Search for content and authors
 

Role of threading dislocations on Indium distribution in InGaN alloys

Huaping Lei 1,3,  Pierre Ruterana 1,  Jun Chen 2,  Xunya Jiang 3

1. CIMAP, CNRS-ENSICAEN-CEA-UCBN, 6 Boulevard Maréchal Juin, Caen 14050, France
2. Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Propriétés des Matériaux Nouveaux, Université de Caen, Damigny 61250, France
3. Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, CAS, Changning Road 865, Shanghai 200050, China

Abstract
Despite the presence of high density threading dislocations, InGaN alloys and quantum wells still exhibit high efficiency light emission, and this has been subject of research interest from the scientific and industry fields for the last few years. This peculiar behavior has been related to the properties of the threading dislocations and the localization of excitons. One of the explanations to the exciton localization has been the possible formation of In-rich clusters. Theoretical investigations have pointed out that a miscibility gap exists in the InGaN ternary alloys grown under equilibrium conditions. Therefore, if the growth temperature is below a critical temperature, InGaN alloys are due to be unstable over most of the composition range and In-rich and Ga-rich regions may form in the quantum well areas. However, number experimental reports have shown that down to the nanometric scale, In-rich clusters may not exist in InGaN high quality QWs. In fact, it appears that In clustering can be suppressed by strain in InGaN/GaN heterostructures as reported in recent experimental and theoretical investigations.  However, phase separation has been found to nucleate with the aid of the threading dislocations having screw component in InGaN films [1], whereas the nucleation of InN quantum dots grown by MBE [2] and MOCVD [3] are associated with threading dislocations with edge component from the GaN buffer layer. In this work, as the In-rich clusters and threading dislocations involve hundreds to thousands of atoms, the empirical Stillinger-Weber potential is used to investigate the energetic stability of In-rich clusters in InGaN QWs and the role of the screw dislocations on the phase separation. The results indicate that In-rich clusters are not energetically favorable; however, indium atoms are found to be able to aggregate towards the dislocation core and to form In-rich regions by the screw dislocation with a full core configuration. This is explained based on the relaxation of the dislocation core in GaN by indium atoms.

 

[1] T. SUGAHARA, M. HAO, T. WANG, D. NAKAGAWA, Y. NAOI, K. NISHINO,

and S. SAKAI, Jan. J. Appl. Phys. 37, L1195 (1998)

[2] L. ZHOU, T. XU, D. J. SMITH, and T. D. MOUSTAKAS, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88,

231906 (2006)

[3] J. G. LOZANO, A. M. SANCHEZ, R. GARCIA, D. GONZALEZ, D. ARAUJO, S. RUFFENACH, and O. BRIOT, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 263104 (2005)

 

Legal notice
  • Legal notice:

    Copyright (c) Pielaszek Research, all rights reserved.
    The above materials, including auxiliary resources, are subject to Publisher's copyright and the Author(s) intellectual rights. Without limiting Author(s) rights under respective Copyright Transfer Agreement, no part of the above documents may be reproduced without the express written permission of Pielaszek Research, the Publisher. Express permission from the Author(s) is required to use the above materials for academic purposes, such as lectures or scientific presentations.
    In every case, proper references including Author(s) name(s) and URL of this webpage: https://science24.com/paper/19099 must be provided.

 

Related papers
  1. Investigation of InN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si or GaN templates
  2. Structural properties of InAlN thin layers for HEMT applications
  3. Low frequency noise measurements in InN films
  4. The microstructure and properties of InN layers
  5. Optical properties of InN grown on Si(111) substrate
  6. Ferromagnetism in transition-metal doped ZnS
  7. Electronic and magnetic properties of Co-doped ZnO: first principles study
  8. Method of Manganese co-doping of LT ZnO films
  9. Formation of precipitates in Mn doped ZnO layers deposited by magnetron sputtering
  10. The structure of nucleation Zn(Al)O layers for transparent metal oxide application
  11. First-principles calculations of the optical band-gap properties of Mg1-xZnxO alloys
  12. Theoretical studies of ZnS1-xOx alloy band structures
  13. FE and MD simulation of InGaN QD formation induced by stress field of threading dislocations
  14. Strain Relaxation Effect on the Properties of Ultra Thin ZnO Film on Sapphire (0001) Substrates by Pulsed Laser Deposition
  15. Low and high indium fluctuation in MOCVD grown InGaN/GaN as determined by quantitative HRTEM
  16. Finite element modelling of nonlinear elastic and piezoelectric properties of InN and InGaN QDs
  17. Structural analysis of the behaviour of the ultrathin AlN capping layer interface during the RE implantation and annealing of GaN for electroluminescence applications
  18. Energy and electronic structure of gallium and nitrogen interstitials in GaN Tilt Boundaries
  19. Investigation of InN layers grown by MOCVD and MBE using analytical and high resolution TEM
  20. Interfacial diffusion and precipitation in rf magnetron sputtered Mn doped ZnO layers
  21. The atomic configuration of tilt grain boundaries around <0001> in GaN
  22. First principles study of electronic structure of InN and AlN substitution atomic layers embedded in GaN
  23. Full-potential study of d-electrons effects on the electronic structure of wurtzite and zinc-blende InN
  24. Image processing of HREM micrograph for determination size distribution of Co nanocrystals in Cu matrix
  25. Quantitative study of Cd atoms distribution in CdTe/ZnTe quantum dots superlattice by HRTEM
  26. The atomic structure of defects formed during doping of GaN with rare earth ions
  27. Transmission electron microscopy structural investigations of Tm implanted GaN
  28. Study of photo- and electro-luminescence related with Er3+ ions in GaN:Er
  29. Quantitative transmission electron microscopy investigation of localised stress in heterostructures
  30. Modelling of indium rich clusters in MOCVD InGaN/GaN multilayers

Presentation: Poster at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2009, Symposium A, by Huaping Lei
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2009

Submitted: 2009-05-22 18:02
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:48