BAND-STRUCTURE OF MG1-XZNXSYSE1-Y

The empirical pseudopotential method within the virtual crystal approximation is used to calculate the band structure of Mg1-xZnySySe1-y, which has recently been proved to be a potential semiconductor material for optoelectronic device applications in the blue spectral region. It is shown that MgZnSSe can be a direct or an indirect semiconductor depending on the alloy composition. Electron and hole effective masses are calculated for different compositions. Polynomial approximations are obtained for both the energy gap and the effective mass as functions of alloy composition at the GAMMA valley. This information will be useful for the future design of blue wavelength optoelectronic devices as well as for assessment of their properties.

GROWTH OF WIDE-BAND GAP IMMISCIBLE II-VI ALLOYS BY METALORGANIC VAPOR-PHASE EPITAXY

Although metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) is generally regarded as a non-equillibrium process, it can be assumed that a chemical equilibrium is established at the vapor-solid interface in the diffusion limited region of growth rate. In this paper, an equilibrium model was proposed to calculate the relation between vapor and solid compositions for II-VI ternary alloys. Metastable alloys in the miscibility gap may not be obtained when the growth temperature is lower than the critical temperature of the system. The influence of growth temperature, reactor pressure, input VI/II ratio, and input composition of group VI reactants has been calculated for ZnSSe, ZnSeTe and ZnSTe. The results are compared with experimental data for the ZnSSe and ZnSTe systems.

Quantum confinement effect in thin quantum wires

The electronic states and optical transition properties of three semiconductor wires Si? GaAs, and ZnSe are studied by the empirical pseudopotential homojunction model. The energy levels, wave functions, optical transition matrix elements, and lifetimes are obtained for wires of square cross section with width from 2 to 5 (root 2a/2), where a is the lattice constant. It is found that these three kinds of wires have different quantum confinement properties. For Si wires, the energy gap is pseudodirect, and the wave function of the electronic ground state consists mainly of four bulk Delta states. The optical transition matrix elements are much smaller than that of a direct transition, and increase with decreasing wire width. Where the width of wire is 7.7 Angstrom, the Si wire changes from an indirect energy gap to a direct energy gap due to mixing of the bulk Gamma(15) state. For GaAs wires. the energy gap is also pseudodirect in the width range considered, but the optical transition matrix elements are larger than those of Si wires by two orders of magnitude for the same width. However, there is no transfer to a direct energy gap as the wire width decreases. For ZnSe wires, the energy gap is always direct, and the optical transition matrix elements are comparable to those of the direct energy gap bulk semiconductors. They decrease with decreasing wire width due to mixing of the bulk Gamma(1) state with other states. All quantum confinement properties are discussed and explained by our theoretical model and the semiconductor energy band structures derived. The calculated lifetimes of the Si wire, and the positions of photoluminescence peaks, are in good agreement with experimental results.

Shubnikov de Haas oscillations of a two-dimensional electron gas in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well

The magnetotransport properties of the two-dimensional (2D) electron gas confined in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well structure were studied at temperatures down to 0.35 K in magnetic fields up to 7.5 T. Well resolved 2D Shubnikovde Haas (SdH) oscillations were observed, although the conductivity of the sample in the as grown state was dominated by a bulk parallel conduction layer. After removing most of the parallel conduction layer by wet chemical etching the amplitude and number of SdH oscillations increased. From the temperature dependence of the amplitude the effective mass of the electrons was estimated as 0.17 m(0). Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

色散效应对GaAs太阳电池双层减反射膜的影响

考虑双层减反射膜材料的折射率色散效应，采用光学干涉矩阵法计算了SiO2／ZnSe和SiO2／ZnS两种GaAs太阳电池双层减反射膜的反射率与波长的函数曲线，以及加权平均反射率随着顶层减反射膜SiO2厚度变化的函数曲线，并与未考虑色散效应的情况进行了对比．计算结果表明，色散效应对双层减反射膜的反射率有较大的影响，特别是对300-500nm波长范围的影响更大，且对不同材料的减反射膜的影响也是不同的．与未考虑色散效应的情况相比，考虑色散效应后，SiO2／ZnSe双层减反射膜的最小加权平均反射率从1．14％增加到1．55％，而SiO2／ZnS双层减反射膜的最小加权平均反射率却从1．49％减小到1.46％．

Optical anisotropy of InAs submonolayer quantum wells in a (311) GaAs matrix

The steplike density of states obtained from reflectance-difference spectroscopy demonstrates that ultrathin InAs layers should be regarded as two-dimensional quantum wells rather than isolated clusters, even for the sample with only 1/3 monolayer InAs in (311)-oriented GaAs. The degree of anisotropy is within the intrinsic anisotropy of (311)-oriented ultrathin quantum wells, indicating that there is little structural or strain anisotropy in the InAs islands. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Low-temperature synthesis of oil-soluble CdSe, CdS, and CdSe/CdS core - Shell nanocrystals by using various water-soluble anion precursors

Colloidal CdSe and CdS quantum dots were synthesized at low temperatures (60-90 degrees C) by a two-phase approach at a toluene-water interface. Oil-soluble cadmium myristate (Cd-MA) was used as cadmium source, and water-soluble Na2S, thiourea, NaHSe, Na2SeSO3, and selenourea were used as sulfur and selenium sources, respectively. When a cadmium precursor in toluene and a selenium precursor in water were mixed, CdSe nanocrystals were achieved at a toluene-water interface in the range of 1.2-3.2 nm in diameter. Moreover, we also synthesized highly luminescent CdSe/CdS core-shell quantum dots by a two-phase approach using poorly reactive thiourea as sulfur source in an autoclave at 140 degrees C or under normal pressure at 90 degrees C. Colloidal solutions of CdSe/CdS core-shell nanocrystals exhibit a photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY) up to 42% relative to coumarin 6 at room temperature.

Zinc selenide nano- and microspheres via microwave-assisted ionothermal synthesis

Zinc selenide nanospheres were prepared from a diphenyl diselenide precursor and a range of chloro- and bromozincate(II) ionic liquids via a microwave-assisted ionothermal route; this is the first report on the use of microwave irradiation in combination with ionic liquids to prepare this material. The method is a time-efficient and a facile one-pot reaction to produce zinc(II) selenide nanomaterials. The product formation in the ionic liquids has been monitored using Raman spectroscopy. The products have been characterised using PXRD, SEM, EDX, photoluminescence and UV-VIS spectroscopy. Advantages of this new route, such as ease of solubilisation of all reactants into one phase at high concentration, the negligible vapour pressure irrespective of the reaction temperature, very fast reaction times, ease of potential scale-up and reproducibility are discussed.

Performance of polarisation functionals for linear and nonlinear optical properties of bulk zinc chalcogenides ZnX (X=S,Se,Te).

We calculated the frequency dependent macroscopic dielectric function and second-harmonic generation of cubic ZnS, ZnSe and ZnTe within time-dependent density-polarisation functional theory. The macroscopic dielectric function is calculated in a linear response framework, and second-harmonic generation in a real-time framework. The macroscopic exchange–correlation electric field that enters the time-dependent Kohn–Sham equations and accounts for long range correlation is approximated as a simple polarisation functional αP, where P is the macroscopic polarisation. Expressions for α are taken from the recent literature. The performance of the resulting approximations for the exchange–correlation electric field is analysed by comparing the theoretical spectra with experimental results and results obtained at the levels of the independent particle approximation and the random-phase approximation. For the dielectric function we also compare with state-of-the art calculations at the level of the Bethe–Salpeter equation.

Studies on Chemical Bath Deposited Semiconducting Copper Selenide and Iron Sulfide Thin Films Useful For Photovoltaic Applications

Chemical bath deposition (CBD)is one of the simplest, very convient and probably the cheapest method for thin film preparation. Photovoltaic is the cleanest and the most efficient mode of conversion of energy to electrical power. Silicon is the most popular material in this field. The present study on chemical bath deposited semiconducting copper selenide and iron sulfide thin films useful for photovoltaic applications. Semiconducting thin films prepared by chemical deposition find applications as photo detectors, solar control coatings and solar cells. Copper selenide is a p-type semiconductor that finds application in photovolitics. Several heterojunction systems such as Cu2-xSe/ZnSe (for injection electro luminescence), Cu2Se/AgInSe2 and Cu2Se/Si (for photodiodes), Cu2-xSe/CdS, Cu2-xSe/CdSe, CuxSe/InP and Cu2-xSe/Si for solar cells are reported. A maximum efficiency of 8.3% was achieved for the Cu2-xSe/Si cell, various preparation techniques are used for copper selenide like vacuum evaporation, direct reaction, electrodeposition and CBD. Instability of the as-prepared films was investigation and is accounted as mainly due to deviation from stoichiometry and the formation of iron oxide impurity. A sulphur annealing chamber was designed and fabricated for this work. These samples wee also analysed using optical absorption technique, XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) and XRD.(X-Ray Diffraction).The pyrite films obtained by CBD technique showed amorphous nature and the electrical studies carried out showed the films to be of high resistive nature. Future work possible in the material of iron pyrite includes sulphur annealing of the non-stochiometric iron pyrite CBD thin films in the absence of atmospheric oxygen

The temperature-dependent spectral properties of filter substrate materials in the far-infrared (6-40 mu m)

This paper presents the experimental results on the low temperature absorption and dispersion properties for a variety of frequently used infrared filter substrate materials. Index of refraction (n) and transmission spectra are presented for a range of temperatures 300-50 K for the Group IV materials silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge), and Group II-VI materials zinc selenide (ZnSe), zinc sulphide (ZnS) and cadmium telluride (CdTe). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An ultra-wide passband (5-30µm) filter for FTIR studies of Photosystem II

This paper reports on the design and manufacture of an ultra-wide (5-30µm) infrared edge filter for use in FTIR studies of the low frequency vibrational modes of metallo-proteins. We present details of the spectral design and manufacture of such a filter which meets the demanding bandwidth and transparency requirements of the application, and spectra that present the new data possible with such a filter. A design model of the filter and the materials used in its construction has been developed capable of accurately predicting spectral performance at both 300K and at the reduced operating temperature at 200K. This design model is based on the optical and semiconductor properties of a multilayer filter containing PbTe (IV-VI) layer material in combination with the dielectric dispersion of ZnSe (II-VI) deposited on a CdTe (II-VI) substrate together with the use of BaF2 (II-VII) as an antireflection layer. Comparisons between the computed spectral performance of the model and spectral measurements from manufactured coatings over a wavelength range of 4-30µm and temperature range 300-200K are presented. Finally we present the results of the FTIR measurements of Photosystem II showing the improvement in signal to noise ratio of the measurement due to using the filter, together with a light induced FTIR difference spectrum of Photosystem II.

Performance model for cooled IR filters

A low-temperature model is described for infrared multilayer filters containing PbTe (or other semiconductor) and ZnSe (or other II/VI). The model is based on dielectric dispersion with semiconductor carrier dispersion added. It predicts an improved performance on cooling such as would be useful to avoid erroneous signals from optics in spaceflight radiometers. Agreement with measurement is obtained over the initial temperature range 70-400K and wavelength range 2.5-20µm.

Durability assessment of PbTe/II-IV infrared filters (Space Shuttle 1st LDEF)

Residual stress having been further reduced, selected infrared coatings composed of thin films of (PbTe/ ZnS (or ZnSe) can now be made which comply with the durability requirements of MIL-48616 whilst retaining transparency. Such improved durability is due to the sequence:- i) controlled deposition, followed by ii) immediate exposure to air, followed by iii) annealing in vacuo to relieve stress. (At the time of writing we assume the empiric procedure "exposure to air/annealing in vacuo" acts to relieve the inherent stresses of deposition). As part of their testing, representative sample filters prepared by the procedure are being assembled for the shuttle's 1st Long Duration Exposure Facility (to be placed in earth orbit for a considerable period and then recovered for analysis). The sample filters comprise various narrowband-designs to permit deduction of the constituent thin film optical properties. The Reading assembly also contains representative sample of the infrared crystals, glasses, thin-film absorbers and bulk absorbers, and samples of shorter-wavelength filters prepared similarly but made with Ge/SiO. Findings on durability and transparency after exposure will be reported.

Crystallization at room temperature from amorphous to trigonal selenium as a byproduct of the synthesis of water dispersible zinc selenide

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)