Effects of different plasma species (atomic N, metastable N{sub 2}*, and ions) on the optical properties of dilute nitride materials grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

Journal Article · Mon Nov 05 04:00:00 EST 2007 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2806226· OSTI ID:21016140

Oye, Michael M; Mattord, Terry J; Hallock, Gary A; Bank, Seth R; Wistey, Mark A; Reifsnider, Jason M; Ptak, Aaron J; Yuen, Homan B; Harris, Jr, James S; Holmes, Jr, Archie L ^[1]

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1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)

This letter studies the effects of atomic N, metastable N{sub 2}*, and ionic species on the optical properties of dilute nitride materials. Ga{sub 0.8}In{sub 0.2}N{sub 0.01}As{sub 0.99} was grown using a 1% N{sub 2} in Ar gas mix from an Applied-Epi Unibulb rf plasma source. Isonitrogen samples with and without ions were studied using various plasma operating conditions. Optical emission spectrometry was used to characterize relative proportions of different active nitrogen plasma species (atomic N and metastable N{sub 2}*). Samples grown without ions and with a higher proportion of atomic N resulted in the best overall material quality, although this improvement was observed at high annealing temperatures. At lower annealing temperatures, increased blueshifts were observed for samples grown with a higher proportion of atomic N; however, there was no noticeable influence of ions on blueshift regardless of whether atomic N or metastable N{sub 2}* was the dominant species present in the plasma. The key implication of this work is that it helps to elucidate a possible reason for some of the contradictory reports in the literature. The ions are not solely responsible for the commonly reported ''plasma damage.'' Furthermore, we demonstrate herein that atomic N and metastable N{sub 2}* each have different effects on the optical properties of dilute nitride materials grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy.

• OSTI ID: 21016140
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 91; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANNEALING
CRYSTAL GROWTH
EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
GALLIUM NITRIDES
INDIUM ARSENIDES
INDIUM NITRIDES
LAYERS
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
NITROGEN
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
PLASMA
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPECTRAL SHIFT