Different optical absorption edges in AlN bulk crystals grown in m- and c-orientations

AlN single crystals were grown on m-plane (101¯0) and c-plane (0001¯) AlN seeds under identical growth conditions. The m-plane AlN crystals exhibited substantially lower oxygen incorporation, ∼1018cm−3, than the c-plane crystals, ∼1019cm−3. By investigating optical transmission spectra, m-plane AlN had absorption bands at 4.05 and 4.35eV, while c-plane AlN had an absorption band edge at 4.85eV. These below bandgap absorption bands strongly correlate with the reported transitions related to Al vacancy-impurity complexes, such as the complex of an Al vacancy and two oxygen atoms, (VAl–2ON)1− and the complex of an Al vacancy and one oxygen atom, (VAl–ON)2−, becoming the major cause for the poor, below bandgap optical transparency (α>200cm−1) of these crystals.