No Arabic abstract
We demonstrate that X-ray irradiation can be used to induce an insulator-metal transition in Si-doped Al$_{0.35}$Ga$_{0.65}$As, a semiconductor with {it DX} centers. The excitation mechanism of the {it DX} centers into their shallow donor state was revealed by studying the photoconductance along with fluorescence. The photoconductance as a function of incident X-ray energy exhibits an edge both at the Ga and As K-edge, implying that core-hole excitation of Ga and As are efficient primary steps for the excitation of {it DX} centers. A high quantum yield ($gg 1$) suggests that the excitation is indirect and nonlocal, due to secondary electrons, holes, and fluorescence photons.
A remarkable progress towards functional ferromagnetic semiconductor materials for spintronics has been achieved in p-type (Ga,Mn)As. Robust hole-mediated ferromagnetism has, however, been observed also in other III-V hosts such as antimonides, GaP or (Al,Ga)As which opens a wide area of possibilities for optimizing the host composition towards higher ferromagnetic Curie temperatures. Here we explore theoretically ferromagnetism and Mn incorporation in Ga(As,P) and (Al,Ga)As ternary hosts. While alloying (Ga,Mn)As with Al has only a small effect on the Curie temperature we predict a sizable enhancement of Curie temperatures in the smaller lattice constant Ga(As,P) hosts. Mn-doped Ga(As,P) is also favorable, as compared to (Al,Ga)As, with respect to the formation of carrier and moment compensating interstitial Mn impurities. In (Ga,Mn)(As,P) we find a marked decrease of the partial concentration of these detrimental impurities with increasing P content.
Experiments on resonances of conduction electrons in InGaAs/InAlAs double quantum wells at megagauss magnetic fields in the Faraday geometry are reported. We observe new cyclotron resonances assisted by emission of InAs-like and GaAs-like optic phonons and a combined (cyclotron-spin) resonance assisted by emission of InAs-like phonon. The observations are very well described for three laser frequencies with the use of an eight-band (three level) $textbf{k}cdot textbf{p}$ model, taking into account position- and energy-dependent effective masses and spin g-factors. It is indicated that the new observations are possible due to the application very high magnetic fields.
The spin polarization of the electron current in a p-(Ga,Mn)As-n-(Al,Ga)As-Zener tunnel diode, which is embedded in a light-emitting diode, has been studied theoretically. A series of self-consistent simulations determines the charge distribution, the band bending, and the current-voltage characteristics for the entire structure. An empirical tight-binding model, together with the Landauer- Buttiker theory of coherent transport has been developed to study the current spin polarization. This dual approach allows to explain the experimentally observed high magnitude and strong bias dependence of the current spin polarization.
$beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ is a promising ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor whose properties can be further enhanced by alloying with Al. Here, using atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), we find the thermodynamically-unstable $gamma$-phase is a ubiquitous defect in both $beta$-(Al$_x$Ga$_{1text{-}x}$)$_2$O$_3$ films and doped $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. For undoped $beta$-(Al$_x$Ga$_{1text{-}x}$)$_2$O$_3$ films we observe $gamma$-phase inclusions between nucleating islands of the $beta$-phase at lower growth temperatures (~400-600 $^{circ}$C). In doped $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, a thin layer of the $gamma$-phase is observed on the surfaces of films grown with a wide range of n-type dopants and dopant concentrations. The thickness of the $gamma$-phase layer was most strongly correlated with the growth temperature, peaking at about 600 $^{circ}$C. Ga interstitials are observed in $beta$-phase, especially near the interface with the $gamma$-phase. By imaging the same region of the surface of a Sn-doped $beta$-(Al$_x$Ga$_{1text{-}x}$)$_2$O$_3$ after ex-situ heating up to 400 $^{circ}$C, a $gamma$-phase region is observed to grow above the initial surface, accompanied by a decrease in Ga interstitials in the $beta$-phase. This suggests that the diffusion of Ga interstitials towards the surface is likely the mechanism for growth of the surface $gamma$-phase, and more generally that the more-open $gamma$-phase may offer diffusion pathways to be a kinetically-favored and early-forming phase in the growth of Ga$_2$O$_3$.
The effect of modulation doping by Be on the ferromagnetic properties of Ga(1-x)Mn(x)As is investigated in Ga(1-x)Mn(x)As/Ga(1-y)Al(y)As heterojunctions and quantum wells. Introducing Be acceptors into the Ga(1-y)Al(y)As barriers leads to an increase of the Curie temperature T_C of Ga(1-x)Mn(x)As, from 70 K in undoped structures to over 100 K with the modulation doping. This increase is qualitatively consistent with a multi-band mean field theory simulation of carrier-mediated ferromagnetism. An important feature is that the increase of T_C occurs only in those structures where the modulation doping is introduced after the deposition of the magnetic layer, but not when the Be-doped layer is grown first. This behavior is expected from the strong sensitivity of Mn interstitial formation to the value of the Fermi energy during growth.