Ruiying Shu

Semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) is a very promising material that is potentially used in efficient solid-state lighting and high-power electronic devices. Since a high density of dislocation threading occurs in the devices, evaluating the chemical environment at the core of dislocations becomes the key to understanding the impact of these defects on material performance, and is also the key to further improving the next generation of efficient solid-state lighting and high-power electronic devices. At present, the segregation of low-concentration carbon to dislocations has been initially linked to a wide range of technically significant phenomena in nitride materials, while little is known about its exact role and the mechanism that affects the properties of photoelectrons. My project aims to target direct atomic-scale imaging of carbon segregation to dislocations to investigate the proposed links to the properties of GaN devices.