Pockels effect in GaN/Al-x,Gal(1-x)N superlattice with different quantum structures - art. no. 69841G

The linear electro-optic (Pockels) effect of wurtzite gallium nitride (GaN) films and six-period GaN/AlxGa1-xN superlattices with different quantum structures were demonstrated by a polarization-maintaining fiber-optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer system with an incident light wavelength of 1.55 mu m. The samples were prepared on (0001) sapphire substrate by low-temperature metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The measured coefficients of the GaN/AlxGa1-xN superlattices are much larger than those of bulk material. Taking advantage of the strong field localization due to resonances, GaN/AlxGa1-xN SL can be proposed to engineer the nonlinear responses.

Research on the band-gap of InN grown on siticon substrates

Photoluminescence (PL) and absorption experiments were carried out to examine the fundamental band-gap of InN films grown on silicon substrates. A strong PL peak at 0.78 eV was observed at room temperature, which is much lower than the commonly accepted value of 1.9 eV. The integrated PL intensity was found to depend linearly on the excitation laser intensity over a wide intensity range. These results strongly suggest that the observed PL is related to the emission of the fundamental inter-band transitions of InN rather than to deep defect or impurity levels. Due to the effect of band-filling with increasing free electron concentration, the absorption edge shifts to higher energy. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

InN layers grown by MOCVD on SrTiO3 substrates

Epitaxial wurtzite InN thin films have been grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on (1 1 1) SrTiO3 (STO) substrates. Interestingly, twin domain epitaxy induced by the surface reconstruction of STO is observed with the in-plane orientation relationships of [(1) over bar 1 0 0]InN parallel to [<(1)over bar > 1 0]STO and [2 <(1 1)over bar > 0]InN parallel to[<(1)over bar > 1 0]STO, which is helpful to release the strain. The InN films on STO substrates exhibit a strong photoluminescence emission around 0.78 eV. Particularly, using STO substrates opens up a possibility to integrate InN with the functional oxides. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Effects of Hydrogen Plasma Treatment on the Electrical and Optical Properties of ZnO Films: Identification of Hydrogen Donors in ZnO

Wurtzite ZnO has many potential applications in optoelectronic devices, and the hydrogenated ZnO exhibits excellent photoelectronic properties compared to undoped ZnO; however, the structure of H-related defects is still unclear. In this article, the effects of hydrogen-plasma treatment and subsequent annealing on the electrical and optical properties of ZnO films were investigated by a combination of Hall measurement, Raman scattering, and photoluminescence. It is found that two types of hydrogen-related defects, namely, the interstitial hydrogen located at the bond-centered (H-BC) and the hydrogen trapped at a O vacancy (H-O), are responsible for the n-type background conductivity of ZnO films. Besides introducing two hydrogen-related donor states, the incorporated hydrogen passivates defects at grain boundaries. With increasing annealing temperatures, the unstable H-BC atoms gradually diffuse out of the ZnO films and part of them are converted into H-O, which gives rise to two anomalous Raman peaks at 275 and 510 cm(-1). These results help to clarify the relationship between the hydrogen-related defects in ZnO described in various studies and the free carriers that are produced by the introduction of hydrogen.

Measurement of w-InN/h-BN Heterojunction Band Offsets by X-Ray Photoemission Spectroscopy

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to measure the valence band offset (VBO) of the w-InN/h-BN heterojunction. We find that it is a type-II heterojunction with the VBO being -0.30 +/- A 0.09 eV and the corresponding conduction band offset (CBO) being 4.99 +/- A 0.09 eV. The accurate determination of VBO and CBO is important for designing the w-InN/h-BN-based electronic devices.

Growth of GaN layers on GaAs and GaP (111) and (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Films of GaN have been grown using a modified MBE technique in which the active nitrogen is supplied from an RF plasma source. Wurtzite films grown on (001) oriented GaAs substrates show highly defective, ordered polycrystalline growth with a columnar structure, the (0001) planes of the layers being parallel to the (001) planes of the GaAs substrate. Films grown using a coincident As flux, however, have a single crystal zinc-blende growth mode. They have better structural and optical properties. To improve the properties of the wurtzite films we have studied the growth of such films on (111) oriented GaAs and GaP substrates. The improved structural properties of such films, assessed using X-ray and TEM method, correlate with better low-temperature FL.

Wet etching and infrared absorption of AlN bulk single crystals

The defects and the lattice perfection of an AlN (0001) single crystal grown by the physical vapor transport (PVT) method were investigated by wet etching, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and infrared absorption, respectively. A regular hexagonal etch pit density (EPD) of about 4000 cm~(-2) is observed on the (0001) A1 surface of an AlN single crystal. The EPD exhibits a line array along the slip direction of the wurtzite structure, indicating a quite large thermal stress born by the crystal in the growth process. The XRD full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the single crystal is 35 arcsec, suggesting a good lattice perfection. Pronounced infrared absorption peaks are observed at wave numbers of 1790, 1850, 2000, and 3000 cm~(-1), respectively. These absorptions might relate to impurities O, C, Si and their complexes in AlN single crystals.

GaN／AlN组织平顶金字塔量子点的应变场分布

利用有限元法，研究了GaN／AlN自组织量子点材料的应变场分布。量子点模型采用了实验观察到的六角平顶金字塔形状，材料的弹性常数考虑了晶体材料的Wurtzite结构特性。在晶格失配处理上，采用了三维各项异性伪热膨胀模型。将基于有限元法的计算结果与简化的基于格林函数理论的解析计算结果进行了比较，验证了模型和计算结论的正确性。最后，讨论了各向异性效应对层间量子点垂直对准的影响，指出量子点材料的各向异性效应可以忽略。本文采用的模型没有采用类似解析计算的假设条件，因此在计算精度和可靠性上，要优于格林函数法。

MOCVD growth of cubic GaN: Materials and devices

Many impressive progresses have been made recently on the growth of cubic-phase GaN by MBE and MOCVD. In this paper, some of our recent progress will be reviewed, including the growth of high quality cubic InGaN films, InGaN/GaN heterostructure blue and green LEDs. Cubic-phase GaN films were grown on GaAs (100) substrates by MOCVD. Growth conditions were optimized to obtain pure cubic phase GaN films up to a thickness of 4 mum. An anomalous compressive strain was found in the as-grown GaN films in spite of a smaller lattice constant for GaN compared with that of GaAs substrates. The photoluminescence FWHM of high quality InGaN epilayers was less than 100 meV The InGaN/GaN heterostructure blue LED has intense electroluminescence with a FWHM of 20 nm.

The growth and characterization of GaN grown on a gamma-Al2O3/(001) Si substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Wurtzite single crystal GaN films have been grown onto a gamma-Al2O3/Si(001) substrate in a horizontal-type low pressure MOVPE system. A thin gamma-Al2O3 layer is an intermediate layer for the growth of single crystal GaN on Si although it is only an oriented polycrystal film as shown by reflection high electron diffraction. Moreover, the oxide is not yet converted to a fully single crystal film, even at the stage of high temperature for the GaN layer as studied by transmission electron microscopy. Double crystal x-ray linewidth of (0002) peak of the 1.3 mu m sample is 54 arcmin and the films have heavy mosaic structures. A near band edge peaking at 3.4 eV at room temperature is observed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. Raman scattering does not detect any cubic phase coexistence.

Electronic structure and optical property of semiconductor nanocrystallites

Semiconductor nanostructures show many special physical properties associated with quantum confinement effects, and have many applications in the opto-electronic and microelectronic fields. However, it is difficult to calculate their electronic states by the ordinary plane wave or linear combination of atomic orbital methods. In this paper, we review some of our works in this field, including semiconductor clusters, self-assembled quantum dots, and diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots. In semiconductor clusters we introduce energy bands and effective-mass Hamiltonian of wurtzite structure semiconductors, electronic structures and optical properties of spherical clusters, ellipsoidal clusters, and nanowires. In self-assembled quantum dots we introduce electronic structures and transport properties of quantum rings and quantum dots, and resonant tunneling of 3-dimensional quantum dots. In diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots we introduce magnetic-optical properties, and magnetic field tuning of the effective g factor in a diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dot. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Energy band and acceptor binding energy of GaN and AlxGa1-xN

The hole effective-mass Hamiltonian for the semiconductors of wurtzite structure is established, and the effective-mass parameters of GaN and AlxGa1-xN are given. Besides the asymmetry in the z and x, y directions, the linear term of the momentum operator in the Hamiltonian is essential in determining the valence band structure, which is different from that of the zinc-blende structure. The binding energies of acceptor states are calculated by solving strictly the effective-mass equations. The binding energies of donor and acceptor for wurtzite GaN are 20 and 131, 97 meV, respectively, which are inconsistent with the recent experimental results. It is proposed that there are two kinds of acceptors in wurtzite GaN. One kind is the general acceptor such as C, substituting N, which satisfies the effective-mass theory, and the other includes Mg, Zn, Cd etc., the binding energy of which deviates from that given by the effective-mass theory. Experimentally, wurtzite GaN was grown by the MBE method, and the PL spectra were measured. Three main peaks are assigned to the DA transitions from the two kinds of acceptor. Some of the transitions were identified as coming from the cubic phase of GaN, which appears randomly within the predominantly hexagonal material. The binding energy of acceptor in ALN is about 239, 158 meV, that in AlxGa1-xN alloys (x approximate to 0.2) is 147, 111 meV, close to that in GaN. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

MOVPE growth of GaN and LED on (111) MgAl2O4

The growth of wurtzite GaN by low-pressure metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy on (1 1 1) magnesium aluminate (MgAl2O4) substrates have been studied. The morphological, crystalline, electrical and optical properties are investigated. A p-n junction GaN LED was fabricated on the MgAl2O4 substrate. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Strain effects on optical polarisation properties in (11(2)over-bar2) plane GaN films

We present the theoretical results of the electronic band structure of wurtzite GaN films under biaxial strains in the (11 (2) over bar2)-plane The calculations are performed by the kappa p perturbation theory approach through using the effective-mass Hamiltonian for an arbitrary direction The results show that the transition energies decrease with the biaxial strains changing from -0 5% to 0 5% For films of (11 (2) over bar2)-plane, the strains are expected to be anisotropic in the growth plane Such anisotropic strains give rise to valence band mixing which results in dramatic change in optical polarisation property The strain can also result in optical polarisation switching phenomena Finally, we discuss the applications of these properties to the (11 (2) over bar2) plane GaN based light emitting diode and lase diode

Surface transformation and inversion domain boundaries in gallium nitride nanorods

Phase transformation and subdomain structure in [0001]-oriented gallium nitride (GaN) nanorods of different sizes are studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The analysis concerns the structure of GaN nanorods at 300 K without external loading. Calculations show that a transformation from wurtzite to a tetragonal structure occurs along {0110} lateral surfaces, leading to the formation of a six-sided columnar inversion domain boundary (IDB) in the [0001] direction of the nanorods. This structural configuration is similar to the IDB structure observed experimentally in GaN epitaxial layers. The transformation is significantly dependent on the size of the nanorods.