Comparison of the structural and optical properties of porous In0.08Ga0.92N thin films synthesized by electrochemical etching

•Nanoporous structures of In0.08Ga0.92N.•The roughness of the porous thin films increased with an increase in etching durations.•No phase segregation in XRD pattern.•Blue shifts were observed in the PL spectra of the post-etched films.

This paper presents the structural and optical study of porous (1 µm) In0.08Ga0.92N synthesized by photoelectrochemical etching under various conditions. Field emission scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope images showed that the pre-etched thin films have a sufficiently smooth surface over a large region with wurtzite structure. The roughness increased with an increase in etching duration. The blue shift phenomenon was measured for photoluminescence emission peaks at 300 K. The energy band gap increased to be 3.18 and 3.16 eV for post-etched films at ratios of 1:4 and 1:5, respectively. At the same time, the photoluminescence intensities of the post-etched thin films indicated that the optical properties have been enhanced.

Graphical abstractPL spectra of the as-grown and porous In0.08Ga0.92N under various etching duration.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide