The sandwich InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot structure for IR photoelectric detectors

A new possibility for growing InAs/GaAs quantum dot heterostructures for infrared photoelectric detectors by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy is discussed. The specific features of the technological process are the prolonged time of growth of quantum dots and the alternation of the low-and high-temperature modes of overgrowing the quantum dots with GaAs barrier layers. During overgrowth, large-sized quantum dots are partially dissolved, and the secondary InGaAs quantum well is formed of the material of the dissolved large islands. In this case, a sandwich structure is formed. In this structure, quantum dots are arranged between two thin layers with an increased content of indium, namely, between the wetting InAs layer and the secondary InGaAs layer. The height of the quantum dots depends on the thickness of the GaAs layer grown at a comparatively low temperature. The structures exhibit intraband photoconductivity at a wavelength around 4.5 μm at temperatures up to 200 K. At 90 K, the photosensitivity is 0.5 A/W, and the detectivity is 3 × 10⁹ cm Hz^1/2W^?1.     

Control of emission wavelength for InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells and laser structures on their basis by means of proton irradiation

Features of controlling the wavelength of emission from laser heterostructures with strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells by irradiation with medium-energy (with the energy as high as 150 keV) protons are studied. It is established that irradiation with H⁺ ions and subsequent thermal annealing at a temperature of 700°C make it possible to decrease the wavelength of emission from quantum wells. As the dose of ions is increased from 10¹³ to 10¹⁶ cm⁻², the magnitude of change in the wavelength increases to 20 nm. Starting with a dose of 10¹⁵ cm⁻², a significant decrease in the intensity of emission is observed. The optimum dose of H⁺ ions (6 × 10¹⁴ cm⁻²) and annealing temperature (700°C) for modifying the InGaAs/GaAs/InGaP laser structures are determined; it is shown that, in this case, one can obtain a shift of ∼(8–10) nm for the wavelength of laser radiation with low losses in intensity with the quality of the surface of laser structures retained. The observed “blue” shift is caused by implantation-stimulated processes of intermixing of the In and Ga atoms at the InGaAs/GaAs interface.     

Photoluminescence characterization of the effects of rapid thermal annealing on AlGaAs/GaAs modulation-doped quantum wells

In this study, we describe the effects of rapid thermal annealing on the electrical and optical properties of modulation-doped quantum wells (MDQWs). The sheet carrier concentration in MDQW structures which have been annealed in contact with a piece of GaAs tends to decrease with increasing annealing time due to Si auto-compensation in the doped AlGaAs regions. The high energy cut-off point of 4.2 K PL spectra, which occurs at the Fermi energy, and the 77 K PL linewidth are accurate measures of sheet carrier density. These two parameters track variations in carrier density produced by annealing. Photoluminescence spectra also provide additional insight into annealing-induced changes such as Si migration, which causes a degradation in the mobility of the two-dimensional electron gas.     

Effect of local structural defects on the precipitation of as in the vicinity of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix

Electron-microscopy studies of GaAs structures grown by the method of molecular-beam epitaxy and containing arrays of semiconductor InAs quantum dots and metallic As quantum dots are performed. An array of InAs quantum dots is formed using the Stranski-Krastanow mechanism and consists of five layers of vertically conjugated quantum dots divided by a 5-nm-thick GaAs spacer layer. The array of As quantum dots is formed in an As-enriched GaAs layer grown at a low temperature above an array of InAs quantum dots using postgrowth annealing at temperatures of 400–600°C for 15 min. It is found that, during the course of structure growth near the InAs quantum dots, misfit defects are formed; these defects are represented by 60° or edge dislocations located in the heterointerface plane of the semiconductor quantum dots and penetrating to the surface through a layer of “low-temperature” GaAs. The presence of such structural defects leads to the formation of As quantum dots in the vicinity of the middle of the InAs conjugated quantum dots beyond the layer of “low-temperature” GaAs.     

Effect of thermal annealing on the photoluminescence of structures with InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells and a low-temperature GaAs layer δ-doped with Mn

The effects of isochronal thermal annealing (at 325–725°C) on the radiative properties of InGaAs/GaAs nanoheterostructures containing a low-temperature GaAs layer δ-doped with Mn grown by laser deposition are studied. A decrease in the photoluminescence intensity and increase in the ground transition energy are observed upon thermal impact for quantum wells located near the low-temperature GaAs layer. The distribution of Mn atoms in the initial and annealed structures is obtained by secondary-ion mass spectrometry. A qualitative model of the observed effects of thermal annealing on the radiative properties of the structures is discussed; this model takes into account two main processes: diffusion of point defects (primarily gallium vacancies) from the GaAs coating layer deep into the structure and Mn diffusion in both directions by the dissociation mechanism. Magnetization studies show that, as a result of thermal annealing, an increase in the proportion of the ferromagnetic phase at room temperature (presumably, MnAs clusters) in the low-temperature GaAs coating layer takes place.     

Electron microscopy of GaAs-based structures with InAs and As quantum dots separated by an AlAs barrier

Electron microscopy studies of GaAs-based structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy and containing arrays of semiconductor InAs quantum dots and metal As quantum dots are performed. The array of InAs quantum dots is formed by the Stranski-Krastanov mechanism and consists of vertically coupled pairs of quantum dots separated by a GaAs spacer 10 nm thick. To separate the arrays of semiconductor and metal quantum dots and to prevent diffusion-induced mixing, the array of InAs quantum dots is overgrown with an AlAs barrier layer 5 or 10 nm thick, after which a GaAs layer is grown at a comparatively low temperature (180°C). The array of As quantum dots is formed in an As-enriched layer of the low-temperature GaAs by means of post-growth annealing at 400–760°C for 15 min. It is established that the AlAs barrier layer has a surface profile corresponding to that of a subbarrier layer with InAs quantum dots. The presence of such a profile causes the formation of V-shaped structural defects upon subsequent overgrowth with the GaAs layer. Besides, it was obtained that AlAs layer is thinned over the InAs quantum dots tops. It is shown that the AlAs barrier layer in the regions between the InAs quantum dots effectively prevents the starting diffusion of excess As at annealing temperatures up to 600°C. However, the concentration of mechanical stresses and the reduced thickness of the AlAs barrier layer near the tops of the InAs quantum dots lead to local barrier breakthroughs and the diffusion of As quantum dots into the region of coupled pairs of InAs quantum dots at higher annealing temperatures.     

Electron microscopy of GaAs Structures with InAs and as quantum dots

An electron-microscopy study of GaAs structures, grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, containing two coupled layers of InAs semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) overgrown with a thin buffer GaAs layer and a layer of low-temperature-grown gallium arsenide has been performed. In subsequent annealing, an array of As nanoinclusions (metallic QDs) was formed in the low-temperature-grown GaAs layer. The variation in the microstructure of the samples during temperature and annealing conditions was examined. It was found that, at comparatively low annealing temperatures (400–500°C), the formation of the As metallic QDs array weakly depends on whether InAs semiconductor QDs are present in the preceding layers or not. In this case, the As metallic QDs have a characteristic size of about 2–3 nm upon annealing at 400°C and 4–5 nm upon annealing at 500°C for 15 min. Annealing at 600°C for 15 min in the growth setup leads to a coarsening of the As metallic QDs to 8–9 nm and to the formation of groups of such QDs in the area of the low-temperature-grown GaAs which is directly adjacent to the buffer layer separating the InAs semiconductor QDs. A more prolonged annealing at an elevated temperature (760°C) in an atmosphere of hydrogen causes a further increase in the As metallic QDs’ size to 20–25 nm and their spatial displacement into the region between the coupled InAs semiconductor QDs.     

Characterization of silicon ion-implantation damage in single-strained-layer (InGa)As/GaAs quantum wells

We have characterized the structural effects of silicon ion implantation and controlled-atmosphere annealing on single quantum wells of In_0.14Ga_0.86As strained to match the in-plane lattice spacing of bulk GaAs. Cantilever-beam techniques were applied to measure implantation-induced stresses, while Rutherford backscattering, double-crystal x-ray diffraction, and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy were applied to characterize the resulting microstructure. Samples were examined in both the as-implanted state and also after implantation and annealing under an arsenic overpressure at 800° C for 10 minutes. For implants whose energies produced maximum implanted ion density near the center of the 20 nm-thick quantum well, a maximum in the implantation-induced stresses were observed to occur at a silicon ion fluence of 1 × 10¹⁴/cm². Annealing of the implanted samples resulted in small dislocation loops in the ion range zone with survival of the strained quantum well. Electrical activation of the implants was found to be similar to identical implants into bulk GaAs.     

Influence of composition and anneal conditions on the optical properties of (In, Ga)As quantum dots in an (Al, Ga)As matrix

The optical properties of structures containing InGaAs quantum dots in GaAs and AlGaAs matrices grown by molecular-beam epitaxy are investigated. It is shown that increasing the In content in the quantum dots has the effect of raising the energy of carrier localization and increasing the energy distance between the ground state and the excited states of carriers in the quantum dots. An investigation of the influence of postgrowth annealing on the optical properties of the structures shows that the formation of vertically coupled quantum dots and the use of a wide-gap AlGaAs matrix enhances the thermal stability of the structures. Moreover, high-temperature (830 °C) thermal annealing can improve the quality of the AlGaAs layers in structures with vertically coupled InGaAs quantum dots in an AlGaAs matrix. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using postgrowth annealing to improve the characteristics of quantum dot lasers. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 91–96 (January 1999)     

electrical properties of the proton-irradiated semi-insulating GaAs:Cr

The n-p conversion of the conduction type and a decrease in resistivity to 10² Ω cm at 300 K were revealed upon proton irradiation (5 MeV, 300 K, D≈2×10¹⁷ cm^?2) of semi-insulating GaAs:Cr (ρ≈(3–4)×10⁸ Ω cm). Temperature dependences of ρ for heavily irradiated samples indicate a hopping conduction in the temperature range of 400–120 K, with the transition to the conduction with variable-range hopping at T≤120 K. The effects of electronic switching were found in low-resistivity proton-irradiated GaAs:Cr at about 20 K. The isochronous annealing of radiation defects in the temperature range of 20–750°C was investigated.     

GaAs基上的InAs量子环制备

在分子束外延系统中,利用3nmGaAs薄盖层将InAs自组装量子点部分覆盖,然后在500°C以及As2气氛中退火一分钟,制成纳米尺度的InAs量子环。这一形成敏感地依赖于退火时的生长条件和生长InAs自组装量子点时的淀积量。InAs在GaAs表面的扩散以及同时发生的In-Ga互混控制着InAs量子环的形成。     

Transformation of nonradiative recombination centers in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structures upon treatment in a CF4 plasma followed by low-temperature annealing

The influence of low-temperature annealing on the photoluminescence of GaAs/AlGaAs single-quantum-well structures treated in a low-energy CF₄ plasma is investigated. It is established that annealing at 160–300 °C causes a decrease of the photoluminescence intensity of the quantum wells located in the near-surface region, while annealing at 350–450 °C leads to partial restoration of their photoluminescence. The activation energy for the diffusion of plasma-produced point defects and the activation energy for the annealing of these defects are determined. These energies are equal to 150 and 540 meV, respectively. It is discovered that the photoluminescence of the quantum wells near the substrate, which had a low intensity in the as-grown sample, increases after treatment in the plasma and decreases after subsequent annealing monotonically with increasing annealing temperature. Repeated treatment in a CF₄ plasma leads to a repeated increase in the photoluminescence intensity of these quantum wells. It is theorized that the defects induced by the CF₄ plasma form complexes with defects introduced during growth and that these complexes are not recombination centers. After low-temperature annealing, the complexes dissociate, and the nonradiative recombination centers are recreated. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 32, 1450–1455 (December 1998)     

Special features of electrical activation of 28Si in single-crystal and epitaxial GaAs subjected to rapid thermal annealing

Concentration profiles of ²⁸Si implanted in single-crystal and epitaxial GaAs were determined by measuring the C-V characteristics after the postimplantation rapid thermal annealings for 12 s at T=825, 870, and 905°C. The temperature dependence of Hall mobility of electrons in the Si-implanted layers subjected to the same annealings was determined by the Van der Pauw method within the range of 70–400 K. As distinct from conventional thermal annealing (for 30 min at 800°C), the rapid thermal annealing brings about a diffusive redistribution of silicon to deeper layers of GaAs for the materials of both types, with the diffusivity of silicon being twice as high in single-crystal GaAs as that in GaAs epitaxial layers. Analysis of temperature dependence of electron mobility in ion-implanted layers following a rapid thermal annealing indicates a significantly lower concentration of the defects limiting the mobility as compared to the case of a conventional thermal annealing for 30 min.     

自组织生长InAs／GaAs量子点的退火效应

通过研究ＧａＡｓ衬底上不同厚度ＩｎＡｓ层光致发光的退火效应，发现它和应变量子阱结构退火效应相类似，ＩｎＡｓ量子点中的应变使退火引起的互扩散加强，量子点发光峰蓝移．量子点中或其附近一旦形成位错，其中的应变得到释放，互扩散现象就不明显了，退火倾向于产生更多的位错，量子点的发光峰位置不变，但强度减弱．     

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)     

Study of metamorphic InGaAs/GaAs quantum well laser materials grown on GaAs substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

The GaAs based InGaAs metamorphic structures and their growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are investigated. The controlling of the source temperature is improved to realize the linearly graded InGaAs metamorphic structure precisely. The threading dislocations are reduced. We also optimize the growth and annealing parameters of the InGaAs quantum well (QW). The 1.3-μm GaAs based metamorphic InGaAs QW is completed. A 1.3-μm GaAs based metamorphic laser is reported.     

Growth and characterization of (111)B InGaAs/GaAs multi-quantum well PIN diode structures

High quality piezoelectric strained InGaAs/GaAs multi-quantum well structures on (111)B GaAs substrates have been grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy in a PIN configuration. 10K photoluminescence (PL) shows narrow peaks with widths as low as 3 meV for a 25-period structure while room temperature (RT) PL shows several higher order peaks, normally forbidden, indicating breaking of inversion symmetry by the piezoelectric field. Furthermore, both the 10K PL peak position and the form of the RT PL spectra depend on the number of quantum wells within the intrinsic region, suggesting that the electric-field distribution is altered thereby. Diodes fabricated from these structures had sharp avalanche breakdown voltages (V_bd) and leakage currents as low as 8 × 10⁻⁶ A/cm² at 0.95 V_bd, indicating quality as high as in (100) devices. On leave from: Department de Ingeniera Electronica, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.     

Numerical Simulation of ZnO-Based Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers

In this work, a particle-based Monte Carlo model is used to quantify the potential of terahertz sources based on the ZnO-based material system relative to existing devices based on GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. Specifically, two otherwise identical quantum cascade structures based on ZnO/MgZnO and GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells are designed, and their non- equilibrium carrier distributions are then computed as a function of temperature. The simulation results show that, because of their larger optical phonon energy, ZnO/MgZnO quantum cascade laser structures exhibit weaker temperature dependence of the population inversion than in the case of similar structures made of GaAs/AlGaAs. In particular, as the temperature is increased from 10 K to 300 K, population inversion is found to decrease by a factor of 4.48 and 1.50 for the AlGaAs and MgZnO structure, respectively. Based on these results, the MgZnO devices are then predicted to be, in principle, capable of laser action without cryogenic cooling.     

Coupling of electron states in the InAs/GaAs quantum dot molecule

Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) is used to study electron emission from the states in the system of vertically correlated InAs quantum dots in the p-n InAs/GaAs heterostructures, in relation to the thickness of the GaAs spacer between the two layers of InAs quantum dots and to the reverse-bias voltage. It is established that, with the 100 Å GaAs spacer, the InAs/GaAs heterostructure manifests itself as a system of uncoupled quantum dots. The DLTS spectra of such structures exhibit two peaks that are defined by the ground state and the excited state of an individual quantum dot, with energy levels slightly shifted (by 1–2 eV), due to the Stark effect. For the InAs/GaAs heterostructure with two layers of InAs quantum dots separated by the 40 Å GaAs spacer, it is found that the quantum dots are in the molecule-type phase. Hybridization of the electron states of two closely located quantum dots results in the splitting of the levels into bonding and antibonding levels corresponding to the electron ground states and excited states of the 1s ⁺, 1s ^?, 2p ⁺, 2p ^?, and 3d ⁺ types. These states manifest themselves as five peaks in the DLTS spectra. For these quantum states, a large Stark shift of energy levels (10–40 meV) and crossing of the dependences of the energy on the electric field are observed. The structures with vertically correlated quantum dots are grown by molecular beam epitaxy, with self-assembling effects.     

Tuning of electronic states in self-assembled InAs quantum dots using an ion implantation technique

We report the tunability of up to 150 meV of the ground state transition of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) using Mn ion implantation and subsequent annealing. Because of the exciton localization in the quantum dots, the photoluminescence efficiency (T=12K) of the quantum dot transition remains at 80% of its original value after implantation with a Mn dose of 1×10¹³ cm⁻²ions. Strong luminescence still remains at room temperature. At a high implantation dose (1×10¹⁵ cm⁻²) and rapid thermal annealing (700°C for 60s) about 25% of the QD luminescence intensity is recovered at T=12K.