Single crystalline (0001) gallium nitride layers were implanted with beryllium and subsequently annealed within the range of 300-1100°C for 10-60 minutes under a flux of atomic nitrogen obtained using a rf plasma source. The nitrogen flux protected the GaN surface from decomposition in vacuum at high temperatures. SIMS measurements revealed that no long range diffusion of the implanted Be occurred at 900 or 1100°C. XRD spectra showed defect-related peaks in the as-implanted samples; these peaks disappeared upon annealing at 900°C and higher for 10 minutes. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements showed one new line at 3.35 eV which provided strong evidence for the presence of optically active Be acceptors.

Based on the criteria for the solid state exchange reaction with p-GaN, we have investigated the intermetallic compound Niln as a possible ohmic contact. The contacts were fabricated by depositing Niln on p-GaN films (p ∼ 2 × 1017 cm-3) using RF sputtering from a compound target. The as-deposited, Niun contacts were found to be rectifying and using I-V characterization a Schottky barrier height of 0.82 eV was measured. Rapid thermal annealing of the contacts was shown to significantly decrease their resistance, with contacts annealed at 800°C for I min yielding the lowest resistance. When annealed at 800°C for 1 min Niln contacts exhibited a specific contact resistance of 8-9 × 10-3 Ωcm2, as measured by the circular transmission line model. To allow a more universal comparison the more traditional Ni/Au contacts, processed under the same conditions, were used as a standard. Their measured specific contact resistance (ρc = 1.2 - 2.1 x 10-2 Ωcm2) was significantly higher than that of the Niln contacts. Demonstrating that Niln has promise as an ohmic contact to p-GaN and should be studied in greater detail.

The epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) process for GaN has been studied using SiC and sapphire substrates. Both MBE and MOVPE growth processes were employed in the study. The use of SiO2 versus SiNx insulator stripes was investigated using window/stripe widths ranging from 2 μm/4 μm to 3 μm/15 μm. GaN film depositions were completed at temperatures ranging from 800°C to 1120°C. Characterization experiments included RHEED, TEM, SEM and cathodolumenescence studies. The MBE growth experiments produced polycrystalline GaN over the insulator stripes even at deposition temperatures as high as 990°C. In contrast, MOVPE growth produced single-crystal GaN stripes with no observable threading dislocations.

Epitaxial growth on GaN single bulk crystals sets new standards in GaN material quality. The outstanding properties provide new insights into fundamental material parameters (e.g. lattice constants, exciton binding energies, etc.) being not accessible by heteroepitaxial growth on sapphire or SiC. With MOVPE and MBE we realized unstrained GaN layers with dislocation densities about six orders of magnitude lower than in heteroepitaxy. Those layers revealed an exceptional optical quality as determined by a reduction of the photoluminescence linewidth from 5 to 0.1 meV and a reduced XRD rocking curve width from 400 to 20 arcsec.

Only recently, progress in surface preparation allowed morphologies of the layers suitable for device applications. We report on InGaN/GaN MQW structures as well as the first GaN pn- and InGaN/GaN double heterostructure LEDs on GaN single bulk crystals. Those LEDs are twice as bright as their counterparts grown on sapphire. In addition they reveal an improved high power characteristics, which is attributed to an enhanced crystal quality and an increased p-doping. Time resolved electroluminescence measurements proof that band/band recombination is the dominant emission mechanism for the InGaN/GaN LEDs.

The quasi-LO and quasi-TO modes of AIN crystallite were investigated. The analysis indicates that the Raman mode behavior concurs with Loudons’ model of mode-mixing in wurtzite (WZ) structure crystals which is due to the long-range electrostatic field. Phonon-lifetimes of GaN and AIN crystallites were studied via Raman lineshape. It was found that the low energy E2 mode lifetime is about an order of magnitude longer than that of the other modes, and that impurities impact significantly the phonon-lifetimes.

Pendeo-epitaxy is a type of selective growth of thin films from the sidewalls of etched forms. The resulting films are suspended from the sidewalls and do not interface with the substrate. This process route has advantages over conventional lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO) techniques. In this research, pendeo-epitaxial growth of GaN films has been achieved on elongated GaN seed columns. The seed columns were etched from GaN grown on 6H-SiC (0001) substrates via metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Silicon nitride mask layers atop the GaN seed columns forced growth from the sidewalls. Pendeo-epitaxial growth of GaN was investigated using several growth temperatures. Higher growth temperatures resulted in improved coalescence due to greater lateral to vertical growth ratios.

DC and intrinsic small signal parameters are reported for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors. The calculations are based upon a self-consistent solution of Schrödinger and Poisson's equation to model the quantum well formed in GaN. Transport parameters are obtained from an ensemble Monte Carlo simulation.

Transmission electron microscopy was applied to study defects in laterally overgrown GaN layers, with initial growth on A12O3 substrates followed by further growth over SiO2 masks. Dislocations found in the overgrown areas show changes in line direction. Most dislocations propagate along c-planes. In the overgrown material planar defects (faulted loops) are present on c-planes and their presence is most probably related to segregation of excess point defects and impurities present in this material. They appear to be initiated by the fast lateral growth. Some dislocations with screw orientation become helical resulting from climb motion.

Formation of voids and also a high dislocation density was observed at the boundaries where two overgrowing fronts meet. Tilt and twist components were observed for these boundaries that were different for different overgrown strips grown in the same crystallographic direction suggesting that the GaN subgrain orientations on the two sides of a SiO2 mask are responsible for the final tilt and twist value.

The surface morphology and structure of AIN deposited by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) on Si (111) at growth temperatures ranging from 825 to 1175°C was investigated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) techniques were used to study the resulting film structure. Growth at high temperatures but less than ∼1100°C, resulted in a wire texture with some degree of in-plane alignment with (0001)AIN //(111)si, <1010>AIN //<211>si, and <1120>AIN. // <110>si. Deposition at temperatures greater than 1100°C results in single crystal films consisting of domains 60 nm across with an aspect ratio near unity. Growth below 1100°C leads to degraded crystal quality with the grains developing random rotational misalignments around the AIN [0001] axis. Growth at lower temperatures produces islands elongated along the [1120] direction. At the growth temperature of 825°C, the aspect ratio of the islands increased to 3 and a width of 25 nm. Cross -sectional TEM reveals that these islands are faceted due to slow growth on the {1101} planes.

Selective area growth (SAG) and epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of GaN using tungsten (W) mask by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) have been studied. The selectivity of the GaN growth on the W mask as well as the SiO2 mask is excellent for both MOVPE and HVPE. The ELO-GaN layers are successfully obtained by HVPE on the stripe patterns along the <1100> crystal axis with the W mask as well as the SiO2 mask. There are no voids between the SiO2 mask and the overgrown GaN layer, while there are triangular voids between the W mask and the overgrown layer. The surface of the ELO-GaN layer is quite uniform for both mask materials. In the case of MOVPE, the structures of ELO layers on the W mask are the same as those on the SiO2 mask for the <1120> and <1100> stripe patterns. No voids are observed between the W or SiO2 mask and the overgrown GaN layer by using MOVPE.

We review pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties of GaN-based materials. Pyroelectric effects in GaN have been studied in two different regimes: (i) uniform sample heating regime and (ii) under applied temperature gradient along the sample. The modeling results show that the pyroelectric coefficient, Pv, in GaN (for c-axis along the contacts) can reach 7x105 V/m-K (compared to Pv = 5x105 V/m-K for the best-known high temperature pyroelectric/piezoelectric material LiTaO3). This points to a high potential of GaN-based sensors for high temperature pyroelectronics. Piezoelectric effects strongly affect the performance of electronic and light-emitting devices based on III-N materials. Piezoelectrically induced charge in heterostructures can be as large as 3 to 4x1013 cm-2. Hence, strong lattice polarization effects provide unique possibilities for utilizing GaN-based materials in high temperature piezoelectronics and for their applications in pyroelectric detectors.

AIN thin films were deposited at various substrate temperatures via Plasma Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The films were grown on 6H-SiC (0001) substrates. Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction and Atomic Force Microscopy showed a dramatic change in the surface morphology of the film grown at 640°C. This is attributed to a change in the growth mechanism from pseudomorphic at lower temperatures to three-dimensional at higher than 640°C temperatures. Photoreflectance measurements showed an absorption shift toward 200 nm as the deposition temperature increases which is attributed to the change in the growth mechanism at higher temperatures. X-Ray Diffraction was unable to conclusively determine the AIN (0002) peak due to a significant diffuse intensity from the SiC (0002) peak. A MIS structure was created by depositing Pt contacts on the film grown at 500°C. I-V measurements showed that the Pt/AIN contact is Schottky.

We have done a comparative study of carbon-doped GaN and undoped GaN utilizing photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopies in order to investigate deep levels involved in yellow luminescence (YL) and red luminescence (RL). When the GaN was excited by above-bandgap light, red luminescence (RL) centered at 1.82 eV was the dominant below-gap PL from undoped GaN, but carbon-doped GaN below-gap PL was dominated by yellow luminescence (YL) centered at 2.2 eV. When exciting PL below the band-gap with 2.4 eV light, undoped GaN had a RL peak centered at 1.5 eV and carbon-doped GaN had a RL peak centered at 1.65 eV. PLE spectra of carbon-doped GaN, detecting at 1.56 eV, exhibited a strong, broad excitation band extending from about 2.1 to 2.8 eV with an unusual shape that may be due to two or more overlapping excitation bands. This RL PLE band was not observed in undoped GaN. We also demonstrate that PL spectra excited by below gap light in GaN films on sapphire substrates are readily contaminated by 1.6-1.8 eV and 2.1-2.5 eV chromium-related emission from the substrate. A complete characterization of the Cr emission and excitation bands for sapphire substrates enables the determination of the excitation and detection wavelengths required to obtain GaN PL and PLE spectra that are free of contributions from substrate emission.

We report systematic characterizations of flicker noise in GaN based MODFETs. Flicker noise was measured across the channel of the devices from room temperature to 130 K. The voltage noise power spectra, Sv(f) were found to be proportional to l/f, where γ depends on the device temperature as well as the gate bias. Study of Sv(f) as a function of the biasing condition was conducted in detail and was found to vary as VD2/(VG-VT)β where β changes with temperature from about 2.1 at room temperature to about 0.9 at 130K. Analyses of the data showed that the noise originated from thermal activation of carriers to localized states in the channel area. The data suggested that the trapping and detrapping of carriers did not lead to fluctuations in the carrier concentration as postulated in the McWhorter's model. However, more work is needed to determine if surface mobility fluctuations played key role in the l/f noise.

In this paper, we discuss the issue of fabricating reliable and reproducible ohmic contacts on AlGaN HFET structures. During the course of our investigation of fabricating contacts to HFETs, we found that the contact properties could vary significantly from one sample to another, even though they were nominally the same. This problem was prominently manifested in the ohmic contact behavior. The origin of this problem was traced back to the variation of the HFET structure during growth. In this paper, we report an attempt to fabricate reproducible ohmic contacts of these structures.

Deep defect levels in n-type GaN/AlN/6H-SiC- and GaN/AlGaN/6H-SiC- heterostructures grown by Metallorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy were analyzed by Thermal and Optical Admittance and Photocurrent Spectroscopy. The various thermal and optical transitions in the spectra originating from both the Schottky contact as well as the GaN/SiC- and AlGaN/GaNheterojunctions were separated. This was achieved by variation of the modulation frequency, the use of different contact arrangements and by comparison with reference spectra from GaN/Sapphir samples and SiC substrates. In the GaN/AlGaN/SiC structures a bias voltage dependent peak shift was found which is correlated to an interface related defect distribution. In additionally to, SIC related defects, defect-band-transitions involving defects with transition energies at 2.2eV, 1.85eV, EG-(470±40) meV and EG-(65-95) meV were found for the GaN layer.

Optically pumped stimulated emission (SE) from InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition has been systematically studied as a function of excitation length (Lexc). Two distinct SE peaks were observed from these structures: one that originates at 425 nm at 10 K (430 nm at 300 K) and another that originates at 434 nm at 10 K (438 nm at 300 K). The SE threshold for the high energy peak was observed to always be lower than that of the low energy peak, but the difference was found to decrease greatly with increasing Lexc. A detailed study of the emission intensity of these two SE peaks as a function of excitation density shows that the two peaks compete for gain in the MQW active region.

InGaN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy are investigated in terms of their compositional homogeneity using transmission electron microscopy and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy performed with high spatial resolution. Strong fluctuations of the indium content were found in bulk-like layers, which could be partially reduced by modulating the indium flux during growth, i. e. by nominally growing a short period GaN/InGaN superlattice. For indium compositions above x ≠ 0.1 this approach fails. Strained InGaN in quantum wells exhibits lateral fluctuations on an atomic scale and on a scale of several hundred nanometers. The results are discussed in view of the origin of inhomogeneous indium incorporation.

In organometallic vapor phase epitaxial growth of group III nitrides on sapphire, insertion of a low temperature interlayer is found to improve crystalline quality of AlxGalxN layer with x from 0 to 1. Here the effects of the low temperature deposited GaN or AIN interlayers on the structural quality of group III nitrides is discussed.

Electron beam induced electromigration of ON+ and H+ impurities in unintentionally n-doped GaN was investigated using cathodoluminescence (CL) kinetics profiling, CL imaging of regions pre-irradiated with a stationary electron beam, and wavelength dispersive x-ray spectrometry (WDS). The presented results (i) illustrate induced impurity diffusion in wide bandgap semiconductors, (ii) provide experimental evidence for the (VGa-ON)2- model of yellow luminescence in GaN with low Si content (ii) confirm the roles of 0 in frequently reported bound exciton and donor-acceptor pair emissions and (iv) suggest the involvement of ON+ and hydrogenated gallium vacancies in a blue emission in autodoped GaN.