A comparison of the M3/M4 metastable defect detected in hydrogen and ICP Ar plasma treated n-GaAs

Defects created by a dc hydrogen plasma have been compared to those observed in n-GaAs exposed to an inductively coupled (ICP) Ar plasma. The reference sample (in the case of H-plasma treated material) contained two prominent native deep level electron traps, possibly M4 and E_C−0.56 eV, which were both passivated by hydrogen. Plasma treatment also resulted in the formation of a defect observed at 0.58 eV (M3) below the conduction band. This defect transforms back into what is believed to be M4 when annealed at 350 K for 3 h under reverse bias. These two defects compare well with two similar defects observed in the Ar ICP treated samples also showing metastable behavior. Additionally, the electrical characterization of Schottky barrier diodes on n-GaAs, prior to and after hydrogen passivation shows that, depending on the plasma conditions, the plasma ions significantly damage the surface resulting in poor rectifying contacts. The damage is considerably reversed/repaired upon annealing between the room temperature and 573 K (300 °C).     

dc-Hydrogen plasma induced defects in bulk n-Ge

Bulk antimony doped germanium (n-Ge) has been exposed to a dc–hydrogen plasma. Capacitance–voltage depth profiles revealed extensive near surface passivation of the shallow donors as evidenced by ∼a 1.5 orders of magnitude reduction in the free carrier concentration up to depth of ∼3.2 μm. DLTS and Laplace-DLTS revealed a prominent electron trap 0.30 eV below the conduction (E_C –0.30 eV). The concentration of this trap increased with plasma exposure time. The depth profile for this defect suggested a uniform distribution up to 1.2 μm. Annealing studies show that this trap, attributed to a hydrogen-related complex, is stable up to 200 °C. Hole traps, or vacancy-antimony centers, common in this material after high energy particle irradiation, were not observed after plasma exposure, an indication that this process does not create Frenkel (V–I) pairs.     

Inductively coupled plasma induced deep levels in epitaxial n-GaAs

The electronic properties of defects introduced by low energy inductively coupled Ar plasma etching of n-type (Si doped) GaAs were investigated by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace DLTS. Several prominent electron traps (E_c—0.046 eV, E_c—0.186 eV, E_c—0.314 eV. E_c—0.528 eV and E_c—0.605 eV) were detected. The metastable defect E_c—0.046 eV having a trap signature similar to E1 is observed for the first time. E_c—0.314 eV and E_c—0.605 eV are metastable and appear to be similar to the M3 and M4 defects present in dc H-plasma exposed GaAs.     

Electrical characteristics of the hydrogen pre-annealed Au/n-GaAs Schottky barrier diodes as a function of temperature

We investigated the passivation effects of hydrogen gas on the Au/n-GaAs Schottky barrier diodes in a wide temperature range. Reference diodes were prepared by evaporating barrier metal on semiconductor wafers un-annealed in N₂ gas atmosphere. The other diodes were made by evaporating barrier metal on n-GaAs semiconductor substrates annealed in H₂ atmosphere. Then, electrical measurements of all diodes were carried out by using closed-cycle Helium cryostat by steps of 20 K in the temperature range of 80-300 K in dark. The basic diode parameters such as ideality factor and barrier height were consequently extracted from electrical measurements. It was seen that ideality factors increased and barrier heights decreased with the decreasing temperature. The case was attributed to barrier inhomogeneity at the metal/semiconductor interface. Barrier heights of the diodes made from samples annealed in H₂ gas atmosphere were smaller than those of reference diodes at low temperatures. Here, it was ascribed to the fact that hydrogen atoms passivated dangling bonds on semiconductor surface in accordance with former studies.     

Prediction of lateral barrier height in identically prepared Ni/n-type GaAs Schottky barrier diodes

We have identically prepared Ni/n-GaAs/In Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with doping density of 7.3 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻³. The barrier height for the Ni/n-GaAs/In SBDs from the current-voltage characteristics have varied from 0.835 to 0.856 eV, and ideality factor n from 1.02 to 1.08. We have determined a lateral homogeneous barrier height value of 0.862 eV for the Ni/n-GaAs/In SBD from the experimental linear relationship between barrier heights and ideality factors.     

Electrical characterisation of ruthenium Schottky contacts on n-Ge (1 0 0)

Ruthenium (Ru) Schottky contacts were fabricated on n-Ge (1 0 0) by electron beam deposition. Current–voltage (I–V), deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), and Laplace-DLTS techniques were used to characterise the as-deposited and annealed Ru/n-Ge (1 0 0) Schottky contacts. The variation of the electrical properties of the Ru samples annealed between 25 °C and 575 °C indicates the formation of two phases of ruthenium germanide. After Ru Schottky contacts fabrication, an electron trap at 0.38 eV below the conduction band with capture cross section of 1.0×10⁻¹⁴ cm⁻² is the only detectable electron trap. The hole traps at 0.09, 0.15, 0.27 and 0.30 eV above the valence band with capture cross sections of 7.8×10⁻¹³ cm⁻², 7.1×10⁻¹³ cm⁻², 2.4×10⁻¹³ cm⁻² and 6.2×10⁻¹³ cm⁻², respectively, were observed in the as-deposited Ru Schottky contacts. The hole trap H(0.30) is the prominent single acceptor level of the E-centre, and H(0.09) is the third charge state of the E-centre. H(0.27) shows some reverse annealing and reaches a maximum concentration at 225 °C and anneals out after 350 °C. This trap is strongly believed to be V–Sb₂ complex formed from the annealing of V–Sb defect centre.     

Multiphoton electronic-spin generation and transmission spectroscopy in n-type GaAs

Multiphoton electronic-spin generation in semiconductors was investigated using differential transmission spectroscopy. The generation of the electronic spins in the semiconductor samples were achieved by multiphoton pumping with circularly polarized light beam and was probed by the spin-resolved transmission of the samples. The electronic spin-polarization of conduction band was estimated and was found to depend on the delay of the probe beam, temperature as well as on the multiphoton pumping energy. The temperature dependence showed a decrease of the spin-polarization with increasing temperature. The electronic spin-polarization was found to depolarize rapidly for multiphoton pumping energy larger than the energy gap of the split-off band to the conduction band. The results were compared with those obtained in one-photon pumping, which shows that an enhancement of the electronic spin-polarization was achieved in multiphoton pumping. The findings resulting from this investigation might have potential applications in opto-spintronics, where the generation of highly polarized electronic spins is required.     

Study of persistent photoconductivity effect in n-type selectively doped AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction

A detailed study of the persistent photoconductivity effect (PPE) at selectively doped Al_0.3Ga_0.7As/GaAs interface was carried out at low (4.2 and 77 K) temperatures on samples with different original channel concentrations and mobilities. The observed selectiveness of the PPE to the photon energy allowed us to identify two independent mechanisms of the PPE making almost equal contributions to the total effect. These two mechanisms are: (i) electron photoexcitation from DX centers in AlGaAs layer, (ii) electron—hole generation in bulk GaAs with a charge separation at the interface. It has been found that the behavior of the mobility as a function of the channel concentration (altered by light) depends on a setback thickness d. For a sample with small d a marked mobility drop has been found. The well-resolved structure in the dependence of the electron mobility on the channel concentration has been observed. The first peculiarity is explained by free electron population of AlGaAs layer due to the electron photorelease from DX-centers. The second feature, occurring at higher charge densities in the channel is attributed to the effect of intersubband scattering arising due to the electron occupation of an excited subband at the interface.     

Photoelectronic characterization of n-type silicon wafers using photocarrier radiometry

Photocarrier radiometry (PCR) was used to characterize four n-type silicon wafers with different resistivity values in the 1-20 Ω cm range. Simulations of the PCR signal have been performed to study the influence of the recombination lifetime and front surface recombination velocity on them; besides, the transport parameters (carrier recombination lifetime, diffusion coefficient, and frontal surface recombination) of the wafers were obtained by means of a fitting procedure. The PCR images that are related to the lifetime are presented, and the first photoelectronic images of a porous silicon sample are obtained.     

金辅助催化方法制备GaAs和GaAs/InGaAs纳米线结构的形貌表征及生长机理研究

利用金（Au）辅助催化的方法,通过金属有机化学气相沉积技术制备了GaAs纳米线及GaAs/InGaAs纳米线异质结构.通过对扫描电子显微镜（SEM）测试结果分析,发现温度会改变纳米线的生长机理,进而影响形貌特征.在GaAs纳米线的基础上制备了高质量的纳米线轴、径向异质结构,并对生长机理进行分析.SEM测试显示,GaAs/InGaAs异质结构呈现明显的“柱状”形貌与衬底垂直,InGaAs与GaAs段之间的界面清晰可见.通过X射线能谱对异质结样品进行了线分析,结果表明在GaAs/InGaAs轴向纳米线异质结构样品中,未发现明显的径向生长.从生长机理出发分析了在GaAs/InGaAs径向纳米线结构制备过程中伴随有少许轴向生长的现象.     

Current instabilities in GaAs/InAs self-aggregated quantum dot structures

Excess current was obtained in GaAs/InAs quantum dot structures at low temperatures and low current levels. This excess current exhibited instabilities with changing the bias, and over the time. It has been concluded that the excess current is a minority injection current connected with recombination through defects originated from the formation of QDs. The instabilities are connected with unstable occupation of energy levels induced by the above defects, which depend on temperature and on the current level.     

Frequency shift of the plasma reflectivity minimum due to uniaxial stress in n-type silicon

The pronounced influence of 〈100〉 compressive stress on the frequency of the reflectivity minimum associated with free carrier dispersion has been measured for radiation polarized perpendicular or parallel to stress. Interpretation of the results in terms of the electron transfer model suggests that the phenomenon might be used to determine effective mass anisotropies in multivalley semiconductors.     

Photoluminescence and capacitance–voltage characterization of GaAs surface passivated by an ultrathin GaN interface control layer

A novel surface passivation technique for GaAs using an ultrathin GaN interface control layer (GaN ICL) formed by surface nitridation was characterized by ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) photoluminescence (PL) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements. The PL quantum efficiency was dramatically enhanced after being passivated by the GaN ICL structure, reaching as high as 30 times of the initial clean GaAs surface. Further analysis of PL data was done by the PL surface state spectroscopy (PLS³) simulation technique. PL and C–V results are in good agreement indicating that ultrathin GaN ICL reduces the gap states and unpins the Fermi level, realizing a wide movement of Fermi level within the midgap region and reduction of the effective surface recombination velocity by a factor of 1/60. GaN layer also introduced a large negative surface fixed charge of about 10¹² cm⁻². A further improvement took place by depositing a Si₃N₄ layer on GaN ICL/GaAs structure.     

CdSSe quantum dots: effect of the hydrogen RF plasma treatment on exciton luminescence

This work deals with effective passivation of CdS_XSe_1−X quantum dot surface after treating it by low-temperature hydrogen RF plasma. An enhancement of the exciton luminescence was observed, which can be interpreted as consequence of a decreasing number of surface non-radiative traps.     

Study of n type porous GaAs by photoluminescence spectroscopy: Effect of the etching time on the deep levels

Photoluminescence (PL) analysis is used to study porous layers elaborated by electrochemical etching of n⁺ Si-doped GaAs substrate with different etching times. Temperature and power dependence photoluminescence (PL) studies were achieved to characterize the effect of the etching time on the deep levels of the n⁺ Si-doped GaAs. The energy emission at about 1.46 eV is attributed to the band-to-band (B-B) (e-h) recombination of a hole gas with electrons in the conduction band. The emission band is composed of four deep levels due to the complex of (V_AsSi_GaV_Ga), a complex of a (Ga vacancy - donor - As vacancy), a (Si_Ga-V_Ga³⁻) defect or Si clustering, and a (gallium antisite double acceptor-effective mass donor pair complex) and which peaked, respectively, at about (0.94, 1, 1.14, and 1.32 eV). The PL intensity behavior as function of the temperature is investigated, and the experimental results are fitted with a rate equation model with double thermal activation energies.     

Mn离子注入InAs/GaAs量子点结构材料的光电性质研究

用高能离子注入(160keV)的方法对InAs/GaAs量子点结构进行掺杂，研究了不同退火工艺处理后量子点的光致发光和电学性能.相对于长时间退火，快速退火处理后的量子点发光通常较强.在相同的退火条件下，量子点发光峰位随着Mn注入剂量的增加，先是往高能量端快速移动，而后发光峰又往低能方向移动.后者可能是由于Mn原子进入InAs量子点，释放了InAs量子点中的应变所致.对于高注入剂量样品和长时间退火样品，变温电阻曲线在40 K附近会出现反常行为. 关键词： 离子注入 InAs/GaAs量子点 光致发光 团簇     

Transformation of hydrogen silsesquioxane properties with RIE plasma treatment for advanced multiple-gate MOSFETs

Keeping in line with Moore's law requires increasing efforts in the development of alternative electronic devices. Multiple-gate transistors are very promising in order to suppress short-channel effects and to increase the current drive. Nevertheless, the fabrication of such devices represents a strong challenge for silicon process technology. One of the key steps of the process consists in shrouding the silicon fins in an isolating matrix, using a flowable oxide, namely hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ). The general objective of this work is to show that the properties of HSQ can be modified by appropriate thermal or plasma treatments to modulate its characteristics in terms of etching selectivity and surface topography. SEM characterization has shown that HSQ exhibits excellent planarization and gap fill capabilities, while AFM analysis, on 100 nm thick HSQ films deposited by spin on, reveals a roughness as low as 3 nm. Various oxygen plasma treatments have been applied to densify the HSQ films. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR) has shown very interesting qualitative and quantitative informations. Chemical and physical transformations from a Si-O-Si cage-like structure into an Si-O-Si network one have been observed. It is shown that exposure to oxygen plasma at high power (290 W) for a long time (20 min) or thermal curing at high temperature improves the resistance to wet etching using 1% hydrofluoric acid (HF). This densification technique holds the remarkable property to transform HSQ into an SiO₂-like structure.     

Hydrogen depassivation of the magnesium acceptor by beryllium in p-type GaN

Under nitrogen-rich growth conditions, the present ab initio study predicts that hydrogen passivation is more effective on the acceptor Be instead of Mg in a co-doped p-type GaN. The formation energy is 0.24 eV for (H-Be_Ga) complex, and 0.46 eV for (H-Mg_Ga) complex. Congruently, the binding energy is 1.40 eV for (H-Be_Ga), and 0.60 eV for (H-Mg_Ga). Owing to the lower binding energy, (H-Mg_Ga) is not thermally stable. As Be is incorporated in Mg-doped GaN, a (H-Mg_Ga) may release a H⁺ cation at relatively elevated temperatures. Consequently, the H⁺ diffuses swiftly away from a Mg⁻_Ga, across a barrier of 1.17 eV, towards a Be⁻_Ga and forms a stable (H-Be_Ga) with it. The activation of Mg acceptors can be thus facilitated. In this view, the process of hydrogen depassivation of the Mg acceptor by Be can convert the as-grown high-resistivity Mg-doped GaN into a p-conducting material, as observed in the experiments.     

Observation of first and third harmonic responses in two-dimensional AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT devices due to plasma wave interaction

Plasma waves are oscillations of electron density in time and space, and in deep submicron field effect transistors, typical plasma frequencies, _ωp${\omega }_p$, lie in the terahertz (THz) range and do not involve any quantum transitions. Hence, using plasma wave excitation for detection and/or generation of THz oscillations is a very promising approach. In this paper, the investigation of plasma wave interaction between the plasma waves propagating in a short-channel High-Electron-Mobility Transistor (HEMT) and the radiated electromagnetic waves was carried out. Experimentally, we have demonstrated the detection of the terahertz (THz) radiation by an AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT up to third harmonic at room temperature and their resonant responses show very good agreement with the calculated results.