Aluminium gallium nitride
Semiconductor material
Aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor material. It is an alloy of aluminium nitride and gallium nitride.
The bandgap of AlxGa1-xN can be tailored to range from 3.4 eV (bandgap of GaN) to 6.2 eV (bandgap of AlN) depending on the AlN mole fraction,
AlGaN is used to manufacture light-emitting diodes operating in the blue to ultraviolet region of the spectrum. Emission wavelengths in the far-UV region (around 250 nm) have been achieved, with some research teams reporting emission with wavelengths as short as 222 nm and 210 nm.
AlGaN is also used in blue semiconductor lasers, detectors of ultraviolet radiation, and AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors.
AlGaN is often used together with gallium nitride or aluminium nitride to form heterojunctions.
AlGaN layers are commonly grown on Gallium nitride, on sapphire or (111) Si substrates, and almost always with additional GaN layers.
01Safety and toxicity aspects
The toxicology of AlGaN has not been fully investigated. The AlGaN dust is an irritant to skin, eyes and lungs. The environment, health and safety aspects of aluminium gallium nitride sources (such as trimethylgallium and ammonia) and industrial hygiene monitoring studies of standard MOVPE sources have been reported recently in a review.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Aluminium gallium nitride”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.