Meltback and pullover as causes of disturbances in liquid-phase epitaxial growth of InGaAsP/InP 1.3-micron laser material
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The necessary phase diagram data for growing lattice-matched layers of PbSnSeTe on PbSe are presented. Solid compounds of Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Se(1-y)Te(y) lattice-matched to PbSe were grown from liquid melts consisting of (Pb/1-x/Sn/x/)(1-z)(Se/1-y/Te/y/)(z); phase equilibria data were determined together with liquidus data for values of x(liquid) from 0 to 40 percent and y(liquid) from 0 to 40 percent for temperatures between 450 and 540 C. It was found that relatively large amounts of Te must be added to the melt to achieve lattice matching because of its low segregation coefficient relative to Se. A significant lattice-pulling effect was discovered for the 5-percent Sn case, and a similar effect is expected for the 10- and 20-percent Sn cases.
This paper describes growth of (Al/x/Ga/1-x)0.51In0.49P layers (with x from 0 to 1) lattice-matched to (001)-oriented GaAs substrates by atmospheric-pressure OMVPE, using trimethylindium, trimethylaluminum, and trimethylgallium and PH3 as source materials in a horizontal reactor. Excellent surface morphologies were obtained over the entire range of Al compositions at a growth temperature of 680 C. Photoluminescence (PL) was observed for all samples with x values not below 0.52, with PL peak energies as high as 2.212 eV. The PL FWHM for Ga(0.51)In(0.49)P was 7.2 meV at 10 K and 35 meV at 300 K. At 10 K, the PL intensity was nearly a constant over the composition range from x = 0 to 0.52.
The dynamics of As(sub 2) molecule incorporation into the flat Ga-terminated GaAs(100) surface is studied computationally. The time-dependent Schrodinger equation is solved on a two-dimensional potential energy surface obtained using density functional theory calculations. The probabilities of trapping and subsequent dissociation of the molecular As(sub 2) bond are calculated as a function of beam translational energy and vibrational quantum number of As(sub 2).
This paper updates recent progress made in growth, characterization, and understanding of high quality homoepitaxial and heteroepitaxial films grown on step-free 4H-SiC mesas. First, we report initial achievement of step-free 4H-SiC surfaces with carbon-face surface polarity. Next, we will describe further observations of how step-free 4H-SiC thin lateral cantilever evolution is significantly impacted by crystal faceting behavior that imposes non-uniform film thickness on cantilever undersides. Finally, recent investigations of in-plane lattice constant mismatch strain relief mechanisms observed for heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC as well as 2H-AlN/GaN heterofilms on step-free 4H-SiC mesas will be reviewed. In both cases, the complete elimination of atomic heterointerface steps on the mesa structure enables uniquely well-ordered misfit dislocation arrays to form near the heterointerfaces with remarkable lack of dislocations threading vertically into the heteroepilayers. In the case of 3C-SiC heterofilms, it has been proposed that dislocation half-loops nucleate at mesa edges and glide laterally along the step-free 3C/4H interfaces. In contrast, 3C-SiC and 2H-AlN/GaN heterofilms grown on 4H-SiC mesas with steps exhibit highly disordered interface misfit dislocation structure coupled with 100X greater density of dislocations threading through the thickness of the heteroepilayers. These results indicate that the presence of steps at the heteroepitaxial interface (i.e., on the initial heteroepitaxial nucleation surface) plays a highly important role in the defect structure, quality, and relaxation mechanisms of single-crystal heteroepitaxial films.
There is disclosed ultrathin film material templating layers that force the morphology of subsequently grown electrically active thin films have been found to increase the performance of small molecule organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. There is disclosed electron-transporting material, such as hexaazatriphenylene-hexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN) can be used as a templating material that forces donor materials, such as copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) to assume a vertical-standing morphology when deposited onto its surface on an electrode, such as an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode. It has been shown that for a device with HAT-CN as the templating buffer layer, the fill factor and short circuit current of CuPc:C60 OPVs were both improved compared with cells lacking the HAT-CN template. This is explained by the reduction of the series resistance due to the improved crystallinity of CuPc grown onto the ITO surface.
A method for making LNO film, including the steps of identifying a substrate, identifying a deposition target, placing the substrate and deposition target in a deposition environment, evolving target material into the deposition environment, and depositing evolved target material onto the substrate to yield an LNO film. The deposition environment defines a temperature of between 500 degrees Celsius and 750 degrees Celsius and a pressure of about 10 −6 Torr. A seed or buffer layer may be first deposited onto the substrate, wherein the seed layer is about 30 mole percent gold and about 70 LiNbO 3 .
Epitaxial ZnO films were grown on the two polar surfaces (0-face and Zn-face) of (0001) ZnO single crystal substrates using off-axis magnetron sputtering deposition. As a comparison, films are also deposited on the (000 I) Al203 substrates. It is found that the two polar surfaces have different photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, surface structure and morphology, which are strongly inference the epitaxial film growth. The morphology and structure of epitaxial films on the ZnO substrates are different from the film on the Al203 substrates. An interesting result shows that high temperature annealing of ZnO single crystals will improve the surface structure on the O-face surface rather than the opposite Surface. The measurements of PL, low-angle incident x-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy of ZnO films indicate that the O-terminated surface is better for ZnO epitaxial film growth using reactive sputtering deposition.
Epitaxial ZnO films were grown on the two polar surfaces (O-face and Zn-face) of (0001) ZnO single crystal substrates using off-axis magnetron sputtering deposition. Annealing-temperature dependence of ZnO substrates was studied. ZnO films grown on sapphire substrates have also been investigated for comparison purposes and the annealing temperature of A1203 substrates is 1000 C. Substrates and films were characterized using photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscope, energy dispersive spectrum, and electric transport measurements. It has been found that the ZnO film properties were different when films were grown on the two polarity surfaces of ZnO substrates and the A1203 substrates. An interesting result shows that high temperature annealing of ZnO single crystals will improve the surface structure on the O-face surface rather than the opposite surface. The measurements of homoepitaxial ZnO films indicate that the O-terminated surface is better for ZnO epitaxial film growth.
Either classical or low temperature epitaxial growth techniques can be used to control the deposition of buffer layers of GaAs on semiconducting substrates and to obtain the resistivity and purity desired. Techniques developed to study, as a function of thickness, the evolution of mobilities by photoHall, and the spectroscopy of shallow and deep centers by cathodoluminescence and current transients reveal one very pure layer of medium resistivity and high mobility, and another "dead layer" of elevated resistivity far from the surface. The highly resistive layer remains pure over several microns, which appears interesting for implantation.
The objective of this proposed project is to research and develop a prediction tool for advanced additive manufacturing (AAM) processes for advanced materials and develop experimental methods to provide fundamental properties and establish validation data. Aircraft structures and engines demand materials that are stronger, useable at much higher temperatures, provide less acoustic transmission, and enable more aeroelastic tailoring than those currently used. Significant improvements in properties can only be achieved by processing the materials under nonequilibrium conditions, such as AAM processes. AAM processes encompass a class of processes that use a focused heat source to create a melt pool on a substrate. Examples include Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication and Direct Metal Deposition. These types of additive processes enable fabrication of parts directly from CAD drawings. To achieve the desired material properties and geometries of the final structure, assessing the impact of process parameters and predicting optimized conditions with numerical modeling as an effective prediction tool is necessary. The targets for the processing are multiple and at different spatial scales, and the physical phenomena associated occur in multiphysics and multiscale. In this project, the research work has been developed to model AAM processes in a multiscale and multiphysics approach. A macroscale model was developed to investigate the residual stresses and distortion in AAM processes. A sequentially coupled, thermomechanical, finite element model was developed and validated experimentally. The results showed the temperature distribution, residual stress, and deformation within the formed deposits and substrates. A mesoscale model was developed to include heat transfer, phase change with mushy zone, incompressible free surface flow, solute redistribution, and surface tension. Because of excessive computing time needed, a parallel computing approach was also tested. In addition, after investigating various methods, a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Model (SPH Model) was developed to model wire feeding process. Its computational efficiency and simple architecture makes it more robust and flexible than other models. More research on material properties may be needed to realistically model the AAM processes. A microscale model was developed to investigate heterogeneous nucleation, dendritic grain growth, epitaxial growth of columnar grains, columnar-to-equiaxed transition, grain transport in melt, and other properties. The orientations of the columnar grains were almost perpendicular to the laser motion's direction. Compared to the similar studies in the literature, the multiple grain morphology modeling result is in the same order of magnitude as optical morphologies in the experiment. Experimental work was conducted to validate different models. An infrared camera was incorporated as a process monitoring and validating tool to identify the solidus and mushy zones during deposition. The images were successfully processed to identify these regions. This research project has investigated multiscale and multiphysics of the complex AAM processes thus leading to advanced understanding of these processes. The project has also developed several modeling tools and experimental validation tools that will be very critical in the future of AAM process qualification and certification.
The as-processed microstructure of metal alloy parts manufactured through laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is heavily derived from the cellular dendritic solidification. The growth direction of dendrites within the melt pool is determined through competition among epitaxial growth, preferred growth directions, and maximum thermal gradients. However, the dominant factor and the specific role of each in developing melt pool microstructures remain unknown. Here, in this study, we performed single laser track scans on an SS316L single crystal substrate and combined experimental characterization of microstructure and crystal orientations with Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations of thermal gradients to evaluate the role of each factor in determining dendritic growth direction and evolution. Our results reveal that epitaxial growth dominates microstructure development by preferentially growing along a single 〈100〉 variant of the single crystal substrate adjacent to the melt pool boundary. Under LPBF’s highly curved and rapidly evolving thermal field, this preferential dendrite variant selection and its continued growth from the melt pool boundary to the centerline are governed by the local temperature gradient magnitude at the solid-liquid interface, rather than by the instantaneous maximum temperature gradient direction alone. Using these findings, we successfully predict changes in the dendrite growth direction with changing laser scan direction on a single crystal substrate, and show that the geometric melt pool centerline can deviate from the microstructural centerline because asymmetric local temperature gradient magnitudes transiently limit growth, resulting in different dendrite travel distances on each side of the melt pool.
Growth of wurtzite ScxAl1−xN (x < 0.23) by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy on cplane GaN at high temperatures significantly alters the extracted lattice constants of the material due to defects likely associated with remnant phases. In contrast, ScAlN grown below a composition-dependent threshold temperature exhibits uniform alloy distribution, reduced defect density, and atomic-step surface morphology. The c-plane lattice constant of this low-temperature ScAlN varies with composition as expected from previous theoretical calculations and can be used to reliably estimate alloy composition. Moreover, lattice-matched Sc0.18Al0.82N/GaN multiquantum wells grown under these conditions display strong and narrow near-infrared intersubband absorption lines that confirm advantageous optical and electronic properties.
Accurate electron attenuation lengths are of critical importance in using electron spectroscopic methods to quantitatively characterize complex materials. Here we show that analysis of core-level and valence-band x-ray photoelectron spectra excited with monochromatic AlK? x-rays from the substrate and measured as a function of film thickness can be used to determine electron attenuation lengths in epitaxial SrTiO3 films on Ge(001). Closely lattice-matched epitaxial heterojunctions are ideal systems for determining attenuation lengths provided the films grow in a layer-by-layer fashion, leading to atomically flat surfaces, and the buried interfaces are atomically abrupt. In principle, either the rate of attenuation of substrate peak intensities or the rate of increase of film peak intensities can be used for this purpose. However, we find that structural nonuniformities in the films reduce the accuracy of electron attenuation lengths determined from photoelectrons that originate within the films. A more reliable source of information is found in photoelectrons from the substrate which traverse the film. By using the energy dependence of calculated electron attenuation lengths from the NIST database in combination with Ge 3d core and Ge-derived valence band intensities, we determine electron attenuation length as a function of kinetic energy for SrTiO3.
Epitaxial CdTe has been grown on both (100)GaAs/Si and (111)GaAs/Si substrates. A combination of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) has been employed for the first time to achieve this growth: the GaAs layers are grown on Si substrates by MBE and the CdTe film is subsequently deposited on GaAs/Si by MOCVD. The grown layers have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and photoluminescence.
The epitaxial growth of 100-262.5-nm SrF2 films on n-type and p-type (100)InP in a conventional baked UHV system at base pressure about 200 ptorr, temperature 250-350 C, and growth rate from less than 100 to about 200 pm/s. Substrates are chemicomechanically polished, degreased, bombarded with 500-eV Ar ions for 3-4 min at 350 C, and annealed for 23-30 min at 350 C, producing a slightly In-rich (In/P = 1.02) In-island-free surface with a (4 x 1) or (1 x 1) LEED structure. Films grown at 350 C and less than 100 pm/s are found to be smooth and free of cracks in most cases, with a highly faceted (1 x 1) LEED structure. The electrical properties of the SrF2 films are found to be acceptable only when the ohmic contacts are applied prior to the substrate prior to SrF2 growth.