Nitrogen-rich indium nitride

Elastic recoil detection analysis, using an incident beam of 200 MeV Au ions, has been used to measureindium nitride films grown by radio-frequency sputtering. It is shown that the films have nitrogen-rich stoichiometry. Nitrogen vacancies are therefore unlikely to be responsible for the commonly observed high background carrier concentration. Ultraviolet Raman and secondary ion mass spectroscopymeasurements are used to probe the state of the excess nitrogen. The nitrogen on indium anti-site defect is implicated, though other possibilities for the site of the excess nitrogen, such as molecular nitrogen, or di-nitrogen interstitials cannot be excluded. It is further shown that a shift in the (0002) x-ray diffraction peak correlates with the excess nitrogen, but not with the oxygen observed in some samples.K.S.A.B. would like to acknowledge the support of an Australian Research Council Fellowship. We would also like to acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council through a Large grant and a Discovery grant; the support of a Macquarie University Research Development Grant, and the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering for SIMS access

Selection of reference genes for gene expression studies in ultraviolet B-irradiated human skin fibroblasts using quantitative real-time PCR

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Reference genes are frequently used to normalise mRNA levels between different samples. The expression level of these genes, however, may vary between tissues or cells and may change under certain circumstances. Cytoskeleton genes have served as multifunctional tools for experimental studies as reference genes. Our previous studies have demonstrated that the expression of vimentin, one cytoskeletal protein, was increased in ultraviolet B (UVB)-irradiated fibroblasts. Thus, we examined the expression of other cytoskeleton protein genes, <it>ACTB </it>(<it>actin, beta</it>), <it>TUBA1A </it>(<it>tubulin, alpha 1a</it>), and <it>TUBB1 </it>(<it>tubulin, beta 1</it>), in human dermal fibroblasts irradiated by UVB to determine which of these candidates were the most appropriate reference genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Quantitative real-time PCR followed by analysis with the NormFinder and geNorm software programmes was performed. The initial screening of the expression patterns demonstrated that the expression of <it>VIM </it>was suppressed after UVB irradiation at doses ≥25 mJ/cm²and that the expression of <it>TUBA1A </it>was significantly reduced by UVB doses ≥75 mJ/cm²in cultured human dermal fibroblasts. The analysis of the experimental data revealed <it>ACTB </it>to be the most stably expressed gene, followed by <it>GAPDH </it>(<it>aglyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase</it>), under these experimental conditions. By contrast, <it>VIM </it>was found to be the least stable gene. The combination of <it>ACTB </it>and <it>TUBB1 </it>was revealed to be the gene pair that introduced the least systematic error into the data normalisation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data herein provide evidence that <it>ACTB </it>and <it>TUBB1 </it>are suitable reference genes in human skin fibroblasts irradiated by UVB, whereas <it>VIM </it>and <it>TUBA1A </it>are not and should therefore be excluded as reference genes in any gene expression studies involving UVB-irradiated human skin fibroblasts.</p

Piezoelectric coefficient of InN films prepared by radio-frequency sputtering

An interferometric method has been used to measure the piezoelectric coefficient d33 in indium nitride films deposited by radio-frequency sputtering on borosilicate glass coated with gold. This low temperature growth technique has the advantage of being able to produce samples for piezoelectric measurements where the InN film is grown directly on an Au metal back contact, allowing the accurate measurement of the piezoelectric coefficient of the InN layer without any parasitic series resistance. The InN growth conditions are described, and both crystal and optical characterizations of the film are presented. The measured value of the coefficient was found to be 4.0 ± 0.1 pm V⁻¹.4 page(s

Progress at Macquarie University’s low temperature nitride growth facility

The Low Temperature Nitride Growth Facility has been formed with the goal of developing novel growth and analysis techniques that may be suitable for the growth of group III nitride materials at temperatures below 650°C. The new growth facility includes three thin film growth reactors, a separate clean room facility, and a plethora of characterisation and device fabrication tools. This paper will outline the present status of the facility but will also highlight some of the recent work by the facilities staff. This includes, the development of an AFM based piezoelectric measurement system; the development of sub-growth temperature re-crystallisation techniques for the improvement of low temperature grown gallium nitride; progress in the development of indium nitride – a material pioneered in Australia. What is the band-gap of indium nitride? Is it 0.7 eV or is it 1.89 eV? And finally the development of ultra-high resistivity aluminium nitride layers grown at room temperature is reviewed.6 page(s

High mobility nitrides

The highest mobility nitrides ever grown were indium nitride polycrystalline thin films. The original reactive ion sputtering unit used to produce those films is still in existence and has been substantially upgraded. In this paper we describe some of the parameters that are important for high purity indium nitride growth, while providing the most recent results for films grown with the upgraded system. A long lag time (greater than 100 hours of growth time) has been observed before obtaining stable material properties for a given set of growth conditions.6 page(s

A study of indium nitride films grown under conditions resulting in apparent band-gaps from 0.7 eV to 2.3 eV

The band-gap of indium nitride has long been believed to be about 1.9eV with slight variations due to band-tailing in polycrystalline samples and degenerate doping. Recently, other values as low as 0.7 eV have apparently been observed. We have compared samples spanning this apparent range of band-gap using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and heavy ion elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA), in conjunction with spectral optical density measurements. Once structural inhomogeneiteies are taken into account, we show that much of the conflicting data are compatible with direct photoionisation with a threshold energy of about 1.0eV. This feature was first reported in polycrystalline indium nitride over 15 years ago and attributed to a |p> like defect state. We ask whether the feature may instead be a direct band-gap.6 page(s

Indium nitride emerges

Because of its high mobility, indium nitride is emerging as a “hot” material for potential application in nitride based high power, high frequency transistor devices. The best quality indium nitride ever grown was produced at Macquarie University in the early 1980’s by RF sputtering. The belief since that time has been that the background n-type carrier concentration of this sputtered material is due to nitrogen vacancies. Using measurements made by Elastic Recoil Detection analysis, with an incident beam of 200 MeV Au ions, it is shown that this material is actually grown nitrogen rich with the nitrogen on indium anti-site defect being the most probable origin of the high n-type conductivity commonly observed. Raman measurements confirm the revised model.3 page(s