P. J. Huang

Residual strain in ZnO nanowires grown by catalyst-free chemical vapor deposition on GaN/sapphire (0001)

ZnO nanowires were grown on 2-μm-thick GaN templates by chemical vapor deposition without employing any metal catalysts. The GaN template was deposited by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on a c-plane sapphire substrate. The diameters of the resulting nanowires were in the range of 40–250nm depending on growth time. The ZnO nanowires were vertically well aligned with uniform length, diameter, and distribution density as revealed by electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction spectra showed that ZnO grew in single c-axis orientation with the c axis normal to the GaN basal plane, indicating a heteroepitaxial relationship of (0002)ZnO‖(0002)GaN. The lattice constant of the c axis of the ZnO nanowires with diameter of 40nm was 5.211A, which is larger than that of bulk ZnO (5.207A). The ZnO nanowires exhibit a residual tensile strain along the c axis, which decreases with increasing diameter.

Origin of the anomalous temperature evolution of photoluminescence peak energy in degenerate InN nanocolumns

Photoluminescence (PL) behaviour in InN nanocolumns reveal decreasing, increasing and near invariant peak energies (E(PL)) as a function of temperature. Samples, having E(PL)~0.730 eV at 20 K, showed temperature invariance of E(PL). Samples possessing E(PL) on the lower and higher energy side of 0.730 eV demonstrate a normal redshift and anomalous blueshift, respectively, with increasing temperature. This temperature evolution can be effectively explained on the basis of a competition between a conventional red shift from lattice dilation, dominant for low carrier density sample, on one hand, and a blue shift of the electron and hole quasi Fermi-level separation, dominant for high carrier density samples, on the other.

Hot Photoluminescence in γ-In2Se3Nanorods

The energy relaxation of electrons in γ-In2Se3nanorods was investigated by the excitation-dependent photoluminescence (PL). From the high-energy tail of PL, we determine the electron temperature (Te) of the hot electrons. TheTevariation can be explained by a model in which the longitudinal optical (LO)-phonon emission is the dominant energy relaxation process. The high-quality γ-In2Se3nanorods may be a promising material for the photovoltaic devices.

Optical studies of InN epilayers on Si substrates with different buffer layers

We have investigated the photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL from the InN epilayers grown on Si substrates with different buffer layers. The narrowest value of the full width at half maximum of the PL peak is 52 meV with the AlN/AlGaN/GaN triple buffer layer, which is better than previous reports on similar InN epilayers on Si substrates. Based on the emission-energy dependence of the PL decays, the localization energy of carriers is also the least for the InN with a triple buffer layer. According to the x-ray diffraction measurements, we suggest that the reduced lattice mismatch between the InN epilayer and the top buffer layer is responsible for improvement of sample quality using the buffer-layer technique.

Microstructure of InN quantum dots grown on AlN buffer layers by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy

InN quantum dots (QDs) were grown over 2in. Si (1 1 1) wafers with a 300nm thick AlN buffer layer by atmospheric-pressure metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. When the growth temperature increased from 450to625°C, the corresponding InN QDs height increased from 16to108nm while the density of the InN QDs decreased from 1.6×109cm−2to3.3×108cm−2. Transmission electron microscopy showed the presence of a 2nm thick wetting layer between the AlN buffer layer and InN QDs. The growth mechanism was determined to be the Stranski–Krastanov mode. The presence of misfit dislocations in the QDs indicated that residual strain was introduced during InN QDs formation. From x-ray diffraction analysis, when the height of the InN QDs increased from 16to62nm, the residual strain in InN QDs reduced from 0.45% to 0.22%. The residual strain remained at 0.22% for larger heights most likely due to plastic relaxation in the QDs. The critical height of the InN QDs for releasing the strain was determined to be 62nm.

Photoluminescence of ZnO Nanowires with Eu Diffusion Process

C. W. Chen, C. J. Pan, P. J. Huang, G. C. Chi, C. Y. Chang, F. Ren, and S. J. Pearton Department of Physics, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan Optical Sciences Center, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA