Lattice mismatched InGaAs on silicon photodetectors grown by molecular beam epitaxy

In_0.5Ga_0.5As on silicon photodetectors, including three types of interdigitated-finger devices as well as linear photoconductors, were fabricated and measured. The InGaAs/Si structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy and utilized a 100 Å GaAs intervening nucleation layer between the silicon substrate and the InGaAs layers, step-graded In_xGa_1?xAs layers, and an in-situ grown 40 Å thick GaAs surface layer, which substantially enhanced the metal-semiconductor barrier height (Φ_b = 0.67 V) for the InGaAs. Schottky diodes fabricated independently of the photodetectors had nearly ideal characteristics with an ideality factor (n) of 1.02 and a reverse breakdown voltage of 40 V. The interdigitated Schottky photodetectors showed dark currents between <3nA and 54 μA at a 3 V bias and initial photoresponse rise times in the range of 600 to 725 ps, comparable to similar InGaAs metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors grown lattice matched on InP. The photoconductors fabricated in the same material had rise times in the range of 575 to 1300 ps, thus being slightly slower, and had dark currents of 7 to 80 mA. The responsivity of the photoconductors was typically greater than that of the diodes by a factor of five to fifteen. The results show potential for monolithic integration of InGaAs photodetectors on silicon substrates.     

Self-organization phenomenon of strained InGaAs on InP (311) substrates grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

We have demonstrated that a self-organization phenomenon occurs in strained InGaAs system on InP (311) substrates grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. This suggests that a similar formation process of nanocrystals exists not only on the GaAs (311)B substrate but also on the InP (311)B substrate. However, the ordering and the size homogeneity of the self-organized nanocrystals are slightly worse than those of the InGaAs/AlGaAs system on the GaAs (311)B substrate. The tensilely strained condition of a InGaAs/InP system with growth interruption in a PH₃ atmosphere reveals a surface morphology with nanocrystals even on the InP (100) substrate. It was found that strain energy and high growth temperature are important factors for self-organization on III-V compound semiconductors. Preliminary results indicate that the self-organized nanostructures in strained InGaAs/InP systems on InP substrates exhibit room temperature photoluminescent emissions at a wavelength of around 1.3 p.m.     

GaSb: A New Alternative Substrate for Epitaxial Growth of HgCdTe

In this work, GaSb is proposed as a new alternative substrate for the growth of HgCdTe via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Due to the smaller mismatch in both lattice constant and coefficient of thermal expansion between GaSb and HgCdTe, GaSb presents a better alternative substrate for the epitaxial growth of HgCdTe, in comparison to alternative substrates such as Si, Ge, and GaAs. In our recent efforts, a CdTe buffer layer technology has been developed on GaSb substrates via MBE. By optimizing the growth conditions (mainly growth temperature and VI/II flux ratio), CdTe buffer layers have been grown on GaSb substrates with material quality comparable to, and slightly better than, CdTe buffer layers grown on GaAs substrates, which is one of the state-of-the-art alternative substrates used in growing HgCdTe for the fabrication of mid-wave infrared detectors. The results presented in this paper indicate the great potential of GaSb to become the next generation alternative substrate for HgCdTe infrared detectors, demonstrating MBE-grown CdTe buffer layers with rocking curve (double crystal x-ray diffraction) full width at half maximum of ～60 arcsec and etch pit density of ～10⁶ cm^?2.     

Comparison of InGaSb/InAs superlattice structures grown by MBE on GaSb, GaAs, and compliant GaAs substrates

This paper contains the characterization results for indium arsenide/indium gallium antimonide (InAs/InGaSb) superlattices (SL) that were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on standard gallium arsenide (GaAs), standard GaSb, and compliant GaAs substrates. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) images, peak to valley (P-V) measurement, and surface roughness (RMS) measurements are reported for each sample. For the 5 μm×5 μm images, the P-V heights and RMS measurements were 37 ? and 17 ?, 12 ? and 2 ?, and 10 ? and 1.8 ? for the standard GaAs, standard GaSb, and compliant GaAs respectively. The high resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) analysis found different 0^th order SL peak to GaSb peak spacings for the structures grown on the different substrates. These peak separations are consistent with different residual strain states within the SL structures. Depending on the constants used to determine the relative shift of the valance and conduction bands as a function of strain for the individual layers, the change in the InAs conduction band to InGaSb valance band spacing could range from +7 meV to −47 meV for a lattice constant of 6.1532 ?. The cutoff wavelength for the SL structure on the compliant GaAs, control GaSb, and control GaAs was 13.9 μm, 11 μm, and no significant response, respectively. This difference in cutoff wavelength corresponds to approximately a −23 meV change in the optical gap of the SL on the compliant GaAs substrate compared to the same SL on the control GaSb substrate.     

InP/InGaAs double-heterojunction bipolar transistors grown on (100)Si by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The authors report the successful fabrication of InP/InGaAs double-heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on Si substrates. The Si substrates used were p-type (boron doped) FZ grown wafers with a resistivity of 5000 Ω×cm, oriented 2° off the (100) plane toward the [110] direction. Epitaxial layers for DHBTs were grown on the Si substrate with a thin GaAs buffer layer. A two-step growth process was applied for the InP layers on GaAs-on-Si wafers. The transistors exhibit high current gains over 200, which is comparable to those in transistors grown on InP substrates. The dislocations are found to increase the recombination current very little in the neutral base region, but increase in generation-recombination current at the emitter-base interface     

Infrared reflection spectra of multilayer epitaxial heterostructures with embedded InAs and GaAs layers

The effect of the thickness of embedded InAs and GaAs layers on the infrared reflection spectra of lattice vibrations for AlInAs/InAs/AlInAs, InGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs, and AlInAs/InGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs/AlInAs multilayer epitaxial heterostructures grown by MOC hydride epitaxy on InP (100) substrates is studied. Relative stresses emerging in the layers surrounding the embedded layers with variation in the number of monolayers from which the quantum dots are formed and with variation the thickness of the layers themselves surrounding the embedded layers are evaluated.     

LP-MOCVD grown (lnAs)m(GaAs)m short period superlattices on InP

(InAs)_m(GaAs)_m (1 ≤ m ≤ 12) short period superlattices (SPSs) have been grown on semi-insulated InP substrates with a 200 nm InP cap layer using low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). According to double crystal x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results, the critical layer thickness of (InAs)_m(GaAs)_m SPS was observed to be ～30Å (m = 5). For the SPS below the critical layer thickness, mirror-like surface morphology was found without defects, and strong intensity Fourier transformed photoluminescence (FT-PL) spectra were also obtained at room temperature. The SPS with m = 4 showed a drastic improvement in photoluminescence intensity of order of two compared to an InGaAs ternary layer. However, the SPS with a large value of m (m ≥ 6), rough surface was observed with defects, with broad and weak FT-PL spectra. The surface morphology of SPS was greatly affected by the substrate orientation. The SPS with m = 5 was grown on two degree tilted substrate from (100) direction and showed poor surface morphology as compared to the one grown on (100) exact substrate Moreover, the SPS grown on a (111)B substrate showed a rough triangular pattern with Nomarski optical microscopy. In-situ thermal annealed SPS with m = 4 showed a 18 meV increase in PL peak energy compared to the as-grown sample due to phase separation resulting from thermal interdiffusion.     

基于异变缓冲层与应变层超晶格的InP/GaAs异质外延

利用低压金属有机化学气相沉积技术, 开展InP/GaAs异质外延实验。由450 ℃生长的低温GaAs层与超薄低温InP层组成双异变缓冲层, 并进一步在正常InP外延层中插入In1-xGaxP/InP(x=7.4%)应变层超晶格。在不同低温GaAs缓冲层厚度、应变层超晶格插入位置及应变层超晶格周期数等条件下, 详细比较了InP外延层(004)晶面的X射线衍射谱, 还尝试插入双应变层超晶格。实验中, 1.2 μm和2.5 μm厚InP外延层的ω扫描曲线半峰全宽仅370 arcsec和219 arcsec; 在2.5 μm厚InP层上生长了10周期In0.53Ga0.47As/InP 多量子阱, 室温PL谱峰值波长位于1625 nm, 半峰全宽为60 meV。实验结果表明, 该异质外延方案有可能成为实现InP-GaAs单片光电子集成的一种有效途径。     

GaSb基的InAs/GaSbⅡ类超晶格背景载流子浓度的测量

高质量的InAs/GaSbⅡ类超晶格(SLs)材料生长在晶格匹配的GaSb衬底上,由于GaSb衬底具有良好的导电性,传统的霍尔测量难以直接得到外延超晶格材料的载流子浓度等电学参数,所以,如何准确地获得InAs/GaSb超晶格外延材料中的载流子浓度成为了研究人员关注的焦点之一。主要介绍了InAs/GaSbⅡ类超晶格背景载流子浓度测量的四种典型的方法:低温霍尔技术;变磁场霍尔技术以及迁移率谱拟合;衬底去除技术;电容-电压技术。并给出了各种方法的基本原理,评价了每种方法的优缺点。     

异质界面数字梯度超晶格对扩展波长InGaAs光电探测器性能的改善

采用气态源分子束外延方法生长了三种不同结构的扩展波长(室温下50%截止波长为2.4μm) In_xGa_(1-x)As光电探测器材料,并制成了台面型器件.材料的表面形貌、X射线衍射摇摆曲线及光致发光谱表明,在InAlAs/InGaAs异质界面处生长数字梯度超晶格可以明显提高材料质量;器件在室温下的暗电流结果显示,直径为300μm的器件在反向偏压为10mV时,没有生长超晶格结构的器件暗电流为0.521μA,而生长超晶格结构的器件暗电流降到0.480μA.同时,在生长In_xAl_(1-x)As组分线性渐变缓冲层之前首先生长一层InP缓冲层也有利于改善材料质量和器件性能.     

InGaAs/InP heterobipolar transistors for integration on semi-insulating InP substrates

InGaAs/InP npn heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) have been fabricated from LPE layers grown on semi-insulating InP substrates for application to integrated circuits. The inverted emitter configuration is used, which allows the growth of the active layers without any additional steps. The HBTs show stable characteristics without any hysteresis and with current gains up to 25 for 0.7 ?m base width. To our knowledge this is the first report of InGaAs/InP HBTs on a semi-insulating substrate.     

In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As MSM photodetectors and HEMT's grown by MOCVD on GaAs substrates

The authors report the first demonstration of In_0.52Al _0.48As/In_0.53Ga_0.47As metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors and high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on GaAs substrates by organometallic chemical vapor deposition. Both photodetectors and transistors showed no degradation in performance compared to devices simultaneously grown on InP substrates. The photodetectors exhibited a responsivity of 0.45 A/W and leakage current of 10 to 50 nA. The HEMTs with a gate length of 1.0 μm showed a transconductance as high as 250 mS/mm, and f_T and f_max of 25 and 70 GHz, respectively     

The growth of high quality InP/InGaAs/InGaAsP interfaces by CBE for SCH multi-quantum well lasers

Bulk InGaAsP and heterointerfaces of InP/InGaAs and InGaAsP/InGaAs have been grown by chemical beam epitaxy for use in multi-quantum well separate confinement heterostructure lasers. InGaAsP has been successfully grown for λ=1.1, 1.2 and 1.4 μm. The TMI and TEG incorporation coefficients have strong dependencies on substrate temperature and also charge as the InGaAsP composition tends towards InP. InP/InGaAs and InGaAsP/InGaAs quantum wells have been grown to determine the optimum gas switching sequence to minimize the measured photoluminescence FWHM. InGaAs quantum wells as narrow as 0.6 nm have been grown with 7K FWHM of 12.3 meV. Lattice matched MQW-SCH lasers were grown using different interface switching sequences with the best laser having a threshold current density of 792A/cm² for an 800 × 90 μm broad area device.     

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of InAs-AlSb-GaSb interband tunneling diodes

This paper presents our studies of the growth of InAs/GaAs and GaSb/GaAs heterojunctions by molecular beam epitaxy and their applications in fabricating the InAs-AlSb-GaSb interband tunneling devices. The Hall effect and x-ray diffraction were used to determine the optimum growth conditions for the layers. In addition, the qualities of the InAs and GaSb epilayers, grown under their optimum conditions, were compared. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) from the x-ray diffraction for a GaSb epilayer is about 50 arcsec narrower than an InAs epilayer of the same thickness. The narrower FWHM and excellent surface morphology of the GaSb layer have led us to grow the polytype heterostructure on a p⁺-GaAs substrate using a p⁺-GaSb as the buffer layer. The polytype tunneling structures grown on GaAs substrates under these conditions show good negative differential resistance properties. Five different interband tunneling structures are compared and discussed in terms of their peak-current densities and peak-to-valley current ratios.     

22 nm In0.75Ga0.25As channel-based HEMTs on InP/GaAs substrates for future THz applications

In this work, the performance of L_g=22 nm In_0.75Ga_0.25As channel-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) on InP substrate is compared with metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (MHEMT) on GaAs substrate. The devices features heavily doped In_0.6Ga_0.4As source/drain (S/D) regions, Si double δ-doping planar sheets on either side of the In_0.75Ga_0.25As channel layer to enhance the transconductance, and buried Pt metal gate technology for reducing short channel effects. The TCAD simulation results show that the InP HEMT performance is superior to GaAs MHEMT in terms of f_T, f_max and transconductance (g_{m_max}). The 22 nm InP HEMT shows an f_T of 733 GHz and an f_max of 1340 GHz where as in GaAs MHEMT it is 644 GHz and 924 GHz, respectively. InGaAs channel-based HEMTs on InP/GaAs substrates are suitable for future sub-millimeter and millimeter wave applications.     

Optimal growth interrupts for very high quality InGaAs(P)/InP superlattices grown by MOVPE

The effects of different growth interrupt schemes at the compositional interfaces in 30 period InGaAs(P)/InP superlattices grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy have been studied for quarternary compositions λ = 1.35 and 1.52 μm as well as for the ternary case λ = 1.67 μm. The best full width at half maximum of the photoluminescence peaks at 4 K are 7–8 meV for the InGaAsP/InP and 4.6 meV for the InGaAs/InP superlattices indicating extremely high optical quality and vertical homogenity of the samples. However, strong memory effects relating to both the presence and the absence of arsenic are evident from x-ray diffraction measurements. Reactor purging as a remedy is limited by the surface roughening and defect formation induced by a non-equilibrium vapor phase composition. Optimal growth interrupts must therefore be determined considering both the interface smoothness and abruptness and will in general be composition dependent.     

带有阶梯缓变集电区的InP/InGaAs/InP DHBT材料研究

设计并生长了一种新的InP/InGaAs/InP DHBT结构材料,采用在基区和集电区之间插入两层不同禁带宽度的InGaAsP四元系材料的阶梯缓变集电结结构,以解决InP/InGaAs/InP DHBT集电结导带尖峰的电子阻挡效应问题。采用气态源分子束外延(GSMBE)技术,通过优化生长条件,获得了高质量的InP、InGaAs以及与InP晶格相匹配的不同禁带宽度的InGaAsP外延材料。在此基础上,成功地生长出带有阶梯缓变集电区结构的InP基DHBT结构材料。     

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.     

The growth of GaAs,AIGaAs, InP and InGaAs by chemical beam epitaxy using group III and V alkyls

The growth kinetics of chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) were investigated with the growth of GaAs, AIGaAs, InP, and InGaAs. Results obtained with epilayers grown by using trimethylarsine (TMAs) and triethylphosphine (TEP) instead of arsine (AsH3) and phosphine (PH₃) were reviewed with some additional results. The CBE grown epilayers have similar optical quality to those grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Superlattices of GaAs/AlGaAs with abrupt interfaces have been prepared. Since trimethylindium (TMIn) and triethylgallium (TEGa) used in the growth of InGaAs emerged as a single mixed beam, spatial composition uniformity was automatically achieved without the need of substrate rotation in the InGaAs epilayers grown. Lattice-mismatch Δα/α< 1 x 10^-3 have been reproducibly obtained. For epilayers grown with high purity TMAs source, room-temperature electron mobility as high as 9000 cm²/V sec and concentrations of ˜7 x 10¹⁵ cm^-3 were produced. In general, the electron mobilities were as good as those obtained from low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. (MO-CVD). Unlike MBE, since the In and Ga were derived by the pyrolysis of TMIn and TEGa molecules at the heated substrate surface, respectively, oval defects observed in MBE grown epilayers due to Ga splitting from Ga melt were not present in CBE grown epilayers. This is important for integrated circuit applications. Unlike MO-CVD, the beam nature of CBE allows for selective area growth of epilayers with well-defined smooth edges using mask shadowing techniques. Typically, growth rates of 2-5μm/h for InP, 2-6μm/h for GaAs and AIGaAs, and 2-5μm/h for InGaAs were used.     

Transfer of n-type GaSb onto GaAs substrate by hydrogen implantation and wafer bonding

Many GaSb devices would greatly benefit from the availability of a semi-insulating substrate. Since semi-insulating GaSb is not currently available, the formation of thin GaSb layers through wafer bonding and tranfer onto a semi-insulating GaAs substrate was investigated. GaSb-on-insulator structures, formed on GaAs substrates, were realized by the ion-cut process using H⁺ ions. Blistering, bonding and layer splitting phenomena were studied to optimize the ion dose and the process window. Bonded structures of thin layers of GaSb bonded to GaAs wafers were formed using a borosilicate glass (BSG) layer. The transferred GaSb layers were characterized by atomic force microscopy, MeV helium ion channeling and high-resolution x-ray diffractometry. The transferred film possessed a narrow x-ray linewidth of about 140 arcsec indicating improved crystalline quality over the direct growth of GaSb on GaAs.