Material Growth and Device Fabrication of GaN-Based Blue-Violet Laser Diodes

Studies on first GaN-based blue-violet laser diodes(LDs) in China mainland are reported.High quality GaN materials as well as GaN-based quantum wells laser structures are grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition method.The X-ray double-crystal diffraction rocking curve measurements show the full-width half maximum of 180" and 185" for (0002) symmetric reflection and (10(-1)2) skew reflection,respectively.A room temperature mobility of 850cm2/(V·s) is obtained for a 3μm thick GaN film.Gain guided and ridge geometry waveguide laser diodes are fabricated with cleaved facet mirrors at room temperature under pulse current injection.The lasing wavelength is 405.9nm.A threshold current density of 5kA/cm2 and an output light power over 100mW are obtained for ridge geometry waveguide laser diodes.

Preparation of 50mm 3C-SiC/Si(111) as Substrates Suited for Ⅲ-Nitrides

50mm SiC films with high electrical uniformity are grown on Si(111) by a newly developed vertical low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) reactor.Both in-situ n- and p-type doping of 3C-SiC are achieved by intentional introduction of ammonia and boron into the precursor gases.The dependence of growth rate and surface morphology on the C/Si ratio and optimized growth conditions is obtained.The best electrical uniformity of 50mm 3C-SiC films obtained by non-contact sheet resistance measurement is ±2.58%.GaN films are grown atop the as-grown 3C-SiC/Si(111) layers using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).The data of both X-ray diffraction and low temperature photoluminescence of GaN/3C-SiC/Si(111) show that 3C-SiC is an appropriate substrate or buffer layer for the growth of Ⅲ-nitrides on Si substrates with no cracks.

Passively Mode Locked Diode-End-Pumped Nd∶YAG Laser with In0.25 Ga0.75 As as Output Coupler

A novel InGaAs(LT-In0.25 Ga0.75 As) absorber grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition at low temperature is presented.Using it as well as an output coupler,passive mode locking,which produces pulses as short as several hundred picoseconds for diode-end-pumped Nd∶YAG laser at 1.06μm,is realized.The pulse frequency is 150MHz.

High Temperature Characteristics of 3C-SiC/Si Heterojunction Diodes Grown by LPCVD

The high temperature (300～480K) characteristics of the n-3C-SiC/p-Si heterojunction diodes (HJD) fabricated by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition on Si (100) substrates are investigated.The obtained diode with best rectifying properties has 1.8×104 of ratio at room temperature,and slightly rectifying characteristics with 3.1 of rectification ratio is measured at 480K of an ambient temperature .220V of reverse breakdown voltage is acquired at 300K.Capacitance-voltage characteristics show that the abrupt junction model is applicable to the SiC/Si HJD structure and the built-in voltage is 0.75V.An ingenious equation is employed to perfectly simulate and explain the forward current density-voltage data measured at various temperatures.The 3C-SiC/Si HJD represents a promising approach for the fabrication of high quality heterojunction devices such as SiC-emitter heterojunction bipolar transistors.

Heteroepitaxial Growth and Heterojunction Characteristics of Voids-Free n-3C-SiC on p-Si(100)

Highly oriented voids-free 3C-SiC heteroepitaxial layers are grown on φ50mm Si (100) substrates by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). The initial stage of carbonization and the surface morphology of carbonization layers of Si(100) are studied using reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It is shown that the optimized carbonization temperature for the growth of voids-free 3S-SiC on Si (100) substrates is 1100 ℃. The electrical properties of SiC layers are characterized using Van der Pauw method. The I-V, C-V, and the temperature dependence of I-V characteristics in n-3C-SiC-p-Si heterojunctions with AuGeNi and Al electrical pads are investigated. It is shown that the maximum reverse breakdown voltage of the n-3C-SiC-p-Si heterojunction diodes reaches to 220V at room temperature. These results indicate that the SiC/Si heterojunction diode can be used to fabricate the wide bandgap emitter SiC/Si heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's).

Microstructural and compositional characteristics of GaN films grown on a ZnO-buffered Si(111) wafer

Polycrystalline GaN thin films have been deposited epitaxially on a ZnO-buffered (111)-oriented Si substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The microstructural and compositional characteristics of the films were studied by analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A SiO2 amorphous layer about 3.5 nm in thickness between the Si/ZnO interface has been identified by means of spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy. Cross-sectional and plan-view TEM investigations reveal (GaN/ZnO/SiO2/Si) layers exhibiting definite a crystallographic relationship: [111](Si)//[111](ZnO)//[0001](GaN) along the epitaxy direction. GaN films are polycrystalline with nanoscale grains (similar to100 nm in size) grown along [0001] direction with about 20degrees between the (1 (1) over bar 00) planes of adjacent grains. A three-dimensional growth mode for the buffer layer and the film is proposed to explain the formation of the as-grown polycrystalline GaN films and the functionality of the buffer layer. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of diphasic nc-Si/a-Si : H thin films and solar cells

Hydrogenated silicon films with diphasic structure have been prepared by using a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) in the region adjacent to the phase transition from amorphous to crystal. line state. The photoelectronic and microstructural properties of the films have been characterized by the constant photocurrent method (CPM), Raman scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In comparison with typical hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), these diphasic films with a crystalline fraction less than 0.3 show a similar optical absorption coefficient, lower deep-defect densities and higher stability upon light soaking. By using the diphasic nc-Si/a-Si films a p-i-n junction solar cell has been prepared With an initial efficiency of 8.51 % and a stabilized efficiency of 8.02 % on an area of 0.126 cm(2) (AM1.5, 100 mW/cm(2)).

Microstructure of the silicon film prepared near the phase transition regime from amorphous to nanocrystalline

A kind of hydrogenated diphasic silicon films has been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) near the phase transition regime from amorphous to nanocrystalline. The microstructural properties of the films have been investigated by the micro-Raman and Fourier transformed Infrared (FT-IR) spectra and atom force microscopy (AFM). The obtained Raman spectra show not only the existence of nanoscaled crystallites, but also a notable improvement in the medium-range order of the diphasic films. For the FT-IR spectra of this kind of films, it notes that there is a blueshift in the Si-H stretching mode and a redshift in the Si-H wagging mode in respect to that of typical amorphous silicon film. We discussed the reasons responsible for these phenomena by means of the phase transition, which lead to the formation of a diatomic hydrogen complex, H-2* and their congeries.

Strong red light emission from silicon nanocrystals embedded in SIO2 matrix

In this study, silicon nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 matrix were formed by conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) followed by high temperature annealing. The formation of silicon nanocrystals (nc-Si), their optical and micro-structural properties were studied using various experimental techniques, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, micro-Raman spectra, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Very strong red light emission from silicon nanocrystals at room temperature (RT) was observed. It was found that there is a strong correlation between the PL intensity and the substrate temperature, the oxygen content and the annealing temperature. When the substrate temperature decreases from 250degreesC to RT, the PL intensity increases by two orders of magnitude.

In situ annealing during the growth of relaxed SiGe

In this paper, a graded Si1-xGex buffer and thereafter the Si0.8Ge0.2 uniform layer were grown at a little lower temperature to keep the surface smooth, which will provide the gliding dislocations a wider channel and less low energy nucleation sites on the surface. Therefore, the dislocation density may be reduced. However, the motion of the existing threading dislocations cannot retain equilibrium at lower temperature, strain will accumulate and be in favor of the nucleation of dislocation. In situ annealing was used to reduce the residual strain in the sample during the low-temperature growth of SiGe. A fully relaxed Si0.8Ge0.2 layer was obtained with the surface dislocation density of 3x10(5)cm(-2).

Indium-doping enhanced two-dimensional-electron-gas performance in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Indium (In)-doping was applied in GaN layers during growth of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure with unintentionally doped or modulation Si-doped AlGaN layers. It was found that In-doping was effective in improving electron sheet density of two-dimensional-electron-gas (2DEG) in the heterostructures. Furthermore, In-doping also improved mobility in heterostructures with Si modulation-doped in AlGaN layers. The possible reasons were discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and wet chemical etching revealed that crystalline quality of GaN was improved by In-doping. It was proposed that In-doping modified growth kinetics of GaN.

The influence of oxygen content on photoluminescence from Er-doped SiOx

SiOx films with oxygen concentrations ranging 13-46 at.% were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique using: pure SiH4 and N2O mixture. Erbium was then implanted at an energy of 500 KeV with dose of 2x10(15) ions/cm(2). The samples were subsequently annealed in N-2 for 20 sec at temperatures of (300-950 degrees C). Room temperature (RT) photo-luminescence (PL) data were collected by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIS) with an argon laser at a wavelength of 514.5 nm and an output power from 5 to 2500 mw. The intense room-temperature luminescence was observed around 1.54 mu m. The luminescence intensity increases by 2 orders of magnitude as compared with that of Er-doped Czochralski (CZ) Si. We found that the Er3+ luminescence depends strongly on the SiOx microstructure. Our experiment also showed that the silicon grain radius decreased with increasing oxygen content and finally formed micro-crystalline silicon or nano-crystalline silicon. As a result, these silicon small particles could facilitate the energy transfer to Er3+ and thus enhanced the photoluminescence intensity.

High quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon films with significantly improved stability

High quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films have been prepared by a simple "uninterrupted growth/annealing" plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique, combined with a subtle boron-compensated doping. These a-Si:H films possess a high photosensitivity over 10(6), and exhibit no degradation in photoconductivity and a low light-induced defect density after prolonged illumination. The central idea is to control the growth conditions adjacent to the critical point of phase transition from amorphous to crystalline state, and yet to locate the Fermi level close to the midgap. Our results show that the improved stability and photosensitivity of a-Si:H films prepared by this method can be mainly attributed to the formation of a more robust network structure and reduction in the precursors density of light-induced metastable defects.

The diphasic nc-Si/a-Si : H thin film with improved medium-range order

A series of silicon film samples were prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) near the threshold from amorphous to nanocrystalline state by adjusting the plasma parameters and properly increasing the reactions between the hydrogen plasma and the growing surface. The microstucture of the films was studied by micro-Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The influences of the hydrogen dilution ratio of silane (R-H = [H-2]/[SiH4]) and the substrate temperature (T-s) on the microstructural and photoelectronic properties of silicon films were investigated in detail. With the increase of RH from 10 to 100, a notable improvement in the medium-range order (MRO) of the films was observed, and then the phase transition from amorphous to nanocrystalline phase occurred, which lead to the formation of diatomic hydrogen complex, H-2* and their congeries. With the increase of T-s from 150 to 275 degreesC, both the short-range order and the medium range order of the silicon films are obviously improved. The photoconductivity spectra and the light induced changes of the films show that the diphasic nc-Si/a-Si:H films with fine medium-range order present a broader light spectral response range in the longer wavelength and a lower degradation upon illumination than conventional a-Si:H films. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of heated catalyzer on thermal distribution of substrate in HWCVD system

Based on Stefan-Boltzman and Lambert theorems, the radiation energy distribution on substrate (REDS) from catalyzer with parallel filament geometry has been simulated by variation of filament and system layout in hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. The REDS uniformity is sensitive to the distance between filament and substrate d(f-s) when d(f-s) less than or equal to 4 cm. As d(f-s) > 4 cm, the REDS uniformity is independent of d(f-s) and is mainly determined by filament number and filament separation. Two-dimensional calculation shows that the REDS uniformity is limited by temperature decay at filament edges. The simulation data are in good agreement with experiments. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.