Ruifei Duan

Microstructure and Optical Properties of Nonpolar m-Plane GaN Films Grown on m-Plane Sapphire by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy

Thick nonpolar (10 (1) over bar0) GaN layers were grown on m-plane sapphire substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) using magnetron sputtered ZnO buffers, while semipolar (10 (1) over bar(3) over bar) GaN layers were obtained by the conventional two-step growth method using the same substrate. The in-plane anisotropic structural characteristics and stress distribution of the epilayers were revealed by high. resolution X-ray diffraction and polarized Raman scattering measurements. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images revealed that the striated surface morphologies correlated with the basal plane stacking faults for both (10 (1) over bar0) and (10 (1) over bar(3) over bar) GaN films. The m-plane GaN surface showed many triangular-shaped pits aligning uniformly with the tips pointing to the c-axis after etching in boiled KOH, whereas the oblique hillocks appeared on the semipolar epilayers. In addition, the dominant emission at 3.42eV in m-plane GaN films displayed a red shift with respect to that in semipolar epilayers, maybe owing to the different strain states present in the two epitaxial layers. [DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.47.3346]

Mechanical Deformation Behavior of Nonpolar GaN Thick Films by Berkovich Nanoindentation

In this study, the deformation mechanisms of nonpolar GaN thick films grown on m-sapphire by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) are investigated using nanoindentation with a Berkovich indenter, cathodoluminescence (CL), and Raman microscopy. Results show that nonpolar GaN is more susceptible to plastic deformation and has lower hardness thanc-plane GaN. After indentation, lateral cracks emerge on the nonpolar GaN surface and preferentially propagate parallel to the orientation due to anisotropic defect-related stresses. Moreover, the quenching of CL luminescence can be observed to extend exclusively out from the center of the indentations along the orientation, a trend which is consistent with the evolution of cracks. The recrystallization process happens in the indented regions for the load of 500 mN. Raman area mapping indicates that the distribution of strain field coincides well with the profile of defect-expanded dark regions, while the enhanced compressive stress mainly concentrates in the facets of the indentation.

Anomalous temperature dependence of photoluminescence in self-assembled InGaN quantum dots

Self-assembled InGaN quantum dots (QDs) were fabricated by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Abnormal temperature dependence of photoluminescence (PL) was observed. The integrated PL intensity of QDs sample shows a dramatic increase in a temperature range from 160 K to 215 K and reaches the maximum value at 215 K instead of 10 K as usual. To interpret this phenomenon, a theoretic model of temperature induced carrier redistribution mechanism is designed using rate equation, which fits closely with the experimental result. It is concluded that carriers’ redistribution from shallow QDs or wetting layer to deep QDs gives rise to the unique behavior for InGaN QDs structure.

Direct growth of graphene on gallium nitride by using chemical vapor deposition without extra catalyst

Graphene on gallium nitride (GaN) will be quite useful when the graphene is used as transparent electrodes to improve the performance of gallium nitride devices. In this work, we report the direct synthesis of graphene on GaN without an extra catalyst by chemical vapor deposition. Raman spectra indicate that the graphene films are uniform and about 5–6 layers in thickness. Meanwhile, the effects of growth temperatures on the growth of graphene films are systematically studied, of which 950 °C is found to be the optimum growth temperature. The sheet resistance of the grown graphene is 41.1 Ω/square, which is close to the lowest sheet resistance of transferred graphene reported. The mechanism of graphene growth on GaN is proposed and discussed in detail. XRD spectra and photoluminescence spectra indicate that the quality of GaN epi-layers will not be affected after the growth of graphene.

Investigations on the wettability of graphene on a micron-scale hole array substrate

In this work, graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition is transferred onto a micron-scale hole array (MSHA) substrate by a polymer-free transfer process. The graphene adheres to the walls of the microholes and complies with the morphologies of the micron-scale hole substrate. In contrast to previous reports of the partial-transparency of the wettability of graphene on a plane substrate, the wettability of graphene on a micro-scale hole array substrate is found to be hydrophobic with a contact angle of 93.1°. This is quite different from that of graphene on a planar SiO2/Si substrate, which is hydrophilic with a contact angle of 83.0°. We find that a micron-scale hole array substrate has a regulation effect on the wettability of graphene when the graphene almost completely complies with the morphology of the micron-scale hole array substrate surface and the change from hydrophilic to hydrophobic provides a guide for designing surfaces with controllable wettability.

Defect reduction in semipolar {10} GaN grown on m-sapphire via two-step nanoepitaxial lateral overgrowth

A method to obtain high quality semipolar {10} GaN grown on m-plane sapphire is presented. This method is similar to two-step nanoepitaxial lateral overgrowth (2S-NELOG) by combining a TiN interlayer and self-assembled SiO2 nanospheres. For the 2S-NELOG semi-GaN, the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness is 1.8 nm with a scan area of 5 × 5 μm2. The reduction of the defect density is demonstrated using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The full widths at half maximum (FWHMs) of the on-axis X-ray rocking curves (XRCs) are 381 and 524 arcsec, respectively rocking toward the [30] direction and the [110] direction. The anisotropy of the mosaic is lower compared to planar and TiN semi-GaN. In addition, Raman analyses also show the partial relaxation of the stress in the 2S-NELOG semi-GaN.

Enhancement of Exciton-Phonon Interaction in InGaN Quantum Wells Induced by Electron-Beam Irradiation

InGaN/GAN multiple quantum wells grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition were irradiated with the electron beam from a low energy accelerator. The electron irradiation induced a redshift by 50 meV in the photoluminescence spectra of the electron-irradiated InGaN/GaN quantum wells, irrespective of the exposure time to the electron beam which ranges from 10 to 1000s. The localization parameter extracted from the temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra was found to increase in the Irradiated samples. Analysis of the intensity of the longitudinal optical phonon sidebands showed the enhancement of the exciton-phonon coupling, indicating that the excitons are more strongly localized in the irradiated InGaN wells. The change in the pholotuminescence spectra. In the irradiated InGa/GAN quantum wells were explained in terms of the increase of indium concentration in indium rich clusters induced by the electron irradiation (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Generating electricity using graphene nanodrums

A voltage is induced when grapheme nanodrums (a graphene membrane on a nanopore array in a silicon oxide substrate) upheave/sink. The magnitude of the induced voltage is closely related to the extent to which the graphene membrane is bent, while its sign depends on the upheaval/sinking movement of the graphene nanodrums.

Van der Waals epitaxy of GaN-based light-emitting diodes on wet-transferred multilayer graphene film

We experimentally investigated the possibility of using multilayer graphene to solve large mismatch problems between sapphire and nitride and further studied the effects of a multilayer graphene interlayer on the optical and electrical properties of LEDs. For the subsequent growth of 3-µm-thick GaN on AlN, multilayer graphene helps release stress and effectively removes cracks. In addition, multilayer graphene increases the diffraction of the substrate surface as determined from the increase in optical transmittance spectra in the wavelength range of 400–900 nm. Although the crystalline quality of GaN with multilayer graphene is slightly decreased, LEDs grown on multilayer graphene still show a higher output power than those grown on conventional sapphire. The present findings showed that the multilayer graphene layer is attractive as a potential substrate for the epitaxial growth of III–nitride to reduce stress and it could improve back light extraction as a rough layer to increase external quantum efficiency.

Producing deep UV-LEDs in high-yield MOVPE by improving AlN crystal quality with sputtered AlN nucleation layer *

High-quality AlN layers with low-density threading dislocations are indispensable for high-efficiency deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). In this work, a high-temperature AlN epitaxial layer was grown on sputtered AlN layer (used as nucleation layer, SNL) by a high-yield industrial metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The full width half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve shows that the AlN epitaxial layer with SNL has good crystal quality. Furthermore, the relationships between the thickness of SNL and the FWHM values of (002) and (102) peaks were also studied. Finally, utilizing an SNL to enhance the quality of the epitaxial layer, deep UV-LEDs at 282 nm were successfully realized on sapphire substrate by the high-yield industrial MOVPE. The light-output power (LOP) of a deep UV-LED reaches 1.65 mW at 20 mA with external quantum efficiency of 1.87%. In addition, the saturation LOP of the deep UV-LED is 4.31 mW at an injection current of 60 mA. Hence, our studies supply a possible process to grow commercial deep UV-LEDs in high throughput industrial MOVPE, which can increase yield, at lower cost.