Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry is applied to determine anisotropic optical properties for a set of single-crystal rhombohedral structure α-(Al x Ga 1− x ) 2 O 3 thin films (0 [Formula: see text] x [Formula: see text] 1). Samples are grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on m-plane sapphire. A critical-point model is used to render a spectroscopic model dielectric function tensor and to determine direct electronic band-to-band transition parameters, including the direction dependent two lowest-photon energy band-to-band transitions associated with the anisotropic bandgap. We obtain the composition dependence of the direction dependent two lowest band-to-band transitions with separate bandgap bowing parameters associated with the perpendicular ([Formula: see text] = 1.31 eV) and parallel ([Formula: see text] = 1.61 eV) electric field polarization to the lattice c direction. Our density functional theory calculations indicate a transition from indirect to direct characteristics between α-Ga 2 O 3 and α-Al 2 O 3 , respectively, and we identify a switch in band order where the lowest band-to-band transition occurs with polarization perpendicular to c in α-Ga 2 O 3 whereas for α-Al 2 O 3 the lowest transition occurs with polarization parallel to c. We estimate that the change in band order occurs at approximately 40% Al content. Additionally, the characteristic of the lowest energy critical point transition for polarization parallel to c changes from M 1 type in α-Ga 2 O 3 to M 0 type van Hove singularity in α-Al 2 O 3 .
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Elevated temperature spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis of the dielectric function, exciton, band-to-band transition, and high-frequency dielectric constant properties for single-crystal ZnGa 2 O 4
We report the elevated temperature (22 °C [Formula: see text] T [Formula: see text] 600 °C) dielectric function properties of melt grown single crystal ZnGa 2 O 4 using a spectroscopic ellipsometry approach. A temperature dependent Cauchy dispersion analysis was applied across the transparent spectrum to determine the high-frequency index of refraction yielding a temperature dependent slope of 3.885(2) × 10 −5 K −1 . A model dielectric function critical point analysis was applied to examine the dielectric function and critical point transitions for each temperature. The lowest energy M 0 -type critical point associated with the direct bandgap transition in ZnGa 2 O 4 is shown to red-shift linearly as the temperature is increased with a subsequent slope of −0.72(4) meV K −1 . Furthermore, increasing the temperature results in a reduction of the excitonic amplitude and increase in the exciton broadening akin to exciton evaporation and lifetime shortening. This matches current theoretical understanding of excitonic behavior and critically provides justification for an anharmonic broadened Lorentz oscillator to be applied for model analysis of excitonic contributions.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1808715
- PAR ID:
- 10339265
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Volume:
- 120
- Issue:
- 13
- ISSN:
- 0003-6951
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 132105
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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