Electronic and Optical Properties of MgxZn1?xO and BexZn1?xO Quantum Wells

As a preparatory step toward establishing reliable numerical design tools for ZnO-based optoelectronic devices, we have reassessed the available information on material parameters relevant for the simulation of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with active regions including ZnO, MgZnO, and BeZnO layers. The impact of different approximations for the electronic structure and the interface polarization charge on the optical properties of bulk ZnO and ZnO/MgZnO quantum wells has been evaluated, and a consistent set of parameters has been used not only for systematic comparison of ZnO/MgZnO and ZnO/BeZnO single quantum well structures but also for the first simulation of a realistic ZnO/BeZnO multiple quantum well LED.     

Electron-electron scattering in stepped quantum wells

A method for calculating the probability of intersubband electron-electron scattering in quantum wells of complex shape is suggested. Numerical data for stepped InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells are obtained. The principal mechanisms of electron-electron scattering that exert the strongest effect on the intersubband inversion of population in laser structures are determined.     

Study of methods for lowering the lasing frequency of a terahertz quantum-cascade laser based on two quantum wells

Two mechanisms for achieving lower terahertz-range frequencies in quantum-cascade structures with two quantum wells based on GaAs/AlGaAs compounds are proposed. The first mechanism is based on the introduction of composite quantum wells consisting of a narrow (??2 nm) quantum well with a low potential barrier, being within the main wide quantum well. The second mechanism is based on barriers with unequal heights, arranged in front of and behind the composite quantum well. Optimized quantum-cascade laser structures emitting in the regions of ??2.15 and ??1.35 THz are calculated.     

Generation of coherent terahertz radiation by polarized electron-hole pairs in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The generation of coherent terahertz radiation upon the band-to-band femtosecond laser photoexcitation of GaAs/AlGaAs multiple-quantum-well structures in a transverse electric field at room temperature is investigated. The properties of the observed terahertz radiation suggest that it is generated on account of the excitation of a time-dependent dipole moment as a result of the polarization of nonequilibrium electron-hole pairs in quantum wells by the electric field. The proposed theoretical model taking into account the dynamic screening of the electric field in the quantum wells by nonequilibrium charge carriers describes the properties of the observed terahertz signal.     

AlInGaAs/AlGaAs应变量子阱增益特性研究

采用Shu Lien Chuang方法计算了AlInGaAs/AlGaAs应变引起价带中重、轻空穴能量变化曲线,在Harrison模型的基础上详细地计算了AlInGaAs/AlGaAs和GaAs/AlGaAs量子阱电子、空穴子能级分布并且进一步研究了这两种材料在不同注入条件下的线性光增益.进一步计算比较可以得出AlInGaAs/AlGaAs应变量子阱光增益特性要优于GaAs/AlGaAs非应变量子阱增益特性,因此AlInGaAs/AlGaAs应变量子阱半导体材料应用于半导体激光器比传统GaAs/AlGaAs材料更具优势.     

Novel wavelength-resonant optoelectronic structure and itsapplication to surface-emitting semiconductor lasers

An optimised design for optoelectronic devices which depends on the interaction between an electromagnetic standing wave and the carrier population is described. The structure consists of quantum well layers spaced at one-half the wavelength of a selected optical transition in quantum wells. This spatial periodicity allows the amplifying or absorbing medium (quantum wells) to coincide with the peaks of the standing wave optical field in the Fabry-Perot cavity. In such a periodic medium, the gain or absorption for the selected wavelength is enhanced by a factor of two compared to a uniform medium. This concept was applied to fabricate a surface-emitting semiconductor laser in the GaAs/AlGaAs system. Lasing was achieved with the shortest gain medium length (320 nm) ever reported     

Effect of potential fluctuations on the energy structure of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with A<Superscript>+</Superscript> centers

The transformation of photoluminescence spectra associated with A⁺ centers in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells due to changes in the pumping level and temperature is analyzed. It is shown that an important part in the formation of the energy structure of the system of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells is played by electrostatic potential fluctuations responsible for the spatial redistribution of charge and the appearance of free holes.     

Photoluminescence characterization technique for resonant-tunneling structures based on a long-period GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice,applicable at different stages of fabrication

A technique is developed for the photoluminescence-spectroscopy characterization of resonant-tunneling structures based on a long-period GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice that can be used for quality evaluation at all the stages of fabrication, including molecular-beam epitaxy, photolithography, and annealing. Factors such as the small energy difference between the quantum confined states in wide quantum wells, which make the photoluminescence characterization of such structures more difficult are taken into account. The long-period multiquantum-well structures are promising for the development of a new kind of solid-state intersub-band-transition devices emitting the narrow band radiation in far infrared. Their potential is essentially based on the fact that the scattering and the decay of carriers in the lower quantum-confined states may or may not involve optical phonons. The technique works at both liquid-helium and room temperature. It helps one optimize the process conditions to fabricate high-quality wide-quantum-well structures with excellent uniformity and desired parameters.     

Strained layer piezoelectric semiconductor devices

III–V semiconductors are piezoelectric. Quantum wells grown pseudomorphically strained on the (111) face are axially polarized and include strong, built-in do electric fields. The associated loss of inversion symmetry in the wells has important consequences for the electrooptic properties of these structures. They can be exploited to improve the performance of a number of existing optoelectronic devices and also to generate new ones. In this paper we review some of these properties and discuss the work at Sheffield investigating the prospects for improved performance and novel. devices in the strained InGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs and InGaAs/InAlAs/InP systems.     

Super-flat (411)A interfaces and uniformly corrugated (775)B interfaces in GaAs/AlGaAs and InGaAs/InAlAs heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Extremely flat interfaces, i.e. effectively atomically flat interfaces over a wafer-size area were realized in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells (QWs) grown on (411)A GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). These flat interfaces are called as “(411)A super-flat interfaces”. Besides in GaAs/AlGaAs QWs, the (411)A super-flat interfaces were formed in pseudomorphic InGaAs/AlGaAs QWs on GaAs substrates and in pseudomorphic and lattice-matched InGaAs/InAlAs QWs on InP substrates. GaAs/AlGaAs resonant tunneling diodes and InGaAs/InAlAs HEMT structures with the (411)A super-flat interfaces were confirmed to exhibit improved characteristics, indicating high potential of applications of the (411)A super-flat interfaces. High density, high uniformity and good optical quality were achieved in (775)B GaAs/(GaAs)_m(AlAs)_n quantum wires (QWRs) self-organized in a GaAs/(GaAs)_m(AlAs)_n QW grown on (775)B GaAs substrates by MBE. The QWRs were successfully applied to QWR lasers, which oscillated at room temperature for the first time as QWR lasers with a self-organized QWR structure in its active region. These results suggest that MBE growth on high index crystal plane such as (411)A or (775)B is very promising for developing novel semiconductor materials for future electron devices.     

Technology of the production of laser diodes based on GaAs/InGaAs/AlGaAs structures grown on a Ge/Si substrate

InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs laser diodes with quantum wells are grown by the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method on an exact Si (001) substrate with a Ge buffer layer. The diodes generate stimulated emission in the pulsed mode at room temperature in the spectral range from 1.09 to 1.11 μm.     

Extremely strong and sharp photoluminescence lines from nitrogen atomic-layer-doped GaAs,AlGaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs single quantum wells

We have performed nitrogen atomic-layer doping into GaAs, AlGaAs, and AlGaAs/GaAs single quantum wells using atomic nitrogen cracked by a hot tungsten filament. While the atomic-layer-doped GaAs layers show a series of sharp and strong photoluminescence lines relating to excitons bound to nitrogen atoms at 8K, atomic-layer-doped AlGaAs layers show several broad nitrogen-related lines. For the atomic-layer-doped single quantum well at the center of the GaAs layer, the quantum well luminescence itself disappears and a dominant and sharp luminescence is observed at a longer wavelength. It is found that the As pressure during the atomic-layer doping greatly affects the luminescence characteristics.     

中波-长波双色量子阱红外探测器

采用n型掺杂的AlGaAs/GaAs和AlGaAs/InGaA多量子阱材料,基于MOCVD外延生长技术,利用成熟的GaAs集成电路加工工艺,设计并制作了不同结构的中波-长波双色量子阱红外探测器(QWIP)器件,器件采用正面入射二维光栅耦合,光栅周期设计为4μm,宽度2μm;对制作的500μm×500μm大面积双色QWIP单元器件暗电流、响应光谱、探测率进行了测试和分析。在-3V偏压、77K温度和300K背景温度下长波(LWIR)和中波(MWIR)QWIP的暗电流密度分别为0.6、0.02mA/cm2;-3V偏压、80K温度下MWIR和LWIR QWIP的响应光谱峰值波长分别为5.2、7.8μm;在2V偏压、65K温度下,LWIR和MWIR QWIP的峰值探测率分别为1.4×1011、6×1010cm.Hz1/2/W。     

λ=8.3 μm GaAs/AlAs quantum cascade lasers incorporatingInAs monolayers

The development of GaAs-based quantum cascade lasers incorporating indirect bandgap AlAs barriers in conjunction with ultrathin InAs layers in the active regions of the device is reported. The InAs layers produce a downshift of the energies of the lower lasing states, allowing laser emission to be observed at λ=8.34 μm. The GaAs/InAs/AlAs devices operate in pulsed mode up to a maximum temperature of 250 K, with a characteristic temperature of around 200 K for T>100 K     

Optically pumped intersubband lasers based on quantum wells

A far infrared (FIR) laser based on intersubband transitions in quantum wells is proposed where a pumping laser is used to create population inversion in the structure. The goal is to develop a structure which operates essentially as a 4-level laser, to minimize bottlenecking of the lower laser state. Multiple quantum wells can be used in the active laser of these structures to enhance the laser gain and the minimum required reflectivity in the cavity structure. The possibility of using both conduction and valence band quantum-well structures are investigated. Our study shows that, due to high intersubband scattering rates in the valence band structure, the creation of population inversion is more difficult and requires a high pumping power density while in the conduction band structure, population inversion can be achieved by a moderate pumping power density. The maximum population inversion in the conduction band structure is estimated to be 2.1×10¹¹ cm², which requires a pumping power density 2 kW cm^-2 for a single quantum well. The threshold power as well as the minimum required reflectivity of the cavity structure for the conduction band scheme are estimated for different well numbers     

Photoluminescence and electroreflectance studies of modulation-doped pseudomorphic AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells

In this study, we describe the correlations between the photoluminescence (PL) spectra and electrical properties of pseudomorphic modulation-doped AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells (MDQWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy. In MDQWs, the presence of a large sheet carrier density contributes significantly to the PL linewidth. At low temperatures (4.2 K), free carrier induced broadening of the PL linewidth is influenced by the material quality of the structure. At higher temperatures (77 K), differences in the material quality do not affect the linewidth significantly, and under these conditions the PL linewidth is a good measure of the sheet carrier density. The ratio of the 77 K to 4.2 K PL linewidths provides useful information about the crystalline quality of the MDQW structures as illustrated by the correlation with 77 K Hall mobility data and a simple model. We present results of Electron Beam Electroreflectance (EBER) to characterize MDQWs and undoped quantum wells in the AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs material system. Several transitions have been observed and fitted to excitonic Lorentzian lineshapes, providing accurate estimates of transition energy and broadening parameter at temperatures of 96 K and 300 K.     

Shallow and Deep Centers in As-Grown and Annealed MgZnO/ZnO Structures with Quantum Wells

Shallow and deep centers in ZnO(P)/MgZnO/ZnO/MgZnO/ZnO(Ga) structures grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire were studied before and after annealing in oxygen atmosphere at high temperatures of 850°C to 950°C. In both as-grown and annealed structures, microcathodoluminescence spectra in the near-bandgap region demonstrate a blue-shift by 0.13 eV compared with bulk ZnO films, indicating carrier confinement in the MgZnO/ZnO/MgZnO quantum well (QW). Annealing strongly decreases the concentration of shallow uncompensated donors from ~10¹⁷ cm⁻³ to ~10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and makes it possible to probe the region of the QW by capacitance–voltage (C–V) profiling. This profiling confirms charge accumulation in the QW. The dominant electron traps in the as-grown films are the well-known traps with activation energies of 0.3 eV and 0.8 eV. After annealing, the electron traps observed in the structure have activation energies of 0.14 eV, 0.33 eV, and 0.57 eV, with the Fermi level in the n-ZnO(P) pinned by the 0.14-eV traps. The annealing also introduces deep compensating defects that decrease the intensity of band-edge luminescence and produce a deep luminescence defect band at 2.2 eV. In addition, a defect vibrational band becomes visible in Raman spectra near 650 cm⁻¹. No conversion to p-type conductivity was detected. The results are compared with the data for the structures successfully converted to p-type, and possible reasons for the observed differences are discussed.     

Persistent photoeffects in p-i-n GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures with double quantum wells

Abrupt changes in the capacitance between the p and n regions were observed in a planar p-i-n GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure with two tunneling-coupled quantum wells exposed to laser irradiation (λ=633 nm). These changes can be caused by variations in both temperature (in the vicinity of T～2 K) and the dc voltage applied to the structure. A memory effect was detected; this effect manifested itself in the long lifetime of anomalies observed after the illumination had been turned off. Self-consistent calculations of distributions of charge and electric field were performed for the structures that contained a donor impurity in AlGaAs layers; this impurity is responsible for origination of DX centers that give rise to persistent photoconductivity. It is demonstrated that abrupt changes in capacitance can occur in such a structure, and the values of the parameters required for origination of these jumps are determined.     

Inversion of the electron population in subbands of dimensional quantization with longitudinal transport in tunnel-coupled quantum wells

The scheme of a laser which can operate in the far-infrared range (λ ∼ 150 μm) is suggested. In order to attain the inversion of the subband population it was suggested that electron transport in three tunnel-coupled quantum wells in a strong electric field, which lies in the plane of quantum wells, be used. An important specific feature of the structure suggested is the presence of a single rough heterointerface. The electron trans-port was simulated by the Monte Carlo method for the Al_xGa_1−x As/GaAs (x=0.2–0.3) heterostructure. The simulation demonstrated that the population inversion in the first and second subbands of dimensional quantization is realized in the field above 1.2 kV/cm at T=4.2 and 77 K. __________ Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, Vol. 36, No. 6, 2002, pp. 724–729. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2002 by Aleshkin, Dubinov.     

3.3 THz Quantum Cascade Laser Based on a Three GaAs/AlGaAs Quantum-Well Active Module with an Operating Temperature above 120 K

Semiconductors - The design of a terahertz (THz) quantum cascade laser (QCL) with an active module based on three GaAs/Al0.18Ga0.82As quantum wells for high-temperature generation at a frequency of...