In-situ resistivity measurement of ZnS in diamond anvil cell under high pressure

An effective method is developed to fabricate metallic microcircuits in diamond anvil cell (DAC) for resistivity measurement under high pressure. The resistivity of nanocrystal ZnS is measured under high pressure up to 36.4 GPa by using designed DAC. The reversibility and hysteresis of the phase transition are observed. The experimental data is confirmed by an electric current field analysis accurately. The method used here can also be used under both ultrahigh pressure and high temperature conditions.

Photoluminescence of doped ZnS nanoparticles under hydrostatic pressure

The pressure dependence of the photoluminescence from ZnS : Mn2+, ZnS : Cu2+, and ZnS : Eu2+ nanoparticles were investigated under hydrostatic pressure up to 6 GPa at room temperature. Both the orange emission from the T-4(1) - (6)A(1) transition of Mn2+ ions and the blue emission from the DA pair transition in the ZnS host were observed in the Mn-doped samples. The measured pressure coefficients are -34.3(8) meV/GPa for the Mn-related emission and -3(3) meV/GPa for the DA band, respectively. The emission corresponding to the 4f(6)5d(1) - 4f(7) transition of Eu2+ ions and the emission related to the transition from the conduction band of ZnS to the t(2) level of Cu2+ ions were observed in the Eu- and Cu-doped samples, respectively. The pressure coefficient of the Eu-related emission was found to be 24.1(5) meV/GPa, while that of the Cu-related emission is 63.2(9) meV/GPa. The size dependence of the pressure coefficients for the Mn-related emission was also investigated. The Mn emission shifts to lower energies with increasing pressure and the shift rate (the absolute value of the pressure coefficient) is larger in the ZnS : Mn2+ nanoparticles than in bulk. Moreover, the absolute pressure coefficient increases with the decrease of the particle size. The pressure coefficients calculated based on the crystal field theory are in agreement with the experimental results. (C) 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Dependence of elastic strain field on the self-organized ordering of quantum dot superlattices

A systematic investigation of the strain distribution of self-organized, lens-shaped quantum dot in the case of growth direction on (001) substrate was presented. The three-dimensional finite element analysis for an array of dots was used for the strain calculation. The dependence of the strain energy density distribution on the thickness of the capping layer was investigated in detail when the elastic characteristics of the matrix material were anisotropic. It is shown that the elastic anisotropic greatly influences the stress, strain, and strain energy density in the quantum dot structures. The anisotropic ratio of the matrix material and the combination with different thicknesses of the capping layer, may lead to different strain energy density minimum locations on the capping layer surface, which can result in various vertical ordering phenomena for the next layer of quantum dots, i.e. partial alignment, random alignment, and complete alignment.

Spatial distribution of deep level defects in crack-free AlGaN grown on GaN with a high-temperature AlN interlayer

The deep level luminescence of crack-free Al0.25Ga0.75N layers grown on a GaN template with a high-temperature grown AlN interlayer has been studied using spatially resolved cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy. The CL spectra of Al0.25Ga0.75N grown on a thin AlN interlayer present a deep level aquamarine luminescence (DLAL) band at about 2.6 eV and a deep level violet luminescence (DLVL) band at about 3.17 eV. Cross-section line scan CL measurements on a cleaved sample edge clearly reveal different distributions of DLAL-related and DLVL-related defects in AlGaN along the growth direction. The DLAL band of AlGaN is attributed to evolve from the yellow luminescence band of GaN, and therefore has an analogous origin of a radiative transition between a shallow donor and a deep acceptor. The DLVL band is correlated with defects distributed near the GaN/AlN/AlGaN interfaces. Additionally, the lateral distribution of the intensity of the DLAL band shows a domainlike feature which is accompanied by a lateral phase separation of Al composition. Such a distribution of deep level defects is probably caused by the strain field within the domains. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Electronic structure of InSb quantum ellipsoids in an external magnetic field

The shape dependence of electronic structure, electron g factors in the presence of the external magnetic field of InSb quantum ellipsoids are investigated in the framework of eight-band effective-mass approximation. It is found that as the increasing aspect ratio e, the electron states with P character split into three doublets for the different physical interaction and the light-hole states with S character come up to the top of valence bands at e = 2.6 in comparison with the heavy-hole states. In the presence of the external magnetic field, the energy splits of electron states are different for their wave function distribution direction, and the hole ground state remain optical active for a suitable aspect ratio. The electron g factors of InSb spheres decrease with increasing radius, and have the value of about two for the smallest radius, about -47.2 for sufficiently larger radius, similar to the bulk material case. Actually, the electron g factors decrease as any one of the three dimensions increase. The more dimensions increase, the more g factors decrease. The dimensions perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field affect the g factors more than the other dimensions. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Theoretical analysis about the influence of channel layer thickness on the 2D electron gas and its distribution in InP-based high-electron-mobility transistors

The principle of high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) and the property of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) have been analyzed theoretically. The concentration and distribution of 2DEG in various channel layers are calculated by numerical method. Variation of 2DEG concentration in different subband of the quantum well is discussed in detail. Calculated results show that sheet electron concentration of 2DEG in the channel is affected slightly by the thickness of the channel. But the proportion of electrons inhabited in different subbands can be affected by the thickness of the channel. When the size of channel lies between 20-25 nm, the number of electrons occupying the second subband reaches the maximum. This result can be used in parameter design of materials and devices.

Efficiently producing single-walled carbon nanotube rings and investigation of their field emission properties

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) rings with a diameter of about 100 nm have been prepared by thermally decomposing hydrocarbon in a floating catalyst system. These rings appeared to consist mostly of SWNT toroids. High resolution transmission electron microscopy showed that these rings were composed of tens of SWNTs with a tightly packed arrangement. The production of SWNT rings was improved through optimizing various growth parameters, such as growth temperature, sublimation temperature of the catalyst, different gas flows and different catalyst components. The growth mechanism of the SWNT rings is discussed. In the field emission measurements we found that field emission from a halved ring is better than that from a whole SWNT ring, which contributed to the better emission from two opened ends of the nanotubes of the halved SWNT ring.

Field-aided collection in GaInP2 top solar cells

This paper reports the study on a field-aided collection in p-on-n GaInP2 top cells. The cells were produced by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy at a low gas pressure. In order to optimize the device configuration, numerical simulations have been performed for the impacts of field-aided collection on the performance of the top cells. On the basis of the modeling results, a modified p(+)-p(-)-n(-)-n(+) configuration is introduced for GaInP2 top cells. This modification has brought out improved photovoltaic performance of the top cells, with conversion efficiency EFF = 14.26% (AM0, 2 x 2 cm(2), 25degreesC). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pressure dependence of Mn2+ luminescence in differently sized ZnS : Mn nanoparticles

The pressure behavior of Mn2+ emission in the 10-, 4.5-, 3.5-, 3-, and 1-nm-sized ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles is investigated. The emission shifts to lower energies with increasing pressure, and the shift rate (the absolute value of the pressure coefficient) is larger in the ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles than in bulk. The pressure coefficient increases with the decrease in particle size with the 1-nm-sized particles as an exception. Pressure coefficient calculations based on the crystal field theory are in agreement with the experimental results. The pressure dependence of the emission intensity is also size dependent. For nanoparticles 1 and 3 nm in size, the luminescence intensity of Mn2+ decreases dramatically with increasing pressure, while, for bulk and particles with average sizes of 3.5, 4.5, and 10 nm, the luminescence intensity of Mn2+ is virtually unchanged at different pressures. The bandwidth increases faster with increasing pressure for smaller particles. This is perhaps due to the fact that there are more Mn2+ ions at the near-surface sites and because the phonon frequency is greater for smaller particles. These new phenomena provide some insight into the luminescence behavior of Mn2+ in ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles.

The study of the behavior of exciton and photon within semiconductor microcavity under hydrostatic pressure

We studied, for the first time, the strong coupling between exciton and cavity mode within semiconductor microcavity under hydrostatic pressure, and measured the Rabi splitting. The strong coupling between exciton and cavity mode, and so Rabi splitting appear clearly as the applied pressure reaches 0.37-0.41 GPa. The experiment result shows that hydrostatic pressure not only can tune the coupling between exciton and cavity mode effectively, but also can keep exciton property almost unchanged during the whole tuning procedure in contrast to other tuning method (temperature field et al). Our result agrees with the related theory very well. The Rabi splitting, extracted from fitting the measured mode-energy vs pressure curves with correspanding theoretical model, is equal to 6 meV.

Large excitation-power dependence of pressure coefficients of InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN quantum wells

Excitation-power dependence of hydrostatic pressure coefficients (dE/dP) of InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN multiple quantum wells is reported. When the excitation power increases from 1.0 to 33 mW, dE/dP increases from 26.9 to 33.8 meV/GPa, which is an increase by 25%. A saturation behavior of dE/dP with the excitation power is observed. The increment of dE/dP with increasing carrier density is explained by an reduction of the internal piezoelectric field due to an efficient screening effect of the free carriers on the field.

Temperature and pressure dependences of the Mn2+ and donor-acceptor emissions in ZnS : Mn2+ nanoparticles

Temperature and pressure dependent measurements have been performed on 3.5 nm ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles. As temperature increases, the donor-acceptor (DA) emission of ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles at 440 nm shifts to longer wavelengths while the Mn2+ emission (T-4(1)-(6)A(1)) shifts to shorter wavelengths. Both the DA and Mn2+ emission intensities decrease with temperature with the intensity decrease of the DA emission being much more pronounced. The intensity decreases are fit well with the theory of thermal quenching. As pressure increases, the Mn2+ emission shifts to longer wavelengths while the DA emission wavelength remains almost constant. The pressure coefficient of the DA emission in ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles is approximately -3.2 meV/GPa, which is significantly smaller than that measured for bulk materials. The relatively weak pressure dependence of the DA emission is attributed to the increase of the binding energies and the localization of the defect wave functions in nanoparticles. The pressure coefficient of Mn2+ emission in ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles is roughly -34.3 meV/GPa, consistent with crystal field theory. The results indicate that the energy transfer from the ZnS host to Mn2+ ions is mainly from the recombination of carriers localized at Mn2+ ions. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Tuning of exciton-photon coupling in a planar semiconductor microcavity by applying hydrostatic pressure

By means of hydrostatic pressure tuning, we have observed the strong-coupling exciton-polariton mode in a planar microcavity with an InGaAs/GaAs quantum well embedded in it, over a pressure range from 0.37 to 0.41 GPa. The experimental data can be fitted very well to a corresponding theoretical formula with a unique value of the vacuum Rabi splitting equal to 6.0 meV. A comparison between pressure tuning and other tuning methods is made as regards to what extent the intrinsic features of the exciton and cavity will be influenced during the tuning procedure.

Pressure dependence of Mn2+ fluorescence in ZnS : Mn2+ nanoparticles

The photoluminescence of Mn2+ in ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles with an average size of 4.5 nm has been measured under hydrostatic pressure from 0 to 6 GPa. The emission position is red-shifted at a rate of -33.3+/-0.6meV/GPa, which is in good agreement with the calculated value of -30.4meV/GPa using the crystal field theory. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Formation mechanism of electric field domains

Hydrostatic pressure measurements are used to investigate the formation mechanism of electric field domains in doped weakly-coupled GaAs/AlAs superlattices. For the first plateau-like region in the I-V curve, two kinds of sequential resonant tunnelling are observed. For P<2 kbar the high-field domain is formed by the Gamma-Gamma process, while for P>2 kbar the high-field domain is formed by the T-X process. For the second plateau-libe region, the high-field domain is attributed to Gamma-X sequential resonant tunnelling. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.