Anisotropic strain and phonon deformation potentials in GaN

We report optical phonon frequency studies in anisotropically strained c-plane- and a-plane-oriented GaN films by generalized infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry and Raman scattering spectroscopy. The anisotropic strain in the films is obtained from high-resolution x-ray diffraction measurements. Experimental evidence for splitting of the GaN E-1(TO), E-1(LO), and E-2 phonons under anisotropic strain in the basal plane is presented, and their phonon deformation potentials c(E1)(TO), c(E1)(LO), and c(E2) are determined. A distinct correlation between anisotropic strain and the A(1)(TO) and E-1(LO) frequencies of a-plane GaN films reveals the a(A1)(TO), b(A1)(TO), a(E1)(LO), and b(E1)(LO) phonon deformation potentials. The a(A1)(TO) and b(A1)(TO) are found to be in very good agreement with previous results from Raman experiments [V. Yu. Davydov , J. Appl. Phys. 82, 5097 (1997)]. Our a(A1)(TO) and a(E1)(LO) phonon deformation potentials agree well with recently reported theoretical estimations [J.-M. Wagner and F. Bechstedt, Phys. Rev. B 66, 115202 (2002)], while b(A1)(TO) and b(E1)(LO) are found to be significantly larger than the theoretical values. A discussion of the observed differences is presented.