A. A. Sirenko

Oxide Thin Films for Tunable Microwave Devices

Oxide thin films have been studied for frequency and phase agile electronics. The electric-field tuning of microwave devices employs ferroelectrics, while the Magnetic-field tuning uses ferrites. The critical material parameters for ferroelectric thin films are the tunability of the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss. This paper describes the current understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of these properties and the research efforts to improve them in ferroelectric thin films.

High carrier mobility in transparent Ba1−xLaxSnO3 crystals with a wide band gap

We discovered that perovskite (Ba,La)SnO3 can have excellent carrier mobility even though its band gap is large. The Hall mobility of Ba0.98La0.02SnO3 crystals with the n-type carrier concentration of ∼8-10 × 1019 cm−3 is found to be ∼103 cm2 V−1 s−1 at room temperature, and the precise measurement of the band gap Δ of a BaSnO3 crystal shows Δ = 4.05 eV, which is significantly larger than those of other transparent conductive oxides. The high mobility with a wide band gap indicates that (Ba,La)SnO3 is a promising candidate for transparent conductor applications and also epitaxial all-perovskite multilayer devices.

40-Gb/s tandem electroabsorption modulator

In this letter, we have developed a tandem electroabsorption modulator with an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier that is capable of both nonreturn-to-zero and return-to-zero (RZ) data transmission at 40 Gb/s. The tandem modulator consists of a broad-band data encoder and a narrow-band pulse carver. The pulse carver is able to produce 5-ps pulses with more than 20 dB of extinction. The on-chip semiconductor optical amplifier provides up to 8.5 dB of fiber-to-fiber gain and enables the modulator to be operated with zero insertion loss. Devices have been realized with greater than 40-GHz bandwidth, and 13-dB dynamic extinction for a 2.5-V swing. For optimized designs bandwidths of nearly 60 GHz: have been realized. Using these devices penalty free RZ data transmission over a 100-kin dispersion compensated fiber link has been demonstrated with a received power sensitivity of -29 dBm.

In situ Raman scattering studies of the amorphous and crystalline Si nanoparticles

We report on in situ studies of the vibrational properties of Si nanoparticles and ultrathin layers grown by dc magnetron sputtering in ultrahigh vacuum on amorphous MgO and Ag buffer layers. The average thickness of the Si layers ranged from monolayer coverage up to 200 A ˚ . Transmission electron microscopy has been used to determine size and shape of the Si nanoparticles. Changes in the phonon spectra of Si nanoparticles during the crystallization process have been studied by interference enhanced Raman scattering technique. Marked size-dependences in the phonon density of states and the relaxation of the k-vector conservation with decrease in size of the Si nanoparticles have been detected. The transition between crystallineand amorphous-like behavior takes place in the particles with an average number of Si atoms equal toO7 ^ 2U £ 10 2 : q 2000

Bandgap bowing in BGaN thin films

We report on the bandgap variation in thin films of BxGa1−xN grown on AlN/sapphire substrates using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. Optical transmission, photoluminescence, and x-ray diffraction were utilized to characterize the materials’ properties of the BxGa1−xN films. In contrast to the common expectation for the bandgap variation, which is based on the linear interpolation between the corresponding GaN and BN values, a significant bowing (C=9.2±0.5 eV) of the bandgap was observed. A decrease in the optical bandgap by 150 meV with respect to that of GaN was measured for the increase in the boron composition from 0% to 1.8%.We report on the bandgap variation in thin films of BxGa1−xN grown on AlN/sapphire substrates using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. Optical transmission, photoluminescence, and x-ray diffraction were utilized to characterize the materials’ properties of the BxGa1−xN films. In contrast to the common expectation for the bandgap variation, which is based on the linear interpolation between the corresponding GaN and BN values, a significant bowing (C=9.2±0.5 eV) of the bandgap was observed. A decrease in the optical bandgap by 150 meV with respect to that of GaN was measured for the increase in the boron composition from 0% to 1.8%.

Optical alignment of 2D-electron momenta in multiple quantum well structures

Abstract A linear polarization of the recombination luminescence of photoexcited hot electrons in a multiple quantum well structure has been observed. The peculiarity of electron 2D-motion manifests itself in an observed increase of the polarization with 2D-motion energy. The time of optical-phonon emission by a 2D electron is determined by measuring a magnetic depolarization of the luminescence.

Microbeam high-resolution x-ray diffraction in strained InGaAlAs-based multiple quantum well laser structures grown selectively on masked InP substrates

Structural and optical properties of the InGaAlAs-based multiple quantum well (MQW) 1.3μm laser structures produced on InP (001) substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) technique in the regime of selective area growth (SAG) have been studied. An x-ray beam of 10μm diameter generated by a microbeam high-resolution x-ray diffraction (μ-HRXRD) setup based on an imaging one-bounce capillary optic and a three-bounce channel cut Si(004) analyzer crystal has been utilized to measure the diffraction curves from MQW structures grown between oxide mask stripes. The high angular resolution achieved in our experiments allowed accurate measurements of θ–2θ scans over a broad range of angles that was necessary for utilization of fitting algorithms for quantitative analysis of the strain and thickness of individual layers in the MQW structures. The thickness and strain variations in the quantum well and the barrier layers of the MQW SAG structure have been analyzed as a function of the oxide mask width i...

Metal-oxide bilayer Raman scattering in SrTiO3 thin films

We have used a metal–oxide bilayer Raman scattering technique to study lattice dynamics in SrTiO3 thin films. The SrTiO3 thin films were epitaxially grown on a conducting metal–oxide layer which reflects the exciting laser beam so that it does not enter the LaAlO3 substrate. Raman scattering from the SrTiO3 thin films was clearly observed, including the first-order Raman peaks forbidden by the cubic symmetry in single crystals. We suggest that strain exists in the films, which changes the crystal symmetry and will affect the dielectric properties of the SrTiO3 thin films.We have used a metal–oxide bilayer Raman scattering technique to study lattice dynamics in SrTiO3 thin films. The SrTiO3 thin films were epitaxially grown on a conducting metal–oxide layer which reflects the exciting laser beam so that it does not enter the LaAlO3 substrate. Raman scattering from the SrTiO3 thin films was clearly observed, including the first-order Raman peaks forbidden by the cubic symmetry in single crystals. We suggest that strain exists in the films, which changes the crystal symmetry and will affect the dielectric properties of the SrTiO3 thin films.

40 Gb/s tandem electro-absorption modulator

NRZ and RZ data transmission at 40 Gb/s are demonstrated for the first time using buried heterostructure tandem electro-absorption modulators monolithically integrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier and input/output spot-size converters. Zero penalty RZ transmission over a 100 km dispersion managed link is achieved.

Strain relaxation and surface migration effects in InGaAlAs and InGaAsP selective-area-grown ridge waveguides

Surface migration of the group-III precursors and strain relaxation at the ridge sidewalls are compared for 2.5μm wide waveguides based on InGaAsP and InGaAlAs multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures. The cross-sectional thickness and strain variations have been measured using synchrotron radiation-based x-ray diffraction with an angular resolution of 2arcs and a beam size of (0.24×0.35)μm2. Indium-rich overgrowth has been observed for the InGaAsP-based waveguides, while InGaAlAs-based waveguides demonstrate thickness uniformity of the MQW active region with a strain relief of 0.4%∕μm at the sidewalls.