Heterostructure

A more effective carrier confinement is offered by a double heterostructure in which a thin layer of a low-gap material is sandwiched between larger-gap layers. The physical junction between two materials of different gaps is called a heterointerface. A schematic representation of the band diagram of such a stmcture is shown in figure C2.l6.l0. The electrons, injected under forward bias across the p-n junction into the lower-bandgap material, encounter a potential barrier AE at the p-p junction which inliibits their motion away from the junction. The holes see a potential barrier of... 

Casey H C Jr and Panish M B 1978 Heterostructure Lasers (New York Academic)... 

Bastard G 1988 Wave Mechanics Appiied to Semiconductor Heterostructures (New York Halsted)... 

DH = double heterostructure, homo = homostructure, and SH = single heterostructure. 

G. Bastard, Wave Mechanics Applied to Semiconductor Heterostructures, Halsted Press, New York, 1988. 

Heterostructures and Superlattices. Although useful devices can be made from binary compound semiconductors, such as GaAs, InP, or InSb, the explosive interest in techniques such as MOCVD and MBE came about from their growth of ternary or quaternary alloy heterostmctures and supedattices. Eor the successful growth of alloys and heterostmctures the composition and interfaces must be accurately controlled. The composition of alloys can be predicted from thermodynamics if the flow in the reactor is optimised. Otherwise, composition and growth rate variations are observed... 

Several heterostructure geometries have been developed since the 1970s to optimize laser performance. Initial homojunction lasers were advanced by the use of heterostmctures, specifically the double-heterostmcture device where two materials are used. The abiUty of the materials growth technology to precisely control layer thickness and uniformity has resulted in the development of multiquantum well lasers in which the active layer of the laser consists of one or mote thin layers to allow for improved electron and hole confinement as well as optical field confinement. 

Cathodoluminescence microscopy and spectroscopy techniques are powerful tools for analyzing the spatial uniformity of stresses in mismatched heterostructures, such as GaAs/Si and GaAs/InP. The stresses in such systems are due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficients between the epitaxial layer and the substrate. The presence of stress in the epitaxial layer leads to the modification of the band structure, and thus affects its electronic properties it also can cause the migration of dislocations, which may lead to the degradation of optoelectronic devices based on such mismatched heterostructures. This application employs low-temperature (preferably liquid-helium) CL microscopy and spectroscopy in conjunction with the known behavior of the optical transitions in the presence of stress to analyze the spatial uniformity of stress in GaAs epitaxial layers. This analysis can reveal,... 

Band gap engineetring confined hetetrostruciutres. When the thickness of a crystalline film is comparable with the de Broglie wavelength, the conduction and valence bands will break into subbands and as the thickness increases, the Fermi energy of the electrons oscillates. This leads to the so-called quantum size effects, which had been precociously predicted in Russia by Lifshitz and Kosevich (1953). A piece of semiconductor which is very small in one, two or three dimensions - a confined structure - is called a quantum well, quantum wire or quantum dot, respectively, and much fundamental physics research has been devoted to these in the last two decades. However, the world of MSE only became involved when several quantum wells were combined into what is now termed a heterostructure. 

A new chapter in the uses of semiconductors arrived with a theoretical paper by two physicists working at IBM s research laboratory in New York State, L. Esaki (a Japanese immigrant who has since returned to Japan) and R. Tsu (Esaki and Tsu 1970). They predicted that in a fine multilayer structure of two distinct semiconductors (or of a semiconductor and an insulator) tunnelling between quantum wells becomes important and a superlattice with minibands and mini (energy) gaps is formed. Three years later, Esaki and Tsu proved their concept experimentally. Another name used for such a superlattice is confined heterostructure . This concept was to prove so fruitful in the emerging field of optoelectronics (the merging of optics with electronics) that a Nobel Prize followed in due course. The central application of these superlattices eventually turned out to be a tunable laser. 

Epitaxy. There is often a sharp orientation relationship between a singlecrystal substrate and a thin-film deposit, depending on the crystal structures and lattice parameters of the two substances. When such a relationship exists, the deposit is said to be in epitaxy with the substrate. The simplest relationship is parallel orientation, and this is common in semiconductor heterostructures, but more complex relationships are often encountered. 

The production of emitting sources requires further development in material technology, as the emitting wavelength is controlled by the compositions of alloy semiconductors to form heterostructures such as InGaAs/InAs" " or III-V alloy systems. 

R. K. Akchurin, D. V. Komarov. Formation of multilayer strained-layer heterostructures by liquid epitaxy. I. Theoretical aspects of the problem and mathematical model. Tech Phys 42 155, 1997. 

Emanuel, M.,Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition for the Heterostructure Hot Electron Diode, Noyes Data Corp., Park Ridge, NJ (1989)... 

The ability to create and observe coherent dynamics in heterostructures offers the intriguing possibility to control the dynamics of the charge carriers. Recent experiments have shown that control in such systems is indeed possible. For example, phase-locked laser pulses can be used to coherently amplify or suppress THz radiation in a coupled quantum well [5]. The direction of a photocurrent can be controlled by exciting a structure with a laser field and its second harmonic, and then varying the phase difference between the two fields [8,9]. Phase-locked pulses tuned to excitonic resonances allow population control and coherent destruction of heavy hole wave packets [10]. Complex filters can be designed to enhance specific characteristics of the THz emission [11,12]. These experiments are impressive demonstrations of the ability to control the microscopic and macroscopic dynamics of solid-state systems. 

Calculating the exact response of a semiconductor heterostructure to an ultrafast laser pulse poses a daunting challenge. Fortunately, several approximate methods have been developed that encompass most of the dominant physical effects. In this work a model Hamiltonian approach is adopted to make contact with previous advances in quantum control theory. This method can be systematically improved to obtain agreement with existing experimental results. One of the main goals of this research is to evaluate the validity of the model, and to discover the conditions under which it can be reliably applied. 

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