Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, November, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-93)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Two types of photodetectors containing Ge/Si quantum dots have been fabricated based on materials grown by molecular beam epitaxy and characterized with several experimental techniques. The aim was to study new device architectures with the implementation of Ge nanostructures, in order to obtain high detection efficiency in the near infrared range at room temperature. Heterojunction bipolar phototransistors were fabricated with 10 Ge dot layers in the base-collector (b-c) junction. With the illumination of near infrared radiation at 1.31 to 1.55 µm, the incident light would excite the carriers. The applied field across the b-c junction caused hole transport into the base, leading to a reduced potential barrier between the emitter-base (e-b) junction. Subsequently, this resulted in enhanced injection of electrons across the base into the collector, i.e., forming an amplified photo-induced current. We have therefore obtained significantly enhanced photo-response for the Ge-dot based phototransistors, compared to corresponding quantum dot p-i-n photodiodes. Responsivity values up to 470 mA/W were measured at 1.31 µm using waveguide geometry, and ∼2.5 A/W at 850 nm, while the dark current was as low as 0.01 mA/cm2 at –2 V. Metal-oxide field-effect phototransistors were also studied. These lateral detectors were processed with three terminals for source, drain and gate contacts. The Ge quantum dot layers were sandwiched between pseudomorphically grown SiGe quantum wells. The detector devices were processed using a multi-finger comb structure with an isolated gate contact on top of each finger and patterned metal contacts on the side edges for source and drain. It was found that the photo-responsivity was increased by a factor of more than 20 when a proper gate bias was applied. With VG above threshold, the measured response was 350 and >30 mA/W at 1.31 and 1.55 µm, respectively. Properties of Si/Si1-xGex nanostructures were examined, in order to facilitate proper design of the above mentioned transistor types of photodetectors. The carrier recombination processes were characterized by photoluminescence measurements, and the results revealed a gradual change from spatially indirect to direct transitions in type II Si1-xGex islands with increased measurement temperature. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry of buried Ge islands produced at different temperatures indicated a gradual decrease of the Ge concentration with temperature, which was due to the enhanced intermixing of Si and Ge atoms. At a deposition temperature of 730°C the Ge concentration was as low as around 40 %. Finally, the thermal stability of the Si/SiGe(110) material system, which is a promising candidate for future CMOS technology due to its high carrier mobility, was investigated by high resolution X-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping. Anisotropic strain relaxation was observed with maximum in-plane lattice mismatch in the [001] direction. / On the day of the defence date the status of article IV was Manuscript and the title was "A three-terminal Ge dot/SiGe quantum well MOSFET photodetector for near infrared light detection"; the status of article VI was Submitted and the title was "Band alignment studies in Si/Ge quantum dots based on optical and structural investigations"; the status of article VII was Manuscript and the title was "Thermal stability of SiGe/Si(110) investigated by high-resolution X-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping".

The strain introduced by lattice mismatch is a built-in characteristic in Si/SiGe heterostructures, which has significant influences on various material properties. Proper design and precise control of strain within Si/SiGe heterostructures, i.e. the so-called “strain engineering”, have become a very important way not only for substantial performance enhancement of conventional microelectronic devices, but also to allow novel device concepts to be integrated with Si chips for new functions, e.g. Si-based optoelectronics. This thesis thus describes studies on two subjects of such strain-engineered Si/SiGe heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The first one focuses on the growth and characterizations of delicately strain-symmetrized Si/SiGe multi-quantum-well/superlattice structures on fully relaxed SiGe virtual substrates for light emission in the THz frequency range. The second one investigates the strain relaxation mechanism of thin SiGe layers during MBE growth and post-growth processes in non-conventional conditions. Two types of THz emitters, based on different quantum cascade (QC) intersubband transition schemes, were studied. The QC emitters using the diagonal transition between two adjacent wells were grown with Si/Si0.7Ge0.3 superlattices up to 100 periods. It was shown that nearly perfect strain symmetry in the superlattice with a high material quality was obtained. The layer parameters were precisely controlled with deviations of ≤ 2 Å in layer thickness and ≤ 1.5 at. % in Ge composition from the designed values. The fabricated emitter devices exhibited a dominating emission peak at ~13 meV (~3 THz), which was consistent with the design. An attempt to produce the first QC THz emitter based on the bound-to-continuum transition was made. The structures with a complicated design of 20 periods of active units were extremely challenging for the growth. Each unit contained 16 Si/Si0.724Ge0.276 superlattice layers, in which the thinnest one was only 8 Å. The growth parameters were carefully studied, and several samples with different boron δ-doping concentrations were grown at optimized conditions. Extensive material characterizations revealed a high crystalline quality of the grown structures with an excellent growth control, while the heavy δ-doping may introduce layer undulations as a result of the non-uniformity in the strain field. Moreover, carrier lifetime dynamics, which is crucial for the THz QC structure design, was also investigated. Strain-symmetrized Si/SiGe multi-quantum-well structures, designed for probing the carrier lifetime of intersubband transitions inside a well between heavy hole 1 (HH1) and light hole 1 (LH1) states with transition energies below the optical phonon energy, were grown on SiGe virtual substrates. The lifetime of the LH1 excited state was determined directly with pump-probe spectroscopy. The measurements indicated an increase of lifetime by a factor of ~2 due to the increasingly unconfined LH1 state, which agreed very well with the theory. It also showed a very long lifetime of several hundred picoseconds for the holes excited out of the well to transit back to the well through a diagonal process. Strained SiGe grown on Si (110) substrates has promising potentials for high-speed microelectronics devices due to the enhanced carrier mobility. Strain relaxation of SiGe/Si(110) subjected to different annealing treatments was studied by X-ray reciprocal space mapping. The in-plane lattice mismatch was found to be asymmetric with the major strain relaxation observed in the lateral [001] direction. It was concluded that this was associated to the formation and propagation of conventional a/2<110> dislocations oriented along [110]. This was different from the relaxation observed during growth, which was mainly along in-plane [110]. A novel MBE growth process to fabricate thin strain-relaxed Si0.6Ge0.4 virtual substrates involving low-temperature (LT) buffer layers was investigated. At a certain LT-buffer growth temperature, a dramatic increase in the strain relaxation accompanied with a decrease of surface roughness was observed in the top SiGe, together with a cross-hatch/cross-hatch-free transition in the surface morphology. It was explained by the association with a certain onset stage of the ordered/disordered transition during the growth of the LT-SiGe buffer. / Kisel(Si)-baserad mikroelektronik har utvecklats under en femtioårsperiod till att bli basen för vår nuvarande informationsteknologi. Förutom att integrera fler och mindre komponenter på varje kisel-chip så utvecklas metoder att modifiera och förbättra materialegenskaperna för att förbättra prestanda ytterligare. Ett sätt att göra detta är att kombinera kisel med germanium (Ge) bl.a. för att skapa kvantstrukturer av nanometer-storlek. Eftersom Ge-atomerna är större än Si-atomerna kan man skapa en töjning i materialet vilket kan förbättra egenskaperna, ex.vis hur snabbt laddningarna (elektronerna) rör sig i materialet. Genom att variera Gekoncentrationen i tunna skikt kan man skapa skikt som är antingen komprimerade eller expanderade och därmed ger möjlighet att göra strukturer för tillverkning av nya typer av komponenter för mikroelektronik eller optoelektronik. I detta avhandlingsarbete har Si/SiGe nanostrukturer tillverkats med molekylstråle-epitaxi-teknik (molecular beam epitaxy, MBE). Med denna teknik byggs materialet upp på ett substrat, atomlager för atomlager, med mycket god kontroll på sammansättningen av varje skikt. Samtidigt kan töjningen av materialet designas så att inga defekter skapas alternativt många defekter genereras på ett kontrollerat sätt. I denna avhandling beskrivs detaljerade studier av hur töjda i/SiGe-strukturer kan tillverkas och ge nya potentiella tillämpningar ex.vis som källa för infraröd strålning. Studierna av de olika töjda skikten har framför allt gjorts med avancerade röntgendiffraktionsmätningar och transmissionselektronmikroskopi.

Graduation date: 1993

This article describes that we grew InGaN ternary films by Plasma- Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy (PAMBE) on the ZnO substrate O-polar (0001) surface. Before we grew the films, we grew the InN films on the ZnO substrate to find out the interface reaction conditions. We used Double Crystal X-ray Diffraction (XRD) to analyze the diffraction peak of InGaN films after we grew them. We found it was very hard to grow the single content InGaN films by generally methods. We tried period shutter control method to grow films, and we succeeded to grow the single phase films. We analyzed the morphologies by AFM and SEM, the microstructures by TEM, the electric properties by Hall measurement, and the fluorescent characteristics by PL.

The purpose of our research is growing the coupled InGaAs quantum dots on the n-type substrate by molecular beam epitaxy in laboratory, and we choose 5,10 and 15 nanometers to be the thicknesses of GaAs spacer between the quantum dots layer. Due to the couple effect, we hope to realize the theorem of intermediate band proved by Luque and Marti. We measure the characteristic of samples by electroluminescence spectra, photoelectric current spectra, electrical absorption spectra and electro reflectance spectra in laboratory; moreover, we acquire the basic parameters of solar cell by AM1.5G for analyzing. From the basic parameters of solar cell, we know that the quantum dots can enhance the photocurrent by absorbing additional photons , however, the strain caused by quantum dots would decay the open voltage seriously, so that the efficiency always under the baseline. Each efficiency of 9-stack QDs are 4.3%(c494),5.1%(c519),5.3% (c520),and each efficiency of 9-stack Dwells are 3.9%(c524),4.2%(c525),4.7%(c526), and 10-stack QDs(5nm) is 2.9%(c514),and 12-stack QDs(10nm) is 4.48%(c538),and 12-stack QDs(15nm) is 5.89%. The break through of this paper is that the efficiency of c529¡]VOC=0.64V,JSC=11.97mA/cm2,FF=67%,£b=5.89%¡^is higher than GaAs¡]VOC =0.87 V, JSC =7.4 mA/cm2,FF=72.3%,£b=5.6%¡^,and we attribute this performance to its good quality of miniband, because the current can be enhanced a lot, and it will make up for the lose of open voltage and filling factor, so that the efficiency can be higher than GaAs baseline.

In this thesis, we have reported the MBE growth, design, and fabrication of the InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) laser/semiconductor optical amplifier, broadband QDs structure, coupled double cavity structure for terahertz emission on GaAs substrate. The emission wavelengths of the strain-induced S-K growth mode QDs structures are adjusted through the composition of QDs and strain-compensated capping layer. Also, the technique of growing high quality InGaAs QDs with solid source molecular beam epitaxy has been established and characterized by double crystal X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence, electroluminescence measurements. For 1.3£gm QDs laser samples, ridge waveguide lasers of the Fabry-Perot (FP) type are fabricated by wet-etching process. From the QDs laser L-I curve, the e2-hh2 transition at £f =1160nm have larger optical gain than e1-hh1 transition at £f =1220nm. The FP laser with 0.6£gm cavity length shows a lasing peak of 1160nm at threshold. As the cavity length increase to 2£gm, the lasing peak red shift to 1220nm (closed to ground state emission wavelength). This energy band gap transition phenomenon is obvious especially in the QDs laser with quantum well (QW) structure. When the injection current increase, two lasing peaks at £f= 1160 and 1175nm are observed sequentially. This unique lasing behavior is shown to be consistent with carriers localized in noninteracting dots. For the application of 1.3£gm light source, we optimum the growth condition for different needs in optical coherent tomography (OCT) light source, tandem solar cell, terahertz emission light source, etc. For the super luminescence diode (SLED) in OCT, we design multi-stacked asymmetric QDs structure (AMQD), QDs in the well structure (DWell), Dwell with p-doping in well structure to investigate the carrier recombination condition and bandwidth. Comparing with 5 structures in this study, the Dwell with p-doping in well structure has a maximum EL bandwidth exceed 198nm. The large bandwidth is attributed to the QW which increases the carrier capture rate and the p-doping which provide the efficient holes in valance band. This structure provides an excellent SLED light source solution to replace the existing program. For the tandem solar cell, we use the multi-stack QDs to compose broadband absorption in 1eV range. In order to avoid the degradation in the open circuit voltage, we use InGaAs QW to reduce the QDs strain. We observed the doping effect on the built in field through the photo-reflectance measurements. For the better photocurrent collection, we use p-doping in the QW to increase the built-in field intensity to obtain higher efficiency. For the terahertz emission, the QDs embedded in coupled double-cavity structures with an AlAs/GaAs intermediate distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) are grown on GaAs substrates. Two emission peaks at 1180, 1206 nm from the QDs corresponding to the coupled double-cavity resonant modes are observed in the high reflection band. The frequency differences for the two resonant coupled modes are of 5.5 terahertz, and have been successfully controlled by changing the pair numbers for the intermediate DBR. In addition, we have grown the InGa(Al)As nanostructures on InP substrate. The lattice constant difference between InGaAs and InP is relatively smaller compare with GaAs substrate, and it will be more challenge in epitaxial growth. After we investigate the strain, surface morphologies, optical properties for the nanostructures, we find the group III elements play an important role in the morphologies. Wire formation is attributed by the enhanced adatom diffusion length in the stepped surface front along [0-11] direction for the presence of Ga both in the nanostructure and buffer layer. Finally, we established QDs, Qwires database for the valuable new possibilities for designing new and original structures.

The purpose of the thesis is enhancing efficiency of asymmetric quantum dots (AMQD) solar cells. The AMQD structures are grown on the n-type GaAs substrate by (MBE). In order to enhance the photovoltaic characteristics, we introduce InGaAs quantum well (QW) and modulation doping in the well to investigate effect of the strain relief and built-in electric field in the active layer. In our experiment, we analyze the optical property of AMQD structures by photoluminescence measurement system, and then decompose emission wavelength by Gaussian fitting to find optical characteristics of each single layer quantum dots. Besides, we also measure photocurrent spectra, external quantum efficiency, electrical absorption, and electro reflectance spectra to discuss carrier transition inside AMQD structure . Finally, we acquire the photovoltaic basic parameter under one sun. The results show that QDs provide additional photocurrent via absorbing extra photons, but the open circuit voltage decrease seriously due to the accumulated strains. So as to relieve the strains and enhance carriers extraction, we introduce QW layers with different growth temperatures and change the modulation doping concentrations . From the results, the higher growth temperature for QW diminishes accumulated strains, and the higher p-type modulation doping concentration indicates an extraction enhancement due to the stronger built-in electric field. By optimizing QW growth conditions, the efficiency has overtaken GaAs baseline cells. In addition, we improve the photon-excited current collection by using matrix pattern and wet etching on the device surface, the best photovoltaic characteristic shows V OC = 0.74 V, J SC = 18.82 mA/cm2, FF = 0.78, £b= 10.86%.

The group III nitride semiconductor grown on c-plane sapphire by radio frequency plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been studied. To archive good quality GaN film, nitridation and low temperature buffer layer were applied to overcome the issue of lattice mismatch. Low temperature and long period nitridation process shows better improved of optical properties and crystal quality of GaN film. Buffer layer grown with slightly Ga-rich, substrate temperature at 522¢J, for 2 minutes leads to better GaN film. High substrate temperature and sufficient nitrogen to gallium ratio are two important factors to control the growth of the good quality GaN epilayer. Chemical etching and observation of surface reconstructions were used to characterize the polarity of group III nitrides. The Ga-polarity GaN film shows 2x surface reconstruction with high chemical resistance while the N-polarity is sensitive to chemical and displays the 3x reconstruction pattern. The process of indium incorporated with GaN is very sensitive to growth temperature. The indium content decreased with increasing the substrate temperature and also decreased along the growth direction. The N-polar GaN with an indium-facilitated growth technique was also studied. Upon the incorporation of indium during growth, the photoluminescence intensity and electron mobility of GaN has been enhanced by a factor of 15 and 6 respectively. The electron concentration drastically increases by several orders of magnitude. The biaxial strain of GaN film estimated with Micro-Raman technique reduces from 0.6729 to 0.5044GPa. The full-widths at half maximum of asymmetric (10-12) x-ray reflection which related to the density of overall threading dislocations increases from 593 to744 arcsec. In contrast, the symmetric (0002) reflection related only to threading dislocations having a non-zero c-component Burgers vectors reduces from 528 to 276 arcsec. The enhancement of GaN optical property is generally attributed to the reduction of non-zero c-component dislocations. The reduction in density is confirmed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy.