Michael E. Flatté

Single dopants in semiconductors

The sensitive dependence of a semiconductors electronic, optical and magnetic properties on dopants has provided an extensive range of tunable phenomena to explore and apply to devices. Recently it has become possible to move past the tunable properties of an ensemble of dopants to identify the effects of a solitary dopant on commercial device performance as well as locally on the fundamental properties of a semiconductor. New applications that require the discrete character of a single dopant, such as single-spin devices in the area of quantum information or single-dopant transistors, demand a further focus on the properties of a specific dopant. This article describes the huge advances in the past decade towards observing, controllably creating and manipulating single dopants, as well as their application in novel devices which allow opening the new field of solotronics (solitary dopant optoelectronics).

Long wavelength InAs/InGaSb infrared detectors: Optimization of carrier lifetimes

The performance characteristics of type‐II InAs/InxGa1−xSb superlattices for long and very long‐wave infrared detection are discussed. This system promises benefits in this wavelength range over conventional technology based on Hg1−xCdxTe, in part because of suppressed band‐to‐band Auger recombination rates which lead to improved values of detectivity. The formalism for calculating Auger rates in superlattices is developed and the physical origin of Auger suppression in these systems is discussed. Accurate K⋅p band structures are used to obtain radiative, electron–electron, hole–hole, and band‐to‐band Auger rules, as well as shallow trap level assisted Auger recombination rates for photodiodes. Theoretical limits for high temperature operation of ideal photovoltaic detectors are presented and compared with HgCdTe.

Atom-by-atom substitution of Mn in GaAs and visualization of their hole-mediated interactions

The discovery of ferromagnetism in Mn-doped GaAs has ignited interest in the development of semiconductor technologies based on electron spin and has led to several proof-of-concept spintronic devices. A major hurdle for realistic applications of Ga1-xMnxAs, or other dilute magnetic semiconductors, remains that their ferromagnetic transition temperature is below room temperature. Enhancing ferromagnetism in semiconductors requires us to understand the mechanisms for interaction between magnetic dopants, such as Mn, and identify the circumstances in which ferromagnetic interactions are maximized. Here we describe an atom-by-atom substitution technique using a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) and apply it to perform a controlled study at the atomic scale of the interactions between isolated Mn acceptors, which are mediated by holes in GaAs. High-resolution STM measurements are used to visualize the GaAs electronic states that participate in the Mn–Mn interaction and to quantify the interaction strengths as a function of relative position and orientation. Our experimental findings, which can be explained using tight-binding model calculations, reveal a strong dependence of ferromagnetic interaction on crystallographic orientation. This anisotropic interaction can potentially be exploited by growing oriented Ga1-xMnxAs structures to enhance the ferromagnetic transition temperature beyond that achieved in randomly doped samples.

Spin diffusion and injection in semiconductor structures: Electric field effects

In semiconductor spintronic devices, the semiconductor is usually lightly doped and nondegenerate, and moderate electric fields can dominate the carrier motion. We recently derived a drift-diffusion equation for spin polarization in semiconductors by consistently taking into account electric-field effects and nondegenerate electron statistics and identified a high-field diffusive regime which has no analog in metals. Here spin injection from a ferromagnet (FM) into a nonmagnetic semiconductor (NS) is extensively studied by applying this spin drift-diffusion equation to several typical injection structures such as FM/NS, FM/NS/FM, and FM/NS/NS structures. We find that in the high-field regime spin injection from a ferromagnet into a semiconductor is enhanced by several orders of magnitude. For injection structures with interfacial barriers, the electric field further enhances spin injection considerably. In FM/NS/FM structures high electric fields destroy the symmetry between the two magnets at low fields, where both magnets are equally important for spin injection, and spin injection becomes determined by the magnet from which carriers flow into the semiconductor. The field-induced spin injection enhancement should also be insensitive to the presence of a highly doped nonmagnetic semiconductor

Time-resolved optical measurements of minority carrier recombination in a mid-wave infrared InAsSb alloy and InAs/InAsSb superlattice

({\mathrm{NS}}^{+})

Non-magnetic semiconductor spin transistor

at the FM interface, thus

Unipolar spin diodes and transistors

{\mathrm{F}\mathrm{M}/\mathrm{N}\mathrm{S}}^{+}/\mathrm{NS}

Very Large Magnetoresistance in Lateral Ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As Wires with Nanoconstrictions

structures should also manifest efficient spin injection at high fields. Furthermore, high fields substantially reduce the magnetoresistance observable in a recent experiment on spin injection from magnetic semiconductors.

Spatial structure of an individual Mn acceptor in GaAs.

Measurements of carrier recombination rates using time-resolved differential transmission are reported for an unintentionally doped mid-wave infrared InAsSb alloy and InAs/InAsSb superlattice. Measurements at 77 K yield minority carrier lifetimes of 3 μs and 9 μs for the InAsSb alloy and InAs/InAsSb superlattice, respectively. The un-optimized InAsSb-based materials also exhibit long lifetimes (>850 ns) at temperatures up to 250 K, indicating the potential use for these materials as mid-wave infrared photodetectors with improved performance over current type-II superlattice photodetectors at both cryogenic and near-ambient operating temperatures.

High temperature gate control of quantum well spin memory.

We propose a spin transistor using only nonmagnetic materials that exploits the characteristics of bulk inversion asymmetry~BIA ! in ~110! symmetric quantum wells. We show that extremely large spin splittings due to BIA are possible in ~110! InAs/GaSb/AlSb heterostructures, which together with the enhanced spin decay times in ~110! quantum wells demonstrates the potential for exploitation of BIA effects in semiconductor spintronics devices. Spin injection and detection is achieved using spin-dependent resonant interband tunneling and spin transistor action is realized through control of the electron spin lifetime in an InAs lateral transport channel using an applied electric field ~Rashba effect !. This device may also be used as a spin valve, or a magnetic field sensor. ©2003 American Institute of Physics. @DOI: 10.1063/1.1609656 #