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Indium nitride (InN) thin films have been grown on a variety of substrates using low-temperature radio frequency reactive sputtering of indium metal in pure nitrogen plasma. Quantitative compositional analyses of the films, carried out using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), suggest that large amounts of oxygen are present in them. The high concentration of oxygen in our films is attributed to the voided microstructure as revealed by cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy. The XPS studies also suggest that the oxygen incorporated into the films is bonded to nitrogen.

The band-gap of indium nitride has long been believed to be about 1.9eV with slight variations due to band-tailing in polycrystalline samples and degenerate doping. Recently, other values as low as 0.7 eV have apparently been observed. We have compared samples spanning this apparent range of band-gap using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and heavy ion elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA), in conjunction with spectral optical density measurements. Once structural inhomogeneiteies are taken into account, we show that much of the conflicting data are compatible with direct photoionisation with a threshold energy of about 1.0eV. This feature was first reported in polycrystalline indium nitride over 15 years ago and attributed to a ∣p> like defect state. We ask whether the feature may instead be a direct band-gap.

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