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Room temperature optical absorption process is observed in ultrathin quantum wells (QWs) and quantum dots (QDs) of InP/GaAs type-II band alignment system using surface photovoltage spectroscopy technique, where no measurable photoluminescence signal is available. Clear signature of absorption edge in the sub band gap region of GaAs barrier layer is observed for the ultrathin QWs and QDs, which red shifts with the amount of deposited InP material. Movement of photogenerated holes towards the sample surface is proposed to be the main mechanism for the generation of surface photovoltage in type-II ultrathin QWs and QDs. QDs of smaller size are found to be free from the dislocations as confirmed by the high resolution transmission electron microscopy images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

InAsxP1-x/InP quantum wells (QWs) with excellent crystalline and interfacial quality are grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy as confirmed from the cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, high resolution x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurements. The electron confinement in InAsxP1-x/InP QW states is determined by capacitance voltage measurements, where we find that the electron accumulation increases with increasing QWs thickness and arsenic composition. This is explained by the variation of the band offset and hence the effective change in the position of the electronic energy level from Fermi level with QWs composition and thickness. The conduction band offset (ΔEc) for InAsxP1-x/InP QWs has been obtained by solving the self consistent set of Schrodinger and Poisson equations and fitting the theoretical carrier density profile with the apparent carrier density measured from experiments. The ΔEc values in strained InAsxP1-x/InP QWs have been obtained which fits to the expression ΔEc(x) = 402-350(1-x)meV for 0.38

Temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) peak energy of bulk and quantum well (QW) structures is studied by using a new phenomenological model for including the effect of localized states. In general an anomalous S-shaped temperature dependence of the PL peak energy is observed for many materials which is usually associated with the localization of excitons in band-tail states that are formed due to potential fluctuations. Under such conditions, the conventional models of Varshni, Viña and Passler fail to replicate the S-shaped temperature dependence of the PL peak energy and provide inconsistent and unrealistic values of the fitting parameters. The proposed formalism persuasively reproduces the S-shaped temperature dependence of the PL peak energy and provides an accurate determination of the exciton localization energy in bulk and QW structures along with the appropriate values of material parameters. An example of a strained InAs0.38P0.62/InP QW is presented by performing detailed temperature and excitation intensity dependent PL measurements and subsequent in-depth analysis using the proposed model. Versatility of the new formalism is tested on a few other semiconductor materials, e.g. GaN, nanotextured GaN, AlGaN and InGaN, which are known to have a significant contribution from the localized states. A quantitative evaluation of the fractional contribution of the localized states is essential for understanding the temperature dependence of the PL peak energy of bulk and QW well structures having a large contribution of the band-tail states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large blueshift was observed in a near-surface GaAs0.86P0.14/Al0.7Ga0.3As quantum well upon treatment with Na2S·xH2O solution. Very slow etching with simultaneous surface passivation of the quantum well was obtained using this chemical treatment. Photoreflectance (PR) spectra exhibit maximum blueshift of 28 meV after treating the quantum well surface with Na2S·xH2O solution for 30 min (top layer thickness reduced to 10 Å). The blueshift is attributed to an increase in the confinement and/or an image charge effect due to the penetration of the wave function into vacuum. The blueshift is accompanied by a significant reduction in the broadening parameter of the observed e1-lh1 transition in PR spectra indicating effective passivation along with an increase in the confinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report a comparative study on ex situ passivation of a near-surface GaAs0.86P0.14/Al0.6Ga0.4As quantum well using various sulfide solutions and nitrogen plasma treatments. The built-in surface electric field is changed via band bending by applying various surface passivation conditions. The band bending is measured using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Reduction in surface electric field in the range of 10-35 kV/cm is observed depending on different passivation conditions. The photoreflectance spectra show enhancement in intensity and blueshift of ∼3 meV accompanied by significant reduction in the broadening parameter of the observed e1-lh1 transitions. Among all the methods studied here, passivation by Na2S·xH2O is found to be most effective as it removes the native oxide layer completely leading to almost flat band condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of type-II band alignment for InP/GaAs heterostructure is addressed by means of simple layer architecture of ultrathin quantum wells (QWs). From specific signatures of the radiative recombination in type-II QWs especially the cube root dependence of blueshift in the lowest excitonic transition energy on excitation power in photoluminescence measurements indicates that the observed luminescence is originating from spatially separated electrons and holes. Such a blueshift is seen to increase with the QW thickness again confirming a type-II band alignment. A direct evidence of electron confinement in the conduction band of InP is provided by the capacitance voltage measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Signature of optical absorption in highly strained and partially relaxed InP/GaAs type-II quantum well superlattice structures is clearly observed at room temperature. Strong coupling effects between the wavefunctions of confined carriers in the neighbouring quantum wells of InP/GaAs type-II superlattice structures are observed in electroreflectance (ER) spectra. Only ER measurements provide clear signatures of the superlattice feature for partially relaxed superlattice structures. However, both ER and photoreflectance (PR) measurements provide the signature of superlattice features for highly strained superlattice structures. A possible explanation is given in terms of the trapping of photogenerated carriers at defect/trap levels generated by the partial relaxation or due to the presence of oscillatory features in PR spectra. ER being a direct modulation technique, where one applies an external electric field to modulate the built-in electric field, is therefore preferred over PR. Increase in the surface photovoltage magnitude for energies lower than the band edge position of GaAs buffer layer confirms that the absorption takes place between the electronic minibands formed in the type-II superlattice structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum states in InP/GaAs type-II ultrathin quantum wells (QWs) are investigated through temperature dependent capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. We observe a well-defined peak in the apparent carrier density (ACD) profile for the ultrathin QWs at low temperatures in the vicinity of QWs. ACD peak value is found to decrease with the reduction in QW thickness, indicating quantum confinement effect. Decrease in the ACD peak value and increase in its width with increasing temperature confirms that the observed peak in the ACD profiles is related to the two dimensional electrons occupying the quantum states formed in the ultrathin QWs. We do not observe appreciable peak shift in ACD profiles with temperature, which is attributed to the less temperature dependence of the Debye length because of the high doping density used in the barrier region of InP/GaAs ultrathin QWs. We determine a strained value of 180 ± 30 meV for the conduction band discontinuity by simulating the C-V profile through the self-consistent solution of Schrodinger and Poisson equations for InP/GaAs ultrathin QW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]