Two-dimensional (2D) materials represent an ultrathin material class with unique properties. For example, graphene as the first 2D material reported combines high electrical conductivity and high transparency making it ideally suited as transparent contact layer in GaN-based LEDs. Graphene has been grown by plasma-enhanced CVD and integrated into GaN-based light emitting devices for the visible and for the UV spectral range by a transfer-free approach. Pronounced lateral current spreading, and a reduced turn-on voltage indicate the suitability of our concept.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials represent a fascinating material class for optoelectronics. While proof-of-concept devices with outstanding performance has been reported in literature, they often rely on micrometer-scale 2D materials and are thus of limited practical use. Overcoming the bottleneck to real-world applications requires both scalable materials and scalable device architectures.
We report on wafer-scale 2D materials grown by MOCVD and their implementation in scalable optoelectronic devices. Light emitting devices realized by embedding WS2 monolayers in a vertical device design emit large area red electroluminescence with a turn-on voltage as low as 2.5 V on both, rigid as well as flexible substrates. Direct growth of 2D material heterostructures on a sapphire substrate enables the fabrication of photodetectors without involving any transfer process. We demonstrate an enhancement of the responsivity by more than 5 orders of magnitude in a WS2-MoS2 heterostructure device as compared to a single layer reference. In photosensors that combine a MOCVD-grown WS2 monolayer as light sensitizer with CVD-grown graphene as a conductive channel, we have been able to shed light on the widely varying values of responsivity reported in literature by disentangling adsorbate effects and intrinsic photoresponse.
InGaN/GaN core-shell microrods (µrods) are highly promising for a new generation of light-emitting diodes. We present a 3D confocal optical approach with a spatial resolution <500 nm for characterizing operating µrod devices. 3D photoluminescence maps reveal an inhomogeneous emission: red luminescence originates from the apex and green emission from the corners, while blue emission dominates at the sidewalls. A pronounced photocurrent is measured while exciting µrods in closed current configuration, indicating charge carrier losses out of the active region due to tunneling. This interpretation is confirmed by applying an external voltage, where losses are suppressed.
Advances in chemical synthesis enable the design of nanocrystals with targeted architecture, functionalized by transition metal doping. As a consequence of pronounced exchange interactions between charge carriers and dopants, this class of materials combines optical, electronic and magnetic activity even up to room temperature.
Ensemble doping leads to collective spin phenomena like optically and electrically triggered magnetization as well as spin fluctuations, probed down to the level of single quantum dots. We found strong anisotropy effects paving the path towards directed magnetic polaron formation. Incorporation of single magnetic impurities yield unique discoveries like huge zero-field exchange splittings, which allows probing the spin state of an individual atom, or digital magnetic doping in magic size nanocluster.
Combining optical, electronic, and magnetic functionality in a single material is a major challenge in spintronics. The discovery of optically triggered magnetization in transition-metal doped semiconductor nanocrystals at room temperature more than a decade ago brought chemically prepared nanoparticles into play. Here, we demonstrate how the exchange interaction between magnetic dopants and charge carriers in the host matrix can be tailored by engineering size, shape, and composition of nanocrystals. Incorporation of single magnetic impurities into colloidal quantum dots yield unique discoveries like huge zero-field exchange splittings or digital doping effects. Doping nanocrystals with an ensemble of magnetic impurities, in contrast, leads to collective spin effects like magnetic polaron formation. Embedding these materials into an electronic device, current-driven polaron formation is shown, while single nanocrystal studies reveal a pathway of directed magnetic polaron formation.
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) have become attractive candidates for 2D electronics and optoelectronics. While several concepts for light emitting devices have been reported, many of them realized using exfoliated TMDC flakes of micrometer size, only few approaches tackle the challenge of upscaling to relevant device sizes. We demonstrate a light emitting diode based on WS2 monolayers in a scalable design. The devices are fabricated by combining two industrially relevant deposition processes in a vertical p-n architecture: Metal organic CVD (MOCVD) is used to realize the optically active WS2 monolayers, while ZnO deposited by spatial atomic layer deposition (sALD) is employed as an electron injection layer on the cathode side. Organic layers spin-coated on an ITO covered glass substrate provide hole injection and transport. The resulting devices exhibit rectifying behavior and red electroluminescence from an area of 6 mm2.
We present an electrically driven single quantum dot emitter that is adapted for operation at room temperature. Epitaxially grown CdSe quantum dots were embedded between ZnSSe/MgS barriers optimized with respect to both, high quantum efficiency and efficient current injection at elevated temperatures. Most important, electroluminescence from one single quantum dot is observed even at room temperature with a surprisingly low driving voltage of 2.6 V. This might be a key step for a single photon emitter operating under ambient conditions.
We report on the characterization of V-defects in GaN-based heterostructures via scanning force microscopy techniques.
The diameter and density of the V-defects are found to strongly depend on growth thickness and temperature of the top
layer, respectively, while no correlation between the V-defect formation and the type of doping could be identified.
Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements revealed for both, n- and p-doped GaN top layers, a decrease of the Kelvin
voltage within the V-defects, which indicates an enhanced work function of the facets of the V-defects with respect to
the planar surface. Surprisingly, an increase of the current flow within the V-defects is found by conductive atomic force
microscopy in case of the n-doped top layer, while current flow into the V-defect is suppressed for the p-doped top layer.
For a consistent explanation of these results we suggest a model, which is based on an enhanced electron affinity of the
{10-11}-surfaces within the V-defects as compared to the planar (0001)-surface.
Semiconductor nanoparticles are attractive candidates for future large-area light emitting devices that are both costeffective
and robust. We demonstrate a ZnO nanoparticle light emitting device realised without organic support layers.
Tight layers with subμm thickness were fabricated using commercially available ZnO nanoparticles from the gas phase
and fluorine-doped tin oxide glass as a substrate. After evaporation of a top electrode, a non-linear I-V characteristic was
obtained. At room temperature, the device operates at voltages of only few Volts and shows electroluminescence in the
visible spectral range and a pronounced UV peak related to near-band emission of the ZnO.
An innovative combination of concepts, namely microphotoluminescence (μPL) mapping, focused ion beam (FIB)
microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and high-speed thermal imaging, was employed to reveal the physics behind
catastrophic optical damage (COD), its related temperature dynamics, as well as associated defect and near-field
patterns.
μPL mapping showed that COD-related defects are composed of highly nonradiative complex dislocations, which start
from the output facet and propagate deep inside the cavity. Moreover, FIB analysis confirmed that those dark line defects
are confined to the active region, including the quantum wells and partially the waveguide. In addition, the COD
dependence on temperature and power was analyzed in detail by
micro-Raman spectroscopy and real-time thermal
imaging. For AlGaInP lasers in the whole spectral range of 635 to 650 nm, it was revealed that absorption of stimulated
photons at the laser output facet is the major source of facet heating, and that a critical facet temperature must be reached
in order for COD to occur. A linear relationship between facet temperature and near-field intensity has also been
established. This understanding of the semiconductor physics behind COD is a key element for further improvement in
output power of AlGaInP diode lasers.
We demonstrate the potential of Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) for analyzing degradation effects in GaN-based
laser diodes (LDs). Thereby, the surface potential at the mirror facet was measured locally for both, unbiased LDs
and LDs exposed to a well-defined current. In the unbiased case, our KPFM measurements demonstrate the impact of
aging on the mirror facet, which we attribute to a photon enhanced facet oxidation. In case of an externally applied
voltage, the local variation of the Kelvin voltage across the heterostructure layer sequence is analyzed. A clear
correlation between macroscopic I-V-characteristics and the microscopic data obtained with the KPFM is found.
High-brightness light-emitting diodes (LED) based on AlGaInP combines the possibility to achieve high efficiency with the flexibility of tuning the emission wavelength over a large range of the visible spectrum. For optimizing the device characteristics an accurate determination of the electronic properties, like e. g. the voltage drop across the semiconductor layer sequence, is desirable. We demonstrate the potential of Kelvin Force Microscopy for quantitative investigations of the voltage drop across the heterostructure layers of an operating AlGaInP LED. The surface potential was measured for external biases between -2.0 V and +1.86 V. By subtracting the zero bias result the voltage drop could be extracted quantitatively. In the low voltage regime, most of the voltage drops in the active layer. Above +1.5 V an additional voltage drop occurs on the p-side of the device, i. e. outside the active layer sequence, which reduces the efficiency of the LED. By comparing experimental data with simulations we will discuss possible mechanisms of these findings.
We report on time-resolved optical investigations on the polarization and the spin dynamics in non-magnetic and magnetic self-assembled II VI semiconductor quantum dots. In case of CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots, no transient loss of polarization is found within the time scale of exciton recombination, if one excites the excitons strictly resonant in the quantum dot ground state with a laser pulse linearly polarized along the [110] or [1-10] crystal axes. This indicates a high temporal stability of the exciton state, which is a coherent superposition of spin-up and spin-down exciton states. Even after replacing some Cd atoms in the crystal matrix by magnetic ions Mn2+, the polarization is being conserved as long as the average Mn2+ concentration is about (formula available in paper)or less, despite the pronounced exchange interaction between the manganese ion spins and the carrier spins. In case of magnetic semiconductor quantum dots with a large concentration of (formula available in paper)ions, the spin spin interaction between charge carriers and manganese ions results in the formation of a quasi-zero dimensional ferromagnetically aligned spin complex, the exciton magnetic polaron. For (formula available in paper)Se quantum dots this transient spin alignment is directly evidence by a transient shift of the emission energy. We deduce a typical time constant of 125 ps at T = 2 K for the dynamical response of the magnetic ion spins.
Single epitaxially grown CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots have been studied by using photoluminescence spectroscopy with a high spatial resolution. The lifting of the spin degeneracy due to exchange interaction results in a splitting of the exciton ground state, strongly dependent on the symmetry of the quantum dot. By applying a magnetic field in Faraday geometry, the energy splitting as well as the polarization properties of the exciton transition can be varied and remarkably, even at high magnetic field a spin coherence time of about 3 ns is found, which exceeds the recombination lifetime of single excitons significantly. As the biexciton state is a spin singlet, both its fine structure splitting as well as its degree of polarization are shown to be controlled by the final state of recombination, the single exciton state. Besides the discrete energy splitting of optical transitons in single quantum dots, we observe a rather statistical, but strongly correlated energy shift was well as a correlated on-off switching behavior of the exciton and the biexciton emission on a typical time constant of seconds. These effects are related to the influence of charge carriers in the nanoenvironment of the dot and to thermal or Auger-driven carrier escape into trap states in the vicinity of the dot, respectively.
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