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Low Temperature Growth of GaAs on Si Substrates for Ultra-fast Photoconductive Switches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2011

Kai Ma
Affiliation:
Solid State and Photonics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Ryohei Urata
Affiliation:
Solid State and Photonics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
David A. B. Miller
Affiliation:
Solid State and Photonics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
James S. Harris
Affiliation:
Solid State and Photonics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
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Abstract

We have grown GaAs directly on silicon substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at low substrate temperatures (∼250 °C). The silicon wafer surface cleaning and GaAs film growth processes were done at temperatures lower than the Si-Al eutectic temperature, in order to enable monolithic integration of low-temperature-grown-GaAs (LT-GaAs) photoconductive switches with Si-CMOS circuits. In situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), ex situ x-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies were performed to characterize the LT-GaAs film quality. The film surfaces show less than 1 nm root-mean-square (rms) roughness and the anti-phase domain (APD) density is below the XRD detection limit. Metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photoconductive switches were made using this material. A time-resolved electro-optic sampling technique was used to determine the responsivity and speed of the switches. A full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) switching time of ∼2 picoseconds was achieved and the responsivity of switches made from LT-GaAs on Si material was comparable to that of switches made from LT-GaAs on GaAs material.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

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