Silica and alumina thin films grown by liquid phase deposition

This work demonstrates the condition optimization during liquid phase deposition (LPD) Of SiO2/GaAs films. LPD method is further applied to form Al2O3 films on semiconductors with poison-free materials. Proceeding at room temperature with inexpensive equipment, LPD of silica and alumina films is potentially serviceable in microelectronics and related spheres.

Space-charge-limited currents in GaN Schottky diodes

Unusual dark current voltage (I-V) characteristics were observed in GaN Schottky diodes. I-V characteristics of the GaN Schottky diodes were measured down to the magnitude of 10(-14) A. Although these Schottky diodes were clearly rectifying, their I-V characteristics were non-ideal which can be judged from the non-linearity in the semi-logarithmic plots. Careful analysis of the forward bias I-V characteristics on log-log scale indicates space-charge-limited current (SCLC) conduction dominates the current transport in these GaN Schottky diodes. The concentration of the deep trapping centers was estimated to be higher than 10(15) cm(-3). In the deep level transient spectra (DLTS) measurements for the GaN Schottky diodes, deep defect levels around 0.20 eV below the bottom of the conduction band were identified, which may act as the trapping centers. The concentration of the deep centers obtained from the DLTS data is about 5 x 10(15) cm(-3). SCLC measurements may be used to probe the properties of deep levels in wide bandgap GaN-AlGaN compound semiconductors, as is the case with insulators in the presence of trapping centers. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Synthesis of GaN nanotip triangle pyramids on 3C-SiC epilayer/Si substrates via an in situ In-doping technique

GaN nanotip triangle pyramids were synthesized on 3C-SiC epilayer via an isoelectronic In-doping technique. The synthesis was carried out in a specially designed two-hot-boat chemical vapor deposition system. In (99.999%) and molten Ga (99.99%) with a mass ratio of about 1:4 were used as the source, and pieces of Si (111) wafer covered with 400-500 nm 3C-SiC epilayer were used as the substrates. The products were analyzed by x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence measurements. Our results show that the as-synthesized GaN pyramids are perfect single crystal with wurtzite structure, which may have potential applications in electronic/photonic devices.

Memory effect in a system of zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As nanoclusters embedded in GaAs

Zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As nanoclusters embedded in GaAs matrices are fabricated by in situ postgrowth annealing diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As films with Mn concentration ranging from 2.6% to 8% at 650 degrees C. Magnetization measurements show that memory effect and slow magnetic relaxation, the typical characteristics of the spin-glass-like phase, occur below the blocking temperature of 45 K in samples with high Mn concentration, while for samples with low Mn concentration, ferromagnetic order remains up to 360 K. The behavior of low-temperature spin dynamics can be explained by the hierarchical model. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Electronic structures of N quantum dot molecule

The electronic structures of N quantum dot molecules (QDMs) are investigated theoretically in the framework of effective-mass envelope function theory. The electron and hole energy levels are calculated. In the calculations, the effects of finite offset and valence-band mixing are taken into account. The theoretical method can be used to calculate the electronic structures of any QDM. The results show that (1) electronic energy levels decrease monotonically and the energy difference between the N QDMs decreases as the quantum dot (QD) radius increases; (2) the electron energy level is lower and quantum confinement is smaller for the larger N QDM; (3) the hole ground state energy level is lower for the one dot QDM than N (greater 1) QDMs if the QD radius is larger than about 5 nm due to the valence-band mixing. The results are useful for the application of the N QDM to photoelectric devices.

Room-temperature spin-oriented photocurrent under near-infrared irradiation and comparison of optical means with Shubnikov de-Haas measurements in AlXGa1-XN/GaN heterostructures

The admixture of linear and circular photogalvanic effects and (CPGEs) in AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures has been investigated quantitatively by near-infrared irradiation at room temperature. The spin-based photocurrent that the authors have observed solidly indicates the sizable spin-orbital interaction of the two-dimensional electron gas in the heterostructures. Further analysis shows consistency between studies by optical and magnetic (Shubnikov de-Haas) measurements on the spin-orbital coupling effects among different AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures, indicating that the CPGE measurement is a good way to investigate the spin splitting and the spin polarization in semiconductors. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Electronic structure of Mn-doped ZnO quantum wires: A mean-field theory study

Based on the effective-mass model and the mean-field approximation, we investigate the energy levels of the electron and hole states of the Mn-doped ZnO quantum wires (x=0.0018) in the presence of the external magnetic field. It is found that either twofold degenerated electron or fourfold degenerated hole states split in the field. The splitting energy is about 100 times larger than those of undoped cases. There is a dark exciton effect when the radius R is smaller than 16.6 nm, and it is independent of the effective doped Mn concentration. The lowest state transitions split into six Zeeman components in the magnetic field, four sigma(+/-) and two pi polarized Zeeman components, their splittings depend on the Mn-doped concentration, and the order of pi and sigma(+/-) polarized Zeeman components is reversed for thin quantum wires (R < 2.3 nm) due to the quantum confinement effect.

Extremely low density InAs quantum dots with no wetting layer

Extremely low density InAs quantum dots (QDs) are grown by molecular beam droplet epitaxy, The gallium deposition amount is optimized to saturate exactly the excess arsenic atoms present on the GaAs substrate surface during growth, and low density InAs/GaAs QDs (4x10(6) cm(-2)) are formed by depositing 0.65 monolayers (ML) of indium. This is much less than the critical deposition thickness (1.7 ML), which is necessary to form InAs/GaAs QDs with the conventional Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. The narrow photoluminescence line-width of about 24 meV is insensitive to cryostat temperatures from 10 K to 250 K. All measurements indicate that there is no wetting layer connecting the QDs.

Growth of GaSb layers on GaAs (001) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

GaSb 1 mu m-thick layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001). The effects of the growth conditions on the crystalline quality, surface morphology, electrical properties and optical properties were studied by double crystalline x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Hall measurement and photoluminescence spectroscopy, respectively. It was found that the surface roughness and hole mobility are highly dependent on the antimony-to-gallium flux ratios and growth temperatures. The crystalline quality, electrical properties and optical properties of GaSb layers were also studied as functions of growth rate, and it was found that a suitably low growth rate is beneficial for the crystalline quality and electrical and optical properties. Better crystal quality GaSb layers with a minimum root mean square surface roughness of 0.1 nm and good optical properties were obtained at a growth rate of 0.25 mu m h(-1).

Effect of growth conditions on the GaN thin film by sputtering deposition

The phase transition between thermodynamically stable hexagonal wurtzite (h-WZ) gallium nitride (GaN) and metastable cubic zinc-blende (c-ZB) GaN during growth by radio-frequency planar magnetron sputtering is studied. GaN films grown on substrates with lower mismatches tend to have a h-WZ structure, but when grown on substrates with higher mismatches, a c-ZB structure is preferred. GaN films grown under high nitrogen pressure also tend to have a h-WZ structure, whereas a c-ZB structure is preferred when grown under low nitrogen pressure. In addition, low target-power growth not only helps to improve hexagonal GaN (h-GaN) crystalline quality at high nitrogen pressure on low-mismatch substrates, but also enhances cubic GaN (c-GaN) quality at low nitrogen pressure on high-mismatch substrates. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of optical quenching of photoconductivity in high-resistivity GaN epilayer

In undoped high-resistivity GaN epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on sapphire, deep levels are investigated by persistent photoconductivity (PPC) and optical quenching (OQ) of photoconductivity (PC) measurements. The PPC and OQ are studied by exciting the samples with two beams of radiation of various wavelengths and intensities. When the light wavelengths of 300 and 340 nm radiate the GaN epilayer, the photocurrent without any quenching effect is rapidly increased because the band gap transition only occurs. If the background light is 340 nm and the quenching light is 564 or 828 nm, the quenching of a small photocurrent generates but clearly. Two broad quenching bands that extend from 385 to 716 nm and from 723 to 1000 nm with a maximum at approximately 2.2 eV (566 nm) is observed. These quenching bands are attributed to hole trap level's existence in the GaN epilayer. We point out that the origin of the defects responsible for the optical quenching can be attributed to nitrogen antisite and/or gallium vacancy. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influences of As flux on the lattice constants, magnetic and transport properties of (Ga, Mn)As epilayers

A series of (Ga, Mn)As epilayers have been prepared on semi-insulating GaAs (001) substrates at 230 degrees C by molecular-beam epitaxy under fixed temperatures of Ga and Mn cells and varied temperatures of the As cell. By systematically studying the lattice constants, magnetic and magneto-transport properties in a self-consistent manner, we find that the concentration of As antisites monotonically increases with increasing As flux, while the concentration of interstitial Mn defects decreases with it. Such a trend sensitively affects the properties of (Ga, Mn)As epilayers. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temperature dependence of the Raman-active modes in the nonpolar a-plane GaN film

Temperature dependences of the polarized Raman scattering spectra in the backscattering configuration of the nonpolar a-plane (or [11 (2) over bar0]-oriented) GaN thin film are analyzed in the range from 100 to 570 K. The nonpolar a-plane GaN film is grown on an r-plane [or (1 (1) over bar 02)-oriented] sapphire substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The spectral features of the Raman shifts, intensities, and linewidths of the active phonons modes A(1)(TO), E-1(TO), and E-2(high) are significantly revealed, and corresponding temperature coefficients are well deduced by the empirical relationships. With increasing the measurement temperature the Raman frequencies are substantially redshifted and the linewidths gradually broaden. The compressive-strain-free temperature for the nonpolar a-plane GaN film is found to be at about 400 K. Our studies will lead to a better understanding of the fundamental physical characteristics of the nonpolar GaN film. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Identification of vacancies in electron irradiated GaSb by coincidence Doppler broadening spectroscopy

In this paper we present the results of coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) measurements and positron lifetime spectroscopy (PLS) on the semiconductor material GaSb. Gallium vacancy with positron lifetime of about 283 ps (V-Ga, (283 ps)) was identified in as-grown sample by CDB technique and PAS technique. For electron irradiated samples with dosages of 10(17) cm(-2) and 10(18) cm(-2), the PAS showed almost the same defectrelated positron lifetime of about 285 ps. CDB experiments indicated that defects in irradiated samples were related to Ga vacancies. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Giant Zeeman splitting in manganese-doped ZnSe quantum spheres: Eight-band effective-mass calculations

We deduce the eight-band effective-mass Hamiltonian model for a manganese-doped ZnSe quantum sphere in the presence of the magnetic field, including the interaction between the conduction and valence bands, the spin-orbit coupling within the valence bands, the intrinsic spin Zeeman splitting, and the sp-d exchange interaction between the carriers and magnetic ion in the mean-field approximation. The size dependence of the electron and hole energy levels as well as the giant Zeeman splitting energies are studied theoretically. We find that the hole giant Zeeman splitting energies decrease with the increasing radius, smaller than that in the bulk material, and are different for different J(z) states, which are caused by the quantum confinement effect. Because the quantum sphere restrains the excited Landau states and exciton states, in the experiments we can observe directly the Zeeman splitting of basic states. At low magnetic field, the total Zeeman splitting energy increases linearly with the increasing magnetic field and saturates at modest field which is in agreement with recent experimental results. Comparing to the undoped case, the Zeeman splitting energy is 445 times larger which provides us with wide freedom to tailor the electronic structure of DMS nanocrystals for technological applications.