Oliver Ambacher

Bio: Oliver Ambacher is an academic researcher from Fraunhofer Society. The author has contributed to research in topics: Amplifier & High-electron-mobility transistor. The author has an hindex of 64, co-authored 848 publications receiving 26256 citations. Previous affiliations of Oliver Ambacher include Osram & Siemens.

Laser-Induced Liftoff And Laser Patterning Of Large Free-Standing GaN Substrates

Abstract: Free-standing GaN crystals are produced from 200-300 µn thick GaN films grown on 2 inch sapphire substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy. The GaN films are separated from the growth substrate by laser-induced liftoff, using a pulsed laser to thermally decompose a thin layer of GaN close to the film-substrate interface. The free-standing films are polished and used for the homoepitaxial growth of high quality GaN layers by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The structural and optical properties of the homoepitaxial films in comparison to layers grown on sapphire are significantly improved, mainly because of lower dislocation density and surface roughness as low as 5×106 cm2 and 0.2 nm, respectively. Laser-induced thermal decomposition is also applied to achieve etching of GaN. At exposures of 500 mJ/cm2 with 355 nm light, etch rates of up to 90 nm for one pulse are obtained. Illumination with an interference grating is used to produce trenches as narrow as 100 nm or sinusoidal surface patterns with a period of 260 nm. Such surface morphologies are very useful for the processing of anti-reflection coatings or distributed Bragg reflectors.

Charge Transfer at the Mn Acceptor Level in GaN

Abstract: MBE-grown GaN : Mn layers with Mn doping concentrations around 1020 cm−3 were investigated by photoconductivity measurements. From electron spin resonance (ESR), Mn is known to be mostly present in the neutral Mn3+ or Mn2+ + h+ state, which leads to a reassignment of the known optical absorption features to charge transfer from Mn3+, either by direct photoionization at about 1.8 eV or by a photothermal ionization process via an excited state (Mn3+)* at 1.42 V higher internal energy than the Mn3+ ground state. It is proposed that the Mn3+/Mn2+ acceptor level is located about 1.8 eV above the valence band edge of GaN so that the nature of the acceptor wavefunction is very different from an effective-mass-like state such as the Mn2+ + h+ complex in GaAs : Mn. According to these experimental results, the realization of carrier-mediated ferromagnetism becomes rather unlikely in not co-doped GaN : Mn.

A W-band wireless communication transmitter utilizing a stacked-FET oscillator for high output power performance

Abstract: This paper reports on an efficient transmitter monolithic microwave integrated circuit (TX MMIC) suitable for high-speed wireless communication. In order to achieve high output power, the TX is based on a direct modulation approach, containing a stacked-FET voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and an amplitude modulator. Thus, the modulation scheme is based on amplitude-shift keying (ASK). The MMIC utilizes the Fraunhofer IAF 50nm gate-length metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology. The stacked-FET oscillator generates the carrier signal and achieves an output power of about 14 dBm. The carrier frequency can be tuned from 87.8 to 98.2 GHz. Due to the FET-stacking approach the amplitude modulator can be simplified to a single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switch. Hence, the transmitter MMIC achieves a peak output power of 12.5dBm and a maximum data rate of 18 Gbit/s. The maximum continuous wave (CW) efficiency of the entire TX MMIC yields 17.6 %.

GaAs microstrip-to-waveguide transition operating in the WR-1.5 waveguide band (500–750 GHz)

Abstract: In this paper, we report on the development of a microstrip-to-waveguide transition for the WR-1.5 waveguide band (500–750 GHz). The microstrip lines and E-plane probes have been manufactured on 25 μm thick GaAs substrates. The transmission loss per single microstrip-to-waveguide transition is only 1.0 dB @ 670 GHz. The measured return losses are better than 10 dB up to 720 GHz. The single transition includes a waveguide section with a length of 7.0 mm corresponding to the transitions which will be used in future submillimeter-wave MMIC modules.

I and i

Abstract: 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 …

Principles of Neural Science

Abstract: I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or

Phonons and related crystal properties from density-functional perturbation theory

Abstract: This article reviews the current status of lattice-dynamical calculations in crystals, using density-functional perturbation theory, with emphasis on the plane-wave pseudopotential method. Several specialized topics are treated, including the implementation for metals, the calculation of the response to macroscopic electric fields and their relevance to long-wavelength vibrations in polar materials, the response to strain deformations, and higher-order responses. The success of this methodology is demonstrated with a number of applications existing in the literature.

Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys

Abstract: We present a comprehensive, up-to-date compilation of band parameters for the technologically important III–V zinc blende and wurtzite compound semiconductors: GaAs, GaSb, GaP, GaN, AlAs, AlSb, AlP, AlN, InAs, InSb, InP, and InN, along with their ternary and quaternary alloys. Based on a review of the existing literature, complete and consistent parameter sets are given for all materials. Emphasizing the quantities required for band structure calculations, we tabulate the direct and indirect energy gaps, spin-orbit, and crystal-field splittings, alloy bowing parameters, effective masses for electrons, heavy, light, and split-off holes, Luttinger parameters, interband momentum matrix elements, and deformation potentials, including temperature and alloy-composition dependences where available. Heterostructure band offsets are also given, on an absolute scale that allows any material to be aligned relative to any other.

Conjugated polymer-based organic solar cells

Abstract: The need to develop inexpensive renewable energy sources stimulates scientific research for efficient, low-cost photovoltaic devices.1 The organic, polymer-based photovoltaic elements have introduced at least the potential of obtaining cheap and easy methods to produce energy from light.2 The possibility of chemically manipulating the material properties of polymers (plastics) combined with a variety of easy and cheap processing techniques has made polymer-based materials present in almost every aspect of modern society.3 Organic semiconductors have several advantages: (a) lowcost synthesis, and (b) easy manufacture of thin film devices by vacuum evaporation/sublimation or solution cast or printing technologies. Furthermore, organic semiconductor thin films may show high absorption coefficients4 exceeding 105 cm-1, which makes them good chromophores for optoelectronic applications. The electronic band gap of organic semiconductors can be engineered by chemical synthesis for simple color changing of light emitting diodes (LEDs).5 Charge carrier mobilities as high as 10 cm2/V‚s6 made them competitive with amorphous silicon.7 This review is organized as follows. In the first part, we will give a general introduction to the materials, production techniques, working principles, critical parameters, and stability of the organic solar cells. In the second part, we will focus on conjugated polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells, mainly on polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) derivatives/(1-(3-methoxycarbonyl) propyl-1-phenyl[6,6]C61) (PCBM) fullerene derivatives and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/PCBM systems. In the third part, we will discuss the alternative approaches such as polymer/polymer solar cells and organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells. In the fourth part, we will suggest possible routes for further improvements and finish with some conclusions. The different papers mentioned in the text have been chosen for didactical purposes and cannot reflect the chronology of the research field nor have a claim of completeness. The further interested reader is referred to the vast amount of quality papers published in this field during the past decade.