The hot-wall metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) concept, previously shown to enable superior material quality and high performance devices based on wide bandgap semiconductors, such as Ga(Al)N and SiC, has been applied to the epitaxial growth of beta-Ga2O3. Epitaxial beta-Ga2O3 layers at high growth rates (above 1 mu m/h), at low reagent flows, and at reduced growth temperatures (740 degrees C) are demonstrated. A high crystalline quality epitaxial material on a c-plane sapphire substrate is attained as corroborated by a combination of x-ray diffraction, high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. The hot-wall MOCVD process is transferred to homoepitaxy, and single-crystalline homoepitaxial beta-Ga2O3 layers are demonstrated with a 201 rocking curve width of 118 arc sec, which is comparable to those of the edge-defined film-fed grown (201) beta-Ga2O3 substrates, indicative of similar dislocation densities for epilayers and substrates. Hence, hot-wall MOCVD is proposed as a prospective growth method to be further explored for the fabrication of beta-Ga2O3.

Recent exciting developments in synthesis and properties study of the Germanane (GeH) monolayer have inspired us to investigate the structural and electronic properties of the van der Waals GeH/Graphene (Gr) heterostructure by the first-principle approach. The stability of the GeH/Gr heterostructure is verified by calculating the phonon dispersion curves as well as by thermodynamic binding energy calculations. According to the band structure calculation, the GeH/Gr interface is n-type Ohmic. The effects of different interlayer distances and strains between the layers and the applied electric field on the interface have been investigated to gain insight into the van der Waals heterostructure modifications. An interlayer distance of 2.11 angstrom and compressive strain of 6% alter the contact from Ohmic to Schottky status, while the electric field can tune the GeH/Gr contact as p- or n-type, Ohmic, or Schottky. The average electrostatic potential of GeH/Gr and the Bader charge analysis have been used to explain the results obtained. Our theoretical study could provide a promising approach for improving the electronic performance of GeH/Gr-based nano-rectifiers.

We are aiming at understanding the graphene formation mechanism on different SiC polytypes (6H, 4H and 3C) and orientations with the ultimate goal to fabricate large area graphene (up to 2 inch) with controlled number of monolayers and spatial uniformity. To reach the objectives we are using high-temperature atmospheric pressure sublimation process in an inductively heated furnace. The epitaxial graphene is characterized by ARPES, LEEM and Raman spectroscopy. Theoretical studies are employed to get better insight of graphene patterns and stability. Reproducible results of single layer graphene on the Si-face of 6H and 4H-SiC polytypes have been attained. It is demonstrated that thickness uniformity of graphene is very sensitive to the substrate miscut.

Free standing AIN wafers were grown on pre-patterned and in situ patterned 4H-SiC substrates by a physical vapor transport method. It is based on the coalescence of AIN microrods, which evolve from the apex of SiC pyramids grown on the SIC substrate during a temperature ramp up for in situ patterned substrate and SiC pyramids formed by reactive ion etching (RIE). This process yields stress-free (according XRD and Raman results) AIN single crystals with a thickness up to 400 mu m and low dislocation density.

The metrological capability of the picosecond four-wave mixing (FWM) technique for evaluation of the photoelectrical properties of GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire, silicon carbide, and silicon substrates as well as of free-standing GaN films is demonstrated. Carrier recombination and transport features have been studied in a wide excitation, temperature, and dislocation density (from ∼1010 to 106 cm-2) range, exploring non-resonant refractive index modulation by a free carrier plasma. The studies allowed to establish the correlations between the dislocation density and the carrier lifetime, diffusion length, and stimulated emission threshold, to reveal a competition between the bimolecular and nonradiative recombination, and to verify the temperature dependence of bimolecular recombination coefficient in the 10-300 K temperature range. It was shown that the FWM technique is more advantageous than the time-resolved photoluminescence technique for determination of carrier lifetimes in high quality thick III-nitride layers. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonequilibrium carrier dynamics has been investigated in ELO and HYPE grown GaN layers in a wide temperature and excitation range by using the time-resolved picosecond FWM technique. Carrier lifetime in the samples at 300 K increased up to 2.8-5.1 ns in accordance with the decreasing threading dislocation density from 4 x 10(7) cm(-2) (ELO) to mid 106 cm(-2) in HYPE layers. At T < 100 K, the hyperbolic shape of FWM kinetics indicated carrier density dependent radiative lifetimes, which gradually decreased at lower temperatures to a few hundreds of ps. The dominance of bimolecular recombination in HVPE layers at 10-40 K was demonstrated by the exposure characteristic of FWM, that has shown a sublinear growth of carrier density with excitation, N proportional to I-1/2. Numerical fitting of the set of FWM kinetics at various T confirmed the temperature dependence of bimolecular recombination coefficient B proportional to T-1/5 and provided its value B = 2 x 10(-11) cm(3)/s at 300 K and 3.2 x 10(-9) cm(3)/s at 9 K. The measured bipolar diffusion coefficients allowed determination of carrier diffusion length of 0.8-1 mu m at 300 K and its dependence on dislocation density and temperature. (c) WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

In this paper, the potential of the high growth rate hydride vapor phase epitaxy technique and laser lift-off for the fabrication of large-area (2?) free-standing GaN substrates is revealed. Structural and optical properties of 250-µm-thick GaN layer grown on a MOVPE epitaxial lateral overgrown GaN template have been investigated employing different analytical experimental techniques. A low value of dislocation density of ~1×107 cm-2 on the Ga-terminated face of the free-standing material was determined from AFM images. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman scattering measurements, and low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) were exploited to assess the structural and optical quality of the GaN. The full-width at half-maximum value of XRD ?-scans of the free-standing GaN material was determined to be 264 arcsec for the (101¯4) reflection. The XRD and low-temperature PL mapping measurements consistently proved the good crystalline quality and lateral homogeneity and small residual stress inside the material. Hence, the free-standing GaN achieved is highly advantageous for a lattice-constant and thermal-expansion-coefficient matched substrate for additional strain-free homoepitaxy of III-nitrides-based device heterostructures. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We demonstrate the growth of high-quality and virtually strain-free bulklike GaN by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy in a vertical atmospheric-pressure reactor with a bottom-fed design. The 300‐μm-thick GaN layer was grown on a 2″ (0 0 0 1) sapphire substrate buffered with a ∼ 2‐μm-thick GaN layer grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. During the cool down process to room temperature, cracking was induced in the sapphire substrate, thereby allowing the bulklike GaN layer to relax without provoking cracking of itself. The crystalline quality and the residual strain in the 2″ GaN wafer were investigated by various characterization techniques. The lateral homogeneity of the wafer was monitored by low-temperature photoluminescence mapping. High-resolution x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurements proved the high crystalline quality of the material grown. The position of the main near-band-gap photoluminescence line and the phonon spectra obtained from infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry show consistently that the 2″ crack-free GaN is virtually strain-free over a diameter of approximately 4 cm.

In this paper we describe recent experimental efforts to produce high quality thick (⩾300 μm) GaN layers on sapphire, the removal of such a layer from the sapphire substrate, and the properties of the so obtained free-standing GaN material. The growth process is described in some detail in the vertical reactor geometry used in this work. Defects like dislocations, micro-cracks and pits produced during growth are discussed, along with procedures to minimize their concentration on the growing surface. The laser lift-off technique is shown to be a feasible technology, in particular if a powerful laser with a large spot size can be used. A major problem with the free-standing material is the typically large bowing of such a wafer, due to the built in defect concentrations near the former GaN-sapphire interface. This bowing typically causes a rather large width of the XRD rocking curve of the free-standing material, while optical data confirm virtually strain free material of excellent quality at the top surface.