Relaxation In Semiconductors Research Articles

Phonon-Mediated Exciton Relaxation in Two-Dimensional Semiconductors: Selection Rules and Relaxation Pathways.

Exciton-phonon coupling (ExPC) is crucial for energy relaxation in semiconductors, yet the first-principles calculation of such coupling remains challenging, especially for two-dimensional (2D) systems. Here, an accurate method for calculating ExPC is developed and applied in exciton relaxation problems in monolayer WSe2. Considering the interplay between the exciton wave functions and electron-phonon coupling (EPC) matrix elements, we find that ExPC shows selection rules distinct from the ones of EPC. By employing the Wannier exciton model, we generalize these selection rules, which state that the angular quantum numbers of the exciton must match the winding numbers of the EPC matrix elements for the ExPC to be allowed. To verify our theory and method, we calculate intervalley exciton relaxation pathways, which agree well with a recent experiment.

Effects of impurities on the cooling of photoexcited carriers in La1−xSrxCoO3−δ: A DFT and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics study

Photo-carrier relaxation in semiconductors determines their photon-conversion efficiency. Impurities have been proven to play an essential role in improving the efficiency and stability of perovskites. We studied the effects of Sr-doping and O-vacancies on the electronic band structure and photoexcited carrier cooling of perovskite-type LaCoO3 using density functional theory and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics methods. We found that the substitution of Sr2+ for La3+ in LaCoO3 leads to a semiconductor–metal transition, while a stoichiometric oxygen vacancy restores semiconductor properties in La1−xSrxCoO3−δ (δ = x/6). In addition, the oxygen vacancy basically changes the electronic band structures, and for visible light with low oxygen vacancy intensity, the photo-electron cooling can be reduced fourfold relative to that of pure LaCoO3. We clarify the functions of impurities, Sr-dopants, and O-vacancies in LaCoO3 and find that the average coupling strength between carriers (electrons/holes) and phonons can be used as a descriptor to characterize carrier relaxation, which is of great value for the further development of practical photo-conversion based on perovskites.

Terahertz response of ultrafast spin polarization in semi-insulating GaAs

Due to its high sensitivity and time-resolved ability, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is a powerful tool for investigating ultrafast carrier dynamics in semiconductors. In addition to charges, spins of ultrafast carriers provide an alternate degree of freedom to design modern electronic devices but are rarely studied by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. Here, ultrafast spin polarization in semi-insulating GaAs is studied by optical-pump terahertz-probe experiments at room temperature. We used circularly and linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulses to inject nonequilibrium carriers in GaAs and observed that both the transmitted and reflected terahertz signals exhibited different dynamical evolutions under the excitations of linearly and circularly polarized laser pulses, which are ascribed to the generation and relaxation of spin-polarized electrons. The lifetime of the ultrafast spin polarization was obtained from our experiments, highlighting the potentialities of terahertz spectroscopy for the investigation of spin relaxation in semiconductors.

Ab initio analysis for the initial process of Joule heating in semiconductors

To investigate the initial process of Joule heating in semiconductors microscopically and quantitatively, we developed a theoretical framework for the ab initio evaluation of the carrier energy relaxation in semiconductors under a high electric field using a combination of the two-temperature model and the Boltzmann equation. We employed the method for bulk silicon as a typical example. Consequently, we found a remarkable difference in the energy relaxation processes of the electron and hole carriers. The longitudinal acoustic and optical phonons at the zone boundary contribute to the energy relaxation of electron carriers, whereas they contribute negligibly to that of the hole carriers. In addition, at the band edge, the energy relaxation rate is maximized for the electron carriers, whereas it is suppressed for the hole carriers. These differences stem from the presence/absence of intervalley scattering processes and isotropic/anisotropic band structures in electrons and holes. Our results lay the foundation for controlling the thermal generation in semiconductors by material design.

Quantum Interference Controls the Electron Spin Dynamics in n -GaAs

Manifestations of quantum interference effects in macroscopic objects are rare. Weak localization is one of the few examples of such effects showing up in the electron transport through solid state. Here we show that weak localization becomes prominent also in optical spectroscopy via detection of the electron spin dynamics. In particular, we find that weak localization controls the free electron spin relaxation in semiconductors at low temperatures and weak magnetic fields by slowing it down by almost a factor of two in $n$-doped GaAs in the metallic phase. The weak localization effect on the spin relaxation is suppressed by moderate magnetic fields of about 1 T, which destroy the interference of electron trajectories, and by increasing the temperature. The weak localization suppression causes an anomalous decrease of the longitudinal electron spin relaxation time $T_1$ with magnetic field, in stark contrast with well-known magnetic field induced increase in $T_1$. This is consistent with transport measurements which show the same variation of resistivity with magnetic field. Our discovery opens a vast playground to explore quantum magneto-transport effects optically in the spin dynamics.

Quantum limited heterodyne detection of spin noise.

Spin noise spectroscopy is a powerful technique for studying spin relaxation in semiconductors. In this article, we propose an extension of this technique based on optical heterodyne detection of spin noise, which provides several key advantages compared to conventional spin noise spectroscopy: detection of high frequency spin noise not limited by detector bandwidth or sampling rates of digitizers, quantum limited sensitivity even in case of very weak probe power, and possible amplification of the spin noise signal. Heterodyne detection of spin noise is demonstrated on insulating n-doped GaAs. From measurements of spin noise spectra up to 0.4 Tesla, we determined the distribution of g-factors, Δg/g = 0.49%.

Electron-phonon relaxation and excited electron distribution in gallium nitride

We develop a theory of energy relaxation in semiconductors and insulators highly excited by the long-acting external irradiation. We derive the equation for the non-equilibrium distribution function of excited electrons. The solution for this function breaks up into the sum of two contributions. The low-energy contribution is concentrated in a narrow range near the bottom of the conduction band. It has the typical form of a Fermi distribution with an effective temperature and chemical potential. The effective temperature and chemical potential in this low-energy term are determined by the intensity of carriers' generation, the speed of electron-phonon relaxation, rates of inter-band recombination, and electron capture on the defects. In addition, there is a substantial high-energy correction. This high-energy “tail” largely covers the conduction band. The shape of the high-energy “tail” strongly depends on the rate of electron-phonon relaxation but does not depend on the rates of recombination and trapping. We apply the theory to the calculation of a non-equilibrium distribution of electrons in an irradiated GaN. Probabilities of optical excitations from the valence to conduction band and electron-phonon coupling probabilities in GaN were calculated by the density functional perturbation theory. Our calculation of both parts of distribution function in gallium nitride shows that when the speed of the electron-phonon scattering is comparable with the rate of recombination and trapping then the contribution of the non-Fermi “tail” is comparable with that of the low-energy Fermi-like component. So the high-energy contribution can essentially affect the charge transport in the irradiated and highly doped semiconductors.

Relaxation of highly excited carriers in wide-gap semiconductors

The electron energy relaxation in semiconductors and insulators after high-level external excitation is analysed by a semi-classical approach based on a kinetic equation of the Boltzmann type. We show that the non-equilibrium distributions of electrons and holes have a customary Fermi-like shape with some effective temperature but also possess a high-energy non-Fermian ‘tail’. The latter may extend deep into the conduction and valence bands while the Fermi-like component is localized within a small energy range just above the edge of the band gap. The effective temperature, effective chemical potential, and the shape of the high-energy component are governed by the process of electron–phonon interactions as well as by the rates of carrier generation and inter-band radiative recombination.

Low‐jitter, high‐linearity current‐controlled complementary metal oxide semiconductor relaxation oscillator with optimised floating capacitors

A new complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) relaxation oscillator featuring with high linearity and low-jitter is presented in this study. The high linearity between the frequency and control current is achieved by adopting the floating capacitor and the independent charged and discharged loops. The low-jitter performance is gained because of that the voltage across the floating capacitor is larger than the conventional oscillator. The proposed circuit is compatible with standard CMOS process and one test-chip with typical frequency of 6.66 MHz was implemented in the 0.5 μm (bipolar–CMOS–double-diffused metaloxide semiconductor (DMOS)) (BCD) process. The measured results show that <0.86% non-linearity in the current–frequency transfer function from 1 to 6.66 MHz without trimming. The cycle-to-cycle jitter was <112 ppm.

Light-induced nuclear quadrupolar relaxation in semiconductors

Light excitation of a semiconductor, known to dynamically-polarize the nuclear spins by hyperfine contact interaction with the photoelectrons, also generates an intrinsic nuclear depolarization mechanism. This novel relaxation process arises from the modulation of the nuclear quadrupolar Hamiltonian by photoelectron trapping and recombination at nearby localized states. For nuclei near shallow donors, the usual diffusion radius is replaced by a smaller, quadrupolar, radius. If the light excitation conditions correspond to partial donor occupation by photoelectrons, the nuclear magnetization and the nuclear field can be decreased by more than one order of magnitude.

Electron and hole spin dynamics in semiconductor quantum dots

We report direct measurement of the spin dynamics of electrons and holes in self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) through polarization-sensitive time-resolved photoluminescence experiments on modulation-doped quantum dot heterostructures. Our measured hole spin decay time is considerably longer than in bulk and quantum well semiconductor systems, indicating that the removal of near degenerate hole states with different spin quantization axes through three-dimensional confinement slows hole spin relaxation in semiconductors. The electron and hole spin decay times we observe (electrons: 120ps; holes: 29ps) are consistent with spin relaxation via phonon-mediated virtual scattering between the lowest two confined levels in the QDs, which have a mixed spin character due to the spin–orbit interaction.

Semiclassical kinetic theory of electron spin relaxation in semiconductors

We develop a semiclassical kinetic theory for electron spin relaxation in semiconductors. Our approach accounts for elastic as well as inelastic scattering and treats Elliott-Yafet and motional-narrowing processes, such as D'yakonov-Perel' and variable g-factor processes, on an equal footing. Focusing on small spin polarizations and small momentum transfer scattering, we derive, starting from the full quantum kinetic equations, a Fokker-Planck equation for the electron spin polarization. We then construct, using a rigorous multiple time scale approach, a Bloch equation for the macroscopic ($\vec{k}$-averaged) spin polarization on the long time scale, where the spin polarization decays. Spin-conserving energy relaxation and diffusion, which occur on a fast time scale, after the initial spin polarization has been injected, are incorporated and shown to give rise to a weight function which defines the energy averages required for the calculation of the spin relaxation tensor in the Bloch equation. Our approach provides an intuitive way to conceptualize the dynamics of the spin polarization in terms of a ``test'' spin polarization which scatters off ``field'' particles (electrons, impurities, phonons). To illustrate our approach, we calculate for a quantum well the spin lifetime at temperatures and densities where electron-electron and electron-impurity scattering dominate. The spin lifetimes are non-monotonic functions of temperature and density. Our results show that at electron densities and temperatures, where the cross-over from the non-degenerate to the degenerate regime occurs, spin lifetimes are particularly long.

Spintronics and spintronics materials

The review concerns the fundamentals of spintronics (spin-transport electronics). The material covers spin-spin interactions and spin relaxation in semiconductors as well as spin and spin injection related effects in the condensed matter. Examples of promising spintronic devices are given, requirements for spintronic materials are formulated, methods of synthesis of spintronic materials are described, and the physicochemical properties of some materials are characterized. Organic spintronic materials are briefly outlined and the state-of-the art in the field of research on inhomogeneous magnetic semiconducting materials possessing high-temperature ferromagnetism is described. The emphasis is placed on the chemical bonding and electronic structure of magnetic impurities in semiconductors, consideration of the nature of ferromagnetism, and on the character of exchange interactions between localized spins in novel spintronic materials.

Electron spin relaxation in semiconductors and semiconductor structures

We suggest an approach to the problem of a free electron spin evolution in a semiconductor with arbitrary anisotropy or quantum structure in a magnetic field. The developed approach utilizes quantum kinetic equations for average spin components. These equations represent the relaxation in terms of correlation functions for fluctuating effective fields responsible for spin relaxation. In a particular case when autocorrelation functions are dominant, the kinetic equations reduce to the Bloch equations. The developed formalism is applied to the problem of electron spin relaxation due to exchange scattering in a semimagnetic quantum well (QW) as well as to the spin relaxation in a QW due to the Dyakonov-Perel mechanism. The results permit us to separate the longitudinal ${T}_{1}$ and transversal ${T}_{2}$ relaxation times in a strong enough magnetic field and to trace the cases of undistinguished parameters ${T}_{1}$ and ${T}_{2}$ in zero and small magnetic fields. Some new predictions of the developed theory are discussed. Namely, we discuss the nonmonotonic behavior of spin relaxation caused by exchange scattering under an external magnetic field and new peculiarities of electron spin evolution caused by the presence of three relaxation times (rather than two) for the Dyakonov-Perel mechanism in a quantum well.

Optical Manifestations of Electron Spin Transport and Relaxation in Semiconductors

A brief review of the history and the current state of the research on spin transport in semiconductors is given. Recent results on long spin memory in n-type structures, as well as relations of transport and relaxation issues are discussed.

Optical Manifestations of Electron Spin Transport and Relaxation in Semiconductors

A brief review of the history and the current state of the research on spin transport in semiconductors is given. Recent results on long spin memory in n-type structures, as well as relations of transport and relaxation issues are discussed.

Electron and phonon temperature relaxation in semiconductors excited by thermal pulse

Electron and phonon transient temperatures are analyzed in the case of nondegenerate semiconductors. An analytical solution is obtained for rectangular laser pulse absorption. It is shown that thermal diffusion is the main energy relaxation mechanism in the phonon subsystem. The mechanism depends on the correlation between the sample length l and the electron cooling length lε in an electron subsystem. Energy relaxation occurs by means of the electron thermal diffusion in thin samples (l≪lε), and by means of the electron–phonon energy interaction in thick samples (l≫lε). Characteristic relaxation times are obtained for all the cases, and analysis of these times is made. Electron and phonon temperature distributions in short and long samples are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed for different correlations between the laser pulse duration and characteristic times.

Metastability in the Matthews?Blakeslee mechanism for semiconductor film relaxation

Experimental evidence has been obtained for GaAs/Ge which demonstrates the high metastability of films of thickness t c far above the critical thickness determined by the Matthews-Blakeslee model for relaxation in semiconductors. In addition, a dislocation blocking mechanism as described by the Freund model has been found. Both are related to misfit behaviour and misfit dislocation (MD) glide with temperature. It is shown that one has to take into account the possibility that the MDs do not lie entirely in the glide planes and that the mobility of point defects needs to be considered to explain their development. The movement of MDs would be controlled by a 'critical length' that actually lies in the glide plane and it is this thickness that must be compared with the critical value t c rather than the whole layer thickness t F.

Gateable suppression of spin relaxation in semiconductors.

The decay of spin memory in a 2D electron gas is found to be suppressed close to the metal-insulator transition. By dynamically probing the device using ultrafast spectroscopy, relaxation of optically excited electron spin is directly measured as a function of the carrier density. Motional narrowing favors spin preservation in the maximally scattered but nonlocalized electronic states. This implies that the spin-relaxation rate can be both tuned in situ and specifically engineered in appropriate device geometries.

Strain and strain relaxation in semiconductors

Single-crystal semiconductor layers can be grown with large coherency strains. This review covers their standard elasticity theory and methods of measuring the strain. High-quality strained layers are thermodynamically stable up to a critical thickness, and both theoretical and experimental determinations of critical thickness are considered. Above critical thickness there is a metastable regime, with thicknesses of a few tens of nanometres for a typical misfit e0∼1%. A relaxation critical thickness is identified, above which compressive strain produces plastic relaxation so the strain in a layer is less than its misfit (tensile layers commonly experience cracking instead of plastic relaxation). Relaxing layers may have a misfit e0∼1%, and thicknesses of a few hundred nanometres. In the high-mismatch regime, any strain severely perturbs the crystal growth; this occurs typically for misfits of 2% upwards. The review concludes with some unresolved questions about multilayer structures.