Locally measuring the adhesion of InP directly bonded on sub-100 nm patterned Si.

A nano-scale analogue to the double cantilever experiment that combines instrumented nano-indentation and atomic force microscopy is used to precisely and locally measure the adhesion of InP bonded on sub-100 nm patterned Si using oxide-free or oxide-mediated bonding. Surface-bonding energies of 0.548 and 0.628 J m(-2), respectively, are reported. These energies correspond in turn to 51% and 57% of the surface bonding energy measured in unpatterned regions on the same samples, i.e. the proportion of unetched Si surface in the patterned areas. The results show that bonding on patterned surfaces can be as robust as on unpatterned surfaces, provided care is taken with the post-patterning surface preparation process and, therefore, open the path towards innovative designs that include patterns embedded in the Si guiding layer of hybrid III-V/Si photonic integrated circuits.

Single-crystal nanopyramidal BGaN by nanoselective area growth on AlN/Si(111) and GaN templates.

We report nano-selective area growth (NSAG) of BGaN by MOCVD on AlN/Si(111) and GaN templates resulting in 150 nm single crystalline nanopyramids. This is in contrast to unmasked or micro-selective area growth, which results in a multi-crystalline structure on both substrates. Various characterization techniques were used to evaluate NSAG as a viable technique to improve BGaN material quality on AlN/Si(111) using results of GaN NSAG and unmasked BGaN growth for comparison. Evaluation of BGaN nanopyramid quality, shape and size uniformity revealed that the growth mechanism is the same on both the templates. Further STEM analysis of BGaN nanopyramids on AlN/Si (111) templates confirmed that these are single-crystalline structures without any dislocations, likely due to single nucleation occurring in the 80 nm mask opening. CL results correspond to boron content between 1.7% and 2.0% in the nanopyramids. We conclude that NSAG is promising for growth of high-quality BGaN nanostructures and complex nano-heterostructures, especially for low-cost silicon substrates.

Biperiodic nanostructured waveguides for wavelength-selectivity of hybrid photonic devices.

A biperiodic nanostructuration consisting of a super-periodicity added to a nanohole lattice of subwavelength pitch is demonstrated to provide both modal confinement and wavelength selectivity within a hybrid III-V on a silicon waveguide. The wavelength-selective behavior stems from finely tuned larger holes. Such biperiodic hybrid waveguides have been fabricated by oxide-free bonding III-V material on silicon and display well-defined stop bands. Such nanostructured waveguides offer the versatility for designing advanced optical functions within hybrid devices. Moreover, keeping the silicon waveguide surface planar, such nanostructured waveguides are compatible with electrical operation across the oxide-free hybrid interface.

Time localized tilted beams in nearly-degenerate laser cavities.

We show that nearly-degenerate Vertical External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers may emit a set of tilted beams of individually addressable mode-locked pulses. These time localized beams feature a Gaussian profile and they are emitted in pairs with opposite transverse k-vector. Because they are phase locked, their interference leads to a non homothetic pattern in the near-field emission of the laser. In the simplest situation, when a single pair is emitted, this is a stripe pattern. Our analysis discloses the role of third order (spherical) aberrations of the cavity in stabilizing this spatio-temporal mode-locked regime and in selecting the value of the transverse k-vector.

Nanometer-scale, quantitative composition mappings of InGaN layers from a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy.

Using elastic scattering theory we show that a small set of energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) measurements is sufficient to experimentally evaluate the scattering function of electrons in high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission microscopy (HAADF-STEM). We then demonstrate how to use this function to transform qualitative HAADF-STEM images of InGaN layers into precise, quantitative chemical maps of the indium composition. The maps obtained in this way combine the resolution of HAADF-STEM and the chemical precision of EDX. We illustrate the potential of such chemical maps by using them to investigate nanometer-scale fluctuations in the indium composition and their impact on the growth of epitaxial InGaN layers.

Experimental quantification of atomically-resolved HAADF-STEM images using EDX.

Atomically-resolved mappings of the indium composition in InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well structures have been obtained by quantifying the contrast in HAADF-STEM. The quantification procedure presented here does not rely on computation-intensive simulations, but rather uses EDX measurements to calibrate the HAADF-STEM contrast. The histogram of indium compositions obtained from the mapping provides unique insights into the growth of InGaN: the transition from GaN to InGaN and vice versa occurs in discreet increments of composition; each increment corresponds to one monolayer of the interface, indicating that nucleation takes longer than the lateral growth of the step. Strain-state analysis is also performed by applying Peak-Pair Analysis to the positions of the atomic columns identified the quantification of the contrast. The strain mappings yield an estimate of the composition in good agreement with the one obtained from quantified HAADF-STEM, albeit with a lower precision. Possible improvements to increase the precision of the strain mappings are discussed, opening potential pathways for the quantification of arbitrary quaternary alloys at atomic scales.