An improved heterostructure for an optoelectronic device is provided. The heterostructure includes an active region, an electron blocking layer, and a p-type contact layer. The p-type contact layer and electron blocking layer can be doped with a p-type dopant. The dopant concentration for the electron blocking layer can be at most ten percent the dopant concentration of the p-type contact layer. A method of designing such a heterostructure is also described.

The present invention discloses a photo-detector comprising: an n-type photon absorbing layer of a first energy bandgap; a middle barrier layer, an intermediate layer is a semiconductor structure; and a contact layer of a third energy bandgap, wherein the layer materials are selected such that the first energy bandgap of the photon absorbing layer is narrower than that of said middle barrier layer; wherein the material composition and thickness of said intermediate layer are selected such that the valence band of the intermediate layer lies above the valence band in the barrier layer to create an efficient trapping and transfer of minority carriers from the barrier layer to the contact layer such that a tunnel current through the barrier layer from the contact layer to the photon absorbing layer is less than a dark current in the photo-detector and the dark current from the photon-absorbing layer to said middle barrier layer is essentially diffusion limited and is due to the unimpeded flow of minority carriers, thus reducing generation-recombination (GR) noise of the photo-detector. The principles of the present invention also apply to inverted polarity structures of the form pBp in which all the doping polarities and band alignments described above are reversed.

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor photoreceiving device includes a substrate, a first structural layer provided on the substrate, in which light enters from the substrate side and in which a refractive index changes periodically, a semiconductor layer provided on the first structural layer and including an optical absorption layer, a reflective layer provided on the semiconductor layer, and a pair of electrodes configured to apply voltage to the optical absorption layer.

A split electrode vertical cavity optical device includes an n-type ohmic contact layer, first through fifth ion implant regions, cathode and anode electrodes, first and second injector terminals, and p and n type modulation doped quantum well structures. The cathode electrode and the first and second ion implant regions are formed on the n-type ohmic contact layer. The third ion implant region is formed on the first ion implant region and contacts the p-type modulation doped QW structure. The fourth ion implant region encompasses the n-type modulation doped QW structure. The first and second injector terminals are formed on the third and fourth ion implant regions, respectively. The fifth ion implant region is formed above the n-type modulation doped QW structure and the anode electrode is formed above the fifth ion implant region.

A semiconductor device includes an n-type ohmic contact layer, cathode and anode electrodes, p-type and n-type modulation doped quantum well (QW) structures, and first and second ion implant regions. The anode electrode is formed on the first ion implant region that contacts the p-type modulation doped QW structure and the cathode electrode is formed by patterning the first and second ion implant regions and the n-type ohmic contact layer. The semiconductor device is configured to operate as at least one of a diode laser and a diode detector. As the diode laser, the semiconductor device emits photons. As the diode detector, the semiconductor device receives an input optical light and generates a photocurrent.

A multilayer thin-film structure has a layered structure with an alternative stacking series of a first layer of a first oxide semiconductor and a second layer of a second oxide semiconductor different from the first oxide semiconductor, wherein the layered structure has one or more band gaps including a range of 1.3 eV to 1.5 eV.

A superlattice cell that includes Group IV elements is repeated multiple times so as to form the superlattice. Each superlattice cell has multiple ordered atomic planes that are parallel to one another. At least two of the atomic planes in the superlattice cell have different chemical compositions. One or more of the atomic planes in the superlattice cell one or more components selected from the group consisting of carbon, tin, and lead. These superlattices make a variety of applications including, but not limited to, transistors, light sensors, and light sources.

A photoelectric conversion element includes a photoelectric conversion layer having the quantum structure and utilizes intersubband transition in a conduction band. The photoelectric conversion element includes a superlattice semiconductor layer in which a barrier layer and a quantum dot layer as a quantum layer are alternately and repeatedly stacked. The barrier layer includes an indirect transition semiconductor material, and the quantum dot layer has a nano-structure including a direct transition semiconductor material. The indirect transition semiconductor material constituting the barrier layer has a bandgap of more than 1.42 eV at room temperature.

A semiconductor wafer comprising a substrate; a first AlGaN layer on the substrate; a second AlGaN layer on the first AlGaN layer; a GaN layer on the second AlGaN layer; and a plurality of crystalline GaN islands between the first and second AlGaN layers.

An epitaxial wafer of the present invention includes a substrate composed of a III-V compound semiconductor, a multiple quantum well structure composed of a III-V compound semiconductor and located on the substrate, and a top layer composed of a III-V compound semiconductor and located on the multiple quantum well structure. The substrate has a plane orientation of (100) and an off angle of 0.030 or more and +0.030 or less, and a surface of the top layer has a root-mean-square roughness of less than 10 nm.