observed, respectively.
In this work we show successful metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) of an AlN/AlGaN distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) that is wavelength matched to GaN quantum dots (QDs) in an AlGaN lambda cavity on top. Full insight into the growth of these structures enables the epitaxy of resonant cavity deep UV single photon emitters.
The DBR was grown on an AlN/sapphire template. In order to obtain a high reflectivity as well as a sufficiently large stopband width, the refractive index contrast needs to be maximized. Additionally, the absorption of QD emission in the high gallium containing layer needs to be minimized. A compromise was found for nominal Al-concentration of 70 % in the AlGaN layers. The resulting DBR splits up into self-organized AlN/Al(X)Ga(1-X)N/Al(Y)Ga(1-Y)N trilayers, which add up to desired lambda/2-periods. Therefore, the stopband at 272 nm with a width of 6 nm shows a maximum reflectivity of 99.7 %.
GaN QDs were obtained by growth of GaN on AlGaN for 10 s with a V/III-ratio of 30 followed by a growth interruption of 30 s. The QDs exhibit sharp emission lines with a FWHM down to 1 meV in µ-PL measurements. The main intensity of the QD ensemble emission is in the range of 250 nm to 275 nm.
Finally, spatially resolved low temperature CL measurements show resonant DBR-enhanced GaN QD emission at 271 nm showing successful wavelength match between a AlN/AlGaN deep UV DBR and GaN QDs in an AlGaN lambda-cavity on top.
Due to its large band gap and excellent electrical properties, nitride-based heterostructures are rapidly becoming a material of choice for RF and power switching applications. However, these devices require a carbon or iron doped semi-insulating buffer to deliver high breakdown voltages and suppress off-state leakage currents. We have grown semi-insulating GaN using precursor-based metal-organic chemical vapor phase epitaxy by intentionally introducing carbon and iron impurities with doping concentration ranging from 1x10^17cm-3 to 5x10^18cm-3 to compensate residual donors. Scanning probe microscopy techniques, scanning surface potential microscopy (SSPM) and bias dependent electric force microscopy (EFM) are mainly used to compare contact potential differences and local potential mapping at the vicinity of dislocation regions. For reference n-type GaN layers doped with Si and Ge, and p-type GaN layers doped with Mg are also investigated. Skew and edge type dislocation densities are estimated from tilt and twist x-ray diffraction measurements using omega-scans for the (0002) reflection and grazing incidence in-plane geometry for the (101 ̅0) reflection. The obtained values are in the range of low 108 cm-2 for screw-type and low 109 cm-2 for edge-type dislocations, independent of doping type and concentration. Locally probing dislocations by SSPM reveals a negative charge contrast with respect to the surrounding areas in C-doped samples increasing with doping concentration whereas Fe-doped samples exhibit no contrast. By investigating the contact potential by EFM, the combined effects of Fermi-level position and surface band bending due to surface states are determined. With the references of n-type and p-type GaN samples, the acceptor states introduced by carbon cause Fermi-level pinning below midgap position whereas acceptor-states by Fe impurities have to be energetically above midgap position. In vertical transport measurements, C-doped GaN layers with a dopant concentration of 4.6x10^18 cm-3 exhibit an up to 5 orders of magnitude lower dark current at room temperature and significantly higher thermal activations than Fe-doped samples with a comparable dopant concentration. In conclusion C-doped samples show superior properties in comparison to Fe-doped samples.
In this paper the properties of excitons and phonons in doped GaN is reviewed. We demonstrate that in heavy Ge doped GaN new quasi particle can be stabilized. Furthermore, we discuss and use the observation of local phonon modes to clarify the incorporation of germanium, silicon, carbon, and transition metal ions on different lattice places in the nitride material.
We systematically studied the desorption induced GaN/AlN quantum dot formation using cathodoluminescence spectroscopy directly performed in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). The GaN films were grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) on top of an AlN/sapphire-template. After the deposition of a few monolayers GaN at 960°C a growth interruption (GRI) without ammonia supply was applied to allow for quantum dot formation. A sample series with GRI durations from 0 s to 60 s was prepared to analyze the temporal evolution systematically. Each quantum dot (QD) structure was capped with AlN grown at 1195°C.
Without GRI the cross-sectional STEM images of the reference sample reveal a continuous GaN layer with additional hexagonally-shaped truncated pyramids of 20 nm height and ~100 nm lateral diameter covering dislocation bundles. Spatially averaged spectra exhibit a broad emission band between 260 nm and 310 nm corresponding to the continuous GaN layer. The truncated pyramids exhibit only drastically reduced CL intensity in panchromatic images.
Growth interruption leads to desorption of GaN resulting in smaller islands without definite form located in close vicinity to threading dislocations. Now the emission band of the continuous GaN layer is shifted to shorter wavelengths indicating a reduction of GaN layer thickness. By applying 30 s GRI these islands exhibit quantum dot emission in the spectral range from 220 nm to 310 nm with ultra narrow line widths. For longer growth interruptions the QD ensemble luminescence is shifted to lower wavelengths accompanied by intensity reduction indicating a reduced QD density.
The promising II-VI-semiconductor ZnO has achieved strong interest in research in the past years. Especially, epitaxial
growth by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) is a matter of particular interest due to the large scalability of
MOVPE for commercial mass production and its proven high layer quality for other compound semiconductors. In the
past years tremendous advance has been made in the field of epitaxial growth. However, due to the lack of epiready ZnO
substrates, so far mostly heteroepitaxial growth with a multistep growth process was applied to obtain good surface
morphology and until now not all of the physical properties of such multilayers are fully understood. In this paper we
present recent results of the electrical behavior of such multiple undoped ZnO layers. Despite numerous efforts one big
challenge is the p-type doping of ZnO. Here we present our results to doping experiments with arsenic, nitrogen and as a
new approach simultaneous dual doping of nitrogen and arsenic. Homoepitaxial growth offers a great potential for ZnO
due to some advantages as the absence of thermal and lattice mismatch and potentially low dislocation density. We
present experiments on the thermal treatment of commercial ZnO bulk crystals, which is necessary for subsequent homo-
MOVPE.
We present first results on the limits of GaN growth on large diameter sapphire and the challenges that have to be solved for a successful growth of high power LEDs on silicon substrates. Up to 5.4 μm thick crack-free GaN on Si(111) LED structures were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor phase epitaxy. The FWHM of the GaN (0002) ω scan in x-ray diffraction amounts to 380 arcsec. On Si substrates, we achieve low curvatures with radii > 50 m, which is important for a successful processing of the samples on large diameter substrates. Additionally, a low curvature during InGaN multi-quantum-well growth is achieved and enables the growth of homogenous InGaN layers. The main difficulty for GaN-on-Si is light extraction, which leads to an approximately three- to four-fold reduction in direct comparison with GaN LEDs on sapphire.
We report results on the transferability of a blue-green electroluminescence test structure (ELT) process across different reactor geometries and substrate materials. The process was transferred from the conditions of our well-known 6 X 2 inch to the 5 X 3 inch AIX 2400 G3 geometry by simple up-scaling of the respective process parameters in accordance with numerical simulations done on the reactor setup. The five period InGaN/GaN quantum well ELT structures with an average emission wavelength on wafer of 480 nm shows a standard deviation of 1 - 2% without rim exclusion. Electroluminescence up to 560 nm were achieved in InGaN/GaN structures with high In content. With these prospects new types of seed layers for the transfer of our standard electroluminescence test structures (ELT) process to Si- substrates were investigated. The growth on different seed layers was found feasible and resulted in operational ELT structures with emission wavelengths in the range of 440 nm to 470 nm. Electrical quick test shows bright blue emission across the full Si wafer.
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