GaAs(001)衬底上分子束外延生长InNSb单晶薄膜

利用射频氮等离子辅助分子束外延(RF-MBE)技术在GaAs(001)衬底上生长稀氮 InNSb半导体薄膜,并通过原子力显微镜(AFM)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射仪(XRD)和拉曼散射光谱等测量手段对样品的微结构和N组分等进行了表征.结果显示样品有较好的晶体质量,N组分可高达0.84%(XRD的结果).本文还对样品的输运性质进行了表征,结果显示样品在室温下具有较低的载流子浓度和较高的迁移率.另外,初步研究表明在InSb中掺入N可导致其室温磁阻明显下降. 关键词： 分子束外延 稀氮半导体 X射线衍射 拉曼光谱     

Transmission electron microscopy study of defects in Sn-doped GaAs films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Films of GaAs, heavily doped with Sn, which have been grown by molecular-beam epitaxy are found to contain single-crystal Sn particles situated in the nearsurface region of the epilayer GaAs. The morphology and chemical composition of the particles have been examined by using cross-section transmission electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Different growth conditions were used to study the Sn-particle formation and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate microstructures. The observations are discussed in terms of several models previously proposed for these phenomena.     

分子束外延Mn4N单晶薄膜的反常霍尔效应研究

Mn₄N是立方相的反钙钛矿型晶体,具有显著的亚铁磁性和反常霍尔效应.该文利用等离子辅助分子束外延在MgO(100)衬底上生长厚度为40 nm的Mn₄N(100)单晶薄膜,通过X射线衍射θ扫描和φ扫描,证实外延层的结构符合Mn₄N单晶的空间结构特征;化学态测试结果表明Mn₄N(100)薄膜内部存在Mn⁰、Mn²⁺和Mn⁴⁺等几种价态,其实际化学式为Mn_3.6N,薄膜中存在富余的N元素;电学测试数据表明Mn₄N(100)薄膜具有以电子为载流子的反常霍尔效应(在正磁场中得到负的霍尔电阻率),正常霍尔效应的贡献约占千分之六,其反常霍尔电阻率随着测试温度升高5 K～350 K单调增大,说明温度升高导致电子散射现象加剧.通过对测试数据分析可以推断,在5 K～50 K和50 K～75 K温度范围,反常霍尔效应的来源可分别归结为电子斜散射机制和电子边跳机制.在75 K～350 K这一温度范围内,反常霍尔效应...     

Polarity control and residual strain in ZnO epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (0001) GaN/sapphire

We report on the polarity control of ZnO grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Ga polar (0001) GaN/sapphire templates simply via the oxygen‐to‐Zn (VI/II) ratio during the growth of a thin nucleation layer at 300 °C. Following Zn pre‐exposure, the ZnO layers nucleated with low VI/II ratios (<1.5) exhibited Zn‐polarity. Those nucleated with VI/II ratios above 1.5, exhibited O‐polarity. Supported by scanning transmission electron microscopic imaging, we have unequivocally demonstrated that polarity inversion takes place without formation of any vertical inversion domains and within one monolayer of presumably non‐stoichiometric GaO_x formed at the ZnO/GaN interface. A direct correlation between polarity and strain sign of ZnO layers has been found. The Zn‐polar ZnO layers were under tensile biaxial strain, whereas the O‐polar material exhibited compressive strain. Moreover, the amount of residual strain varied linearly with VI/II ratio used during the low‐temperature nucleation layer growth. Strain control with VI/II ratio has been explained by the potential formation of Zn interstitials.     

Effects of AlN nucleation layer thickness on crystal quality of AlN grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

In this paper,the effects of thickness of AlN nucleation layer grown at high temperature on AlN epi-layer crystalline quality are investigated.Crack-free AlN samples with various nucleation thicknesses are grown on sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy.The AlN crystalline quality is analysed by transmission electron microscope and x-ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curves in both (002) and (102) planes.The surface profiles of nucleation layer with different thicknesses after in-situ annealing are also analysed by atomic force microscope.A critical nucleation thickness for realising high quality AlN films is found.When the nucleation thickness is above a certain value,the (102) XRD full width at half maximum (FWHM) of AlN bulk increases with nucleation thickness increasing,whereas the (002) XRD FWHM shows an opposite trend.These phenomena can be attributed to the characteristics of nucleation islands and the evolution of crystal grains during AlN main layer growth.     

Microstructural properties of GaN grown on a Si(110) substrate by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy: Dependence on the ammonia flux

The microstructural properties of a GaN thin film grown on a Si(110) substrate under various ammonia (NH₃)-flux conditions were observed to study growth mode and defect evolution. The surface flatness of GaN thin films was improved with the increase of the NH₃ flux while the thickness was decreased by increasing the NH₃ flux. In addition, the crystalline quality of the GaN film grown under the lower NH₃ flux (100 sccm) was better than that of the film under the higher NH₃ flux (400 sccm). The different dislocation behaviors depending on NH₃ fluxes were observed; the low density of dislocations was measured and most of dislocations penetrating the thin film was mixed- and edge-type dislocations when GaN was grown under the low NH₃ flux condition while the high density of dislocation and many mixed- and screw-type dislocations penetrating the film were observed in the GaN film grown under the high NH₃ flux. These phenomena are demonstrated by using a kinetic model related to the role of NH₃.     

Nanoelectronic devices---resonant tunnelling diodes grown on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy with peak to valley current ratio of 17 at room temperature

This paper reports that InAs/In$_{0.53}$Ga$_{0.47}$As/AlAs resonant tunnelling diodes have been grown on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Peak to valley current ratio of these devices is 17 at 300K. A peak current density of 3kA/cm$^{2}$ has been obtained for diodes with AlAs barriers of ten monolayers, and an In$_{0.53}$Ga$_{0.47}$As well of eight monolayers with four monolayers of InAs insert layer. The effects of growth interruption for smoothing potential barrier interfaces have been investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscope.     

Growth and annealing of zinc-blende CdSe thin films on GaAs (0 0 1) by molecular beam epitaxy

CdSe thin films have been grown on GaAs (0 0 1) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The effects of substrate temperature and annealing treatment on the structural properties of CdSe layers were investigated. The growth rate slightly decreases due to the accelerated desorption of Cd from CdSe surface with an increase in the temperature. The sample grown at 260 °C shows a polycrystalline structure with rough surface. As the temperature increases over 300 °C, crystalline CdSe (0 0 1) epilayers with zinc-blende structure are achieved and the structural quality is improved remarkably. The epilayer grown at 340 °C displays the narrowest full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) from (0 0 4) reflection in double-crystal X-ray rocking curve (DCXRC) and the smallest root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of 0.816 nm. Additionally, samples fabricated at 320 °C were annealed in air for 30 min to study the films’ thermal stability. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate that the zinc-blende structure remains unchanged when the annealing temperature is elevated to 460 °C, meaning a good thermal stability of the cubic CdSe epilayers.     

Observation of regular defects formed on the surface of PbTe thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Regular shape defects on the surface of PbTe thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Two types of regular shape defects were observed on Te-rich PbTe films grown at substrate temperature T ≥ 235 °C with a beam flux ratio of Te to PbTe (R_f) to be 0.5 and at 280 °C with a R_f ≥ 0.4, which include cuboids and triangular pyramids. The formation mechanism of the observed regular shape defects is interpreted as following: They are the outcome of fast growth rate along {1 0 0} crystal planes that have the lowest surface energy and the enclosure of the {1 0 0} crystal planes. The formation of the regular shape defects in the growth of PbTe needs appropriate substrate temperature and Te-rich ambience. However, when R_f is decreased low enough to make the films slightly Pb-rich, triangular pits that originate from the insufficient glide of the threading dislocations along the main 〈1 1 0〉 {1 0 0} glide system of PbTe in Cottrell atmosphere, will be the main feature on the film surface.     

Structural and electrical properties of single crystalline and bi-crystalline ZnO thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

C-oriented ZnO epitaxial thin films are grown separately on the a-plane and c-plane sapphire substrates by using a molecular-beam epitaxy technique. In contrast to single crystalline ZnO films grown on a-plane sapphire, the films grown on c-plane sapphire are found to be bi-crystalline; some domains have a 30o rotation to reduce the large mismatch between the film and the substrate. The presence of these rotation domains in the bi-crystalline ZnO thin film causes much more carrier scatterings at the boundaries, leading to much lower mobility and smaller mean free path of the mobile carriers than those of the single crystalline one. In addition, the complex impedance spectra are also studied to identify relaxation mechanisms due to the domains and/or domain boundaries in both the single crystalline and bi-crystalline ZnO thin films.     

Fe3O4/MgO(100)薄膜的激光分子束外延与磁电学性能

 采用激光分子束外延方法,以烧结α-Fe₂O₃/为靶材,在MgO（100）基底上制备了Fe₃O₄薄膜。通过反射高能电子衍射原位观察了薄膜生长前后的表面结构,结果表明所生长的Fe₃O₄薄膜表面平整。经显微激光拉曼光谱和X光电子能谱分析证实所得薄膜表面成分为纯相Fe₃O₄。磁电学性能采用多功能物性系统测量,结果表明：当温度降至100 K附近时,薄膜电阻率有较大增加,Verwey相转变的范围变宽而且不明显,说明反向晶粒边界的存在;在7 160 kA·m^-1的磁场下,室温磁电阻达到-6.9%,在80和150 K温度下磁电阻分别达到-10.5%和-16.1%;薄膜的室温饱和磁化强度约为260 kA·m^-1,其矫顽磁场约为202 kA·m^-1。     

Optical and structural characterization of a self-aligned single electron transitor structure by cathodoluminescence microscopy

We report about optical and structural investigations of a self-aligned single electron transistor (SET) structure using cathodoluminescence-(CL) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SET structures were fabricated by MBE growth of GaAs/AlAs on different prepatterned GaAs (1 0 0) substrates. This technique for the in situ formation of nanoscopic semiconductor heterostructures is presently a widely used and promising approach for the fabrication of low-dimensional systems like quantum wires and quantum dots (QD). The active region of the SET structure consists of a GaAs/AlGaAs-QD formed by thickness modulation of a single quantum well (SQW) during the MBE growth. The position and the size of the QD is defined by the design of the substrate pattern. The thickness modulation of the GaAs-SQW is evidenced by TEM investigations. The lateral confinement potential given by the thickness modulation of GaAs-SQW is directly imaged by CL microscopy.     

分子束外延法在Sapphire衬底上生长的Zn1－xMgxO薄膜折射率及厚度的测试

利用偏振光椭圆率测量仪对分子束外延(MBE)法在Sapphire衬底上生长的Zn_1-xMg_xO 薄膜的薄膜折射率和厚度进行了测试. 结合ICP法测得的薄膜中的Mg组成量，经数值拟合，导出表征薄膜厚度与薄膜生长条件、薄膜折射率与薄膜中的Mg组成量之间关系的曲线，为MBE法在Sapphire衬底上生长Zn_1-xMg_xO 薄膜时控制薄膜厚度以及在制作Zn_1-xMg_xO 薄膜的波导时控制薄膜的折射率提供了理论依据. 关键词： ZnMgO薄膜 偏振光椭圆率测量仪 折射率 分子束外延(MBE)     

Influence of Ⅴ/Ⅲ ratio on the structural and photoluminescence properties of In0.52AlAs/In0.53GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor grown by molecular beam epitaxy

A series of metamorphic high electron mobility transistors （MMHEMTs） with different Ⅴ/Ⅲ flux ratios are grown on CaAs （001） substrates by molecular beam epitaxy （MBE）. The samples are analysed by using atomic force microscopy （AFM）, Hall measurement, and low temperature photoluminescence （PL）. The optimum Ⅴ/Ⅲ ratio in a range from 15 to 60 for the growth of MMHEMTs is found to be around 40. At this ratio, the root mean square （RMS） roughness of the material is only 2.02 nm; a room-temperature mobility and a sheet electron density are obtained to be 10610.0cm^2/（V.s） and 3.26×10^12cm^-2 respectively. These results are equivalent to those obtained for the same structure grown on InP substrate. There are two peaks in the PL spectrum of the structure, corresponding to two sub-energy levels of the In0.53Ga0.47As quantum well. It is found that the photoluminescence intensities of the two peaks vary with the Ⅴ/Ⅲ ratio, for which the reasons are discussed.     

Nanoscale structural investigation of Zn_(1-x)Mg_xO alloy films on polar and nonpolar ZnO substrates with different Mg contents

Zn_(1-x)Mg_xO alloy films are important deep ultraviolet photoelectric materials.In this work,we used plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy to prepare Zn_(1-x)Mg_xO films with different magnesium contents on polar(0001) and nonpolar(1010) ZnO substrates.The nanoscale structural features of the grown alloy films as well as the interfaces were investigated.It was observed that the cubic phases of the alloy films emerged when the Mg content reached 20% and 37% for the alloy films grown on the(0001) and(1010) ZnO substrates,respectively.High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images revealed cubic phases without visible hexagonal phases for the alloy films with more than 70% magnesium,and the cubic phases exhibited three-fold and two-fold rotations for the alloy films on the polar(0001) and nonpolar(1010) ZnO substrates,respectively.This work aims to provide references for monitoring the Zn_(1-x)Mg_xO film structure with respect to different substrate orientations.     

Morphology and orientation of iron oxide precipitates in epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films grown under two non-optimized oxygen pressures

Microstructures of multiferroic BiFeO₃ thin films epitaxially grown on SrRuO₃-buffered SrTiO₃ (001) substrates by laser molecular-beam epitaxy under two non-optimized oxygen pressures were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the films grown under oxygen pressures of 1 Pa and 0.3 Pa contain a secondary phase embedded in the BiFeO₃ matrix. High-angle annular dark-field imaging, elemental mapping and composition analysis in combination with selected area electron diffraction revealed that the parasitic phase is mainly antiferromagnetic α-Fe₂O₃. The α-Fe₂O₃ particles are semi-coherently embedded in the BiFeO₃ films, as confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. In addition to the α-Fe₂O₃ phase, ferromagnetic Fe₃O₄ precipitates were found in the BiFeO₃ films grown under 0.3 Pa and shown to accumulate in areas near the film/substrate interfaces. In our heteroepitaxy systems, very low density misfit dislocations were observed at the interfaces between the BiFeO₃ and SrRuO₃ layers implying that their misfit strains may be relieved by the formation of the secondary phases. Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy it was found that Fe exists in the +3 oxidation state in these films. The possible formation mechanisms of the secondary phases are discussed in terms of film growth conditions.     

Interface effect on superlattice quality and optical properties of InAs/GaSb type-II superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We systematically investigate the influence of InSb interface (IF) engineering on the crystal quality and optical properties of strain-balanced InAs/GaSb type-II superlattices (T2SLs). The type-II superlattice structure is 120 periods InAs (8 ML)/GaSb (6 ML) with different thicknesses of InSb interface grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The high-resolution x-ray diffraction (XRD) curves display sharp satellite peaks, and the narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the 0th is only 30-39 arcsec. From high-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) characterization, the InSb heterointerfaces and the clear spatial separation between the InAs and GaSb layers can be more intuitively distinguished. As the InSb interface thickness increases, the compressive strain increases, and the surface "bright spots" appear to be more apparent from the atomic force microscopy (AFM) results. Also, photoluminescence (PL) measurements verify that, with the increase in the strain, the bandgap of the superlattice narrows. By optimizing the InSb interface, a high-quality crystal with a well-defined surface and interface is obtained with a PL wavelength of 4.78 μ, which can be used for mid-wave infrared (MWIR) detection.     

Effect of thickness on the microstructure of GaN films on Al2O3 (0001) by laser molecular beam epitaxy

Heteroepitaxial GaN films are grown on sapphire (0001) substrates using laser molecular beam epitaxy. The growth processes are in-situ monitored by reflection high energy electron diffraction. It is revealed that the growth mode of GaN transformed from three-dimensional (3D) island mode to two-dimensional (2D) layer-by-layer mode with the increase of thickness. This paper investigates the interfacial strain relaxation of GaN films by analysing their diffraction patterns. Calculation shows that the strain is completely relaxed when the thickness reaches 15 nm. The surface morphology evolution indicates that island merging and reduction of the island-edge barrier provide an effective way to make GaN films follow a 2D layer-by-layer growth mode. The 110-nm GaN films with a 2D growth mode have smooth regular hexagonal shapes. The X-ray diffraction indicates that thickness has a significant effect on the crystallized quality of GaN thin films.     

Effect of the oxygen pressure on the microstructure and optical properties of ZnO films prepared by laser molecular beam epitaxy

A series of ZnO films were prepared on the Si (1 0 0) or glass substrate at 773 K under various oxygen pressures by using a laser molecular beam epitaxy system. The microstructure and optical properties were investigated through the X-ray diffraction, Raman spectrometer, scanning electron microscope, ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer and spectrofluorophotometer. The results showed that ZnO thin film prepared at 1 Pa oxygen pressure displayed the best crystalinity and all ZnO films formed a columnar structure. Meanwhile, all ZnO films exhibited an abrupt absorption edge near the wavelength of 380 nm in transmission spectra. With increasing the oxygen pressure, the transmission intensity changed non-monotonically and reached a maximum of above 80% at 1 Pa oxygen pressure, based on which the band gaps of all ZnO films were calculated to be about 3.259–3.315 eV. Photoluminescence spectra indicated that there occurred no emission peak at a low oxygen pressure of 10⁻⁵ Pa. With the increment of the oxygen pressure, there occurred a UV emission peak of 378 nm, a weak violet emission peak of 405 nm and a wide green emission band centered at 520 nm. As the oxygen pressure increased further, the position of UV emission peak remained and its intensity changed non-monotonically and reached a maximum at 1 Pa. Meanwhile the intensity of green emission band increased monotonically with increasing the oxygen pressure. In addition, it was also found that the intensity of UV emission peak decreased as the measuring temperature shifted from 80 to 300 K. The analyses indicated that the UV emission peak originated from the combination of free excitons and the green emission band originated from the energy level jump from conduction band to O_Zn defect.