Non-destructive characterization of thin layer resonant tunnelling diodes

Baba, R., Jacobs, K. J.P., Harrison, B. A., Stevens, B. J., Mukai, T. and Hogg, R. A. (2019) Non-destructive characterization of thin layer resonant tunnelling diodes. Journal of Applied Physics, 126, 124304. (doi: 10.1063/1.5113585)

Abstract

We present an advanced nondestructive characterization scheme for high current density AlAs/InGaAs resonant tunneling diodes pseudomorphically grown on InP substrates. We show how low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy (LT-PL) and high-resolution X-ray diffractometry (HR-XRD) are complementary techniques to increase the confidence of the characterized structure. The lattice-matched InGaAs is characterized and found to be of high quality. We discuss the inclusion of an undoped “copy” well (C-well) in terms of enhancements to HR-XRD and LT-PL characterization and quantify the improved precision in determining the structure. As a consequence of this enhanced precision in the determination of physical structure, the AlAs barriers and quantum well (QW) system are found to contain nonideal material interfaces. Their roughness is characterized in terms of the full width to half-maximum of the split LT-PL emission peaks, revealing a ±1 atomic sheet variance to the QW width. We show how barrier asymmetry can be detected through fitting of both optical spectra and HR-XRD rocking curves.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council DTA studentship EP/L505055/1.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hogg, Professor Richard and Baba, Mr Razvan
• Authors: Baba, R., Jacobs, K. J.P., Harrison, B. A., Stevens, B. J., Mukai, T., and Hogg, R. A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• ISSN: 0021-8979
• ISSN (Online): 1089-7550
• Published Online: 25 September 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © Authors 2019
• First Published: First published in Journal of Applied Physics 126:124304
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license