Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, November, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-191)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-188).

The development of InGaN quantum dots (QDs) is both scientifically challenging and promising for applications in visible spectrum LEDs, lasers, detectors, electroabsorption modulators and photovoltaics. Such QDs are typically grown using the Stranski-Krastanov (SK) growth mode, in which accumulated in-plane compressive strain induces a transition from 2D to 3D growth. This method has a number of inherent limitations, including the unavoidable formation of a 2D wetting layer and the difficulty of controlling the composition, areal density, and size of the dots. In this research, I have developed InGaN QDs by two methods using a plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy reactor. In the first method, InGaN QDs were formed by SK growth mode on (0001) GaN/sapphire. In the second, I have addressed the limitations of the SK growth of InGaN QDs by developing a novel alternative method, which was utilized to grow on both (0001) GaN/sapphire and AlN/sapphire. This method relies upon the ability to form thermodynamically stable In-Ga liquid solutions throughout the entire compositional range at relatively low temperatures. Upon simultaneous or sequential deposition of In and Ga on a substrate, the adatoms form a liquid solution, whose composition is controlled by the ratio of the fluxes of the two constituents FIn/(FIn+FGa). Depending on the interfacial free energy between the liquid deposit and substrate, the liquid deposit and vapor, and the vapor and substrate, the liquid deposit forms Inx-Ga1−x nano-droplets on the substrate. These nano-droplets convert into InxGa1−xN QDs upon exposure to nitrogen RF plasma. InGaN QDs produced by both methods were investigated in-situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and ex-situ by atomic force microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution x-ray diffraction, and grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering. The optical activity and device potential of the QDs were investigated by photoluminescence measurements and the formation and evaluation of PIN devices (in which the intrinsic region contains QDs embedded within a higher bandgap matrix). InGaN QDs with areal densities ranging from 109 to 1011 cm−2 and diameters ranging from 11 to 39 nm were achieved.

abstract: A dual chamber molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system was rebuilt for the growth of 6.1 Angstrom II-VI and III-V compound semiconductor materials that are to be used in novel optoelectronic devices that take advantage of the nearly continuous bandgap availability between 0 eV and 3.4 eV. These devices include multijunction solar cells and multicolor detectors. The MBE system upgrade involved the conversion of a former III-V chamber for II-VI growth. This required intensive cleaning of the chamber and components to prevent contamination. Special features including valved II-VI sources and the addition of a cold trap allowed for the full system to be baked to 200 degrees Celsius to improve vacuum conditions and reduce background impurity concentrations in epilayers. After the conversion, the system was carefully calibrated and optimized for the growth of ZnSe and ZnTe on GaAs (001) substrates. Material quality was assessed using X-ray diffraction rocking curves. ZnSe layers displayed a trend of improving quality with decreasing growth temperature reaching a minimum full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of 113 arcsec at 278 degrees Celsius. ZnTe epilayer quality increased with growth temperature under Zn rich conditions attaining a FWHM of 84 arcsec at 440 degrees Celsius. RHEED oscillations were successfully observed and used to obtain growth rate in situ for varying flux and temperature levels. For a fixed flux ratio, growth rate decreased with growth temperature as the desorption rate increased. A directly proportional dependence of growth rate on Te flux was observed for Zn rich growth. Furthermore, a method for determining the flux ratio necessary for attaining the stoichiometric condition was demonstrated. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2012

No description available.

abstract: There has been recent interest in demonstrating solar cells which approach the detailed-balance or thermodynamic efficiency limit in order to establish a model system for which mass-produced solar cells can be designed. Polycrystalline CdS/CdTe heterostructures are currently one of many competing solar cell material systems. Despite being polycrystalline, efficiencies up to 21 % have been demonstrated by the company First Solar. However, this efficiency is still far from the detailed-balance limit of 32.1 % for CdTe. This work explores the use of monocrystalline CdTe/MgCdTe and ZnTe/CdTe/MgCdTe double heterostructures (DHs) grown on (001) InSb substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for photovoltaic applications. Undoped CdTe/MgCdTe DHs are first grown in order to determine the material quality of the CdTe epilayer and to optimize the growth conditions. DH samples show strong photoluminescence with over double the intensity as that of a GaAs/AlGaAs DH with an identical layer structure. Time-resolved photoluminescence of the CdTe/MgCdTe DH gives a carrier lifetime of up to 179 ns for a 2 µm thick CdTe layer, which is more than one order of magnitude longer than that of polycrystalline CdTe films. MgCdTe barrier layers are found to be effective at confining photogenerated carriers and have a relatively low interface recombination velocity of 461 cm/s. The optimal growth temperature and Cd/Te flux ratio is determined to be 265 °C and 1.5, respectively. Monocrystalline ZnTe/CdTe/MgCdTe P-n-N DH solar cells are designed, grown, processed into solar cell devices, and characterized. A maximum efficiency of 6.11 % is demonstrated for samples without an anti-reflection coating. The low efficiency is mainly due to the low open-circuit voltage (V_oc), which is attributed to high dark current caused by interface recombination at the ZnTe/CdTe interface. Low-temperature measurements show a linear increase in V_oc with decreasing temperature down to 77 K, which suggests that the room-temperature operation is limited by non-radiative recombination. An open-circuit voltage of 1.22 V and an efficiency of 8.46 % is demonstrated at 77 K. It is expected that a coherently strained MgCdTe/CdTe/MgCdTe DH solar cell design will produce higher efficiency and V_oc compared to the ZnTe/CdTe/MgCdTe design with relaxed ZnTe layer. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2014

abstract: The development of high efficiency III-V solar cells is needed to meet the demands of a promising renewable energy source. Intermediate band solar cells (IBSCs) using semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have been proposed to exceed the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit [1]. The introduction of an IB in the forbidden gap of host material generates two additional carrier transitions for sub-bandgap photon absorption, leading to increased photocurrent of IBSCs while simultaneously allowing an open-circuit voltage of the highest band gap. To realize a high efficiency IBSC, QD structures should have high crystal quality and optimized electronic properties. This dissertation focuses on the investigation and optimization of the structural and optical properties of InAs/GaAsSb QDs and the development of InAs/GaAsSb QD-based IBSCs. In the present dissertation, the interband optical transition and carrier lifetime of InAs/GaAsSb QDs with different silicon delta-doping densities have been first studied by time-integrated and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL). It is found that an optimized silicon delta-doping density in the QDs enables to fill the QD electronic states with electrons for sub-bandgap photon absorption and to improve carrier lifetime of the QDs. After that, the crystal quality and QD morphology of single- and multi-stack InAs/GaAsSb QDs with different Sb compositions have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The TEM studies reveal that QD morphology of single-stack QDs is affected by Sb composition due to strain reducing effect of Sb incorporation. The XRD studies confirm that the increase of Sb composition increases the lattice mismatch between GaAs matrix and GaAsSb spacers, resulting in increase of the strain relaxation in GaAsSb of the multi-stack QDs. Furthermore, the increase of Sb composition causes a PL redshift and increases carrier lifetime of QDs. Finally, the spacer layer thickness of multi-stack InAs/GaAsSb QDs is optimized for the growth of InAs/GaAsSb QD solar cells (QDSCs). The InAs/GaAsSb QDSCs with GaP strain compensating layer are grown and their device performances are characterized. The increase of GaP coverage is beneficial to improve the conversion efficiency of the QDSCs. However, the conversion efficiency is reduced when using a relatively large GaP coverage. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2015

abstract: InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattices (T2SLs) can be considered as potential alternatives for conventional HgCdTe photodetectors due to improved uniformity, lower manufacturing costs with larger substrates, and possibly better device performance. This dissertation presents a comprehensive study on the structural, optical and electrical properties of InAs/InAsSb T2SLs grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The effects of different growth conditions on the structural quality were thoroughly investigated. Lattice-matched condition was successfully achieved and material of exceptional quality was demonstrated. After growth optimization had been achieved, structural defects could hardly be detected, so different characterization techniques, including etch-pit-density (EPD) measurements, cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and X-ray topography (XRT), were explored, in attempting to gain better knowledge of the sparsely distributed defects. EPD revealed the distribution of dislocation-associated pits across the wafer. Unfortunately, the lack of contrast in images obtained by CL imaging and XRT indicated their inability to provide any quantitative information about defect density in these InAs/InAsSb T2SLs. The nBn photodetectors based on mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) InAs/InAsSb T2SLs were fabricated. The significant difference in Ga composition in the barrier layer coupled with different dark current behavior, suggested the possibility of different types of band alignment between the barrier layers and the absorbers. A positive charge density of 1.8 × 1017/cm3 in the barrier of MWIR nBn photodetector, as determined by electron holography, confirmed the presence of a potential well in its valence band, thus identifying type-II alignment. In contrast, the LWIR nBn photodetector was shown to have type-I alignment because no sign of positive charge was detected in its barrier. Capacitance-voltage measurements were performed to investigate the temperature dependence of carrier densities in a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure based on MWIR InAs/InAsSb T2SLs, and a nBn structure based on LWIR InAs/InAsSb T2SLs. No carrier freeze-out was observed in either sample, indicating very shallow donor levels. The decrease in carrier density when temperature increased was attributed to the increased density of holes that had been thermally excited from localized states near the oxide/semiconductor interface in the MOS sample. No deep-level traps were revealed in deep-level transient spectroscopy temperature scans. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Materials Science and Engineering 2015

Cette thèse se concentre sur la fabrication de cellule solaire IIIN- V sur substrat de GaP (001) et sur la croissance de couche de GaP sur Si (001). Le but est de réaliser des cellules solaires hautes efficacité sur un substrat à faible coût afin de les intégrer dans des centrales solaire photovoltaïque sous concentration. Les principaux résultats obtenus montrent : - L’importance de l’utilisation d’AlGaP en tant que couche de prénucléation pour annihiler les parois d’antiphase à l’interface GaP/ Si (néfaste pour les propriétés optoélectroniques des dispositifs) - De nombreuses similitude entre la croissance de GaAsN et de GaPN ce qui permet d’élaborer une stratégie afin d’optimiser les propriétés optoélectroniques du GaAsPN - De fortes corrélations entre les propriétés optique et éléctriques dans les nitrures dilués - La réalisation préliminaire d’une cellule solaire monojonction sur GaP ayant un rendement encourageant de 2.25% considérant la faible épaisseur de l’absorbeur dans cette cellule (300 nm) / This thesis focuses on optimizing the heterogeneous growth of IIIN- V solar cells on GaP (001) and GaP nanolayers on Si (001). The goal is to build high efficiency solar cells on low-cost substrate for the realization of concentrated photovoltaic powerplant. The main results shows: - AlGaP as prenucleation layer increase the annihilations of anti-phase boundaries at the GaP/Si interface (harmful for the electronic properties of the devices). - Similarities between the growth of GaAsN and GaPN giving strategies to improve the GaAsPN electrical properties - Clear correlations between the optical and electrical properties of dilute nitride solar cells, giving interesting tools to optimize the growth of those materials using optical measurements. - The realization of a GaAsPN solar cell on GaP with a yield of 2.25%. This results is encouraging given the thin GaAsPN absorber used in this cell

abstract: The first part of this dissertation reports the study of the vertical carrier transport and device application in InAs/InAs1-xSbx strain-balanced type-II superlattice. It is known that the low hole mobility in the InAs/InAs1-xSbx superlattice is considered as the main reason for the low internal quantum efficiency of its mid-wave and long-wave infrared photodetectors, compared with that of its HgCdTe counterparts. Optical measurements using time-resolved photoluminescence and steady-state photoluminescence spectroscopy are implemented to extract the diffusion coefficients and mobilities of holes in the superlattices at various temperatures from 12 K to 210 K. The sample structure consists of a mid-wave infrared superlattice absorber region grown atop a long-wave infrared superlattice probe region. An ambipolar diffusion model is adopted to extract the hole mobility. The results show that the hole mobility first increases from 0.2 cm2/Vs at 12 K and then levels off at ~50 cm2/Vs as the temperature exceeds ~60 K. An InAs/InAs1-xSbx type-II superlattice nBn long-wavelength barrier infrared photodetector has also been demonstrated with a measured dark current density of 9.5×10-4 A/cm2 and a maximum resistance-area product of 563 Ω-cm2 at 77 K under a bias of -0.5 V. The Arrhenius plot of the dark current density reveals a possible high-operating-temperature of 110 K.The second part of the dissertation reports a lift-off technology using a water-soluble sacrificial MgTe layer grown on InSb. This technique enables the seamless integration of materials with lattice constants near 6.5 Å, such as InSb, CdTe, PbTe, HgTe and Sn. Coherently strained MgTe with a lattice constant close to 6.5 Å acts as a sacrificial layer which reacts with water and releases the film above it. Freestanding CdTe/MgxCd1-xTe double-heterostructures resulting from the lift-off process show increased photoluminescence intensity due to enhanced extraction efficiency and photon-recycling effect. The lifted-off thin films show smooth and flat surfaces with 6.7 Å root-mean-square roughness revealed by atomic-force microscopy profiles. The increased photoluminescence intensity also confirms that the CdTe/MgxCd1-xTe double-heterostructures maintain the high optical quality after epitaxial lift-off. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2020