Engineered Band Structure in Micromachined Quantum Wells
Abstract
The ability to engineer the optical and electronic properties of epitaxially grown compound semiconductor heterostructures in the growth (vertical) direction has enabled the explosive growth and success of semiconductor lasers, photodetectors, and modulators. However, high-quality laterally patterned band structure in these materials has proven much more elusive. Materials with precise lateral band structure control are of particular importance for applications in integrated photonics and artificial quantum confined systems. In addition, the ability to engineer birefringence in the plane of the semiconductor heterostructure has important implications for electro-optic polarization modulators and for birefringent phase-matching in nonlinear frequency conversion. We describe how micromachining semiconductor heterostructures into suspended structures partially detached from the substrate can be used not only to laterally pattern band structure but also to provide a better understanding of the interaction between strain, band structure, and optical absorption in these materials. Suspended quantum wells grown with strain provide a direct comparison of two sets of strain components in the same sample. Thus, by carefully comparing the optical properties of an as-grown area with a suspended area, important photonic, electronic, and mechanical properties of these microstructures can be discerned. Knowledge of these properties can then be used to design future-generation micromachined and nanomachined semiconductor heterostructures. Our work also shows that compound semiconductor based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are potential replacements for some silicon-based MEMS due to their greater material flexibility and control over strain.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA522469
Entities
People
- D. Scott Katzer
- Doewon Park
- L. C. Calhoun
- M. L. Biermann
- P. G. Goetz
- Ronaldd D. Schrimpf
- S. Kanakaraju
- T. H. Stievater
- Williams S. Rabinovich
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory