Evidence of terbium and oxygen co-segregation in annealed AIN:Tb

摘要

Analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy has been applied to study aluminium nitride (A1N) doped with terbium (Tb) and annealed at 800 ℃. The correlation of the maps of Tb and oxygen (O) from electron energy-loss spectrum (EELS) imaging proves that these two elements co-segregate, replacing aluminium (Al) and nitrogen (N) atoms, respectively. This agrees well with modelling which predicted the existence of Tb-O complexes needed to fit all lines in the rather complicated cathodoluminescence emission spectrum of the sample.