Indium nitride (InN): A review on growth, characterization, and properties

During the last few years the interest in the indium nitride (InN) semiconductor has been remarkable. There have been significant improvements in the growth of InN films. High quality single crystalline InN film with two-dimensional growth and high growth rate are now routinely obtained. The background carrier concentration and Hall mobility have also improved. Observation of strong photoluminescence near the band edge is reported very recently, leading to conflicts concerning the exact band gap of InN. Attempts have also been made on the deposition of InN based heterostructures for the fabrication of InN based electronic devices. Preliminary evidence of two-dimensional electron gas accumulation in the InN and studies on InN-based field-effect transistor structure are reported. In this article, the work accomplished in the InN research, from its evolution to till now, is reviewed. The In containing alloys or other nitrides (AlGaInN, GaN, AlN) are not discussed here. We mainly concentrate on the growth, characterization, and recent developments in InN research. The most popular growth techniques, metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy, are discussed in detail with their recent progress. Important phenomena in the epitaxial growth of InN as well as the problems remaining for future study are also discussed.