Patent · US Expired

Optical semiconductor element

US6057561A · kind A · utility

88Cited by
10References
22Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 27, 1998
Grant dateMay 2, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 27, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10H20/851
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A ZnO thin film is fabricated on the c-surface of a sapphire substrate through use of a laser molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method-which is effective for epitaxial growth of an oxide thin film through control at an atomic level. The thus-formed ZnO thin film has a considerably high crystallinity; the half width of an X-ray rocking curve was 0.06.degree.. The thin film is of an n-type and has a carrier density of 4.times.10.sup.17 /cm.sup.3. The thin film fabricated in a state in which oxygen partial pressure is held constant at 10.sup.-6 Torr has a structure in which hexagon-shaped nanocrystals of uniform size are close-packed, reflecting the crystal behavior of a wurtzite type. Since in each nanocrystal there is observed a spiral structure formed by steps of a unit cell height (0.5 nm), the nanocrystals are considered to grow in a thermodynamically equilibrated state. The lateral size of the nanocrystal can be controlled within the range of approximately 50 to 250 nm. A II-oxide optical semiconductor element utilizes a zinc oxide thin film containing magnesium or cadmium in a solid-solution state. Through addition of magnesium or cadmium, the band gap of zinc oxide can be controlle…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.