Thermally stimulated currents in semi-insulating GaAs Schottky diodes and their simulation

We report the investigation of the non-irradiated and irradiated-with-pions Schottky diodes made on semi-insulating GaAs. Thermally stimulated currents have been measured experimentally and modeled numerically. To reveal the influence of the single levels, we used the thermal emptying of the traps by fractional heating. Attention is paid to the comparative analysis of the distribution of the parameters of different samples produced and processed by the same technique, contrary to the usual approach of the analysis of a few different samples. The following main conclusions are drawn. First of all, many different levels (from 8 to 12) have been found in the temperature range from 90 K to 300 K in all samples. Their activation energies range from 0.07 up to 0.55 eV, their capture cross-sections are 10^-22–10^-14 cm², and initial occupation is 2×10¹¹–5×10¹⁴ cm^-3. The irradiation with pions does not influence the density of most levels significantly. On the other hand, levels with activation energies of about 0.07–0.11 eV, 0.33–0.36 eV, 0.4–0.42 eV, and 0.48–0.55 eV have been found only in the irradiated samples. Irradiation also increases the inhomogeneity of the crystals, which causes the scattering of the activation energies obtained by fractional heating technique. Received: 13 November 1998 / Accepted: 16 April 1999 / Published online: 4 August 1999     

Light-intensity dependence of slow-relaxation phenomena in semi-insulating GaAs

Quenching-only and quenching-enhancement phenomena in low-temperature photoconductivity (PC) of SI GaAs have been studied as a function of light intensity for photons in 1.0–1.2 eV energy range. Quenching-only of PC occurs only at high light intensities (above 10¹⁴ photons/cm² s) and reflects well-known bleaching of EL2 defects. On the contrary, the quenching-enhancement effect can be observed only for several orders of magnitude lower light intensities and neither the quenching nor the enhancement part of low-temperature evolution of PC is directly connected with EL2 defects, but reflects the time evolution of the occupancy of deep traps other than EL2. It was also found that bleaching of EL2 is quite an unefficient process.     

n‐type conductivity in sublimation‐grown AlN bulk crystals

AlN crystals grown by physical vapour‐phase transport in the presence of a SiC doping source possess n‐type conductivity. The net donor concentration attains up to mid 10¹⁷ cm^–3. The investigation reveals shallow donors forming an impurity band and acceptor‐like electron traps at about 0.5 eV below the conduction band edge. Thermal electron emission from these traps is responsible for the observed n‐type conductivity. The shallow donors are suggested to be due to Si atoms on Al sites. The majority of them is assumed to be compensated by deep acceptors in the lower half of the band gap. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Electron traps in wide-gap n-Hg0.3Cd0.7Te characterized by time-resolved photoconductivity

Time-resolved photoconductivity measurements have been used to characterize electron traps in wide-gap n-HgO_0.3Cd_0.7Te for the first time. The characterization was made possible by combining the time-resolved photoconductive data with the analytical method conventionally used in DLTS spectroscopy. Two electron traps were found in the band gap with 61 meV and 79 meV below the conduction band edge, their concentrations are 1.1×10¹³ cm^–3 and 5.8×10¹¹ cm^–3, respectively. Compared with DLTS spectroscopy, this characterization method markedly simplifies sample preparation and experimental procedure.     

Optically detected carrier transport in III/V semiconductor QW structures: experiments, model calculations and applications in fast 1.55 μm laser devices

Received: 24 September 1997     

Temperature dependence of persistent photo-conductivity due to DX centers in AlxGa1−xAs:Si

Conductivity and Hall effect measurements were performed on molecular beam epitaxy grown Al_xGa_1–xAs:Si samples, which show a large persistent photoconductivity effect. We observe one, two, and three minima in the temperature-dependent carrier concentration during the heating process after having first illuminated the samples (x=0.25, 0.30, and 0.37, respectively) at low temperature. We interpret this structure in terms of the existence of different types of large lattice relaxation DX centers.     

Electrical activity and precipitation behavior of copper in gallium arsenide

The electrical properties and preferred lattice site of Cu in GaAs were investigated combining electrical and optical measurements with ion beam and structural analysis. From this comprehensive study it was determined that Cu introduces two levels in the band gap, that the concentration of electrically active centers introduced by Cu diffusion is considerably smaller than the total Cu concentration, that this ratio of electrically active to total Cu concentration depends strongly on the cooling speed after diffusion, and that the portion of Cu that remains electrically inactive forms Cu-Ga precipitates.     

Enhancement of minority carrier lifetime in GaAs1? x P x ( x =0.4; 0.65) by nitrogen implantation

Minority carrier lifetimes in nitrogen implanted GaAs_1-x P _x (x=0.4; 0.65) were measured at 77K by an optical phase shift method as a function of nitrogen dose and annealing temperature in order to investigate the dependence of the lifetime on the concentration of nitrogen isoelectronic traps. A large increase in the lifetime was observed after nitrogen implantation followed by annealing at and above 800°C. The maximum lifetimes were 22ns for GaAs_0.35P_0.65 and 6.7 ns for GaAs_0.6P_0.4. They were obtained by implantation to a dose of 5×10¹³ cm⁻² in GaAs_0.35P_0.65 and 10¹³ cm⁻² in GaAs_0.6P_0.4. The lifetime after nitrogen implantation followed by annealing was longer by a factor of 6–7 than that of the unimplanted sample.     

Carrier freezeout in n-on-p Hg0.7Cd0.3Te photodiode and acceptor level determination

0.7 Cd_0.3Te photodiodes at temperatures lower than 25 K. The freezeout was seen under the conditions that interband tunneling dominates the current in the photodiode and that avalanche ionization does not take place. These conditions are fulfilled at temperatures lower than 25 K and reverse bias voltages around 3 V. An acceptor level of about 4 meV was determined for p-type Hg_0.7Cd_0.3Te with N_A-N_D∼10¹⁶ cm^-3 from the temperature dependence of the photodiode resistance governed by carrier freezeout. The difficulties in observation of carrier freezeout in Hg_1-xCd_xTe with a larger composition ratio x or higher doping concentration are discussed. Received: 21 November 1996/Accepted: 15 April 1997     

Band gap states of V and Cr in 6H-silicon carbide

Ti, V and Cr in n-type 6H-SiC were investigated by radiotracer deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). Doping with the radioactive isotopes ⁴⁸V and ⁵¹Cr was done by recoil implantation followed by annealing (1600 K). Repeated DLTS measurements during the elemental transmutation of these isotopes to ⁴⁸Ti and ⁵¹V respectively revealed the corresponding concentration changes of band gap states. Thus, three levels were identified in the band gap: a Cr level at 0.54 eV and two V levels at 0.71 and 0.75 eV below the conduction band edge. There are no deep levels of Ti in the upper part of the band gap. Received: 28 April 1997/Accepted: 16 May 1997     

High optical power dependence of the EL2 recovery in GaAs

In this work, a new way of achieving the recovery from the EL2 metastable state is reported and analyzed theoretically. Despite being an old problem, no definitive picture of the EL2 center has been established to date. For this reason, long past the days of effervescent research on the EL2, new models and investigations keep appearing in the literature as, for example, the recently proposed autocatalytic model to describe the inter-defect correlation during the thermal recovery process [A. Fukuyama, T. Ikari, Y. Akashi, M. Suemitsu, Phys. Rev. B 67 (2003) 113202]. In the course of a re-evaluation of the EL2 for nanosecond volume holographic storage, we found that a strong laser pulse is capable of destroying the metastable state and decided to investigate further this effect. The experiment reported here consists of monitoring the transmission of a λ = 1.05 μm continuous-wave (CW) laser, used to populate the metastable state, while subjecting the sample to the incidence of a strong λ = 1.06 μm laser pulse. A full simulation of the problem has been carried out and the results could be fit very well by assuming a recovery induced by electron-hole recombination and a nonlinear free-carrier production mechanism. It is perhaps worth noting that such a fast recovery induced by the nanosecond laser may prove to be an interesting tool to initiate a recovery process (even at low temperature) in a controlled way to check the predictions of the recently proposed autocatalytic recovery process.     

Electrical switching in germanium telluride glasses doped with Cu and Ag

Electrical switching in germanium telluride glasses containing metallic atoms (Cu and Ag) has been investigated. All these glasses are found to exhibit memory switching. The switching fields of these glasses are compared with the thermal parameters evaluated from DSC studies and the results are explained on the basis of the thermal model. The composition dependence of the switching field and the thermal parameters show interesting variations at the critical compositions which correspond to the rigidity percolation and the chemical thresholds of these glasses. Received: 11 January 1999 / Accepted: 14 April 1999 / Published online: 14 July 1999     

Hydrogen indium vacancy complex VInH4 in n-type InP studied by positron-lifetime

Positron-lifetime experiments have been carried out on two undoped n-type liquid encapsulated Czochralski (LEC)-grown InP samples with different stoichiometric compositions in the temperature range 10-300 K. For temperatures below 120 K for P-rich InP and 100 K for In-rich InP, the positron average lifetime began to increase rapidly and then leveled off, which was associated with the charge state change of hydrogen indium vacancy complexes from (V_InH₄)⁺ to (V_InH₄)⁰. This phenomenon was more obvious in P-rich samples that have a higher concentration of V_InH₄. The transformation temperature of approximately 120 K suggests that the complex V_InH₄ is a donor defect and that the ionization energy is about 0.01 eV. The ionization of neutral V_InH₄ accounted for the decrease of the positron average lifetime when the sample was illuminated with a photon energy of 1.32 eV at 70 K. These results provide evidence for hydrogen complex defects in undoped LEC InP.     

Photoelectronic and electrical properties of Tl2InGaS4 layered crystals

Tl₂InGaS₄ layered crystals are studied through the dark electrical conductivity, space charge limited current and illumination- and temperature-dependent photoconductivity measurements in the temperature regions of 220-350 K, 300-400 K and 200-350 K, respectively. The space charge limited current measurements revealed the existence of a single discrete trapping level located at 0.44 eV. The dark electrical conductivity showed the existence of two energy levels of 0.32 eV and 0.60 eV being dominant above and below 300 K, respectively. The photoconductivity measurements reflected the existence of two other energy levels located at 0.28 eV and 0.19 eV at high and low temperatures, respectively. The photocurrent is observed to increase with increasing temperature up to a maximum temperature of 330 K. The illumination dependence of photoconductivity is found to exhibit supralinear recombination in all the studied temperature ranges. The change in recombination mechanism is attributed to exchange in the behavior of sensitizing and recombination centers.     

Dark electrical conductivity and photoconductivity of Ga4Se3S layered single crystals

Ga₄Se₃S layered crystals were studied through the dark electrical conductivity, and illumination- and temperature-dependent photoconductivity in the temperature region of 100-350 K. The dark electrical conductivity reflected the existence of two energy states located at 310 and 60 meV being dominant above and below 170 K, respectively. The photoconductivity measurements revealed the existence of another two energy levels located at 209 and 91 meV above and below 230 K. The photoconductivity was observed to increase with increasing temperature. The illumination dependence of photoconductivity was found to exhibit linear and supralinear recombination above and below 280 K, respectively. The change in recombination mechanism was attributed to the exchange in the behavior of sensitizing and recombination centers.     

Hydrogen-induced boron passivation in Cz Si

Acceptor deactivation in the near-surface region of as-grown, boron-doped Si wafers was detected by in-depth profiles of the free-carrier density obtained by capacitance–voltage measurements. As this deactivation was only observed in wafers subjected to the standard cleaning procedures used in Si manufacturing, we ascribed it to boron passivation by an impurity introduced during the cleaning process. From the study of the free-carrier reactivation kinetics and of the diffusion behaviour of boron–impurity complexes, we have concluded that the impurity is possibly related to hydrogen introduced during the cleaning treatments. The characteristics of the deep level associated with this impurity have been analysed by deep-level transient spectroscopy. Received: 22 August 2001 / Accepted: 27 October 2001 / Published online: 29 May 2002     

Electrical switching studies on As<Subscript>40</Subscript>Te<Subscript>60-x</Subscript>Se<Subscript>x</Subscript> and As<Subscript>35</Subscript>Te<Subscript>65-x</Subscript>Se<Subscript>x</Subscript> glasses

The I–V characteristics of bulk As₄₀Te_60-xSe_x and As₃₅Te_65-xSe_x glasses have been studied with a current sweep of 0–18 mA-0, over a wide range of compositions (4≤x≤22). All the glasses studied showed a threshold electrical switching behaviour. The number of switching cycles withstood by the samples has been found to depend on the ON-state current. It is seen that the switching voltages increase with increase in selenium content. Further, the switching voltages are found to be almost independent of the thickness of the sample (d), in the range 0.18–0.3 mm. Also, the switching voltages and the number of switching cycles withstood by the samples are found to decrease with temperature. Received: 6 November 2002 / Accepted: 8 November 2002 / Published online: 29 January 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +91-80/360-0135, E-mail: sasokan@isu.iisc.ernet.in     

Dopant diffusion and segregation in semiconductor heterostructures: Part 1. Zn and Be in III-V compound superlattices

chemical effect on the neutral species; and (ii) a Fermi-level effect on the ionized species, because, in addition to the chemical effect, the solubility of the species also has a dependence on the semiconductor Fermi-level position. For Zn and Be in GaAs and related compounds, their diffusion process is governed by the doubly-positively-charged group III element self-interstitials (I²⁺ _III), whose thermal equilibrium concentration, and hence also the diffusivity of Zn and Be, exhibit also a Fermi-level dependence, i.e., in proportion to p². A heterojunction consists of a space-charge region with an electric field, in which the hole concentration is different from those in the bulk of either of the two layers forming the junction. This local hole concentration influences the local concentrations of I²⁺ _III and of Zn^- or Be^-, which in turn influence the distribution of these ionized acceptor atoms. The process involves diffusion and segregation of holes, I²⁺ _III, Zn^-, or Be^-, and an ionized interstitial acceptor species. The junction electric field also changes with time and position. Received: 20 August 1998/Accepted: 23 September 1998     

Van der Pauw resistivity measurements on evaporated thin films of cadmium arsenide, Cd3As2

Cadmium arsenide is a II-V semiconductor, exhibiting n-type intrinsic conductivity with high mobility and narrow bandgap. It is deposited by thermal evaporation, and has shown the Schottky and Poole-Frenkel effects at high electric fields, but requires further electrical characterisation. This has now been extended to low-field van der Pauw lateral resistivity measurements on films of thickness up to 1.5 μm. Resistivity was observed to decrease with increasing film thickness up to 0.5 μm from about 3 × 10⁻³ Ω m to 10⁻⁵ Ω m, where the crystalline granular size increases with film thickness. This decrease in resistivity was attributed to a decrease in grain boundary scattering and increased mobility. Substrate temperature during deposition also influenced the resistivity, which decreased from around 10⁻⁴ Ω m to (10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁶) Ω m for an increase in substrate deposition temperature from 300 K to 423 K. This behaviour appears to result from varying grain sizes and ratios of crystalline to amorphous material. Resistivity decreased with deposition rate, reaching a minimum value at about 1.5 nm s⁻¹, before slowly increasing again at higher rates. It was concluded that this resulted from a dependence of the film stoichiometry on deposition rate. The dependence of resistivity on temperature indicates that intercrystalline barriers dominate the conductivity at higher temperatures, with a hopping conduction process at low temperatures.     

Deactivation of the boron–oxygen recombination center in silicon by illumination at elevated temperature

The boron–oxygen‐related recombination center responsible for the light‐induced degradation of solar cells made on boron‐doped oxygen‐contaminated silicon is deactivated by simultaneously annealing the silicon wafer in the temperature range 135–210 °C and illuminating it with white light. The recombination lifetime after deactivation is found to be stable under illumination at room temperature. The deactivation process is shown to be thermally activated with an activation energy of 0.7 eV. Based on the experimental findings, a defect reaction model is proposed explaining the deactivation of the boron–oxygen center. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)