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Bi 2 Te 3 has drawn great attention in recent years as both a topological insulator and the best thermoelectric material at room temperature. We report on Raman spectroscopic study on Bi 2 Te 3 thin films with thicknesses of 20–50 nm grown on GaN by molecular beam epitaxy. All the four classical optical phonon modes are clearly revealed for the first time in ex situ Raman for epitaxial Bi 2 Te 3. Unusual and infrared-active vibration modes are also observed and analyzed. In the resonant Raman measurements, abnormal enhancement and suppression of different modes are studied. The interface modes caused by a large density of domain boundaries formed during coalescence of crystal islands with different lattice orientations and the Fröhlich electron–phonon interaction are found to play significant roles during the Raman scattering processes.

Substrate pre-patterning is an effective way to overcome large lattice mismatch and suppress threading defects in the growth of heterostructures. In this work, a new concept was proposed to form natural patterns on commercial substrates monolithically by the formation of surface cracks. Tensile strain was intentionally brought in with a GaAs or GaNAs layer above an InGaAs layer on GaAs substrates. Surface crack patterns successfully formed during the strain relaxation. The strain in a 1 μm buffer layer atop the pattern was found effectively relaxed. Detailed residual strain distribution was simulated by the finite element method.

GaSb(Bi)/Al0.2Ga0.8Sb single quantum wells are characterized by a Fourier transform infrared spectrometerbased photoreflectance method at 77 K. Spatially direct and indirect transitions between the electronic levels at and above the effective band gap are well resolved. The shifts of the electronic levels with Bi incorporation are identified quantitatively. The results show that the upshift of the valence band edge is clarified to be dominant, while the Bi-induced downshift of the conduction band edge does exist and contributes to the band gap reduction in the GaSbBi quantum-well layer by (29±6)%.

InGaPBi crystalline thin films with up to 2.1% bismuth concentration have been grown on GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry confirms that the majority of Bi atoms are located at substitutional lattice sites. The films exhibit good surface, structural, and interface quality, and their strains can be tuned from tensile to compressive by increasing the Bi content. InBi LO and GaBi LO vibrational modes in Raman spectroscopy were observed, and their intensities increased with Bi concentration. A weak photoluminescence signal was observed at 1.78 eV at room temperature for the sample with a Bi content of 0.5%.

Photoluminescence (PL) measurements are performed on one GaSb/AlGaSb single-quantum-well (SQW) sample and two dilute-bismuth (Bi) GaSb/AlGaSb SQW samples grown at 360 and 380 °C, at low temperatures and under magnetic fields. Bimodal PL features are identified in the dilute-Bi samples, and to be accompanied by abnormal PL blueshift in the sample grown at 360 °C. The bimodal PL features are found to be from similar origins of band-to-band transition by magneto-PL evolution. Analysis indicates that the phenomenon can be well interpreted by the joint effect of interfacial large-lateral-scale islands and Al/Ga interdiffusion due to Bi incorporation. The interdiffusion introduces about 1-monolayer shrinkage to the effective quantum-well thickness, which is similar to the interfacial islands height, and the both together result in an unusual shallow-terrace-like interface between GaSbBi and AlGaSb. A phenomenological model is established, the Bi content of isoelectronic incorporation and the exciton reduced effective mass are estimated for the GaSbBi sample grown at 380 °C, and a value of about 21 meV/% is suggested for the bandgap bowing rate of GaSbBi. An effective routine is suggested for determining the Bi content and the depth of the shallow-terraces at interface in dilute-Bi SQW structures.

The effect of bismuth on the optical properties of InGaAsBi/GaAs quantum well structures is investigated using the temperature-dependent photoluminescence from 12 K to 450 K. The incorporation of bismuth in the InGaAsBi quantum well is confirmed and found to result in a red shift of photoluminescence wavelength of 27.3 meV at 300 K. The photoluminescence intensity is significantly enhanced by about 50 times at 12 K with respect to that of the InGaAs quantum well due to the surfactant effect of bismuth. The temperature-dependent integrated photoluminescence intensities of the two samples reveal different behaviors related to various non-radiative recombination processes. The incorporation of bismuth also induces alloy non-uniformity in the quantum well, leading to an increased photoluminescence linewidth.

Molecular beam epitaxy for GaSb1-xBix is investigated in this article. The growth window for incorporation of Bi in GaSb was found. Strategies of avoiding formation of Bi droplets and enhancing Bi incorporation were studied. The Bi incorporation was confirmed by SIMS and RBS measurements. The Bi concentration in the samples was found to increase with increasing growth temperature and Bi flux. The position of GaSb1-xBix layer peak in XRD rocking curves is found to be correlated to Bi composition. Surface and structural properties of the samples were also investigated. Samples grown on GaSb and GaAs substrates were compared and no apparent difference for Bi incorporation was found.

Strong enhancement of optical quality in quantum wells by incorporating nitrogen in metamorphic InGaAs buffers grown on GaAs substrates is demonstrated. This has resulted in 3.7 or 5.4 times enhancement of photoluminescence intensity from the metamorphic quantum wells when using dilute nitride superlattice alone or adding nitrogen in a strain compensated GaAs/In0.3Al0.7As superlattice, respectively. This study shows great potentials by incorporating N in metamorphic buffers to further improve the quality of metamorphic optoelectronic devices.

We investigate the effects of doping and grading slope on the surface and structure of linearly alloy graded InGaAs buffers. It is found that the Be doping can improve material properties, resulting in smaller surface roughness and a lower threading dislocation density, while the Si doping has an opposite effect. The effect is strongly dependent on the grading slope. A moderate In grading slope is preferable for the strain relaxation and the minimization of the negative effect of Si doping. Physical mechanisms are proposed to explain the experimental observations. Since doping is essential for many types of optoelectronic devices, these results are valuable for improving the material properties and performance of metamorphic devices.

Three kinds of bismuth-layer-structured ferroelectric (BLSF) ceramics, CaBi4Ti4O15 (CBT), Ca0.8(CeNa)0.1Bi4Ti4O15 (CNBT), and Na-deficient Ca0.8(Ce0.1Na0.05\Box0.05)Bi4Ti4O15 [CN\BoxBT] (where \Box represents vacancies) were prepared by a conventional ceramic technique. X-ray powder diffraction showed that their crystal structures are a single phase of BLSF with m=4. Sintering characteristics of the three ceramics were also discussed. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs of CN\BoxBT showed that the grain is platelike. The A-site (NaCe) substitution can improve the piezoelectric constant d 33 and high-temperature resistivity with decreasing Curie temperature. The modification by A-site (NaCe) substitution with Na-deficiency is more pronounced than CNBT, which not only leads to a very high piezoelectric constant d 33 and high-temperature resistivity but also increases the Curie temperature. The reason for the high T c (T c=866°C) of CN\BoxBT is considered to be internal stress. As a result, Na-deficient CN\BoxBT ceramic is found to be an excellent high-temperature piezoelectric material.

We investigated the effect of A-site compound substitution on the structures and properties of Ca0.8(MCe)0.1Bi4Ti4O15 (M denotes Li, Na and K) ceramics. The samples were prepared by the conventional ceramic technique. Sintering characteristics of Ca0.8(MCe)0.1Bi4Ti4O15 and CaBi4Ti4O15 ceramics were discussed. X-ray powder diffraction patterns of the three modified CBT-based compounds show a single phase of bismuth oxide layer type structure with m=4. The hysteresis loops of polarization versus electric field of the four compounds were also measured. A-site compound substitution improves the piezoelectric properties and the high-temperature resistivity of these materials. A-site (LiCe) and (KCe) substitution not only improves the Curie temperature but also decreases the temperature coefficient of dielectric constant (T K ε). Among the three modified ceramics, only the Curie temperature of Ca0.8(NaCe)0.1Bi4Ti4O15 is lower than that of CaBi4Ti4O15; however, its T K ε is the lowest. As a result, all the three modified CBT-based ceramics were found to be excellent high-temperature piezoelectric materials.

III-V-Bi compounds reveal a number of attractive physical properties promising for novel IR optoelectronic applications [1,2] and have received considerable attention as witnessed by the dedicated international workshops on this topic in the consecutive past four years. The isoelectronic nature of Bi atoms in III-Vs induces strong interactions with the energy bands of host materials leading to large band-gap reduction, less temperature sensitive band-gap and large spin-orbit split band. So far the most studied material is Ga(N)AsBi, while other dilute bismides have also been reported recently. In this paper, we shall briefly review several novel bismides: GaSbBi, InSbiBi, InAsBi, InPBi and InGaAsBi, and the Bi surfactant effect from our group, all grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

Molecular beam epitaxy growth for InSb1-xBix thin films on (100) GaAs substrates is reported. Successful Bi incorporation for 2% is achieved, and up to 70% of the incorporated Bi atoms are at substitutional sites. The effects of growth parameters on Bi incorporation and surface morphology are studied. Strong In and Ga inter-diffusion induced by Bi incorporation is observed and discussed.

A previously unreported phase transition between Bi2Te3 and Bi4Te3 in bismuth telluride grown by molecular beam epitaxy is recorded via XRD, AFM, and SIMS observations. This transition is found to be related to the Te/Bi beam equivalent pressure (BEP) ratio. BEP ratios below 17 favor the formation of Bi4Te3 while Bi2Te3 is formed at higher ratios. Transport measurements reveal that Bi2Te3 has higher electron mobility than Bi4Te3.