Strain-free bulk-like GaN grown by hydride-vapor-phase-epitaxy on two-step epitaxial lateral overgrown GaN template

Crack-free bulk-like GaN with high crystalline quality has been obtained by hydride-vapor-phase-epitaxy (HVPE)growth on a two-step epitaxial lateral overgrown GaN template on sapphire. During the cooling down stage, the as-grown 270-μm-thick GaN layer was self-separated from the sapphire substrate. Plan-view transmission electron microscopyimages show the dislocation density of the free-standing HVPE-GaN to be ∼2.5×10 exp 7  cm exp −2 on the Ga-polar face. A low Ga vacancy related defect concentration of about 8×10 exp 15 cm exp−3 is extracted from positron annihilation spectroscopy data. The residual stress and the crystalline quality of the material are studied by two complementary techniques. Low-temperature photoluminescence spectra show the main neutral donor bound exciton line to be composed of a doublet structure at 3.4715 (3.4712) eV and 3.4721 (3.4718) eV for the Ga- (N-) polar face with the higher-energy component dominating. These line positions suggest virtually strain-free material on both surfaces with high crystalline quality as indicated by the small full width at half maximum values of the donor bound exciton lines. The E1(TO) phonon mode position measured at 558.52 cm exp −1 (Ga face) by infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry confirms the small residual stress in the material, which is hence well suited to act as a lattice-constant and thermal-expansion-coefficient matched substrate for further homoepitaxy, as needed for high-quality III-nitride device applications.Peer reviewe

Lanthanum-Doped Barium Stannate - a New Type of Critical Raw Materials-Free Transparent Conducting Oxide

A pulsed laser deposition-based process for growth of highly-doped epitaxial La:BaSnO3(001) layers on (001)-oriented SrTiO3 is developed. The growth window of single-phase epitaxial Ba0.93La0.07SnO3 films is determined and the influence of growth parameters on crystalline quality is studied. Reciprocal space maps showed fully relaxed Ba0.93La0.07SnO3 epitaxial layers on SrTiO3 (001). The crystalline quality of material obtained was evidenced through HR-XRD measurements with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 290 arcsec for the Rocking curve of the symmetric (002) peak and 108 arcsec for the asymmetric (103) peak. The band gap of the layers, determined from Reflection measurements employing the Kubelka-Munk method, was estimated as 2.97 - 3.01 eV, i.e. very suitable for the applications envisaged. The layers demonstrated electrical conductivity value of 1024 (?·cm)-1at a free carrier concentration of 2.18×1021 cm-3 and a high transparency (up to 90%) in the visible and NIR range of spectrum. The Ba0.93La0.07SnO3 layers grown could be regarded as a cost-effective and thermally and chemically stable alternative to highly doped ZnO-based transparent conductive oxides and to In2O3:Sn in applications ranging from solar energy utilization to optoelectronics as well as for the emerging field of transparent and radiation hard electronics

Structural and optical investigation of non-polar (1-100) GaN grown by the ammonothermal method

We studied the structural and optical properties of state-of-the-art non-polar bulk GaN grown by the ammonothermal method. The investigated samples have an extremely low dislocation density (DD) of less than 5 × 104cm-2, which results in very narrow high-resolution x-ray rocking curves. The a and c lattice parameters of these stress-free GaN samples were precisely determined by using an x-ray diffraction technique based on the modified Bond method. The obtained values are compared to the lattice parameters of free-standing GaN from different methods and sources. The observed differences are discussed in terms of free-electron concentrations, point defects, and DD. Micro Raman spectroscopy revealed a very narrow phonon linewidth and negligible built-in strain in accordance with the high-resolution x-ray diffraction data. The optical transitions were investigated by cathodoluminescence measurements. The analysis of the experimental data clearly demonstrates the excellent crystalline perfection of ammonothermal GaN material and its potential for fabrication of non-polar substrates for homoepitaxial growth of GaN based device structures. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC

Theoretical study on electronic, optical, magnetic and photocatalytic properties of codoped SrTiO3 for green energy application

Motivated by the large scientific interest in development of double cation doping of SrTiO3 (STO) within the last years aiming to improve the water-splitting activity, electronic and ionic conductivity of STO, we study the effect of (La, X) and (Y, M) codoping (X = Al/Sc/Cr/Mn/Fe/Co/Ni/Mo, and M = Al/Cr/Mo) on the structure, electronic, magnetic, optical and photocatalytic properties (for water-splitting and CO2 reduction) of STO using spin-polarized hybrid density functional theory. In most considered cases, the X and M monodoping reduces the bandgap of STO more than the (La, X) and (Y, M) codoping, except for the case of (La, Ni) codoping. We found out La-/Y-doping, and (La/Y, Al)-/(La, Sc)-codoping cannot improve the conductivity of STO, while other monodopants and codopants can increase it. Our calculations have revealed that the best suited candidates for mono-/co-doped STO-based photocatalysts are Fe-/(La, Ni)-STO. Furthermore, we disclosed Fe-/Mn-/(La, Mn/Fe/Ni)-STO could be appropriate for spintronic applications