Si-based optoelectronic devices and their attractive applications

The semiconductor photonics and optoelectronics which have a great significance in the development of advanced high technology of information systems will be discussed in this paper. The emphasis will be put on the recent research carried out in our laboratory in enhanced luminescence from low dimensional materials such as SiGe/Si and Er-doped Si-rich SiO2/Si and Er-doped SixNy/Si. A ring shape waveguide structure, used to promote the effective absorption coefficient in PIN photodetector for 1.3 mu m wavelength and a resonant cavity enhanced structure, used to improve the quantum efficiency and response in heterostructure photo-transistor (HPT), are also proposed in this paper.

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].

Characterization of hot-electron effects on flicker noise in III-V nitride based heterojunctions

We report experiments on hot-electron stressing in commercial III-V nitride based heterojunction fight-emitting diodes. Stressing currents ranging from 100 mA to 200 mA were used. Degradations in the device properties were investigated through detailed studies of the I-V characteristics, electroluminescence, Deep-Level Transient Fourier Spectroscopy and flicker noise. Our experimental data demonstrated significant distortions in the I-V characteristics. The room temperature electroluminescence of the devices exhibited 25% decrement in the peak emission intensity. Concentration of the deep-levels was examined by measuring the Deep-Level Transient Fourier Spectroscopy, which indicated an increase in the density of deep-traps from 2.7 x 10(13) cm(-3) to 4.21 x 10(13) cm(-3) at E-1 = E-C - 1.1eV. The result is consistent with our study of 1/f noise, which exhibited up to three orders of magnitude increase in the voltage noise power spectra. Our experiments show large increase in both the interface traps and deep-levels resulted from hot-carrier stressing.

Neutron irradiation-infrared based measurement method for interstitial oxygen in heavily boron-doped silicon

A novel method, based on an infrared absorption and neutron irradiation technique, has been developed for the determination of interstitial oxygen in heavily boron-doped silicon. The new procedure utilizes fast neutron irradiated silicon wafer specimens. On fast neutron irradiation, the free carriers of high concentration in silicon can be trapped by the irradiated defects and the resistivity increased. The resulting calibration curve for the measurement of interstitial oxygen in boron-doped silicon has been established on the basis of the annealing behaviour of irradiated boron-doped CZ silicon.

H+ISFET-based biosensor for determination of penicillin G

A biosensor based on an H+ ion sensitive field effect transistor (H+-ISFET) and penicillin G acylase has been developed. The response time of the sensor to different concentrations of penicillin G was 30 s. In a 20 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.0, the linear range of the calibration curve was from 0.5 to 8 mM. The coefficients of variation for three samples with 20 repeated measurements were below 5%. Stability of the sensor could reach about 6 months and more than 1000 runs were performed without a significant decrease of the output value. The sensor was tested for measurement of the penicillin G content in penicillin fermentation broth. Forty samples with low and high concentrations of penicillin G were chosen for the correlation test. The values assayed by the sensor method were compared with the values assayed by HPLC method, the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.9944 and the regression equation was y = 1.034X - 2083.7 respectively. The different measuring methods are discussed in the text. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Improvement of stoichiometry in semi-insulating gallium arsenide grown under microgravity

A semi-insulating (SI) GaAs single crystal was recently grown in a retrievable satellite. The average etch pit density (EPD) of dislocations in the crystal revealed by molten KOH is 2.0 x 10(4) cm(-2), and the highest EPD is 3.1 x 10(4) cm(-2) This result indicates a quite good homogenity of the EPD which is much better than the ground-grown crystals. A similar better homogenity of the stoichiometry i.e., the [As]/([As] + [Ga]) ratio has been found in the space-grown SI-GaAs single crystal studied nondestructively using a new mapping method based upon X-ray Bond diffraction. The average stoichiometry in the space-grown crystal is 0.50007 with mean-square deviation of 6x10(-6), while the average stoichiometry in ground-grown SI-GaAs crystal is more than 0.50010. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Alignment of threading dislocations in the In0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs superlattice

Threading dislocations in the III-V heterostructure system are investigated based on the observation of dislocations in the In0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs superlattice with transmission electron microscope. To explain both the presence and orientation of threading dislocations in the epilayers an alloy effect on the dislocation lines in ternary III-V compounds is proposed, and, in addition, a pseudo-stable state for threading dislocations in binary compounds is recognized. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

High energy ion implantation enhanced intermixed quantum well structures and their absorption characteristics in passive optical waveguides

We have shown that high energy ion implantation enhanced intermixing (HE-IIEI) technology for quantum well (QW) structures is a powerful technique which can be used to blue shift the band gap energy of a QW structure and therefore decrease its band gap absorption. Room temperature (RT) photoluminescence (PL) and guided-wave transmission measurements have been employed to investigate the amount of blue shift of the band gap energy of an intermixed QW structure and the reduction of band gap absorption, Record large blue shifts in PL peaks of 132 nm for a 4-QW InGaAs/InGaAsP/InP structure have been demonstrated in the intermixed regions of the QW wafers, on whose non-intermixed regions, a shift as small as 5 nm is observed. This feature makes this technology very attractive for selective intermixing in selected areas of an MQW structure. The dramatical reduction in band gap absorption for the InP based MQW structure has been investigated experimentally. It is found that the intensity attenuation for the blue shifted structure is decreased by 242.8 dB/cm for the TE mode and 119 dB/cm for the TM mode with respect to the control samples. Electro-absorption characteristics have also been clearly observed in the intermixed structure. Current-Voltage characteristics were employed to investigate the degradation of the p-n junction in the intermixed region. We have achieved a successful fabrication and operation of Y-junction optical switches (JOS) based on MQW semiconductor optical amplifiers using HE-IIEI technology to fabricate the low loss passive waveguide. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Performing Fast Addition and Multiplication by Transferring Single Electrons

This paper proposes novel fast addition and multiplication circuits that are based on non-binary redundant number systems and single electron (SE) devices. The circuits consist of MOSFET-based single-electron (SE) turnstiles. We use the number of electrons to represent discrete multiple-valued logic states and we finish arithmetic operations by controlling the number of electrons transferred. We construct a compact PD2,3 adder and a 12x12bit multiplier using the PD2,3 adder. The speed of the adder can be as high as 600MHz with 400nW power dissipation. The speed of the adder is regardless of its operand length. The proposed circuits have much smaller transistors than conventional circuits.

Nanoelectronic Circuit Architectures Based on Single-Electron Turnstiles

Single-electron devices (SEDs) have ultra-low power dissipation and high integration density, which make them promising candidates as basic circuit elements of the next generation VLSI circuits. In this paper, we propose two novel circuit single-electron architectures: the single-electron simulated annealing algorithm (SAA) circuit and the single-electron cellular neural network (CNN). We used the MOSFET-based single-electron turnstile [1] as the basic circuit element. The SAA circuit consists of the voltage-controlled single-electron random number generator [2] and the single-electron multiple-valued memories (SEMVs) [3]. The random-number generation and variable variations in SAA are easily achieved by transferring electrons using the single-electron turnstile. The CNN circuit used the floating-gate single-electron turnstile as the neural synapses, and the number of electrons is used to represent the cells states. These novel circuits are promising in future nanoscale integrated circuits.

Hydrogen sensors based on Pt-AlGaN/GaN back-to-back Schottky diode

In this paper, platinum (Pt) with a thickness of 45 nm was sputtered on the surface of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure to form the Schottky contact and the back-to-back Schottky diodes were characterized for H-2 sensing at room temperature. Both the forward and reverse current of the devices increased with exposure to H-2 gas, which was attributed to Schottky barrier height reduction caused by hydrogen absorption in the catalytic metals. A shift of 0.7 V at 297 K was obtained at a fixed forward current of 0.1 mA after switching from N-2 to 40% H-2 in N-2. The sensor's responses under different concentrations from 2500 ppm H-2 to 40% H-2 in N-2 at 297 K were investigated. Time response of the sensor at a fixed bias of 1 V was given. Finally, the decrease of the Schottky barrier height and the sensitivity of the sensor were calculated. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Characterization of high-speed optoelectronics devices based optical and electrical spectra analyses - art. no. 68380Q

In this paper, we presents the characterization technique of high-speed optoelectronics devices based electrical and optical spectra, which is as important access to the devices performance as the prevalent vector network analyzer (VNA) sweeping method. The measurement of additional modulation of laser and frequency response of photodetector from electrical spectra, and the estimation of the modulation indexes and the chirp parameters of directly modulated lasers based on optical spectra analysis, are given as examples.

Design of Si-based Electro-optical modulator employed dual capacitors - art. no. 68381B

Electro-optical modulator with dual capacitors is designed and based on this design basic configuration of device is realized in laboratory. Exceeding GHz switching speed and high phase modulation efficiency can be expected with this device.

High efficiency fiber to waveguide optical coupler in silicon-on-insulator-based slot waveguides - art. no. 68310R

We propose a novel optical fiber-to-waveguide coupler for integrated optical circuits. The proper materials and structural parameters of the coupler, which is based on a slot waveguide, are carefully analyzed using a full-vectorial three dimensional mode solver. Because the effective refractive index of the mode in a silicon-on-insulator-based slot waveguide can be extremely close to that of the fiber, a highly efficient fiber-to-waveguide coupling application can be realized. For a TE-like mode, the calculated minimum mismatch loss is about 1.8dB at 1550nm, and the mode conversion loss can be less than 0.5dB. The discussion of the present state-of-the-art is also involved. The proposed coupler can be used in chip-to-chip communication.

High-efficiency GaN-based blue LEDs grown on nano-patterned sapphire substrates for solid-state lighting - art. no. 684103

Nano-patterning sapphire substrates technique has been developed for nitrides light-emitting diodes (LEDs) growths. It is expected that the strain induced by the lattice misfits between the GaN epilayers and the sapphire substrates can be effectively accommodated via the nano-trenches. The GaN epilayers grown on the nano-patterned sapphire substrates by a low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) are characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. In comparison with the planar sapphire substrate, about 46% increment in device performance is measured for the InGaN/GaN blue LEDs grown on the nano-patterned sapphire substrates.