This work discusses the temperature behavior of the various photoluminescence (PL) transitions observed in undoped, n- and p-doped GaN in the 9–300 K range. Samples grown using different techniques have been assessed. When possible, simple rate equations are used to describe the quenching of the transitions observed, in order to get a better insight on the mechanism involved. In undoped GaN, the temperature dependence of band edge excitonic lines is well described by assuming that the A exciton population is the leading term in the 50–300 K range. The activation energy for free exciton luminescence quenching is of the order of the A rydberg, suggesting that free hole release leads to nonradiative recombination. In slightly p-doped samples, the luminescence is dominated by acceptor related transitions, whose intensity is shown to be governed by free hole release. For high Mg doping, the luminescence at room temperature is dominated by blue PL in the 2.8–2.9 eV range, whose quenching activation energy is in the 60–80 meV range. We also discuss the temperature dependence of PL transitions near 3.4 eV, related to extended structural defects.

The strain in GaN epitaxial layers grown on silicon (111) substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy has been investigated. The insertion of AlN/GaN superlattices was found to decrease the stress sufficiently for avoiding crack formation in an overgrown thick (2.5 μm) GaN layer. X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurements are used to determine the effect of these AlN/GaN superlattices on the strain in the subsequent GaN layers. A reduction of threading dislocation density is also observed by transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy when such superlattices are used. Strong band edge photoluminescence of GaN on Si(111) was observed with a full width at half maximum of the bound exciton line as low as 6 meV at 10 K. The 500 arcsec linewidth on the (002) x-ray rocking curve also attests the high crystalline quality of GaN on Si (111), when using these AlN/GaN superlattices.

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A transmission electron microscopy study of the reduction mechanisms for defect densities in epitaxial lateral overgrown (ELO) GaN films is presented. In the standard one step ELO, the propagation of defects under the mask is blocked, whereas the defects in the window regions thread up to the surface. We propose an alternative two step ELO method. In a first step, dislocations close to the edge of the (0001) top facet bend at 90°, thereby producing a drastic reduction in the density of defects above the window. After the coalescence, induced by lateral growth in a second step, dislocations are mainly observed in the coalescence boundaries. The density of defects is decreased to 2×10−7 cm−2 over the entire surface and areas nearly 5 μm wide with 5×106 cm−2 dislocations between the center of the windows and the coalescence boundaries are obtained.

Here we present the first direct observation of the atomic structure of threading dislocation cores in hexagonal GaN. Using atomic-resolution Z-contrast imaging, dislocations with edge character are found to exhibit an eight-fold ring core. The central column in the core of a pure edge dislocation has the same configuration as one row of dimers on the {10-10} surface. Following recent theoretical work, it is proposed that edge dislocations do not have deep defect states in the band gap, and do not contribute to cathodoluminescence dislocation contrast. On the other hand, both mixed and pure screw dislocations are found to have a full core, and full screw dislocation cores were calculated to have states in the gap.

GaN photoconductive detectors have been fabricated on sapphire substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy and gas-source molecular beam epitaxy on Si (111) substrates. The photodetectors showed high photoconductor gains, a very nonlinear response with illuminating power, and an intrinsic nonexponential photoconductance recovery process. A novel photoconductor gain mechanism is proposed to explain such results, based on a modulation of the conductive volume of the layer.

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Articles you may be interested inDiffusion of Mg dopant in metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy grown GaN and AlxGa1−xN Reduction of Mg segregation in a metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial grown GaN layer by a low-temperature AlN interlayer J. Appl. Phys.