Layer disordering and aluminum-gallium interchange in aluminum-gallium arsenide - gallium-arsenide quantum well heterostructures
Guido, Louis Joseph
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/23209
Description
Title
Layer disordering and aluminum-gallium interchange in aluminum-gallium arsenide - gallium-arsenide quantum well heterostructures
Author(s)
Guido, Louis Joseph
Issue Date
1989
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Holonyak, Nick, Jr.
Department of Study
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Discipline
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Engineering, Electronics and Electrical
Language
eng
Abstract
In the experiments described here, Al$\sb{\rm x}$Ga$\sb{\rm 1-x}$As-GaAs superlattice and quantum well heterostructure (QWH) crystals have been used as test vehicles to study Al-Ga interdiffusion. The data demonstrate that Al-Ga interchange is strongly influenced by the interdependence of the crystal surface-ambient interaction and the Fermi-level effect. We have investigated the crystal surface-ambient interaction by varying both the surface encapsulation condition (e.g., SiO$\sb2$-cap, Si$\sb3$N$\sb4$-cap) and the anneal ambient (As-rich, Ga-rich). The Fermi-level effect has been examined for QWH crystals doped with either donor or acceptor impurities during crystal growth and annealed, and for crystals converted to n-type conductivity by high-temperature Si diffusion or by Si$\sp+$ ion implantation and annealing.
The data show that Al-Ga interchange is enhanced for n-type samples annealed under As-rich conditions, and for p-type samples annealed under Ga-rich conditions. These trends suggest that acceptor native defects (V$\sb{\rm III}$) and donor native defects (I$\sb{\rm III}$, V$\sb{\rm As}$) are responsible for Al-Ga interdiffusion in n-type and p-type samples, respectively. By varying the anneal As$\sb4$ over-pressure we have demonstrated that the degree of Al-Ga interchange does not increase monotonically for n-type samples as expected for a simple Column III vacancy controlled process. In addition, we show that the activation energy for Al-Ga interdiffusion (E$\sb{\rm Al-Ga}$) is reduced by $\sb\sim$2 eV for n-type samples as compared to nominally undoped samples. These results indicate that E$\sb{\rm Al-Ga}$ can be used to label the various Al-Ga interdiffusion regimes and, thereby, provide for more accurate identification of the native defect species involved in the interchange process. Furthermore, by employing three single-well QWH crystals that differ only in the location of the QW relative to the crystal surface, we demonstrate that the Al-Ga interchange mechanism is depth-dependent because of the re-equilibration of native defect concentrations at the crystal free surface. Finally, we report on Si$\sp+$ ion implantation experiments that demonstrate enhanced Si$\sp+$-IILD for very low implant doses, hence minimizing the effects of implant damage.
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