John F. Muth

Absorption coefficient, energy gap, exciton binding energy, and recombination lifetime of GaN obtained from transmission measurements

The absorption coefficient for a 0.4-μm-thick GaN layer grown on a polished sapphire substrate was determined from transmission measurements at room temperature. A strong, well defined exciton peak for the A and B excitons was obtained. The A, B, and C excitonic features are clearly defined at 77 K. At room temperature, an energy gap Eg=3.452±0.001 eV and an exciton binding energy ExA,B=20.4±0.5 meV for the A and B excitons and ExC=23.5±0.5 meV for the C exciton were determined by analysis of the absorption coefficient. From this measured absorption coefficient, together with the detailed balance approach of van Roosbroek and Shockley, the radiative constant B=1.1×10−8 cm3/s was obtained.

Bias stress stability of indium gallium zinc oxide channel based transparent thin film transistors

The effects of bias stress on transistor performance are important when considering nontraditional channel materials for thin film transistors. Applying a gate bias stress to indium gallium zinc oxide transparent thin film transistors was found to induce a parallel threshold voltage shift without changing the field effect mobility or the subthreshold gate voltage swing. The threshold voltage change is logarithmically dependent on the duration of the bias stress implying a charge tunneling mechanism resulting in trapped negative charge screening the applied gate voltage.

Optical and structural properties of epitaxial MgxZn1−xO alloys

The optical and structural properties of high-quality single-crystal epitaxial MgZnO films deposited by pulsed-laser deposition were studied. In films with up to ∼36 at. % Mg incorporation, we have observed intense ultraviolet band edge photoluminescence at room temperature and 77 K. The highly efficient photoluminescence is indicative of the excitonic nature of the material. Transmission spectroscopy was used to show that the excitonic structure of the alloys was clearly visible at room temperature. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy/ion channeling were used to verify the epitaxial single-crystal quality of the films and characterize the defect content. Post-deposition annealing in oxygen was found to reduce the number of defects and to improve the optical properties of the films. These results indicate that MgZnO alloys have potential applications in a variety of optoelectronic devices.

3D Printing of Free Standing Liquid Metal Microstructures

This paper describes a method to direct-write 3D liquid metal microcomponents at room temperature. The thin oxide layer on the surface of the metal allows the formation of mechanically stable structures strong enough to stand against gravity and the large surface tension of the liquid. The method is capable of printing wires, arrays of spheres, arches, and interconnects.

Excitonic structure and absorption coefficient measurements of ZnO single crystal epitaxial films deposited by pulsed laser deposition

The optical properties of high quality single crystal epitaxial zinc oxide thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on c-plane sapphire substrates were studied. It was found that annealing the films in oxygen dramatically improved the optical and electrical properties. The absorption coefficient, band gap, and exciton binding energies were determined by transmission measurements and photoluminescence. In both the annealed and the as-deposited films excitonic absorption features were observed at both room temperature and 77 K. In the annealed films the excitonic absorption peaks were substantially sharper and deep level photoluminescence was suppressed.

Structural, optical and magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconducting Zn1-xMnxO films

Abstract We have investigated the structural, optical and magnetic properties of high quality epitaxial Zn 1− x Mn x O (diluted magnetic semiconductor) films. These films were deposited on (0001) sapphire substrate by a pulsed laser deposition technique. The nonequilibrium nature of the laser–material interaction allowed us to dope higher Mn contents ( x =0.36) than allowed by thermal equilibrium limit ( x ∼0.13). All the films investigated here were found to be single phased and epitaxial with (0001) orientation. As the Mn concentration increases in the system, the c -axis lattice constant was found to increase linearly. Optical transmittance study showed an increase in the insulating band-gap ( E g ) with increase in Mn atomic fraction x following E g =3.270+2.760x−4.988x 2 eV . DC magnetization measurements showed the paramagnetic nature of the system.

Dominance of tunneling current and band filling in InGaN/AlGaN double heterostructure blue light‐emitting diodes

Measurement of the room temperature forward bias current‐voltage behavior of InGaN/AlGaN double heterostructure blue light‐emitting diodes demonstrates a significant departure from the usual Is exp(qV/ nkT) behavior where n is the ideality factor which varies between 1 and 2. The observed current‐voltage behavior at room temperature may be represented as I=2.7×10−11 exp(5.7V) which suggests a tunneling mechanism. Measurement of the electroluminescence for currents from 0.5 to 100 mA demonstrates that the emission peak shifts to higher energy while increasing in intensity. The shifting peak spectra is due to band filling, a process which results from the injection of holes via tunneling into an empty acceptor impurity band and vacant valence band tails. At currents near 100 mA, a non‐shifting band‐to‐band emission approaches the intensity of the shifting peak spectra. The active layer of these diodes is codoped with both the donor Si and the acceptor Zn.

Refractive indices and absorption coefficients of MgxZn1−xO alloys

Indices of refraction for MgxZn1−xO epitaxial films grown by pulsed-laser deposition on sapphire substrates with x up to 0.36 were determined in the range of wavelength 457–968 nm by analysis of optical transmission spectra and prism-coupled waveguide measurements. The dispersion follows the first-order Sellmeier dispersion equation. Absorption coefficients, exciton energy gaps, and binding energies of MgxZn1−xO alloys were determined by transmission spectroscopy. The excitonic absorption features were clearly visible at room temperature despite alloy broadening. These results provide important information for the design and modeling of ZnO/MgZnO heterostructure optoelectronic devices.

Room temperature pulsed laser deposited indium gallium zinc oxide channel based transparent thin film transistors

Indium gallium zinc oxide deposited by pulsed laser deposition at room temperature was used as a channel layer to fabricate transparent thin film transistors with good electrical characteristics: field effect mobility of 11cm2V−1s−1 and subthreshold voltage swing of 0.20V∕decade. By varying the oxygen partial pressure during deposition the conductivity of the channel was controlled to give a low off-current of ∼10pA and a drain current on/off ratio of ∼5×107. Changing the channel layer thickness was a viable way to vary the threshold voltage. The effect of the gate dielectric on the electrical behavior was also explored.

VISIBLE-BLIND GAN SCHOTTKY BARRIER DETECTORS GROWN ON SI(111)

We report novel GaN detectors grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates. Wurtzite structure epitaxial GaN exhibits room-temperature photoluminescence with a band-edge-related emission width as narrow as 7 nm and intensities comparable to high quality layers grown on sapphire by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Spectral response of lateral geometry Schottky detectors shows a sharp cutoff at 365 nm with peak responsivities of ∼0.05 A/W at 0 V, and ∼0.1 A/W with a −4 V bias. The dark current is ∼60 nA at −2 V bias. The noise equivalent power is estimated to be 3.7×10−9 W over the response bandwidth of 2.2 MHz.