Julien Brault

Aluminium Gallium Nitride (AlyGa1-yN) quantum dots (QDs) with thin sub-µm AlxGa1-xN layers (with x > y) were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on 3 nm and 6 nm thick hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) initially deposited on c-sapphire substrates. An AlN layer was grown on h-BN and the surface roughness was investigated by atomic force microscopy for different deposited thicknesses. It was shown that for thicker AlN layers (i.e., 200 nm), the surface roughness can be reduced and hence a better surface morphology is obtained. Next, AlyGa1-yN QDs embedded in Al0.7Ga0.3N cladding layers were grown on the AlN and investigated by atomic force microscopy. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction measurements were conducted to assess the crystalline quality of the AlGaN/AlN layers and examine the impact of h-BN on the subsequent layers. Next, the QDs emission properties were studied by photoluminescence and an emission in the deep ultra-violet, i.e., in the 275–280 nm range was obtained at room temperature. Finally, temperature-dependent photoluminescence was performed. A limited decrease in the emission intensity of the QDs with increasing temperatures was observed as a result of the three-dimensional confinement of carriers in the QDs.

In the case of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), the Mg acceptors are electrically active in the as‐grown material and a priori no additional annealing procedure is necessary. However, there are still some peculiarities in the electrical properties of ammonia‐process grown GaN:Mg and some annealing effect can be observed. Additionally, the character of weak temperature dependence in the vicinity of room temperature suggests that to describe the conduction process an additional conduction channel not related to the free carriers in the valence band must be taken into account. For these reasons, this article presents the results of low‐temperature resistivity and Hall Effect studies of Mg‐doped, ammonia‐process‐grown GaN. The studied samples are grown on low‐temperature buffers of GaN deposited on a sapphire substrate. High‐temperature annealing process (≈800 K) is carried out for all of them. The temperature dependences of the electrical transport properties before and after the annealing procedure are especially investigated at temperatures ranging from 10 up to 300 K. It is found that the low temperatures transport properties are sensitive to the annealing procedure and to describe the observed effects the hopping phenomena must be taken into account.