Alexander Franke

Correlation between mobility collapse and carbon impurities in Si-doped GaN grown by low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

In the low doping range below 1 × 1017 cm−3, carbon was identified as the main defect attributing to the sudden reduction of the electron mobility, the electron mobility collapse, in n-type GaN grown by low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy has been performed in conjunction with C concentration and the thermodynamic Ga supersaturation model. By controlling the ammonia flow rate, the input partial pressure of Ga precursor, and the diluent gas within the Ga supersaturation model, the C concentration in Si-doped GaN was controllable from 6 × 1019 cm−3 to values as low as 2 × 1015 cm−3. It was found that the electron mobility collapsed as a function of free carrier concentration, once the Si concentration closely approached the C concentration. Lowering the C concentration to the order of 1015 cm−3 by optimizing Ga supersaturation achieved controllable free carrier concentrations down to 5 × 1015 cm−3 with a peak electron mobility of 820 cm2/V s without observing...

Fabrication and structural properties of AlN submicron periodic lateral polar structures and waveguides for UV-C applications

Periodically poled AlN thin films with submicron domain widths were fabricated for nonlinear applications in the UV-VIS region. A procedure utilizing metalorganic chemical vapor deposition growth of AlN in combination with laser interference lithography was developed for making a nanoscale lateral polarity structure (LPS) with domain size down to 600 nm. The Al-polar and N-polar domains were identified by wet etching the periodic LPS in a potassium hydroxide solution and subsequent scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization. Fully coalesced and well-defined vertical interfaces between the adjacent domains were established by cross-sectional SEM. AlN LPSs were mechanically polished and surface roughness with a root mean square value of ∼10 nm over a 90 μm × 90 μm area was achieved. 3.8 μm wide and 650 nm thick AlN LPS waveguides were fabricated. The achieved domain sizes, surface roughness, and waveguides are suitable for second harmonic generation in the UVC spectrum.

The effect of illumination power density on carbon defect configuration in silicon doped GaN

A study of efficacy of point defect reduction via Fermi level control during growth of GaN:Si as a function of above bandgap illumination power density and hence excess minority carrier density is presented. Electrical characterization revealed an almost two-fold increase in carrier concentration and a three-fold increase in mobility by increasing the illumination power density from 0 to 1 W cm−2, corroborating a decrease in compensation and ionic impurity scattering. The effect was further supported by the photoluminescence studies, which showed a monotonic decrease in yellow luminescence (attributed to CN) as a function of illumination power density. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy studies showed no effect of illumination on the total incorporation of Si or C. Thus, it is concluded that Fermi level management changed the configuration of the C impurity as the CN−1 configuration became energetically less favorable due to excess minority carriers.

Strain engineered high reflectivity DBRs in the deep UV

The maximum achievable reflectivity of current III-nitride Bragg reflectors in the UV-C spectral range is limited due to plastic relaxation of thick multilayer structures. Cracking due to a large mismatch of the thermal expansion and lattice constants between AlxGa1-xN/AlyGa1-yN alloys of different composition and the substrate at the heterointerface is the common failure mode. Strain engineering and strain relaxation concepts by the growth on a strain reduced Al0.85Ga0.15N template and the implementation of low temperature interlayers is demonstrated. A significant enhancement of the maximum reflectivity above 97% at a resonance wavelength of 270 nm due to an increase of the critical thickness of our AlN/Al0.65Ga0.35N DBRs to 1.45 μm (25.5 pairs) prove their potential. By comparing the growth of identical Bragg reflectors on different pseudo-templates, the accumulated mismatch strain energy in the DBR, not the dislocation density provided by the template/substrate, was identified to limit the critical thickness. To further enhance the reflectivity low temperature interlays were implemented into the DBR to partially relief the misfit strain. Relaxation is enabled by the nucleation of small surface domains facilitating misfit dislocation injection and glide. Detailed structural and optical investigations will be conducted to prove the influence of the LT-AlN interlayers on the strain state, structural integrity and reflectivity properties. Coherent growth and no structural and optical degradation of the Bragg mirror properties was observed proving the fully applicability of the relaxation concept to fabricate thick high reflectivity DBR and vertical cavity laser structures.

High reflectivity III-nitride UV-C distributed Bragg reflectors for vertical cavity emitting lasers

UV-C distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) for vertical cavity surface emitting laser applications and polariton lasers are presented. The structural integrity of up to 25 layer pairs of AlN/Al0.65Ga0.35N DBRs is maintained by balancing the tensile and compressive strain present between the single layers of the multilayer stack grown on top of an Al0.85Ga0.35N template. By comparing the structural and optical properties for DBRs grown on low dislocation density AlN and AlGaN templates, the criteria for plastic relaxation by cracking thick nitride Bragg reflectors are deduced. The critical thickness is found to be limited mainly by the accumulated strain energy during the DBR growth and is only negligibly affected by the dislocations. A reflectance of 97.7% at 273 nm is demonstrated. The demonstrated optical quality and an ability to tune the resonance wavelength of our resonators and microcavity structures open new opportunities for UV-C vertical emitters.

High temperature and low pressure chemical vapor deposition of silicon nitride on AlGaN: Band offsets and passivation studies

In this work, we employed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to determine the band offsets and interface Fermi level at the heterojunction formed by stoichiometric silicon nitride deposited on AlxGa1-xN (of varying Al composition “x”) via low pressure chemical vapor deposition. Silicon nitride is found to form a type II staggered band alignment with AlGaN for all Al compositions (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) and present an electron barrier into AlGaN even at higher Al compositions, where Eg(AlGaN) > Eg(Si3N4). Further, no band bending is observed in AlGaN for x ≤ 0.6 and a reduced band bending (by ∼1 eV in comparison to that at free surface) is observed for x > 0.6. The Fermi level in silicon nitride is found to be at 3 eV with respect to its valence band, which is likely due to silicon (≡Si0/−1) dangling bonds. The presence of band bending for x > 0.6 is seen as a likely consequence of Fermi level alignment at Si3N4/AlGaN hetero-interface and not due to interface states. Photoelectron spectroscopy results are corroborated by current-voltage-temperature and capacitance-voltage measurements. A shift in the interface Fermi level (before band bending at equilibrium) from the conduction band in Si3N4/n-GaN to the valence band in Si3N4/p-GaN is observed, which strongly indicates a reduction in mid-gap interface states. Hence, stoichiometric silicon nitride is found to be a feasible passivation and dielectric insulation material for AlGaN at any composition.

Optical properties of aluminum nitride single crystals in the THz region

We report on measurements of the refractive indices and the absorption in bulk single crystals of aluminum nitride, in the region from 1 to 8 THz. The birefringence is approximately 0.2 and is larger than in the optical frequency range. Both indices exhibit normal dispersion with no pronounced absorption resonances. Optical power loss coefficients are approximately 2 cm−1 and 4 cm−1 and the estimated static dielectric constants are 7.84 and 9.22, for the ordinary and extraordinary polarization, respectively.

The influence of point defects on the thermal conductivity of AlN crystals

The average bulk thermal conductivity of free-standing physical vapor transport and hydride vapor phase epitaxy single crystal AlN samples with different impurity concentrations is analyzed using the 3ω method in the temperature range of 30–325 K. AlN wafers grown by physical vapor transport show significant variation in thermal conductivity at room temperature with values ranging between 268 W/m K and 339 W/m K. AlN crystals grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy yield values between 298 W/m K and 341 W/m K at room temperature, suggesting that the same fundamental mechanisms limit the thermal conductivity of AlN grown by both techniques. All samples in this work show phonon resonance behavior resulting from incorporated point defects. Samples shown by optical analysis to contain carbon-silicon complexes exhibit higher thermal conductivity above 100 K. Phonon scattering by point defects is determined to be the main limiting factor for thermal conductivity of AlN within the investigated temperature range.

Spatially controlled growth of highly crystalline ZnO nanowires by an inkjet-printing catalyst-free method

High-density arrays of uniform ZnO nanowires with a high-crystal quality have been synthesized by a catalyst-free vapor-transport method. First, a thin ZnO film was deposited on a Si substrate as nucleation layer for the ZnO nanowires. Second, spatially selective and mask-less growth of ZnO nanowires was achieved using inkjet-printed patterned islands as the nucleation sites on a SiO2/Si substrate. Raman scattering and low temperature photoluminescence measurements were applied to characterize the structural and optical properties of the ZnO nanowires. The results reveal negligible amounts of strain and defects in the mask-less ZnO nanowires as compared to the ones grown on the ZnO thin film, which underlines the potential of the inkjet-printing approach for the growth of high-crystal quality ZnO nanowires.