Hall and photoluminescence studies of effects of the thickness of an additional In0.3Ga0.7As layer in the center of In0.15Ga0.85As/Al0.25Ga0.75As/GaAs high electron mobility transistors

In order to reduce the noise and carrier–donor scattering and thereby increase the carrier mobility of the pseudomorphic AlGaAs/InGaAs high electron mobility transistors (pHEMTs), we have grown Al_0.25Ga_0.75As/In_0.15Ga_0.85As/In_0.3Ga_0.7As/GaAs pHEMTs with varied In_0.3Ga_0.7As thickness, and studied the effects of the In_0.3Ga_0.7As thickness on the electron mobility and sheet density by Hall measurements and photoluminescence measurements. We calculated the electron and hole subbands and obtained good agreement between calculated and measured PL energies. It was found that the additional In_0.3Ga_0.7As layer could be used to reduce the carrier–donor scattering, but due to the increased interface roughness as the In_0.3Ga_0.7As layer becomes thicker, the interface scattering reduced the electron mobility. An optimal thickness of the In_0.3Ga_0.7As was found to be 2 nm.     

In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs quantum well laser with C doped cladding and ohmic contact layers

Carbon doping in Al_xGa_1−xAs was achieved using different approaches. The moderate growth temperature of 650°C was employed to grow C bulk-doped Al_xGa_1−xAs with a high Al mole fraction. The hole-density was altered using different V/III ratios. The trimethylaluminum (TMAl) was used as an effective C δ-doping precursor for growth of C δ-doped pipi doping superlattices in Al_xGa_1−xAs. the average hole-density of C δ-doped pipi superlattices was greater than 2−3 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³. Zn-free GRINSCH In_0.2Ga_0.8As/GaAs laser structures were then grown using the C bulk-doped Al_xGa_1−xAs and C δ-doped pipi superlattice as a cladding and ohmic contact layer, respectively. The ridge waveguide laser diodes were fabricated and characterized to verify flexibility of these two doping approaches for device structures.     

High uniformity of Al0.3Ga0.7As/ln0.15Ga0.85As doped-channel structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on 3″ GaAs substrates

Al_0.3Ga_0.7As/ln_0.15Ga_0.85As doped-channel structures were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on 3″ GaAs substrates. The uniformities of electrical and optical properties across a 3″ wafer were evaluated. A maximum 10% variation of sheet charge density and Hall mobility was achieved for this doped-channel structure. A1 μm long gate field-effect transistor (FET) built on this layer demonstrated a peak transconductance of 350 mS/mm with a current density of 470 mA/mm. Compared to the high electron mobility transistors, this doped-channel FET provides a higher current density and higher breakdown voltage, which is very suitable for high-power microwave device applications.     

Accurate determination of the band-offset of a quantum semiconductor structure from its capacitance-voltage profile: Application to an InP/Ga0.47In0.53As/InP single quantum well

We discuss the possible analysis of an electron distribution obtained by capacitance-voltage profiling for the determination of the conduction band offset of a single quantum well. We show that, for this method which requires only relatively light experimental equipment, a nonconsuming computational time interpretation can be set up within a quite satisfactory degree of accuracy. As an application, we report the study of a lattice matched InP/Ga_0.47In_0.53As/InP quantum well for which we get ΔE_c = (200±10) meV, in good agreement with other measurements upon this system.     

Electrical and growth characteristics of Au/Al0.15Ga0.85N:Si structures with various Si incorporations

We have investigated the growth characteristics of n-Al_0.15Ga_0.85N:Si/GaN and the electronic properties of Au/n-Al_0.15Ga_0.85N:Si diode structures grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with various Si incorporations. The Al_0.15Ga_0.85N:Si layers were grown on undoped GaN/sapphire (0001) epitaxial layers in a horizontal MOCVD reactor at the reduced pressure of 300 torr. The mirrorlike surface, free of defects, such as cracks or hillocks, can be seen in the undoped Al_0.15Ga_0.85N epilayer, which was grown without any intentional flow of SiH₄. However, many cracks are observed in the n-Al_0.15Ga_0.85N:Si, which was grown with Si incorporation above 1.0 nmol/min. While Au/n-Al_0.15Ga_0.85N:Si diodes having low incorporation of Si showed retively good rectifying behavior, the samples having high Si incorporation exhibited leaky current-voltage (I-V) behavior. Particularly, the Au/n-Al_0.15Ga_0.85N:Si structure grown with Si incorporation above 1.0 nmol/min cannot be used for electrical rectification. Both added tunneling components and thermionic emission influence the current transport at the Au/n-Al_0.15Ga_0.85N:Si barrier when Si incorporation becomes higher.     

Highly strained ln0.35Ga0.65As/GaAs layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy for high hole mobility transistors

We have grown highly strained In_0.35Ga_0.65As layers on GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy to improve the performance of high hole mobility transistors (HHMTs). The mobility and sheet hole concentration of double side doped pseudomorphic HHMT structures at room temperature reached 314 cm2/V-s and 1.19 × 10¹² cm⁻², respectively. Photoluminescence measurements at room temperature show good crystalline quality of the In^0.35Ga_0.65As layers. This study suggests that the performance of HHMTs can be improved by using high-quality In_0.35Ga_0.65As layers for the channel of double side doped heterostructures pseudomorphically grown on GaAs substrates.     

Capacitance-voltage profiling and thermal evolution of the conduction band-offset of unstrained Ga0.47In0.53As/InP single quantum well

We report the results of capacitance-voltage (C-V) and Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements performed upon a Ga_0.47In_0.53As/InP quantum well structure. At room temperature, a conduction-band offset ΔE_c=(200±10)meV and charge densities σ_I=±(3±1)*10¹¹ times the electronic charge per cm² have been measured from C-V experiments. At lower temperature (T≤150K) we have observed an important decrease of the band-offset, considerably larger than a pure thermal effect. We have shown that the explanation lies in the presence of a high concentration of deep traps located at the well-barrier interfaces. Two species A and B have been detected through DLTS experiments with activation energies E_tA=90 meV and E_tB=195 meV, respectively. The filling of these trap levels at low temperature lowers the band offset from 200 to 120 meV, owing to band repulsion effects.     

Drift velocity of electrons in quantum wells in high electric fields

It is experimentally found that the maximum drift velocity of electrons in quantum wells of differently arranged AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures and pseudoamorphous Al_0.36Ga_0.64As/In_0.15Ga_0.85 As heterostructures is higher than the maximum drift velocity of electrons in bulk materials. It is established that no negative differential conductivity is exhibited by the field dependence of the drift velocity of two-dimensional electrons in GaAs and In_0.15Ga_0.85As. The drift velocity in the GaAs quantum well is saturated in fields several times higher than the field corresponding to the Γ-L intervalley transitions of electrons in bulk GaAs.     

湿法氧化Al0.85Ga0.15As时SiO2层的保护作用

本文研究了有无氧化硅保护层时Al0.85Ga0.15As层的高温湿法氧化。实验结果表明：氧化硅层对Al0.85Ga0.15As层的高温侧向湿法氧化速率基本无影响;被氧化区域SEM图像的衬度和有氧化硅保护层样品As拉曼峰的缺乏归因于被氧化区域中不存在氧化反应产物As,这有利于提高氧化层的热稳定性;有SiO2保护层样品的发光强度比无SiO2保护层样品的发光强度强的多,且具有SiO2保护层样品的发光峰位和半高全宽与氧化前的样品基本一致,而无SiO2保护层样品的发光峰位红移,半高宽展宽,这是由于氧化硅层阻止了GaAs盖层的氧化。     

Photoreflectance spectroscopy of electron-hole states in a graded-width GaAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum well

The spectrum of electron-hole states in a GaAs/In_0.5Ga_0.5As quantum well with a width graded in the range from 1.1 to 3.6 nm is studied by photoreflectance spectroscopy. The energies of the size-quantization levels of electrons and holes are calculated taking into account the strain-induced changes in the band structures of the quantum well. It is shown that the best fit of the experimental data to the results of calculations is attained if the ratio between the offset of the conduction band and that of the valence band at the heterojunction is Q = ΔE _c /ΔE _v = 0.62/0.38. A photoreflectance signal is detected in the region of the shadow of modulating radiation beam at a spacing between the spots produced by probing and modulating radiation shorter than 6 mm.     

Optical properties of strained layer (111)B Al0.15Ga0.85As-In0.04Ga0.96as quantum well heterostructures

Data presented here demonstrate that strained-layer (111)B Al_0.15Ga_0.85As-In_0.04Ga_0.96As quantum wells exhibit unique optical properties when compared to otherwise identical (100) oriented strained layers. Photoluminescence measurements identify a strain-induced electric field of order 6.7 Vμm^-1 within the (111)B quantum well that is not present for the (100) case. Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy measurements show that the heavy-hole to light-hole energy band splitting is approximately 7 meV larger for the (111)B structure than for the (100) structure. Howard Hughes Doctoral Fellow IBM Graduate Fellow     

Application of photoluminescence spectroscopy to studies of In0.38Al0.62As/In0.38Ga0.62As/GaAs metamorphic nanoheterostructures

The results of studies of the surface morphology, electrical parameters, and photoluminescence properties of In_0.38Al_0.62As/In_0.38Ga_0.62As/In_0.38Al_0.62As metamorphic nanoheterostructures on GaAs substrates are reported. Some micron-sized defects oriented along the [011] and \([0\bar 11]\) directions and corresponding to regions of outcropping of stacking faults are detected on the surface of some heterostructures. The Hall mobility and optical properties of the samples correlate with the surface defect density. In the photoluminescence spectra, four emission bands corresponding to the recombination of charge carriers in the InGaAs quantum well (1–1.2 eV), the InAlAs metamorphic buffer (1.8–1.9 eV), the GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice at the buffer-substrate interface, and the GaAs substrate are detected. On the basis of experimentally recorded spectra and self-consistent calculations of the band diagram of the structures, the compositions of the alloy constituents of the heterostructures are established and the technological variations in the compositions in the series of samples are determined.     

Photoluminescence studies of In0.7Al0.3As/In0.75Ga0.25As/In0.7Al0.3As metamorphic heterostructures on GaAs substrates

The influence of the design of the metamorphic buffer of In_0.7Al_0.3As/In_0.75Ga_0.25As metamorphic nanoheterostructures for high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) on their electrical parameters and photoluminescence properties is studied experimentally. The heterostructures are grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs (100) substrates with linear or step-graded In _x Al_{1 ? x} As metamorphic buffers. For the samples with a linear metamorphic buffer, strain-compensated superlattices or inverse steps are incorporated into the buffer. At photon energies ?ω in the range 0.6–0.8 eV, the photoluminescence spectra of all of the samples are identical and correspond to transitions from the first and second electron subbands to the heavy-hole band in the In_0.75Ga_0.25As/In_0.7Al_0.3As quantum well. It is found that the full width at half-maximum of the corresponding peak is proportional to the two-dimensional electron concentration and the luminescence intensity increases with increasing Hall mobility in the heterostructures. At photon energies ?ω in the range 0.8–1.3 eV corresponding to the recombination of charge carriers in the InAlAs barrier region, some features are observed in the photoluminescence spectra. These features are due to the difference between the indium profiles in the smoothing and lower barrier layers of the samples. In turn, the difference arises from the different designs of the metamorphic buffer.     

Dislocation-Induced deep level states in In0.08Ga0.92As/GaAs heterostructures

We have performed luminescence experiments on In_0.08Ga_0.92As/GaAs heterointerfaces to explore the energy distribution of deep level states in the bandgap for two cases: (1) unrelaxed, pseudomorphic In_0.08Ga_0.92As films (200Å thick), which have few if any dislocations at the interface, and (2) partially relaxed In_0.08Ga_0.92As films (1000Å thick) which are expected to have a substantial interfacial dislocation density. A combined photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence technique is used which allows us to profile the sample luminescence through the buried interface region. Our results show the existence of deep level luminescent features characteristic of the GaAs substrate and features common to In_0.08Ga_0.92As and GaAs, as well as the existence of a deep level feature near 1 eV photon energy which undergoes a shift in energy depending upon the degree of strain relaxation in the In_0.08Ga_0.92As film. In addition, a deep level feature near 0.83 eV becomes prominent only in In_0.08Ga_0.92As films which have relaxed, and thus contain misfit dislocations at the interface. These deep level differences may be due to bandgap states associated with the intrinsic dislocation structure, impurities segregated at the dislocation, or bulk point defects, or threading dislocations generated during the strain relaxation. Previous work has determined that a deep level state 0.7 eV above the valence band edge would account for the electrical behavior of relaxed In_0.08Ga_0.92As/GaAs interfaces, which is in good agreement with the range of deep level transitions near 0.8 eV photon energy which we observe. These measurements suggest that photo- and cathodoluminescence measurements of deep level emission in these III-V semiconductors can provide a useful indicator of electrically active defect densities associated with misfit dislocations.     

Study of grown-in defects and effect of thermal annealing in Al0.3Ga0.7As and GaAs LPE layers

Studies of the grown-in deep-level defects in the undoped n-Al_xGa_1-xAs (x = 0.3) and GaAs epitaxial layers prepared by the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) techniques have been made, using DLTS, I-V and C-V measurements. The effect of 300 °C thermal annealing on the grown-in defects was investigated as a function of annealing time. The results showed that significant reduction in these grown-in defects can be achieved via low temperature thermal annealing process. The main electron and hole traps observed in the Al_0.3Ga_0.7As LPE layer were due to the E_c-0.31 eV and E_v+0.18 eV level, respectively, while for the GaAs LPE layer, the electron traps were due to the E_c-0.42 and 0.60 eV levels, and the hole traps were due to E_v+0.40 and 0.71 eV levels. Research supported in part by the Air Force Wright Aeronautical Laboratories, Aeropropulsion Lab., Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, subcontract through SCEEE, contract F33615-81-C-2011, task-4, and in part by AFOSR grant no. 81-0187.     

Electrical behavior of modulation-and delta-doped Al x Ga1 − x As/In y Ga1 − y As/GaAs PHEMT structures

Modulation-and delta-doped Al_xGa_{1 ? x} As/In_yGa_{1 ? y} As/GaAs PHEMT structures are grown by MBE. The effect is examined of changes in the technique and level of doping on the electrical behavior of the structures. Photoluminescence spectroscopy combined with Hall-effect measurements is shown to be an effective strategy for the purpose. The experimental results are interpreted on the basis of calculated conductionband diagrams.     

A study of alloyed AuGeNi/Ag/Au based ohmic contacts on the Al0.48In0.52As/Ga0.47In0.53As system

Very low resistance alloyed NiGeAuAgAu ohmic contacts have been fabricated to the Al_0.48In_0.52As/Ga_0.47In_0.53As heterosystem. A thin capping layer of GalnAs was used to inhibit Al oxidation at the surface. Unlike NiGeAgAu ohmic metallization containing ≈;25% Ag commonly used for contacting GaAs based semiconductors at Cornell, the Ag concentraiton was reduced to ≈;10%. AES/sputtering depth profiles indicated that this allowed controlled dissolution of the nonconducting AlInAs top layer by the metallization which eventually interacted with the GalnAs without depleting it of In due to the strong Ag-In affinity. The stoichiometry of the conducting GalnAs, in contact with the reacted metals, was thus maintained and this yielded specific transfer resistances ≈;0.06 ohm · mm, the lowest to date.     

Weak-beam stereomicrography of defects in GaAs/In x Ga1−x As interfaces

Weak-beam stereomicrography was used to image dislocation arrays at the two interfaces in GaAs/In _x Ga_1−x As/GaAs sandwich structures. For samples with mismatch equal to 1.8%, separate dislocation arrays were found at each interface. The measured dislocation density at the upper interface was only 10% of the density found at the lower interface. This is attributed to reduced mismatch at the upper interface due to strain in the In_0.25Ga_0.75As layer. Also, the dislocation spacing asymmetry along the [01l] and [01l] directions is exhibited at each interface. In the upper interface, it is attributed to growth on asymmetrically strained In_0.25Ga_0.75As. Stereo-imaging of samples with higher mismatch (f = 2.9%) showed 3-dimensional details of dislocation half-loop nucleation that leads to a semiorthogonal array with increasing In_0.4Ga_0.6As layer thickness.     

Effect of Se-doping on deep impurities in AlxGa1−xAs grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

We have studied the effect of Se-doping on deep impurities in Al_xGa_1−xAs (x = 0.2∼0.3) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Deep impurities in various Se-doped Al_xGa_1−xAs layers grown on GaAs substrates were measured by deep level transient spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. We have found that the commonly observed oxygen contamination-related deep levels at E_c-0.53 and 0.70 eV and germanium-related level at E_c-0.30 eV in MOCVD grown Al_xGa_1−xAs can be effectively eliminated by Se-doping. In addition, a deep hole level located at E_y + 0.65 eV was found for the first time in Se-doped Al_xGa_1-xAs when Se ≥2 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ or x ≥ 0.25. The concentration of this hole trap increases with increasing Se doping level and Al composition. Under optimized Se-doping conditions, an extremely low deep level density (N_t less than 5 × 10¹² cm⁻³, detection limit) Al_0.22Ga_0.78As layer was achieved. A p-type Al_0.2Ga_0.8As layer with a low deep level density was also obtained by a (Zn, Se) codoping technique.     

Persistent photoconductivity and electron mobility in In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As/InP quantum-well structures

The influence of the width of the quantum well L and doping on the band structure, scattering, and electron mobility in nanoheterostructures with an isomorphic In_0.52Al_0.48As/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.52Al_0.48As quantum well grown on an InP substrate are investigated. The quantum and transport mobilities of electrons in the dimensionally quantized subbands are determined using Shubnikov-de Haas effect measurements. These mobilities are also calculated for the case of ionized-impurity scattering taking into account intersub-band electron transitions. It is shown that ionized-impurity scattering is the dominant mechanism of electron scattering. At temperatures T < 170 K, persistent photoconductivity is observed, which is explained by the spatial separation of photoexcited charge carriers.