537.311.322Energy positions of the charge electroneutrality level (CNL) and neutral vacancy levels of nitrogen are calculated for w-GaN, w-AlN, and w-Al x Ga 1-x N versus solid-solution composition x in the virtual-crystal approximation. It is shown that within the whole range of the w-Al x Ga 1-x N compositions, the CNL is located in the upper half of the band gap, which results in the n-type conductivity of this material upon exposure to high-energy radiation.The concept of local charge electroneutrality (the "neutral" point) is widely used for analyzing energy-level diagrams of unstressed interfaces, estimating electrophysical characteristics of defect semiconductors, and calculating equilibrium levels of doping materials by chemical impurities [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The charge electroneutrality level acts as a fundamental crystal parameter identical for all isotype semiconductors with similar type of chemical bonds. Thus, within a unified concept, we can obtain the most important parameters of interfaces (Schottky-barrier height and band discontinuities in semiconductor heteropairs), calculate the electrophysical properties (conductivity type, limiting Fermi level, and specific-resistance rate) of defect semiconductor materials upon exposure to high-energy radiation or severe plastic deformation, and estimate the limiting equilibrium levels of semiconductor doping by hydrogen-like (shallow) chemical impurities. That is why this problem currently attracts considerable attention.In recent years, the group A 3 N nitrides including solid solutions and heterostructures on their basis are of great interest as candidate materials for rf electronics and semiconductor optics. However, the practical use of these compounds is limited by the high concentration of growth defects, mainly in the nitrogen sublattice (~10 19 cm -3 ), caused by high synthesis temperatures and volatility of the nitrogen components. The exposure to high-energy radiation is known to change the electron characteristics of materials (conductivity type, specific-resistance rate, and Fermi-level position) due to the formation of defect states in the band gap of the semiconductor crystal. This is widely used in radiation technology to control electrophysical, optical, recombination, and other properties of semiconductors. These studies are of great importance for investigations into tolerance of semiconductor materials and devices to high-energy radiation. Hence, studying the intrinsic lattice defects and their influence on the properties of wide-band A 3 N group nitrides is one of the most topical problems of materials science and technology.In this work, the energy dependence of the local charge electroneutrality level in w-GaN, w-AlN, and solid solutions on their bases is studied using the calculation methods we developed earlier. The correlation between the CNL position and the energy positions of neutral vacancy levels for nitrogen (neutral nitrogen vacancy is one of the major growth defects in these compounds) is analyzed.The band structure of w...
