InGaN films were deposited on(0001) sapphire substrates with GaN buffer layers under different growth temperatures by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition.The In-composition of InGaN film was approximately controlled by changing the growth temperature.The connection between the growth temperature,In content,surface morphology and defect formation was obtained by X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and atomic force microscopy(AFM).Meanwhile,by comparing the SEM and AFM surface morphology images,we proposed several models of three different defects and discussed the mechanism of formation.The prominent effect of higher growth temperature on the quality of the InGaN films and defect control were found by studying InGaN films at various growth temperatures.
The influence of dry etching damage on the internal quantum efficiency of InGaN/GaN nanorod multiple quantum wells (MQWs) is studied.The samples were etched by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching via a selfassembled nickel nanomask,and examined by room-temperature photoluminescence measurement.The key parameters in the etching process are rf power and ICP power.The internal quantum efficiency of nanorod MQWs shows a 5.6 times decrease substantially with the rf power increasing from 3W to 100W.However,it is slightly influenced by the ICP power,which shows 30% variation over a wide ICP power range between 30W and 600W.Under the optimized etching condition,the internal quantum efficiency of nanorod MQWs can be 40% that of the as-grown MQW sample,and the external quantum efficiency of nanorod MQWs can be about 4 times that of the as-grown one.
The m-plane InN (1100) epilayers have been grown on a LiAlO2 (100) substrate by a two-step growth method using a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system. The low temperature InN buffer layer (LT-InN) is introduced to overcome the drawbacks of thermal instability of LiAlO2 (LAO) and to relieve the strains due to a large thermal mismatch between LAO and InN. Then the high temperature m-plane InN (1100) epilayers (HT-InN) were grown. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) suggest that the m-plane InN (1100) epilayer is a single crystal. The X-ray rocking curves (scans) (XRC) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicate that the m-plane InN (1100) epilayer has anisotropic crystallographic properties. The PL studies of the materials reveal a remarkable energy band gap structure around 0.70 eV at 15 K.
We develop a model for the effect of thermal annealing on forming In-N clusters in GaInNP according to thermodynamics.The average energy variation for forming an In-N bond in the model is estimated according to the theoretical calculation.Using the model,the added number of In-N bonds per mol of InGaNP,the added number of nearest-neighbor In atoms per N atom and the average number of nearest-neighbor In atoms per N atom after annealing are calculated.The different function of In-N clusters in InGaNP and InGaN is also discussed,which is due to the different environments around the In-N clusters.
A series of experiments were conducted to systematically study the effects of etching conditions on GaN by a convenient photo-assisted chemical(PAC) etching method. The solution concentration has an evident influence on the surface morphology of GaN and the optimal solution concentrations for GaN hexagonal pyramids have been identified. GaN with hexagonal pyramids have higher crystal quality and tensile strain relaxation compared with as-grown GaN. A detailed analysis about evolution of the size, density and optical property of GaN hexagonal pyramids is described as a function of light intensity. The intensity of photoluminescence spectra of GaN etched with hexagonal pyramids significantly increases compared to that of as-grown GaN due to multiple scattering events, high quality GaN with pyramids and the Bragg effect.
The quest for higher modulation speed and lower energy consumption has inevitably promoted the rapid development of semiconductor-based solid lighting devices in recent years. GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have emerged as promising candidates for achieving high efficiency and high intensity, and have received increasing attention among many researchers in this field. In this paper, we use a self-assembled array-patterned mask to fabricate InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well (MQW) LEDs with the intention of enhancing the light-emitting efficiency. By utilizing inductively coupled plasma etching with a self-assembled Ni cluster as the mask, nanopillar arrays are formed on the surface of the InGaN/GaN MQWs. We then observe the structure of the nanopillars and find that the V-defects on the surface of the conventional structure and the negative effects of threading dislocation are effectively reduced. Simultaneously, we make a comparison of the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum between the conventional structure and the nanopillar arrays, achieved under an experimental set-up with an excitation wavelength of 325 mm. The analysis demonstrates that MQW-LEDs with nanopillar arrays achieve a PL intensity 2.7 times that of conventional LEDs. In response to the PL spectrum, some reasons are proposed for the enhancement in the light-emitting efficiency as follows: 1) the improvement in crystal quality, namely the reduction in V-defects; 2) the roughened surface effect on the expansion of the critical angle and the attenuated total reflection; and 3) the enhancement of the light-extraction efficiency due to forward scattering by surface plasmon polariton modes in Ni particles deposited above the p-type GaN layer at the top of the nanopillars.
The in-plane optical anisotropic properties of the non-polar a-plane GaN films grown by metal organic chemical vapour deposition are investigated by using polarised photoluminescence(PL),optical transmission and Raman scattering measurements.Through polarised PL and transmission spectra,the in-plane optical anisotropic properties of a-plane GaN film are found,which are attributed to the topmost valance band(atΓpoint)split into three sub-bands under anisotropic strain.The PL spectra also exhibit that the light hole band moves up more rapidly than the spin-orbit crystal-field spilt-off hole band with the increasing in-plane anisotropic compressive strain.Raman scattering spectra under different configurations further indicate the in-plane anisotropy and the hexagonal crystalline structure of these a-plane GaN films.
