• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.37-39
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• 1996

A hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) method was performed to prepare the GaN thick-films on c-plane sapphire substrates. The full-width at half maximum of double crystal X-ray rocking curve from 350${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thick GaN was 576 arcsecond. The photo- luminescence spectrum measured (at room temperature) show the narrow bound exciton(I$_2$) line and weak donor-acceptor pair recombination peak, however, there was not observed deep donor-acceptor pare recombination indicate the GaN crystals prepared in this study are of high purity and high crystalline quality.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.173-173
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• 2010

Recently, a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) has been intensively used as one of the effective ways to reduce the dislocation density for the III-nitride epitaxial layers aiming for the application of high-performance, especially high-brightness, light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In this paper, we analyze the growth kinetics of the atoms and crystalline quality for the undopped-GaN depending on the facets of the pattern fabricated on a sapphire substrate. The effects of the PSS on the device characteristics of InGaN/GaN LEDs were also investigated. Several GaN samples were grown on the PSS under the different growth conditions. And the undoped-GaN layer was grown on a planar sapphire substrate as a reference. For the (002) plane of the undoped-GaN layer, as an example, the line-width broadening of the x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum on a planar sapphire substrate is 216.0 arcsec which is significantly narrower than that of 277.2 arcsec for the PSS. However, the line-width broadening for the (102) plane on the planar sapphire substrate (363.6 arcsec) is larger than that for the PSS (309.6 arcsec). Even though the growth parameters such as growth temperature, growth time, and pressure were systematically changed, this kind of trend in the line-width broadening of XRD spectrum was similar. The emission wavelength of the undoped-GaN layer on the PSS was red-shifted by 5.7 nm from that of the conventional LEDs (364.1 nm) under the same growth conditions. In addition, the intensity for the GaN layer on the PSS was three times larger than that of the planar case. The spatial variation in the emission wavelength of the undoped-GaN layer on the PSS was statistically ${\pm}0.5\;nm$ obtained from the photoluminescence mapping results throughout the whole wafer. These results will be discussed in terms of the mixed dislocation depending on the facets and the period of the patterns.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2004.06b
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• pp.501-504
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• 2004

High quality GaN layer was obtained on 0001 sapphire substrate using ammonia($NH_3$) as a nitrogen source by gas source molecular beam epitaxy. As a result, RHEED is used to investigate the relaxation processes which take place during the growth of GaN. In-situ RHEED(reflection high electron energy diffraction) appeared streaky-like pattern. The full Width at half maximum of the x-ray diffraction(FWHM) rocking curve measured from plane of GaN has exhibited as narrow as 8arcmin and surface roughness was 7.83nm. Photoluminescence measurement of GaN was investigated at room temperature, where the intensity of the band edge emission is much stronger than that of deep level emission. The GaN epitaxy layer according to various growth condition was investigated.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2006

In this paper, the time evolution of undoped GaN epilayers on a low-temperature GaN buffer layer grown on c-plane sapphire at a low pressure of 300 Torr was studied via a two-step growth condition in a horizontal MOCVD reactor. As a function of the growth time at a high-temperature, the surface morphology, structural quality, and optical and electrical properties were investigated using atomic force microscopy, high-resolution x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, and Hall effect measurement, respectively. The root-mean-square roughness showed a drastic decrease after a certain period of surface roughening probably due to the initial island growth. The surface morphology also showed the island coalescence and the subsequent suppression of three-dimensional island nucleation. The structural quality of the GaN epilayer was improved with increasing growth time considering the symmetrical (002) and asymmetrical (102) rocking curves. The variations of room-temperature photoluminescence, background carrier concentration, and Hall mobility were measured and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.124-131
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• 2016

GaN and InN epilayers with nucleation layer (LT-buffer) were grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by radio-frequency plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MBE). As-grown and annealed GaN and InN nucleation layers grown at various growth condition were observed by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). When temperature of effusion cell for III source was very low, diffraction pattern with cubic symmetry was observed and zincblende nucleation layer was flattened easily by annealing. As cell temperature increased, LT-GaN and LT-InN showed typical diffraction pattern from wurtzite structure, and FWHM of (10-12) plane decreased remarkably which means much improved crystalline quality. Diffraction pattern was changed to be from streaky to spotty when plasma power was raised from 160 to 220 W because higher plasma power makes more nitrogen adatoms on the surface and suppressed surface mobility of III species. Therefore, though wurtzite nucleation layer was a little hard to be flattened compared to zincblende, higher cell temperature led to easier movement of III surface adatoms and resulted in better crystalline quality of GaN and InN epilayers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.171-171
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• 2010

GaN 기반 Light emitting diodes(LEDs)의 p-type doping layer는 일반적으로 hole을 발생시키는 acceptor로 Mg이 사용하되고 있다. 보통 Mg이 도핑된 p-type GaN은 >$1\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$의 저항이 존재하는데 그 이유는 Mg의 열적 이온화를 위한 activation 에너지가 높아서 상온에서 valence band의 hole concentration는 전체 억셉터 농도의 1%가 되지 않기 ��문이다. 본 논문에서는 높은 hole 농도를 얻기 위해서 metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD)를 장비를 사용하여 사파이어 기판의 misorientation-angle에 따른 p-type a-plane(11-20) GaN 특성을 분석하였다. misorientation-angle은 c축 방향으로 $+0.15^{\circ}$, $-0.15^{\circ}$, $-0.2^{\circ}$, $-0.4^{\circ}$ off된 r-plane(1-102) 사파이어 기판 을 사용하였다. p-type 도핑물질로 bis-magnesium (Cp2Mg) 소스를 사용하였고 성장 과정중 발생하는 hydrogen passivation으로 인한 Mg-H complexes현상을 해결하기위해 conventional furnace annealing (CFA)와 rapid thermal annealing (RTA)를 이용하여 열처리 공정을 진행하였다. 열처리 공정은 Air와 N2 분위기에서 $650^{\circ}C$에서 $900^{\circ}C$ 사이의 다양한 온도에서 수행하였고 Hall 측정을 위해 Ni을 전극 물질로 사용하였다. 상온에서 Accent HL5500IU Hall system을 사용하여 hole concentration, mobility, specific resistance을 측정하였다. 열처리 공정 후 Hall측정 결과 $+0.15^{\circ}$, $-0.15^{\circ}$, $-0.2^{\circ}$, $-0.4^{\circ}$ off된 각 샘플들은 온도, 시간, 분위기에 따라 hole concentration ($7.4{\times}10^{16}cm^{-3}{\sim}6{\times}10^{17}cm^{-3}$), mobility(${\mu}h=\;1.72\;cm^2/V-s\;{\sim}15.2\;cm^2/V-s$), specific resistance(4.971 ohm-cm ~8.924 ohm-cm) 가 변화됨을 확인 할 수 있었다. 또한 광학적 특성을 분석하기 위해 Photoluminescence (PL)을 측정하였다.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.388-396
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• 2023

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a vital source of clean and sustainable hydrogen energy. Moreover, the large-scale H₂ production is currently necessary, while long-term stability and high PEC activity still remain important issues. In this study, a GaN-based photoelectrode was modified by an additional NH₃ treatment (900℃ for 10 min) and its PEC behavior was monitored. The bare GaN exhibited a highly crystalline wurtzite structure with the (002) plane and the optical bandgap was approximately 3.2 eV. In comparison, the NH₃-treated GaN film exhibited slightly reduced crystallinity and a small improvement in light absorption, resulting from the lattice stress or cracks induced by the excessive N supply. The minor surface nanotexturing created more surface area, providing electroactive reacting sites. From the surface XPS analysis, the formation of an N-Ga-O phase on the surface region of the GaN film was confirmed, which suppressed the charge recombination process and the positive shift of E_FB. Therefore, these effects boosted the PEC activity of the NH₃-treated GaN film, with J values of approximately 0.35 and 0.78 mA·cm^-2 at 0.0 and 1.23 V_RHE, respectively, and an onset potential (V_on) of -0.24 V_RHE. In addition, there was an approximate 50% improvement in the J value within the highly applied potential region with a positive shift of V_on. This result could be explained by the increased nanotexturing on the surface structure, the newly formed defect/trap states correlated to the positive V_on shift, and the formation of a GaO_xN_1-x phase, which partially blocked the charge recombination reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.196-201
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• 2014

We investigated defects and surface polarity in AlN and GaN by using wet chemical etching. Therefore, the effectiveness and reliability of estimating the single crystals by defect selective etching in NaOH/KOH eutectic alloy have been successfully demonstrated. High-quality AlN and GaN single crystals were etched in molten NaOH/KOH eutectic alloy. The etching characteristics and surface morphologies were carried out by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The etch rates of AlN and GaN surface were calculated by etching depth as a function of etching time. As a result, two-types of etch pits with different sizes were revealed on AlN and GaN surface, respectively. Etching produced hexagonal pits on the metal-face (Al, Ga) (0001) plane, while hexagonal hillocks formed on the N-face. On etching rate calibration, it was found that N-face had approximately 109 and 15 times higher etch rate than the metal-face of AlN and GaN, respectively. The size of etch pits increased with an increase of the etching time and they tend to merge together with a neighbouring etch pits. Also, the chemical mechanism of each etching process was discussed. It was found that hydroxide ion ($OH^-$) and the dangling bond of nitrogen play an important role in the selective etching of the metal-face and N-face.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2009.08a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2009

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.161-167
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• 2013

The ZnO thin films were grown on GaN template substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at different RF powers and n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction LEDs were fabricated to investigate the effect of the RF power on the characteristics of the n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs. For the growth of the ZnO thin films, the substrate temperature was kept constant at $200^{\circ}C$ and the RF power was varied within the range of 200 to 500W at different growth times to deposit films of 100 nm thick. The electrical, optical and structural properties of ZnO thin films were investigated by ellipsometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), photoluminescence (PL) and by assessing the Hall effect. The characteristics of the n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs were evaluated by current-voltage (I-V) and electroluminescence (EL) measurements. ZnO thin films were grown with a preferred c-axis orientation along the (0002) plane. The XRD peaks shifted to low angles and the surface roughness became non-uniform with an increase in the RF power. Also, the PL emission peak was red-shifted. The carrier density and the mobility decreased with the RF power. For the n-ZnO/p-GaN LED, the forward current at 20 V decreased and the threshold voltage increased with the RF power. The EL emission peak was observed at approximately 435 nm and the luminescence intensity decreased. Consequently, the crystallinity of the ZnO thin films grown with RF sputtering powers were improved. However, excess Zn affected the structural, electrical and optical properties of the ZnO thin films when the optimal RF power was exceeded. This excess RF power will degrade the characteristics of light emitting devices.