2023, Knauer, A., Kolbe, T., Hagedorn, S., Hoepfner, J., Guttmann, M., Cho, H.K., Rass, J., Ruschel, J., Einfeldt, S., Kneissl, M., Weyers, M.

High temperature annealed AlN/sapphire templates exhibit a reduced in-plane lattice constant compared to conventional non-annealed AlN/sapphire grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). This leads to additional lattice mismatch between the template and the AlGaN-based ultraviolet-C light emitting diode (UVC LED) heterostructure grown on these templates. This mismatch introduces additional compressive strain in AlGaN quantum wells resulting in enhanced transverse electric polarization of the quantum well emission at wavelengths below 235 nm compared to layer structures deposited on conventional MOVPE-grown AlN templates, which exhibit mainly transverse magnetic polarized emission. In addition, high temperature annealed AlN/sapphire templates also feature reduced defect densities leading to reduced non-radiative recombination. Based on these two factors, i.e., better outcoupling efficiency of the transverse electric polarized light and an enhanced internal quantum efficiency, the performance characteristic of far-UVC LEDs emitting at 231 nm was further improved with a cw optical output power of 3.5 mW at 150 mA.

2014, Hilt, O., Bahat-Treidel, E., Brunner, F., Knauer, A., Zhytnytska, R., Kotara, P., Wuerfl, J.

Normally-off high voltage GaN-HFETs for switching applications are presented. Normally-off operation with threshold voltages of 1 V and more and with 5 V gate swing has been obtained by using p-type GaN as gate. Different GaN-based buffer types using doping and backside potential barriers have been used to obtain blocking strengths up to 1000 V. The increase of the dynamic on-state resistance is analyzed for the different buffer types. The best trade-off between low dispersion and high blocking strength was obtained for a modified carbon-doped GaN-buffer that showed a 2.6x increase of the dynamic on-state resistance for 500 V switching as compared to switching from 20 V off-state drain bias. Device operation up to 200 °C ambient temperature without any threshold voltage shift is demonstrated.

2000, Erbert, G., Brugge, F., Fechner, I., Fredrich, D., Gielow, M., Hofmann, L., Klehr, A., Klein, A., Krause, A., Knauer, A., Olschewsky, R., Oster, A., Rechenberg, I., Ressel, P., Sebastian, J., Selent, R., Smirnitzki, V., Tessaro, T., Thiemann, M., Thies, A., Vogel, K., Wenzel, H., Weyers, M., Würfel, J., Wochatz, P.

[no abstract available]

2013, Knauer, A., Küller, V., Einfeldt, S.

[no abstract available]

2020, Trager-Cowan, C., Alasmari, A., Avis, W., Bruckbauer, J., Edwards, P.R., Hourahine, B., Kraeusel, S., Kusch, G., Jablon, B.M., Johnston, R., Martin, R.W., Mcdermott, R., Naresh-Kumar, G., Nouf-Allehiani, M., Pascal, E., Thomson, D., Vespucci, S., Mingard, K., Parbrook, P.J., Smith, M.D., Enslin, J., Mehnke, F., Kneissl, M., Kuhn, C., Wernicke, T., Knauer, A., Hagedorn, S., Walde, S., Weyers, M., Coulon, P.-M., Shields, P.A., Zhang, Y., Jiu, L., Gong, Y., Smith, R.M., Wang, T., Winkelmann, A.

In this article we describe the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques of electron channelling contrast imaging and electron backscatter diffraction. These techniques provide information on crystal structure, crystal misorientation, grain boundaries, strain and structural defects on length scales from tens of nanometres to tens of micrometres. Here we report on the imaging and analysis of dislocations and sub-grains in nitride semiconductor thin films (GaN and AlN) and tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) hard metals. Our aim is to illustrate the capability of these techniques for investigating structural defects in the SEM and the benefits of combining these diffraction-based imaging techniques.

2008, Klehr, Andreas, Zorn, Martin, Weyers, M., Erbert, G., Fricke, J., Knauer, A., Pittroff, W., Staske, R., Wenzel, H., Zeimer, U.

[no abstract available]

2011, Weyers, M., Knauer, A., Einfeldt, Sven, Rodriguez, Hernan, Kneissl, M., Knüller, V., Tessaro, T., Petzke, T

[no abstract available]

2013, Zeimer, U., Mogilatenko, A., Kueller, V., Knauer, A., Weyers, M.

Surface steps as high as 15 nm on up to 10 μm thick AlN layers grown on patterned AlN/sapphire templates play a major role for the structural and optical properties of AlxGa1−xN layers with x ≥ 0.5 grown subsequently by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy. The higher the Ga content in these layers is, the stronger is the influence of the surface morphology on their properties. For x = 0.5 not only periodic inhomogeneities in the Al content due to growth of Ga-rich facets are observed by cathodoluminescence, but these facets give rise to additional dislocation formation as discovered by annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy. For AlxGa1−xN layers with x = 0.8 the difference in Al content between facets and surrounding material is much smaller. Therefore, the threading dislocation density (TDD) is only defined by the TDD in the underlying epitaxially laterally overgrown (ELO) AlN layer. This way high quality Al0.8Ga0.2N with a thickness up to 1.5 μm and a TDD ≤ 5x108 cm−2 was obtained.

2020, Trager-Cowan, C., Alasmari, A., Avis, W., Bruckbauer, J., Edwards, P.R., Ferenczi, G., Hourahine, B., Kotzai, A., Kraeusel, S., Kusch, G., Martin, R.W., McDermott, R., Naresh-Kumar, G., Nouf-Allehiani, M., Pascal, E., Thomson, D., Vespucci, S., Smith, M.D., Parbrook, P.J., Enslin, J., Mehnke, F., Kuhn, C., Wernicke, T., Kneissl, M., Hagedorn, S., Knauer, A., Walde, S., Weyers, M., Coulon, P.-M., Shields, P.A., Bai, J., Gong, Y., Jiu, L., Zhang, Y., Smith, R.M., Wang, T., Winkelmann, A.

The scanning electron microscopy techniques of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), electron channelling contrast imaging (ECCI) and cathodoluminescence (CL) hyperspectral imaging provide complementary information on the structural and luminescence properties of materials rapidly and non-destructively, with a spatial resolution of tens of nanometres. EBSD provides crystal orientation, crystal phase and strain analysis, whilst ECCI is used to determine the planar distribution of extended defects over a large area of a given sample. CL reveals the influence of crystal structure, composition and strain on intrinsic luminescence and/or reveals defect-related luminescence. Dark features are also observed in CL images where carrier recombination at defects is non-radiative. The combination of these techniques is a powerful approach to clarifying the role of crystallography and extended defects on a material's light emission properties. Here we describe the EBSD, ECCI and CL techniques and illustrate their use for investigating the structural and light emitting properties of UV-emitting nitride semiconductor structures. We discuss our investigations of the type, density and distribution of defects in GaN, AlN and AlGaN thin films and also discuss the determination of the polarity of GaN nanowires. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

2001, Erbert, G., Beister, G., Brade, P., Fechner, I., Fredrich, D., Fricke, J., Gielow, M., Hülsewede, R., Klein, A., Krause, A., Knauer, A., Maege, J., Pittroff, W., Olschewsky, R., Rechenberg, I., Ressel, P., Sebastian, J., Selent, R., Staske, R., Schulze, H., Sumpf, B, Tessaro, T., Vogel, K., Wenzel, H., Wiechmann, S., Weyers, M., Würfel, J., Wochatz, P.

[no abstract available]