Photo-hall studies of compound semiconductors

The III-V compound semiconductor materials are used in a wide variety of electronic, optoelectronic and m1crowave device applications. Temperature dependent photo-Hall effect measurements have been made on the high purity compound semiconductors GaAs, InP and a ternary alloy In0 . 53Ga0 . 47As. The major emphasis of this work involves the phenomenon of persistent photoconductivity. This phenomenon has been used to facilitate the electrical characterization of homogeneous and inhomogeneous thin epitaxial semiconductor 1 ayers. This effect 1s associated with a reduction 1n the surface and substrate interface depletion that occurs upon illumination of the sample with above band gap light at cryogen1c temperatures. After illumination, the effects of a photoinduced charge neutral region persists, until at higher temperatures, the sample relaxes back to its original state. For homogeneous layers, the mobility , which is a measure of the microscopic quality of the crystal, rema1ns unchanged after illumination. The persistent photoeffec t strictly results from the increase 1.n the ef fee tive electrical thickness of the layer. By utilizing the persistent photoeffect, electrical measurements have been made on thin high purity GaAs, which was semi-insulating in the dark because of surface and interface depletion. The effects of illumination of inhomogeneous materials has also been studied. Hall measurements on inhomogeneous GaAs and InP layers in the dark show no unusual features. When these layers are illuminated with above band gap light at low temperatures, anomalous values for the mobility and carrier concentration have been measured. In one metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown GaAs sample, the low temperature mobility was decreased by two orders of magnitude after illumination. These particular results have their origin in the occurrence of a accumulation of impurities at the epilayer-substrate interface. The presence of this doping spike ~s not detected when electrical measurements are made ~n the dark because of the interface depletion. These results clearly show that the persistent photo-Hall (i.e., Hall data taken with momentary illumination of the sample with above band gap light at low temperatures) H a powerful method for looking at the electrical properties of thin high purity semiconductors.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Matthew Hidong

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stillman, Gregory E.

• III-V compound semiconductor
• photo-Hall effect
• GaAs
• InP
• epitaxial semiconductor

Statement dc:rights

• 1989 Matthew Hidong Kim

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

1856862

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/23948