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Optical properties of defects in nitride semiconductors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2015

Ingo Tischer ,
Matthias Hocker ,
Benjamin Neuschl ,
Manfred Madel ,
Martin Feneberg ,
Martin Schirra ,
Manuel Frey ,
Manuel Knab ,
Pascal Maier  and
Thomas Wunderer
...Show all authors
Ingo Tischer*
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany; and Richter lighting technologies GmbH, 73540 Heubach, Germany
Matthias Hocker
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Benjamin Neuschl
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Manfred Madel
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany; and UMS GmbH, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Martin Feneberg
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany; and Otto von Guericke University, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Martin Schirra
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany; and Hochschule Kempten, 87435 Kempten, Germany
Manuel Frey
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany; and U-L-M Photonics, 89081Ulm, Germany
Manuel Knab
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Pascal Maier
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Thomas Wunderer
Affiliation:
Institute of Optoelectronics, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany; and Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA
Robert A.R. Leute
Affiliation:
Institute of Optoelectronics, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany; and Automotive Lighting, 72762Reutlingen, Germany
Junjun Wang
Affiliation:
Institute of Optoelectronics, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Ferdinand Scholz
Affiliation:
Institute of Optoelectronics, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Johannes Biskupek
Affiliation:
Electron Microscopy Group of Materials Science, University of Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany
Jörg Bernhard
Affiliation:
Electron Microscopy Group of Materials Science, University of Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany
Ute Kaiser
Affiliation:
Electron Microscopy Group of Materials Science, University of Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany
Ulrich Simon
Affiliation:
Scientific Computing Centre Ulm, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Levin Dieterle
Affiliation:
Institute of Electron Microscopy, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131Karlsruhe, Germany; and VEGA Grieshaber KG, 77761 Schiltach, Germany
Heiko Groiss
Affiliation:
Institute of Electron Microscopy, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131Karlsruhe, Germany; and Institute of Semiconductor and Solid State Physics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4040 Linz, Austria
Erich Müller
Affiliation:
Institute of Electron Microscopy, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131Karlsruhe, Germany
Dagmar Gerthsen
Affiliation:
Institute of Electron Microscopy, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131Karlsruhe, Germany
Klaus Thonke
Affiliation:
Institute of Quantum Matter, Semiconductor Physics Group, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Group III nitrides are promising materials for light emitting diodes (LEDs). The occurrence of structural defects strongly affects the efficiency of these LEDs. We investigate the optical properties of basal plane stacking faults (BFSs), and the assignment of specific spectral features to distinct defect types by direct correlation of localized emission bands measured by cathodoluminescence in a scanning electron microscope with defects found in high resolution (scanning) transmission electron microscopy and electron beam induced current at identical sample spots. Thus, we are able to model the electronic structure of BSFs addressing I1, I2, and E type BSFs in GaN and AlGaN with low Al content. We find hints that BSFs in semipolar AlGaN layers cause local changes of the Al content, which strongly affects the usability of AlGaN as an electron blocking layer in nitride based LEDs.

Keywords

GaNAlGaNsemipolarstacking faultTEMCL
Type
Invited Feature Paper
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 30 , Issue 20 , 28 October 2015 , pp. 2977 - 2990
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

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References

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