Room-temperature deep-ultraviolet-stimulated emission AlxGa1-xN thin filmsgrown on sapphire

Room-temperature deep-ultraviolet-stimulated emission (SE) has been observe d from optically pumped metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown AlxGa1 -xN thin films. SE has been observed for Al concentrations as high as x = 0 .26, with a resultant SE wavelength as low as 328 nm at room temperature. T he results obtained for the AlxGa1-xN layers are compared with InxGa1-xN la yers of comparable alloy concentration and GaN reference layers. The incorp oration of Al into GaN is shown to result in AlxGa1-xN layers with similar high excitation-density emission behavior as GaN, in contrast to InxGa1-xN layers, which exhibit markedly different SE behavior. The observation of ro om-temperature SE from AlxGa1-xN layers of significant Al concentration ill ustrates the suitability of AlxGa1-xN based structures, not only for use in deep-ultraviolet detectors, but also as a potential source of deep-ultravi olet laser radiation. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(9 9)02702-3].