Search

A novel characterization method is introduced to measure Seebeck coefficients on individual Si nanowires (Si NWs). By using conductive atomic force microscopy with slight modifications, without any need of microfabricated devices, the Seebeck coefficients can be conveniently measured on individual Si NWs inside a large-sized vertical array in addition to the measurements on bulk substrates. The results show that the Seebeck coefficients of Si NWs are much larger than their bulk counterparts over a wide temperature range. The temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficients of Si NWs is found to be entirely different from that of bulk Si, yet both of them agree well with the results obtained by a macroscopic method. Particularly, with this method, the Seebeck coefficients can be easily characterized on Si NWs with varied morphology, size, or doping. As an example, the Seebeck coefficients are measured on Si NWs with different lengths, and it is found that the Seebeck coefficients decrease obviously as the nanowire length increases for all measurement temperatures but the difference becomes smaller at higher temperatures. Overall, this study provides a simple but effective novel method to measure the Seebeck coefficients on individual Si NWs, which has unique advantages on exploring the size or other parameter dependence or revealing the dominant factors in thermoelectric property studies on single nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic properties of SiO2/Fe/SiO2 nanocomposite films are studied by magnetic force microscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer. The films were fabricated by alternately depositing SiO2, Fe, and SiO2 on Si substrates with magnetron sputtering followed by thermal annealing. It is found that the annealing atmosphere significantly influences the sample structure, composition, and magnetic properties. The samples annealed in forming gas show much better magnetic properties than those annealed in vacuum and in N2. The saturation magnetization can reach 200 emu/g, fairly close to the value of bulk Fe, and the coercivity can reach 400 Oe, much higher than 10 Oe of the bulk Fe. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic depth profile measurement was carried out to study the mechanism of the strong influence of annealing atmosphere. For the samples annealed in forming gas, Fe nanoparticles are mildly oxidized, forming thin shells of Fe2O3 surrounding them, which is beneficial for maintaining the ferromagnetic behavior and enhancing the coercivity of nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherently strained GeSi/Si(001) islands were overgrown with a Si capping layer of different thicknesses at temperature 300 °C. The structures of the islands and the Si capping layer were investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The shapes of the embedded islands were well preserved, whereas planar defects were observed exactly over the islands in the capping layers. The strain energy in regions over the islands accumulated with increasing thickness of the Si capping layer, resulting in the formation of the planar defects. By means of a two-step deposition in which 20-nm-thick Si capping layer was first deposited at a low temperature of 300 °C followed by 70-nm-thick Si capping layer deposition at a high temperature of 640 °C, the defect-free Si capping layer with flat surface can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transverse laser-induced thermoelectric voltages in the tilted La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) thin films are observed for the first time. The detected signals are demonstrated to originate from the anisotropy of thermoelectric power and depend on the Sr-doping level drastically. The largest voltage is observed in the LSCO films at x=0.15 under the irradiation of different lasers with the wavelength in the spectrum range from infrared to ultraviolet. The dependence of the signals on Sr-doping content is associated with a two dimensional charge transport behavior in LSCO films near the optimum doping content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dependences of intersubband transitions on well width and nitrogen (N) content in n-type In0.23Ga0.77As1-xNx/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) are investigated using a ten-band k·p model. The absorption peak energy is found to increase first with the well width starting from 2 nm. It becomes insensitive from about 2.5 to 4.5 nm although the absorption intensity increases and bandwidth decreases monotonically, and then keeps decreasing with the well width beyond 4.5 nm. The peak energy is much larger than that of the N-free structure for narrower wells, but the difference decreases quickly with increasing well width. In the case of wider wells, the absorption peak energy shows relatively slow monotonic increase with increasing N content up to 3% because of the N-band and conduction-band coupling. In the nearly lattice-matched GaAsN/AlGaAs QWs the absorption peak energy shows a redshift with increasing N content from 0% to 0.4% and then increases gradually. The theoretical results are consistent with the reported experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shape of the self-assembled GeSi/Si(001) islands changed from a dome to a pyramid bounded with {103} or {105} facets after initial Si capping at 640 °C. The strains in the islands with initial Si capping are investigated by Raman spectroscopy. Compared with those of the uncapped islands, both peaks of Ge-Ge and Ge-Si vibration modes in the capped islands show blueshifts, corresponding to the Ge content decrease and the compressive strain increase in the capped islands. The total strain energy in an island is found to increase remarkably after Si capping. After simple analysis, it is found that the surface energy change could not overwhelm this large strain energy increase, making the shape transition favorable. It implies that the strain energy in the substrate in association with an island formation as well as evolution should be considered in accounting for the resulting island shape changes after Si capping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Raman scattering by optical phonons in self-assembled Ge quantum dot superlattices grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy. The Ge quantum dots are vertically correlated and have different average sizes and dot morphologies. The GeGe optical phonon frequency was mainly caused by strain relaxation effects. Experimentally observed GeGe optical phonon modes were compared with calculated values using the deformation potential theory, indicating that the strain relaxation of Ge quantum dot superlattices arises not only from atomic intermixing but also from the morphology transition in dot formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed numerical analysis and computer simulation of a two-dimensional defective photonic crystal structure fabricated with nonlinear optical materials are carried out. The localized states in the band gap and electric field distributions of such a structure were calculated by the finite-difference time-domain method, and demonstrated a greatly enhanced second harmonic generation with an efficiency of about 4 orders of magnitude higher than that in an ordinary nonlinear crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ge/Si interdiffusion in GeSi dots grown on Si (001) substrate by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy is investigated. Transmission electron microscopy images show that, after annealing, the aspect ratio of the height to base diameter increases. Raman spectra show that the Si–Ge mode redshifts and the intensity of the local Si–Si mode increases with the increase of annealing temperature, which suggests the Ge/Si interdiffusion during annealing. The photoluminescence peaks from the dots and the wetting layers show blueshift due to the atomic intermixing during annealing. The interdiffusion thermal activation energies of GeSi dots and the wetting layers are 2.16 and 2.28 eV, respectively. The interdiffusion coefficient of the dots is about 40 times higher than that of wetting layers and the reasons were discussed. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]