Capacitance-voltage spectroscopy of In0.5Ga0.5As self-assembled quantum dots in double quantum wells under selective photo-excitation

Selectively photo-excited C-V spectroscopy has been measured in an In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots (QDs)-embedded, three barrier-two well heterostructure. By comparing with a theoretical capacitance model, the pure capacitive contribution from In0.5Ga0.5As QDs, due to tunnelling coupling between In0.5Ga0.5As QDs and In0.18Ga0.82As quantum well, has been used to obtain the density of charges from photo-excited In0.5Ga0.5As QDs in a very straightforward manner.

The mechanism of blueshift in excitation-intensity-dependent photo luminescence spectrum of nitride multiple quantum wells

(1 1 (2) over bar 0) GaN/InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) were grown on (1 (2) over bar 0 2) sapphire by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The excitation-intensity-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of these samples was measured, and no peak shift was observed. This phenomenon was attributed to the absence of piezoelectric field (PEF) along the growth orientation of the (1 1 (2) over bar 0) face MQWs. Our experimental results showed that PEF was the main reason causing peak blueshift in excitation-intensity-dependent PL spectrum of (0 0 0 1) InGaN/GaN NIQWs. It was expected that fabricating (1 1 (2) over bar 0) face nitride device should be a method to avoid PEF and get low-threshold, high-quantum-efficiency and stable-emission-wavelength light-emission devices. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Stimulated luminescence and photo-gated hole burning in BaFCl0.8Br0.2 : Sm2+,Sm3+ phosphors

The photo- and thermo-stimulated luminescence (PSL and TSL) of BaFCl0.8Br0.2:Sm2+,Sm3+ phosphors were investigated. It is found that the stimulated luminescence intensity of Sm2+ is almost equal to that of Sm3+ even if the content of Sm2+ is much lower than that of Sm3+. Only the stimulated luminescence of Sm2+ is observed in the sample in which the content of Sm2+ is much higher than Sm3+, demonstrating that the PSL or TSL efficiency of Sm2+ is much higher than that of Sm3+. This is attributed to the effective overlap of the e-h emission with the absorption of Sm2+ centers which may make the energy transfer from the electron-hole pairs to Sm2+ effectively. In BaFCl0.8Br0.2:Sm2+,Sm3+ the stimulated luminescence is considered to be occurred via the recombination of photoreleased electrons with the [Sm2+ + h] or [Sm3+ + h] complex and the energy transfer from the electron-hole pairs to the luminescence centers (Sm2+ and Sm3+) is concerned to be the major step to determine the stimulated luminescence efficiency. The X-ray-induced stimulated luminescence is compared and connected to the photon gated hole burning. The net result of the two processes is quite similar and may be comparable. It is suggested from the observations of stimulated luminescence that electron migration between Sm2+ and Sm3+ is not the major process, color centers may play an important role in hole burning. The information from stimulated luminescence is helpful for the understanding of the hole burning mechanism. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A 1Gb/s silicon photo-receiver in standard CMOS for 850-nm optical communication

A monolithic silicon CMOS optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) was designed and fabricated with standard 0.6 mu m CMOS technology. This OEIC circuit consisted of an integrated double photodiode detector (DPD) and a preamplifier. The DPD detector exhibited high bandwidth by screening the bulk-generated diffusion carriers and suppressing the slow diffusion tail effect. The preamplifier exploited the regulated cascode (RGC) configuration as the input stage of receiver, thus isolating the influence of photodiode capacitance and input parasitic capacitance on bandwidth. Testing results showed that the bandwidth of OEIC was 700MHz, indicating the bit rate of 1Gb/s was achieved.

A standard CMOS compatible monolithic photo-detector and trans-impedance amplifier

A 1GHz monolithic photo-detector (PD) and trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) is designed with the standard 0.35 mu m CMOS technique. The design of the photo-detector is analyzed and the CMOS trans-impedance amplifier is also analyzed in the paper. The integrating method is described too. The die photograph is also showed in the paper.

Behavior model of a CMOS process compatible photo-diode

A behavior model of a photo-diode is presented. The model describes the relationship between photocurrent and incident optical power, and it also illustrates the impact of the reverse bias to the variation of the junction capacitance. With this model, the photo-diode and a CMOS receiver circuit were simulated and designed simultaneously under a universal circuit simulation environment.

Electro-luminescence and photo-luminescence from strained SiGe/Si quantum well

Photo-luminescence and electro-luminescence from step-graded index SiGe/Si quantum well grown by molecular beam epitaxy is reported. The SiGe/Si step-graded index quantum well structure is beneficial to the enhancing of electro-luminescence. The optical and electrical properties of this structure are discussed.

Transient photocurrent investigation of photo-processes of lattice-matched MQW GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs electrode

Transient photocurrents induced by short light pulses at lattice-matched GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs multiple quantum well (MQW) electrodes were studied as a function of electrode potential. Dual exponential photocurrent decay transients were observed at various potentials. By analysis of the dual exponential decay transients, information on steady state photocurrents (I-s), surface collection of photoexcited minority carriers (G(0)) and lifetimes of surface states (T-s) was obtained. The kinetic behaviors of photoprocesses at illuminated MQW/electrolyte interface were discussed.

Two-stage photo-biological production of hydrogen by marine green alga Platymonas subcordiformis

A marine green alga, Platymonas subcordiformis, was demonstrated to photobiologically evolve hydrogen (H-2) after the first stage of photosynthesis, when subjected to a two-phase incubation protocol in a second stage of H2 production: anaerobic incubation in the dark followed by the exposure to light illumination. The anaerobic incubation induced hydrogenase activity to catalyse H? evolution in the following phase of light illumination. H,) evolution strongly depended upon the duration of anaerobic incubation, deprivation of sulphur (S) from the medium and the medium pH. An optimal anaerobic incubation period of 32 h gave the maximum H2 evolution in the second phase in the absence of sulphur. Evolution of H,) was greatly enhanced by 13 times when S was deprived from the medium. This result suggests that S plays a critical role in the mediation of H-2 evolution from R subcordiformis. A 14-fold increase in H-2 production was obtained when the medium pH increased from 5 to 8; with a sharp decline at pH above eight. H-2 evolution was enhanced by 30-50% when supplementing the optimal concentrations of 25 mM acetate and 37.5 mM glucose. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Kinetic study on the photo-catalytic degradation of pyridine in TiO2 suspension systems

It has been generally agreed that pyridine can be effectively mineralized in aerated TiO2 slurries using near-UV irradiation. The knowledge on the kinetics of the system possesses both practical and theoretical values. The present study, on the base of Langmuir-Hinshewood mechanism, illustrates a pseudo first-order kinetic model of the degradation with the limiting rate constant of 3.004 mg l(-1) min(-1) and equilibrium adsorption constant 2.763 x 10(-2) l mg(-1), respectively. The degradation efficiency in alkali is a little higher than that in acid with a minimum at about pH = 5, which is explained by the formation of acid-pyridine in acidic surrounding together with the amphoteric nature of the TiO2 surface. The promotion of H2O2 on the photo-degradation ties in its supplying proper amount of (OH)-O-. radicals for the inducement stage before surface redox reactions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Photo-induced reactions in the ion-molecule complex Mg+-OCNC2H5

Ion - molecule complexes of magnesium cation with ethyl isocyanate were produced in a laser- ablation supersonic expansion nozzle source. Photo- induced reactions in the 1: 1 complexes have been studied in the spectral range of 230 - 410 nm. Photodissociation mass spectrometry revealed the persistent product Mg+ from nonreactive quenching throughout the entire wavelength range. As for the reactive channels, the photoproducts, Mg+OCN and C2H5+, were produced only in the blue absorption band of the complex with low yields. The action spectrum of Mg+(OCNC2H5) consists of two pronounced peaks on the red and blue sides of the Mg+ 3(2)P <-- 3(2)S atomic transition. The ground state geometry of Mg+ - OCNC2H5 was fully optimized at B3LYP/6- 31 - G** level by using GAUSSIAN 98 package. The calculated absorption spectrum of the complex using the optimized structure of its ground state agrees well with the observed action spectrum. Photofragment branching fractions of the products are almost independent of the photolysis photon energy for the 3P(x,y,z) excitations. The very low branching ratio of reactive products to nonreactive fragment suggests that evaporation is the main relaxation pathway in the photo- induced reactions of Mg+ (OCNC2H5). (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.