GaN growth on heterosubstrates usually leads to an initially high dislocation density at the substrate/seed layer interface. Due to the initial growth from small crystallites, tensile stress is generated at the coalescence boundaries during GaN growth. In addition, with tensile thermal stress this leads to cracking of GaN on Si and SiC substrates when cooling to room temperature. By partially masking the typically applied AlN seed layer on Si(111) with an in situ deposited SiN mask a reduction in tensile stress can be achieved for the subsequently grown GaN layer. Additionally, the 6 K GaN band edge photoluminescence is increased by about an order of magnitude and shifts by 21 meV, which can be attributed to a change in tensile stress of ∼0.8 GPa, in good agreement with x-ray diffractometry measurements. This improvement in material properties can be attributed to a reduction of grain boundaries by the growth of larger sized crystallites and lateral overgrowth of less defective GaN.

GaN growth on Si is very attractive for low-cost optoelectronics and high-frequency, high-power electronics. It also opens a route towards an integration with Si electronics. Early attempts to grow GaN on Si suffered from large lattice and thermal mismatch and the strong chemical reactivity of Ga and Si at elevated temperatures. The latter problem can be easily solved using gallium-free seed layers as nitrided AlAs and AlN. The key problem for device structure growth on Si is the thermal mismatch leading to cracks for layer thicknesses above 1 µm. Meanwhile, several concepts for strain engineering exist as patterning, Al(Ga)N/GaN superlattices, and low-temperature (LT) AlN interlayers which enable the growth of device-relevant GaN thicknesses. The high dislocation density in the heteropitaxial films can be reduced by several methods which are based on lateral epitaxial overgrowth using ex-situ masking or patterning and by in-situ methods as masking with monolayer thick SiN. With the latter method in combination with strain engineering by LT-AlN interlayers dislocation densities around 109 cm -2 can be achieved for 2.5 µm thick device structures.

Optical properties of hybrid quantum dot/quantum well active region based on GaAs system J. Appl. Phys. 112, 063103 (2012) Effect of ternary mixed crystals on interface optical phonons in wurtizte InxGa1−xN/GaN quantum wells J. Appl. Phys. 112, 053704 (2012) Universal behavior of photoluminescence in GaN-based quantum wells under hydrostatic pressure governed by built-in electric field J. Appl. Phys. 112, 053509 (2012) Quantum beats of type-I and type-II excitons in an InxGa1−xAs/GaAs strained single quantum well J. Appl. Phys. 112, 043522 (2012) Spontaneous emission and optical gain characteristics of blue InGaAlN/InGaN quantum well structures with reduced internal field A strong intensity modulation is found in spatially and angular resolved photoluminescence spectra of InGaN / GaN heterostructures and quantum wells epitaxially grown on Si͑111͒ substrates. This Fabry-Perot effect results from the high refractive index contrasts at the GaN / Si and the Air/InGaN interfaces. It can be used for a wavelength stabilization of the sample upon temperature change and, e.g., in the case of light emitting diodes, to additionally reduce the blueshift at increasing injection currents. A simple geometric approach has been chosen to calculate the influence of layer thickness, absorption and refractive indices, as well as detection angle. The cavity can be described quantitatively by a simple three layer Fabry-Perot model. An analytical expression is derived for the external luminescence line shape. Microphotoluminescence measurements at samples with the silicon substrate locally removed corroborate the model.

Segregation structures of granular mixtures in rotating drums represent classical examples of pattern formation in granular material. We investigate the coarsening of axial segregation patterns of slurries in a long horizontally rotating cylinder. The dynamics and the three-dimensional geometry of the segregation structures are analyzed with optical methods and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Previous studies have mainly considered global statistical features of the pattern dynamics. In order to get insight into driving mechanisms for the coarsening process, we focus on the details of the dissolution of individual bands. We treat the coarsening as a consequence of interactions of adjacent bands in the pattern, which are determined by their geometrical relations. In addition to initially homogeneous mixtures, which evolve to spontaneously formed patterns, we study the evolution of specially prepared simple initial states. The role of the three-dimensional geometry of the axial core in the dissolution process of segregation bands is demonstrated. Relations between geometry and dynamic processes are established, which may help to find the correct microscopic models for the coarsening mechanism.

The segregation of granular mixtures in rotating cylinders into axial bands is not well understood so far. Abnormal diffusion of the grains has been proposed to play an important role in that process. We measure axial diffusion in binary mixtures, completely embedded in water, by means of nuclear magnetic imaging (magnetic resonance imaging). It is found that the small size particles in a radially segregated structure undergo normal (Fickian) axial diffusion, whereas an initial pulse of the large species shows subdiffusive behavior. An interpretation within a model for the particle dynamics is given. The diffusion of small particles occurs in the axial kernel, whereas particles of the large species migrate on the free surface of the granular bed.