Structure of GaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (0001) sapphire

GaN films grown by electron-cyclotron resonance plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy were studied by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Two sets of films were compared that were grown under identical conditions except for the ratio of the Ga to N flux. Films with a 30% higher Ga to N ratio (A films) were found to contain inversion domains (IDs). No IDs were found in films grown with a lower Ga to N ratio (B films), but instead the zinc-blende GaN was found near the film substrate interface. A narrower XRD rocking curve width along the (0002) direction and a broader rocking curve width along the asymmetric (1102) axis were found for A films compared to B films.     

Structural, luminescent, and transport properties of hybrid AlAsSb/InAs/Cd(Mg)Se heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The fabrication of new hybrid AlAsSb/InAs/Cd(Mg)Se heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy and investigation of their structural, luminescent, and transport properties are reported for the first time. These structures show intense luminescence both in the infrared and in the visible regions of the spectrum. This factor, taken together with structural data, indicates a heterointerface of high quality between the III–V and II–VI layers. A theoretical estimate is made of the relative positions of energy bands in the proposed hybrid structures, indicating that the InAs/CdSe interface is a type-II heterojunction, whereas the InAs/Cd_0.85Mg_0.15Se interface is a type-I heterojunction with a large valence band offset ΔE _v≈1.6 eV. The data obtained on the longitudinal electron transport at the InAs/Cd(Mg)Se heterointerface are in good agreement with the theoretical estimate.     

AlAs oxidation process in GaAs/AlGaAs/AlAs heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (n11)A substrates

The lateral oxidation of AlAs layers grown on GaAs (100), (110) and (n11)A-oriented substrates (n=1, 2, 3, 4) was studied. The temperature dependence of the oxidation rate was measured between 390°C and 450°C. The oxidation rate is highly anisotropic and the anisotropy is related to the symmetry of the crystal structure. The oxidation process has an activation energy that depends on substrate orientation. The oxidation front line becomes irregular for temperatures higher than 450°C and the surface of the samples was degraded when the temperature exceeded 540°C. The time dependence of the oxidation rate was found to be similar to the Si oxidation process.     

Quantum transport of p-type GaAs/(AlGa)As heterostructures grown on non-(100) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

We report on a series of Be-doped GaAs/(AlGa)As two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) structures grown on (110), (111)B, (211)B and (311)B oriented substrates and compare their properties with high mobility samples grown on (311)A using Si doping. The samples were prepared and grown under the same conditions in order to render them comparable. They are found to have mobilities which are strongly anisotropic within the plane. All the samples show strong low-field positive magnetoresistance with resistance increases of up to 30% at magnetic fields of only 0.1 T. The presence of this feature on all the different planes shows that it does not depend upon the details of the band structure. It is identified with the lifting of the degeneracy of the spin sub-bands by the asymmetrical potential giving rise to a classical two-band magnetoresistance.

The modulation-doped GaAs/(AlGa)As heterostructures grown on the (311)A GaAs surface using silicon as the acceptor produced 2DHGs with low-temperature hole mobility exceeding 1.2 × 10⁶ cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ with carrier concentrations as low as 0.8 × 10¹¹ cm⁻². This hole mobility is the highest ever observed at such low densities by any growth technique. These 2DHG samples show for the first time the persistent photoconductivity effect. This effect is normally absent in 2DHG systems. An analysis of the number density and temperature dependence of the mobility leads us to conclude that the mobility is limited by phonon scattering above 4 K and interface scattering at lower temperatures.     

Crystal quality of InN thin films grown on ZnO substrate by radio-frequency molecular beam epitaxy

The growth of InN on {0001} ZnO substrates by radio-frequency, plasma-assisted, molecular-beam epitaxy (RF-MBE) has been experimentally investigated. The reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) pattern quickly recovered to a 1×1 streak pattern as the InN growth was started on nitridated ZnO substrates, whereas the RHEED pattern of the ZnO substrate was spotty because of plasma damage induced by nitridation. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the (0002) InN rocking curve was estimated to be around 150 arcsec from x-ray diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, we observed a remarkable feature from our experiments; namely, the crystal quality of InN does not seem to depend on the surface polarity of the ZnO substrate, while it is well known that InN growth on GaN has strong polarity dependence. To investigate this tendency, we have also investigated the surface stability of adatoms, In and N, on Zn- and O-face ZnO surfaces using a first-principles technique. From the theoretical study, N adsorption is more stable on ZnO surfaces of both polarities compared with In adsorption. Accordingly, the preferential initiation by N adatoms onto both ZnO surfaces can explain the unique style of InN growth on ZnO substrates.     

The effects of laser irradiation on InGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells grown by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy

We studied the effects of Ar ion laser irradiation during the growth of InGaAs/ GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQW) structures by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy. Structural and optical properties were characterized by Nomarski microscopy, Dektak stylus profiler, and low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements. For MQW structures grown at a relatively low substrate temperature (500°C), the laser irradiation influences greatly the growth process of the In^Ga^^As well and results in a large blue shift of about 2000à in the PL peak. Such a large blue shift suggests that laser modification during growth could have some novel applications in optoelectronics. On the other hand, the laser irradiation has relatively small effects on samples grown at a higher substrate temperature (550°C).     

Wurtzite CdS on CdTe grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Growth of single crystal wurtzite cadmium sulfide on CdTe(111)B substrates has been achieved using molecular beam epitaxy. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) indicates smooth surface morphology for several hundreds of nanometers after nucleation. X-ray diffraction measurements confirm the crystalline orientation to be [0001] in the growth direction. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicates mostly stoichiometric CdS layers and the existence of a reaction at the interface. Sulfur incorporation into CdTe for various S fluxes has been investigated by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). High-resolution TEM images of the interface between such epilayers were recorded. During the growth In was used as an in-situ dopant. The concentration and uniformity of In was determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Indium profiles were obtained for concentrations ranging from 5 × 10¹⁷ to 1.4 × 10²¹ cm⁻³. The experimental concentration agrees well with the variation expected from the In flux.     

InAs/GaSb超晶格中波焦平面材料的分子束外延技术

报道了InAs/GaSb超晶格中波材料的分子束外廷生长技术研究.通过改变GaSb衬底上分子束外延InAs/GaSb超晶格材料的衬底温度,以及界面的优化等,改善超晶格材料的表面形貌和晶格失配,获得了晶格失配△a/a=1.5×10-4,原子级平整表面的InAs/GaSb超晶格材料,材料77 K截止波长为4.87 μm.     

Optical properties of CdSe quantum dots grown on ZnSe and ZnBeSe by molecular beam epitaxy

We report detailed studies of the optical properties of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) grown on ZnSe and ZnBeSe by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). We performed steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements and observe that nonradiative processes dominate at room temperature (RT) in the CdSe/ZnBeSe QDs structures, though these nonradiative processes do not dominate in the CdSe/ZnSe QDs structures up to RT. We performed secondary ion-mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurement and propose that the oxygen incorporation in the ZnBeSe layers (possibly caused by the reactivity of Be) may contribute to the dominant nonradiative processes at high temperatures in the QDs grown on ZnBeSe.     

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.     

Structural properties of GaAsN grown on (001) GaAs by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy

Detailed transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and transmission electron diffraction (TED) examination has been made of metalorganic molecular beam epitaxial GaAsN layers grown on (001) GaAs substrates. TEM results show that lateral composition modulation occurs in the GaAs_1−xN_x layer (x 6.75%). It is shown that increasing N composition and Se (dopant) concentration leads to poor crystallinity. It is also shown that the addition of Se increases N composition. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results show that the surfaces of the samples experience a morphological change from faceting to islanding, as the N composition and Se concentration increase. Based on the TEM and AFM results, a simple model is given to explain the formation of the lateral composition modulation.     

Variable area MWIR diodes on HgCdTe/Si grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Molecular beam epitaxy technique has been used to grow double layer heterostructure mercury cadmium telluride materials on silicon substrates for infrared detection in the mid-wavelength infrared transmission band. Test structures containing square diodes with variable areas from 5.76 × 10⁻⁶ cm² to 2.5×10⁻³ cm² are fabricated on them. The p on n planar architecture is achieved by selective arsenic ion implantation. The absorber layer characteristics for the samples studied here include a full width at half maximum of 100–120 arcsec from x-ray rocking curve, the electron concentration of 1−2 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻³ and mobility 3−5 × 10⁴ cm²/V-s, respectively at 80 K from Hall measurements. The minority carrier lifetime measured by photoconductive decay measurements at 80 K varied from 1 to 1.2 μsec. A modified general model for the variable area I–V analysis is presented. The dark current-voltage measurements were carried out at 80 K and an analysis of the dependence of zero-bias impedance on the perimeter/area ratio based on bulk, surface generation-recombination, and lateral currents are presented. The results indicate state-of-the art performance of the diodes in the midwavelength infrared region.     

MOCVD方法在蓝宝石衬底上生长无应变InAlN/GaN异质结材料研究

In Al N/Ga N heterostructures were grown on sapphire substrates by low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition.The influences of NH3 flux and growth temperature on the In composition and morphologies of the In Al N were investigated by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy.It’s found that the In composition increases quickly with NH3 flux decrease.But it’s not sensitive to NH3 flux under higher flux.This suggests that lower NH3 flux induces a higher growth rate and an enhanced In incorporation.The In composition also increases with the growth temperatures decreasing,and the defects of the In Al N have close relation with In composition.Unstrained In Al N with In composition of 17% is obtained at NH3 flux of 500 sccm and growth temperature of790 °C.The In Al N/Ga N heterostructure high electron mobility transistor sample showed a high two-dimensional electron gas(2DEG) mobility of 1210 cm2/(V s) with the sheet density of 2.31013cm2 at room temperature.     

Current-voltage characteristics ofp-Ge/n-GaAs heterojunction diodes grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Electrical characteristics ofp-Ge/n-GaAs heterojunctions on GaAs(l00) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been investigated. Thep-type Ge layer was produced by intentionally doping with Ga atoms, in addition to the diffusion of Ga atoms from the surface of the GaAs layer. The best ideality factor of 1.04 over six decades of the forward current and the lowest reverse current density of the order of 10⁻⁶ A/cm² were obtained for diodes with Ge grown at 500° C. The ideality factor increased slightly up to 1.12 when the operating temperature was decreased to 77 K. By studying the temperature dependence of the forward current, the conduction band discontinuity has been estimated to be 40 ± 10 meV. The suppression of Ga diffusion into the Ge film and its effect on pn-junction characteristics were also studied by growing a thin Ge film on GaAs at less than 300° C prior to the normal Ge film growth at 500° C.     

Unintentional incorporation of B, As, and O impurities in GaN grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We have investigated systematically the effects of growth parameters upon the unintentional incorporation of B, As, and O impurities in GaN grown by molecular beam epitaxy with an RF-plasma activated nitrogen source. The prepared samples were analyzed using secondary ion mass spectrometry to determine the absolute concentration of the impurities. The boron background concentration in the unintentionally doped GaN was found to strongly correlate with the nitrogen plasma power used during the growth, indicating a decomposition of the pBN crucible in the plasma source. Due to previous GaAs growth in the same chamber, a considerably large amount of As contamination (≈3×10¹⁸ at/cm³) was also observed in the grown layer. The presence of Al in GaN is found to facilitate the incorporation of oxygen impurities in the layer. We determined an empirical formula, C_o ^t/C_o ^b 3.8×(C_Al/C_Al)^0.27, representing the correlation between O concentration and Al mole fraction (%) in the small range of Al content, 0.03≈1%, in the layer. The residual oxygen level was substantially reduced from 3.4×10¹⁹ to mid-10¹⁸ at/cm³ in the GaN layer when the buffer layer structure was changed from low temperature grown GaN single buffer to GaN/AlN double buffer layer. We ascribe this significantly lowered oxygen impurity level to improved crystalline quality of the layer due to the double buffer layer structure.     

pn-Junction photodiode based on GaN grown on Si (111) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

The growth and characterization of pn-junction photodiode based on GaN grown on Si (111) by RF-plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are described. The structural and optical properties of samples were studied by HR-XRD and Fourier FTIR spectroscopy, respectively. For IR reflectance analysis, GaN-like and AlN-like E₂ TO optical modes have been detected. By using the thermal evaporator, Ni/Ag and Al contacts were evaporated at the front and back of samples. The application of thermal annealing treatment in oxygen ambient has been shown to significantly reduce the dark current of GaN pn-junction photodiode. The electrical characteristics of all samples were conducted using Keithley's I–V measurement system. Under 460-nm wavelength, at bias voltages of 0.5, 1, and 2 V, the photocurrents rise and decay times were investigated.     

Interdiffusion behavior of Hg in HgTe/CdTe superlattices grown on Cd0.96Zn0.04 Te (211)B substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Double-crystal x-ray rocking curve (DCRC) and secondary-ion mass-spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements have been performed to investigate the effect of rapid thermal annealing on the interdiffusion behavior of Hg in HgTe/CdTe superlattices grown on Cd_0.96Zn_0.04Te (211)B substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The sharp satellite peaks of the DCRC measurements on a 100-period HgTe/CdTe (100Å/100Å) superlattice show a periodic arrangement of the superlattice with high-quality interfaces. The negative direction of the entropy change obtained from the diffusion coefficients as a function of the reciprocal of the temperature after RTA indicates that the Hg diffusion for the annealed HgTe/CdTe superlattice is caused by an interstitial mechanism. The Cd and the Hg concentration profiles near the annealed HgTe/CdTe superlattice interfaces, as measured by SIMS, show a nonlinear behavior for Hg, originating from the interstitial diffusion mechanism of the Hg composition. These results indicate that a nonlinear interdiffusion behavior is dominant for HgTe/CdTe superlattices annealed at 190°C and that the rectangular shape of HgTe/CdTe superlattices may change to a parabolic shape because of the intermixing of Hg and Cd due to the thermal treatment.     

Antiphase boundary of GaAs films grown on Si(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Single and double domain GaAs film growth on double domain Si(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy were observed. The domain structure of the film did not succeed to the domain structure of the substrate surface but was decided by a direction of slight misorientation of the substrate. To explain this, it has been proposed that the antiphase boundary (APB) of the film is dominantly non-stoichiometric,i.e., the APB is composed of the same polar {11n} or {nn1} (n = 1, 2, ….) planes of the adjacent domains. Growth simulation based on this model about the APB has explained well the experimental results that a double domain film can grow on a Si(001) surface which is exactly oriented or is misoriented towards a 〈100〉 direction.     

A high-gain GaAs/AlGaAs n-p-n heterojunction bipolar transistor on(100) Si grown by molecular beam epitaxy

High-gain GaAs/AlGaAs n-p-n heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's) on Si substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been fabricated and tested. In this structure, an n⁺-InAs emitter cap layer was grown in order to achieve a nonalloyed ohmic contact. Typical devices with an emitter dimension of 50×50 μm² exhibited a current gain as high as 45 at a collector current density of 2×10³ A/cm² with an ideality factor of 1.4. This is the highest current gain reported for HBT's grown on Si substrates. Breakdown voltages as high as 10 and 15 V were observed for the emitter-base and collector-base junctions respectively. The investigation on devices with varying emitter dimensions demonstrates that much higher current gains can be expected     

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.