EFFECTIVE-MASS THEORY FOR GAAS/GA1-XALXAS QUANTUM WIRES AND CORRUGATED SUPERLATTICES GROWN ON (311)-ORIENTED SUBSTRATES

The electronic structures of GaAs/Ga1-xAlxAs quantum wires (corrugated superlattices) grown on (311)-oriented substrates are studied in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function method. The electron and hole subband structure and optical transition matrix elements are calculated. When x=1, the results are compared with experiments, and it is found that the direct transition becomes an indirect transition as the widths of well and barrier become smaller.

STUDIES OF THE PROMISING MATERIAL COSI2 ON GAAS SUBSTRATES

The thermal stability of CoSi2 thin films on GaAs substrates has been studied using a variety of techniques. The CoSi2 thin films were formed by depositing Co(500 angstrom) and Si(1800 angstrom) layers on GaAs substrates by electron-beam evaporation followed by annealing processes, where the Si inter-layer was used as a diffusion/reaction barrier at the interface. The resistivity of CoSi2 thin films formed is about 30 muOMEGA cm. The Schottky barrier height of CoSi2/n-GaAs is 0.76 eV and the ideality factor is 1.14 after annealing at 750-degrees-C for 30 min. The CoSi2/GaAs interface is determined to be thermally stable and the thin film morphologically uniform on GaAs after 900-degrees-C/30 s anneal. The CoSi2 thin films fulfill the requirements in GaAs self-aligned gate technology.

OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GAAS/ALGAAS RIDGE-QUANTUM-WELL-WIRES GROWN BY MBE ON NONPLANAR SUBSTRATES

With conventional photolithography and wet chemical etching, we have realized GaAs/AlGaAs buried ridge-quantum-well-wires (RQWWs) with vertically stacked wires in lateral arrays promising for device application, which were grown in situ by a single-step molecular beam epitaxy growth and formed at the ridge tops of mesas on nonplanar substrates. Confocal photoluminescence (CPL) and polarization-dependent photoreflectance (PR) are applied to study optical characteristics of RQWWs. Lateral bandgap modulation due to lateral variation of QW layer thickness is demonstrated not only by CPL but also by PR. As one evidence for RQWWs, a large blue shift is observed at the energy level positions for electronic transitions corresponding to quantum wells (QWs) at the ridge tops of mesas compared with those corresponding to QWs on nonpatterned areas of the same sample. The blue shift is in contradiction with the fact that the GaAs QW layers at the tops of the mesas are thicker than those on nonpatterned areas. The other evidence for RQWWs, optical anisotropy is provided by the polarization-dependent PR, which results from lateral quantum size effect existing at the tops of the mesas.

IMPLANTATION ENERGY SELECTION IN MOLECULAR-BEAM EPITAXY GAAS FILMS ON SI SUBSTRATES

GaAs films made by molecular beam epitaxy with thicknesses ranging from 0.9 to 1.25-mu-m on Si have been implanted with Si ions at 1.2 MeV to dose of 1 x 10(15)/cm2. A rapid infrared thermal annealing and white light annealing were then used for recrystallization. Crystalline quality was analysed by using backscattering channeling technique with Li ion beam of 4.2 MeV. The experimental results show that energy selection is important for obtaining better and uniform recrystallized GaAs epilayers.

EFFECTIVE-MASS THEORY FOR SUPERLATTICES GROWN ON (11N)-ORIENTED SUBSTRATES

An effective-mass formulation for superlattices grown on (11N)-oriented substrates is given. It is found that, for GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs superlattices, the hole subband structure and related properties are sensitive to the orientation because of the large anisotropy of the valence band. The energy-level positions for the heavy hole and the optical transition matrix elements for the light hole apparently change with orientation. The heavy- and light-hole energy levels at k parallel-to = 0 can be calculated separately by taking the classical effective mass in the growth direction. Under a uniaxial stress along the growth direction, the energy levels of the heavy and light holes shift down and up, respectively; at a critical stress, the first heavy- and light-hole energy levels cross over. The energy shifts caused by the uniaxial stress are largest for the (111) case and smallest for the (001) case. The optical transition matrix elements change substantially after the crossover of the first heavy- and light-hole energy has occurred.

Some properties of gallium nitride films grown on (0001) oriented sapphire substrates by gas source molecular beam epitaxy

The Raman and photoreflectivity spectra of gallium nitride (GaN) films grown on (0001) oriented sapphire substrates by gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) have been investigated. The Raman spectra showed the presence of the E-2(high) mode and a shift in the wavenumber of this mode with respect to the GaN epilayer thickness. The Raman scattering results suggest the presence of stress due to lattice and thermal expansion misfit in the films, and also indicate that the buffer layer play an important role in the deposition of high quality GaN layers. The residual stress changes from tensile to compressive as the epilayer thickness increases. Samples subjected to anneal cycles showed an increase in the mobility due probably to stress relaxation as suggested by an observed shift in the E-2(high) mode in the Raman spectra after annealing.

Characteristics of InAs epilayers for Hall effect devices grown on GaAs substrates by MBE

InAs thin films with good characteristics were grown on GaAs (0 0 1) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy indicated that most of the threading dislocations formed by the interaction of misfit dislocations are annihilated above a small thickness. The high electron mobility and small temperature dependence of InAs epilayers are useful for magnetic sensors which is demonstrated by the properties of Hall effect devices.

Optical characterization of InAs monolayer quantum structures grown on (311)A, (311)B, and (100)GaAs substrates

Low-temperature photoluminescence and excitation spectra from InAs monolayer quantum structures, grown on (311)A, (311)B, and (100) GaAs substrates, are investigated, The structures were grown simultaneously by conventional molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), The experimental results show that the quality of InAs monolayer on (311)B GaAs substrate is obviously better in crystal quality than those on the two other oriented GaAs substrates. In addition, the transition peaks of the InAs layer grown on (311) GaAs substrates shift to higher energy with respect to that from the InAs layer grown on (100) GaAs substrate.

Growth of GaN layers on GaAs and GaP (111) and (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Films of GaN have been grown using a modified MBE technique in which the active nitrogen is supplied from an RF plasma source. Wurtzite films grown on (001) oriented GaAs substrates show highly defective, ordered polycrystalline growth with a columnar structure, the (0001) planes of the layers being parallel to the (001) planes of the GaAs substrate. Films grown using a coincident As flux, however, have a single crystal zinc-blende growth mode. They have better structural and optical properties. To improve the properties of the wurtzite films we have studied the growth of such films on (111) oriented GaAs and GaP substrates. The improved structural properties of such films, assessed using X-ray and TEM method, correlate with better low-temperature FL.

Carrier relaxation and thermal activation of localized excitons in self-organized InAs multilayers grown on GaAs substrates

We have investigated the temperature dependence of photoluminescence (PL) properties of a number of self-organized InAs/GaAs heterostructures with InAs layer thickness ranging from 0.5 to 3 ML. The temperature dependence of InAs exciton emission and linewidth was found to display a significant difference when the InAs layer thickness is smaller or larger than the critical thickness around 1.7 ML. The fast redshift of PL energy and an anomalous decrease of linewidth with increasing temperature were observed and attributed to the efficient relaxation process of carriers in multilayer samples, resulting from the spread and penetration of the carrier wave functions in coupled InAs quantum dots. The measured thermal activation energies of different samples demonstrated that the InAs wetting layer may act as a barrier for the thermionic emission of carriers in high-quality InAs multilayers, while in InAs monolayers and submonolayers the carriers are required to overcome the GaAs barrier to escape thermally from the localized states.