Growth of nano-structures on composition-modulated InAlAs surfaces

InAs self-organized nanostructures were grown with variant deposition thickness and growth rate on closely matched InAlAs/InP by molecular-beam epitaxy. The structural properties. of InAs and InAlAs layer were studied. It is found that the InAs morphology is insensitive to the growth conditions. Transmission electron microscopy and reflectance difference spectroscopy measurements show that the InAlAs matrix presents lateral composition modulation which gives birth to surface anisotropy. Based on the dependence of the InAs morphology on the anisotropy of the InAlAs layer, a modified Stranski-Krastanow growth mode is presented to describe the growth of the nanostructure on a composition-modulated surface.

Size self-scaling effect in stacked InAs/InAlAs nanowire multilayers

Size self-scaling effect in stacked InAs/In0.52Al0.48As nanowires on InP substrates is revealed, i.e., the base width and height of the InAs nanowires have clear proportional dependence on thickness of the InAlAs spacer layer used in different samples. The photoluminescence wavelength from different samples, which varies between 1.3 and 1.9 mum, is also found closely correlated to the size self-scaling effect. This phenomenon can be well explained in the context of formation mechanism and growth features of the InAs/InAlAs nanowire arrays. The finding illustrates a degree of freedom to control the structural and optical properties of strained self-organized nanostructures. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Quantum-confined Stark effect and built-in dipole moment in self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Quantum-confined Stark effect and built-in dipole moment in self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs), which are grown at relative low temperature (460degreesC) and embedded in GaAs p-i-n structure, have been studied by dc-biased electroreflectance. Franz-Keldysh oscillations from the undoped GaAs layer are used to determine the electric field under various bias voltages. Stark shift of -34 meV for the ground-state interband transition of the QDs is observed when the electric field increases from 105 to 308 kV/cm. The separation of the electron and hole states in the growth direction of 0.4 nm, corresponding to the built-in dipole moment of 6.4x10(-29) C m, is determined. It is found that the electron state lies above that of the hole, which is the same as that predicted by theoretical calculations for ideal pyramidal InAs QDs. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Optical properties of boron-doped Si nanowires

Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL) of boron-doped silicon nanowires have been investigated. Raman spectra showed a band at 480 cm(-1), indicating that the crystallinity of the nanowires was suppressed by boron doping. PL taken from B-doped SiNWS at room temperature exhibited three distinct emission peaks at 1.34, 1.42. and 1.47 eV and the PL intensity was much stronger than that of undoped SiNWS. The increased PL intensity should be very profitable for nano-optoelectronics. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Defects in GaSb studied by coincidence Doppler broadening measurements

Undoped, Zn-doped and Te-doped GaSb with different concentrations were investigated by positron lifetime spectroscopy (PAS) and the Doppler broadening technique. Detection sensitivity of the latter technique was improved by using a second Ge-detector for the coincident detection of the second annihilation photon. PAS measurement indicated that there were vacancies in these samples. By combining the Doppler broadening measurements, the native acceptor defects in GaSb were identified to be predominantly Ga vacancy (V-Ga) related defects.

Mode characteristics of semiconductor equilateral triangle microcavities with side length of 5-20 mu m

Semiconductor equilateral triangle microresonators (ETRs) with side length of 5, 10, and 20 mum are fabricated by the two-step inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technique. The mode properties of fabricated InGaAsP ETRs are investigated experimentally by photoluminescence (PL) with the pumping source of a 980-nm semiconductor laser and distinct peaks are observed in the measured PL spectra. The wavelength spacings of the distinct peaks agree very well with the theoretical longitudinal mode intervals of the fundamental transverse modes in the ETRs, which verifies that the distinct peaks are corresponding to the enhancement of resonant modes. The mode quality factors are calculated from the width of the resonant peaks of the PL spectra, which are about 100 for the ETR with side length of 20 mum.

Growth of heavily Zn-doped InGaAs at low temperature by LP-MOCVD

Epitaxial growth of Zn-doped InGaAs on InP substrates has been carried out at 550degreesC by LP-MOCVD. Hole concentration as high as 6 x 10(19)cm(-3) has been achieved at the H-2 flow rate of 20 sccm through DEZn bubbler. The lattice constant of Zn-doped InGaAs was found to be dependent on the flow rate of DEZn, and the tensile strain mismatch increases with increasing H-2 flow rate of DEZn. The negative lattice mismatch of heavily Zn-dopped InGaAs may be due to, the small covalent bonding radius of zinc and the combination of butane from ethyl of DEZn,and TEGa. And the latter accelerates the pyrolysis of TEGa, which is the dominant mechanism in determining the negative mismatch of Zn-doped InGaAs. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High temperature operation of 5.5 mu m strain-compensated quantum cascaded lasers

We develop 5.5-mu m InxGa1-xAs/InyAl1-yAs strain-compensated quantum cascade lasers with InP and InGaAs cladding layers by using solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy. Pulse operation has been achieved up to 323 K (50 degrees C) for uncoated 20-mu m-wide and 2-mm-long devices. These devices display an output power of 36 mW with a duty cycle of 1% at room temperature. In continuous wave operation a record peak optical power of 10 mW per facet has been measured at 83 K.

Experimental observation of resonant modes in GaInAsP microsquare resonators

GaInAsP-InP microsquare resonators with InP pedestals are fabricated by two-step chemical etching, and obvious mode peaks are observed in the photoluminescence spectra of the resonators. The mode Q-factors about 500 are obtained for a microsquare resonator with the side length of 7 mu m. The experimental mode interval is in agreement with that predicted by the light ray method based on the cavity length, instead of that of the whispering-gallery (WG)-like modes, which has mode interval twice of that determined by the cavity length. The finite-difference time-domain simulation shows that a little asymmetry may greatly reduce the difference of the Q-factors between the WG-like modes and the other modes.

Synthesis and optical properties of europium-doped ZnS: Long-lasting phosphorescence from aligned nanowires

Quasi-aligned Eu2+-doped wurtzite ZnS nanowires on Au-coated Si wafers have been successfully synthesized by a vapor deposition method under a weakly reducing atmosphere. Compared with the undoped counterpart, incorporation of the dopant gives a modulated composition and crystal structure, which leads to a preferred growth of the nanowires along the [0110] direction and a high density of defects in the nanowire hosts. The ion doping causes intense fluorescence and persistent phosphorescence in ZnS nanowires. The dopant Eu2+ ions form an isoelectronic acceptor level and yield a high density of bound excitions, which contribute to the appearance of the radiative recombination emission of the bound excitons and resonant Raman scattering at higher pumping intensity. Co-dopant Cl- ions can serve not only as donors, producing a donor-acceptor pair transition with the Eu2+ acceptor level, but can also form trap levels together with other defects, capture the photoionization electrons of Eu2+, and yield long-lasting (about 4 min), green phosphorescence. With decreasing synthesis time, the existence of more surface states in the nanowires forms a higher density of trap centers and changes the crystal-field strength around Eu2+. As a result, not only have an enhanced Eu2+ -4f(6)5d(1)-4f(7) intra-ion transition and a prolonged afterglow time been more effectively observed (by decreasing the nanowires' diameters), but also the Eu2+ related emissions are shifted to shorter wavelengths.

Characteristics of oxide-free InGaAlAs layers grown by narrow stripe selective MOVPE

Narrow stripe selective MOVPE has been used to grow high quality oxide-free InGaAlAs layers on an InP substrate patterned with SiO2 masks at optimized growth conditions. Mirror-like surface morphologies and abrupt cross sections are obtained in all samples without spike growth at the mask edge. For the narrow stripe selectively grown InGaAlAs layers with a mesa width of about 1.2 mu m, a bandgap wavelength shift of 70 nm, a photoluminescence (PL) intensity of more than 80% and a PL full width at half maximum (FWHM) of less than 60 meV are obtained simultaneously with a small mask width variation from 0 to 40 mu m. The characteristics of the thickness enhancement ratio and the PL spectrum dependence on the mask width are presented and explained by considering both the migration effect from a masked region and the lateral vapour diffusion effect.

Realization of highly uniform self-assembled InAs quantum wires by the strain compensating technique

Self-assembled InAs quantum wires (QWRs) on InP(001) substrate have been grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, using a strain compensating technique. Atom force microscope, Transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution x-ray diffraction are used to characterize their structural properties. We proposed that, by carefully adjusting composition of InAlGaAs buffer layer and strain compensating spacer layers, stacked QWRs with high uniformity could be achieved. In addition, the formation mechanism and vertical anti-correlation of QWRs are also discussed. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Concentration effect of Mn2+ on the photoluminescence of ZnS : Mn nanocrystals

Mn-doped ZnS nanocrystals of about 3 nm diameter were synthesized by a wet chemical method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements showed that the nanocrystals have the structure of cubic zinc blende. The broadening of the XRD lines is indicative of nanomaterials. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the undoped sample only exhibited a defected-related blue emission band. But for the doped samples, an orange emission from the Mn2+ T-4(1)-(6)A(1) transition was also observed, apart from the blue emission. The peak position (600 nm) of the Mn2+ emission was shifted to longer wavelength compared to that (584 nm) of bulk ZnS:Mn. With the increase of the Mn2+ concentration, the PL of ZnS:Mn was significantly enhanced. The concentration quenching effect was not observed in our experiments. Such PL phenomena were attributed to the absence of Mn2+ pairs in a single ZnS:Mn nanocrystal, considering the nonradiative energy transfer between Mn2+ ions based on the Poisson approximation. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electrical characterization of Er- and Pr-implanted GaN films

Hall, current-voltage, and deep-level transient spectroscopy measurements were used to characterize the electrical properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown undoped, Er- and Pr-implanted GaN films. Only one deep level located at 0.270 eV below the conduction band was found in the as-grown GaN films. However, four defect levels located at 0.300, 0.188, 0.600, and 0.410 eV below the conduction band were found in the Er-implanted GaN films after annealing at 900 degrees C for 30 min, and four defect levels located at 0.280, 0.190, 0.610, and 0.390 eV below the conduction band were found in the Pr-implanted GaN films after annealing at 1050 degrees C for 30 min. The origins of the deep defect levels are discussed. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Low threshold current density 1.5 mu m strained-MQW laser by n-type modulation-doping

1.5 mu m. n-type modulation-doping InGaAsP/InGaAsP strained multiple quantum wells grown by low pressure metalorganic chemistry vapor decomposition technology is reported for the first time in the world. N-type modulation-doped lasers exhibit much lower threshold current densities than conventional lasers with undoped barrier layers. The lowest threshold current density we obtained was 1052.5 A/cm(2) for 1000 mu m long lasers with seven quantum wells. The estimated threshold current density for an infinite cavity length was 94.72A/cm(2)/well, reduced by 23.3% compared with undoped barrier lasers. The n-type modulation doping effects on the lasing characteristics in 1.5 mu m devices have been demonstrated.