Optimised two-temperature growth of GaAs nanowire s by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition

We report a two-temperature procedure for the growth of GaAs nanowires by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition. An initial high temperature step affords effective nucleation and promotes epitaxial growth of straight (111)B-oriented nanowires. Lower temperatures are employed subsequently, to minimise nanowire tapering during growth. © 2006 IEEE.

Growth of GaAs/InAs vertical nanowires on GaAs (111)B by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The growth mechanism and properties of GaAs/InAs nanowires prepared by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are investigated. Vertical InAs nanowires on GaAs (111)B substrates are successfully grown despite the large lattice mismatch (-7.2%). The crystallographic perfection of InAs nanowires is confirmed by hexagonal or triangular cross section. An interesting L-shaping of GaAs/InAs heterostructure nanowire which could be useful for novel device application is observed. © 2005 IEEE.

Diameter and wall number control of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition

We analyze the relationship between the average wall number (N) and the diameter (d) for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown by chemical vapour deposition. It is found that N depends linearly on d for diameters in the range of 2.5-10 nm, while single wall nanotubes predominate for diameters under about 2.1 nm. The linear relationship is found to depend somewhat on the growth conditions. It is also verified that the mean diameter depends on the diameter of the originating catalyst nanoparticle, and thus on the initial catalyst thickness where a thin film catalyst is used. This simplifies the characterisation of CNTs by electron microscopy. We also find a linear relationship between nanotube diameter and initial catalyst film thickness. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

Co-catalytic absorption layers for controlled laser-induced chemical vapor deposition of carbon nanotubes.

The concept of co-catalytic layer structures for controlled laser-induced chemical vapor deposition of carbon nanotubes is established, in which a thin Ta support layer chemically aids the initial Fe catalyst reduction. This enables a significant reduction in laser power, preventing detrimental positive optical feedback and allowing improved growth control. Systematic study of experimental parameters combined with simple thermostatic modeling establishes general guidelines for the effective design of such catalyst/absorption layer combinations. Local growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotube forests directly on flexible polyimide substrates is demonstrated, opening up new routes for nanodevice design and fabrication.

Structural and optical properties of Al1-xInxN epilayers on GaN template grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

This paper reports that Al1-xInxN epilayers were grown on GaN template by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition with an In content of 7%-20%. X-ray diffraction results indicate that all these Al1-xInxN epilayers have a relatively low density of threading dislocations. Rutherford backscattering/channeling measurements provide the exact compositional information and show that a gradual variation in composition of the Al1-xInxN epilayer happens along the growth direction. The experimental results of optical reflection clearly show the bandgap energies of Al1-xInxN epilayers. A bowing parameter of 6.5 eV is obtained from the compositional dependence of the energy gap. The cathodoluminescence peak energy of the Al1-xInxN epilayer is much lower than its bandgap, indicating a relatively large Stokes shift in the Al1-xInxN sample.

Impact of thickness of GaN buffer layer on properties of AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

We studied the impact of the thickness of GaN buffer layer on the properties of distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The samples were characterized by using metallographic microscope, transmission electron microscope (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and spectrophotometer. The results show that the thickness of the GaN buffer layer can significantly affect the properties of the DBR structure and there is an optimal thickness of the GaN buffer layer. This work would be helpful for the growth of high quality DBR structures.

Normal incidence p-i-n Ge heterojunction photodiodes on Si substrate grown by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition

We report on normal incidence p-i-n heterojunction photodiodes operating in the near-infrared region and realized in pure germanium on planar silicon substrate. The diodes were fabricated by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition at 600 degrees C without thermal annealing and allowing the integration with standard silicon processes. Due to the 0.14% residual tensile strain generated by the thermal expansion mismatch between Ge and Si, an efficiency enhancement of nearly 3-fold at 1.55 mu m and the absorption edge shifting to longer wavelength of about 40 nm are achieved in the epitaxial Ge films. The diode with a responsivity of 0.23 A/W at 1.55 mu m wavelength and a bulk dark current density of 10 mA/cm(2) is demonstrated. These diodes with high performances and full compatibility with the CMOS processes enable monolithically integrating microphotonics and microelectronics on the same chip.

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.

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.

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.

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.