Thin-film Semiconductor Structures Research Articles

Semiconductor Membrane Exfoliation: Technology and Application

AbstractFlexible semiconductor film‐based optoelectronic devices have garnered significant attention in emerging fields such as the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable devices, and smart healthcare due to their wide range of applications. It is challenging to directly grow the foundational materials of optoelectronic devices, specifically semiconductor thin film structures, on flexible substrates. Instead, they are typically fabricated on conventional rigid thick semiconductor substrates. Consequently, the exfoliation and transfer of epitaxial semiconductor thin film structures onto substrates constitute pivotal steps in the production of flexible optoelectronic devices. The integration of hard inorganic semiconductor materials with flexible substrates offers a solution to the limitations of rigidity and brittleness associated with conventional optoelectronic devices and can be used to address challenges from design to manufacturing. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the working principles and recent advances of various techniques aimed at achieving the membrane exfoliation and transfer of semiconductor structures on conventional rigid substrates. It also reviews the possible applications of the transferred membrane in a variety of optoelectronic devices. Finally, it offers insights into the potential of high‐end semiconductor manufacturing and flexible semiconductor devices to play a critical role in advancing next‐generation optoelectronics technologies.

Aging and degradation of transparent copper iodide thin film electrodes for functional electronic devices

Transparent CuJ copper iodide thin-film electrodes are widely used in various optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, electroluminescent displays, touch screens, multifunctional photoconverters, etc. Their advantages are high transparency, because CuJ absorbs light in a limited range of wavelengths, which allows them to transmit visible light, making them ideal for transparent devices, low cost, because copper iodide is an inexpensive material, making it economically viable for mass production, simplicity fabrication, as CuJ can be easily deposited on various substrates using simple film deposition techniques such as vacuum deposition and magnetron sputtering. However, transparent CuJ type thin-film electrodes are subject to aging and degradation, which can reduce their performance and service life. The main factors affecting the aging and degradation of CuJ are the processes of oxidation, diffusion, degradation under the influence of light, and humidity. Despite numerous studies in the direction of obtaining high-quality thin films of copper iodide, today there is a need for a detailed study of the processes of their aging and degradation of properties. Therefore, in this article, we investigated the degradation processes of transparent upper copper iodide electrodes of thin-film multicomponent semiconductor heterostructures. This article shows the features of the use of film copper iodide in multilayer thin-film semiconductor structures. The influence of atmospheric conditions and lighting on the values of the rates of degradation of electrical resistance of copper iodide in semiconductor thin-film structures was studied. It has been found that atmospheric exposure to oxygen, moisture and other factors increases the electrical resistance of the copper iodide top electrode, and the use of Elastosil sealant does not lead to appreciable improvement. Heterostructures in vacuum are minimally affected by external factors, and therefore a significant increase in their CuJ upper electrode resistance values indicates the predominant role of aging of copper iodide films, which is not related to atmospheric conditions. It was established that natural sunlight significantly increases the degradation of copper iodide films, which should be taken into account when forming and using the corresponding thin film structures.

Chemical deposition and mechanical application of semiconductors thin films

Features and main technological methods of forming thin layers of semiconductor materials by methods of chemical deposition and mechanical application are analyzed. The disadvantages of thermal sputtering and cathodic sputtering of thin films in vacuum for multicomponent semiconductor compounds are indicated. Features of chemical deposition of semiconductor films from the gas (steam) phase are presented. Such deposition involves the transfer of source material from the evaporator zone with higher temperature in the form of volatile compounds to the colder surface of the substrate, where the film growth occurs as a result of reaction of transported compounds or their decomposition. It is shown that the growth of the film during chemical vapor deposition is a process of layer-by-layer condensation of atoms or molecules, with the advantageous difference that during chemical deposition the latter are formed as a result of a heterogeneous chemical reaction when there is no need for average free path length of the gas molecules to be larger than the size of the deposition chamber, i.e. no need for critical degree of vacuum. Chemical deposition of thin films from solution is characterized as a process of precipitation of solute which occurs due to the fact that the ionic product exceeds the product of solubility, i.e. it is greater than the constant value characteristic of a saturated solution in the equilibrium state. We emphasize, that chemical deposition from an water solution allows to obtain homogeneous in thickness and structure fine-grained non-textured mechanically stable polycrystalline films with good adhesion to substrates and the required set of properties. The method of pulverization with subsequent pyrolysis is described. This is deposition from intracomplex organometallic compounds, which is based on thermally stimulated reactions between clusters of atoms, chemically active substances of liquid or vapor phase. The method of electrolytic deposition on electrically conductive substrates is characterized. The method is using appropriate salt solutions by co-deposition of individual components, or by deposition on the cathode of one of the components with its subsequent interaction with others present in the solution. We also describe the method of obtaining epitaxial thin films of semiconductor deposition materials. We note that the analyzed methods or their modifications are necessary tool today to create thin-film semiconductor structures with predetermined properties. In the same time, in each particular case the features of each method of obtaining thin semiconductor films should be comprehensively evaluated and, depending on the chemical composition, structure, topology and complex of expected properties, the most effective method should be applied.

Femtosecond dual-comb Yb:CaF2 laser from a single free-running polarization-multiplexed cavity for optical sampling applications.

Dual optical frequency combs are an appealing solution to many optical measurement techniques due to their high spectral and temporal resolution, high scanning speed, and lack of moving parts. However, industrial and field-deployable applications of such systems are limited due to a high-cost factor and intricacy in the experimental setups, which typically require a pair of locked femtosecond lasers. Here, we demonstrate a single oscillator which produces two mode-locked output beams with a stable repetition rate difference. We achieve this via inserting two 45°-cut birefringent crystals into the laser cavity, which introduces a repetition rate difference between the two polarization states of the cavity. To mode-lock both combs simultaneously, we use a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). We achieve two simultaneously operating combs at 1050 nm with 175-fs duration, 3.2-nJ pulses and an average power of 440 mW in each beam. The average repetition rate is 137 MHz, and we set the repetition rate difference to 1 kHz. This laser system, which is the first SESAM mode-locked femtosecond solid-state dual-comb source based on birefringent multiplexing, paves the way for portable and high-power femtosecond dual-combs with flexible repetition rate. To demonstrate the utility of the laser for applications, we perform asynchronous optical sampling (ASOPS) on semiconductor thin-film structures with the free-running laser system, revealing temporal dynamics from femtosecond to nanosecond time scales.

Technological Methods of Forming Thin Semiconductor Layers Part 3. Сathode Sputtering

The peculiarities and the basic technological ways of forming thin layers of semiconductor materials in vacuum by the method of thermal sputtering in quasi-closed volume are analyzed. The disadvantages of thermal deposition of thin films in open vacuum for multicomponent semiconductor compounds are indicated. We present designs of special collapsible evaporation chambers for quasi-closed volume thermal vacuum deposition, which contain the source material and the substrate in quasi-insulated conditions, and allow to create and control the necessary temperature ratios between the evaporator, substrate, walls and other structural elements. It is shown that the spatial distribution of temperature in the mentioned above chambers provides the evaporation (sublimation) of the starting material, the reflection of vapors from the heated walls, the intense exchange interaction between the gas phase and the condensation surfaces, which contributes to the diffusion mechanism of the transfer of matter and thermodynamically balanced process of film growth. It is shown that for all modifications the conditions of isolation of the localized volume and equilibrium of the condensation process are fulfilled to a greater or lesser extent by creating the required temperature gradient. However, it is problematic to use such designs for mass production because of their complexity and technological features. That is why, the method of thermal deposition of thin films in a quasi-closed volume is most often used in the manufacture of epitaxial single crystalline layers for research and experimental development, and for industrial production it is very effective to develop methods for obtaining thin films that combine on the one side universality of open vacuum, and on the other allow to approximate the processes of evaporation (sublimation) – condensation to thermodynamic equilibrium, for example, different variants of “hot walls”. It is stated that the analyzed methods or their modifications are today a necessary means of creating thin-film semiconductor structures with predetermined properties. It is stated that the analyzed methods or their modifications are today a necessary means of creating thin-film semiconductor structures with predetermined properties.

Technological Methods of Forming Thin Semiconductor Layers. Part 2

Features and basic technological methods of formation of thin layers of semiconductor materials in a vacuum with the method of thermal spraying in a quasi-closed volume are analyzed. The disadvantages of thermal spraying of thin films of multicomponent semiconductor compounds in an open vacuum are indicated. The designs of special collapsible evaporator chambers for thermo-vacuum sputtering in a quasi-closed volume containing the raw material and substrate in quasi-isolated conditions are presented. They allow to create and manage the necessary temperature corrections between the evaporator, lining, walls and other structural elements. The designs of special collapsible evaporator chambers for thermo-vacuum sputtering in a quasi-closed volume containing the raw material and substrate in quasi-isolated conditions are presented. They allow to create and manage the necessary temperature corrections between the evaporator, lining, walls and other structural elements. It is shown that the spatial temperature distribution in the discussed constructs provides the evaporation (sublimation) of the source material, the reflection of vapor from the heated walls, the intensive exchange interaction between the gas phase and the condensation surfaces and the prevailing condensation on the substrate surface, which contributes to the diffusion mechanism of the transfer of matter and to the thermodynamically balanced growth process for films. It is shown that for all modifications, to a greater or lesser extent, the conditions for the isolation of the localized volume and the equilibrium of the condensation process are fulfilled by creating the necessary temperature gradient. It is indicated that it is problematic to use such structures for mass production due to their complexity and technological features. That is why the method of thermal spraying of thin films in the quasi-closed volume is most often used in the production of epitaxial monocrystalline layers for scientific research and experimental development, and for industrial production it is very effective to develop methods for obtaining thin films, which from one hand combine universality of thermal spraying in opened vacuum and from another hand allow to bring the processes of evaporation (sublimation) and condensation closer to thermodynamic equilibrium, for example, various types of “hot walls”. It is noted that the analyzed methods or their modifications are these necessary methods of creating thin-film semiconductor structures with predetermined properties.

Technological Methods of Forming Thin Semiconductor Layers. Part 1

The review and analysis of the basic technological methods of formation of thin layers of semiconductor materials is presented. The timeframe for the occurrence of thin film technologies and the main centers of their localization are specified. It is shown that nowadays structure, properties and basic methods of obtaining thin films sufficiently well studied for not only simple but also complex, multi-component inorganic semiconductor materials, new areas of application and increase of requirements to the operational characteristics of devices on their basis require improvement of existing technologies and development of new methods for their synthesis, which involves a detailed analysis of the known, and the search for new, progressive methods of preparation. Due to the fact that the main methods for obtaining thin films of inorganic semiconductor materials are vacuum condensation and chemical precipitation, the first part of the review describes the methods of their vacuum application, in particular, thermal spraying in an open vacuum. It is shown that the most common way of obtaining thin films is the thermal spraying under resistive heating of the evaporator with the source material.We analyze the special structural and technological changes and improvement of traditional methods and systems of thermal spraying, which allow to equalize the ratio of the chemical composition of thin films and the source material, improve the stoichiometry of condensates, and ensure their homogeneity.The designs of thermal evaporators with resistive heating of crucibles in an open vacuum with sublimation or evaporation of one and two substances are presented. It is shown how these types of evaporators exclude the transfer of solid particles into evaporating or sublimation into the vapor phase and eliminate direct vapor deposition on the condensation surface, which more or less protects against heterogeneous condensate inclusions.It is shown that the methods analyzed or their modifications are nowadays the necessary means for the creation of thin-film semiconductor structures with predetermined properties, while vacuum deposition, in particular, traditional and modified thermal spraying in a vacuum due to its simplicity(but at the same time its ability to effectively control a large the number of technological factors and create the necessary conditions for the growth of condensates) remains one of the most common ways of obtaining thin films, including inorganic semiconductors.

Coupled electron–heat transport in nonuniform thin film semiconductor structures

A theory of transverse electron transport coupled with heat transfer in semiconductor thin films is developed conceptually modeling structures of modern electronics. The transverse currents generate Joule heat with positive feedback through thermally activated conductivity. This can lead to instability known as thermal runaway, or hot spot, or reversible thermal breakdown. A theory here is based on the optimum fluctuation method modified to describe saddle stationary points determining the rate of such instabilities and conditions under which they evolve. Depending on the material and system parameters, the instabilities appear in a manner of phase transitions, similar to either nucleation or spinodal decomposition.

Charging of glassy chalcogenide semiconductors in corona discharge and its effect on holographic grating formation

Recording of optical holographic gratings based on photostructural transformations in thin (≈ 1 μm) As2S3 and As2S3 semiconductor layers in the presence and absence of a corona discharge and also chemical etching of these gratings are studied. Initiation of a corona at the stage of interference grating recording is shown to improve the exposure contrast of metal-glassy chalcogenide semiconductor thin-film structures. The holographic sensitivity, diffraction efficiency, dynamic range, and contrast are also improved severalfold. When phase relief gratings formed in these layers are selectively etched in a chemical etchant in the presence of a corona, their profile becomes more regular and deeper by 25–30% and the diffraction efficiency increases by 30–50%.

Semiconductor Thin Films Combined With Metallic Grating for Selective Improvement of Thermal Radiative Absorption/Emission

We propose in this work a structure of semiconductor thin films combined with a one-dimensional metallic grating, which allows for selective improvement of thermal radiative absorptivity (also emissivity) of the structure. Both shallow and deep gratings are considered in this work. Our numerical results obtained with a 2D rigorous coupled-wave analysis algorithm demonstrate that the proposed structure exhibits enhanced spectral absorptivity for photon energy slightly above the gap energy of the semiconductor (silicon in this work). Furthermore, the selectively improved absorptivity can be obtained in a wide range of incidence angles. As such, much smaller thickness of the semiconductor layer is required to absorb the same amount of high energy photons than in a conventional Si-based photovoltaic device. In addition, absorptivity for low energy photons in the new structure is lower due to the smaller semiconductor layer thickness. Therefore, the new structure may have potential applications in energy conversion devices.

Study of annealing effects in In-Sb bilayer thin films

The thin films of In-Sb having different thicknesses of antimony keeping constant thickness of indium was deposited by thermal evaporation method on ITO coated conducting glass substrates at room temperature and a pressure of 10−5 torr. The samples were annealed for 1 h at 433 K at a pressure of 10−5 torr. The optical transmission spectra of as deposited and annealed films have been carried out at room temperature. The variation in optical band gap with thickness was also observed. Rutherford back scattering and X-ray diffraction analysis confirms mixing of bilayer system. The transverse I-V characteristic shows mixing effect after annealing at 433 K for 1 h. This study confirms mixing of bilayer structure of semiconductor thin films.

Carrier-induced ferromagnetism in Ge(Mn,Fe) magnetic semiconductor thin-film structures

We report on the carrier-induced ferromagnetism in Ge(Mn,Fe) magnetic semiconductor insulating-type thin-film structures prepared using sequential deposition at Tg=520K with subsequent annealing at Tg. In the resulting films Mn and Fe are diffused in the Ge matrix without compromising the epitaxial structure. The anomalous Hall effect serves as a manifestation of the carrier-induced magnetism, with p-type conductivity and the Curie temperature TC=209K. The additional doping with Fe stabilizes epitaxial growth and carrier-mediated magnetism at levels of magnetic doping exceeding 10%. We conclude that indirect ferromagnetic exchange is mediated by localized holes with concentration n∼1020cm−3 and mobility μ∼10cm2∕(Vs).

MBE growth and characterization of IV–VI semiconductor thin-film structures on (1 1 0) BaF 2 substrates

PbSe thin film and PbSe/PbSrSe multiple quantum well (MQW) structures were successfully grown on (1 1 0) BaF 2 substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The average linewidth of the rocking curve from high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements of the (2 2 0) reflection for the PbSe thin film was 60 arcsec, which indicates high crystalline quality. The dislocation density estimated from the rocking curve was 1×10 7 cm −2. Strong photoluminescence (PL) of the MQW structure at room temperature was observed. This PL signal was two times larger than those measured from a duplicate structure grown at the same time on a (1 1 1) BaF 2 substrate. The energy bandgap of (1 1 0) PbSe follows the same temperature dependence as [1 0 0]- and [1 1 1]-orientated PbSe.

Far-infrared magnetooptic generalized ellipsometry: determination of free-charge-carrier parameters in semiconductor thin film structures

We report on the application of generalized ellipsometry at far-infrared wavelengths (150–600 cm −1) for measurement of the anisotropic dielectric response of doped polar semiconductors in layered structures within an external magnetic field. Measurement of normalized Mueller matrix elements allows for independent determination of the free-charge-carrier parameters density, mobility and effective mass for semiconductor alloy materials in layered structures upon application of the Drude model, thereby dispensing with the need for electrical measurements. Examples reviewed here include n-type/i-type GaAs, n-type GaAs/n-type Al 0.19Ga 0.33In 0.48P/i-type GaAs, and n-type B 0.03In 0.06Ga 0.91As/i-type GaAs layer structures, measured at room-temperature and magnetic fields up to ±3 T.

Blocking thin-film nonuniformities: Photovoltaic self-healing

An approach is developed to block the effects of lateral nonuniformities in thin-film semiconductor structures. The nonuniformity modulates the surface photovoltage distribution. When exposed to light and immersed in a proper electrolyte, this distribution will generate laterally nonuniform electrochemical reactions. Such treatments result in a nonuniform interfacial layer that balances the original nonuniformity. This approach has been implemented for CdTe/CdS photovoltaic devices, in which it improved the device efficiency from 1%–3% to 11%–12%.

Spherical deformation of compliant substrates with semiconductor device islands

This article explores, through experiments and finite element analysis, the ability to plastically deform thin-film semiconductor structures on deformable substrates to spherical cap shapes without cracking the semiconductor layers. The major challenge involves contending with the large strain due to extreme deformation that will crack uniform stiff layers, such as silicon or silicon nitride. By patterning amorphous silicon and silicon nitride layers into islands, such problems can be avoided despite average strains in the substrate in excess of 5%. The strain in the device islands after deformation is a function of the island structure, size, and substrate material properties. Although the substrate is plastically expanded to a spherical dome, device islands can experience either tension or compression depending on the structure.

Critical Disorder and Phase Transitions in Random Diode Arrays

Random diode arrays represent a new class of nonlinear disordered systems related to the physics of thin-film semiconductor structures and some others. When a disorder strength grows through a certain critical value, they undergo a phase transition from almost uniform to strongly nonuniform random electric potential. A piecewise continuous topography of random potential is predicted.

Polarization and angular peculiarities of IR emission of thin film semiconductor structures

Polarization and angular peculiarities of IR emission of thin film semiconductor structures

Parametric interaction of space-charge waves in asymmetric thin-film n-GaAs structures

Based on a theory developed previously, parametric interaction between space-charge waves in thin-film semiconductor structures with negative differential conductivity is analyzed. The analysis is carried out in the approximation that the drift flux of charge carriers has a rigid boundary and under the assumption that the frequency of low-frequency pumping equals the cutoff frequency fc of waves being amplified (fc roughly equals 30 GHz in our case). For asymmetric structures, a general multimode set of coupled equations is reduced to a pair of differential equations for the excitation amplitudes of the fundamental space-charge mode at the signal frequency ωs and idler frequency ωi=ωs−ωp. The equations are solved numerically for n-GaAs-based structures, and the solution obtained is discussed.

Far-infrared magnetooptical generalized ellipsometry determination of free-carrier parameters in semiconductor thin film structures

ABSTRACTIn accord with the Drude model, the free-carrier contribution to the dielectric function at infrared wavelengths is proportional to the ratio of the free-carrier concentration N and the effective mass m*, and the product of the optical mobility μ and m*. Typical infrared optical experiments are therefore sensitive to the free-carrier mass, but determination of m* from the measured dielectric function requires an independent experiment, such as an electrical Hall-effect measurement, which provides either N or μ. Highly-doped zincblende III-V-semiconductors exposed to a strong external magnetic field exhibit non-symmetric magnetooptical birefringence, which is inversely proportional to m*. If the spectral dependence of the magnetooptical dielectric function tensor is known, the parameters N, m* and μ can be determined independently from optical measurements alone. Generalized ellipsometry measures three complex-valued ratios of normalized Jones matrix elements, from which the individual tensor elements of the dielectric function of arbitrarily anisotropic materials in layered samples can be reconstructed. We present the application of generalized ellipsometry to semiconductor layer structures at far-infrared wavelengths, and determine the magnetooptical dielectric function for n-GaAs and n-AlGaInP for wavelengths from 100 μm to 15 μm. We obtain the effective electron mass and mobility results of GaAs in excellent agreement with results obtained from Hall-effect and Shubnikov-de-Haas experiments. The effective electron mass in disordered n-AlGaInP obtained here is in very good agreement with previous k·p calculations. (Far)-infrared magnetooptic generalized ellipsometry may open up new avenues for non-destructive characterization of free-carrier properties in complex semiconductor heterostructures.