Characterization of photon recycling in thin crystalline GaAs light emitting diodes

Gallium arsenide light emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated using molecular beam epitaxial films on GaAs substrates and removed by epitaxial lift-off (ELO). Lifted off devices were then mounted on a Si wafer using a Pd/Au/Cr contact layer, which also served as a back surface reflector. Devices were characterized by electrical and optical measurements, and the results for devices on the GaAs substrate were compared to those for EL0 devices. EL0 LEDs coated with a ZnS/MgF2 antireflection coating exhibited an optical output that was up to six times that of LEDs on GaAs substrates. At the same time, the measured current-voltage characteristics of the EL0 devices displayed a lower IZ = 1 current component. EL0 LEDs with efficiencies up to 12.5% were realized. We attribute these results to photon recycIing enhanced by the back-surface reflector in the EL0 LEDs. The luminescence versus current and current versus voltage characteristics of the LEDs were analyzed to obtain the nonradiative minority carrier lifetimes and the photon recycling factors. The results demonstrate that the measured characteristics are well described by photon recycling theory. EL0 LEDs may prove useful for characterizing recombination processes in LEDs, and thin-crystalline structures could provide substantial efficiency enhancements for LEDs and solar cells

Basic Studies of III-V High Efficiency Cell Components

The objective of the project is to raise the understanding of dark current mechanisms in GaAs-related solar cells to a level comparable to that of silicon cells. Motivation for this work arises from the observation that much of the progress in crystalline silicon cell performance has occurred as a result of a very deep knowledge of the physics controlling the cell’s dark current. Based on this knowledge, new cell structures evolved to suppress dominant dark current mechanisms. A comparable level of knowledge of GaAs cell device physics does not yet exist, but will be essential if cell performance near the thermodynamic limit is to be achieved. Moreover, knowledge gained from studies of the AlGaAs/GaAs material system, should help identify the key problems to be addressed in other III-V materials

Transistor-based measurements of electron injection currents in p-type GaAs doped 1018–1020 cm-3

Measurements of electron currents injected into p+‐GaAs are presented for molecular beam epitaxially grown material doped from 2×1018 to 8×1019 cm−3 with Be. The collector current versus base‐emitter voltage characteristics of n‐p+‐n GaAs homojunction bipolar transistors are analyzed, and the results are interpreted in terms of the quantity (n0Dn), where n0 is the equilibrium minority‐carrier concentration and Dn is the minority‐carrier diffusion coefficient. The results are consistent with earlier measurements of (n0Dn) made using metalorganic chemical vapor deposited p+‐n GaAs solar cells, Zn doped as heavily as 1×1019 cm−3. The large electron injection currents observed are interpreted as evidence for significant effective band‐gap shrinkage. These effects must be accounted for in the modeling and design of GaAs‐based heterojunction bipolar transistors and solar cells

Nanometer-scale studies of Al–Ga interdiffusion and As precipitate coarsening in nonstoichiometric AlAs/GaAs superlattices

We have investigated the effects of post-growth annealing on Al–Ga interdiffusion and As precipitate coarsening in AlAs/GaAs superlattices grown by molecular-beam epitaxy at low temperatures. High-resolution x-ray diffraction spectra show a significant decrease in the number and intensity of satellite peaks for the ex situ annealed compared with the as-grown superlattices, a feature which is often attributed to a reduction in interface abruptness. However, our cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy images show significant variation in the apparent superlattice period of the ex situ annealed compared with the as-grown superlattices. For the as-grown superlattices, preferential As precipitation on the GaAs side of AlAs/GaAs interfaces is evident. In the ex situ annealed superlattices, a preference for As precipitates at the GaAs on AlAs interface is apparent, although the As precipitates are no longer restricted to the interface region. Thus, the apparent change in superlattice period is likely due to variations in As precipitate density, which may be influenced by AlAs–GaAs alloying at the AlAs/GaAs interfaces. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70551/2/APPLAB-75-26-4082-1.pd

Transistor-Based Studies of Heavy Dop-ing Effects in n-GaAs

The n2ieDp product (where n2ie is the np product and Dp is the minority hole mobility) in heavily doped n‐GaAs has been measured by electrical characterization of p‐n‐p GaAs homojunction transistors with base dopings ranging from approximately 1×1017 to 9×1018 cm−3. The measured n2ieDp product decreases as the doping density increases. These results suggest that nie is roughly constant with doping density, in sharp contrast to the large increase observed for p‐type GaAs. This work shows that when designing GaAs bipolar devices, it is important to consider the large difference in effective band gap between n+ and p+ regions

Experiments in Interrupted Growth Molecular Beam Epitaxy Technology

From a device structure standpoint it would be advantageous to sandwich laterally defined features between layers of epitaxially grown material. In silicon this is commonly dope by growing the bottom layer, patterning the desired feature, and growing a second layer. Unfortunately, this process has not been practical in GaAs for the same reason that there is no true MOS technology in GaAs: The. GaAs surface is irreparably damaged when it is exposed to the atmosphere leading to the formation of undesirable interface states. Heterojunction FET\u27s are feasible only because high quality epilayers are grown during a single run in an ultrahigh vacuum environment. Standard growth methods allow for variation of doping and material content only in one direction, normal to the wafer surface. Varying the material in more than one dimension without the use of prohibitively exotic equipment requires removal of the wafer from the growth apparatus for lateral processing between material growths. Thus the problem that this thesis attempts to address: How to protect a GaAs surface during a lateral processing step and initiate regrowth leaving behind an electrically invisible restart interface. The potential applications of the development of a successful interrupted growth scheme for GaAs are numerous and far reaching. Specifically it would allow the fabrication of advantageous device geometries that are not possible under single material growth runs. Although this thesis deals exclusively with ion implanted interrupted growth by Molecular Beam Epitaxy, some of the concepts arid theories can be extended to other growth methods. It is both a review of previous work and a report of our attempts at Purdue to fabricate the first interrupted growth HIGFET\u27s and MISFET\u27s. Mechanisms behind the success and failure of GaAs interrupted growth are discussed and several experiments involving passivation materials and new interrupted growth schemes are propose

Effects of Na2S and (NH4)2S edge passivation treatments on the dark current-voltage characteristics of GaAs pn diodes

We have investigated the dark current-voltage characteristics of GaAs pn homojunctions whose surfaces have been passivated with NuzS and (NH4)2S chemical treatments. Reductions in 2kTpcrimeter recombination currents by a factor of 3.2 were obtained for the two treatments. A shunt leakage, observed at low forward bias for the NazS treated devices, is virtually eliminated with the {NH4hS treatment. It is also shown that even the high quality, large area (0.25 cm1 ) pn diodes used in this study are dominated by 2kTedge currents before passivation

Ultra narrow AuPd and Al wires

In this letter we discuss a novel and versatile template technique aimed to the fabrication of sub-10 nm wide wires. Using this technique, we have successfully measured AuPd wires, 12 nm wide and as long as 20 $\mu$m. Even materials that form a strong superficial oxide, and thus not suited to be used in combination with other techniques, can be successfully employed. In particular we have measured Al wires, with lateral width smaller or comparable to 10 nm, and length exceeding 10 $\mu$m.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Pubblished in APL 86, 172501 (2005). Added erratum and revised Fig.