G. Eisenstein

Effects of annealing conditions on optical and electrical characteristics of titanium dioxide films deposited by electron beam evaporation

We report measured evolutions of the optical band gap, refractive index, and relative dielectric constant of TiO2 film obtained by electron beam gun evaporation and annealed in an oxygen environment. A negative shift of the flat band voltage with increasing annealing temperatures, for any film thickness, is observed. A dramatic reduction of the leakage current by about four orders of magnitude to 5×10−6 A/cm2 (at 1 MV/cm) after 700 °C and 60 min annealing is found for films thinner than 15 nm. An equivalent SiO2 thickness of the order of 3–3.5 nm is demonstrated. An approach is presented to establish that at different ranges of applied voltage the hopping, space charge limited current, and Fowler–Nordheim are the basic mechanisms of carrier transport into the TiO2 film.

Characteristics of electron-beam-gun-evaporated Er2O3 thin films as gate dielectrics for silicon

Structural properties of an ultrathin, 4.5 nm, erbium-oxide film and electrical properties of metal–oxide–semiconductor structure based on it are described. The evolution of the dielectric constant, total charge density, breakdown electric field, and leakage current density with annealing temperature in an oxygen environment are reported. The dielectric constant in the as-deposited state is relatively low, ∼7, possibly because the initial deposition forms ErO (with low polarizibility) rather than Er2O3. Annealing causes a transformation of ErO to Er2O3 but at the same time it initiates the growth of an interfacial SiO2 layer so that the effective dielectric constant is reduced to 5.5. Using the 4.5 nm film following annealing at up to 750 °C, we demonstrate an effective oxide thickness in the range 2.4–3.2 nm, with a leakage current density as low as 1–2×10−8 A/cm2 at an electric field of 106 V/cm and a breakdown electric field of 0.8–1.7×107 V/cm. A shift of the flat band voltage to the positive side and...

Electrical characteristics of metal-dielectric-metal and metal-dielectric-semiconductor structures based on electron beam evaporated Y2O3, Ta2O5 and Al2O3 thin film

This work examines the electrical properties of metal-dielectric-semiconductor (Au/Ti–D–pSi) and metal-dielectric-metal (Au/Ti–D–Pt/Ti–pSi) capacitors which incorporate as dielectrics Y2O3, Al2O3 and Ta2O5 films evaporated by an electron beam at room temperature. The emphasis of the results is twofold: the first is the high quality of the investigated films as evidenced by the small measured values of loss factor, flatband voltages, and surface states density as well as the low dispersion of the relative dielectric constants. The second is an analytical procedure for discrimination of current flow mechanisms, under different regimes of applied voltage. A detailed study of the power exponent parameter α=d(Log I)/d(Log V) was found to be superior to conventional graphical representation of I–V data. The dominant mechanisms of charge transport through the metal-dielectric-metal structures was found to be the Schottky emission for Y2O3 and Al2O3 at low electrical fields. For structures with Y2O3 and Ta2O5 fil...

On the extraction of linear and nonlinear physical parameters in nonideal diodes

We describe a parameter extraction technique for the simultaneous determination of physical parameters in nonideal Schottky barrier, p-n and p-i-n diodes. These include the ideality factor, saturation current, barrier height, and linear or nonlinear series, and parallel leakage resistances. The suggested technique which deals with the extraction of bias independent parameters makes use of the forward biased current–voltage (I–V) characteristics and the voltage-dependent differential slope curve α(V)=[d(ln I)]/[d(ln V)]. The method allows (a) establishment of the current flow mechanisms at low and high bias levels, (b) extensive of the permissible ranges of determined parameters beyond what is possible in other published methods, and (c) to automation and computerization of the measurement processes. The method is verified experimentally using metal–semiconductor structures based on Si, InGaP, and HgCdTe as well as an InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple quantum well laser diode exemplifying a p-n junction.

On the balance between delay, bandwidth and signal distortion in slow light systems based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers

We describe systematic measurements of the gain and delay spectra in a slow light system based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. The measurements yield the system complex transfer function with which delays and signal distortion can be calculated for any input signal. The theoretical predictions are confirmed experimentally for single pulses as well as 50 Mb/s data streams in a system which employs pump modulation to modify the gain and delay spectra of the SBS process.

Ultrafast gain and index dynamics of quantum dash structures emitting at 1.55μm

The authors systematically characterize the ultrafast gain and index recovery of a quantum dash semiconductor optical amplifier after it has amplified a strong femtosecond pulse. The results show a recovery dominated by a fast time constant of 1.4ps with an ultimate recovery taking place on a 150ps time scale. The results are distinctly different from the recovery of quantum dot amplifiers and reflect the special density of states of the quantum-wire-like dashes.

Characteristics of metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors based on high-k HfAlO dielectric films obtained by low-temperature electron-beam gun evaporation

We describe the characteristics of thin HfAlO films deposited at low temperature by electron beam gun evaporation. As-deposited films thinner than 6 nm exhibit an effective dielectric constant (keff) of 9–11.5. The minimum quantum mechanical corrected effective oxide thickness is ∼1.45nm and the leakage currents are very low. Rapid thermal annealing in a N2 environment improves the leakage further and up to 750 °C does not affect keff. Higher annealing temperatures reduce keff, but even at 950 °C, it has a value of 6.5. These HfAlO films have the potential to serve as a substitute for SiO2 in small-scale metal-insulator-semiconductor structures.

Four-wave mixing among short optical pulses in semiconductor optical amplifiers

We describe the dependence of four-wave mixing conversion efficiency among short optical pulses in a semiconductor optical amplifier. We show a strong dependence on pulse shape and pulse overlap, predicted theoretically and confirmed in experiments.<<ETX>>

Fiber parametric oscillator for the 2 μm wavelength range based on narrowband optical parametric amplification.

We describe a widely tunable synchronously pumped coherent source based on the process of narrowband parametric amplification in a dispersion-shifted fiber. Using an experimental fiber with a zero-dispersion wavelength of 1590 nm and pump wavelengths of 1530 to 1570 nm yields oscillations at 1970 to 2140 nm-the longest reported wavelength for a fiber parametric oscillator. The long-wavelength oscillations are accompanied by simultaneous short-wavelength oscillations at 1200 to 1290 nm. The parametric gain is coupled to stimulated Raman scattering. For parametric oscillations close to the Raman gain peak, the two gain processes must be discriminated from each other. We devised two configurations that achieve this discrimination: one is based on the exploitation of the difference in group delay between the wavelengths where Raman and parametric gain peak, and the other uses intracavity polarization tuning.

Direct correlation between a highly damped modulation response and ultra low relative intensity noise in an InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser

We describe modulation responses and relative intensity noise (RIN) spectra of an InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser operating near 1300 nm. A very large nonlinear gain compression coefficient yields a highly damped modulation response with a maximum 3 dB bandwidth of ~6.5 GHz and flat RIN spectra which reach as low a level as -158/-160 dB/Hz at frequencies up to 10 GHz.