Luminescence properties of defects in GaN

Gallium nitride (GaN) and its allied binaries InN and AIN as well as their ternary compounds have gained an unprecedented attention due to their wide-ranging applications encompassing green, blue, violet, and ultraviolet (UV) emitters and detectors (in photon ranges inaccessible by other semiconductors) and high-power amplifiers. However, even the best of the three binaries, GaN, contains many structural and point defects caused to a large extent by lattice and stacking mismatch with substrates. These defects notably affect the electrical and optical properties of the host material and can seriously degrade the performance and reliability of devices made based on these nitride semiconductors. Even though GaN broke the long-standing paradigm that high density of dislocations precludes acceptable device performance, point defects have taken the center stage as they exacerbate efforts to increase the efficiency of emitters, increase laser operation lifetime, and lead to anomalies in electronic devices. The point defects include native isolated defects (vacancies, interstitial, and antisites), intentional or unintentional impurities, as well as complexes involving different combinations of the isolated defects. Further improvements in device performance and longevity hinge on an in-depth understanding of point defects and their reduction. In this review a comprehensive and critical analysis of point defects in GaN, particularly their manifestation in luminescence, is presented. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of native point defects, the signatures of intentionally and unintentionally introduced impurities are addressed. The review discusses in detail the characteristics and the origin of the major luminescence bands including the ultraviolet, blue, green, yellow, and red bands in undoped GaN. The effects of important group-II impurities, such as Zn and Mg on the photoluminescence of GaN, are treated in detail. Similarly, but to a lesser extent, the effects of other impurities, such as C, Si, H, O, Be, Mn, Cd, etc., on the luminescence properties of GaN are also reviewed. Further, atypical luminescence lines which are tentatively attributed to the surface and structural defects are discussed. The effect of surfaces and surface preparation, particularly wet and dry etching, exposure to UV light in vacuum or controlled gas ambient, annealing, and ion implantation on the characteristics of the defect-related emissions is described

Polarization effects in nitride semiconductors and device structures

Wide bandgap nitride semiconductors have recently attracted a great level of attention owing to their direct bandgaps in the visible to ultraviolet regions of the spectrum as emitters and detectors. Moreover, this material system with its favorable hetero-junctions and transport properties began to produce very respectable power levels in microwave amplifiers. If and when the breakdown fields achieved experimentally approach the predicted values, this material system would also be very attractive for power switching devices. In addition to the premature breakdown, high concentration of defects, and inhomogeneities, a number of scientific challenges remain including a clear experimental investigation of polarization effects. In this paper, following a succinct review of the progress that has been made, spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization effects and their impact on sample device-like hetero-structures will be treated

GaN-based modulation doped FETs and UV detectors

Abstract GaN based modulation doped field effect transistors (MODFETs) and ultraviolet detectors are critically reviewed. AlGaN/GaN MODFETs with CW power levels of about 6 W (in devices with 1 mm gate periphery) and a minimum noise figure of 0.85 dB with an associated gain of 11 dB have been obtained at 10 GHz. As a precursor to solar-blind detectors that will be operative around 280 nm, where the solar radiation is absorbed by the ozone layer surrounding the earth, detector arrays with pixel sizes of 32×32 operative near the solar-blind region have been achieved. One does not have to rely on imagination to predict that devices with much improved performance will continue to be developed

Cathodoluminescence measurement of an orientation dependent aluminum concentration in AlxGa1−xAs epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a nonplanar substrate

Cathodoluminescence scanning electron microscopy is used to study AlxGa1−x As epilayers grown on a nonplanar substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. Grooves parallel to the [011-bar] direction were etched in an undoped GaAs substrate. Growth on such grooves proceeds on particular facet planes. We find that the aluminum concentration in the epilayers is dependent on the facet orientation, changing by as much as 35% from the value in the unpatterned areas. The transition in the aluminum concentration at a boundary between two facets is observed to be very abrupt

Defect reduction in GaN epilayers grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition with in situ SiNx nanonetwork

Line and point defect reductions in thin GaN epilayers with single and double in situ SiNxnanonetworks on sapphire substrates grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition were studied by deep-level transient spectroscopy(DLTS), augmented by x-ray diffraction(XRD), and low temperature photoluminescence(PL). All samples measured by DLTS in the temperature range from 80to400K exhibited trap A (peak at ∼325K) with an activation energy of 0.55–0.58eV, and trap B (peak at ∼155K) with an activation energy of 0.21–0.28eV. The concentrations of both traps were much lower for layers with SiNx nanonetwork compared to the reference sample. The lowest concentration was achieved for the sample with 6mindeposition SiNx nanonetwork, which was also lower than that for a sample prepared by conventional epitaxial lateral overgrowth. In concert with the DLTS results, PL and XRD linewidths were reduced for the samples with SiNx network indicating improved material quality. Consistent trend among optical, structural, and DLTS results suggests that SiNxnetwork can effectively reduce both point and line defects

Surface charging and current collapse in an AlGaN∕GaN heterostructure field effect transistor

This work investigates the correlation between surfacecharging and current collapse in an AlGaN∕GaNheterostructurefield effect transistor.Surfacecharging due to applied biases was sensed by mapping the surface potential between the gate and drain using scanning Kelvin probe microscopy. Due to the bias, the surface band bending near the gate edge was observed to increase by as much as 1 eV. This increase of band bending is caused by an accumulation of excess charge near the surface during the applied bias. By varying the duration of the applied bias, we find that this accumulation of excess charge near the gate takes about 20 s to saturate. Continuous monitoring of the surface potential after switching off the bias shows that a complete relaxation of the excess band bending requires about 800 s. Drain current transient measurements show that the collapse and recovery of the drain current also occur on similar time scales. This correlation between time scales indicates that the accumulation of excess charge near the gate edge causes current collapse by depletion of the channel

Stimulated emission and ultrafast carrier relaxation in AlGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells

Stimulated emission (SE) and ultrafast carrier relaxation dynamics were measured in two AlxGa1−xN/GaNmultiple-quantum-well(MQW) structures, grown in a Ga-rich environment with x=0.2 and 0.3, respectively. The threshold density for SE (Ith≃100 μJ/cm2) was found to be independent of x. Room-temperature, time-resolved, differential transmission measurements mapped the carrier relaxation mechanisms for above barrier energy excitation. Photoexcited carriers are observed to relax into the QWs in \u3c1 ps, while carrier recombination times as fast as 30 ps were measured. For excitation above Ith, SE is shown to deplete carriers in the barriers through a cascaded refilling of the QW state undergoing SE. Similar behavior is seen in an Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaNMQW grown with a N-rich atmosphere, but the relaxation phenomena of all AlGaN MQWs are significantly faster than observed in InGaN MQWs of similar structure

Epitaxial growth of ZrO2 on GaN templates by oxide molecular beam epitaxy

Molecular beam epitaxial growth of ZrO2 has been achieved on GaN(0001)∕c-Al2O3substrates employing a reactive H2O2 oxygen source. A low temperature buffer followed by in situ annealing and high temperature growth has been employed to attain monoclinic, (100)-oriented ZrO2thin films. The typical full width at half maximum of a 30-nm-thick ZrO2 (100) film rocking curves is 0.4arcdeg and the root-mean-square surface roughness is ∼4Å. ω−2θand pole figure x-ray diffraction patterns confirm the monoclinic structure of ZrO2. Data support an in-plane epitaxial relationship of ZrO2 [010]∥∥GaN[112¯] and ZrO2 [001]∥∥GaN[11¯00]. X-ray diffraction and reflection high-energy electron diffraction analyses reveal in-plane compressive strain, which is mainly due to the lattice mismatch

Surface plasmon enhanced UV emission in AlGaN/GaN quantum well

The surface plasmon (SP) energy for resonant enhancement of light has shown to be modified by the epitaxial substrate and the overlying metalthin film. The modification of SP energy in AlGaN/GaN epitaxial layers is studied using spectroscopic ellipsometry for enhanced UV-light emission. Silver induced SP can be extended to the UV wavelength range by increasing the aluminum concentration in AlxGa1−xN epilayer. A threefold increase in the UV-light emission is observed from AlGaN/GaN quantum well due to silver induced SP. Photoluminescence lifetime measurements confirm the resonant plasmon induced increase in Purcell factor as observed from the PL intensity measurements