Recombination in tensile-strained In0.3Ga0.7As quantum well on InP

Photoluminescence (PL) measurements under different excitation powers were carried out at low temperature on tensile-strained In_0.3Ga_0.7As single wells of 6 nm with InGaAs barriers lattice matched to InP substrate. PL measurements taken at 2 K show a main emission band at 0.762 eV probably originating from a type-II transition. The insertion of an ultrathin InAs layer at In_0.3Ga_0.7As on In_0.53Ga_0.47As interface reveals an additional feature at 0.711 eV as well as an excited-state luminescence emission at high pump powers. The InAs insertion improves heterointerface quality, which was confirmed by an increase in PL intensity.     

Numerical study of strained InGaAs quantum well lasers emitting at 2.33 μm using the eight-band model

We investigate the band structure of a compressively strained In(Ga)As/In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As quantum well (QW) on an InP substrate using the eight-band k · p theory.Aiming at the emission wavelength around 2.33 μm,we discuss the influences of temperature,strain and well width on the band structure and on the emission wavelength of the QW.The wavelength increases with the increase of temperature,strain and well width.Furthermore,we design an InAs /In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As QW with a well width of 4.1 nm emitting at 2.33 μm by optimizing the strain and the well width.     

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.     

Low-density band-filling in strained InAs quantum wells

We study the low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) of strained InAs single quantum wells (SQWs) embedded in a Ga_0.47In_0.53As matrix grown on InP substrates by modified solid-source molecular beam epitaxy. The spectra are interpreted in the frame of a two-level rate equation model describing the carrier dynamics in the structures. We show that band-filling occurs in these QWs for an excitation power as low as 30 Wcm^–2. Moreover, the spectra reveal that the band-filling results from the rapid population of the hole subband. This observation highlights the low in-plane heavy-hole mass in the compressively strained film. Our results therefore demonstrate the high potential of InAs/Ga_0.47In_0.53As QW nonlinear optical devices operating in the mid-IR wavelength range.     

Photoluminescence spectra of MOCVD-grown P-doped GaAS/Alx Ga1-x As MQW

PhotoLuminescence (PL) measurement techniques have been used to investigate on MOCVD grown P-doped GaAs/Al_xGa_1mx As (x=0.3) Multiple Quantum Wells (MQW). The spectra reveal extrinsic luminescence characteristics of e-A⁰ transitions for interface and centre of well acceptors in addition to both bound and free exciton emissions.     

InP-based InGaAs/InAlGaAs digital alloy quantum well laser structure at 2 μm

The structural and optical characteristics of InP-based compressively strained InGaAs quantum wells have been significantly improved by using gas source molecular beam epitaxy grown InAs/In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As digital alloy triangular well layers and tensile In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As/InAlGaAs digital alloy barrier layers.The x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope characterisations indicate that the digital alloy structures present favourable lattice quality.Photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) measurements show that the use of digital alloy barriers offers better optical characteristics than that of conventional random alloy barriers.A significantly improved PL signal of around 2.1 μm at 300 K and an EL signal of around 1.95 μm at 100 K have been obtained.     

Engineering of AlON interlayer in Al2O3/AlON/In0.53Ga0.47As gate stacks by thermal atomic layer deposition

The presence of an AlN interfacial layer in high-k/In_0.53Ga_0.47As gate stacks improves the interfacial properties and enhances the electrical performance of devices. However, pure AlN is rarely grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) because of the low reactivity of NH₃ toward the common Al-precursor and the predisposition to oxidation of the grown AlN layer. Although a plasma-enhanced ALD technique significantly suppresses the oxygen content in the grown AlN layer, the deterioration of the interface properties by plasma-damage is a critical issue. In this work, an AlON interlayer was engineered by optimizing the NH₃ feeding time in thermal ALD to improve the interface quality in Al₂O₃/AlON/In_0.53Ga_0.47As capacitors. It was determined that a mere increase in the NH₃ feeding time during the ALD of the AlON film resulted in a higher nitrogen incorporation into the AlON interlayer, leading to a reduction in the interface trap density. Furthermore, the out-diffusion of elements from the In_0.53Ga_0.47As layer was effectively suppressed by increasing the NH₃ feeding time. This work demonstrates that simple process optimization can improve the interface quality in high-k/In_0.53Ga_0.47As gate stacks without the use of any plasma-activated nitrogen source.     

Synchrotron radiation photoemission study of interface formation between MgO and the atomically clean In0.53Ga0.47As surface

The evolution of interface formation between MgO and the atomically clean In_0.53Ga_0.47As is studied by synchrotron radiation based photoemission. The deposition of MgO in a step wise fashion on the decapped In_0.53Ga_0.47As surface at room temperature results in the growth of an ultrathin interfacial oxide layer. Subsequent thermal annealing at 400 °C led to the reduction of the As and In oxides and the appearance of a Ga oxide component. The deposition of metallic Mg resulted in the further removal of the interfacial oxide and the out diffusion of In into the overlayer indicating severe disruption of the interface. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Improvement of photoluminescence and electroluminescence characteristics of MBE-grown In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.53(Ga0.6Al0.4)0.47As quantum well laser structure with InGaAlAs digital alloys by thermal annealing

We investigated the effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence of the In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.53(Ga_0.6Al_0.4)_0.47As multiple quantum well (MQW) laser structure with InGaAlAs barrier layers provided by the digital-alloy technique. The SiO₂- (Si₃N₄-) capped samples followed by the RTA exhibited a significant improvement of PL intensity without any appreciable shifts in PL peak energy for settings of up to 750 °C (800 °C) for 45 s. This improvement is attributed to the annealing of nonradiative defects in InAlAs layers of digital-alloy InGaAlAs and partially those near the heterointerfaces of the digital-alloy layers. The InGaAs/InGaAlAs MQW laser diodes fabricated on the samples annealed at 850 °C show a hugely improved lasing performance. Received: 2 September 2002 / Accepted: 3 September 2002 / Published online: 17 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +82-62/970-2204, E-mail: ytlee@kjist.ac.kr     

Ion-irradiated In0.53Ga0.47As photoconductive antennas for THz generation and detection at 1.55 μm wavelength

We present a detailed study of the photoconductive antennas made from heavy-ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As material. The optical and transport properties of ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As material are characterized. The terahertz waveforms emitted and detected by ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As photoconductive antennas excited by 1.55 μm wavelength femtosecond laser pulses are reported and the effect of the carrier lifetime on the terahertz signal characteristics emitted by such devices is analysed. The performances of ion-irradiated In_0.53Ga_0.47As photoconductive antennas excited by 1.55 μm and also by 0.8 μm wavelength femtosecond laser pulses are compared to those of similar low-temperature-grown GaAs photoconductive antennas. To cite this article: J. Mangeney, P. Crozat, C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

Structural and electronic properties of group III Rich In0.53Ga0.47As(001)

The structural and electronic properties of group III rich In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001) have been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS). At room temperature (300 K), STM images show that the In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) reconstruction is comprised of undimerized In/Ga atoms in the top layer. Quantitative comparison of the In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) and InAs(001)–(4 × 2) shows the reconstructions are almost identical, but In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) has at least a 4× higher surface defect density even on the best samples. At low temperature (77 K), STM images show that the most probable In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001) reconstruction is comprised of one In/Ga dimer and two undimerized In/Ga atoms in the top layer in a double (4 × 2) unit cell. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations at elevated temperature are consistent with the experimentally observed 300 K structure being a thermal superposition of three structures. DFT molecular dynamics (MD) show the row dimer formation and breaking is facilitated by the very large motions of tricoodinated row edge As atoms and z motion of In/Ga row atoms induced changes in As–In/Ga–As bond angles at elevated temperature. STS results show there is a surface dipole or the pinning states near the valence band (VB) for 300 K In_0.53Ga_0.47As(001)–(4 × 2) surface consistent with DFT calculations. DFT calculations of the band-decomposed charge density indicate that the strained unbuckled trough dimers being responsible for the surface pinning.     

Manganese-related luminescence in GaInAs/AlInAs multiple quantum wells grown on InP by molecular beam epitaxy

Two Mn-related luminescence peaks have been observed in a series of nominally undoped Ga_0.47In_0.53As/Al_0.48In_0.52As multiple quantum wells (MQW) grown lattice-matched on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. These two peaks correspond to on-center and on-edge impurity states, respectively. The origin of the Mn impurities is outdiffusion from the Fe-doped semiinsulating InP substrate into the epitaxial layer. The binding energy of Mn acceptors, determined to be 53±3 meV in bulk-like Ga_0.47In_0.53As, increases to 80±5 meV for the on-center Mn state in a 58 Å MQW. The strong well-width dependence of the binding energy is explained in terms of the unique behavior of the Mn impurity in III–V semiconductors. The Mn in Ga_0.47In_0.53As and Ga_0.47In_0.53As/Al_0.48In_0.52As MQWs behaves predominantly as a deep impurity.On leave from: A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Leningrad, USSR     

Exciton capture and thermal escape in InAs dot-in-a-well laser structures

The photoluminescence (PL), its temperature and power dependences have been studied in InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in asymmetric In_xGa_1?y As/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) with variable In_xGa_1?x As compositions in the capping layer. Three stages for thermally activated decay of QD PL intensity have been revealed. A set of rate equations for exciton dynamics (relaxation into QWs and QDs, and thermal escape) are solved to analyze the mechanism of PL thermal decay. The variety of PL intensities and peak positions, as well as the activation energies of PL intensity decay in DWELL structures with different compositions of a capping layer are discussed.     

Analysis and evaluation of uniformity of SWIR InGaAs FPA—Part I: Material issues

The nonuniformity caused by fluctuations of indium composition, thickness and doping concentration of epitaxial absorption layer of InGaAs focal plane arrays (FPAs) is estimated theoretically with the incorporation of practical status. By the measurements on epitaxy wafers of 2 in. size, the fluctuation of indium composition is observed to be less than ±0.2% and ±1% for lattice matched In_0.53Ga_0.47As and wavelength extended In_0.80Ga_0.20As photodetector structures respectively, while the thickness and doping fluctuations are assumed to be the same. Results show that the response nonuniformity caused by fluctuation of indium composition is dependent on the target wavelength and can be neglected with a minor composition fluctuation if the cutoff wavelength is well set. The total response nonuniformity induced by the effects of thickness and doping fluctuations, which dominates the FPA performance for large signal applications, is estimated to be less than ±0.1% and ±0.5% for In_0.53Ga_0.47As and In_0.80Ga_0.20As FPAs smaller than 1 in. in maximum side length. Neglecting the effects of defects, the total detectivity nonuniformity caused by these fluctuations is about ±2% for In_0.53Ga_0.47As FPA and will reach up to about ±19% for In_0.80Ga_0.20As FPA, where the dark current nonuniformity due to the fluctuation of composition plays the most critical role.     

Influence of the substrate voltage on the random telegraph signal parameters in submicron n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors under a constant inversion charge density

In this paper, the impact of the substrate bias U_BS on the parameters of a repulsive random telegraph signal in an n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor is studied. Particular attention is paid to the variation of the capture time constant F_c with the channel current I in linear operation. It is shown that the strong reduction of F_c with I can be explained by the Coulomb blockade effect. The corresponding Coulomb energy (E of the charged-near-interface oxide trap is shown to be a strong function of the substrate bias. From the analysis of the experimental results considering surface quantization effects follows that the variation of (E with U_BS is caused by the change in both the inversion layer surface charge density N_s and in the surface electric field F_s that influences the distance between the centroid of the inversion layer and the interface. In fact, it will be demonstrated that (E can be expressed in function of a single parameter (N_sF_s²). Finally, the impact of the substrate bias on the other parameters, i.e., the amplitude (I, the emission time constant F_e and the distance d of the trap from the interface, will also be addressed.     

Optimization of GaInNAs quantum-well vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser emitting at 2.33 μm

In the present paper, a comprehensive computer simulation is used to determine optimal structure of the InP-based GaInNAs quantum-well (QW) active region and to investigate a possibility of reaching room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) single-fundamental-mode 2.33-μm operation of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with such an active region. From among various considered InP-based active regions, the one with the Ga_0.15In_0.85N_0.015As_0.985/Al_0.138Ga_0.332In_0.530As QW, i.e. with barriers lattice matched to InP, seems to be optimal for the 2.33-μm VCSEL performance. Its QW material is chosen for the required long-wavelength emission whereas its barrier is expected to ensure promising laser performance at room and higher temperatures. The latter is mostly connected with the QW conduction band offset equal in the above active region to as much as 413 meV, which is much larger than those of its possible lattice matched to InP competitors, e.g. 276 meV for the Ga_0.47In_0.53As barrier and 346 meV for the Ga_0.327In_0.673As_0.71P_0.29 one. Our simulation reveals that from among various considered structures, a VCSEL with a 4-μm-diameter tunnel junction and two 6-nm Ga_0.15In_0.85N_0.015As_0.985/Al_0.138Ga_0.332In_0.530As QWs exhibits the lowest calculated threshold current of 0.88 mA. Its promising RT CW performance suggests that it may represent a very interesting alternative to GaSb-based VCSELs.     

Photoluminescence of InGaAs/GaAs strained-layer quantum well structures under high pressure

Abstract

Measurements of the photoluminescence (PL) of strained In_0.2Ga_0.8As/GaAs and In_0.15Ga_0.85As/GaAs quantum well structures together with the PL from bulk GaAs, in a diamond anvil cell show that the pressure coefficient of the ground confined state in the wells depends upon well width (L_Z). In the thinnest wells, the coefficient is closer to that of the bulk GaAs (10.7 meV/kbar), as expected. However, in the widest wells the coefficients tend to values (9.5meV/kbar for the 15% alloy and 9.1meV/kbar for the 20% alloy) that are significantly lower than the pressure coefficient of unstrained In_0.53Ga_0.47As (10.9meV/kbar). It is found that the low pressure coefficients can not be explained by the change in uniaxial stress with pressure due to a difference in bulk moduli between the barrier and well.     

Raman studies of InAs/In0.53Ga0.47As single quantum wells grown on InP substrate by M.B.E.

We analyzed using the Raman technique a series of single quantum wells of InAs/In _0.53Ga_0.47As at different thicknesses of InAs layer grown on a (100) InP substrate by MBE. These high lattice mismatch systems are particularly interesting for potential applications in the mid-IR wavelength range. The well thickness was between 6 and 12 monolayers. The In _0.53 Ga_0.47As grown on an InAs layer is subject to a tensile biaxial strain and the InAs to a compressive one. In the Raman spectra we observed an intense narrow line corresponding to the LO phonon of the InAs layer between a GaAs-like LO mode and a smaller InAs-like LO phonon typical of In_0.53Ga_0.47As. With the increase of the well thickness the experimental energy shift of the LO phonon of the InAs layer decreases, indicating a smaller strain, whereas the GaAs-like LO phonon of the alloy remains constant and the intensity ratio of these two modes becames smaller. The dominant and sharp features of the InAs LO and GaAs-like LO characterize the good quality of our structures. With the increase of the InAs layer thickness we also observed the appearance and the intensity rise of a weak peak around the frequency of the InAs TO mode. This peak could be associated with the TO mode that is forbidden in our scattering geometry. We believe that this is indicative of a slight deterioration of the structural perfection of the sample with the increase of the well thickness. To our knowledge, this is the first study of vibrational properties of InAs/In _0.53 Ga_0.47As single quantum wells grown on InP substrates.     

GaInP材料生长及其性质研究

用常压MOCVD在半绝缘GaAs衬底上生长了Ga_xIn_1-xP(x=0.476～0.52)外延层,对外延层进行了X光双晶衍射、Hall和光致发光(PL)测试.77K下电子迁移率达3300cm²/V.s(浓度为1.4×10¹⁶cm^-3).载流子浓度随生长温度升高,随Ⅴ/Ⅲ比的增大而降低,并提出P空位(V_p)是自由载流子的一个重要来源,17KPL谱中,Ga_0.5In_0.5P(Tg=650℃,Ⅴ/Ⅲ=70)的峰能为1.828eV,半峰宽为19meV.另外,在1.849eV处还有一较弱的峰,GaInP峰能和其计算的带隙最大相差113meV,这可能与GaInP中杂质或缺陷以及其中存在有序结构有关.     

Mobility enhancement in MBE-grown InxGa1−xAs/In0.52Al0.48As modulation-doped heterostructures

Pseudomorphic In_xGa_1−xAs/In_0.52Al_0.48As modulation-doped heterostructures were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on InP (100) substrates over a range of indium compositions fromx=0.53 to 0.75. Low temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements show a prominent reduction in the InGaAs linewidth due to the quantum-size effect as the indium composition is increased from its lattice-matched value of 0.53. The lowest linewidth of 6.8 meV was achieved at an indium composition of 0.65, above which an increase in the linewidth was observed due to the overwhelming effects of interfacial strain. The Hall mobilities at 300 K and 77 K increase in correspondence to the PL linewidth reduction as the indium composition is increased. Although initial signs of mobility saturation can be seen at an indium composition of 0.65, the peak mobility at 77 K of 8.9×10⁴cm²V s⁻¹was achieved at an indium composition of 0.70. There is experimental evidence to indicate that the mobility enhancement at increasing indium composition is due to an effect of a reduction in the alloy scattering and in the effective mass of the carriers. It was found that the insertion of an additional In_0.53Ga_0.47As interface smoothing layer between the strained InGaAs channel and the In_0.52Al_0.48As spacer layer did not have a significant effect on the mobility enhancement in the heterostructures.