Advanced Semiconductor Heterostructures Novel Devices Potential Device Applications and Basic Prope

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ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR HETEROSTRUCTURES Novel Devices, Potential Device Applications and Basic Properties Editors

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Michael A. Stroscio

World Scientific

ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR HETEROSTRUCTURES Novel Devices, Potential Device Applications and Basic Properties

SELECTED TOPICS IN ELECTRONICS AND SYSTEMS Editor-in-Chief:

M. S. Shur

Published Vol. 12: Current Research on Optical Materials, Devices and Systems in Taiwan eds. S. Chi and T. P. Lee Vol. 13: High Speed Circuits for Lightwave Communications ed. K.-C. Wang Vol. 14: Quantum-Based Electronics and Devices eds. M. Dutta and M. A. Stroscio Vol. 15: Silicon and Beyond eds. M. S. Shur and T. A. Fjeldly Vol. 16: Advances in Semiconductor Lasers and Applications to Optoelectronics eds. M. Dutta and M. A. Stroscio Vol. 17: Frontiers in Electronics: From Materials to Systems eds. Y. S. Park, S. Luryi, M. S. Shur, J. M. Xu and A. Zaslavsky Vol. 18: Sensitive Skin eds. V. Lumelsky, M. S. Shur and S. Wagner Vol. 19: Advances in Surface Acoustic Wave Technology, Systems and Applications (Two volumes), volume 1 eds. C. C. W. Ruppel and T. A. Fjeldly Vol. 20: Advances in Surface Acoustic Wave Technology, Systems and Applications (Two volumes), volume 2 eds. C. C. W. Ruppel and T. A. Fjeldly Vol. 21: High Speed Integrated Circuit Technology, Towards 100 GHz Logic ed. M. Rodwell Vol. 22: Topics in High Field Transport in Semiconductors eds. K. F. Brennan and P. P. Ruden Vol. 23: Oxide Reliability: A Summary of Silicon Oxide Wearout, Breakdown, and Reliability ed. D. J. Dumin Vol. 24: CMOS RF Modeling, Characterization and Applications eds. M. J. Deen and T. A. Fjeldly Vol. 25: Quantum Dots eds. E. Borovitskaya and M. S. Shur Vol. 26: Frontiers in Electronics: Future Chips eds. Y. S. Park, M. S. Shur and W. Tang Vol. 27: Intersubband Infrared Photodetectors ed. V. Ryzhii

ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR HETEROSTRUCTURES Novel Devices, Potential Device Applications and Basic Properties

Editors

Mitra Dutta Michael A. Stroscio University of Illinois, Chicago, USA

V|fe World Scientific WB

New Jersey • London • Singapore Si • Hong Kong

Published by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. 5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: Suite 202, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR HETEROSTRUCTURES: NOVEL DEVICES, POTENTIAL DEVICE APPLICATIONS AND BASIC PROPERTIES Copyright © 2003 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

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ISBN 981-238-289-5

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PREFACE

Semiconductor heterostructures are playing a fundamental role in the continu­ ing down scaling of electronic and optoelectronic device features into the nanodimensional regime. The diversity of heterojunctions as well as dramatic advances in semiconductor growth and processing technologies are opening the way to new hetero junction-device technologies and leading to many new avenues for realizing novel families of quantum-based electronic and optoelectronic devices and systems. Indeed, solid state electronics and optoelectronics are undergoing dramatic changes as a result of the rapidly evolving field of heteroepitaxy. Moreover, the recent stunning advances in nanofabrication technology facilitate band-engineering and atomic-level structural tailoring not possible previously except through molecular and atomic systems found in nature. As semiconductor heterostructures mature, more and more heterojunction device options become realizable. No doubt, some of these options will revolutionize critically-important facets of modern technology. For example, the intersubband lasers discussed in this book exhibit previouslyunobtainable characteristics. This book also illustrates how new carrier-transport phenomena are made possible through the use of advanced semiconductor het­ erostructures. The already-large number of applications of advanced semiconductor heterostructures is increasing rapidly and is becoming more diversified as demon­ strated in this book by discussions illustrating the potentially wide range of uses of layered quantum dots in biological applications. As discussed in this book, these applications include using quantum dots for biological tags as well as for active optical and electrical interfaces with biological systems such as neurons. As illustrated in this book, advanced semiconductor heterostructures can be expected contribute to many facets of nanoscience and nanoengineering and to lead to revo­ lutionary advances in an array of applications including nanoelectronics, optoelec­ tronics based on structures with nanometer-scale features, as well as a wide range of medical applications. The guest editors wish to acknowledge professional colleagues, friends and family members whose contributions and sacrifices made it possible to complete this work. First of all, the authors are grateful to Prof. Michael S. Shur of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute whose outstanding ability as Editor has made our work a pleasure. In addition, Mr. Yeow-Hwa Quek of World Scientific Publishing Company is acknowledged for taking an active interest in making this volume useful to the expected readership. The guest editors extend sincere thanks to Dean Larry Kennedy, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for his active encouragement and for his longstanding efforts to promote excellence in V

vi

Preface

research at UIC. Special thanks go to Dr. John Carrano of the Defense Ad­ vanced Research Projects Agency, Dr. Larry Cooper of the Office of Naval Re­ search, Dr. James W. Mink, Dr. Usha Varshney and Dr. Rajinder Khosla of the National Science Foundation, as well as Dr. Daniel Johnstone and Dr. Todd Steiner of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for their encouragement and interests. MD acknowledges the discussions, interactions and the work of many colleagues and friends who have had an impact on the work in this book. MD would also like to thank Dhiren Dutta for his constant encouragement, and Michael and Gautam Stroscio who everyday add meaning to everything. MAS acknowledges the essential roles that several professional colleagues and friends played in the events leading to his contributions to this book; these people include: Professor Richard L. Magin, Head of the BioEngineering Department at UIC, Professors G. J. Iafrate, M. A. Littlejohn K. W. Kim, R. M. Kolbas, and N. Masnari as well as Dr. Sergiy Komirenko of the North Carolina State University, Professor Vladimir Mitin of the Wayne State University, Professors G. Belenky and S. Luryi and Dr. M. Kisin of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Professors George I. Haddad, Pallab K. Bhattacharya, and Jasprit Singh and Dr. J.-P. Sun of the University of Michigan, Professors Karl Hess and J.-P. Leburton University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Professor L. F. Register of the University of Texas at Austin, Professors H. Craig Casey and Steven Teitsworth of Duke University, and Professor Viatcheslav A. Kochelap of the National Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine. MAS also thanks family members who have been supportive during the period when this book was being edited; these include: Anthony and Norma Stroscio, Mitra Dutta, and Elizabeth, Gautam, Marshall Stroscio.

Preface

vii

Dr. Mitra Dutta is Professor and Head of the Electrical and Computer Engi­ neering Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago as well as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the same institution. Dr. Mitra Dutta received a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in physics from the University of Delhi. She then spent three years on the faculty of the College of Arts, Science and Technology in Kingston, Jamaica, as well as lecturing part-time at the Physics Department of the University of the West Indies. Dr. Dutta earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cincinnati following which and she was a research associate at Purdue University and at City College, New York, as well as a visiting scientist at Brookhaven National Labora­ tory before assuming a variety of government posts in research and development. She worked at the Electronics Technology and Devices Laboratory (ETDL), Fort Monmouth, which was incorporated into the Army Research Laboratory, first as team leader for the optoelectronics team, then as branch chief and finally as di­ rector of the physics division. After moving the laboratory to Adelphi, Maryland, she joined the Electronics Division of the Army Research Office (ARO). After a short time in ARO's Electronics Division, she was appointed Associate Director for Electronics in the Army's Research Office's Engineering Sciences Directorate and assumed the duty of leading ARO's electronics program. Dr. Dutta then assumed a Senior Executive position as ARO's Director for Research and Technology Inte­ gration. She has over one hundred and seventy refereed publications, one hundred and seventy conference presentations, ten book chapters, and has had twenty-seven US patents issued on a wide variety of topics with emphasis on nanoscience, nanoengineering, and optoelectronics. She is the editor of two other World Scientific books entitled Quantum-Based Electronic Devices and Systems and Advances in Semiconductor Lasers and Applications to Optoelectronics, and is the author of a Cambridge University Press book on Phonons in Nanostructures. She was formerly an Adjunct Professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics De­ partments of North Carolina State University, an Adjunct Professor in the Physics Department at the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill and has had adjunct appointments at the Electrical Engineering Departments of Rutgers University and the University of Maryland. Dr. Dutta is a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers, the Optical Society of America and the American Associ­ ation for the Advancement of Science as well as the recipient of the IEEE-US Harry Diamond Memorial Award in 2000.

viii

Preface

Dr. Michael A. Stroscio is Professor in the Bioengineering and Electrical & Com­ puter Engineering Departments at the University of Illinois at Chicago as well as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the same institution. Dr. Michael A. Stroscio earned a Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University and held research positions at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, before moving into the management of federal research and develop­ ment at a variety of U.S. government agencies. Dr. Stroscio has served as a policy analyst for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and as Vice Chairman of the White House Panel on Scientific Communication. He has taught and lectured on physics and electrical engineering at several universities including Duke University, the North Carolina University, the University of Virgina, and the University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Stroscio was the Principal Scientist at the U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) for over a decade as well as an Adjunct Professor at both Duke University and the North Carolina State University for over fifteen years. He has authored over 500 publications, presentations and patents cov­ ering an exceptionally wide variety of topics in the physical sciences and electronics with emphasis on nanoscience and nanoengineering. He is the editor of two other World Scientific books entitled Quantum-Based Electronic Devices and Systems and Advances in Semiconductor Lasers and Applications to Optoelectronics and the au­ thor of two Cambridge University Press books on Phonons in Nanostructures and Quantum Heterostructures: Microelectronics and Optoelectronics. He is a Fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Amer­ ican Association for the Advancement of Science and he is the 1998 recipient of the IEEE-US Harry Diamond Memorial Award and the 1991 recipient of the Issai Lefkowitz Award.

CONTENTS

Preface

v

Novel Heterostructure Devices Electron-Phonon Interactions in Intersubband Laser Heterostructures M. V. Kisin, M. Dutta, and M. A. Stroscio

1

Quantum Dot Infrared Detectors and Sources P. Bhattacharya, A. D. Stiff-Roberts, S. Krishna, and S. Kennedy

31

Generation of Terahertz Emission Based on Intersubband Transitions Q. Hu

57

Mid-Infrared GaSb-Based Lasers with Type-I Heterointerfaces D. V. Donetsky, R. U. Martinelli, and G. L. Belenky

87

Advances in Quantum-Dot Research and Technology: The Path to Applications in Biology M. A. Stroscio and M. Dutta

101

Potential Device Applications and Basic Properties High-Field Electron Transport Controlled by Optical Phonon Emission in Nitrides S. M. Komirenko, K. W. Kim, V. A. Kochelap, and M. A. Stroscio

119

Cooling by Inverse Nottingham Effect with Resonant Tunneling Y. Yu, R. F. Greene, and R. Tsu

145

The Physics of Single Electron Transistors M. A. Kastner

163

Carrier Capture and Transport within Tunnel Injection Lasers: A Quantum Transport Analysis L. F. Register, W.-Q. Chen, X. Zheng, and M. A. Stroscio

197

The Influence of Environmental Effects on the Acoustic Phonon Spectra in Quantum-Dot Heterostructures S. Rufo, M. Dutta, and M. A. Stroscio

209

Quantum Devices with Multipole-Electrode — Heterojunctions Hybrid Structures R. Tsu

221

ix

International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2002) 939-968 © World Scientific Publishing Company

ELECTRON-PHONON INTERACTIONS IN INTERSUBBAND LASER HETEROSTRUCTURES

Mikhail V. Kisin Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, SUNY at Stony Brook, NY 11794 Mitra Dutta and Michael A. Stroscio Departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL 60607 We present a simple semianalytical model, which allows comprehensive analysis of the LO-phonon assisted electron relaxation in quantum well intersubband semiconductor lasers. Examples of scattering rate tailoring in type-I double quantum well heterostructures and analysis of the subband depopulation process in type-II heterostructures illustrate applicability of the model. 1. Introduction Multiple quantum well (QW) heterostructures are used widely for novel intersubband semiconductor lasers operating in the technologically important mid-infrared and farinfrared spectral ranges.1 Essential to the laser heterostructure design is maintaining proper balance between the inter- and intrasubband electron scattering rates, which determine the electron density distribution in the laser active region. This balance influences not only the population inversion between the lasing states but also the threshold level for the electrical or optical pumping thus affecting the possibility of hightemperature continuous-wave laser operation. In polar semiconductors, electron relaxation is usually determined by polar excitations: LO-phonons and, at a higher level of electron concentration, plasmons.2 In this paper, we describe briefly a physical model of electron and polar phonon confinement, which allows tailoring of the scattering rates for the most important relaxation processes in intersubband laser heterostructures.3 A phenomenological approach based on the envelope function approximation will be employed consistently for the analysis of both the electron and phonon spectra. In part 2 we start with the dielectric continuum model, which provides a simple description of the polar mode confinement and allows also incorporation of the screening and plasmon effects. Several examples of electron-phonon scattering rate tailoring in type-I double quantum well heterostructures will illustrate the application of the model. To include into consideration narrow-gap type-I and, especially, broken-gap type-II laser heterostructures, where nonparabolicity and band-mixing effects in electron energy spectrum must be taken into account, we proceed in part 3 with multiband quantization scheme allowing simple semianalytical treatment of the electron confinement in such heterostructures. In part 4 we use this approach to evaluate and compare the rates of two competitive processes of the lower lasing state depopulation in type-II cascade laser heterostructures: direct interband tunneling through the heterostructure "leaky window" and interband electron transitions assisted by LO-phonon emission.

l

940

M. V. Kisin, M. Dutta & M. A. Stroscio

2. Dielectric Continuum Model for Polar Excitations in Layered Heterostructures Energy spectrum of the polar excitations in a layered heterostructure can be characterized by a model Hamiltonian4 H ph-TZL\d

r E

\ m),

87r

™,q

=^L\amqamq+a

*„ '
mq, all other notations are self-explanatory: W ' , ' ) = -Vm(1 (r,t),

(2.2)

+ a+mq(Oe"""1') ; Zmq(t) = e^'Zmq.

^m(r,t)^Omq(Z)(amq(t)e^

(2.3)

After the time averaging, Eq. (2.1) gives the expression for the amplitude of 2D polar mode A2

* « , =^r?

27*0)

) =2-

^(K/V^^K,,)'

,/

^

'.

m

..

(2.4)

The spatial distribution of the polar mode potential across the heterostructure is represented here by smooth envelope function B, that is assuming that the confined 2D electrons interact with dispersionless 3D bulk LO phonons.5 Bulk mode potentials are represented by 3D plane waves with wave vectors (q, qz). The amplitudes of the bulk polar modes can be obtained from Eq. (2.1) after substitution /«-» qz: n =

;

£ a =£(coR).

(2.5)

To facilitate comparison between the two models we write (2.4) in a similar manner ..,

nfi6)ma

^ = Y l^ ^'""l2 + q2(p2mq ) ?(