Metamorphic InGaAs p-i-n Photodetectors with 1.75 mu m Cut-Off Wavelength Grown on GaAs

Top-illuminated metamorphic InGaAs p-i-n photodetectors (PDs) with 50% cut-off wavelength of 1.75 mu m at room temperature are fabricated on GaAs substrates. The PDs are grown by a solid-source molecular beam epitaxy system. The large lattice mismatch strain is accommodated by growth of a linearly graded buffer layer to create a high quality virtual InP substrate indium content in the metamorphic buffer layer linearly changes from 2% to 60%. The dark current densities are typically 5 x 10(-6) A/cm(2) at 0 V bias and 2.24 x 10(-4) A/cm(2) at a reverse bias of 5 V. At a wavelength of 1.55 mu m, the PDs have an optical responsivity of 0.48 A/W, a linear photoresponse up to 5 mW optical power at -4 V bias. The measured -3 dB bandwidth of a 32 mu m diameter device is 7 GHz. This work proves that InGaAs buffer layers grown by solid source MBE are promising candidates for GaAs-based long wavelength devices.

Epitaxial Semiconductor Quantum Wires

The investigation on the direct epitaxial quantum wires (QWR) using MBE or MOCVD has been persuited for more than two decades, more lengthy in history as compared with its quantum dot counterpart. Up to now, QWRs with various structural configurations have been produced with different growth methods. This is a reviewing article consisting mainly of two parts. The first part discusses QWRs of various configurations, together with laser devices based on them, in terms of the two growth mechanisms, self-ordering and self-assembling. The second part gives a brief review of the electrical and optical properties of QWRs.

Influence of AlN Buffer Thickness on GaN Grown on Si(111) by Gas Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy with Ammonia

Hexagonal GaN is grown on a Si(111) substrate with AlN as a buffer layer by gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) with ammonia. The thickness of AlN buffer is changed from 9 to 72 nm. When the thickness of AlN buffer is 36 nm, the surface morphology and crystal quality of GaN is optimal. The in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) reveals that the transition to a two-dimensional growth mode of AlN is the key to the quality of GaN. However, the thickness of AlN buffer is not so critical to the residual in-plane tensile stress in GaN grown on Si(111) by GSMBE for AlN thickness between 9 to 72 nm.

High-power quantum-dot superluminescent LED with broadband drive current insensitive emission spectra using a tapered active region

High-power and broadband quantum-dot (QD) superluminescent light-emitting diodes are realized by using a combination of self-assembled QDs with a high density, large inhomogeneous broadening, a tapered angled pump region, and etched V groove structure. This broad-area device exhibits greater than 70-nm 3-dB bandwidth and drive current insensitive emission spectra with 100-mW output power under continuous-wave operation. For pulsed operation, greater than 200-mW output power is obtained.

Temperature dependence of surface quantum dots grown under frequent growth interruption

We grow In-GaAs quantum dot (QD) at low growth rate with 70 times insertion of growth interruption in MBE system. It is found that because of the extreme growth condition, QDs exhibit a thick wetting layer, large QD height value and special surface morphology which is attributed to the In segregation effect. Temperature dependence of photoluminescence measurement shows that this kind of QDs has a good thermal stability which is explained in terms of a "group coupling" model put forward by us. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SHORT PERIOD InAs/GaSb SUPERLATTICE INFRARED DETECTOR ON GaAs SUBSTRATES

Two type II superlattices (SLs) InAs(2ML)/GaSb(8ML) and InAs(8ML)/GaSb(8ML) were grown on GaAs substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy. High resolution X-ray diffraction showed the periods of the two SLs were 31.2 angstrom and 57.3 angstrom, respectively. Room-temperature optical transmittance spectra showed that there were clear absorption edges at 2.1 mu m and 5 mu m for the two SLs. The SWIR and MWIR photoconductor devices were fabricated by standard lithography and etched by tartaric acid solution. The spectral response and blackbody tests were carried out at low and room temperatues. The results show that the 50% cutoff wavelengths of the two photoconductors are 2.1 mu m and 5.0 mu m respectively and D-bb* is above 2 x 10(8) cmHz(1/2)/W for two kinds of photoconductors at 77K. D-bb* is above 10(8) cmHz(1/2)/W for SWIR photoconductor at room temperature.

Evolution of surface morphology and photoluminescence characteristics of 1.3-mu m In0.5Ga0.5As/GaAs quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Evolution of surface morphology and optical characteristics of 1.3-mu m In0.5Ga0.5As/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence (PL). After deposition of 16 monolayers (ML) of In0.5Ga0.5As, QDs are formed and elongated along the [110] direction when using sub-ML depositions, while large size InGaAs QDs with better uniformity are formed when using ML or super-ML depositions. It is also found that the larger size QDs show enhanced PL efficiency without optical nonlinearity, which is in contrast to the elongated QDs.

Interfaces in InAs/GaSb Superlattices Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Short period InAs(4 ML)/GaSb(8 ML) superlattices (SLs) with InSb- and mixed-like (or Ga(1-x)In(x)As(1-)ySb(y)-like) interfaces (IFs) are grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) on (001) GaSb substrates at optimized growth temperature. Raman scattering reveals that two kinds of IFs can be formed by controlling shutter sequences. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) demonstrate that SLs with mixed-like IFs are more sensitive to growth temperature than that with InSb-like IFs. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of SLs with mixed-like IFs show a stronger intensity and narrower line width than with InSb-like IFs. It is concluded that InAs/GaSb SLs with mixed-like IFs have better crystalline and optical properties.

Photoluminescence characteristics of GaAsSbN/GaAs epilayers lattice-matched to GaAs substrates

The photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of GaAsSbN/GaAs epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are carefully investigated. The results show that antimony (Sb) incorporation into GaNAs material has less influence on the N-induced localization states. For the same N concentration, GaAsSbN material can reach an emission wavelength near 1.3 mum more easily than GaInNAs material. The rapid thermal annealing (RTA) experiment shows that the annealing induced rearrangement of atoms and related blueshift in GaAsSbN epilayers are smaller than those in GaNAs and GaInNAs epilayers. The GaAsSbN material can keep a longer emission wavelength near 1.3 mum-emission even after the annealing treatment. Raman spectroscopy analysis gives further insight into the structure stability of GaAsSbN material after annealing. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of InAs quantum dots on lattice-matched InAlGaAs/InP superlattice structures

Self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) in an InAlGaAs matrix, lattice-matched to InP substrate, have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), double-crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) and photoluminescence (PL) are used to study their structural and optical properties. In InAs/InAlGaAs/ InP system, we propose that when the thickness of InAs layer deposited is small, the random strain distribution of the matrix layer results in the formation of tadpole-shaped QDs with tails towards random directions, while the QDs begin to turn into dome-shaped and then coalesce to form islands with larger size and lower density to release the increasing misfit strain with the continuous deposition of InAs. XRD rocking curves showing the reduced strain with increasing thickness of InAs layer may also support our notion. The results of PL measurements are in well agreement with that of TEM images. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural and optical properties of GaAsSb/GaAs heterostructure quantum wells

The structural and optical properties of MBE-grown GaAsSb/GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) as well as strain-compensated GaAsSb/GaAs/GaAsP MQWs are investigated. The results of double crystal X-ray diffraction and reciprocal space mapping show that when strain-compensated layers are introduced, the interface quality of QW structure is remarkably improved, and the MQW structure containing GaAsSb layers with a high Sb composition can be coherently grown. Due to the influence of inserted GaAsP layers on the energy band and carrier distribution of QWs, the optical properties of GaAsSb/GaAs/GaAsP MQWs display a lot of features mainly characteristic of type-I QWs despite the type-II GaAsSb/GaAs interfaces exist in the structure. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of infrared luminescence from Er-implanted GaN films

In this study, we report the dependences of infrared luminescence properties of Er-implanted GaN thin films (GaN:Er) on the kinds of substrates used to grow GaN, the growth techniques of GaN, the implantation parameters and annealing procedures. The experimental results showed that the photoluminescence (PL) intensity at 1.54 mum was severely influenced by different kinds of substrates. The integrated PL peak intensity from GaN:Er /Al2O3 (00001) was three and five times stronger than that from GaN:Er /Si (111) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), respectively. The PL spectra observed from GaN:Er/Al2O3 (0001) grown by MOCVD and by MBE displayed a similar feature, but those samples grown by MOCVD exhibited a stronger 1.54 mum PL. It was also found that there was a strong correlation between the PL intensity with ion implantation parameters and annealing procedures. Ion implantation induced damage in host material could be only partly recovered by an appropriate annealing temperature procedure. The thermal quenching of PL from 15 to 300 K was also estimated. In comparison with the integrated PL intensity at 15 K, it is reduced by only about 30 % when going up to 300 K for GaN:Er/Al2O3 sample grown by MOCVD. Our results also show that the strongest PL intensity comes from GaN:Er grown on Al2O3 substrate by MOCVD. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of Mg content on molecular-beam-epitaxy-grown ZnMgS ultraviolet photodetectors

Zn1-xMgxS-based Schottky barrier ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors were fabricated using the molecular-beam-epitaxy (MBE) technique. The influence of Mg content on MBE-grown Zn1-xMgxS-based UV photodetectors has been investigated in details with a variety of experimental techniques, including photoresponse (PR), capacitance-voltage, deep level transient Fourier spectroscopy (DLTFS) and photoluminescence (PL). The room-temperature PR results show that the abrupt long-wavelength cutoffs covering 325, 305 295. and 270 nm with Mg contents of 16%, 44%, 57%, and 75% in the Zn1-xMgxS active layers, respectively, were achieved. But the responsivity and the external quantum efficiency exhibited a slight decrease with the Mg content increasing. In good agreement with the PR results, both of the integrated intensity of the PL spectra obtained from Zn1-xMgxS thin films with different Mg compositions (x = 31% and 52%, respectively) and the DLTFS spectra obtained from Zn1-xMgxS-based (x = 5% and 45%, respectively) UV photodetector samples clearly revealed a significant concentration increase of the non-radiative deep traps with increasing Mg containing in the ZnMgS active layers. Our experimental results also indicate that the MBE-grown ZnMgS-based photodetectors can offer the promising characteristics for the detection of short-wavelength UV radiation. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Low-frequency noise properties of GaN Schottky barriers deposited on intermediate temperature buffer layers

Metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structures were fabricated by RF-plasma-assisted MBE using different buffer layer structures. One type of buffer structure consists of an AlN high-temperature buffer layer (HTBL) and a GaN intermediate temperature buffer layer (ITBL), another buffer structure consists of just a single A IN HTBL. Systematic measurements in the flicker noise and deep level transient Fourier spectroscopy (DLTFS) measurements were used to characterize the defect properties in the films. Both the noise and DLTFS measurements indicate improved properties for devices fabricated with the use of ITBL and is attributed to the relaxation of residue strain in the epitaxial layer during growth process. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The fabrication of self-aligned InAs nanostructures on GaAs(331)A substrates

Self-aligned InAs quantum wires (QWRs) or three-dimensional (3D) islands are fabricated on GaAs(331)A substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). InAs QWRs are selectively grown on the step edges formed by GaAs layers. The surface morphology of InAs nanostructures is carefully investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. Different growth conditions, such as substrate temperature, growth approaches, and InAs coverage, exert a great effect on the morphology of InAs islands. Low substrate temperatures favour the formation of wirelike nanostructures, while high substrate temperatures favour 3D islands. The shape transition is attributed to the trade-off between surface energy and strain energy. A qualitative agreement of our experimental data with the theoretical results derived from the model proposed by Tersoff and Tromp is achieved.