Shafat Jahangir

Monolithic Electrically Injected Nanowire Array Edge-Emitting Laser on (001) Silicon

A silicon-based laser, preferably electrically pumped, has long been a scientific and engineering goal. We demonstrate here, for the first time, an edge-emitting InGaN/GaN disk-in-nanowire array electrically pumped laser emitting in the green (λ = 533 nm) on (001) silicon substrate. The devices display excellent dc and dynamic characteristics with values of threshold current density, differential gain, T0 and small signal modulation bandwidth equal to 1.76 kA/cm(2), 3 × 10(-17) cm(2), 232 K, and 5.8 GHz respectively under continuous wave operation. Preliminary reliability measurements indicate a lifetime of 7000 h. The emission wavelength can be tuned by varying the alloy composition in the quantum disks. The monolithic nanowire laser on (001)Si can therefore address wide-ranging applications such as solid state lighting, displays, plastic fiber communication, medical diagnostics, and silicon photonics.

Molecular beam epitaxial growth and optical properties of red-emitting (λ = 650 nm) InGaN/GaN disks-in-nanowires on silicon

We have investigated the radiative properties of InGaN disks in GaN nanowires grown by plasma enhanced molecular beam epitaxy on (001) silicon substrates. The growth of the nanowire heterostructures has been optimized to maximize the radiative efficiency, or internal quantum efficiency (IQE), for photoluminescence emission at λ = 650 nm. It is found that the IQE increases significantly (by ∼10%) to 52%, when post-growth passivation of nanowire surface with silicon nitride or parylene is applied. The increase in efficiency is supported by radiative- and nonradiative lifetimes derived from data obtained from temperature dependent- and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements. Light emitting diodes with p-i-n disk-in-nanowire heterostructures passivated with parylene have been fabricated and characterized.

Formation and Nature of InGaN Quantum Dots in GaN Nanowires

InGaN/GaN disk-in-nanowire heterostructures on silicon substrates have emerged as important gain media for the realization of visible light sources. The nature of quantum confinement in the disks is largely unknown. From the unique nature of the measured temperature dependence of the radiative lifetime and direct transmission electron microscopy, it is evident that such self-organized islands (disks) behave as quantum dots. This is confirmed by the observation of single photon emission from a single disk-in-nanowire and the presence of a sharp minimum in the line width enhancement factor of edge emitting lasers having the InGaN disks as the gain media.

Room-temperature polariton lasing from GaN nanowire array clad by dielectric microcavity.

Room-temperature polariton lasing from a GaN-dielectric microcavity is demonstrated with optical excitation. The device is fabricated with a GaN nanowire array clad by Si3N4/SiO2-distributed Bragg reflectors. The nanowire array is initially grown on silicon substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. A distinct nonlinearity in the lower polariton emission is observed at a threshold optical energy density of 625 nJ/cm(2), accompanied by significant line width narrowing to 5 meV and a small blue shift of ~1 meV. The measured polariton dispersion is characterized by a Rabi splitting of 40 meV and a cavity exciton detuning of -17 meV. The device described here is a demonstration of exciton-photon strong coupling phenomenon in an array of light emitters and paves the way for the realization of a room temperature electrically injected polariton laser.

Small signal modulation characteristics of red-emitting (λ = 610 nm) III-nitride nanowire array lasers on (001) silicon

The small signal modulation characteristics of an InGaN/GaN nanowire array edge- emitting laser on (001) silicon are reported. The emission wavelength is 610 nm. Lattice matched InAlN cladding layers were incorporated in the laser heterostructure for better mode confinement. The suitability of the nanowire lasers for use in plastic fiber communication systems with direct modulation is demonstrated through their modulation bandwidth of f-3dB,max = 3.1 GHz, very low values of chirp (0.8 A) and α-parameter, and large differential gain (3.1 × 10−17 cm2).

Room temperature single GaN nanowire spin valves with FeCo/MgO tunnel contacts

We report the direct measurement of spin transport characteristics in a GaN spin valve, with a relatively defect-free single GaN nanowire (NW) as the channel and FeCo/MgO as the tunnel barrier spin contact. Hanle spin precession and non-local transport measurements are made in an unintentionally doped nanowire spin valves. Spin diffusion length and spin lifetime values of 260 nm and 100 ps, respectively, are derived. Appropriate control measurements have been made to verify spin injection, transport, and detection.We report the direct measurement of spin transport characteristics in a GaN spin valve, with a relatively defect-free single GaN nanowire (NW) as the channel and FeCo/MgO as the tunnel barrier spin contact. Hanle spin precession and non-local transport measurements are made in an unintentionally doped nanowire spin valves. Spin diffusion length and spin lifetime values of 260 nm and 100 ps, respectively, are derived. Appropriate control measurements have been made to verify spin injection, transport, and detection.

An enhanced surface passivation effect in InGaN/GaN disk-in-nanowire light emitting diodes for mitigating Shockley–Read–Hall recombination

We present a detailed study of the effects of dangling bond passivation and the comparison of different sulfide passivation processes on the properties of InGaN/GaN quantum-disk (Qdisk)-in-nanowire based light emitting diodes (NW-LEDs). Our results demonstrated the first organic sulfide passivation process for nitride nanowires (NWs). The results from Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) measurements, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that octadecylthiol (ODT) effectively passivated the surface states, and altered the surface dynamic charge, and thereby recovered the band-edge emission. The effectiveness of the process with passivation duration was also studied. Moreover, we also compared the electro-optical performance of NW-LEDs emitting at green wavelength before and after ODT passivation. We have shown that the Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) non-radiative recombination of NW-LEDs can be greatly reduced after passivation by ODT, which led to a much faster increasing trend of quantum efficiency and higher peak efficiency. Our results highlighted the possibility of employing this technique to further design and produce high performance NW-LEDs and NW-lasers.

Monolithic phosphor-free InGaN/GaN quantum dot wavelength converter white light emitting diodes

We report the characteristics of phosphor-free self-organized InGaN/GaN quantum dot wavelength converter white light emitting diodes grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The exciting quantum dots, in which electrically injected carriers recombine, are blue-emitting and the converter dots are red-emitting. We have studied the effect of tuning the number of dot layers and the peak emission wavelength of the exciting and converter dots on the nature of the emitted white light, in terms of the chromaticity coordinates and correlated color temperature. Depending on the values of these wavelengths, color temperatures in the range of 4420–6700 K have been derived at a current density of 45 A/cm2 across multiple devices. The variation of the color temperature with change in injection current is found to be very small.

Temperature-dependent measurement of Auger recombination in In0.40Ga0.60N/GaN red-emitting (λ = 630 nm) quantum dots

We have derived the Auger recombination coefficients, as a function of temperature, for In0.4Ga0.6N/GaN self-organized quantum dots from large-signal modulation measurements made on lasers in which the quantum dots form the gain media. The value of Ca = 1.3 ±0.2 × 10−31 cm6 s−1 at room temperature and the coefficient decreases with increase of temperature.

InGaN/GaN nanowires grown on SiO(2) and light emitting diodes with low turn on voltages.

GaN nanowires and InGaN disk heterostructures are grown on an amorphous SiO2 layer by a plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Structural studies using scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveal that the nanowires grow vertically without any extended defect similarly to nanowires grown on Si. The as-grown nanowires have an intermediate region consisting of Ga, O, and Si rather than SiNx at the interface between the nanowires and SiO2. The measured photoluminescence shows a variation of peak wavelengths ranging from 580 nm to 635 nm because of non-uniform indium incorporation. The nanowires grown on SiO2 are successfully transferred to a flexible polyimide sheet by Au-welding and epitaxial lift-off processes. The light-emitting diodes fabricated with the transferred nanowires are characterized by a turn-on voltage of approximately 4 V. The smaller turn-on voltage in contrast to those of conventional nanowire light-emitting diodes is due to the absence of an intermediate layer, which is removed during an epitaxial lift-off process. The measured electroluminescence shows peak wavelengths of 610-616 nm with linewidths of 116-123 nm.