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Title: Development of epitaxial AlxSc1-xN for artificially structured metal/semiconductor superlattice metamaterials

Journal Article · · Physica Status Solidi B. Basic Solid State Physics
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
  2. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Epitaxial nitride rocksalt metal/semiconductor superlattices are emerging as a novel class of artificially structured materials that have generated significant interest in recent years for their potential application in plasmonic and thermoelectric devices. Though most nitride metals are rocksalt, nitride semiconductors in general have hexagonal crystal structure. We report rocksalt aluminum scandium nitride (Al,Sc)N alloys as the semiconducting component in epitaxial rocksalt metal/semiconductor superlattices. The AlxSc1-xN alloys when deposited directly on MgO substrates are stabilized in a homogeneous rocksalt (single) phase when x < 0.51. Employing 20 nm TiN as a seed layer on MgO substrates, the homogeneity range for stabilizing the rocksalt phase has been extended to x < 0.82 for a 120 nm film. The rocksalt AlxSc1-xN alloys show moderate direct bandgap bowing with a bowing parameter, B = 1.41 ± 0.19 eV. The direct bandgap of metastable rocksalt AlN is extrapolated to be 4.70 ± 0.20 eV. The tunable lattice parameter, bandgap, dielectric permittivity, and electronic properties of rocksalt AlxSc1-xN alloys enable high quality epitaxial rocksalt metal/AlxSc1-xN superlattices with a wide range of accessible metamaterials properties.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC00112704
OSTI ID:
1193238
Report Number(s):
BNL-108169-2015-JA; KC040302
Journal Information:
Physica Status Solidi B. Basic Solid State Physics, Vol. 252, Issue 2; ISSN 0370-1972
Publisher:
Wiley-BlackwellCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 41 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (15)

A highly luminescent porous metamaterial based on a mixture of gold and alloyed semiconductor nanoparticles journal January 2018
Rigid-band electronic structure of scandium nitride across the n -type to p -type carrier transition regime journal April 2019
Transition-metal-nitride-based thin films as novel energy harvesting materials journal January 2016
Compensation of native donor doping in ScN: Carrier concentration control and p -type ScN journal June 2017
Optical and electron transport properties of rock-salt Sc 1− x Al x N journal July 2015
Microstructural evolution and thermal stability of HfN/ScN, ZrN/ScN, and Hf0.5Zr0.5N/ScN metal/semiconductor superlattices journal June 2016
Tailoring the plasmonic properties of ultrathin TiN films at metal-dielectric interfaces [Invited] journal January 2019
Cross-plane thermal conductivity of (Ti,W)N/(Al,Sc)N metal/semiconductor superlattices journal January 2016
Dislocation-pipe diffusion in nitride superlattices observed in direct atomic resolution journal April 2017
Optical constants and band gap of wurtzite Al 1−x Sc x N/Al 2 O 3 prepared by magnetron sputter epitaxy for scandium concentrations up to x = 0.41 journal July 2019
Thermally stable epitaxial ZrN/carrier-compensated Sc0.99Mg0.01N metal/semiconductor multilayers for thermionic energy conversion journal October 2019
Rocksalt nitride metal/semiconductor superlattices: A new class of artificially structured materials journal June 2018
Schottky barrier height of epitaxial lattice-matched TiN/Al 0.72 Sc 0.28 N metal/semiconductor superlattice interfaces for thermionic energy conversion journal December 2019
Development of semiconducting ScN journal February 2019
Wave‐Vector‐Dependent Raman Scattering from Coupled Plasmon–Longitudinal Optical Phonon Modes and Fano Resonance in n ‐type Scandium Nitride journal May 2019

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