Effects of temperature on current instabilities caused by recombination centers in semiconductors

With the carrier distribution function approximated by a displaced Maxwellian function the current-voltage characteristics for a semiconductor containing repulsive Coulomb recombination centers have been derived, and the current instabilities in n-GaAs as functions of temperature and applied field have been experimentally studied. The experimental results show that the threshold current for the onset of the current instabilities is not sensitive to temperature, but the corresponding threshold field decreases with increasing temperature; and that the current oscillation frequency increases and the amplitude decreases with increasing temperature. These results are in good agreement with the theory.     

Contribution of Auger recombination to saturation of the light-current characteristics in high-power laser diodes (λ = 1.0–1.9 m m)

Spectral and light-current characteristics of lasers based on the asymmetric separate-confinement heterostructures InGaAs/InGaAsAl/InP and InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs were studied in the pulsed mode of lasing. It is shown that, at high levels of current pumping, the charge-carrier concentration in the active region of semiconductor lasers for the near-infrared optical region increases beyond the oscillation threshold; drastic saturation of the light-current characteristics is observed. Processes occurring in lasers as the charge-carrier concentration increases beyond the lasing threshold are studied theoretically. It is established that, at high pump levels, the rate of stimulated recombination decreases, the lifetime of charge carriers increases, and both the concentration of emitted photons and the quantum yield of stimulated radiation decrease. It is shown that variations in stimulated recombination, the decrease in the quantum efficiency, and saturation of the light-current characteristic in semiconductor lasers at high levels of current pumping are caused by the contribution of the nonradiative Auger recombination.     

Interfacial and interband lasing in an AnAs/InAsSbP heterostructure grown by vapor-phase epitaxy from metal-organic compounds

Sources of coherent radiation are fabricated on the basis of a double InAs/InAsSbP heterostructure, grown by vapor-phase epitaxy from metal-organic compounds, that includes a thick (3.3μm) active region. The spectral characteristics of diodes with various cavity lengths are studied, and light polarization is measured. It is established that the modes that compose the spectrum of radiation are controlled by radiative recombination at the heteroboundary and in the bulk of the active region. A new mode with a wavelength of intermediate value, lying between the wavelengths of the aforementioned kinds of radiation, is observed if the current exceeds the threshold value by 30%. This intermediate mode presumably results from an interaction between the modes related to the interfacial and interband radiative recombination, which are present in the cavity at the same time.     

激光二极管的位移损伤效应研究

以解析公式的推导、位移损伤实验结果以及位移效应的数值模拟结果为基础,分析了位移效应产生的缺陷作为非辐射复合中心和多数载流子陷阱两种情形下的激光二极管阈值电流、外微分量子效率及I-V特性随辐照注量的变化规律。通常的实验注量范围内,缺陷主要作为非辐射复合中心,导致激光二极管阈值电流随注量呈线性增大,但外微分量子效率基本不变,I-V特性低压区电流增大;当辐照注量较高,引起明显的多数载流子去除效应时,阈值电流随注量的增大不再呈线性关系,同时外微分量子效率下降,I-V特性高压区的电流减小。     

Effect of radiation and surface recombination on thecharacteristics of an ion-implanted GaAs MESFET

The effects of optical radiation and surface recombination on the characteristics of an ion-implanted GaAs MESFET are studied analytically in the below-pinchoff region. Results show that optical radiation significantly enhances the drain-source current of the GaAs MESFET when only electron-hole pair generation is considered. However, the surface recombination, which in turn results in a gate leakage current, reduces the drain-source current, with the reduction depending on the density of trap centers. The threshold voltage is found to decrease under the normally OFF condition and increase under the normally ON condition due to photogenerated carriers. The surface recombination reverses the effect, i.e. threshold voltage increases under the normally OFF condition and decreases under the normally ON condition, with an increase in the trap center density at a particular ion dose compared to those cases where the effect of recombination is not considered     

Threshold characteristics of λ=1.55 µm InGaAsP/InP heterolasers

Temperature dependences of the threshold characteristics of InGaAsP/InP quantum well (QW) lasers have been studied. The main contribution to the threshold current is made by the thresholdless Auger recombination. The observed power-law temperature dependence of the threshold current is explained by the predominance of the thresholdless Auger recombination in QWs over the threshold Auger process.     

Lasing characteristics of low-threshold oxide confinementInGaAs-GaAlAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Some lasing characteristics of index-guided InGaAs-GaAlAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) with a native oxide confinement structure, which produced a low threshold current of 70 μA, are presented. It was found that nonradiative recombination was reduced and the estimated surface recombination velocity was almost negligible. The oxidation process was uniform to produce low threshold devices while the oxidation rate was dependent on the doping or composition of DBR's     

Interband Auger recombination in InGaAsP

The interband Auger recombination lifetimes of two Auger processes have been calculated to correlate measured threshold current densities and carrier lifetimes for InGaAsP and InGaAsSb lasers. Good aggreement with experimental data was obtained for lasers with low nominal threshold current densities. These results demonstrate the importance of Auger recombination in the threshold characteristics of InGaAsP/InP lasers.     

混合模式电应力损伤对SiGe HBT器件1/f噪声特性的影响研究

研究了混合模式应力损伤对SiGe HBT器件直流电性能的影响,对比了混合模式损伤前后器件1/f噪声特性的变化。结果表明,在SiGe HBT器件中,混合模式损伤在Si/SiO₂界面产生界面态缺陷P_b,导致小注入下基极电流增加;H原子对多晶硅晶界悬挂键的钝化作用引起中等注入区基极电流减小,导致电流增益增强。混合模式损伤缺陷位于硅禁带宽度内本征费米能级附近,虽然使基区SRH复合电流增加,却不会改变器件的低频噪声特性。     

The effect of temperature dependent processes on the performance of1.5-μm compressively strained InGaAs(P) MQW semiconductor diodelasers

We describe measurements of the threshold current I_th and spontaneous emission characteristics of InGaAs (P)-based 1.5-μm compressively strained multiple-quantum-well semiconductor lasers from 90 K to above room temperature. We show that below a break-point temperature, T_B≈130 K, I_th and its temperature dependence are governed by the radiative current. Above this temperature, a thermally activated Auger recombination process becomes the dominant recombination mechanism responsible for both I_th and its temperature sensitivity. At room temperature nonradiative Auger recombination is found to account for approximately 80% of the threshold current in these devices     

Temperature dependence of the threshold current of QW lasers

The temperature dependence of the threshold current in GaInAs-based laser structures has been studied in a wide temperature range (4.2 ≤ T ≤ 290 K). It is shown that this dependence is monotonic in the entire temperature interval studied. Theoretical expressions for the threshold carrier density are derived and it is demonstrated that this density depends on temperature linearly. It is shown that the main contribution to the threshold current comes from monomolecular (Shockley-Read) recombination at low temperatures. At T > 77 K, the threshold current is determined by radiative recombination. At higher temperatures, close to room temperature, Auger recombination also makes a contribution. The threshold current grows with temperature linearly in the case of radiative recombination and in accordance with T ³ in the case of Auger recombination.     

Localized Auger Recombination in Quantum-Dot Lasers

We have calculated radiative and Auger recombination rates due to localized recombination in individual dots, for an ensemble of 10⁶ dots with carriers occupying the inhomogeneous distribution of energy states according to global Fermi-Dirac statistics. The recombination rates cannot be represented by simple power laws, though the Auger rate has a stronger dependence on the ensemble electron population than radiative recombination. Using single-dot recombination probabilities which are independent of temperature, the ensemble recombination rates and modal gain decrease with increasing temperature at fixed population. The net effect is that the threshold current density increases with increasing temperature due to the increase in threshold carrier density. The most significant consequence of these effects is that the temperature dependence of the Auger recombination rate at threshold is much weaker than in quantum wells, being characterized by a T₀ value of about 325 K. Observations of a strong temperature dependence of threshold in quantum dot lasers may have explanations other than Auger recombination, such as recombination from higher lying states, or carrier leakage.     

Low-frequency intensity noise resonance in an external cavity GaAslaser for possible laser characterization

The dependence of the (low-frequency) resonance of light intensity noise in an external-cavity GaAs laser on cavity length and bias current, combined with the dependence of the threshold current on the magnitude of the light feedback, is used to determine simultaneously the carrier recombination lifetime, the carrier injection at transparency, and the optical loss. The key to this technique is understanding the correction term to the relaxation oscillation frequency due to finite carrier density at transparency and the influence of the long external cavity transit time on the photon lifetime in the three-mirror cavity. The technique uses commercial lasers without modifying them and does not require fast electronics     

InGaP/GaAs HBT器件的制备及其特性

采用在发射区台面腐蚀时保留InGaP钝化层和去除InGaP钝化层的方法制备了两种InGaP/GaAs异质结双极晶体管(HBT)器件,研究了InGaP钝化层对HBT器件基区表面电流复合以及器件直流和射频微波特性的影响.对制备的两种器件进行了对比测试后得到:保留InGaP钝化层的HBT器件最大直流增益(β)为130,最高振荡频率(fmax)大于53 GHz,功率附加效率达到61％,线性功率增益为23 dB;而去除InGaP钝化层的器件最大β为50,fnax大于43 GHz,功率附加效率为57％,线性功率增益为18 dB.测试结果表明,InGaP钝化层作为一种耗尽型的钝化层能有效抑制基区表面电流的复合,提高器件直流增益,改善器件的射频微波特性.     

New structures of GaAlAs lateral-injection laser for low-threshold and single-mode operation

Two new structures of lateral-injection transverse junction stripe (TJS) lasers, in which the stripe geometry is formed by the double heterojunctions, have been developed. These lasers, the homojunction type and the single-heterojunction type, have a self-reverse-biased p-n junction for concentrating current into the narrow active region. The temperature dependence of the threshold current has been very much improved in one of the new structures, the homojunction type, and is fair compared with those of good conventional broad-contact lasers. The threshold current does not increase rapidly up to 350 K in the homojunction lasers. These lasers exhibit improved characteristics of low threshold, the single longitudinal mode oscillation as well as the single fundamental transverse-mode oscillation, and "kink-free" behavior in the current depedence of the light-output power.     

Temperature dependence of the threshold current density of aquantum dot laser

Detailed theoretical analysis of the temperature dependence of threshold current density of a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) laser is given. Temperature dependences of the threshold current density components associated with the radiative recombination in QDs and in the optical confinement layer (OCL) are calculated. Violation of the charge neutrality in QDs is shown to give rise to the slight temperature dependence of the current density component associated with the recombination in QD's. The temperature is calculated (as a function of the parameters of the structure) at which the components of threshold current density become equal to each other. Temperature dependences of the optimum surface density of QD's and the optimum thickness of the OCL, minimizing the threshold current density, are obtained. The characteristic temperature of QD laser T_o is calculated for the first time considering carrier recombination in the OCL (barrier regions) and violation of the charge neutrality in QDs. The inclusion of violation of the charge neutrality is shown to be critical for the correct calculation of T_o. The characteristic temperature is shown to fall off profoundly with increasing temperature. A drastic decrease in T_o is shown to occur in passing from temperature conditions wherein the threshold current density is controlled by radiative recombination in QD's to temperature conditions wherein the threshold current density is controlled by radiative recombination in the OCL. The dependences of T_o on the root mean square of relative QD size fluctuations, total losses, and surface density of QDs are obtained     

In-situ investigation of interfacial effects on charge accumulation and extraction in organic solar cells based on transient photocurrent studies

In organic solar cells, the interfacial and bulk photovoltaic processes are typically coupled based on charge transport and accumulation. In this article, we demonstrated that the in situ transient photocurrent measurements can be a powerful approach to separately investigate the interfacial effects on interfacial and bulk photovoltaic process. Based on this method, the effects of interfacial dipoles on charge extraction, accumulation, and recombination are solely studied by comparing Ca and Al devices with standard architecture of ITO/PEDOT/P3HT:PCBM/cathode. We observe that stronger interfacial dipoles can significantly decrease the charge extraction time and consequently increase the charge extraction efficiency. More importantly, stronger interfacial dipoles can also decrease the charge accumulation within the bulk photovoltaic layer. Furthermore, our experimental results indicate that the bulk-accumulated charges can act as recombination centers under device-operating condition, resulting in the recombination loss in photogenerated carriers. Clearly, our studies of transient photocurrents elucidated the charge extraction, accumulation, and recombination in OSCs.     

俄歇复合对应变量子阱激光器阈值电流的影响

通过考虑不同因素对压应变和张应变量子阱激光器阈值电流和特征温度的影响,得到了俄歇复合和非俄歇复合对阈值电流起主要作用的转变温度Tc,小于Tc时,主要是非俄歇复合;大于Tc时,主要是俄歇复合,而且张应变量子阱激光器转变温度要比压应变量子阱激光器的转变温度要高;张应变量子阱激光器与压应变量子阱激光器相比,阈值电流更低,特征温度更高。     

Measurement of series resistance in IMPATT diodes

A new method is given for determining the electrical series resistance of an IMPATT diode. The measurement is based on observation of the oscillation threshold bias current for a diode in a standard circuit. The method is applied to GaAs diodes near 40 GHz. The values obtained are used to quantitatively explain other performance characteristics of the diodes.     

多量子阱半导体激光器的瞬态响应特性分析

根据光增益与载流子密度的对数关系,在受激发射速率中分别引入了增益饱和项和载流子复合项,通过适应于多量子阱激光器的速率方程,从理论上证明了短腔结构存在与阈值电流最小值对应的最佳阱数。给出了多量子阱激光器的瞬态呼应特性的直接仿真结果及相图,分析了注入电流、阱数和腔长对其激射阈值、开关延误时间、弛豫振荡频率和光输出等能量的影响。