The periodic silane burst technique was employed during metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of epitaxial GaN on AlN buffer layers grown on Si (111). Periodic silicon delta doping during growth of both the AlN and GaN layers led to growth of GaN films with decreased tensile stresses and decreased threading dislocation densities, as well as films with improved quality as indicated by x-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The possible mechanism of the reduction of tensile stress and the dislocation density is discussed in the paper. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Computer processor chips of the last generation are based on silicon, modified to achieve maximum charge mobility to enable fast switching speeds at low power. III-V semiconductors have charge mobilities that are much higher than that of silicon making them suitable candidates for boosting the performance of new electronic devices. However, III-V semiconductors oxidize rapidly in air after oxide etching and the poor quality of the resulting oxide limits device performance. Our goal is to design a liquid-phase process flow to etch the oxide and passivate the surface of III-V semiconductors and to understand the mechanism of layer formation.Self-assembled monolayers of 1-eicosanethiol (ET) dissolved in ethanol, IPA, chloroform, and toluene were deposited on clean InSb(100) surfaces. The InSb passivated surfaces were characterized after 0 to 60 min of exposure to air. Ellipsometry measurements showed a starting overlayer thickness (due to ET, oxides, or both) of about 20 Å in chloroform and from 32 to 35 Å in alcohols and toluene. Surface composition analysis of InSb with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy after passivation with 0.1 mM ET in ethanol confirmed the presence of ET and showed that oxygen in the Auger region is below detection limits up to 3 min after the passivation. Our results show that a thiol layer on top of a non-oxidized or low-oxide semiconductor surface slows oxygen diffusion in comparison to a surface with no thiol present, making this a promising passivation method of III-V semiconductors.

L’intégration monolithique de matériaux III-V ou Ge sur Si est un enjeu majeur de l’hétéroépitaxie qui a donné lieu à de nombreuses recherches depuis plus de vingt ans. Car premièrement, il permet de combiner des fonctionnalités optoélectroniques au standard industriel CMOS, cela peut remplacer des interconnexions métalliques par des interconnexions optiques dans lescircuits intégrés. De plus, le procédé d’intégration de semiconducteurs III-V ou de Ge sur Si permettrait de réduire sensiblement le coût de fabrication des cellules solaire pour le marché de niche du spatial.L’hétéroépitaxie directe de tels matériaux sur Si n’est pas aisée du fait du fort désaccord de maille et du différent coefficient de dilatation thermique entre ces matériaux. Plusieurs méthodes on tété proposées au cours des 20 derniers, notamment les solutions reposant sur des technologies de report telle que ‘Smart Cut TM’, ‘GEOI condensation’ donnent d’excellents résultats, mais n’offre pas autant de souplesse qu’une technologie d’hétéroépitaxie, et induit des coûts nettement supérieurs.L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une solution qui consiste à intégrer de façon monolithique des semiconducteurs III-V sur Si en utilisant des couches tampons des oxydes. Nous avons tout d’abord montré de manière théoriquement et expéritalement que pour les systèmes semiconducteur/oxyde, le semiconducteur croît avec son paramètre de maille massif dès le début decroissance et ne contient pas de défaut entendus associé à la relaxation plastique, la différence deparamètre de maille est entièrement accommodée par un réseau de dislocation interfacial. Il est donc apriori possible d’obtenir une couche 2D plane de semiconducteur/oxyde par la coalescence des îlots sans défauts étendus, présentant le paramètre de maille massif du semiconducteur dès le début de lacroissance, a condition qu’aucun défaut ne soit formé lors de la coalescence des îlots.La deuxième partie est dédiée à la coalescence des îlots pour le système InP/SrTiO3/Si, une stratégie de 3-étape a été utilisé pour favoriser la coalescence des îlots InP sur SrTiO3, la couche InPcoalescée présente une très bonne qualité structurale et surfacique. Cependant, nous avons observé la présence de défauts, notamment des micromacles et des parois d’inversion. Malgré ses défauts dans la couche, nous avons réalisé le puits quantique InP/InAsP épitaxié sur SrTiO3/Si, il présente une meilleure qualité cristalline et optique comparé avec un puits quantique référence InP/InAsP qui est épitaxié directement sur Si. / The monolithic integration of III-V semiconductors and Ge on Si is a major issue of heteroepitaxy that gave rise to extensive researches for over twenty years. Firstly because it allows combining the optoelectronic functionalities with industry standard CMOS, which can replace the metal interconnects by optical interconnects in integrated circuits. Moreover, the integration of III-V semiconductors or Ge on Si would significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of solar cells for the niche space market.The direct heteroepitaxy of III-V semiconductor on Si is difficult because of the great lattice mismatch and different thermal expansion coefficient between these materials. Various methods have been proposed in the last twenty years, especially, the solutions based on sticking technologies such as‘Smart Cut TM’ offer excellent results, but is limited by its less flexibility and higher cost.The objective of this thesis is to propose a solution that consists in integrating monolithicallyIII-V semiconductors on Si by using the buffer layers of oxides. We have firstly demonstrated theoretically and experimentally that for the systems semiconductor/oxide, the semiconductor grows with his lattice parameter from the beginning of the growth and doesn’t contain any defaults associated with the plastic relaxation, the difference of the lattice parameter is fully accommodated bythe interfacial dislocations, thus, it’s a priori possible to obtain a flat 2D layer of semiconductor/oxideby the coalescence of the islands without extended defects, presenting the lattice parameter of the semiconductor from the beginning of the growth, providing that no defect is formed during the coalescence of islands.The second part is dedicated to the coalescence of islands for the system InP/SrTiO3/Si, a 3-step strategy was used to favor the coalescence of islands InP on SrTiO3/Si, the coalesced InP layershows good crystalline quality and excellent surface quality. However, we observed the presence of defects, including anti-phase boundaries and microtwins. Despite these defects in the layer, we have realized a quantum well InP/InAsP grown on SrTiO3/Si, it presents a better quality crystal and optical compared with a reference quantum well InP/InAsP that grows directly on Si.

In this dissertation, the extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR) effect in semiconductor/metal hybrid structures is studied to improve the performance in sensing applications. Using two-dimensional finite element simulations, the geometric dependence of the output sensitivity, which is a more relevant parameter for EMR sensors than the magnetoresistance (MR), is studied. The results show that the optimal geometry in this case is different from the geometry reported before, where the MR ratio was optimized. A device consisting of a semiconductor bar with length/width ratio of 5~10 and having only 2 contacts is found to exhibit the highest sensitivity. A newly developed three-dimensional finite element model is employed to investigate parameters that have been neglected with the two dimensional simulations utilized so far, i.e., thickness of metal shunt and arbitrary semiconductor/metal interface. The simulations show the influence of those parameters on the sensitivity is up to 10 %. The model also enables exploring the EMR effect in planar magnetic fields. In case of a bar device, the sensitivity to planar fields is about 15 % to 20 % of the one to perpendicular fields. 5 A “top-contacted” structure is proposed to reduce the complexity of fabrication, where neither patterning of the semiconductor nor precise alignment is required. A comparison of the new structure with a conventionally fabricated device shows that a similar magnetic field resolution of 24 nT/√Hz is obtained. A new 3-contact device is developed improving the poor low-field sensitivity observed in conventional EMR devices, resulting from its parabolic magnetoresistance response. The 3-contact device provides a considerable boost of the low field response by combining the Hall effect with the EMR effect, resulting in an increase of the output sensitivity by 5 times at 0.01 T compared to a 2-contact device. The results of this dissertation provide new insights into the optimization of EMR devices for sensor applications. Two novel concepts are presented, which are promising for realizing EMR devices with high spatial resolution and for opening new applications for EMR sensors in the low-field regime.

This Master’s dissertation focuses on exploring optical nonlinearities in IIIV semiconductors. This work covers a range of III-V materials and a few devices. To begin with, optical characterization of Aluminium Gallium Arsenide (AlGaAs) waveguides with enhanced nonlinear optical interactions was carried out. We have experimentally demonstrated wide conversion ranges andhigh conversion efficiencies for four-wavemixing inAlGaAswaveguides with three different geometries. In addition to that, both linear and nonlinear losses in each of these geometries were explored. AlGaAs represents only one compound of the large group of III-V semiconductors. To explore the potentials of other semiconductors compounds of this group for nonlinear optics, it is imperative to have information about refractive indices of different III-V compounds. This refractive index information is only available for some binary compounds in isolated spectral windows. In this thesis, we developed a model capable of predicting the values of the refractive indices of binary, ternary and quaternary III-V semiconductor compounds from the values of their band-gap energies. We compared the value predicted by our proposed model with existing experimental data and it was found not only is the predicted values in good agreement with the known values, but also has a lower error margin when compared to previously reported models. Finally, in quest for more suitable material platform for nonlinear photonic integration at different wavelength ranges, a detailed analysis of other potential III-V compounds not previously explored for photonic integration is presented.

No description available.

Self-catalyzed GaAs nanowires (NWs) are grown epitaxially on Si(111) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The dynamics of the droplet are examined to improve NW yield and to control NW morphology. Control and understanding of the NW diameter via droplet dynamics is applied to NW photovoltaics and to novel corrugated NW distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). At the beginning of the MBE growth, a Ga pre-deposition step, between 0 s and 500 s in duration, is introduced to improve the yield of the NW arrays. The effect of the pre-deposition time was examined for five different hole diameters and yield was increased to nearly 100% for the appropriate combination of hole diameter and pre-deposition time. Two models were used to model the NW growth progression under different atomic flux ratios. The first model considers the contributions from direct and diffusion fluxes to the droplet and solves coupled equations for the droplet contact angle and the NW radius. The second model treats the contact angle as constant. Both models explained the accompanying experimental observations. Both models could be used to model future NW growths and the choice between the two would depend on the availability of contact angle data and whether the crystal phase must be considered. Absorption in NWs is determined by the diameter and the HE1n modes. The effectiveness of a linearly tapered inverted conical NW is demonstrated using finite element simulations. The photocurrent of an optimized inverted conical NW array is found and shown to be similar to that achieved by optical nanocones and nanowires. Diameter modulations can also be introduced into NW structures periodically to produce corrugated NW distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). The tunability of the reflectance peaks is demonstrated and explained by changes to the effective refractive index of the structure. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis seeks to understand the growth processes behind self-catalyzed nanowire growth. Nanowires (NWs) are very thin, vertical columns of semiconducting material. Self-catalyzed growth is a method of producing these structures that uses a droplet at the top of the structure to add material to the structure over time. These structures have numerous applications. This thesis focuses on solar cells and distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). Experiments show how control over the droplet can improve NW yield and give significant control of the NW diameter. These experiments are supported by mathematical models. Control over the diameter is important for the applications discussed. Using numerical simulations, it is shown how control over the diameter of the structure can lead to improvements in light absorption in NW solar cells. Additionally, periodic changes to the diameter can be used to create novel NW structures such as DBRs, which is a promising new application.

Silicon based solar cells have been used as photovoltaic devices for decades due to reasonable cost and environment- friendly nature of silicon. But the conversion efficiency of silicon solar cell is limited; for instance, the maximum conversion efficiency of a crystalline silicon solar cell available in the market developed by Kaneka Corporation is 26 % [1]. In comparison, III-V compound semiconductor multi-junction solar cells are the most efficient solar cells with efficiency of 47.1% [2]. However, due to high-cost substrate materials, III-V solar cells are not the best option for large scale production in real life. Therefore, integration of III-V compound semiconductors on silicon substrate has been studied to obtain III-V/Si multi junction solar cells with high conversion efficiency with reasonable price. To this end, we studied epitaxial growth of on GaAs deposited on Si.This thesis presents the characterization results of the above epitaxial layer and fabrication of a single junction solar cell on GaAs coated Si substrate and its performance.In the first part of the project, epitaxial layer grown by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) on different kinds of substrates at different growth conditions are characterized to identify the optimized growth conditions and a suitable substrate. Samples are characterized by High Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD) and photoluminescence (PL) to determine the composition of and its crystalline quality and by optical microscope to assess the surface morphology. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is used to study the depth of the dry etched structures.The second part of the project deals with the fabrication process consisting of 21 steps to obtain a single junction solar cell structure on GaAs/Si. This process flow will be explained in some detail along with a brief description of several tools in cleanroom that have been used for this purpose.Finally, in the third part, devices are characterized to investigate their performance. Transmission Line Method (TLM) is used to obtain important parameters such as specific contact resistance. Current- voltage (I-V) relation of solar cell is investigated to acquire its efficiency. The lowest specific contact resistance measured in this project is for p-contact (for 4041DV- cell 8) and the highest efficiency measured is 1.64% (for 4041DV- cell 6).In conclusion, although the results obtained are far from the state-of-the art results, this work has laid the foundation for future work that can lead to a breakthrough in fabricating multi-junction tandem solar cell on silicon. / Kiselbaserade solceller har använts i årtionden på grund av dess rimliga kostnad och miljövänliga natur. Omvandlingseffektiviteten för kiselsolcell är begränsad; till exempel är den maximala omvandlingseffektiviteten för solceller av kristallin kisel utvecklad av Kaneka Corporation 26 % [1]. Som jämförelse är III-V sammansatta halvledare multi-junction solceller de mest effektiva solcellerna med en effektivitet på 47,1 % [2]. På grund av de höga substratmaterialen är III-V-solceller i realiteter inte det bästa alternativet för storskalig produktion. Därför har integration av III-V sammansatta halvledare på kiselsubstrat studerats för att erhålla III-V/Si multi junction solceller med hög omvandlingseffektivitet till rimligt pris. För detta ändamål studerade vi epitaxiell tillväxt av på GaAs avsatt på Si.Denna avhandling presenterar karaktäriseringsresultaten av ovanstående epitaxiella skikt och tillverkning av en enkel förbindelse solcell på GaAs-belagt Si-substrat och dess prestanda.I den första delen av projektet karaktäriseras epitaxiallager odlat med Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) på olika typer av substrat vid olika tillväxtförhållanden för att identifiera de optimerade tillväxtförhållandena och ett lämpligt substrat. Prover kännetecknas av högupplöst röntgendiffraktion (HRXRD) och fotoluminescens (PL) för att bestämma sammansättningen av och dess kristallina kvalitet och med optiskt mikroskop för att bedöma morfologin. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) används för att studera djupet av de torretsade strukturerna.Den andra delen av projektet behandlar tillverkningsprocessen som består av 21 steg för att erhålla en enda förbindelse solcellsstruktur på GaAs/Si. Detta processflöde kommer att förklaras i detalj tillsammans med en kort beskrivning av flera verktyg i renrum som har använts för detta ändamål.Slutligen, i den tredje delen, karaktäriseras enheter för att frilägga dess prestanda. Transmission Line Method (TLM) används för att erhålla viktiga parametrar som specifikt kontaktmotstånd. Förhållandet mellan ström och spänning (I-V) hos solcellen undersöks för att uppnå optimal effektivitet. Den lägsta specifikt kontaktmotstånd som uppmätts i detta projekt är för p-kontakt (för 4041DV-cell 8) och den högsta uppmätta effektiviteten är 1,64% (för 4041DV-cell 6).Sammanfattningsvis, även om de erhållna resultaten är långt ifrån de senaste resultaten inom forskning, lägger detta arbete grunden för framtida arbete som kan leda till ett genombrott i tillverkningen av multi-junction tandemsolcell på kisel.

InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded within InP/GaP nanowires (NWs) were grown on Si substrates by Au-assisted and self-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The morphology and structure of the NWs was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The samples were analysed using photoluminescence (PL) and photocurrent measurements to study the properties of NW-based QDs. The composition of InAs x P 1-x QDs embedded within InP NWs was varied from x = 0.25 to x = 1, demonstrating the tuning of quantum confined energy levels. PL measurements demonstrated an emission peak that shifted towards lower energy levels as the As composition was increased. This result was also observed for QD absorption peaks through wavelength-dependent room temperature photocurrent measurements. InP NWs were successfully passivated with an AlInP shell, which was demonstrated through PL analysis. The growth mechanism of patterned self-assisted GaP NWs on Si was studied through SEM and TEM analysis. It was found that for large V/III flux ratios the Ga seed particle reduced in volume throughout growth, which led to a smaller NW diameter. Conversely, for small V/III flux ratios the Ga seed particle increased in volume throughout growth, resulting in larger NW diameters. The dependence of V/III flux ratio on NW growth was characterized, allowing the tuning of NW diameter. iv GaP NWs with p-i-n junctions were fabricated on a Si substrate with GaAs QDs embedded within the intrinsic region. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first time such a device was demonstrated. The device demonstrated diode characteristics as expected for a p-n junction. Wavelength-dependent photocurrent measurements demonstrated the absorption of light within GaAs QDs, which was collected through electric field dependent tunneling and thermionic emission. The absorption of light extended beyond the bandgap of GaP due to the GaAs QDs. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Silicon photonics provides an environmentally sustainable pathway to a more robust data infrastructure. To compensate for optical power losses, methods of amplification are required; specifically, amplifiers that can fit in a small footprint for applications in data centres. Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) provide such a solution, and can be fabricated using III-V ternary or quaternary materials to enhance optical signals through a device on the scale of most CMOS components. This research sought to fabricate an InGaAsP multiple quantum well semiconductor optical amplifier using the facilities in McMaster University’s Centre for Emerging Device Technologies (CEDT). A ridge waveguide laser diode was first fabricated and validated, then altered by applying an anti-reflective coating to the waveguide facets to suppress reflections in the Fabry-Perot cavity in an attempt to create an SOA. The design process and fabrication methodology are explained, including an analysis of failed methodologies. Characterization measurement techniques are then detailed for the fabricated devices. Finally, the performance of the devices is presented, and future steps are suggested for improving the fabrication process to enhance device characteristics. The fabricated laser diodes produced an output power in excess of 20 mW at a peak wavelength near 1580 nm. The subsequently coated devices proved difficult to measure, displaying a maximum of 0 dB or 1 dB gain when checked for amplification, with suspicions that output loss (and therefore gain) was higher than measured. The coated devices exhibited gain saturation between -10 and 0 dBm of input power. Owing to the shapes of their characteristic curves, it was determined that SOA devices were successfully created. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)