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    Temperature Dependence of Dark Spot Diameters in GaN and AlGaN
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Netzel, Carsten; Knauer, Arne; Brunner, Frank; Mogilatenko, Anna; Weyers, Markus
    Threading dislocations in c-plane (Al,Ga)N layers are surrounded by areas with reduced light generation efficiency, called “dark spots.” These areas are observable in luminescence measurements with spatial resolution in the submicrometer range. Dark spots reduce the internal quantum efficiency in single layers and light-emitting devices. In cathodoluminescence measurements, the diameter of dark spots (full width at half maximum [FWHM]) is observed to be 200–250 nm for GaN. It decreases by 30–60% for AlxGa1−xN with x ≈ 0.5. Furthermore, the dark spot diameter increases with increasing temperature from 83 to 300 K in AlGaN, whereas it decreases in GaN. Emission energy mappings around dark spots become less smooth and show sharper features on submicrometer scales at low temperature for AlGaN and, on the contrary, at high temperature for GaN. It is concluded that charge carrier localization dominates the temperature dependence of dark spot diameters and of the emission energy distribution around threading dislocations in AlGaN, whereas the temperature-dependent excitation volume in cathodoluminescence and charge carrier diffusion limited by phonon scattering are the dominant effects in GaN. Consequently, with increasing temperature, nonradiative recombination related to threading dislocations extends to wider regions in AlGaN, whereas it becomes spatially limited in GaN.
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    Analysis of Mechanical Strain in AlGaN/GaN HFETs
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2023) Yazdani, Hossein; Graff, Andreas; Simon-Najasek, Michél; Altmann, Frank; Brunner, Frank; Ostermay, Ina; Chevtchenko, Serguei; Würfl, Joachim
    Herein, the influence of mechanical strain induced by passivation layers on the electrical performance of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistor is investigated. We studied the physical mechanism of a threshold voltage (Vth) shift for the monolithically fabricated on/off devices reported earlier by our group. For that, theoretical calculations, simulation-based analysis, and nano-beam electron diffraction (NBED) measurements based on STEM are used. Strain distribution in the gate vicinity of transistors is compared for a SiNx passivation layer with intrinsic stress from ≈0.5 to −1 GPa for normally on and normally off devices, respectively. The strain in epitaxial layers transferred by intrinsic stress of SiNx is quantitatively evaluated using NEBD method. Strain dissimilarity Δε = 0.23% is detected between normally on and normally off devices. Using this method, quantitative correlation between 1.13 V of Vth shift and microscopic strain difference in the epitaxial layers caused by 1.5 GPa intrinsic stress variation in passivation layer is provided. It is showed in this correlation that about half of the reported threshold voltage shift is induced by strain, i.e., by the piezoelectric effect. The rest of Vth shift is caused by the fabrication process. Therefore, various components/mechanisms contributing to the measured Vth shift are distinguished.