Tunneling behaviors of photogenerated electrons in In0.15Ga0.85As/GaAs quantum well photoelectrodes

The photovoltaic spectral features and the behaviors of photocurrent versus the electrode potential for near surface In0.15Ga0.85As/GaAs quantum well electrodes have been investigated in nonaqueous solutions of ferrocene and acetylferrocene. The photovoltaic spectrum shows a sharp structure that reflects confined state-to-state exciton transition in the quantum well. Deep dips are observed in the photocurrent versus the electrode potential curves in both electrolytes at the different electrode potentials under the illumination of exciton resonance wavelength. These dips are qualitatively explained by considering the interfacial tunneling transfer of photogenerated electron within the quantum well.

Current self-oscillation induced by a transverse magnetic field in a doped GaAs/AlAs superlattice

We investigate the influence of a transverse magnetic field on the current-voltage characteristics of a doped GaAs/AlAs superlattice at 1.6 K. The current transport regimes-stable electric field domain formation and current selfoscillation-are observed with increasing transverse magnetic field up to 13 T. Magnetic-field-induced redistribution of electron momentum and energy is identified as the mechanism triggering the switching over of one process to another lending to a change in the dependence of the effective electron drift velocity on electric field. Simulation yields excellent agreement with observed results.

Effect of Si doping on cubic GaN films grown on GaAs(100)

Epitaxial layers of cubic GaN have been grown by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) with Si-doping carrier concentration ranging from 3 x 10(18) to 2.4 x 10(20)/cm(3). Si-doping decreased the yellow emission of GaN. However, the heavily doped n-type material has been found to induce phase transformation. As the Si-doping concentration increases, the hexagonal GaN nanoparticles increase. Judged from the linewidth of X-ray rocking curve, Si-doping increases the density of dislocations and stacking faults. Based on these observations, a model is proposed to interpret the phase transformation induced by the generated microdefects, such as dislocations and precipitates, and induced stacking faults under heavy Si-doping. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of InGaAs quantum dots with an underlying InGaAlAs layer on GaAs(100) and high index substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

In this paper, InGaAs quantum dots with an adjusting InGaAlAs layer underneath are grown on (n 1 1)A/B (n = 2-5) and the reference (1 0 0) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Small and dense InGaAs quantum dots are formed on (1 0 0) and (n 1 1)B substrates. A comparative study by atomic force microscopy shows that the alignment and uniformity for InGaAs quantum dots are greatly improved on(5 1 1)B but deteriorated on (3 1 1)B surface, demonstrating the great influence of the buried InGaAlAs layer. There is an increase in photoluminescence intensity and a decrease in the full-width at half-maximum when n varies from 2 to 5. Quantum dots formed on (3 1 1)A and (5 1 1)A surfaces are large and random in distribution, and no emission from these dots can be detected. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of cooling rates for hot carriers in GaAs AlAs quantum wells based on macroscopic and microscopic phonon models

By using three analytical phonon models in quantum wells-the slab model, the guided-mode model, and the improved version of the Huang-Zhu model [Phys. Rev. B 38, 13 377 (1998)], -and the phonon modes in bulk, the energy-loss rates of hot carriers due to the Frohlich potential scattering in GaAs/AlAs multiple quantum wells (MQW's) are calculated and compared to those obtained based on a microscopic dipole superlattice model. In the study, a special emphasis is put on the effects of the phonon models on the hot-carrier relaxation process when taking the hot-phonon effect into account. Our numerical results show that, the calculated energy-loss rates based on the slab model and on the improved Huang-Zhu model are almost the same when ignoring the hot-phonon effect; however, with the hot phonon effect considered, the calculated cooling rate as well as the hot phonon occupation number do depend upon the phonon models to be adopted. Out of the four analytical phonon models investigated, the improved Huang-Zhu model gives the results most close to the microscopic calculation, while the guided-mode model presents the poorest results. For hot electrons with a sheet density around 10(12)/cm(2), the slab model has been found to overestimate the hot-phonon effect by more than 40% compared to the Huang-Zhu model, and about 75% compared to the microscopic calculation in which the phonon dispersion is fully included. Our calculation also indicates that Nash's improved version [J. Lumin. 44, 315 (1989)] is necessary for evaluating the energy-loss rates in quantum wells of wider well width, because Huang-Zhu's original analytical formulas an only approximately orthogonal for optical phonons associated with small in-plane wave numbers. [S0163-1829(99)08919-5].

Self-organization of the InGaAs GaAs quantum dots superlattice

The mechanism of self-organization of quantum dots (QDs) during the growth of InGaAs/GaAs multilayers on GaAs (1 0 0) was investigated with cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM), and double-crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXD). We found that the QDs spacing in the first layer can affect the vertical alignment of QDs. There seems to exist one critical lateral QD spacing, below which merging of QDs with different initial size is found to be the dominant mechanism leading to perfect vertical alignment. Once the critical value of QDs spacing is reached, the InGaAs QDs of the first layer are simply reproduced in the upper layers. The X-ray rocking curve clearly shows two sets of satellite peaks, which correspond to the QDs superlattice, and multi-quantum wells (QW) formed by the wetting layers around QDs. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Scanning electron microscope studies of cubic AlxGa1-xN films grown on GaAs(100) by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE)

Cubic AlGaN films were grown on GaAs(100) substrates by MOVPE. Scanning electron microscope and photoluminescence were used to analyze the surface morphology and the crystalline quality of the epitaxial layers. We found that both NH, and TEGa fluxes have a strong effect on the surface morphology of AlGaN films. A model for the lateral growth mechanism is presented to qualitatively explain this effect. The content of hexagonal AlGaN in the cubic AlGaN films was also related to the NH3 flux. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Photoluminescence study on coarsening of self-assembled InAlAs quantum dots on GaAs (001)

Red-emission at similar to 640 nm from self-assembled In0.55Al0.45As/Al0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots grown on GaAs substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has been demonstrated. We obtained a double-peak structure of photoluminescence (PL) spectra from quantum dots. An atomic force micrograph (AFM) image for uncapped sample also shows a bimodal distribution of dot sizes. From the temperature and excitation intensity dependence of PL spectra, we found that the double-peak structure of PL spectra from quantum dots was strongly correlated to the two predominant quantum dot families. Taking into account quantum-size effect on the peak energy, we propose that the high (low) energy peak results from a smaller (larger) dot family, and this result is identical with the statistical distribution of dot lateral size from the AFM image.

Structural and optical characteristics of self-organized InAs quantum dots grown on GaAs (3 1 1)A substrates

Structural and optical investigations of InAs QDs grown on GaAs (3 1 1)A by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were reported. InAs/GaAs (3 1 1)A QDs with nonconventional, faceted, arrowhead-like shapes aligned in the [ - 2 3 3] direction have been disclosed by AFM image. Low defect and dislocation density on the QDs interfaces were indicated by the linear dependence of photoluminescence (PL) intensity on the excitation power. The fast red shift of PL energy and the monotonic decrease of FWHM with increasing temperature were observed and explained by carriers being thermally activated to the energy barrier produced by the wetting layer and then retrapped and recombined in energetically low-lying QDs states. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural characterization of InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots superlattice infrared photodetector structures

InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) superlattice grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at different substrate temperatures for fabricating 8-12 mu m infrared photodetector were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), double-crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) and photoluminescence (PL). High-quality QDs superlattice can be achieved by higher growth temperature. Cross-sectional TEM shows the QDs in the successive layers are vertically aligned along growth direction. Interaction of partial vertically aligned columns leads to a perfect vertical ordering. With increasing number of bilayers, the average QDs size becomes larger in height and rapidly saturates at a certain value, while average lateral length nearly preserves initial size. This change leads to the formation of QDs homogeneous in size and of a particular shape. The observed self-organizations are attributed to the effect of strain distribution at QDs on the kinetic growth process. DCXRD measurement shows two sets of satellite peaks which corresponds to QDs superlattice and multi quantum wells formed by the wetting layers. Kinematical simulations of the wetting layers indicate that the formation of QDs is associated with a decrease of the effective indium content in the wetting layers. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Si doping effect on self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots

In situ ultra high vacuum scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and low-temperature :photoluminescence (PL) studies have been performed on Si-doped self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots samples to investigate the Si doping effects. Remarkably, when Si is doped in the sample, according to the SPM images, more small dots are formed when compared with images from undoped samples. On the PL spectra, high-energy band tail which correspond to the small dots appear, with increasing doping concentration, the integral intensity of the high-energy band tail account for the whole peak increase too. We relate this phenomenon to a model that takes the Si atom as the nucleation center for QDs formation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Room-temperature microwave oscillation in AlAs/GaAs superlattices

Room-temperature microwave (MW) oscillations are observed in GaAs/AlAs (10 nm/2 nm) doped weakly coupled superlattices (SLs) in the first plateau of the I-V curve. Oscillations induced by sequential resonant tunneling are detected in a temperature range from 15 to 300 K by applying DC bias on the Si, diodes. The temperature dependence of current at small fixed bias voltage is also measured. Through analysis, it is found that the dominant transport mechanisms are sequential resonant tunneling and phonon-assisted tunneling when the temperature is below 300 K. The low bias voltage at which oscillations are realized is helpful to restrain thermionic emission through the X valley of AlAs barriers in the room-temperature transport. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Electron irradiation and thermal annealing effect on GaAs solar cells

This paper describes the effect of electron irradiation and thermal annealing on LPE AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction solar cells with various p/n junction depths. The electron irradiation experiments were performed with energy of 3 MeV, fluences ranging from 1 x 10(14) to 5 x 10(15) e/cm(2). The results obtained demonstrate that the irradiation-induced degradation of performances of the cells is mainly in the short circuit current and could be mostly recovered by annealing at 260 degrees C for 30 min. Four electron traps, E-c - 0.24 eV, E-c - 0.41 eV, E-c - 0.51 eV, E-c - 0.59 eV, were found by DLTS analysis, only two shallow levels of which could be removed by the annealing. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Threshold reduction in strained-layer InGaAs/GaAs quantum well lasers by liquid phase epitaxy regrowth

When liquid phase epitaxy regrowth at 780 degrees C for 2 h is applied to the samples after molecular beam epitaxy, a decrease of the threshold current density in strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum well lasers by a factor of 3 to 4 is obtained. We suggest that this improvement is attributed to the reduction of nonradiative centers associated with deep levels at the three regions of the active region, the graded layer and the cladding layer. Indeed, a significant reduction of deep center densities has been observed by using minority and majority carrier injection deep level transient spectroscopy measurements. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Sequential resonant tunnelling through Landau levels in GaAs/AlAs superlattices

Electron transport in heavily-doped GaAs/AlAs superlattices in parallel electric and magnetic fields is reported. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristic exhibited the feature of negative differential velocity (NDV) and high electric field domain effect at different biases. Under strong magnetic fields, sequential resonant tunnelling through Landau levels in the negative differential velocity regime is observed, which are manifested as oscillations in the conductance-voltage characteristics. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.