Recent experimental and theoretical research on intense pulsed particle beams involving the ETIGO Project at the Technological University of Nagaoka is reviewed. Experimentally, we review the following: (1) studies on local divergence angle in parameter space, (2) development of self-magnetically insulated “Plasma-Focus Diode,” (3) beam focusing by z-discharged plasma channel, (3) measurement of ablation process of beam-target interaction, (4) time-resolvable measurement of energy and species, (5) inductive postacceleration of highly neutralized ion beam, (6) construction of new pulse-power machine, and pulse-compression experiment by plasma erosion opening switch. A brief summary is also given on the development of 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell computer simulation code.

We have investigated the growth properties of Mg-doped N-polar InN films grown by radio-frequency plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MBE). We found that the Mg-doped InN films had smaller grain size than non-doped films, and furthermore the grain size decreased with an increase in Mg doping amount. Non-doped InN exhibited a single X-ray diffraction (XRD) peak of (0002) h-InN. On the other hand, the Mg-doped InN produced a weak XRD peak of (111) c-InN in addition to a strong peak of (0002) h-InN. These results indicate that the Mg doping decreased the surface migration length of In atoms. From Hall-effect measurements, all the samples were shown to have n-type conductivity. Mg-doped InN grown with Mg cell temperatures of 130 and 135°C had carrier concentrations that were about half (i.e., ∼4.5×1018 cm−3) that of the non-doped InN. However, the carrier concentration tended to increase with further supply of Mg. These results indicate that Mg-doping causes a trade-off between a carrier decreasing effect from the Mg acceptors and a carrier increasing effect from defects caused by the poor surface migration of In atoms.

We report on the growth of self-aligned InN nano-dots on nano-patterned GaN templates by electron cyclotron resonance plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy (ECR-MBE). In the fabrication of the nano-dots, InN was grown on GaN templates with reticular patterns of holes, which were prepared by the focused ion beam (FIB) technique. The InN nano-dots were formed selectively at the holes, resulting in the reticular array of InN nano-dos. The size of InN dots was controlled by varying the hole-pitch and the growth temperature. Furthermore, the shape of InN dots improved by thermal annealing after the growth. We have succeeded in controlling the position and size of InN nano-dots on nano-patterned substrates. Typically, InN nano-dots with a diameter of 50 nm and a height of 10 nm were fabricated in 410°C growth.

For further improvements in AlGaN/GaN heterojunction field-effect transistor performance (HFET), it is necessary to reduce the leakage current of the GaN buffer layer. We found a correlation between the leakage current and the intensity of the yellow luminescence of GaN layers taken by UV lamp excitation. The GaN layers were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition on SiC substrates. When the samples were excited by a UV (365 nm) lamp, visible yellow luminescence was observed. The leakage current of the GaN buffer layer was measured after deposition of ohmic metal contact. We confirmed clear correlation between the leakage current and the luminescence intensity based from result that the samples with the larger leakage current showed the stronger luminescence intensity. This correlation gives us useful information to understand the drain-source leakage current of AlGaN/GaN HFET.

Optical properties of tensile strained AlxGa1-xN films of AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire were investigated by using polarization-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. Emissions from AlxGa1-xN with polarization of E//c and E⊥c were obtained at different peak energies. The energy separation of these emissions with polarization was increased linearly with the increase in Al mole fraction of the strained AlxGa1-xN, indicating that the energy separation was due to biaxial strain in the tensile strained AlxGa1-xN.

Current-voltage (IV) measurements and capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements have been carried out to investigate electrical properties of AlGaN/GaN-HEMT structures. By CV measurements of Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with large leak currents, we observed a distinct peak in CV profiling at low frequencies. The integral of this peak was found to have a correlation with a leak current. The behavior of this peak might be described by the Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) model if we assume this peak is due to a phenomenon of an electron emission and capture by deep levels. Then Quasi-Fermi Level (Imref) at the bias point where this peak appears in CV profiling corresponds to energy depth of deep levels. That energy level can be approximated by Imref of two-dimensional (2D) electron gas. The result of our samples showed that the energy depth of deep levels from the conduction band is distributed from 320meV to 470meV for Al mole fraction from 0.19 to 0.30, respectively.

Cubic GaN is successfully grown on β-Ga2O3 by molecular beam epitaxy for the first time. Prior nitridation of the (100) β-Ga2O3 single-crystal substrate by exposure to electron cyclotron resonance nitrogen plasma causes the formation of a surficial (001) c-GaN layer, upon which homo-epitaxial growth of c-GaN can be achieved by radio-frequency molecular beam epitaxy. The epitaxial relationship is confirmed by electron microscopy to be (001) c-GaN // (100) β-Ga2O3, [110] c-GaN // [010] β-Ga2O3, and [1-10] c-GaN // [001] β-Ga2O3.

The effects of the nitridation process of (0001) sapphire on crystalline quality of InN were clearly demonstrated. The InN films were grown on NFM (nitrogen flux modulation) HT-InN or LT-InN buffer layers, which had been deposited on nitridated sapphire substrates. We found that low-temperature nitridation of sapphire is effective in improving the tilt distribution of InN films. Whereas the twist distribution remained narrow and almost constant, independent of nitridation conditions, when LT-InN buffer layers were used. The XRC-FWHM value of 54 arcsec for (0002) InN, the lowest reported to date, was achieved by using the LT-InN buffer layer and sapphire nitridation at 300°C for 3 hours.

This paper describes studies on high-quality InN growth on sapphire by RF-MBE. Critical procedures to obtain high-quality InN films were investigated and (1) nitridation process of sapphire substrates prior to growth, (2) precise control of V/III ratio and (3) selection of optimum growth temperature were found to be essential. Detailed structural characterizations by XRD, TEM, Raman scattering and EXAFS indicate that InN films obtained in this study have ideal hexagonal wurtzite structure. FWHMs of ω-2Θ mode XRD and E2(high)-phonon-mode of Raman scattering are as small as 28.9 arcsec and 3.2 cm-1, respectively. True band gap energy of InN is also discussed based on optical characterization results obtained from well-characterized hexagonal InN grown in this study. PbS, instead of InGaAs, was used as a detector for PL study in order to solve the problem coming from the cut-off wavelength of InGaAs detector. Based on these systematic studies on structural and optical property characterizations using high-quality InN, true band-gap energy of InN is suggested to be less than 0.67 eV and approximately 0.65 eV at room temperature. Single-crystalline InN films are also successfully grown on Si substrates by a brief nitridation of the Si substrates. Significant improvement of InN crystal quality on Si substrates by the insertion of an AlN buffer layer is also demonstrated.

A newly reported narrow bandgap for indium nitride means that the indium gallium nitride system of alloys can be a candidate for new high efficiency solar cells covering most of the solar spectrum. In this paper, n-InN films were grown on p-Si (100) substrates. We characterize, for the first time, photovoltaic properties using n-InN/p-Si hetero-junction grown by RF-MBE.

InN films were grown on Si (111) substrates by radio-frequency plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy. InN films highly oriented to the c-axis were obtained by optimizing growth conditions in the direct growth on Si. Growth of single crystalline InN films was realized on Si substrates with substrate nitridation for 3 min. On the other hands, when the substrate nitridation was lasted over 30 min, obtained InN films were polycrystalline due to the amorphous SiNx layer formed on a substrate surface. We also studied the local atomic structure in the single crystalline InN film using extended X-ray absorption fine structure measurements.

InN films were grown on sapphire (0001) substrates by radio-frequency plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The InN buffer layers deposited at low temperature were either grown on a substrate with nitridation or on a substrate without nitridation. The InN buffer layers on the nitridated substrates were always single crystalline, whereas the buffer layers on non-nitridated substrates were always polycrystalline. However, even without nitridation process, single crystalline InN films could be grown on the polycrystalline InN buffer layers; in this case, the orientation was always [1120] InN//[1120] sapphire epitaxy, which differed from the [1010] InN//[1120] sapphire epitaxy in films grown with nitridation.

InN films with excellent surface morphology were grown by controlled the V/III ratio of InN epitaxal layer. It was found they were single crystal of InN films with wurtzite structure by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) observation. Hall mobility as high as 760 cm2/Vs was achieved for InN film grown at 550°C with 240 W of RF plasma power with a carrier density of 3.0×1019 cm−3 at room temperature. To our knowledge, this electron mobility is the highest value ever reported.

We have investigated relationships between the microscopic structure and optical property of polycrystalline GaN grown by (electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy) ECR-MBE on silica glass substrates, using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and cathodoluminescence (CL). It was found that CL intensity was stronger for the samples with a large columnar domain size. These individual columnar domains showed clear luminescence. It was found that the origin of strong luminescence from polycrystalline GaN is due to such a columnar domain. That luminescence was closely related to the morphology of the columnar domains. It was revealed that the columnar domain with a homogeneous and hexagonal shape showed clear luminescence.

We have investigated relationships between microscopic structure and cathodoluminescence (CL) property of polycrystalline (poly-) GaN grown by electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy (ECR-MBE) on ZnO/Si substrates. Very strong CL with a peak of 3.45 eV was observed from the poly-GaN, which mainly showed a columnar structure with a size of 50-100 nm. On the other hand, the intensity of CL from the poly-GaN with few columnar domains was weaker than that of the poly-GaN with the columnar structure. The CL image from the poly-GaN, in which the columnar domains were locally observed, showed a strong contrast between bright domains and a dark background. It is confirmed that these bright regions in the CL images are corresponding to the columnar domains of the poly-GaN, by comparing with the SEM images. These results suggest that the columnar domains are responsible for the strong CL from the poly-GaN grown on the ZnO/Si substrates. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation revealed that the columnar domains had high quality crystallinity with few defects.

GaN growth by electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy using hydrogen-nitrogen mixed gas plasma were carried out on GaN templates with a different polar-surface. Structure and surface morphology of the GaN layers were characterized using transmission electron microscopy. The GaN layer grown with hydrogen on N-polar template showed a relatively flat morphology including hillocks. Columnar domain existed in the center of the hillock, which might be attributed to the existence of tiny inversion domain with Ga-polarity. On the other hand, columnarstructure was formed in the GaN layer grown with hydrogen on Ga-polar template.

Au/3d-metal(Fe, Co, and Ni) artificial multilayered films were prepared by alternate deposition technique in ultrahigh vacuum. Well defined superstructures were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and Xray diffraction method. All 3d-metals were epitaxially grown on (111) oriented Au buffer layers. A large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was observed in Au/Co multilayered films. When Co layer thickness was 4.7 Å, the effective perpendicular anisotropy energy Ku was 9.6x106 erg/cm3. The surface (interface) anisotropy energy constants, Ks, of Au/Co and Au/Fe multilayered films were estimated to be 0.42 erg/cm2 and 0.51 erg/cm2, respectively. The volume contribution, Kv, was interpreted from the observed value of saturation magnetization and the bulk values of magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy constants K1 and K2.