Material configurations for n-type silicon-based terahertz quantum cascade lasers

Autor:	Valavanis, A., Dinh, T. V., Lever, L. J. M., Ikonić, Z., Kelsall, R. W.
Rok vydání:	2011
Předmět:	Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Condensed Matter - Materials Science
Zdroj:	Phys. Rev. B 83, 195321 (2011)
Druh dokumentu:	Working Paper
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevB.83.195321
Popis:	Silicon-based quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) offer the prospect of integrating coherent THz radiation sources with silicon microelectronics. Theoretical studies have proposed a variety of n-type SiGe-based heterostructures as design candidates, however the optimal material configuration remains unclear. In this work, an optimization algorithm is used to design equivalent THz QCLs in three recently-proposed configurations [(001) Ge/GeSi, (001) Si/SiGe and (111) Si/SiGe], with emission frequencies of 3 and 4 THz. A systematic comparison of the electronic and optical properties is presented. A semi-classical electron transport simulation is used to model the charge carrier dynamics and calculate the peak gain, the corresponding current density and the maximum operating temperature. It is shown that (001) Ge/GeSi structures yield the best simulated performance at both emission frequencies. Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures
Databáze:	arXiv
Externí odkaz:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.1727 Zobrazit plný text záznamu View this record from Arxiv