Calculation of the band structure of semiconductor quantum wells using scattering matrices

The transfer-matrix method widely used in the calculation of the band structure of semiconductor quantum wells is found to have limitations due to its intrinsic numerical instability. It is pointed out that the numerical instability arises from free-propagating transfer matrices. A new scattering-matrix method is developed for the multiple-band Kane model within the envelope-function approximation. Compared with the transfer-matrix method, the proposed algorithm is found to be more efficient and stable. A four-band Kane model is used to check the validity of the method and the results are found to be in good agreement with earlier calculations.

Shubnikov de Haas oscillations of a two-dimensional electron gas in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well

The magnetotransport properties of the two-dimensional (2D) electron gas confined in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well structure were studied at temperatures down to 0.35 K in magnetic fields up to 7.5 T. Well resolved 2D Shubnikovde Haas (SdH) oscillations were observed, although the conductivity of the sample in the as grown state was dominated by a bulk parallel conduction layer. After removing most of the parallel conduction layer by wet chemical etching the amplitude and number of SdH oscillations increased. From the temperature dependence of the amplitude the effective mass of the electrons was estimated as 0.17 m(0). Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

Effective-mass theory for InAs/GaAs strained coupled quantum dots

In the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory, the optical transitions of InAs/GaAs strained coupled quantum dots grown on GaAs (100) oriented substrates are studied. At the Gamma point, the electron and hole energy levels, the distribution of electron and hole wave functions along the growth and parallel directions, the optical transition-matrix elements, the exciton states, and absorption spectra are calculated. In calculations, the effects due to the different effective masses of electrons and holes in different materials are included. Our theoretical results are in good agreement with the available experimental data.

EER studies of the single quantum well GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs electrode/nonaqueous solution interface

The interfacial behavior of the single quantum well (SQW) GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs electrode in HQ/BQ and Fc/Fc(+) electrolytes was characterized respectively by studying the quantum confined Stark effect and Franz-Keldysh oscillation with electrolyte electroreflectance spectroscopy. The interaction of the surface state of the SQW electrode with redox species and its effects on the distribution of external bias at the interface of the SQW electrode are discussed.

A transfer matrix approach to conductance in quantum waveguides

A transfer matrix approach is presented for the study of electron conduction in an arbitrarily shaped cavity structure embedded in a quantum wire. Using the boundary conditions for wave functions, the transfer matrix at an interface with a discontinuous potential boundary is obtained for the first time. The total transfer matrix is calculated by multiplication of the transfer matrix for each segment of the structure as well as numerical integration of coupled second-order differential equations. The proposed method is applied to the evaluation of the conductance and the electron probability density in several typical cavity structures. The effect of the geometrical features on the electron transmission is discussed in detail. In the numerical calculations, the method is found to be more efficient than most of the other methods in the literature and the results are found to be in excellent agreement with those obtained by the recursive Green's function method.

HIGH-POWER 2-DIMENSIONAL QUANTUM-WIRE LASER ARRAYS

GaAs/AIGaAs two-dimensional quantum-well wire laser arrays fabricated by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition on nonplanar substrates have realised a linear light pulse output Fewer of over 100mW. This is the highest figure reported to date for all kinds of quantum-well wire lasers.

High power red-light GaInP/AlGaInP laser diodes with nonabsorbing windows based on Zn diffusion-induced quantum well intermixing

The layer structure of GaInP/AlGaInP quantum well laser diodes (LDs) was grown on GaAs substrate using low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) technique. In order to improve the catastrophic optical damage (COD) level of devices, a nonabsorbing window (NAW), which was based on Zn diffusion-induced quantum well intermixing, was fabricated near the both ends of the cavities. Zn diffusions were respectively carried out at 480, 500, 520, 540, and 580 Celsius degree for 20 minutes. The largest energy blue shift of 189.1 meV was observed in the window regions at 580 Celsius degree. When the blue shift was 24.7 meV at 480 Celsius degree, the COD power for the window LD was 86.7% higher than the conventional LD.

Compressively Strained InGaAs/InGaAsP Quantum Well Distributed Feedback Laser at 1.74μm

The compressively strained InGaAs/InGaAsP quantum well distributed feedback laser with ridge-wave- guide is fabricated at 1.74μm. It is grown by low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition（MOCVD）. A strain buffer layer is used to avoid indium segregation. The threshold current of the device uncoated with length of 300μm is 11.5mA. The maximum output power is 14mW at 100mA. A side mode suppression ratio of 35.5dB is obtained.

High Power 808nm AlGaAs/GaAs Quantum Well Laser Diodes with Broad Waveguide

The 808nm laser diodes with a broad waveguide are designed and fabricated. The thickness of the Al_(0.35)-Ga_(0.65)As waveguide is increased to 0.9μm. In order to suppress the super modes, the thickness of the Al_(0.55)Ga_(0.45)As cladding layers is reduced to only 0.7μm while keeping the transverse radiation losses of the fundamental mode below 0.2cm~(-1). The structures are grown by metal organic chemical vapour deposition. The devices show excellent performances. The maximum output power of 10.2W in the 100μm broad-area laser diodes is obtained.

Polymorphous silicon nanowires synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Polymorphous Si nanowires (SiNWS) have been successfully synthesized on Si wafer by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 440degreesC,using silane as the Si source and Au as the catalyst. To grow the polymorphous SiNWS preannealing the Si substrate with Au film at 1100 degreesC is needed. The diameters of Si nanowires range from 15 to 100 urn. The structure morphology and chemical composition of the SiNWS have been characterized by high resolution x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, as well as energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. A few interesting nanowires with Au nanoclusters uniformly distributed in the body of the wire were also produced by this technique.

Photoluminescence characteristics of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot arrays fabricated by dry and dry-wet etching

GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot arrays with different dot sizes made by different fabrication processes were studied in this work. In comparison with the reference quantum well, photoluminescence (PL) spectra from the samples at low temperature have demonstrated that PL peak positions shift to higher energy side due to quantization confinement effects and the blue-shift increases with decreasing dot size, PL linewidths are broadened and intensities are much reduced. It is also found that wet chemical etching after reactive ion etching can improve optical properties of the quantum dot arrays.

Asymmetric dark current in double barrier quantum well infrared photodetectors

Asymmetric dark current and photocurrent versus voltage characteristic in the Double Barrier Quantum Wells (DBQWs) photovoltaic infrared photodetector has been studied. A model based on asymmetric potential barriers was proposed. The asymmetric potential thick barrier, which due to the Si dopant segregation during growth makes a major contribution to the asymmetrical I-V characteristic, calculations based on our model agree well with experimental results. This work also confirms the potential use of this DBQWs for infrared photodetector with large responsivity and little dark current under negative bias.

High temperature operation of 650nm AlGaInP quantum well laser diodes grown by LP-MOCVD

Low threshold current and high temperature operation of 650nm AlGaInP quantum well laser diodes grown by low pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) are reported in this paper. 650nm laser diodes with threshold current as low as 22-24mA at room temperature, and the operating temperature over 90 degrees C at CW output power 5 mW were achieved in this study. These lasers are stable during 72 hours burn in under 5mW at 90 degrees C.

High performance 1.55 mu m InGaAsP/InP strained layer quantum well laser diodes fabricated by MOCVD overgrowth method

High performance uncooled 1.55 mu m InGaAsP/InP strained layer quantum well (SL-QW) lasers grown by low pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) were reported in this paper. Whole MOCVD over growth method were applied in this work. The threshold currents of 5mA and the highest lasing temperature of 122 degrees C were obtained.

Growth and fabrication of high performance 980nm strained InGaAs quantum well lasers using novel hybrid material system of InGaAsP and AlGaAs

In this paper, we report on the design, growth and fabrication of 980nm strained InGaAs quantum well lasers employing novel material system of Al-free active region and AlGaAs cladding layers. The use of AlGaAs cladding instead of InGaP provides potential advantages in laser structure design, improvement of surface morphology and laser performance. We demonstrate an optimized broad-waveguide structure for obtaining high power 980nm quantum well lasers with low vertical beam divergence. The laser structure was grown by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, which exhibit a high internal quantum efficiency of similar to 90% and a low internal loss of 1.5-2.5 cm(-1). The broad-area and ridge-waveguide laser devices are both fabricated. For 100 mu m wide stripe lasers with cavity length of 800 mu m, a low threshold current of 170mA, a high slope efficiency of 1.0W/A and high output power of more than 3.5W are achieved. The temperature dependences of the threshold current and the emitting spectra demonstrate a very high characteristic temperature coefficient (T-o) of 200-250K and a wavelength shift coefficient of 0.34nm/degrees C. For 4 mu m-width ridge waveguide structure laser devices, a maximum output power of 340mW with GOD-free thermal roll-over characteristics is obtained.