A difference between initial growth stages of the AlGaAs/GaAs and GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures produced by contact replacement of solutions

The method of liquid epitaxial growth of GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures when the change of solutions occurs due to pushing off one melt by another is discussed. It has been shown theoretically and experimentally that the initial stages of film growth after the change of the binary Ga As melt on the ternary Al Ga As melt differ from that when the Ga As solution pushes off the Al Ga As liquid. The difference is caused by the inequality of the diffusion coefficients of As and Al in a multicomponent Al Ga As liquid (D_Al > D_As). As a result, the growth of an AlGaAs film begins immediately in the case when the Al Ga As solution pushes off the Ga As liquid but in the opposite case the dissolution of an underlying AlGaAs solid is unavoidable and depends little on degree of a saturation of the Ga As washing solution. These peculiarities must be taken into account in discussions of abruptness and other properties of LPE-grown AlGaAs/GaAs and GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunctions.     

Anisotropy in InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures grown by low-pressure MOVPE and CBE

InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures grown on (001) substrates by low-pressure MOVPE exhibit a measurable anisotropy in their structural, optical and electrical properties. This anisotropy occurs in structures which have undergone partial or complete strain relaxation and it can be strongly reduced by using slightly misoriented substrates. A comparison with similar structures grown by CBE indicates that this anisotropy is less important. This study suggests that strain relaxation is achieved by a combination of several mechanisms whose relative importance depends on the orientation of the substrate and on growth temperature which varies with the growth technique.     

Growth and Characterization of Direct-connecting AlGaAs/GaAs TJS Light Emitting Device on SI GaAs Substrate by LPE

High output power (above 3 mW/facet) AlGaAs/GaAs Transverse-Junction Stripe light emitting diodes have been grown on Semi-Insulating (100) GaAs substrates by Liquid Phase Epitaxy. these light emitting diodes utilize a “Direct-connecting” transverse-junction stripe structure, which can confine the transverse-current and reduce the series resistance. By thinning the thickness of the “effective active-layer” of this structure, a room-temperature pulsed lasing operation is also achieved with a threshold current as low as 35 mA and a peak wavelength around 904 nm. This “Direct-connecting” transverse-Junction Stripe light emitting device with a Metal-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor on an electrical isolated semi-insulating substrate in the future.     

Structural and electrical characteristics of InGaAsN layers grown by LPE

Crystallographic and transport properties of nominally undoped and Sn-doped InGaAsN layers grown by low-temperature LPE have been studied and related to the growth conditions.In the case of lattice matching, flat and uniform mirror-like layers of 8–10 μm in thickness are obtained. The compositions of the layers under study have been determined by combination of X-ray microanalysis and X-ray diffraction methods to be In_0.035Ga_0.065As_0.086N_0.014. The lattice mismatch between layer and substrate Δa_l/a_s calculated from X-ray diffraction curves is less than?7×10^?4 for all samples. The layers grown at lower epitaxy temperatures exhibit the highest crystalline quality, better lattice match and better homogeneity. This is in good agreement with the results of morphological study by atomic force microscopy which show root mean-square surface roughness of 0.18 nm for the best layers.CV and Hall measurements reveal that intentionally undoped InGaAsN layers are n-type with free carrier concentration about one order of magnitude higher in comparison to layers not containing nitrogen and high electron mobility values over 2000 cm²/Vs. A dramatic reduction in the free carrier concentration and slightly increase in mobility are observed for Sn-doped InGaAsN layers.     

CBE growth of high-quality AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures for HEMT applications

AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures were grown by chemical beam epitaxy using triethylgallium, triisobutylaluminium and pure arsine in flow control mode with hydrogen as carrier gas. For substrate temperatures of 580°C and V/III ratios of 10, high quality AlGaAs layers are obtained; heterostructures show abrupt and smooth interfaces. Modulation doping with silicon evaporated from a conventional effusion cell gives two-dimensional electron gases with carrier densities up to 1×10¹² cm^-2. Mobilities of 70000 cm²/V·s are obtained at 77 K for carrier densities of 4×10¹¹ cm^-2. The lateral homogeneity of the heterostructures in layer thickness, composition and doping level is excellent. Perfect morphology with defect densities of about 100 cm^-2 is observed. High electron mobility transistors (gate length 0.3 nm) fabricated from quantum well structures show a transconductance of about 380 mS/mm.     

Double-Heterostructure Indium-Tin Oxide/InGaAsP/AlGaAs Lasers

The fabrication and characterization of double-heterostructure (DH) laser that utilizes an indium-tin oxide (Ito) transparent cladding and top contact layer. The first room-temperature lasing operation has been obtained form ITO/InGaAsP/AlGaAs DH laser diode at threshold current density of 12.1 kA/cm². The interfacial recombination velocity of ITO/InGaAsP Interface was estimated to be 4.9 × 10⁴ cm/s from a simple model to account for high threshold current, and optical measurements of spontaneous emission and lasing spectra from top stripe window and facet were done.     

The Back-Side Morphology of LPE-Grown AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructures after the Complete Removal of the GaAs Substrate by Selective Etching

As-grown surfaces of AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures were stuck down the glass disks and after that the GaAs substrates were removed completely by selective chemical etching. As a result the back-surface of the heterostructures became open to light. The influence of different factors on the back-surface planarity and on the density of such specific defects as holes in the GaAs layer have been investigated. It is shown that the density of holes can be decreased to a value less than 1 hole/cm² if a glove-box maintained under a pure N₂ atmosphere and connected with LPE installation is used.     

Se-doped AlGaAs grown on GaAs(111)A by molecular beam epitaxy

The electrical properties of Se-doped Al_0.3Ga_0.7As layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on GaAs(111)A substrates have been investigated by Hall-effect and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements. In Se-doped GaAs layers, the carrier concentration depends on the misorientation angle of the substrates; it decreases drastically on the exact (111)A surface due to the re-evaporation of Se atoms. By contrast, in Se-doped AlGaAs layers, the decrease is not observed even on exact oriented (111)A. This is caused by the suppression of the re-evaporation of Se atoms, by Se---Al bonds formed during the Se-doped AlGaAs growth. An AlGaAs/GaAs high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structure has been grown. The Hall mobility of the sample on a (111)A 5° off substrate is 5.9×10⁴ cm²/V·s at 77 K. This result shows that using Se as the n-type dopant is effective in fabricating devices on GaAs(111)A.     

Coexistence properties of phase separation and CuPt-ordering in InGaAsP grown on GaAs substrates by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy

CuPt-ordering and phase separation were directly investigated in In_1-xGa_xAs_yP_1-y with a low arsenic content grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy on GaAs substrates. CuPt-ordering and phase separation in samples grown at the substrate temperatures of 630 and 690 °C were characterized by transmission electron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Although the immiscibility of InGaAsP was enhanced at the lower substrate temperature, the sample grown at 630 °C showed less phase separation than the 690 °C-grown sample. The degree of CuPt-ordering was significantly enhanced in the sample grown at 630 °C. The results demonstrated that the CuPt-ordering originating from surface reconstruction of P(2×4) suppressed the phase separation even in the miscibility gap. The detailed characterization of the phase separation clearly revealed a vertical composition modulation (VCM) in InGaAsP for the first time. The mechanism of the VCM formation is discussed based on the modulated-strain field on the surface.     

Formation of microtwins in TmP/GaAs heterostructures

Microtwins in semi-metal thulium phosphide (TmP) epilayers grown on (0 0 1) GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy have been studied by transmission electron microscopy. Selected area diffraction patterns show extra spots along 〈1 1 1〉 and 〈2 2 4〉 corresponding to three times the normal rock-salt periodicity. Only one or two twin variants are found in the crystal. The occurrence of the observed microtwins in the TmP-GaAs heterostructure can be accounted for by the growth-accident mechanism, i.e., the formation of microtwins is via growth accidents in the stacking sequence on {1 1 1} and {1 1 2} planes. The growth accidents appear to occur due to rapid growth rates and/or contamination.     

LPE growth of GaAs by yo-yo solute feeding method

The effect of gravity on both dissolution and growth of GaAs in the Ga---As system has been investigated using a horizontal “sandwich” system consisting of a substrate-solution-substrate configuration. Remarkable differences were observed in growth and dissolution between upper and lower substrates. These phenomena were attributed to the solutal convection driven by a concentration gradient. Based on these facts, a layer with a thickness of about 80 μm was successively grown by the yo-yo solute feeding method with 8 yo-yo repetition times between 700 and 650°C.     

Heterointerface study of perturbed LPE growth of AlGaAs/InGaP single heterostructure

This paper presents the perturbed growth of Al_0.7Ga_0.3As/In_0.5Ga_0.5P single heterostructure on a GaAs substrate by liquid-phase epitaxy. The AlGaAs-InGaP heterointerface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence, Auger electron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Evidence is provided showing that a small amount of droplets, after the slider operation of the In_0.5Ga_0.5P epitaxial growth, mixed with the Ga-rich AlGaAs melt, is sufficient to attack the In_0.5Ga_0.5P underlying layer. Even with complete melt removal, there is still a partial dissolution at the “flat” Al_0.7Ga_0.3As-In_0.5Ga_0.5P heterojunction. The Auger depth profiles reveal the composition-depth transition width at this interface to be 560Å from the 90%-10% of Al (or Ga, As, and In) Auger profile; however, the P atoms penetrate deeply into the Al_0.7Ga_0.3As layer due to the partial dissolution of In_0.5Ga_0.5P layer. By high-resolution electron-micrograph analysis, some dislocations are observed at the heterojunction leading to nonradiative recombination and to poor optical device performance, even though the heterointerface observed by scanning electron microscopy is very flat.     

Growth of GaAs/AlGaAs HBTs by MOMBE (CBE)

In this paper, we will discuss how the unique growth chemistry of MOMBE can be used to produce high speed GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). The ability to grow heavily doped, well-confined layers with carbon doping from trimethylgallium (TMG) is a significant advantage for this device. However, in addition to high p-type doping, high n-type doping is also required. While elemental Sn can be used to achieve doping levels up to 1.5×10¹⁹ cm^-3, severe segregation limits its use to surface contact layers. With tetraethyltin (TESn), however, segregation does not occur and Sn doping can be used throughout the device. Using these sources along with triethylgallium (TEG), trimethylamine alane (TMAA), and AsH₃, we have fabricated Npn devices with 2 μm×10 μm emitter stripes which show gains of ≥ 20 with either ƒ_t = 55 GHz and ƒ_max = 70 GHz or ƒ_t = 70 GHz and ƒ_max = 50 GHz, depending upon the structure. These are among the best RF values reported for carbon doped HBTs grown by any method, and are the first reported for an all-gas source MOMBE process. In addition, we have fabricated a 70 transistor decision circuit whose performance at 10 Gb/s equals or exceeds that of similar circuits made from other device technologies and growth methods. These are the first integrated circuits reported from MOMBE grown material.     

Fabrication and characterization of GaAs quantum well buried in AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure nanowires

We developed a growth method for forming a GaAs quantum well contained in an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure nanowire using selective-area metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. To find the optimum growth condition of AlGaAs nanowires, we changed the growth temperature between 800 and 850 °C and found that best uniformity of the shape and the size was obtained near 800 °C but lateral growth of AlGaAs became larger, which resulted in a wide GaAs quantum well grown on the top (1 1 1)B facet of the AlGaAs nanowire. To form the GaAs quantum well with a reduced lateral size atop the AlGaAs nanowire, a GaAs core nanowire about 100 nm in diameter was grown before the AlGaAs growth, which reduced the lateral size of AlGaAs to roughly half compared with that without the GaAs core. Photoluminescence measurement at 4.2 K indicated spectral peaks of the GaAs quantum wells about 60 meV higher than the acceptor-related recombination emission peak of GaAs near 1.5 eV. The photoluminescence peak energy showed a blue shift of about 15 meV, from 1.546 to 1.560 eV, as the growth time of the GaAs quantum well was decreased from 8 to 3 s. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis of an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure nanowire indicated a GaAs quantum well with a thickness of 5−20 nm buried along the 〈1 1 1〉 direction between the AlGaAs shells, showing a successful fabrication of the GaAs quantum well.     

GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire lasers fabricated by cleaved edge overgrowth

We have used the molecular beam growth technique which we call "cleaved edge overgrowth" to fabricate quantum wire lasers, in which 1D quantum confinement is entirely defined by the growth process. The active region of our lasers consists of atomically precise quantum wires that form at the T-shaped intersections of 7 nm wide GaAs quantum wells grown along the [001] crystal axis and after an in situ cleave along the [110] crystal axis. The origin of the quantum mechanical bound state is the relaxation of quantum well confinement at this intersection. The high degree of structural perfection achievable in this way allows the observation of stimulated optical emission from the lowest exciton state in optically as well as in electrically pumped devices. The formation of a linear p-n junction in which the quantum wires are embedded is achieved by doping with Be and Si in the two orthogonal growth directions. Efficient current injection into the wires is demonstrated by the almost complete suppression of optical emission from the quantum well states as well as by threshold currents as low as 0.4 mA for uncoated devices at 1.7 K.     

InGaAsP/InP multiple quantum wells grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy

We have grown In₁-_xGa_xAs_yP₁-_y/InP multiple quantum well structures with 1.3 μm excitonic absorption at room temperature by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. In-situ composition determination in GaAs₁-_xP_x and InAs_xP₁-_x was carried out by measuring group-V-induced intensity oscillations of reflection high-energy electron diffraction. Based on the in-situ composition calibration for these ternary end members, Ga and As compositions in the quaternary compound, In₁-_xGa_xAs_yP₁-_y, were controlled successfully. Measurements by X-ray rocking curve, low-temperature photoluminescence and absorption spectroscopy indicate that high-quality In₁-_xGa_xAs_yP₁-_y/InP multiple quantum well samples were obtained.     

Extremely flat interfaces in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with high Al content(0.7) grown on GaAs (411)A substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Effectively atomically flat interfaces over a macroscopic area (200 μm diameter) have been achieved in GaAs/Al_0.7Ga_0.3As quantum wells (QWs) with well widths of 3.6-12 nm grown on (411)A GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for the first time. A single and very narrow photoluminescence peak (FWHM, full width at half maximum, is 6.1 meV) was observed at 717.4 nm for the QW with a well width of 3.6 nm at 4.2 K. The linewidth is comparable to that of growth-interrupted QWs grown on (100)-oriented GaAs substrates by MBE. A 1.5 μm thick Al_0.7Ga_0.3As layer with good surface morphology also could be grown on (411)A GaAs substrates in the entire growth temperature region of 580-700°C, while rough surfaces were observed in Al_0.7Ga_0.3As layers simultaneously grown on (100) GaAs substrates at 640-700°C. These results indicate that the surface of GaAs and Al_0.7Ga_0.3As grown on the (411)A GaAs substrates are extremely flat and stable on the (411)A plane.     

X-ray diagnostics of P-HEMT AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs structures

The structural characteristics of the P-HEMT AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs heterostructure have been studied by high-resolution X-ray diffractometry. The parameters of the heterostructure layers were determined by simultaneous analysis of the X-ray reflection curves for the (004) and (113) crystallographic planes. Interface diffusion has been established for the In_yGa_1?yAs quantum well and the Al_xGa_1?x As spacer layer, which are characterized by reconstructed profiles of the lattice parameter distribution and anisotropic distribution of random displacements in the layer plane and in the perpendicular direction.