The influence of nitrogen clustering effect on optical transitions in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of GaInNAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells and GaInNAs epilayers grown on GaAs substrate show an apparent "S-shape" temperature-dependence of the of dominant luminescence peak. At low temperature and weak excitation conditions, a PL peak related to nitrogen cluster-induced bound states can be well resolved in the PL spectra. It displays a remarkable red shift of up to 60 meV and is thermally quenched below 100 K with increasing temperature, being attributed to N-cluster induced bound states. The indium incorporation exhibits significant effect on the cluster formation. The rapid thermal annealing treatment at 750 C can essentially remove the bound states-induced peak.

Effect of SiO2 encapsulation on the nitrogen reorganization in GaNAs/GaAs single quantum well

Effects of SiO2, encapsulation and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the optical properties of GaNAs/GaAs single quantum well (SQW) were studied by low temperature photoluminescence (PL). A blueshift of the PL peak energy for both the SiO2-capped region and the bare region was observed. The results were attributed to the nitrogen reorganization in the GaNAs/GaAs SQW. It was also shown that the nitrogen reorganization was obviously enhanced by SiO2 cap-layer. A simple model [1] was used to describe the SiO2-enhanced blueshift of the low temperature PL peak energy.

Optical study of localized and delocalized states in GaAsN/GaAs

Taking advantages of short pulse excitation and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL), we have studied the exciton localization effect in a number of GaAsN alloys and GaAsN/GaAs quantum wells (QWs). In the PL spectra, an extra transition located at the higher energy side of the commonly reported N-related emissions is observed. By measuring PL dependence on temperature and excitation power along with PL dynamics study, the new PL peak has been identified as a transition of the band edge-related recombination in dilute GaAsN alloy and delocalized transition in QWs. Using selective excitation PL we further attribute the localized emission in QWs to the excitons localized at the GaAsN/GaAs interfaces. This interface-related exciton localization could be greatly reduced by a rapid thermal annealing.

Effects of polarization field on formation of two-dimensional electron gas in (0001) and (11(2)over-bar0) plane AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Photoluminescence (PL) and temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements were carried out in (0001) and (11 (2) over bar0) AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. There are strong spontaneous and piezoelectric electric fields (SPF) along the growth orientation of the (0001) AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. At the same time there are no corresponding SPF along that of the (1120) AlGaN/GaN. A strong PL peak related to the recombination between two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and photoexcited holes was observed at 3.258 eV at room temperature in (0001) AlGaN/GaN heterointerfaces while no corresponding PL peak was observed in (11 (2) over bar0). The existence of a 2DEG was observed in (0001) AlGaN/GaN multi-layers with a mobility saturated at 6000 cm(2)/V s below 80 K, whereas a much lower mobility was measured in (11 (2) over bar0). These results indicated that the SPF was the main element to cause the high mobility and high sheet-electron-density 2DEG in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical properties of AIInGaN quaternary alloys

Carrier recombination dynamics in AlInGaN alloy has been studied by photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL). The fast redshift of PL peak energy is observed and well fitted by a physical model considering the thermal activation and transfer processes. This result provides evidence for the exciton localization in the quantum dot (QD)-like potentials in our AlInGaN alloy. The TRPL signals are found to be described by a stretched exponential function of exp[(-t/tau)(beta)], indicating the presence of a significant disorder in the material. The disorder is attributed to a randomly distributed quantum dots or clusters caused by indium fluctuations. By studying the dependence of the dispersive exponent 8 on the temperature and emission energy, we suggest that the exciton hopping dominate the diffusion of carriers localized in the disordered quantum dots. Furthermore, the localized states are found to have OD density of states up to 250 K, since the radiative lifetime remains almost unchanged with increasing temperature.

Optical study of electronic states in GaAsN

GaAs1-xNx alloys with small N composition (x<1%) and GaAsN/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) were studied by continuous wave photoluminescence (PL), pulse wave excitaiton PL and time-resolved PL. In the PL spectra an extra transition located at the higher energy side of the commonly reported N-related emissions was observed. By measuring the PL dependence on temperature and excitation power, the new PL peak was identified as a transition of alloy band edge-related recombination in GaAsN and delocalized transition in QWs. The PL dynamics further confirms its intrinsic nature of band edge states rather than N-related bound states.

GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well lasers grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy

The growth of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QW) was investigated by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy. N was introduced by a dc-active plasma source. The effect of growth conditions such as on the N incorporation and photoluminescence (PL) intensity of the QWs has been studied. The PL peak intensity decreased and the PL fun width at half maximum increased with increasing N concentrations. The highest N concentration of 2.6% in a GaInNAs/GaAs QW was obtained, and corresponding to a PL peak wavelength of 1.57 mum at 10K. Rapid thermal annealing at 850degreesC significantly improved the crystal quality of the QWs. An optimum annealing time of 5s at 850degreesC was obtained. A GaInNAs/GaAs SQW laser with the emitting wavelength of 1.2 mum and a high characteristic temperature of 115 K was achieved at room temperature.

Photoluminescence characterization of 1.3 mu m In(Ga)As/GaAs islands grown by molecular beam epitaxy

1.3 mum wavelength In(Ga)As/GaAs nanometer scale islands grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were characterized by photoluminescence (PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. It is shown that inhomogeneous broadening of optical emission due to fluctuation of the In0.5Ga0.5As islands both in size and in compositions can be effectively suppressed by introducing a AlAs layer and a strain reduction In0.2Ga0.8As layer overgrown on top of the islands, 1.3mum emission wavelength with narrower line-width less than 20meV at room temperature was obtained.

Photoluminescence from carbon nanotubes

We observed yellow colored light emission bands from multiwalled carbon nanotubes in photo-luminescence (PL) experiments. The light emission band features indicate that the PL bands are associated with the electronic properties inherent to the carbon nanotube (CNT) structures.

Cooperative spontaneous emission of excitons in the semiconductor microcavity

We have studied the spontaneous emission of polarized excitons in the GaInP/AlGaInP VCSEL from 30K to room temperature. It is observed that the spontaneous emission peak enters and leaves the resonant regime. At the resonant regime, the emission intensities of the perpendicular and horizontal polarized exciton are enhanced at different ratio to those in non-resonant regime. These experiment results are explained through the dressed exciton theory of the semiconductor microcavity device. From this theory, the intensity enhancement and the polarization dependence are understood as cooperative emission and the microcavity anisotropy.

The influence of oxygen content on photoluminescence from Er-doped SiOx

SiOx films with oxygen concentrations ranging 13-46 at.% were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique using: pure SiH4 and N2O mixture. Erbium was then implanted at an energy of 500 KeV with dose of 2x10(15) ions/cm(2). The samples were subsequently annealed in N-2 for 20 sec at temperatures of (300-950 degrees C). Room temperature (RT) photo-luminescence (PL) data were collected by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIS) with an argon laser at a wavelength of 514.5 nm and an output power from 5 to 2500 mw. The intense room-temperature luminescence was observed around 1.54 mu m. The luminescence intensity increases by 2 orders of magnitude as compared with that of Er-doped Czochralski (CZ) Si. We found that the Er3+ luminescence depends strongly on the SiOx microstructure. Our experiment also showed that the silicon grain radius decreased with increasing oxygen content and finally formed micro-crystalline silicon or nano-crystalline silicon. As a result, these silicon small particles could facilitate the energy transfer to Er3+ and thus enhanced the photoluminescence intensity.

Preparation and characterization of erbium doped sol-gel silica glasses

Erbium-doped silica glasses were made by sol-gel process. Intensive photoluminescence (PL) spectra from the Er-doped silica glasses at room temperature were measured. A broadband peak at 1535 ma, corresponding to the I-4(13/2)-I-4(15/2) transition, its full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 10 nm, and a shoulder at 1546 nm in the PL spectra were observed. At lower temperatures, main line of 1535 nm and another line of 1552 Mn instead of 1546 nm appear. So two types of luminescence centers must exist in the samples at different temperature. The intensity of main line does not decrease obviously with increasing temperature. By varying the Er ion concentration in the range of 0.2 wt% - 5wt%, the highest photoluminescence intensity was obtained at 0.2wt% erbium doped concentration. Luminescence intensity decreases with increasing erbium concentration. Cooperative upconversion was used to explain the concentration quenching of luminescence from silica glass with high erbium concentration. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure measurements were carried out. It was found that the majority of the erbium impurities in the glasses have a local structure of eight first neighbor oxygen atoms at a mean distance of 0.255 nm, which is consistent with the typical coordination structure of rare earth ion.

The growth and characterization of GaN grown on a gamma-Al2O3/(001) Si substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Wurtzite single crystal GaN films have been grown onto a gamma-Al2O3/Si(001) substrate in a horizontal-type low pressure MOVPE system. A thin gamma-Al2O3 layer is an intermediate layer for the growth of single crystal GaN on Si although it is only an oriented polycrystal film as shown by reflection high electron diffraction. Moreover, the oxide is not yet converted to a fully single crystal film, even at the stage of high temperature for the GaN layer as studied by transmission electron microscopy. Double crystal x-ray linewidth of (0002) peak of the 1.3 mu m sample is 54 arcmin and the films have heavy mosaic structures. A near band edge peaking at 3.4 eV at room temperature is observed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. Raman scattering does not detect any cubic phase coexistence.

Yellow luminescence mechanism and persistent photoconductivity in n-GaN single crystal films grown on alpha-Al2O3(0001) substrates by LP-MOCVD

Unintentionally doped and Si-doped single crystal n-GaN films have been grown on alpha-Al2O3 (0001) substrates by LP-MOCVD. Room temperature photoluminescence measurement showed that besides the bandedges, the spectrum of an undoped sample was a broad deep-level emission band peaking from 2.19 to 2.30eV, whereas the spectrum for a Si-doped sample was composed of a dominant peak of 2.19eV and a shoulder of 2.32eV. At different temperatures, photoconductance buildup and its decay were also observed for both samples.. The likely origins of persistent photoconductivity and yellow luminescence, which might be associated with deep defects inclusive of either Ga vacancy(V-Ga)/Ga vacancy complex induced by impurities or N antisite (N-Ga), will be proposed.

Effect of carrier relaxation and emission on photoluminescence of InAs quantum dots