Yusuf Selamet

High quality ITO thin films grown by dc and RF sputtering without oxygen

High quality indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were grown without oxygen by both dc and RF magnetron sputtering techniques on glass substrates. The effects of substrate temperature, film thickness and sputtering method on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the as-grown films were investigated. The results showed that the substrate temperature had substantial effects on the film properties, in particular on the crystallization and resistivity. When the substrate temperature was increased to 150 ◦ C, crystallization in the (222) plane started appearing for both dc and RF sputtered films. We additionally found that with further increments of substrate temperature, the preferred crystallization orientation changed differently for dc and RF sputtered films. Optical transmission in the visible region for a film thickness of 70nm was found to be above 85%. The bandgap was calculated to be about 3.64eV for the substrate temperature of 150 ◦ C for a 70nm thick film. The value of the bandgap increased with respect to the increment in film thickness as well as substrate temperature. We also measured the temperature dependence of the resistivity and Hall coefficient of the films, and calculated the carrier concentration and Hall mobility. Very low room temperature resistivities for dc and RF magnetron sputtered grown films of about 1.28 × 10 −4 � cm and 1.29 × 10 −4 � cm, respectively, were obtained.

MBE growth and device processing of MWIR HgCdTe on large area Si substrates

The traditional substrate of choice for HgCdTe material growth has been lattice matched bulk CdZnTe material. However, as larger array sizes are required for future devices, it is evident that current size limitations of bulk substrates will become an issue and therefore large area Si substrates will become a requirement for HgCdTe growth in order to maintain the cost-efficiency of future systems. As a result, traditional substrate mounting methods that use chemical compounds to adhere the substrate to the substrate holder may pose significant technical challenges to the growth and fabrication of HgCdTe on large area Si substrates. For these reasons, non-contact (indium-free) substrate mounting was used to grow mid-wave infrared (MWIR) HgCdTe material on 3″ CdTe/Si substrates. In order to maintain a constant tepilayer temperature during HgCdTe nucleation, reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) was implemented to develop a substrate temperature ramping profile for HgCdTe nucleation. The layers were characterized ex-situ using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and etch pit density measurements to determine structural characteristics. Dislocation densities typically measured in the 9 106 cm−2 to 1 107 cm−2 range and showed a strong correlation between ramping profile and Cd composition, indicating the uniqueness of the ramping profiles. Hall and photoconductive decay measurements were used to characterize the electrical properties of the layers. Additionally, both single element and 32 32 photovoltaic devices were fabricated from these layers. A RA value of 1.8 106-cm2 measured at −40 mV was obtained for MWIR material, which is comparable to HgCdTe grown on bulk CdZnTe substrates.

Electrical properties of in situ As doped Hg1−xCdxTe epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The electrical properties of extrinsic in situ doped mercury cadmium telluride (Hg1−xCdxTe) epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (211)B CdTe/Si and CdZnTe substrates are studied. The doping is performed with an elemental arsenic source. HgCdTe epilayers with a CdTe mole fraction between 0.23 and 0.36 are grown at substrate temperatures of 175–185 °C. The temperature dependent Hall effect characteristics of the grown samples are measured by the van der Pauw technique. A magnetic field of up to 0.8 T is used in these measurements. An analysis of the Hall coefficient in the temperature range of 40–300 K with a fitting based on a two-band nonparabolic Kane model, a fully ionized compensating donor concentration, and two independent discrete acceptor levels is reported. In addition, the fitting results of a three-band modeling of Hall effect results are compared to published data on p-type Hg1−xCdxTe. Both as-grown and annealed samples are used in this study. All of the as-grown samples showed n-type c...

HgCdTe/CdTe/Si infrared photodetectors grown by MBE for near-room temperature operation

Conventional HgCdTe infrared detectors need significant cooling in order to reduce noise and leakage currents resulting from thermal generation and recombination processes. Although the need for cooling has long been thought to be fundamental and inevitable, it has been recently suggested that Auger recombination and generation rates can be reduced by using the phenomena of exclusion and extraction to produce nonequilibrium carrier distributions. The devices with Auger suppressed operation requires precise control over the composition, and donor and acceptor doping. The successful development of the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth technique for multi-layer HgCdTe makes it possible to grow these device structures. Theoretical calculations suggest that the p n+ layer sequence is preferable for near-room temperature operation due to longer minority carrier lifetime in lightly doped p-HgCdTe absorber layers. However, because the low doping required for absorption and nonequilibrium operation is easier to achieve in n-type materials, and because Shockley-Read centers should be minimized in order to obtain the benefits of Auger suppression, we have focused on p+ n structures. Planar photodiodes were formed on CdTe/Si (211) composite substrates by As implantation followed by a three step annealing sequence. Three inch diameter Si substrates were employed since they are of high quality, low cost, and available in large areas. Due to this development, large area focal plane arrays (FPAs) operated at room temperature are possible in the near future. The structures were characterized by FTIR, x-ray diffraction, temperature dependent Hall measurements, minority carrier lifetimes by photoconductive decay, and in-situ ellipsometry. To study the relative influence of bulk and surface effects, devices with active areas from 1.6 10−5 cm2 to 10−3 cm2 were fabricated. The smaller area devices show better performance in terms of reverse bias characteristics indicating that the bulk quality could be further improved. At 80 K, the zero bias leakage current for a 40 m 40 m diode with 3.2 m cutoff wavelength is 1 pA, the R0A product is 1.1 104-cm2 and the breakdown voltage is in excess of 500 mV. The device shows a responsivity of 1.3 107 V/W and a 80 K detectivity of 1.9 1011 cm-Hz1/2/W. At 200 K, the zero bias leakage current is 5 nA and the R0A product 2.03-cm2, while the breakdown voltage decreases to 40 mV.

Electrical activation and electrical properties of arsenic-doped Hg 1- x Cd x Te epilayers grown by MBE

The annealing and electrical properties of extrinsic in situ doped mercury cadmium telluride epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on B CdTe/Si and CdZnTe substrates are studied. The doping is performed with an elemental arsenic source. HgCdTe epilayers of CdTe mole fraction in the range of mid-wavelength IR are grown at substrate temperatures of 175-185 degrees C. The temperature dependent Hall effect characteristics of the grown samples are measured by the van der Pauw technique. A magnetic field of up to 0.8 T is used in these measurements. The analysis of the Hall coefficient in the temperature range of 40-300 K with a fitting based on a three-band non-parabolic Kane model, a fully ionized compensating donor concentration, and tow independent discrete acceptor levels is reported. Both as-grown and annealed samples are used in this study. All of the as-grown samples showed-type characteristics whereas annealed samples showed p-type characteristics. Activation annealing at different temperatures was performed. Conversion to p-type at lower than conventional annealing temperatures was achieved. Theoretical models are utilized to understand the dependence of the activated arsenic concentration on the annealing temperature.

Characterization of CdTe Growth on GaAs Using Different Etching Techniques

CdTe buffer layers which were grown on (211)B GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy were subjected to two different etch treatments to quantify the crystal quality and dislocation density. The optical properties and thicknesses of the samples were obtained by ex situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. The surface morphologies of the CdTe epilayers were analyzed by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Nomarski microscopy before and after chemical etching. We compare the triangle- and trapezoid-shaped etch pits due to the Everson and Nakagawa etch solutions, respectively. Measured etch pit density (EPD) values of triangle etch pits were found in the 8 × 107 cm−2 to 2 × 108 cm−2 range, and trapezoid-shaped etch pits were found in the 1 × 107 cm−2 to 7 × 107 cm−2 range for samples with thicknesses <2 μm.

Extrinsic p-type doping and analysis of HgCdTe grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We have carried out basic research on the extrinsic p-type doping of mercury cadmium telluride epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The doping is performed with elemental arsenic and gold sources. HgCdTe epilayers of CdTe mole fraction in the range of the long-wavelength and mid-wavelength infrared were grown on (211)B CdTe/Si and CdZnTe substrates. The van der Pauw technique was utilized to study the temperature dependent Hall effect characteristics of the grown epilayers and the photoconductive decay method was used to obtain minority carrier lifetime data. Activation annealing of As at different temperatures was performed. P-type conversion of As doped samples at lower than conventional annealing temperatures was achieved. The influence of the annealing conditions on the Hall effect characteristics of the grown epilayers were studied. As activation in HgCdTe is also studied in the annealing experiments and compared to the current As activation models. We studied the surface and the bulk properties of our p-type doped samples by minority carrier lifetime measurements. Gold doping was achieved by deposition of Au on and its diffusion into samples. We also investigated the effects of vacancies on the mobility of Au dopants in the HgTe lattice by ab-initio pseudo-potential methods. For this study, we first determined the smallest supercell that will produce reliable results. Then total energy calculations were performed on supercells with nearest neighbor, 2nd nearest neighbor, 3rd nearest neighbor, etc. vacancies relative to Au sites.

Nitrogen doping for facile and effective modification of graphene surfaces

We report experimental and theoretical investigations of nitrogen doped graphene. A low-pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) system was used to grow large-area graphene on copper foil, using ethylene as the carbon source. Nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) was prepared by exposing the graphene transferred to different substrates to atomic nitrogen plasma. The effect of varying nitrogen flow rates on doping of graphene was investigated while keeping the power and time constant during the process. The N-graphene was characterized via Raman Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy (STM and STS), and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Raman mapping of N-graphene was also performed to show homogeneity of nitrogen on the graphitic lattice. XPS results have revealed the presence of different nitrogen configurations in the graphitic lattice with similar doping concentrations. Density functional theory (DFT) based calculations showed that the periodic adsorption of N atoms predominantly occurs on top of the C atoms rather than through substitution of C in our N-graphene samples. Our results indicate a feasible procedure for producing N-graphene with homogenous and effective doping which would be valuable in electronic and optical applications.

Gold diffusion in mercury cadmium telluride grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The growth and characterization of Au-doped HgCdTe layers on (211)B CdTe/Si substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy reported. The electrical properties of these layers studied for diffusion are presented. For ex-situ experiments, thin Au layers were deposited by evaporation and annealed at various temperatures and times to investigate the p-type doping properties and diffusion of Au in HgCdTe. The atomic distribution of the diffused Au was determined by secondary ion mass spectroscopy. We found clear evidence for p-type doping of HgCdTe:Au by in-situ and ex-situ methods. For in-situ doped layers, we found that, the Au cell temperature needs to be around 900°C to get p-type behavior. The diffusion coefficient of Au in HgCdTe was calculated by fitting SIMS profiles after annealing. Both complementary error functions and gaussian fittings were used, and were in full agreement. Diffusion coefficient as low as 8x10-14cm2/s observed for a sample annealed at 250°C and slow component of a diffusion coefficient as low as 2x10-15 cm2/s observed for a sample annealed at 300°C. Our preliminary results indicate no appreciable diffusion of Au in HgCdTe under the conditions used in these studies. Further work is in progress to confirm these results and to quantify our SIMS profiles.

Stable ultra-thin CdTe crystal: a robust direct gap semiconductor

Employing density functional theory based calculations, we investigate structural, vibrational and strain-dependent electronic properties of an ultra-thin CdTe crystal structure that can be derived from its bulk counterpart. It is found that this ultra-thin crystal has an 8-atom primitive unit cell with considerable surface reconstructions. Dynamic stability of the structure is predicted based on its calculated vibrational spectrum. Electronic band structure calculations reveal that both electrons and holes in single layer CdTe possess anisotropic in-plane masses and mobilities. Moreover, we show that the ultra-thin CdTe has some interesting electromechanical features, such as strain-dependent anisotropic variation of the band gap value, and its rapid increase under perpendicular compression. The direct band gap semiconducting nature of the ultra-thin CdTe crystal remains unchanged under all types of applied strain. With a robust and moderate direct band gap, single-layer CdTe is a promising material for nanoscale strain dependent device applications.