Annealing of electron damage in lithium-doped silicon at 300 K
Annealing of electron damage in lithium-doped silicon measured using Hall effect
Stannard, J. E.↗
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Highly Efficient Multilayer Thermoelectric Devices
Multilayer thermoelectric devices now at the prototype stage of development exhibit a combination of desirable characteristics, including high figures of merit and high performance/cost ratios. These devices are capable of producing temperature differences of the order of 50 K in operation at or near room temperature. A solvent-free batch process for mass production of these state-of-the-art thermoelectric devices has also been developed. Like prior thermoelectric devices, the present ones have commercial potential mainly by virtue of their utility as means of controlled cooling (and/or, in some cases, heating) of sensors, integrated circuits, and temperature-critical components of scientific instruments. The advantages of thermoelectric devices for such uses include no need for circulating working fluids through or within the devices, generation of little if any noise, and high reliability. The disadvantages of prior thermoelectric devices include high power consumption and relatively low coefficients of performance. The present development program was undertaken in the hope of reducing the magnitudes of the aforementioned disadvantages and, especially, obtaining higher figures of merit for operation at and near room temperature. Accomplishments of the program thus far include development of an algorithm to estimate the heat extracted by, and the maximum temperature drop produced by, a thermoelectric device; solution of the problem of exchange of heat between a thermoelectric cooler and a water-cooled copper block; retrofitting of a vacuum chamber for depositing materials by sputtering; design of masks; and fabrication of multilayer thermoelectric devices of two different designs, denoted I and II. For both the I and II designs, the thicknesses of layers are of the order of nanometers. In devices of design I, nonconsecutive semiconductor layers are electrically connected in series. Devices of design II contain superlattices comprising alternating electron-acceptor (p)-doped and electron-donor (n)-doped, nanometer- thick semiconductor layers.
Boufelfel, Ali↗
Direct Detection and Imaging of Low-Energy Electrons with Delta-Doped Charge-Coupled Devices
We report the use fo delta-doped charge-coupled devices (CCDs) for direct detection of electrons in the 50-1500 eV energy range. These are the first measurements with a solid state device to detect electrons in this energy range.
imaging delta-doped charge-coupled devices CCDs lo↗
Electronic structure of boron and aluminum δ -doped layers in silicon
Recent work on atomic-precision dopant incorporation technologies has led to the creation of both boron and aluminum δ-doped layers in silicon with densities above the solid solubility limit. For this study, we use density functional theory to predict the band structure and effective mass values of such δ layers, first modeling them as ordered supercells. Structural relaxation is found to have a significant impact on the impurity band energies and effective masses of the boron layers, but not the aluminum layers. However, disorder in the δ layers is found to lead to a significant flattening of the bands in both cases. We calculate the local density of states and doping potential for these δ-doped layers, demonstrating that their influence is highly localized with spatial extents at most 4 nm. We conclude that acceptor δ-doped layers exhibit different electronic structure features dependent on both the dopant atom and spatial ordering. This suggests prospects for controlling the electronic properties of these layers if the local details of the incorporation chemistry can be fine-tuned.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Nano-Multiplication-Region Avalanche Photodiodes and Arrays
Nano-multiplication-region avalanche photodiodes (NAPDs), and imaging arrays of NAPDs integrated with complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) active-pixel-sensor integrated circuitry, are being developed for applications in which there are requirements for high-sensitivity (including photoncounting) detection and imaging at wavelengths from about 250 to 950 nm. With respect to sensitivity and to such other characteristics as speed, geometric array format, radiation hardness, power demand of associated circuitry, size, weight, and robustness, NAPDs and arrays thereof are expected to be superior to prior photodetectors and arrays including CMOS active-pixel sensors (APSs), charge-coupled devices (CCDs), traditional APDs, and microchannelplate/ CCD combinations. Figure 1 depicts a conceptual NAPD array, integrated with APS circuitry, fabricated on a thick silicon-on-insulator wafer (SOI). Figure 2 presents selected aspects of the structure of a typical single pixel, which would include a metal oxide/semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) integrated with the NAPD. The NAPDs would reside in silicon islands formed on the buried oxide (BOX) layer of the SOI wafer. The silicon islands would be surrounded by oxide-filled insulation trenches, which, together with the BOX layer, would constitute an oxide embedding structure. There would be two kinds of silicon islands: NAPD islands for the NAPDs and MOSFET islands for in-pixel and global CMOS circuits. Typically, the silicon islands would be made between 5 and 10 m thick, but, if necessary, the thickness could be chosen outside this range. The side walls of the silicon islands would be heavily doped with electron-acceptor impurities (p+-doped) to form anodes for the photodiodes and guard layers for the MOSFETs. A nanoscale reach-through structure at the front (top in the figures) central position of each NAPD island would contain the APD multiplication region. Typically, the reach-through structure would be about 0.1 microns in diameter and between 0.3 and 0.4 nm high. The top layer in the reach-through structure would be heavily doped with electron-donor impurities (n+-doped) to make it act as a cathode. A layer beneath the cathode, between 0.1 and 0.2 nm thick, would be p-doped to a concentration .10(exp 17)cu cm. A thin n+-doped polysilicon pad would be formed on the top of the cathode to protect the cathode against erosion during a metal-silicon alloying step that would be part of the process of fabricating the array.
Zheng, Xinyu↗
Characterization of the heavily doped emitter and junction regions of silicon solar cells using an electron beam
Heavily doped emitter and junction regions of silicon solar cells are investigated by means of the electron-beam-induced-current (EBIC) technique. Although the experimental EBIC data are collected under three-dimensional conditions, it is analytically demonstrated with two numerical examples that the solutions obtained with one-dimensional numerical modeling are adequate. EBIC data for bare and oxide-covered emitter surfaces are compared with theory. The improvement in collection efficiency when an emitter surface is covered with a 100-A SiO2 film varies with beam energy; for a cell with a junction depth of 0.35 microns, the improvement is about 54 percent at 2 keV.
Luke, K. L.↗
Doping Induced Magnetic and Electronic Phase Transitions in the Ferrimagnetic Half-Metallic Mn 4 Al 11 Compound
The future of spintronics and semiconductor applications demands materials with tailored electronic and magnetic properties. Here, this study uses density functional theory to investigate the electronic structure of the half-metallic compound Mn 4 Al 11 under uniaxial strain and in its Ge-substituted derivatives. Strain analysis shows that although the half-metallic band gap collapses under strain beyond −2%, the ferrimagnetic character remains stable. Ge substitution at six inequivalent Al sites in Mn 4 Al 11 results in varying degrees of metallicity and magnetic properties. Substitution at Al═ (000) induces a metal-to-insulator transition with an indirect semiconducting gap of 0.14 eV. Bonding and hybridization analyses reveal that local Mn–Al interactions due to Ge substitution significantly modify the local electronic structure, causing both electronic and magnetic phase transitions. This work highlights the effectiveness of substitutional doping in tuning half-metallicity and magnetic properties in inorganic solids, enabling the design of materials for future technological applications.
alloys↗
Co‐Doping Approach for Enhanced Electron Extraction to TiO 2 for Stable Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells
Inorganic perovskite CsPbI 3 solar cells hold great potential for improving the operational stability of perovskite photovoltaics. However, electron extraction is limited by the low conductivity of TiO 2 , representing a bottleneck for achieving stable performance. In this study, a co‐doping strategy for TiO 2 using Nb(V) and Sn(IV), which reduces the material's work function by 80 meV compared to Nb(V) mono‐doped TiO 2 , is introduced. To gain fundamental understanding of the processes at the interfaces between the perovskite and charge‐selective layer, transient surface photovoltage measurements are applied, revealing the beneficial effect of the energetic and structural modification on electron extraction across the CsPbI 3 /TiO 2 interface. Using 2D drift‐diffusion simulations, it is found that co‐doping reduces the interface hole recombination velocity by two orders of magnitude, increasing the concentration of extracted electrons by 20%. When integrated into n–i–p solar cells, co‐doped TiO 2 enhances the projected T S80 lifetimes under continuous AM1.5G illumination by a factor of 25 compared to mono‐doped TiO 2 . This study provides fundamental insights into interfacial charge extraction and its correlation with operational stability of perovskite solar cells, offering potential applications for other charge‐selective contacts.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
The role of the dopant in the electronic structure of erbium-doped TiO 2 for quantum emitters
Erbium-doped TiO 2 materials are promising candidates for advancing quantum technologies, necessitating a thorough understanding of their electronic and crystal structures to tailor their properties and enhance coherence times. This study explored epitaxial erbium-doped rutile TiO 2 films deposited on r-sapphire substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy demonstrated decreasing photoluminescence lifetimes with erbium doping, indicating limited optical coherence times. Lattice distortions associated with Er 3+ were probed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy, indicating that erbium primarily occupies Ti 4+ sites and influences oxygen vacancies. Significant lattice distortions in the higher-order shells and apparent full coordination around erbium suggest that additional defects are likely prevalent in these regions. These findings indicate that defects contribute to limited coherence times by introducing alternative decay pathways, leading to shorter photoluminescence lifetimes.
Crystallographic defects↗
Doped NiO: The mottness of a charge transfer insulator
The evolution of the electronic structures of strongly correlated insulators with doping has long been a central fundamental question in condensed matter physics; it is also of great practical relevance for applications. We have studied the evolution of NiO under hole and electron doping at low doping levels such that the system remains insulating using high-quality thin film and a wide range of experimental and theoretical methods. The evolution is in both cases very smooth with dopant concentration. The band gap is asymmetric under electron and hole doping, consistent with a charge-transfer insulator picture, and is reduced faster under hole doping than under electron doping. For both electron and hole doping, occupied states are introduced at the top of the valence band. The formation of deep donor levels under electron doping and the inability to pin otherwise empty states near the conduction-band edge are indicative that local electron addition and removal energies are dominated by a Mott-like Hubbard U interaction even though the global band gap is predominantly a charge-transfer-type gap.
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
Correlation effects on coupled electronic and structural properties of doped rare-earth trihydrides
Rare-earth trihydride (𝑅H 3 ) compounds exhibit intriguing coupled electronic and structural properties as a function of doping, hydrogen vacancies, and thermodynamic conditions. Theoretical studies of these materials typically rely on density functional theory (DFT), including the use of small supercells that may underestimate strong correlation effects and structural distortions which in turn may influence their metallicity. Here, we elucidate the roles of lattice distortions and correlation effects on the electronic properties of pristine and doped 𝑅H 3 compounds by adopting DFT +U and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods. Linear-response constrained DFT (LR-cDFT) methods find Hubbard U ≈ 2 eV for 𝑅 𝑑 orbitals and U ≈ 6 eV for H 𝑠 /N 𝑝 /O 𝑝 orbitals. The small U on Lu 𝑑 orbitals is consistent with QMC calculations on LuH 3 and LuH 2.875 N 0.125 . In pure face-centered-cubic (FCC) 𝑅H 3 (𝑅 = Lu,Y) compounds, neither DFT nor DFT +U with the self-consistently determined U is enough to create a band gap, however a supercell with hydrogen distortions creates a small gap whose magnitude increases when performing DFT +U with self-consistently determined U values. Furthermore, correlation effects, in turn, have a moderate influence on the coupled structural and electronic properties of doped 𝑅H 3 compounds and may be important when considering the competition between structural distortions and superconductivity.
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
High-Order Fractal Quantum Oscillations in Graphene/BN Superlattices in the Extreme Doping Limit
Recent studies of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures and superlattices have shown intriguing quantum phenomena, but these have been largely explored only in the moderate carrier density regime. Here, we report the probe of high-temperature fractal Brown-Zak (BZ) quantum oscillations through magnetotransport in the extreme doping regimes by applying a newly developed electron beam doping technique. Further, this technique gives access to both ultrahigh electron and hole densities beyond the dielectric breakdown limit in graphene/BN superlattices, enabling the observation of nonmonotonic carrier-density dependence of fractal BZ states and up to fourth-order fractal BZ features despite strong electron-hole asymmetry. Theoretical tight-binding simulations qualitatively reproduce all observed fractal BZ features and attribute the nonmonotonic dependence to the weakening of superlattice effects at high carrier densities.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
300 deg K annealing of electron damage in lithium-doped silicon.
Lithium doped silcon acceptor concentration resulting from electron irradiation damage decreased by annealing at 300 degrees K
Stannard, J. E.↗
Probing free carrier plasmons in doped semiconductors using spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy
We report spatially resolved measurements of free carrier collective excitations in a doped semiconductor. Using ~10 meV resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in an electron microscope with Å spatial resolution, we identify both surface and bulk carrier plasmons at infrared energies in a freestanding film of indium tin oxide (ITO). The interference patterns of long wavelength propagating surface carrier plasmons are revealed using spatially resolved EELS, from which we extract a dispersion relation. We further show that the energies of these plasmons vary near the surfaces and grain boundaries of the film due to band bending. Modeling based on dielectric theory agrees very well with experimental results. Finally, carrier plasmons in amorphous and crystalline ITO films are compared. These results should also be helpful for understanding the free carrier plasmons in other doped semiconductors in nanoscale volumes.
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
The influence of Sb doping on the growth and electronic properties of GaAs(100) and AlGaAs(100)
Isoelectronic doping using antimony has been shown to reduce traps and improve material properties during epitaxial growth of Si doped GaAs(100) and AlGaAs(100). In this study, the effect of the antimony dopant on the optimal growth temperature is examined with the aim of producing high-quality heterostructures at lower temperatues. High-quality films of GaAs and AlGaAs have been grown by molecular-beam epitaxy at the normal growth temperatures of 610 and 700 C, respectively, and 50-100 C below this temperature using varying small amounts of Sb as a dopant. Electrical properties of the films were then examined using Hall mobility measurements and deep-level transient spectroscopy.
Jamison, K. D.↗
Photon energy and polarization-dependent electronic structure of Cr-doped Bi 2 Se 3
In this article, we report a comparative study of the electronic structure of Cr-doped and pristine Bi 2 Se 3 . Circular dichroism and photon-energy-dependent angle-resolved photoemission experiments were performed. Even though the surface states seen on the Cr-doped samples are gapped, they exhibit strong circular dichroism, for which we provide its origin in accordance with the nontrivial band structure of the bulk. We note the surface electronic structure measurements with linear and circular polarized light show signatures that the orbital composition of the surface states is changed with Cr doping. Our observations not only provide further spectroscopic information about topological materials, but also promotes an alternative experimental tool to control their spin-orbital texture.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Real time quantification of mixed ion and electron transfer associated with the doping of poly(3-hexylthiophene)
Conjugated polymers have promising applications in electronics and energy storage due to the polymer's tunable conductivity and redox activity. For example, the conductivity of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is heavily dependent upon the doping level and the dopant type. This feature becomes especially important when considering P3HT or similar conjugated polymers for devices that require switching between electronic states (conductive vs. insulating). In this study, the mechanism of mixed ion-electron transfer studied using electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (EQCM-D) is discussed. During cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge experiments, the mass change of a P3HT film is monitored in real time. Distinct mass transfer regions are quantified as a function of doping level and potential, which are then correlated to changes with in situ conductance and spectroelectrochemical response. To identify the time scale at which the doping reaction transitions from kinetic to diffusion control, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is coupled with EQCM-D. Finally, this work gives valuable insight into the nature of mixed ion–electron transfer, including its time scale, as it relates to the electronic properties of P3HT.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Electron Redistributed S-Doped Nickel Iron Phosphides Derived from One-Step Phosphatization of MOFs for Significantly Boosting Electrochemical Water Splitting
Nonprecious transition metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are one of the most promising precursors for developing electrocatalysts with high porosity and structural rigidity. This study reports the synthesis of high efficiency electrocatalysts based on S-doped NiFeP. MOF-derived S-doped NiFeP structure is synthesized by a one-step phosphorization process with using S-doped MOFs as the precursor, which is more convenient and environment friendly, and also helps retain the samples’ framework. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance of the NiFeP catalysts can be improved after partially replacing P by S due to the tunable electronic structure. The optimized CCS-NiFeP-10 reaches a current density of 10 mA cm –2 for OER with an overpotential of 201 mV and outperforms most NiFe-based catalysts. The S doping plays an important role in tuning the ΔG values for intermediates formation in Ni atoms to a suitable value and exhibits a pronouncedly improved the OER performance. CCS-NiFeP-20 sample presents excellent HER performance due to the d-band center downshifting from the Fermi level. When the voltage of the electrolytic cell is 1.50 V, a current density of 10 mA cm –2 can be obtained. This strategy paves the way for designing highly active none-noble metal catalysts.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗