Spin-dependent recombination in Ga(In)NAs alloys

Sammanfattning: The abilities to control and manipulate electron spin, especially in semiconductors, lead to many interesting proposals for spin-functional devices in future spintronics and quantum information technology. A key requirement for the success of these proposals is that the spin functionality should be operational at room temperature (RT), which remains as a great challenge. Very recently, spin-dependent recombination (SDR) via paramagnetic defects that dominate in carrier recombination, i.e Gai - interstitial defects in Ga(In)NAs alloys, has been shown to turn the material into a highly efficient defectengineered spin filter operating at RT and without requiring an external applied field. This finding has demonstrated the great potential of such a spin filter as an efficient spin source, which is capable of generating up to 90% electron spin polarization at RT. Essential to realization of this attractive application in spintronics is a fundamental understanding of this alloy system and their related spin filtering defects. Therefore, factors controlling this spin filter must be studied, understood and optimized. In this licentiate thesis, we aim at optimization of the spin filtering effect in Ga(In)NAs alloys and the related quantum structures by studying influence of material fabrication techniques, post growth treatments and material structures. In paper I, we employed the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) technique to study formation of Ga interstitial-related defects in Ga(In)NAs alloys. We showed that these spin-filtering defects are common grown-in defects in these alloys, independent of the employed fabrication techniques and post-growth annealing treatment. The defect formation was suggested to be thermodynamically favorable in the presence of nitrogen, possibly because of local strain compensation. In paper II, we further investigated the role of post-growth hydrogen treatment in the spin filtering effect in GaNAs epilayers and GaNAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells (QWs). From optical orientation studies, we found that the hydrogen treatment has led to nearly complete quenching of the spin filtering effect. Together with a detailed ODMR study and a rate equation analysis, the observed effect of hydrogen was attributed to hydrogen passivation of the spin filtering defects, likely by formation of complexes between the Gai-interstitial defects and hydrogen. This finding also ruled out the possibility of hydrogen as a part of the spin filtering defects in the as-grown materials, though hydrogen is known to be commonly present during the growth process. In Paper III, we examined the effectiveness of the spin filtering effect in the GaNAs/GaAs QWs as a function of QW width. Even with rather narrow QW widths of 3-9 nm, the spin filtering effect was shown to be efficient. It was further revealed that the spin filtering effect is more efficient in the wider QWs. From studies of transient behavior of photoluminescence and ODMR, it was concluded that this was mainly due to an increase in the sheet concentration of the spin filtering defects.