M. Teisseire

GaN–AlGaN heterostructure field-effect transistors over bulk GaN substrates

We report on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures and heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) fabricated on high-pressure-grown bulk GaN substrates. The 2d electron gas channel exhibits excellent electronic properties with room-temperature electron Hall mobility as high as μ=1650 cm2/V s combined with a very large electron sheet density ns≈1.4×1013 cm−2. The HFET devices demonstrated better linearity of transconductance and low gate leakage, especially at elevated temperatures. We also present the comparative study of high-current AlGaN/GaN HFETs (nsμ>2×1016 V−1 s−1) grown on bulk GaN, sapphire, and SiC substrates under the same conditions. We demonstrate that in the high-power regime, the self-heating effects, and not a dislocation density, is the dominant factor determining the device behavior.

Benefits of homoepitaxy on the properties of nonpolar (Zn,Mg)O/ZnO quantum wells on a-plane ZnO substrates

We report on the properties of nonpolar (Zn,Mg)O/ZnO quantum wells (QW) homoepitaxially grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a-plane ZnO substrates. We demonstrate a drastic improvement of the structural properties. We compare the photoluminescence properties of nonpolar homoepitaxial QWs and nonpolar heteroepitaxial QWs grown on sapphire and show that the reduction in structural defects and the improvement of surface morphology are correlated with a strong enhancement of the photoluminescence properties: reduction in full width at half maximum, strong increase in the luminescence intensities and their thermal stability. The comparison convincingly demonstrates the interest of homoepitaxial nonpolar QWs for bright UV emission applications.

Residual and nitrogen doping of homoepitaxial nonpolar m-plane ZnO films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We report the homoepitaxial growth by molecular beam epitaxy of high quality nonpolar m-plane ZnO and ZnO:N films over a large temperature range. The nonintentionally doped ZnO layers exhibit a residual doping as low as ∼1014 cm−3. Despite an effective incorporation of nitrogen, p-type doping was not achieved, ZnO:N films becoming insulating. The high purity of the layers and their low residual n-type doping evidence compensation mechanisms in ZnO:N films.

Spectroscopy of excitons, bound excitons and impurities in h-ZnO epilayers

Photoluminescence (PL) and selective photoluminescence (SPL) experiments have been carried out to analyse the neutral donor bound exciton spectra of nominally undoped wurtzite ZnO epilayers and to study the electronic levels introduced by arsenic doping. The investigated samples were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on various substrates. The PL spectra of the undoped heterostructure layers exhibit little or no detectable deep emissions and are dominated by donor bound exciton recombination lines with distinct emission energies. The existence of residual strain distributions in the samples make possible the observation of resonant sharp lines due to the recombination of the bound excitons selectively created in their excited states. It is being shown that the first excited state spectra of the bound excitons consist of rotational states of the hole belonging to the (A) valence band. The PL spectra of ZnO: As samples present a new excitonic line as well as donor-acceptor pair emissions. The arsenic impurity is revealed to generate a shallow acceptor level in ZnO, an estimate of its binding energy is given.

Low temperature reflectivity study of nonpolar ZnO/(Zn,Mg)O quantum wells grown on M-plane ZnO substrates

We report growth of high quality ZnO/Zn0.8Mg0.2O quantum wells on M-plane oriented ZnO substrates. The optical properties are studied by reflectance spectroscopy. The optical spectra reveal strong in-plane optical anisotropies, as predicted by group theory, and clear reflectance structures, as an evidence of good interface morphologies. Signatures of confined excitons built from spin-orbit split-off valence band, analogous to C-exciton in bulk ZnO, are detected using a light polarized along the c-axis. Experiments performed in orthogonal polarization, show confined states analogous to A and B bulk excitons. Envelope function calculations including excitonic interaction nicely match the experimental results.

Residual strain in nonpolar a-plane Zn1−xMgxO (0<x<0.55) and its effect on the band structure of (Zn,Mg)O/ZnO quantum wells

We investigate the dependence on Mg content of the lattice parameters and the surface morphology of nonpolar a-(112¯0) Zn1−xMgxO (x≤0.55) grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The anisotropy of the lattice parameters gives rise to an unusual in-plane strain state in the ZnO QWs: tensile strain along [11¯00] and compressive strain along [0001]. For a Zn0.6Mg0.4O barrier, the strain in a ZnO QW reaches −1.3% along [0001] and +0.3% along [11¯00]. This induces a strong blueshift of the excitonic transitions, in addition to the confinement effects, which we observe in photoluminescence excitation experiments.

Dual-polarity GaN micropillars grown by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy: Cross-correlation between structural and optical properties

Self-assembled catalyst-free GaN micropillars grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy are investigated. Transmission electron microscopy, as well as KOH etching, shows the systematic presence of two domains of opposite polarity within each single micropillar. The analysis of the initial growth stages indicates that such double polarity originates at the micropillar/substrate interface, i.e., during the micropillar nucleation, and it propagates along the micropillar. Furthermore, dislocations are also generated at the wire/substrate interface, but bend after several hundreds of nanometers. This leads to micropillars several tens of micrometers in length that are dislocation-free. Spatially resolved cathodoluminescence and microphotoluminescence show large differences in the optical properties of each polarity domain, suggesting unequal impurity/dopant/vacancy incorporation depending on the polarity.

Anisotropic strain effects on the photoluminescence emission from heteroepitaxial and homoepitaxial nonpolar (Zn,Mg)O/ZnO quantum wells

We report on the properties of nonpolar a-plane (Zn,Mg)O/ZnO quantum wells (QW) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on r plane sapphire and a plane ZnO substrates. For the QWs grown on sapphire, the anisotropy of the lattice parameters of the (Zn,Mg)O barrier gives rise to an unusual in-plane strain state in the ZnO QWs, which induces a strong blue-shift of the excitonic transitions, in addition to the confinement effects. We observe this blue-shift in photoluminescence excitation experiments. The photoluminescence excitation energies of the QWs are satisfactorily simulated when taking into account the variation of the exciton binding energy with the QW width and the residual anisotropic strain. Then we compare the photoluminescence properties of homoepitaxial QWs grown on ZnO bulk substrate and heteroepitaxial QWs grown on sapphire. We show that the reduction of structural defects and the improvement of surface morphology are correlated with a strong enhancement of the photoluminescence properties: reduction...

Built-in electric field in ZnO based semipolar quantum wells grown on (101¯2) ZnO substrates

We report on the properties of semipolar (Zn,Mg)O/ZnO quantum wells homoepitaxially grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (101¯2) R-plane ZnO substrates. We demonstrate that atomically flat interfaces can be achieved with fully relaxed quantum wells because the mismatch between (Zn,Mg)O and ZnO is minimal for this growth orientation. The photoluminescence properties evidence a quantum confined Stark effect with an internal electric field estimated to 430 kV/cm for a 17% Mg content in the barriers. The quantum well emission is strongly polarized along the [1¯21¯0] direction and a comparison with the semipolar bulk ZnO luminescence polarization points to the effect of the confinement.

(Zn, Mg)O/ZnO-based heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire: Polar vs. non-polar

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has recently attracted considerable attention because of its unique physical properties and its potential applications in the blue and UV spectral range. Up to now, ZnO-based heterostructures have mostly been grown in a c-orientation. The growth of non-polar layers along the a-direction [1 1 2¯0] has been proposed to avoid any built-in electric fields in the c-direction. Polar and non-polar quantum wells (QWs) embedded in (Zn, Mg)O barriers were grown on an optimized buffer. We compare the photoluminescence (PL) emission of a- and c-oriented QWs. From this comparison, we demonstrate that the QWs exhibit confinement but no indication of quantum confined Stark effect, contrary to what is observed in c-oriented structures. In the non-polar orientation, it is shown that the thermal quenching is not related to the thermal escape of excitons from the ZnO area, since the calculated activation energies are much lower.