W.-H. Chang

Heteroepitaxial growth of wurtzite InN films on Si(111) exhibiting strong near-infrared photoluminescence at room temperature

High-quality InN epitaxial films have been grown by nitrogen-plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates using a double-buffer technique. Growth of a (0001)-oriented single crystalline wurtzite–InN layer was confirmed by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, x-ray diffraction, and Raman scattering. At room temperature, these films exhibited strong near-infrared (0.6–0.9 eV) photoluminescence (PL). In addition to the optical absorption measurement of absorption edge and direct band nature, the PL signal was found to depend linearly on the excitation laser intensity over a wide intensity range. These results indicate that the observed PL is due to the emission of direct band-to-band recombination rather than the band-to-defect (or impurity) deep emission.

Tuning the energy levels of self-assembled InAs quantum dots by rapid thermal annealing

We studied the photoluminescence spectra of rapid-thermal-annealed self-assembled InAs quantum dots at 10 K. For annealing temperatures ranging from 700 to 950 °C, we observed a blueshift in the interband transition energies, a decrease in the intersublevel spacing energies, and a narrowing of photoluminescence linewidths. In this letter, we demonstrate that the tuning of the InAs quantum dots interband transition and intersublevel spacing energies can be achieved by 30 s of rapid thermal annealing. The relation between interband transition energy changes and the intersublevel spacing energies is found to be linear, with a slope close to the ratio of the dots’ height to their diameter.

Direct measurement of piezoelectric field in In0.23Ga0.77N/GaN multiple quantum wells by electrotransmission spectroscopy

In this communication, we present experimental evidence of the piezoelectric-field-induced quantum-confined Stark effect on In0.23Ga0.77N/GaN multiple quantum wells. The optical transitions in In0.23Ga0.77N/GaN p-i-n multiple quantum wells were studied by using electrotransmission (ET) at room temperature. Quantum-well-related signals are well resolved in our ET spectra. Since the strong internal electric field breaks the symmetry of the quantum wells, both the allowed and the forbidden transitions are observed. Clear energy blueshifts in accordance with increasing reversed bias are observed in ET spectra. The strength of piezoelectric field is found to be 1.7–1.9 MV/cm in the In0.23Ga0.77N strain quantum well layer, which is comparable with the measurement reported in the literature. We have shown experimentally how the piezoelectric field affects the energy shift for the strained multiple quantum wells.

Room-temperature electroluminescence at 1.3 and 1.5 μm from Ge/Si self-assembled quantum dots

Room-temperature electroluminescence at 1.3 and 1.5 μm from Ge/Si quantum-dot light-emitting diodes is reported. The devices were fabricated in a mesa-type structure, with a silicon oxide layer on the top for surface/sidewall passivation. Different passivation processes were employed. We found that the integrated electroluminescence intensities were relatively less sensitive to temperature, persisting at nearly the same intensity up to RT. The fabricated device shows an internal quantum efficiency of about 0.015% at RT. The improved emission property is attributed to the reduced nonradiative recombination centers due to the surface passivation and thermal treatment.

Characterization of GaN Schottky barrier photodetectors with a low-temperature GaN cap layer

By using organometallic vapor phase epitaxy we have prepared i-GaN/low temperature (LT) GaN/Ni/Au (sample A) and i-GaN/Ni/Au (sample B) Schottky barrier ultraviolet (UV) photodiodes (PDs). It was found that we could significantly reduce leakage current and achieve a much larger photocurrent to dark current contrast ratio by introducing a LT GaN on top of the conventional nitride-based UV PDs. With an incident light wavelength of 350 nm and a −1 V reverse bias, it was found that the measured responsivity was around 0.1 and 0.37 A/W for samples A and B, respectively. Furthermore, it was found that the operation speed of sample A is slower than that of sample B due to the highly resistive LT GaN layer induced large RC time constant.

Quantum-confined Stark shift in electroreflectance of InAs/InxGa1−xAs self-assembled quantum dots

Electroreflectance was employed to study the electric-field effect on the interband transitions of InAs quantum dots embedded in an In0.16Ga0.84As matrix. The electric field caused an asymmetric quantum-confined Stark shift, which revealed a nonzero built-in dipole moment in the quantum dots. We found the ground-state and excited-state dipole moments to be in the same direction. The electron wave functions are distributed near the base of the quantum dot, with their centers located below the hole wave functions. We also observed a symmetric Stark shift in the wetting-layer transitions. This implies that the wetting-layer potential is symmetric, despite its being capped with quantum dots.

Self-assembled free-standing colloidal crystals

We propose a novel technique to fabricate a free-standing three-dimensional colloidal crystal by self-assembling the colloidal microspheres with controllable thickness from the air–liquid interface. Highly ordered three-dimensional colloidal crystals are formed by polymethylmethacrylate or polystyrene monodisperse microspheres. We also demonstrate the fabrication technique of the free-standing inversed opals by removing the microspheres using calcination. The free-standing colloidal crystal structures can be used for nano-photonic circuits, white-light LEDs or as a photocatalyst.

Effects of spacer thickness on optical properties of stacked Ge/Si quantum dots grown by chemical vapor deposition

Photoluminescence investigations on stacked Ge/Si dots with different spacer thicknesses are presented. According to the emission energy shift in the Ge dots, we found that a thinner spacer layer will lead to remarkable Ge–Si intermixing during the stacking of the Ge/Si dots. Such material intermixing not only shallows the dot potential depth, but also softens the sharpness of the dot/spacer interface. In addition, the temperature of photoluminescence quenching also varies with the spacer thickness. Finally, we point out some important factors that are relevant to the room-temperature luminescence efficiency of stacked Ge/Si quantum dots.

Electroreflectance studies of InAs quantum dots with InxGa1−xAs capping layer grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Electroreflectance spectroscopy was used to study the effect of InxGa1−xAs capping layer on InAs quantum dots grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The optical transitions of the quantum dots and the InxGa1−xAs capping layer were well resolved. The energy shifts in the InxGa1−xAs capping layer show a different trend as compared to a series of referent InxGa1−xAs quantum wells. These results support the concept of strain-driven alloy decomposition during the InxGa1−xAs layer overgrowth.

Electroreflectance study on the polarization field in InGaN/AlInGaN multiple quantum wells

We present an electroreflectance investigation on the polarization field in InGaN/AlInGaN quantum wells (QWs) grown on GaN, in which the AlInGaN barrier is lattice-matched to the GaN substrate. Due to the quantum-confined Stark effect on the QWs, the bias-dependent spectra reveal a paraboliclike energy shift, an intensity minimum, and an 180° phase change at the flat-band voltage. By using this technique, the polarization field can be measured precisely. We found that the polarization field in the InGaN/AlInGaN QW is reduced significantly as compared with that in the InGaN/GaN system. The reduced polarization field is attributed to the contribution of spontaneous polarization in the quaternary barrier, which tends to compensate the piezoelectric polarization in the InGaN QWs.