Nanoscopy of Phase Separation in In x Ga1–x N Alloys

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 8; no. 35; pp. 23160 - 23166
• Main Authors: Abate, Yohannes, Seidlitz, Daniel, Fali, Alireza, Gamage, Sampath, Babicheva, Viktoriia, Yakovlev, Vladislav S, Stockman, Mark I, Collazo, Ramon, Alden, Dorian, Dietz, Nikolaus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 07.09.2016
• Subjects: nanospectroscopy; composition profile; near-field; indium gallium nitride alloys; phase separation semiconductors
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b06766

Phase separations in ternary/multinary semiconductor alloys is a major challenge that limits optical and electronic internal device efficiency. We have found ubiquitous local phase separation in In1–x Ga x N alloys that persists to nanoscale spatial extent by employing high-resolution nanoimaging technique. We lithographically patterned InN/sapphire substrates with nanolayers of In1–x Ga x N down to few atomic layers thick that enabled us to calibrate the near-field infrared response of the semiconductor nanolayers as a function of composition and thickness. We also developed an advanced theoretical approach that considers the full geometry of the probe tip and all the sample and substrate layers. Combining experiment and theory, we identified and quantified phase separation in epitaxially grown individual nanoalloys. We found that the scale of the phase separation varies widely from particle to particle ranging from all Ga- to all In-rich regions and covering everything in between. We have found that between 20 and 25% of particles show some level of Ga-rich phase separation over the entire sample region, which is in qualitative agreement with the known phase diagram of In1–x Ga x N system.