Influence of spacer layer thickness on the current-voltage characteristics of pseudomorphic AlAs/In0.53Ga0.47As/InAs resonant tunnelling diodes

This paper investigates the dependence of current voltage characteristics of AlAs/In0.53Ga0.47As/InAs resonant tunnelling diodes （RTDs） on spacer layer thickness. It finds that the peak and the valley current density J in the negative differential resistance （NDR） region depends strongly on the thickness of the spacer layer. The measured peak to valley current ratio of RTDs studied here is shown to improve while the current density through RTDs decreases with increasing spacer layer thickness below a critical value.     

Comparison of resonant tunneling diodes grown on freestanding GaN substrates and sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

AlN/GaN resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) were grown separately on freestanding GaN (FS-GaN) substrates and sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). Room temperature negative differential resistance (NDR) was obtained under forward bias for the RTDs grown on FS-GaN substrates, with the peak current densities (J_p) of 175-700 kA/cm² and peak-to-valley current ratios (PVCRs) of 1.01-1.21. Two resonant peaks were also observed for some RTDs at room temperature. The effects of two types of substrates on epitaxy quality and device performance of GaN-based RTDs were firstly investigated systematically, showing that lower dislocation densities, flatter surface morphology, and steeper heterogeneous interfaces were the key factors to achieving NDR for RTDs.     

Piezoelectric polarization and quantum size effects on the vertical transport in AlGaN/GaN resonant tunneling diodes

In this work,the electronic properties of resonant tunneling diodes(RTDs) based on GaN-AlxGa(1-x)N double barriers are investigated by using the non-equilibrium Green functions formalism(NEG).These materials each present a wide conduction band discontinuity and a strong internal piezoelectric field,which greatly affect the electronic transport properties.The electronic density,the transmission coefficient,and the current–voltage characteristics are computed with considering the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations.The influence of the quantum size on the transmission coefficient is analyzed by varying GaN quantum well thickness,Al_xGa_(1-x)N width,and the aluminum concentration x_(Al).The results show that the transmission coefficient more strongly depends on the thickness of the quantum well than the barrier;it exhibits a series of resonant peaks and valleys as the quantum well width increases.In addition,it is found that the negative differential resistance(NDR) in the current–voltage(I–V) characteristic strongly depends on aluminum concentration xAl.It is shown that the peak-to-valley ratio(PVR) increases with xAlvalue decreasing.These findings open the door for developing vertical transport nitrides-based ISB devices such as THz lasers and detectors.     

High sensitivity Hall devices with AlSb/InAs quantum well structures

AlSb/InAs quantum well (QW) structures and InAs films on GaAs (001) substrates were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We investigated the dependence of electron mobility and two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) concentration on the thickness of an InAs channel. It is found that electron mobility as high as 19050 cm2·V-1·s-1 has been achieved for an InAs channel of 22.5 nm. The Hall devices with high sensitivity and good temperature stability were fabricated based on the AlSb/InAs QW structures. Their sensitivity is markedly superior to Hall devices of InAs films.     

In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As量子阱中的正磁电阻效应

在低温强磁场条件下,对In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.52Al_0.48As量子阱中的二维电子气进行了磁输运测试.在低磁场范围内观察到正磁电阻效应,在高磁场下这一正磁电阻趋于饱和,分析表明这一现象与二维电子气中的电子占据两个子带有关.在考虑了两个子带之间的散射效应后,通过分析低磁场下的正磁电阻,得到了每个子带电子的迁移率,结果表明第二子带电子的迁移率高于第一子带电子的迁移率.进一步分析表明,这主要是由两个子带之间的 关键词： 二维电子气 正磁电阻 子带散射     

In0.53Ga0.47As/InP量子阱与体材料的1 MeV电子束辐照光致发光谱研究

为获得对In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP材料在电子束辐照下的光致发光谱变化规律, 开展了1 MeV电子束辐照试验, 注量为 5×10¹²-9×10¹⁴ cm^-2. 样品选取量子阱材料和体材料, 在辐照前后, 进行了光致发光谱测试, 得到了不同结构In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP材料在1 MeV电子束辐照下的不同变化规律; 对比分析了参数退化的物理机理. 结果显示: 试验样品的光致发光峰强度随着辐照剂量增大而显著退化. 体材料最先出现快速退化, 而五层量子阱在注量达到6×10¹⁴ cm^-2时, 就已经退化至辐照前的9%. 经分析认为原因有: 1)电子束进入样品后, 与材料晶格发生能量传递, 破坏晶格完整性, 致使产生的激子数量减少, 光致发光强度降低; 电子束辐照在材料中引入缺陷, 增加了非辐射复合中心密度, 导致载流子迁移率降低. 2)量子阱的二维限制作用使载流子运动受限, 从而能够降低载流子与非辐射复合中心的复合概率; 敏感区域截面积相同条件下, 体材料比量子阱材料辐射损伤更为严重. 3)量子阱的层数越多, 则异质结界面数越多, 相应的产生的界面缺陷数量也随之增多, 辐射损伤越严重.     

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.     

Electromodulation spectroscopy of In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.53Ga0.23Al0.24As quantum wells

In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.53Ga_0.23Al_0.24As quantum wells (QWs) of various widths have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on the InP substrate and investigated by electromodulation spectroscopy, i.e. photoreflectance (PR) and contactless electroreflectance (CER). The optical transitions related to the QW barrier and the QW ground and excited states have been clearly observed in PR and CER spectra. The experimental QW transition energies have been compared with theoretical predictions based on an effective mass formalism model. A good agreement between experimental data and theoretical calculations has been observed when the conduction band offset for the In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.53Ga_0.23Al_0.24As interface equals 60%. In addition, it has been concluded that the conduction band offset for the In_0.53Ga_0.23Al_0.24As/InP interface is close to zero. The obtained results show that InGa(Al)As alloys are very promising materials in the band gap engineering for structures grown on InP substrate.     

Numerical analysis of In0.53Ga0.47As/InP single photon avalanche diodes

A rigorous theoretical model for In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As/InP single photon avalanche diode is utilized to investigate the dependences of single photon quantum efficiency and dark count probability on structure and operation condition.In the model,low field impact ionizations in charge and absorption layers are allowed,while avalanche breakdown can occur only in the multiplication layer.The origin of dark counts is discussed and the results indicate that the dominant mechanism that gives rise to dark counts depends on both device structure and operating condition.When the multiplication layer is thicker than a critical thickness or the temperature is higher than a critical value,generation-recombination in the absorption layer is the dominative mechanism;otherwise band-to-band tunneling in the multiplication layer dominates the dark counts.The thicknesses of charge and multiplication layers greatly affect the dark count and the peak single photon quantum efficiency and increasing the multiplication layer width may reduce the dark count probability and increase the peak single photon quantum efficiency.However,when the multiplication layer width exceeds 1 μm,the peak single photon quantum efficiency increases slowly and it is finally saturated at the quantum efficiency of the single photon avalanche diodes.     

Optical transitions of InAs/In0.36Ga0.64As/GaAs(311B) surface quantum dots clearly identified by the piezoreflectance technique

The bilayer InAs/In_0.36Ga_0.64As/GaAs(311B) quantum dots (QDs), including one InAs buried quantum dot (BQD) layer and the other InAs surface quantum dot (SQD) layer, have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The optical properties of these three samples have been studied by the piezoreflectance (PzR) spectroscopy. The PzR spectra do not exhibit only the optical transitions originated from the InAs BQDs, but the features originated from the InAs SQDs. After the InAs SQDs have been removed chemically, those optical transitions from InAs SQDs have been demonstrated clearly by investigating the PzR spectra of the residual InAs BQDs in these samples. The great redshift of these interband transitions of InAs SQDs has been well discussed. Due to the suitable InAs SQD sizes and the thickness of In_0.36Ga_0.64As layer, the interband transition of InAs SQDs has been shifted to ∼1.55 μm at 77 K.     

Room-temperature observation of current bistability and fine structures in germanium quantum dots/SiO2 resonant tunneling diodes

The steady-state and time-dependent current–voltage (I–V) characteristics are experimentally investigated in Ge quantum dot (QD)/SiO₂ resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). Ge QDs embedded in a SiO₂ matrix are naturally formed by thermal oxidation of Si_0.9Ge_0.1 nanowires (30 nm×50 nm) on silicon-on-insulator substrates. The average dot size and spacing between dots are 9±1 and 25 nm, respectively, from TEM observations, which indicate that one or two QDs are embedded between SiO₂ tunneling barriers within the nanowires. Room-temperature resonant oscillation, negative differential conductance, bistability, and fine structures are observed in the steady-state tunneling current of Ge-QD/SiO₂ RTDs under light illumination. Time-dependent tunneling current characteristics display periodic seesaw features as the Ge-QDs RTD is biased within the voltage regime of the first resonance peak while they exhibit harmonic swing behaviors as the RTD is biased at the current valleys or higher-order current peaks. This possibly originates from the interplay of the random telegraph signals from traps at the QD/SiO₂ interface as well as the electron wave interference within a small QD due to substantial quantum mechanics effects.     

Formation of InAs quantum dots and wetting layers in GaAs and AlAs analyzed by cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy

We have used cross-sectional scanning-tunneling microscopy (X-STM) to compare the formation of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) and wetting layers on AlAs (1 0 0) and GaAs (1 0 0) surfaces. On AlAs we find a larger QD density and smaller QD size than for QDs grown on GaAs under the same growth conditions (500 °C substrate temperature and 1.9 ML indium deposition). The QDs grown on GaAs show both a normal and a lateral gradient in the indium distribution whereas the QDs grown on AlAs show only a normal gradient. The wetting layers on GaAs and AlAs do not show significant differences in their composition profiles. We suggest that the segregation of the wetting layer is mainly strain-driven, whereas the formation of the QDs is also determined by growth kinetics. We have determined the indium composition of the QDs by fitting it to the measured outward relaxation and lattice constant profile of the cleaved surface using a three-dimensional finite element calculation based on elasticity theory.     

Strain compensated Si/SiGe quantum well and quantum cascade on Si0.5Ge0.5 pseudosubstrate

This study follows up our previous investigation of the valence band (VB) intersubband emission from quantum cascade structures grown lattice matched on Si substrates. Here, Si/Si_1−xGe_x (x=80%) heterostructures are investigated which are deposited by MBE on a virtual substrate of relaxed SiGe containing 50% of Ge. TEM analysis reveal flat and abrupt interfaces for structures grown at temperatures T_growth≈300°C. Intersubband absorption and photoluminescence emission manifest well-defined interfaces and good material quality. The observed intersubband line positions are found to be in good agreement with k·p model calculations for the VB. This is in contrast to the observed type II no phonons recombination which is found at consistently lower energy than expected. Finally, electrically excited intersubband emission from a strain compensated cascade structure containing three periods is presented.     

In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As量子阱中双子带占据的二维电子气的输运特性

研究了不同沟道厚度的In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.52Al_0.48As量子阱中双子带占据的二维电子气的输运特性.在考虑了两个子带电子之间的磁致子带间散射效应后,通过分析Shubnikov-de Haas振荡一阶微分的快速傅里叶变换结果,获得了每个子带电子的浓度、输运散射时间、量子散射时间以及子带之间的散射时间.结果表明,对于所研究的样品,第一子带电子受到的小角散射更强,这与第一子带电子受到了更强的电离杂质散射有 关键词： 二维电子气 散射时间 自洽计算     

Comparison of resonant tunneling in AlGaAs/GaAs parabolic and diffusion modified quantum wells

Double barrier resonant tunneling diode using annealing induced diffusion modified quantum well is proposed as a viable alternative to that using parabolic quantum well which requires complex techniques to fabricate it. The transmission coefficients are calculated using the hybrid incremental airy function plane wave approach. The room temperature current-voltage characteristics have been calculated using transmission coefficients. The current-voltage characteristics are found to be similar in both diodes.     

Self-assembly of InAs quantum dots on GaAs(001)by molecular beam epitaxy

Currently, the nature of self-assembly of three-dimensional epitaxial islands or quantum dots (QDs) in a lattice-mismatched heteroepitaxial growth system, such as InAs/GaAs(001) and Ge/Si(001) as fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), is still puzzling. The purpose of this article is to discuss how the self-assembly of InAs QDs in MBE InAs/GaAs(001) should be properly understood in atomic scale. First, the conventional kinetic theories that have traditionally been used to interpret QD self-assembly in heteroepitaxial growth with a significant lattice mismatch are reviewed briefly by examining the literature of the past two decades. Second, based on their own experimental data, the authors point out that InAs QD self-assembly can proceed in distinctly different kinetic ways depending on the growth conditions and so cannot be framed within a universal kinetic theory, and, furthermore, that the process may be transient, or the time required for a QD to grow to maturity may be significantly short, which is obviously inconsistent with conventional kinetic theories. Third, the authors point out that, in all of these conventional theories, two well-established experimental observations have been overlooked: i) A large number of “floating” indium atoms are present on the growing surface in MBE InAs/GaAs(001); ii) an elastically strained InAs film on the GaAs(001) substrate should be mechanically unstable. These two well-established experimental facts may be highly relevant and should be taken into account in interpreting InAs QD formation. Finally, the authors speculate that the formation of an InAs QD is more likely to be a collective event involving a large number of both indium and arsenic atoms simultaneously or, alternatively, a morphological/structural transformation in which a single atomic InAs sheet is transformed into a three-dimensional InAs island, accompanied by the rehybridization from the sp²-bonded to sp³- bonded atomic configuration of both indium and arsenic elements in the heteroepitaxial growth system.     

两个子带占据的In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As量子阱中填充因子的变化规律

研究了低温(15K)和强磁场(0—13T)条件下, InP基In_053Ga_047As/In_052Al_048As量子阱中电子占据两个子带时填充因子随磁场的变化规律.结果表明,在电子自旋分裂能远小于朗道能级展宽的情况下,如果两个子带分裂能是朗道分裂能的整数倍时,即ΔE₂₁=kω_c(其中k为整数),填充因子为偶数;当两个子带分裂能为朗道分裂能的半奇数倍时,即ΔE₂₁=(2k+1)ω_c/2,填充因子出现奇数. 关键词： 053Ga_047As/In_052Al_048As量子阱')" href="#">In_053Ga_047As/In_052Al_048As量子阱 填充因子 磁输运     

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.     

GaSb/GaAs复合应力缓冲层上自组装InAs量子点的生长

研究了GaSb/GaAs复合应力缓冲层上自组装生长的InAs量子点.在2ML GaSb/1ML GaAs复合应力缓冲层上获得了高密度的、沿［100］方向择优分布量子点.随着复合应力缓冲层中GaAs层厚度的不同,量子点的密度可以在1.2×10¹⁰cm^-2和8×10¹⁰cm^-2进行调控.适当增加GaAs层的厚度至5ML,量子点的发光波长红移了约25nm,室温下PL光谱波长接近1300nm. 关键词： 自组装量子点 分子束外延 Ⅲ-Ⅴ族化合物半导体