Michael Latzel

Vertically Oriented Growth of GaN Nanorods on Si Using Graphene as an Atomically Thin Buffer Layer.

The monolithic integration of wurtzite GaN on Si via metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy is strongly hampered by lattice and thermal mismatch as well as meltback etching. This study presents single-layer graphene as an atomically thin buffer layer for c-axis-oriented growth of vertically aligned GaN nanorods mediated by nanometer-sized AlGaN nucleation islands. Nanostructures of similar morphology are demonstrated on graphene-covered Si(111) as well as Si(100). High crystal and optical quality of the nanorods are evidenced through scanning transmission electron microscopy, micro-Raman, and cathodoluminescence measurements supported by finite-difference time-domain simulations. Current-voltage characteristics revealed high vertical conduction of the as-grown GaN nanorods through the Si substrates. These findings are substantial to advance the integration of GaN-based devices on any substrates of choice that sustains the GaN growth temperatures, thereby permitting novel designs of GaN-based heterojunction device concepts.

Effect of rapid thermal annealing on barrier height and 1/f noise of Ni/GaN Schottky barrier diodes

Current-voltage (as a function of temperature), capacitance-voltage, and 1/f noise characteristics of Ni/GaN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) as function of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) are studied. It is found that RTA treatments of SBDs at 450 °C for 60 s resulted in a significant improvement of ideality factor and Schottky barrier height: the ideality factor decreased from 1.79 to 1.12 and the barrier height increased from 0.94 to 1.13 eV. The spectral power density of current fluctuations in the diode subjected to RTA at 450 °C is found to be two orders of magnitude lower as compared to the as-deposited diode. Improved diode characteristics and decreased 1/f noise in RTA treated (450 °C/60 s) diode are attributed to reduced level of barrier inhomogeneities at the metal-semiconductor interface and explained within the framework of the spatial inhomogeneity model.

Efficient Nitrogen Doping of Single-Layer Graphene Accompanied by Negligible Defect Generation for Integration into Hybrid Semiconductor Heterostructures

While doping enables application-specific tailoring of graphene properties, it can also produce high defect densities that degrade the beneficial features. In this work, we report efficient nitrogen doping of ∼11 atom % without virtually inducing new structural defects in the initial, large-area, low defect, and transferred single-layer graphene. To shed light on this remarkable high-doping-low-disorder relationship, a unique experimental strategy consisting of analyzing the changes in doping, strain, and defect density after each important step during the doping procedure was employed. Complementary micro-Raman mapping, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and optical microscopy revealed that effective cleaning of the graphene surface assists efficient nitrogen incorporation accompanied by mild compressive strain resulting in negligible defect formation in the doped graphene lattice. These original results are achieved by separating the growth of graphene from its doping. Moreover, the high doping level occurred simultaneously with the epitaxial growth of n-GaN micro- and nanorods on top of graphene, leading to the flow of higher currents through the graphene/n-GaN rod interface. Our approach can be extended toward integrating graphene into other technologically relevant hybrid semiconductor heterostructures and obtaining an ohmic contact at their interfaces by adjusting the doping level in graphene.

Barrier inhomogeneities limited current and 1/f noise transport in GaN based nanoscale Schottky barrier diodes

The electrical behaviour of Schottky barrier diodes realized on vertically standing individual GaN nanorods and array of nanorods is investigated. The Schottky diodes on individual nanorod show highest barrier height in comparison with large area diodes on nanorods array and epitaxial film which is in contrast with previously published work. The discrepancy between the electrical behaviour of nanoscale Schottky diodes and large area diodes is explained using cathodoluminescence measurements, surface potential analysis using Kelvin probe force microscopy and 1ow frequency noise measurements. The noise measurements on large area diodes on nanorods array and epitaxial film suggest the presence of barrier inhomogeneities at the metal/semiconductor interface which deviate the noise spectra from Lorentzian to 1/f type. These barrier inhomogeneities in large area diodes resulted in reduced barrier height whereas due to the limited role of barrier inhomogeneities in individual nanorod based Schottky diode, a higher barrier height is obtained.

Significant performance enhancement of InGaN/GaN nanorod LEDs with multi-layer graphene transparent electrodes by alumina surface passivation

Nanotextured surfaces provide an ideal platform for efficiently capturing and emitting light. However, the increased surface area in combination with surface defects induced by nanostructuring e.g. using reactive ion etching (RIE) negatively affects the devices active region and, thus, drastically decreases device performance. In this work, the influence of structural defects and surface states on the optical and electrical performance of InGaN/GaN nanorod (NR) light emitting diodes (LEDs) fabricated by top-down RIE of c-plane GaN with InGaN quantum wells was investigated. After proper surface treatment a significantly improved device performance could be shown. Therefore, wet chemical removal of damaged material in KOH solution followed by atomic layer deposition of only 10 [Formula: see text] alumina as wide bandgap oxide for passivation were successfully applied. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the initially compressively strained InGaN/GaN LED layer stack turned into a virtually completely relaxed GaN and partially relaxed InGaN combination after RIE etching of NRs. Time-correlated single photon counting provides evidence that both treatments-chemical etching and alumina deposition-reduce the number of pathways for non-radiative recombination. Steady-state photoluminescence revealed that the luminescent performance of the NR LEDs is increased by about 50% after KOH and 80% after additional alumina passivation. Finally, complete NR LED devices with a suspended graphene contact were fabricated, for which the effectiveness of the alumina passivation was successfully demonstrated by electroluminescence measurements.

Self-Catalyzed Growth of Vertically Aligned InN Nanorods by Metal–Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

Vertically aligned hexagonal InN nanorods were grown mask-free by conventional metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy without any foreign catalyst. The In droplets on top of the nanorods indicate a self-catalytic vapor-liquid-solid growth mode. A systematic study on important growth parameters has been carried out for the optimization of nanorod morphology. The nanorod N-polarity, induced by high temperature nitridation of the sapphire substrate, is necessary to achieve vertical growth. Hydrogen, usually inapplicable during InN growth due to formation of metallic indium, and silane are needed to enhance the aspect ratio and to reduce parasitic deposition beside the nanorods on the sapphire surface. The results reveal many similarities between InN and GaN nanorod growth showing that the process despite the large difference in growth temperature is similar. Transmission electron microscopy, spatially resolved energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy have been performed to analyze the structural properties. Spatially resolved cathodoluminescence investigations are carried out to verify the optical activity of the InN nanorods. The InN nanorods are expected to be the material of choice for high-efficiency hot carrier solar cells.

Modeling the dielectric function of degenerately doped ZnO:Al thin films grown by ALD using physical parameters

Transparent conductive thin films are a key building block of modern optoelectronic devices. A promising alternative to expensive indium containing oxides is aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO). By correlating spectroscopic ellipsometry and photoluminescence, we analyzed the contributions of different optical transitions in AZO grown by atomic layer deposition to a model dielectric function (MDF) over a wide range of photon energies. The derived MDF reflects the effects of the actual band structure and therefore describes the optical properties very accurately. The presented MDF is solely based on physically meaningful parameters in contrast to empirical models like e.g. the widely used Sellmeier equation, but nevertheless real and imaginary parts are expressed as closed-form expressions. We analyzed the influence of the position of the Fermi energy and the Fermi-edge singularity to the different parts of the MDF. This information is relevant for design and simulation of optoelectronic devices and can be determined by analyzing the results from spectroscopic ellipsometry.

Disentangling the effects of nanoscale structural variations on the light emission wavelength of single nano-emitters

The scattering in the light emission wavelength of semiconductor nano-emitters assigned to nanoscale variations in strain, thickness, and composition is critical in current and novel nanotechnologies from highly efficient light sources to photovoltaics. Here, we present a correlated experimental and theoretical study of single nanorod light emitting diodes (nano-LEDs) based on InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells to separate the contributions of these intrinsic fluctuations. Cathodoluminescence measurements show that nano-LEDs with identical strain states probed by non-resonant micro-Raman spectroscopy can radiate light at different wavelengths. The deviations in the measured optical transitions agree very well with band profile calculations for quantum well thicknesses of 2.07-2.72 nm and In fractions of 17.5-19.5% tightly enclosing the growth values. The nanorod surface roughness controls the appearance of surface optical phonon modes with direct implications on the design of phonon assisted nano-LED devices. This work establishes a new, simple, and powerful methodology for fundamental understanding as well as quantitative analysis of the strain - light emission relationship and surface-related phenomena in the emerging field of nano-emitters.

Nanowire device concepts for thin film photovoltaics

We see a real potential of the SIS SiNW based thin film cell on glass for further improvement of cell parameters such as Voc to 600-700 mV and a power conversation efficiency of >15%.

Ultrafast carrier dynamics in GaN/InGaN multiple quantum wells nanorods

GaN/InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQW) is a promising material for high-efficiency solid-state lighting. Ultrafast optical pump-probe spectroscopy is an important characterization technique for examining fundamental phenomena in semiconductor nanostructure with sub-picosecond resolution. In this study, ultrafast exciton and charge carrier dynamics in GaN/InGaN MQW planar layer and nanorod are investigated using femtosecond transient absorption (TA) techniques at room temperature. Here nanorods are fabricated by etching the GaN/InGaN MQW planar layers using nanosphere lithography and reactive ion etching. Photoluminescence efficiency of the nanorods have been proved to be much higher than that of the planar layers, but the mechanism of the nanorod structure improvement of PL efficiency is not adequately studied. By comparing the TA profile of the GaN/InGaN MQW planar layers and nanorods, the impact of surface states and nanorods lateral confinement in the ultrafast carrier dynamics of GaN/InGaN MQW is revealed. The nanorod sidewall surface states have a strong influence on the InGaN quantum well carrier dynamics. The ultrafast relaxation processes studied in this GaN/InGaN MQW nanostructure is essential for further optimization of device application.