A new method to realize InGaAsSbN quantum well (QW) structures on GaAs substrate is presented. This approach combines the established growth technique of InGaAsN and InGaAsSb QWs by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), with a post-growth thermal interdiffusion to achieve high quality interdiffused InGaAsSbN QW for diode lasers emitting at 1300-1550-nm. In addition to presenting the optimized interdiffused SbN-based QW design at 1550-nm, strain-compensated interdiffused InGaAsSb-GaAsN QW structure is also presented. Preliminary experimental findings of N- and Sb-diffusivities in GaAs matrix show good agreement with theory, indicating the feasibility of realizing interdiffused InGaAsSbN QW.

A nanometer-scale ZnO light emission array device was fabricated using the multi-level metallization technique of the CMOS process. Square arrays of pits with an inverted pyramid shape made from {111}Si planes were formed on a (100)Si substrate using selective etching. ZnO was deposited on the substrate by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and the surface of the deposited ZnO film was carefully polished by chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). As a result, ZnO-filled nanometer-scale arrays were obtained after removing the ZnO layer except for the ZnO in the pits by CMP. Cathodoluminescence (CL) from the ZnO arrays was observed.

The adsorption of Sb on the high index Si (5 5 12) has been studied at higher substrate temperature (HT) (800°C), using in situ surface characterization techniques like Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED), and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS). The surface morphology of this high index Si (5 5 12) surface has row like trenches along (110) direction. We have performed the study of Sb adsorption and desorption on the Si (5 5 12) substrate held at different temperatures. The different pathways adopted during adsorption and desorption have suggested the dominant role of kinetics I forming various surface phases on the Si (5 5 12) substrate. The adsorption at room temperature resulted in the formation of (225) surface phase, while the adsorption at 680°C resulted in the (337) phase. The sequential thermal desorption of the room temperature and high temperature adsorbed surface resulted in the formation of (337) phases at 800°C, with anisotropic growth along one direction. While the adsorption at 800°C resulted in the formation of anisotropic (337) like phases, the further increase in the coverage formed a 2x Si (225) phase. Annealing this 2x Si (225) phase again resulted in the formation of anisotropic (337) phase. Thus formation of interface by controlling the growth kinetics can result in the formation of various tailored structures with desired properties.

Zn1−xCoxO (x = 0.0 – 0.047) thin films (thickness ∼0.5 – 1 μm) have been prepared on sapphire substrates using metalorganic decomposition (MOD) method. The X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering studies indicate films to be polycrystalline ZnO with wurtzite structure. The optical absorption spectra show an expected bandgap of ∼3.2 eV. The magnetization studies show that the as prepared films lack the room temperature ferromagnetic order, whereas the films when vacuum annealed at a temperature 500 – 600 °C acquire ferromagnetic ordering at room temperature. Further, the observed ferromagnetism (FM) appears only for a limited range of Co concentration, 0.03 < x < 0.10 (after heat treating in vacuum at 550 °C), and it reversibly disappears upon re-annealing in air. The data presented here seem to suggest that the appearance of ferromagnetic order is dictated by both the oxygen defects and the critical concentration of Co, and thus may lend support to a recent model proposed by Coey et al. [Nature Materials4, 173 (2005)].

In this work, the growth and characterization of GaAsSbN epilayers nearly lattice matched to GaAs, grown in an elemental solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system with a RF plasma nitrogen source, are discussed. The Sb and N compositions of the nearly lattice matched layers are 2.6% and 6.8%, respectively, as determined by high resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis. The layers are found to be fully strained as evidenced by the presence of Pendellosung fringes on the x-ray diffraction spectra.

Effects of in-situ and ex-situ annealing on the low temperature photoluminescence (PL) characteristics are discussed. The 10 K PL peak energy of 1 eV with a FWHM of 18 meV has been achieved on ex-situ annealed samples in N ambient. The temperature dependence of PL peak energy exhibits “S-shaped” behavior in the low temperature regime, indicative of the presence of localized excitons. Raman spectroscopy analysis has been carried out to determine the local structural changes on annealing.

We have recently shown that spatial ordering for epitaxially grown InP dots can be obtained using the periodic stress field of compositional modulation on the InGaP buffer layer. The aim of this present work is to study the growth of films of GaP by Chemical Beam Epitaxy (CBE), with in-situ monitoring by Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED), on layers of unstressed and stressed GaAs. Complementary, we have studied the role of a buried InP dot array on GaP nucleation in order to obtain three-dimensional structures. In both cases, the topographical characteristics of the samples were investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in non-contact mode. Thus vertically-coupled quantum dots of different materials have been obtained keeping the in-place spatial ordering originated from the composition modulation.

We report the intermixing enhancement using the Ge-doped sol-gel derived silica encapsulant layer in InGaAs/InGaAsP quantum-well laser structure. A bandgap shift of ∼64 nm has been observed from 16% Ge-doped silica capped sample at an annealing temperature of 630°C while the intermixing at the similar temperature can be effectively suppressed with the e-beam evaporated SiO2 encapsulant layer. Using our theoretical model, nearly identical activation energy of 1.7±0.5 eV was obtained from the intermixed sample with Ge-doped silica. Similar intermixing enhancement holds for high Ge-content cap in the intermixed GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-wells related to Ga vacancy injection. We postulate that the dissimilarity in interdiffusion behavior between 0% and 16% Ge-doped silica capped sample is only attributed to the difference in the number of beneficial vacancies that involve in the intermixing process.

Quantum Hall (QH) systems can work as very sensitive THz detectors. In this work we report on the spectral and temporal resolution of the QH THz photodetectors with different geometries. The spectral resolution of THz QH detectors is of the order of 1-3 meV depending on bias conditions. The temporal resolution of QH detectors depends on the device geometry. For Corbino-shaped detectors we have demonstrated the devices with response times from 10 ns to over 200 ns.

Cu and Zn-based oxides have been developed for the last decades because of their remarkable electronic properties and their relevant UV-Visible-NIR absorption properties. Cu in oxides can adopt various oxidation states (+I, +II, +III) stabilized in various environments (h, Td, D4h, C4v, D2h, Oh). Divalent copper cations can occupy Td or Oh sites in zinc aluminate spinel network. Solid state routes lead to homogeneous phases with Zn1−xCuxAl2O4 compositions. Depending on the inversion rate in the spinel matrix, various absorption bands have been identified in the UV-Visible-CNIR spectrum. The synthesis of the zinc-aluminate spinel solid solution Zn1−xCuxAl2O4 by an esterification route led to monocrystalline nanosized oxides. Two intense absorption bands at 300 and 500 nm can be attributed to charge transfer phenomena between oxygen and Cu2+ cations in tetrahedral and octahedral coordinations. Two other less intense absorption bands centred at 800 nm and 1500 nm are also appearing when the copper rate in the spinel increases but their relative intensity are not in good agreement with those observed in the case of the solid-state synthesis. In the case of the esterification route, the absorption band at 800 nm is much more intense than in the case of the solid-state synthesis. It can only be explained either by a deviation to the centrosymmetric character of octahedral sites or by the occurence of a non negligible amount of monovalent copper cations which give electronic transitions in this energy range. A magnetic study correlated to EPR measurements confirms the occurence of a mixed valence state for copper cations in the solid solution Zn1−xCuxAl2O4. EPR spectra at T=4K show for the small concentration of Cu2+ (x<0.10) a strong anisotropic signal due to the presence of Cu2+ ions in a distorted octahedral symmetry (gx=2.07, gy= 2.15 gz=2.23). Moreover the hyperfine structure, identified on EPR spectra tend to disappear as the compounds are annealed under air because the content of paramagnetic centers Cu2+ (3d9) as well as their interactions become significant. Furthermore, the color changes drastically with the Cu+ (3d10) content. Finally the structural features and UV-Visible-NIR absorption properties of copper-zinc aluminates will be discussed and compared to Cu-doped ZnO.

In this paper, the optical and electrical properties of both as-grown and annealed thick InxGa1−xNyAs1−y layers grown by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) are presented. Through careful control of the trimetylyindium (TMIn), dimetylyhydrazine (DMHy), trimethylgallium (TMGa) and arsine (AsH3) precursors, lattice matching conditions were achieved for epitaxial layers containing up to 3% nitrogen (0≤y≤0.03) and 11% indium (0≤x≤0.11) with bandgap wavelengths to 1.3 μm. Nomarski optical microscopy and double crystal x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements are used to investigate surface morphology, material quality and lattice-matched conditions. There is little or no 10K photoluminescence from the as-grown layers; alloy activation through rapid thermal annealing must be performed to obtain observable photoluminescence peaks. Annealing is also performed to reduce the resistivity of the as-grown layers. Once annealed, the undoped layers exhibited p-type carrier concentrations of 5.5×1017 cm−3 and mobilities of 50 cm2/Vs. The DC and frequency response performance characteristics of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors fabricated on both as-grown and annealed InGaNAs layers are examined and compared to similar structures fabricated using GaAs and InGaAs/InP epitaxial materials.

Boronmonophosphide(BP) is one of the suitable materials for a buffer layer between the c-GaN(100) and Si(100) substrates. The growth of BP layer was carried out by MOCVD on Si(100) substrate of 2 inch in diameter. The growth rate was over 2 μm/h without any troubles such as the bowing or cracking. In addition, the thickness of BP epitaxial layer was uniform over a wide area. A careful analysis of x-ray diffraction suggested that the growth of BP epitaxial layer inherited the crystal orientation from Si(100) substrate. Cross-sectional TEM images showed some defects like dislocations near the interface between BP layer and Si substrate. The Hall effect measurements indicated that the conduction type of BP films grown on the both n-Si and p-Si substrates was n-type without impurity doping, and that the mobility and carrier concentrations were typically 357cm2/Vs and 1.5×1020cm−3(on n-Si) and 63cm2/Vs and 1.9×1019cm−3(on p-Si), respectively. In addition, c-GaN was grown on the substrate of BP/Si(100) by RF-MBE.

Diffusion of Li, Na and K into single-crystal substrates of ZnO were performed. We compare the results with ZnO epitaxial films doped with the respective elements during growth. The diffused and in-situ doped layers were studied using mass spectroscopy, low temperature photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy. Li and Na are known to produce deep acceptor centers which give rise to shallow donor to deep acceptor recombinations in the visible spectral region. We will demonstrate that also shallow acceptors are introduced having binding energies around 300 meV. A donor-acceptor pair recombination (zero phonon line at 3.05 eV) with LO phonon replica is observed analogous to the “edge” emission in other II-VI compounds.

The effect of growth temperature on the crystal quality and optical properties of Ga(In)NAs films was investigated over a range of 340 ∼ 520 °C. We found that Ga(In)NAs films fabricated at lower growth temperatures generally result in an improved crystal quality. An XRD linewidth of as low as 45 arcsec was obtained for a 1 µm-thick Ga0.94In0.06N0.01As0.99 thin film grown at 380 °C. This is ∼1/2 of that grown at the conventionally-adopted growth temperature of 480 °C. After annealing, an improved optical property represented by a higher PL intensity compared to the conventional growth method (annealed, Tgrowth = 480 °C) was also obtained in the 1 µm-thick Ga0.94In0.06N0.01As0.99 thin film grown at low temperature of 380 °C.

We have utilized laser assisted molecular beam deposition (LAMBD) to deposite zinc oxide (ZnO) at room temperature. The production of ZnO films via LAMBD utilizes an excimer laser induced ablation plume of zinc in combination with pulsed oxygen gases to create a molecular beam of ZnO clusters. The deposited films have been characterized structually and electrically in an as deposited state as well as after post deposition excimer laser annealing. The films undergo a clear structural change from a nanoparticle like film to either a microgranular film or a smooth continuous film depending upon the laser annealing power.

Al ohmic contacts were made to both as-deposited and laser-annealed ZnO thin films. Thickness and refractive index, chemical composition, and surface morphology of the thin films were analyzed by using ellipsometry, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysic (ESCA), and feild emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively. Dark current-voltage (I-V), DC photo I-V, Hall-effect, and photoluminescence measurements were employed for testing the device performance.

In some cases, the ZnO thin film was changed from n-type into p-type after laser annealing, and photoconductive behavior was clearly seen on the laser-annealed samples, with values of 2.8 × 10−4 Ω−1. Also, both samples with and without laser annealing show near-band emission at ∼3.3 eV. Furthermore, the full width at half maximum (FWHW) values of the laser-annealed LAMB ZnO film was reduced from 20.02 nm or 21.68 nm to 18.2 nm when compared with that of non-laser annealed samples. This indicates that the laser annealing provided an improved stochiometric quality and crystallinity to the ZnO thin films.

In spite of the progress in GaSe growing technology (high-quality crystals grown by the latest technology are characterized by low values of optical losses with the absorption coefficient values lying below 0.1 cm−1) the work continues on improving crystal properties for nonlinear optical applications. This paper presents the results of investigations on the influence of annealing in a sulfur atmosphere and in a vacuum on the properties GaSe single crystals, grown by the Bridgman method from the melt. The objective of this work was to study the possibility of intercalating GaSe with sulfur from the gas phase, and to compare the influence of doping with sulfur from melt and vapor phase on the structure and properties of GaSe crystals. Three series of annealing experiments have been conducted at temperatures 773, 923, 1073 K and the samples obtained have been studied by Hall effect, photoconductivity, optical absorption, microhardness measurements and X ray diffractometry. The results obtained are explained by assuming the intercalating of sulfur to the interlayer space and substitution of Se with S.

Copper (I) chloride (CuCl) is a potential candidate for ultra violet optoelectronics due to the fact that it is closely lattice matched with silicon, which makes it readily integrable with silicon device technology. The structural and optoelectronic properties of CuCl thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering are investigated. The crystallinity is studied using X-ray diffraction which confirms the growth of CuCl thin films with cubic zinc blende structure predominantly orientated in <111> direction. Excitonic transitions in the thin films were thoroughly investigated using optical absorbance and luminescence spectroscopies. Room temperature absorption spectroscopic analysis confirms the existence of two exciton peaks namely Z12 and Z3 at 372 and 380 nm respectively. A strong UV emission is observed at room temperature in cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence spectra due to the recombination of Z3 exciton at approximately 384 nm. In the low temperature photoluminescence spectrum, a free exciton (Z3) and a bound exciton (I1) are observed. A variation of 1.3 nm to 10 nm was observed in the Z3 exciton line width from 10 K to 300 K.

Quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) have been studied widely for normal-incidence infrared detection. The 3D confinement provided by quantum dots allows for the elimination of gratings that are typically required for normal-incidence detection in quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs). Furthermore, the growth of Ge dots on Si substrates offers the potential for integration with existing CMOS platforms. To date, however, Ge QDIPs have typically been grown epitaxially by Stranski-Krastonov growth – producing pancake-like dots with base dimensions of 50-100 nm, heights of 7-10 nm, and an aerial dot density of 109–1010 cm−2. Such dots have poor lateral confinement, causing them to have non-ideal normal-incidence absorption characteristics, similar to quantum wells. In this work, we demonstrate infrared absorption in Ge dots with base dimensions of approximately 15 nm. These dots are epitaxially grown on pre-patterned Si substrates, with an aerial dot density of approximately 1011 cm−2. The substrates are prepared by using diblock copolymers to create a nano-pattern on the substrate surface which is transferred to the substrate by dry etching. The size of this pattern determines the base dimensions of the Ge dots. After growth, these dots are then tested for their infrared absorption properties using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. The normal-incidence absorption of the dots can be studied with FTIR by varying the polarization angle of the infrared light. We present FTIR absorption spectra for samples grown with various conditions (e.g., different dot doping levels, numbers of layers, and dot base dimensions) and investigate the effects of different growth conditions on infrared absorption properties. We also report on the normal-incidence absorption characteristics of these dots by presenting absorption spectra for various polarization angles of infrared light.

ZnO-SiO2 nanocomposite thin films were prepared using RF sputtering method without substrate heating. The photoluminance (PL) measurements showed that the ZnO-SiO2 nanocomposite thin films are able to emit white light consisting of violet, blue, and green-yellow band emissions. The blue emission was attributed to the large amount of ZnO/SiO2 interfaces, which enlarges the depletion layer width and then enhances the related transition. Further analyses indicated that the defect structure of samples could be manipulated by the amount and distribution of ZnO nanoparticles in SiO2 matrix to yield distinct luminescence property.

We report on the material synthesis and infrared optical properties of Nd doped lead bromide (PbBr2) and lead iodide (PbI2) bulk crystals. Commercial PbBr2 and PbI2 materials were purified through repeated solidification and horizontal zone refinement. After purification, Nd doped lead halides were synthesized and grown by Bridgman technique. Under optical excitation, Nd:PbBr2 samples exhibited several near-infrared emission bands centered at 816 nm, 891 nm, 963 nm, 1069 nm, 1183 nm, 1356 nm, and 1535 nm. The emission from Nd:PbI2 samples was similar to that of from Nd:PbBr2, but slightly shifted to longer wavelengths. The observation of 1540 nm emission from Nd3+ ions is unusual and reflects on the small non-radiative decay rates in the investigated halides. Lead halides have low maximum phonon energies, which reduces non-radiative decay due to multi-phonon relaxations. In contrast to Nd:YAG, Nd:PbBr2 and Nd:PbI2 exhibited efficient emission from the 4F5/2, 2H9/2 excited states, which are located only ∼1000cm−1 above the 4F3/2 level of Nd3+. Under 808 nm diode pumping, both samples also exhibited broad mid-infrared emission bands centered at ∼5.1 μm.

Non-absorbing mirror (NAM) lasers, also known as window lasers, were developed to increase catastrophic optical damage level of the devices. In this work we present the analysis of the laser diodes (LD) front facet temperature distribution. Micro-thermoreflectance technique is used to perform a detailed temperature maps of the operating LDs. Such a technique gives us temperature maps with a high spatial resolution equal 0.6μm. We demonstrate micro thermoreflectance as a perfect tool to determine real temperature distribution of the operating laser diode front facet.