We demonstrate room temperature laser activity of optically pumped GaN/GalnN-DFB-lasers. The ridge-waveguide DFB lasers were realized on GaN/GalnN double heterostructures grown by low-pressure metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The best laser threshold we achieved is 1.9 MW/cm2.

By varying the grating period, the laser emission wavelength could be tuned from 399 to 415 nm. This allows to determine the dispersion relation of the effective refractive index neff(λ) and the spectral dependence of the pump power density at the laser threshold Pth(λ) over the whole emission range. Furthermore, the shift of the emission wavelength with temperature of the DFB-lasers is investigated and is found to be small compared to the emission wavelength shift of the gain maximum.

Stimulated emission characteristics are examined for GaN-AlGaN separate-confinement quantum-well heterostructures grown by MOVPE on 4H-SiC substrates. We specifically focus on comparison of structures with different quantum well active region designs. Polarization resolved edge emission spectra and stimulated emission thresholds are obtained under optical pumping using a stripe excitation geometry. Stimulated emission characteristics are studied as a function of the number of quantum wells in the structure, and are correlated with surface photoluminescence properties. We find reduced stimulated emission thresholds and increased surface photoluminescence intensities as the number of quantum wells is reduced, with the best results obtained for a single-quantum-well structure. These results should provide useful information for the design of GaN-based quantum well lasers.

InGaN/GaN Heterostructures were deposited on c-plane sapphire substrates by atmospheric pressure Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). A frequency tripled modelocked Ti-sapphire laser with a 250 fs pulse operating at 280 nm was used for photoexcitation. Photopumped stimulated emission was observed from InGaN/GaN single heterostructures (SH’s) in both edge and surface emitting configurations. A sharp threshold at the onset of stimulated emission and a strong nonlinear dependence of output emission on input power density was observed. Distinct Fabry-Perot modes corresponding to both cavity configurations were also observed. Gain coefficients were measured from an In0. 14Ga0.86N film using the method developed by Shaklee and Leheny for the edge emitting configuration.

The properties of photoconductive ultraviolet detector based on GaN epilayer grown on 6H-SiC substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition were investigated in this paper. We obtained the detectable energy span of the device up to ultraviolet by photocurrent measurement. The spectral responsivity remained nearly constant for wavelengths from 250 to 365 nm and dropped by three orders of magnitude within 10 nm of the band edge (by 380 nm). The detector was measured to have a responsivity of 133 A/W at a wavelength of 360 nm under a 5-V bias, and the voltage-dependent responsivity was performed. Furthermore, an easy method was developed to determine the response time, and the relationship between response time and bias was obtained.

Results obtained from interdigital metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) type of GaN based UV photodetectors are presented. MSM devices were fabricated using two types of GaN; high-resistive GaN and Mg doped GaN. For the high-resistive GaN detector, the lowest dark current is ∼0.1 nA and the UV responsivity of the device was about 460 AAV at a DC bias of 30 V. The Mg doped GaN exhibited large gains, 1150 A/W at 2.0 V, but at much higher dark currents, 400 nA. The high gain in this device is not well understood but was attributed to an ‘avalanche’ effect and is under investigation. It was found that the surface plasma treatment plays an important role in the device performance. After an appropriate plasma treatment the detectors showed higher responsivity with lower dark current.

RF atomic nitrogen plasma molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was used to deposit gallium nitride (GaN) p-i-n junction photovoltaic detectors on (0001) sapphire. The detectors consisted of a bottom contact layer n-type silicon doped to 5 × 1018 cm−3. The intrinsic layer was undoped and possessed an n-type background carrier concentration of 1 × 1016 cm−3. The top /p-GaN layer was doped with magnesium to give a Hall concentration of 5 × 1017 cm−3. The p-type GaN cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra showed a strong 372 nm emission level in contrast to the 430 nm level observed in MOCVD samples. These layers were fabricated into 1 × 10 element detector arrays using a chlorine-based reactive ion etch (RIE) and refractory metal ohmic contacts. Peak responsivity of 0.11 AAV on detectors without anti-reflection coating were obtained at the GaN bandedge of 360 nm. The ultraviolet (UV) to visible rejection ratio was greater than 103 − 104 and was accredited to the reduction of the yellow defect levels in MBE material. Preliminary results on AlxGa1−xN detectors with responsivity peaks at 313 and 343 nm are presented as well.

We have demonstrated the basic operation of a vacuum diode based on the negative electron affinity polycrystalline AlN thin film emitters. The AlN films, both undoped and Ge doped, were deposited by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). The IBAD process utilizes thermal evaporation from either electron-beam or resistance heated sources with ion bombardment from Kaufman-type ion sources at energies from 50 to 1500 eV. Films were post-annealed by rapid thermal annealing and long-time tube furnace annealing in a N2 atmosphere to test improvements in crystallinity. The electrical and transport properties of the films were tested by DC l-V measurements. The structure of the AlN films was investigated by TEM, SIMS, optical absorption, and RBS as a function of growth parameters and annealing. The field emission was tested for films with different Ge doping concentrations, film thickness, diode voltage, and post annealing conditions. Field emission was observed for the undoped AlN films with a thickness of approximately 10 nm.