The growth mechanisms of vertical compositional inhomogeneities were investigated in lattice-matched AlInN films prepared by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition. X-ray diffraction and secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements demonstrated a fluctuation of the indium (In) atomic fraction at the initial growth stage. Some In droplets formed on the surface of the inhomogeneous AlInN films, when In was excess caused by the initial Al-rich AlInN layer. The compositional inhomogeneities were attributed to the self-assembled In droplets by increasing the surface In content.

Recently, solid-phase recrystallization of ultrathin indium antimonide nanocrystals (InSb NCs (films grown on SiO2/Si substrate is very attractive, because of the rapid development of thermal annealing technique. In this study, the recrystallization behavior of 35 nm indium antimonide film was studied. Through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, it is demonstrated that the InSb film is composed of nanocrystals after high temperature rapid thermal annealing. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the film has a smooth surface and is composed of tightly packed spherical grains, the average grain size is about 12.3 nm according to XRD results. The optical bandgap of the InSb NCs film analyzed by Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy measurement is around 0.26 eV. According to the current-voltage characteristics of the InSb NCs/SiO2/p-Si heterojunction, the film has the rectifying behavior and the turn-on voltage value is near 1 V.

Dislocation behaviors are analyzed in AlGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well films grown with different strain-modified interlayers. In the case of multiple-quantum-well layers grown on a GaN buffer layer without the interlayer, many threading dislocations interact and annihilate within about 100 nm below the multiple quantum well layer. For multiple-quantum-well layers grown with the AlGaN interlayer, misfit dislocations between the GaN buffer layer and the AlGaN interlayer enter multiple-quantum-well layers and result in an increase of threading dislocation density. Besides misfit dislocations, the edge-type dislocation is another dislocation origin attributed to the dissociation of Shockley partials bounding the stacking fault in AlN/GaN superlattices below the interlayer interface.