Design and Characterization of Evanescently Coupled Uni-Traveling Carrier Photodiodes with a Multimode Diluted Waveguide Structure

A new evanescently coupled uni-traveling carrier photodiode (EC-UTC-PD) is designed, fabricated and characterized, which incorporates a multimode diluted waveguide structure and UTC active waveguide structure together. A high responsivity of 0.68A/W at 1.55-mu m without an anti-reflection coating, a linear photocurrent responsivity of more than 21 mA, and a large-1 dB vertical alignment tolerance of 2.5 mu m are achieved.

High Characteristic Temperature 1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs Quantum-Dot Lasers Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

We report the molecular beam epitaxy growth of 1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) lasers with high characteristic temperature T-0. The active region of the lasers consists of five-layer InAs QDs with p-type modulation doping. Devices with a stripe width of 4 mu m and a cavity length of 1200 mu m are fabricated and tested in the pulsed regime under different temperatures. It is found that T-0 of the QD lasers is as high as 532K in the temperature range from 10 degrees C to 60 degrees C. In addition, the aging test for the lasers under continuous wave operation at 100 degrees C for 72 h shows almost no degradation, indicating the high crystal quality of the devices.

Strain-Compensated InGaAs/InAlAs Quantum Cascade Detector of 4.5 mu m Operating at Room Temperature

We present a strain-compensated InP-based InGaAs/InAlAs photovoltaic quantum cascade detector grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. The detector is based on a vertical intersubband transition and electron transfer on a cascade of quantum levels which is designed to provide longitudinal optical phonon extraction stairs. By careful structure design and growth, the whole epilayer has a residual strain toward InP substrate of only -2.8 x 10(-4). A clear narrow band detection spectrum centered at 4.5 mu m has been observed above room temperature for a device with 200 x 200 mu m(2) square mesa.

A 10 Gb/s Directly-Modulated 1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs Quantum-Dot Laser

We demonstrate 10 Gb/s directly-modulated 1.3 mu m InAs quantum-dot (QD) lasers grown on GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The active region of the QD lasers consists of five-stacked InAs QD layers. Ridge-waveguide lasers with a ridge width of 4 mu m and a cavity length of 600 mu m are fabricated with standard lithography and wet etching techniques. It is found that the lasers emit at 1293 nm with a very low threshold current of 5 mA at room temperature. Furthermore, clear eye-opening patterns under 10 Gb/s modulation rate at temperatures of up to 50 degrees C are achieved by the QD lasers. The results presented here have important implications for realizing low-cost, low-power-consumption, and high-speed light sources for next-generation communication systems.

A Photovoltaic InAs Quantum-Dot Infrared Photodetector

A photovoltaic quantum dot infrared photodetector with InAs/GaAs/AlGaAs structures is reported. The detector is sensitive to normal incident light. At zero bias and 78 K, a clear spectral response in the range of 2 -7 mu m has been obtained with peaks at 3.1, 4.8 and 5.7 mu m. The bandgap energies of GaAs and Al0.2Ga0.8As at 78K are calculated and the energy diagram of the transitions in the Quantum-Dot Infrared Photodetector (QDIP) is given out. The photocurrent signals can be detected up to 110 K, which is state-of-the-art for photovoltaic QDIP. The photovoltaic effect in our detector is a result of the enhanced band asymmetry as we design in the structure.

Blue Luminescent Properties of Silicon Nanowires Grown by a Solid-Liquid-Solid Method

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were grown directly from n-(111) single-crystal silicon (c-Si) substrate based on a solid-liquid-solid mechanism, and Au film was used as a metallic catalyst. The room temperature photoluminescence properties of SiNWs were observed by an Xe lamp with an exciting wavelength of 350 nm. The results show that the SiNWs exhibit a strongly blue luminescent band in the wavelength range 400-480 nm at an emission peak position of 420 nm. The luminescent mechanism of SiNWs indicates that the blue luminescence is attributed to the oxygen-related defects, which are in SiOx amorphous oxide shells around the crystalline core of SiNWs.

Measurement of GaN/Ge(001) Heterojunction Valence Band Offset by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to measure the valence band offset (VBO) at the GaN/Ge heterostructure interface. The VBO is directly determined to be 1.13 +/- 0.19 eV, according to the relationship between the conduction band offset Delta E-C and the valence band offset Delta E-V : Delta E-C = E-g(GaN) - E-g(Ge) - Delta E-V, and taking the room-temperature band-gaps as 3.4 and 0.67 eV for GaN and Ge, respectively. The conduction band offset is deduced to be 1.6 +/- 0.19 eV, which indicates a type-I band alignment for GaN/Ge. Accurate determination of the valence and conduction band offsets is important for the use of GaN/Ge based devices.

Measurement of w-InN/h-BN Heterojunction Band Offsets by X-Ray Photoemission Spectroscopy

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to measure the valence band offset (VBO) of the w-InN/h-BN heterojunction. We find that it is a type-II heterojunction with the VBO being -0.30 +/- A 0.09 eV and the corresponding conduction band offset (CBO) being 4.99 +/- A 0.09 eV. The accurate determination of VBO and CBO is important for designing the w-InN/h-BN-based electronic devices.