Characterization of ZnMgO hexagonal-nanotowers/films on m-plane sapphire synthesized by metal organic chemical vapour deposition

ZnMgO hexagonal-nanotowers/films grown on m-plane sapphire substrates were successfully synthesized using a vertical low-pressure metal organic chemical vapour deposition system. The structural and optical properties of the as-obtained products were characterized using various techniques. They were grown along the non-polar [1 0 (1) over bar 0] direction and possessed wurtzite structure. The ZnMgO hexagonal-nanotowers were about 200 nm in diameter at the bottom and 120 nm in length. Photoluminescence and Raman spectra show that the products have good crystal quality with few oxygen vacancies. With Mg incorporation, multiple-phonon scattering becomes weak and broad, and the intensities of all observed vibrational modes decrease. The ultraviolet near band edge emission shows a clear blueshift (as much as 100 meV) and broadening compared with that of pure ZnO products.

Photoluminescence properties of tensile-strained GaAsP/GaInP single quantum wells grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition

Tensile-strained GaAsP/GaInP single quantum well (QW) laser diode (I-D) structures have been grown by low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) and related photoluminescence (PL) properties have been investigated in detail. The samples have the same well thickness of 16 nm but different P compositions in a GaAsP QW. Two peaks in room temperature (RT) PL spectra are observed for samples with a composition larger than 0.10. Temperature and excitation-power-dependent PL spectra have been measured for a sample with it P composition of 0.15. It is found that the two peaks have a 35 meV energy separation independent of temperature and only the low-energy peak exists below 85 K. Additionally, both peak intensities exhibit a monotonous increase as excitation power increases. Analyses indicate that the two peaks arise from the intrinsic-exciton recombination mechanisms of electron-heavy hole (e-hh) and electron-light hole (e-hh). A theoretical calculation based oil model-solid theory, taking, into account the spin-orbit splitting energy, shows good agreement with our experimental results. The temperature dependence of PL intensity ratio is well explained using the spontaneous emission theory for e-hh and e-hh transitions. front which the ratio can be characterized mainly by the energy separation between the fill and Ill states.

Fabrication and optical characterization of GaN-based nanopillar light emitting diodes

InGaN/GaN-multiple-quantum-well-based light emitting diode ( LED) nanopillar arrays with a diameter of approximately 200nm and a height of 700nm are fabricated by inductively coupled plasma etching using Ni self-assembled nanodots as etching mask. In comparison to the as-grown LED sample an enhancement by a factor of four of photoluminescence ( PL) intensity is achieved after the fabrication of nanopillars, and a blue shift and a decrease of full width at half maximum of the PL peak are observed. The method of additional wet etching with different chemical solutions is used to remove the etch-induced damage. The result shows that the dilute HCl ( HCl:H2O=1:1) treatment is the most effective. The PL intensity of nanopillar LEDs after such a treatment is about 3.5 times stronger than that before treatment.

The effect of low temperature AlN interlayers on the growth of GaN epilayer on Si (111) by MOCVD

Low temperature (LT) AlN interlayers were used to effectively reduce the tension stress and micro-cracks on the surface of the GaN epilayer grown on Si (111) substrate. Optical Microscopy (OM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Surface Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were employed to characterize these samples grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). In addition, wet etching method was used to evaluate the defect of the GaN epilayer. The results demonstrate that the morphology and crystalline properties of the GaN epilayer strongly depend on the thickness, interlayer number and growth temperature of the LT AlN interlayer. With the optimized LT AlN interlayer structures, high quality GaN epilayers with a low crack density can be obtained. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A simple route of morphology control and structural and optical properties of ZnO grown by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition

Employing the metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) technique, we prepare ZnO samples with different morphologies from the film to nanorods through conveniently changing the bubbled diethylzinc flux (BDF) and the carrier gas flux of oxygen (OCGF). The scanning electron microscope images indicate that small BDF and OCGF induce two-dimensional growth while the large ones avail quasi-one-dimensional growth. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman scattering analyses show that all of the morphology-dependent ZnO samples are of high crystal quality with a c-axis orientation. From the precise shifts of the 2 theta. locations of ZnO (002) face in the XRD patterns and the E-2(high) locations in the Raman spectra, we deduce that the compressive stress forms in the ZnO samples and is strengthened with the increasing BDF and OCGF. Photoluminescence spectroscopy results show all the samples have a sharp ultraviolet luminescent band without any defects-related emission. Upon the experiments a possible growth mechanism is proposed.

Design of novel three port optical gates scheme for the integration of large optical cavity electroabsorption modulators and evanescently-coupled photodiodes

This paper presents a novel scheme to monolithically integrate an evanescently-coupled uni-travelling carrier photodiode with a planar short multimode waveguide structure and a large optical cavity electroabsorption modulator based on a multimode waveguide structure. By simulation, both electroabsorption modulator and photodiode show excellent optical performances. The device can be fabricated with conventional photolithography, reactive ion etching, and chemical wet etching.

Fabrication and characterization of GaN-based LEDs grown on nanopatterned sapphire substrates

Sapphire substrates were nanopatterned by dry (inductively coupled plasma, ICP) etching to improve the performance of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). GaN-based LEDs on nanopatterned sapphire substrates (NPSS) were fabricated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The characteristics of LEDs fabricated on NPSS prepared by dry etching were studied. The light output power and wall-plug efficiency of the LEDs fabricated on NPSS were greater than those of the conventional LEDs fabricated on common planar sapphire substrates when the injection currents were the same. The LEDs on NPSS and common planar sapphire substrates have similar I-V characteristics.

Study of GaN growth on ultra-thin Si membranes

10 mu m-thick ultra-thin Si (111) membranes for GaN epi-layers growth were successfully fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate by backside etching the handle Si and buried oxide (BOX) layer. Then 1 mu m-thick GaN layers were deposited on these Si membranes by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The crack-free areas of 250 mu m, x 250 mu m were obtained on the GaN layers due to the reduction of thermal stress by using these ultra-thin Si membranes, which was further confirmed by the photoluminescence (PL) spectra and the simulation results from the finite element method calculation by using the software of ANSYS. In this paper, a newly developed approach was demonstrated to utilize micromechanical structures for GaN growth, which would improve the material quality of the epi-layers and facilitate GaN-based micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) fabrication, especially the pressure sensor, in the future applications. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The influence of low-temperature Ge seed layer on growth of high-quality Ge epilayer on Si(100) by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition

High-quality Ge epilayer on Si(1 0 0) substrate with an inserted low-temperature Ge seed layer and a thin Si0.77Ge0.23 layer was grown by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition. The epitaxial Ge layer with surface root-mean-square roughness of 0.7 nm and threading dislocation density of 5 x 10(5) cm(-2) was obtained. The influence of low temperature Ge seed layer on the quality of Ge epilayer was investigated. We demonstrated that the relatively higher temperature (350 degrees C) for the growth of Ge seed layer significantly improved the crystal quality and the Hall hole mobility of the Ge epilayer. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of nano-patterned sapphire substrates and their application to the improvement of the performance of GaN-based LEDs

Nano-patterned sapphire substrates (NPSSs) were fabricated by a chemical wet etching technology using nano-sized SiO2 as masks. The NPSS was applied to improve the performance of GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs). GaN-based LEDs on NPSSs were grown by metal organic chemical vapour deposition. The characteristics of LEDs grown on NPSSs and conventional planar sapphire substrates were studied. The light output powers of the LEDs fabricated on NPSSs were considerably enhanced compared with that of the conventional LEDs grown on planar sapphire substrates.

The effect of growth temperature on structural quality of GaN/AlN quantum wells by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition

The effect of the growth temperature on the surface and interface quality for the GaN/AlN multiquantum well (MQW) layer grown by metal-organic vapour chemical deposition is investigated. The obtained GaN/AlN MQW structure is almost coherent to the underlying AlGaN layer at improved growth conditions. With a relatively low growth temperature, the GaN/AlN MQW growth rate increases, the surface roughness reduces considerably and no macro steps are observed, resulting in a better periodicity of MQW.

High rate deposition of microcrystalline silicon films by high-pressure radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD)

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) thin films were prepared by high-pressure radio-frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf-PECVD) with a screened plasma. The deposition rate and crystallinity varying with the deposition pressure, rf power, hydrogen dilution ratio and electrodes distance were systematically studied. By optimizing the deposition parameters the device quality mu c-Si:H films have been achieved with a high deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s at a high pressure. The V-oc of 560 mV and the FF of 0.70 have been achieved for a single-junction mu c-Si:H p-i-n solar cell at a deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s.

Evolution of structural defects in SiOx films fabricated by electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapour deposition upon annealing treatment

We study the structural defects in the SiOx film prepared by electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapour deposition and annealing recovery evolution. The photoluminescence property is observed in the as-deposited and annealed samples. [-SiO3](2-) defects are the luminescence centres of the ultraviolet photoluminescence (PL) from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and PL measurements. [-SiO3](2-) is observed by positron annihilation spectroscopy, and this defect can make the S parameters increase. After 1000 degrees C annealing, [-SiO3](2-) defects still exist in the films.

Effects of disk rotation rate on the growth of ZnO films by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

ZnO films were grown at low pressure in a vertical metal-organic vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor with a rotating disk. The structural and morphological properties of the ZnO films grown at different disk rotation rate (DRR) were investigated. The growth rate increases with the increase of DRR. The ZnO film grown at the DRR of 450 revolutions per minute (rpm) has the lowest X-ray rocking curve full width at half maximum and shows the best crystalline quality and morphology. In addition, the crystalline quality and morphology are improved as the DRR increased but both are degraded when the DRR is higher than 450 rpm. These results can help improve in understanding the rotation effects on the ZnO films grown by MOCVD. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of native defects and property of bulk ZnO single crystal grown by a closed chemical vapor transport method

Hall effect, Raman scattering, photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), optical absorption (OA), mass spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction have been used to study bulk ZnO single crystal grown by a closed chemical vapor transport method. The results indicate that shallow donor impurities (Ga and Al) are the dominant native defects responsible for n-type conduction of the ZnO single crystal. PL and OA results suggest that the as-grown and annealed ZnO samples with poor lattice perfection exhibit strong deep level green photoluminescence and weak ultraviolet luminescence. The deep level defect in as-grown ZnO is identified to be oxygen vacancy. After high-temperature annealing, the deep level photoluminescence is suppressed in ZnO crystal with good lattice perfection. In contrast, the photoluminescence is nearly unchanged or even enhanced in ZnO crystal with grain boundary or mosaic structure. This result indicates that a trapping effect of the defect exists at the grain boundary in ZnO single crystal. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.