Identification of van Hove singularities in the GaN dielectric function: a comparison of the cubic and hexagonal phase

We present a detailed analysis of interband transition structures in the dielectric function of GaN. The dielectric function of the stable wurtzite and the metastable zinc blende phase were determined by means of synchrotron spectroscopic ellipsometry in the spectral range between 3 eV and 20 eV where the most significant structures of the dielectric function are located. In the hexagonal case, both the ordinary and extraordinary dielectric tensor component was measured on GaN films with M-plane/[1 (1) over bar 00] orientation. In a comparative discussion of the two hexagonal tensor components and the zinc blende dielectric function, all prominent absorption structures were assigned to specific interband transitions at high symmetry points in the Brillouin zone. The assignment considers the individual dipole transition probabilities depending on the crystal symmetry and the geometry of the measurement. Furthermore, a detailed theoretical band-to-band analysis of dielectric function features, published by Lambrecht et al. [1], was considered. In conclusion, we suggest a new labeling of absorption structures as used in classical III-V materials like GaAs, which reflects the origin of transition structures from specific points in the respective Brillouin zones. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim