Indium and gallium oxynitrides prepared in the presence of Zn 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 In_0.97□_0.03]N_0.92O_0.08] at 660 °C and Ga_0.89□_0.11]N_0.66O_0.34] at 850 °C, 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.