Indium and gallium oxynitrides prepared in the presence of Zn2+ by ammonolysis of the oxide precursors obtained via the citrate route

Ammonia nitridation of indium and gallium oxide precursors obtained through a soft solution route led to their oxynitrides [In0.97□0.03][N0.92O0.08] at 660 oC and [Ga0.89□0.11][N0.66O0.34] at 850 oC, respectively, where □ refers to a In or Ga vacancy. Cation vacancies in their wurtzite-type lattice were eliminated in similar preparations with the co-presence of Zn2+ by forming complete solid solutions of (InN)1-x(ZnO)x and (GaN)1-y(ZnO)y. The optical absorption edge shape was found to be relatively steep at the solid solution limits of x ∼ 0.23 and y ∼ 0.33 compared to the case without zinc.