Mid-infrared Optical Hall Effect Research Articles

Electron effective mass in GaN revisited: New insights from terahertz and mid-infrared optical Hall effect

Electron effective mass is a fundamental material parameter defining the free charge carrier transport properties, but it is very challenging to be experimentally determined at high temperatures relevant to device operation. In this work, we obtain the electron effective mass parameters in a Si-doped GaN bulk substrate and epitaxial layers from terahertz (THz) and mid-infrared (MIR) optical Hall effect (OHE) measurements in the temperature range of 38–340 K. The OHE data are analyzed using the well-accepted Drude model to account for the free charge carrier contributions. A strong temperature dependence of the electron effective mass parameter in both bulk and epitaxial GaN with values ranging from (0.18 ± 0.02) m0 to (0.34 ± 0.01) m0 at a low temperature (38 K) and room temperature, respectively, is obtained from the THz OHE analysis. The observed effective mass enhancement with temperature is evaluated and discussed in view of conduction band nonparabolicity, polaron effect, strain, and deviations from the classical Drude behavior. On the other hand, the electron effective mass parameter determined by MIR OHE is found to be temperature independent with a value of (0.200 ± 0.002) m0. A possible explanation for the different findings from THz OHE and MIR OHE is proposed.

Origin of layer decoupling in ordered multilayer graphene grown by high-temperature sublimation on C-face 4H-SiC

We study the origin of layer decoupling in ordered multilayer graphene grown by high temperature sublimation on C-face 4H-SiC. The mid-infrared optical Hall effect technique is used to determine the magnetic field dependence of the inter-Landau level transition energies and their optical polarization selection rules, which unambiguously show that the multilayer graphene consists of electronically decoupled layers. Transmission electron microscopy reveals no out-of-plane rotational disorder between layers in the stack, which is in contrast to what is typically observed for C-face graphene grown by low temperature sublimation. It is found that the multilayer graphene maintains AB-stacking order with increased interlayer spacing by 2.4%–8.4% as compared to highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Electron energy loss spectroscopy mapping reveals Si atoms trapped in between layers, which are proposed to be the cause for the observed increased interlayer spacing leading to layer decoupling. Based on our results, we propose a defect-driven growth evolution mechanism for multilayer graphene on C-face SiC via high temperature sublimation.

Electron effective mass in In0.33Ga0.67N determined by mid-infrared optical Hall effect

Mid-infrared optical Hall effect measurements are used to determine the free charge carrier parameters of an unintentionally doped wurtzite-structure c-plane oriented In0.33Ga0.67N epitaxial layer. Room temperature electron effective mass parameters of m⊥*=(0.205±0.013) m0 and m∥*=(0.204±0.016) m0 for polarization perpendicular and parallel to the c-axis, respectively, were determined. The free electron concentration was obtained as (1.7 ± 0.2) × 1019 cm−3. Within our uncertainty limits, we detect no anisotropy for the electron effective mass parameter and we estimate the upper limit of the possible effective mass anisotropy as 7%. We discuss the influence of conduction band nonparabolicity on the electron effective mass parameter as a function of In content. The effective mass parameter is consistent with a linear interpolation scheme between the conduction band mass parameters in GaN and InN when the strong nonparabolicity in InN is included. The In0.33Ga0.67N electron mobility parameter was found to be anisotropic, supporting previous experimental findings for wurtzite-structure GaN, InN, and AlxGa1−xN epitaxial layers with c-plane growth orientation.

Electron effective mass in Sn-doped monoclinic single crystal β-gallium oxide determined by mid-infrared optical Hall effect

The isotropic average conduction band minimum electron effective mass in Sn-doped monoclinic single crystal β-Ga2O3 is experimentally determined by the mid-infrared optical Hall effect to be (0.284 ± 0.013)m0 combining investigations on (010) and (2¯01) surface cuts. This result falls within the broad range of values predicted by theoretical calculations for undoped β-Ga2O3. The result is also comparable to recent density functional calculations using the Gaussian-attenuation-Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof hybrid density functional, which predict an average effective mass of 0.267m0. Within our uncertainty limits, we detect no anisotropy for the electron effective mass, which is consistent with most previous theoretical calculations. We discuss upper limits for possible anisotropy of the electron effective mass parameter from our experimental uncertainty limits, and we compare our findings with recent theoretical results.

Infrared dielectric functions, phonon modes, and free-charge carrier properties of high-Al-content AlxGa1−xN alloys determined by mid infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry and optical Hall effect

We report on the analysis of a combined mid-infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry and mid-infrared optical Hall effect investigation of wurtzite structure c-plane oriented, crack-free, single crystalline, and high-Al-content AlxGa1−xN layers on 4H-SiC. For high-Al-content AlxGa1−xN, a two mode behavior is observed for both transverse and longitudinal branches of the infrared-active modes with E1 symmetry, while a single mode behavior is found for the longitudinal modes with A1(LO) symmetry. We report their mode dependencies on the Al content. We determine and discuss static and high frequency dielectric constants depending on x. From the analysis of the optical Hall effect data, we determine the effective mass parameter in high-Al-content AlxGa1−xN alloys and its composition dependence. Within the experimental uncertainty limits, the effective mass parameters are found isotropic, which depend linearly on the Al content. The combination of all data permits the quantification of the free electron density N and mobility parameters μ.

Multi-scale investigation of interface properties, stacking order and decoupling of few layer graphene on C-face 4H-SiC

In this work, we report a multi-scale investigation using several nano-, micro and macro-scale techniques of few layer graphene (FLG) sample consisting of large monolayer (ML) and bilayer (BL) areas grown on C-face 4H-SiC (000-1) by high-temperature sublimation. Single 1 × 1 diffraction patterns are observed by micro-low-energy electron diffraction for ML, BL and trilayer graphene with no indication of out-of-plane rotational disorder. A SiOx layer is identified between graphene and SiC by X-ray photoelectron emission spectroscopy and reflectance measurements. The chemical composition of the interface layer changes towards SiO2 and its thickness increases with aging in normal ambient conditions. The formation mechanism of the interface layer is discussed. It is shown by torsion resonance conductive atomic force microscopy that the interface layer causes the formation of non-ideal Schottky contact between ML graphene and SiC. This is attributed to the presence of a large density of interface states. Mid-infrared optical Hall effect measurements revealed Landau-level transitions in FLG that have a square-root dependence on magnetic field, which evidences a stack of decoupled graphene sheets. Contrary to previous works on decoupled C-face graphene, our BL and FLG are composed of ordered decoupled graphene layers without out-of-plane rotation.

Electron effective mass in Al0.72Ga0.28N alloys determined by mid-infrared optical Hall effect

The effective electron mass parameter in Si-doped Al0.72Ga0.28N is determined to be m∗=(0.336±0.020) m0 from mid-infrared optical Hall effect measurements. No significant anisotropy of the effective electron mass parameter is found supporting theoretical predictions. Assuming a linear change of the effective electron mass with the Al content in AlGaN alloys and m∗=0.232 m0 for GaN, an average effective electron mass of m∗=0.376 m0 can be extrapolated for AlN. The analysis of mid-infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements further confirms the two phonon mode behavior of the E1(TO) and one phonon mode behavior of the A1(LO) phonon mode in high-Al-content AlGaN alloys as seen in previous Raman scattering studies.