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Growth and Characteristics of Nitride Semiconductor Layers

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2022) | Viewed by 14000

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Prof. Dr. Mike Leszczynski

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High Pressure Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Interests: nitride semiconductors; X-ray diffraction; crystal growth; defects in crystals; optoelectronic devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The present situation in electronic industry is half-jokingly described as “GaNification”. White LEDs are successfully replacing other lamps, and blue and green laser diodes (LDs) are used not only in CD players, but also in RGB (red, green, blue) projectors (in future also 3D). Nitride-based transistors are being implemented in radar systems, electric vehicles and photovoltaic cells. Besides those mass-markets, there are a number of other applications, such as atomic clocks, welding of gold and copper, and many others. In this pandemic, we all hope that deep UV (about 260 nm) LEDs will be widely used for sterilization and disinfection. However, if we compare knowledge on AlGaInN compounds to other compound semiconductors, one can show a number of blank areas, as these compounds are very difficult to be grown and to be examined. All nitride epi layers contain a very high density of defects which result from the low growth-temperatures and lattice mismatch between substrates and layers. This Special Issue has the aim of focussing on structural/morphological/optical/electrical properties of AlGaInN layers grown on various substrates. I am convinced that every paper published in this open access issue will be read and cited by a large number of scientists, as nitrides semiconductors attract interest in almost every country all over the world.

Prof. Dr. Mike Leszczynski
Guest Editor

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Keywords

nitride semiconductors
epitaxy of AlGaInN
optoelectronic devices based on nitrides
electronic devices based on nitrides
defects in nitride semiconductors

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3942 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Relation between Ga Vacancies, Photoluminescence, and Growth Conditions of MOVPE-Prepared GaN Layers

by Alice Hospodková, Jakub Čížek, František Hájek, Tomáš Hubáček, Jiří Pangrác, Filip Dominec, Karla Kuldová, Jan Batysta, Maciej O. Liedke, Eric Hirschmann, Maik Butterling and Andreas Wagner

Materials 2022, 15(19), 6916; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15196916 - 05 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1488

Abstract

A set of GaN layers prepared by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy under different technological conditions (growth temperature carrier gas type and Ga precursor) were investigated using variable energy positron annihilation spectroscopy (VEPAS) to find a link between technological conditions, GaN layer properties, and the concentration of gallium vacancies (V_Ga). Different correlations between technological parameters and V_Ga concentration were observed for layers grown from triethyl gallium (TEGa) and trimethyl gallium (TMGa) precursors. In case of TEGa, the formation of V_Ga was significantly influenced by the type of reactor atmosphere (N₂ or H₂), while no similar behaviour was observed for growth from TMGa. V_Ga formation was suppressed with increasing temperature for growth from TEGa. On the contrary, enhancement of V_Ga concentration was observed for growth from TMGa, with cluster formation for the highest temperature of 1100 °C. From the correlation of photoluminescence results with V_Ga concentration determined by VEPAS, it can be concluded that yellow band luminescence in GaN is likely not connected with V_Ga; additionally, increased V_Ga concentration enhances excitonic luminescence. The probable explanation is that V_Ga prevent the formation of some other highly efficient nonradiative defects. Possible types of such defects are suggested. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Characteristics of Nitride Semiconductor Layers)

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16 pages, 4224 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

The Role of the Built-In Electric Field in Recombination Processes of GaN/AlGaN Quantum Wells: Temperature- and Pressure-Dependent Study of Polar and Non-Polar Structures

by Kamil Koronski, Krzysztof P. Korona, Serhii Kryvyi, Aleksandra Wierzbicka, Kamil Sobczak, Stanislaw Krukowski, Pawel Strak, Eva Monroy and Agata Kaminska

Materials 2022, 15(8), 2756; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15082756 - 08 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3429

Abstract

In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of the optical properties of non-polar and polar GaN/AlGaN multi-quantum well (MQW) structures by time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and pressure-dependent studies. The lack of internal electric fields across the non-polar structures results in an improved electron and hole wavefunction overlap with respect to the polar structures. Therefore, the radiative recombination presents shorter decay times, independent of the well width. On the contrary, the presence of electric fields in the polar structures reduces the emission energy and the wavefunction overlap, which leads to a strong decrease in the recombination rate when increasing the well width. Taking into account the different energy dependences of radiative recombination in non-polar and polar structures of the same geometry, and assuming that non-radiative processes are energy independent, we attempted to explain the ‘S-shape’ behavior of the PL energy observed in polar GaN/AlGaN QWs, and its absence in non-polar structures. This approach has been applied previously to InGaN/GaN structures, showing that the interplay of radiative and non-radiative recombination processes can justify the ‘S-shape’ in polar InGaN/GaN MQWs. Our results show that the differences in the energy dependences of radiative and non-radiative recombination processes cannot explain the ‘S-shape’ behavior by itself, and localization effects due to the QW width fluctuation are also important. Additionally, the influence of the electric field on the pressure behavior of the investigated structures was studied, revealing different pressure dependences of the PL energy in non-polar and polar MQWs. Non-polar MQWs generally follow the pressure dependence of the GaN bandgap. In contrast, the pressure coefficients of the PL energy in polar QWs are highly reduced with respect to those of the bulk GaN, which is due to the hydrostatic-pressure-induced increase in the piezoelectric field in quantum structures and the nonlinear behavior of the piezoelectric constant. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Characteristics of Nitride Semiconductor Layers)

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10 pages, 1749 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Quaternary InAlGaN Barrier Layer for High Electron Mobility Transistor Structures

by Justinas Jorudas, Paweł Prystawko, Artūr Šimukovič, Ramūnas Aleksiejūnas, Jūras Mickevičius, Marcin Kryśko, Paweł Piotr Michałowski and Irmantas Kašalynas

Materials 2022, 15(3), 1118; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15031118 - 31 Jan 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2155

Abstract

A quaternary lattice matched InAlGaN barrier layer with am indium content of 16.5 ± 0.2% and thickness of 9 nm was developed for high electron mobility transistor structures using the metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition method. The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of the layer were investigated planning realization of microwave power and terahertz plasmonic devices. The measured X-ray diffraction and modeled band diagram characteristics revealed the structural parameters of the grown In_0.165Al_0.775Ga_0.06N/Al_0.6Ga_0.4N/GaN heterostructure, explaining the origin of barrier photoluminescence peak position at 3.98 eV with the linewidth of 0.2 eV and the expected red-shift of 0.4 eV only. The thermally stable density of the two-dimension electron gas at the depth of 10.5 nm was experimentally confirmed to be 1.2 × 10¹³ cm⁻² (1.6 × 10¹³ cm⁻² in theory) with the low-field mobility values of 1590 cm²/(V·s) and 8830 cm²/(V·s) at the temperatures of 300 K and 77 K, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Characteristics of Nitride Semiconductor Layers)

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17 pages, 27926 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling of the Point Defect Migration across the AlN/GaN Interfaces—Ab Initio Study

by Roman Hrytsak, Pawel Kempisty, Ewa Grzanka, Michal Leszczynski and Malgorzata Sznajder

Materials 2022, 15(2), 478; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15020478 - 09 Jan 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1785

Abstract

The formation and diffusion of point defects have a detrimental impact on the functionality of devices in which a high quality AlN/GaN heterointerface is required. The present paper demonstrated the heights of the migration energy barriers of native point defects throughout the AlN/GaN heterointerface, as well as the corresponding profiles of energy bands calculated by means of density functional theory. Both neutral and charged nitrogen, gallium, and aluminium vacancies were studied, as well as their complexes with a substitutional III-group element. Three diffusion mechanisms, that is, the vacancy mediated, direct interstitial, and indirect ones, in bulk AlN and GaN crystals, as well at the AlN/GaN heterointerface, were taken into account. We showed that metal vacancies migrated across the AlN/GaN interface, overcoming a lower potential barrier than that of the nitrogen vacancy. Additionally, we demonstrated the effect of the inversion of the electric field in the presence of charged point defects

V_{G a}^{3 -}

and

V_{A l}^{3 -}

at the AlN/GaN heterointerface, not reported so far. Our findings contributed to the issues of structure design, quality control, and improvement of the interfacial abruptness of the AlN/GaN heterostructures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Characteristics of Nitride Semiconductor Layers)

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11 pages, 4014 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Dependence of InGaN Quantum Well Thickness on the Nature of Optical Transitions in LEDs

by Mateusz Hajdel, Mikolaj Chlipała, Marcin Siekacz, Henryk Turski, Paweł Wolny, Krzesimir Nowakowski-Szkudlarek, Anna Feduniewicz-Żmuda, Czeslaw Skierbiszewski and Grzegorz Muziol

Materials 2022, 15(1), 237; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15010237 - 29 Dec 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2195

Abstract

The design of the active region is one of the most crucial problems to address in light emitting devices (LEDs) based on III-nitride, due to the spatial separation of carriers by the built-in polarization. Here, we studied radiative transitions in InGaN-based LEDs with various quantum well (QW) thicknesses—2.6, 6.5, 7.8, 12, and 15 nm. In the case of the thinnest QW, we observed a typical effect of screening of the built-in field manifested with a blue shift of the electroluminescence spectrum at high current densities, whereas the LEDs with 6.5 and 7.8 nm QWs exhibited extremely high blue shift at low current densities accompanied by complex spectrum with multiple optical transitions. On the other hand, LEDs with the thickest QWs showed a stable, single-peak emission throughout the whole current density range. In order to obtain insight into the physical mechanisms behind this complex behavior, we performed self-consistent Schrodinger–Poisson simulations. We show that variation in the emission spectra between the samples is related to changes in the carrier density and differences in the magnitude of screening of the built-in field inside QWs. Moreover, we show that the excited states play a major role in carrier recombination for all QWs, apart from the thinnest one. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Characteristics of Nitride Semiconductor Layers)

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8 pages, 3680 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Graded-Indium-Content Superlattice on the Optical and Structural Properties of Yellow-Emitting InGaN/GaN Quantum Wells

by Xuan Li, Jianping Liu, Xujun Su, Siyi Huang, Aiqin Tian, Wei Zhou, Lingrong Jiang, Masao Ikeda and Hui Yang

Materials 2021, 14(8), 1877; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14081877 - 09 Apr 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1998

Abstract

We have improved the material quality of the high indium composition InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on free-standing GaN substrates using the graded-indium-content superlattice. We found that by adopting a graded-indium-content superlattice structure, the spectral FWHM of the yellow emitting InGaN/GaN MQW was reduced from 181 meV to 160 meV, and the non-radiative recombination lifetime increased from 13 ns to 44 ns. Besides, the graded-indium-content superlattice can mitigate strain relaxation in high indium composition MQWs as shown by the TEM diffraction patterns. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Characteristics of Nitride Semiconductor Layers)

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