Published in

American Institute of Physics, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, 2(42), 2024

DOI: 10.1116/6.0003225

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Composition dependence of intrinsic surface states and Fermi-level pinning at ternary AlxGa1−xN m-plane surfaces

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Growth on nonpolar group III-nitride semiconductor surfaces has been suggested to be a remedy for avoiding detrimental polarization effects. However, the presence of intrinsic surface states within the fundamental bandgap at nonpolar surfaces leads to a Fermi-level pinning during growth, affecting the incorporation of dopants and impurities. This is further complicated by the use of ternary, e.g., AlxGa1−xN layers in device structures. In order to quantify the Fermi-level pinning on ternary group III nitride nonpolar growth surface, the energy position of the group III-derived empty dangling bond surface state at nonpolar AlxGa1−xN(101¯0) surfaces is determined as a function of the Al concentration using cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The measurements show that the minimum energy of the empty dangling bond state shifts linearly toward midgap for increasing Al concentration with a slope of ≈5 meV/%. These experimental findings are supported by complementary density functional theory calculations.