La nanospintronique basée sur les semi-conducteurs implique la combinaison des fonctions nanoélectroniques et magnétiques au sein d’une nanostructure unique. Une méthode intéressante consiste en la préparation d’un semi-conducteur magnétique dilué (DMS), dans lequel le ferromagnétisme induit par les trous est obtenu par le dopage de type P. Les DMS II-VI permettent de contrôler séparément les porteurs et la concentration du Mn, puisque les ions de Mn ne sont pas des dopants électriques. Les nanofils (NW) de semi-conducteurs II-VI représentent un système modèle permettant de concevoir la fonction d’onde et la déformation au sein d’heterostructures parfaitement contrôlées et contenant les impuretés magnétiques. Ceci nécessite une croissance optimale d’heterostructures dans la géométrie des nanofils et un contrôle précis du niveau du dopant, ce qui constitue une des difficultés majeures dans l’état actuel des recherches.Dans ce contexte, mon travail de Thèse s’est focalisé sur trois principaux axes de recherche : la croissance par épitaxie par jets moléculaires de nanofils de ZnTe catalysés par nanoparticules d’Au, la maîtrise du rapport de forme des boites quantiques de CdTe insérées dans les fils de ZnTe, et le dopage azote des fils de ZnTe.Concernant la croissance des fils de ZnTe, le problème de la variabilité des temps d’incubation d’un fil à l’autre a été étudié à l’aide de la technique des marqueurs. Une nouvelle méthode basée sur la préparation du catalyseur d’Au sous flux de Zn a démontré son efficacité dans la suppression de variabilité des temps d’incubation, réduisant la dispersion des longueurs sur un même échantillon d’un facteur 10 à un facteur 2, et augmentant le taux de succès des fils verticaux de 20% à 80%. Des mesures complémentaires de diffraction des rayons X ont fourni des informations supplémentaires sur l’importance de l’orientation relative entre le catalyseur d’Au et le substrat ZnTe(111)B.Le rapport de forme des boites quantiques de CdTe est un moyen pour maîtriser leur état fondamental (entre trou léger et trou lourd). Ceci peut être obtenu en contrôlant le temps de croissance des boite quantiques, mais demande (1) la suppression de la croissance latérale (responsable de la formation de boites parasites) et (2) la reproductibilité d’un échantillon à l’autre, basée sur une maîtrise de la température de croissance avec une précision meilleure que 10 degrés. Ceci a été validé dans nos conditions de croissance par une étude croisée de croissance d’heterostructures de ZnTe avec multiples boites quantiques de CdTe et de caractérisation par microscopie électronique.Je présenterai les résultats des croissances par épitaxie pa jets moléculaires et des caractérisations des nanofils de ZnTe /ZnTe:N cœur/coquille avec dopage azoté. Des transistors à effet de champ basé sur des nanofils isolés ont été fabriqués pour la caractérisation électrique. Nous avons obtenu des fils de ZnTe/ZnTe:N cœur/coquille présentant des densités de charges de 6×18 trous/cm3 à température ambiante, du même ordre que la densité critique de Mott pour le ZnTe. / Semiconductor nano-spintronics requires combining magnetism and nanoelectronics functions into a single semiconductor nanostructure. An attractive method consists in preparing diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS), where hole-mediated ferromagnetism appears with p-type doping. II-VI DMS allow to control separately the carriers and the Mn concentrations, since the Mn ions are not electrical dopants. II-VI semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are a model system offering the possibility to engineer the wavefunction and the strain in well-chosen heterostructures containing the magnetic impurities. This requires an optimal growth of NW-based heterostructures, and the possibility to control the doping level, which is a major challenge in present NW research. In this context, my PhD project has been devoted to three main investigation axis: the growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of Au-catalyzed ZnTe NWs, the control of the aspect ratio of CdTe quantum dots (QDs) embedded in ZnTe NWs, and the nitrogen doping of ZnTe NW.Concerning the growth of ZnTe NWs, the problem of an incubation time different from NW to NW has been studied using a marker technique. A new method involving the preparation of Au catalyst under Zn flux has been demonstrate to efficiently suppress differences in the incubation times, reducing the length dispersion in the same sample to factor of 2 instead of 10 and improving the yield of vertical NWs of 80% instead of 20%. Complementary XRD experiments gave further information about the importance of the relative orientation between the Au catalysts and the ZnTe(111)B growth substrate.The aspect ratio of CdTe QDs is an important way to control the QD ground state (between light hole and heavy hole). This can be achieved by changing the growth time of the QDs, but requires (1) the suppression of the lateral growth (giving parasitic QDs) and (2) reproducibility from a sample to another which relies on a precise control of the growth temperature within a very narrow window of 10° C. This was demonstrated in our growth conditions with a coupled study of growth of multi-QD-NW CdTe-ZnTe heterostructures and transmission electron microscopy characterization.Then the results of the growth by molecular beam epitaxy and characterization of nitrogen doped ZnTe/ZnTe:N core/shell NWs will be presented. Single NW based field effect transistor were realized by electron beam lithography for electrical characterization. We were able to obtain ZnTe/ZnTe:N core/shell NWs showing a p-type carrier density of 6 ×18 holes/cm3 at room temperature, of the same order as the Mott critical density in ZnTe.

Si QDs embedded in SiOx or SiNx thin films, which could emit light in the entire visible range from 440 nm to 840 nm by controlling their size and/or their matrix, were synthesized by evaporation or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition techniques. Various shades of white could be obtained from multi-layered SiNx film structures by controlling the size of Si QDs and layer thickness. It was shown that the combination of these films can produce white emission spectra with superior color rendering properties compared to conventional fluorescent tubes. Such Si-based QDs can be used as down-converting phosphors to coat a blue/UV LED to generate white light, providing a less expensive fabrication process to obtain advanced solid state lighting devices. As a supplement, free CdTe QDs with emission colors spanning 520~700 nm and quantum efficiency up to 54%, were synthesized using a colloidal chemical method for white LED applications. White PL and a range of emission colors were obtained from mixed CdTe QD samples excited by a 420 nm blue LED. Another part of this research was to develop a new x-ray powder phosphor, ZnTe:O, for biological imaging applications used in CCD-based synchrotron x-ray detectors. A unique dry synthesis process, including gaseous dry doping and etching procedures, was developed to synthesize ZnTe:O phosphors. The excellent x-ray luminescence results of oxygen doped ZnTe, including high efficiency, high resolution, fast decay, low afterglow and an improved spectral match to the CCD detector, indicated that ZnTe:O is a promising phosphor candidate for x-ray imaging applications.

The carrier capture and relaxation of Type II ZnTe/ZnSe quantum dots(QDs) were investigated with ultrafast photoluminescence upconversion. We found that carrier relaxation of QDs under Volmer-Weber(VW) growth mode exhibits faster decay and rise than that of QDs under Stranski-Krastanow(SK) growth mode due to the wetting layer in SK growth mode provides as a pathway for carriers to diffuse and migrate from large(small) to small (larger) QDs. The wetting layer level was found by analyze the decay time of PL with different wavelength and temperature. The PL of VW mode and SK mode by using 532nm Nd-YAG laser also prove the existence of wetting layer. We interpret our results of VW mode in terms of Auger process with large carrier density.

abstract: Zinc telluride (ZnTe) is an attractive II-VI compound semiconductor with a direct bandgap of 2.26 eV that is used in many applications in optoelectronic devices. Compared to the two dimensional (2D) thin-film semiconductors, one-dimensional (1D) nanowires can have different electronic properties for potential novel applications. In this work, we present the study of ZnTe nanowires (NWs) that are synthesized through a simple vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method. By controlling the presence or the absence of Au catalysts and controlling the growth parameters such as growth temperature, various growth morphologies of ZnTe, such as thin films and nanowires can be obtained. The characterization of the ZnTe nanostructures and films was performed using scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), high- resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), Raman spectroscopy and light scattering measurement. After confirming the crystal purity of ZnTe, two-terminal diodes and three-terminal transistors were fabricated with both nanowire and planar nano-sheet configurations, in order to correlate the nanostructure geometry to device performance including field effect mobility, Schottky barrier characteristics, and turn-on characteristics. Additionally, optoelectronic properties such as photoconductive gain and responsivity were compared against morphology. Finally, ZnTe was explored in conjunction with ZnO in order to form type-II band alignment in a core-shell nanostructure. Various characterization techniques including scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy , x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis reflectance spectra and photoluminescence were used to investigate the modification of ZnO/ZnTe core/shell structure properties. In PL spectra, the eliminated PL intensity of ZnO wires is primarily attributed to the efficient charge transfer process occurring between ZnO and ZnTe, due to the band alignment in the core/shell structure. Moreover, the result of UV-vis reflectance spectra corresponds to the band gap energy of ZnO and ZnTe, respectively, which confirm that the sample consists of ZnO/ZnTe core/shell structure of good quality. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2017

abstract: HgCdTe is currently the dominant material for infrared sensing and imaging, and is usually grown on lattice-matched bulk CdZnTe (CZT) substrates. There have been significant recent efforts to identify alternative substrates to CZT as well as alternative detector materials to HgCdTe. In this dissertation research, a wide range of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and analytical techniques was used in the characterization of epitaxial HgCdTe and related materials and substrates for third generation IR detectors. ZnTe layers grown on Si substrates are considered to be promising candidates for lattice-matched, large-area, and low-cost composite substrates for deposition of II-VI and III-V compound semiconductors with lattice constants near 6.1 Å. After optimizing MBE growth conditions including substrate pretreatment prior to film growth, as well as nucleation and growth temperatures, thick ZnTe/Si films with high crystallinity, low defect density, and excellent surface morphology were achieved. Changes in the Zn/Te flux ratio used during growth were also investigated. Small-probe microanalysis confirmed that a small amount of As was present at the ZnTe/Si interface. A microstructural study of HgCdTe/CdTe/GaAs (211)B and CdTe/GaAs (211)B heterostructures grown using MBE was carried out. High quality MBE-grown CdTe on GaAs(211)B substrates was demonstrated to be a viable composite substrate platform for HgCdTe growth. In addition, analysis of interfacial misfit dislocations and residual strain showed that the CdTe/GaAs interface was fully relaxed. In the case of HgCdTe/CdTe/ GaAs(211)B, thin HgTe buffer layers between HgCdTe and CdTe were also investigated for improving the HgCdTe crystal quality. A set of ZnTe layers epitaxially grown on GaSb(211)B substrates using MBE was studied using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) measurements and TEM characterization in order to investigate conditions for defect-free growth. HRXRD results gave critical thickness estimates between 350 nm and 375 nm, in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Moreover, TEM results confirmed that ZnTe layers with thicknesses of 350 nm had highly coherent interfaces and very low dislocation densities, unlike samples with the thicker ZnTe layers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering 2012

The goals of this project are study Cu free back contact alternatives for CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells, and to research dry etching for CdTe surface preparation before contact application. In addition, an attempt has been made to evaluate the stability of some of the contacts researched. The contacts studied in this work include ZnTe/Cu2Te, Sb2Te3, and Ni-P alloys. The ZnTe/Cu2Te contact system is studied as basically an extension of the earlier work done on Cu2Te at USF. RF sputtering from a compound target of ZnTe and Cu2Te respectively deposits these layers on etched CdTe surface. The effect of Cu2Te thickness and deposition temperature on contact and cell performance will be studied with the ZnTe depositions conditions kept constant. C-V measurements to study the effect of contact deposition conditions on CdTe doping will also be performed. These contacts will then be stressed to high temperatures (70-100 degrees C) and their stability with stress time is analyzed. Sb2Te3 will be deposited on glass using RF sputtering, to study film properties with deposition temperature. The Sb2Te3 contact performance will also be studied as a function of the Sb2Te3 deposition temperature and thickness. The suitability of Ni-P alloys for back contacts to CdTe solar cells was studied by forming a colloidal mixture of Ni2P in graphite paste. The Ni-P contacts, painted on Br-methanol etched CdTe surface, will be studied as a function of Ni-P concentration (in the graphite paste), annealing temperature and time. Some of these cells will undergo temperature stress testing to determine contact behavior with time. Dry etching of CdTe will be studied as an alternative for wet etching processes currently used for CdTe solar cells. The CdTe surface is isotropically etched in a barrel reactor in N2, Ar or Ar:O2 ambient. The effect of etching ambient, pressure, plasma power and etch time on contact performance will be studied.

Solar cells based on CdTe absorbers are attractive due to the optimal direct band gap energy and large absorption coefficient of CdTe, however, their performance and commercialization is hindered by the lack of reliable p-type contacts. CdTe has a low carrier concentration and a large electron affinity, which results in a requirement of non-realistic work functions for metals to be used as back contacts in the solar cell. Even noble metals such as Ag present a significantly large potential barrier for holes, thereby reducing the hole current through the semiconductor/metal interface. Several attempts to resolve this challenge have been tried, however, many drawbacks have been encountered. Two particular systems, namely Cu2Te thin films and CdTe/ZnTe strained-layer superlattices, are investigated for their potential use as ohmic contacts in CdTe solar cells. A detailed analysis of the optical, electrical, and structural properties of Cu2Te thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering is presented. It is shown that these films have an indirect band gap and highly degenerate semiconductor behavior. The large p-type carrier concentration of Cu2Te films is highly desirable for the application of Cu2Te as a p-type contact to CdTe. In-depth studies of optical transitions and miniband transport in strained-layer CdTe/ZnTe superlattices are presented as well. The band offsets between CdTe and ZnTe were determined by comparison of measured and calculated optical transitions. Superlattice structures that offer best contact performance have been identified by use of tunneling probability simulations. Characterization of CdTe solar cells with above mentioned contacts indicated that contacts based on CdTe/ZnTe superlattices are a viable Cu free option for stable and reliable p-type contacts in CdTe solar cell. The contact performance of Cu2Te thin films was comparable to that of CdTe/ZnTe superlattices and both demonstrated an advantage over contacts based on ZnTe:N thin films which were used a standard.

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

abstract: Recently a new materials platform consisting of semiconductors grown on GaSb and InAs substrates with lattice constants close to 6.1 A was proposed by our group for various electronic and optoelectronic applications. This materials platform consists of both II-VI (MgZnCdHg)(SeTe) and III-V (InGaAl)(AsSb) compound semiconductors, which have direct bandgaps spanning the entire energy spectrum from far-IR (~0 eV) up to UV (~3.4 eV). The broad range of bandgaps and material properties make it very attractive for a wide range of applications in optoelectronics, such as solar cells, laser diodes, light emitting diodes, and photodetectors. Moreover, this novel materials system potentially offers unlimited degrees of freedom for integration of electronic and optoelectronic devices onto a single substrate while keeping the best possible materials quality with very low densities of misfit dislocations. This capability is not achievable with any other known lattice-matched semiconductors on any available substrate. In the 6.1-A materials system, the semiconductors ZnTe and GaSb are almost perfectly lattice-matched with a lattice mismatch of only 0.13%. Correspondingly, it is expected that high quality ZnTe/GaSb and GaSb/ZnTe heterostructures can be achieved with very few dislocations generated during growth. To fulfill the task, their MBE growth and material properties are carefully investigated. High quality ZnTe layers grown on various III-V substrates and GaSb grown on ZnTe are successfully achieved using MBE. It is also noticed that ZnTe and GaSb have a type-I band-edge alignment with large band offsets (delta_Ec=0.934 eV, delta_Ev=0.6 eV), which provides strong confinement for both electrons and holes. Furthermore, a large difference in refractive index is found between ZnTe and GaSb (2.7 and 3.9, respectively, at 0.7 eV), leading to excellent optical confinement of the guided optical modes in planar semiconductor lasers or distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Therefore, GaSb/ZnTe double-heterostructure and ZnTe/GaSb DBR structure are suitable for use in light emitting devices. In this thesis work, experimental demonstration of these structures with excellent structural and optical properties is reported. During the exploration on the properties of various ZnTe heterostructures, it is found that residual tensile strains exist in the thick ZnTe epilayers when they are grown on GaAs, InP, InAs and GaSb substrates. The presence of tensile strains is due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficients between the epilayers and the substrates. The defect densities in these ZnTe layers become lower as the ZnTe layer thickness increases. Growth of high quality GaSb on ZnTe can be achieved using a temperature ramp during growth. The influence of temperature ramps with different ramping rates in the optical properties of GaSb layer is studied, and the samples grown with a temperature ramp from 360 to 470 C at a rate of 33 C/min show the narrowest bound exciton emission peak with a full width at half maximum of 15 meV. ZnTe/GaSb DBR structures show excellent reflectivity properties in the mid-infrared range. A peak reflectance of 99% with a wide stopband of 480 nm centered at 2.5 um is measured from a ZnTe/GaSb DBR sample of only 7 quarter-wavelength pairs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physics 2012

CdTe and ZnTe are common semiconductors, currently used in a wide variety of applications. Heterostructures, composed of two or more layered materials, create further potential for the use of these semiconductors in the development of new technologies. In this thesis, the epitaxial growth of CdTe/ZnTe thin films and heterostructures are studied with the intention of better understanding the mechanisms by which they grow and how their overall structure and properties may be modified. Single-layer, bilayer, and multilayer structures were grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire substrates. The resulting crystal structure, interface, and optical properties were characterized using X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. It was found that the growth conditions have a direct impact on the crystal quality of these materials, that can be understood in terms of the growth dynamics and film-substrate interactions. Domain formation was also found to vary between CdTe and ZnTe depositions, revealing important information about their growth. This work presents methods of consistently producing high quality CdTe and ZnTe thin films and bilayers, and insight into how this may be applied to the growth of multilayer films. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)