Gallium Nitride (GaN) and its alloys with InN and AlN, the III-nitrides, are of interest for a variety of high power-high frequency electronics and optoelectronics applications. However, unlike Si and GaAs technology that have been developed on native substrates, III-nitride devices have been developed on non-native substrates such as Si, sapphire and SiC. This is because bulk cheap native III-nitride substrates are unavailable. Among the known substrates, III-nitride technology development on Si is desirable because of its large substrate size and low cost. However, the large lattice and thermal expansion mismatch between the III-nitrides films and Si substrate leads to a high level of dislocations, 1010 cm-2, and tensile stress which results in cracking. For successful integration of crack free and low dislocation density GaN on Si various kinds of transition layer schemes are used that help to incorporate a compressive growth stress to neutralize the tensile thermal mismatch stresses and also to reduce dislocation densities to levels required by devices. These transition schemes, ranging from 400 nm to 7 m, involve the use of graded AlGaN layers, high/low temperature interlayers and superlattices. The aim of the research described in this thesis was a systematic comparison of the different transition layer schemes currently used with the objective of increasing the efficiency of integrating device quality, crack free, low dislocation density, <109 cm-2, GaN with Si. A metal organic chemical vapor deposition equipped with an in-situ stress monitor was used for growth. Transmission electron microscopy was used for quantitative measurement of dislocation density. The research shows, for the first time, that all transition layer optimization depends critically on the Si surface made available for growth of the first AlN layer. It needs to be optimally cleaned such that it is oxide free and smooth. A quantitative TEM comparison of various currently used transition layer schemes shows that while they have interesting mechanistic differences, they are not very different in their dislocation reduction efficiency. All of them yield a final dislocation density in a probe GaN layer of 1-3×109 cm-2. In contrast, a combination of Si doping and compressive growth stress has a synergistic effect on dislocation reduction. A simple 210 nm transition layer based on this understanding, the lowest reported yet, yields GaN layers that are crack free and have lower <1x109 cm-2 dislocation density, than those obtained by the aforementioned more complicated schemes. High electron mobility transistor characteristics performance on the probe GaN layers obtained on these transition layers supports the structural observations above.

This study focuses on the characterization of InAs and InAs1-xSbx epitaxial layers by infrared reflectance and transmittance spectroscopy and Hall measurements. Reflectance measurements were performed in order to obtain the dielectric parameters and to extract from these information about the electrical properties (mobility and carrier concentration) of this important III-V material system. The transmittance measurements were used to determine the bandgap of InAsSb. Infrared reflectivity and transmittance measurements were performed in the wavelength range 200 – 2000 cm-1 on InAs and InAsSb layers grown on three types of substrates. A classical two oscillator model that takes into account both the free carriers and the lattice, was used to analyse the reflectance data using the BMDP® computer curve fitting software. The dielectric parameters and the electrical properties (carrier concentration and mobility) were extracted from the simulations. Due to the low free carrier concentration in the epitaxial structures, the plasma resonance frequency (ωp) values obtained from the simulations of reflectance spectra measured above 200 cm-1, were in the order of 20-30 cm-1. These low values were confirmed by direct measurements of ωp in reflectance spectra obtained in the range 15-200 cm-1. The simulated carrier concentration and mobility values determined optically were compared to the values determined by Hall measurements at room temperature and previously reported values by other researchers. The simulated values obtained were in reasonable agreement with the Hall values. The simulated and measured carrier concentrations obtained for InAs layers were significantly higher than the intrinsic carrier concentration for InAs at room temperature, indicating notable concentrations of donors resulting from the growth process.

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Group III-Nitrides (GaN, InN & AlN) are considered one of the most important class of semiconducting materials after Si and GaAs. The excellent optical and electrical properties of these nitrides result in numerous applications in lighting, lasers, and high-power/high-frequency devices. Due to the lack of cheap bulk III- Nitride substrates, GaN based devices have been developed on foreign substrates like Si, sapphire and SiC. These technologies have been predominantly developed on the so called Ga-polarity epitaxial stacks with growth in the [0001] direction of GaN. It is this orientation that grows most easily on sapphire by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), the most common combination of substrate and deposition method used thus far. The opposite [000¯1] or N-polar orientation, very different in properties due to the lack of an inversion centre, offers several ad- vantages that could be exploited for better electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, its growth is more challenging and needs better understanding. The aim of the work reported in this dissertation was a systematic investigation of the relation between the various growth parameters which control polarity, surface roughness and mosaicity of GaN on non-miscut sapphire (0001) wafers for power electronics and lighting applications, with emphasis on the realization of N-polar epitaxial layers. GaN is grown on sapphire (0001) in a two-step process, which involves the deposition of a thin low temperature GaN nucleation layer (NL) on surface modified sapphire followed by the growth of high temperature device quality GaN epitaxial layer. The processing technique used is MOCVD. Various processing methods for synthesis of GaN layers are described with particular em- phasis on MOCVD method. The effect of ex situ cleaning followed by an in situ cleaning on the surface morphology of sapphire (0001) wafers is discussed. The characterization tools used in this dissertation for studying the chemical bond nature of nitrided sapphire surface and microstructural evolution (morphological and structural) of GaN layers are described in detail. The effect of nitridation temperature (TN) on structural transformation of non- miscut sapphire (0001) surface has been explored. The structural evolution of nitrided layers at different stages of their process like as grown stage and thermal annealing stage is investigated systematically. The chemical bond environment information of the nitrided layers have been examined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that high temperature nitridation (TN ≥ 800oC) results in an Al-N tetrahedral bond environment on sapphire surface. In contrast, low temperature nitridation (TN = 530oC) results in a complex Al-O-N environment on sapphire surfaces. Microstructural evolution of low temperature GaN NLs has been studied at every stage of processing by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Surface roughness evolution and island size distribution of NLs measured from AFM are discussed. It is found that NLs processed on sapphire wafers nitrided at (TN ≥ 800oC) showed strong wurtzite [0002] orientation with sub-nanometre surface roughness. In contrast, NLs processed at (TN = 530oC) showed zinc blende phase in the as grown stage with higher surface roughness, but acquired a greater degree of wurtzite [0002] orientation after thermal annealing prior to high temperature GaN growth. Polarity, surface quality and crystal quality of subsequently grown high temperature GaN epitaxial layers is described in relation to the structure of the trans- formed nitrided layers. Higher nitridation temperatures (TN ≥ 800oC) consistently yield N-polar GaN whereas lower nitridation temperatures (TN = 530oC) yield Ga-polar GaN. It is found that the relative O atom concentration levels in nitrided layers control the density of inversion domains in N-polar GaN. The effect of various growth parameters (NH3 flow rate, growth temperature, NL thickness) on surface morphology and mosaicity of both Ga & N-polar GaN layers is discussed in detail. We report device quality N-polar GaN epitaxial layers on non-miscut sapphire (0001) wafers by careful optimization of growth temperature. It is found that lower growth temperatures (800oC) are favorable for obtaining smooth N- polar GaN layers. In contrast, N-polar GaN layers grown at higher temperatures (1000 to 1080oC) are rough with hexagonal hillocks.

The structural and electrical properties of sublimed GaAs films, the dielectric properties of anodic A1₂O₃ films and the electrical properties of A1₂O₃/GaAs interfaces are of interest from the viewpoint of using GaAs and A1₂O₃ films in thin-film integrated circuits. A new method, the close-spaced sublimation (CSS) method, was developed and used to deposit GaAs films on sapphire. The effects of growth conditions on the structural properties of the films were investigated using optical and electron microscopy, an electron microprobe and X-ray diffraction techniques. Crystallites increased in size with increasing substrate temperature, from about 0.7μ to 20μ for substrate temperatures from 480 to 670°C. The degree of preferred orientation of crystallites in the films increased with increasing substrate temperature. The films exhibited <111> textures when substrate temperatures were above about 600°C. Single-crystal diffraction patterns were obtained from films deposited on substrates held at 630 to 640°C. Electron microprobe analysis indicated that the ratio of Ga to As in the films was stoichiometric to less than 2 wt %. The as-grown heteroepitaxial films were p-type with room-temperature hole Hall mobility up to 42 cm²/V-sec. The room-temperature resistivity ranged from 0.6Ω -cm to 1.6 x 10⁵Ω-cm. The resistivity of higher resistivity films was more temperature dependent than that of lower resistivity films. The electrical properties of the films are discussed in terms of the effects of space charge regions in the grains, potential barrier at the grain boundaries, deviation from stoichiometry, and compensation of impurities. Conductivity-type conversion of the as-grown films to n-type was done by postdeposition dopant diffusion. A room-temperature electron Hall mobility of 77 cm²/V-sec was obtained. While transistor action and rectification characteristics were observed in thin-film insulated-gate field-effect transistors and Au-Schottky barrier diodes made with GaAs films, better films are required before devices with characteristics competitive with bulk devices can be fabricated. An n-type homoepitaxial film was deposited by using the CSS method. The film's electron Hall mobility varied with temperature as T³ˡ², which is the form predicted by the Brooks-Herring formula for ionized impurity scattering. The room-temperature electron Hall mobility was 219 cm²/V-sec. A.c. bridge and step response methods were used to study the dielectric properties of anodic A1₂O₃ films. Metal/ A1₂O₃/Al capacitors were made using evaporated Al films on glass which-had been anodized in ammonium penta-borate dissolved in ethylene glycol. The dielectric constant and loss tangent of anodic A1₂O₃ decreased with increasing frequency over the range from 0.5 to 100 kHz. Step response currents followed a t⁻ⁿ law. For linear dielectric response, this corresponded to є”(ω) varying as ωⁿ⁻¹. Electrical properties of A1₂O₃/GaAs interfaces were studied using the metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitance technique. Theoretical curves relating the capacitance of metal/ A1₂O₃/GaAs capacitor to the d.c. voltage applied across the capacitor were calculated and plotted. These capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves then served as a basis for the interpretation of experimental C-V curves. "Fast" surface state densities greater than 10¹²/cm²-eV were obtained. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

The primary objective of the work described in this thesis was to study the influence of undoped LEC GaAs substrate material from various suppliers on the performance of ion implanted and annealed active layers. Optical transient current spectroscopy (OTCS) was investigated as a qualification test for GaAs substrates. Deep level spectra of the substrates before ion implantation were obtained. It was found that while the OTCS spectra of high pressure grown GaAs from two suppliers were similar, that of the low pressure material showed different relative concentration of traps. The use of OTCS was further extended to study trap concentration as a function of surface treatment. It was found that the use of chemical etchants reduces the concentration of some levels, possibly those located on the surface as opposed to bulk traps. Surface damage was found to enhance the negative peak in the OTCS spectrum. The deep levels spectra were found to be affected by the geometry of the device and the type of electrode material. Channel current deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) was used to study both process- and substrate-induced deep levels in ion implanted MESFET channels. The spectra of process-induced traps were found to be different according to the encapsulant used. Silicon dioxide (both RF sputtered and plasma enhanced chemically vapor deposited (PECVD)) was found to induce a variety of process related defects. This is believed to be because silicon dioxide is permeable to gallium and hence does not preserve the stoichiometry of ion implanted GaAs during high temperature anneals. Deep level spectra of MESFETs annealed using silicon nitride, on the other hand, were found to contain single traps related to the defects in the starting material. For implants through silicon nitride, a high concentration of the main electron trap EL2 was found, whereas implants directly into the surface resulted in the level EL12. Comparison of the characteristics of the variety of LEC undoped GaAs material show that they differed widely and had inhomogeneous properties. For example, compared to the high pressure grown GaAs, the Litton’s low pressure substrate had lower activation, mobility, drain current and threshold voltage, good confinement of the scatter in the same characteristics, low concentration of deep levels, and the least backgating effect which makes it promising for IC fabrication. Comparison of the high pressure grown material from two suppliers showed that Cominco's recent material had good mobility, activation, relatively high scatter of threshold voltage, high concentration of deep levels, and was affected by backgating. In comparison, Sumitomo's material showed thermal instability, less scatter of threshold voltage, less mobility and deep level concentrations, and similar backgating characteristics. Substrate grown three years earlier showed higher diffusion of dopant, different deep levels, and better backgating characteristics. Finally, a substrate which had failed the qualification test by a device manufacturer showed minimal diffusion tails and threshold voltage scatter, the highest concentration of deep levels, and substantial backgating. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Optical Detection of Magnetic Resonance (ODMR) has been used to observe both paramagnetic and diamagnetic resonance of photo-excited electrons and holes in GaP, ZnTe and AgBr. Paramagnetic resonance of conduction electrons in GaP has been studied and the microwave frequency and power dependence of the effect analysed. The maximum signal strength was observed to produce approximately 1% change in luminescence at 1.6 K. The g value deduced from the resonance was 2.000 ± 0.005. The resonance was homogeneously broadened giving the electron lifetime as approximately 4 nanoseconds. Paramagnetic resonance of electrons and holes has also been detected in AgBr. The background signals present in ODMR experiments have been investigated and are shown to be caused by diamagnetic or cyclotron resonance heating of photoexcited carriers. Measurements at microwave frequencies of 9.2 and 36.3 GHz have been made on GaP,ZnTe and AgBr, and cyclotron resonance of electrons and holes observed. The effective masses of light and heavy holes in GaP were found to be 0.154 ± 0.01 and 0.626 ± 0.06 respectively while the electron effective mass was 0.36 ± 0.10. The electron scattering time was shorter than that for holes by a factor of approximately three, most likely due to scattering by isoelectronic nitrogen impurities. Resonances were observed in ZnTe at effective mass values of 0.30 ± 0.20 and 0.76 ± 0.20 corresponding to electrons and heavy holes. In both GaP and ZnTe resonances due to electrons and holes appeared in different luminescence bands indicating the sensitivity of different recombination centres to heating of either carrier type. Cyclotron resonance of electrons and holes was also observed in AgBr and showed the effects of conduction and valence band non-parabolicity. A feature in the electron resonance indicated enhanced trapping of electrons with certain energies by emission of one or more LO phonons. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is a study of the properties of thin GaAs films grown on molybdenum substrates by the close spaced vapour transport (CSVT) deposition technique with the intention that the GaAs/Mo structure would be used as the semiconductor and substrate for economic solar cells. The GaAs films were polycrystalline cubic crystals with no preferred orientation. The crystallite area increased with the temperature at which the substrate was held during growth and at 710°C grain sizes of 100 μm² were observed. The crystallites formed a columnar-like structure with crystal size comparable to the film thickness. No impurities of foreign instrus-ions existed in the films in quantities observable on the electron micro-probe. The resistivity of the GaAs films was 220 Ω cm, hence acceptable for thin film solar cells, however, the GaAs/Mo contact was mildly rectifying. Diodes were fabricated by the deposition of Au onto the GaAs films and the resulting barriers showed values of barrier height of approximately 0.8 eV, ideality factor n = 1.5 to 2, and depletion-layer majority carrier concentration of roughly 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ as measured by J-V and C-V methods. The GaAs films show promise for use in solar cells provided that the Mo/GaAs interface resistance can be reduced. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Le développement de sources moyen infrarouge compactes et accordables dans les gammes de transmission de l’atmosphère présente un intérêt majeur dans les secteurs de la défense et de la sécurité. Les sources paramétriques à quasi-accord de phase en configuration guidée sont prometteuses pour gagner en compacité puisque l’on réduit la puissance de pompe nécessaire par rapport aux sources « massives ». Le premier axe de la thèse consiste à étudier des guides d’onde en arséniure de gallium périodiquement orientés (OP-GaAs) adaptés à un pompage par laser fibré et à des puissances relativement élevées. Le second vise à étudier de façon novatrice la possibilité d’intégrer dans un composant monolithique une diode laser en matériaux antimoniures avec un convertisseur de fréquence en antimoniure de gallium (GaSb). L’enjeu dans les deux cas est de réduire au maximum les pertes à la propagation dans ces guides d’onde pour exploiter pleinement leurs propriétés non-linéaires.Ce travail de thèse a permis de modéliser des structures de guides d’onde ambitieuses pour réduire les pertes, de développer les briques technologiques nécessaires à la fabrication de guides d’onde OP-semi-conducteur faibles pertes et de faire de premières caractérisations de ces composants dans le moyen-infrarouge. Les performances de guides d’onde GaAs ruban enterrés ou non ont pu être comparées, donnant une réduction des pertes d’un facteur trois avec des rubans enterrés. Plusieurs générations de guides d’onde GaSb ont vu le jour, et montrent des performances à l’état de l’art des structures en GaAs. En conséquence, diverses solutions ont été explorées pour intégrer une diode laser en matériaux antimoniures avec le guide d’onde convertisseur de fréquence. / The development of compact and tunable mid-infrared laser sources in the atmospheric transmission windows presents a major interest for several security and defense applications. Quasi-phase-matched parametric sources in guided wave configuration are promising solutions to enhance compactness, because of the reduction in pump power requirements with respect to bulk devices.The first axis of this thesis consists in studying orientation-patterned gallium arsenide (OP-GaAs) waveguides, adapted to fiber laser pumping and to relatively high pump power. The second axis is devoted to the original idea of integrating an antimonide based laser diode with a gallium antimonide (GaSb) frequency converter in a monolithic component. The goal in both cases is to minimize propagation losses in those waveguides to exploit the whole potential of their non-linear properties.This work led to model ambitious low-loss waveguides structures, to develop the technological fabrication steps necessary for OP-semiconductor waveguides manufacturing, and to characterize these components in the mid-infrared. The first buried ridge GaAs waveguide structure has been compared to the ridge one, giving a reduction of a factor three in the propagation losses. Several generations of GaSb waveguides have come forward, with constant losses improvement and reach GaAs state-of-the-art performances. Lastly, multiple solutions have been explored in order to integrate an antimonide-based laser diode with the frequency converter waveguide.

III-Nitride materials, which consist of AlN, GaN, InN, and their alloys have become the cornerstone of the third generation compound semiconductor. Planar IIINitride materials are commonly grown on sapphire substrates which impose several limitations such as challenging scalability, rigid substrate, and thermal and lattice mismatch between substrate and material. Semiconductor nanowires can help circumvent this problem because of their inherent capability to relieve strain and grow threading dislocation-free without strict lattice matching requirements, enabling growth on unconventional substrates. This thesis aims to investigate the microscopic characteristics of the nanowires and expand on the possibility of using transparent amorphous substrate for III-nitride nanowire devices. In this work, we performed material growth, characterization, and device fabrication of III-nitride nanowires grown using molecular beam epitaxy on unconventional substrates. We first studied the structural imperfections within quantum-disks-in-nanowire structure grown on silicon and discovered how growth condition could affect the macroscopic photoluminescence behavior of nanowires ensemble. To expand our work on unconventional substrates, we also used an amorphous silica-based substrate as a more economical substrate for our nanowire growth. One of the limitations of growing nanowires on an insulating substrate is the added fabrication complexity required to fabricate a working device. Therefore, we attempted to overcome this limitation by 5 investigating various possible GaN nanowire nucleation layers, which exhibits both transparency and conductivity. We employed various nucleation layers, including a thin TiN/Ti layer, indium tin oxide (ITO), and Ti3C2 MXene. The structural, electrical, and optical characterizations of nanowires grown on different nucleation layers are discussed. From our work, we have established several key processes for transparent nanowire device applications. A nanowire LED emitting at ∼590 nm utilizing TiN/Ti interlayer is presented. We have also established the growth process for n-doped GaN nanowires grown on ITO and Ti3C2 MXene with transmittance above 40 % in the visible wavelength, which is useful for practical applications. This work paves the way for future devices utilizing low-cost substrates, enabling further cost reduction in III-nitride device fabrication.