Quantum confinement is recognized to be an inherent property in low-dimensional structures.Traditionally,it is believed that the carriers trapped within the well cannot escape due to the discrete energy levels.However...Quantum confinement is recognized to be an inherent property in low-dimensional structures.Traditionally,it is believed that the carriers trapped within the well cannot escape due to the discrete energy levels.However,our previous research has revealed efficient carrier escape in low-dimensional structures,contradicting this conventional understanding.In this study,we review the energy band structure of quantum wells along the growth direction considering it as a superposition of the bulk material dispersion and quantization energy dispersion resulting from the quantum confinement across the whole Brillouin zone.By accounting for all wave vectors,we obtain a certain distribution of carrier energy at each quantized energy level,giving rise to the energy subbands.These results enable carriers to escape from the well under the influence of an electric field.Additionally,we have compiled a comprehensive summary of various energy band scenarios in quantum well structures relevant to carrier transport.Such a new interpretation holds significant value in deepening our comprehension of low-dimensional energy bands,discovering new physical phenomena,and designing novel devices with superior performance.展开更多
Band structure analysis holds significant importance for understanding the optoelectronic characteristics of semiconductor structures and exploring their potential applications in practice. For quantum well structures...Band structure analysis holds significant importance for understanding the optoelectronic characteristics of semiconductor structures and exploring their potential applications in practice. For quantum well structures, the energy of carriers in the well splits into discrete energy levels due to the confinement of barriers in the growth direction. However, the discrete energy levels obtained at a fixed wave vector cannot accurately reflect the actual energy band structure. In this work, the band structure of the type-II quantum wells is reanalyzed. When the wave vectors of the entire Brillouin region(corresponding to the growth direction) are taken into account, the quantized energy levels of the carriers in the well are replaced by subbands with certain energy distributions. This new understanding of the energy bands of low-dimensional structures not only helps us to have a deeper cognition of the structure, but also may overturn many viewpoints in traditional band theories and serve as supplementary to the band theory of low-dimensional systems.展开更多
N-polar GaN film was obtained by using a high-temperature AlN buffer layer.It was found that the polarity could be inverted by a thin low-temperature AlN interlayer with the same V/III ratio as that of the high-temper...N-polar GaN film was obtained by using a high-temperature AlN buffer layer.It was found that the polarity could be inverted by a thin low-temperature AlN interlayer with the same V/III ratio as that of the high-temperature AlN layer.Continuing to increase the V/III ratio of the low-temperature AlN interlayer,the Ga-polarity of GaN film was inverted to N-polarity again but the crystal quality and surface roughness of GaN film greatly deteriorated.Finally,we analyzed the chemical environment of the AlN layer by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),which provides a new direction for the control of GaN polarity.展开更多
We have successfully prepared GaN based high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs)on metallic substrates transferred from silicon substrates by electroplating technique.GaN HEMTs on Cu substrates are demonstrated to ba...We have successfully prepared GaN based high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs)on metallic substrates transferred from silicon substrates by electroplating technique.GaN HEMTs on Cu substrates are demonstrated to basically have the same good electric characteristics as the chips on Si substrates.Furthermore,the better heat dissipation of HEMTs on Cu substrates compared to HEMTs on Si substrates is clearly observed by thermoreflectance imaging,showing the promising potential for very high-power and high-temperature operation.This work shows the outstanding ability of HEMT chips on Cu substrates for solving the self-heating effect with the advantages of process simplicity,high yield,and low production requirement.展开更多
Absorption and carrier transport behavior plays an important role in the light-to-electricity conversion process, which is difficult to characterize. Here we develop a method to visualize such a conversion process in ...Absorption and carrier transport behavior plays an important role in the light-to-electricity conversion process, which is difficult to characterize. Here we develop a method to visualize such a conversion process in the InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells embedded in a p-n junction. Under non-resonant absorption conditions, a photocurrent was generated and the photoluminescence intensity decayed by more than 70% when the p-n junction out-circuit was switched from open to short. However, when the excitation photon energy decreased to the resonant absorption edge, the photocurrent dropped drastically and the photoluminescence under open and short circuit conditions showed similar intensity. These results indicate that the escaping of the photo-generated carriers from the quantum wells is closely related to the excitation photon energy.展开更多
Absorption coefficient is a physical parameter to describe electromagnetic energy absorption of materials, which is closely related to solar cells and photodetectors. We grow a series of positive-intrinsic-negative(PI...Absorption coefficient is a physical parameter to describe electromagnetic energy absorption of materials, which is closely related to solar cells and photodetectors. We grow a series of positive-intrinsic-negative(PIN) structures on silicon wafer by a gas source molecule beam epitaxy system and the investigate the absorption coefficient through the photovoltaic processes in detail. It is found that the absorption coefficient is enhanced by one order and can be tuned greatly through the thickness of the intrinsic layer in the PIN structure, which is also demonstrated by the 730-nm-wavelength laser irradiation. These results cannot be explained by the traditional absorption theory.We speculate that there could be some uncovered mechanism in this system, which will inspire us to understand the absorption process further.展开更多
Gallium nitride(GaN) thin film of the nitrogen polarity(N-polar) was grown on C-plane sapphire and misoriented C-plane sapphire substrates respectively by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD). The misorienta...Gallium nitride(GaN) thin film of the nitrogen polarity(N-polar) was grown on C-plane sapphire and misoriented C-plane sapphire substrates respectively by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD). The misorientation angle is off-axis from C-plane toward M-plane of the substrates, and the angle is 2°and 4°respectively. The nitrogen polarity was confirmed by examining the images of the scanning electron microscope before and after the wet etching in potassium hydroxide(KOH) solution. The morphology was studied by the optical microscope and atomic force microscope. The crystalline quality was characterized by the x-ray diffraction. The lateral coherence length, the tilt angle, the vertical coherence length, and the vertical lattice-strain were acquired using the pseudo-Voigt function to fit the x-ray diffraction curves and then calculating with four empirical formulae. The lateral coherence length increases with the misorientation angle, because higher step density and shorter distance between adjacent steps can lead to larger lateral coherence length.The tilt angle increases with the misorientation angle, which means that the misoriented substrate can degrade the identity of crystal orientation of the N-polar GaN film. The vertical lattice-strain decreases with the misorientation angle. The vertical coherence length does not change a lot as the misorientation angle increases and this value of all samples is close to the nominal thickness of the N-polar GaN layer. This study helps to understand the influence of the misorientation angle of misoriented C-plane sapphire on the morphology, the crystalline quality, and the microstructure of N-polar GaN films.展开更多
The absorption coefficient is usually considered as a constant for certain materials at the given wavelength.However,recent experiments demonstrated that the absorption coefficient could be enhanced a lot by the PN ju...The absorption coefficient is usually considered as a constant for certain materials at the given wavelength.However,recent experiments demonstrated that the absorption coefficient could be enhanced a lot by the PN junction.The absorption coefficient varies with the thickness of the intrinsic layer in a PIN structure.Here,we interpret the anomalous absorption coefficient from the competition between recombination and drift for non-equilibrium carriers.Based on the Fokker-Planck theory,a non-equilibrium statistical model that describes the relationship between absorption coefficient and material thickness has been proposed.It could predict the experimental data well.Our results can give new ideas to design photoelectric devices.展开更多
SiGe spheres with different diameters are successfully fabricated on a virtual SiGe template using a laser irradiation method.The results from scanning electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy reveal that the ...SiGe spheres with different diameters are successfully fabricated on a virtual SiGe template using a laser irradiation method.The results from scanning electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy reveal that the diameter and Ge composition of the SiGe spheres can be well controlled by adjusting the laser energy density.In addition,the transmission electron microscopy results show that Ge composition inside the SiGe spheres is almost uniform in a well-defined,nearly spherical outline.As a convenient method to prepare sphere-shaped SiGe micro/nanostructures with tunable Ge composition and size,this technique is expected to be useful for SiGe-based material growth and micro/optoelectronic device fabrication.展开更多
The contact characteristic between p-InP and metal plays an important role in InP-related optoelectronic and microelectronic device applications.We investigate the low-resistance Au/Pt/Ni and Au/Ni ohmic contacts to p...The contact characteristic between p-InP and metal plays an important role in InP-related optoelectronic and microelectronic device applications.We investigate the low-resistance Au/Pt/Ni and Au/Ni ohmic contacts to p-InP based on the solid phase regrowth principle.The lowest specific contact resistivity of Au(100 nm)/Pt(115 nm)/Ni(50 nm)can reach 2.64×10^(-6)Ω·cm^(2) after annealing at 380℃ for 1 min,while the contact characteristics of Au/Ni deteriorated after annealing from 340℃ to 480℃ for 1 min.The results of scanning electron microscopy,atomic force microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that the Pt layer is an important factor in improving the contact characteristics.The Pt layer prevents the diffusion of In and Au,inhibits the formation of Au3In metal compounds,and prevents the deterioration of the ohmic contact.The metal structures and optimized annealing process is expected to be helpful for obtaining high-performance InP-related devices.展开更多
An internal photoemission-based silicon photodetector detects light below the silicon bandgap at room temperature and can exhibit spectrally broad behavior,making it potentially suited to meet the need for a near-infr...An internal photoemission-based silicon photodetector detects light below the silicon bandgap at room temperature and can exhibit spectrally broad behavior,making it potentially suited to meet the need for a near-infrared pure Si photodetector.In this work,the implementation of a thin Au insertion layer into an ITO/n-Si Schottky photodetector can profoundly affect the barrier height and significantly improve the device performance.By fabricating a nanoscale thin Au layer and an ITO electrode on a silicon substrate,we achieve a well-behaved ITO/Au/n-Si Schottky diode with a record dark current density of 3.7×10^(−7) A/cm^(2) at−1 V and a high rectification ratio of 1.5×10^(8) at±1 V.Furthermore,the responsivity has been obviously improved without sacrificing the dark current performance of the device by decreasing the Au thickness.Such a silicon-based photodetector with an enhanced performance could be a promising strategy for the realization of a monolithic integrated pure silicon photodetector in optical communication.展开更多
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61991441 and 62004218)the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB01000000)Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.2021005).
文摘Quantum confinement is recognized to be an inherent property in low-dimensional structures.Traditionally,it is believed that the carriers trapped within the well cannot escape due to the discrete energy levels.However,our previous research has revealed efficient carrier escape in low-dimensional structures,contradicting this conventional understanding.In this study,we review the energy band structure of quantum wells along the growth direction considering it as a superposition of the bulk material dispersion and quantization energy dispersion resulting from the quantum confinement across the whole Brillouin zone.By accounting for all wave vectors,we obtain a certain distribution of carrier energy at each quantized energy level,giving rise to the energy subbands.These results enable carriers to escape from the well under the influence of an electric field.Additionally,we have compiled a comprehensive summary of various energy band scenarios in quantum well structures relevant to carrier transport.Such a new interpretation holds significant value in deepening our comprehension of low-dimensional energy bands,discovering new physical phenomena,and designing novel devices with superior performance.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61991441 and 62004218)the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB01000000)Youth Innovation Promotion Association Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 2021005)。
文摘Band structure analysis holds significant importance for understanding the optoelectronic characteristics of semiconductor structures and exploring their potential applications in practice. For quantum well structures, the energy of carriers in the well splits into discrete energy levels due to the confinement of barriers in the growth direction. However, the discrete energy levels obtained at a fixed wave vector cannot accurately reflect the actual energy band structure. In this work, the band structure of the type-II quantum wells is reanalyzed. When the wave vectors of the entire Brillouin region(corresponding to the growth direction) are taken into account, the quantized energy levels of the carriers in the well are replaced by subbands with certain energy distributions. This new understanding of the energy bands of low-dimensional structures not only helps us to have a deeper cognition of the structure, but also may overturn many viewpoints in traditional band theories and serve as supplementary to the band theory of low-dimensional systems.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.62004218)the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB33000000).
文摘N-polar GaN film was obtained by using a high-temperature AlN buffer layer.It was found that the polarity could be inverted by a thin low-temperature AlN interlayer with the same V/III ratio as that of the high-temperature AlN layer.Continuing to increase the V/III ratio of the low-temperature AlN interlayer,the Ga-polarity of GaN film was inverted to N-polarity again but the crystal quality and surface roughness of GaN film greatly deteriorated.Finally,we analyzed the chemical environment of the AlN layer by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),which provides a new direction for the control of GaN polarity.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61704008 and 11574362)。
文摘We have successfully prepared GaN based high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs)on metallic substrates transferred from silicon substrates by electroplating technique.GaN HEMTs on Cu substrates are demonstrated to basically have the same good electric characteristics as the chips on Si substrates.Furthermore,the better heat dissipation of HEMTs on Cu substrates compared to HEMTs on Si substrates is clearly observed by thermoreflectance imaging,showing the promising potential for very high-power and high-temperature operation.This work shows the outstanding ability of HEMT chips on Cu substrates for solving the self-heating effect with the advantages of process simplicity,high yield,and low production requirement.
基金Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant Nos.2016YFB0400302 and 2016YFB0400603)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11574362,61210014,and 11374340)the Innovative Clean-Energy Research and Application Program of Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission,China(Grant No.Z151100003515001)
文摘Absorption and carrier transport behavior plays an important role in the light-to-electricity conversion process, which is difficult to characterize. Here we develop a method to visualize such a conversion process in the InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells embedded in a p-n junction. Under non-resonant absorption conditions, a photocurrent was generated and the photoluminescence intensity decayed by more than 70% when the p-n junction out-circuit was switched from open to short. However, when the excitation photon energy decreased to the resonant absorption edge, the photocurrent dropped drastically and the photoluminescence under open and short circuit conditions showed similar intensity. These results indicate that the escaping of the photo-generated carriers from the quantum wells is closely related to the excitation photon energy.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 11574362
文摘Absorption coefficient is a physical parameter to describe electromagnetic energy absorption of materials, which is closely related to solar cells and photodetectors. We grow a series of positive-intrinsic-negative(PIN) structures on silicon wafer by a gas source molecule beam epitaxy system and the investigate the absorption coefficient through the photovoltaic processes in detail. It is found that the absorption coefficient is enhanced by one order and can be tuned greatly through the thickness of the intrinsic layer in the PIN structure, which is also demonstrated by the 730-nm-wavelength laser irradiation. These results cannot be explained by the traditional absorption theory.We speculate that there could be some uncovered mechanism in this system, which will inspire us to understand the absorption process further.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61991441)the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB33000000)Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences。
文摘Gallium nitride(GaN) thin film of the nitrogen polarity(N-polar) was grown on C-plane sapphire and misoriented C-plane sapphire substrates respectively by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD). The misorientation angle is off-axis from C-plane toward M-plane of the substrates, and the angle is 2°and 4°respectively. The nitrogen polarity was confirmed by examining the images of the scanning electron microscope before and after the wet etching in potassium hydroxide(KOH) solution. The morphology was studied by the optical microscope and atomic force microscope. The crystalline quality was characterized by the x-ray diffraction. The lateral coherence length, the tilt angle, the vertical coherence length, and the vertical lattice-strain were acquired using the pseudo-Voigt function to fit the x-ray diffraction curves and then calculating with four empirical formulae. The lateral coherence length increases with the misorientation angle, because higher step density and shorter distance between adjacent steps can lead to larger lateral coherence length.The tilt angle increases with the misorientation angle, which means that the misoriented substrate can degrade the identity of crystal orientation of the N-polar GaN film. The vertical lattice-strain decreases with the misorientation angle. The vertical coherence length does not change a lot as the misorientation angle increases and this value of all samples is close to the nominal thickness of the N-polar GaN layer. This study helps to understand the influence of the misorientation angle of misoriented C-plane sapphire on the morphology, the crystalline quality, and the microstructure of N-polar GaN films.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61804176,61991441,and 62004218)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB01000000)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
文摘The absorption coefficient is usually considered as a constant for certain materials at the given wavelength.However,recent experiments demonstrated that the absorption coefficient could be enhanced a lot by the PN junction.The absorption coefficient varies with the thickness of the intrinsic layer in a PIN structure.Here,we interpret the anomalous absorption coefficient from the competition between recombination and drift for non-equilibrium carriers.Based on the Fokker-Planck theory,a non-equilibrium statistical model that describes the relationship between absorption coefficient and material thickness has been proposed.It could predict the experimental data well.Our results can give new ideas to design photoelectric devices.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.62004218,61991441,and 61804176)the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB01000000)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.2021005).
文摘SiGe spheres with different diameters are successfully fabricated on a virtual SiGe template using a laser irradiation method.The results from scanning electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy reveal that the diameter and Ge composition of the SiGe spheres can be well controlled by adjusting the laser energy density.In addition,the transmission electron microscopy results show that Ge composition inside the SiGe spheres is almost uniform in a well-defined,nearly spherical outline.As a convenient method to prepare sphere-shaped SiGe micro/nanostructures with tunable Ge composition and size,this technique is expected to be useful for SiGe-based material growth and micro/optoelectronic device fabrication.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.62004218,61704008,61804176,and 61991441)Youth Innovation Promotion Association,Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.2021005)+2 种基金the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB01000000)Jiangsu Science and Technology Plan(Grant No.BK20180255)supported by the Center for Clean Energy,Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences。
文摘The contact characteristic between p-InP and metal plays an important role in InP-related optoelectronic and microelectronic device applications.We investigate the low-resistance Au/Pt/Ni and Au/Ni ohmic contacts to p-InP based on the solid phase regrowth principle.The lowest specific contact resistivity of Au(100 nm)/Pt(115 nm)/Ni(50 nm)can reach 2.64×10^(-6)Ω·cm^(2) after annealing at 380℃ for 1 min,while the contact characteristics of Au/Ni deteriorated after annealing from 340℃ to 480℃ for 1 min.The results of scanning electron microscopy,atomic force microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that the Pt layer is an important factor in improving the contact characteristics.The Pt layer prevents the diffusion of In and Au,inhibits the formation of Au3In metal compounds,and prevents the deterioration of the ohmic contact.The metal structures and optimized annealing process is expected to be helpful for obtaining high-performance InP-related devices.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(11574362,61804176,61991441).
文摘An internal photoemission-based silicon photodetector detects light below the silicon bandgap at room temperature and can exhibit spectrally broad behavior,making it potentially suited to meet the need for a near-infrared pure Si photodetector.In this work,the implementation of a thin Au insertion layer into an ITO/n-Si Schottky photodetector can profoundly affect the barrier height and significantly improve the device performance.By fabricating a nanoscale thin Au layer and an ITO electrode on a silicon substrate,we achieve a well-behaved ITO/Au/n-Si Schottky diode with a record dark current density of 3.7×10^(−7) A/cm^(2) at−1 V and a high rectification ratio of 1.5×10^(8) at±1 V.Furthermore,the responsivity has been obviously improved without sacrificing the dark current performance of the device by decreasing the Au thickness.Such a silicon-based photodetector with an enhanced performance could be a promising strategy for the realization of a monolithic integrated pure silicon photodetector in optical communication.
