Dependence of ultra-thin gate oxide reliability on surface cleaning approach

In this paper, we investigate the effect of silicon surface cleaning prior to oxidation on the reliability of ultra-thin oxides. It is demonstrated that chemical preoxide grown in H2SO4/H2O2 (SPM) solution prior to oxidation provides better oxide integrity than both HF-based solution dipping and preoxide grown in RCA SC1 or SC2 solutions. It is also found that the oxides with SPM preoxide exhibit better hot-carrier immunity than the RCA cleaned oxides.

Visible vertical cavity surface emitting laser

We have designed and fabricated the visible vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) by using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). We use the 8 lambda optical cavities with 3 quantum wells in AlGaInP/AlGaAs red VCSEL's to reduce the drift leakage current and enhance the model gain in AlGaInP active region. The structure has a p-type stack with 36 DBR pairs on the top and an n-type with 55-1/2 pairs on the bottom. Using micro-area reflectance spectrum, we try to get a better concordance between the center wavelength of DBR and the emitting wavelength of the active region. We used a component graded layer of 0.05 lambda thick (x = 0.5 similar to 0.9) at the p-type DBR AlGaAs/AlAs interface to reduce the resistance of p-type DBR. We use selective oxidation to define the current injection path. Because the oxidation rate of a thick layer is faster than a thinner one, we grown a thick AlAs layer close to the active region. In this way, we got a smaller active region for efficient confinement of injected carriers (the aperture area is 3 x 3 mu m) to reduce the threshold and, at the same time, a bigger conductive area in the DBR layers to reduce the resistance. We employ Zn doping on the p-side of the junction to improve hole injection and control the Zn dopant diffusion to get proper p-i-n junction. At room temperature, pulse operation of the laser has been achieved with the low threshold current of 0.8mA; the wavelength is about 670nm.

Current-induced migration of surface adatoms during GaN growth by molecular beam epitaxy

The influence of electric fields on surface migration of Gallium (Ga) and Nitrogen (N) adatoms is studied during GaN growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). When a direct current (DC) is used to heat the sample, long distance migration of Ga adatoms and diffusion asymmetry of N adatoms at steps are observed. On the other hand, if an alternating current (AC) is used, no such preferential adatom migration is found. This effect is attributed to the effective positive charges of surface adatoms. representing an effect of electro-migration. The implications of such current-induced surface migration to GaN epitaxy are subsequently investigated. It is seen to firstly change the distribution of Ga adatoms on a growing surface, and thus make the growth to be Ga-limited at one side of the sample but N-limited at the other side. This leads to different optical qualities of the film and different morphologies of the surface. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

High-field cyclotron resonance and electron-phonon interaction in modulation-doped multiple quantum well structures

A systematic study of electron cyclotron resonance (CR) in two sets of GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As modulation-doped quantum-well samples (well widths between 12 and 24 nm) has been carried out in magnetic fields up to 30 T. Polaron CR is the dominant transition in the region of GaAs optical phonons for the set of lightly doped samples, and the results are in good agreement with calculations that include the interaction with interface optical phonons. The results from the heavily doped set are markedly different. At low magnetic fields (below the GaAs reststrahlen region), all three samples exhibit almost identical CR which shows little effect of the polaron interaction due to screening and Pauli-principle effects. Above the GaAs LO-phonon region (B > similar to 23 T), the three samples behave very differently. For the most lightly doped sample (3 x 10(11) cm(-2)) only one transition minimum is observed, which can be explained as screened polaron CR. A sample of intermediate density (6 x 10(11) cm(-2)) shows two lines above 23 T; the higher frequency branch is indistinguishable from the positions of the single line of the low density sample. For the most heavily, doped sample (1.2 x 10(12) cm(-2)) there is no evidence of high frequency resonance, and the strong, single line observed is indistinguishable from the lower branch observed from sample with intermediate doping density. We suggest that the low frequency branch in our experiment is a magnetoplasmon resonance red-shifted by disorder, and the upper branch is single-particle-like screened polaron CR. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Electronic and vibrational Raman scattering in resonance with yellow luminescence transitions in GaN on sapphire substrate

We analyze low-temperature Raman and photoluminescence spectra of MBE-grown GaN layers on sapphire. Strong and sharp Raman peaks are observed in the low frequency region. These peaks, which are enhanced by excitation in resonance with yellow luminescence transitions, are attributed to electronic transitions related to shallow donor levels in hexagonal GaN. It is proposed that a low frequency Raman peak at 11.7 meV is caused by a pseudo-local vibration mode related to defects involved in yellow luminescence transitions. The dependence of the photoluminescence spectra on temperature gives additional information about the residual impurities in these GaN layers.

Microphotoluminescence investigation of InAs quantum dot active region in 1.3 mu m vertical cavity surface emitting laser structure

Microphotoluminescence (mu-PL) investigation has been performed at room temperature on InAs quantum dot (QD) vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) structure in order to characterize the QD epitaxial structure which was designed for 1.3 mu m wave band emission. Actual and precise QD emission spectra including distinct ground state (GS) and excited state (ES) transition peaks are obtained by an edge-excitation and edge-emission (EEEE) mu-PL configuration. Conventional photoluminescence methods for QD-VCSELs structure analysis are compared and discussed, which indicate the EEEE mu-PL is a useful tool to determine the optical features of the QD active region in an as-grown VCSEL structure. Some experimental results have been compared with simulation results obtained with the aid of the plane-wave admittance method. After adjustment of epitaxial growth according to EEEE mu-PL measurement results, QD-VCSEL structure wafer with QD GS transition wavelength of 1300 nm and lasing wavelength of 1301 nm was obtained.

Surface Initiated Polymerization from Substrates of Low Initiator Density and Its Applications in Biosensors

Surface initiated polymerization (SIP) has become an attractive method for tailoring physical and chemical properties of surfaces for a broad range of applications. Most of those application relied on the merit of a high density coating. In this study we explored a long overlooked field of SIP. SIP from substrates of low initiator density. We combined ellipsometry with AFM to investigate the effect of initiatior density and polymerization time on the morphology of polymer coatings. In addition, we carefully adjusted the nanoscale separation of polymer chains to achieve a balance between nonfouling and immobilization capacities. We further tested the performance of those coating on various biosensors, such as quartz crystal microbalance, surface plasmon resonance, and protein microarrays. The optimized matrices enhanced the performance of those biosensors. This report shall encourage researches to explore new frontiers in SIP that go beyond polymer brushes.

Surface Plasmon Resonances of Cu Nanowire Arrays

Surface plasmon resonances of arrays of parallel copper nanowires, embedded in ion track-etched polycarbonate membranes, were investigated by systematic changes of nanowires’ topology and arrays area density. The extinction spectra exhibit two peaks which are attributed to interband transitions of Cu bulk metal and to a dipolar surface plasmon resonance, respectively. The resonances were investigated as a function of wire diameter and length, mean distance between adjacent wires, and angle of incidence of the light field with respect to the long wire axis. The dipolar peak shifts to larger wavelengths with increasing diameter and length, and diminishing mean distance between adjacent wires. Additionally, the shape effect on the dipolar peak is investigated.

Surface Disorder of GaN Irradiated by Highly Charged Arq+-Ions

Surface damage of gallium nitride films irradiated by Arq+ (6 ≤ q ≤ 16) ions at room temperature is studied by the atomic force microscopy. It is found that when charge state exceeds a threshold value, significant swelling was turned into obvious erosion in the irradiated region. The surface change of the irradiated region strongly depends on the charge state and ion fluence. On the other hand, surface change is less dependent on the kinetic energy nearly in the present experimental range (120 keV≤ Ek ≤ 220 keV). For q ≤ 14, surface of the irradiated region iscovered with an amorphous layer, rough and bulgy. A step-up appears between the irradiated and un-irradiated region. Moreover, the step height and the surface roughness are functions of the ion dose and charge state...

Study of the interaction of highly charged ions with SiO2 surface

Highly charged ions (HCIs) AO(q+)/Pbq+ are extracted from ECR source and impacted on solid surface Of SiO2 Sputtering yield as a function of incident angle is measured by multi-channel plate (MCP). The results have been fitted by a new formula. We proposed the cooperation model to explain the formula. The results demonstrate that the potential assisted kinetic sputtering yield increases with the charge state and potential sputtering (PS) could be induced by impact of HCIs. At larger incident angles, the sputtering yield is dominated by elastic collision between HCIs and material atoms. It is found that, smaller the incident angle, larger the contribution from the potential sputtering. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Experiments and modification on electron cyclotron resonance ion sources at the Institute of Modern Physics

Uranium ion beams were produced from electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources by sputtering method this year at the Institute of Modern Physics. At first, we chose the Lanzhou ECR No. 3 ion source to implement the production experiment of U ion beams. Finally, 11 e mu A of U28+, 5 e mu A of U32+, and 1.5 e mu A of U35+ were obtained. A U26+ ion beam produced by the LECR2 ion source was accelerated successfully by the cyclotron. This means that the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) has accomplished the acceleration of the ion beam of the heaviest element according to the designed parameters. The Lanzhou ECR ion source No. 2 (LECR2), which was built in 1997, has served the HIRFL for eight years and needed to be upgraded to provide more intense high charge state ion beams for HIRFL cooling storage ring. We started the upgrading project of LECR2 last year, and the modified design just has been finished. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

The influence of the microstructure evolution on the surface morphology in the annealing process of helium-implanted spinel

Single-crystalline spinel (MgAl2O4) specimens were implanted with helium ions of 100 keV at three successively increasing fluences of (0.5, 2.0 and 8.0) x 10(16) ions/cm(2) at room temperature. The specimens were subsequently annealed in vacuum at different temperatures ranging from 500 to 1100 degrees C. Different techniques, including Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the specimens, It was found that the absorbance peak in the FTIR due to the stretching vibration of the Al-O bond shifts to smaller wave numbers with increasing fluence, shifting back to larger wave numbers with an increase of annealing temperature. The absorbance peak shift has a linear relationship with the fluence increase in the as-implanted state, while it does not have a linear relationship with the fluence increase after the annealing process. Surface deformation occurred in the specimens implanted with fluences of 2.0 and 8.0 x 10(16) ions/cm(2) in the annealing process. The phenomena described above can be attributed to differences in defect formation in the specimens. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.