Phonons and Free Carriers in a Strained Hexagonal GaN-AlN Superlattice Measured by Infrared Ellipsometry and Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

Phonon and free-carrier effects in a strained hexagonal (α) {GaN}l-{AlN}msuperlattice (SL) heterostructure (l = 8 nm, m = 3 nm) are studied by infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry (IRSE) and micro (µ)-Raman scattering. Growth of the heterostructures was performed by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) on (0001) sapphire. An unstrained 1 µm-thick α-GaN layer was deposited prior to the SL. SL phonon modes are identified combining results from both IRSE and µ-Raman techniques. The shift of the GaN-sublayer phonon modes is used to estimate an average compressive SL stress of σxx ∼ - 4.3 GPa. The IRSE data reveal a free-carrier concentration of ne ∼ 5×1018 cm−3 within the undoped SL GaN-sublayers. According to the vertical carrier confinement, the free-carrier mobility is anisotropic, and the lateral mobility (µ⊥ ∼ 400 cm2/Vs, polarization E⊥c-axis) exceeds the vertical mobility (µ|| ∼ 24 cm2/Vs, E||c) by one order of magnitude.