The transfer matrix method (TMM) software (Translight, A. Reynolds [1]) was used to evaluate the photonic band gap (PBG) properties of the periodic arrangement of high permittivity ferroelectric composite (40 wt% Ba0.45Sr0.55TiO3/60 wt% MgO composite, εR = 80, tanδ?= 0.0041 at 10 GHz) in air (or Styrofoam, εR ∼ 1) matrix compared to a lower permittivity material (Al2O3, εR = 11.54, tanδ?= 0.00003 at 10 GHz) in air. The periodic structures investigated included a one-dimensional (1D) stack and a three-dimensional (3D) face centered cubic (FCC) opal structure. The transmission spectrum was calculated for the normalized frequency for all incident angles for each structure. The results show that the bandgaps frequency increased and the bandgap width increased with increased permittivity. The effects of orientation of defects in the opal crystal were investigated. It was found by introducing defects propagation bands were introduced. It was concluded that a full PBG is possible with the high permittivity material.

Effects of electrical bias on the cathodoluminescence (CL) have been investigated for a blue II-VI quantum well (QW) light emitting diode structure of ZnCdMgSe, lattice-matched to InP. In CL wavelength scans, the observed effects include largely reversible changes in QW CL intensity and wavelength and changes in cladding CL intensity. In CL time-based scans, the QW CL intensity showed both immediate and long term changes with bias. Irreversible, degradationrelated decreases in QW CL intensity were also observed. Effects of bias on CL were modeled by calculating the rates of carrier production by electron bombardment and the resulting electron and hole currents with different applied bias fields. These model calculations do not explain many of the experimental observations, because the model does not include effects of bias on carrier escape and redistribution in the QW and effects of bias on generation and transport of atomic scale defects.

We study doping profiles in selectively Si-doped GaAs layers grown by the conformal method. This growth technique allows to obtain GaAs/Si with optoelectronic quality. The samples are laterally grown, and selective doping with Si is carried out in such a way that doped stripes are intercalated with undoped ones. The study of the doping profiles was carried out by cathodoluminescence (CL) and micro-Raman (μR) spectroscopy. Abrupt doping profiles between doped and undoped stripes were demonstrated by monochromatic CL images. Deep level related CL bands can be observed between 1000 and 1400 nm, evidencing the complex mechanism for Si incorporation at the growth temperature (730 °C). Net doping concentrations and mobilities across the layers were determined from the analysis of the phonon-plasmon coupled modes in the μR spectra obtained with a lateral resolution better than 1 μm.

Intersubband transitions in In0.52Ga0.48As/In0.52Al0.48As multiple quantum wells grown on lattice matched InP substrates were investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption and photoluminescence (FTPL) techniques. The well width was tailored to produce excited states resonant in the conduction band, at the edge of the conduction band, and confined in the quantum wells. Interband transitions were also probed using FTPL and optical absorption techniques. The FTPL spectra show that three interband transitions exist in the quantum well structures with well width larger than 30 Å. The intersubband transitions in this class of quantum wells seem to withstand proton irradiation with doses higher than those used to deplete the intersubband transitions in the GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells.

The paper deals with the problem of luminescence due to non-equilibrium charge carriers transfer between the quasi-2D electron system localized in the space-charge region of the heterostructures based on lead sulfide films (up to 3 μm thickness) and zinc selenide substrates surrounded by the wide gap semiconductor region. The processes of electro- and photoluminescence are studied, the band diagram is proposed and the main parameters of the structure PbS/quasi-2DEG/ZnSe are calculated.

UHV-CVD growth based on a deuterium stabilized Sn hydride and digermane produces Ge-Sn alloys with tunable bandgaps. The Ge1−xSnx (x=2–20 at.%) alloys are deposited on Si (100) and exhibit superior crystallinity and thermal stability compared with MBE grown films. Composition, crystal and electronic structure, and optical and vibrational properties are characterized by RBS, low energy SIMS, high resolution electron microscopy TEM, x-ray diffraction, as well as Raman and IR spectroscopies. TEM studies reveal epitaxial films with lattice constants between those of Ge and Sn. X-ray diffraction shows well-defined (004) peaks and rocking curves indicate a tightly aligned spread of the crystal mosaics. Resonance Raman indicate a E1 bandgap reduction relative to Ge, consistent with a decrease of the E2 critical point observed in spectroscopic ellipsometry. IR transmission spectra indicate an increase in absorption with increasing Sn content consistent with a decrease of the direct bandgap.

This report describes the growth of single-crystalline ZnO films on Si (111) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction measurement shows that c-axis oriented ZnO films are easily grown on Si (111) substrates. However, in-plane random rotational domains are included in the ZnO films due to the inevitable oxidation of substrate surface at the initial stage of ZnO growth. By employing a thin CaF2 buffer layer between the ZnO films and Si substrates, we have succeeded in suppressing the generation of rotational domains and in obtaining an intense ultraviolet photoluminescence even at room temperature. These results indicate that the use of CaF2 buffer layer is promising for the growth of device-quality ZnO films on Si (111) substrates.

There is a recent, renewed attention on the possible development of optical emitters compatible with silicon microelectronic technology and it has been recently shown that light emitting diodes could be manufactured on dislocated silicon, where dislocations were generated by plastic deformation or ion implantation. Among other potential sources of room temperature light emission, compatible with standard silicon-based ULSI technology, we have studied old thermal donors (OTD), as the origin of their luminescence is still matter of controversy and demands further investigation.

In this work we discuss the results of a spectroscopical study of OTD using photoluminescence (PL) and Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) on standard Czochralsky (Cz) silicon samples and on carbon-doped samples.

We were able to show that their main optical activity, which consists of a narrow band at 0.767 eV ( P line), is correlated to a transition from a shallow donor level of OTD to a deep level at EV+0.37 eV which is tentatively associated to C-O complexes. As we have shown that the P line emission persists at room temperature, we discuss about its potentialities to silicon in optoelectronic applications.

Lasing action on a third order waveguide mode is demonstrated at room temperature under optical pumping, in a specifically designed quantum well laser structure. The AlGaAs heterostructure involves barriers which ensure that the third order mode has a higher overlap with the single quantum well emitter than the fundamental mode. Third order mode operation of a laser structure opens the way to modal phase matched parametric down conversion inside the semiconductor laser itself. It is a first step towards the realization of semiconductor twin photon laser sources, needed for quantum information experiments.

Dilute nitrogen GaInNAs is a new promising material as an active region for use in 1.3 and 1.55 μm opto-electronic devices. It has been commonly observed that increasing the nitrogen content generally reduces the optical emission intensity and increases laser threshold. However, some non-radiative recombination defects are removed from the material during a post-growth anneal. One drawback to the anneal is that nitrogen out-diffuses from the quantum wells and blue-shifts optical emission. Using a modified active region structure, we have decreased nitrogen out-diffusion and reduced the luminescence blue-shift while still improving crystal quality. The growth consists of high nitrogen GaNAs barriers grown between lower nitrogen GaInNAs quantum wells. As an added benefit, the nitride barriers strain compensate for the compression in the high In content GaInNAs wells. Furthermore, in order to improve luminescence at long wavelengths, we have added Sb to GaInNAs and have observed high intensity photoluminescence (PL) out to 1.6 μm. We have grown and fabricated in-plane GaInNAs lasers that emit at 1.3 μm with a current threshold density of 1.2 kA/cm2 and GaInNAsSb lasers with emissions at 1.46 μm with a current threshold of 2.8 kA/cm2.

Porous layers and membranes representing 2D and 3D dielectric structures were fabricated on different III-V compounds (GaAs, InP, GaP) by electrochemical etching techniques. Nonlithographically fabricated ordered nanopore arrays in InP are reported for the first time. We show that the reflectance from nanostructured InP is lower than that from bulk InP in the spectral interval 1.5–2.2 eV. The artificial anisotropy induced by nanotexturization was studied in porous GaP membranes and the refractive indices for ordinary and extraordinary beams were evaluated.

TlInGaAs/InP double-hetero (DH) structures were grown on (100) InP substrates by gas source MBE. The photoluminescence (PL) peak energy variation with temperature decreased with increasing Tl composition. For the DH with a Tl composition of 13%, the PL peak energy varied only slightly with temperature (−0.03 meV/K). This value corresponds to a wavelength variation of 0.04 nm/K and is much smaller than that of the lasing wavelength of InGaAsP/InP distributed feedback laser diodes (0.1 nm/K). TlInGaAs/InP light emitting diodes with 6% Tl composition were fabricated and the small temperature variation of the electroluminescence peak energy (−0.09 meV/K) was observed at the wavelength around 1.58 μm. The results are promising to realize the temperature-independent wavelength laser diodes, which are important in the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical fiber communication systems.

We describe fabrication of sub-micron photonic bandgap structures on Si/SiO2 optical waveguide, which could be used at λ=1.54μm.

Carriers in small colloidal InP nanoparticles are in strong quantum confinement regime. The low temperature photoluminescence spectrum of InP nanoparticles is composed of an excitonic luminescence at high energies and a non-excitonic defect emission band at lower energies. HF etching of the nanoparticles reduces the defect emission and enhances the exciton process.

In this work we apply optically detected magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ODMR) both in continuous wave and time resolved mode (TR-ODMR) to study the defect luminescence in InP nanoparticles. The results show that the defect luminescence originates from weakly coupled electron-hole pair, where the electron is trapped at the surface by phosphorous vacancy, Vp, and the hole is located at the valence band. Additionally, the results suggest that the non-etched samples are dominated by Vp at the surface. Those are mainly eliminated upon HF treatment, leaving behind small percent of Vp in the core of the nanoparticle. We also find the electron-hole exchange interaction from circular polarized ODMR measurements. The TR-ODMR measurement further clarifies the spin dynamics and characteristic of the magnetic sites. Fitting these measurements to the simulated response of the PL intensity to the square wave modulated microwave power revealed that the spin relaxation time and radiative lifetime of electron-hole pair in the nanoparticles are in the microseconds regime.

The integration of a bowtie antenna with a double electron layer tunneling transistor (DELTT) device for the purposes of THz detection is investigated in this paper. The concept of THz detection, based on photon-assisted tunneling (PAT) between the two electron layers in a double quantum well (DQW) heterostructure, will be explained. The detector is expected to have narrowband, electrically tunable, fast response, and the possibility to operate at relatively high temperatures. Since the active area of the detector is very small, which is necessary to achieve fast response, it is not efficient in collecting THz radiation. Therefore, a broadband bowtie antenna is integrated with the detector to efficiently collect the THz radiation. Characteristics of different bowtie antenna geometries at THz frequencies were studied. An equivalent circuit model of the THz detector was developed, for the first time, to estimate the impedance characteristics at THz frequencies. Such a model is crucial for achieving impedance matching between the DELTT and the antenna to increase the overall coupling efficiency.

Isoelectronic impurity nitrogen atoms have been found to generate a series of localized states in GaP and GaAs. These states can be either bound (within the band gap) or resonant (above the band gap) when in the dilute doping limit (roughly < 1019 cm−3 for GaP and < 1018 cm−3 for GaAs). With increasing nitrogen doping level, a shift of the absorption edge from the binary band gap has been observed for the so-called GaPN or GaAsN alloy. We discuss the similarity and dissimilarity between the two systems in the following aspects: (1) How does the nitrogen doping perturb the host band structure? (2) How do the nitrogen bound states evolve with increasing nitrogen doping level? (3) What are the dominant contributors to the band edge absorption? And (4) does a universal model exist for GaPN and GaAsN? Other issues that will be discussed are: how does one define the band gap for these materials, and what is the relevance of various theoretical band structure calculations to the experimentally measured parameters.

The modeling of the spectral behavior of the refractive index of AlGaInAs quaternary IIIV semiconductor alloy in the energy range from 0.4 to 4eV, including the transparent region, is presented. The extended model of interband transition contributions incorporates not only the fundamental absorption edge contribution to the dielectric function, but also contributions from higher energy and indirect transitions. It is demonstrated that indirect energy transitions must be included in the calculations of the complex dielectric function of the material in the transparent region. Indirect transitions from different critical points in the Brillouin zone are treated separately. The comparison between the theoretical refractive indices and the experimental data for AlGaInAs alloy is presented. These calculations have been applied to the design of Bragg mirrors with the highest refractive index contrast for heterostructure lasers.

Long-wavelength infrared detectors operating at elevated temperatures are critical for imaging applications. InAs/GaAs quantum dots are an important material for the design and fabrication of high-temperature infrared photodetectors. Quantum dot infrared photodetectors allow normal-incidence operation, in addition to low dark currents and multispectral response. The long intersubband relaxation time of electrons in quantum dots improves the responsivity of the detectors, contributing to better hightemperature performance. We have obtained extremely low dark currents (Idark = 1.7 pA, T = 100 K, Vbias = 0.1 V), high detectivities (D* = 2.9×108cmHz1/2/W, T = 100 K, Vbias = 0.2 V), and high operating temperatures (T = 150 K) for these quantum-dot detectors. These results, as well as infrared imaging with QDIPs, will be described and discussed.

The influence of two monolayer - thick AlAs under- and overlayers on the formation and properties of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) has been studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence (PL). Single sheets of InAs QDs were grown inside a 2ML/8ML AlAs/GaAs short-period superlattice with various combinations of under- and overlayers. It was found that 2.4ML InAs QDs with GaAs underlayer and 2ML AlAs overlayer exhibited the lowest QD surface density of 4.2×1010 cm-2 and the largest QD lateral size of about 19 nm as compared to the other combinations of cladding layers. This InAs QD ensemble has also shown the highest room temperature PL intensity with a peak at 1210 nm and the narrowest linewidth, 34 meV. Fabricated edge-emitting lasers using triple layers of InAs QDs with AlAs overlayer demonstrated 120 A/cm2 threshold current density and 1230 nm emission wavelength at room temperature. Excited state QD lasers have shown high thermal stability of threshold current up to 130°C.

Throughout the past years, significant progress has been made in Type II (InAs/GaSb) photovoltaic detectors in both LWIR and VLWIR ranges. BLIP performance at 60K for 16μm photovoltaic type II detectors has been successfully demonstrated for the first time. The detectors had a 50% cut-off wavelength of 18.8 μm and a peak current responsivity of 4 A/W at 80K. A peak detectivity of 4.5×1010cm·Hz1/2/W was achieved at 80K at a reverse bias of 110mV. Detectors of cutoff wavelength up to 25μm have been demonstrated at 77K. The great performance of single element detectors appeals us to lower dimensional structures for both higher temperature performance and possible wavelength tunability. Simple calculations show that quantum effects will become significant when the lateral confinement is within tens of nanometers. The variation of applied gate voltage will move the electron and hole energy levels unevenly. The cutoff wavelength of the superlattice will vary accordingly. Auger recombination will also decrease and higher temperature operation becomes possible. In this talk, the latest results will be discussed.