ALBERT

Notes: Data are presented describing Si impurity-induced layer disordering (IILD) and Al-Ga interdiffusion in AlxGa1−x As-GaAs quantum-well heterostructures (QWHs) using open-tube rapid thermal annealing (900–1000 °C) in a flowing N2/H2 ambient. The data show that Al-Ga interdiffusion is enhanced by n-type crystal doping and suppressed by p-type doping. By surrounding the active layers of the heterostructure with layers of opposite doping, we show that the surrounding layers modify the interdiffusion by controlling the diffusion of point defects to the active layers of the heterostructure. Data are presented showing the effects of dielectric encapsulation (SiO2, Si3N4 ) on Al-Ga interdiffusion. The data show that regardless of doping SiO2 enhances interdiffusion as compared to Si3N4. To achieve more thorough layer intermixing of AlxGa1−x As-GaAs QWHs, Si IILD is also investigated in the high-temperature As-poor regime. The experimental data show that in a high-temperature As-poor annealing ambient, little or no Si diffusion occurs from an elemental Si source in contact with a p-type GaAs QWH cap layer. To achieve Si diffusion under these conditions requires removal of the GaAs cap and the use of Al-reduced SiO2 or Si3N4 as a Si diffusion source. Based on secondary-ion mass spectroscopic measurements, direct comparison of Si diffusion from closed-tube (825 °C, 48 h) and open tube (1000 °C, 10 min) anneals shows increased Si incorporation and layer disordering at higher temperatures.

Notes: Data are presented describing the incorporation of Si in locally laser-melted AlxGa1−xAs-GaAs quantum well heterostructures from a thin-film dielectric source. The composition of the melted material, the effects of the Si source (SiO2 or Si3N4) on impurity incorporation, and the doping behavior are examined via secondary-ion mass spectroscopy, electron dispersion x-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The data indicate that upon melting, a (Si)y(AlxGa1−xAs)1−y alloy is formed from which impurity-induced layer disordering may be effected. After annealing the melt region is found to contain crystalline segregates, which are attributed to rapid thermal quenching of the melt. Applications of these results to the fabrication of buried-heterostructure lasers by laser-assisted disordering are discussed.

Notes: Three experiments were conducted to determine the association between leaf number per tiller at defoliation, water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentration and herbage mass of juvenile ryegrass plants when grown in a Mediterranean environment. Seedlings of ryegrass were grown in nursery pots arranged side-by-side and located outside in the open-air to simulate a mini-sward in Experiments 1 and 2, and a mixture of annual ryegrass and subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) was grown in a small plot field study in Experiment 3. Swards were defoliated mechanically with the onset of defoliation commencing within 28 d of germination. Frequency of defoliation ranged from one to nine leaves per tiller, whilst defoliation height ranged from 30 mm of pseudostem height that removed all leaf laminae in Experiment 1, to 50 mm of pseudostem height with some leaf laminae remaining post-defoliation in Experiments 2 and 3.A positive relationship between herbage mass of ryegrass, WSC concentration and leaf number per tiller at defoliation was demonstrated in all experiments. In Experiment 1, the herbage mass of leaf, pseudostem and roots of tillers defoliated at one leaf per tiller was reduced to 0·10, 0·09 and 0·06 of those tillers defoliated less frequently at six leaves per tiller. However, the reduction in herbage mass from frequent defoliation was less severe in Experiment 2 and coincided with a 0·20 reduction in WSC concentration of pseudostem compared with 0·80 measured during Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, the highest harvested herbage mass of ryegrass occurred when defoliation was nine leaves per tiller. Although the harvested herbage from this sward contained senescent herbage, the in vitro dry-matter digestibility of the harvested herbage did not differ significantly compared with the remaining treatments that had been defoliated more frequently.Leaf numbers of newly germinated ryegrass tillers in a Mediterranean environment were positively associated with WSC concentration of pseudostem and herbage mass. A minimum period of two to three leaf appearances was required to restore WSC concentrations to levels measured prior to defoliation thereby avoiding a significant reduction in herbage mass. However, maximum herbage mass of a mixed sward containing ryegrass and subterranean clover was achieved when defoliation was delayed to nine leaves per tiller.

Notes: The object of this study was to determine the effect of closing date and date of harvest for conservation (accumulation period), on dry-matter (DM) yield and forage quality of annual pasture in Western Australia. The field study comprised 48 plots, 2 m × 2 m, sown with either annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaud.) or Italian ryegrass (L. multiflorum Lam.), and mixed with subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.). Defoliation of swards until the end of winter was at the three leaves tiller–1 stage. In spring, once stem nodal development had commenced, swards were defoliated every 3–4 weeks. Swards were defoliated either twice with three leaves tiller–1 (accumulation period 1 commenced on 15 August); twice with three leaves tiller–1 and then once after 4 weeks (accumulation period 2 commenced on 11 September); twice with three leaves tiller–1 and then twice after 4-week intervals (accumulation period 3 commenced on 9 October) or; twice with 3 leaves tiller–1 and then twice after 4-week intervals and then once after 3 weeks (accumulation period 4 commenced on 30 October). From the commencement of the accumulation period, tiller density, DM yield and forage quality were determined weekly for up to 10 weeks.There was a positive quadratic association between DM yield and days after the commencement of the accumulation period. Yields were maximized from accumulation period 1 with 5·3, 6·6 and 9·5 t DM ha–1, and growth rates were 140, 128 and 145 kg DM ha–1 d–1, for Wimmera annual ryegrass and Richmond and Concord cultivars of Italian ryegrass respectively. In contrast, in vitro dry-matter digestibility (IVDMD) and crude protein (CP) content were negatively associated with days after the commencement of the accumulation period, and initial values were greater than 0·80 and 180 g kg DM–1 for IVDMD and CP content respectively. The rate of decline in IVDMD d–1 for Wimmera annual ryegrass was 0·005, 0·019 and 0·012 d–1 for accumulation periods 1, 2 and 3, respectively, while for Italian ryegrass cultivars Richmond was 0·015, 0·011, 0·02 and 0·012 d–1 and Concord was 0·014, 0·009, 0·013 and 0·01 d–1, for the 4 accumulation periods respectively.It is recommended that annual and Italian ryegrass pastures be harvested between 10% and 20% inflorescence emergence when IVDMD will exceed 0·70 regardless of cultivar and/or defoliation practice prior to the commencement of the accumulation period.

Notes: The effect of defoliation on the vegetative, early reproductive and inflorescence stages of tiller development, changes in the dry-matter yield of leaf, stem and inflorescence and the associated changes in forage quality was determined on plants of annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaud.) and Italian ryegrass (L. multiflorum Lam.). The field study comprised seventy-two plots of 1 m × 2 m, sown with one annual ryegrass and seven Italian ryegrass cultivars with a range of heading dates from early to late; defoliation commenced 6 weeks after germination. During the vegetative stage of growth, plots were defoliated when the tillers had three fully expanded leaves (three-leaf stage). During the early reproductive stage of growth, to simulate a cut for silage, plots were defoliated 6–7 weeks after 0·10 of the tillers displayed nodal development. The subsequent regrowth was defoliated every 3 weeks.Assessments of changes in tiller density, yield and quality were made in the growth cycle that followed three contrasting cutting treatments during the winter–spring period (from 10 July). In treatment 1, this growth cycle (following closing-up before a subsequent conservation cut) commenced on 7 August following two defoliations each taken when the tillers were at the three-leaf stage. In treatment 2, the growth cycle commenced on 16 October following: for early-maturing cultivars, two cuts at the three-leaf stage, a cut for silage and an additional regrowth cut; for medium-maturing cultivars three cuts at the three-leaf stage and a cut for silage; and late-maturing cultivars, five cuts at the three-leaf stage. In treatment 3, defoliation up to 16 October was as for treatment 2, but the growth cycle studied started on 27 November following two additional regrowth cuts for early- and medium-maturing cultivars and cut for silage for the late-maturing cultivars.Tiller development for all cultivars was classified into three stages; vegetative, early reproductive and inflorescence. In treatment 1, in vitro dry-matter digestibility (IVDMD) and crude protein (CP) content were negatively associated with maturation of tillers. IVDMD ranged from 0·85 to 0·60 and CP ranged from 200 to less than 100 g kg–1 dry matter (DM) during the vegetative and inflorescence stages respectively. This large reduction in forage quality was due to an increase in the proportion of stem, inflorescence and dead material, combined with a reduction in the IVDMD and CP content of the stem. A high level of forage quality was retained for longer with later-maturing cultivars, and/or when vegetative tillers were initiated from the defoliation of early reproductive tillers (treatments 2 and 3). However, 15 weeks after the closing-up date in treatment 1, defoliation significantly reduced the density of inflorescences with means (±pooled s.e_m.) of 1560, 1178 and 299 ± 108 tillers m–2, and DM yield of inflorescence with means of 3·0, 0·6 and 0·1 ± 0·15 t ha–1 for treatments 1, 2 and 3 respectively.This study supports the recommendation that annual and Italian ryegrass cultivars should be classified according to maturity date based on the onset of inflorescence emergence, and that the judicious defoliation of early reproductive tillers can be used to promote the initiation of new vegetative tillers which in turn will retain forage quality for longer.

Notes: The interdiffusion of lateral composition modulated (GaP)2/(InP) 2 short-period superlattices (SPSs) is reported. The lateral composition modulation is achieved by the strain induced lateral layer ordering (SILO) process. A blueshift in the interband transition is observed by photoluminescence spectroscopy for capless and SiO 2 encapsulated annealed SPSs (800 °C, 5.5 h), while the intensity and wavelength of Si3N4 encapsulated annealed SPSs are only slightly perturbed. From transmission electron microscopy, capless annealed SPSs (800 °C, 5.5 h) retain their lateral composition modulation, however, the (001/2) satellite reflections disappear. For long anneal times (48 h), the interband transition corresponds to that of a In0.50Ga 0.50P alloy, suggesting the lateral composition modulation disappears. The observed lateral interdiffusion coefficient exceeds the vertical by a factor of ∼30, suggesting SPS interdiffusion is enhanced by native point defects. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: The incorporation of residual carbon has been studied for InP grown at low temperatures using TMIn and PH3 by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. n-type conduction is observed with electron concentrations as high as 1×1018 cm−3, and the electrical activation efficiency is 5%–15%. Carbon incorporation is found to be highly dependent on substrate temperature, suggesting that the rate-limiting step is desorption of CHy (0≤y≤3) from the surface during growth. Hydrogen is also incorporated in the layers during growth. The electron mobilities are lower for C-doped InP than for Si-doped InP. InP/InGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors with C as the p-type base dopant and either Si or C as the n-type emitter dopant have been fabricated and compared. Devices with a carbon-doped base and emitter showed degraded performance, likely as a result of deep levels incorporated during growth of the emitter.

Notes: Data are presented on the stabilization of AlAs-GaAs heterostructures against atmospheric (destructive) hydrolysis using the native oxide that can be formed (N2+H2O, 400 °C, 3 h) on the AlAs layer. The ∼0.1-μm-thick native oxide formed from the AlAs layer is shown to be stable with aging (∼100 days), while unoxidized samples degrade through the AlAs (0.1 μm) down into the GaAs as deep as ∼1 μm. Relative to oxides formed (∼25 °C) on AlAs (or AlxGa1−xAs, x (approximately-greater-than) 0.7) under atmospheric conditions (hydrolysis), oxides formed (via N2 +H2O) at higher temperatures ((approximately-greater-than)400 °C) are much more stable and seal the underlying crystal (e.g., GaAs).

Notes: The effect of intermediate temperature annealing on the carbon-doped base region of InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) was studied. This work shows that after annealing at only 600 °C a sample doped at 5.5×1019 cm−3 displays carbon precipitation. InGaP/GaAs HBT structures were grown for the annealing study. Hall measurements were used to measure hole concentration. Atomic force microscopy was employed to identify carbon precipitation. The annealing process not only removes hydrogen from the base but also creates carbon precipitates. The dc current gain measurements imply that the carbon precipitates increase base recombination. These results are very important in the growth and postgrowth annealing of high gain HBTs. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Intentional carbon doping of low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown InP has been attempted with a 500 ppm mixture of 13CCl4 in high-purity H2, which has been used to obtain carbon-acceptor concentrations as high as 1×1019 cm−3 in GaAs. Under growth conditions similar to those used for heavy carbon incorporation in GaAs, injection of 13CCl4 into the growth reactor during growth of InP did not produce any measurable change in the carrier concentration of the InP epitaxial layers or any change in the 13C concentration above the 13C background in secondary-ion mass spectroscopy analysis. These results support previous low-temperature photoluminescence measurements of high-purity InP in which no residual carbon acceptor is observed under many growth techniques and growth conditions, and hence support the hypothesis that carbon is not incorporated in InP grown by MOCVD.