III-Nitride Materials
and Devices Group
The University of New Mexico
Teaching
Fall 2016 Office Hours:
After class MW 12:15 pm
or by appointmnt
in CHTM room 112B
dfeezell@unm.edu
505.272.7823
Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque
ECE 570 (Fall 2015 and Fall 2016)
Optoelectronic Semiconductor Materials and Devices
Prof. Feezell's Course Webpage (active for current students)
Topics Covered
Introduction to Semiconductor Materials (Ch. 1, 1 lecture) – common semiconductor materials and crystal structures, semiconductor growth techniques including MBE and MOCVD, lattice matching.
Basic Quantum Mechanics (Ch. 3, 3 lectures) – Schrodinger equation, bra-ket (Dirac) notation, operators, wavefunctions and basis representation, Hamiltonian, orthonormality, kronecker delta, probability density, infinite and finite barrier square potential wells, time-dependent perturbation theory, Fermi’s golden rule.
Basic Semiconductor Electronics (Ch. 2, 5 lectures) – continuity equations, Poisson’s equation, drift/diffusion, electron/hole concentrations, Fermi-Dirac distribution, density of states, generation/recombination (SRH, radiative, Auger), ABC model, stimulated recombination, optical pumping, pn junctions and heterojunctions.
Optical Waveguides (Ch. 7, 2 lectures) – dielectric slab waveguide, graphical solution, cut-off condition, effective index, confinement factor, effective index method, lossy and gain media.
Optical Processes in Semiconductors (Ch. 9, 4 lectures) – Fermi’s golden rule, optical absorption coefficient, spontaneous and stimulated emission, Einstein’s coefficients, absorption/gain spectra, absorption and gain in bulk and quantum wells, optical matrix element, joint density of states, momentum matrix element.
Fundamentals of Semiconductor Lasers (Ch. 10, 4 lectures) – threshold condition, transparency condition, light output power, differential efficiency, rate equations, LEDs and spontaneous emission, amplified spontaneous emission, gain-guided and index-guided lasers, quantum-well lasers, gain spectra, strained quantum-well lasers.
Advanced Semiconductor Lasers (Ch. 11, 3 lectures) – distributed feedback (DFB) lasers or vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) or GaN-based lasers.
Direct Modulation of Semiconductors Lasers (Ch. 12, 2 lectures) – modulation of semiconductor lasers, rate equations, small-signal response, linewidth enhancement factor, RIN.
Photodetectors and Solar Cells (Ch.15, 6 lectures) – photoconductors, noise in photodiodes, pn photodiodes, pin photodiodes, avalanche photodiodes, solar cells.
ECE 475 (Spring 2014 and Spring 2015)
Introduction to Electro-Optics and Optoelectronics
Prof. Feezell's Course Webpage (not active)
Topics Covered
Wave Nature of Light (Ch. 1) – plane waves, phase velocity, wave equation, beam divergence, refractive index, dispersion, group velocity, group index, irradiance, Poynting vector, Snell’s law, total internal reflection, Fresnel equations, AR coatings, DBRs, absorption, coherence, interference, cavities, diffraction.
Dielectric Waveguides and Optical Fibers (Ch. 2) – dielectric slab waveguides, step index optical fibers, numerical aperture, dispersion in fibers, bit rate, bandwidth, GRIN fibers, attenuation.
Semiconductor Science and Light-Emitting Diodes (Ch. 3) – review of (energy bands, Fermi statistics, DOS, doping, E-k diagrams, pn junctions), recombination lifetime, heterojunctions, LED basic principles, quantum well LEDs, LED materials and structures, internal and external quantum efficiency, light-extraction.
Stimulated Emission Devices: Optical Amplifiers and Lasers (Ch. 4) – stimulated emission, photon amplification, Einstein coefficients, EDFAs, threshold condition, gain, semiconductor diode lasers, differential efficiency, rate equations, transparency, gain curves, single frequency lasers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs).
Photodetectors (Ch. 5) – pn photodiodes, photocurrent, absorption, detector materials, quantum efficiency, responsivity, pin photodiodes, avalanche photodiodes, solar cells.
ECE 371 (Fall 2013 and Fall 2014)
Materials and Devices
Prof. Feezell's Course Webpage (not active)
Topics Covered
Semiconductor materials (Ch. 1) - crystal structures, unit cells, miller indices, bonding, imperfections, and growth. Quantum mechanics (Ch. 2) – the uncertainty principle, Schrodinger equation, wave functions, electrons in free space, infinite potential wells, step potential functions, and tunneling. Quantum theory of solids (Ch. 3) – energy bands, Kronig-Penney model, dispersion curves, effective mass, holes, density of states, and Fermi-Dirac distribution. Semiconductors in equilibrium (Ch. 4) – equilibrium carrier concentrations, Fermi-level position, dopant atoms, III-V semiconductors, extrinsic semiconductors, and charge neutrality. Carrier transport (Ch. 5) – drift current, mobility, conductivity, diffusion current, and Einstein relation. PN junctions (Ch. 7) – built-in potential, electric field, space charge width, reverse bias, and breakdown. PN junction diodes (Ch. 8) – charge flow, current-voltage relation, minority carrier distribution, and ideal diode equation. MOSFETs (Ch. 10) – MOSFET structures, energy band diagrams, surface charge density, flat band voltage, threshold voltage, C-V characteristics, transconductance, and frequency operation.
ECE 577 (Spring 2013, Spring 2016)
Fundamentals of Semiconductor LEDs and Lasers
Prof. Feezell's Course Webpage (not active)
Topics Covered
Semiconductors light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers are key components in a variety of applications, including solid-state lighting, displays, optical communications, high-density optical data storage, and sensing. The goal of this course is to provide intensive instruction in the materials, device physics, fabrication, and characterization of semiconductor LEDs and laser diodes. By the end of the course, you should be able to design and analyze a variety of LED and laser structures. Topics to be covered include: carrier generation and recombination, photon generation and loss in laser cavities, LED vs. laser internal quantum efficiency, LED extraction efficiency, density of optical modes and blackbody radiation, radiative and non-radiative processes, scattering/transmission matrices, distributed Bragg reflectors, optical gain, spontaneous and stimulated emission, Fermi’s golden rule, gain and current/carrier relations, characterizing real diode lasers, rate equations, small signal analysis.