InGaN composition and growth rate during the early stages of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were applied to study the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of InGaN and the correlation between the structural properties and luminescence of GaN/InxGa1-xN-quantum well structures. A series of samples was grown varying only the growth duration for the InGaN under otherwise unaltered growth conditions. Composition analyses were carried out by measuring local lattice parameters from TEM images, which are directly related to the local In concentration. A rising average In concentration from 6.5% to 15.4% and a decreasing growth rate are observed with increasing growth duration. All samples show an inhomogeneous In distribution containing In-rich agglomerates with a size of only a few nanometers and less pronounced composition fluctuations on a scale of some 10 nm. The redshift of the PL peak energy with increasing quantum well thickness indicates that the luminescence is predominantly determined by the piezoelectric field. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.