Influence of ion energy on the reactive ion etching induced optical damage and annealing of gallium nitride

Photoluminescence (PL) has been successfully applied to study the optical properties of GaN. The PL results of the a-GaN samples made by the University of Victoria Wellington and poly-GaN samples made by the University of Canterbury have been able to give feedback to the preparation stage in order t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Liem, Suk Ing
Language:en
Published: University of Canterbury. Physics 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5706
Description
Summary:Photoluminescence (PL) has been successfully applied to study the optical properties of GaN. The PL results of the a-GaN samples made by the University of Victoria Wellington and poly-GaN samples made by the University of Canterbury have been able to give feedback to the preparation stage in order to modify the growth parameters. Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) induces defects in semiconductor GaN, and its effects on the optical properties of c-GaN have been studied and investigated, using the PL technique. The results and analysis of Ar and SF6 plasma etching with various etching voltages on the optical properties through the changes of the PL intensity, linewidth and peak position of c-GaN have been discussed and presented. Effects of annealing in vacuum, hydrogen and nitrogen ambient on the optical properties of GaN has also been investigated. Detailed study of these annealing effects on the PL intensity, linewidth, peak position are presented to show the crystal relaxation and defects created due to the annealing processes.