III-V aresenide-nitride semiconductor materials and devices
First Claim
1. A III-V compound semiconductor material having at least nitrogen and arsenic disposed at Group V lattice sites wherein concentration of nitrogen to arsenic in said material is either less than about 5% or greater than about 90% comprising misicible regions for said material when utilizing MOCVD, said nitrogen and arsenic being proportioned at said Group V lattice sites of said material within said concentration so that said material is substantially lattice matched to a semiconductor substrate upon which said material is deposited while providing a direct bandgap level lower than the case where either the nitrogen or the arsenic is absent from the material.
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Abstract
III-V arsenide-nitride semiconductor crystals, methods for producing such crystals and devices employing such crystals. Group III elements are combined with group V elements, including at least nitrogen and arsenic, in concentrations chosen to lattice match commercially available crystalline substrates. Epitaxial growth of these III-V crystals results in direct bandgap materials, which can be used in applications such as light emitting diodes and lasers. Varying the concentrations of the elements in the III-V crystals varies the bandgaps, such that materials emitting light spanning the visible spectra, as well as mid-IR and near-UV emitters, can be created. Conversely, such material can be used to create devices that acquire light and convert the light to electricity, for applications such as full color photodetectors and solar energy collectors. The growth of the III-V crystals can be accomplished by growing thin layers of elements or compounds in sequences that result in the overall lattice match and bandgap desired.
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Citations
60 Claims
- 1. A III-V compound semiconductor material having at least nitrogen and arsenic disposed at Group V lattice sites wherein concentration of nitrogen to arsenic in said material is either less than about 5% or greater than about 90% comprising misicible regions for said material when utilizing MOCVD, said nitrogen and arsenic being proportioned at said Group V lattice sites of said material within said concentration so that said material is substantially lattice matched to a semiconductor substrate upon which said material is deposited while providing a direct bandgap level lower than the case where either the nitrogen or the arsenic is absent from the material.
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6. A III-V semiconductor single crystal composite material comprising:
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a series of layers having nitrogen and at least one other Group V atomic species disposed at Group V lattice sites in said series of layers, said series of layers containing nitrogen in one set of said layers and said least one other Group V atomic species in another set of said layers, said layers being sufficiently thin in the monolayer regime to avoid formation of defects, said layer sets arranged with their overall nitrogen to the other Group V atomic species ratio to substantially provide lattice match of said composite material layers to a crystalline substrate while providing an overall direct bandgap level for the combined series of layers lower than the case where either the nitrogen or said least one other Group V atomic species is absent from the layers. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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- 13. A compound III-V semiconductor material having an overall composition with at least one element from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and a concentration of both nitrogen atoms and arsenic atoms at Group V lattice sites, the number of nitrogen and arsenic atoms present at the Group V lattice sites within an immiscible region for arsenide-nitride material, said material comprises a series of layers of III-V semiconductor compounds, one set of said layers in said series having a substantial concentration of nitrogen atoms over arsenic atoms, another set of said layers in said series having a significant concentration of arsenic atom over nitrogen atoms, each of said layers being sufficiently thin to avoid the formation of defects due to mismatched lattices.
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14. A compound semiconductor material having a zinc blende crystal lattice and an overall composition with at least one dement from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at group III lattice sites, and also including a concentration of N atoms of at least 2% disposed at group V lattice sites and a concentration of As atoms of at least 2% disposed at group V lattice sites,
said compound semiconductor material comprising a direct bandgap material composed of Inw Alx Ga1-x-w As1-y-z Pz Ny, where 0≦ - w≦
1, 0≦
x≦
1, 0.02≦
y≦
0.98, 0≦
z≦
0.96 and 0.02≦
1-y-z≦
0.98, w, x, y, and z being chosen such that a lattice constant of the material is substantially matched with a lattice constant of a semiconductor substrate selected from the group consisting of GaP, Si, GaAs, Ge, InN, SiC, ZnSe, ZnO and diamond. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- w≦
- 20. A semiconductor compound comprising a zinc-blende crystal material composed of a sequence of thin semiconductor compound layers in the monolayer regime disposed on top of one another, each thin layer in said sequence having at least one element from the group consisting of Al, B, Ga and In atoms disposed at Group III lattice sites and at least one element from the group consisting of As, P and N atoms disposed at Group V lattice sites, one set of said monolayer regime layers in said sequence having a substantial proportion of N atoms disposed at said Group V lattice sites and another set of said monolayer regime layers in said sequence having a substantial portion of As atoms disposed at said Group V lattice sites, said sets of layers sequentially chosen to provide a lattice constant that is less than 1% different from a lattice constant of a crystalline substrate upon which said monolayer regime layers are deposited while providing an overall direct bandgap level for the combined series of monolayer regime layers lower than the case where either the N or the As is absent from the material.
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22. A III-V semiconductor material having at least one element from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and having at least nitrogen and arsenic disposed at Group V lattice sites,
other elements which can be disposed at said Group V lattice sites being selectable from the group consisting of P and Sb, the concentration of nitrogen at said Group V lattice sites either about 5% or less or about 90% or more comprising a miscible region for said material when utilizing MOCVD, said nitrogen and arsenic being proportioned at said Group V lattice sites of said material within said nitrogen concentration so that said material is substantially lattice matched to a semiconductor substrate upon which said material is deposited, said nitrogen being chosen to achieve a specified energy gap reduction relative to the energy gap of comparable III-V semiconductor material where nitrogen is at 100% of said group V lattice sites.
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38. A III-V semiconductor material having at least one element from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In disposed at group III lattice sites, and having at least nitrogen and arsenic disposed at group V lattice sites, other elements which can be disposed at the group V lattice sites being selectable from the group consisting of P and Sb, the concentration of nitrogen being at least 50% of the group V lattice sites and the concentration of arsenic and each other element at said group V lattice sites being chosen to achieve a specified energy gap reduction relative to comparable material with nitrogen at 100% of said group V lattice sites, a single crystal substrate upon which said material is formed being selected from the group consisting of InN, ZnO, SiC and Al2 O3.
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39. A high temperature electronic device comprising:
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a semiconductor crystal substrate, a structure disposed on said substrate of at least one III-V semiconductor material layer including N atoms and As atoms at Group V lattice sites with said N atoms at said Group V lattice sites within the range of either about 5% or less than or about 90% or more than said As atoms, said N atoms and As atoms being proportioned at said Group V sites of said material layer so as to be substantially..lattice matched to said substrate while providing a direct bandgap level lower than the case where either the nitrogen or the arsenic is absent from the structure, said structure having p-type and n-type dopants therein defining at least one p-n junction, and means for applying electrical voltage and current to selected regions of said structure associated with said at least one p-n junction. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42)
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- 52. A compound III-V semiconductor material having an overall composition with at least one element from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and also including a concentration of both nitrogen atoms and arsenic atoms at Group V lattice sites, the number of nitrogen atoms present at the Group V lattice sites is in an immiscible region for arsenide-nitride material, said material comprises a series of layers of III-V semiconductor compounds, one set of said layers in said series having a substantial concentration of nitrogen atoms over arsenic atoms, another set of said layers in said series having a substantial concentration of arsenic atoms over nitrogen atoms, each of said layers being sufficiently thin within the monolayer regime to avoid the formation of defects due to mismatched lattices.
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54. A compound III-V semiconductor material comprising:
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an overall composition with at least one element from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and a concentration of both N atoms and As atoms at Group V lattice sites, the concentration of N atoms at said Group V lattice sites within a range of either about 5% or less than or about 90% or more than said As atoms, said N atoms and As atoms being proportioned at the Group V sites so as to be substantially lattice matched to said substrate and to reduce the direct bandgap to a desired level within said N atom concentration range. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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Specification