High-quality Single Crystal Substrates Research Articles

Zinc gallate spinel dielectric function, band-to-band transitions, and Γ-point effective mass parameters

We determine the dielectric function of the emerging ultrawide bandgap semiconductor ZnGa2O4 from the near-infrared (0.75 eV) into the vacuum ultraviolet (8.5 eV) spectral regions using spectroscopic ellipsometry on high quality single crystal substrates. We perform density functional theory calculations and discuss the band structure and the Brillouin zone Γ-point band-to-band transition energies, their transition matrix elements, and effective band mass parameters. We find an isotropic effective mass parameter (0.24 me) at the bottom of the Γ-point conduction band, which equals the lowest valence band effective mass parameter at the top of the highly anisotropic and degenerate valence band (0.24 me). Our calculated band structure indicates the spinel ZnGa2O4 is indirect, with the lowest direct transition at the Γ-point. We analyze the measured dielectric function using critical-point line shape functions for a three-dimensional, M0-type van Hove singularity, and we determine the direct bandgap with an energy of 5.27(3) eV. In our model, we also consider contributions from Wannier–Mott type excitons with an effective Rydberg energy of 14.8 meV. We determine the near-infrared index of refraction from extrapolation (1.91) in very good agreement with results from recent infrared ellipsometry measurements (ε∞=1.94) [M. Stokey, Appl. Phys. Lett. 117, 052104 (2020)].

Preparation and Characterization of Single-crystal Aluminum Nitride Substrates

AbstractLarge (up to 10mm diameter) aluminum nitride (AlN) boules have been grown by the sublimation-recondensation method to study the preparation of high-quality single crystal substrates. The growth mechanism of the boules has been studied using AFM. It has been determined that large single crystal grains in those boules grow with a density of screw dislocations below 5×104 cm−3 while edge dislocations are at lower density (none were observed). High-quality AlN single crystal substrates for epitaxial growth have been prepared and characterized using Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) and AFM imaging, respectively. Also, the differential etching effect of KOH solutions on the N and Al-terminated faces of AlN on vicinal c-faces has been investigated. In order to identify the N or Al-terminated face, convergent beam electron diffraction has been used.