Xie Zili

Au/Pt/InGaN/GaN Heterostructure Schottky Prototype Solar Cell

A patterned Au/Pt/In0.2Ga0.8N/GaN heterostructure Schottky prototype solar cell is fabricated. The forward current-voltage characteristics indicate that thermionic emission is a dominant current transport mechanism at the Pt/InGaN interface in our fabricated cell. The Schottky solar cell has an open-circuit voltage of 0.91 V, short-circuit current density of 7mA/cm2, and fill factor of 0.45 when illuminated by a Xe lamp with a power density of 300 mW/cm2. It exhibits a higher short-circuit current density of 30 mA/cm2 and an external quantum efficiency of over 25% when illuminated by a 20-mW-power He-Cd laser.

Chemical mechanical polishing of freestanding GaN substrates

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has been used to produce smooth and scratch-free surfaces for GaN. In the aqueous solution of KOH, GaN is subjected to etching. At the same time, all surface irregularities, including etch pyramids, roughness after mechanical polishing and so on will be removed by a polishing pad. The experiments had been performed under the condition of different abrasive particle sizes of the polishing pad. Also the polishing results for different polishing times are analyzed, and chemical mechanical polishing resulted in an average root mean square (RMS) surface roughness of 0.565 nm, as measured by atomic force microscopy.

Optical and Magnetic Properties of Fe-Doped GaN Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors Prepared by MOCVD Method

Fe-doped GaN thin films are grown on c-sapphires by metal organic chemical vapour deposition method (MOCVD). Crystalline quality and phase purity are characterized by x-ray diffraction and Raman scattering measurements. There are no detectable second phases formed during growth and no significant degradation in crystalline quality as Fe ions are doped. Fe-related optical transitions are observed in photoluminescence spectra. Magnetic measurements reveal that the films show room-temperature ferromagnetic behaviour. The ferromagnetism may originate from carrier-mediated Fe-doped GaN diluted magnetic semiconductors or nanoscale iron clusters and Fe-N compounds which we have not detected.

Surface morphology and composition studies in InGaN/GaN film grown by MOCVD

InGaN films were deposited on (0001) sapphire substrates with GaN buffer layers under different growth temperatures by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The In-composition of InGaN film was approximately controlled by changing the growth temperature. The connection between the growth temperature, In content, surface morphology and defect formation was obtained by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Meanwhile, by comparing the SEM and AFM surface morphology images, we proposed several models of three different defects and discussed the mechanism of formation. The prominent effect of higher growth temperature on the quality of the InGaN films and defect control were found by studying InGaN films at various growth temperatures.

Photoresponse of the In0.3Ga0.7N metal–insulator–semiconductor photodetectors

In 0.3Ga 0.7N metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) and metal–semiconductor (MS) surface barrier photodetectors have been fabricated. The In0.3Ga0.7N epilayers were grown on sapphire by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). The photoresponse and reverse current–voltage characteristics of the In0.3Ga0.7N MIS and MS photodetectors were measured. A best zero bias responsivity of 0.18 A/W at 450 nm is obtained for the In0.3Ga0.7N MIS photodetector with 10 nm Si3N4 insulator layer, which is more than ten times higher than the In0.3Ga0.7N MS pho-todetector. The reason is attributed to the decrease of the interface states and increase of surface barrier height by the inserted insulator. The influence of the thickness of the Si3N4 insulator layer on the photoresponsivity of the MIS photodetector is also discussed.

Influence of Dry Etching Damage on the Internal Quantum Efficiency of Nanorod InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Wells

The influence of dry etching damage on the internal quantum efficiency of InGaN/GaN nanorod multiple quantum wells (MQWs) is studied. The samples were etched by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching via a self-assembled nickel nanomask, and examined by room-temperature photoluminescence measurement. The key parameters in the etching process are rf power and ICP power. The internal quantum efficiency of nanorod MQWs shows a 5.6 times decrease substantially with the rf power increasing from 3 W to 100 W. However, it is slightly influenced by the ICP power, which shows 30% variation over a wide ICP power range between 30 W and 600 W. Under the optimized etching condition, the internal quantum efficiency of nanorod MQWs can be 40% that of the as-grown MQW sample, and the external quantum efficiency of nanorod MQWs can be about 4 times that of the as-grown one.

Gallium Nitride Nanowires Grown by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy

GaN nanowires are grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy using nickel as a catalyst. The properties of the obtained GaN nanowires are characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, room-temperature photoluminescence and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results show that the nanowires are wurtzite single crystals growing along the [0001] direction and a redshift in the photoluminescence is observed due to a superposition of several effects. The Raman spectra are close to those of the bulk GaN and the significantly broadening of those modes indicates the phonon confinement effects associated with the nanoscale dimensions of the system.

Effect of Rapid Thermal Annealing on the Formation of In-N Clusters in Strained InGaNAs

A model for the effect of rapid thermal annealing on the formation of In-N clusters in strained GaInNAs is developed according to thermodynamics. In the model, the lowest annealing temperature influencing the redistribution of atoms is introduced. The average variation of energy for formation per In-N bond is obtained by fitting the experimental values. Using the present model, we calculate the average number of nearest-neighbor In atoms per N atom after annealing. The obtained results are compared with the experiment. The qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis are in good agreement with each other. The model is helpful to explain the essence of the blueshift caused by annealing.

High-Reflectivity AlGaN/AlN Distributed Bragg Reflector in Ultraviolet Region

Thirty-pair Al0.3Ga0.7N/AlN distributed Bragg reflectors centred at 320 nm are designed and grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition. No cracks are observed in the main area of the 2-inch wafer except for about 4 mm margin under an optical microscope. Regular stack of alternating layers is shown by scanning electron microscopy. Clear two-dimensional growth steps and very low surface roughness are shown by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Well-defined periodicity is shown by high resolution x-ray diffraction. High reflectivity of 93% at 313 nm with a bandwidth of 13 nm is obtained.

A Band-Gap Energy Model of the Quaternary Alloy InxGayAl1−x−yN using Modified Simplified Coherent Potential Approximation

Based on modification of the simplified coherent potential approximation, a model for the band-gap energy of InxGayAl1−x−yN is developed. The parameters of the model are obtained by fitting the experimental band-gap energy of their ternary alloys. It is found that the results agree with the experimental values better than those reported by others, and that the band-gap reduction of InxGayAl1−x−yN with increasing In or Ga content is mainly due to enhanced intraband coupling within the conduction band, and separately within the valence band.