High-power 1.5 µm InAs-InGaAs quantum dot lasers on GaAs substrates

Light-current, spectral, and temperature characteristics of long-wavelength (1.46–1.5 μm) lasers grown on GaAs substrates, with an active area based on InAs-InGaAs quantum dots, are studied. To reach the required lasing wavelength, quantum dots were grown on top of a metamorphic InGaAs buffer layer with an In content of about 20%. The maximum output power in pulsed mode was 7 W at room temperature. The differential efficiency of the laser, which had a 1.5-mm-long cavity, was 50%. The temperature dependence of the threshold current is described by a characteristic temperature of 61 K in the temperature range 10–73°C. __________ Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, Vol. 38, No. 6, 2004, pp. 763–766. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2004 by Maksimov, Shernyakov, Kryzhanovskaya, Gladyshev, Musikhin, Ledentsov, Zhukov, Vasil’ev, Kovsh, Mikhrin, Semenova, Maleev, Nikitina, Ustinov, Alferov.     

Metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy growth and characterization of thick (100) CdTe layers on (100) GaAs and (100) GaAs/Si substrates

The growth characteristics and crystalline quality of thick (100) CdTe-epitaxial layers grown on (100) GaAs and (100) GaAs/Si substrates in a metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) system for possible applications in x-ray imaging detectors were investigated. High-crystalline-quality epitaxial layers of thickness greater than 100 μm could be readily obtained on both types of substrates. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of the x-ray double-crystal rocking curve (DCRC) decreased rapidly with increasing layer thickness, and remained around 50–70 arcsec for layers thicker than 30 μm on both types of substrates. Photoluminescence (PL) measurement showed high-intensity excitonic emission with very small defect-related peaks from both types of epilayers. Stress analysis carried out by performing PL as a function of layer thickness showed the layers were strained and a small amount of residual stress, compressive in CdTe/GaAs and tensile in CdTe/GaAs/Si, remained even in the thick layers. Furthermore, the resistivity of the layers on the GaAs substrate was found to be lower than that of layers on GaAs/Si possibly because of the difference of the activation of incorporated impurity from the substrates because of the different kinds of stress existing on them. A heterojunction diode was then fabricated by growing a CdTe epilayer on an n⁺-GaAs substrate, which exhibited a good rectification property with a low value of reverse-bias leakage current even at high applied biases.     

利用磁控溅射在GaN/蓝宝石衬底上生长ZnO薄膜

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were grown on n-GaN/sapphire substrates by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The films were grown at substrate temperatures ranging from 400 to 700 ℃ for 1 h at a RF power of 80 W in pure Ar gas ambient. The effect of the substrate temperature on the structural and optical properties of these films was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. XRD results indicated that ZnO films exhibited wurtzite symmetry and c-axis orientation when grown epitaxially on n-GaN/sapphire. The best crystalline quality of the ZnO film is obtained at a growth temperature of 600 ℃. AFM results indicate that the growth mode and degree of epitaxy strongly depend on the substrate temperature. In PL measurement, the intensity of ultraviolet emission increased initially with the rise of the substrate temperature, and then decreased with the temperature. The highest UV intensity is obtained for the film grown at 600 ℃ with best crystallization. oindent     

Growth and characterization of GaAs films deposited on Ge/Si composite substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

We report the results of studies which have been made on heteroepitaxial layers of GaAs and AlGaAs grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on composite substrates that consist of four different types of heteroepitaxial layered structures of Ge and Ge-Si grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (100)-oriented Si substrates. It is found that of the four structures studied, the preferred composite substrate is a single layer of Ge ∼1 μm thick grown directly on a Si buffer layer. The double-crystal X-ray rocking curves of 2 μm thick GaAs films grown on such substrates have FWHM values as small as 168 arc sec. Transmission electron micrographs of these Ge/Si composite substrates has shown that the number of dislocations in the Ge heteroepitaxial layer can be greatly reduced by an anneal at about 750° C for 30 min which is simultaneously carried out during the growth of the GaAs layer. The quality of the GaAs layers grown on these composite substrates can be greatly improved by the use of a five-period GaAs-GaAsP strained-layer superlattice (SLS). Using the results of these studies, low-threshold optically pumped AlGaAs-GaAs DH laser structures have been grown by MOCVD on MBE Ge/Si composite substrates.     

Formation of a step-free InAs quantum well selectively grown on a GaAs (111)B substrate

We investigated the possibility of forming a step-free quantum well structure. A step-free InAs monolayer was grown on a selectively grown mesa by controlling surface phases with in-situ monitoring of surface photo-absorption. We selectively grew a GaAs buffer at 800°C and cooled the sample keeping the (2×2)-like As stabilized surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) observation demonstrated that fully step-free surfaces were formed on the 8 μm wide mesa. Then, a monolayer-thick InAs was formed on this step-free surface and this InAs layer was capped by GaAs under the (2×2)-like condition. The quantum level of the step-free InAs layer was evaluated by spatially resolved photoluminescence (μPL) measurement. Uniform PL intensity and the lack of a double layer peak indicated the formation of a step-free InAs quantum well, which was in good agreement with AFM observation.     

Optical study of InP quantum dots

Results of photoluminescence (PL) studies of self-organized nanoscale InP islands (quantum dots, QDs) in the In_0.49Ga_0.51P matrix, grown on a GaAs substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE), are presented. Dependences of the PL efficiency on temperature in the range 77–300 K and on excitation level at pumping power densities of 0.01–5 kW/cm² have been obtained. The PL spectra are a superposition of emission peaks from QDs and the wetting layer. Their intensity ratio depends on the pumping power and temperature, and the emission wavelength varies in the range 0.65–0.73 μm. At 77 K and low excitation level, InP QDs exhibit high temperature stability of the emission wavelength and high quantum efficiency. __________ Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2001, pp. 242–244. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2001 by Vinokurov, Kapitonov, Nikolaev, Sokolova, Tarasov.     

1.46 μm room-temperature emission from InAs/InGaAs quantum dot nanostructures

We present a study on InAs/InGaAs QDs nanostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InGaAs metamorphic buffers, that are designed so as to determine the strain of QD and, then, to shift the luminescence emission towards the 1.5 μm region （QD strain engineering）. Moreover, we embed the QDs in InAIAs or GaAs barriers in addition to the InGaAs confining layers, in order to increase the activation energy for confined carrier thermal escape; thus, we reduce the thermal quenching of the photoluminescence, which prevents room temperature emission in the long wavelength range. We study the dependence of QD properties, such as emission energy and activation energy, on barrier thickness and height and we discuss how it is possible to compensate for the barrier-induced QD emission blue-shift taking advantage of QD strain engineering. Furthermore, the combination of enhanced barriers and QD strain engineering in such metamorphic QD nanostmctures allowed us to obtain room temperature emission up to 1.46μm, thus proving how this is a valuable approach in the auest for 1.55 um room temperature emission from ODs grown on GaAs substrates.     

GaN and AlGaN high-voltage rectifiers grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition

In this paper, we report the study of the electrical characteristics of GaN and AlGaN vertical p-i-n junctions and Schottky rectifiers grown on both sapphire and SiC substrates by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. For GaN p-i-n rectifiers grown on SiC with a relatively thin “i” region of 2 μm, a breakdown voltage over 400 V, and forward voltage as low as 4.5 V at 100 A/cm² are exhibited for a 60-μm-diameter device. A GaN Schottky diode with a 2-μm-thick undoped layer exhibits a blocking voltage in excess of ∼230 V at a reverse-leakage current density below 1 mA/cm², and a forward-voltage drop of 3.5 V at a current density of 100 A/cm². It has been found that with the same device structure and process approach, the leakage current of a device grown on a SiC substrate is much lower than a device grown on a sapphire substrate. The use of Mg ion implantation for p-guard rings as planar-edge terminations in mesageometry GaN Schottky rectifiers has also been studied.     

Optical properties of Zn-diffused InP layers for the planar-type InGaAs/InP photodetectors

Zn diffusion into InP was carried out ex-situ using a new Zn diffusion technique with zinc phosphorus particles placed around InP materials as zinc source in a semi-closed chamber formed by a modified diffusion furnace.The optical characteristics of the Zn-diffused InP layer for the planar-type InGaAs/InP PIN photodetectors grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has been investigated by photoluminescence (PL) measurements.The temperature-dependent PL spectrum of Zn-diffused InP samples at different diffusion temperatures showed that band-to-acceptor transition dominates the PL emission,which indicates that Zn was commendably diffused into InP layer as the acceptor.High quality Zn-diffused InP layer with typically smooth surface was obtained at 580 ℃ for 10 min.Furthermore,more interstitial Zn atoms were activated to act as acceptors after a rapid annealing process.Based on the above Zn-diffusion technique,a 50μm planar-type InGaAs/InP PIN photodector device was fabricated and exhibited a low dark current of 7.73 pA under a reverse bias potential of-5 V and a high breakdown voltage of larger than 41 V (I ＜ 10 μA).In addition,a high responsivity of 0.81 A/W at 1.31 μm and 0.97 A/W at 1.55 μm was obtained in the developed PIN photodetector.     

Lasing at a wavelength close to 1.3 µm in InAs quantum-dot structures

The feasibility of lasing at a wavelength close to 1.3 μm is demonstrated in InAs quantum-dot structures placed in an external InGaAs/GaAs quantum well. It is shown that the required wavelength can be attained with the proper choice of thickness of the InAs layer deposited to form an array of three-dimensional islands and with a proper choice of mole fraction of InAs in the InGaAs quantum well. Since the gain attained in the ground state is insufficient, lasing is implemented through excited states in the temperature interval from 85 K to 300 K in a structure based on a single layer of quantum dots. The maximum attainable gain in the laser structure can be raised by using three rows of quantum dots, and this configuration, in turn, leads to low-threshold (70 A/cm²) lasing through the ground state at a wavelength of 1.26 μm at room temperature. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 1020–1023 (August 1999)     

A DBRTD with a High PVCR and a Peak Current Density at Room Temperature

AlAs/GaAs/In0.1Ga0.9As/GaAs/AlAs double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes(DBRTDs) grown on a semi-insulated GaAs substrate with molecular beam epitaxy is demonstrated.By sandwiching the In0.1Ga0.9As layer between GaAs layers,potential wells beside the two sides of barrier are deepened,resulting in an increase of the peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) and a peak current density.A special shape of collector is designed in order to reduce contact resistance and non-uniformity of the current;as a result the total current density in the device is increased.The use of thin barriers is also helpful for the improvement of the PVCR and the peak current density in DBRTDs.The devices exhibit a maximum PVCR of 13.98 and a peak current density of 89kA/cm2 at room temperature.     

Optical and morphological properties of InGaAs/AlGaAs self-assembled quantum dot nanostructures for 980 nm room temperature emission

This work deals with the study of optical and morphological properties of InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot(QD) structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy(MBE) . Photoluminescence(PL) emission energies,activation energies of PL quenching and QD sizes are studied as functions of the Al content in the AlyGa1-yAs confining layers(CL) . We show that the PL emission energy of In(Ga) As/AlyGa1-yAs QD structures increases with increasing y and that the sizes of InAs/AlyGa1-yAs QDs decrease with increasing y. By the comparison of the experimental results with those of an effective-mass model developed to calculate the QD fundamental transition energies,we show that the blueshift of emission energy has to be ascribed not only to the increase in barrier discontinuities that confine the carriers into QDs but even to effects related to changes of the QD morphology dependent on CL composition. Moreover,we show that the Al content in the barriers determines also the activation energy of thermal quenching of PL,which depends on the thermal escape of carriers from QD levels. These studies resulted in the preparation of structures with efficient light-emission in the 980 nm spectral window of interest for lightwave communications.     

Heteroepitaxial growth of InAs on Si: A new type of quantum dot

The mechanism for heteroepitaxial growth in the InAs/Si system is studied by reflection highenergy electron diffraction, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and photoluminescence. For certain growth conditions, InAs nanostructures are found to develop on the Si surface immediately during the growth process in the course of molecular beam epitaxy. The range of substrate temperatures that lead to formation of nanosized islands is determined. InAs quantum dots grown on a buffer Si layer with a silicon layer of thickness 50 nm grown on the top produced photoluminescence lines at a wavelength of 1.3 μm at 77K and 1.6 μm at 300 K. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 1066–1069 (September 1999)     

Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on Optical Properties of GaInNAs/GaAs Single Quantum Well Grown by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy

The effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) on the optical properties of GaInNAs/GaAs Single Quantum Well (SQW) grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy are investigated. Ion removal magnets were applied to reduce the ion damage during the growth process and the optical properties of GaInNAs/GaAs SQW are remarkably improved. RTA was carried out at 650℃ and its effect was studied by the comparising the room\|temperature PhotoLuminescence (PL) spectra for the non ion removed (grown without magnets) sample with for the ion removed (grown with magnets) one. The more significant improvement of PL characteristics for non ion removed GaInNAs/GaAs SQW after annealing (compared with those for ion removed) indicates that the nonradiative centers removed by RTA at 650℃ are mainly originated from ion damage. After annealing the PL blue shift for non ion removed GaInNAs/GaAs SQW is much larger than those for InGaAs/GaAs and ion removed GaInNAs/GaAs SQW. It is found that the larger PL blue shift of GaInNAs/GaAs SQW is due to the defect assisted In Ga interdiffusion rather than defect assisted N As interdiffusion.     

Optical and morphological properties of InGaAs/AIGaAs self-assembled quantum dot nanostructures for 980 nm room temperature emission

This work deals with the study of optical and morphological properties of InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot （QD） structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy （MBE）. Photoluminescence （PL） emission energies, activation energies of PL quenching and QD sizes are studied as functions of the Al content in the AlyGal-yAs confining layers （CL）. We show that the PL emission energy of In（Ga）As/AlyGal-yAs QD structures increases with increasing y and that the sizes of InAs/AlyGal-yAs QDs decrease with increasing y. By the comparison of the experimental results with those of an effective-mass model developed to calculate the QD fundamental transition energies, we show that the blueshift of emission energy has to be ascribed not only to the increase in barrier discontinuities that confine the carriers into QDs but even to effects related to changes of the QD morphology dependent on CL composition. Moreover, we show that the Al content in the barriers determines also the activation energy of thermal quenching of PL, which depends on the thermal escape of carriers from QD levels. These studies resulted in the preparation of structures with efficient light-emission in the 980 nm spectral window of interest for lightwave communications.     

Direct growth of high-quality thick CdTe epilayers on Si (211) substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy for nuclear radiation detection and imaging

Direct growth of high-quality, thick CdTe (211) epilayers, with thickness up to 100 μm, on Si (211) substrates in a vertical metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy system is reported. In order to obtain homo-orientation growth on Si substrates, pretreatment of the substrates was carried out in a separate chamber by annealing them together with pieces of GaAs at 800–900°C in a hydrogen environment. Grown epilayers had very good substrate adhesion. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) value of the x-ray double-crystal rocking curve from the CdTe (422) reflection decreased rapidly with increasing layer thickness and remained between 140–200 arcsec for layers >18 μm. Photoluminescence measurement at 4.2 K showed high-intensity, bound excitonic emission and very small defect-related deep emissions, indicating the high crystalline quality of the grown layers. Furthermore, a CdTe/n⁺-Si heterojunction diode was fabricated that exhibited clear rectifying behavior.     

Structural and optical properties of InAs quantum dots in AlGaAs matrix

Structural and optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) grown in a wide-bandgap Al_0.3Ga_0.7As matrix is studied. It is shown that a high temperature stability of optical properties can be achieved owing to deep localization of carriers in a matrix whose band gap is wider than that in GaAs. Specific features of QD formation were studied for different amounts of deposited InAs. A steady red shift of the QD emission peak as far as ∼1.18 μm with the effective thickness of InAs in Al_0.3Ga_0.7As increasing was observed at room temperature. This made it possible to achieve a much higher energy of exciton localization than for QDs in a GaAs matrix. To obtain the maximum localization energy, the QD sheet was overgrown with an InGaAs layer. The possibility of reaching the emission wavelength of ~1.3 μm is demonstrated. __________ Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, Vol. 37, No. 5, 2003, pp. 578–582. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2003 by Sizov, Samsonenko, Tsyrlin, Polyakov, Egorov, Tonkikh, Zhukov, Mikhrin, Vasil’ev, Musikhin, Tsatsul’nikov, Ustinov, Ledentsov.     

RF-MBE Grown AlGaN/GaN HEMT Structure with High Al Content

A Si doped AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure with high Al content (x=43%) in the barrier layer is grown on sapphire substrate by RF-MBE.The structural and electrical properties of the heterostructure are investigated by the triple axis Xray diffraction and Van der PauwHall measurement,respectively.The observed prominent Bragg peaks of the GaN and AlGaN and the Hall results show that the structure is of high quality with smooth interface.The high 2DEG mobility in excess of 1260cm2／（V·s） is achieved with an electron density of 1.429e13cm－2 at 297K,corresponding to a sheet-densitymobility product of 1.8e16V－1·s－1.Devices based on the structure are fabricated and characterized.Better DC characteristics,maximum drain current of 1.0A/mm and extrinsic transconductance of 218mS/mm are obtained when compared with HEMTs fabricated using structures with lower Al mole fraction in the AlGaN barrier layer.The results suggest that the high Al content in the AlGaN barrier layer is promising in improving material electrical properties and device performance.     

Structure and photoluminescence properties of InN films grown on porous silicon by MOCVD

In this work, indium nitride (InN) films were successfully grown on porous silicon (PS) using metal oxide chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analyses are performed to investigate the optical, structural and morphological properties of the InN/PS nanocomposites. FESEM images show that the pore size of InN/PS nanocomposites is usually less than 4 μm in diameter, and the overall thickness is approximately 40 μm. The InN nanoparticles penetrate uniformly into PS layer and adhere to them very well. Nitrogen (N) and indium (In) can be detected by energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). An important gradual decrease of the PL intensity for PS occurs with the increase of oxidation time, and the PL intensity of PS is quenched after 24 h oxidization. However, there is a strong PL intensity of InN/PS nanocomposites at 430 nm (2.88 eV), which means that PS substrate can influence the structural and optical properties of the InN, and the grown InN on PS substrate has good optical quality.     

Self-organized nanoscale InP islands in an InGaP/GaAs host and InAs islands in an InGaAs/InP host

Arrays of strained nanoscale InP islands in an In_0.49Ga_0.51P host on a GaAs(100) substrate and InAs islands in a In_0.53Ga_0.47As host on an InP(100) substrate are obtained by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Their structural and photoluminescence properties are investigated. It is shown that the nanoscale islands that are formed measure 80 nm (InP/InGaP) and 25–60 nm (InAs/InGaAs). The photoluminescence spectra of the nanoscale islands display bands in the wavelength ranges 0.66–0.72 and 1.66–1.91 μm at 77 K with maxima whose position does not vary as the effective thickness of InP and InAs increases. The radiation efficiency of the nanoscale InP islands is two orders of magnitude greater than the luminescence intensity of the InAs islands. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 858–862 (July 1999)