Normal-incident SiGe/Si MQWs photodetectors operating at 1.3 mu m

A normal-incident SiGe/Si multiple quantum wells (MQWs) photodetector was reported. The structure and fabrication process of the photodetector were introduced. The photocurrent spectra measurement showed that the response spectra was expanded to 1.3 mu m wavelength. The quantum efficiency of the photodetector was 0.1% at 1.3 mu m and 20% at 0.95 mu m.

Fabrication of silicon-on-reflector for Si-based resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors

A novel silicon-on-reflector substrate for Si-based resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors has been fabricated by using Si-based sol-gel and smart-cut techniques. The Si/SiO2 Bragg reflector is controlled in situ by electron beam evaporation and the thickness can be adjusted to get high reflectivity. The reflectance spectra of the silicon-on-reflector substrate with five pairs of Si/SiO2 reflector have been measured and simulated by transfer matrix model. The reflectivity at operating wavelength is close to 100%. Based on the silicon-on-reflector substrate, SiGe/Si multiple quantum wells resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors for 1.3 mu m wavelength have been designed and simulated. Ten-fold enhancement of the quantum efficiency of resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors compared with conventional photodetectors is predicted.

Asymmetric dark current in double barrier quantum well infrared photodetectors

Asymmetric dark current and photocurrent versus voltage characteristic in the Double Barrier Quantum Wells (DBQWs) photovoltaic infrared photodetector has been studied. A model based on asymmetric potential barriers was proposed. The asymmetric potential thick barrier, which due to the Si dopant segregation during growth makes a major contribution to the asymmetrical I-V characteristic, calculations based on our model agree well with experimental results. This work also confirms the potential use of this DBQWs for infrared photodetector with large responsivity and little dark current under negative bias.

Preparation and photoluminescence of nc-Si/SiO2 MQW

The deposition rate and refractive index for a-Si(amorphous silicon) and SiO2 grown by PECVD were studied under different pressure, power and proportion of reactant source gases. a-Si/SiO2 MQW(multi-quantum well) with high quality was deposited under suitable conditions, in which the thickness of the a-Si layers is several nanometers. The sample of a-Si/SiO2 MQW was crystallized by laser annealing. Because of the confinement of the SiO2 layers, crystalline grains were formed during the a-Si layers were being crystallized. The size of the crystalline grains were not more than the thickness of the a-Si layers. The a-Si layers were crystallized to be nanometer crystalline silicon(nc-Si), therefore, nc-Si/SiO2 MQW was formed. For the a-Si/SiO2 MQW with 4.0nm a-Si wells separated by 5nm SiO2 barries, most of the a-Si were crystallized to silicon grains after laser annealing,and the size of the grains is 3.8nm. Strong photoluminescence with three peaks from the nc-Si/SiO2 MQW was detected at 10K. The wavelength of the peaks were 810nm, 825nm and 845nm, respectively.

1.3 mu m InGaAsP/InP strained layer multi-quantum-well complex-coupled distributed feedback laser

1.3 mu m strained-layer multi-quantum wells complex-coupled distributed feedback lasers with a wide temperature range of 20 to 100 degrees C are reported. The low threshold current of 10mA and high single-facet slope efficiency of 0.3mW/mA were obtained for an as cleaved device. The single mode yield was as high as 80%.

Visible vertical cavity surface emitting laser

We have designed and fabricated the visible vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) by using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). We use the 8 lambda optical cavities with 3 quantum wells in AlGaInP/AlGaAs red VCSEL's to reduce the drift leakage current and enhance the model gain in AlGaInP active region. The structure has a p-type stack with 36 DBR pairs on the top and an n-type with 55-1/2 pairs on the bottom. Using micro-area reflectance spectrum, we try to get a better concordance between the center wavelength of DBR and the emitting wavelength of the active region. We used a component graded layer of 0.05 lambda thick (x = 0.5 similar to 0.9) at the p-type DBR AlGaAs/AlAs interface to reduce the resistance of p-type DBR. We use selective oxidation to define the current injection path. Because the oxidation rate of a thick layer is faster than a thinner one, we grown a thick AlAs layer close to the active region. In this way, we got a smaller active region for efficient confinement of injected carriers (the aperture area is 3 x 3 mu m) to reduce the threshold and, at the same time, a bigger conductive area in the DBR layers to reduce the resistance. We employ Zn doping on the p-side of the junction to improve hole injection and control the Zn dopant diffusion to get proper p-i-n junction. At room temperature, pulse operation of the laser has been achieved with the low threshold current of 0.8mA; the wavelength is about 670nm.