利用梯度掺杂获得高量子效率的GaAs光电阴极

获得高量子效率且稳定性良好的阴极一直是近年来发展GaAs光电阴极的重要方向。对晶面为(100),掺杂Be,厚度为1μm分子束外延生长的反射式GaAs发射层,设计了一种从体内到表面掺杂浓度由高到低分布的新型梯度掺杂结构。掺杂浓度的范围从1×1019cm-3到1×1018cm-3,并利用(Cs,O)激活技术制备了GaAs光电阴极。光谱响应测试曲线显示,与传统均匀掺杂的GaAs光电阴极相比,梯度掺杂的GaAs光电阴极的量子效率在整个波段都有提高,积分灵敏度可达1580μA/lm,且具有更好的稳定性。讨论了这种新型GaAs光电阴极获得更高量子效率的内在机理。该设计结构是现实可行的,且具有很大发展潜力,它为国内发展高性能GaAs光电阴极提供了一条重要途径。     

Photorefractive measurements on electron-irradiated semi-insulating GaAs

We present photorefractive measurements at 1.06 m and 1.3 m performed in electron-irradiated GaAs. Irradiation with electrons of kinetic energies 1 MeV introduces intrinsic electrically active defects which modify the Fermi-level position and allow to modify the electron-hole competition mechanism of the photorefractive effect. Furthermore, it is shown that the optical absorption in the 1.3–1.5 m spectral range can be increased, which might allow to enlarge the useful spectral range of GaAs towards optical telecommunication windows. The native and irradiation-induced defects are assessed by electron paramagnetic resonance and optical absorption spectroscopy conducted at T=300 K and 77 K. The direct influence of an irradiation-induced mid-gap defect on the photorefractive effect is experimentally and theoretically demonstrated.     

Surface passivation of InGaP/GaAs HBT using silicon-nitride film deposited by ECR-CVD plasma

In this paper we have developed a passivation technique with silicon-nitride (SiN_X) film that requires no surface pre-treatment, and is fully compatible to monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). The nitride depositions were carried out by ECR-CVD (electron cyclotron resonance-chemical vapor deposition) directly over InGaP/GaAs heterojunction structures, which are used for heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). Optical emission spectrometry (OES) was used for plasma characterization, and low formation of H and NH molecules in the gas phase was detected at pressure of 2.5 mTorr. These molecules can degrade III-V semiconductor surfaces due to the preferential loss of As or P and hydrogen incorporation at the substrate. The substrates were cleaned with organic solvents using a Sox-let distillate. The ECR depositions were carried out at a fixed substrate temperature of 20 °C, SiH₄/N₂ flow ratio of 1, Ar flow of 5 sccm pressure of 2.5 mTorr and microwave (2.45 GHz) power of 250 W and RF (13.56 MHz) power of 4 W. We have applied this film for InGaP/GaAs HBT fabrication process with excellent results, where two major contribuiton is related to this passivation technique, the enhancement in the transistor dc gain β and the improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio when compared unpassivated and passivated devices.     

Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of Hydrogen-Doped Amorphous GaAs Thin Films

Amorphous CaAs films are deposited on substrates of quartz glass and sificon by rf magnetron sputtering technique in different gas ambient. First, the amorphous structure of the prepared samples is identified by x-ray diffraction. Second, analysis by radial distribution function and pair correlation function method is established to characterize the microstructure of the samples. Then, the content and bond type of hydrogen are analysed using Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy. It is found that the bonded hydrogen content increases with increasing partial pressure PH of H2. However, the hydrogen content saturates at PH 〉 1 × 10^-1 Pa. Hydrogen addition shills the optical absorption edge to higher energy, decreases the dark conductivity and improves the photo-sensitivity. The optical gap, dark conductivity and photo-sensitivity of the films are dependent on the bonded hydrogen content. These results demonstrate that hydrogen has obvious passivation effects on rf sputtered amorphous GaAs thin films.     

Interband quantum kinetics with static disorder scattering I: Direct CPA solution for a rectangular-pulse-excited semiconductor

For a two band model semiconductor alloy with the disorder potential concentrated to the conduction band, the photoexcitation by a long rectangular pulse represents a case soluble in the coherent potential approximation. Explicit analytic expressions for the transient electron distribution are derived using the nonequilibrium Green functions. The evanescent coherent component is gradually superseded by the incoherent distribution whose saturation value is obtained using the Ward identity.     

Kinetics of photo‐darkening and self‐bleaching in amorphous As2S3 and As2Se3 thin films

The kinetics of photo‐darkening of amorphous As₂S₃ and a‐As₂Se₃ thin films follows a single exponential, but the magnitude and the rate of the process is higher in case of As₂S₃. The kinetics of self‐bleaching (dark relaxation) in advance photo‐darkened state follows a stretched exponential (SRE) with different stretching parameter for a‐As₂S₃ and a‐As₂Se₃. Within the J. C. Phillips approach we suppose that photo‐darkening in amorphous As₂S₃ films is, to some extent, accompanied by changes in short‐range order interactions, while photo‐darkening of amorphous As₂Se₃ is accompanied rather by changes in Coulomb interactions. The self‐bleaching process reduced the magnitude of photo‐darkening up to 45% and 60% for amorphous As₂S₃ and As₂Se₃ films, respectively. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The hydrostatic pressure and temperature effects on donor impurities in GaAs/Ga1 − xAlxAs double quantum well under the external fields

The combined effects of hydrostatic pressure and temperature on donor impurity binding energy in GaAs/Ga_0.7Al_0.3As double quantum well in the presence of the electric and magnetic fields which are applied along the growth direction have been studied by using a variational technique within the effective-mass approximation. The results show that an increment in temperature results in a decrement in donor impurity binding energy while an increment in the pressure for the same temperature enhances the binding energy and the pressure effects on donor binding energy are lower than those due to the magnetic field.     

Comparison of Gain Properties with Electron--Electron and Electron--LO-Phonon Interactions in Quantum Cascade Structure

The gain properties of （A1N）m/（GaN）n superlattice-based quantum cascade structure axe investigated by using a nonequilibrium Green＇s function （NGF） theory. In this theory, the electron-electron interaction and electron- LO-phonon interaction axe both considered. The gain spectra of QCL axe calculated from some current-driven items, which are derived from these two interactions. The results show that the effect of the electron-electron interaction is notable in the low-photon-energy range and the electron-LO-phonon interaction only takes effect in the high-photon-energy range, where photon energy is close to or larger than LO-phonon energy of GaN materials.     

Effects of Crossed Electric and Magnetic Fields on Shallow Donor Impurity Binding Energy in a Parabolic Quantum Well

We have calculated variationally the ground state binding energy of a hydrogenic donor impurity in a parabolic quantum well in the presence of crossed electric and magnetic fields. These homogeneous crossed fields are such that the magnetic field is parallel to the heterostructure layers and the electric field is applied perpendicular to the magnetic field. The dependence of the donor impurity binding energy to the well width and the strength of the electric and magnetic fields are discussed. We hope that the obtained results will provide important improvements in device applications, especially for a suitable choice of both fields in the narrow well widths.     

Analysis of semi-insulating GaAs and the role of positron annihilation

The uses of Positron Annihilation (PA) techniques for the analysis of native defects in bulk GaAs are reported. PA has allowed the structure of the metastable state of the important EL2 defect to be examined and has demonstrated that a vacancy is present in the complex. PA has also provided strong evidence that the centre responsible for minority-carrier lifetime degradation in this material is the arsenic vacancy.Paper presented at the 132nd WE-Heraeus-Seminar on Positron Studies of Semiconductor Defects, Halle, Germany, 29 August to 2 September 1994     

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.     

Quantum dynamics of phonon assisted emission of carriers at deep level centers

A formalism is proposed to investigate quantum dynamics of localized states involving highly non-adiabatic time-evolution of electron-lattice systems. The effect of electron itinerancy is projected onto the dynamics of local variables through an integral kernel of Volterra's integral equation. The method is applied to the problem of thermal emission of carriers at deep level centers in semiconductors. It is shown that the real situation is in the adiabatic limit, and the probability of thermal emission of the trapped carriers is one per a single lattice oscillation, if the amplitude of the oscillation exceeds a critical value but zero if not.     

Transition of 3D to 2D growth modes of InAs grown on GaAs

We report a method to grow thin strain-released InAs layer on GaAs (1 0 0) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. We have shown that by controlling the growth parameters, a thin 2D InAs layer can be grown during initial stages, which eventually serves as a buffer layer to trap dislocations and epitaxial regrowth of InAs on this buffer results in high crystal quality. The size dependence of the InAs islands formed during initial stages with growth time has been studied by atomic force microscopy. With continuous short-time epitaxial growth during various stages, the InAs growth mode transfers from 3D to 2D. The introduction of dislocations into InAs epitaxial islands and their behavior during initial growth stage has been theoretically studied. The theoretical results are in remarkable agreement with the experimental results and shows that once the film is formed, the film strain is totally relaxed. The 200 nm thick InAs epilayer grown on this buffer shows a narrow X-ray diffraction peak. Such InAs strain-released buffer layer would be useful for regrowth of high In content based materials on top of it for electronics and optoelectronics device applications.     

Strain Field in GaAs/GaN Wafer-Bonding Interface and Its Microstructure

The strain fields in a wafer-bonded GaAs/GaN structure are measured by electron backscatter diffraction （EBSD）. Image quality （IQ） of EBSD Kikuchi patterns and rotation angles of crystal lattices as strain sensitive parameters axe employed to chaxacterize the distortion and the rotation of crystal lattices in the GaAs-interface-GaN structure, as well as to display the strain fields. The results indicate that the influence region of the strains in the wafer-bonded GaAs/GaN structure is mainly located in GaAs side because the strength of GaAs is weaker than that of GaN. The cross-sectional image of transmission electron microscopy （TEM） further reveals the distortion and the rotation of crystal lattices induced by strains systematically.     

Effect of Hydrostatic Pressure on Interband Transitions in Coupled Quantum Wires

We calculate the exciton binding energy and interband optical absorption in a rectangular coupled quantum wire under the hydrostatic pressure in the effective-mass approximation, using the variational approach. It is found that the interband optical absorption strongly depend on the hydrostatic pressure and the coupling parameter, and that the magnitude of the absorption coefficient for the HH1-E1 transition in the coupled quantum wire is larger than that of the single quantum wire.     

Doping Defects in Two-Dimensional Holographic Photonic Crystals Using a Continuous-Wave Visible Laser

It is demonstrated that defects of any shape or size can be doped in holographic photonic crystals using a cw visible laser and spherical/cylindrical lens. Defects with different sizes at any depth in the material can be obtained by controlling the position of the foca/point of the lens and exposure value. We facilitate the implementation of sub-wavelength arbitrary point or line defects in large-size 2D holographic photonic crystals.     

Effects of Different Plasma Energy Treatments on n-Type Al0.4Ga0.6N Material

El3ctronic properties, surface chemistry and surface morphology of plasma-treated n-Al0.4Ga0.6N material are studied by electrical contact measurements, atomic force microscopy and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Although excessive etching can cause the surface roughness to significantly increase, the nitrogen vacancies VN produced by the excessive etching can be compensated for by the negative effects of the rougher surface. Thus, VN produced by excessive etching plays a key role in Ohmic contact of high-A1 content AIGaN and it can reduce Ohmic contact resistance. The effect of rapid thermal annealing on the performance of n-Al0.4Ga0.6N can significantly reduce the etching damage caused by excessive etching.     

Activation of Hydrogen-Passivated Mg in GaN-Based Light Emitting Diode Annealing with Minority-Carrier Injection

We discuss an issue on the activation of p-GaN material under different annealing conditions and study the mechanism for the p-GaN activation. Under annealing in nitrogen, it is found that hydrogen cannot be completely removed from p-GaN. The experiments also indicate that rudimental hydrogen can exist stably in a certain state where hydrogen does not passivate the Mg acceptor in the sample annealing under bias. However, making additional annealing in nitrogen, we find that the steady state hydrogen can be decomposed and the Mg-H complex could generate again. Hydrogen remaining in the layer seems to play a major role in this reversible phenomenon.     

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.     

Si DX centers in GaAs at large hydrostatic pressures

A number of experimental and theoretical studies indicate that DX centers in GaAs, its alloys and other III–V semiconductors have negative U properties. Using far infrared localized vibrational mode (LVM) spectroscopy of Si donors in GaAs under large hydrostatic pressure in a diamond anvil cell we have discovered an LVM of the Si DX center. From the ratio of the LVM absorption lines of Si_Ga and Si_DX and the compensation in our GaAs samples, we show unambiguously that two electrons are trapped when the ionized shallow Si donors transform into negatively charged DX centers, in full agreement with the negative U model.Dedicated to H.-J. Queisser on the occasion of his 60th birthday