An analysis of temperature dependent piezoelectric Franz-Keldysh effect in AlGaN

Abstract

Strong Franz-Keldysh oscillations near the band gap of AlGaN are observed in the contactless electroreflectance (CER) studies of a GaN/InGaN/AlGaN multilayer structure. The line shape analysis of the CER spectra at different temperatures provides an accurate determination of the AlGaN band gap energies and the built-in electric fields. Using the existing data of the thermal expansion coefficients of GaN and sapphire, and the piezoelectric constants of AIGaN, the temperature dependence of the electric field is estimated and is in good agreement with the experimental results between 15 and 300 K. We attribute such electric field to the piezoelectric strain effect. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.