Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “EPITAXY”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Experimental determination of electron attenuation lengths in complex materials by means of epitaxial film growth: advantages and challenges

Accurate electron attenuation lengths are of critical importance in using electron spectroscopic methods to quantitatively characterize complex materials. Here we show that analysis of core-level and valence-band x-ray photoelectron spectra excited with monochromatic AlK? x-rays from the substrate and measured as a function of film thickness can be used to determine electron attenuation lengths in epitaxial SrTiO3 films on Ge(001). Closely lattice-matched epitaxial heterojunctions are ideal systems for determining attenuation lengths provided the films grow in a layer-by-layer fashion, leading to atomically flat surfaces, and the buried interfaces are atomically abrupt. In principle, either the rate of attenuation of substrate peak intensities or the rate of increase of film peak intensities can be used for this purpose. However, we find that structural nonuniformities in the films reduce the accuracy of electron attenuation lengths determined from photoelectrons that originate within the films. A more reliable source of information is found in photoelectrons from the substrate which traverse the film. By using the energy dependence of calculated electron attenuation lengths from the NIST database in combination with Ge 3d core and Ge-derived valence band intensities, we determine electron attenuation length as a function of kinetic energy for SrTiO3.

Chambers, Scott A.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Strain-dependence Of The Structure And Ferroic Properties Of Epitaxial NiTiO3 Thin Films Grown On Different Substrates

Polarization-induced weak ferromagnetism has been predicted a few years back in perovskite MTiO3 (M = Fe, Mn, Ni) [Fennie, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 167203 (2008)]. We set out to stabilize this metastable perovskite structure by growing NiTiO3 epitaxially on different substrates, and to investigate the dependence of polar and magnetic properties on strain. Epitaxial NiTiO3 films were deposited on Al2O3, Fe2O3, and LiNbO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition, and characterized using several techniques. The effect of substrate choice on lattice strain, film structure, and physical properties was investigated. Our structural data from x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy shows that substrate-induced strain has a marked effect on the structure and crystalline quality of the films. Physical property measurements reveal a dependence of the weak ferromagnetism and lattice polarization on strain, and highlight our ability to control the ferroic properties in NiTiO3 thin films by the choice of substrate. Our results are also consistent with the theoretical prediction that the ferromagnetism in acentric NiTiO3 is polarization-induced. From the substrates studied here, the perovskite substrate LiNbO3 proved to be the most promising one for strong multiferroism.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2022

Remote epitaxy and selective epitaxy on vdW materials for layer transfer

Remote epitaxy is recently gaining huge attention for the growth of single-crystal thin films and their isolation from the substrate for heterogeneous integration. Despite the recent progress, there are challenges in engineering the interface and optimizing the material quality. Here, we introduce two approaches that could overcome the issues. As the first approach, we show directly grown 2D materials as a template for remote epitaxy of III-V and III-N materials. This ensures a pristine interface without transfer process-related contaminations and damages. Second, we show the use of nanopatterned graphene for selective epitaxy and lateral overgrowth of single-crystal films. This allows for the use of materials as substrates and epilayers which is not possible in remote epitaxy.

Kim, Hyunseok↗
DOE OSTI2013

Accurate determination of optical bandgap and lattice parameters of Zn{sub 1-x}Mg{sub x}O epitaxial films (0{<=}x{<=}0.3) grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on a-plane sapphire

Zn{sub 1-x}Mg{sub x}O epitaxial films with Mg concentrations 0{<=}x{<=}0.3 were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on a-plane sapphire substrates. Precise determination of the Mg concentration x was performed by elastic recoil detection analysis. The bandgap energy was extracted from absorption measurements with high accuracy taking electron-hole interaction and exciton-phonon complexes into account. From these results a linear relationship between bandgap energy and Mg concentration is established for x{<=}0.3. Due to alloy disorder, the increase of the photoluminescence emission energy with Mg concentration is less pronounced. An analysis of the lattice parameters reveals that the epitaxial films grow biaxially strained on a-plane sapphire.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

TiO{sub 2} as an electrostatic template for epitaxial growth of EuO on MgO(001) by reactive molecular beam epitaxy

We investigate the initial growth modes and the role of interfacial electrostatic interactions of EuO epitaxy on MgO(001) by reactive molecular beam epitaxy. A TiO{sub 2} interfacial layer is employed to produce high quality epitaxial growth of EuO on MgO(001) with a 45 deg. in plane rotation. For comparison, direct deposition of EuO on MgO, without the TiO{sub 2} layer shows a much slower time evolution in producing a single crystal film. Conceptual arguments of electrostatic repulsion of like-ions are introduced to explain the increased EuO quality at the interface with the TiO{sub 2} layer. It is shown that ultrathin EuO films in the monolayer regime can be produced on the TiO{sub 2} surface by substrate-supplied oxidation and that such films have bulk Curie temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Effect of residual impurities on transport properties of {beta}-FeSi{sub 2} epitaxial films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Unintentionally doped {beta}-FeSi{sub 2} epitaxial films were grown on silicon-on-insulator substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using a high-purity (5N) Fe source to investigate the effect of residual impurities on the transport properties of {beta}-FeSi{sub 2}. From secondary ion mass spectroscopy analysis, impurities of As, Al, and Mn ({approx}10{sup 17} cm{sup -3}); P and B ({approx}10{sup 16} cm{sup -3}); and Cr and Pb ({approx}10{sup 15} cm{sup -3}) were detected in the epitaxial layer. In Hall measurements at room temperature, the films exhibited n-type conduction with a carrier density of 4-6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 16} cm{sup -3} and a Hall mobility of 400-440 cm{sup 2}/Vs. In the temperature (T) dependence of the transport properties, a transition from band conduction to hopping conduction was observed at approximately T = 230 K. At temperatures of 110-150 K, both negative and positive magnetoresistance (MR) were observed depending on the temperature and magnetic field. The MR exhibits mixed conduction of defect band conduction and band conduction in this temperature range.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Growth study of nonpolar Zn{sub 1-x}Mg{sub x}O epitaxial films on a-plane bulk ZnO by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

Nonpolar Zn{sub 1-x}Mg{sub x}O epitaxial films were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on a-plane ZnO substrates. A smooth surface morphology was accomplished under oxygen-rich growth conditions. The benefits of the use of ZnO substrates on the structural properties are reflected by a low-density of threading dislocations. Furthermore, no indications for the generation of basal plane stacking faults are found. The pseudomorphic growth on a-plane ZnO substrates efficiently locks the epitaxial Zn{sub 1-x}Mg{sub x}O films to the wurtzite structure up to x = 0.25. The Mg concentration is not constant and increases with larger thickness. The optical properties reflect the influence of alloy disorder.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Structural and band alignment properties of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} on epitaxial Ge grown on (100), (110), and (111)A GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Structural and band alignment properties of atomic layer Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} oxide film deposited on crystallographically oriented epitaxial Ge grown in-situ on (100), (110), and (111)A GaAs substrates using two separate molecular beam epitaxy chambers were investigated using cross-sectional transmission microscopy (TEM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). High-resolution triple axis x-ray measurement demonstrated pseudomorphic and high-quality Ge epitaxial layer on crystallographically oriented GaAs substrates. The cross-sectional TEM exhibited a sharp interface between the Ge epilayer and each orientation of the GaAs substrate as well as the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} film and the Ge epilayer. The extracted valence band offset, {Delta}E{sub v}, values of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} relative to (100), (110), and (111) Ge orientations using XPS measurement were 3.17 eV, 3.34 eV, and 3.10 eV, respectively. Using XPS data, variations in {Delta}E{sub v} related to the crystallographic orientation were {Delta}E{sub V}(110)Ge>{Delta}E{sub V}(100)Ge{>=}{Delta}E{sub V}(111)Ge and the conduction band offset, {Delta}E{sub c}, related to the crystallographic orientation was {Delta}E{sub c}(111)Ge>{Delta}E{sub c}(110)Ge>{Delta}E{sub c}(100)Ge using the measured {Delta}E{sub v}, bandgap of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} in each orientation, and well-known Ge bandgap of 0.67 eV. These band offset parameters are important for future application of Ge-based p- and n-channel metal-oxide field-effect transistor design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Study of structural properties of cubic InN films on GaAs(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy and migration enhanced epitaxy

InN epitaxial films with cubic phase were grown by rf-plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MBE) on GaAs(001) substrates employing two methods: migration-enhanced epitaxy (MEE) and conventional MBE technique. The films were synthesized at different growth temperatures ranging from 490 to 550 Degree-Sign C, and different In beam fluxes (BEP{sub In}) ranging from 5.9 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -7} to 9.7 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -7} Torr. We found the optimum conditions for the nucleation of the cubic phase of the InN using a buffer composed of several thin layers, according to reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns. Crystallographic analysis by high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) and RHEED confirmed the growth of c-InN by the two methods. We achieved with the MEE method a higher crystal quality and higher cubic phase purity. The ratio of cubic to hexagonal components in InN films was estimated from the ratio of the integrated X-ray diffraction intensities of the cubic (002) and hexagonal (1011) planes measured by X-ray reciprocal space mapping (RSM). For MEE samples, the cubic phase of InN increases employing higher In beam fluxes and higher growth temperatures. We have obtained a cubic purity phase of 96.4% for a film grown at 510 Degree-Sign C by MEE.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of growth temperature on defects in epitaxial GaN film grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy

We report the effect of growth temperature on defect states of GaN epitaxial layers grown on 3.5 μm thick GaN epi-layer on sapphire (0001) substrates using plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The GaN samples grown at three different substrate temperatures at 730, 740 and 750 °C were characterized using atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The atomic force microscopy images of these samples show the presence of small surface and large hexagonal pits on the GaN film surfaces. The surface defect density of high temperature grown sample is smaller (4.0 × 10{sup 8} cm{sup −2} at 750 °C) than that of the low temperature grown sample (1.1 × 10{sup 9} cm{sup −2} at 730 °C). A correlation between growth temperature and concentration of deep centre defect states from photoluminescence spectra is also presented. The GaN film grown at 750 °C exhibits the lowest defect concentration which confirms that the growth temperature strongly influences the surface morphology and affects the optical properties of the GaN epitaxial films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Greatly improved interfacial passivation of in-situ high κ dielectric deposition on freshly grown molecule beam epitaxy Ge epitaxial layer on Ge(100)

A high-quality high-κ/Ge interface has been achieved by combining molecule beam epitaxy grown Ge epitaxial layer and in-situ deposited high κ dielectric. The employment of Ge epitaxial layer has sucessfully buried and/or removed the residue of unfavorable carbon and native oxides on the chemically cleaned and ultra-high vacuum annealed Ge(100) wafer surface, as studied using angle-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Moreover, the scanning tunneling microscopy analyses showed the significant improvements in Ge surface roughness from 3.5 Å to 1 Å with the epi-layer growth. Thus, chemically cleaner, atomically more ordered, and morphologically smoother Ge surfaces were obtained for the subsquent deposition of high κ dielectrics, comparing with those substrates without Ge epi-layer. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics and low extracted interfacial trap density (D{sub it}) reveal the improved high-κ/Ge interface using the Ge epi-layer approach.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dislocations limited electronic transport in hydride vapour phase epitaxy grown GaN templates: A word of caution for the epitaxial growers

GaN templates grown by hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) and metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) techniques are compared through electronic transport measurements. Carrier concentration measured by Hall technique is about two orders larger than the values estimated by capacitance voltage method for HVPE templates. It is learnt that there exists a critical thickness of HVPE templates below which the transport properties of epitaxial layers grown on top of them are going to be severely limited by the density of charged dislocations lying at layer-substrate interface. On the contrary MOVPE grown templates are found to be free from such limitations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of SnO{sub 2} using a tin chemical precursor

The authors report on the development of a molecular beam epitaxy approach for atomic layer controlled growth of phase-pure, single-crystalline epitaxial SnO{sub 2} films with scalable growth rates using a highly volatile precursor (tetraethyltin) for tin and rf-oxygen plasma for oxygen. Smooth, epitaxial SnO{sub 2} (101) films on r-sapphire (101{sup ¯}2) substrates were grown as a function of tin precursor flux and substrate temperatures between 300 and 900 °C. Three distinct growth regimes were identified where SnO{sub 2} films grew in a reaction-, flux-, and desorption-limited mode, respectively, with increasing substrate temperature. In particular, with increasing tin flux, the growth rates were found to increase and then saturate indicating any excess tin precursor desorbs above a critical beam equivalent pressure of tin precursor. Important implications of growth kinetic behaviors on the self-regulating stoichiometric growth of perovskite stannates are discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Photoelectric Properties of GaN Layers Grown by Plasma-Assisted Molecular-Beam Epitaxy on Si(111) Substrates and SiC/Si(111) Epitaxial Layers

The photoelectric properties of GaN/SiC/Si(111) and GaN/Si(111) heterostructures grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy under the same growth conditions on identical silicon substrates, but with different buffer layers, are experimentally investigated. The GaN/SiC/Si(111) structure is formed on a Si substrate with the SiC buffer layer grown by a new atom-substitution technique and the GaN/Si(111) structure, on a Si substrate subjected to pre-epitaxial plasma nitridation. The significant effect of carbon-vacancy clusters contained in the SiC layer on the growth of the GaN layer and its optical and photoelectric properties is found. It is experimentally established that the GaN/SiC/Si(111) heterostructure has a higher photosensitivity than the GaN/Si(111) heterostructure. In the GaN/SiC/Si(111) heterostructure, the coexistence of two oppositely directed p–n junctions is observed. One p–n junction forms at the SiC/Si interface and the other, at the GaN/SiC interface. It is shown that the occurrence of an electric barrier in the GaN/Si(111) heterostructure at the GaN/Si(111) heterointerface is caused by the formation of a thin silicon-nitride transition layer during pre-epitaxial plasma nitridation of the Si(111) substrate.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Surface stability and the selection rules of substrate orientation for optimal growth of epitaxial II-VI semiconductors

The surface structures of ionic zinc-blende CdTe (001), (110), (111), and (211) surfaces are systematically studied by first-principles density functional calculations. Based on the surface structures and surface energies, we identify the detrimental twinning appearing in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of II-VI compounds as the (111) lamellar twin boundaries. To avoid the appearance of twinning in MBE growth, we propose the following selection rules for choosing optimal substrate orientations: (1) the surface should be nonpolar so that there is no large surface reconstructions that could act as a nucleation center and promote the formation of twins; (2) the surface structure should have low symmetry so that there are no multiple equivalent directions for growth. These straightforward rules, in consistent with experimental observations, provide guidelines for selecting proper substrates for high-quality MBE growth of II-VI compounds.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Exceptional gettering response of epitaxially grown kerfless silicon

The bulk minority-carrier lifetime in p- and n-type kerfless epitaxial (epi) crystalline silicon wafers is shown to increase >500× during phosphorus gettering. We employ kinetic defect simulations and microstructural characterization techniques to elucidate the root cause of this exceptional gettering response. Simulations and deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) indicate that a high concentration of point defects (likely Pt) is “locked in” during fast (60 °C/min) cooling during epi wafer growth. The fine dispersion of moderately fast-diffusing recombination-active point defects limits as-grown lifetime, but can also be removed during gettering, confirmed by DLTS measurements. Synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy indicates metal agglomerates at structural defects, yet the structural defect density is sufficiently low to enable high lifetimes. Consequently, after phosphorus diffusion gettering, epi silicon exhibits a higher lifetime than materials with similar bulk impurity contents but higher densities of structural defects, including multicrystalline ingot and ribbon silicon materials. Device simulations suggest a solar-cell efficiency potential of this material >23%.

DLTS↗