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Efficient photoluminescence up-conversion is observed in 4H SiC samples containing both the UD-3 defect with its characteristic photoluminescence (PL) no-phonon (NP) line in the near infrared at 1.356 eV and the titanium impurity with its emission in the visible spectral region. When both defects are present, the titanium emission can be excited efficiently by tuning the laser to UD-3. In 4H samples containing either only UD-3 or only titanium, a different photoluminescence up-conversion process can be observed. This second process occurs at photon energies higher than approximately 1.5 eV without exhibiting a clear threshold. In 6H and 15R SiC only this second process was found, even when both the UD-3 defect and the titanium impurity are abundant.

Boron related photoluminescence (PL) and capacitance transient spectroscopy (DLTS and MCTS) peaks have been investigated around SIMS craters. Enhancement of boron and hydrogen related PL was observed in the vicinity of the crater, whereas the concentration of electrically active boron as measured by MCTS has decreased considerably. Comparison of the boron MCTS peak behavior after electron and proton irradiation is presented. Possible defect models based on the obtained results are discussed.

In most semi-conductor processing ion implantation is a key technology. The drawback of ion implantation is that a great deal of lattice defects, such as vacancies, interstitials, anti sites and complexes, are introduced. The annealing behaviour of these defects is important for the viability of ion implantation as a commonly used method. In SiC a defect that is only seen after ion implantation and not after irradiation with neutrons or electrons is the D-II defect. The use of Si or C as implanted species have made it possible to investigate the D-II photoluminescence (PL) intensity dependence on an excess of either of the two constituents in SiC. The effect of performing a hot implant at 600degreesC compared to a room temperature implant was also looked into. The D-II PL intensity was measured after a 1500degreesC anneal. When the implantation was performed at room temperature the C implanted samples showed a significantly higher D-II luminescence than the Si implanted. This makes it tempting to assume that a surplus of C and likely C interstitials are involved in the defect formation. However, when the implantation is done at 600degreesC the difference between Si and C implanted samples almost disappears and a slightly higher D-II intensity can be seen in the Si implanted samples. This effect may be due to the mobility of C interstitials at temperatures above 500degreesC. This clearly demonstrates the effect of hot implantation that there is a major change in D-II PL intensity even after a 1500degreesC anneal.

The electrical degradation of 4H-SiC PiN diodes has recently attracted a large interest and is a critical material problem for high power applications. The degradation is observed as an increased forward voltage drop after forward injection operation. In this paper we present the identity, properties and origin of stacking faults with different nature that cause degradation of 4H-SiC PiN diodes.

By using the HTCVD technique together with Al doping, highly p-type doped 2" diameter 4H-SiC off-axis substrates with micropipe densities below 10 cm(-2) were grown. The Al concentration in the substrates could be varied from low 10(15) cm(-3) to low 10(19) cm(-3). Bulk resistivities down to 0.5 Omega-cm were realized. There were no indications of micropipe formation from Al precipitates, on the contrary, micropipe closing was observed.

In this work we employ technique of optically detected cyclotron resonance for evaluation of the role of localization processes in CdTe/CdMnTe and CdMnTe/CdMgTe quantum well structures. From microwave-induced changes of excitonic emissions we evaluate magnitude of potential fluctuations (Stokes shift), correlate optically detected cyclotron resonance results with the results of time-resolved experiments and discuss nature of recombination processes in the limit of a strong localization.

Deep levels (V, Cr, UD-1 and UD-3) have been studied with time resolved photoluminescence. The decay time is determined as 193 ns, 58 mus, 247 ns and 51.5 mus for the V, Cr, UD-1 and UD-3 centers, respectively, at low temperature (2 K). The relatively long decay times indicate that the radiative recombination is dominant at low temperatures. By fitting the temperature dependence of the decay time, the activation energies of the V and UD-1 centers are determined as 160 meV and 50 meV respectively.

We report on optical and structural studies of the interface symmetry in CdSe/BeTe multiple-layer structures containing self-assembled quantum dots. Temperature and decay behavior of the broad photoluminescence (PL) band is consistent with the type-II transitions involving deeply localized electron states. Large linear in-plane polarization of the PL (up to 80%) is observed, implying the C-2v (or lower) symmetry of the individual places of the electron localization.

In0.1Ga0.9N/In0.01Ga0.99N multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with heavily Si-doped barriers, grown with Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) at about 800(0)C, have been studied in detail with optical spectroscopy. Such structures are shown to be very sensitive to a near surface depletion field, and if no additional layer is grown on top of the MQW structure the optical spectra from the individual QWs are expected to be drastically different. For a sample with 3 near surface QWs and Si-doped barriers, only the QW most distant from the surface is observed in photoluminescence (PL). The strong surface depletion field is suggested to explain these results, so that the QWs closer to the surface cannot hold the photo-excited carriers. A similar effect of the strong depletion field is found in an LED structure where the MQW is positioned at the highly doped n-side of the pn-junction. The internal polarization induced electric field in the QWs is also rather strong, and incompletely screened by carriers transferred from the doped barriers. The observed PL emission for this QW is of localized exciton character, consistent with the temperature dependence of peak position and PL decay time. The excitonic lineshape of 35-40 meV in the QW PL is explained as caused by a combination of random alloy fluctuations and interface roughness, the corresponding localization potentials are also responsible for the localization of the excitons in the low temperature range (

We report on a detailed study of low temperature photoluminescence (PL) in InxGa1-xN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with x in the range 0.1 and highly Si-doped barriers of In0.01Ga0.99N. The entire MQW structure was grown at 800 degreesC. One sample with 3 QWs of width 3.5 nm and barriers of width 10.5 nm had the MQW in the depletion region of the outer surface. Two PL peaks were observed, one QW exciton from the OW closest to the GaN buffer, one lower energy peak related to a 2DEG at the interface to the GaN buffer layer. In a second similar sample, 5 QWs of width 3 nm and with 6 nm highly Si-doped In0.01Ga0.99N barriers the MQW was placed in the n-side depletion region of a pn-junction, i.e. a complete LED structure with semitransparent top metallisation. Two PL peaks are observed also in this case, of similar origin as described above. With forward bias, this structure shows lower-energy PL emission, indicating the gradual activation of the other QWs closer to the pn-junction. At high forward bias the low-energy part of the PL spectrum becomes similar to the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum.

The design of the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) needs proper tuning of many different optical parameters of those structures. So, the optimisation of the VCSELs requires deep understanding of optical processes occurring in the active regions of such lasers. In a series of MBE processes, active regions of VCSELs as well as the whole VCSELs were grown. The active regions of the VCSEL structures were designed for lambda = 1000 nm and 980 nm emission. They consisted of a pair of distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) composed of AlAs and GaAs quarter wavelength layers and a cavity made of GaAs. The cavities contained one or several quantum wells (QWs) made of In0.2Ga0.8As. To optimise the optical characteristics of the active regions, several experimental methods have been applied. The Bragg reflectors and the whole microcavities were investigated by optical reflectivity. For selective excitation of a QW in a cavity active layer, a Ti-sapphire tuneable laser has been used. The fine tuning between the QW emission and the cavity Fabry-Perot resonance has been investigated by photoluminescence at varying temperatures of the sample. For monitoring the temporal evolution of the luminescence from the active region of the laser, time-resolved spectroscopy has been employed. The combination of many methods of optical investigations enabled a comprehensive characterisation and as a result an optimisation of the whole laser structure. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

We report on optical studies of Al0.1Ga0.9N/GaN structures with five 30 (A) over circle thick GaN quantum wells (QWs) grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy using the lateral overgrowth technique. Overgrown regions demonstrate better structural and optical properties. The low temperature photoluminescence (PL) is dominated by the multiple quantum well (MQW) emission at 3.53 eV with the linewidth of similar to50 meV. The PL decay time for this line was measured to be similar to600 ps. Comparison with an AlGaN/GaN MQW light-emitting diode (LED) structure is done. The LED structure was grown with a p-type doped AlGaN top layer and a p-GaN contact layer. The PL spectrum of the LED structure shows besides the donor-acceptor pair recombination from the top layer an additional 60 meV wide line at 3.64 eV. The presence of two MQW peaks may be related to the potential gradient present across the MOW structure.

We report on a detailed study of excitons in InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with an In composition x in the QWs of about 0.1, and a small In composition y in the barrier of 0.01-0.02. The MOVPE growth procedure was optimized to allow growth without In segregation. The InyGa1-yN barriers had a Si doping of about 5 x 10(18) cm(-3) . The low temperature photoluminescence spectra show two sets of exciton-like spectra with quite different properties. The lower energy emission has a small thermal activation energy (about 5 meV), and thus disappears at elevated temperatures, it is not observed at room temperature. The higher energy exciton state has a decay time of about 5 ns, while the lower energy process is much slower. We have also done preliminary studies on samples where the MQW region is situated in a p-n junction field, with semi-transparent contacts, to study the effects of varying the bias across the MQW structure. The combination of optical data can e interpreted in terms of a substantial potential gradient across the MQW region for both samples. The conclusion is that probably only one QW is emitting at low T (and no bias), and the second lower energy PL peak originates from a shallow notch in the conduction band at the interface between the thick GaN buffer layer and the first Ga(In)N barrier.

We report on polariton properties in high quality thick GaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy on c-sapphire. A strong fine is observed in the vicinity of the A exciton in T-polarization (k perpendicular to c, E parallel to the c-axis) by micro-photoluminescence (mu-PL). Comparison of the mu-PL and mu-reflectance spectra confirms the internal origin of the polariton emission. In the samples with low density of residual donors the enhancement of the a-polarized component is induced mostly by interbranch scattering which occurs, possibly., due to the complex structure of the exciton-polariton branches at k perpendicular to c. The Gamma(1)-Gamma(5) exciton splitting in the C band is determined by the mu-reflectance as similar to1 meV.

In this work we present experimental results of several defects in 4H Sic that are of interest both from a fundamental and physical point of view. And also of great importance for device applications utilizing the Sic material. These defects include the temperature stable so called D1 defect, which is created after irradiation. This optical emission has been identified as an isoelectronic defect bound at a hole attractive pseudodonor, and we have been able to correlate this to the electrically observed hole trap HS1 seen in minority carrier transient spectroscopy (MCTS). It also includes the UD1 defect observed using absorption and FTIR and which is believed to be responsible for the semi-insulating behavior of material grown by the High temperature, HTCVD technique. Finally, we have described the formation and proper-ties of critical, generated defect in high power Sic bipolar devices. This is identified as a stacking fault in the Sic basal plane, using mainly white beam synchrotron Xray topography. The stacking fault is both optically and electrically active, by forming extended local potential reduction of the conduction band.

Defects in high quality 4H silicon carbide epilayers have been studied using Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and Minority Carrier Transient Spectroscopy (MCTS). Both intrinsic defect related centers HS1, Z(1/2). EH6/EH7 and shallow and deep boron centers were found. Electrical properties of the boron related traps are analyzed. Comparison with the optical decay measurements shows that boron is related to the observed lateral variations of the minority carrier lifetime in low doped 4H-SiC epilayers.

We report a study of the D-II defect spectrum in 6H SiC using different photoluminescence techniques. The spectrum is proposed to be the result of bound exciton recombination at isoelectronic centers.

Photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence spectroscopies are used to investigate the properties of the band edge emission of InGaN/(In)GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures which do not show evidence of phase separation in high resolution electron microscopy. The data still show a clear low energy peak in the spectra. about 0.1 eV below the main exciton peak. Possible interpretations of this second peak are discussed.

GaN epilayers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) have been studied by temperature dependent time-resolved photoluminescence (PL). The PL decay times for free excitons and donor-bound excitons as well as the quantum efficiency have been measured for different temperatures. Radiative and nonradiative lifetimes have been evaluated from experimental values for the quantum efficiency and the PL decay time, assuming fully radiative processes at 2 K. The so obtained temperature dependence for the radiative lifetime cannot be described by a simple T-3/2 law for the whole temperature range. The temperature behavior of radiative lifetimes suggests the presence of a strong nonradiative recombination channel even at very low temperatures.

A set of GaN epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on 6H-SiC substrates was studied by time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The PL spectra are dominated by the free A exciton (FEA) and by the neutral-donor-bound exciton (D0X) transitions. The position of FEA indicates that the GaN layers are under tension. We observe that the recombination lifetime for the FEA is about 40-50 ps in all the layers, whereas the recombination time for the D0X varies for different samples. We found that the recombination lifetimes for D0X have a clear dependence on the position of FEA, i.e. the recombination lifetime increases with decreasing strain in the layers. The results can be explained in terms of the character of the hole states involved in the donor-bound exciton recombination.

A brief survey is given of some recent results on doping of 4H- and 6H-SiC by ion implantation. The doses and energies used are between 10(9) and 10(15) cm(-2) and 100 keV and 5 MeV, respectively, and B and Al ions (p-type dopants) are predominantly studied. After low dose implantation (less than or equal to 10(10) cm(-2)) a strong compensation is observed in n-type samples and this holds irrespective of implantation temperature up to 600 degreesC. However, at higher doses (10(14)-10(15) Al/cm(2)) the rate of defect recombination (annihilation) increases substantially during hot implants (greater than or equal to 200 degreesC) and in these samples one type of structural defect dominates after past-implant annealing at 1700-2000 degreesC. The defect is identified as a dislocation loop composed of clustered interstitial atoms inserted on the basal plane in the hexagonal crystal structure. Finally, transient enhanced diffusion (TED) of ion-implanted boron in 4H-samples is discussed.

We present an optical study of an In0.12Ga0.88N/GaN structure containing three quantum wells (QW) grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy using mass transport. The mass-transport regions demonstrate a high structural quality with a threading dislocation density less than 10(7) cm(-2). The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum is dominated by a 40 meV - narrow line centered at 2.97 eV at 2 K. This emission has a typical PL decay time about 5 ns at 2 K within the PL contour. An additional line with longer decay time (about 200 ns) is observed at an energy of similar to2.85 eV. The position of this line shifts towards higher energies with increasing excitation power. The data are explained in terms of a model, where the PL originates from two nonequivalent quantum wells, which could be realized due to a potential gradient across the layers.

Optical properties of In0.12Ga0.88N/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy at 820 degrees C are reported. The transmission electron microscopy measurements show a roughness of the sample surfaces containing small pit like defects of a size 100 to 200 Angstrom with a density far exceeding the dislocation density. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra in this set of samples are dominated by strong multiple peak emissions associated both with the MQW exciton recombination and with strongly localized states of energies much lower than the QW bandgap. We suggest that the low energy PL peaks are due to (i) photocarriers localized in quantum islands closely related to the threading dislocations, and possibly associated with V-defect induced side-wall QWs, (ii) strongly localized excitons in OD quantum dots in the disordered surface region, formed by uncontrolled surface etching processes.

The effect of In surfactant during metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial growth on sapphire substructure on the properties of GaN layers is studied using time-resolved photoluminescence. cathodoluminescence. and scanning electron microscopy. The samples are divided into two groups. where hydrogen and nitrogen, respectively, have been used as a carrier gas during growth. It is shown that In-doped samples have a lower dislocation density, a narrower photoluminescence linewidth, and a longer foe exciton lifetime. The influence of indium is stronger for GaN layers grown in nitrogen-rich conditions. The improvements of structural and optical properties are attributed to the effect of In on dislocations. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)02723-6].

We report on studies of In0.12Ga0.88N/GaN heterostructures with three 35-Angstrom-thick quantum wells (QWs) grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy with employment of mass transport. The structure is demonstrated to show good structural and optical properties. The threading dislocation density is less than 10(7) cm(-2) for the mass-transport regions. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum is dominated by the rather narrow near-band gap emission at 2.97 eV with a linewidth of 40 meV. This emission has a typical PL decay time about 5 ns at 2 K within the PL contour. With increasing excitation intensity, an additional transition with longer decay time (about 200 ns) is enhanced at energy about 2.85 eV. The position of this line depends strongly on the excitation power. We explain the data in terms of a model, where the PL is a result of contribution from at least two nonequivalent QWs, which could be realized due to a potential gradient across the layers. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003- 6951(00)04337-0].

A variable angle of incidence spectroscopic ellipsometer equipped with a compensator has been used to determine the dielectric functions in the 0.74 - 6 eV photon energy range of n-type bulk 4H-SiC with doping concentrations between 10(17) and 10(19) cm(-3). The resulting dielectric function for different SiC wafers depends on the doping concentration, especially around the absorption onset and higher photon energies. Measurements on different wafers with the same doping show good reproducibility. Simulations and preliminary measurements show that ellipsometry might be useful for thickness determination of thin (<1 m) homoepitaxial films.

Optical spectroscopy has been performed for a set of In0.12Ga0.88N/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQW) grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy at 820 degrees C. Time-resolved, temperature- and power-dependent photoluminescence as well as spatially-resolved cathodoluminescence measurements have been applied to elucidate the nature of the recombination mechanisms responsible for the radiative transitions in the samples. The photoluminescence spectra in this set of samples are dominated by strong multiple peak emissions associating with both confined levels of the MQW system (the higher energy band) and with strongly localized states of energies much lower than the QW band gap. We suggest that the photoluminescence originate from (i) the MQW exciton recombination, (ii) excitons localized in the quasidot regions with indium concentrations higher than in the alloy due to segregation processes, and (iii) from localized states in zero-dimensional quantum islands created by surface defects such as pits and V defects. Buried side-wall quantum wells caused by V defects might also influence the photoluminescence spectra. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)00117-1].

Temperature-dependent time-resolved photoluminescence measurements were performed on thick GaN layers grown by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy on Al2O3 substrates. Radiative lifetimes were determined for the neutral-donor-bound exciton with position at 3.478 eV and for two neutral-acceptor-bound excitons at 3.473 and 3.461 eV. We report a value of 3600 ps for the radiative lifetime of the acceptor-bound exciton transition at 3.461 eV. The dominant mechanism responsible for the nonradiative recombination of the bound excitons is shown to be connected with dissociation of the bound excitons into free excitons. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)00752-4].