EELS INVESTIGATION OF THE ELECTRON CONDUCTION-BAND STATES IN WURTZITEALN AND OXYGEN-DOPED ALN(O)

The electronic structures of pure and oxygen-doped AlN thin foils, gro wn by the chemical-vapor-deposition technique, have been thoroughly in vestigated using electron energy-loss measurements in a transmission e lectron microscope. This technique offers the advantage of providing s pectral data with a typical sub-1-eV energy resolution from well-chara cterized areas. The interpretation of the experimentally determined el ectron energy-loss near edge requires the detailed comparison with the oretical calculations of unoccupied densities of states using self-con sistent methods or from non-self-consistent multiple scattering calcul ations.