NANOSTRUCTURE DENSE QUANTUM-WIRE ARRAYS FOR ADVANCED OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICES

WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE THE PATTERNING AND OVERGROWTH OF NANOSTRUCTURE QUANTUM-WIRE ARRAYS IN THE GAAS-ALGAAS SYSTEM AND THE POTENTIAL OF THIS APPROACH FOR FABRICATING ADVANCED ELECTRONIC AND PHOTONIC DEVICES. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED BY COUPLING LOW PRESSURE METALORGANIC CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (MOCVD) WITH X-RAY NANOLITHOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES. IN PHASE I, WE WILL STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF FABRICATING GAAS QUANTUM WIRE ARRAYS EMBEDDED IN ALGAAS. WIRES WITH DIMENSIONS AS SMALL AS 10 NM PER SIDE AND A 200 NM PERIOD MAY BE ACHIEVED OVER LARGE AREAS USING THE HIGH RESOLUTION LATERAL DEFINITION OF X-RAY NANOLITHOGRAPHY AND THE PREFERENTIAL GROWTH OF MOCVD ON PATTERNED SUBSTRATES. WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL OF THIS APPROACH FOR THE FABRICATION OF QUANTUM WIRE LASER ARRAYS WITH LOWER THRESHOLD CURRENTS, HIGHER POWER OUTPUT, BETTER EFFICIENCY, AND NARROWER LINE WIDTHS. PHASE II WILL DEAL WITH OPTIMIZATION OF THE PATTERNING/OVERGROWTH PARAMETERS FOR BETTER QUANTUM CONFINEMENT, BANDGAP ENERGY ENGINEERING, HIGHER PACKING DENSITY, AND BETTER PERFORMANCE OF THESE QUANTUM WIRE LASER ARRAYS.