Optical characterization of free electron concentration in heteroepitaxial InN layers using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and a 2 × 2 transfer-matrix algebra

Abstract

Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) reflectance spectroscopy has been implemented as a non-destructive, non-invasive, tool for the optical characterization of a set of c-plane InN single heteroepitaxial layers spanning a wide range of thicknesses (30–2000 nm). The c-plane (0001) InN epilayers were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) on GaN(0001) buffer layers which had been grown on Al2O3(0001) substrates. It is shown that for arbitrary multilayers with homogeneous anisotropic layers having their principal axes coincident with the laboratory coordinates, a 2 × 2 matrix algebra based on a general transfer-matrix method (GTMM) is adequate to interpret their optical response. Analysis of optical reflectance in the far and mid infrared spectral range has been found capable to discriminate between the bulk, the surface and interface contributions of free carriers in the InN epilayers revealing the existence of electron accumulation layers with carrier concentrations in mid 1019 cm−3 at both the InN surface and the InN/GaN interface. The spectra could be fitted with a three-layer model, determining the different electron concentration and mobility values of the bulk and of the surface and the interface electron accumulation layers in the InN films. The variation of these values with increasing InN thickness could be also sensitively detected by the optical measurements. The comparison between the optically determined drift mobility and the Hall mobility of the thickest sample reveals a value of rH = 1.49 for the Hall factor of InN at a carrier concentration of 1.11 × 1019 cm−3 at 300° Κ.