A comparison between AlN films grown by MOCVD using dimethylethylamine alane and trimethylaluminium as the aluminium precursors

Aluminium nitride (AlN) films grown with dimethylethylamine alane (DMEAA) are compared with the ones grown with trimethylaluminium (TMA). In the high-resolution x-ray diffraction Omega scans, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of (0002) AlN films grown with DMEAA is about 0.70 deg, while the FWHM of (0002) AlN films grown with TMA is only 0.11 deg. The surface morphologies of the films are different, and the rms roughnesses of the surface are approximately identical. The rms roughness of AlN films grown with DMEAA is 47.4 nm, and grown with TMA is 69.4 nn. Although using DMEAA as the aluminium precursor cannot improve the AlN crystal quality, AlN growth can be reached at low temperature of 673 K. Thus, DMEAA is an alternative aluminium precursor to deposit AlN film at low growth temperatures.

Chemical composition and elastic strain in AlInGaN quaternary films

High-quality AlInGaN quaternary layers were grown on c-Al2O3 using a thick GaN template. A full width at half maximum of 0.075 degrees from AlInGaN(0004) rocking curve and a minimum yield of 5.6% from Rutherford backscattering/channelling spectrometry (RBS) prove the AlInGaN layer of a comparable crystalline quality with GaN layers. The chemical compositions (both of Al and In contents) of AlInGaN layers are directly obtained from RBS and elastic recoil detection analysis. The lattice parameters both in perpendicular and parallel directions are deduced from X-ray diffraction. The AlInGaN layer is found to process a compressive strain in parallel direction and a tensile strain in perpendicular direction. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ZnO thin films on Si(111) grown by pulsed laser deposition from metallic Zn target

ZnO thin films with highly c-axis orientation have been fabricated on p-type Si(1 1 1) substrates at 400 degrees C by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from a metallic Zn target with oxygen pressures between 0.1 and 0.7 mbar. Experimental results indicate that the films deposited at 0.3 and 0.5 mbar have better crystalline and optical quality and flatter surfaces than the films prepared at other pressures. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of (0 0 0 2) diffraction peak decreases remarkably from 0.46 to 0.19 degrees with increasing annealing temperature for the film prepared at 0.3 mbar. In photoluminescence (PL) spectra at room temperature, the annealed film at 700 degrees C exhibits a smaller ultraviolet (UV) peak FWHM of 108 meV than the as-grown film (119 meV). However, an enhanced deep-level emission is observed. Possible origins to above results are discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

MBE InAs quantum dots grown on metamorphic InGaAs for long wavelength emitting

GaAs-based InAs quantum dots using InGaAs composition-graded metamorphic layers have been investigated by molecular beam epitaxy. Emission with the wavelength similar to 1.5 mu m from the dots was obtained at room temperature with the relatively large full width at half maximum. The emission wavelength is relatively stable when subjected to fast annealing. The number density of dots reached similar to 6 x 10(10) cm(-2). Undulated morphology was observed on the surface of the sample, which has some influence on the dot size and distribution. In epilayers, misfit dislocations were confined within the step-graded InGaAs metamorphic buffer layer. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High-performance 1.55 mu m low-temperature-grown GaAs resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetector

A 1.55 mu m low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) photodetector with a resonant-cavityenhanced structure was designed and fabricated. A LT-GaAs layer grown at 200 degrees C was used as the absorption layer. Twenty- and fifteen-pair GaAs/AlAs-distributed Bragg reflectors were grown as the bottom and top mirrors. A responsivity of 7.1 mA/W with a full width at half maximum of 4 nm was obtained at 1.61 mu m. The dark current densities are 1.28x10(-7) A/cm(2) at the bias of 0 V and 3.5x10(-5) A/cm(2) at the reverse bias of 4.0 V. The transient response measurement showed that the photocarrier lifetime in LT-GaAs is 220 fs. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Influence of GaAsP insertion layers on performance of InGaAsP/InGaP/AlGaAs quantum-well laser

We report on the use of very thin GaAsP insertion layers to improve the performance of an InGaAsP/InGaP/AlGaAs single quantum-well laser structure grown by metal organic chemical vapour deposition. Compared to the non-insertion structure, the full width at half maximum of photoluminescence spectrum of the insertion structure measured at room temperature is decreased from 47 to 38 nm indicating sharper interfaces. X-ray diffraction shows that the GaAsP insertion layers between AlGaAs and InGaP compensates for the compressive strain to improve the total interface. The laser performance of the insertion structure is significantly improved as compared with the counterpart without the insertion layers. The threshold current is decreased from 560 to 450mA while the slope efficiency is increased from 0.61 to 0.7W/A and the output power is increased from 370 to 940mW. The slope efficiency improved is very high for the devices without coated facets. The improved laser performance is attributed to the suppression of indium carry-over due to the use of the GaAsP insertion layers.

Correlation between optical and electrical properties in In0.52Al0.48As/InxGa1-xAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility-transistor structures on GaAs substrates

4.2 K photoluminescence (PL) and 77 K standard Hall-effect measurements were performed for In0.52Al0.48As/InxGa1-xAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) structures grown on GaAs substrates with different indium contents in the InxGa1-xAs well or different Si delta-doping concentrations. It was found that electron concentrations increased with increasing PL intensity ratio of the "forbidden" transition (the second electron subband to the first heavy-hole subband) to the sum of the "allowed" transition (the first electron subband to the first heavy-hole subband) and the forbidden transition. And electron mobilities decreased with increasing product of the average full width at half maximum of allowed and forbidden transitions and the electron effective mass in the InxGa1-xAs quantum well. These results show that PL measurements are a good supplemental tool to Hall-effect measurements in optimization of the HEMT layer structure. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Effect of substrate temperature on the growth and photoluminescence properties of vertically aligned ZnO nanostructures

Vertically well-aligned ZnO nanoridge, nanorod, nanorod-nanowall junction, and nanotip arrays have been successfully synthesized on Si (100) substrates using a pulsed laser deposition prepared ZnO film as seed layer by thermal evaporation method. Experimental results illustrated that the growth of different morphologies of ZnO nanostructures was strongly dependent upon substrate temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies showed that the ZnO nanostructures were single crystals with a wurtzite structure. Compared with those of the other nanostructures, the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of nanorod-nanowall junctions showed the largest intensity ratio of ultraviolet (UV) to yellow-green emission and the smallest full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the UV peak, reflecting the high optical quality and nearly defect free of crystal structure. The vertical alignment of the nanowire array on the substrate is attributed to the epitaxial growth of the nanostructures from the ZnO buffer layer. The growth mechanism was also discussed in detail. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Role of edge dislocations in enhancing the yellow luminescence of n-type GaN

We investigate the origin of yellow luminescence in n-type GaN. It is found that the relative intensity of yellow luminescence increases as the full width at half maximum of the x-ray diffraction rocking curve at the (102) plane increases. This indicates that the yellow luminescence is related to the edge dislocation density. In addition, the relative intensity of yellow luminescence is confirmed to increase with increasing Si doping for the high quality GaN we have obtained. We propose that the yellow luminescence is effectively enhanced by the transition from donor impurities such as Si to acceptors around the edge dislocations in n-type GaN. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Growth and characterization of semi-insulating GaN films grown by MOCVD

High resistivity unintentionally doped GaN films were grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The surface morphology of the layer was measured by both atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the films have mirror-like surface morphology with root mean square of 0.3 nm. The full width at half maximum of double crystal X-ray diffraction rocking curve for (0002) GaN is about 5.22 arc-min, indicative of high crystal quality. The resistivity of the GaN epilayers at room temperature and at 250 degrees C was measured to be approximate 10(9) and 10(6) Omega(.)cm respectively, by variable temperature Hall measurement. Deep level traps in the GaN epilayers were investigated by thermally stimulated current and resistivity measurements.

The role of Sb in the molecular beam epitaxy growth of 1.30-1.55 mu m wavelength GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well with high indium content

Sb-assisted GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) with high (42.5%) indium content were investigated systematically. Transmission electron microscopy, reflection high-energy electron diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) measurements reveal that Sb acts as a surfactant to suppress three-dimensional growth. The improvement in the 1.55 mu m range is much more apparent than that in the 1.3 mu m range.. which can be attributed to the difference in N composition. The PL intensity and the full-width at half maximum of the 1.55 mu m single-QW were comparable with that of the 1.3 Am QWs. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High-precision determination of lattice constants and structural characterization of InN thin films

X-ray diffraction and Rutherford backscattering/channeling were used to characterize the crystalline quality of an InN layer grown on Al2O3(0001) Using metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. A full width at half maximum of 0.27 degrees from an InN(0002) omega scan and a minimum yield of 23% from channeling measurements show that this 480-nm-thick InN layer grown at low temperature (450 degrees C) has a relatively good crystalline quality. High-resolution x-ray diffraction indicates that the InN layer contains a small fraction of cubic InN, besides the predominant hexagonal phase. From this InN sample, the lattice constants a=0.353 76 nm and c=0.570 64 nm for the hexagonal InN and a=0.4986 nm for the cubic InN were determined independently. 2 theta/omega-chi mapping and a pole figure measurement revealed that the crystallographic relationship among the cubic InN, the hexagonal InN, and the substrate is: InN[111]parallel to InN[0001]parallel to Al2O3[0001] and InN{110}parallel to InN{1120}parallel to Al2O3{1010}, and that the cubic InN is twinned. Photoluminescence measurements indicate that the band-gap energy of this sample is approximately 0.82 eV. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.

High uniformity of self-organized InAs quantum wires on InAlAs buffers grown on misoriented InP(001)

Highly uniform InAs quantum wires (QWRs) have been obtained on the In0.5Al0.5As buffer layer grown on the InP substrate 8 degrees off (001) towards (111) by molecular-beam epitaxy. The quasi-periodic composition modulation was spontaneously formed in the In0.5Al0.5As buffer layer on this misoriented InP (001). The width and period of the In-rich bands are about 10 and 40 nm, respectively. The periodic In-rich bands play a major role in the sequent InAs QWRs growth and the InAs QWRs are well positioned atop In-rich bands. The photoluminescence (PL) measurements showed a significant reduction in full width at half maximum and enhanced PL efficiency for InAs QWRs on misoriented InP(001) as compared to that on normal InP(001). (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Enhancement of 1.53 mu m photoluminescence from spin-coated Er-Si-O (Er2SiO5) crystalline films by nitrogen plasma treatment

Er-Si-O (Er2SiO5) crystalline films are fabricated by the spin-coating and subsequent annealing process. The fraction of erbium is estimated to be 21.5 at% based on Rutherford backscattering measurement. X-ray diffraction pattern indicates that the Er-Si-O films are similar to Er2SiO5 compound in the crystal structure. The fine structure of room-temperature photoluminescence of Er3+-related transitions suggests that Er has a local environment similar to the Er-O-6 octahedron. Our preliminary results show that the intensity of 1.53 mu m emission is enhanced by a factor of seven after nitrogen plasma treatment by NH3 gas with subsequent post-annealing. The full-width at half-maximum of 1.53 pm emission peak increases from 7.5 to 12.9 nm compared with that of the untreated one. Nitrogen plasma treatment is assumed to tailor Er3+ local environment, increasing the oscillator strength of transitions and thus the excitation/emission cross-section. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of cracks generation on the structural and optical properties of GaN/Al0.55Ga0.45N multiple quantum wells

Both cracked and crack-free GaN/Al0.55Ga0.45N multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on GaN template by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition have been studied by triple-axis X-ray diffraction, grazing-incidence X-ray reflectivity, atomic force microscope, photoluminescence spectroscopy and low-energy positron annihilation spectroscopy. The experimental results show that cracks generation not only deteriorates the surface morphology, but also leads to a period dispersion and roughens the interfaces of MQWs. The mean density of dislocations in MQWs, determined from the average full-width at half-maximum of to-scan of each satellite peak, has been significantly enhanced by the cracks generation. Furthermore, the measurement of annihilation-line Doppler broadening reveals a higher concentration of negatively charged vacancies in the cracked MQWs. The combination of these vacancies and the high density of edge dislocations are assumed to contribute to the highly enhanced yellow luminescence in the cracked sample. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.