EP0231075A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Semiconductor structures
Assignee: Xerox Corp
•
Filing: 1987-01-14
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2007-01-14
Abstract
Abstract Different diffusion rates can be made operative relative to diffusion disordering in designated areas of a thin active layer or quantum well feature, compared with thermal disordering in other areas thereof where disordering is not desired, by the selective placement of migratory defects in a semiconductor support (12). Such migratory defects as used herein are intended to include impurities and/or other lattice defects initially introduced into the semiconductor support prior to epitaxial deposition of semiconductor layers (22B) constituting the semiconductor structure, wherein at least one of such layers comprises a thin active layer (i.e., a layer with relative high refractive index compared with the refractive index of at least contiguous epitaxially-deposited layers) not necessarily capable of exhibiting quantum size effects or a quantum well feature capable of exhibiting quantum size effects. These migratory defects diffuse or migrate into subsequently-grown epitaxial layers, providing regions of higher lattice defects in the epigrown layers compared with regions of the same layers where no migratory defects were initially introduced into the semiconductor support.
Inventors
- 👤 Nick Holonyak, Jr.
- 👤 Robert D. Burnham
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 16:47
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10P; H10P30/00; H10P30/20; H10P30/21; B; B82; B82Y; B82Y20/00; H01; H01S; H01S5/00; H01S5/20; H01S5/22; H01S5/223; H01S5/2232; H01S5/30; H01S5/32; H01S5/323; H10P14/00; H10P14/20; H10P14/38; H10P14/3824; H10P30/202; H10P30/206; H10P30/28; H01S5/2054; H01S5/2059; H01S5/227; H01S5/2272; H01S5/32308; H01S5/34; H01S5/3428; H01S5/343; H01S5/34313; H01S5/3432; H10H; H10H20/00; H10H20/80; H10H20/81; H10H20/811; H10H20/812
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
135 words
A semiconductor structure comprising (a) a single crystal support (12) of low defect density, with selected areas of the crystal having dislocation defects therein, (b) at least one semiconductor layer including at least one active well and one barrier, epitaxially deposited on the support; the dislocation defects in the support means having propagated into contiguous areas of the layer during the epitaxial deposition, whereby the contiguous areas have a higher dislocation density compared with remaining regions of the layer, and (c) a disordered alloy produced in the contiguous areas upon annealing of the structure, the effective rate of disordered conversion in the contiguous areas having been greater than that of the remaining areas because of the dislocation defects, the disordered alloy regions exhibiting higher bandgap and higher refractive index properties compared with the remaining areas.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
135 words
A semiconductor structure comprising (a) a single crystal support (12) of low defect density, with selected areas of the crystal having dislocation defects therein, (b) at least one semiconductor layer including at least one active well and one barrier, epitaxially deposited on the support; the dislocation defects in the support means having propagated into contiguous areas of the layer during the epitaxial deposition, whereby the contiguous areas have a higher dislocation density compared with remaining regions of the layer, and (c) a disordered alloy produced in the contiguous areas upon annealing of the structure, the effective rate of disordered conversion in the contiguous areas having been greater than that of the remaining areas because of the dislocation defects, the disordered alloy regions exhibiting higher bandgap and higher refractive index properties compared with the remaining areas.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
13 words
The semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein the support comprises a semiconductor substrate.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
18 words
The semiconductor structure of claim 1 or 2, wherein the semiconductor layer comprises a single quantum well structure.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
22 words
The semiconductor structure of any preceding claim, wherein the dislocation defects comprise impurities that are diffused into the support in selected areas.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
23 words
The semiconductor structure of any of claims 1-3, wherein the dislocation defects comprise impurities that are implanted into the support in selected areas.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
28 words
The semiconductor structure of claim 4 or 5, wherein the impurities are of Ge, Se, Mg, O, S, Be, Te, Si, Mn, Zn, Cl, Sn, Cr or Kr.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
20 words
The semiconductor structure of claim 5, wherein the impurities are of B, Al, Ga, In, N, P, As or Sb.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
The semiconductor structure of claim 1-3, wherein the dislocation defects comprise protons that are implanted into the support in selected areas.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
The semiconductor structure of claims 1-3, wherein the dislocation defects in the support are produced by laser annealing.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
27 words
The semiconductor structure of claim 1-3, wherein the dislocation defects in the support are produced by either ion or electron bombardment of the support in selected areas.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
115 words
A method of converting selected areas of a multilayer semiconductor region, epitaxially deposited on a single crystal support of low defect density, said region comprising at least one active well layer interposed between barrier layers, into a disordered alloy of both the active and barrier layers, said alloy exhibiting higher bandgap and refractive index properties than the first layer, and comprising the steps of: (a) initially treating selected areas of the support to provide dislocation defects therein, (b) epitaxially depositing the semiconductor region, the dislocation dethe aid support into contiguous areas of the semiconductor region during deposition, and (c) thereafter annealing the structure to convert the material in the contiguous areas into the disordered alloy.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
115 words
A method of converting selected areas of a multilayer semiconductor region, epitaxially deposited on a single crystal support of low defect density, said region comprising at least one active well layer interposed between barrier layers, into a disordered alloy of both the active and barrier layers, said alloy exhibiting higher bandgap and refractive index properties than the first layer, and comprising the steps of: (a) initially treating selected areas of the support to provide dislocation defects therein, (b) epitaxially depositing the semiconductor region, the dislocation dethe aid support into contiguous areas of the semiconductor region during deposition, and (c) thereafter annealing the structure to convert the material in the contiguous areas into the disordered alloy.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.