Semiconductor structures having electrically insulating and conducting portions formed from an AlSb-alloy layer
First Claim
1. A semiconductor structure comprising a plurality of semiconductor layers formed on a substrate including at least one layer of a III-V compound-semiconductor alloy comprising aluminum (Al) and antimony (Sb) buried below a patterned overlayer, with at least a part of the AlSb-alloy layer being converted to form an electrically conducting portion comprising Sb overlying an electrically insulating portion comprising an oxide of aluminum.
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Abstract
A semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure comprises a plurality of semiconductor layers formed on a substrate including at least one layer of a III-V compound semiconductor alloy comprising aluminum (Al) and antimony (Sb), with at least a part of the AlSb-alloy layer being chemically converted by an oxidation process to form superposed electrically insulating and electrically conducting portions. The electrically insulating portion formed from the AlSb-alloy layer comprises an oxide of aluminum (e.g. Al2 O3), while the electrically conducting portion comprises Sb. A lateral oxidation process allows formation of the superposed insulating and conducting portions below monocrystalline semiconductor layers for forming many different types of semiconductor structures having particular utility for optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes, edge-emitting lasers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, photodetectors and optical modulators (waveguide and surface normal), and for electronic devices such as heterojunction bipolar transistors, field-effect transistors and quantum-effect devices. The invention is expected to be particularly useful for forming light-emitting devices for use in the 1.3-1.6 μm wavelength range, with the AlSb-alloy layer acting to define an active region of the device and to effectively channel an electrical current therein for efficient light generation.
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Citations
52 Claims
- 1. A semiconductor structure comprising a plurality of semiconductor layers formed on a substrate including at least one layer of a III-V compound-semiconductor alloy comprising aluminum (Al) and antimony (Sb) buried below a patterned overlayer, with at least a part of the AlSb-alloy layer being converted to form an electrically conducting portion comprising Sb overlying an electrically insulating portion comprising an oxide of aluminum.
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12. A semiconductor structure comprising:
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(a) a substrate; (b) a plurality of semiconductor layers epitaxially grown on the substrate including at least one buried layer of an AlSb semiconductor alloy; and (c) a mesa formed within the semiconductor layers and extending downward at least to the buried AlSb-alloy layer, the mesa having at least one sidewall wherefrom superposed electrically insulating and electrically conducting portions formed from the AlSb-alloy layer extend laterally inward. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A semiconductor structure comprising:
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(a) a substrate; (b) at least one layer of a III-V compound-semiconductor alloy including aluminum (Al) and antimony (Sb) epitaxially grown on the substrate, with the AlSb-alloy layer having a layer thickness greater than about 5 nanometers and being chemically converted, at least in part, to form superposed electrically insulating and electrically conducting portions; and (c) an overlayer covering at least a part of the superposed electrically insulating and conducting portions formed from the AlSb-alloy layer. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 51, 52)
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42. A semiconductor structure comprising:
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(a) an AlSb-alloy layer epitaxially grown above a substrate, the AlSb-alloy layer being at least 5 nanometers thick and having at least a portion thereof chemically converted to form superposed electrically-insulating and electrically-conducting layers; and (b) an overlayer above the converted portion of the AlSb-alloy layer during formation of the converted portion. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 46)
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45. The semiconductor structure of claim 45 wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor alloy selected from the group consisting of InP, GaAs, GaSb and InAs.
Specification