There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

We present a comprehensive, up-to-date compilation of band parameters for the technologically important III–V zinc blende and wurtzite compound semiconductors: GaAs, GaSb, GaP, GaN, AlAs, AlSb, AlP, AlN, InAs, InSb, InP, and InN, along with their ternary and quaternary alloys. Based on a review of the existing literature, complete and consistent parameter sets are given for all materials. Emphasizing the quantities required for band structure calculations, we tabulate the direct and indirect energy gaps, spin-orbit, and crystal-field splittings, alloy bowing parameters, effective masses for electrons, heavy, light, and split-off holes, Luttinger parameters, interband momentum matrix elements, and deformation potentials, including temperature and alloy-composition dependences where available. Heterostructure band offsets are also given, on an absolute scale that allows any material to be aligned relative to any other.

Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys

First-principles calculations have evolved from mere aids in explaining and supporting experiments to powerful tools for predicting new materials and their properties. In the first part of this review we describe the state-of-the-art computational methodology for calculating the structure and energetics of point defects and impurities in semiconductors. We will pay particular attention to computational aspects which are unique to defects or impurities, such as how to deal with charge states and how to describe and interpret transition levels. In the second part of the review we will illustrate these capabilities with examples for defects and impurities in nitride semiconductors. Point defects have traditionally been considered to play a major role in wide-band-gap semiconductors, and first-principles calculations have been particularly helpful in elucidating the issues. Specifically, calculations have shown that the unintentional n-type conductivity that has often been observed in as-grown GaN cannot be a...

First-principles calculations for defects and impurities: Applications to III-nitrides

We present a comprehensive and up-to-date compilation of band parameters for all of the nitrogen-containing III–V semiconductors that have been investigated to date. The two main classes are: (1) “conventional” nitrides (wurtzite and zinc-blende GaN, InN, and AlN, along with their alloys) and (2) “dilute” nitrides (zinc-blende ternaries and quaternaries in which a relatively small fraction of N is added to a host III–V material, e.g., GaAsN and GaInAsN). As in our more general review of III–V semiconductor band parameters [I. Vurgaftman et al., J. Appl. Phys. 89, 5815 (2001)], complete and consistent parameter sets are recommended on the basis of a thorough and critical review of the existing literature. We tabulate the direct and indirect energy gaps, spin-orbit and crystal-field splittings, alloy bowing parameters, electron and hole effective masses, deformation potentials, elastic constants, piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization coefficients, as well as heterostructure band offsets. Temperature an...

Band parameters for nitrogen-containing semiconductors

Gallium nitride (GaN) and its allied binaries InN and AIN as well as their ternary compounds have gained an unprecedented attention due to their wide-ranging applications encompassing green, blue, violet, and ultraviolet (UV) emitters and detectors (in photon ranges inaccessible by other semiconductors) and high-power amplifiers. However, even the best of the three binaries, GaN, contains many structural and point defects caused to a large extent by lattice and stacking mismatch with substrates. These defects notably affect the electrical and optical properties of the host material and can seriously degrade the performance and reliability of devices made based on these nitride semiconductors. Even though GaN broke the long-standing paradigm that high density of dislocations precludes acceptable device performance, point defects have taken the center stage as they exacerbate efforts to increase the efficiency of emitters, increase laser operation lifetime, and lead to anomalies in electronic devices. The p...

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Luminescence properties of defects in GaN

A Schottky barrier on unintentionally doped n‐type GaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy was obtained and characterized. Using vacuum evaporated gold as the Schottky barrier contact and aluminum for the ohmic contact, good quality diodes were obtained. The forward current ideality factor was n∼1.03 and the reverse bias leak current below 1×10−10 A at a reverse bias of −10 V. The barrier height φBn was determined to be 0.844 and 0.94 eV by current‐voltage and capacitance measurements, respectively.

Schottky barrier on n‐type GaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

Transient capacitance methods were used to analyze traps occurring in unintentionally doped n‐type GaN grown by hydride vapor‐phase epitaxy. Studies by deep‐level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and isothermal capacitance transient spectroscopy indicated the presence of three majority‐carrier traps occurring at discrete energies below the conduction band with activation energies (eV) ΔE1=0.264±0.01, ΔE2=0.580±0.017, and ΔE3=0.665±0.017. The single‐crystal films of GaN were grown on GaN formed by metal‐organic chemical‐vapor deposition and on sputter‐deposited ZnO; a similar deep‐level structure was found in both types of samples. Pulse‐width modulation tests using DLTS to determine the capture rates of the traps showed that the capture process is nonexponential, perhaps due to the high trap concentration. The origins of the deep levels are discussed in light of secondary‐ion‐mass‐spectroscopy analysis and group theory results in the literature.

Analysis of deep levels in n‐type GaN by transient capacitance methods

The relaxation process of the thermal strain in a GaN film due to the thermal expansion coefficient difference in the GaN(0001)/α-Al2O3(0001) heterostructure is studied by varying the film thickness of GaN in a wide range from 1 to 1200 µm. The lattice constant c has a large value of 5.191 A at a film thickness less than a few microns, while it decreases to about 150 µm, and becomes constant above 150 µm, indicating that the strain is almost completely relaxed. The intrinsic lattice constants of wurtzite GaN free from the strain, a0 and c0, are determined to be 3.1892±0.0009 and 5.1850±0.0005 A, respectively.

Relaxation Process of the Thermal Strain in the GaN/α-Al2O3 Heterostructure and Determination of the Intrinsic Lattice Constants of GaN Free from the Strain

In hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) growth of GaN, the sputtered ZnO layer has been found to be one of the best buffer layers because of the fact that physical properties of ZnO are nearly analogous with those of GaN. With a ZnO buffer layer, the reproducibility of growing GaN single crystal by HVPE has been greatly improved. The GaN films grown by this method show excellent crystalline, electrical, and optical properties. In particular, the Hall mobility of 1920 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 120 K is the highest value that has ever been reported by HVPE.

Hydride vapor phase epitaxial growth of a high quality GaN film using a ZnO buffer layer

Thermal strains and stresses due to the thermal expansion coefficient difference in GaN(0001)/α-Al2O3(0001) layered structures are studied by varying the film thickness of GaN from 0.6 to 1200 µm. The strain in GaN is greater in films of less than a few microns thickness. It is decreased in films of thickness from several to about a hundred microns, and is almost completely relaxed in those thicker than 100 µm. The stresses and strains in the heterostructure are calculated using a model in which relaxation due to cracking in the sapphire is considered. Three relaxation mechanisms of the thermal strain are found for different film thicknesses as follows: (a) only lattice deformation ( 20 µm).

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1143/JJAP.32.1528/pdf

Theeradetch Detchprohm

Papers

Schottky barrier on n‐type GaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

Analysis of deep levels in n‐type GaN by transient capacitance methods

Relaxation Process of the Thermal Strain in the GaN/α-Al2O3 Heterostructure and Determination of the Intrinsic Lattice Constants of GaN Free from the Strain

Hydride vapor phase epitaxial growth of a high quality GaN film using a ZnO buffer layer

Relaxation mechanism of thermal stresses in the heterostructure of GaN grown on sapphire by vapor phase epitaxy