abstract: ABSTRACT Group III-nitride semiconductor materials have been commercially used in fabrication of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) covering the spectral range from UV to visible and infrared, and exhibit unique properties suitable for modern optoelectronic applications. Great advances have recently happened in the research and development in high-power and high-efficiency blue-green-white LEDs, blue LDs and other optoelectronic applications. However, there are still many unsolved challenges with these materials. In this dissertation, several issues concerning structural, electronic and optical properties of III-nitrides have been investigated using a combination of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron holography (EH) and cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques. First, a trend of indium chemical inhomogeneity has been found as the indium composition increases for the InGaN epitaxial layers grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy. Second, different mechanisms contributing to the strain relaxation have been studied for non-polar InGaN epitaxial layers grown on zinc oxide (ZnO) substrate. Third, various structural morphologies of non-polar InGaN epitaxial layers grown on free-standing GaN substrate have been investigated. Fourth, the effect of the growth temperature on the performance of GaN lattice-matched InAlN electron blocking layers has been studied. Finally, the electronic and optical properties of GaN nanowires containing a AlN/GaN superlattice structure have been investigated showing relatively small internal electric field and superlattice- and defect-related emissions along the nanowires. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physics 2011
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:asu.edu/item:14298 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Contributors | Sun, Kewei (Author), Ponce, Fernando (Advisor), Smith, David (Committee member), Treacy, Michael (Committee member), Drucker, Jeffery (Committee member), Schmidt, Kevin (Committee member), Arizona State University (Publisher) |
| Source Sets | Arizona State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral Dissertation |
| Format | 133 pages |
| Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, All Rights Reserved |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds