The relationship between depth-resolved composition and strain relaxation in InAlN and InGaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Journal Article · Mon Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4825143· OSTI ID:22217904

Jiao, Wenyuan; Kong, Wei; Li, Jincheng; Kim, Tong-Ho; Brown, April S. ^[1]; Collar, Kristen ^[2]

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1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708 (United States)

A study of the relationship between strain and the incorporation of group III elements in ternary InGaN and InAlN grown by molecular beam epitaxy is reported. Using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy compositional depth profiles with x-ray diffraction, we are able to find a clear relationship between strain and In incorporation including tensile-strained InAlN which has, to date, not been studied. The results show that fully strained films contain homogeneous indium composition while partially relaxed films have a non-homogeneous indium composition with depth. These results can be interpreted by considering the impurity formation energies of indium in host lattices.

• OSTI ID: 22217904
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 16; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
DEPTH
FILMS
FORMATION HEAT
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
IMPURITIES
INDIUM
INDIUM COMPOUNDS
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
STRAINS
STRESS RELAXATION
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY