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Dilute nitride InGaAsSbN layers grown by low-temperature liquid phase epitaxy are studied in comparison with quaternary InGaAsN layers grown at the same growth conditions to understand the effect of Sb in the alloy. The lattice mismatch to the GaAs substrate is found to be slightly larger for the InGaAsNSb layers, which is explained by the large atomic radius of Sb. A reduction of the band gap energy with respect to InGaAsN is demonstrated by means of photoluminescence (PL), surface photovoltage (SPV) spectroscopy and tight-binding calculations. The band-gap energies determined from PL and ellipsometry measurements are in good agreement, while the SPV spectroscopy and the tight-binding calculations provide lower values. Possible reasons for these discrepancies are discussed. The PL spectra reveal localized electronic states in the band gap near the conduction band edge, which is confirmed by SPV spectroscopy. The analysis of the power dependence of the integrated PL has allowed determining the dominant radiative recombination mechanisms in the layers. The values of the refraction index in a wide spectral region are found to be higher for the Sb containing layers.

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Ellipsometry (VASE and MAIE) with appropriate algorithms for experimental data interpretation was applied for quantitative characterization of thin Al2O3/HfO2 multilayers formed by atomic layer deposition (ALD) applicable to the fabrication of charge-trapping nonvolatile memories. A substantial benefit of the algorithms is the depth profiling of the stacks. In this work, the depth profiles were retrieved of the HfO2 constituent in very thin (Al2O3:HfO2) stacks embedded in thin Al2O3 surrounding layers. The peculiarities in the achieved depth profiles are used to determine the bi-layer blocks and their sub-layer thicknesses. The influence of a rapid thermal annealing in O2 on the depth profile and the sub-layer thicknesses is studied; substantial changes are thus revealed in the thickness and composition of the stacks. This information could be used in optimizing the dielectric and electrical properties of the stacks and multilayers.