Effect of electron-electron and electron-hole collisions on intraband population inversion of electrons in stepped quantum wells

The effect of intersubband electron-electron (e-e) and electron-hole (e-h) scattering on intraband population inversion of electrons in a stepped InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum well is investigated. The characteristic times of the most probable e-e and e-h processes, which affect the electron densities on the excited levels, are calculated for the temperature range 80–300 K. Dependences of these times on the electron and hole density on the ground levels are studied. Temperature dependences of the intraband inversion of population for two nonequilibrium densities are calculated by solving a system of rate equations. It is shown that the intersubband e-e and e-h scattering only slightly affects the population inversion for electron densities below 1×10¹² cm^?2.     

Low-temperature time-resolved photoluminescence in InGaN/GaN quantum wells

The results of the investigation of low-temperature time-resolved photoluminescence in undoped and Si-doped In_0.2Ga_0.8N/GaN structures, which contain 12 quantum wells of width 60 Å separated by barriers of width 60 Å, are reported. The structures were grown by the MOCVD technique on sapphire substrates. The photoluminescence properties observed are explained by the manifestation of two-dimensional donor-acceptor recombination. These properties are the high-energy shift of the peak upon increasing the pumping intensity, a low-energy shift with increasing delay time, and a power law of luminescence decay of the t ^-γ type. The estimates of the total binding energy for donor and acceptor centers are given. This energy is 340 and 250 meV for Si-doped and undoped quantum wells, respectively. The role of the mosaic structure, which is typical for Group III hexagonal nitrides, is discussed as a factor favorable for the formation of donor-acceptor pairs.     

Low-temperature anti-Stokes photoluminescence in CdSe/ZnSe nanostructures

Intense anti-Stokes photoluminescence was observed at low temperatures in CdSe/ZnSe nanostructures with separate CdSe inserts in a ZnSe matrix; the nominal thickness of these inserts amounted to 1.5 and 0.6 monolayers. It is shown that the intensity of an anti-Stokes band excited by the photons of energies considerably lower than the band’s peak is quadratic in the excitation power; in the case of resonance excitation, a weaker dependence is obtained. A mechanism behind the excitation of anti-Stokes photoluminescence is suggested on the basis of nonlinear two-step two-photon absorption via the deep states of the defect centers including cation vacancies localized at the barrier-nanoisland interface.     

Specific features of transmutational doping of 30Si-enriched silicon crystals with phosphorus: Studies by the method of electron spin resonance

Electron spin resonance (ESR) is used to study the neutron transmutation doping of silicon crystals enriched with ³⁰Si isotope: phosphorus donors and radiation defects produced in the course of transmutational doping are observed. The ESR signals related to the phosphorus uncontrolled impurity in ³⁰Si before transmutational doping (the P concentration is ～10¹⁵ cm^?3) and phosphorus introduced by neutron irradiation with doses ～1 × 10¹⁹ cm^?2 and ～1 × 10²⁰ cm^?2 (the P concentrations are ～5 × 10¹⁶ and ～7 × 10¹⁷ cm^?3, respectively) are studied. As a result of drastic narrowing of the phosphorus ESR lines in ³⁰Si, the intensity of lines increased appreciably, which made it possible to measure the phosphorus concentration in the samples with a small volume (down to 10^?6 mm^?3). The methods for determining the concentration of P donors from hyperfine structure in the ESR spectra of isolated P atoms, exchange-related pairs, and clusters that consist of three, four, and more P donors are developed. In the region of high concentrations of P donors, in which case the hyperfine structure disappears, the concentration of P donors was estimated from the exchange-narrowed ESR line.     

Impedance spectroscopy of ultrafine-grain SnO2 ceramics with a variable grain size

The impedance spectra of nanocrystalline SnO₂ ceramics with an average grain size d ranging from 3 to 43 nm were investigated in the frequency range 1–10⁶ Hz at temperatures from 25 to 300°C in a dry oxygen atmosphere. Analysis of the experimental data by the graphoanalytical method made it possible to separate the contributions of grain bulk and grain boundaries to the conductivity. It is shown that the samples investigated can be arbitrarily divided into two groups with respect to the character of their conductivity. For the samples with an average grain size d < 25 nm, the charge transfer processes are almost completely determined by the grain boundaries. In samples with a larger grain size, the contribution of grain bulk to the conductivity is comparable with that of grain boundaries.     

Pulsed modification of germanium films on silicon,sapphire, and quartz substrates: Structure and optical properties

Semiconductors - The structural and optical properties of thin Ge films deposited onto semiconducting and insulating substrates and modified by pulsed laser radiation are studied. The films are...     

Anomalous electron spin splitting in InAs pumped by injection

The electroluminescence and photoluminescence of bulk n-InAs with a high concentration of donors (N _d ≈ 5 × 10¹⁶ cm^?3) is studied experimentally in magnetic field in the Faraday layout of the experiment. Under the conditions of electrical injection, the photon energy corresponding to the electroluminescence peak exceeds the energy band gap E _g. When a magnetic field is applied, the energy of the peak becomes lower than E _g, and the peak splits into two circular-polarized components. The splitting depends on the injection current. In moderate magnetic fields (about 2 T), the splitting can be much more profound than the calculated splitting corresponding to the well-known g factor of electrons in InAs. The effect is attributed to different degrees of magnetic freezing-out of electrons with different spin orientation. The maximum in the dependence of the degree of polarization of photoluminescence on the magnetic field and the behavior of the photoluminescence line width support the model suggested.     

Excitons in single and double GaAs/AlGaAs/ZnSe/Zn(Cd)MnSe heterovalent quantum wells

Exciton photoluminescence spectra, photoluminescence excitation spectra, and magnetophotoluminescence spectra of single (GaAs/AlGaAs/ZnMnSe) and double (GaAs/AlGaAs/ZnSe/ZnCdMnSe) heterovalent quantum wells formed by molecular beam epitaxy are studied. It is shown that the exciton absorption spectrum of such quantum wells mainly reproduces the resonant exciton spectrum expected for usual quantum wells with similar parameters, while the radiative exciton recombination have substantial distinctions, in particular the additional localization mechanism determined by defects generated by heterovalent interface exists. The nature of these localization centers is not currently clarified; their presence leads to broadening of photoluminescence lines and to an increase in the Stokes shift between the peaks of luminescence and absorption, as well as determining the variation in the magnetic g factor of bound exciton complexes.     

Malfunctioning of Microcontroller Irradiated with Ultrashort Ultrabroadband Pulse Trains

Effect of the number of ultrashort ultrabroadband pulses with a repetition rate of 1 kHz on malfunctioning of microcontroller in radio transparent housing is studied when the device is irradiated using pulse trains at a pulse duration of about 10^–10 s and radiation frequencies ranging from 1 to 30 GHz. The radiation is received by internal conducting stripes that connect the electronic circuit and external outputs. The malfunction probability is determined by the number of pulses in the pulse train, pulse number, and electric field strength. It is shown that malfunctioning is predominantly caused by the leading pulses in the pulse train.     

Molecular-beam epitaxy of InGaAs/InAlAs/AlAs structures for heterobarrier varactors

The molecular-beam epitaxy of InGaAs/InAlAs/AlAs structures for heterobarrier varactors is studied and optimized. The choice of the substrate-holder temperature, growth rate and III/V ratio in the synthesis of individual heterostructure regions, the thickness of AlAs inserts and barrier-layer quality are critical parameters to achieve the optimal characteristics of heterobarrier varactors. The proposed triple-barrier structures of heterobarrier varactors with thin InGaAs strained layers immediately adjacent to an InAlAs/AlAs/InAlAs heterobarrier, mismatched with respect to the InP lattice constant at an AlAs insert thickness of 2.5 nm, provides a leakage current density at the level of the best values for heterobarrier varactor structures with 12 barriers and an insert thickness of 3 nm.