Synthesis and characterization of well-aligned Zn1-xMgxO nanorods and film by metal organic chemical vapor deposition

Well-aligned Zn1-xMgxO nanorods and film with Mg-content x from 0 to 0.051 have been successfully synthesized by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) without any catalysts. The characterization results showed that the diameters and lengths of the nanorods were in the range of 20-80 nm and 330-360 nm, which possessed wurtzite structure with a c-axis growth direction. As the increase of Mg precursor flows into the growth chamber, the morphology of Zn1-xMgxO evolves from nanorods to a film with scale-like surface and the height of the nanorods and the film was almost identical, it is suggested that the growth rate along the c-axis was hardly changed while the growth of six equivalent facets of the type {1 0 (1) over bar 0} of the Zn1-xMgxO has been improved. Photoluminescence and Raman spectra show that the products have a good crystal quality with few oxygen vacancies. With the Mg incorporation, multiple-phonon scattering become weak and broad, and the intensities of all observed vibrational modes decrease. And the ultraviolet near-band-edge emission shows a clear blueshift (x=0.051, as much as 90 meV) and slightly broadening compared with that of pure ZnO nanorods. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stable multiplication gain in GaN p-i-n avalanche photodiodes with large device area

Visible-blind p-i-n avalanche photodiodes (APDs) were fabricated with high-quality GaN epilayers deposited on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition. Due to low dislocation density and a sophisticated device fabrication process, the dark current was as small as similar to 0.05 nA under reverse bias up to 20V for devices with a large diameter of 200 mu m, which was among the largest device area for GaN-based p-i-n APDs yet reported. When the reverse bias exceeded 38V the dark current increased sharply, exhibiting a bulk avalanche field-dominated stable breakdown without microplasma formation or sidewall breakdown. With ultraviolet illumination (360 nm) an avalanche multiplication gain of 57 was achieved.

Whispering-gallery microcavity semiconductor lasers suitable for photonic integrated circuits and optical interconnects

The characteristics of whispering-gallery-like modes in the equilateral triangle and square microresonators are introduced, including directional emission triangle and square microlasers connected to an output waveguide. We propose a photonic interconnect scheme by connecting two directional emission microlasers with an optical waveguide on silicon integrated circuit chip. The measurement indicates that the triangle microlasers can work as a resonance enhanced photodetector for optical interconnect.

Light extraction of GaN LEDs with 2-D photonic crystal structure

Ultraviolet photo-lithography is employed to introduce two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) structure on the top surface of GaN-based light emitting diode (LED). PC patterns are transferred to 460-nm-thick transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching. Light intensity of PC-LED can be enhanced by 38% comparing with the one without PC structure. Rigorous coupled wave analysis method is performed to calculate the light transmission spectrum of PC slab. Simulation results indicate that total internal reflect angle which modulated by PC structure has been increased by 7 degrees, which means that the light extraction efficiency is enhanced outstandingly.

Photoluminescence characterization of nanocrystalline ZnO array

High-density and uniform well-aligned ZnO sub-micron rods are synthesized on the silicon substrate over a large area. The morphology, and structure of the ZnO sub-micron rods are investigated by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectra. It is found that the ZnO sub-micron rods are of high crystal quality with the diameter in the range of 400-600 nm and the length of several micrometres long. The optical properties were studied bill photoluminescence spectra. The results show that the intensity of the ultraviolet emission at 3.3 eV is rather high, meanwhile the deep level transition centred at about 2.38 eV is weak. The free exciton emission could also be observed at low, temperature, which implies the high optical quality of the ZnO sub-micron rods. This growth technique provides one effective way to fabricate the high crystal quality ZnO nanowires array, which is very important for potential applications in the new-type optoelectronic nanodevices.

1.55 mu m Ge islands resonant-cavity-enhanced detector with high-reflectivity bottom mirror

A 1.55 mum Ge islands resonant-cavity-enhanced (RCE) detector with high-reflectivity bottom mirror was fabricated by a simple method. The bottom mirror was deposited in the hole formed by anisotropically etching in a basic solution from the back side of the sample with the buried SiO2 layer in silicon-on-insulator substrate as the etch-stop layer. Reflectivity spectrum indicates that the mirror deposited in the hole has a reflectivity as high as 99% in the range of 1.2-1.65 mum. The peak responsivity of the RCE detector at 1543.8 nm is 0.028 mA/W and a full width at half maximum of 5 nm is obtained. Compared with the conventional p-i-n photodetector, the responsivity of RCE detector has a nearly threefold enhancement. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Fabrication of 1.55-mu m Si-based resonant cavity enhanced photodetectors using sol-gel bonding

In this work, a novel bonding method using silicate gel as the bonding medium was developed to fabricate an InGaAs narrow-band response resonant cavity enhanced photodetector on a silicon substrate. The bonding was performed at a low temperature of 350 degreesC without any special treatment on bonding surfaces and a Si-based narrow-band response InGaAs photodetector was successfully fabricated, with a quantum efficiency of 34.4% at the resonance wavelength of 1.54 mum, and a full-width at half-maximum of about 27 nm. The photodetector has a linear photoresponse up to 4-mW optical power under 1.5 V or higher reverse bias. The low temperature wafer bonding process demonstrates a great potential in device fabrication.

Quasi-aligned ZnO nanotubes grown on Si substrates

Quasi-aligned ZnO nanotubes have been grown on silicon substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition without using any catalyst. Two kinds of ZnO nanotubular structures were found: Nanotubes with single walls and nanotubes with double walls. The nanotubes were grown along the [001] direction. Room-temperature photoluminescence measurements of the ZnO nanotubes indicate strong ultraviolet emission and weak green emission. A new growth mode for these ZnO nanotubes is proposed, which can be used to prepare other nanotubular structures. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Demonstration of low-cost Si-based tunable long-wavelength resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors

A simple process for fabricating low-cost Si-based continuously tunable long-wavelength resonant-cavity-enhanced (RCE) photodetectors has been investigated. High-contrast SiO2/Si(Deltan similar to2) was employed as mirrors to eliminate the need to grow thick epitaxial distributed Bragg reflectors. Such high-reflectivity SiO2/Si mirrors were deposited on the as-grown InGaAs epitaxy layers, and then were bonded to silicon substrates at a low temperature of 350 C without any special treatment on bonding surfaces, employing silicate gel as the bonding medium. The cost is thus decreased. A thermally tunable Si-based InGaAs RCE photodetector operating at 1.3-1.6 mum was obtained, with a quantum efficiency of about 44% at the resonant wavelength of 1476 nm and a tuning range of 14.5 nm. It demonstrates a great potential for industry processes. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanorods and nanoflowers grown on GaN-based LED epiwafer using a solution deposition method

We report the growth of hexagonal ZnO nanorods and nanoflowers on GaN-based LED epiwafer using a solution deposition method. We also discuss the mechanisms of epitaxial nucleation and of the growth of ZnO nanorods and nanoflowers. A GaN-based LED epiwafer was first deposited on a sapphire substrate by MOCVD with no electrode being fabricated on it. Vertically aligned ZnO nanorods with an average height of similar to 2.4 mu m were then grown on the LED epiwafer, and nanoflowers were synthesized on the nanorods. The growth orientation of the nanorods was perpendicular to the surface, and the synthesized nanoflowers were composed of nanorods. The micro-Raman spectra of the ZnO nanorods and nanoflowers are similar and both exhibit the E-2 (high) mode and the second-order multiple-phonon mode. The photoluminescence spectrum of ZnO nanostructures exhibits ultraviolet emission centred at about 380 nm and a broad and enhanced green emission centred at about 526 nm. The green emission of the ZnO nanostructures combined with the emission of InGaN quantum wells provides a valuable method to improve the colour rendering index (CRI) of LEDs.

Pressure behaviour of the UV and green emission bands in ZnO micro-rods

The pressure behavior of the ultraviolet (UV) and green emission bands in ZnO tetrapod-like micro-rods has been investigated at 300 and 70 K, respectively. The pressure coefficient of the UV band at 300 K is 24.5 meV/GPa, consistent with that of the band gap of bulk ZnO. However, the pressure coefficient of the green band is 25 meV/GPa, far larger than previous literature reports. The green band in this work originates from Cu-related emission, as confirmed by the fine structure observed in the spectra at 10 K. The pressure coefficients of four phonon replicas of the free exciton emission (FX) at 70 K are 21.0, 20.2, 19.8, and 19.3 meV/GPa, respectively. The energy shift rate of the FX emission and the LO phonon energies is then determined to be 21.4 and 0.55 meV/GPa. The pressure coefficient of the neutral donor bound exciton ((DX)-X-0) transition is 20.5 meV/GPa, only 4% smaller than that of FX. This confirms that the (DX)-X-0 emission corresponds to excitons bound to neutral shallow donors. (C) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Small-signal power measuring technique for measuring the frequency response of electroabsorption modulators

We propose and demonstrate measurement of the frequency response of an electroabsorption (EA) modulator using an extended small-signal power measuring technique. In this technique, the modulator is driven by a microwave carrier amplitude modulated by a low-frequency signal, and the modulator frequency response is obtained without the need of a high-speed photodetector. Based upon the nonlinear characteristics of the EA modulator and the underlying principle of the present method, equations have been derived. A measurement scheme using a network analyzer and a low-speed photodetector has been proposed and constructed, and the experimental results confirm that our proposed method is as accurate as the swept-frequency measurement using a network analyzer directly.

ZnO thin films on Si(111) grown by pulsed laser deposition from metallic Zn target

ZnO thin films with highly c-axis orientation have been fabricated on p-type Si(1 1 1) substrates at 400 degrees C by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from a metallic Zn target with oxygen pressures between 0.1 and 0.7 mbar. Experimental results indicate that the films deposited at 0.3 and 0.5 mbar have better crystalline and optical quality and flatter surfaces than the films prepared at other pressures. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of (0 0 0 2) diffraction peak decreases remarkably from 0.46 to 0.19 degrees with increasing annealing temperature for the film prepared at 0.3 mbar. In photoluminescence (PL) spectra at room temperature, the annealed film at 700 degrees C exhibits a smaller ultraviolet (UV) peak FWHM of 108 meV than the as-grown film (119 meV). However, an enhanced deep-level emission is observed. Possible origins to above results are discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of LT AlN buffer thickness on the properties of high Al composition AlGaN epilayers

To fabricate nitride-based ultraviolet optoelectronic devices, a deposition process for high-Al-composition AlGaN (Al content > 50%) films with reduced dislocation densities must be developed. This paper describes the growth of high-Al-composition AlGaN film on (0001) sapphire via a LT AIN nucleation layer by low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LPMOCVD). The influence of the low temperature AIN buffer layer thickness on the high-Al-content AlGaN epilayer is investigated by triple-axis X-ray diffraction (TAXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and optical transmittance. The results show that the buffer thickness is a key parameter that affects the quality of the AlGaN epilayer. An appropriate thickness results in the best structural properties and surface morphology. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Estimation of frequency response of directly modulated lasers from optical spectra

A simple method for estimating the frequency responses of directly modulated lasers from optical spectra is presented. The frequency-modulation index and intensity-modulation index of a distributed feedback laser can be obtained through the optical spectrum analyses. The main advantage is that the measurement setup is very simple. Only a microwave source and an optical spectrum analyser are needed and there is no need to use a calibrated broadband photodetector. Experiment shows that the proposed method is as accurate as the swept frequency method using a network analyzer and is applicable to a wide range of modulation powers.