Neste trabalho, apresentamos os resultados de estudos com poços quânticos parabólicos (PQW, Parabolic Quantum Well ) de AlGaAs crescidos sobre substratos de GaAs pela técnica de epitaxia por feixe molecular. Medidas de transporte em PQWs do tipo n e do tipo p com larguras de 1000 ºA ate 4000 ºA em baixas temperaturas indicam um aumento abrupto do coeficiente Hall para um campo magnético critico de aproximadamente 3 T. Nosso estudo concentra-se na interpretação deste aumento observado. Com este propósito, estudamos através de cálculos autoconsistentes e de aproximações anal¶³ticas o processo de transferência de cargas em amostras com PQWs. Determinamos as densidades superficiais de cargas ns e ps, e comparamos estes resultados com os obtidos experimentalmente. Verificamos que os melhores resultados para a densidade de cargas (ns) s~ao aqueles determinados pelos cálculos autoconsistentes. No entanto, as aproximações analíticas se mostram importantes para descrever de forma qualitativa os resultados experimentais para amostras do tipo p. Numa segunda parte do nosso trabalho, estudamos a influencia da aplicação de campos magnéticos ao longo da direção de crescimento nas amostras com PQWs. Observamos uma diminuição na largura de densidade de cargas n(z) e do potencial total V (z). Estes resultados em combinação com o processo de transferência de cargas, levam a uma diminuição da densidade de portadores no poço, produto da redistribuição das cargas entre o poço e as camadas com dopagem de silencio. Desta forma, atribuímos o aumento no coeficiente Hall como sendo oriundo de uma diminuição da densidade de cargas dentro do PQW. / We present the results of experiments and calculations done on AlGaAs Parabolic Quantum Wells (PQWs) grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxial tecniques. Transport measurements in n-type and p-type samples with widths between 1000 ºA and 4000 ºA at low temperatures indicate an abrupt increase of the Hall coeficient at a critical field B ¼ 3 T. Our study focuses on the interpretation of this observed increase. To this end, we study by means of self-consistent numerical simulations and analytical approximations the charge transfer process in PQWs. We compare our results for the sheet densities with those observed experimentally. The best results are obtained for n-type samples for which we could numerical simulations. However, the analytical expressions we obtained also describe qualitatively the experimental results, and can be applied to p-type samples. In the second part of this work we study the efect of a magnetic feld applied perpendicular to the well. The simulations indicate a diminishing of the charge density and the total potential in the well. These results, combined with the charge transfer process, lead to a redistribution of charge between the well and the dopant layers. Therefore, we interpret the observed increase of the Hall coefcient as the result of a depletion of charge in the parabolic quantum well.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

This paper describes recent progress in a continuing program to develop and apply RM³ (recess mounting with monolithic metallization) technologies for heterogeneous integration. Particular emphasis is placed on the APB (aligned pillar bonding) and MASA (magnetically assisted statistical assembly) technologies. Next, ongoing research on applications of RM3 integration to produce optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs) for optical clock distribution, diffuse optical tomography, and smart pixel arrays are described. Finally, potential new applications of these technologies in intra- and interchip optical signal interconnects, in fluorescent dye detection and imaging for biomedical applications, and in III-V mini-IC integration on Si-CMOS for enhancing off-chip drive capabilities are outlined. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

In the present thesis, the properties at ferromagnet/semiconductor interfaces, relevant for semiconductor spintronics applications, are addressed. Semiconductor spintronics refers to the possibility of storing information using the electron spin, additional to the electron charge, for enhanced flexibility in nanoscale semiconductor devices. The system under focus is the Fe/ZnSe(001) heterostructure, where ZnSe is a wide gap semiconductor ideally compatible with GaAs. The heterostructures are grown on GaAs(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. From various electron-beam based diffraction, spectroscopy and microscopy techniques, it is shown that Fe grows epitaxially and predominantly in a layer-by-layer mode on ZnSe(001) with no presence of chemically reacted phases or interdiffusion. An in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) is detected for thin Fe films on ZnSe(001) by magnetometry, thus opposing the cubic symmetry of bcc Fe. From first principles calculations, the unidirectional sp3-bonds from ZnSe are shown to induce this uniaxiality. Moreover, an in-plane anisotropic lattice relaxation of Fe is found experimentally, seemingly as a consequence of the sp3-bonds, giving an additional UMA contribution via magneto-elastic coupling. It is proposed that these two effects are responsible for the much-debated UMA observed in Fe/semiconductor structures in general. The interface magnetism is probed by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and Mössbauer spectroscopy. It is found that the magnetic moment at the interface is comparable or even enhanced with respect to the bulk Fe. These two experiments are believed to provide the first unambiguous proof of a persistent bulk magnetic moment at a transition metal/semiconductor interface. Spin-polarised transport measurements are performed on Fe/ZnSe/FeCo magnetic tunnel junctions. A magnetoresistance of 16% is found at low temperature, which evidences both the existence of interface spin polarisation, as inferred from the bulk magnetic moment above, and that the spin polarisation can be transmitted across the semiconductor barrier layer.

Multiferroic materials are those materials in which more than one ferroic order coexist. The most technologically appealing multiferroic materials are those showing ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity. Coupling between the mentioned ferroic orders, called magnetoelectric coupling, can yield to new interesting functional applications. In spintronics this coupling would result in the possibility of building magnetic memories controlled by electric field, or transistors where charge is contact-less controlled by a magnetic field. The ultimate goal of the present thesis is to explore the control of the ferroelectric polarization and dielectric properties by magnetic field in thin films. To that purpose dielectric, ferroelectric and magnetoelectric characterization methods of different multiferroic materials have been developed and used. Two big groups of multiferroic materials can be found. On one hand, single-phase multiferroics are those that intrinsically display multiferroicity. On the other hand, multiferroic composites are those where multiferroicity results from the mixture of two different materials that display ferroelectric and ferromagnetic order separately. Single-phase multiferroics can be divided in two subgroups: those where ferroic orders have different sources and those, called magnetic ferroelectrics, where magnetic order induces ferroelectricity and, consequently, larger magnetoelectric coupling is expected. The single-phase multiferroic material studied in the present thesis is YMnO3 in its orthorhombic phase, and it belongs to the magnetic ferroelectrics family. Even though it shows collinear magnetic order in bulk, we will show that cycloidal order in thin film form can be stabilized, giving rise to the capability of controlling the ferroelectric polarization by magnetic field in a reversible manner. Multiferroic composite thin films can be built mainly in two different architectures: vertical (ferromagnetic/ferroelectric columns embedded in a ferroelectric/ferromagnetic matrix) and horizontal (multilayered structures alternating ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials). Here we compare both, using a ferroelectric perovskite (BaTiO3) and a ferromagnetic spinel (CoFe2O4). We will show that horizontal heterostructures display better ferroelectric properties and larger magnetoelectric coupling, compared to vertical heterostructures, where leakage current is a limiting parameter. The control of dielectric/ferroelectric properties under appropriate heterostructure configuration (in horizontal heterostructures) or deposition conditions (in vertical heterostructures) has been also achieved. / Els materials multiferroics són aquells materials en què coexisteix més d'un ordre ferroic. D'aquests els més interessants són els que presenten ferromagnetisme i ferroelectricitat. La presencia d'acoblament entre aquests dos ordres ferroics, anomenat acoblament magnetoelèctric, obre un nou camp d'aplicacions. En spintrònica, aquest acoblament significaria poder construir memòries magnètiques controlades mitjançant camp elèctric, o transistors on la càrrega es controlaria mitjançant camp magnètic. L'objectiu final d'aquesta tesi és explorar el control de la polarització ferroelèctrica mitjançant camp magnètic en capes fines. Amb aquesta finalitat, s'han utilitzat mètodes de caracterització dielèctrica, ferroelèctrica i magnetoelèctrica en diferents materials multiferroics en capa fina. Existeixen dos grans grups de materials multiferroics. D'una banda, els materials de fase única són aquells que presenten multiferroïcitat de manera intrínseca. D'altra banda, els multiferroics de fase mixta són aquells en els quals la multiferroïcitat és resultat de la barreja de dos materials diferents que presenten ordre ferroelèctric i ferromagnétic per separat. Els materials de fase única es poden dividir en dos subgrups: aquells en què els ordres ferroics tenen diferent origen i aquells, anomenats ferroelèctrics magnètics, en què l'ordre magnètic indueix ferroelectricitat i, de manera conseqüent, s'espera un major acoblament magnetoelèctric. El material multiferroic de fase única estudiat en la present tesi és la o-YMnO(3) en la seva fase ortoròmbica que pertany a la família dels ferroelèctrics magnètics. Tot i que presenta ordre magnètic col.lineal en forma màssica, mostrarem que es pot estabilitzar l'odre cicloïdal en capa fina, permetent el control de la polarització ferroelèctrica mitjançant camp magnètic de manera reversible. Els multiferroics de fase mixta en capa fina es poden créixer utilitzant principalment dues arquitectures diferents: vertical (les columnes ferromagnètiques/ferroelèctriques en una matriu ferroelèctrica/ferromagnètica) i horitzontal (estructures multicapa alternant materials ferromagnètics i ferroelèctrics). Aquí comparem aquestes dues arquitectures, utilitzant una perovskita ferroelèctrica (BaTiO(3)) i una espinela ferromagnètica (CoFe(2)O(4)). Demostrarem que les heteroestructures horitzontals presenten millors propietats ferroelèctriques i un major acoblament magnetoelèctric comparades amb les heteroestructures verticals, en les quals el corrent de pèrdues sembla ser un paràmetre limitant. També s'han aconseguit controlar les propietats dielèctriques/ferroelèctriques mitjançant la modificació de la configuració en les heteroestructures horitzontals o mitjançant la modificació de les condicions de dipòsit en heteroestructures verticals. / Los materiales multiferroicos son aquellos en los que coexiste más de un orden ferroico. DE estos los más interesantes son los que presentan ferromagnetismo y ferroelectricidad. Su acoplamiento, llamado acoplamiento magnetoeléctrico, puede permitir la aplicación de nuevas funcionalidades en el campo de la tecnología. En espintrónica, este acoplamiento significará poder construir memorias magnéticas controladas mediante campo eléctrico, o transistores donde la carga se controlará mediante campo magnético. El objetivo final de esta tesis es explorar el control de la polarización ferroeléctrica mediante campo magnético en capas finas. Con este fin, se han utilizado métodos de caracterización dieléctrica, ferroeléctrica y magnetoeléctrica en diferentes materiales multiferroicos en capa fina. Existen dos grandes grupos de materiales multiferroicos. Por un lado, los materiales de fase única son aquellos que presentan multiferroicidad de forma intrínseca. Por otro lado, los multiferroicos de fase mixta son aquellos en los cuales la multiferroicidad es el resultado de la mezcla de dos materiales diferentes que presentan orden ferroeléctrico y ferromagnético por separado. Los materiales de fase única se pueden dividir en dos subgrupos: aquellos en los que los órdenes ferroicos tienen diferente origen y aquellos llamados ferroeléctricos magnéticos en los que el orden magnético induce ferroelectricidad y, por consiguiente, se espera un mayor acoplamiento magnetoeléctrico. El material multiferroico de fase única que se ha estudiado en esta tesis es la o-YMnO(3) en su fase ortorrómbica y pertenece a la familia de los ferroeléctricos magnéticos. Aunque presenta orden magnético colineal en forma másica, mostraremos que se puede estabilizar el orden cicloidal en capa fina, permitiendo el control de la polarización ferroeléctrica mediante campo magnético de forma reversible. Los multiferroicos de fase mixta en capa fina se pueden crecer utilizando principalmente dos arquitecturas diferentes: vertical (las columnas ferromagnéticas/ferroeléctricas en una matriz ferroeléctrica/ferromagnética) y horizontal (estructuras multicapa alternando materiales ferromagnéticos y ferroeléctricos). Aquí comparamos ambas, utilizando una perovskita ferroeléctrica (BaTiO(3)) y una espinela ferromagnética (CoFe(2)O(4)). Demostraremos que las heteroestructuras horizontales presentan mejores propiedades ferroeléctricas y un mayor acoplamiento magnetoeléctrico comparadas con las heteroestructuras verticales, en las cuales la corriente de pérdidas parece ser un parámetro limitante. También se han conseguido controlar las propiedades dieléctricas/ferroeléctricas mediante el cambio de configuración en heteroestructuras horizontales o mediante el cambio de las condiciones de depósito en heteroestructuras verticales.

A wide variety of group III-Nitride-based photonic and electronic devices have opened a new era in the field of semiconductor research in the past ten years. The direct and large bandgap nature, intrinsic high carrier mobility, and the capability of forming heterostructures allow them to dominate photonic and electronic device market such as light emitters, photodiodes, or high-speed/high-power electronic devices. Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) based on group III-Nitrides materials are of interest due to potential capabilities for low dark current densities, high sensitivities and high optical gains in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral region. Wide-bandgap GaN-based APDs are excellent candidates for short-wavelength photodetectors because they have the capability for cut-off wavelengths in the UV spectral region (λ < 290 nm). These intrinsically solar-blind UV APDs will not require filters to operate in the solar-blind spectral regime of λ < 290 nm. For the growth of GaN-based heteroepitaxial layers on lattice-mismatched substrates, a high density of defects is usually introduced during the growth; thereby, causing a device failure by premature microplasma, which has been a major issue for GaN-based APDs. The extensive research on epitaxial growth and optimization of Al_x Ga _1-x N (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) grown on low dislocation density native bulk III-N substrates have brought UV APDs into realization. GaN and AlGaN UV <i> p-i-n </i> APDs demonstrated first and record-high true avalanche gain of > 10,000 and 50, respectively. The large stable optical gains are attributed to the improved crystalline quality of epitaxial layers grown on low dislocation density bulk substrates. GaN <i>p-i-n </i> rectifiers have brought much research interest due to its superior physical properties. The AIN-free full-vertical GaN<i> p-i-n </i> rectifiers on<i> n </i>- type 6H-SiC substrates by employing a conducting AIGaN:Si buffer layer provides the advantages of the reduction of sidewall damage from plasma etching and lower forward resistance due to the reduction of current crowding at the bottom<i> n </i> -type layer. The AlGaN:Si nucleation layer was proven to provide excellent electrical properties while also acting as a good buffer role for subsequent GaN growth. The reverse breakdown voltage for a relatively thin 2.5 μm-thick<i> i </i>-region was found to be over -400V.

For decades, epitaxy is used in nanotechnologies and semiconductor fabrications. So far, it's the only affordable method of high quality crystal growth for many semiconductor materials. Heterostructures developed from these make it possible to solve the considerably more general problem of controlling the fundamental parameters inside the semiconductor crystals and devices. Moreover, as one newly arising study and application branch of epitaxy, selective area growth (SAG) is widely used to fabricate materials of different thicknesses and composition on different regions of a single wafer. All of these new and promising fields have caught the interests and attentions of all the researchers around the world. In this work, we will study the stress and strain analysis of epitaxy in nano-scale materials, in which we seek a methodology to bridge the gap between continuum mechanical models and incorporate surface excess energy effects, which can be obtained by molecular dynamical simulations. We will make a brief description of the elastic behavior of the bulk material, covering the concepts of stress, strain, elastic energy and especially, the elastic constants. After that, we explained in details about the definitions of surface/interface excess energy and their characteristic property tensors. For both elastic constants and surface excess energy, we will use molecular dynamic simulations to calculate them out, which is mainly about curve-fitting the parabola function between the total strain energy density and the strain. After this, we analyzed the stress and strain state in nanoisland during the selective area growth of epitaxy. When the nanoisland is relaxed, the lattice structure becomes equilibrated, which means the total strain energy of system need to be minimized. Compared to other researcher's work, our model is based on continuum mechanics but also adopts the outcome from MD simulations. By combining these microscopic informations and those macroscopic observable properties, such as bulk elastic constants, we can provide a novel way of analyzing the stress and strain profile in epitaxy. The most important idea behind this approach is that, whenever we can obtain the elastic constants and surface property tensors from MD simulations, we can follow the same methodology to analyse the stress and strain in any epitaxy process. This is the power of combining atomistic simulations and continuum method, which can take considerations of both the microscopic and macroscopic factors.

This thesis deals with infrared studies of impurity states, ultrafast carrier dynamics as well as coherent intersubband polarizations in semiconductor quantum structures such as quantum wells and superlattices, based on the GaAs/AlGaAs material system. In the first part it is shown that the 2pz confined impurity state of a semiconductor quantum well develops into an excited impurity band in the case of a superlattice. This is studied by following theoretically the transition from a single to a multiple quantum well or superlattice by exactly diagonalizing the three-dimensional Hamiltonian for a quantum well system with random impurities. Intersubband absorption experiments, which can be nearly perfectly reproduced by the theory, corroborate this interpretation, showing that at low temperatures in the low doping density regime all optical transitions originate from impurity transitions. These results also require reinterpretation of previous experimental data. The relaxation dynamics of interminiband transitions in doped GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices in the mid-IR are studied. This involves single-color pump-probe measurements to explore the dynamics at different wavelengths, which is performed with the Rossendorf freeelectron laser (FEL), providing picosecond pulses in a range from 3-200 µm and are used for the first time within this thesis. In these experiments, a fast bleaching of the interminiband transition is observed followed by thermalization and subsequent relaxation, whose time constants are determined to be 1-2 picoseconds. This is followed by an additional component due to carrier cooling in the lower miniband. In the second part, two-color pump-probe measurements are performed, involving the FEL as the pump source and a table-top broad-band tunable THz source for probing the transmission changes. These measurements allow a separate specification of the cooling times after a strong excitation, exhibiting time constants from 230 ps to 3 ps for different excitation densities and miniband widths. In addition, the dynamics of excited electrons within the minibands is explored and their contribution quantitatively extracted from the measurements. Intersubband absorption experiments of photoexcited carriers in single quantum well structures, measured directly in the time-domain, i.e. probing coherently the polarization between the first and the second subband, are presented. From the data we can directly extract the density and temperature dependence of the intersubband dephasing time between the two lowest subbands, ranging from 50 up to 400 fs. This all optical approach gives us the ability to tune the carrier concentration over an extremely wide range which is not accessible in a doped quantum well sample. By varying the carrier density, many-body effects such as the depolarization and their influence on the spectral position as well as on the lineshape on the intersubband dephasing are studied. Also the difference of excitonic and free-carrier type excitation is discussed, and indication of an excitonic intersubband transition is found.

Complex oxides exhibiting a wide variety of novel functional properties such as ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity have been extensively studied during the past decades. Recent advances in the field of oxide heteroepitaxy have made it possible to create and control hybrid oxide heterostructures with abrupt epitaxial interfaces. The oxide heteroepitaxy with the capability of controlling interface composition, strain, length scales, etc. has opened the totally new and exciting scientific avenue and has offered potential device applications to be explored. Epitaxial integration of functional oxides on semiconductor such as Si (001) and Ge(001) is of great interest, as it potentially leads to further technological development of these interesting oxide systems. In this dissertation, using density functional theory we explore physics and chemistry of novel oxide heterostructures and issues related to the integration of functional oxides on semiconductors. Oxide materials that are studied in this dissertation include polar LaAlO₃, high-k dielectric SrTiO₃, photocatalytic anatase TiO₂ and CoO, and strongly correlated magnetic oxide LaCoO₃. / text

 Molecular Beam Epitaxy is an advanced method for the synthesis of single-crystal thin-film structures. However, the growth behavior varies case by case due to the complicated kinetic process. In this thesis, the epitaxial growth processes of AlxIn1-xN alloy and Bi2Se3 thin-films are studied. Heteroepitaxial growth of AlxIn1-xN alloy on GaN(0001) substrate is carried out in the Nitrogen-rich flux conditions. A series of transient growth stages are identified from the initiation of the deposition. A significant effect of source beam-flux on the incorporation rate of Indium atoms is observed and measured. A correlation between the incorporation rate and the growth conditions (flux ratio and growth temperature) is revealed by the dependence of the growth-rate of the film on beam fluxes. A mathematic model is then suggested to explain the effect, through which the measured results indicating a surface diffusing and trapping process is indicated. Unexpected behavior of the lattice-parameter evolution of the growth front during deposition is also observed, indicating a complex strain-relaxation process of the epilayers. For three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator of Bi2Se3, growths are attempted on various substrate surfaces, including clean Si(111)-(7x7), Hydrogen terminated Si(111), Bismuth induced Si(111) reconstructed surfaces, GaN(0001), and some selenide “psudo-substrates”. The specific formation process of this quintuple-layered material in MBE is investigated, from which the Van der Waals epitaxy growth characteristics inherent to deposition of Bi2Se3 is determined, and the mechanism of the “two-step growth” technique for this material is further clarified. Among the various substrates, those that are inert to chemical reaction with Bi/Se are important for the growth. The epilayers’ lattice-misfit with the substrate is also a crucial factor to the structural quality of the Bi2Se3 epifilms, such as the defects density and the single-crystalline domain size. The effect of a vicinal substrate on suppressing the twin-defects in film is also addressed. Using a suitable substrate and adapting an optimal condition, ultra-thin films of Bi2Se3 with a superior structural quality have been achieved. Multilayered Bi2Se3 structures with ZnSe and In2Se3 spacers are attempted. Finally the high-quality superlattices of Bi2Se3/In2Se3 are successfully synthesized. The hetero-interfaces in the superlattice structure of Bi2Se3/In2Se3 are sharp, and the individual layers are uniform with thicknesses being strictly controlled. The behaviors of strain evolution during the hetero-growth process are finally investigated. An exponential relaxation of misfit strain is observed. And the correlation between the residual strain and the starting surface in the initial growth stage is also identified. / published_or_final_version / Physics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy