AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition
    Atom Probe Tomography Focus Topic Thursday Sessions
       Session AP+AS+MC+NS+SS-ThM

Paper AP+AS+MC+NS+SS-ThM5
Analysis of Discontinuous InGaN Quantum Wells by Correlated Atom Probe Tomography, Micro-Photoluminescence, and X-ray Diffraction

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 9:20 am, Room 301

Session: APT Analysis of Semiconductors, Magnetic and Oxide Materials
Presenter: Lincoln Lauhon, Northwestern University
Authors: J. Riley, Northwestern University
X. Ren, Northwestern University
D. Koleske, Sandia National Laboratories
L.J. Lauhon, Northwestern University
Correspondent: Click to Email

In(x)Ga(1-x)N quantum wells are the foundation of solid-state lighting, with excellent quantum efficiencies despite high densities of defects. While there is as yet no universally accepted explanation for the high-efficiency, it is clear that carrier localization plays a role. Consistent with this picture, the quantum efficiencies of some samples can be improved by annealing and hydrogen gas to produce discontinuous quantum wells. However, the standard analysis of quantum well widths and composition by high-resolution x-ray diffraction is complicated by such complex morphologies. Specifically, the influence of surface roughness, and interfacial diffuseness, and planar continuity may be difficult to deconcolve. We will describe correlated analysis of continuous and discontinuous InGaN quantum wells by atom probe tomography, micro-photoluminescence, high-resolution x-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. We find that precise composition profiles extracted from atom probe analysis enable refinement of x-ray diffraction peak fitting in the case of continuous quantum wells, and a better estimate of indium mole fraction and quantum well width. For discontinuous quantum wells, atom probe analysis enables simple models to be integrated into routine x-ray diffraction modeling to enable reliable extraction of indium mole fraction and better correlation with photoluminescence spectra. Correlation of atomic force microscopy tomographic images and micro-photoluminescence spectra over common sample areas, together with site-specific lift out techniques, will be presented to explore the surprising coexistence of high quantum efficiency and inhomogeneous broadening due to the complex underlying quantum well morphology.