Engineering topics

Schulman, Joel N.

Publications and source records attributed to Schulman, Joel N..

4 records

NASA NTRS2004

Electron-Spin Filters Based on the Rashba Effect

Semiconductor electron-spin filters of a proposed type would be based on the Rashba effect, which is described briefly below. Electron-spin filters more precisely, sources of spin-polarized electron currents have been sought for research on, and development of, the emerging technological discipline of spintronics (spin-based electronics). There have been a number of successful demonstrations of injection of spin-polarized electrons from diluted magnetic semiconductors and from ferromagnetic metals into nonmagnetic semiconductors. In contrast, a device according to the proposal would be made from nonmagnetic semiconductor materials and would function without an applied magnetic field. The Rashba effect, named after one of its discoverers, is an energy splitting, of what would otherwise be degenerate quantum states, caused by a spin-orbit interaction in conjunction with a structural-inversion asymmetry in the presence of interfacial electric fields in a semiconductor heterostructure. The magnitude of the energy split is proportional to the electron wave number. The present proposal evolved from recent theoretical studies that suggested the possibility of devices in which electron energy states would be split by the Rashba effect and spin-polarized currents would be extracted by resonant quantum-mechanical tunneling. Accordingly, a device according to the proposal would be denoted an asymmetric resonant interband tunneling diode [a-RITD]. An a-RITD could be implemented in a variety of forms, the form favored in the proposal being a double-barrier heterostructure containing an asymmetric quantum well. It is envisioned that a-RITDs would be designed and fabricated in the InAs/GaSb/AlSb material system for several reasons: Heterostructures in this material system are strong candidates for pronounced Rashba spin splitting because InAs and GaSb exhibit large spin-orbit interactions and because both InAs and GaSb would be available for the construction of highly asymmetric quantum wells. This mate-rial system affords a variety of energy-band alignments that can be exploited to obtain resonant tunneling and other desired effects. The no-common-atom InAs/GaSb and InAs/AlSb interfaces would present opportunities for engineering interface potentials for optimizing Rashba spin splitting.

Ting, David Z.-Y.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Simulations of Resonant Intraband and Interband Tunneling Spin Filters

This viewgraph presentation reviews resonant intraband and interband tunneling spin filters It explores the possibility of building a zero-magnetic-field spin polarizer using nonmagnetic III-V semiconductor heterostructures. It reviews the extensive simulations of quantum transport in asymmetric InAs/GaSb/AlSb resonant tunneling structures with Rashba spin splitting and proposes a. new device concept: side-gated asymmetric Resonant Interband Tunneling Diode (a-RITD).

resonant tunneling↗

NASA NTRS1990

MBE HgCdTe heterostructure detectors

HgCdTe has been the mainstay for medium (3 to 5 micron) and long (10 to 14 micron) wavelength infrared detectors in recent years. Conventional growth and processing techniques are continuing to improve the material. However, the additional ability to tailor composition and placement of doped layers on the tens of angstroms scale using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) provides the opportunity for new device physics and concepts to be utilized. MBE-based device structures to be discussed here can be grouped into two categories: tailored conventional structures and quantum structures. The tailored conventional structures are improvements on familiar devices, but make use of the ability to create layers of varying composition, and thus band gap, at will. The heterostructure junction can be positioned independently of doping p-n junctions. This allows the small band gap region in which the absorption occurs to be separated from a larger band gap region in which the electric field is large and where unwanted tunneling can occur. Data from hybrid MBE/liquid phase epitaxy (LPE)/bulk structures are given. Quantum structures include the HgTe-CdTe superlattice, in which the band gap and transport can be controlled by alternating thin layers (tens of angstroms thick) of HgTe and CdTe. The superlattice has been shown to exhibit behavior which is non-alloy like, including very high hole mobilities, two-dimensional structure in the absorption coefficient, resonant tunneling, and anisotropic transport.

Schulman, Joel N.↗

NASA NTRS1990

InAs/Ga(1-x)In(x)Sb superlattices for infrared detector applications

The successful growth of InAs/Ga(1-x)In(x)Sb superlattices and their optical and structural characterization is discussed. Samples were grown by molecular beam epitaxy at fairly low substrate temperatures (less than 400 C). Structural quality was assessed by reflection high energy electron difrraction, transmission electron microscopy, and x ray diffraction. Excellent structures were achieved for growth on thick, strain relaxed GaSb buffer layers on GaAs substrates, despite a residual threading dislocation density of 10(exp 9)cm(exp -2) originating at the GaSb/GaAs interface. Despite a lattice mismatch of 1.7 percent, InAs/Ga(0.75)In(0.25)Sb superlattices are observed to be free of misfit dislocations at the thicknesses examined here, owing to the close lattice match between the superlattice and GaSb, which evenly distributes compressive and tensile stresses between the InAs and Ga(0.75)In(0.25)Sb layers. Photoluminescence and photoconductivity measurements indicate that the energy gaps of the strain-layer superlattices are smaller than those of InAs/GaSb superlattices with the same layer thicknesses, and are in agreement with the theoretical predictions of Smith and Mailhiot. Energy gaps of 80 to 250 meV (15 to 5 microns) have been measured for InAs/Ga(0.75)In(0.25)Sb superlattices with 45 to 25 A/25 A layer thickness. Results demonstrate that far-infrared cutoff wavelengths are compatible with the thin superlattice layers required for strong optical absorption in type-II superlattices.

Miles, Richard H.↗