Investigation of the Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on MBE Grown GaAsBi/GaAs

94 Pages·2017·2.07 MB·English

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Graduate Theses and Dissertations
12-2013
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Perry C. Grant
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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Grant, P. C. (2013). Investigation of the Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on MBE Grown GaAsBi/GaAs
Heterostructures for Optoelectronic Devices. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from
https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/957
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Investigation of the Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on MBE Grown GaAsBi/GaAs
Heterostructures for Optoelectronic Devices
Investigation of the Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on MBE Grown GaAsBi/GaAs
Heterostructures for Optoelectronic Devices

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Microelectronics/Photonics

by

Perry C. Grant

Southern Arkansas University
Bachelors of Science in Engineering Physics, 2011

December 2013
University of Arkansas

This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council.

__________________________________ __________________________________
Dr. Shui-Qing Yu Dr. Hameed Naseem
Thesis Director Committee member

__________________________________ __________________________________
Dr. Gregory Salamo Professor Ken Vickers
Committee member Ex-Officio Member
The following signatories attest that all software used in this thesis was legally licensed for use
by Perry Grant for research purposes and publication.
__________________________________ __________________________________
Perry C. Grant, Student Dr. Shui-Qing Yu, Thesis Director
This thesis was submitted to http://www.turnitin.com for plagiarism review by the TurnItIn
company’s software. The signatories have examined the report on this thesis that was returned by
TurnItIn and attest that, in their opinion, the items highlighted by the software are incidental to
common usage and are not plagiarized material.

__________________________________ __________________________________
Prof. Ken Vickers, Program Director Dr. Shui-Qing Yu, Thesis Director
Abstract
High efficiency optoelectronic devices rely on high quality materials making up the
device structure. The scope of this thesis investigates the effectiveness of rapid thermal annealing
(RTA) at improving the material quality of GaAsBi/GaAs heterostructures. During the
fabrication of a device, the contacts of the device had the rapid thermal annealing process
accomplished to produce ohmic contacts and this research explored if this annealing treatment
degraded the quantum wells that made up the active region of a device. To investigate these
effects, a system to measure the photoluminescence of the material system was constructed

utilizing Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The photoluminescence intensity of the
grown heterostructures was measured before and after RTA to see if there was any gain in the
luminescence of the heterostructures. Measured gain is attributed to the reduction in non-
radiative defects within the GaAsBi/GaAs material system. For the annealing time of 60
seconds, it was shown that the photoluminescence intensity does increase to a maximum at the
500°C annealing temperature. The maximum gain in photoluminescence intensity was 2.2 times
that of the non-annealed intensity at room temperature. Over this temperature the optical quality
of the material system began to degrade. The structure of the quantum well remained well
formed until an annealing temperature of 750°C at which point the quantum well was destroyed.
X-ray diffraction measurements were also performed to investigate the structural effects of rapid
thermal annealing on the heterostructures. The post growth rapid thermal annealing process was
shown to moderately improve the photoluminescence of GaAsBi/GaAs heterostructures by
increasing the peak intensity by 2.2 times. The structure of the heterostructures under
investigation displayed structural stability up to 750°C, proving that the structural stability could
be maintained during the device fabrication process.
Acknowledgement
I would like to first thank my advisor Professor Shui-Qing Yu, for taking me under his
wing and supporting my study and research at the University of Arkansas. From the moment I
met him, I knew that this research was what I wanted to do and he was who I wanted to work
with. He has driven me to complete this research, while his guidance has illuminated the way.
His unwavering commitment to me and my son have made all this possible.
I am thankful to Professor Hameed Naseem who not only collaborates with our research
group, but took time from his busy schedule to be on my thesis committee. His feedback on the

work that I have accomplished has helped me to focus on areas in which I needed to improve.
I would also like to thank Dr. Gregory Salamo, for not only taking time out of his
extremely busy schedule to be part of my thesis committee, but also giving me a chance to learn
the MBE growth of Bi materials for my future study.
I would like to thank Professor Ken Vickers for him giving me this opportunity and for
keeping my feet to the fire when it got crunch time. His dedication to his students has been
unyielding.
I would like to extend a tremendous amount of thanks to Dr. Dongsheng Fan. Not only
did he grow the structures needed for this research, but he assisted me anytime I needed him
during my research. He is truly an inspiration that I hope to emulate to the best of my ability.
His guidance in helping me start my research as well as discussing ways to improve my research
has always been invaluable. His commitment to me has extended after he graduated and I am
honored to have worked with him for the time that he was here.
Special thanks go out to Ben Conley for his help in understanding the way the FTIR
system works and Amir Ghetmiri for all his help on clarifying the optical necessities needed for
the PL measurement system. I would like to thank Aboozar Mosleh for his work on helping me
complete the HRXRD measurements needed for this research. I would like to thank the rest of
Dr. Yu’s research group for their support and encouragement from week to week in questioning
the research that I have done so that I work to understand it better and for being the good friends
that they have come to be. I would like to thank Dr. Omar Manasreh, for use of the RTA in his
laboratory. I would like to thank Dr. Mourad Benamara for his training on the TEM even if I
have not used it yet in the research, his expertise will be invaluable in the future. I would also

like to thank Mike Hawkridge for training me and helping on HRXRD measurements that were
needed for this research.
I would like to thank my father, James W. Grant for his ever extending support no matter
what I needed. I would also like to thank his fiancée, Judy Hudman, who has been a blessing,
both to my dad and to me. Thank you so much for being there for us. I would like to thank the
rest of my friends both near and abroad for their support of what I am accomplishing.
I would like to thank all the funding agencies that saw this work to completion. This
work is supported by NSF MRSEC Program (DMR-0520550), NSF Career Award (DMR-
1149605), NSFC-51272038, and Arkansas Biosciences Institute. Any opinions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or Arkansas Biosciences
Institute.
Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to my son J.B. Grant. He has been the driving force behind my
working to improve myself. His love and support of his dad has been a rock when I have needed
it. His excitement at the research I am accomplishing shows just how much a child can be
involved with this process. Through the good times and the hard ones, during my study at the
University of Arkansas, he has always had a smile on his face to brighten my day. To see him
playing keeps me reminded what it is to have fun and no matter how stressful things get to find a
way to have a bit of fun to reduce the stress away. I am grateful that he is with me as we both

pursue our educations. We started school on the same day in Fayetteville, with me beginning
graduate school and him entering kindergarten. We have done this together and have had a great
time doing it. Here is to my son, may he do more than his daddy every thought of.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Current telecommunication laser diodes .......................................................................... 2
1.2 GaAsBi material for temperature insensitive infrared laser diodes ................................. 4
1.3 Material Improvement Using Post Growth Thermal Treatments................................... 12
1.4 Scope of thesis ................................................................................................................ 14
Chapter 2 Experimental Design and measurements ................................................................ 15
2.1 Experimental Design of Annealing Treatment............................................................... 15
2.2 Sample measurements .................................................................................................... 17
2.3 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 19
Chapter 3 Rapid Thermal Annealing ....................................................................................... 20
3.1 Heatpulse Rapid Thermal Annealer ............................................................................... 20
3.2 Annealing Recipes.......................................................................................................... 22
3.3 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 24
Chapter 4 Photoluminescence (PL) ......................................................................................... 25
4.1 PL system construction .................................................................................................. 26
4.2 PL system testing ........................................................................................................... 34
4.3 Pre-Annealing PL Measurements .................................................................................. 41
4.4 Post annealing PL measurements ................................................................................... 45
4.5 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 51
Chapter 5 X-ray Diffraction .................................................................................................... 52
5.1 Equipment Utilized and Measurement Procedure .......................................................... 52
5.2 Composition and Thickness of Heterostructures ........................................................... 54
5.3 Post annealing measurements......................................................................................... 57
5.4 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 60
Chapter 6 Summary, Conclusion, and Future Work ............................................................... 61
References ..................................................................................................................................... 64

Appendix A Description of Research for Popular Publication ..................................................... 69
Appendix B Executive Summary of Newly Created Intellectual Property .................................. 72
Appendix C Potential Patent and Commercialization Aspects of Listed Intellectual Property
Items .............................................................................................................................................. 73
Appendix D Broader Impact of Research ..................................................................................... 74
D.1 Applicability of Research Methods to Other Problems...................................................... 74
D.2 Impact of Research Results on U.S. and Global Society ................................................... 74
D.3 Impact of Research Results on the Environment ............................................................... 74
Appendix E Microsoft project for MS MicroEP Degree Plan ...................................................... 75
Appendix F Identification of All Software Used for Research and Thesis Generation ................ 79
Appendix G All Publications Published, Submitted, or Planned Journals: .................................. 80
G.1 Journals ............................................................................................................................... 80
G.2 Conferences: ....................................................................................................................... 80