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1. Crystalline GaAs Thin Film Growth on a c‑Plane Sapphire Substrate

   https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.9b00448  

   S. K. Saha, R. Kumar (August 2019, Crystal growth design)

   Crystalline zinc blende GaAs has been grown on a trigonal c-plane sapphire substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The initial stage of GaAs thin film growth has been investigated extensively in this paper. When grown on c-plane sapphire, it takes (111) crystal orientation with twinning as a major problem. Direct growth of GaAs on sapphire results in three-dimensional GaAs islands, almost 50% twin volume, and a weak in-plane correlation with the substrate. Introducing a thin AlAs nucleation layer results in complete wetting of the substrate, better in-plane correlation with the substrate, and reduced twinning to 16%. Further, we investigated the effect of growth temperature, pregrowth sapphire substrate surface treatment, and in-situ annealing on the quality of the GaAs epilayer. We have been able to reduce the twin volume below 2% and an X-ray diffraction rocking curve line width to 223 arcsec. A good quality GaAs on sapphire can result in the implementation of microwave photonic functionality on a photonic chip. 

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2. Impact of processing and growth conditions on the site-catalyzed patterned growth of GaAs nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy

   https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2274669  

   Sharma, Manish; Kasanaboina, Pavan K.; Iyer, Shanthi; Campo, Eva M.; Dobisz, Elizabeth A.; Eldada, Louay A. (August 2017, Proc. SPIE 10354, Nanoengineering: Fabrication, Properties, Optics, and Devices XIV)

   We report on the site-selective growth of >90% vertical GaAs nanowires (NWs) on Si (111) using self-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The influences of growth parameters (pre-growth Ga opening time, V/III flux ratio) and processing conditions (reactive ion etching (RIE) and HF etching time) are investigated for different pitch lengths (200-1000 nm) to achieve vertical NWs. The processing variables determine the removal of the native oxide layer and the contact angle of Ga-droplet inside the patterned hole that are critical to the vertical orientation of the NWs. Pre-growth Ga-opening time is found to be a crucial factor determining the size of the droplet in the patterned hole, while the V/III beam equivalent pressure (BEP) ratio influenced the occupancy of the holes due to the axial growth of NWs being group-V limited. 

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3. MOCVD growth and band offsets of κ-phase Ga ₂ O ₃ on c-plane sapphire, GaN- and AlN-on-sapphire, and (100) YSZ substrates

   https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0002106  

   Bhuiyan, A F; Feng, Zixuan; Huang, Hsien-Lien; Meng, Lingyu; Hwang, Jinwoo; Zhao, Hongping (December 2022, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A)

   Epitaxial growth of κ-phase Ga 2 O 3 thin films is investigated on c-plane sapphire, GaN- and AlN-on-sapphire, and (100) oriented yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrates via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The structural and surface morphological properties are investigated by comprehensive material characterization. Phase pure κ-Ga 2 O 3 films are successfully grown on GaN-, AlN-on-sapphire, and YSZ substrates through a systematical tuning of growth parameters including the precursor molar flow rates, chamber pressure, and growth temperature, whereas the growth on c-sapphire substrates leads to a mixture of β- and κ-polymorphs of Ga 2 O 3 under the investigated growth conditions. The influence of the crystalline structure, surface morphology, and roughness of κ-Ga 2 O 3 films grown on different substrates are investigated as a function of precursor flow rate. High-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging of κ-Ga 2 O 3 films reveals abrupt interfaces between the epitaxial film and the sapphire, GaN, and YSZ substrates. The growth of single crystal orthorhombic κ-Ga 2 O 3 films is confirmed by analyzing the scanning transmission electron microscopy nanodiffraction pattern. The chemical composition, surface stoichiometry, and bandgap energies of κ-Ga 2 O 3 thin films grown on different substrates are studied by high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. The type-II (staggered) band alignments at three interfaces between κ-Ga 2 O 3 and c-sapphire, AlN, and YSZ substrates are determined by XPS, with an exception of κ-Ga 2 O 3 /GaN interface, which shows type-I (straddling) band alignment. 

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4. A Study on the Effects of Gallium Droplet Consumption and Post Growth Annealing on Te- Doped GaAs Nanowire Proper-ties grown by Self-Catalyzed Molecular Beam Epitaxy

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12050451  

   Shisir Devkota1, Mehul Parakh1 (April 2022, Catalysts)

   Leonarda Francesca Liotta (Ed.)

   In this work, the effects of arsenic (As) flux used during gallium (Ga) seed droplet consumption and the post-growth annealing on the optical, electrical, and microstructural properties of self-catalyzed molecular beam epitaxially grown tellurium (Te)-doped GaAs nanowires (NWs) have been investigated using a variety of characterization techniques. NWs using the same amount of As flux for growth of the seed droplet consumption demonstrated reduced density of stacking faults at the NW tip with ~ 4-fold enhancement in the 4K photoluminescence (PL) in-tensity and increased single nanowire photocurrent over their higher As flux droplet consump-tion counterparts. Post-growth annealed NWs exhibited an additional low-energy PL peak at 1.31 eV that significantly reduced the overall PL intensity. The origin of this lower energy peak is as-signed to a photocarrier transition from the conduction band to the annealing assisted Te-induced complex acceptor state (TeAsVGa-). In addition, post-growth annealing demonstrated a detrimental impact on the electrical properties of the Te-doped GaAs NWs as revealed by suppressed single nanowire (SNW) and ensemble NW photocurrent with a consequent enhanced low-frequency noise level compared to as-grown doped NWs. This work demonstrates that each parameter in the growth space must be carefully examined to successfully grow self-catalyzed Te-doped NWs of high quality and is not a simple extension of the growth of corresponding intrinsic NWs. 

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5. Low-temperature growth of Al-doped ZnO by atomic layer deposition for plasmonics

   Dhruv Fomra, Kai Ding (March 2020, Proceedings Volume 11281, Oxide-based Materials and Devices XI)

   Transparent conducting oxides, such as Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) and Al-doped ZnO (AZO) are attractive materials for high-performance plasmonic devices operating at telecommunication wavelengths. In this contribution, we compare the growth of epsilon-near-zero GZO and AZO films on sapphire by two different deposition techniques: molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and atomic layer deposition (ALD). For MBE of GZO, a multiple buffer consisted of a high-temperature MgO layer, a low-temperature ZnO, followed by a high-temperature ZnO layer is employed to assure the crystalline quality of the GZO film. By controlling the growth parameters, including Ga doping level, VI/II ratio, substrate temperature, we are able to produce GZO films at 350 °C with electron mobility between 30 and 50 cm2/V.s, electron concentration up to 7×1020 cm-3, and resistivity down to 2.5×10-4 Ω.cm. For ALD of AZO, without using any buffer, by reducing the Al pulse duration, we are able to grow the AZO films under a large ratio of Al to Zn pulses of 1:6, which improves the activation of Al as an effective dopant. Hence AZO films with electron concentration above 7×1020 cm-3, electron mobility between 10 and 20 cm2/V.s, and resistivity below 6×10-4 Ω.cm have been obtained at 250 °C. The corresponding epsilon-near-zero point in the ALD-grown material was tuned down to 1470 nm. Our data indicate that the ALD method provides a low-temperature route to plasmonic TCOs for telecommunication wavelength range. Effect of electron mobility on optical loss and, therefore, plasmonic figure of merit is discussed. 

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