GaAsP/Si with high crystalline quality fabricated by cost-effective heteroepitaxial technology is a promising pathway for realizing low-cost Si-based tandem solar cell with efficiency higher than 30%. Herein, hydride vapor-phase epitaxy is used to perform selective area growth of GaAsP with high lateral coverage, referred to as epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG). The ELOG is performed on GaAs-based substrates as a prestudy, followed by GaAs/Si and GaAsP/Si seed wafers employing chemical mechanical polishing to fabricate full 2 00 GaAsP/Si templates. These are subsequently used to grow and process GaAsP/Si pn-junction structures for electrical characterization. The ELOG GaAsP is studied by spatially resolved photoluminescence (PL) mapping and high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements. PL analysis of the GaAsP/GaAs ELOG samples reveals an enhanced P-incorporation during lateral growth of GaAsP. This is also observed for the GaAsP/Si ELOG templates along with evidence of improved material quality, clearly distinguishing the laterally grown GaAsP from the planar growth directly above the Si substrate. Leakage pathways causing reduced electrical performance of the ELOG GaAsP/Si pn-junction structures are identified.

Orientation-patterned gallium phosphide (OP-GaP) has been grown heteroepitaxially on OP gallium arsenide (GaAs) templates using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). The effect of OP-GaAs template fabrication methods of epitaxial-inversion and wafer bonding on the heteroepitaxial OP-GaP growth has been investigated. OP-GaP layers with a growth rate of up to 35 mu m/h and excellent domain fidelity were obtained. The growth rate and the domain fidelity have been revealed/studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM). In addition, we demonstrate that the crystalline quality of the individual domains, namely, the substrate-oriented domains (ODs) and the inverted domains (IDs), can be investigated by high-resolution x-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping (HRXRDRSM), which can also indicate the domain fidelity. Attempts to increase the growth rate and improve the domain fidelity by increasing the III and V group precursors resulted in either an increase in the growth rate in the OP-GaP layers grown on epitaxial inversion OP-GaAs template at the expense of the domain crystalline quality and fidelity or an improvement in the crystalline quality of the domains at the expense of the growth rate in the OP-GaP layers grown on wafer-bonded OP-GaAs templates. In the case of OP-GaP grown on OP-GaAs templates prepared by epitaxial inversion, the crystalline quality of the ODs is better than that of the IDs, but it shows that the quality of the inverted layer in the template influences the quality and fidelity of the grown domains. To the authors' knowledge, exploitation of HRXRDRSM studies on OP-GaP to establish the crystalline quality of its individual domains (ODs and IDs) is the first of its kind. OP-ZnSe grown on OP-GaAs templates has also been included in this study to further emphasize the potential of this method. We propose from this study that once the growth rate is optimized from SEM studies, HRXRDRSM analysis alone can be used to assess the structural quality and to infer the domain fidelity of the OP structures.

Terahertz quantum cascade laser sources based on intra-cavity Cherenkov difference-frequency generation in dual-wavelength mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers are currently the only monolithic semiconductor laser technology that can deliver continuous-wave coherent terahertz output at room temperature. Because the Cherenkov difference-frequency generation process enables terahertz radiation generation and extraction across a wide range of frequencies, it is often assumed that phase-matching conditions for this process are automatically fulfilled. We theoretically analyze and experimentally demonstrate that phase-matching plays an important role in these devices, and significant improvements in terahertz power output can be achieved by adjusting the waveguide configuration of the quantum cascade lasers to provide better phase-matching.

Buried heterostructure quantum cascade lasers (BH-QCLs) operating at high temperature in mid-infrared (MIR) to THz spectral range are desired for chemical sensing and free-space optical communication (FOC). In this work, Fe doped semi-insulating InP (SI-InP) regrowth is demonstrated in a hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) reactor for advanced MIR and THz BH-QCLs grown by MBE and MOCVD. SI-InP regrowth is implemented in THz QCL pillar arrays and narrow width and reverse-taper MIR BH-QCLs for efficient heat dissipation. By exploiting SI-InP regrowth, the parasitic capacitance in MIR distributed feedback BH-QCL can be suppressed, which is exploited for high speed FOC application.

High crystal quality GaAsP/Si fabricated by cost effective heteroepitaxial technology is promising to realize low-cost Si based tandem solar cell with efficiency higher than 30%. In this work, epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG) of GaAsP/GaAs and GaAsP/GaAs/Si by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) and their properties are studied by photoluminescence (PL) mapping. High crystal quality ELOG GaAsP/Si is obtained with enhanced PL intensity and narrow line width indicating reduced defect density provided by ELOG approach.

Gallium nitride (GaN) and indium gallium nitride (InGaN) nanostructures, and their nanocomposites with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are prepared by solvothermal method and used as sensing materials for ammonia gas. The ammonia sensing characteristics are studied by coating the synthesized GaN and InGaN nanostructures, and their nanocomposites on interdigitated electrodes. The sensing parameters, i.e., sensing response, selectivity, and stability, are studied for various operating temperatures and relative humidity. The pristine GaN and InGaN exhibit a sensing response of 23.8% and 28.1% for 200 ppm concentration at 300 K, whereas the nanocomposites of GaN and InGaN show an increased response of 37.4% and 44.2%. This improvement in the nanocomposites maybe ascribed to the better conductivity, higher number of gas adsorption sites and reduced bandgap. It is found that these materials are an excellent choice for ammonia gas sensing application.

Heteroepitaxial Zn-doped p-GaP was grown on (001) GaAs, (001) Si and (111) Si substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy for solar-driven photoelectrochemical applications of hydrogen generation by water splitting and CO2 reduction. Growth of GaP on Si was realized through the implementation of a low-temperature buffer layer, and the morphology and crystalline quality were enhanced by optimizing the precursor flows and pre-heating ambient substrate. The p-GaP/GaAs and p-GaP/Si samples were processed to photoelectrodes with an amorphous TiO2 coating for CO2 reduction and a combination of TiO2 layer and mesoporous tungsten phosphide catalyst for water splitting. P-GaP/GaAs with suitable Zn-doping concentration exhibited photoelectrochemical performance comparable to homoepitaxial p-GaP/GaP for water splitting and CO2 reduction. Degradation of photocurrent in p-GaP/Si photoelectrodes is observed in PEC water splitting due to the high density of defects arising from heteroepitaxial growth.

High power single mode quantum cascade lasers with a narrow far field are important for several applications including surgery or military countermeasure. Existing technologies suffer from drawbacks such as operation temperature and scalability. In this paper we introduce a fabrication approach that potentially solves simultaneously these remaining limitations. We demonstrate and characterize deep etched, buried photonic crystal quantum cascade lasers emitting around a wavelength of 8.5 μm. The active region was dry etched before being regrown with semi-insulating Fe:InP. This fabrication strategy results in a refractive index contrast of 10% allowing good photonic mode control, and simultaneously provides good thermal extraction during operation. Single mode emission with narrow far field pattern and peak powers up to 0.88 W at 263 K were recorded from the facet of the photonic crystal laser, and lasing operation was maintained up to room temperature. The lasing modes emitted from square photonic crystal mesas with a side length of 550μm, were identified as slow Bloch photonic crystal modes by means of three-dimensional photonic simulations and measurements. (Figure presented.).

Three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals are one class of materials where epitaxy, and the resultant attractive electronic properties, would enable new functionalities for optoelectronic devices. Here we utilize self-assembled colloidal templates to fabricate epitaxially grown single crystal 3D mesostructured GaxIn1-xP (GaInP) semiconductor photonic crystals using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). The epitaxial relationship between the 3D GaInP and the substrate is preserved during the growth through the complex geometry of the template as confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. XRD reciprocal space mapping of the 3D epitaxial layer further demonstrates the film to be nearly fully relaxed with a negligible strain gradient. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reflection measurement indicates the optical properties of the photonic crystal which agree with finite difference time domain simulations. This work extends the scope of the very few known methods for the fabrication of epitaxial III-V 3D mesostructured materials to the well-developed HVPE technique.

Buried heterostructure (BH) lasers are routinely fabricated for telecom applications. Development of quantum cascade lasers (QCL) for sensing applications has largely benefited from the technological achievements established for telecom lasers. However, new demands are to be met with when fabricating BH-QCLs. For example, hetero-cascade and multi-stack QCLs, with several different active regions stacked on top of each other, are used to obtain a broad composite gain or increased peak output power. Such structures have thick etch ridges which puts severe demand in carrying out regrowth of semi-insulating layer around very deeply etched (>10 mu m) ridges in short time to realize BH-QCL. For comparison, telecom laser ridges are normally only <5 mu m deep. We demonstrate here that hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) is capable of meeting this new demand adequately through the fabrication of BH-QCLs in less than 45 minutes for burying ridges etched down to 10-15 mu m deep. This has to be compared with the normally used regrowth time of several hours, e.g., in a metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) reactor. This includes also micro-stripe lasers resembling grating-like ridges for enhanced thermal dissipation in the lateral direction. In addition, we also demonstrate HVPE capability to realize buried heterostructure photonic crystal QCLs for the first time. These buried lasers offer flexibility in collecting light from the surface and relatively facile device characterization feasibility of QCLs in general; but the more important benefits of such lasers are enhanced light matter interaction leading to ultra-high cavity Q-factors, tight optical confinement, possibility to control the emitted mode pattern and beam shape and substantial reduction in laser threshold.