B. Damilano

From visible to white light emission by GaN quantum dots on Si(111) substrate

GaN quantum dots (QDs) in an AlN matrix have been grown on Si(111) by molecular-beam epitaxy. The growth of GaN deposited at 800 °C on AlN has been investigated in situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction. It is found that a growth interruption performed at GaN thicknesses larger than three molecular monolayers (8 A) instantaneously leads to the formation of three-dimensional islands. This is used to grow GaN/AlN QDs on Si(111). Depending on their sizes, intense room-temperature photoluminescence is observed from blue to orange. Finally, we demonstrate that stacking of QD planes with properly chosen dot sizes gives rise to white light emission.

High internal electric field in a graded-width InGaN/GaN quantum well: Accurate determination by time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy

Time-resolvedphotoluminescence (PL), at T=8 K, is used to study a graded-width InGaN/GaN quantum well. Across the sample, the well width continuously varies from ∼5.5 to 2.0 nm corresponding to PL peak energies varying between 2.0 and 2.9 eV and to PL decay rates covering four orders of magnitude. The plot of decay times versus PL energies is very well fitted by a calculation of the electron–hole recombination probability versus well width. The only fitting parameter is the electric field in the well, which we find equal to 2.45±0.25 MV/cm, in excellent agreement with experimental Stokes shifts for this type of samples.

Built-in electric-field effects in wurtzite AlGaN/GaN quantum wells

AlGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) structures are grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Control at the monolayer scale of the well thickness is achieved and sharp QW interfaces are demonstrated by the low photoluminescence linewidth. The QW transition energy as a function of the well width evidences a quantum-confined Stark effect due to the presence of a strong built-in electric field. Its origin is discussed in terms of piezoelectricity and spontaneous polarization. Its magnitude versus the Al mole fraction is determined. The role of the sample structure geometry on the electric field is exemplified by changing the thickness of the AlGaN barriers in multiple-QW structures. Straightforward electrostatic arguments well account for the overall trends of the electric-field variations.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Group‐III Nitrides on Silicon Substrates: Growth, Properties and Device Applications

We report on the growth and properties of GaN films grown on Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using ammonia. The properties of the layers show that our growth procedure is very efficient in order to overcome the difficulties encountered during the growth of nitrides on silicon substrates: first, no nitridation of the silicon substrate is observed at the interface between the AIN buffer laver and the silicon surface: second. there is no Si autodoping coming from the substrate and resistive undoped GaN layers are obtained; and, also, strain balance engineering allows one to grow thick GaN epilayers (up to 3 mum) without formation of cracks. The optical, structural and electrical properties of these films are studied. In order to evaluate the potentialities of III-V nitrides grown on silicon substrates, we have grown heterostructures to realize light emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs).

Room-temperature blue-green emission from InGaN/GaN quantum dots made by strain-induced islanding growth

InGaN/GaN self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) were obtained by molecular beam epitaxy making use of the Stranski–Krastanov growth mode. Room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) energy of QDs was observed from 2.6 to 3.1 eV depending on the dot size. PL linewidths as low as 40–70 meV at 10 K and 90–110 meV at 300 K indicate low dot size dispersion. The comparison of PL intensity versus temperature of an InGaN epilayer and InGaN/GaN QDs demonstrates the higher radiative efficiency of the latter.

GaN grown on Si(111) substrate: From two-dimensional growth to quantum well assessment

We report on the epitaxial growth of high quality GaN films on Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using ammonia. The surface morphology and crystallinity of thick undoped GaN films are characterized by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. Films having compact morphologies and flat surfaces are obtained and RHEED intensity oscillations are demonstrated for GaN and (Al, Ga)N alloys indicating two-dimensional growth. This has been applied to the growth of AlGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) structures. Low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of GaN are dominated by a strong and narrow (full width at half maximum=5 meV) band edge luminescence intensity at 3.471 eV assigned to donor bound exciton recombination. PL properties of AlGaN/GaN QW are also very similar to those obtained on equivalent structures grown on sapphire.

InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy emitting from blue to red at 300 K

InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on c-plane sapphire substrates. The growth of InGaN is carried out at 550 °C with a large V/III ratio to counteract the low efficiency of NH3 at that temperature and to promote the two-dimensional mode of growth. An In composition of 16%±2% was determined by high-resolution x-ray diffraction experiments. Room-temperature photoluminescence of InGaN/GaN single QWs can be obtained over the whole visible spectrum (from 0.4 to 0.66 μm) by varying the well thickness from 1 to 5 nm. These heterostructures exhibit very large Stokes shifts between the emission and the absorption edge energies.

Group-III nitride quantum heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy

In the present paper, we address a review of group-III nitride quantum wells and quantum dots realized by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using ammonia as a nitrogen source. Some important features of the growth of nitrides by MBE using ammonia are pointed out. We also emphasize the role of in situ analysis tools such as reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The optical properties of several kinds of quantum heterostructure are presented. They illustrate well the combined effects of polarization fields and carrier localization. Finally, the use of InGaN/GaN QWs in LEDs for white light emission is presented.

Large size dependence of exciton-longitudinal-optical-phonon coupling in nitride-based quantum wells and quantum boxes

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the size dependence of the coupling between electron–hole pairs and longitudinal-optical phonons in Ga1−xInxN/GaN-based quantum wells and quantum boxes. We found that the Huang–Rhys factor S, which determines the distribution of luminescence intensities between the phonon replicas and the zero-phonon peak, increases significantly when the vertical size of the boxes or the thickness of quantum well increases. We assign this variation to (1) the strong electric field present along the growth axis of the system, due to spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations in these wurtzite materials, and (2) the localization on separate sites of electrons and holes in the plane of the wells or boxes, due to potential fluctuations in the ternary alloy. Indeed, envelope-function calculations for free or localized excitons, with electron–hole distance only controlled by Coulomb interaction, do not account quantitatively for the measured behavior of the S factor. In fact...

In surface segregation in InGaN/GaN quantum wells

We investigate both theoretically and experimentally the effects of the In surface segregation in InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs). It is shown that this phenomenon induces a blue-shift of the QW photoluminescence (PL) energy, which does not depend on the QW width, at least for well thicknesses larger than 1.5 nm. The oscillator strength of the QW optical transitions decreases when the segregation process increases due to the spatial separation of the electron and hole pairs by the internal electric field. The surface segregation phenomenon has been studied by reflection high-energy electron diffraction in the case of molecular beam epitaxy growth with NH3 as the nitrogen source. Evidence for surface segregation is given by comparing PL results and data deduced from a careful analysis of the growth rate variation of GaN deposited on an In covered surface