Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of 1000Å GaNAs films grown on (100) oriented GaAs substrate by radio frequency (RF) plasma assisted solid-source molecular beam epitaxy was studied by low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) and high-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD). Samples with nitrogen content of 13 and 2.2% have shown an overall blueshift in energy of 67.7meV and an intermediate redshift of 42.2meV in the PL spectra when subjected to RTA at 525–850°C for 10min. It is also shown that the sample, which is annealed at temperature range of 700–750°C, has the highest photoluminescence efficiency (1.7–2.1 times increase in integrated PL intensity as compared to the as-grown sample). Reciprocal space mapping of the as-grown GaNAs samples obtained by using triple-crystal HRXRD shows the presence of interstitially incorporated of N atoms with no lattice relaxation in the direction parallel to the growth surface. These results have significant implication on the growth and post-growth treatment of nitride compound semiconductor materials for high performance optoelectronics devices.

As modern circuit architecture features steadily decrease in size, more accurate tools are needed to meaningfully measure critical dimensions (CD). As a general rule, a metrology tool should be able to measure 1/10 of the product tolerance. An emerging technology for high speed, high accuracy CD measurement is scatterometry. This paper describes scatterometrybased measurements of metal features of 350 nm with a space of 450 nm (pitch of 800nm) on top of a complicated layer stack and compares them with the results of an atomic force microscope (AFM). We also looked into lithography cell monitoring and trending by measuring CDs on 3 daily litho cell monitors over a period of 40 days. Our long term results show excellent agreement with those of a scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM).

Negative Electron Affinity (NEA) of Diamond-like-Carbon (DLC) films has made DLC films a favorable candidate for field emission display (FED). It was suggested that triple-junction type structure could enhance the field emission characteristics. A triple junction is defined as the intersection of a semiconductor surface with a metal substrate in vacuum. In this study, field emission enhancement in triple junction type structures was investigated. As a metal substrate 5000 of Mo films were deposited. Then, 3000–4000 of DLC film was deposited as a semiconductor material. Thin film layers were made using a negative ion beam source. After the deposition, using an excimer laser, we removed the DLC layer and made circular shaped triple junction trenches with a diameter of 25–250 μm. The field emission characteristics such as I–V characteristics turn on voltage and emission lifetime data were obtained for a diode type field emission measurement system. Overall results show significantly enhanced performance of field emission characteristics such as uniform emission over patterned area, reduced turn on voltages and longer lifetimes can be achieved.

Solar cells made of multiple absorbers are a commonly used approach for improving efficiency due to their extended range of spectral sensitivity. Indeed, efficiencies nearing the theoretical maximum have been achieved with a triple-junction device made of In0.51Ga0.49P (InGaP2), GaAs, and Ge solar cells connected in series. For extraterrestrial applications, there is the added requirement of radiation tolerance. The main challenge for space power-generation is therefore the development of highly efficient and radiation-tolerant devices. We have investigated several aspects of the radiation response of solar cells made of multiple absorbers, such as multijunction devices and quantum-well solar cells. Novel possibilities such as quantumdot solar cells and ordered-disordered heterostructures are proposed.

Electrical and optical measurements obtained with CdSe single crystals doped with chromium from a gas source CrSe over a wide temperature range (500–1050 °C) are compared with ZnSe annealed in liquid metal (Zn). These processes are intended to control the concentrations of the impurity and intrinsic defects. The low temperature annealing of CdSe crystals in CrSe atmosphere allows obtaining high electron mobility up to 9000 cm2/Vs at 80 K and demonstrates the low native defect concentration. A high temperature annealing gives rise to increased electron concentration with decreased mobility. Optical absorption measurements show that at the high annealing temperature effective doping with Cr takes place. The impurity absorption beyond the absorption edge is interpreted by the excitation of Cr++ and Cr+ deep levels

Three sets of self-organized InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in an external InGaAs quantum well samples were grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). By modifying Indium composition profile within quantum well (QW) region, it's found the photoluminescence emission from quantum dots can be greatly enhanced when employing a graded quantum well to surround QDs. This quantum dots in a graded quantum well structure also preserves the long wavelength (1.3 μm) spectrum requirement for the future use in optoelectronics devices.

The optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) technique has been employed to examine the nature and formation mechanism of non-radiative defects in GaNAs and InGaAsN. In both alloys, two defects were observed and were shown to be deep-level, non-radiative recombination centers. One of the defects has been identified as a complex involving an AsGa antisite. These two defects gain more importance with increasing N composition up to 3%, presumably due to an increase in their concentration. With a further higher N composition, the defects start to lose importance in carrier recombination that is attributed to an increasingly important role of other new non-radiative channels introduced with a high N composition. On the other hand, effect of In composition up to 3% seems to be only marginal. Both defects were shown to be preferably introduced in the alloys during low-temperature growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), but can be rather efficiently removed by post-growth rapid thermal annealing.

Erbium (Er) ions were implanted into 4H and 6H silicon carbide (SiC). The temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) and PL lifetime were characterized. The optimum annealing temperature for SiC : Er were 1600 °C, PL intensity decreased at 1700 ° C, and the bandedge luminescence changed in relation to the luminescence of Er3+. Thermal quenching of the luminescence of Er3+ was suppressed by using SiC with a wide band gap as a host material. The Er3+ -PL was observed at room temperature (RT). We monitored the auger effect that is believed to be the main cause of the thermal quenching process and concluded that, in the temperature range 15 K to 70 K, the thermal quenching process has a close relation to nonradiative recombination from the first excited state (4I13/2) to the ground state (4I15/2) of Er3+.

We have studied the structure of MBE-grown InAs(001)-(2×4) surfaces exposed to low Sb2 fluxes by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and ab initio density functional theory (DFT). Experimentally, we observe an Sb-terminated α2(2×4) phase over a wide range of temperatures (400–510 °C) for low Sb2 flux (<0.1 ML/s), whereas temperature and As2 flux must be carefully controlled to achieve the same As-terminated surface structure. At lower temperatures, we observe indications of an Sb-terminated (2×8) symmetry surface phase, and we report briefly on its proposed structure and stability, as well as its possible role in subsequent formation of the Sb-terminated (1×3) phase found at typical Sb2 fluxes used during heterostructure growth.

CdS and ZnO capped CdS (CdS/ZnO) semiconductor nanoparticles were synthesized via hydrothermal method by thermal decomposition of the cysteine-cadmium and Zn(OH)4 2− complex precursors. Both of the photoluminescence properties and structure characterization confirmed the core/shell structure as expected. Compared to CdS nanoparticles, the band-gap emission of CdS/ZnO was greatly improved, that means the capping layer of ZnO modified the surface of CdS and reduced the surface defects effectively. ED and XRD confirmed the formation of hexagon phased CdS and the TEM image indicated the size of CdS/ZnO was about 20 nm.

The dependence of the hole density on that of Mn sites in Ga1−xMnxAs is studied within a mean-field approach to the hole-mediated ferromagnetism in III-V Mn-based semiconductor compounds. We parametrize the hole concentration, p, as a function of the fraction of Mn sites, x, in terms of the product m* (Jpd)2 (where m* is the hole effective mass and Jpd is the Kondo-like hole/local-moment coupling), and the critical temperature Tc. By fitting m* (Jpd)2 to experimental data for Tc(x), we establish the dependence of p on x, which is interpreted in terms of a reentrant metal-insulator transition taking place in the hole gas.

We report here on thin films proton-working electrochromic devices based on the wellknown tungsten oxide as the coloring electrode, and Antimony Tin Oxide (ATO) as the ionstorage counter-electrode. We show that films deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique have an apparent Sb solubility up to 70 at %, and exhibit unusual electrochromic properties. Through potentiostatic tests we'll demonstrate that depending on the composition which influences film morphology, the Sn-Sb-O films could either present a faradic or a capacitive-like behavior, associated to a color or a neutral switching over a wide range of potentials, respectively. The structural properties of ATO films are characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electrochromic behavior is studied by means of cyclic voltamperometry coupled with ex situ optical transmittance measurements in the visible range. The maximum proton-storage capacity is observed for ATO films containing 40–50 at % Sb, while being quasi-neutral when switching over a wide range of potentials. These compositions are finally retained for the assembly of our WO3/proton-electrolyte/ATO devices, whose performances are reported.

Er ions with doses ranging from 1×1013 cm−2 to 1×1015 cm−2 were implanted into Al0.70Ga0.30As on GaAs substrates. at 800 °C. Photoluminescence (PL) intensity of Er-related emission around 1.54 μm was enhanced by co-implanted oxygen (O). The optimum dose of Er ion was 1×1014 cm−2 and O ion was 1×1015 cm−2, respectively. Furthermore, from the temperature dependence of the PL intensity of sample implanted with the optimum dose, we estimated the values of E1, E2, and E3, the activation energies in order to investigate the rapid thermal quenching of Er ion in Al0.70Ga0.30As. We found that PL intensity of Er-related emission, in addition to O dose, was enhanced approximately twenty two times at room temperature. And from the temperature dependence of the lifetime of the optimum dose of Er and O, the value 245meV of EA, the activation energy for the decrease of the lifetime, was nearly equal to the value 235meV of E3. Based on the result, the decrease of the lifetime confirms that the radiative efficiency is lower; therefore, we propose that rapid thermal quenching occurs at temperatures above 200 K due to the decrease of the radiative efficiency.

The influence of the substrate on composition and CuPt-type spontaneous order of MOVPE lattice matched InGaP/GaAs layers was studied. The study was carried out by microRaman and microphotoluminescence. The order was determined by the band gap, while the Raman parameters were also contributed by the surface topography that was also related to the type of substrate. The spontaneous order increases with Si- doping of the substrates. Doping the layers with Zn randomises the alloy.

We propose a new three-dimensional photonic crystal structure or drilled alternating-layer photonic crystal (DALPC), which can be fabricated by a combination of the deposition of alternating layers of dielectric films and one-time dry etching. Our band calculation predicts that the DALPC has a photonic band gap (PBG) in all directions. We fabricated a Si/SiO2DALPC by electron beam lithography, bias sputtering, and fluoride-gas electron cyclotron resonance etching. We measured the light transmission of the DALPC sample in both the in-plane and vertical directions. We observed a transmission minimum around the 1.4-μm-wavelength for all measured directions and TE/TM polarizations, which demonstrated a potential of the DALPC as a three-dimensional PBG material.

We used near-field magneto-photoluminescence scanning microscopy to study structural and optical properties of quantum-dot-like compositional fluctuations in GaAsN and InGaAsN alloys. We show that these fluctuations manifest themselves by the appearance of narrow emission lines (halfwidth 0.5−2 meV) at temperatures below 70K. We estimated the size, density, and nitrogen excess of individual compositional fluctuations (clusters), revealing phaseseparation effects in the distribution of nitrogen in GaAsN and InGaAsN. We found a dramatic difference in the Zeeman splitting of cluster lines between GaAsN and InGaAsN, indicating a strong effect of In on the exciton g-factor.

We have measured the diamagnetic shifts and photoluminescence linewidths of excitonic transitions in ordered and disordered In0.48 Ga0.52 P alloys, lattice matched to GaAs, in pulsed magnetic fields at 4 and 76K. The pulsed magnetic field ranged between 0 and 50T. The variations diamagnetic shifts with magnetic field in disordered and weakly ordered samples are considerably smaller than those calculated using a free exciton model. For a given magnetic field, the value of the diamagnetic shifts are found to increase with increasing order parameter. Furthermore, for all samples, the diamagnetic shifts at 76K are larger than at 4K suggesting that the excitons are strongly localized.

We report the structural, electrical and optical properties of bulk InAsN alloy with various nitrogen contents deposited on (100) InP substrates by using plasma-assisted gas source molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that the fundamental absorption edge of InAsN, as compared to that of InAs, shifts to higher energy due to Burstein-Moss effect. A dramatic increase of the electron effective mass in a nitrogen-containing III-V alloy is also observed from infrared reflectivity and Hall measurement on these degenerate InAsN samples. The sizeable increase on electron effective mass is consistent with the theoretical predictions based on band-anticrossing model.

Amorphous carbon nitride films (a-CNx) were synthesized by using single ion beam sputtering of a graphite target in argon and nitrogen sputtering gases. This thin film could be used as a novel photovoltaic material. The films were characterized with the technique of laser Raman, spectroscopic ellipsometry and electron spin resonance spectrometer (ESR). In this paper we report the effects of ion impacting and nitrogenation on the microstructure, density of defect states, bonding character, optical and photovoltaic properties. Effective decreasing of intensity of the ESR signal and formation of C-N bonding were observed, which could be attributed to the increment of the impinging ions on the growing films. The nitrogenation of a-CNx films could decrease the Tauc optical gap (0.62∼0.86eV) and the intensity of ESR signal, increase photon absorption coefficient of the films (106∼104cm−1).

The primary photovoltaic values of the devices having Schottky structure of ITO/CNx/Al are Isc 1.56 μ A/cm2 and Voc 250 mV, respectively, when exposed to AM1.5 illumination ( 100mW/cm2, 25°C).

Quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) have been widely investigated for the 3–5 μm mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) and 8–12 μm long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) atmospheric spectral windows as well as very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR: λc 14 μm) detection in the past decade. The mature III-V compound semiconductor growth technology and the design flexibility of device structures have led to the rapid development of various QWIP structures for infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs) applications. In addition to the single-color QWIP with narrow bandwidth, the multi-color QWIP required for advanced IR sensing and imaging applications have also been emerged in recent years. Using band gap engineering approach, the multi-color (2, 3, and 4- color) QWIPs using multi-stack quantum wells with different well width and depth and voltage-tunable triple- coupled quantum well (TCQW) structure for detection in the MWIR, LWIR, and VLWIR bands have been demonstrated. In this paper, the design, fabrication, and characterization of a voltage-tunable 2-stack 3-color QWIP for MW/LW/LW IR detection and a 3-stack 3-color QWIP for detection in the water, ozone, and CO2 atmospheric blocking bands are depicted.