We report on the Raman analysis of the phonon lifetimes of the A(1)(LO) (lo
ngitudinal optical) and E-2(high) phonons in bulk AlN crystals and their te
mperature dependence from 10 to 1275 K. Our experimental results show that
amongst the various possible decay channels, the A(1)(LO) phonons decay pri
marily into two phonons of equal energy (Klemens model), most likely longit
udinal-acoustic phonons, whereas the E-2(high) phonon decays asymmetrically
into a high-energy and a low-energy phonon. Possible decay channels of the
E-2(high) phonon have been shown to include combinations of E-2(low) and a
coustic phonons. Phonon lifetimes of the A(1)(LO) phonon and the E-2(high)
phonon of 0.75 and 2.9 ps, respectively, were measured at 10 K. (C) 2000 Am
erican Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)00339-9].