This thesis presents an investigation of the phenomenon of efficient, room temperature luminescence from dislocation-engineered (DE) silicon. Previous work had demonstrated that the introduction of near-surface dislocation loops to a silicon substrate by boron ion implantation and high temperature annealing produced efficient electroluminescence at room temperature. However, the mechanism by which high efficiency luminescence is produced was not understood. A wide matrix of specimens containing dislocations was fabricated by a variety of methods, including ion implantation, and their luminescence efficiencies were correlated to their physical properties. Transmission electron microscopy was used to characterise the defect structures created by ion implantation. In the majority of specimens a band of dislocation loops in close proximity to the surface was observed. The dislocation loops were shown to be consistent with a mixture of Frank and perfect dislocation loops, the relative proportions of which were dependent upon processing conditions. The thermal evolution of the dislocation loop size distribution was investigated. For the first time, a size distribution displaying a double peak was observed. The size distribution was shown to be consistent with the Gaussian distribution of two defect populations of different mean diameter. The thermal evolution of the size distribution was investigated in silicon implanted samples. A flux of self-interstitials from Frank dislocation loops to perfect dislocation loops was deduced. The evolution of the dislocation loop sizes was found to be consistent with Ostwald ripening. Cathodoluminescence (CL) was used to investigate the luminescent properties of silicon at room temperature for the first time. A new CL system was installed for this work, initially the CL system was characterised and a routine to ensure a high degree of reproducibility was formed. The luminescence mechanism of DE-silicon was shown to be the same as in unprocessed silicon wafers; TO phonon-assisted recombination. The mechanism of enhanced luminescence from DE-silicon was unambiguously shown to be due to the gettering of electrically active impurities from the specimen bulk. A reduction in the bulk transition metal impurity concentration of up to 35 times was inferred. In samples which were implanted with boron the degree of gettering was found to show a logarithmic dependence on the dislocation density. Using a crosssectional mapping technique, implanted samples were shown to contain a lower concentration of transition metal impurities throughout the entire wafer in comparison to as-received, unprocessed specimens. Furthermore, the impurity concentration was found to be lowest in close proximity to the band of dislocation loops. The dislocation loops were found to act as non-radiative recombination centres and their strength was strongly influenced by the local carrier concentration. The high doping levels of samples implanted with boron were found to minimise the non-radiative recombination action of the dislocations. Low temperature annealing was used to improve the luminescence efficiency of DE-silicon further.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xvi, 145 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-145).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 2000. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.S. in Combat Systems Science and Technology)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2008. / Thesis Advisor(s): Haegel, Nancy M. ; Luscombe, James. "December 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 29, 2009. Sponsoring/Monitoring Agency Report Number: "DMR-0526330." Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-61). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Physics)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2008. / Thesis Advisor(s): Haegel, Nancy M. "December 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on February 5, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-91). Also available in print.

abstract: Nitride semiconductors have wide applications in electronics and optoelectronics technologies. Understanding the nature of the optical recombination process and its effects on luminescence efficiency is important for the development of novel devices. This dissertation deals with the optical properties of nitride semiconductors, including GaN epitaxial layers and more complex heterostructures. The emission characteristics are examined by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and imaging, and are correlated with the structural and electrical properties studied by transmission electron microscopy and electron holography. Four major areas are covered in this dissertation, which are described next. The effect of strain on the emission characteristics in wurtzite GaN has been studied. The values of the residual strain in GaN epilayers with different dislocation densities are determined by x-ray diffraction, and the relationship between exciton emission energy and the in-plane residual strain is demonstrated. It shows that the emission energy increases withthe magnitude of the in-plane compressive strain. The temperature dependence of the emission characteristics in cubic GaN has been studied. It is observed that the exciton emission and donor-acceptor pair recombination behave differently with temperature. The donor-bound exciton binding energy has been measured to be 13 meV from the temperature dependence of the emission spectrum. It is also found that the ionization energies for both acceptors and donors are smaller in cubic compared with hexagonal structures, which should contribute to higher doping efficiencies. A comprehensive study on the structural and optical properties is presented for InGaN/GaN quantum wells emitting in the blue, green, and yellow regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Transmission electron microscopy images indicate the presence of indium inhomogeneties which should be responsible for carrier localization. The temperature dependence of emission luminescence shows that the carrier localization effects become more significant with increasing emission wavelength. On the other hand, the effect of non-radiative recombination on luminescence efficiency also varies with the emission wavelength. The fast increase of the non-radiative recombination rate with temperature in the green emitting QWs contributes to the lower efficiency compared with the blue emitting QWs. The possible saturation of non-radiative recombination above 100 K may explain the unexpected high emission efficiency for the yellow emitting QWs Finally, the effects of InGaN underlayers on the electronic and optical properties of InGaN/GaN quantum wells emitting in visible spectral regions have been studied. A significant improvement of the emission efficiency is observed, which is associated with a blue shift in the emission energy, a reduced recombination lifetime, an increased spatial homogeneity in the luminescence, and a weaker internal field across the quantum wells. These are explained by a partial strain relaxation introduced by the InGaN underlayer, which is measured by reciprocal space mapping of the x-ray diffraction intensity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physics 2012

abstract: The work contained in this dissertation is focused on the optical properties of direct band gap semiconductors which crystallize in a wurtzite structure: more specifically, the III-nitrides and ZnO. By using cathodoluminescence spectroscopy, many of their properties have been investigated, including band gaps, defect energy levels, carrier lifetimes, strain states, exciton binding energies, and effects of electron irradiation on luminescence. Part of this work is focused on p-type Mg-doped GaN and InGaN. These materials are extremely important for the fabrication of visible light emitting diodes and diode lasers and their complex nature is currently not entirely understood. The luminescence of Mg-doped GaN films has been correlated with electrical and structural measurements in order to understand the behavior of hydrogen in the material. Deeply-bound excitons emitting near 3.37 and 3.42 eV are observed in films with a significant hydrogen concentration during cathodoluminescence at liquid helium temperatures. These radiative transitions are unstable during electron irradiation. Our observations suggest a hydrogen-related nature, as opposed to a previous assignment of stacking fault luminescence. The intensity of the 3.37 eV transition can be correlated with the electrical activation of the Mg acceptors. Next, the acceptor energy level of Mg in InGaN is shown to decrease significantly with an increase in the indium composition. This also corresponds to a decrease in the resistivity of these films. In addition, the hole concentration in multiple quantum well light emitting diode structures is much more uniform in the active region when Mg-doped InGaN (instead of Mg-doped GaN) is used. These results will help improve the efficiency of light emitting diodes, especially in the green/yellow color range. Also, the improved hole transport may prove to be important for the development of photovoltaic devices. Cathodoluminescence studies have also been performed on nanoindented ZnO crystals. Bulk, single crystal ZnO was indented using a sub-micron spherical diamond tip on various surface orientations. The resistance to deformation (the "hardness") of each surface orientation was measured, with the c-plane being the most resistive. This is due to the orientation of the easy glide planes, the c-planes, being positioned perpendicularly to the applied load. The a-plane oriented crystal is the least resistive to deformation. Cathodoluminescence imaging allows for the correlation of the luminescence with the regions located near the indentation. Sub-nanometer shifts in the band edge emission have been assigned to residual strain the crystals. The a- and m-plane oriented crystals show two-fold symmetry with regions of compressive and tensile strain located parallel and perpendicular to the ±c-directions, respectively. The c-plane oriented crystal shows six-fold symmetry with regions of tensile strain extending along the six equivalent a-directions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physics 2013

abstract: This dissertation covers my doctoral research on the cathodoluminescence (CL) study of the optical properties of III-niride semiconductors. The first part of this thesis focuses on the optical properties of Mg-doped gallium nitride (GaN:Mg) epitaxial films. GaN is an emerging material for power electronics, especially for high power and high frequency applications. Compared to traditional Si-based devices, GaN-based devices offer superior breakdown properties, faster switching speed, and reduced system size. Some of the current device designs involve lateral p-n junctions which require selective-area doping. Dopant distribution in the selectively-doped regions is a critical issue that can impact the device performance. While most studies on Mg doping in GaN have been reported for epitaxial grown on flat c-plane substrates, questions arise regarding the Mg doping efficiency and uniformity in selectively-doped regions, where growth on surfaces etched away from the exact c-plane orientation is involved. Characterization of doping concentration distribution in lateral structures using secondary ion mass spectroscopy lacks the required spatial resolution. In this work, visualization of acceptor distribution in GaN:Mg epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) was achieved at sub-micron scale using CL imaging. This was enabled by establishing a correlation among the luminescence characteristics, acceptor concentration, and electrical conductivity of GaN:Mg epilayers. Non-uniformity in acceptor distribution has been observed in epilayers grown on mesa structures and on miscut substrates. It is shown that non-basal-plane surfaces, such as mesa sidewalls and surface step clusters, promotes lateral growth along the GaN basal planes with a reduced Mg doping efficiency. The influence of surface morphology on the Mg doping efficiency in GaN has been studied. The second part of this thesis focuses on the optical properties of InGaN for photovoltaic applications. The effects of thermal annealing and low energy electron beam irradiation (LEEBI) on the optical properties of MOCVD-grown In0.14Ga0.86N films were studied. A multi-fold increase in luminescence intensity was observed after 800 °C thermal annealing or LEEBI treatment. The mechanism leading to the luminescence intensity increase has been discussed. This study shows procedures that significantly improve the luminescence efficiency of InGaN, which is important for InGaN-based optoelectronic devices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Materials Science and Engineering 2020

The diploma thesis deals with the combined use of SEM and SPM techniques using optical fiber, which is used to collect the cathodoluminescent signal in close proximity to the sample. The thesis also includes a research section, which lists description of CPEM technique, the techniques used to modify the optical fiber, theoretical introduction to cathodoluminescence and techniques used to measure it. The practical part discusses the obtained measurement results and the problems that occurred in the process of modification of the optical fiber, its use as an SPM probe and in the measurement of cathodoluminescence active materials.

No description available.