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.

<p>Negative differential conductivity (NDC) is a nonlinear property of electronic transport for high electric field strength found in materials and devices such as semiconductor superlattices, bulk GaAs and Gunn diodes. In spatially extended systems, NDC can cause rich dynamics such as static and mobile field domains and moving charge fronts. In this thesis, these phenomena are studied theoretically and numerically for semiconductor superlattices. Two classes of models are considered: a discrete model based on sequential resonant tunneling between neighboring quantum wells is used to described charge transport in weakly-coupled superlattices, and a continuum model based on the miniband transport is used to describe charge transport strongly-coupled superlattices.</p> <p>The superlattice is a spatially extended nonlinear system consisting a periodic arrangement of quantum wells (e.g., GaAs) and barriers (e.g., AlAs). Using a discrete model and only considering one spatial dimension, we find that the boundary condition at the injecting contact has a great influence on the dynamical behavior for both fixed voltage and transient response. Static or moving field domains are usually inevitable in this system. In order to suppress field domains, we add a side shunting layer parallel to the growth direction of the superlattice. In this case, the model includes both vertical and lateral spatial degrees of freedom. We first study a shunted weakly-coupled superlattice for a wide range of material parameters. The field domains are found to be suppressed for superlattices with small lateral size and good connection between the shunt and the quantum wells of the superlattice. As the lateral size of the superlattice increases, the uniform field configuration loses its stability to either static or dynamic field domains, regardless of shunt properties. A lower quality shunt generally leads to regular and chaotic current oscillations and complex spatio-temporal dynamics in the field profile. Bifurcations separating static and dynamic behaviors are characterized and found to be dependent on the shunt properties. Then we adopt the model to study the shunted strongly-coupled superlattice with the continuum model. Key structural parameters associated with both the shunt layer and SL are identified for which the shunt layer stabilizes a uniform electric field profile. These results support the possibility to realize a SL-based THz oscillator with a carefully designed structure.</p> <p>Another important behavior of the static field domains in the weakly-coupled superlattice is bistability, i.e., two possible states (i.e., electric field configurations) for a single voltage. Noise can drive the system from one of these states (the metastable state) to the other one (the globally stable state). The process of escape from the metastable state can be viewed as a stochastic first-passage process in a high-dimensional system that possesses complex stability eigenvalues and for which a global potential energy function does not exist. This process is simulated using a stochastic differential equation system which incorporates shot noise. The mean switching time &tau; is fitted to an exponential expression <italic>e</italic><super>(Vth-V)<super>&alpha;</super>/D</super>, where V_th denotes the voltage at the end of the current branch. The exponent &alpha; in the fitting curve deviates from 1.5 which is predicted for a generic one dimensional system. We develop an algorithm to determine an effective locally valid potential. Principal component analysis is applied to find the most probable path for switching from the metastable current state.</p> / Dissertation

Phase locking of external-cavity diodes laser¡]ECDL¡^ to the stabilized optical frequency combs of a femtosecond mode-locked laser. Optical frequency combs of a femtosecond mode-locked laser can be the reference standard of dual-wavelength external-cavity diode lasers (ECDLs). Frequency stabilization of two external-cavity diode laser is also demonstrated simultaneously.Suppression of the frequency fluctuation of two ECDLs from hundreds MHz to 200 Hz is demonstrated and characterized. Meanwhile, frequency tunable continuous-wave Tera-Hertz (cw THz) wave is generated and observed by photomixing of the output of two frequency stabilized ECDLS with tunable relative frequency difference on a photoconductive antennas. In our experiment, cw THz wave is demonstrated and with tuning range from 0.200 to 1.240THz and could be attribute as frequency standard of THz.

This thesis is on the topic of investigation of the characteristics of DC Glow Discharge plasmas. Emphasis is given on characterizing the plasma electron density. The methods of generating and detecting THz pulses are described. THz transmission spectroscopy and plasma emission spectroscopy is examined. Transmission spectrum is taken for Air, gaseous Nitrogen and Argon plasmas. Moreover, emission spectrum of Air, N2 and Ar plasma analysis were done respectively. It was found that the transmission of terahertz pulses through nitrogen plasma was considerably affected compared to that of the argon plasma. Initially Drude model theory of electron conduction is employed to analyze the plasma density.

The purpose of this work was to construct and analyze a THz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system by using a nanojoule energy per pulse ultrafast laser (non-amplified ultrafast laser or oscillator) source and a non-linear optical generation method for THz generation. First a THz-TDS system, which uses photoconductive antenna (PCA) method for THz generation, was built to understand the working principles of these types of systems. This THz-TDS system which used PCA for generation and a 2mm thick &lt / 110&gt / ZnTe crystal for detection had a bandwidth up to 1 THz with a 1000:1 signal to noise ratio (S/N). Using this system, various materials were investigated to study the usefulness of the obtained bandwidth. Absorption coefficient and refractive indices of the sample materials were calculated. Results showed that the bandwidth of the system was not sufficient to obtain fingerprint properties of these materials. In order to improve the system, optical rectification method was used for THz generation. A different THz-TDS system was built with a 1mm thick &lt / 110&gt / ZnTe crystal used for the method of non-linear generation of THz radiation. Theoretical calculations of radiated intensity and electric field were done to analyze the expected bandwidth of the system. Results showed that the generation and the detection crystal thicknesses affect the obtained bandwidth of the system in that the bandwidth limiting factor is the crystal thickness and not the ultrafast laser pulse duration. Especially for detection, measurements obtained with both a 1mm thick and 2mm thick &lt / 110&gt / ZnTe crystal showed that there was not much difference in bandwidth as was predicted by theory. Also in order to increase the signal to noise ratio, the optics used in the system were optimized. It was found that by using same focal lengths for focusing and collimating optics around the generation crystal and by using a short focal length parabolic mirror, S/N could be improved. After these improvements this THz-TDS system which uses optical rectification for THz generation and electro-optic method for THz detection had a larger bandwidth up to 3 THz but with a lower 100:1 signal to noise ratio.

In this thesis, Terahertz Time-Domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) was used in order to measure the electrical properties of silicon solar cells. The advantage of THz-TDS is that it allows us to measure the electrical properties without electrical contacts. In order to perform these measurements, a reflection based system was constructed and the changes in the peak amplitude in the time-domain under a, 450mW 808 nm continuous wave laser source were measured. The solar cell that was used in this thesis was manufactured in Middle East Technical University Microelectromechanical Systems (METU-MEMS) research laboratories located in Ankara, Turkey. The solar cell that we used in the measurements had a thickness of 0.45 mm and was produced on a single silicon crystal in &lt / 100&gt / direction. It is made up of a p-type base and n-type emitter to create p-n junction. Also, it has a Si4N3 AR coating and Al back contacts on it. To compare the THz measurements to that of electrical measurements, some electrical contact measurements were performed on the solar cell under laser illumination. By using these measurements, the energy conversion efficiency and the quantum efficiency of the solar cell were calculated and measured as 3.44 % and 7%, respectively under the 450mW, 808nm illumination on a specific area of the cell. The results that were obtained form the electrical measurements were compared with the THz results. We found that in order to understand the efficiency of the solar cell using THz-TDRS, a more comprehensive study needs to be done where the changes in the reflection of the THz radiation under different excitation powers and different configurations of the system need to be studied.

No description available.

Dans ce travail de thèse, on aborde la manifestation des effets d'Électrodynamique Quantique en Cavité (EDQC) dans le domaine THz. Le domaine THz est définie comme la région des fréquences entre 300 GHz et 30 THz (longueurs d'onde entre 10 µm et 1000 µm). Les sources que nous employons pour la génération rayonnement THz sont des cascades quantiques électroluminescentes<br />GaAs/GaAlAs.<br /><br />Les longueurs d'ondes rayonnées (l ~100 µm) sont ainsi beaucoup plus grandes que l'épaisseur typique des émetteurs (~1 µm). Dans ces conditions, lorsque la source est mise dans une cavité métallique planaire, le taux de l'émission spontanée croît comme l'inverse de l'épaisseur de la cavité.<br /><br />Le travail de thèse comporte d'abord un analyse théorique des dispositifs. Le taux d'émission spontanée est étudié à la fois dans le formalisme classique du champ rétro-réfléchi, et dans le<br />formalisme quantique du règle d'or de Fermi. Pour la dernière approche on a développé une méthode numérique pour le calcul et la normalisation des modes optiques supportés par un système<br />multicouches quelconque, qui peut être appliqué à l'étude des dispositifs lasers. L'analyse des cavités planaires sub-longueur d'onde permet de distinguer un effet "utile", qui porte sur le mode TM_0 guidé dans la cavité, et un effet d'absorption, associé aux plasmons de surface supporté par les<br />couches de contact dopées qui sont nécessaires pour l'injection électrique dans la cascade quantique.<br /><br />Le problème d'extraction de l'émission de la cavité est ensuite analysé. Pour cela on étudie un dispositif photonique de nouveau type, la "cavité complexe", dans lequel on a remplacé le miroir<br />métallique supérieur par un réseau métallique. Un modèle de diffraction conique général est développé pour cette étude. Ce modèle a été vérifié dans le domaine THz par mesures de transmission. Il est appliqué dans le cas de rayonnement dipolaire à l'intérieur de la cavité complexe. Le comportement de la puissance extraite de la cavité en fonction de la période du réseau et de l'épaisseur de la cavité permet de reconnaître les effets d'Électrodynamique Quantique en Cavité dans le domaine THz.<br /><br />Pour la mise en évidence expérimentale des effets EDQC, nous avons fabriqué et étudié des cavités complexes avec une cascades quantique. La croissance de type MOCVD, peu exploitée jusqu'à<br />maintenant pour la fabrication des dispositifs à cascade quantique, a été mis au point avec la perspective de réalisation des dispositifs lasers. Notre étude expérimentale confirme les<br />prévisions théoriques. Un facteur de renforcement de l'émission spontanée de ~ 50 est démontré pour la structure de l'épaisseur la plus faible 0.4 µm. Nous avons ainsi mis en évidence, pour la première fois, l'effet de réduction de l'épaisseur du dispositif rayonnant sur l'émission spontanée dans<br />le domaine THz.<br /><br />Parmi les perspectives sur lesquelles cette étude débouche, on peut citer la réduction de la taille latérale des dispositifs pour obtenir un effet Purcell 3D, et également l'exploitation du plasmon des couches des contact dopées pour la conception et la fabrication des dispositifs photoniques THz compacts de nouveau type.

Les transitions intersousbandes dans les hétérostructures de nitrure d'éléments III ont été intensément étudiées dans le proche infrarouge pour des applications télécoms. L'accordabilité dans le proche infrarouge est rendu possible grâce à la discontinuité de potentiel en bande de conduction qui peut atteindre 1.75 eV pour le système GaN/AlN. Les matériaux nitrures suscitent actuellement un grand intérêt à plus grande longueur d'onde infrarouge. C'est par exemple le développement de détecteurs et d'imageurs rapides à cascade quantique dans la gamme 2-5 µm. C'est aussi l'extension des dispositifs intersousbandes dans le domaine de fréquences THz. Ce travail de thèse porte sur l'étude des transitions intersousbandes dans les puits quantiques GaN/Al(Ga)N épitaxiés par jets moléculaires. Le but est d'accorder ces transitions dans une gamme spectrale très large allant du proche au lointain infrarouge. Je montre que les transitions ISB peuvent être accordées dans la gamme 1-12 µm dans les puits quantiques GaN/AlGaN en phase hexagonale synthétisés selon l'axe polaire c [0001]. Ceci impose l'ingénierie du champ électrique interne, dont la valeur peut atteindre dans le GaN 10 MV/cm. Une solution alternative consiste à utiliser une orientation particulière, dite semipolaire, qui conduit à une réduction du champ électrique interne le long de l'axe de croissance [11-22]. J'ai montré que cette réduction du champ interne permet d'accorder les résonances intersousbandes des puits quantiques GaN/AlN dans le proche infrarouge et j'ai pu estimer le champ en comparant les résultats de spectroscopie et simulations. J'ai d'autre part étudié les propriétés interbandes et intersousbandes des puits quantiques de symétrie cubique, qui par raison de symétrie, ne présentent pas de champ électrique interne. Finalement j'ai mis en évidence les premières transitions intersousbandes aux fréquences THz dans les puits quantiques GaN/AlGaN polaires mais aussi cubiques.

Graphene is a promising material for many technological applications. To realize these applications, new fabrication techniques that allow precise control of the physical properties, as well as large scale integration between single devices are needed. In this work, a series of studies are performed in order to develop graphene based devices. First, using MD simulations we study the effects of irradiating graphene with a carbon ion atom at several positions and energies from 0.1 eV to 100 keV. The simulations show four types of processes adsorption, reflection, transmission, and vacancy formation. At energies below 10 eV the dominant process is reflection, between 10 and 100 eV is adsorption, and between 100 eV and 100 keV the dominant process is transmission. Vacancy formation is a low rate process that takes place at energies above 30 eV. Three types of defects were found: adatom, single vacancy, and 5-8-5 defect formed from a double vacancy defect. Also a bottom-up fabrication method is studied, in this method, the controlled folding of graphene structures, driven by molecular interactions with water nanodroplets, is analyzed considering the interactions with substrates such as SiO2, HMDS and IPA on SiO2. When the graphene is supported on SiO2, the attraction between graphene and the substrate prevents graphene from folding but if the substrate has HMDS or IPA, the interaction between graphene and the substrate is weak, and depending on the geometry of the graphene structure, folding is possible. Finally, to evaluate the characteristics of graphene based devices, we model the vibrational bending modes of graphene ribbons with different dimensions. The resonant frequencies of the ribbons and relations between the size of the ribbon and their resonant frequencies are calculated. The interaction of a graphene vibronic device with water and IPA molecules are simulated and demonstrate that this device can be used as a sensitive vibronic molecular sensor that is able to distinguish the chemical nature of the detected molecule. Also, the electrical properties of the graphene vibronic with armchair and zigzag border are calculated; the latter has the potential to generate THz electrical signals as demonstrated in this work.