Compound Semiconductors Strained Layers and Devices

In recent years, extensive work has been done on strain, dislocations and mechanical properties of strained layers. Although it is not possible to describe all this work in a monograph of this size, Compound Semiconductors Strained Layers and Devices provides an overview with sufficient detail to cover all the essential aspects of recent developments in the field. The book concentrates on compound semiconductors with emphasis on wideband gap II-VI and III-Nitride semiconductors. GeSi strained layers are discussed for comparison to clarify the underlying physics. The effects of strain on band structure, transport, and optical properties of both the zinc blende and the wurtzite compound semiconductors are discussed, as are Piezoelectric Effects and Quantum Confined Stark Effects. Magnetic polarons in diluted II-VI magnetic polarons are also covered. Among the applications, blue and green LEDs and LDs and mid-IR LDs are included. A whole chapter is devoted to these devices. Another chapter examines transistors based on conventional III-V, II-VI and III-nitride semiconductors. The subject matter is treated at a level appropriate for students and senior researchers interested in material science, and in designing and modeling semiconductor devices. It will also be useful to engineers and material scientists concerned with the effects of strain on the mechanical properties of crystalline layers of any material.

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Evolution of strained layers.- 1.2 Conventional III-V-based heterostructures.- 1.3 III-Nitrides.- 1.4 Wide bandgap II-VI semiconductors.- 1.5 Material parameters.- 1.6 Scope and organization of this book.- 2 Characterization and growth.- 2.1 Methods of characterization.- 2.2 Epitaxial growth methods.- 2.3 Growth of conventional III-V semiconductors.- 2.4 Growth of II-VI semiconductors.- 2.5 Growth of Ill-nitride epilayers.- 3 Strain and critical thickness.- 3.1 Strain and energies of epilayers.- 3.2 Processes involved in dislocation generation.- 3.3 Critical thickness.- 4 Strain relaxation and defects.- 4.1 Strain in GeSi layers.- 4.2 Strain in III-V semiconductor layers.- 4.3 Strain in II-VI layers.- 4.4 Strain and defects in Ill-Nitride layers.- 5 Band structure and optical properties.- 5.1 Band structure.- 5.2 Band offsets.- 5.3 Optical properties of III-V semiconductors.- 5.4 Optical properties of II-VI semiconductors.- 5.5 Optical properties of Ill-Nitrides.- 6 Electrical and magnetic properties.- 6.1 Electrical properties of II-VI semiconductors.- 6.2 Electrical properties of n-type GaN.- 6.3 Electrical properties of p-type Ill-Nitrides.- 6.4 Electrical properties A1N, InN and alloys.- 6.5 Schottky barriers and ohmic contacts.- 6.6 Effect of applied electric field.- 6.7 Piezoelectric effect.- 6.8 Effect of magnetic field on semiconductors.- 7 Strained layer optoelectronic devices.- 7.1 Conventional-Ill-V semiconductor lasers.- 7.2 ZnSe-based light emitters and other devices.- 7.3 Other II-VI semiconductor applications.- 7.4 Ill-Nitride Light Emitting Diodes.- 7.5 GaN based Lasers.- 8 Transistors.- 8.1 InGaAs transistors.- 8.2 II-VI semiconductor transistors.- 8.3 Ill-Nitride based transistors.- 8.4 Device Processing.- 9 Summary and conclusions.- 9.1 Growth, defects and strain.- 9.2 Band structure and electronic properties.- 9.3 Applications and future work.- Appendix A.