Photodilatation effect of undoped a-Si:H films

A photodilatation effect of undoped a-Si:H films has been discovered by a differential dilatometric method. The film thickness has been found to increase instantaneously when the sample is exposed to light. The dilatation weakens with illumination time, following a stretched exponential law, and finally reaches a saturation value. The dilatation disappears when light is off. The results unambiguously show that the whole structure of the film becomes less compact and less stable under light exposure. The metastable change (Staebler-Wronski effect) could be a redistribution of different configurations after this photodilatation in the a-Si:H films.

The structures and transformations on Si(113) surface

The surface structures of the Si(113)-(1 X 1), Si(113)-(3 X 1) and Si(113)-(3 X 2) have been studied theoretically by means of an ab initio quantum chemical CNDO method. We address not only the importance of the surface energy but also the energy minimization and the barrier height in the different structural conversion. We found that (1) the relaxed Si(113)-(1 X 1) structure. (2) the Si(113)-(3 X 1) close to the Si(113) Ranke (3 X 1)-2 model; (3) the atomic positions of Si(113)-(3 X 2) corrugated arrangement. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Growth of GaN layers on GaAs and GaP (111) and (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Films of GaN have been grown using a modified MBE technique in which the active nitrogen is supplied from an RF plasma source. Wurtzite films grown on (001) oriented GaAs substrates show highly defective, ordered polycrystalline growth with a columnar structure, the (0001) planes of the layers being parallel to the (001) planes of the GaAs substrate. Films grown using a coincident As flux, however, have a single crystal zinc-blende growth mode. They have better structural and optical properties. To improve the properties of the wurtzite films we have studied the growth of such films on (111) oriented GaAs and GaP substrates. The improved structural properties of such films, assessed using X-ray and TEM method, correlate with better low-temperature FL.