Fundamental materials studies of undoped, In-doped, and As-doped Hg1−xCdxTe

Variable magnetic-field Hall and transient photoconductance-lifetime measurements were performed on a series of undoped, In-doped, and As-doped HgCdTe samples grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Use of quantitative mobility-spectrum analysis (QMSA) combined with multiple carrier-fitting (MCF) techniques indicates that the majority of samples contain an interfacial n-type layer that significantly influences the interpretation of the electrical measurements. This n-type layer completely masks the high-quality electrical properties of undoped or low n-type In-doped HgCdTe, as well as complicating the interpretation of activation in As-doped p-type HgCdTe. Introduction of an intentional n-type background, typically created through doping with In to “recover” high mobility, is actually shown to increase the “bulk” layer conductivity to a level comparable to the interface layer conductivity. Photoconductance-lifetime measurements suggest that In-doping may introduce Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination centers. Variable-field Hall analysis is shown to be essential for characterizing p-type material. Photoconductance-lifetime measurements suggest that trapping states may be introduced during the incorporation and activation of As. Two distinctly different types of temperature dependencies were observed for the lifetimes of As-doped samples.     

Faecal indicator organism concentrations and catchment export coefficients in the UK

Characterisation of faecal indicator organism (FIO) concentrations and export coefficients for catchments with particular combinations of land use and under specific climatic regimes is critical in developing models to predict daily loads and apportion sources of the microbial parameters used to regulate water quality. Accordingly, this paper presents a synthesis of FIO concentration and export coefficient data for the summer bathing season, with some comparative winter data, for 205 river/stream sampling points widely distributed across mainland UK. In terms of both geometric mean (GM) FIO concentrations and export coefficients (expressed as cfu km(-2) h(-1)), the results reveal (1) statistically significant elevations at high flow compared with base flow, with concentrations typically increasing by more than an order of magnitude and export coefficients by about two orders; (2) significantly higher values in summer than in winter under high-flow conditions; and (3) extremely wide variability between the catchments (e.g. four orders of magnitude range for GM faecal coliform concentrations), which closely reflects land use-with urban areas and improved pastures identified as key FIO sources. Generally, these two most polluting land uses are concentrated in lowland areas where runoff (m3 km(-2) h(-1)) is low compared with upland areas, which in the UK are dominated by rough grazing and forestry. Consequently, contrasts in export coefficients between land use types are less than for FIO concentrations. The GMs reported for most land use categories are based on 13 sites and exhibit quite narrow confidence intervals. They may therefore be applied with some confidence to other catchments in the UK and similar geographical regions elsewhere. Examples are presented to illustrate how the results can be used to estimate daily summer base- and high-flow FIO loads for catchments with different land use types, and to assess the likely effectiveness of certain strategies for reducing FIO pollutant loadings in areas with extensive areas of lowland improved pasture.     

Laser-beam-induced current mapping of spatial nonuniformities in molecular beam epitaxy As-grown HgCdTe

The formation of dislocations and corresponding built-in electric fields in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown HgCdTe can have a major impact on the performance and yield of photodetectors fabricated from this material. This paper investigates the presence of such built-in electric fields arising from dislocation segregation in MBE as-grown HgCdTe, and their subsequent removal via a low-temperature Hg-saturated anneal. The electrical properties and surface morphology of an HgCdTe layer grown on a thin CdTe buffer layer are compared with those of an HgCdTe layer grown directly on the CdZnTe substrate. Laser-beam-induced current (LBIC) imaging is a nondestructive technique capable of mapping built-in electric fields present in a semiconductor material, which, in the present case, has been used to reveal dislocation distributions present in as-grown, unintentionally doped, MBE-grown Hg_0.71Cd_0.29Te. Two-dimensional scanning LBIC measurements at 160 K allow spatial mapping of electric fields across the HgCdTe wafer. Subsequent isothermal annealing of the wafer in an Hg atmosphere has been found to decrease the magnitude of the built-in electric fields to below the LBIC detection limit. However, of particular note, is that before and after annealing, crosshatch patterns can be seen using Nomarski microscopy, with the crosshatching being predominantly in the [01 ] direction and, to a lesser extent, in the [ 31] and [ 13] directions. Defect-decoration etching of the annealed wafer reveals dislocation banding parallel to the [01 ] direction, which closely resembles the contrast observed in the LBIC image of the wafer before annealing. These Nomarski and LBIC images are compared with those of a second wafer, which incorporates a 40-nm CdTe buffer layer. The second wafer does not show significant Nomarski or LBIC contrast, indicating a flat, electrically uniform as-grown layer. Variable magnetic-field Hall measurements at 77 K and quantitative mobility-spectrum analysis (QMSA) indicate predominately p-type conduction with a doping density of 2×10¹⁵ cm⁻³ in the as-grown layer. After Hg annealing at 240°C, no LBIC signals are observed at 160 K, and Hall measurements at 77 K indicate the presence of two n-type carriers, with a combined doping density of 2×10¹⁵ cm⁻³. Double-crystal x-ray diffraction measurements show no evidence of twinned crystal volumes in the layers before or after annealing, or any change in the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) (41 arcsec) of the (422) reflection. The similarity between the dislocation density distribution, as revealed by defect decoration, and the LBIC image suggests that Hg out-diffusion during growth is expedited in regions of high dislocation concentration, thus creating a nonuniform Hg vacancy-acceptor concentration. The as-grown acceptor concentration, in turn, modulates the hole concentration, creating p⁺/p⁻ junctions and built-in electric fields in the material. Low-temperature annealing in a saturated-Hg atmosphere does not remove the crosshatch patterns or dislocation banding, but it fills the Hg vacancies, revealing the uniformly distributed n-type background, thus reducing the magnitude of any built-in electric fields. The LBIC mapping of MBE as-grown HgCdTe samples is, thus, capable of revealing defect distributions that would otherwise require a destructive technique, such as defect-decoration etching, to determine.     

Evaluating the operational utility of a Bacteroidales quantitative PCR-based MST approach in determining the source of faecal indicator organisms at a UK bathing water

Microbial source tracking techniques are used in the UK to provide an evidence-base to guide major expenditure decisions and/or regulatory action relating to sewage disposal. Consequently, it is imperative that the techniques used robustly index faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) that are the regulatory parameters for bathing and shellfish harvesting areas. This study reports a ‘field-scale’ test of microbial source tracking (MST) based on the quantitative PCR analyses of Bacteroidales 16S rRNA genetic marker sequences. The project acquired data to test the operational utility of quantitative Bacteroidales MST data, comparing it with FIO concentrations in streams, effluents and bathing waters. Overall, the data did not exhibit a consistent pattern of significant correlations between Bacteroidales MST parameters and FIOs within the different sample matrices (i.e. rivers, bathing waters and/or effluents). Consequently, there was little evidence from this study that reported concentrations and/or percentages of human and/or ruminant faecal loadings (that are based on Bacteroidales MST gene copy numbers) offer a credible evidence-base describing FIO contributions to receiving water ‘non-compliance’. The study also showed (i) there was no significant attenuation of the Bacteroidales gene copy number ‘signal’ through the UV disinfection process; and (ii) single non-compliant samples submitted for Bacteroidales MST analysis, do not reliably characterise the balance of faecal loadings due to the high variability in the MST signal observed.At this stage in the development of the MST tool deployed, it would be imprudent to use the percentage human and/or ruminant contributions (i.e. as indicated by MST data acquired at a bathing water) as the sole or principal element in the evidence-base used to guide major expenditure decisions and/or regulatory action.     

Effect of MBE Growth Conditions on Multiple Electron Transport in InN

A quantitative mobility spectrum analysis (QMSA) of multiple magnetic field data has been used to determine the transport properties of bulk and surface electron species in InN films, grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) with varying substrate temperatures and In/N flux ratios. While all films have similar bulk electron densities, ∼4 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³, the highest mobility was obtained in the highest growth temperature film (3100 cm²/V s at 150 K), while In-rich growth also gave good mobility values even at a much lower growth temperature. The surface sheet electron concentration increased with surface roughness, which increased with N-flux during growth.     

Characterization of multiple carriers in GaN using variable magnetic-field hall measurements

Variable magnetic-field Hall-effect measurements were performed on two thick GaN samples grown by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy (HVPE), one freestanding and one attached to the sapphire substrate. Results are compared to those obtained using the more standard, single magnetic-field Hall measurements. In both samples, a second low-mobility electron was indicated that significantly influenced interpretation of single-field Hall measurements, particularly at low temperatures. Extraction of the bulk carrier using fits to the variable-field Hall data allowed a more accurate determination of the temperature dependence of the bulk electrical properties and, hence, basic physical parameters. In addition, the quantitative mobility-spectrum analysis (QMSA) technique, reported here for the first time on GaN, indicated a continuous and significant spread in mobility for the bulk electron, likely with sample thickness. Thus, even the “improved” results, based on modeling the multiple-carrier fitting (MCF) analysis, obtained in this study should be viewed with some suspicion, as they clearly represent an average over an electrically inhomogeneous sample.     

Electrically Active Defects in GaN Layers Grown With and Without Fe-doped Buffers by Metal-organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Electrically active defects in n-GaN films grown with and without an Fe-doped buffer layer have been investigated using conventional and optical deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). Conventional DLTS revealed three well- defined electron traps with activation energies E _a of 0.21, 0.53, and 0.8 eV. The concentration of the 0.21 and 0.8 eV defects was found to be slightly higher in the sample without the Fe-doped buffer, whereas the concentration of the 0.53 eV trap was higher in the sample with the Fe-doped buffer. A minority carrier trap with E _a ≈ 0.65 eV was detected in both samples using optical DLTS; its concentration was ∼40% higher in the sample without the Fe-doped buffer. Mobility spectrum analysis and multiple magnetic-field measurements revealed that the electron mobility in the topmost layer of both samples was similar, but that the sample without the Fe-doped buffer layer was affected by parallel conduction through underlying layers with lower electron mobility.     

Maximum entropy mobility spectrum analysis of HgCdTe heterostructures

We report on mobility spectrum analysis of p-type HgCdTe using a new maximum entropy algorithm termed full MEMSA (f-MEMSA). The algorithm is the first that separates the constraints on the transverse and longitudinal components of the conductivity tensor, which results in a higher resolution, compared to other MEMSA algorithms. Compared to the Lakeshore c-QMSA algorithm, f-MEMSA demonstrated a lower detection limit and smaller errors for estimations on synthetic data sets. f-MEMSA was applied to experimental data measured on p-type Hg_0.77Cd_0.23Te, measured between T=30 K and 300 K and for an applied magnetic field between μ₀H=0 T and 9 T. Despite the demonstrated high performance of f-MEMSA on synthetic data, we observed several nonphysical contributions, such as low mobility electrons and high mobility holes. A systematic study of different sample geometries and growth methods showed that the high mobility holes, so-called mirror peaks, can be attributed to finite contact size effects. It also indicated that the low mobility electrons appear in the mobility spectrum as a consequence of a limitation in the application of mobility spectrum analysis (MSA) to vacancy-doped HgCdTe, which is consistent with a magnetic freezeout of the holes at high magnetic fields.     

Magneto-Transport Characterization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">p-</Emphasis>Type HgCdTe

The electrical properties of semiconductor materials have conventionally been extracted via Hall measurements performed at a single magnetic field. When applied to a semiconductor such as HgCdTe with mixed conduction characteristics, the values obtained from the Hall measurement represent only an averaged contribution of all carriers present in the sample. In this study, the transport properties of a liquid-phase epitaxially (LPE) grown p-type HgCdTe were determined. Variable magnetic field and temperature Hall and resistivity measurements were employed in conjunction with the improved-quantitative mobility spectrum analysis (iQMSA) algorithm to extract the concentrations and mobilities of all carriers present in the material. A comparison study was made between a van der Pauw Greek cross and a standard Hall bar structure on the same material. A disparity in the transport property of the sample was observed when both structures were measured within a few days of each other. Through iQMSA analysis, the discrepancy is seen to be attributed to the formation of an n-type skin inversion layer within a week after processing.     

Application of quantitative mobility-spectrum analysis to multilayer HgCdTe structures

For modern semiconductor heterostructures containing multiple populations of distinct carrier species, conventional Hall and resistivity data acquired at a single magnetic field provide far less information than measurements as a function of magnetic field. However, the extraction of reliable and accurate carrier densities and mobilities from the field-dependent data can present a number of difficult challenges, which were never fully overcome by earlier methods, such as the multicarrier fit, the mobility-spectrum analysis of Beck and Anderson, and the hybrid mixed-conduction analysis. More recently, to overcome the limitations of those methods, several research groups have contributed to development of the quantitative mobility-spectrum analysis (QMSA), which is now available as a commercial product. The algorithm is analogous to a fast Fourier transform in that it transforms from the magnetic-field (B) domain to the mobility (μ) domain. The QMSA converts the field-dependent Hall and resistivity data into a visually meaningful transformed output, comprising the conductivity density of electrons and holes in the mobility domain. In this article, we apply QMSA to both synthetic and real experimental data that are representative of modern multilayer HgCdTe structures. We discuss such features as the accuracy of the extraction of individual layer conductivities and average mobilities, reconstruction of the carrier mobility distribution within a particular layer, the resolution of two carriers with similar mobilities, and limits of the sensitivity.