Effect of surface defects on InGaAs/InAlAs Quantum Cascade mesa current-voltage characteristics

Nyan L. Aung, Xue Huang, Williams O. Charles, Nan Yao, Claire F. Gmachl

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate the impact of surface defect density on the transport properties of molecular beam epitaxy grown InGaAs/AlInAs Quantum Cascade (QC) structures. We examine six parameters of the current-voltage (IV) characteristics of the QC mesas: turn-on voltage, turn-on current density, turn-on differential resistance, differential resistance, cut-off voltage, and cut-off current density. The analyses for pulsed mode operation (T=80 K and 300 K) and continuous wave (CW) operation (80 K) show that all six parameters are only weakly correlated to surface defects. The turn-on voltage and current density share a negative correlation with defects (>-0.26) in both pulsed mode and CW operation at 80 K, and a positive correlation in pulsed mode at 300 K (<0.21). The cut-off voltage has a positive correlation in all three modes of operation (<0.51). The cut-off current density has a positive correlation (<0.39) in both pulsed mode (80 K and 300 K) and a negligible correlation in CW operation (80 K). We observed insignificant correlation coefficients (<0.1) for differential resistances at 80 K along with a weak negative correlation (>-0.29) in pulsed mode at 300 K. Our analysis demonstrates that shallow oval and a few deep oval defects have little influence on IV.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)35-38
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Crystal Growth
Volume353
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 15 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Materials Chemistry

Keywords

  • A3. Molecular beam epitaxy
  • A3. Quantum wells
  • B2. Semiconducting III-V materials
  • B3. Quantum Cascade device

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