In-situ measurements of fabrication induced strain in diamond photonic-structures using intrinsic colour centres

Diamond has established itself as an ideal material for photonics and optomechanics, due to its broad-band transparency and hardness. In addition, colour centres hosted within its lattice such as the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre, have become leading candidates for use in quantum information processing, and quantum sensors. The fabrication of nanoscale devices coupled to high quality NVs has been an outstanding challenge due to their sensitivity to magnetic, electric and strain fields within their local environment. In this work, we show how the NV centre’s ground state electron spin can be used as an embedded atomic-scale probe of the local strain caused by focused ion beam milling of nanoscale devices. This technique can thus be used to measure, and optimise material and device fabrication processes to allow diamond to reach its full potential

The Impact of AlN Templates on Strain Relaxation Mechanisms during the MOVPE Growth of UVB-LED Structures

Strain relaxation mechanisms in AlGaN based light emitting diodes emitting in the ultraviolet B spectral range (UVB-LEDs) grown on different AlN/sapphire templates are analyzed by combining in situ reflectivity and curvature data with transmission electron microscopy. In particular, the impact of dislocation density, surface morphology, and lattice constant of the AlN/sapphire templates is studied. For nonannealed AlN/templates with threading dislocation densities (TDDs) of 4 × 109 and 3 × 109 cm−2 and different surface morphologies strain relaxation takes place mostly by conventional ways, such as inclination of threading dislocation lines and formation of horizontal dislocation bands. In contrast, a TDD reduction down to 1 × 109 cm−2 as well as a reduction of the lattice constant of high temperature annealed AlN template leads to drastic changes in the structure of subsequently grown AlGaN layers, e.g., to transformation to helical dislocations and enhanced surface enlargement by formation of macrofacets. For the growth of strongly compressively strained AlGaN layers for UVB-LEDs the relaxation mechanism is strongly influenced by the absolute values of TDD and the lattice constant of the AlN templates and is less influenced by their surface morphology

Status and Prospects of AlN Templates on Sapphire for Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes

Herein, the scope is to provide an overview on the current status of AlN/sapphire templates for ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet C (UVC) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with focus on the work done previously. Furthermore, approaches to improve the properties of such AlN/sapphire templates by the combination of high-temperature annealing (HTA) and patterned AlN/sapphire interfaces are discussed. While the beneficial effect of HTA is demonstrated for UVC LEDs, the growth of relaxed AlGaN buffer layers on HTA AlN is a challenge. To achieve relaxed AlGaN with a low dislocation density, the applicability of HTA for AlGaN is investigated. © 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei