Growth behavior of AlInGaN films

The structural and surface properties of AlInGaN quaternary films grown at different temperatures on GaN templates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are investigated. Formation of two quaternary layers is confirmed and the difference between them is pronounced when the growth temperature is increased. The surface is featured with V-shaped pits and cracks, whose characteristics are further found to be strongly dependent on the growth temperature of AlInGaN layers. The two-layer structure is interpreted by taking into account of the strain status in AlInGaN layers. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anomalous coarsening of self-assembled InAs quantum dots on vicinal GaAs (100) substrates

The formation process of InAs quantum dots (QDs) on vicinal GaAs (1 0 0) substrates is studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is found that after 1.2 MLs of InAs deposition, while the QDs with diameters less than the width of the multi-atomic steps are shrinking, the larger QDs are growing. Photoluminescence measurements of the uncapped QDs correspond well to the AFM structure observations of the QDs. We propose that the QDs undergo an anomalous coarsening process with modified growth kinetics resulting from the restrictions of the finite terrace sizes. A comparison between the QDs on the vicinal GaAs (1 0 0) substrates and the QDs on the exact GaAs (1 0 0) further verifies the effect of the multi-atomic steps on the formation of QDs.

Temperature dependent spectral response characteristic of III-V compound tandem cell

The GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction tandem cells with a conversion efficiency of 27.1% were fabricated using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique. Temperature dependence of the spectral response measurements of the GaInP/GaAs/Ge tandem cell was performed by a quantum efficiency system at temperatures ranging from 25A degrees C to 160A degrees C. The red-shift phenomena of the absorption limit for all subcells were observed with increasing temperature, which is dued to the energy gap narrowing with temperature. The short-circuit current densities (J (sc)) of GaInP, GaAs and Ge subcells at room temperature calculated based on the spectral response data were 12.9, 13.7 and 17 mA/cm(2), respectively. The temperature coefficient of J (sc) for the tandem cell was determined to be 8.9 mu A/(cm(2) center dot A degrees C), and the corresponding temperature coefficient of the open-circuit voltage deduced from the series-connected model was -6.27 mV/A degrees C.

Properties of AlyGa1-yN/AlxGa1-xN/AlN/GaN Double-Barrier High Electron Mobility Transistor Structure

Electrical properties of AlyGa1-yN/AlxGa1-xN/AlN/GaN structure are investigated by solving coupled Schrodinger and Poisson equation self-consistently. Our calculations show that the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density will decrease with the thickness of the second barrier (AlyGa1-yN) once the AlN content of the second barrier is smaller than a critical value y(c), and will increase with the thickness of the second barrier (AlyGa1-yN) when the critical AlN content of the second barrier y(c) is exceeded. Our calculations also show that the critical AlN content of the second barrier y(c) will increase with the AlN content and the thickness of the first barrier layer (AlxGa1-xN).

Controlling electronic structures by irradiation in single-walled SiC nanotubes: a first-principles molecular dynamics study

Using first-principles molecular dynamics simulations, the displacement threshold energy and defect configurations are determined in SiC nanotubes. The simulation results reveal that a rich variety of defect structures (vacancies, Stone-Wales defects and antisite defects) are formed with threshold energies from 11 to 64 eV. The threshold energy shows an anisotropic behavior and exhibits a dramatic decrease with decreasing tube diameter. The electronic structure can be altered by the defects formed by irradiation, which suggests that the electron irradiation may be a way to use defect engineering to tailor electronic properties of SiC nanotubes.

Growth of c-oriented ZnO films on (001) SMO3 substrates by MOCVD

The growth direction of ZnO thin films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is modulated by pretreatment of (001) SMO3 (STO) substrates. ZnO films show a-oriented smooth surface with epitaxial relationship of < 001 > ZnO//< 110 > STO on as-received SfO, and c-axis columnar growth with < 010 > ZnO//< 110 > STO on etched STO, respectively. The orientation alteration of ZnO films is supposed to be caused by the change of STO surface polarity. In addition, the c-ZnO films exhibit an enhanced photoluminescence (PL) intensity due to the improved crystal quality, while the blueshift of PL peak is attributed to the smaller tensile strain. These results show that high quality c-ZnO, which is essential for electronic and optoelectronic device applications, can be grown on (001) SfO by MOCVD. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimizing the GaAs capping layer growth of 1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs quantum dots by a combined two-temperature and annealing process at low temperatures

We report on optimizing the GaAs capping layer growth of 1.3 mu m InAs quantum dots (QDs) by a combined two-temperature and annealing process at low temperatures using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The initial part (tnm) of the capping layer is deposited at a low temperature of 500 degrees C, which is the same for the growth of both the QDs and a 5-nm-thick In0.15Ga0.85As strain-reducing capping layer on the QDs, while the remaining part is grown at a higher temperature of 560 degrees C after a rapid temperature rise and subsequent annealing period at this temperature. The capping layer is deposited at the low temperatures (<= 560 degrees C) to avoid postgrowth annealing effect that can blueshift the emission wavelength of the QDs. We demonstrate the existence of an optimum t (=5 nm) and a critical annealing time (>= 450s) during the capping, resulting in significantly enhanced photoluminescence from the QDs. This significant enhancement in photoluminescence is attributed to a dramatic reduction of defects due to the optimized capping growth. The technique reported here has important implications for realizing stacked 1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs QD lasers. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Growth of nonpolar a-plane GaN on nano-patterned r-plane sapphire substrates

Sapphire substrates were nano-patterned by inductive coupled plasma etching process. Nonpolar a-plane GaN films were grown on planar and nano-patterned r-plane sapphire substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The anisotropic characteristic and the crystalline quality of the a-plane GaN films were studied through XRD rocking curves. The cross section and surface morphologies of the a-plane GaN films were studied using SEM and AFM measurements, respectively. The crystal quality and surface flatness of the nonpolar a-plane GaN were greatly improved through the usage of the nano-patterned r-plane sapphire substrates. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of AlN buffer layer thickness on the properties of GaN epilayer on Si(111) by MOCVD

The effect of thickness of the high-temperature (HT) AlN buffer layer on the properties of GaN grown on Si(111) has been investigated. Optical microscopy (OM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) are employed to characterize these samples grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The results demonstrate that the morphology and crystalline properties of the GaN epilayer strongly depend on the thickness of HT AlN buffer layer, and the optimized thickness of the HT AlN buffer layer is about 110 nm. Together with the low-temperature (LT) AlN interlayer, high-quality GaN epilayer with low crack density can be obtained. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1 x 4 Ge-on-SOI PIN Photodetector Array for Parallel Optical Interconnects

High-quality Ge film was epitaxially grown on silicon on insulator using the ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition. In this paper, we demonstrated that the efficient 1 4 germanium-on-silicon p-i-n photodetector arrays with 1.0 mu m Ge film had a responsivity as high as 0.65 A/W at 1.31 mu m and 0.32 A/W at 1.55 mu m, respectively. The dark current density was about 0.75 mA/cm(2) at 0 V and 13.9 mA/cm(2) at 1.0 V reverse bias. The detectors with a diameter of 25 mu m were measured at 1550 nm incident light under 0 V bias, and the result showed that the 3-dB bandwidth is 2.48 GHz. At a reverse bias of 3 V, the bandwidth is about 13.3 GHz. The four devices showed a good consistency.

Size distributions of quantum islands on stepped substrates

The size distributions of self-assembled quantum islands on stepped substrates are studied using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that the energy barrier E-SW between the step and the terrace region is the key factor in affecting the size distribution of islands. With small E-SW (<= 0.1 eV), lines of uniform islands can be obtained at relative low surface coverage. As the surface coverage is increased, wirelike islands can be obtained. Scaling behavior is obeyed for the size distributions of the wirelike islands. When the size distributions are separated into their width and length components, however, scaling is only observed in the length distribution of the wirelike islands. With larger E-SW, the size distribution of islands shows a clear bimodal size distribution and anomalous growth temperature dependent island size evolutions are observed. The simulation results reproduce qualitatively the phenomena observed in the cases of InAs islands grown on stepped GaAs substrates. (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3248367]

Efficient hole transport in asymmetric coupled InGaN multiple quantum wells

InGaN based light emitting devices (LEDs) with asymmetric coupled quantum wells (AS-QWs) and conventional symmetric coupled quantum wells (CS-QWs) active structures were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technique. The LEDs with AS-QWs active region show improved light emission intensity and reduced forward voltage compared with LEDs with CS-QWs active region. Based on the electroluminescence measurements and the devices structure analysis, it can be concluded that these improvements are mainly attributed to the efficient hole tunneling through barriers and consequently the uniform distribution of carriers in the AS-QWs. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3254232]

InGaN/GaN p-i-n Photodiodes Fabricated with Mg-Doped p-InGaN Layer

Mg-doped p-InGaN layers with In composition of about 10% are grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The effect of the annealing temperature on the p-type behavior of Mg-doped InGaN is studied. It is found that the hole concentration in p-InGaN increases with a rising annealing temperature in the range of 600 850 C, while the hole mobility remains nearly unchanged until the annealing temperature increases up to 750 C, after which it decreases. On the basis of conductive p-type InGaN growth, the p-In0.1Ga0.9N/i-In0.1Ga0.9N/n-GaN junction structure is grown and fabricated into photodiodes. The spectral responsivity of the InGaN/GaN p-i-n photodiodes shows that the peak responsivity at zero bias is in the wavelength range 350-400 nm.

The effect of single AlGaN interlayer on the structural properties of GaN epilayers grown on Si (111) substrates

High-quality and nearly crack-free GaN epitaxial layer was obtained by inserting a single AlGaN interlayer between GaN epilayer and high-temperature AlN buffer layer on Si (111) substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. This paper investigates the effect of AlGaN interlayer on the structural proper-ties of the resulting GaN epilayer. It confirms from the optical microscopy and Raman scattering spectroscopy that the AlGaN interlayer has a remarkable effect on introducing relative compressive strain to the top GaN layer and preventing the formation of cracks. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis reveal that a significant reduction in both screw and edge threading dislocations is achieved in GaN epilayer by the insertion of AlGaN interlayer. The process of threading dislocation reduction in both AlGaN interlayer and GaN epilayer is demonstrated.

4-ps passively mode-locked Nd : Gd0.5Y0.5VO4 laser with a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror

We have demonstrated a passively mode-locked diode end-pumped all-solid-state laser, which is composed of a Nd:Gd0.5Y0.5VO4 crystal and a folded cavity with a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. Stable cw mode locking with a 3.8-ps pulse duration at a repetition rate of 112 MHz was obtained. At 13.6 W of the incident pump power, a clean mode-locked fundamental-mode average output power of 3.9 W was achieved with an overall optical-to-optical efficiency of 29.0%, and the slope efficiency was 38.1%. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.