Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a compound semiconductor thin film by the thermal decomposition of a metal organic compound and a solar cell using the above thin film. An organic solvent solution of the metal organic compound containing at least one metal-sulfur bond is pulverized into fine particles by an ultrasonic vibration method or by a spray injection method and the obtained fine particles or gaseous metal organic compound are thermally decomposed by contacting them on the heated surface of a thin film forming substrate and thus a compound semiconductor metal sulfide thin film is formed on the thin film forming substrate. With this method, a compound semiconductor thin film of large surface area with uniform quality can be manufactured at low manufacturing cost with good reproducibility. These metal sulfide thin films are of high purity, high density and high quality and thus can be used for various photo-electronic devices.

Abstract: A vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser has first and second semiconductor multi-layered films, an active layer, and third and fourth semiconductor multi-layered films which are piled up on a GaAs substrate in that order. Furthermore, the first film is formed by piling up Al.sub.x-1 Ga.sub.1-x1 As layers (0.ltoreq.x1.ltoreq.1) and Al.sub.x2 Ga.sub.1-x2 As layers (0.ltoreq.x2.ltoreq.1) one after the other by turns. The second film is formed by piling up In.sub.x3 Ga.sub.1-x3 As.sub.y3 P.sub.1-y3 layers (0.ltoreq.x3, y3.ltoreq.1) and In.sub.x4 Ga.sub.1-x4 As.sub.y4 P.sub.1-y4 layers (0.ltoreq.x4, y4.ltoreq.1) one after the other by turns. The active layer is provided as an In.sub.x5 Ga.sub.1-x5 As.sub.y5 P.sub.1-y5 layer (0.ltoreq.x5, y5.ltoreq.1). The third film is formed by piling up In.sub.x6 Ga.sub.1-x6 As.sub.y6 P.sub.1-y6 layers (0.ltoreq.x6, y6.ltoreq.1) and In.sub.x7 Ga.sub.1-x7 As.sub.y7 P.sub.1-y7 layers (0.ltoreq.x7, y7.ltoreq.1) one after the other by turns.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a p-type III-V nitride compound semiconductor utilizing vapor phase epitaxy is carried out in a MOCVD reactor by growing a III-V nitride compound semiconductor in the reactor employing a reaction gas containing a p-type impurity and then annealing in-situ the nitride compound semiconductor to bring about acceptor activation, the annealing carried out at a temperature below the growth temperature of the III-V nitride compound semiconductor during reactor cooldown. A nitrogen (N) reactant or precursor is provided in the reactor during the annealing step which can produce a reactive form of N capable of suppressing surface decomposition and does not produce atomic hydrogen. Also, acceptor activation is achieved through the employment of a cap layer comprising a n-type Group III-V nitride material, e.g., n-GaN, grown on the p-doped Group III-V nitride layer preventing the occurrence of hydrogenation of the underlying p-doped layer during cooldown.

Abstract: By introducing an n-type drain implant substantially below the surface of the p-type substrate of a full frame image sensor, then enclosing the drain on the bottom and the sides with a deep p-type implant, and accumulating the surface with a shallow p-type implant, with all implantations performed through the same mask aperture, the blooming control, channel stop, and dark current suppression features of the imager are compressed, increasing the fill factor, facilitating pixel miniaturization, and therefore enabling high resolution imaging applications.