The influence of Schottky contact metals on the strain of AlGaN barrier layers

Ir and Ni Schottky contacts on strained Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures, and the Ni Schottky contact with different areas on strained Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN heterostructures have been prepared. Using the measured capacitance-voltage curves and the current-voltage curves obtained from the prepared Schottky contacts, the polarization charge densities of the AlGaN barrier layer for the Schottky contacts were analyzed and calculated by self-consistently solving Schrodinger's and Poisson's equations. It is found that the polarization charge density of the AlGaN barrier layer for the Ir Schottky contact on strained Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures is different from that of the Ni Schottky contact, and the polarization charge densities of the AlGaN barrier layer for Ni Schottky contacts with different areas on strained Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN heterostructures are different corresponding to different Ni Schottky contact areas. As a result, the conclusion can be made that Schottky contact metals on strained AlGaN/GaN heterostructures have an influence on the strain of the AlGaN barrier layer. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Effect of indium-doped interlayer on the strain relief in GaN films grown on Si(111)

Crack-free GaN films have been achieved by inserting an Indoped low-temperature (LT) AlGaN interlayer grown on silicon by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The relationship between lattice constants c and a obtained by X-ray diffraction analysis shows that indium doping interlayer can reduce the stress in GaN layers. The stress in GaN decreases with increasing trimethylindium (TMIn) during interlayer growth. Moreover, for a smaller TMIn flow, the stress in GaN decreases dramatically when In acts as a surfactant to improve the crystallinity of the AlGaN interlayer, and for a larger TMIn flow, the stress will increase again. The decreased stress leads to smoother surfaces and fewer cracks for GaN layers by using an In-doped interlayer than by using an undoped interlayer. In doping has been found to enhance the lateral growth and reduce the growth rate of the c face. It can explain the strain relief and cracks reduction in GaN films. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-power operation of uncoated strain-compensated quantum cascade lasers at 4.8 mu m

High-power operation of uncoated 22-mu m-wide quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) emitting at lambda approximate to 4.8 mu m is reported. The emitting region of the QCL structure consists of a 30-period strain-compensated In0.68Ga0.32As/In0.37Al0.63As superlattice. For a 4-mm-long laser in pulsed mode, a peak output power is achieved in excess of 2240mW per facet at 81K with a threshold current density of 0.64kA/cm(2). The effects of varying the cavity lengths from 1 to 4mm on the performances of the QCLs are analysed in detail and the low waveguide loss of only about 1.4 cm(-1) is extracted.

Strain and magnetic anisotropy of as-grown and annealed Fe films on c(4x4) reconstructed GaAs (001) surface

Fe films with the different thicknesses were grown on c(4x4) reconstructed GaAs (001) surfaces at low temperature by molecular-beam epitaxy. Well-ordered bcc structural Fe epitaxial films are confirmed by x-ray diffraction patterns and high-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images. A large lattice expansion perpendicular to the surface in Fe film is observed. In-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is determined by the difference between magnetizing energy along [110] and [110] directions, and the constant of interfacial uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is calculated to be 1.02x10(-4) J m(-2). We also find that magnetic anisotropy is not obviously influenced after in situ annealing, but in-plane strain is completely changed.

Well-width dependence of in-plane optical anisotropy in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells induced by in-plane uniaxial strain and interface asymmetry

The well-width dependence of in-plane optical anisotropy (IPOA) in (001) GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells induced by in-plane uniaxial strain and interface asymmetry has been studied comprehensively. Theoretical calculations show that the IPOA induced by in-plane uniaxial strain and interface asymmetry exhibits much different well-width dependence. The strain-induced IPOA is inversely proportional to the energy spacing between heavy- and light-hole subbands, so it increases with the well width. However, the interface-related IPOA is mainly determined by the probability that the heavy- and light-holes appear at the interfaces, so it decreases with the well width. Reflectance difference spectroscopy has been carried out to measure the IPOA of (001) GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells with different well widths. Strain- and interface-induced IPOA have been distinguished by using a stress apparatus, and good agreement with the theoretical prediction is obtained. The anisotropic interface potential parameters are also determined. In addition, the energy shift between the interface- and strain-induced 1H1E reflectance difference (RD) structures, and the deviation of the 1L1E RD signal away from the prediction of the calculation model have been discussed.

Strain Effects on the Optical Polarization Properties of R-Plane Wurtzite GaN

Using the effective-mass Hamiltonian for an arbitrary direction wurtzite semiconductor on the basis of k.p theory, we investigate the strain effects on the transition energies and optical properties in the R-plane ([1012]-oriented plane) GaN. The results show that (1) the transition energies decrease with the biaxial strains changing from -0.5 to 0.5%; and (2) giant optical anisotropy appears in the R-plane which is significantly affected by the biaxial strains. We clarify the relation between the strains and the polarization properties. Finally, we discuss the application of these properties to the R-plane GaN based devices. (c) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Strain relaxation and band-gap tunability in ternary InxGa1-xN nanowires

The alloy formation enthalpy and band structure of InGaN nanowires were studied by a combined approach of the valence-force field model, Monte Carlo simulation, and density-functional theory (DFT). For both random and ground-state structures of the coherent InGaN alloy, the nanowire configuration was found to be more favorable for the strain relaxation than the bulk alloy. We proposed an analytical formula for computing the band gap of any InGaN nanowires based on the results from the screened exchange hybrid DFT calculations, which in turn reveals a better band-gap tunability in ternary InGaN nanowires than the bulk alloy.

Strain status in ZnO film on sapphire substrate with a GaN buffer layer grown by metal-source vapor phase epitaxy

ZnO film of 8 mu m thickness was grown on a sapphire (0 0 1) substrate with a GaN buffer layer by a novel growth technique called metal-source vapor phase epitaxy (MVPE). The surface of ZnO film measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) is smooth and shows many regular hexagonal features. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of ZnO(0 0 2) and (1 0 2) omega-scan rocking curves are 119 and 202 arcsec, corresponding a high crystal quality. The status of the strain in ZnO thick film was particularly analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) omega-20 scanning. The results show that the strain in ZnO film is compressive, which is also supported by Raman scattering spectroscopy. The compressive strain can solve the cracking problem in the quick growth of ZnO thick film. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The investigation on strain relaxation and double peaks in photoluminescence of InGaN/GaN MQW layers

Two emission peaks were observed in the low temperature photoluminescence (LTPL) spectra of an InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structure before and after nanopillar fabrication. After nanopillar fabrication it is found that among the two peaks the longer wavelength peak exhibits a clear blue shift and has a much stronger enhancement in LTPL intensity than the shorter one. Combined with x-ray diffraction and spatially resolved cathodoluminescence analyses, the difference induced by nanopillar fabrication is ascribed to different strain relaxation states in the lower and upper quantum well layers. It is found that the lower QW layers of the as-grown MQW which causes the longer wavelength PL peak are more strained, while the upper ones are almost fully strain-relaxed. Therefore, the nanopillar fabrication induces much less strain relaxation in the upper part of the MQW than in the lower one.

Nature of interfacial defects and their roles in strain relaxation at highly lattice mismatched 3C-SiC/Si (001) interface

Misfit defects in a 3C-SiC/Si (001) interface were investigated using a 200 kV high-resolution electron microscope with a point resolution of 0.194 nm. The [110] high-resolution electron microscopic images that do not directly reflect the crystal structure were transformed into the structure map through image deconvolution. Based on this analysis, four types of misfit dislocations at the 3C-SiC/Si (001) interface were determined. In turn, the strain relaxation mechanism was clarified through the generation of grow-in perfect misfit dislocations (including 90 degrees Lomer dislocations and 60 degrees shuffle dislocations) and 90 partial dislocations associated with stacking faults. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3234380]

Luminescence properties of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots covered by InAlAs and InGaAs combination strain-reducing layer

We report the photoluminescence (PL) and structural properties of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) covered by In0.2Al0.8As and In0.2Ga0.8As combination strain-reducing layer (SRL). By introducing a thin InAlAs layer, the ground state emission wavelength redshifts, and the energy splitting between the ground and first-excited states increases to 85 meV at 10 K. The energy splitting further increases to 92 meV and the temperature dependence of full width at half maximum (FWHM) changes for QDs with different SRL after the multi-stacking. These results are attributed to the fact that the combination layer has different effects on QDs compared to the InGaAs SRL.

Effect of the InAlAs and InGaAs combination strain-reducing layer on 1.3 mu m emission self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) with differing deposition thicknesses covered by InxAl1-xAs (x = 0.2, 0.3) and In0.2Ga0.8As combination strain-reducing layers (CSRLs) were grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Their structural and optical properties were investigated by atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy, respectively. The emission peak position of InAs QDs capped by CSRL can reach 1.34 mum at room temperature with a relatively larger energy splitting of 93 meV between the ground and first excited states.

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.

A method to estimate the strain state of SiGe/Si by measuring the bandgap

sing the result of model-solid theory, we have obtained the relationship between bandgap and strain of Si1-x Ge-x alloy on Si (100) substrate with x < 0.85. It was shown that the deviation between the bandgap of strained SiGe and relaxed SiGe is proportional to the strain. According to the theoretical result, a novel method was suggested to determine the strain state of SiGe/ Si through measuring the bandgap. The strain in the SiGe/Si multi-quantum wells was measured using the new method and the results had good agreement with that from XRD measurement.

1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots grown on In0.2Ga0.8As-GaAs combined strain-buffer layer

Optical properties and surface structures of InAs/CaAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) grown on 2 nm In-0.2 Ga0.8As and x ML GaAs combined strain-buffer layer were investigated systematically by photoluminescence ( PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The QD density increased from similar to 1.7 x 10(9) cm(-2) to similar to 3.8 x 10(9) cm(-1) due to the decreasing of the lattice mismatch. The combined layer was of benefit to increasing In incorporated into dots and the average height-to-width ratios, which resulted in the red-shift of the emission peaks. For the sample of x = 10 ML, the ground state transition is shifted to 1350 nm at room temperature.