Ultrafast Kerr rotations and zero-field dephasing time of electron spins in InAs/GaAs quantum disks

Time-resolved Kerr rotation (TRKR) measurements based on pump-probe arrangement were carried out at 5 K on the monolayer fluctuation induced InAs/GaAs quantum disks grown on GaAs substrate without external magnetic field. The lineshape of TRKR signals shows an unusual dependence on the excitation wavelength, especially antisymmetric step-shaped structures appearing when the excitation wavelength was resonantly scanned over the heavy- and light-hole subbands. Moreover, these step structures possess an almost identical decay time of similar to 40 Ps which is believed to be the characteristic spin dephasing time of electrons in the extremely narrow InAs/GaAs quantum disks.

Band crossing in isovalent semiconductor alloys with large size mismatch: First-principles calculations of the electronic structure of Bi and N incorporated GaAs

For large size- and chemical-mismatched isovalent semiconductor alloys, such as N and Bi substitution on As sites in GaAs, isovalent defect levels or defect bands are introduced. The evolution of the defect states as a function of the alloy concentration is usually described by the popular phenomenological band anticrossing (BAC) model. Using first-principles band-structure calculations we show that at the impurity limit the N-(Bi)-induced impurity level is above (below) the conduction- (valence-) band edge of GaAs. These trends reverse at high concentration, i.e., the conduction-band edge of GaAs1-xNx becomes an N-derived state and the valence-band edge of GaAs1-xBix becomes a Bi-derived state, as expected from their band characters. We show that this band crossing phenomenon cannot be described by the popular BAC model but can be naturally explained by a simple band broadening picture.

Molecular beam epitaxy of GaSb on GaAs substrates with AlSb/GaSb compound buffer layers

GaSb films with AlSb/GaSb compound buffer layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates. The crystal quality and optical properties were studied by high resolution transition electron microscopy and low temperature photoluminescence spectra (PL), respectively. It was found that the AlSb/GaSb compound buffer layers can restrict the dislocations into GaSb epilayers. The intensity of PL spectra of GaSb layer becomes large with the increasing the periods of AlSb/GaSb superlattices, indicating that the optical quality of GaSb films is improved.

DETERMINATION OF THE SUBBAND ENERGY IN THE V-SHAPED POTENTIAL WELL OF DELTA-DOPED GAAS BY DEEP-LEVEL TRANSIENT SPECTROSCOPY

Using deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) the conduction-subband energy levels in a V-shaped potential well induced by Si-delta doping in GaAs were determined. Self-consistent calculation gives four subbands in the well below the Fermi level. Experimentally, two DLTS peaks due to electron emission from these subbands were observed. Another two subbands with low electron concentration are believed to be merged into the adjacent DLTS peak. A good agreement between self-consistent calculation and experiment was obtained. (C) 1994 American Institute of Physics.

WELL-WIDTH DEPENDENCE OF THE EXCITON LIFETIME IN GAAS/ALGAAS QUANTUM-WELLS

The dependence of the excitonic lifetime on the well width has been studied in conventional GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. Two clearly different variations of the measured excitonic lifetime have been observed. For wide well widths, we find a nearly linear decrease of the lifetime with decreasing well width. However, when the well is further decreased, a saturation and even increase of the lifetime with decreasing well width are observed. The experimental data are compared with the theory of radiative excitonic recombination, and show that well width dependence of the measured photoluminescence lifetime can be attributed mainly to the change of the excitonic effective volume and the overlap integral as well.

EFFECTIVE-MASS THEORY FOR GAAS/GA1-XALXAS QUANTUM WIRES AND CORRUGATED SUPERLATTICES GROWN ON (311)-ORIENTED SUBSTRATES

The electronic structures of GaAs/Ga1-xAlxAs quantum wires (corrugated superlattices) grown on (311)-oriented substrates are studied in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function method. The electron and hole subband structure and optical transition matrix elements are calculated. When x=1, the results are compared with experiments, and it is found that the direct transition becomes an indirect transition as the widths of well and barrier become smaller.

THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE DYNAMIC PROCESS OF THE ILLUMINATION OF GAAS

The dynamic process of light illumination of GaAs is studied numerically in this paper to understand the photoquenching characteristics of the material. This peculiar behavior of GaAs is usally ascribed to the existence of EL2 states and their photodriven metastable states. To understand the conductivity quenching, we have introduced nonlinear terms describing the recombination of the nonequilibrium free electrons and holes into the calculation. Though some photoquenching such as photocapacitance, infrared absorption, and electron-paramagnetic-resonance quenching can be explained qualitatively by only considering the internal transfer between the EL2 state and its metastability, it is essential to take the recombination into consideration for a clear understanding of the photoquenching process. The numerical results and approximate analytical approach are presented in this paper for the first time to our knowledge. The calculation gives quite a reasonable explanation for n-type semiconducting GaAs to have infrared absorption quenching while lacking photoconductance quenching. Also, the calculation results have allowed us to interpret the enhanced photoconductance phenomenon following the conductance quenching in typical semi-insulating GaAs and have shown the expected thermal recovery temperature of about 120 K. The numerical results are in agreement with the reported experiments and have diminished some ambiguities in previous works.

STUDIES OF THE PROMISING MATERIAL COSI2 ON GAAS SUBSTRATES

The thermal stability of CoSi2 thin films on GaAs substrates has been studied using a variety of techniques. The CoSi2 thin films were formed by depositing Co(500 angstrom) and Si(1800 angstrom) layers on GaAs substrates by electron-beam evaporation followed by annealing processes, where the Si inter-layer was used as a diffusion/reaction barrier at the interface. The resistivity of CoSi2 thin films formed is about 30 muOMEGA cm. The Schottky barrier height of CoSi2/n-GaAs is 0.76 eV and the ideality factor is 1.14 after annealing at 750-degrees-C for 30 min. The CoSi2/GaAs interface is determined to be thermally stable and the thin film morphologically uniform on GaAs after 900-degrees-C/30 s anneal. The CoSi2 thin films fulfill the requirements in GaAs self-aligned gate technology.

NEW FORMATION MECHANISM OF ELECTRIC-FIELD DOMAIN DUE TO GAMMA-X SEQUENTIAL TUNNELING IN GAAS/ALAS SUPERLATTICES

We have studied the sequential tunneling of doped weakly coupled GaAs/ALAs superlattices (SLs), whose ground state of the X valley in AlAS layers is designed to be located between the ground state (E(GAMMA1)) and the first excited state (E(GAMMA2)) of the GAMMA valley in GaAs wells. The experimental results demonstrate that the high electric field domain in these SLs is attributed to the GAMMA-X sequential tunneling instead of the usual sequential resonant tunneling between subbands in adjacent wells. Within this kind of high field domain, electrons from the ground state in the GaAs well tunnel to the ground state of the X valley in the nearest AlAs layer, then through very rapid real-space transfer relax from the X valley in the AlAs layer to the ground state of the GAMMA valley of the next GaAs well.

PASSIVATION OF COPPER BY LITHIUM IN P-TYPE GAAS

We report the passivation of two deep copper-related acceptor levels in Cu-diffused p-type GaAs by the group-I element lithium. The deep-level-transient-spectroscopy (DLTS) signals of the well-known Cu-related levels with apparent activation energies 0.15 eV and 0.40 eV disappear in Cu-diffused samples when they are diffused with Li, but can be reactivated by annealing. Photoluminescence measurements show a corresponding disappearance and reappearance of the copper-related luminescence at 1.36 eV. Also we observe with DLT'S an energy level at E(V) + 0.32 eV in the Cu-Li-diff-used samples. The level is neither present in the Cu-diffused samples before Li diffusion nor in Cu-Li-diffused samples after annealing. As the level is not observed in starting materials or solely Li-diffused samples we suggest that it is related to a Cu-Li complex.

HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTOLUMINESCENCE STUDIES OF (211) CDTE GROWN ON (211)B GAAS SUBSTRATE

Sharp and rich photoluminescence lines accociated with free exciton (FE), excitons bound to neutral acceptors (A0X) and donors (D0X) in molecular beam epitaxially (MBE) grown (211) CdTe/(211)B GaAs have been reported for the first time. The results show that the (211) CdTe/(211)B GaAs grown under optimized conditions could have as high a crystal perfection as those grown on lattice-matched substrates.

GIANT CAPACITANCE OSCILLATIONS RELATED TO THE QUANTUM CAPACITANCE IN GAAS ALAS SUPERLATTICES

We have observed periodic current and capacitance oscillations with increasing bias on doped GaAs/AlAs superlattices at a temperature of 77 K. The maximum of the observed capacitance is larger than usual geometric capacitances in superlattices, being comparable to the quantum capacitance of the two-dimensional (2D) electron system proposed by Luryi. A model based on well-to-well sequential resonant tunneling due to the movement of the boundary between the electric field domains in superlattice was proposed to explain the origin of the giant capacitance oscillations. It was demonstrated that the capacitance at the peaks of capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics reflects the quantum capacitance of the space-charge region at the boundary between the domains (a novel 2D electron system).

RBS STUDIES OF THE LATTICE DAMAGE CAUSED BY 1 MEV SI+ IMPLANTATION INTO AL0.3GA0.7AS/GAAS SUPERLATTICES AT ELEVATED-TEMPERATURE

The lattice damage accumulation in GaAs and Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs superlattices by 1 MeV Si+ irradiation at room temperature and 350-degrees-C has been studied. For irradiations at 350-degrees-C, at lower doses the samples were almost defect-free after irradiation, while a large density of accumulated defects was induced at a higher dose. The critical dose above which the damage accumulation is more efficient is estimated to be 2 x 10(15) Si/cm2 for GaAs, and is 5 x 10(15) Si/cm2 for Al0.8Ga0.7As/GaAs superlattice for implantation with 1.0 MeV Si ions at 350-degrees-C. The damage accumulation rate for 1 MeV Si ion implantation in Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs superlattice is less than that in GaAs.

PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOR OF THE GAAS/ALXGA1-XAS SUPERLATTICE ELECTRODE/ELECTROLYTE INTERFACE

Single and multiple quantum wells of lattice-matched superlattices material GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs have been studied as photoelectrodes in photoelectrochemical cells containing nonaqueous electrolyte. Structural photocurrent spectra in the potential range of -1.8 to 1.0 V (vs standard calomel electrode) were obtained. The quantum yields for both superlattice electrodes were estimated and compared.