Origin and roles of oxygen impurities in hexagonal boron nitride epilayers

Grenadier, S. J.; Maity, A.; Li, J.; Lin, J. Y.; Jiang, H. X.

doi:10.1063/1.5026291

Title: Origin and roles of oxygen impurities in hexagonal boron nitride epilayers

Journal Article · Mon Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5026291· OSTI ID:1540187

Grenadier, S. J. ^[1]; Maity, A. ^[1];

^[1];

^[1]

Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)

Photoluminescence emission spectroscopy and electrical transport measurements have been employed to study the origin and roles of oxygen impurities in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) epilayers grown on sapphire substrates. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity revealed the presence of a previously unnoticed impurity level of about 0.6 eV in h-BN epilayers grown at high temperatures. The findings suggested that in addition to the common nitrogen vacancy (V_N) shallow donors in h-BN, oxygen impurities diffused from sapphire substrates during high temperature growth also act as substitutional donors (O_N). The presence of O_N gives rise to an additional emission peak in the photoluminescence spectrum, corresponding to a donor-acceptor pair recombination involving the O_N donor and the C_N (carbon occupying nitrogen site) deep level acceptor. Moreover, due to the presence of O_N donors, the majority charge carrier type changed to electrons in epilayers grown at high temperatures, in contrast to typical h-BN epilayers which naturally reflect “p-type” character. The results offered a more coherent picture for common impurities/defects in h-BN as well as a better understanding of the growth mediated impurities in h-BN epilayers, which will be helpful for finding possible ways to further improve the quality and purity of this emerging material.

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Research Organization:: Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0002927

OSTI ID:: 1540187

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1433288

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 16; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 31 works

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