Deep levels studies on a set of n-GaN films grown by MOCVD and HVPE reveal the presence of electron traps with levels near Ec−0.25 eV, Ec−0.55 eV, Ec−0.8 eV, Ec−1 eV, hole traps with levels near Ev+0.9 eV and a band of relatively shallow states in the lower half of the bandgap. The total density of these latter states was estimated to be some 1016 cm−3 and they were tentatively associated with dislocations in GaN based on their high concentration and band-like character. None of the electron or hole traps could be unambiguously related with strong changes of diffusion lengths of minority carriers in various samples. It is proposed that such changes occur due to different surface recombination velocities. An important role of Ec−0.55 eV traps in persistent photoconductivity phenomena in n-GaN has been demonstrated.

In GaN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy as well as metal organic vapor phase epitaxy significant differences were found in the appearance of deep defects detected by thermal admittance spectroscopy as compared for deep level transient spectroscopy measurements. While, thermal admittance spectroscopy measurements which were made under zero bias conditions only show thermal emissions at activation energies between 130 and 170 meV, further deep levels existing in these GaN layers were evidenced by transient spectrocopy. This discrepancy is explained by a pinning effect of the Fermi level at the metal / GaN interface induced by high a concentration of the deep levels showing up in thermal admittance spectroscopy. We compare our results with a GaAs:Te Schottky- diode as a refernec sample. Here, both spectroscopic methods give exactly the same deep level emissions.

Deep centers in Si-doped n-GaN samples grown on sapphire by reactive molecular beam epitaxy, using different ammonia flow rates (AFRs), have been studied by deep level transient spectroscopy. In addition to five electron traps, which were also found in n-GaN layers grown by both metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition and hydride vapor-phase epitaxy, two new centers C1 (0.43-0.48 eV) and E1 (0.25 eV) have been observed. C1, whose parameters show strong electric-field effects and anomalous electron capture kinetics, might be associated with dislocations. E1, which is very dependent on the AFR, exhibits an activation energy close to that of a center created by electron irradiation and is believed to be a defect complex involving VN.

We report on the nano-fabrication of GaN/AlGaN device structures using focused ion beam (FIB) etching, illustrated on a GaN/AlGaN heterostructure field effect transistor (HFET). Pillars as small as 20nm to 300nm in diameter were fabricated from the GaN/AlGaN HFET. Micro-photoluminescence and UV micro-Raman maps were recorded from the FIB-etched pattern to assess its material quality. Photoluminescence was detected from 300nm-size GaN/AlGaN HFET pillars, i.e., from the AlGaN as well as the GaN layers in the device structure, despite the induced etch damage. Properties of the GaN and the AlGaN layers in the FIB-etched areas were mapped using UV Micro-Raman spectroscopy. Damage introduced by FIB-etching was assessed. The fabricated nanometer-size GaN/AlGaN structures were found to be of good quality. The results demonstrate the potential of FIB-etching for the nano-fabrication of III-V nitride devices.

Uniaxial wurtzite group-III nitride heterostructures are subject to large polarization effects with significant consequences for device physics in optoelectronic and transport device applications. A central aspect for the proper implementation is the experimental quantification of polarization charges and associated fields. In modulated reflection spectroscopy of thin films and heterostructures of AlGaInN we observe pronounced Franz-Keldysh oscillations that allow direct and accurate readings of the field strength induced by polarization dipoles at the heterointerfaces. In piezoelectric GaInN/GaN quantum wells this dipole is found to induce an asymmetry in barrier heights with a respective splitting of interband transitions. This splitting energy appears to reflect in the transitions of spontaneous and stimulated luminescence in the well. From these experiments the polarization dipole is identified as controllable type-II staggered band offset between adjacent barrier layers which can extend the flexibility in AlGaInN bandstructure design. The derived field values can serve as important input parameters in the further interpretation of the entire system.

The spectroscopic investigation of GaN/AlGaN quantum wells reveals that the emission energy of such structures is determined by four parameters, namely composition, well-width, strain and charge density. The experimental data obtained by varying these parameters are quantitatively explained by an analytic model based on the envelope function formalism which accounts for screening and built-in field, and by a full self-consistent tight-binding model.

The effect of In on the structural and optical properties of InxGa1−xN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) was investigated. These were five-period MQWs grown on sapphire by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Increasing the In composition caused broadening of the high-resolution x-ray diffraction superlattice satellite peak and the photoluminescence-excitation bandedge. This indicates that the higher In content degrades the interface quality because of nonuniform In incorporation into the GaN layer. However, the samples with higher In compositions have lower room temperature (RT) stimulated (SE) threshold densities and lower nonradiative recombination rates. The lower RT SE threshold densities of the higher In samples show that the suppression of nonradiative recombination by In overcomes the drawback of greater interface imperfection.

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra were measured at room temperature for GaN quantum wells (QWs) with Al0.8Ga0.2N barriers, which were grown by atmospheric-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The thickness of the GaN QW layers was systematically varied from one monolayer to four monolayers. We clearly observed a PL peak at a wavelength as short as 247 nm (5.03 eV) from one monolayer-thick QWs. The effective confinement energy is as large as 1.63 eV.

We report on experiments which unequivocal identify the chemical nature of optical transitions related to As (2.58 eV), Ge (3.398 eV) and Se (1.49 eV) found in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of GaN. For this purpose epitaxial GaN layers were doped by ion implantation (60 keV, 3×1012 cm−2) with the radioactive isotopes 71As and 72Se. The isotope 71As (half-life 64.28 h) decays first into 71Ge (11.43 d), which finally transmutes into stable 71Ga. The isotope 72Se decays via 72As (26 h) into stable 72Ge. These chemical transmutations were monitored with photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The half-lives resulting from exponential fits on our PL data are in excellent agreement with the half-lives of the isotopes. Our experiments clearly show that in each case the luminescence center involves exactly one As, Ge or Se atom. In addition to this, the results imply that no optically active GaN antisite exists.