High structural and optical quality 1.3 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells with higher indium content grown by molecular-beam expitaxy

High structural and optical quality 1.3 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well (QW) samples with higher (42.5%) indium content were successfully grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. The cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal that there are no structural defects in such high indium content QWs. The room-temperature photoluminescence peak intensity of the GaIn0.425NAs/GaAs (6 nm/20 nm) 3QW is higher than, and the full width at half maximum is comparable to, that of In0.425GaAs/GaAs 3QW, indicating improved optical quality caused by strain compensation effect of introducing N to the high indium content InGaAs epilayer. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Nucleation of diamond by pure carbon ion bombardment - a transmission electron microscopy study

A cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) study of a film deposited by a 1 keV mass-selected carbon ion beam onto silicon held at 800 degrees C is presented. Initially, a graphitic film with its basal planes perpendicular to the substrate is evolving. The precipitation of nanodiamond crystallites in upper layers is confirmed by HRTEM, selected area electron diffraction, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. The nucleation of diamond on graphitic edges as predicted by Lambrecht [W. R. L. Lambrecht, C. H. Lee, B. Segall, J. C. Angus, Z. Li, and M. Sunkara, Nature, 364 607 (1993)] is experimentally confirmed. The results are discussed in terms of our recent subplantation-based diamond nucleation model. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Defects around self-organized InAs quantum dots measured by slow positron beam

Self-organized InAs quantum dots (QDs) have been fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy. The authors try to use a slow positron beam to detect defects in and around self-organized QDs, and point defects are observed in GaAs cap layer above QDs. For the self-organized InAs QDs without strain-reducing layer, it is free of defects. However, by introducing a strain-reducing layer, the density of point defects around larger sized InAs QDs increased. The above results suggest that low energy positron beam measurements may be a good approach to detect depth profiles of defects in QD materials. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Evolution of InAs nanostructures grown by droplet epitaxy

The authors report the growth evolution of InAs dot and ring nanostructures with the indium deposition amount on GaAs (001) by droplet molecular beam epitaxy. There is a critical flux for the indium to form InAs dots even when there is no droplet. When the flux exceeds a critical value, In droplets form, which act as nucleation centers for the formation of InAs rings. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Liquid-phase-epitaxy-grown InAsxSb1-x/GaAs for room-temperature 8-12 mu m infrared detectors

High-quality InAsxSb1-x (0 < x <= 0.3) films are grown on GaAs substrates by liquid phase epitaxy and electrical and optical properties of the films are investigated, revealing that the films exhibit Hall mobilities higher than 2x10(4) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and cutoff wavelengths longer than 10 mu m at room temperature (RT). Photoconductors are fabricated from the films, and notable photoresponses beyond 8 mu m are observed at RT. In particular, for an InAs0.3Sb0.7 film, a photoresponse of up to 13 mu m with a maximum responsivity of 0.26 V/W is obtained at RT. Hence, the InAsxSb1-x films demonstrate attractive properties suitable for room-temperature, long-wavelength infrared detectors. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Influence of high-temperature AIN buffer thickness on the properties of GaN grown on Si(111)

The influences of AlN buffer thickness on the optical and the crystalline properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition wurtzite GaN layers on Si(I 11) substrate have been investigated. High-resolution X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurement reveal that the thickness of AlN buffer exerts a strong influence on the distribution of dislocation and stress in GaN epilayer. The evidence is further reinforced by atomic force microscopic observation of AlN nucleation process. The optimum thickness of AlN buffer to effectively suppress Si diffusion has been determined by secondary-ion mass spectroscopy to be in the range of 13-20 nm. In addition, it is found that appropriate Si diffusion in AlN buffer helps to compensate the tensile strain in GaN, which subsequently improves the optical quality of GaN on Si(I 1, 1), and reduces the cracks over the GaN surface. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

GaInNAs/GaAs multiple-quantum well resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors at 1.3 mu m

A GaInNAs/GaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) resonant-cavity enhanced photodetector (RCF-PD) operated at a wavelength of 1.3 mum with the full width at half maximum of 4nm has been demonstrated. The GaInNAs RCE - PD was grown by molecular beam epitaxy using a homemade ion-removed dc plasma cell as a nitrogen source. GaInNAs/GaAs MQW shows a strong exciton peak at room temperature, which is very beneficial for applications in long-wavelength absorption devices. For a 100 mum diameter RCE-PD, the dark current is 20 and 32 pA at biases of 0 and 6 V, respectively, and the breakdown voltage is - 18 V. The measured 3 dB bandwidth is 308 MHz, which is limited by the resistance of p-type distributed Bragg reflector mirror. The tunable wavelength in a range of 18 nm with the angle of incident light was observed.

Influence of ion energy and deposition temperature on the surface morphology of carbon films deposited by ion beams

Carbon films were deposited by mass-selected ion beam technique with ion energies 50-200eV at a substrate temperature from room temperature to 80 degreesC,. For the energies used, smooth diamond-like carbon films were deposited at room temperature. When the substrate temperature was 600 degreesC,rough graphitic films were produced. But highly oriented carbon tubes were observed when the energies were larger than 140eV at 800 degreesC. They were perpendicular to the surface and parallel to each other. preferred orientation of graphite basic plane was observed by high-resolution electron microscopy. Shallow ion implantation and stress are responsible for this orientation.

Ion bombardment as the initial stage of diamond film growth

It is believed that during the initial stage of diamond film growth by chemical-vapor deposition (CVD), ion bombardment is the main mechanism in the bias-enhanced-nucleation (BEN) process. To verify such a statement, experiments by using mass-separated ion-beam deposition were carried out, in which a pure carbon ion beam, with precisely defined low energy, was selected for investigating the ion-bombardment effect on a Si substrate. The results are similar to those of the BEN process, which supports the ion-bombardment-enhanced-nucleation mechanism. The formation of sp(3) bonding is based on the presumption that the time of stress generation is much shorter than the duration of the relaxation process. The ion-bombarded Si is expected to enhance the CVD diamond nucleation density because the film contains amorphous carbon embedded with nanocrystalline diamond and defective graphite. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Improvement of the photoluminescence from gallium nitride layers grown by MBE with an additional incident indium flux

The effect of using an indium flux during the MBE growth of GaN layers was investigated. The properties of these layers were studied using electron probe microanalysis, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence. The optical properties of the GaN layers are shown to improve as compared with undoped GaN layers grown under nominally the same conditions but without an additional indium flux.

Threshold reduction in strained-layer InGaAs/GaAs quantum well lasers by liquid phase epitaxy regrowth

When liquid phase epitaxy regrowth at 780 degrees C for 2 h is applied to the samples after molecular beam epitaxy, a decrease of the threshold current density in strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum well lasers by a factor of 3 to 4 is obtained. We suggest that this improvement is attributed to the reduction of nonradiative centers associated with deep levels at the three regions of the active region, the graded layer and the cladding layer. Indeed, a significant reduction of deep center densities has been observed by using minority and majority carrier injection deep level transient spectroscopy measurements. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The growth and characterization of GaN grown on an Al2O3 coated (001)Si substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Single crystal GaN films have been grown on to an Al2O3 coated (001)Si substrate in a horizontal-type low-pressure MOVPE system. A thin Al2O3 layer is an intermediate layer for the growth of single crystal GaN on to Si although it is only an oriented polycrystal him as shown by reflection high electron diffraction. Moreover, the oxide was not yet converted to a fully single crystal film, even at the stage of high temperature for the GaN overlayer as studied by transmission electron microscopy. Double crystal X-ray diffraction showed that the linewidth of (0002) peak of the X-ray rocking curve of the 1.3 mu m sample was 54 arcmin and the films had heavy mosaic structures. A near band edge peaking at 3.4 eV at room temperature was observed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-assembled GaAs quantum rings by MBE droplet epitaxy

Fabrication of semiconductor nanostructures such as quantum dots (QDs), quantum rings (QRs) has been considered as the important step for realization of solid state quantum information devices, including QDs single photon emission source, QRs single electron memory unit, etc. To fabricate GaAs quantum rings, we use Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) droplet technique in this report. In this droplet technique, Gallium (Ga) molecular beams are supplied initially without Arsenic (As) ambience, forming droplet-like nano-clusters of Ga atoms on the substrate, then the Arsenic beams are supplied to crystallize the Ga droplets into GaAs crystals. Because the morphologies and dimensions of the GaAs crystal are governed by the interplay between the surface migration of Ga and As adatoms and their crystallization, the shape of the GaAs crystals can be modified into rings, and the size and density can be controlled by varying the growth temperatures and As/Ga flux beam equivalent pressures(BEPs). It has been shown by Atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements that GaAs single rings, concentric double rings and coupled double rings are grown successfully at typical growth temperatures of 200 C to 300 C under As flux (BEP) of about 1.0 x 10(-6) Torr. The diameter of GaAs rings is about 30-50 nm and thickness several nm.

Molecular-beam epitaxial growth of position controlled InAs islands on cleaved edge of InGaAs/GaAs superlattice

A promising approach for positioning of InAs islands on (110)GaAs is demonstrated. By combining self-assembly of quantum dots with solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on cleaved edge of InGaAs/GaAs superlattice (SL), linear alignment of InAs islands on the InGaAs strain layers have been fabricated The cleaved edge of InGaAs/GaAs SL acts as strain nanopattern for InAs selective growth. Indium atoms incident on the surface will preferentially migrate to InGaAs regions where favorable bonding sites are available. The strain nanopattern's effect is studied by the different indium fraction and thickness of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs SL. The ordering of the InAs islands is found to depend on the properties of the underlying InGaAs strain layers.

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.