Indium and gallium oxynitrides prepared in the presence of Zn 2+ by ammonolysis of the oxide precursors obtained via the citrate route

Abstract

Ammonia nitridation of indium and gallium oxide precursors obtained through a soft solution route led to their oxynitrides [In 0.97□ 0.03][N 0.92O 0.08] at 660 °C and [Ga 0.89□ 0.11][N 0.66O 0.34] at 850 °C, respectively, where □ refers to a In or Ga vacancy. Cation vacancies in their wurtzite-type lattice were eliminated in similar preparations with the co-presence of Zn 2+ by forming complete solid solutions of (InN) 1− x (ZnO) x and (GaN) 1− y (ZnO) y . The optical absorption edge shape was found to be relatively steep at the solid solution limits of x ≈ 0.23 and y ≈ 0.33 compared to the case without zinc.