Growth and characterization of InGaAs/InAlAs quantum cascade lasers

The growth and characterization of quantum cascade (QC) lasers based on InGaAs/InAlAs material system are investigated. Pronounced intersubband absorption from stacked active region of QC structure is used to monitor the wavelength of QC laser and disclose the material quality. The precise control of the epilayer thickness and the good quality of interfaces are demonstrated by the abundant narrow satellite peaks of X-ray diffraction. Laser action in quasi-continuous wave operation is achieved at lambda approximate to 5.1-5.2 mum up to 300 K. For 10 x 800 mum(2) laser device, peak output power of similar to7.2 mW and threshold current density of 3 kA/cm(2) at room temperature are obtained. For some devices, if keep the peak output powers at the similar to2 mW level, quasi-continuous wave operation at room temperature persists more than 1 h are recorded. (Q) (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of growth temperature on luminescence and structure of self-assembled InAlAs/AlGaAs quantum dots

The effect of growth temperature on the optical properties of self-assembled In0.65Al0.35As/Al0.35Ga0.65As quantum dots is studied using photoluminescence and electroluminescence spectra. With the growth temperature increasing from 530 to 560 degreesC, the improvement of optical and structural quality has been observed. Furthermore, edge-emitting laser diodes with three stacked InAlAs quantum dot layers grown at different temperature are processed, respectively. For samples with quantum dots grown at 560 degreesC, the continuous wave operation is obtained up to 220 K, which is much higher than that of ones with InAlAs islands grown at 530 degreesC and that of the short-wavelength quantum-dot laser previously reported. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Quality improvement of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

The optimum growth condition of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy was investigated. High-resolution X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) measurements showed that ion damage drastically degraded the quality of GaNAs and GaInNAs QWs and that ion removal magnets can effectively remove the excess ion damage. Remarkable improvement of PL intensity and obvious appearance of pendellosung fringes were observed by removing the N ions produced in the plasma cell. When the growth rate increased from 0.73 to 1.2 ML/s, the optimum growth temperature was raised from 460 degreesC to 480 degreesC and PL peak intensity increased two times. Although the N composition decreased with increasing growth rate, degradation of optical properties of GaInNAs QWs was observed when the growth rate was over 0.92 ML/s. Due to low-temperature growth of GaInNAs QWs, a distinctive reflection high-energy electron diffraction pattern was observed only when the GaAs barrier was grown under lower As-4 pressure. The samples with GaAs barriers grown under lower As-4 pressure (V/III ratio about 24) exhibited seven times increase in PL peak intensity compared with those grown under higher As-4 pressure (V/III ratio about 50). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B,V. All rights reserved.

Structural anisotropy and optical properties of InxGa1-xAs quantum dots on GaAs(001)

InAs and InxGa1-xAs (x = 0.2 and 0.5) self-organized quantum dots (QDs) were fabricated on GaAs(0 0 1) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), acid photoluminescence polarization spectrum (PLP). Both structural and optical properties of InxGa1-xAs QD layer are apparently different from those of InAs QD layer. AFM shows that InxGa1-xAs QDs tend to be aligned along the [1 (1) over bar 0] direction, while InAs QDs are distributed randomly. TEM demonstrates that there is strain modulation along [1 1 0] in the InxGa1-xAs QD layers. PLP shows that In0.5Ga0.5As islands present optical anisotropy along [1 1 0] and [1 (1) over bar 0] due to structural and strain field anisotropy for the islands. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Electronic states of InAs/GaAs quantum ring

In the framework of effective mass envelope function theory, the electronic states of the InAs/GaAs quantum ring are studied. Our model can be used to calculate the electronic states of quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots. In calculations, the effects due to the different effective masses of electrons in rings and out rings are included. The energy levels of the electron are calculated in the different shapes of rings. The results indicate that the inner radius of rings sensitively changes the electronic states. The energy levels of the electron are not sensitively dependent on the outer radius for large rings. If decreasing the inner and outer radii simultaneously, one may increase the energy spacing between energy levels and keep the ground state energy level unchanged. If changing one of two radii (inner or outer radius), the ground state energy level and the energy spacing will change simultaneously. These results are useful for designing and fabricating the double colors detector by intraband and interband translations. The single electron states are useful for studying the electron correlations and the effects of magnetic fields in quantum rings. Our calculated results are consistent with the recent experimental data of nanoscopic semiconductor rings. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Effects of interdiffusion on the luminescence of InAs/GaAs quantum dots covered by InGaAs overgrowth layer

We have studied the effects of postgrowth rapid thermal annealing on the optical properties of 3-nm-height InAs/GaAs quantum dots covered by 3-nm-thick InxGa1-xAs (x = 0, 0.1, and 0.2) overgrowth layer. At higher annealing temperature (T greater than or equal to 750 degreesC), the photoluminescence peak of InGaAs layer has been observed at lower-energy side of the InAs quantum-dot peak. In addition, the blueshift in photoluminescence (PL) emission energy is found to he similar for all samples with increasing the annealing temperature from 650 to 850 degreesC. However, the trend of narrowing of photoluminescence linewidth is significantly different for InAs quantum dots with different In mole fractions in InGaAs overgrowth layer. These results suggest that the intermixing in the lateral direction plays an important role in helping to understand the modification of optical properties induced by rapid thermal annealing. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Room temperature (34 degrees C) operation of strain-compensated quantum cascade lasers

A short wavelength (lambda similar or equal to 3.5 mu m) strain-compensated InxGa(1-x)As/InyAl(1-y)As quantum cascade laser is reported. Quasi-continuous wave operation of this device at 34 degrees C with an output power of 11.4mW persisted for more than 30 minutes without obvious degradation. A very low threshold current density of 1.2KA/cm(2) at this temperature was observed.

Annealing effect on the surface morphology and photoluminescence of InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Postgrowth rapid thermal annealing was performed on InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The blue shift of the emission peak and the narrowing of the luminescence line width are observed at lower annealing temperature. However, when the annealing temperature is increased to 850 degrees C, the emission line width becomes larger. The TEM image of this sample shows that the surface becomes rough, and some large clusters are formed, which is due to the interdiffusion of In, Ga atoms at the InGaAs/GaAs interface and to the strain relaxation. The material is found to degrade dramatically when the annealing temperature is further increased to 900 degrees C, while emission from quantum dots can still be detected, along with the appearance of the emission from excited state. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The structural and photoluminescence properties of self-organized quantum dots in InAs/In0.53Ga0.47As multilayer on InP substrate

Self-organized InAs/In0.53Ga0.47As quantum dot (QD) multilayers were grown on InP substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The structural and optical properties were characterized by using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence (PL), respectively. Vertically aligned InAs quantum dots multilayer on InP substrate is demonstrated for the first time. Photoluminescence with a line width of similar to 26 meV was observed from the QDs multilayer. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Strain effect on the band structure of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

The strain effect on the band structure of InAs/GaAs quantum dots has been investigated. 1 mu m thick InGaAs cap layer was added onto the InAs quantum dot layer to modify the strain in the quantum dots. The exciton energies of InAs quantum dots before and after the relaxation of the cap layer were determined by photoluminescence. When the epilayer was lifted off from the substrate by etching away the sacrifice layer (AlAs) by HF solution, the energy of exciton in the quantum dots decreases due to band gap narrowing resulted from the strain relaxation. This method can be used to obtain much longer emission wavelength from InAs quantum dots.

Spectral properties of a double-quantum-dot structure: A causal Green's function approach

Spectral properties of a double quantum dot (QD) structure are studied by a causal Green's function (GF) approach. The double QD system is modeled by an Anderson-type Hamiltonian in which both the intra- and interdot Coulomb interactions are taken into account. The GF's are derived by an equation-of-motion method and the real-space renormalization-group technique. The numerical results show that the average occupation number of electrons in the QD exhibits staircase features and the local density of states depends appreciably on the electron occupation of the dot.

A comparison of photoluminescence properties of InGaAs GaAs quantum dots with a single quantum well

Variable temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements for In0.3Ga0.7As(6 nm)/GaAs(34 nm) quantum dot superlattices with a period of 20 and an In0.3Ga0.7As(6 nm)/GaAs(34 nm) reference single quantum well have been conducted. It is found that the temperature dependence is different between the quantum dots and the reference single quantum well. The PL peak energy of the single quantum well decreases faster than that of the quantum dots with increasing temperature. The PL peak energy for the InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots closely follows the InAs band gap in the temperature range from 11 to 170 K, while the PL peak energy for the InGaAs/GaAs quantum well closely follows the GaAs band gap. In comparison with InAs/GaAs quantum dots, the InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots are more typical as a zero-dimensional system since the unusual PL results, which appear in the former, are not obvious for the latter. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)08615-6].