Valence‐band discontinuities of wurtzite GaN, AlN, and InN heterojunctions measured by x‐ray photoemission spectroscopy

The valence‐band discontinuities at various wurtzite GaN, AlN, and InN heterojunctions were measured by means of x‐ray photoemission spectroscopy. A significant forward–backward asymmetry was observed in the InN/GaN–GaN/InN and InN/AlN–AlN/InN heterojunctions. The asymmetry was understood as a piezoelectric strain effect. We report the valence band discontinuities for InN/GaN=1.05±0.25 eV, GaN/AlN=0.70±0.24 eV, and InN/AlN=1.81±0.20 eV, all in the standard type I lineup. These values obey transitivity to within the experimental accuracy. Tables of photoemission core level binding energies are reported for wurtzite GaN, AlN, and InN.