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W. J. Schaff

Bio: W. J. Schaff is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Semimetal & Band gap. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 35 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reported the observation of strong polarization anisotropy in photoluminescence (PL) and the absorption spectra of [112¯0] oriented A-plane wurtzite InN films grown on R-plane (11¯02) sapphire substrates using molecular beam epitaxy.
Abstract: The authors report the observation of strong polarization anisotropy in the photoluminescence (PL) and the absorption spectra of [112¯0] oriented A-plane wurtzite InN films grown on R-plane (11¯02) sapphire substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. For A-plane films the c axis lies in the film plane. The PL signal collected along [112¯0] with electric vector E⊥c is more than three times larger than for E‖c. Both PL signals peak around 0.67eV at 10K. The absorption edge for E‖c is shifted to higher energy by 20meV relative to E⊥c. Optical polarization anisotropy in wurtzite nitrides originates from their valence band structure which can be significantly modified by strain in the film. The authors explain the observed polarization anisotropy by comparison with electronic band structure calculations that take into account anisotropic in-plane strain in the films. The results suggest that wurtzite InN has a narrow band gap close to 0.7eV at 10K.

35 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the bandgap of InN was revised from 1.9 eV to a much narrower value of 0.64 eV, which is the smallest bandgap known to date.
Abstract: Wide-band-gap GaN and Ga-rich InGaN alloys, with energy gaps covering the blue and near-ultraviolet parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, are one group of the dominant materials for solid state lighting and lasing technologies and consequently, have been studied very well. Much less effort has been devoted to InN and In-rich InGaN alloys. A major breakthrough in 2002, stemming from much improved quality of InN films grown using molecular beam epitaxy, resulted in the bandgap of InN being revised from 1.9 eV to a much narrower value of 0.64 eV. This finding triggered a worldwide research thrust into the area of narrow-band-gap group-III nitrides. The low value of the InN bandgap provides a basis for a consistent description of the electronic structure of InGaN and InAlN alloys with all compositions. It extends the fundamental bandgap of the group III-nitride alloy system over a wider spectral region, ranging from the near infrared at ∼1.9 μm (0.64 eV for InN) to the ultraviolet at ∼0.36 μm (3.4 eV for GaN...

871 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors derived consistent sets of band parameters such as band gaps, crystal field splittings, band-gap deformation potentials, effective masses, and Luttinger and EP parameters for AlN, GaN, and InN in the zinc-blende and wurtzite phases employing many-body perturbation theory in the G0W0 approximation.
Abstract: We have derived consistent sets of band parameters band gaps, crystal field splittings, band-gap deformation potentials, effective masses, and Luttinger and EP parameters for AlN, GaN, and InN in the zinc-blende and wurtzite phases employing many-body perturbation theory in the G0W0 approximation. The G0W0 method has been combined with density-functional theory DFT calculations in the exact-exchange optimized effective potential approach to overcome the limitations of local-density or gradient-corrected DFT functionals. The band structures in the vicinity of the point have been used to directly parametrize a 44 k·p Hamiltonian to capture nonparabolicities in the conduction bands and the more complex valence-band structure of the wurtzite phases. We demonstrate that the band parameters derived in this fashion are in very good agreement with the available experimental data and provide reliable predictions for all parameters, which have not been determined experimentally so far.

352 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors measured the polarization ratio (ρ) and the energy difference between the highest and the second highest valence bands estimated from the estimated anisotropic compressive strain along the m-axis eyy) in nonpolar m-plane InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs).
Abstract: Polarized photoluminescence (PL) spectra from nonpolar m-plane InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) in blue laser diode wafers fabricated on m-plane GaN substrates were measured as a function of temperature. The polarization ratio (ρ) and the energy difference between the highest and the second highest valence bands estimated from the energy difference between PL peaks (ΔE) increased with increasing InN molar fraction x (or the estimated anisotropic compressive strain along the m-axis eyy) in the MQWs. The values of ρ at 300K and ΔE were 0.71 and 76meV for the case of 430nm PL peak (x=0.104, eyy=+0.75%) and 0.92 and 123meV for the case of 485nm PL peak (x=0.175, eyy=+1.26%). These results suggest that the preferred stripe direction is the c axis for nonpolar m-plane laser diodes in the region from violet to near green.

104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A survey of non-polar surfaces of nitride materials and devices can be found in this article, where the main properties of the materials grown in nonpolar directions are discussed with emphasis on the deviations from those of nitrides grown along the polar direction.
Abstract: The quest to use nonpolar surfaces of nitride materials and devices started a few years ago with the aim to avoid the strong internal electric fields in active regions of optoelec-tronic devices and to improve their efficiency. Starting with the growth optimizations, the progression via thorough understanding of new physical properties of the materials has led to significant improvement of device performance and to novel device concepts. In this review a historical survey of nonpolar nitride growth achievements is made. Along the way new challenges in material growth and characterization have been encountered and more sophisticated methods have been developed, which are briefly summarized. The main properties of the nitride materials grown in nonpolar directions are discussed with emphasis on the deviations from those of nitrides grown along the polar direction. Physical phenomena such as inherently present anisotropic in-plane strain and optical polarization anisotropy have been proposed for the realization of novel polarized light-emitting diodes, polarization-sensitive detectors and modulators. The present status of the nitride devices with nonpolar and semipolar surfaces is discussed, and an outlook of the future trends is presented. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

97 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed discussion of the optical properties of Al-rich Al1−xInxN alloy films is presented, where the complex dielectric function between 1 and 10ÕeV was determined from spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements.
Abstract: A detailed discussion of the optical properties of Al-rich Al1−xInxN alloy films is presented. The (0 0 0 1)-oriented layers with In contents between x = 0.143 and x = 0.242 were grown by metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy on thick GaN buffers. Sapphire or Si(1 1 1) served as the substrate. High-resolution x-ray diffraction revealed pseudomorphic growth of the nearly lattice-matched alloys; the data analysis yielded the composition as well as the in-plain strain. The complex dielectric function (DF) between 1 and 10 eV was determined from spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. The sharp onset of the imaginary part of the DF defines the direct absorption edge, while clearly visible features in the high-photon energy range of the DF, attributed to critical points (CPs) of the band structure, indicate promising crystalline quality of the AlInN layers. It is demonstrated that the experimental data can be well reproduced by an analytical DF model. The extracted characteristic transition energies are used to determine the bowing parameters for all CPs of the band structure. In particular, strain and the high exciton binding energies for the Al-rich alloys are taken into account in order to assess the splitting between the valence band with symmetry and the conduction band at the centre of the Brillouin zone. Finally, the compositional dependence of the high-frequency dielectric constants is reported.

64 citations