We have established a correlation between localized states responsible for mid-gap optical emission and film mobility of GaN grown under different nitrogen conditions. By imposing a deflector voltage at the tip of the plasma source, we varied the ion/neutral flux ratio to determine how N ions affect mid-gap luminescence and electrical mobility. Low energy electron-excited nanometer scale luminescence (LEEN) spectroscopy in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) showed mid-gap emission intensities in the bulk that decreased in the ratio, 50 : 1.3 : 1 with increasing deflector voltage. Hall measurements indicated over a factor of two increase in mobility, and a factor of 8 decrease in residual charge density with increasing deflector voltage. The correlation of optical and electrical properties with a reduction in N ion flux suggests the primary role of native defects, such as N or Ga vacancies, in the mid-gap emissions.

We present a comprehensive study of the optical characteristics of (Al, In)GaN epilayers measured by photoluminescence (PL), integrated PL intensity, and time-resolved PL spectroscopy. For not only InGaN, but also AlGaN epilayers with large Al content, we observed an anomalous PL temperature dependence: (i) an “S-shaped” PL peak energy shift (decrease-increase-decrease) and (ii) an “inverted S-shaped” full width at half maximum (FWHM) change (increase-decrease-increase) with increasing temperature. Based on time-resolved PL, the S shape (inverted S shape) of the PL peak position (FWHM) as a function of temperature, and the much smaller PL intensity decrease in the temperature range showing the anomalous emission behavior, we conclude that strong localization of carriers occurs in InGaN and even in AlGaN with rather high Al content. We observed that the following increase with increasing Al content in AlGaN epilayers: (i) a Stokes shift between the PL peak energy and the absorption edge, (ii) a redshift of the emission with decay time, (iii) the deviations of the PL peak energy, FWHM, and PL intensity from their typical temperature dependence, and (iv) the corresponding temperature range of the anomalous emission behavior. This indicates that the band-gap fluctuation responsible for these characteristics is due to energy tail states caused by non-random inhomogeneous alloy potential variations enhanced with increasing Al content.

We have used time-resolved photoluminescence (PL), with 400 nm (3.1 eV) excitation, to examine InxGa1−xN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) before the final stages of processing at room temperature. We have found dramatic differences in the time-resolved kinetics between dim, bright and super bright LED devices. The lifetime of the emission for dim LEDs is quite short, 110 ± 20 ps at photoluminescence (PL) maximum, and the kinetics are not dependent upon wavelength. This lifetime is short compared to bright and super bright LEDs, which we have examined under similar conditions. The kinetics of bright and super bright LEDs are clearly wavelength dependent, highly non-exponential, and are on the nanosecond time scale (lifetimes are in order of 1 ns for bright and 10 ns for super bright LED at the PL max). The non-exponential PL kinetics can be described by a stretched exponential function, indicating significant disorder in the material. Typical values for β, the stretching coefficient, are 0.45 − 0.6 for bright LEDs, at the PL maxima at room temperature. We attribute this disorder to indium alloy fluctuations.

From analysis of the stretched exponential kinetics we estimate the potential fluctuations to be approximately 75 meV in the super bright LED. Assuming a hopping mechanism, the average distance between indium quantum dots in the super bright LED is estimated to be 20 Å.

The surface morphology and the room temperature 1.54 µm photoluminescence (PL) intensity from GaN:Er grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy have been investigated as a function of C concentration as introduced by CBr4. Similar to previous results with increasing Er level, increasing the C concentration initially improved the surface smoothness as measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), with RMS roughness improving by a factor of seven over undoped GaN. The PL also improved dramatically. However, the highest amounts of C investigated produced a decrease in the PL as well as a roughening of the film surface. These effects indicate that the GaN:Er had reached its C solubility limit, producing an increased amount of defect induced nonradiative recombination.

In this paper we have reported the observation of visible photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) of Pr implanted in GaN. The implanted samples were given isochronal thermal annealing treatments at a temperature of 11000 C in NH3, N2, Ar2, and in forming gas N2 +H2, at atmospheric pressure to recover implantation damages and activate the rare earth ions. The sharp characteristic emission lines corresponding to Pr3+ intra-4fn-shell transitions are resolved in the spectral range from 350 nm to 1150 nm, and observed over the temperature range of 12 K-335 K. The PL and CL decay kinetics measurement was performed for 3P1, 3P0 and 1D2 levels.

We report on the luminescence properties of Er doped GaN grown prepared by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE) and solid-source molecular beam epitaxy (SSMBE) on Si substrates. Both types of samples emitted characteristic 1.54 µm PL resulting from the intra-4f Er3+ transition 4I13/2→4I15/2. Under below-gap excitation the samples exhibited very similar 1.54 µm PL intensities. On the contrary, under above-gap excitation GaN: Er (SSMBE) showed ∼80 times more intense 1.54 µm PL than GaN: Er (MOMBE). In addition, GaN: Er (SSMBE) also emitted intense green luminescence at 537 nm and 558 nm, which was not observed from GaN: Er (MOMBE). The average lifetime of the green PL was determined to be 10.8 µs at 15 K and 5.5 µs at room temperature. A preliminary lifetime analysis suggests that the decrease in lifetime is mainly due to the strong thermalization between the 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 excited states. Nonradiative decay processes are expected to only weakly affect the green luminescence.

The effects of dc chuck self-bias and high density source power (which predominantly control ion energy and ion flux, respectively) on the electrical properties of n-GaN Schottky diodes exposed to Inductively Coupled Plasma of Cl2/Ar were examined. Both parameters were found to influence the diode performance, by reducing the reverse breakdown voltage and Schottky barrier height. All plasma conditions were found to produce a nitrogen-deficient surface, with a typical depth of the non-stoichiometry being ∼ 500 Å. Post-etch annealing was found to partially restore the diode characteristics.

Mesa and planar geometry GaN Schottky rectifiers were fabricated on 3-12µm thick epitaxial layers. In planar diodes utilizing resistive GaN, a reverse breakdown voltage of 3.1 kV was achieved in structures containing p-guard rings and employing extension of the Schottky contact edge over an oxide layer. In devices without edge termination, the reverse breakdown voltage was 2.3 kV. Mesa diodes fabricated on conducting GaN had breakdown voltages in the range 200-400 V, with on-state resistances as low as 6m Ω·cm−2.

Different ions (Ti+, O+, Fe+, Cr+) were implanted at multiple energies into GaN field effect transistor structures (n and p-type). The implantation was found to create deep states with energy levels in the range EC −0.20 to 0.49 eV in n-GaN and at EV +0.44 eV in p-GaN after annealing at 450-650 °C. The sheet resistance of the GaN was at a maximum after annealing at these temperatures, reaching values of ∼4×1012 Ω/□ in n-GaN and ∼1010 Ω/□ in p-GaN. The mechanism for the implant isolation was damage-related trap formation for all of the ions investigated, and there was no evidence of chemically induced isolation.

Excimer laser ablation rates of Si (111) and AlN films grown on Si (111) and r-plane sapphire substrates were determined. Linear dependence of ablation rate of Si (111) substrate, sapphire and AlN thin films were observed. Excimer laser micromachining of the AlN thin films on silicon (111) and SiC substrates were micromachined to fabricate a waveguide structure and a pixilated structure. This technique resulted in clean precise machining of AlN with high aspect ratios and straight walls.

The photoresist developer AZ-400K, commonly used to remove AlN encapsulant layers on GaN crystalline films, is found to also etch certain as-grown GaN films. Even as-grown GaN films, which can not be etched in AZ-400K, however can be etched if amorphized by ion implantation. Etch rates of as high as 450 Å/min. were observed. The etching proceeds linearly in GaN in the first few minutes to a depth corresponding to the depth of the amorphous region. Subsequently, the etching rate saturates. Annealing of the highly amorphized samples up to 1000°C for one minute in a N2/H2 gas mixture does not reduce the etch rate, but for lower doses we observed a reduction of the etch rate. Observations of etching depth under various ion-implanted conditions could be correlated with the number of displacements per atoms (dpa) required for amorphization.

The oxidation of GaN epilayers in dry oxygen has been studied. The 1-µm-thick GaN epilayers grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by Rapid-Thermal-Processing/Low Pressure Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition were used in this work. The oxidation of GaN in dry oxygen was performed at various temperatures for different time. The oxide was identified as the monoclinic β-Ga2O3 by a θ−2θ scan X-ray diffraction (XRD). The scanning electron microscope observation shows a rough oxide surface and an expansion of the volume. XRD data also showed that the oxidation of GaN began to occur at 800°C. The GaN diffraction peaks disappeared at 1050°C for 4 h or at 1100°C for 1 h, which indicates that the GaN epilayers has been completely oxidized. From these results, it was found that the oxidation of GaN in dry oxygen was not layer-by-layer and limited by the interfacial reaction and diffusion mechanism at different temperatures.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) etching technique has been proven to be an effective method to etch GaN. Despite its success, investigations on etching-induced damage are still scare. In this work, the damage induced by PEC etching of GaN in KOH electrolyte was studied. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy was used to explore the origin of etching-induced damaged layer. From the variable temperature PL measurements, the origin of etching-induced damage was attributed to be the defect complex of VGa-ON (gallium vacancy bonds to oxygeon on nitrogen antisite). With determination of the defect origin, the electronic transition in the etch damage-related yellow luminescence (YL) band was suggested to be deep donor-like state to shallow-acceptor transition. In addition, a post-treatment method with boiled KOH chemical etching was developed to remove the thin damaged layer. In this method, crystallographic etching characteristics of boiled KOH was observed to assist in the formation of smooth sidewall facets. As revealed by the reduction of yellow luminescence, we propose this novel technique as a near damage-free etching method.

Thin layers of InGaN were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition and characterized with atomic force microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. InGaN deposited on GaN exhibits a Stranski-Krastanov growth mode, including 2D wetting layer and 3D self-assembled quantum dots. Besides, we observed that the formed InGaN nano-scale dots have a trapezoidal shape with a {1-102} facet with respect to (0002) surface. Visible spectral range from UV to green was easily obtained by changing InGaN quantum well thickness up to 2.3 nm.

When the stoichiometric TiN was deposited directly on GaN, we obtained columnar TiN grains of 5-20 nm section which cross the whole film thickness and are rotated mostly around the [111] axis. The conventional epitaxial relationship is obtained and no amorphous patches are observed at the interface. The deposition of TiN on Si doped GaN layers lead to the formation of an ohmic contact, whereas we obtain a rectifying contact on p type layers.

A highly chemical reactive ion etching process has been developed for MOVPE-grown GaN on sapphire. The key element for the enhancement of the chemical property during etching is the use of a fluorine containing gas in a chlorine based chemistry. In the perspective of using GaN substrates for homo-epitaxy of high quality GaN/AlGaN structures we have used the above described RIE process to smoothen Ga-polar GaN substrates. The RMS value, measured by AFM, went from 20 Å (after mechanical polishing) down to 4 Å after 6 minutes of RIE. Etching N-polar GaN resulted in a higher etch rate than Ga-polar materials (165 vs. 110 nm/min) but the resulting surface was quite rough and suffers from instability problems. Heat treatment and HCl dip showed a partial recovery of Schottky characteristics after RIE.

A low resistance Ohmic contact to p-type GaN is essential for reliable operation of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Such contacts have been made using Ni/Au and Pd / Au contacts to p-type Mg-doped GaN (1.41×1017 cm−3) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition ( MOCVD ) on ( 0001 ) sapphire substrates. Thermal evaporation was used for the deposition of those metals followed by annealing at temperatures of 400 ∼ 700 °C in an oxygen and nitrogen mixed gas ambient, then subsequently cooled in liquid nitrogen which reduced the specific contact resistance from the range of 9.46∼2.80×10−2 Ωcm2 to 9.84∼2.65×10−4 Ωcm2 for Ni/Au and from the range of 8.35∼5.01×10−4 Ωcm2 to 3.34∼1.80×10−4 Ωcm2 for Pd/Au. The electrical characteristics for the contacts were examined by the current versus voltage curves and the specific contact resistance was determined by use of the circular transmission line method (c-TLM). The effects of the cryogenic process on improving Ohmic behavior (I-V linearity) and reducing the specific contact resistance will be discussed from a microstructural analysis which reveals the metallurgy of Ohmic contact formation.

A new ohmic contact scheme for gallium nitride is presented. The use of Nitride-forming metal Over Gallide-forming metal, “NOG”, can modify the thermodynamic activity of N and Ga near the interface. This in turn can modify the near-surface point defect concentrations, particularly the vacancies of Ga and N. The principle of this contact scheme was shown to be consistent with results from Ni/Au, Ni/Zn-Au, Ta/Ti, and Ni/Mg/Ni/Si contacts. In the present study, the “NOG” scheme was used to design Ni/Ti/Au and Ni/Al/Au metallization, and addition of Ti and Al nitride-forming metals to the Ni gallide-forming metal led to lower but still high contact resistance. Ti was shown to be better than Al as the nitride-forming metal based on the decrease of resistance in as deposited contacts. Compared to Ni/Au, four times more current was measured in Ni/Ti/Au contacts to p-GaN after anneal at 300°C for 5min. However the addition of the Ti nitride-forming metal led to lower stability at 500°C.

Au/GaN and Cu/GaN Schottky contacts have been studied using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). Clean and stoechiometric GaN samples were obtained using in situ hydrogen plasma treatment and Ga deposition. The growth of Cu and Au follows Stranski-Krastanov and Frank van der Merwe modes respectively. The interfaces are sharp and non-reactive. Schottky barriers of 1.15eV for Au/GaN and 0.85eV for Cu/GaN were measured using XPS.

The deep level spectra in both p+-n homojunction and n-type Schottky GaN diodes are studied by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) in order to compare the role of the junction configuration on the defects found within the n-GaN layer. Both majority and minority carrier DLTS measurements are performed on the diodes allowing the observation of both electron and hole traps in n-GaN. An electron level at Ec−Et=0.58 and 0.62 V is observed in the p+-n and Schottky diodes, respectively, with a concentration of ∼3−4×1014 cm−3 and a capture cross section of ∼1−5×10−15 cm2. The similar Arrhenius behavior indicates that both emissions are related to the same defect. The shift in activation energy is correlated to the electric field enhanced-emission in the p+-n diode, where the junction barrier is much larger. The p+-n diode configuration allows the observation of a hole trap at Et−Ev=0.87 eV in the n-GaN which is very likely related to the yellow luminescence band.