Jamie D. Phillips

Evaluation of the fundamental properties of quantum dot infrared detectors

The physical properties of detectors based on intraband optical absorption in quantum dots is described and examined in the interest of providing a competitive alternative infrared (IR) detector technology. These quantum dot detectors are an extension of quantum well infrared photodetectors and are expected to have a large performance advantage. A model is developed for quantum dot infrared photodetectors based on fundamental performance limitations enabling a direct comparison between IR materials technologies. A comparison is made among HgCdTe, quantum well, and quantum dot IR detectors, where quantum dots are expected to have the potential to outperform quantum wells by several orders of magnitude and compete with HgCdTe. In this analysis, quantum dots are expected to possess the fundamental ability to achieve the highest IR detector performance if quantum dot arrays with high size uniformity and optimal bandstructure may be achieved.

Self-assembled InAs-GaAs quantum-dot intersubband detectors

The use of self-assembled InAs-GaAs quantum dots in photoconductive intersubband detectors in the far-infrared is presented. Far-infrared absorption is observed in self-assembled quantum dots in the 6-18-/spl mu/m range for subband-subband and subband-continuum transitions. Photoconductive quantum-dot intersubband detectors were fabricated and demonstrate tunable operating wavelengths between 6-18 /spl mu/m using subband-subband or subband-continuum transitions. The use of AlAs barriers allows further tuning to shorter wavelengths of 3-7 /spl mu/m. Subband-continuum quantum dot intersubband detectors show encouraging normal incidence performance characteristics at T=40 K, with responsivities of 10-100 mA/W, detectivities of 1-10 /spl times/10/sup 9/ cm/spl middot/Hz/sup 1/2//W and large photoconductive gain up to g=12 for a ten-layer quantum-dot heterostructure. With improvements in device structure, self-assembled quantum dots can be expected to provide intrinsic normal incidence broad-band detectors with advantages over quantum wells.

Far-infrared photoconductivity in self-organized InAs quantum dots

We report far-infrared photoconductivity in self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Through use of a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, a photoconductivity signal peaked at 17 μm is observed from a n–i–n detector structure with doped InAs quantum dots in the intrinsic region. Comparison of photoluminescence and band-to-band photocurrent absorption spectra suggests the far-infrared response is due to intersubband transitions in the quantum dots.

Intermediate-band photovoltaic solar cell based on ZnTe:O

Oxygen doping in ZnTe is applied to a junction diode in the aim of utilizing the associated electron states 0.5 eV below the bandedge as an intermediate band for photovoltaic solar cells. The ZnTe:O diodes confirm extended spectral response below the bandedge relative to undoped ZnTe diodes, and demonstrate a 100% increase in short circuit current, 15% decrease in open circuit voltage, and overall 50% increase in power conversion efficiency. Subbandgap excitation at 650 and 1550 nm confirms the response via a two-photon process and illustrates the proposed energy conversion mechanism for an intermediate band solar cell.

Absorption, carrier lifetime, and gain in InAs-GaAs quantum-dot infrared photodetectors

Quantum-dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) are being studied extensively for mid-wavelength and long-wavelength infrared detection because they offer normal-incidence, high-temperature, multispectral operation. Intersubband absorption, carrier lifetime, and gain are parameters that need to be better characterized, understood, and controlled in order to realize high-performance QDIPs. An eight-band k/spl middot/p model is used to calculate polarization-dependent intersubband absorption. The calculated trend in absorption has been compared with measured data. In addition, a Monte-Carlo simulation is used to calculate the effective carrier lifetime in detectors, allowing the calculation of gain in QDIPs as a function of bias. The calculated gain values can be fitted well with experimental data, revealing that the gain in these devices consists of two mechanisms: photoconductive gain and avalanche gain, where the latter is less dominant at normal operating biases.

Sub-bandgap photoconductivity in ZnO epilayers and extraction of trap density spectra

Photoconductivity is observed in ZnO epilayers due to photoexcitation in the visible spectral region of 400–700 nm, below the ZnO bandgap energy of 3.4 eV. Photoconductive transients due to visible photoexcitation have time constants in the order of minutes. Treatment of the ZnO surface with SiO2 passivation layers results in a significant reduction in the photoconductive signal and photoconductive time constant. The photoconductive response is attributed to hole traps in ZnO, where a rate equation model is presented to describe the photoconductive characteristics. A method of extracting the hole trap density spectrum is presented on the basis of the rate equation model and assumptions for hole capture lifetime and carrier recombination lifetime that are validated by experimental time-resolved photoluminescence measurements of the material under study. Traps are found to be distributed near 0.75 eV and 0.9 eV from the valence band edge for SiO2 passivated and unpassivated ZnO epilayers, respectively.

ZnO thin-film transistors with polycrystalline (Ba,Sr)TiO3 gate insulators

The electrical characteristics of ZnO thin-film transistors with high-k (Ba,Sr)TiO3 gate dielectrics are presented. The ZnO and (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films were deposited on Pt, exhibiting polycrystalline characteristics. The thin-film devices demonstrated transistor behavior over the range of 0–10V with a stable threshold voltage of approximately 1.2V. The field effect mobility, subthreshold slope, and on/off ratio were measured to be 2.3cm2V−1s−1, 0.25V∕decade, and 1.5×108, respectively. The measured transistor performance characteristics suggest that ZnO∕(Ba,Sr)TiO3 structures are well suited for both polycrystalline thin-film transistors for display applications and future higher performance transistors based on single crystal ZnO.

In(Ga)As/GaAs self-organized quantum dot lasers: DC and small-signal modulation properties

Self-organized growth of InGaAs/GaAs strained epitaxial layers gives rise to an ordered array of islands via the Stranski-Krastanow growth mode, for misfits >1.8%. These islands are pyramidal in shape with a base diagonal of /spl sim/20 nm and height of /spl sim/6-7 nm, depending of growth parameters. They therefore exhibit electronic properties of zero-dimensional systems, or quantum dots. One or more layers of such quantum dots can be stacked and vertically coupled to form the gain region of lasers. We have investigated the properties of such single-layer quantum dot (SLQD) and multilayer quantum dot (MLQD) lasers with a variety of measurements, including some at cryogenic temperatures. The experiments have been complemented with theoretical calculations of the electronic properties and carrier scattering phenomena in the dots. Our objective has been to elucidate the intrinsic behavior of these devices. The lasers exhibit temperature independent threshold currents up to 85 K, with T/sub 0//spl les/670 K. Typical threshold currents of 200-/spl mu/m long room temperature lasers vary from 6 to 20 mA. The small-signal modulation bandwidths of ridge waveguide lasers are 5-7.5 GHz at 300 K and increased to >20 GHz at 80 K. These bandwidths agree well with electron capture times of /spl sim/30 ps determined from high-frequency laser impedance measurements at 300 K and relaxation times of /spl sim/8 ps measured at 18 K by differential transmission pump-probe experiments. From the calculated results we believe that electron-hole scattering intrinsically limits the high-speed performance of these devices, in spite of differential gains as high as /spl sim/7/spl times/10/sup -14/ cm/sup 2/ at room temperature.

SMALL-SIGNAL MODULATION AND DIFFERENTIAL GAIN OF SINGLE-MODE SELF-ORGANIZED IN0.4GA0.6AS/GAAS QUANTUM DOT LASERS

We report small-signal modulation bandwidth and differential gain measurements of a single-layer self-organized In0.4Ga0.6As/GaAs quantum dot laser grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The 3 dB bandwidth of single-mode ridge waveguide lasers was measured to be 7.5 GHz at 100 mA under pulsed measurements, demonstrating the possibility of high speed operation of these devices. The differential gain was measured to be 1.7×10−14 cm2.

Photoluminescence and far-infrared absorption in Si-doped self-organized InAs quantum dots

We report far-infrared absorption in directly doped self-organized InAs quantum dots. Photoluminescence spectra demonstrate a blue shift in peak intensity for increasing doping in the quantum dots. Far-infrared absorption measurements using a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer show absorption in the range of 13–18 μm for quantum dots with Al0.15Ga0.85As and GaAs as the barrier material.