Photoelectron spectroscopy characterization and computational modeling of gadolinium nitride thin films synthesized by chemical vapor deposition

Here we report our study of the electronic properties of [100]-textured gadolinium nitride (GdN) thin films synthesized using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The electronic properties of the films were investigated using photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopy coupled with computational modeling. Our density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the theoretically predicted half-metallic electronic structure of GdN is likely due to its low density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level. These calculations are supported by our photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopic measurements which show a band gap for the prepared films of a few milli-electron volts, seemingly consistent with the predicted electronic structure. Additionally, the use of a CVD gallium nitride capping layer was found to decelerate the surface oxidation of our GdN samples.