Radiocarbon concentrations in the northernmost region of the Japan Sea were observed during the summer of 2002. The averaged surface δ14C (above 100 m depth) was 52 ± 8%, which is significantly higher compared with the values of the Pacific Ocean and Okhotsk Sea. The δ14C in the deep water decreased with density, and the minimum value was −70%. By analyzing 14C and other hydrographic data, we found that i) the Tsushima Warm Current Water reaches to the surface layer in the southern Tatarskiy Strait; ii) deep convection did not occur in the northernmost region, at least not after the winter of 2001–2002; and iii) the bottom water that was previously formed in this region may step down southward along the bottom slope and mix with the Japan Sea Bottom Water. Furthermore, a new water mass characterized by high salinity (>34.09 psu) was found in the subsurface layer in the area north of 46°N.

The energy transfer by stimulated Brillouin backscatter from a long pump pulse (15 ps) to a short seed pulse (1 ps) has been investigated in a proof-of-principle demonstration experiment. The two pulses were both amplified in different beamlines of a Nd:glass laser system, had a central wavelength of 1054 nm and a spectral bandwidth of 2 nm, and crossed each other in an underdense plasma in a counter-propagating geometry, off-set by $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}10^\circ $ . It is shown that the energy transfer and the wavelength of the generated Brillouin peak depend on the plasma density, the intensity of the laser pulses, and the competition between two-plasmon decay and stimulated Raman scatter instabilities. The highest obtained energy transfer from pump to probe pulse is 2.5%, at a plasma density of $0.17 n_{cr}$ , and this energy transfer increases significantly with plasma density. Therefore, our results suggest that much higher efficiencies can be obtained when higher densities (above $0.25 n_{cr}$ ) are used.

The behavior of threading dislocations during mass transport of GaN was investigated in detail by transmission electron microscopy. Mass transport occurred at the surface. Therefore, growing species are supplied from the in-plane direction. The behavior of threading dislocations was found to be strongly affected by the mass transport process as well as the high crystallographic anisotropy of the surface energy of the facets particular to GaN.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Photoluminescence (PL) enhancement due to the screening of piezoelectric field induced by Si-doping is systematically studied in GaN/AlGaN quantum wells (QWs) fabricated by metal organic vapor-phase-epitaxy (MOVPE). The PL enhancement ratio of QWs for Si-doped directly into the wells was much larger than that for doped only into the barrier layers. This result shows that the crystal quality of the quantum well is not so damaged by heavy Si-doping, which is different from the cases of GaAs or InP material systems. The PL intensity enhancement ratio was especially large for thick wells. The typical value of the enhancement ratio was 30 times for a 5 nm-thick single QW. The optimum Si-doping concentration was approximately 4×1018 cm-3. From the well width dependence of the PL enhancement ratio and PL peak shift under high excitation conditions, we determined that the dominant effect inducing the PL enhancement is screening of piezoelectric field in the QWs. These results indicate that Si-doping is very effective for the application of GaN/AlGaN QWs to optical devices.

High quality Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN modulation-doped heterojunction field-effect transistor (MOD-HFET) structures grown on sapphire substrates with high sheet carrier density and mobility products (nsμ > 1016/Vs at room temperature) have been grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The optimized structures were achieved by varying structural parameters, including the AlGaN spacer layer thickness, the Si-doped AlGaN barrier layer thickness, the Si-doping concentration, and the growth pressure. In these structures, the persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effect associated with the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) system was invariantly observed. As a consequence, the characteristic parameters of the 2DEG were sensitive to light and the sensitivity was associated with permanent photoinduced increases in the 2DEG carrier mobility (μ) and sheet carrier density (ns). However, we observed that the magnitude of the PPC and hence the photoinduced instability associated with these heterostructures were a strong function of only one parameter, the product of ns and μ, which is the most important parameter for the HFET device design. For a fixed excitation photon dose, the ratio of the low temperature PPC to the dark conductivity level was observed to decrease from 200% to 3% as the nsμ (300 K) product was increased from 0.048 × 1016/Vs to 1.4 ‘times; 1016/Vs. Based on our studies, we suggest that the magnitude of the low temperature PPC can be used as a sensitive probe for monitoring the electronic quality of the AlGaN/GaN HFET structures.

The misfit between GaN and 6H-SiC is 3.5% instead of 16% with sapphire, the epitaxial layers have similar densities of defects on both substrates. Moreover, the lattice mismatch between AlN and 6H-SiC is only 1%. Therefore, epitaxial layer overgrowth (ELO) of GaN on AlN/6H-SiC could be a route to further improve the quality of epitaxial layers. AlN has been grown by Halide Vapour Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) on (0001) 6H-SiC, thereafter a dielectric SiO2 mask was deposited and circular openings were made by standard photolithography and reactive ion etching. We have examined GaN layers at an early stage of coalescence in order to identify which dislocations bend and try to understand why. The analysed islands have always the same hexagonal shape, limited by {0110} facets. The a type dislocations are found to fold many times from basal to the prismatic plane, whereas when a+c dislocations bend to the basal plane, they were not seen to come back to a prismatic one.

The effect of In on the structural and optical properties of InxGa1−xN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) was investigated. These were five-period MQWs grown on sapphire by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Increasing the In composition caused broadening of the high-resolution x-ray diffraction superlattice satellite peak and the photoluminescence-excitation bandedge. This indicates that the higher In content degrades the interface quality because of nonuniform In incorporation into the GaN layer. However, the samples with higher In compositions have lower room temperature (RT) stimulated (SE) threshold densities and lower nonradiative recombination rates. The lower RT SE threshold densities of the higher In samples show that the suppression of nonradiative recombination by In overcomes the drawback of greater interface imperfection.

Deep levels studies on a set of n-GaN films grown by MOCVD and HVPE reveal the presence of electron traps with levels near Ec-0.25 eV, Ec-0.55 eV, Ec-0.8 eV, Ec-1 eV, hole traps with levels near Ev+0.9 eV and a band of relatively shallow states in the lower half of the bandgap. The total density of these latter states was estimated to be some 1016 cm−3 and they were tentatively associated with dislocations in GaN based on their high concentration and band-like character. None of the electron or hole traps could be unambiguously related with strong changes of diffusion lengths of minority carriers in various samples. It is proposed that such changes occur due to different surface recombination velocities. An important role of Ec-0.55 eV traps in persistent photoconductivity phenomena in n-GaN has been demonstrated.

GaN-based metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor (MFS) structure has been fabricated by using ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 (PZT) instead of conventional oxides as gate insulators. The GaN and PZT films in the MFS structures have been characterized by various methods such as photoluminescence (PL), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD). The Electric properties of GaN MFS structure with different oxide thickness have been characterized by high-frequency C-V measurement. When the PZT films are as thick as 1 µm, the GaN active layers can approach inversion under the bias of 15V, which can not be observed in the traditional GaN MOS structures. When the PZT films are about 100 nm, the MFS structures can approach inversion just under 5V. All the marked improvements of C-V behaviors in GaN MFS structures are mainly attributed to the high dielectric constant and large polarization of the ferroelectric gate oxide.

The hexagonal domain suppression-effects in cubic-GaNAs grown by metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD) is reported. A thin buffer layer (20 nm) was first grown on a substrate at 853 K using trimethylgallium and dimethylhydrazine (DMHy), and GaNAs samples were grown at different AsH3 flow rates (0 ∼ 450 µmol/min) at 1193 K. As a result, three types of surface morphologies were obtained: the first was a smooth surface (AsH3 = 0 µmol/min); the second was a mirrorlike surface having small and isotropic grains (AsH3 : 45 ∼ 225 µmol/min ); and the third involved threedimensional surface morphologies (above 450 µmol/min of AsH3 flow rate). Furthermore, it was confirmed using X-ray diffraction that the mixing ratio of hexagonal GaNAs in cubic GaNAs decreased with an increase of the AsH3 flow rate. We could obtain GaNAs having a cubic component of above 85% at AsH3 flow rates above 20 µmol/min. Therefore, the MOCVD growth method using AsH3 and DMHy was mostly effective for suppressing hexagonal GaNAs. It was observed that the photoluminescence intensity of GaNAs was decreased with increase of arsine flow rate.

We report on an experimental study of microstructure-based lasing in an optically pumped GaN/AlGaN separate confinement heterostructure (SCH). We achieved low-threshold ultra-violet lasing in optically pumped GaN/AlGaN separate confinement heterostructures over a wide temperature range. The spacing, directionality, and far-field patterns of the lasing modes are shown to be the result of microcavities that were naturally formed in the structures due to strain relaxation. The temperature sensitivity of the lasing wavelength was found to be twice as low as that of bulk-like GaN films. Based on these results, we discuss possibilities for the development of ultra-violet laser diodes with increased temperature stability of the emission wavelength.

GaN films have been grown atop Si-terminated 3C-SiC intermediate layer on Si(111) substrates using low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD). The SiC intermediate layer was grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using tetramethylsilane (TMS) as the single source precursor. The Si terminated SiC surface was obtained by immediately flow of SiH4 gas after growth of SiC film. LP-MOCVD growth of GaN on 3C-SiC/Si(111) was carried out with trimethylgallium (TMG) and NH3. Single crystalline hexagonal GaN layers can be grown on Si terminated SiC intermediate layer using an AlN or GaN buffer layer. Compared with GaN layers grown using a GaN buffer layer, the crystal qualities of GaN films with AlN buffer layers are extremely improved. The GaN films were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Full width at half maximum (FWHM) of double crystal x-ray diffraction (DCXD) rocking curve for GaN (0002) on 3C-SiC/Si(111) was 890 arcsec. PL near band edge emission peak position and FWHM at room temperature are 3.38 eV and 79.35 meV, respectively.

We have carried out a series of lateral epitaxial overgrowths (LEO) of GaN through thin oxide windows by the hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) technique at different growth temperatures. High lateral growth rate at 1100°C allows coalescing of neighboring islands into a continuous and flat film, while the lower lateral growth rate at 1050°C produces triangular-shaped ridges over the growth windows. In either case, threading dislocations bend into laterally grown regions to relax the shear stress developed in the film during growth. In regions close to the mask edge, where the shear stress is highest, dislocations interact and multiply into arrays of edge dislocations lying parallel to the growth window. This multiplication and pileup of dislocations cause a large-angle tilting of the laterally grown regions. The tilt angle is high (∼8 degrees) when the growth is at 1050°C and becomes smaller (3-5 degrees) at 1100°C. At the coalescence of growth facets, a tilt-type grain boundary is formed. During the high-temperature lateral growth, the tensile stress in the GaN seed layer and the thermal stress from the mask layer both contribute to a high shear stress at the growth facets. Finite element stress simulations suggest that this shear stress may be sufficient to cause the observed excessive dislocation activities and tilting of LEO regions at high growth temperatures.

Photoluminescence (PL) of modulation-doped Al0.22Ga0.78N/GaN heterostructures was investigated. The PL peak related to recombination between the two-dimensional electron gases (2DEG) and photoexcited holes is located at 3.448 eV at 40 K, which is 45 meV below the free excitons (FE) emission in GaN. The peak can be observed at temperatures as high as 80 K. The intensity of the 2DEG PL peak is enhanced significantly by incorporating a thin Al0.12Ga0.88N layer into the GaN layer near the heterointerface to suppress the diffusion of photoexcited holes. The energy separation of the 2DEG peak and the GaN FE emission decreases with increasing temperature. Meanwhile, the 2DEG peak energy increases with increasing excitation intensity. These results are attributed to the screening effect of electrons on the bending of the conduction band at the heterointerface, which becomes stronger when temperature or excitation intensity is increased.

Electronic Raman scattering experiments have been carried out on both MBE and MOCVD-grown Mg-doped wurtzite GaN samples. Aside from the expected Raman lines, a broad structure (FWHM ≅ 15cm−1) observed for the first time at around 841cm−1 isattributed to the electronic Raman scattering from neutral Mg impurities in Mg-dopedGaN. From the analysis of the temperature-dependence of this electronic Ramanscattering signal binding energy of the Mg impurities in wurtzite GaN has been found to be Eb ≅ 172 ± 20meV. These experimental results demonstrate that the energy between the ground and first excited states of Mg impurities in wurtzite GaN is about 3/5 of its binding energy.

High quality zinc oxide (ZnO) films were epitaxially grown on R-plane sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition at temperatures in the range 350-600°C. In-situ nitrogen compensation doping was performed using NH3. The metalsemiconductor-metal ultraviolet-sensitive photodetectors were fabricated on nitrogencompensation-doped epitaxial ZnO films. The photoresponsivity of these devices exhibits a linear dependence upon bias voltage up to 10 V, with a photoresponsivity of 400 A/W at 5 V. The rise and fall times are 1 and 1.5 μs, respectively.

The oxidation of GaN epilayers in dry oxygen has been studied. The 1-μm-thick GaN epilayers grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by Rapid-Thermal-Processing/Low Pressure Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition were used in this work. The oxidation of GaN in dry oxygen was performed at various temperatures for different time. The oxide was identified as the monoclinic β-Ga2O3 by a θ-2θ scan X-ray diffraction (XRD). The scanning electron microscope observation shows a rough oxide surface and an expansion of the volume. XRD data also showed that the oxidation of GaN began to occur at 800°C. The GaN diffraction peaks disappeared at 1050°C for 4 h or at 1100°C for 1 h, which indicates that the GaN epilayers has been completely oxidized. From these results, it was found that the oxidation of GaN in dry oxygen was not layer-by-layer and limited by the interfacial reaction and diffusion mechanism at different temperatures.

The behavior of threading dislocations during mass transport of GaN was investigated in detail by transmission electron microscopy. Mass transport occurred at the surface. Therefore, growing species are supplied from the in-plane direction. The behavior of threading dislocations was found to be strongly affected by the mass transport process as well as the high crystallographic anisotropy of the surface energy of the facets particular to GaN.

Several novel Eu(III) complexes with asymmetric bis-phosphine oxide- ligands were synthesized. The relation between molecular structures of bis-phosphine- oxide ligands and properties of Eu(III) complexes was investigated and some interesting results were obtained. Solubility of Eu(III) complexes in fluorinated medium and silicone oil were strongly dependent on the length of alkyl chain (n) binding two phosphine oxide- parts. Also, the thermal properties of Eu(III) complexes were correlated to the solubility. Eu(III) complex 6(n=3), which has phenyl and n-octyl groups as the substituents of a bis-phosphine oxide- ligand, was found to be highly soluble and have large fluorescence intensity.