Growth of high quality semi-insulating InP single crystal by suppression of compensation defects

Deep level defects in as-grown and annealed SI-InP samples were investigated by thermally stimulated current spectroscopy. Correlations between electrical property, compensation ratio, thermal stability and deep defect concentration in SI-InP were revealed. An optimized crystal growth condition for high quality SI-InP was demonstrated based on the experimental results.

Interdot interaction induced zero-bias maximum of the differential conductance in parallel double quantum dots

We have studied the equilibrium and nonequilibrium electronic transports through a double quantum dot coupled to leads in a symmetrical parallel configuration in the presence of both the inter- and the intradot Coulomb interactions. The influences of the interdot interaction and the difference between dot levels on the local density of states (LDOS) and the differential conductance are paid special attention. We find an interesting zero-bias maximum of the differential conductance induced by the interdot interaction, which can be interpreted in terms of the LDOS of the two dots. Due to the presence of the interdot interaction, the LDOS peaks around the dot levels epsilon(i) are split, and as a result, the most active energy level which supports the transport is shifted near to the Fermi level of the leads in the equilibrium situation. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Annealing and activation of silicon implanted in semi-insulating InP substrates

We have investigated the annealing and activation of silicon implanted in both as-grown Fe-doped semi-insulating (SI) InP substrate and undoped SI InP substrate obtained by annealing high purity conductive InP wafer (wafer-annealed). Si implantations were performed at an energy of 500 keV and a dose of 1 X 10(15) cm(-2). Following the implantations, rapid thermal annealing (RTA) cycles were carried out for 30 s at different temperatures. The results of Raman measurements show that for 700degreesC/30s RTA, the two Si-implanted SI InP substrates have acquired a high degree of lattice recovery and electrical activation. However, further Hall measurements indicate that the carrier concentration of the wafer-annealed SI InP substrate is about three times higher than that of the as-grown Fe-doped SI InP substrate. The difference can be ascribed to the low Fe concentration of the wafer-annealed SI InP substrate.These experimental data imply that the use of the wafer-annealed SI InP substrate can be conducive to the improvement of InP-based device performances. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of semi-insulating InP substrates on InAlAs epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Tensile-strained InAlAs layers have been grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy on as-grown Fe-doped semi-insulating (SI) InP substrates and undoped SI InP substrates obtained by annealing undoped conductive InP wafers (wafer-annealed InP). The effect of the two substrates on InAlAs epilayers and InAlAs/InP type II heterostructures has been studied by using a variety of characterization techniques. Our calculation data proved that the out-diffusion of Fe atoms in InP substrate may not take place due to their low diffusion, coefficient. Double-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements show that the lattice mismatch between the InAlAs layers and the two substrates is different, which is originated from their different Fe concentrations. Furthermore, photoluminescence results indicate that the type II heterostructure grown on the wafer-annealed InP substrate exhibits better optical and interface properties than that grown on the as-grown Fe-doped substrate. We have also given a physically coherent explanation on the basis of these investigations. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

A partially incoherent rate theory of long-range charge transfer in deoxyribose nucleic acid

A quantum chemistry based Green's function formulation of long-range charge transfer in deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) double helix is proposed. The theory takes into account the effects of DNA's electronic structure and its incoherent interaction with aqueous surroundings. In the implementation, the electronic tight-binding parameters for unsolvated DNA molecules are determined at the HF/6-31G* level, while those for individual nucleobase-water couplings are at a semiempirical level by fitting with experimental redox potentials. Numerical results include that: (i) the oxidative charge initially at the donor guanine site does hop sequentially over all guanine sites; however, the revealed rates can be of a much weaker distance dependence than that described by the ordinary Ohm's law; (ii) the aqueous surroundings-induced partial incoherences in thymine/adenine bridge bases lead them to deviate substantially from the superexchange regime; (iii) the time scale of the partially incoherent hole transport through the thymine/adenine pi stack in DNA is about 5 ps. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Deep levels in semi-insulating InP obtained by annealing under iron phosphide ambiance

Deep levels in semi-insulating (SI) InP obtained by annealing in iron phosphide (IP) ambiance have been characterized by optical transient current spectroscopy (OTCS). Compared with the OTCS result of the SI InP prepared by annealing in pure phosphorus (PP) ambiance, the IP SI InP presents only two traps with activation energies of 0.20 and 0.63 eV, respectively. The results suggest that the diffusion of Fe-atoms suppresses the formation of a few defects in the IP SI InP. The nature of deep levels in the IP and PP SI InP has been discussed on the basis of these results. The relation between material property and defects in those SI InP has also been revealed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Photoluminescence assessment of undoped semi-insulating InP wafers obtained by annealing in iron phosphide vapour

We have investigated the photoluminescence mapping characteristics of semi-insulating (SI) InP wafers obtained by annealing in iron phosphide ambience (FeP2-annealed). Compared with as-grown Fe-doped and undoped SI InP wafers prepared by annealing in pure phosphorus vapour (P-annealed), the FeP2-annealed ST InP wafer has been found to exhibit a better photoluminescence uniformity. Radial Hall measurements also show that there is a better resistivity uniformity on the FeP2-annealed Sl InP wafer. When comparing the distribution of deep levels between the annealed wafers measured by optical transient Current spectroscopy, we find that the incorporation of iron atoms into the Sl InP Suppresses the formation of a few defects. The correlation observed in this study implies that annealing in iron phosphorus ambience makes Fe atoms diffuse uniformly and occupy the indium site in the Sl InP lattice. As it stands, we believe that annealing undoped conductive InP in iron phosphide vapour is an effective means to obtain semi-insulating InP wafers with superior uniformity.

Structural characterization of stable amorphous silicon films

A kind of hydrogenated diphasic, silicon films has been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) in the region adjacent to the phase transition from amorphous to crystalline state. The photoelectronic and microstructural properties of the films have been investigated by the constant photocurrent method (CPM), Raman scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Our experimental results and corresponding analyses showed that the diphasic films, incorporated with a subtle boron compensation, could gain both the fine photosensitivity and high stability, provided the crystalline fraction (f) was controlled in the range of 0 < f < 0.3. When compared with the conventional hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), the diphasic films are more ordered and robust in the microstructure, and have a less clustered phase in the Si-H bond configurations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Space grown semi-insulating gallium arsenide single crystal and its application

Low noise field effect transistors and analogue switch integrated circuits (ICs) have been fabricated in semi-insulating gallium arsenide (SI-GaAs) wafers grown in space by direct ion-implantation. The electrical behaviors of the devices and the ICs have surpassed those fabricated in the terrestrially grown SI-GaAs wafers. The highest gain and the lowest noise of the transistors made from space-grown SI-GaAs wafers are 22.8 dB and 0.78 dB, respectively. The threshold back-gating voltage of the ICs made from space-grown SI-GaAs wafers is better than 8.5 V The con-elation between the characterizations of materials and devices is studied systematically. (C) 2002 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of defects and whole wafer uniformity of annealed undoped semi-insulating InP wafers

Semi-insulating (SI) InP wafers of 2 and 3 in. diameters have been prepared by annealing undoped LEC InP at 930 degreesC for 80 h under pure phosphorus ambient (PP) and iron phosphide ambient (IP). The electrical uniformity of annealed undoped SI wafers, along with a Fe-doped as-grown SI LEC InP wafer, has been characterized by whole wafer PL mapping and radial Hall measurements. Defects in these wafers have been detected by photo-induced current transient spectroscopy (PICTS). The results indicated that the uniformity of IP wafer is much better than that of PP wafer and as-grown Fe-doped Si InP wafer. There are fewer traps in undoped SI InP IP wafer than in as grown Fe-doped and undoped SI InP PP wafer, as evidenced by PICTS. The good uniformity of the IP wafer is related to the nonexistence of high concentration of thermally induced defects. The mechanism for this phenomenon is discussed based on the results. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

(Ga,Mn,As) compounds grown on semi-insulating GaAs with mass-analyzed low energy dual ion beam depositionw

The (Ga,Mn,As) compounds were obtained by the implantation of Mn ions into semi-insulating GaAs substrate with mass-analyzed low energy dual ion beam deposition technique. Auger electron spectroscopy depth profile of a typical sample grown at the substrate temperature of 250degreesC showed that the Mn ions were successfully implanted into GaAs substrate with the implantation depth of 160 nm. X-ray diffraction was employed for the structural analyses of all samples. The experimental results were greatly affected by the substrate temperature. Ga5.2Mn was obtained in the sample grown at the substrate temperature of 250degreesC. Ga5.2Mn, Ga5Mn8 and Mn3Ga were obtained in the sample grown at the substrate temperature of 400degreesC. However, there is no new phase in the sample grown at the substrate temperature of 200degreesC. The sample grown at 400degreesC was annealed at 840degreesC. In this annealed sample Mn3Ga disappeared, Ga5Mn8 tended to disappear,Ga5.2Mn crystallized better and a new phase of Mn2As was generated. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B,V. All rights reserved.

Effect of as interstitial diffusionon on the properties of undoped semi-insulating LECGaAs

Annealing was carried out at 950 and 1120 degreesC under various As pressure for undoped (ND) semi-insulating (SI) LECGaAs. The effects of annealing on native defects and electrical properties were investigated. Experimental results indicate that, after an annealing at 950 degreesC for 14 h under low As pressure, the Hall mobility decreases and the resistivity increases dramatically for the samples. These changes in electrical properties are due to the generation of intrinsic acceptor defects, and the generation of the intrinsic acceptor defects originates from the outdiffusion of As interstitial at high temperature. The generation of the intrinsic defects and these changes in electrical properties can be suppressed by increasing the applied As pressure during annealing. The concentration of the main donor defect E12 (AsGaVGa) can be decreased by about one order of magnitude by an evacuated annealing at 1120 degreesC for 2-8 h followed by a fast cooling. The decrease in E12 concentration can also be suppressed by increasing the As pressure during annealing.

Analysis of the temperature-induced transition to current self-oscillations in doped GaAs/AlAs superlattices

We observed the decrease of the hysteresis effect and the transition from the stable to the dynamic domain regime in doped superlattices with increasing temperature. The current-voltage characteristics and the behaviours of the domain boundary are dominated by the temperature-dependent lineshape of the electric field dependence of the drift velocity (V(F)), As the peak-valley ratio in the V(F) curve decreases with increasing temperature, the hysteresis will diminish and temporal current self-oscillations will occur. The simulated calculation, which takes the difference in V(F) curves into consideration, gives a good agreement with the experimental results.

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon films with significantly improved stability

A new regime of plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD), referred to as "uninterrupted growth/annealing" method, has been proposed for preparation of high-quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films. By using this regime, the deposition process no longer needs to be interrupted, as done in the chemical annealing or layer by layer deposition, while the growing surface is continuously subjected to an enhanced annealing treatment with atomic hydrogen created in the hydrogen-diluted reactant gas mixture at a relatively high plasma power. The intensity of the hydrogen plasma treatment is controlled at such a level that the deposition conditions of the resultant films approach the threshold for microcrystal formation. In addition, a low level of B-compensation is used to adjust the position of the Fermi level close to the midgap. Under these conditions, we find that the stability and optoelectronic properties of a-Si:H films have been significantly improved. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.