Probing carrier behaviour at the nanoscale in gallium nitride using low voltage cathodoluminescence

The increasing application of GaN in blue and UV light emitting diodes and lasers has generated considerable interest in its optical and electrical properties. These optical devices exhibit extremely high emission efficiencies despite the presence of a very high concentration of threading dislocations (108 1010 cm-2) that act as non-radiative recombination channels. This perceived contradiction can be been explained by small (< 100 nm) carrier diffusion lengths which effectively negate the effect of the threading dislocations on the radiative recombination efficiency. These short exciton and minority carrier diffusion lengths in GaN can be explored by cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy and spectroscopy using a SEM equipped with a Schottky field emission gun operating at 1 kV

Response to "Comment on 'Carrier recombination near threading dislocations in GaN epilayers by low voltage cathodoluminescence'" [Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 166101 (2010)]

Abstract : The authors are aware that there are number of theoretical models available to simulate cathodoluminescence (CL) contrast as a function of the distance, r, from a nonradiative defect. In our letter1 a simple expression, C(r)=C0 exp(−r/L)C(r)=C0 exp(−r/L), was chosen to compare the diffusion length, L, from GaN samples with different n-doping levels over a range of low electron beam energies. This approach is widely used in other studies of CL dislocation contrast as pointed out in the comment on the letter and it was found to provide an acceptable fit to the experimental CL contrast data

Electrical characteristics of a vertically integrated field-effect transistor using non-intentionally doped Si nanowires

International audienceIn this letter, we report the fabrication and the electrical characterization of Vertical Gate All Around Field-Effect Transistors (GAA-FET) using non intentionally doped Silicon NanoWires (SiNWs) grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) using the Vapor-Liquid-Solid (VLS) mechanism as conduction channel. The SiNWs GAA-FET devices exhibited n-channel type semiconductor behavior with a threshold voltage at room temperature around-1.15 V, a high ION/IOFF ratio up to 10 6 with a low IOFF current about 1 pA, a maximum transconductance (gm,max ~ 0.9 µS at VGS =-0.65 V and VDS = 1 V) and a minimum inverse subthreshold slope around 145 mV/decade. In light of these characteristics, these devices can be suitable for high performance, low power consumption components and especially for high density integration in integrated circuits (ICs) interconnections regarding to their 3D architecture

Carrier transport properties in the vicinity of single seld-assembled quantum dots determined by low-voltage cathodoluminescence imaging

Abstract : We propose a method to investigate the carrier transport properties in the ultrathin wetting layer of a self-assembled quantum dot (QD) structure using low-voltage cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging. Measurements are performed on diluted InAs/InP QDs in order to spatially resolve them on CL images at temperature ranging from 5 to 300 K. The mean ambipolar diffusion length extracted from CL intensity profiles across different isolated bright spots is about 300 nm at 300 K. This gives an ambipolar carrier mobility of about 110 cm2/(V s)110 cm2/(V s). Temperature investigation reveals a maximum diffusion length near 120 K

Effect of HCl on the doping and shape control of silicon nanowires

International audienceThe introduction of Hydrogen Chloride during the in-situ doping of Silicon Nanowires (SiNWs) grown using the Vapour Liquid Solid (VLS) mechanism was investigated. Compared with non-chlorinated atmospheres, the use of HCl with dopant gases considerably improves the surface morphology of the SiNWs, leading to extremely smooth surfaces and a greatly reduced tapering. The variations in the wire diameter are massively reduced for boron doping, and can not be measured at 600°C for phosphorous over several tens of micrometers. This remarkable feature is accompanied by a frozen gold migration from the catalyst, with no noticeable levels of gold clusters observed using scanning electron microscopy. A detailed study of the NWs apparent resistivity reveals that the dopant incorporation is effective for both types of doping. A graph linking the apparent resistivity to the dopant to silane dilution ratio is built for both types of doping and discussed in the frame of the previous results

UV laser controlled quantum well intermixing in InAlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures

Abstract : The influence of surface irradiation of GaAs with a KrF excimer laser on the magnitude of the quantum well intermixing (QWI) effect has been investigated on GaAs/AlGaAs and GaAs/AlGaAs/InAlGaAs QWs heterostructures. The selective area irradiation through a SiOx mask was carried out in an atmospheric environment. Following the 1000 pulses irradiation at 100 mJ/cm2, the samples were annealed in a rapid thermal annealing furnace at 900 °C. Photoluminescence mapping and cathodoluminescence measurements show that significant laser-induced suppression of the QWI process can be achieved with lateral resolution of the order of 1μm

Accurate strain measurements in highly strained Ge microbridges

Ge under high strain is predicted to become a direct bandgap semiconductor. Very large deformations can be introduced using microbridge devices. However, at the microscale, strain values are commonly deduced from Raman spectroscopy using empirical linear models only established up to 1.2% for uniaxial stress. In this work, we calibrate the Raman-strain relation at higher strain using synchrotron based microdiffraction. The Ge microbridges show unprecedented high tensile strain up to 4.9 % corresponding to an unexpected 9.9 cm-1 Raman shift. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the Raman strain relation is not linear and we provide a more accurate expression.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Supportless Platinum Nanotubes Array by Atomic Layer Deposition as PEM Fuel Cell Electrode

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