High resolution transmission electron microscopy in combination with geometric phase analysis is used to investigate the interface misfit dislocations, strain relaxation, and dislocation core behavior versus the surface treatment of the GaAs for the heteroepitaxial growth of GaSb. It is pointed out that Sb-rich growth initiation promotes the formation of a high quality network of Lomer misfit dislocations that are more efficient for strain relaxation.

In this work, the damage formation subsequent to Eu implantation at 300 keV has been investigated by coupling the TEM, XRD and RBS/C techniques. It has been found that GaN exhibits a specific damage buildup in three main steps: (i) clustering of point defects and formation of a network of stacking faults defects in the bulk, (ii) propagation of the planar defect network towards the surface and (iii) breakdown of the surface layer. This occurs through different strain saturation regimes. Around 5x1014 Eu/cm2, the strain along the implantation direction saturates to 0.6%. At higher fluence, whereas the peak at 0.6% is maintained, there is an increase of the strain throughout the implanted layer which probably continues to extend. A second saturation occurs when the stacking fault network reaches the layer surface.

Here we present results on the first atomic simulation of the threading (a+c)-mixed dislocation cores in wurtzite GaN. These calculations are based on a modified Stillinger-Weber potential. For this dislocation two core configurations are shown to be stable, one with a complex double 5/6-atoms rings and the other a with 5/7-atom rings structures. The two cores contain neither wrong nor dangling bonds.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, August 1–5, 2004.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, August 1–5, 2004.

In this work, the evolution of morphology and defect structure in GaN nucleation layers on the a-plane of sapphire are investigated using TEM. The growth temperature and pressure were varied from 560 to 1100°C and from 20 to 600 torr, respectively. Whereas the highest growth temperature leads to a continuous layer, a 2D growth mode is not attained when the chamber pressure is varied from 20 to 600 torr at 1028°C. At the highest pressures (>300 t orr), a large distribution is obtained for the island sizes.

Ab initio total energy calculations, based on the full-potential augmented plane wave method within the local density approximation, are used to study the influence of alloying on the structural and electronic properties of cubic InxGa1-xN and InxAl1-xN ordered alloys in the chalcopyrite and luzonite structures.

We have investigated the lattice parameters and band gap energies. The lattice parameters, exhibit an upward bowing of -0.05 Å and -0.15 Å, respectively for the InxGa1-xN and InxAl1-xN alloys. The composition dependence of the band gap shows a bowing parameter of 1.36 eV for InxGa1-xN. The band gap InxAl1-xN alloys exhibits a bowing parameter of 3.19 eV, and a direct to indirect band gap transition at x (Al) = 0.83. The large bowing effect in InxAl1-xN alloys has been discussed in terms of a composition dependent bowing parameter.

In this work, we carry out TEM analysis on GaN layers grown on sapphire and doped in situ by MBE. In parallel, photoluminescence and electroluminescence experiments are used to determine the possible emission of the grown layers. It has been shown previously that the emission peaks at Er concentrations of about 1% and that their intensity dramatically decreases with increasing Er concentration probably due to compositional quenching. We report on the evolution of the microstructure versus composition and try to explain the quenching effects that can be related to the microstructure.

The investigated InGaN ternary films were grown by MOMBE, with the In fraction varying from 6% to 100%. Using XRD and TEM, we determine the crystalline state, the nature of defects inside the layers and their distribution as related to the In concentration. The band gap of the alloys was studied through PL measurements, it is below 1 eV for InN.

GaN epilayers grown by MOCVD were implanted with different fluences of thulium at room temperature and at 500 °C in order to find the optimum implantation conditions. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in the channeling mode was used to monitor the damage evolution in the Ga-sublattice and to establish the lattice site location of the thulium ions. The nature of structural defects was studied with transmission electron microscopy and the optical properties of the samples with room temperature cathodoluminescence. The introduced damage could be significantly reduced by implantation at high temperature for fluences up to 5×1015 Tm/cm2. Annealing was necessary for optical activation of the implanted samples, in all cases. After annealing, sharp rare earth related emissions were observed in the blue and in the near infra-red spectral region.

Using a first-principles method, we study the effect of pressure on the band gap energies of wurtzite InxGa1-xN, and InxAl1-xN. The fundamental band gap energies are direct and increase rapidly with pressure. The pressure coefficients vary in the range of 19.8–24.8 meV/GPa for InxGa1-xN, and 16.7–20.7 meV/GPa for InxAl1-xN; they depend on alloy composition with a strong deviation from linearity. The band gap bowing of the InGaN increases continuously with pressure while those of InAlN strongly decreases at p=14 GPa.

For ohmic contact on p GaN, palladium is one of the best candidates showing ohmic characteristics already without annealing. To be realized in devices, it is necessary to know the behavior of the ohmic contacts at accelerated conditions, especially for high temperatures and power. We report on the structural evolution of palladium layers (30 nm) deposited on GaN (0001) by electron beam evaporation without intentional annealing. They were next cut into various pieces which were individually submitted to rapid thermal annealing at 400, 500, 600, 700 and 800°C for 10 sec. We investigate the differences in the microstructure and the location of interfacial phases and their relationships as determined by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, we then suggest the formation mechanism based on the relationship. It is shown that the interface is disrupted at annealing above 600°C and by 800°C only very small patches of Pd are still present, however they area completely imbedded in a matrix of intermetallic phases (gallides) formed by the reaction with GaN.

Most of the work done on GaN has taken into account layers grown on the (0001) sapphire plane. However one would expect the growth on the (1120) plane to lead to different structural defects. As has been shown, in one direction, the mismatch is rather small. In this work, we have carried out structural analysis of nucleation layers grown at temperatures ranging from 600°C to 1100°C. It is shown that for many of the structural parameters, such as the orientation relationships, the layer morphology and the nucleation mechanism critically depend on the growth temperature. At the lowest temperatures, the growth is completely three dimensional with a mixture of the two traditional orientation relationships, but the coalescence thickness is small. In a next step, the A orientation relationship predominates and the layer roughness tends to slightly decrease. This orientation is never perfect, and there is always 1.5° misorientation to the same direction in sapphire, whereas the B orientation is always perfect. At an intermediate temperature, island growth is predominant, whereas towards the high temperature end the B orientation becomes predominant. For the highest growth temperatures, the nucleated layers are completely flat and with the B orientation, although they contain a quite large number of defects such as inversion domains.

In this work it is shown that thin AlN buffer layers cause N-polarity GaN epilayers, with a high inversion domains density. When the AlN thickness increases, the polarity of the epilayer changes to Ga. The use of a low temperature AlN nucleation layer leads to a flat AlN/Si(111) interface. This contributes to decrease the inversion domains density in the overgrown GaN epilayer with a Ga polarity.

Quantitative analysis of high resolution electron microscopy image has been carried out to measure the indium distribution inside InGaN/GaN quantum well. The analyzed samples were nominally grown with 15% indium composition by molecular beam epitaxy with interruptions during the InxGa1-xN layer growth. The strain distribution is not homogeneous inside the quantum wells, and indium rich clusters can be observed. Areas with almost no indium concentration were observed corresponding to the growth interruption. A comparison with samples grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition is attempted.

We investigated the structural evolution of the Ni/Au contact on GaN(000l) during annealing in N2, using in-situ x-ray diffraction, anomalous x-ray scattering, and high resolution electron microscopy. GaN decomposition occurred mostly along GaN dislocations at temperature higher than 500°C. The decomposed Ga diffused into Au and Ni substitutional positions, and the decomposed nitrogen reacted with Ni, forming Ni4N. Interestingly, Ni4N was grown epitaxially. The epitaxial relationship of the Ni4N, Au, and Ni was identified as M(111)//GaN(0002) and M[1 −1 0]//GaN[1 1 −2 0] (M= Ni4N, Au, and Ni). At dislocation free regions, however, the atomically smooth interface remained intact up to 700 °C. Remarkable improvement of device reliability is expected in the contact on dislocation free regions compared with the contact on dislocations.

An optical characterization technique is proposed for GaN based compounds deposited on sapphire. In AlGaN films grown by MOCVD, the film optical behavior and the substrate to layer interface are qualified from the measured optical data. The experimental and theoretical approach used for this purpose is described in detail. The results clearly show bending effects at the interface which may be related to structural defects; a good agreement with transmission electronic microscopy analysis is obtained.

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 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 formation of the {1 10} stacking fault, which has two atomic configurations in wurtzite (Ga,Al,In)N, has been investigated by high resolution electron microscopy and energetic calculations. It originates from steps at the SiC surface and it can form on a flat (0001) sapphire surface. A modified Stillinger-Weber potential was used in order to investigate the relative stability of the two atomic configurations. They have comparable energy in AlN, whereas the 1/2<10 1>{1 10} configuration is more stable in GaN and InN. In GaN layers, only the 1/2<10 1>{1 10} configuration was observed. The 1/6<20 3> configuration was found in small areas inside the AlN buffer layer where it folded rapidly to the basal plane, and when back into the prismatic plane, it took the 1/2<10 1>{1 10} atomic configuration.

In epitaxial GaN layers on (0001) sapphire, the distance between edge dislocations in sub-grain boundaries is variable. The strain state in such sub-grains is quantitatively measured by processing of HRTEM images. The dislocation core distribution maps and in plane Burgers vectors components are derived from experimental strain tensor by applying the continuum dislocation theorem. For image simulationsthe atomic models of edge dislocations are calculated using a modified Stillinger-Weber potential. It is shown that the strain field extracted from simulated images matches that from experimental ones. The corresponding dislocation density peaks are larger and more splitted than those from simulated images.