Temperature dependence of the optical energy gap for the CdS<Subscript>x</Subscript>Se<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> quantum dots

A temperature dependence of the optical energy gap E _g (T) for the CdS_xSe_1?x quantum dots synthesized in a borosilicate glass matrix was investigated in the range of 4.2–500 K. It was demonstrated that this dependence reproduced the dependence E _g (T) for bulk crystals and is described by the Varshni formula for \(\bar r > a_B \) over the entire temperature range. Here, \(\bar r\) is the average dot radius, and a_B is the Bohr radius for the exciton in a bulk crystal. With the transition to quantum dots with \(\bar r > a_B \), a decrease in the thermal coefficient of the band gap and a deviation from the Varshni dependence were observed in the temperature range of 4.2–100 K. The specific features observed are explainable by a decrease in the resulting macroscopic potential of the electron-phonon interaction and by modification of the vibration spectrum for dots as their volume decreases.     

Internal quantum efficiency of stimulated emission of (λ=1.55 µm) InGaAsP/InP laser diodes

The stimulated emission (η _i ^st ) of InGaAsP/InP separate-confinement double heterostructure lasers operating at λ=1.5–1.6 μm has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Laser heterostructures with a varied design of the waveguide layer were grown by MOCVD. The maximum internal quantum efficiency η _i ^st ≈97% was obtained in a structure with a double-step waveguide characterized by minimum leakage into the p-emitter above the generation threshold. The high value of η _i ^st is provided by low threshold and nonequilibrium carrier concentrations at the interface between the waveguide and p-emitter. The calculation yields η _i ^st values correlating well with the experimental data. __________ Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2003, pp. 243–248. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2003 by Skrynnikov, Zegrya, Pikhtin, Slipchenko, Shamakhov, Tarasov.     

Integer quantum Hall effect and correlated disorder

The effect of the form of the random potential of impurities and defects on the longitudinal σ _xx and Hall σ _xy components of conductivity in the mode of the integer quantum Hall effect is theoretically investigated. It is shown that the width of the Hall conductivity plateau as well as the peak values of the longitudinal conductivity heavily depend on the ratio λ/a _H between the random potential correlation length and the magnetic length. For the first time, it is established that in the case of the short-wavelength potential λ ? a _H, the peak values of σ _xx ^(N) are directly proportional to the Landau level number N ≥ 1, σ _xx = 0.5Ne ²/h, whereas the peak values of σ _xx ^(N) are independent of the Landau level number in the case of the long-wavelength potential λ ? a _H, and their magnitude is much lower than 0.5e ²/h. The obtained results are in good agreement with the available experimental data.     

Relaxation of excitons in semimagnetic asymmetric double quantum wells

The steady-state circular-polarized photoluminescence in semimagnetic asymmetric double quantum wells based on Cd(Mn,Mg)Te is studied thoroughly in relation to the polarization of intrawell nonresonance photoexcitation in magnetic fields Bup to 9 T. In low fields B, in which the exciton in the magnetic well is higher in energy than the exciton in the nonmagnetic well, the complete interwell relaxation of excitons is observed. In fields higher than B _c = 3–6 T, at which the exciton level in the magnetic well crosses the field-independent exciton level in the nonmagnetic well, the magnetic-field-induced red shift of the exciton in the magnetic well is accompanied by the establishment of a nonequilibrium distribution of excitons. This suggests that spin relaxation plays an important part in the interwell separation of excitons in the spin-dependent potential of the heterostructure. The efficiency of spin relaxation is controlled by mixing of valence band states in the nonmagnetic well and by splitting of heavy and light holes Δ _hh-lh . Different modes of interwell tunneling are observed in different field regions separated by the field B _c ^* > B _c corresponding to the crossing of the localized excitons in the nonmagnetic well and free excitons in the magnetic well. Possible mechanisms of interwell tunnel relaxation are discussed.     

Resonant Γ-<Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis> tunneling in single-barrier GaAs/AlAs/GaAs heterostructures

The electron transport through single-barrier GaAs/AlAs/GaAs heterostructures is studied. This transport is caused by resonant tunneling between the two-dimensional states related to the Γ valley of the GaAs conduction band and various two-or zero-dimensional donor states related to the lower X valleys of the AlAs conduction band. The resonant electron tunneling both via various two-dimensional states related to the X_z and X_xy valleys in AlAs (the X_z and X_xy states) and via related states of Si donors X _z ^D and X _xy ^D was observed. This circumstance made it possible to determine the binding energies of these states (E_B(X _z ^D )≈50 meV and E_B(X _xy ^D )≈70 meV, respectively) directly from the results of identification of resonance features in transport characteristics. An analysis of the structure of experimental resonances corresponding to tunneling between the Γ and X Landau levels in a magnetic field made it possible to determine the transverse effective mass in the X valleys of AlAs (m_t=(0.2±0.02)m₀). An additional fine structure of donor resonances is observed in experimental transport characteristics. This fine structure is caused by resonant tunneling of electrons through the states of the donors that are located in various atomic layers of the AlAs barrier (in the growth direction) and therefore have different binding energies.     

Hydrogen-containing donors in silicon: Centers with negative effective correlation energy

The reconstruction of shallow-level hydrogen-containing donors in Si is studied. The donors are formed by implantation of low-energy (300 keV) hydrogen ions into the experimental samples and subsequent heat treatment at 450°C. The experiments are carried out for Ag-Mo-Si Schottky diodes and diodes with a shallow (～1 μm) p⁺-n junction. The concentration and distribution of the donors are determined by applying the method of C–V characteristics at a frequency of 1.2 MHz. An analysis of the temperature dependence of the equilibrium electron concentration shows that the reconstruction of the hydrogen-containing donors can be described under the assumption of recharging of a center with negative effective correlation energy (U < 0). The transformation between two equilibrium configurations of a double hydrogen donor (D _B ⁺⁺ ? D _A ⁰ ) proceeds with the Fermi level position E_F = E _c ? 0.30 eV. The reconstruction of the donors from a neutral to a doubly charged state (D _A ⁰ → D _B ⁺⁺ ) which is stimulated by the capture of minority carriers, is observed at room temperature.     

Effective electron mass in heavily doped GaAs in the ordering of impurity complexes

Spectra of edge photoluminescence (PL) at 300 K have been studied in a set of Czochralski-grown Te-doped GaAs single crystals with a free carrier density of n₀=10¹⁷–10¹⁹ cm^?3. The carrier density dependences of the chemical potential and band gap narrowing are obtained by analyzing the PL spectral line profiles. The dependence of the effective mass of electrons at the bottom of the conduction band on their density, m ₀ ^* (n₀), is calculated. It is shown that the nonmonotonic m ₀ ^* (n₀) dependence correlates with data on electron scattering in the material under study and results from the ordering of impurity complexes.     

Exciton binding energy in semiconductor quantum dots

In the adiabatic approximation in the context of the modified effective mass approach, in which the reduced exciton effective mass μ = μ(a) is a function of the radius a of the semiconductor quantum dot, an expression for the exciton binding energy E _ex(a) in the quantum dot is derived. It is found that, in the CdSe and CdS quantum dots with the radii a comparable to the Bohr exciton radii a _ex, the exciton binding energy E _ex(a) is substantially (respectively, 7.4 and 4.5 times) higher than the exciton binding energy in the CdSe and CdS single crystals.     

Special features of radiation-defect annealing in silicon <Emphasis Type="Italic">p-n</Emphasis> structures: The role of Fe impurity atoms

Deep-level transient spectroscopy is used to study the formation of complexes that consist of a radiation defect and a residual impurity atom in silicon. It is established that heat treatment of the diffused Si p⁺-n junctions irradiated with fast electrons lead to the activation of a residual Fe impurity and the formation of the FeVO (E_0.36 trap) and FeV₂ (H_0.18 trap) complexes. The formation of these traps is accompanied by the early (100–175°C) stage of annealing of the main vacancy-related radiation defects: the A centers (VO) and divacancies (V₂). The observed complexes are electrically active and introduce new electron (E_0.36: E _t ^e =E _c -0.365 eV, σ _n =6.8×10^?15 cm²) and hole (H_0.18: E _t ^h =E _v +0.184 eV, σ _p =3.0×10^?15 cm²) levels into the silicon band gap and have a high thermal stability. It is believed that the complex FeVO corresponds to the previously observed and unidentified defects that have an ionization energy of E _t ^e =E _c ?(0.34–0.37) eV and appear as a result of heat treatment of irradiated diffused Si p⁺-n junctions.     

Electron-phonon damping factor for the landau quantization of 2D electrons with a fine structure of the energy spectrum

The drift of degenerate 2D electrons in the channel of the heterojunction potential well is considered. In a quantizing magnetic field B, the electrons scan the defects of the heteroboundary, which perturb their momentum and energy equilibrium state (T, T _D ⁰ ). The stationary nonequilibrium state (T, T _D ^* ) is attained by electron-phonon relaxation in energy and momentum. The experimentally observed nonlinear dependence T_D(T) is explained by the admixture of deformation acoustic phonons to the interaction of 2D electrons with piezoelectric phonons.     

Accumulation of structural defects in silicon irradiated with PF<Stack><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript><Superscript>+</Superscript></Stack> cluster ions with medium energies

The method of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in combination with channeling is used to study the accumulation of structural defects in silicon at room temperature as a result of irradiation with P⁺ and F⁺ atomic ions and also with cluster PF _n ⁺ ions (n = 1, …, 4) with the energy of 2.1 keV/amu and with identical generation rate of primary defects. The conditions for correct comparison of the results of bombardment with atomic and cluster ions composed of atoms of various types are suggested. It is found that the characteristics of accumulation of structural defects in silicon in the case of bombardment with PF _n ⁺ cluster ions differ widely from those under irradiation with both atomic ions that are involved in the cluster ion (P⁺ and F⁺) and with atomic heavy ions that have atomic mass close to that of the mass of a PF _n ⁺ cluster. It is shown that, with irradiation conditions being the same, cluster ions produce much more radiation defects in the surface region than do atomic ions; i.e., a molecular effect is observed. Plausible mechanisms of this phenomenon are considered.     

Efficient silicon light-emitting diode with temperature-stable spectral characteristics

The influence of temperature on the parameters of the band-to-band emission spectrum of a light-emitting diode based on single-crystal silicon was investigated; the unprecedentedly high stability against variations in temperature was observed for both the electroluminescence intensity at the peak of the spectral distribution (I _EL ^m ) and the wavelength corresponding to this peak (λ_m). The internal quantum efficiency of the light-emitting diode at room temperature is estimated as no lower than 0.1%. The value of I _EL ^m varies by no more than ～10% as the temperature is varied from 120 to 300 K. The value of λ_m remains virtually constant in the temperature range of 200–300 K. The unprecedentedly high stability of λ_m is related to interference effects in the oxide film through which the radiation of the light-emitting exits. It is shown that one of the important factors that govern the temperature stability of I _EL ^m is a decrease in the lifetime of the minority charge carriers with decreasing temperature.     

The effect of erbium and oxygen on the photoluminescence intensity of erbium and the composition of <Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis>-SiO<Subscript>x</Subscript>:(H,Er, O) films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering

The effect of the oxygen content (\(C_{O_2 } \)) in the gas mixture (20% of SiH₄ + 80% of Ar) + O₂ and the surface area of an erbium target (S_Er) on the composition and Er³⁺ photoluminescence of amorphous a-SiO_x:(H, Er, O) films prepared by dc magnetron sputtering has been investigated. Analysis of the experimental data shows that [Er-O] and [Er-O-Si-O] clusters are formed in the gas plasma due to the competing processes of oxidation and sputtering of Si and Er targets and to the interaction of [Si-O] and [Er-O] clusters with each other and with the oxygen in the gas phase. The discontinuities in the dependences of the contents of erbium-bound oxygen and erbium in a film, and N _O ^Er-O and N_Er = f(\(C_{O_2 } \), S_Er), at \(C_{O_2 } \) ≈ (5–6.5) mol % supports the hypothesis on the existence of different erbium clusters. The necessary conditions for preparing a-SiO_x:(H, Er, O) films with the highest photoluminescence intensity of erbium ions at a wavelength of 1.54 μm are determined.     

Features of the band structure and conduction mechanisms of <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-HfNiSn heavily doped with Y

The crystalline and electronic structures, energy, kinetic, and magnetic characteristics of n-HfNiSn semiconductor heavily doped with Y acceptor impurity are studied in the ranges: T = 80–400 K, N _A ^Y ≈ 1.9 × 10²⁰–5.7 × 10²¹ cm^–3 (x = 0.01–0.30), and H ≤ 10 kG. The nature of the mechanism of structural defect generation is determined, which leads to a change in the band gap and the degree of semiconductor compensation, the essence of which is the simultaneous reduction and elimination of structural donor-type defects as a result of the displacement of ~1% of Ni atoms from the Hf (4a) site, and the generation of structural acceptor-type defects by substituting Hf atoms with Y atoms at the 4a site. The results of calculations of the electronic structure of Hf_1–x Y _x NiSn are in agreement with the experimental data. The discussion is performed within the Shklovskii–Efros model of a heavily doped and compensated semiconductor.     

Photosensitive properties of metal-containing polydisalicylidene azomethines

Photosensitive properties of new metal-containing polydisalicylidene azomethines were studied. It was shown that polymer properties are controlled by the nature of the metal atom (its electron affinity energy A _a and ionic radius r _i ) included in “nonclassical” polyconjugation. The photosensitivity S _0.1 of studied polymers is ～10⁵cm²/J, and the quantum yield of free-carrier photogeneration is η ≈ 0.10–0.15, which corresponds to the level of organometallic complexes that have found application in optoelectronics.     

On the size and temperature dependence of the energy gap in cadmium-selenide quantum dots embedded in fluorophosphate glasses

The temperature and size dependences of the energy gap in CdSe quantum dots with diameters of 2.4, 4.0, and 5.2 nm embedded in fluorophosphate glasses are investigated. It is shown that the temperature coefficient of the band gap dE _g /dT in the quantum dots differs from the bulk value and depends strictly on the dot size. It is found that, furthermore, the energy of each transition in these quantum dots is characterized by an individual temperature coefficient dE/dT.     

The binding energy of excitons and <Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript> trions in one-dimensional systems

The exciton and trion states in semiconductor quantum wires are treated by the variational method. Simple trial functions provide an adequate precision of the calculation over a wide region of wire radii, with an arbitrary relation between the effective masses of charge carriers. The precision of the results obtained by the variational method is checked by numerical diagonalization of the Hamiltonian of excitons and positively and negatively charged trions. The asymptotic behavior of the binding energies of excitons and trions in narrow quantum wires is established in the analytical form. The structure of the excited X ⁺ trion states is analyzed in the context of the adiabatic approximation.     

Reflection spectra of two polymorphic modifications of cadmium arsenide

The optical properties of cadmium arsenide are studied. Reliable new data on the reflection spectra are obtained owing to the use of perfect crystals and high-precision spectral equipment. The reflection spectra of the polymorphic modifications α″-Cd₃As₂ (space group D _4h ¹⁵ ) and α′-Cd₃As₂ (space group ) are D _4h ¹¹ are recorded at room and liquid-nitrogen temperatures in polarized light (E ⊥ c, E ‖ c) at incident-light photon energies of 1–5 eV. For the α′ modification, anisotropy is observed in the reflection spectra for the first time. The obtained results are compared with the known experimental and theoretical data.     

Study of the electrical properties of Cd<Subscript>x</Subscript>Hg<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Te

On the basis of the temperature and field dependences of the Hall coefficient R _H , it was found that samples with a low electron density are, as a rule, compensated, and the degree of compensation changes upon thermal conversion of the conductivity of the sample to p type. For n-Cd_xHg_1?xTe, the ionization energy of the donor level was found from the temperature dependences of resistivity ρ(T): E _d =24–32 meV. For the same samples, after their thermal conversion to p type, the ionization energies of acceptors, which are related to doubly charged vacancies V _Hg ⁺⁺ , were determined: E _a =32 and 48 meV. In addition, a deep level E _t , related to an unknown amphoteric impurity, was found (E _t ?E _v ≈0.7E _g ).     

Geometric structure and spectral characteristics of electronic states in silicon nanoparticles

The results of optimization of the geometric structure and calculations of the electronic structure of silicon anionic Si ₁₂ ^? -Si ₁₆ ^? clusters are reported. The semiempirical PM3 method was used in the calculations. States of different multiplicities (2S+1=2, 4, and 6) were considered. Comparison of the results of the calculations with experimental photoelectron spectra shows that, for Si ₁₂ ^? -Si ₁₄ ^? clusters, there is good agreement for states of multiplicity 2. For Si ₁₅ ^? and Si ₁₆ ^? clusters, the spectra for states of multiplicities 4 and 2, respectively, agree with experiment.