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Direct integration of III–V semiconductor light sources on silicon is an essential step toward the development of portable, on-chip infrared sensor systems. Driven by the presence of characteristic molecular fingerprints in the mid-infrared (MIR) spectral region, such systems may have a wide range of applications in infrared imaging, gas sensing, and medical diagnostics. This paper reports on the integration of an InAs virtual substrate and high crystalline quality InAs/InAsSb multi-quantum wells on Si using a three-stage InAs/GaSb/Si buffer layer. It is shown that the InAs/GaSb interface demonstrates a strong dislocation filtering effect. A series of strained AlSb/InAs dislocation filter superlattices was also used, resulting in a low surface dislocation density of approximately 4 × 107 cm−2. The InAs/InAsSb wells exhibited a strong photoluminescence signal at elevated temperatures. Analysis of these results indicates that radiative recombination is the dominant recombination mechanism, making this structure promising for fabricating MIR Si-based sensor systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the mid-infrared (MIR) spectral range require material systems with tailored optical absorption and emission at wavelengths λ > 2 μm. Here, we report on MIR LEDs based on In(AsN)/(InAl)As resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). The N-atoms lead to the formation of localized deep levels in the In(AsN) quantum well (QW) layer of the RTD. This has two main effects on the electroluminescence (EL) emission. By electrical injection of carriers into the N-related levels, EL emission is achieved at wavelengths significantly larger than for the QW emission (λ ∼ 3 μm), extending the output of the diode to λ ∼ 5 μm. Furthermore, for applied voltages well below the flatband condition of the diode, EL emission is observed at energies much larger than those supplied by the applied voltage and/or thermal energy, with an energy gain ΔE > 0.2 eV at room temperature. We attribute this upconversion luminescence to an Auger-like recombination process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-monolayer (SML) deposition of InSb within InAs matrix by migration enhanced epitaxy tends to form type II SML nanostructures offering efficient light emission within the mid-infrared (MIR) range between 3 and 5 μm. In this work, we report on the Sb distribution in InSb/InAs SML nanostructures with InAs cap layers grown at temperatures lower than that associated with the under-grown InSb active layer. Analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in 002 dark field conditions shows that the reduction in the growth temperature of the InAs cap layer increases the amount of Sb deposited in the layers, in good agreement with the x-ray diffraction results. TEM micrographs also show that the layers are formed by random InSbAs agglomerates, where the lower cap temperature leads to a more continuous InSb layer. Quantitative atomic column resolved high angle annular dark field-scanning (S)TEM analyses also reveal atomic columns with larger composition of Sb for the structure with the lowest InAs cap layer temperature. The dependence of the Sb distribution on InAs cap growth temperature allows tuning the corresponding emission wavelength in the MIR range, as shown by the photoluminescence emission spectra.

InSb/InAs sub-monolayer (SML) nanostructures such as SML quantum dots offer sharper emission spectra, a better modal gain and a larger modulation bandwidth compared to its Stranski-Krastanov counterpart. In this work, the Sb distribution of SML InSb layers grown by migration enhanced epitaxy has been analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The analysis of the material by diffraction contrast in 002 dark field conditions and by atomic column resolved high angle annular dark field-scanning TEM reveal the presence of a low Sb content InSbAs continuous layer with scarce Sb-rich InSbAs agglomerates. The intensity profiles obtained by both techniques point to Sb segregation during growth. This segregation has been quantified using the Muraki segregation model obtaining a high segregation coefficient R of 0.81 towards the growth direction. The formation of a continuous InSbAs wetting layer as a result of a SML deposition of Sb on the InAs surface is discussed.

Detecting and tracking moving objects (DATMO) is an essential component for autonomous driving and transportation. In this paper, we present a computationally low-cost and robust DATMO system which uses as input only 2D laser rangefinder (LRF) information. Due to its low requirements both in sensor needs and computation, our DATMO algorithm is meant to be used in current Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) to improve their reliability for the cargo transportation tasks at port terminals, advancing towards the next generation of fully autonomous transportation vehicles. Our method follows a Detection plus Tracking paradigm. In the detection step we exploit the minimum information of 2D-LRFs by segmenting the elements of the scene in a model-free way and performing a fast object matching to pair segmented elements from two different scans. In this way, we easily recognize dynamic objects and thus reduce consistently by between two and five times the computational burden of the adjacent tracking method. We track the final dynamic objects with an improved Multiple-Hypothesis Tracking (MHT), to which special functions for filtering, confirming, holding, and deleting targets have been included. The full system is evaluated in simulated and real scenarios producing solid results. Specifically, a simulated port environment has been developed to gather realistic data of common autonomous transportation situations such as observing an intersection, joining vehicle platoons, and perceiving overtaking maneuvers. We use different sensor configurations to demonstrate the robustness and adaptability of our approach. We additionally evaluate our system with real data collected in a port terminal the Netherlands. We show that it is able to accomplish the vehicle following task successfully, obtaining a total system recall of more than 98% while running faster than 30 Hz.