Measurement of GaN/Ge(001) Heterojunction Valence Band Offset by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to measure the valence band offset (VBO) at the GaN/Ge heterostructure interface. The VBO is directly determined to be 1.13 +/- 0.19 eV, according to the relationship between the conduction band offset Delta E-C and the valence band offset Delta E-V : Delta E-C = E-g(GaN) - E-g(Ge) - Delta E-V, and taking the room-temperature band-gaps as 3.4 and 0.67 eV for GaN and Ge, respectively. The conduction band offset is deduced to be 1.6 +/- 0.19 eV, which indicates a type-I band alignment for GaN/Ge. Accurate determination of the valence and conduction band offsets is important for the use of GaN/Ge based devices.