Indium Gallium Arsenide Nitride Quantum Dots for High Speed Infrared Emitters BMDO02-011B

"The material Indium Gallium Arsenide Nitride (InGaAsN) is a novel compound semiconductor ideally suited for infrared optical devices. This material may be grown on GaAs substrates and can take advantage of mature GaAs processing technology. Quantum dots,a subset of the nanotechnology field, are structures whose physical dimensions are in the range of 10 nanometers, a size on the order of individual atoms themselves. Quantum physics theory predicts peculiarities in materials and devices which arefabricated at this exceedingly small scale, properties that can improve macro device performance. Quantum wells, with one dimension confined to the 10 nanometer range, are already utilized in commercial electronics components. Quantum dots are anadvancement of quantum wells in that structures are created with all three physical dimensions (length, width, depth) confined to the 10 nanometer order. Device improvements seen in quantum well devices are predicted to be even greater in quantum dotdevices once the quantum dot technology has matured. This Phase I study seeks to combine InGaAsN growth with quantum dots to create improved infrared light emitters. These GaAs-based devices have the potential of replacing InP/InGaAs-basedoptoelectronics for high speed optical data transmission. GaAs-based optoelectronic devices to replace InP/InGaAs technology. GaAs processing technology is more mature and less expensive than InP-based growth and p