Comparison of field effect transistor characteristics between space-grown and earth-grown gallium arsenide single crystal substrates

Semi-insulating gallium arsenide single crystal grown in space has been used in fabricating low noise field effect transistors and analog switch integrated circuits by the direct ion-implantation technique. All key electrical properties of these transistors and integrated circuits have surpassed those made from conventional earth-grown gallium arsenide. This result shows that device-grade space-grown semiconducting single crystal has surpassed the best terrestrial counterparts. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Point defects in III-V compound semiconductors

Point defects in III-V compound semiconductors were analyzed systematically in this paper. The effects of substitutes, antisites, interstitials, and vacancies on lattice parameters in III-V compound semiconductors were calculated with a simple model. The formation energies of vacancies in compound semiconductors can be obtained by this calculation. A practical technique established on this model has been utilized for measuring the stoichiometry in GaAs. The relationship between stoichiometry and deep level centers in GaAs was also investigated.

Semi-insulating GaAs grown in outer space

A semi-insulating GaAs single crystal ingot was grown in a recoverable satellite, within a specially designed pyrolytic boron nitride crucible, in a power-traveling furnace under microgravity. The characteristics of a compound semiconductor single crystal depends fundamentally on its stoichiometry, i.e. the ration of two types of atoms in the crystal. a practical technique for nondestructive and quantitative measuring stoichiometry in GaAs single crystal was used to analyze the space-grown GaAs single crystal. The distribution of stoichiometry in a GaAs wafer was measured for the first time. The electrical, optical and structural properties of the space-grown GaAs crystal were studied systematically, Device fabricating experiments prove that the quality of field effect transistors fabricated from direct ion-implantation in semi-insulating GaAs wafers has a close correlation with the crystal's stoichiometry. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Structural properties of SI-GaAs grown in space

The structural properties of Semi-insulating gallium arsenide (SI-GaAs) crystal grown with power-travelling technique in space have been studied by double-crystal x-ray diffractometry and chemical etching. The quality of the crystal was first evaluated by x-ray rocking-curve method. The full width at half maximum of x-ray rocking curve in space-grown SI-GaAs is 9.4+/-0.08 are seconds. The average density of dislocations revealed by molten KOH is 2.0 X 10(4) cm(-2), and the highest density is 3.1 X 10(4) cm(-2). The stoichiometry in the single crystal grown in space is improved as well. Unfortunately, the rear of the ingot grown in space is polycrystalline owing to being out of control of power. (C) 1999 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Outer space grown semi-insulating GaAs and its applications

GaAs single crystal has been grown in recoverable satellite. Hall measurements indicate that the GaAs shows semi-insulating behavior. The structural properties of the crystal have been improved obviously, and their uniformity has been improved as well. The stoichiometry and its distribution in space-grown GaAs are improved greatly compared with the GaAs single crystal grown terrestrially. The properties of integrated circuits made by direct ion-implantation on space-grown GaAs are better than those made on ground-grown materials. These results show that the stoichiometry in semi-insulating GaAs seriously affects the properties of related devices.

New insight into the origin of twin and grain boundary in InP

X-ray reflectivity curves show bi-crystal (twin) characteristics. Defect segregations at the twin boundary can be seen, whereas stress is relaxed at the edge of the boundary. Relaxation of the stress resulted in the formation of twins and other defects. As a result of the formation of such defects, a defect-free and stress-free zone or low defect density and small stress zone is created around the defects. Stress, chemical stoichiometry deviation and non-homogeneous distribution of impurities are the key factors that cause twins in LEC InP crystal growth. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Magnetic Properties of FePt Nanoparticles Prepared by a Micellar Method

FePt nanoparticles with average size of 9 nm were synthesized using a diblock polymer micellar method combined with plasma treatment. To prevent from oxidation under ambient conditions, immediately after plasma treatment, the FePt nanoparticle arrays were in situ transferred into the film-growth chamber where they were covered by an SiO2 overlayer. A nearly complete transformation of L1(0) FePt was achieved for samples annealed at temperatures above 700 A degrees C. The well control on the FePt stoichiometry and avoidance from surface oxidation largely enhanced the coercivity, and a value as high as 10 kOe was obtained in this study. An evaluation of magnetic interactions was made using the so-called isothermal remanence (IRM) and dc-demagnetization (DCD) remanence curves and Kelly-Henkel plots (Delta M measurement). The Delta M measurement reveals that the resultant FePt nanoparticles exhibit a rather weak interparticle dipolar coupling, and the absence of interparticle exchange interaction suggests no significant particle agglomeration occurred during the post-annealing. Additionally, a slight parallel magnetic anisotropy was also observed. The results indicate the micellar method has a high potential in preparing FePt nanoparticle arrays used for ultrahigh density recording media.

STUDY ON PREPARATION OF GAN AND COSI2 EPITAXIAL-FILMS BY MASS ANALYZED LOW-ENERGY DUAL ION-BEAM EPITAXY

The Mass Analyzed Low Energy Dual Ion Beam Epitaxy (MALE-DIBE) system has been designed and constructed in our laboratory. We believe that the system, which was installed and came into full operation in 1988, is the first facility of this kind. With our system we have carried out studies, for the first time, on compound synthesis of GaN and CoSi2 epitaxial thin films. RHEED and AES results show that GaN films, which were deposited on Si and sapphire substrates, are monocrystalline and of good stoichiometry. To our knowledge, GaN film heteroepitaxially grown on Si. which is more lattice-mismatched than GaN on sapphire, has not been reported before by other authors. RBS and TEM investigations indicated a rather good crystallinity of CoSi2 with a distinct interface between CoSi2 and the Si substrate. The channelling minimum yield chi(min) from the Co profile is approximately 4%. The results showed that the DIBE system with simultaneous arrival of two beams at the target is particularly useful in the formation of novel compounds at a relatively low substrate temperature.

PHYSICAL VAPOR TRANSPORT AND CRYSTAL-GROWTH OF GESEXTE1-X SOLID-SOLUTIONS

Physical vapor transport studies of GeSe(x)Te1 - x (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) solid solutions demonstrated, that individual, large single crystals of these materials can be grown in closed ampoules. A compositional analysis of the grown crystals revealed, that the mass transport (crystal growth) process under steady-state conditions is pseudo-congruent and controlled by diffusion processes in the source material. From these experiments, the degree of non-stoichiometry (Ge-vacancy concentrations) of GeSe(x)Te1 - x single crystals could be estimated. The effects of the cubic to rhombohedral phase transformation during cooling on the microstructure and morphology of the grown mixed crystals are observed. This work provides the basis for subsequent defect studies and electrical measurements on these crystals.

Correlation of electrical and optical properties in dually Cd+ and N+ ion-implanted GaAs

Cd in GaAs is an acceptor atom and has the largest atomic diameter among the four commonly-used group-II shallow acceptor impurities (Be, Mg, Zn and Cd). The activation energy of Cd (34.7 meV) is also the largest one in the above four impurities, When Cd is doped by ion implantation, the effects of lattice distortion are expected to be apparently different from those samples ion-implanted by acceptor impurities with smaller atomic diameter. In order to compensate the lattice expansion and simultaneously to adjust the crystal stoichiometry, dual incorporation of Cd and nitrogen (N) was carried out into GaAs, Ion implantation of Cd was made at room temperature, using three energies (400 keV, 210 keV, 110 keV) to establish a flat distribution, The spatial profile of N atoms was adjusted so as to match that of Cd ones, The concentration of Cd and N atoms, [Cd] and [N] varied between 1 x 10(16) cm(-3) and 1 x 10(20) cm(-3). Two type of samples, i.e., solely Cd+ ion-implanted and dually (Cd+ + N+) ion-implanted with [Cd] = [N] were prepared, For characterization, Hall effects and photoluminescence (PL) measurements were performed at room temperature and 2 K, respectively. Hall effects measurements revealed that for dually ion-implanted samples, the highest activation efficiency was similar to 40% for [Cd] (= [N])= 1 x 10(18) cm(-3). PL measurements indicated that [g-g] and [g-g](i) (i = 2, 3, alpha, beta,...), the emissions due to the multiple energy levels of acceptor-acceptor pairs are significantly suppressed by the incorporation of N atoms, For [Cd] = [N] greater than or equal to 1 x 10(19) cm(-3), a moderately deep emission denoted by (Cd, N) is formed at around 1.45-1.41 eV. PL measurements using a Ge detector indicated that (Cd, N) is increasingly red-shifted in energy and its intensity is enhanced with increasing [Cd] = [N], (Cd, N) becomes a dominant emission for [Cd] = [N] = 1 x 10(20) cm(-3). The steep reduction of net hole carrier concentration observed for [Cd]/[N] less than or equal to 1 was ascribed to the formation of (Cd, N) which is presumed to be a novel radiative complex center between acceptor and isoelectronic atoms in GaAs.

Stoichiometric defects in semi-insulating GaAs

The influences of arsenic interstitials and dislocations on the lattice parameters of undoped semi-insulating (SI) GaAs single crystals were analyzed. It was shown that the dislocations in such crystals serve as effective gettering sites for arsenic interstitials due to the deformation energy of dislocations. The average excess arsenic in GaAs epilayers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) at low temperatures (LT) is about 1%, and the lattice parameters of these epilayers are larger than those of liquid-encapsulated Czochralski-grown (LEG) SI-GaAs by about 0.1%. The atomic ratio, [As]/([Ga] + [As]), in SI-GaAs grown by low-pressure (LP) LEC is the nearest to the strict stoichiometry compared with those grown by high-pressure (HP) LEC and vertical gradient freeze (VGF). After multiple wafer annealing (MWA), the crystals grown by HPLEC become closer to be strictly stoichiometric.

Liquid encapsulated-melt zone processing of GaAs

A liquid encapsulated melt Bone process has been developed for single crystal growth of GaAs. Single crystals of 40 mm long have been grown with this technique. To avoid unwanted nucleation events and maintain a constant crystal diameter, from top to bottom growth using a short zone with a convex zone surface was found to give the best results. An arsenic overpressure was used to in conjunction with a B2O3 encapsulant in order to suppress arsenic dissociation from the melt and maintain the stoichiometry of the crystal.

Effects of point defects on lattice parameters of semiconductors

A model for analyzing the correlation between lattice parameters and point defects in semiconductors has been established. The results of this model for analyzing the substitutes in semiconductors are in accordance with those from Vegard's law and experiments. Based on this model, the lattice strains caused by the antisites, the tetrahedral and octahedral single interstitials, and the interstitial couples are analyzed. The superdilation in lattice parameters of GaAs grown at low temperatures by molecular-beam epitaxy can be interpreted by this model, which is in accordance with the experimental results. This model provides a way of analyzing the stoichiometry in bulk and epitaxial compound semiconductors nondestructively.

High quality CeO2 film grown on Si(111) substrate by using low energy dual ion beam deposition technology

By using the mass-analyzed low energy dual ion beam deposition technique, a high quality epitaxial, insulating cerium dioxide thin film with a thickness of about 2000 Angstrom, has been grown on a silicon (111) substrate. The component species, cerium and oxygen, are homogeneous in depth, and have the correct stoichiometry for CeO2. X-ray double-crystal diffraction shows that the full width at half maximum of the (222) and (111) peaks of the film are less than 23 and 32 s, respectively, confirming that the film is a perfect single crystal. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.

Space-grown SI-GaAs and its application

A semi-insulating GaAs single crystal ingot was grown in a recoverable satellite, within a specially designed pyrolytic boron nitride crucible, in a power-travelling furnace under microgravity. The crystal was characterized systematically and was used in fabricating low noise field effect transistors and analogue switch integrated circuits by the direct ion-implantation technique. All key electrical properties of these transistors and integrated circuits have surpassed those made from conventional earth-grown gallium arsenide. This result shows that device-grade space-grown semiconducting single. crystal has surpassed the best. terrestrial counterparts. Studies on the correlation between SI-GaAs wafers and the electronic devices and integrated circuits indicate that the characteristics of a compound semiconductor single crystal depends fundamentally on its stoichiometry.