Y. V. Danylyuk

Optical and electrical properties of Al1−xInxN films grown by plasma source molecular-beam epitaxy

Epitaxial Al1−xInxN thin films with 0⩽x⩽1 have been grown by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire (0001) substrates at a low temperature of 375 °C. Both reflection high-energy electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction measurements confirm the c-plane growth with the following epitaxial relations: nitride [0001] ∥ sapphire [0001] and nitride 〈0110〉 ∥ sapphire 〈2110〉. However, the degree of crystalline mosaicity and the compositional fluctuation increase with increasing x. The observed direct energy band gap, determined using optical transmission and reflection measurements show relatively less bowing compared to some earlier studies. Electrical resistivity and Hall effect measurements show n-type electrical conductivity in these alloys with carrier concentrations n⩾1019 cm−3 for In-rich alloys and n⩽1010 cm−3 for Al-rich alloys.

Ultraviolet and visible resonance-enhanced Raman scattering in epitaxial Al1−xInxN thin films

We report the observation of ultraviolet and visible near-resonance enhanced Raman scattering in epitaxial wurtzite Al1−xInxN (0001) (0⩽x<0.7) thin films. The films (thickness∼150 nm) were grown by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire (0001) substrates. A substantial spectral enhancement is seen for Al-rich samples using 244 nm (5.01 eV) radiation due to the closeness of their band gap energy to the excitation energy. On the other hand, samples with x∼0.6 (energy band gap ∼2.5 eV) show significant enhancement with 514.5 nm (2.41 eV) excitation. The A1(LO) and E2 zone center phonons have been observed for all the samples. The A1(LO) phonon frequency shows the expected decrease with increasing x. The E2 mode shows a two-mode behavior supporting the recent theoretical predictions. Due to increased resonance enhancement, strong second- and third-order spectra are seen in some films.

Investigation of the occupation behavior for oxygen atoms in AlN films using Raman spectroscopy

We investigated the behavior of Raman modes for AlN thin films fabricated with plasma source molecular beam epitaxy method having high levels of oxygen contamination. Oxygen atoms occupy different lattice sites depending on their at. % value and, thus, strongly influence spectral features of certain Raman modes. We studied the variations in the width of nonpolar E2low and E2high modes which represent mainly the vibrations of Al sublattice and N atoms, respectively, in the AlN lattice. When oxygen occupies a N site, it affects the width of the E2high mode, and at the same time, the charge neutrality constraint creates an Al vacancy and, thus, simultaneously affects the width of the E2low mode. We found that for our films whose oxygen concentration vary from 1to10at.%, the width of both the E2high and E2low modes varies linearly with the oxygen contamination levels suggesting that even at such high levels of oxygen contamination, oxygen atoms still prefer to occupy the N site. This is contrary to previous s...

Investigation of E1(LO) phonon-plasmon coupled modes and critical points in In1−xGaxN thin films by optical reflectance measurements

Low energy optical modes of molecular beam epitaxy-grown In1−xGaxN thin films with 0≤x≤0.6 are investigated using infrared reflectance measurements. We found that the reflectance of the films for wave vectors in the range from 600 to 800 cm−1 is determined by the high energy E1(LO)-plasmon coupled modes. In the higher energy regime of the UV-visible reflectance spectrum of InN, critical points with energies 4.75, 5.36, and 6.12 eV belonging to A and B structures are observed. The energies of these critical points increase with increasing values of x, similar to the band gap energy of these films.

Surface damage of thin AlN films with increased oxygen content by nanosecond and femtosecond laser pulses

AlN films deposited on sapphire substrates were damaged by single UV nanosecond (at 248 nm) and IR femtosecond (at 775 nm) laser pulses in air at normal pressure. The films had high (27-35 atomic %) concentration of oxygen introduced into thin surface layer (5-10 nm thickness). We measured damage threshold and studied morphology of the damage sites with atomic force and Nomarski optical microscopes with the objective to determine a correlation between damage processes and oxygen content. The damage produced by nanosecond pulses was accompanied by significant thermal effects with evident signatures of melting, chemical modification of the film surface, and specific redistribution of micro-defect rings around the damage spots. The nanosecond-damage threshold exhibited pronounced increase with increase of the oxygen content. In contrast to that, the femtosecond pulses produced damage without any signs of thermal, thermo-mechanical or chemical effects. No correlation between femtosecond-damage threshold and oxygen content as well as presence of defects within the laser-damage spot was found. We discuss the influence of the oxygen contamination on film properties and related mechanisms responsible for the specific damage effects and morphology of the damage sites observed in the experiments.

Ablation of aluminum nitride films by nanosecond and femtosecond laser pulses

We present results of comparative study of laser-induced ablation of AlN films with variable content of oxygen as a surface-doping element. The films deposited on sapphire substrate were ablated by a single nanosecond pulse at wavelength 248 nm, and by a single femtosecond pulse at wavelength 775 nm in air at normal pressure. Ablation craters were inspected by AFM and Nomarski high-resolution microscope. Irradiation by nanosecond pulses leads to a significant removal of material accompanied by extensive thermal effects, chemical modification of the films around the ablation craters and formation of specific defect structures next to the craters. Remarkable feature of the nanosecond experiments was total absence of thermo-mechanical fracturing near the edges of ablation craters. The femtosecond pulses produced very gentle ablation removing sub-micrometer layers of the films. No remarkable signs of thermal, thermo-mechanical or chemical effects were found on the films after the femtosecond ablation. We discuss mechanisms responsible for the specific ablation effects and morphology of the ablation craters.

Model-independent method for the determination of guiding thin-film optical parameters

A method for the determination of the optical constants of thin films based on the combination of a waveguide measurement procedure with the spectroscopic measurements made from the UV to the IR is presented. As a test material AlN thin film on sapphire substrates is investigated.