Thermodynamic, kinetic and electrical switching studies on Si(15)Te(85-x)In(x) glasses: Observation of Boolchand intermediate phase

An interesting topic for quite some time is an intermediate phase observed in chalcogenide glasses, which is related to network connectivity and rigidity. This phenomenon is exhibited by Si-Te-In glasses also. It has been addressed here by carrying out detailed thermal investigations by using Alternating Differential Scanning Calorimetry technique. An effort has also been made to determine the stability of these glasses using the data obtained from different thermodynamic quantities and crystallization kinetics of these glasses. Electrical switching behavior by recording I-V characteristics and variation of switching voltages with indium composition have been studied in these glasses for phase change memory applications. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Band alignment studies in InN/p-Si(100) heterojunctions by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The band offsets in InN/p-Si heterojunctions are determined by high resolution x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The valence band of InN is found to be 1.39 eV below that of Si. Given the bandgap of 0.7 eV for InN, a type-III heterojunction with a conduction band offset of 1.81 eV was found. Agreement between the simulated and experimental data obtained from the heterojunction spectra was found to be excellent, establishing that the method of determination was accurate. The charge neutrality level (CNL) model provided a reasonable description of the band alignment of the InN/p-Si interface and a change in the interface dipole by 0.06 eV was observed for InN/p-Si interface.

Dielectric properties of (110) oriented PbZrO3 and La-modified PbZrO3 thin films grown by sol-gel process on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate

Highly (110) preferred orientated antiferroelectric PbZrO3 (PZ) and La-modified PZ thin films have been fabricated on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using sol-gel process. Dielectric properties, electric field induced ferroelectric polarization, and the temperature dependence of the dielectric response have been explored as a function of composition. The Tc has been observed to decrease by ∼ 17 °C per 1 mol % of La doping. Double hysteresis loops were seen with zero remnant polarization and with coercive fields in between 176 and 193 kV/cm at 80 °C for antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase transformation. These slim loops have been explained by the high orientation of the films along the polar direction of the antiparallel dipoles of a tetragonal primitive cell and by the strong electrostatic interaction between La ions and oxygen ions in an ABO3 perovskite unit cell. High quality films exhibited very low loss factor less than 0.015 at room temperature and pure PZ; 1 and 2 mol % La doped PZs have shown the room temperature dielectric constant of 135, 219, and 142 at the frequency of 10 kHz. The passive layer effects in these films have been explained by Curie constants and Curie temperatures. The ac conductivity and the corresponding Arrhenius plots have been shown and explained in terms of doping effect and electrode resistance.

Structural and electrical properties of low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown Eu2O3 films on Si(100)

Structural and electrical properties of Eu2O3 films grown on Si(100) in 500–600 °C temperature range by low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are reported. As-grown films also possess the impurity Eu1−xO phase, which has been removed upon annealing in O2 ambient. Film’s morphology comprises uniform spherical mounds (40–60 nm). Electrical properties of the films, as examined by capacitance-voltage measurements, exhibit fixed oxide charges in the range of −1.5×1011 to −6.0×1010 cm−2 and dielectric constant in the range of 8–23. Annealing has resulted in drastic improvement of their electrical properties. Effect of oxygen nonstoichiometry on the film’s property is briefly discussed.

Indium flux, growth temperature and RF power induced effects in InN layers grown on GaN/Si substrate by plasma-assisted MBE

In the present work, we report the growth of wurtzite InN epilayers on GaN/Si (1 1 1) substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE). The growth parameters such as indium flux, substrate temperature and RF power affect the crystallographic and morphological properties of InN layers, which were evaluated using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) analysis and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is found that excess indium (In) concentrations and surface roughness were increased with increase in In flux and growth temperature. The intensity of HRXRD (0 0 0 2) peak, corresponding to c-axis orientation has been increased and full width at half maxima (FWHM) has decreased with increase in RF power. It was found that highly c-axis oriented InN epilayers can be grown at 450 degrees C growth temperature, 450 W RF power and 1.30 x 10(-7) mbar In beam equivalent pressure (BEP). The energy gap of InN layers grown by optimizing growth conditions was determined by photoluminescence and optical absorption measurement. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transport and infrared photoresponse properties of InN nanorods/Si heterojunction

The present work explores the electrical transport and infrared (IR) photoresponse properties of InN nanorods (NRs)/n-Si heterojunction grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Single-crystalline wurtzite structure of InN NRs is verified by the X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Raman measurements show that these wurtzite InN NRs have sharp peaks E(2)(high) at 490.2 cm(-1) and A(1)(LO) at 591 cm(-1). The current transport mechanism of the NRs is limited by three types of mechanisms depending on applied bias voltages. The electrical transport properties of the device were studied in the range of 80 to 450 K. The faster rise and decay time indicate that the InN NRs/n-Si heterojunction is highly sensitive to IR light.

Influence of Si-C bond density on the properties of a-Si(1-x)C(x) thin films

Amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si(1-x)C(x)) films were deposited on silicon (100) and quartz substrates by pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering of silicon in methane (CH(4))-Argon (Ar) atmosphere. The influence of substrate temperature and target power on the composition, carbon bonding configuration, band gap, refractive index and hardness of a-SiC films has been investigated. Increase in substrate temperature results in slightly decreasing the carbon concentration in the films but favors silicon-carbon (Si-C) bonding. Also lower target powers were favorable towards Si-C bonding. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results agree with the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV-vis spectroscopy results. Increase in substrate temperature resulted in increased hardness of the thin films from 13 to 17 GPa and the corresponding bandgap varied from 2.1 to 1.8 eV. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Growth mechanism of the Nb(X)Si-2 and [Nb(X)](5)Si-3 phases by reactive diffusion in Nb (X = Ti, Mo, or Zr)-Si systems

The effects of Mo, Ti, and Zr on the diffusion and growth of the Nb(X)Si-2 and Nb(X)(5)Si-3 phases in an Nb(X)-Si system are analyzed. The integrated diffusion coefficients are determined from diffusion couple experiments and compared with the data previously calculated in a binary Nb-Si system. The growth rates of both phases are affected by the addition of Mo and Zr, whereas the addition of Ti has no effect. The atomic mechanism of diffusion is also discussed based on the crystal structure and the possible changes in the defect concentrations due to alloying. Finally, the growth mechanism of the phases is discussed on the basis of a physico-chemical approach. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Band-Structure Lineup at In0.2Ga0.8N/Si Heterostructures by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

In0.2Ga0.8N layers were directly grown on Si(111) substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE). Structural characteristics of the as-grown InGaN epilayers were evaluated high resolution X-ray diffraction and composition of InGaN was estimated from photoluminescence spectra using the standard Vegard's law. High-resolution X-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements were used to determine the band offset of wurtzite-In0.2Ga0.8N/Si(111) heterojunctions. The valence band of InGaN is found to be 2.08 +/- 0.04 eV below that of Si. The conduction band offset (CBO) of InGaN/Si heterojunction is found similar to 0.74 eV and a type-II heterojunction. (C) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Barrier Inhomogeneity and Electrical Properties of InN Nanodots/Si Heterojunction Diodes

The electrical transport behavior of n-n indium nitride nanodot-silicon (InN ND-Si) heterostructure Schottky diodes is reported here, which have been fabricated by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. InN ND structures were grown on a 20 nm InN buffer layer on Si substrates. These dots were found to be single crystalline and grown along [0 0 0 1] direction. Temperature-dependent current density-voltage plots (J-V-T) reveal that the ideality factor (eta) and Schottky barrier height (SBH) (Phi(B)) are temperature dependent. The incorrect values of the Richardson constant (A**) produced suggest an inhomogeneous barrier. Descriptions of the experimental results were explained by using two models. First one is barrier height inhomogeneities (BHIs) model, in which considering an effective area of the inhomogeneous contact provided a procedure for a correct determination of A**. The Richardson constant is extracted similar to 110 A cm(-2) K(-2) using the BHI model and that is in very good agreement with the theoretical value of 112 A cm(-2) K(-2). The second model uses Gaussian statistics and by this, mean barrier height Phi(0) and A** were found to be 0.69 eV and 113 A cm(-2) K(-2), respectively.

Observation of high pressure o-GeTe phase at ambient pressure in Si-Te-Ge glasses

Te-rich Si15Te85-xGex (1 <= x <= 11) glasses are found to exhibit an anomalous phase separations with germanium composition. The structural transformation of o-GeTe crystalline phase from o-GeTe with a = 11.76 angstrom, b = 16.59 angstrom, c = 17.44 angstrom, to high pressure o-GeTe with a new reduced lattice parameters a = 10.95 angstrom, b = 4.03 angstrom, c = 4.45 angstrom, is observed at T-c3 in the composition range 6 <= x <= 11. Raman studies support the possible existence of high pressure o-GeTe phase which is observed in X-ray diffraction experiments. Copyright 2012 Author(s). This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3696862]

Carrier-transport studies of III-nitride/Si3N4/Si isotype heterojunctions

GaN/Si3N4/n-Si and InN/Si3N4/n-Si heterojunctions (HJs) were fabricated using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy for a comparison study. Single-crystalline wurtzite structures of GaN and InN epilayers were confirmed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction and thickness of ultrathin Si3N4 layer was measured by transmission electron microscopy. n-GaN/Si3N4/n-Si HJs show diode-like rectifying current-voltage (I-V) characteristic, while n-InN/Si3N4/n-Si HJs show symmetric nonlinear I-V behavior. The I-V characteristics of both HJs were discussed in terms of the band diagram of HJs and the carrier transport mechanism. The activation energies of carrier conduction were estimated to be similar to 29 meV for GaN/Si3N4/Si and similar to 95 meV for InN/Si3N4/Si HJs. (C) 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Carrier concentration dependence of donor activation energy in n-type GaN epilayers grown on Si (111) by plasma-assisted MBE

The n-type GaN layers were grown by plasma-assisted MBE and either intentionally doped with Si or unintentionally doped. The optical characteristics of a donor level in Si-doped, GaN were studied in terms of photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy as a function of electron concentration. Temperature dependent PL measurements allowed us to estimate the activation energy of a Si-related donor from temperature-induced decay of PL intensity. PL peak positions, full width at half maximum of PL and activation energies are found to be proportional to the cube root of carrier density. The involvement of donor levels is supported by the temperature-dependent electron concentration measurements. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Valence band offset at GaN/beta-Si3N4 and beta-Si3N4/Si(111) heterojunctions formed by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

Ultra thin films of pure beta-Si3N4 (0001) were grown on Si (111) surface by exposing the surface to radio- frequency nitrogen plasma with a high content of nitrogen atoms. Using beta-Si3N4 layer as a buffer layer, GaN epilayers were grown on Si (111) substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The valence band offset (VBO) of GaN/beta-Si3N4/ Si heterojunctions is determined by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The VBO at the beta-Si3N4 /Si interface was determined by valence-band photoelectron spectra to be 1.84 eV. The valence band of GaN is found to be 0.41 +/- 0.05 eV below that of beta-Si3N4 and a type-II heterojunction. The conduction band offset was deduced to be similar to 2.36 eV, and a change of the interface dipole of 1.29 eV was observed for GaN/ beta-Si3N4 interface formation. (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of n-ZnO/p-Si (100) thin film heterojunctions by pulsed laser deposition without buffer layer

ZnO/Si heterojunctions were fabricated by growing ZnO thin films on p-type Si (100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition without buffer layers. The crystallinity of the heterojunction was analyzed by high resolution X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. The optical quality of the film was analyzed by room temperature (RT) photoluminescence measurements. The high intense band to band emission confirmed the high quality of the ZnO thin films on Si. The electrical properties of the junction were studied by temperature dependent current-voltage measurements and RT capacitance-voltage (C-V) analysis. The charge carrier concentration and the barrier height (BH) were calculated, to be 5.6x10(19) cm(-3) and 0.6 eV respectively from the C-V plot. The BH and ideality factor, calculated using the thermionic emission (TE) model, were found to be highly temperature dependent. We observed a much lower value in Richardson constant, 5.19x10(-7)A/cm(2) K-2 than the theoretical value (32 A/cm(2) K-2) for ZnO. This analysis revealed the existence of a Gaussian distribution (GD) with a standard deviation of sigma(2)=0.035 V. By implementing the GD to the TE, the values of BH and Richardson constant were obtained as 1.3 eV and 39.97 A/cm(2) K-2 respectively from the modified Richardson plot. The obtained Richardson constant value is close to the theoretical value for n-ZnO. These high quality heterojunctions can be used for solar cell applications. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.