The hardness of single crystal GaN (gallium nitride) at elevated temperature is measured for the first time and compared with other materials. A Vickers indentation method was used to determine the hardness of crack-free GaN samples under an applied load of 0.5N in the temperature range 20 - 1200°C. The hardness is 10.8 GPa at room temperature, which is comparable to that of Si. At elevated temperatures GaN shows higher hardness than Si and GaAs. A high mechanical stability for GaN at high temperature is deduced.

We report on the effect of strain induced polarization fields in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures due to the incorporation of Si dopant ions in the lattice. By Si-doping (Al)GaN, a contraction of the wurtzite unit cell can occur leading to strain in doped AlGaN/GaN heterostructures such as high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). In a typical modulation doped AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure, the Si-doped AlGaN supply layer is separated from the two-dimensional electron gas channel by an undoped AlGaN spacer layer. This dopant-induced strain, which is tensile, can create an additional source of charge at the AlGaN:Si/AlGaN interface. The magnitude of this strain increases as the Si doping concentration increases and the AlN mole fraction in the AlGaN decreases. Consideration of this strain should be given in AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure design.

We report on non-thermal negative differential conductivity (NDC) in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs grown on sapphire substrates by low-pressure MOCVD. The sheet electron density was on the order of few times 1012cm−2 and the Hall mobility was 1,000 cm2/V.s. The HEMTs had threshold voltage close to zero and could operate at high positive gate bias up to 3 to 3.5 Volts, with a very low gate leakage current. NDC was observed at the gate bias larger than 1.5V and at the drain biases between approximately 0.5Vg and Vg. We excluded the possibility of self-heating as the cause, since the NDC occurs at relatively small power levels where self-heating effects are negligible.

An explanation we provided for the NDC effect is the new mechanism of real space charge transfer from 2D to 3D GaN states, which leads to a decrease in the channel mobility at large 2D electron gas densities. The observed low leakage can be explained by an enhanced molar fraction of aluminum at the heterointerface that results in a larger conduction band discontinuity. Our model that accounts for the piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects is consistent with the observed NDC effect. The Hall mobility dependence on the gate bias and sheet carrier concentration [1] is consistent with the real space transfer mechanism.

This NDC effect in GaN/AlGaN HEMTs may find applications in high-performance digital circuits at elevated temperatures.

Two-dimensional electron gas transport properties have been investigated in nitride double-heterostructures. A striking effect has been observed that the two-dimensional electron gas mobility has been drastically enhanced in the AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double-heterostructure, compared with that in the conventional AlGaN/GaN single-heterostructure. The observed mobility enhancement has been shown to be mainly due to the enhanced polarization-induced electron confinement in the double-heterostructure, and additionally due to the improvement of the interface roughness in the structure. Device operation of an AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double-heterostructure field effect transistor has been demonstrated: a maximum transconductance of 180 mS/mm has been obtained for a 0.4 μm-gate-length device. In the double-heterostructure using InGaN channel, the increased capacity for the two-dimensional electron gas has been observed. The AlGaN/(In)GaN/AlGaN double-heterostructures are effective for improving the electron transport properties.

High-quality GaN was grown using gas-source molecular-beam epitaxy (GSMBE). The mobility of undoped GaN was 350 cm2/Vsec and the carrier concentration was 6×1016 cm−3 at room temperature. A GaN metal semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFET) and an n-p-n GaN bipolar junction transistor (BJT) were fabricated for high-temperature operation. The high-temperature reliability of the GaN MESFET was also investigated. That is, the lifetime of the FET at 673 K was examined by continuous current injection at 673 K. We confirmed that the FET performance did not change at 673 K for over 1010 h. The aging performance of the BJT at 573 K was examined during continuous current injection at 573 K for over 850 h. The BJT performance did not change at 573 K. The current gain was about 10. No degradation of the metal-semiconductor interface was observed by secondary ion-mass spectrometry (SIMS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was also confirmed by using Si-ion implantation that the contact resistivity of the GaN surface and electrode materials could be lowered to 7×10−6 ohmcm2.

Junction field effect transistors (JFET) were fabricated on a GaN epitaxial structure grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The DC and microwave characteristics, as well as the high temperature performance of the devices were studied. These devices exhibited excellent pinch-off and a breakdown voltage that agreed with theoretical predictions. An extrinsic transconductance (gm) of 48 mS/mm was obtained with a maximum drain current (ID) of 270 mA/mm. The microwave measurement showed an fT of 6 GHz and an fmax of 12 GHz. Both the ID and the gm were found to decrease with increasing temperature, possibly due to lower electron mobility at elevated temperatures. These JFETs exhibited a significant current reduction after a high drain bias was applied, which was attributed to a partially depleted channel caused by trapped electrons in the semi-insulating GaN buffer layer.

We are attempting to grow bulk AlN that would be suitable as a substrate for nitride film growth. Bulk AlN films were grown by physical vapor transport on 3.5° off-axis and on-axis 6H SiC seed crystals and characterized by TEM, x-ray-diffraction, Auger electron microscopy, and SEM. TEM images show that the bulk AlN does not have the columnar structure typically seen in AlN films grown by MOCVD. Although further optimization is required before the bulk AlN is suitable as a substrate, we find that the structural characteristics achieved thus far indicate that quality bulk AlN substrates may be obtained in the future.

The thermal expansion of different GaN samples is studied by high-resolution X-ray diffraction within the temperature range of 10 to 600 K. GaN bulk crystals, a homoepitaxial layer and different heteroepitaxial layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were investigated. Below 100 K the thermal expansion coefficients (TEC) were found to be nearly zero which has to be taken into account when estimating the thermal strain of GaN layers in optical experiments commonly performed at low temperatures. The homoepitaxial layer and the underlying GaN substrate with a lattice mismatch of −6·10−4 showed identical thermal expansion. The comparison between the temperature behavior of lattice parameters of heteroepitaxial layers and bulk GaN points to a superposition of thermally induced biaxial strain and compressive hydrostatic strain.

Successive growth of thick GaN layers separated by either LT-GaN or LT-AlN interlayers have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy techniques. One of the objectives of this growth method was to improve the quality of GaN layers by reducing the dislocation density at the intermediate buffer layers that act as barriers to dislocation propagation. While the use of LT-AlN results in the multiplication of dislocations in the subsequent GaN layers, the LT-GaN reduces dislocation density. Based upon Burgers vector analysis, the efficiency of the buffer layers for the propagation of the different type of dislocations is presented. LT-AlN layer favor the generation of edge dislocations, leading to a highly defective GaN layer. On the other hand, the use of LT-GaN as intermediate buffer layers appears as a promising method to obtain high quality GaN layer.

In this paper we illustrate the application of electron beam techniques to the measurement of strain, defect and alloy concentrations in nitride thin films. We present brief comparative studies of CL spectra of AlGaN and InGaN epilayers and EBSD patterns obtained from two silicon-doped 3 μm thick GaN epilayers grown on an on-axis (0001) sapphire substrate and a sapphire substrate misoriented by 10° toward the m-plane (10 0).

We report the growth and characterization of quaternary AlGaInN. A combination of photoluminescence (PL), high-resolution x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) characterizations enables us to explore the contours of constant- PL peak energy and lattice parameter as functions of the quaternary compositions. The observation of room temperature PL emission at 351nm (with 20% Al and 5% In) renders initial evidence that the quaternary could be used to provide confinement for GaInN (and possibly GaN). AlGaInN/GaInN MQW heterostructures have been grown; both XRD and PL measurements suggest the possibility of incorporating this quaternary into optoelectronic devices.

The N-side of GaN single crystals with off-angle orientations of 0°, 2°, and 4° towards the [100] direction was used as a substrate for homo-epitaxial MOCVD growth. The highest misorientation resulted in a reduction of the density of grown hillocks by almost two orders of magnitude as compared with homo-epitaxial films grown on the exact (000) surface. The features still found on the 4° misoriented sample after growth can be explained by a model involving the interaction of steps, introduced by the misorientation and the hexagonal hillocks during the growth process.

We report on AlN wafers fabricated by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). AlN thick layers were grown on Si substrates by HVPE. Growth rate was up to 60 microns per hour. After the growth of AlN layers, initial substrates were removed resulting in free-standing AlN wafers. The maximum thickness of AlN layer was about 1 mm. AlN free-standing single crystal wafers with a thickness ranging from 0.05 to 0.8 mm were studied by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, optical absorption, and cathodoluminescence.

In this paper, we describe the seeded growth of ∼20 mm diameter 15 mm long GaN ingots from the melt-solution. This is the first successful attempt to conduct growth of GaN boule-crystals. GaN ingots were grown from Ga-based melt in the temperature range of 800-1000°C at less than 2 atm ambient pressure. Growth was performed at ∼2 mm/hr growth rate. X-ray diffraction revealed polycrystalline structure of the ingots. Homoepitaxial GaN layers were deposited by HVPE technique on the substrates, which were fabricated from the grown GaN ingots.

Large (up to 10mm diameter) aluminum nitride (AlN) boules have been grown by the sublimation-recondensation method to study the preparation of high-quality single crystal substrates. The growth mechanism of the boules has been studied using AFM. It has been determined that large single crystal grains in those boules grow with a density of screw dislocations below 5×104 cm−3 while edge dislocations are at lower density (none were observed). High-quality AlN single crystal substrates for epitaxial growth have been prepared and characterized using Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) and AFM imaging, respectively. Also, the differential etching effect of KOH solutions on the N and Al-terminated faces of AlN on vicinal c-faces has been investigated. In order to identify the N or Al-terminated face, convergent beam electron diffraction has been used.

In the field of group-III nitrides, hetero-epitaxial growth has been one of the most important key technologies. A thick layer of AlGaN alloy with higher AlN molar fraction is difficult to grow on sapphire substrate, because the alloy layer is easily cracked. It is thought that one cause of generating cracks is a large lattice mismatch between an AlGaN and a GaN, when AlGaN is grown on the underlying GaN layer. We have achieved crack-free Al0.07Ga0.93N layer with the thickness of more than 1μm using underlying Al0.05Ga0.95N layer. The underlying Al0.05Ga0.95N layer was grown directly on sapphire by using the low-temperature-deposited buffer layer (LT-buffer layer). Since a lattice mismatch between the underlying Al0.05Ga0.95N layer and upper Al0.07Ga0.93N layer is relatively small, the generation of cracks is thought to be suppressed. This technology is applied to a GaN-based laser diode structure, in which thick n-Al0.07Ga0.93N cladding layer grown on the Al0.05Ga0.95N layer, improves optical confinement and single-robe far field pattern in vertical direction.

Growth of high-quality AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on sapphire by ammonia gas-source molecular beam epitaxy is reported. Incorporation of a thin AlN layer grown at low temperature within the GaN buffer is shown to result in enhanced electrical and structural characteristics for subsequently grown heterostructures. AlGaN/GaN structures exhibiting reduced background doping and enhanced Hall mobilities (2100, 10310 and 12200 cm2/Vs with carrier sheet densities of 6.1 × 1012 cm−2, 6.0 × 1012 cm−2, and 5.8 × 1012 cm−2 at 300 K, 77 K, and 0.3 K, respectively) correlate with dislocation filtering in the thin AlN layer. Magnetotransport measurements at 0.3 K reveal well-resolved Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations starting at 3 T.

We describe the growth of high quality AlN and GaN on Si(111) by gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) with ammonia (NH3). The initial nucleation (at 1130−1190K) of an AlN monolayer with full substrate coverage resulted in a very rapid transition to two-dimensional (2D) growth mode of AlN. The rapid transition to the 2D growth mode of AlN is essential for the subsequent growth of high quality GaN, and complete elimination of cracking in thick ( > 2 μm) GaN layers. We show, using Raman scattering (RS) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements, that the tensile stress in the GaN is due to thermal expansion mismatch, is below the ultimate strength of breaking of GaN, and produces a sizable shift in the bandgap. We show that the GSMBE AlN and GaN layers grown on Si can be used as a substrate for subsequent deposition of thick AlN and GaN layers by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE).

Nitride-Arsenide materials were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using a radio frequency (rf) nitrogen plasma. The plasma conditions that maximize the amount of atomic nitrogen versus molecular nitrogen were determined using the emission spectrum of the plasma. Under constant plasma source conditions and varying group III flux, the nitrogen concentration in the film is inversely proportional to the group III flux (i. e. the nitrogen sticking coefficient is unity). The relationship between nitrogen concentration in the film and lattice parameter of the film is not linear for nitrogen concentrations above 2.9 mole % GaN, indicating that some nitrogen is incorporated on other locations than the group V lattice sites. For films with these higher nitrogen concentrations, XPS indicates that the nitrogen exists in two configurations: a Gallium-Nitrogen bond and another type of nitrogen complex in which nitrogen is less strongly bonded to Gallium atoms. Annealing removes this nitrogen complex and allows some of the nitrogen to diffuse out of the film. Annealing also improves the crystal quality of GaAsN quantum wells.

We present density-functional theory based studies for several types of line defects in both hexagonal and cubic GaN. {10−10} type surfaces play an important role in hexagonal GaN since similar configurations occur at open-core screw dislocations and nanopipes as well as at the core of threading edge dislocations. Except for full-core screw dislocations which possess heavily strained bonds all investigated stoichiometric extended defects in hexagonal GaN do not induce deep acceptor states in the band-gap and thus cannot be responsible for the yellow luminescence. However, electrically active point defects in particular gallium vacancies and oxygen related defect complexes are found to be trapped at the stress field of the dislocations. Preliminary calculations for cubic GaN find the ideal stoichiometric 60°-dislocations to be electrically active. As in hexagonal material, vacancies and impurities like oxygen are likely to be trapped at the dislocation core.