There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

The semiconductor ZnO has gained substantial interest in the research community in part because of its large exciton binding energy (60meV) which could lead to lasing action based on exciton recombination even above room temperature. Even though research focusing on ZnO goes back many decades, the renewed interest is fueled by availability of high-quality substrates and reports of p-type conduction and ferromagnetic behavior when doped with transitions metals, both of which remain controversial. It is this renewed interest in ZnO which forms the basis of this review. As mentioned already, ZnO is not new to the semiconductor field, with studies of its lattice parameter dating back to 1935 by Bunn [Proc. Phys. Soc. London 47, 836 (1935)], studies of its vibrational properties with Raman scattering in 1966 by Damen et al. [Phys. Rev. 142, 570 (1966)], detailed optical studies in 1954 by Mollwo [Z. Angew. Phys. 6, 257 (1954)], and its growth by chemical-vapor transport in 1970 by Galli and Coker [Appl. Phys. ...

/pdf/a-comprehensive-review-of-zno-materials-and-devices-21a3zjadem.pdf

A comprehensive review of zno materials and devices

Gallium nitride (GaN) and its allied binaries InN and AIN as well as their ternary compounds have gained an unprecedented attention due to their wide-ranging applications encompassing green, blue, violet, and ultraviolet (UV) emitters and detectors (in photon ranges inaccessible by other semiconductors) and high-power amplifiers. However, even the best of the three binaries, GaN, contains many structural and point defects caused to a large extent by lattice and stacking mismatch with substrates. These defects notably affect the electrical and optical properties of the host material and can seriously degrade the performance and reliability of devices made based on these nitride semiconductors. Even though GaN broke the long-standing paradigm that high density of dislocations precludes acceptable device performance, point defects have taken the center stage as they exacerbate efforts to increase the efficiency of emitters, increase laser operation lifetime, and lead to anomalies in electronic devices. The p...

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Luminescence properties of defects in GaN

Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is emerging as a viable candidate for certain classes of power electronics, solar blind UV photodetectors, solar cells, and sensors with capabilities beyond existing technologies due to its large bandgap. It is usually reported that there are five different polymorphs of Ga2O3, namely, the monoclinic (β-Ga2O3), rhombohedral (α), defective spinel (γ), cubic (δ), or orthorhombic (e) structures. Of these, the β-polymorph is the stable form under normal conditions and has been the most widely studied and utilized. Since melt growth techniques can be used to grow bulk crystals of β-GaO3, the cost of producing larger area, uniform substrates is potentially lower compared to the vapor growth techniques used to manufacture bulk crystals of GaN and SiC. The performance of technologically important high voltage rectifiers and enhancement-mode Metal-Oxide Field Effect Transistors benefit from the larger critical electric field of β-Ga2O3 relative to either SiC or GaN. However, the absence of clear demonstrations of p-type doping in Ga2O3, which may be a fundamental issue resulting from the band structure, makes it very difficult to simultaneously achieve low turn-on voltages and ultra-high breakdown. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances in the growth, processing, and device performance of the most widely studied polymorph, β-Ga2O3. The role of defects and impurities on the transport and optical properties of bulk, epitaxial, and nanostructures material, the difficulty in p-type doping, and the development of processing techniques like etching, contact formation, dielectrics for gate formation, and passivation are discussed. Areas where continued development is needed to fully exploit the properties of Ga2O3 are identified.

A review of Ga2O3 materials, processing, and devices

Transparent conductors as solar energy materials: A panoramic review

Ultraviolet semiconductor lasers are widely used for applications in photonics, information storage, biology and medical therapeutics. Although the performance of gallium nitride ultraviolet lasers has improved significantly over the past decade, demand for lower costs, higher powers and shorter wavelengths has motivated interest in zinc oxide (ZnO), which has a wide direct bandgap and a large exciton binding energy. ZnO-based random lasing has been demonstrated with both optical and electrical pumping, but random lasers suffer from reduced output powers, unstable emission spectra and beam divergence. Here, we demonstrate electrically pumped Fabry-Perot type waveguide lasing from laser diodes that consist of Sb-doped p-type ZnO nanowires and n-type ZnO thin films. The diodes exhibit highly stable lasing at room temperature, and can be modelled with finite-difference time-domain methods.

/pdf/electrically-pumped-waveguide-lasing-from-zno-nanowires-1qeimehmsu.pdf

Electrically pumped waveguide lasing from ZnO nanowires

We report on p–n junction light-emitting diodes fabricated from MgZnO∕ZnO∕AlGaN∕GaN triple heterostructures. Energy band diagrams of the light-emitting diode structure incorporating piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization fields were simulated, revealing a strong hole confinement near the n‐ZnO∕p‐AlGaN interface with a hole sheet density as large as 1.82×1013cm−2 for strained structures. The measured current–voltage (IV) characteristics of the triple heterostructure p–n junctions have rectifying characteristics with a turn-on voltage of ∼3.2V. Electron-beam-induced current measurements confirmed the presence of a p–n junction located at the n‐ZnO∕p‐AlGaN interface. Strong optical emission was observed at ∼390nm as expected for excitonic optical transitions in these structures. Experimental spectral dependence of the photocurrent confirmed the excitonic origin of the optical transition at 390nm. Light emission was measured up to 650K, providing additional confirmation of the excitonic nature of the opti...

/pdf/mgzno-algan-heterostructure-light-emitting-diodes-53czg7sjo4.pdf

MgZnO/AlGaN heterostructure light-emitting diodes

Multiple-junction structures were formed, on a microscopic scale, at room temperature, by the application of a strong electric field across originally homogeneous crystals of the ternary chalcopyrite semiconductor CulnSe2. After removal of the electric field, the structures were examined with electron beam-induced current microscopy and their current-voltage characteristics were measured. Bipolar transistor action was observed, indicating that sharp bulk junctions can form in this way at low ambient temperatures. The devices are stable under normal (low-voltage) operating conditions. Possible causes for this effect, including electromigration and electric field-assisted defect reactions, are suggested.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/258/5080/271.full.pdf

Room-Temperature, Electric Field-Induced Creation of Stable Devices in CulnSe2 Crystals

Minority carrier diffusion length in epitaxial GaN layers was measured as a function of majority carrier concentration and temperature. The diffusion length of holes in n‐type GaN is found to decrease from 3.4 to 1.2 μm in the doping range of 5×1015–2×1018 cm−3. The experimental results can be fitted by assuming the Einstein relation and by the experimental dependence of hole mobilities on carrier concentration. The low injection carrier lifetime of ∼15 ns, used in the fit, is largely independent of the doping level. The diffusion length, measured for ∼5×1015 and 2×1018 cm−3 dopant concentrations, shows an increase with increasing temperature, characterized by an activation energy Ea of ∼90 meV, independent of the impurity concentration.

Electron beam induced current measurements of minority carrier diffusion length in gallium nitride

We report on the low pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition of single crystal, wurtzitic layers of GaN and GaN/InGaN heterostructures on (111) GaAs/Si composite substrates. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the epitaxial layers are evaluated using x‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence, and measurements of minority carrier diffusion length. These measurements demonstrate high quality of GaN grown on the composite substrate.

Leonid Chernyak

Papers

Electrically pumped waveguide lasing from ZnO nanowires

MgZnO/AlGaN heterostructure light-emitting diodes

Room-Temperature, Electric Field-Induced Creation of Stable Devices in CulnSe2 Crystals

Electron beam induced current measurements of minority carrier diffusion length in gallium nitride

High quality GaN–InGaN heterostructures grown on (111) silicon substrates