HYDROGEN-RELATED DONOR IN SILICON-CRYSTALS GROWN IN A HYDROGEN ATMOSPHERE

Neutron transmutation doped (NTD) silicon crystals grown in a hydrogen atmosphere have been investigated by infrared absorption spectroscopy at a low temperature (10 K). An effective-mass-like donor state HD0/+ has been found at 110.8 me V below the conduction band bottom after rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The HD0/+ formation mechanism after NTD and RTA is briefly discussed, and tentatively attributed to H atoms present in the vicinity of some residual irradiation defects, like a complex of a H atom and a H-saturated vacancy.

PHOTOLUMINESCENCE STUDIES OF INXGA1-XAS/GAAS STRAINED QUANTUM-WELLS UNDER HYDROSTATIC-PRESSURE

The photoluminescence from InxG1-xAs/GaAs strained quantum wells with thickness from 30 to 160 angstrom have been studied at 77 K under hydrostatic pressure up to 60 kbar. It was found that the pressure coefficients of the exciton peaks corresponding to transitions from the first conduction subband to the heavy-hole subband increased with reduced well width, in contrast to the case of GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells. Calculations revealed that the increased barrier height with pressure was the major cause of the change in the pressure coefficients. Two peaks related to indirect transitions were observed at pressures higher than 50 kbar. They are attributed to type-I transitions from the lowest conduction-band edge, which are the strain splitted X(xy) valleys, to the heavy-hole subband in the InxGa1-xAs well.

PRESSURE BEHAVIOR OF INXGA1-XAS/GAAS STRAINED QUANTUM-WELLS WITH DIFFERENT WIDTHS

The photoluminescence of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs strained quantum wells with widths of 30 angstrom to 160 angstrom have been studied at 77 K under hydrostatic pressure up to 60 kbar. It is found that the pressure coefficients of exciton peaks from 1st conduction subband to heavy hole subband increase from 9.74 meV/kbar for a 160 angstrom well to 10.12 meV/kbar for a 30 angstrom well. The calculation based on the Kronig-Penney model indicated that the extension of the electronic wave function to the barrier layer in the narrow wells is one of the reasons for the increase of the pressure coefficients with the decrease of well width. Two peaks related to indirect transitions were observed at pressures higher than 50 kbar.

Deep electron states in n-type Al-doped ZnS1-xTex grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Capacitance-voltage, photoluminescence (PL), and deep level transient spectroscopy techniques were used to investigate deep electron states in n-type Al-doped ZnS1-xTex epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The integrated intensity of the PL spectra obtained from Al-doped ZnS0.977Te0.023 is lower than that of undoped ZnS0.977Te0.023, indicating that some of the Al atoms form nonradiative deep traps. Deep level transient Fourier spectroscopy (DLTFS) spectra of the Al-doped ZnS1-xTex (x=0, 0.017, 0.04, and 0.046, respectively) epilayers reveal that Al doping leads to the formation of two electron traps 0.21 and 0.39 eV below the conduction band. DLTFS results suggest that in addition to the roles of Te as a component of the alloy as well as isoelectronic centers, Te is also involved in the formation of an electron trap, whose energy level with respect to the conduction band decreases as Te composition increases. Our results show that only a small fraction of Al atoms forms nonradiative deep defects, indicating clearly that Al is indeed a very good donor impurity for ZnS1-xTex epilayers in the range of Te composition being studied in this work. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(97)08421-1].

Ab initio calculations for the neutral and charged O vacancy in sapphire

The energetics, lattice relaxation, and the defect-induced states of st single O vacancy in alpha-Al2O3 are studied by means of supercell total-energy calculations using a first-principles method based on density-functional theory. The supercell model with 120 atoms in a hexagonal lattice is sufficiently large to give realistic results for an isolated single vacancy (square). Self-consistent calculations are performed for each assumed configuration of lattice relaxation involving the nearest-neighbor Al atoms and the next-nearest-neighbor O atoms of the vacancy site. Total-energy data thus accumulated are used to construct an energy hypersurface. A theoretical zero-temperature vacancy formation energy of 5.83 eV is obtained. Our results show a large relaxation of Al (O) atoms away from the vacancy site by about 16% (8%) of the original Al-square (O-square) distances. The relaxation of the neighboring Al atoms has a much weaker energy dependence than the O atoms. The O vacancy introduces a deep and doubly occupied defect level, or an F center in the gap, and three unoccupied defect levels near the conduction band edge, the positions of the latter are sensitive to the degree of relaxation. The defect state wave functions are found to be not so localized, but extend up to the boundary of the supercell. Defect-induced levels are also found in the valence-band region below the O 2s and the O 2p bands. Also investigated is the case of a singly occupied defect level (an F+ center). This is done by reducing both the total number of electrons in the supercell and the background positive charge by one electron in the self-consistent electronic structure calculations. The optical transitions between the occupied and excited states of the: F and F+ centers are also investigated and found to be anisotropic in agreement with optical data.

Intraband optical absorption in semiconductor coupled quantum dots

In the framework of effective mass envelope function theory, absorption coefficients are calculated for intraband (intersubband in the conduction band) optical transition in InAs/GaAs coupled quantum dots. In our calculation the microscpic distributon of the strain is taken into account. The absorption in coupled quantum dots is quite different from that of superlattices. In superlattices, the absorption does not exist when the electric vector of light is parallel to the superlattice plane (perpendicular incident). This introduces somewhat of a difficulty in fabricating the infrared detector. In quantum dots, the absorption exists when light incident along any direction, which may be good for fabricating infrared detectors.

Luminescence properties of ZnSe films grown by hot wall epitaxy

The photoluminescence (PL) properties of ZnSe films grown by hot wall epitaxy are reported. The PL spectra show clear neutral donor-bound exciton peak; donor acceptor pair (DAP) peak, conduction band to acceptor (CA) peak, and their phonon replicas until fourth order. The conduction band to acceptor peak and it's phonon replicas exist until room temperature. From the ratio of PL intensities of DAP and CA peaks and their replicas, we obtain the Huang-Rhys factor S = 0.58, in agreement with other experiments for acceptor-bound exciton transitions. From the temperature dependence of PL intensities we derive the activation energy of thermal quenching process for the DAP transitions as about 7 meV.

Temperature-stimulated abnormal annealing of neutron-induced damage in high-resistivity silicon detectors

Neutron-irradiated high-resistivity silicon detectors have been subjected to elevated temperature annealing (ETA). It has been found that both detector full depletion voltage and leakage current exhibit abnormal annealing (or ''reverse annealing'') behaviour for highly irradiated detectors: increase with ETA. Laser induced current measurements indicate a net increase of acceptor type space charges associated with the full depletion voltage increase after ETA. Current deep level transient spectroscopy (I-DLTS) and thermally stimulated current (TSC) data show that the dominant effect is the increase of a level at 0.39 eV below the conduction band (E(c) - 0.39 eV) or a level above the valence band (E(v) + 0.39 eV). Candidates tentatively identified for this level are the singly charged double vacancy (V-V-) level at E(c) - 0.39 eV, the carbon interstitial-oxygen interstitial (C-i-O-i) level at E(v) + 0.36 eV, and/or the tri-vacancy-oxygen center (V3O) at E(v) + 0.40 eV.

High-pressure study of optical transitions in strained In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells

We have measured low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) and absorption spectra of In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQW's) under hydrostatic pressures up to 8 GPa. In PL, only a single peak is observed below 4.9 GPa corresponding to the n = 1 heavy-hole (HH) exciton in the InxGa1-xAs wells. Above 4.9 GPa, new PL lines related to X-like conduction band states appear. They are assigned to the type-II transition from the X(Z) states in GaAs to the HH subband of the InxGa1-xAs wells and to the zero-phonon line and LO-phonon replica of the type-I transition involving the X(XY) valleys of the wells. In addition to absorption peaks corresponding to direct exciton transitions in the wells, a new strong absorption feature is apparent in spectra for pressures between 4.5 and 5.5 GPa. This absorption is attributed to the pseudodirect transition between the HH subband and the X, state of the wells. This gives clear evidence for an enhanced strength of indirect optical transitions due to the breakdown of translational invariance in MQW structures. From experimental level splittings we determine the valence band offset and the shear deformation potential for X states in the In0.2Ga0.8As layer.

Shubnikov de Haas oscillations of a two-dimensional electron gas in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well

The magnetotransport properties of the two-dimensional (2D) electron gas confined in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well structure were studied at temperatures down to 0.35 K in magnetic fields up to 7.5 T. Well resolved 2D Shubnikovde Haas (SdH) oscillations were observed, although the conductivity of the sample in the as grown state was dominated by a bulk parallel conduction layer. After removing most of the parallel conduction layer by wet chemical etching the amplitude and number of SdH oscillations increased. From the temperature dependence of the amplitude the effective mass of the electrons was estimated as 0.17 m(0). Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

Valence hole subbands and optical gain spectra of GaN/Ga1-xAlxN strained quantum wells

The valence hole subbands, TE and TM mode optical gains, transparency carrier density, and radiative current density of the zinc-blende GaN/Ga0.85Al0.15N strained quantum well (100 Angstrom well width) have been investigated using a 6 X 6 Hamiltonian model including the heavy hole, Light hole, and spin-orbit split-off bands. At the k = 0 point, it is found that the light hole strongly couples with the spin-orbit split-off hole, resulting in the so+lh hybrid states. The heavy hole does not couple with the light hole and the spin-orbit split-off hole. Optical transitions between the valence subbands and the conduction subbands obey the Delta n=0 selection rule. At the k not equal 0 points, there is strong band mixing among the heavy hole, light hole, and spin-orbit split-off hole. The optical transitions do not obey the Delta n=0 selection rule. The compressive strain in the GaN well region increases the energy separation between the so1+lh1 energy level and the hh1 energy level. Consequently, the compressive strain enhances the TE mode optical gain, and strongly depresses the TM mode optical gain. Even when the carrier density is as large as 10(19) cm(-3), there is no positive TM mode optical gain. The TE mode optical gain spectrum has a peak at around 3.26 eV. The transparency carrier density is 6.5 X 10(18) cm(-3), which is larger than that of GaAs quantum well. The compressive strain overall reduces the transparency carrier density. The J(rad) is 0.53 kA/cm(2) for the zero optical gain. The results obtained in this work will be useful in designing quantum well GaN laser diodes and detectors. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Characterization and improvement of GaAs layers grown on Si using an ultrathin a-Si film as a buffer layer

GaAs epilayers grown on Si by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using an ultrathin a-Si buffer layer were characterized by deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). Six electron traps with activation energies of 0.79, 0.67, 0.61, 0.55, 0.53 and 0.32 eV below the conduction band were determined by fitting the experimental spectra. Two of the levels, C (0.61 eV) and F (0.32 eV), were first detected in GaAs epilayers on Si and identified as the metastable defects M3 and M4, respectively. In order to improve the quality of GaAs/Si epilayers, another GaAs layer was grown on the GaAs/Si epilayers grown using MOCVD. The deep levels in this regrown GaAs epilayer were also studied using DLTS. Only the EL2 level was found in the regrown GaAs epilayers. These results show that the quality of the GaAs epilayer was greatly improved by applying this growth process.

Electronic structures of the zinc-blende GaN/Ga1-xAlxN compressively strained superlattices and quantum wells

The electronic structures of the zinc-blende GaN/Ga0.85Al0.15N compressively strained superlattices and quantum wells are investigated using a 6 x 6 Hamiltonian model (including the heavy hole, light hole and spin-orbit splitting band). The energy bands, wavefunctions and optical transition matrix elements are calculated. It is found that the light hole couples with the spin-orbit splitting state even at the k=0 point, resulting in the hybrid states. The heavy hole remains a pure heavy hole state at k=0. The optical transitions from the hybrid valence states to the conduction states are determined by the transitions of the light hole and spin-orbit splitting states to the conduction states. The transitions from the heavy hole, light hole and spin-orbit splitting states to the conduction states obey the selection rule Delta n=0. The band structures obtained in this work will be valuable in designing GaN/GaAlN based optoelectronic devices. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited

A transfer matrix approach to conductance in quantum waveguides

A transfer matrix approach is presented for the study of electron conduction in an arbitrarily shaped cavity structure embedded in a quantum wire. Using the boundary conditions for wave functions, the transfer matrix at an interface with a discontinuous potential boundary is obtained for the first time. The total transfer matrix is calculated by multiplication of the transfer matrix for each segment of the structure as well as numerical integration of coupled second-order differential equations. The proposed method is applied to the evaluation of the conductance and the electron probability density in several typical cavity structures. The effect of the geometrical features on the electron transmission is discussed in detail. In the numerical calculations, the method is found to be more efficient than most of the other methods in the literature and the results are found to be in excellent agreement with those obtained by the recursive Green's function method.

On the soft wall guiding potentials in realistic quantum waveguides

A transfer matrix method is presented for the study of electron conduction in a quantum waveguide with soft wall lateral confinement. By transforming the two-dimensional Schrodinger equation into a set of second order ordinary differential equations, the total transfer matrix is obtained and the scattering probability amplitudes are calculated. The proposed method is applied to the evaluation of the electron transmission in two types of cavity structure with finite-height square-well confinement. The results obtained by our method, which are found to be in excellent agreement with those from another transfer matrix method, suggest that the infinite square-well potential is a good approximation to finite-height square-well confinement for electrons propagating in the ground transverse mode, but softening of the walls has an obvious effect on the electron transmission and mode-mixing for propagating in the excited transverse mode. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.