Ultradünne Filme der 3d-Metalle auf einem magnetischen Substrat können durch die magnetische Kopplung ebenfalls eine Magnetisierung erfahren. Im allgemeinen ist die Art und Stärke der induzierten magnetischen Momente von der Dicke und der Struktur dieser Filme abhängig. In dieser Arbeit wurden speziell die Wachstumseigenschaften von Fe, Cr, Mn und V auf einem Fe(100)-Substrat bezüglich ihrer Morphologie und der Grenzflächeninter-diffusion sowie die magnetische Kopplung der Filme zum Substrat untersucht. Bei diesen Studien kam primär die streifende Oberflächenstreuung schneller Ionen (H+, He+, Ar+) mit Primärenergien von bis zu 25keV unter typischen Einfallswinkeln von 1..2° zur Oberfläche zum Einsatz. Bei einer solchen Streuung können die Projektile nicht in die Oberfläche eindringen, sondern werden von dieser reflektiert. Insbesondere die Aufnahme der spekularen Streuintensität und die Halbwertsbreite der resultierenden Streuverteilung erlaubten die Beobachtung des Wachstums-pro-zesses in Echtzeit sowie die quantitative Bestimmung von Stufendichten, kritischen Keim-größen, den Füllungsgrad atomarer Filmlagen, Aktivierungsenergien der lateralen Diffusion, die Änderung der Austrittsarbeit, sowie die Größe der thermischen Auslenkungen der Oberflächenatome. Die Anregung von Auger-Elektronen an der Oberfläche bei der streifenden Streuung von Protonen erlaubte in Verbindung mit der konventionellen Auger-Spektroskopie nach Anregung durch steil einfallende Elektronen die Bestimmung der Konzentra-tionsprofile an der Grenzfläche des Films zum Substrat bei unterschiedlich starker Grenzflächeninterdiffusion. Die Charakterisierung der magnetischen Oberflächenmomente des Fe(100) und der darauf gewachsenen 3d-Metallfilme erfolgte indirekt aus der Polarisation des Fluo-res-zenzlichts aus dem Zerfall des HeI3³P-Zustandes nach der Streuung, der durch den Einfang der polarisierten Elektronen von der Oberfläche entsprechend der dort vorhandenen Zustandsdichte besetzt wird. Grundlegende Zusammenhänge zwischen der Spin-Polarisation des HeI3³P-Zustandes und der Magnetisierung der streuenden Oberfläche wurden am Fe(100) studiert. Mittels einfacher Modelle konnte in diesen Studien die extreme Oberflächen-empfindlichkeit der angewendeten Meßmethode wie auch die qualitative Abhängigkeit der Spin-Polarisation von der elektronischen Zustandsdichte der Festkörper-Oberfläche nachgewiesen werden. Für die Interpretation der Polarisationsdaten beim heteroepitaktischen Filmwachstum war es notwendig, das Wachstum möglichst realitätsnah in einem Modell abzubilden. Dazu wurde ein bereits bestehendes Modell zur Beschreibung des homoepitakti-schen Filmwachstums auf niedrigindizierten Oberflächen weiterentwickelt, so daß auch die zeitliche Entwicklung der Interdiffusion bei heteroepitaktischem Wachstum beschrieben werden kann. Die Eichung des Modells erfolgte mit den Ergebnissen aus der Untersuchung des Wachstums mit der streifenden Ionenstreuung und der Auger-Spektroskopie. Damit wurde es erstmals möglich, die Magnetisierung der heteroepitaktisch gewachsenen 3d-Metallfilme bei nicht idealem Filmwachstum und deutlicher Grenz-flächeninterdiffusion anhand experimenteller Ergebnisse von ein und derselben Probe zu beschreiben sowie den Zusammenhang zwischen Struktur, Interdiffusion und Magnetisierung nachzuweisen. / Ultrathin films of 3d-metals on a magnetic substrate can experience a magnetization due to magnetic coupling. Commonly the induced magnetic moments depend on the thickness and the structure of these films. This work is focussed on the growth properties of Fe, Cr, Mn, and V on the Fe(100) surface with respect to the morphology and the interdiffusion at the interface as well as the magnetic coupling of the film to the substrate. In the experiments mainly the grazing surface scattering of fast ions (H+, He+, Ar+) was applied with primary energies up to 25keV and typical incidence angles of 1..2° to the surface. Using this grazing scattering geometry the projectiles cannot penetrate into but are reflected from the surface. Especially the monitoring of the specular intensity and halfwidth of the resulting scattering distribution enabled the observation of growth processes in real time as well as the quantitative determination of step density, critical growth nuclei, filling of atomic layers, activation energy of lateral diffusion on the surface, change of workfunction, and the size of thermal vibrational amplitudes of the surface atoms. The excitation of Auger electrons at the surface on one hand side by grazing scattering of protons and on the other hand side by electrons at large incidence angles was used to determine the concentration profile at the interface between film and substrate at different degrees of interdiffusion. The magnetic moments of the Fe(100) surface and the 3d-metal films grown on it was indirectly characterized by the polarization of fluorescence light from the deexcitation of HeI3³P-state after the scattering. This atomic state was filled by spin polarized electrons from the surface corresponding to the surface state densities. Basic relations between the spin polarization of the HeI3³P-state and the magnetization of the scattering surface was tested at the Fe(100) surface. Applying simple models an extreme surface sensitivity of the method used here as well as the qualitative dependence of the spin polarization from electron density of states of the surface layer was observed. For the interpretation of the polarization data recorded during heteroepitactical film growth it was necessary to model the growth realistically. Therefore an existing model for homoepitactical film growth on low index surfaces was further developed in order to describe the history of interdiffusion during heteroepitactical film growth. The parameters in the model were adjusted by means of the results from the growth studies with grazing surface scattering and Auger spectroscopy. So for the first time the description of the magnetization of heteroepitactically grown 3d-metal films with nonideal layer growth and interdiffusion both related to experimental results at the same specimen was made possible. Furthermore the interaction between film structure, interdiffusion and magnetization was shown.

Group III-nitride semiconductors have received much research attention and witnessed a significant development due to their ample applications in solid-state lighting and high-power/high-frequency electronics. Numerous growth methods were explored to achieve device quality epitaxial III-nitride semiconductors. Among the growth methods for III-nitride semiconductors, molecular beam epitaxy provides advantages such as formation of abrupt interfaces and in-situ monitoring of growth. The present research work focuses on the growth and characterizations of III-nitride based epitaxial films, nanostructures and heterostructures on c-sapphire substrate using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy system. The correlation between structural, optical and electrical properties of III-nitride semiconductors would be extremely useful. The interfaces of the metal/semiconductor and semiconductor heterostructures are very important in the performance of semiconductor devices. In this regard, the electrical transport studies of metal/semiconductor and semiconductor heterostructures have been carried out. Besides, studies involved with the defect induced room temperature ferromagnetism of GaN films and InN nano-structures have also been carried out. The thesis is organized in eight different chapters and a brief overview of each chapter is given below. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction on physical properties of group III-nitride semiconductors. It also describes the importance of III-nitride heterostructures in the operation of optoelectronic devices. In addition, it also includes the current strategy of the emergence of room temperature ferromagnetism in III-nitride semiconductors. Chapter 2 deals with the basic working principles of molecular beam epitaxy system and different characterization tools employed in the present work. Chapter 3 describes the growth of GaN films on c-sapphire by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The effects of N/Ga flux ratio on structural, morphological and optical properties have been studied. The flux ratio plays a major role in controlling crystal quality, morphology and emission properties of GaN films. The dislocation density is found to increase with increase in N/Ga flux ratio. The surface morphologies of the films as seen by scanning electron microscopy show pits on the surface and found that the pit density on the surface increases with flux ratio. The room temperature photoluminescence study reveals the shift in band-edge emission towards the lower energy with increase in N/Ga flux ratio. This is believed to arise from the reduction in compressive stress in the GaN films as it is evidenced by room temperature Raman study. The transport studies on the Pt/GaN Schottky diodes showed a significant increase in leakage current with an increase in N/Ga ratio and is found to be caused by the increase in dislocation density in the GaN films. Chapter 4 deals with the fabrication and characterization of Au/GaN Schottky diodes. The temperature dependent current–voltage measurements have been used to determine the current transport mechanism in Schottky diodes. The barrier height (φb) and the ideality factor (η) are estimated from the thermionic emission model and are found to be temperature dependent in nature, indicating the existence of barrier height inhomogeneities at the Au/GaN interface. The conventional Richardson plot of ln(Is/T2) versus 1/kT gives Richardson constant value of 3.23×10-5 Acm-2 K-2, which is much lower than the known value of 26.4 Acm-2 K-2 for GaN. Such discrepancy of Richardson constant value was attributed to the existence of barrier height inhomogeneities at the Au/GaN interface. The modified Richardson plot of ln(Is/T2)-q2σs2/2k2T2 versus q/kT, by assuming a Gaussian distribution of barrier heights at the Au/GaN interface, provides the Schottky barrier height of 1.47 eV and Richardson constant value of 38.8 Acm-2 K-2 which is very close to the theatrical value of Richardson constant. The temperature dependence of barrier height is interpreted on the basis of existence of the Gaussian distribution of the barrier heights due to the barrier height inhomogeneities at the Au/GaN interface. Chapter 5 addresses on the influence of GaN underlayer thickness on structural, electrical and optical properties of InN thin films grown using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The high resolution X-ray diffraction study reveals superior crystalline quality for the InN film grown on thicker GaN film. The electronic and optical properties seem to be greatly influenced by the structural quality of the films, as can be evidenced from Hall measurement and optical absorption spectroscopy. Also, we present the studies involving the dependence of structural, electrical and optical properties of InN films, grown on thicker GaN films, on growth temperature. The optical absorption edge of InN film is found to be strongly dependent on carrier concentration. Kane’s k.p model is used to describe the dependence of optical absorption edge on carrier concentration by considering the non-parabolic dispersion relation for carrier in the conduction band. Chapter 6 deals with the analysis of the temperature dependent current transport mechanisms in InN/GaN heterostructure based Schottky junctions. The barrier height (φb) and the ideality factor (η) of the InN/GaN Schottky junctions are found to be temperature dependent. The temperature dependence of the barrier height indicates that the Schottky barrier height is inhomogeneous in nature at the heterostructure interface. The higher value of the ideality factor and its temperature dependence suggest that the current transport is primarily dominated by thermionic field emission (TFE) other than thermionic emission (TE). The room temperature barrier height and the ideality factor obtained by TFE model are 1.43 eV and 1.21, respectively. Chapter 7 focuses on the defect induced room temperature ferromagnetism in Ga deficient GaN epitaxial films and InN nano-structures grown on c-sapphire substrate by using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The observed yellow emission peak in room temperature photoluminescence spectra and the peak positioning at 300 cm-1 in Raman spectra confirms the existence of Ga vacancies in GaN films. The ferromagnetism in Ga deficient GaN films is believed to originate from the polarization of the unpaired 2p electrons of nitrogen surrounding the Ga vacancy. The InN nano-structures of different size are grown on sapphire substrate, the structural and magnetic properties are studied. The room temperature magnetization measurement of InN nano-structures exhibits the ferromagnetic behavior. The saturation magnetization is found to be strongly dependent on the size of the nano-structures. Finally, Chapter 8 gives the summary of the present work and the scope for future work in this area of research.