Admittance of metal–insulator–semiconductor structures based on graded-gap HgCdTe grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs substrates

Metal–insulator–semiconductor structures based on n-Hg_1−xCd_xTe (x = 0.19–0.25) were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on the GaAs (0 1 3) substrates. Near-surface graded-gap layers with high CdTe content were formed on both sides of the epitaxial HgCdTe. Admittance of these structures was studied experimentally in a wide temperature range (8–150) K. It is shown that an increase in the composition of the working layer and a decrease in temperature lead to a decrease in the frequency of transition to high-frequency behavior of the capacitance–voltage characteristics. The differential resistance of space charge region in the strong inversion increases with the composition of the working layer and for x = 0.22 and 0.25, the differential resistance is limited by the Shockley-Read generation. The values of the differential resistance of space charge region at different frequencies and temperatures were found.     

1.3-μm InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown on Si substrates

We compare the effect of InGaAs/GaAs strained-layer superlattice(SLS) with that of GaAs thick buffer layer(TBL)serving as a dislocation filter layer. The InGaAs/GaAs SLS is found to be more effective than GaAs TBL in blocking the propagation of threading dislocations, which are generated at the interface between the GaAs buffer layer and the Si substrate. Through testing and analysis, we conclude that the weaker photoluminescence for quantum dots(QDs) on Si substrate is caused by the quality of capping In_(0.15)Ga_(0.85)As and upper GaAs. We also find that the periodic misfits at the interface are related to the initial stress release of GaAs islands, which guarantees that the upper layers are stress-free.     

Structural and optical properties of InxGa1−xAs strained layers grown on GaAs substrates by MOVPE

In_xGa_1−xAs/GaAs pseudomorphic structures were grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. Reciprocal space mapping were recorded in the vicinity of (0 0 4) and (1 1 5) nodes using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) in order to determine strain tensor components, indium compositions and thicknesses of alloys. Near-infrared photoluminescence (PL) was performed at 10 K. The impact of strain on PL response was revealed by peak energy positions and line width. In addition, valence-band splitting (VBS) and the shift of the heavy-hole were measured. Besides, photoreflectance (PR) at room temperature was useful to establish experimentally the dependence of VBS and band energy shifts (E₀ and E₀+∆₀) on elastic strain due to lattice mismatches. Other parameters such as the internal electric-field and the electro-optical energy were determined from Franz–Keldysh oscillations analysis. Good correlation between the results obtained from all investigated techniques and theoretical predictions was confirmed.     

Atmospheric-pressure metal–organic vapor-phase epitaxy of GaAsBi alloys on high-index GaAs substrates

We investigated the growth characteristics and properties of GaAsBi layers grown by atmospheric-pressure metal–organic vapor-phase epitaxy on different GaAs substrate orientations. The surface morphology of GaAsBi alloys was investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy. The structural and optical properties of the alloys were examined using high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and photoreflectance spectroscopy, respectively. HRXRD results show that the GaAsBi growth rate was significantly lower on (1 1 5)A than on (0 0 1), (1 1 1)A and (1 1 4)A GaAs. The highest Bi content was obtained for GaAsBi layers grown on (1 1 5)A GaAs substrates.     

Pulsed laser deposition of ZnO grown on glass substrates for realizing high-performance thin-film transistors

We report characterization of ZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) on glass substrates fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). ZnO films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy and Hall effect measurements. The XRD results showed high c-axis-oriented ZnO(0002) diffraction corresponding to the wurtzite phase. Moreover, the crystallization and the electrical properties of ZnO thin films grown at room temperature are controllable by PLD growth conditions such as oxygen gas pressure. The ZnO films are very smooth, with a root-mean-square roughness of 1 nm. From the Hall effect measurements, we have succeeded in fabricating ZnO films on glass substrates with an electron mobility of 21.7 cm²/V s. By using the ZnO thin film grown by two-step PLD and a HfO₂ high-k gate insulator, a transconductance of 24.1 mS/mm, a drain current on/off ratio of 4.4×10⁶ and a subthreshold gate swing of 0.26 V/decade were obtained for the ZnO TFT.     

High-crystalline GaSb epitaxial films grown on GaAs(001) substrates by low-pressure metal–organic chemical vapor deposition

Orthogonal experiments of Ga Sb films growth on Ga As(001)substrates have been designed and performed by using a low-pressure metal–organic chemical vapor deposition(LP-MOCVD)system.The crystallinities and microstructures of the produced films were comparatively analyzed to achieve the optimum growth parameters.It was demonstrated that the optimized Ga Sb thin film has a narrow full width at half maximum(358 arc sec)of the(004)ω-rocking curve,and a smooth surface with a low root-mean-square roughness of about 6 nm,which is typical in the case of the heteroepitaxial single-crystal films.In addition,we studied the effects of layer thickness of Ga Sb thin film on the density of dislocations by Raman spectra.It is believed that our research can provide valuable information for the fabrication of high-crystalline Ga Sb films and can promote the integration probability of mid-infrared devices fabricated on mainstream performance electronic devices.     

Photoluminescence studies of ZnO thin films on R-plane sapphire substrates grown by sol–gel method

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films on R-plane sapphire substrates were grown by the sol–gel spin-coating method. The optical properties of the ZnO thin films were investigated using photoluminescence. In the UV range, the asymmetric near-band-edge emission was observed at 300 K, which consisted of two emissions at 3.338 and 3.279 eV. Eight peaks at 3.418, 3.402, 3.360, 3.288, 3.216, 3.145, 3.074, and 3.004 eV, which respectively correspond to the free exciton (FX), bound exciton, transverse optical (TO) phonon replica of FX recombination, and first-order longitudinal optical phonon replica of FX and the TO (1LO+TO), 2LO+TO, 3LO+TO, 4LO+TO, and 5LO+TO, were obtained at 12 K. From the temperature-dependent PL, it was found that the emission peaks at 3.338 and 3.279 eV corresponded to the FX and TO, respectively. The activation energy of the FX and TO emission peaks was found to be about 39.3 and 28.9 meV, respectively. The values of the fitting parameters of Varshni's empirical equation were α=4×10^?3 eV/K and β=4.9×10³ K, and the S factor of the ZnO thin films was 0.658. With increasing temperature, the exciton radiative lifetime of the FX and TO emissions increased. The temperature-dependent variation of the exciton radiative lifetime for the TO emission was slightly higher than that for the FX emission.     

Synthesis and characterization of β-Ga2O3 nanostructures grown on GaAs substrates

β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures including nanowires, nanoribbons and nanosheets were synthesized via thermal annealing of gold coated GaAs substrates in N₂ ambient. GaAs substrates with different dopants were taken as the starting material to study the effect of doping on the growth and photoluminescence properties of β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures. The nanostructures were investigated by Grazing Incident X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, room temperature photoluminescence and optical absorbance. The selected area electron diffraction and High resolution-TEM observations suggest that both nanowires and nanobelts are single crystalline. Different growth directions were observed for nanowires and nanoribbons, indicating the different growth patterns of these nanostructures. The PL spectra of β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures exhibit a strong UV-blue emission band centered at 410 nm, 415 nm and 450 nm for differently doped GaAs substrates respectively. A weak red luminescence peak at 710 nm was also observed in all the samples. The optical absorbance spectrum showed intense absorption features in the UV spectral region. The growth and luminescence mechanism in β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures are also discussed.     

Effective-mass theory for coupled quantum dots grown on （11N）-oriented substrates

The electronic structures of coupled quantum dots grown on （11N）-oriented substrates are studied in the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory. The results show that the all-hole subbands have the smallest widths and the optical properties are best for the （113）, （114）, and （115） growth directions. Our theoretical results agree with the available experimental data. Our calculated results are useful for the application of coupled quantum dots in photoelectric devices.     

Dependence of bimodal size distribution on temperature and optical properties of InAs quantum dots grown on vicinal GaAs （100） substrates by using MOCVD

Self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) are grown on vicinal GaAs (100) substrates by using metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). An abnormal temperature dependence of bimodal size distribution of InAs quantum dots is found. As the temperature increases, the density of the small dots grows larger while the density of the large dots turns smaller, which is contrary to the evolution of QDs on exact GaAs (100) substrates. This trend is explained by taking into account the presence of multiatomic steps on the substrates. The optical properties of InAs QDs on vicinal GaAs(100) substrates are also studied by photoluminescence (PL) . It is found that dots on a vicinal substrate have a longer emission wavelength, a narrower PL line width and a much larger PL intensity.     

Nanostructuring and improved performance of ternary Bi–Sb–Te thermoelectric materials

A ternary (Bi,Sb)₂Te₃ bulk nanostructured thermoelectric compound has been prepared by a combination of hydrothermal synthesis and hot pressing. It was found that the grain sizes of the hot-pressed bulk sample vary from tens to hundreds of nanometers, which would be favorable to enhance the scattering of both carriers and phonons, resulting in a high Seebeck coefficient with a satisfactory electrical conductivity and a very low thermal conductivity. The highest figure of merit ZT of the nanostructured (Bi,Sb)₂Te₃ bulk sample reaches 1.28 at 303 K, which is not only remarkably higher than the zone-melted one, but also higher than commercial state-of-the-art Bi₂Te₃-based materials. PACS  72.20.Pa; 73.63.Bd; 81.07.Bc     

Modeling of multi-burst mode pico-second laser ablation for?improved material removal rate

This paper deals with the unique phenomena occurring during the multi-burst mode picosecond (ps) laser ablation of metals through modeling and experimental studies. The two-temperature model (TTM) is used and expanded to calculate the ablation depth in the multi-burst mode. A nonlinear increment of ablation volume is found during the multi-burst laser ablation. The deactivation of ablated material and the application of temperature-dependent electron-phonon coupling are demonstrated to be important to provide reliable results. The simulation results based on this expanded laser ablation model are experimentally validated. A significant increase of ablation rate is found in the multi-burst mode, compared with the single-pulse mode under the same total fluence. This numerical model provides a physical perspective into the energy transport process during multi-burst laser ablation and can be used to study the pulse-to-pulse separation time effect on the ablation rate.     

Intense terahertz emission from undoped GaAs/n-type GaAs and?InAs/AlSb structures grown on Si substrates in the transmission-geometry excitation

Intense terahertz radiation was generated from femtosecond laser-irradiated InAs and GaAs layers on Si substrates. Results show that InAs/Si and GaAs/Si films can be excited in reflection and transmission geometries. The InAs/Si film exhibited weaker emission for both excitation cases but it will be more feasible as a spectroscopic THz source due to the absence of complex spectral features in its emission spectrum. The GaAs/Si emission is characterized by Fabry?CPerot oscillations but it is 90% of that of p-InAs bulk crystal emission intensity in the reflection geometry. Excitation fluence measurements showed that the InAs/Si film saturates easily due to the laser??s shallow penetration depth in InAs.     

Metamorphic In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As p-i-n photodetector grown on GaAs substrates by low-pressure MOCVD

Top-illuminated metamorphic In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As p-i-n photodetectors are grown on the ultrathin low- temperature InP buffered GaAs substrates.Photodetectors with the 300-nm-thick In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As ab- sorption layer show a typical responsivity of 0.12 A/W to 1.55-μm optical radiation,corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of 9.6%.Photodetectors with the active area of 50×50(μm)exhibit the-3 dB bandwidth up to 6 GHz.These results are very encouraging for the application of this metamorphic technology to opto-electronic integrated circuit(OEIC)devices.     

Temperature tuning of exciton–photon coupling in a microcavity grown on a (311)A GaAs substrate

We report on the observation of photon-exciton coupling in a MQW microcavity grown on a (311)A GaAs substrate by photoluminescence. This coupling or Rabi splitting was observed by tuning the heavy hole exciton line and the cavity mode by varying the temperature in the range 80–200 K.     

A WENO-solver for the transients of Boltzmann–Poisson system for semiconductor devices: performance and comparisons with Monte Carlo methods

In this paper we develop a deterministic high order accurate finite-difference WENO solver to the solution of the 1-D Boltzmann–Poisson system for semiconductor devices. We follow the work in Fatemi and Odeh [9] and in Majorana and Pidatella [16] to formulate the Boltzmann–Poisson system in a spherical coordinate system using the energy as one of the coordinate variables, thus reducing the computational complexity to two dimensions in phase space and dramatically simplifying the evaluations of the collision terms. The solver is accurate in time hence potentially useful for time-dependent simulations, although in this paper we only test it for steady-state devices. The high order accuracy and nonoscillatory properties of the solver allow us to use very coarse meshes to get a satisfactory resolution, thus making it feasible to develop a 2-D solver (which will be five dimensional plus time when the phase space is discretized) on today’s computers. The computational results have been compared with those by a Monte Carlo simulation and excellent agreements have been found. The advantage of the current solver over a Monte Carlo solver includes its faster speed, noise-free resolution, and easiness for arbitrary moment evaluations. This solver is thus a useful benchmark to check on the physical validity of various hydrodynamic and energy transport models. Some comparisons have been included in this paper.     

Structure determination of MnO2 films grown on single crystal α-Al2O3 substrates

Manganese oxide films have been grown by atomic layer deposition and investigated using electron diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM). The films were deposited on the (001) surface of monocrystalline α-Al₂O₃. The films were found to consist of an ordered version of the hexagonal ε-MnO₂ (Akhtenskite) type. Using X-ray diffraction, the cell parameters were determined to be a?=?2.75(2)?Å and c?=?4.302(5)?Å. The films are epitaxial with a specific orientation relative to the Al₂O₃ substrate. The [210] and [001] axes of ε-MnO₂ are parallel to the [110] and [001] axes of α-Al₂O₃, respectively. Evidence of cation ordering was found by parallel beam electron diffraction. The ordered domains are needle shaped with widths of 2–10?nm. The unit cell of the ordered structure was found to be orthorhombic with cell dimensions a?=?2.75, b?=?4.76, c?=?4.302?Å and space group Pmnn (No. 58).     

The influence of AlN/GaN superlattice intermediate layer on the properties of GaN grown on Si（111） substrates

AlN/GaN superlattice buffer is inserted between GaN epitaxial layer and Si substrate before epitaxial growth of GaN layer. High-quality and crack-free GaN epitaxial layers can be obtained by inserting AlN/GaN superlattice buffer layer. The influence of AlN/GaN superlattice buffer layer on the properties of GaN films are investigated in this paper. One of the important roles of the superlattice is to release tensile strain between Si substrate and epilayer. Raman spectra show a substantial decrease of in-plane tensile strain in GaN layers by using AlN/GaN superlattice buffer layer. Moreover, TEM cross-sectional images show that the densities of both screw and edge dislocations are significantly reduced. The GaN films grown on Si with the superlattice buffer also have better surface morphology and optical properties.