Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a very hard, mechanically stable, wide bandgap semiconductor. GaN is used in light emitting diodes, lasers, sensors, high-power transistors, and high-frequency transistors. Gallium Nitride forms the wurtzite and zincblende crystal structures.
Crystal structure: Wurtzite Bravais lattice: hexagonal Space group: P63mc = 186 Point group: 6mm = C6v Molecular Weight 83.73 g/mol Molecular density natoms=8.9×1022 1/cm³ Density ρ=6.15 g/cm³ |
The primitive GaN wurtzite unit cell contains 4 atoms.
The N atoms are positioned at [13,23,0] and [23,13,12] while the Ga atoms are positioned at [13,23,38] and [23,13,78].
The lattice parameters of the conventional unit cell are:
a=0.3180nm,b=0.3180nm,c=0.5166nm,α=90∘,β=90∘,γ=120∘.Properties |
Wurtzite |
Zincblende |
Bandgap Eg |
3.4 eV (direct) |
3.2 eV (direct) |
Effective density of states in conduction band (300 K) Nc |
2.3 × 1024 m-3 |
1.2 × 1024 m-3 |
Effective density of states in valence band (300 K) Nv |
4.6 × 1025 m-3 |
4.1 × 1025 m-3 |
Effective mass electrons |
m* = 0.20 |
m* = 0.13 |
Effective mass holes |
mlh* = 0.3 |
mlh* = 0.19 |
Electric Breakdown Field |
3.3 × 106 V/cm |
GaN is a direct bandgap semiconductor.
Source: Rheinlander, A., Neumann, H. Plasma Faraday Rotation in n-Type GaN. Phys. Status Solidi (b) 64 (1974) K123.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15213951/64/2
(1 August 1974)
Accessed: 01-02-2021