Characterization of AlGaN on GaN template grown by MOCVD - art. no. 68410K

AlxGa1-xN layer was grown on sapphire substrate with GaN template by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition system (MOCVD). High temperature A1N (HT-A1N) interlayer was inserted between AlxGa1-xN layer and GaN template to solve the cracking problem that often appears on AlxGa1-xN surface when directly grown on high temperature GaN template. Optical microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), high resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and cathodoluminescence (CL) were used for characterization. It was found that the cracking was successfully eliminated. Furthermore, the crystalline quality of AlxGa1-xN layer with HT-A1N interlayer was much improved. Interference fringes were found in the HRXRD images. CL test showed that yellow emission was much reduced for AlGaN layer with HT-A1N interlayer.

AlGaN layers grown on AlGaN buffer layer and GaN buffer layer using strain-relief interlayers - art. no. 68410S

We investigated AlGaN layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on high temperature (HT-)GaN and AlGaN buffer layers. On GaN buffer layer, there are a lot of surface cracking because of tensile strain in subsequent AlGaN epilayers. On HT-AlGaN buffer layer, not only cracks but also high densities rounded pits present, which is related to the high density of coalescence boundaries in HT-AlGaN growth process.The insertion of interlayer (IL) between AlGaN and the GaN pseudosubstrate can not only avoid cracking by modifying the strain status of the epilayer structure, but also improved Al incorporation efficiency and lead to phase-separation. And we also found the growth temperature of IL is a critical parameter for crystalline quality of subsequent AlGaN epilayer. Low temperature (LT-) A1N IL lead to a inferior quality in subsequent AlGaN epilayers.

Thermal test and analysis of concentrator solar cells - art. no. 684117

Under high concentration the temperature of photovoltaic solar cells is very high. It is well known that the efficiency and performance of photovoltaic solar cells decrease with the increase of temperature. So cooling is indispensable for a concentrator photovoltaic solar cell at high concentration. Usually passive cooling is widely considered in a concentrator system. However, the thermal conduction principle of concentrator solar cells under passive cooling is seldom reported. In this paper, GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple junction solar cells were fabricated using metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique. The thermal conductivity performance of monolithic concentrator GaInP/GaAs/Ge cascade solar cells under 400X concentration with a heat sink were studied by testing the surface and backside temperatures of solar cells. The tested result shows that temperature difference between both sides of the solar cells is about 1K. A theoretical model of the thermal conductivity and thermal resistance of the GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple junction solar cells was built, and the calculation temperature difference between both sides of the solar cells is about 0.724K which is consistent with the result of practical test. Combining the theoretical model and the practical testing with the upper surface temperature of tested 310K, the temperature distribution of the solar cells was researched.

Operational Optimization of GaN Thin Film Growth Employing Numerical Simulation in a Showerhead MOCVD Reactor

A detailed reaction-tran sport model was studied in a showerhead reactor for metal organic chemical vapor deposition of GaN film by using computational fluid dynamics simulation. It was found that flat flow lines without swirl are crucial to improve the uniformity of the film growth, and thin temperature gradient above the suscptor can increase the film deposition rate. By above-mentioned research, we can employ higher h (the distance from the susceptor to the inlet), P (operational pressure) and the rate of susceptor rotation to improve the film growth.

In-situ Boron-doped Low-stress LPCVD Polysilicon for Micromechanical Disk Resonator

Polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) has been used as an important structural material for microelectro-mechnical systems (MEMS) because of its compatibility with standard integrated circuit (IC) processes. As the structural layer of micromechanical high resonance frequency (high-f) and high quality factor (high-Q) disk resonators, the low residual stress and low resistivity are desired for the polysilicon thin films. In the present work, we investigate the effect of deposition and annealing conditions on the residual stress and resistivity for in-situ deposited low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) polysilicon films. Low residual stress (-100 MPa) was achieved in in-situ boron-doped polysilicon films deposited at 570 degrees C and annealed at 1000 degrees C for 4 hr. The as-deposited amorphous polysilicon films were crystallized by the rapid thermal annealing and have the (111)-preferred orientation, the low tensile residual stress is expected for this annealed film, the detailed description on this work will be reported soon. The controllable residual stress and resistivity make these films suitable for high-Q and bigh-f micro-mechanical disk resonators.

Growth behavior of AlInGaN films

The structural and surface properties of AlInGaN quaternary films grown at different temperatures on GaN templates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are investigated. Formation of two quaternary layers is confirmed and the difference between them is pronounced when the growth temperature is increased. The surface is featured with V-shaped pits and cracks, whose characteristics are further found to be strongly dependent on the growth temperature of AlInGaN layers. The two-layer structure is interpreted by taking into account of the strain status in AlInGaN layers. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Heteroepitaxial Growth of 3C-SiC on Si (111) Substrate using AlN as a Buffer Layer

Using AlN as a buffer layer, 3C-SiC film has been grown on Si substrate by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). Firstly growth of AlN thin films on Si substrates under varied V/III ratios at 1100 degrees was investigated and the (002) preferred orientational growth with good crystallinity was obtained at the V/III ratio of 10000. Annealing at 1300 degrees C indicated the surface morphology and crystallinity stability of AlN film. Secondly the 3C-SiC film was grown on Si substrate with AlN buffer layer. Compared to that without AlN buffer layer, the crystal quality of the 3C-SiC film was improved on the AlN/Si substrate, characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman measurements.

Synthesis of GaN nanorods with vertebra-like morphology

GaN nanorods with vertebra-like morphology were synthesized by nitriding Ga2O3/ZnO films at 1000 degrees C for 20min. Ga2O3 thin films and ZnO middle layers were pre-deposited in turn on Si(111) substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering system. In the flowing ammonia ambient, ZnO was reducted to Zn and Zu sublimated at 1000 degrees C. Ga2O3 was reducted to Ga2O and Ga2O reacted with NH3 to synthesize GaN nanorods in the help of the sublimation of Zn. The structure and morphology of the nanorods were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), The composition of GaN nanorods was studied by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and fourier transform infrared (FTIR) system.

Anomalous temperature-dependent bimodal size evolution of InAs quantum dots on vicinal GaAs(100) substrates

Temperature-dependent bimodal size evolution of InAs quantum dots on vicinal GaAs(100) substrates grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is studied. An abnormal trend of the evolution on temperature is observed. With the increase of the growth temperature, while the density of the large dots decreases continually, that of the small dots first grows larger when temperature was below 520 degrees C, and then there is a sudden decrease at 535 degrees C. Photoluminescence (PL) studies show that QDs on vicinal substrates have a narrower PL line width, a longer emission wavelength and a larger PL intensity.

Heavily doped polycrystalline 3C-SiC growth on SiO2/Si(100) substrates for resonator applications

3C-SiC is a promising material for the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications in harsh environments. This paper presents the LPCVD growth of heavily nitrogen doped polycrystalline 3C-SiC films on Si wafers with 2.0 mu m-thick silicon dioxide (SiO2) films for resonator applications. The growth has been performed via chemical vapor deposition using SiH4 and C2H4 precursor gases with carrier gas of H-2 in a newly developed vertical CVD chamber. NH3 was used as n-type dopant. 3C-SiC films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), and room temperature Hall Effect measurements. It was shown that there is no voids at the interface between 3C-SiC and SiO2. Undoped 3C-SiC films show n-type conduction with resisitivity, Hall mobility, and carrier concentration at room temperature of about 0.56 Omega center dot cm, 54 cm(2)/Vs, and 2.0x 10(17) cm(-3), respectively. The heavily nitrogen doped polycrystalline 3C-SiC with the resisitivity of less than 10(-3) Omega center dot cm was obtained by in-situ doping. Polycrystalline SiC resonators have been fabricated preliminarily on these heavily doped SiC films with thickness of about 2 mu m. Resonant frequency of 49.1 KHz was obtained under atmospheric pressure.

Room temperature mobility above 2100 cm2/Vs in Al0.3Ga0.7N/AIN/GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire substrates by MOCVD

Al0.3Ga0.7N/AlN/GaN HEMT structures with significantly high mobility have been grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on sapphire substrates. At room temperature (RT) a Hall mobility of 2104 cm(2)/Vs and a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density of 1.1x10(13) cm(-2) are achieved, corresponding to a sheet resistance of 277.8 Omega/sq. The elimination of V-shaped defects were observed on Al0.3Ga0.7N/AlN/GaN HEMT structures and correlated with the increase of 2DEG mobility. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co KGaA, Weinheim.

Influence of Al content on electrical and structural properties of Si-doped AlxGa1-xN/GaN HEMT structures

Improved electrical properties of AlxGa1-xN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) were achieved through increasing the Al mole fraction in the AlGaN barrier layers. An average sheet resistance of 326.6 Omega/sq and a good resistance uniformity of 98% were obtained for a 2-inch Al0.38Ga0 62N/GaN HEMT structure. The surface morphology of AlxGa1-xN/GaN HEMT structures strongly correlates with the Al content. More defects were formed with increasing Al content due to the increase of tensile strain, which limits further reduction of the sheet resistance. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co KGaA, Weinheim.

Optical and structural properties of ZnO films grown on Si(100) substrates by MOCVD - art. no. 60290G

High quality ZnO films have been successfully grown on Si(100) substrates by Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique. The optimization of growth conditions (II-VI ratio, growth temperature, etc) and the effects of film thickness and thermal treatment on ZnO films' crystal quality, surface morphology and optical properties were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, respectively. The XRD patterns of the films grown at the optimized temperature (300 degrees C) show only a sharp peak at about 34.4 degrees corresponding to the (0002) peak of hexagonal ZnO, and the FWHM was lower than 0.4 degrees. We find that under the optimized growth conditions, the increase of the ZnO films' thickness cannot improve their structural and optical properties. We suggest that if the film's thickness exceeds an optimum value, the crystal quality will be degraded due to the large differences of lattice constant and thermal expansion coefficient between Si and ZnO. In PL analysis, samples all displayed only ultraviolet emission peaks and no observable deep-level emission, which indicated high-quality ZnO films obtained. Thermal treatments were performed in oxygen and nitrogen atmosphere, respectively. Through the analysis of PL spectra, we found that ZnO films annealing in oxygen have the strongest intensity and the low FWHM of 10.44 nm(106 meV) which is smaller than other reported values on ZnO films grown by MOCVD.

Leakage current analysis in AlGaInP/GaInP multi-quantum well lasers by the electrical derivative method - art. no. 60202F

In AlGaInP/GaInP multi-quantum well (MQW) lasers, the electron leakage current is a much more serious problem than that in laser diodes with longer wavelength. To further improve the output performance, the leakage current should be analyzed. In this letter, the temperature dependence of electrical derivative characteristics in AlGaInP/GaInP multi-quantum well lasers was measured, and the potential barrier for electron leakage was obtained. With the help of secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurement, theoretical analysis of the potential barrier was presented and compared with the measurement result. The influence of p-cladding doping level and doping profile on the potential barrier was discussed, and this can be helpful in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth.

Growth and characterization of 4H-SiC by horizontal hot-wall CVD

4H-SiC layers have been homoepitaxially grown at 1500 degrees C with the use of a horizontal hot-wall chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, which was built in the author's group. The typical growth rate was 2 mu m/h at a pressure of 40 Torr. The background donor concentration has been reduced to 2.3 x 10(15) cm(-3) during a prolonged growth run. It confirmed the idea that the high background concentration of thin films was caused by the impurities inside the susceptor and thermal insulator The FWHM of x-ray co-rocking curves show 9 similar to 15 aresecs in five different areas of a 32-mu m-thick 4H-SiC epilayer The free exciton peaks dominated in the near-band-edge low-temperature photoluminescence spectrum (LTPL), indicating high crystal quality.