Quantitative evaluation of the broadening of x-ray diffraction, Raman, and photoluminescence lines by dislocation-induced strain in heteroepitaxial GaN films

Experimental x-ray diffraction, Raman, and photoluminescence line profiles from GaN films with different densities of threading dislocations are modeled using Monte Carlo calculations of the strain distribution due to these dislocations. We quantitatively analyze and compare the respective line broadenings predicted by these calculations for different dislocation densities. X-ray diffraction and Raman measurements reveal the strain in the whole volume of the film, due to the large penetration depth of the corresponding radiation, while photoluminescence measurements are sensitive to the strain close to the film surface, in a layer limited by the penetration depth of the radiation used for excitation. This difference in information depths becomes especially important for films in which the threading dislocation density is continuously decreasing during growth, as it can be achieved by vapor phase epitaxy methods. An additional narrowing of photoluminescence lines occurs due to two effects: first, the elastic relaxation of the dislocation strain at the free surface, and second, the suppression of luminescence from the most highly strained regions around the dislocation cores which act as centers of nonradiative recombination.