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Effective mobility in top-gated MoS2 metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with HfO2/TaN gate was investigated. We realized C-V measurements of MoS2 MOSFETs with a small gate area. The resultant surface carrier concentration dependence of the effective mobility suggested that surface roughness scattering was responsible for the accumulated electron mobility in the fabricated MoS2 MOSFET. The scanning tunneling microscope image exhibited atomic scale roughness on the cleaved MoS2 surface. This suggested that the surface roughness should be reduced to improve the performance of MoS2 MOSFETs.

Surface modification can play a crucial role in enhancing cell adhesion to synthetic polymer-based scaffolds in tissue engineering applications. Here, we report a novel approach for layer-by-layer (LbL) fabrication of nanometer-size fibronectin and gelatin (FN-G) layers on electrospun fibrous poly(carbonate urethane)urea (PCUU) scaffolds. Alternate immersions into the solutions of fibronectin and gelatin provided thickness-controlled FN-G nano-layers (PCUU(FN-G) ) which maintained the scaffold's 3D structure and width of fibrous bundle of PCUU as evidenced by scanning electron miscroscopy. The PCUU(FN-G) scaffold improved cell adhesion and proliferation of bladder smooth muscles (BSMCs) when compared to uncoated PCUU. The high affinity of PCUU(FN-G) for cells was further demonstrated by migration of adherent BSMCs from culture plates to the scaffold. Moreover, the culture of UROtsa cells, human urothelium-derived cell line, on PCUU(FN-G) resulted in an 11-15 μm thick multilayered cell structure with cell-to-cell contacts although many UROtsa cells died without forming cell connections on PCUU. Together these results indicate that this approach will aid in advancing the technology for engineering bladder tissues in vitro. Because FN-G nano-layers formation is based on nonspecific physical adsorption of fibronectin onto polymer and its subsequent interactions with gelatin, this technique may be applicable to other polymer-based scaffold systems for various tissue engineering/regenerative medicine applications.

We investigated the tunnelling conductance of atomic clusters (C60, Si6Hx, AsSi2Hx) deposited on oxidized p-type Si(100) surfaces using scanning tunnelling microscopy where the metal probe/vacuum barrier/cluster/oxide/silicon structures form an asymmetric double-barrier tunnel (ADBT) nanoscale junction. Atomic clusters were assembled onto ultra-thin (~0.3?nm) silicon oxide by either C60 sublimation or ion beam deposition of Si-clusters generated in an ion trap. Electron transfer to the clusters induced surface dipole and reduced junction current under reverse biasing conditions (negatively biased substrate) depending on cluster structure and composition, where the AsSi2Hx clusters created the strongest dipole. Conductance enhancement was observed for forward bias originating in resonance-like electron injection through the unoccupied orbital of the clusters, which was spatially localized within ~1?nm diameter for C60. The resonance peak positions and the weak surface dipole indicated that the orbital energies of C60 and Si6Hx were beyond the forbidden energy gap of Si and shifted with respect to the silicon Fermi energy for heavily doped substrates. In contrast, the orbital energy of doped AsSi2Hx clusters was below the silicon Fermi level. These results demonstrate that the ADBT junction configuration reveals electronic coupling of the clusters to the semiconductor surfaces.

Tantalum containing Si cluster ions TaSi10–13Hx+ were synthesized in an ion trap and deposited onto Si(111)-(7×7) surfaces with a kinetic energy of 18 eV. Scanning tunnelling microscope observations revealed that the clusters adsorbed on the surface without decomposition, consistent with ab initio calculation results, that predicted the clusters would have stable Si-cage structures with a Ta atom at the centre.

We studied how Si6Hx clusters behave on Si (111)-(7×7) surfaces depending on hydrogen content x by scanning tunneling microscopy. The Si6Hx+ ions were synthesized in an ion trap and deposited onto the (7×7) surfaces with an impact kinetic energy of 3 eV, i.e., 0.5 eV/Si atom, without decomposition. Deposited Si6H10–13 clusters favorably adsorbed on faulted halves of the (7×7) surfaces while Si6H0–5 clusters were randomly distributed. A clear difference of the electronic structure between Si6H0–5 and Si6H10–13 clusters was found in the tunneling spectra of the clusters.

Kinetic energy distribution of ion beams was measured by a retarding field energy analyzer for a mass-selective cluster ion beam deposition system that uses a quadrupole ion trap as a cluster ion beam source. The results indicated that the system delivers a cluster-ion beam with energy distribution of ~2 eV, which corresponded well to the calculation results of the trapping potentials in the ion trap. Using this deposition system, mass-selected hydrogenated Si cluster ions SinHx+ were actually deposited on Si(111)-(7×7) surfaces at impact kinetic energy Ed of 3–30 eV. Observation by using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) demonstrated that Si6Hx+ cluster ions landed on the surface without decomposition at Ed=3 eV, while the deposition was destructive at Ed18 eV.

Metasurfaces consisting of arrays of high-index Mie resonators concentrating/redirecting light are important for integrated optics, photodetectors, and solar cells. Herein, we report the optical properties of low-Ge-content SiGe lens-like Mie resonator island arrays fabricated via dewetting during Ge deposition on a Si(100) surface at approximately 900 °C. We observe enhancement of the Si interaction with light owing to the efficient island-induced light concentration in the submicron-depth Si layer, which is mediated by both near-field Mie resonance leaking into the substrate and far-field light focusing. Such metasurfaces can improve the Si photodetector and solar-cell performance.

We structurally and electrically characterize sub-10-nm-thick heteroepitaxial Ge films on Si(001), formed by heated sputtering and subsequent rapid thermal annealing (RTA). After RTA treatment at 720 °C, we find the heteroepitaxial Ge films to have smooth surfaces with a roughness root mean square value of 0.54 nm. Raman measurement reveals that the 720 °C RTA improves the crystallinity of Ge films while maintaining abrupt Ge/Si interfaces. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy confirms that the 720 °C RTA step effectively reduces stacking faults and dislocations in the Ge films. The Richardson plot of the TaN/Ge/n-Si diode indicates a Schottky barrier height (SBH) of 0.33 V, which is close to the height of 0.37 V measured from the capacitance–voltage measurement. These values are reasonable compared with the reported SBH of the TaN/bulk Ge Schottky barrier diode, indicating that the method involving heated sputtering and subsequent RTA provides adequate thin Ge films for Ge/Si heterostructures.

International audience; We have investigated the structural and optical properties of metastable amorphous and crystalline GeSn layers on Si substrates. The as-deposited amorphous layers crystallize during annealing at 500 degrees C. This transition leads to a significant change in the local environment of the Sn atoms and in the optical properties. The Ge-Sn bond length is decreased after crystallization. The as-deposited GeSn layers, with nominal 4.5% and 11.3% Sn content, do not show Sn segregation. For the crystallized GeSn with nominal 4.5%, the Sn appears to be substitutional, as no Sn clustering was observed. However, for the crystallized GeSn with nominal 11.3% Sn, Sn segration and the presence of beta-Sn is observed by EXAFS. A method to suppress Sn segregation and increase the substitutional Sn concentration is discussed. Furthermore, we determined the optical properties of amorphous and crystalline GeSn with nominal 4.5% Sn. The bandgap energy decreases significantly from 0.89 eV (1392 nm) +/- 0.05 eV for the amorphous layer to 0.52 eV (2383 nm) +/- 0.05 eV for crystalline GeSn, leading to significant reduction in penetration depth. (C) The Author(s) 2014. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 License (CC BY-NC-ND, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is not changed in any way and is properly cited. For permission for commercial reuse, please email: oa@electrochem.org. All rights reserved

We observed significant reduction of thermal conductivity in semiconducting composite films of Si and molybdenum (Mo)-silicide nanocrystals (NCs). These films were synthesized by phase separation due to annealing at 700 -1000°C from sputtered amorphous Mo–Si alloy. Transmission electron microscope images showed that the NCs were grown to diameters of∼10 nm in the films by annealing at 800°C. Raman scattering spectra showed lower shift of peak positions of Si transverse optical (TO) phonon due to the confinement effect and the tensile stress. The electrical resistivity of the films was 0.17- 9 Ωm at room temperature and showed a semiconducting temperature dependence at 20-400 K. Thermal conductivity of the film was reduced to 4.4 W/mK by enhancement of phonon scattering at NC interfaces, suggesting that the composite film is promising as a high-efficiency Si-based thermoelectric material.

We present the HEtero-Layer Lift-Off (HELLO) technique to obtain ultra thin body (UTB) Ge on insulator (GeOI) substrates. The transferred ultra thin Ge layers are characterized by the Raman spectroscopy measurements down to the thickness of ∼1 nm, observing a strong Raman intensity enhancement for high quality GeOI structure in ultra thin regime due to quantum size effect. This advanced Ge layer transfer technique enabled us to demonstrate UTB-GeOI nMOSFETs with the body thickness of only 4 nm.

In this study, the temperature-dependent thermoelectric properties of p-type single-crystal Ge, which is a useful material for thermoelectric applications owing to its significantly high carrier mobility, were investigated. The thermoelectric properties of Ga-doped (5.7 × 1016, 3.4 × 1018, and 1.0 × 1019 cm−3) p-type single-crystal Ge were measured from room temperature to 770 K. The sample with a carrier concentration of 1.0 × 1019 cm−3 showed the highest thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, over the entire measured temperature range. The maximum ZT value was 0.06 at 650 K. A theoretical model based on the Boltzmann transport equation with relaxation-time approximation was developed and quantitatively reproduced the experimentally observed data. The optimal impurity concentration predicted by this model was 3 × 1019 cm−3 at 300 K and increased with temperature.

We formed Si-rich W silicide films composed of Sin clusters, each of which encapsulates a W atom (WSi(n) clusters with 8 < n ≤ ∼ 12), by using a gas-phase reaction between WF6 and SiH4 in a hot-wall reactor. The hydrogenated WSi(n)H(x) clusters with reduced F concentration were synthesized in a heated gas phase and subsequently deposited on a substrate heated to 350-420 °C, where they dehydrogenated and coalesced into the film. Under a gas pressure of SiH4 high enough for the WSi(n)H(x) reactant to collide a sufficient number of times with SiH4 molecules before reaching the substrate, the resulting film was composed of WSi(n) clusters with a uniform n, which was determined by the gas temperature. The formed films were amorphous semiconductors with an optical gap of ∼0.8-1.5 eV and an electrical mobility gap of ∼0.05-0.12 eV, both of which increased as n increased from 8 to 12. We attribute this dependence to the reduction of randomness in the Si network as n increased, which decreased the densities of band tail states and localized states.

We present the ionization of decaborane (B10H14) and formation of hydrogen- and boron-contents-controlled B10-yHx+ through the charge transfer from ambient gas ion to decaborane molecules in an external quadrupole static attraction ion trap. The charge transfer energy is estimated from the experimentally observed products. PBE0/6-311+G(d)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of DFT calculations are conducted to investigate the mechanism of charge transfer from ambient gas ion. The calculation of the difference of ionization energies and mismatch of orbital energies between decaborane and ambient gas reveals the mechanism of ionization.

We present a first-principles lattice dynamics for the assembly of the transition-metal (M)-encapsulated Sin clusters in amorphous phase (a-MSin), which has been proposed as a potential candidate for the channel material of the next-generation thin-film transistors (TFTs) [N. Uchida et al., Appl. Phys. Express1, 121502 (2008)]. The shape of calculated vibrational density of states (VDOS) curve of a-MoSi10 is similar to the counterpart of the high pressure phase of a-Si (HPA-Si) although the present systems are obtained as a result of pressure relaxation. Its radial distribution function (RDF) among Si themselves is characterized by the absence of a gap between the first and second shells, which is also the case in . We further present the VDOS of a-WSi10, whose curve shape is again similar to that of HPA-Si. A difference between a-MoSi10 and a-WSi10 is that the W-atom displacement components extracted from the vibration eigenvectors are mainly distributed over a lower frequency range (< ~ 150 cm-1) than the Mo counterpart (~ 150 cm-1 to ~ 300 cm-1). This may be attributed to a larger atomic mass of W than Mo.

We synthesized amorphous semiconductor films composed of Mo-encapsulating Si clusters (MoSin : n∼10) on solid substrates. The MoSi10 films had Si networks similar to hydrogenated amorphous Si and an optical gap of 1.5 eV. Electron spin resonance signals were not observed in the films indicating that dangling bonds of Si were terminated by Mo atoms. We fabricated thin-film-transistors using the MoSi10 film as a channel material. The electric field effect of the film was clearly observed. This suggests that the density of mid-gap states in the film is low enough for the field effect to occur.

Hydrogen-saturated silicon clusters of Si6H12 and Si8H18 deposited on Si(111)-(7×7) surfaces were intentionally assembled as islands 5–50 nm in diameter using scanning tunneling microscopy. Assembling occurs for both clusters when the tip–substrate bias voltage exceeds 3 V, irrespective of voltage polarity. Observed kinetics indicate that the mechanism is directional diffusion caused mainly by interaction between the electric field and the field-induced dipole moment of clusters. We demonstrate that the assembling process is applicable to the formation of artificial cluster nanostructures.

We have investigated formation characteristics of stable hydrogenated Si cluster ions, Si n H x +, for deposition on solid substrates. The Si n H x + clusters were grown from silane gas in an ion trap developed for cluster growth, and transported to the solid substrate through an electrostatic quadrupole deflector. Several kinds of the clusters (n=4-10) were grown and transported to the solid substrate. Among them, Si6H13 + had the largest population under the optimized conditions. When the Si6H13 + cluster ion beam was focused to less than 3 mm in diameter on the solid substrate with a deposition energy of 3 eV/Si atom, the beam current obtained was more than 30 pA, which is in the range useful for observation of cluster adsorption structures on solid surfaces.

We report the formation of icosahedral B(12)H(8) (+) through ion-molecule reactions of the decaborane ion [B(10)H(x)(+) (x=6-14)] with diborane (B(2)H(6)) molecules in an external quadrupole static attraction ion trap. The hydrogen content n of B(12)H(n)(+) is determined by the analysis of the mass spectrum. The result reveals that B(12)H(8)(+) is the main product. Ab initio calculations indicate that B(12)H(8)(+) preferentially forms an icosahedral structure rather than a quasiplanar structure. The energies of the formation reactions of B(12)H(14)(+) and B(12)H(12)(+) between B(10)H(x)(+) (x=6,8) ions, which are considered to be involved in the formation of B(12)H(n)(+), and a B(2)H(6) molecule are calculated. The calculations of the detachment pathway of H(2) molecules and H atoms from the product ions, B(12)H(14)(+) and B(12)H(12) (+), indicate that the intermediate state has a relatively low energy, enabling the detachment reaction to proceed owing to the sufficient reaction energy. This autodetachment of H(2) accounts for the experimental result that B(12)H(8)(+) is the most abundant product, even though it does not have the lowest energy among B(12)H(n)(+).

In order to assess the accuracy of electroencephalography (EEG), in children who have undergone cardiac surgery under simple deep hypothermia, the relation between IQ or schoolwork achievement and the duration of circulatory arrest was investigated in 75 such children. Abnormal preoperative EEG's were found in 16 per cent of the children while abnormal postoperative EEG's were found in 17 per cent. The children were divided into 4 groups, according to pre- and postoperative EEG results. Schoolwork achievement scores ranged between 3.0 and 3.2, the difference among the groups being insignificant. Moreover, no significant shift in IQ was found among the groups. Finally, regarding the number of children who were able to go on to a higher level of education, including high school then college or university, again no significant differences were found among the 4 groups. In a comparison with the number of such children in neighboring Nagasaki prefecture able to continue on to a higher level of education, no significant differences were seen either. The findings and statistics of this investigation therefore indicate that pre- and postoperative EEG's are not always a reliable reference for assessing the prognosis of cerebral activity.

We evaluated the potential of polycrystalline (poly-) GeSn as channel material for the fabrication of thin film transistors (TFTs) at a low thermal budget (

We have studied the electronic states of shallow P-doped n-type Si(100) with hydrofluoric acid (HF) treatment using high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). Upon HF treatment, HREELS measurements confirmed the formation of hydride on the Si surface. The surface plasmon energy was measured as an indicator of the change in carrier density near the surface region (12 nm). We observed a blueshift of the plasmon peak after annealing at 300 °C, indicating the reactivation of the P dopant atoms neutralized by hydrogen near the Si surface. Further annealing at 600 °C removed hydrogen from the Si surface, resulting in surface states due to dangling bonds. The electron transfer towards the surface states induces the reduction in electron density, forming a depletion layer, and band bending. The activation efficiency of the P dopant near the surface was estimated to be 55–59% on the basis of the relationship between surface plasmon energy and carrier density.

Carrier distributions near n-type epitaxially-grown Ge(100) surfaces with high impurity concentrations (1 × 1020 cm−3) were studied using high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) upon surface treatments in aqueous solutions of HF and HCl. After surface treatments with HCl and HF, the molecular vibration modes distinctly showed either chloride or hydride terminations of Ge surfaces with negligible oxidation. The free-carrier concentration profile was inferred from the conduction band plasmon measurements as a function of the incident electron energies employing a dielectric theory simulation with a 4-layer structure and an effective electron mass of 0.02m0. A carrier-free layer of 40 and 24 Å were derived for HCl- and HF-treated Ge(100), respectively. The surface band bending was estimated to be 0.32 eV for HF-treated Ge. HCl-treated Ge surfaces showed a band bending of 0.91 eV attributed to the strong effect of the surface Cl-Ge dipole.

In recent years, nanostructured thermoelectric materials have attracted much attention. However, despite this increasing attention, available information on the thermoelectric properties of single-crystal Si is quite limited, especially for high doping concentrations at high temperatures. In this study, the thermoelectric properties of heavily doped (1018–1020 cm−3) n- and p-type single-crystal Si were studied from room temperature to above 1000 K. The figures of merit, ZT, were calculated from the measured data of electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity. The maximum ZT values were 0.015 for n-type and 0.008 for p-type Si at room temperature. To better understand the carrier and phonon transport and to predict the thermoelectric properties of Si, we have developed a simple theoretical model based on the Boltzmann transport equation with the relaxation-time approximation.

We investigated a device isolation process for MoS2-based devices and fabricated high-k/metal-gate MoS2 MOSFETs. An Ar-ion etching process was utilized for the device isolation process. It circumvents damage in the device channel, as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. A top-gate MoS2 MOSFET was fabricated with a HfO2 thin film 16 nm thick as the gate insulator. Utilizing capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements, the capacitance equivalent thickness (CET) was estimated to be 5.36 nm, which indicates that a gate stack with the sufficiently thin insulator was successfully realized. The device exhibited a mobility of 25.3 cm2/(Vs), a subthreshold swing (SS) of 86.0 mV/decade, and an ON/OFF ratio of 107. This satisfactory device performance demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed device isolation process.

Ultrathin GeSn layers with a thickness of 5.5 nm are fabricated on a Si(111) substrate by solid phase epitaxy (SPE) of amorphous GeSn layers with Sn concentrations up to 6.7%. We demonstrate well-behaved depletion-mode operation of GeSn p-channel metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (pMOSFETs) with an on/off ratio of more than 1000 owing to the ultrathin GeSn channel layer (5.5 nm). It is found that the on current increases significantly with increasing Sn concentration at the same gate overdrive, attributed to an increasing substitutional Sn incorporation in Ge. The GeSn (6.7%) layer sample shows approximately 90% enhancement in hole mobility in comparison with a pure Ge channel on Si.

We investigated the electrical properties and derived the energy band structures of amorphous Si-rich W silicide (a-WSin) films and approximately 1-nm-thick crystalline WSin epitaxial films (e-WSin) on Si (100) substrates with composition n = 8–10, both composed of Sin clusters each of which encapsulates a W atom (WSin clusters). The effect of annealing in the temperature range of 300–500 °C was also investigated. The Hall measurements at room temperature revealed that a-WSin is a nearly intrinsic semiconductor, whereas e-WSin is an n-type semiconductor with electron mobility of ∼8 cm2/V s and high sheet electron density of ∼7 × 1012 cm−2. According to the temperature dependence of the electrical properties, a-WSin has a mobility gap of ∼0.1 eV and mid gap states in the region of 1019 cm−3 eV−1 in an optical gap of ∼0.6 eV with considerable band tail states; e-WSin has a donor level of ∼0.1 eV with sheet density in the region of 1012 cm−2 in a band gap of ∼0.3 eV. These semiconducting band structures are ...

Boron (B) doped silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were synthesized by laser ablation. Local vibrational modes of B in SiNWs were observed by micro-Raman scattering measurements at room temperature. Broadening due to a coupling between the discrete optical phonon and a continuum of interband hole excitations was also observed in the Si optical phonon peak. This is called Fano broadening. These results prove that B atoms were doped in substitutional sites of crystalline Si core of SiNWs during laser ablation.

Single crystalline Ge compounds (SiGe, GeSn) have interesting electrical and optical properties [1], rendering them well-suited to a wide variety of applications. GeSn has been predicted to exhibit carrier mobilities exceeding that of Ge [2], which makes this material suitable as a channel material for high-speed complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology [3]. In addition to increased carrier mobility, the GeSn material system is interesting for its optical properties. GeSn exhibits a direct band gap between 0.61 and 0.35 eV for Sn concentrations between 6 and 15 % [4]. This makes it much better fit for optoelectronic applications than Si and Ge, especially at long wavelengths. Epitaxial growth of GeSn on Si substrates poses several challenges including a limited solubility of Sn in Ge (0.5%), compositional fluctuations, Sn segregation and a large lattice mismatch (>4%). It is critical to suppress these effects while simultaneously optimizing the GeSn layer characteristics for the basis of high performance devices. Recently, we demonstrated the growth of single crystalline GeSn layers with excellent structural quality grown on Si(111) substrates, by solid phase epitaxy (SPE) of amorphous GeSn alloys[5]. This technique has an advantage in the realization of thin GeSn layers directly on Si. We do not use surfactants, a capping layer, nor a buffer layer. Amorphous GeSn layers are obtained by the co-evaporation of Ge and Sn atoms, with beam equivalent pressures of 1.33 x 10-7 Torr for Ge and 9 x 10-9 Torr for Sn, while exposing the substrate to a N2 flux with a beam equivalent pressure of about 1 x 10-5 Torr, at a deposition temperature around RT. Subsequent annealing transforms the amorphous GeSn into a single crystalline layer via solid phase epitaxy. Excellent structural quality is demonstrated for layers with up to 6.1 % of Sn. The GeSn layers show tensile strain (up to +0.34%), which lowers the difference between the direct and indirect band transition and makes this method promising for obtaining direct band gap group IV layers. GeSn with 4.5% Sn shows increased optical absorption compared to Ge and an optical band gap of 0.52 eV. Furthermore, the surface and interface are smooth (RMS roughness < 1 nm), despite the relaxation of the layers. Additional structural investigation by XRD and TEM showed the presence of twin defects in the GeSn layers after crystallization. These defects can have a significant impact on the carrier mobility and it is therefore important to suppress the formation of twin defects during crystallization. The formation of twin defects is likely related to the presence of contaminants, in particular oxygen, at the interface between the crystalline substrate and the amorphous layer leading to the roughening of the amorphous-crystalline interface during SPE growth. We have developed a 2-step deposition process which successfully suppresses the formation of such twin defects. Additionally, we demonstrate excellent electrical properties of the GeSn layers by the fabrication of depletion-mode GeSn pMOSFETs on Si(111) using SPE of amorphous GeSn layers, TaN/Al2O3 metal-gate/high-k gate stacks, and Ni-based metal S/D contacts. The GeSn MOSFET devices show +100% improvement in hole mobility with respect to bulk Si and good transfer characteristics with On/Off ratio of ~100 for ultrathin ( Finally, we also demonstrate successful crystallization of amorphous SiGe layers, deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on Si substrates and annealing in N2 atmosphere. The SiGe layers show excellent structural quality for compositions ranging from Ge- to Si-rich. [1] J. Kouvetakis et al., Ann. Rev. Mater. Res. 36, 497 (2006) [2] J. D. Sau and M. L. Cohen, Phys. Rev. B 75, 045208 (2007) [3] C. Merckling et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 11, 192110 (2011) [4] G. He and H. A. Atwater, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1937 (1997) [5] R. R. Lieten et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 052106 (2013) [6] R. R. Lieten et al., Appl. Phys. Express 6, 101301 (2013)

To improve the poor thermoelectric performance of Si, reduction of the high thermal conductivity k (~142 Wm–1K–1) is essential, and one of the effective methods to reduce the k is making Si nanostructures such as Si nanocrystals (NCs) [1, 2] and nanowires[3], where the k is dramatically reduced by enhancement of phonon scattering at the interfaces of the nanostructures. Recently, we developed semiconducting composite films of Si and Ni silicide NCs (Si-Ni nanocomposite film) deposited on SiO2 substrates [2]with the power factor of 1.9×10-3 W/mK2 , the thermal conductivity k of 4.4 W/mK, and the dimensionless figure of merit ZT of 0.13 for the B-doped (p-type ) nanocomposite film [2], which is much higher than that of bulk Si (ZT In this paper, we demonstrate the further improvement of the thermoelectric performance of B doped Si-Ni nanocomposite films by growing them on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) or silicon-on-quartz (SOQ) substrates. The B doped Si-Ni nanocomposite films were synthesized from amorphous Si-Ni-B films deposited on the SOI or SOQ substrates at room temperature (RT) with Ar sputtering of the B doped Ni-Si target (Ni:Si=1:20, 2mol% B). The amorphous films were annealed at 800°C in N2gas ambient, leading to crystallization and the phase separation of the films. After this annealing , rapid annealing of 10 sec at 1200°C was carried out to activate the B atoms. In Fig.1, the ZT values are plotted against the k valuesof Si-Ni nanocomposite films on SOI, SOQ, SiO2 substrates [ 2], and Si nanocomposite by Bux et al. [1] at RT. We observed low k values (< 4 W/mK) of Si-Ni nanocomposite films on SOI and SOQ, which were similar k with Si-Ni nanocomposite film on SiO2, due to phonon scattering at interfaces on NCs. As seen, the ZTs (0.23-0.36) of the Si-Ni nanocomposite films on SOI and SOQ substrates were much higher than those of the Si-Ni nanocomposite films on SiO2 and the Si nanocomposite. We observed with cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy that Si NCs in Si-Ni composite films were epitaxially grown from thin Si crystal layers of SOI /SOQ substrates, leading to improvement of the crystal quality of Si NCs in the nanocomposite films and increase of the carrier conductivities, the Seebeck coefficients and the ZTs. This work was partly supported by ALCA-JST. [1] S. K. Bux, et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 19, 2445 (2009). [2] N. Uchida et al., J. Appl. Phys. 114, 134311 (2013). [3] A. I. Hochbaum, et al., Nature 451,163 (2008).

We demonstrate Fermi-level depinning in metal/Ge junctions and a significant reduction of specific contact resistivity of n-Ge by inserting an ultra-thin semiconducting Si-rich W silicide film (WSin, n = 12–14) composed of W-encapsulating Si clusters. Dependence of the specific contact resistivity on the electron Schottky barrier height followed the ideal exponential relation for various contact metal species. This result indicates that the insertion of the WSin film provides a negligible contribution to contact resistivity because its tunneling resistance is very low owing to the low offset of the conduction band edge of Ge.

We demonstrate an electron excitation effect in silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) embedded in a SiO2 layer treated with hydrogen atoms for passivation of interface defects. Using electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements of quasi-conduction electrons (QCE) excited at lower temperatures, we observed the enhancement of the number of QCE in SiNCs by light irradiation. The electron excitation effect is retained at temperatures lower than 250 K after stopping the light irradiation. The dependence on the size of SiNCs and on excitation laser wavelength suggest that the main memory process is caused by photo-induced electron charging induced through electron excitation of interface states between SiNCs and SiO2.

In this study, we have developed highly efficient thermoelectric materials based on p-type and n-type composite films of Si nanocrystals and Ni silicide nanocrystals. The heavy doping of the films with boron or phosphorus and thermal annealing of the films caused formation of nanocrystals with high electrical conductivities, low thermal conductivities, and high Seebeck coefficients, consequently leading to the high dimensionless figures of merit (ZT). For the p-type (B-doped) and n-type (p-doped) films, ZT is 0.13 and 0.06, respectively, which were much higher than that of bulk Si (

We demonstrate tensile-strained GeSn metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) devices on Si(111) substrates using solid phase epitaxy of amorphous GeSn layers. Amorphous GeSn layers are obtained by limiting the adatom surface mobility during deposition. Subsequent annealing transforms the amorphous layer into single-crystalline GeSn by solid phase epitaxy. Single-crystalline GeSn layers with 4.5% Sn and 0.33% tensile strain are fabricated on Si(111) substrates. To verify the structural quality of thin-film GeSn as a channel material, we fabricate ultrathin GeSn p-channel MOSFETs (pMOSFETs) on Si(111). We demonstrate junctionless depletion-mode operation of tensile-strained GeSn(111) pMOSFETs on Si substrates.

We demonstrate electrical junction characteristics of epitaxially grown W silicide (WSin, n = 8–10) films composed of W-encapsulating Si clusters on Si substrates. The current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics revealed that the WSin/n-Si junction is ohmic, while the WSin/p-Si junction is rectifying with good interface quality and a barrier height of 0.8 eV. The WSin film is an n-type high-carrier-concentration narrow-gap semiconductor with the Fermi level close to the conduction band edge of Si, and it forms a low-barrier heterojunction to n-Si.

We have fabricated thin films composed of W-encapsulated Si clusters (WSi10) on Si substrates and investigated their electronic properties using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). An epitaxial layer was observed at the interface with the Si substrate, and an amorphous layer was on top. The bulk plasmon of the WSi10 cluster film was measured and compared with those of crystalline Si (c-Si) and WSi2 films. We found similar plasmon energies in the epitaxial and amorphous layers of the WSi10 cluster film. The plasmon peak of the WSi10 cluster film is shifted to higher energy compared with that of c-Si, which is related to the electron density increase in the valence band. The Si-L23 absorption edge spectra show that the conduction-band density of states in Si was modified by hybridization between Si and W atoms.

The utility of basic sites of porous coordination polymers (PCPs) for the end-functionalization of oligo(vinylidene fluoride) (OVDF) is demonstrated. Densely arranged carboxylate moieties on the PCP pore walls act as basic sites and allow the efficient elimination reaction of the terminal group of OVDF to proceed. The progress of the reaction of an OVDF precursor in the PCP nanochannels was evidenced using solid state 19F NMR spectroscopy. From 19F and 1H NMR and IR measurements of the product isolated from the composite obtained, the terminal -CH2CF 2I moiety of OVDF was shown to be successfully converted to a -CHCF2 group. Because of the large surface area of the PCP materials, the OVDF precursor easily accessed the basic sites, resulting in a large increase in the rate of the elimination reaction. In addition, a notable effect of the porous structure of PCPs upon the elimination reaction was observed. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

We present the formation of hydrogen-content-controlled B(12)H(n) (+) clusters through the decomposition and ion-molecule reactions of the decaborane (B(10)H(14)) and diborane (B(2)H(6)) molecules in an external quadrupole static attraction ion trap. The hydrogen- and boron-contents of the B(10-y)H(x) (+) cluster are controlled by charge transfer from ambient gas ions. In the process of ionization, a certain number of hydrogen and boron atoms are detached from decaborane ions by the energy caused by charge transfer. The energy caused by the ion-molecule reactions also induces H atom detachment. Ambient gas of Ar leads to the selective generation of B(10)H(6) (+). The B(10)H(6) (+) clusters react with B(2)H(6) molecules, resulting in the selective formation of B(12)H(8) (+) clusters. Ambient gas of Ne (He) leads to the generation of B(10-y)H(x) (+) clusters with x=4-10 and y=0-1 (with x=2-10 and y=0-2), resulting in the formation of B(12)H(n) (+) clusters with n=4-8 (n=2,4-8). The introduction of ambient gas also increases the production of clusters. PBE0/6-311+G(d)//B3LYP/6-31G(d)-level density functional theory calculations are conducted to investigate the structure and the mechanism of formation of B(10-y)H(x) (+) and B(12)H(n) (+) clusters.

We found a new filtering effect of hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) isotope atoms for penetration process into crystal silicon (Si) through the interface between a Si and SiO2 native oxide layer. More H atoms are introduced into Si than D for mixing gases. It was determined from H and D mixed-atom treatment of Si wafer with the native oxide and the systematic measurements of Raman scattering of hydrogen molecules (H2, HD, or D2) and secondary ion mass spectrometry. This phenomenon can be tentatively explained in terms of an isotope filtering model of H and D via an intermediate cluster state formed at the interface between the native SiO2 layer and crystal Si.

Si nanocrystals (SiNCs) embedded in formed amorphous SiO2 layer and P nanoscale doping have been investigated by electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements at low temperatures. Hydrogen atom treatment is found to be required to determine the proper doping effects and electronic states of doped donors and quasi-conduction electrons in SiNCs. The dependences of microwave power and temperature for the ESR hyperfine structure of isolated P donors indicate that the spin–lattice relaxation time T1 becomes longer with decreasing size of SiNCs. From the experimental results of donor concentration and temperature dependence, we propose a novel model that the spin property of SiNCs of approximately 5.8 nm size is strongly dependent on the number of donors doped in a SiNC, i.e., odd or even. Using this model, we also estimate the numbers of P donors included in each SiNC to be 1 to at most 6, which are less than 1/10 of the average P doping concentrations.

Ab initio calculations indicated that icosahedral structure is more stable for B12Hn+ clusters with n = 6?12, but planar configuration is more stable for B12Hn+ with n = 0?5. Here, we report the energy barriers of structure transition by detaching H atoms from icosahedral B12H6+ to planar B12H5+, planar B12H4+, icosahedral B12H5+ or icosahedral B12H4+ cluster. We performed density functional theory calculations to explore the energy barriers and the reaction path of the structure transition. The resultant energy barriers are almost the same, enabling the transition to proceed and suggesting that the structure of B12Hn+ clusters is controlled by the number of hydrogen atoms n.

application/pdf, We have investigated phosphorus ion (P+) implantation in Si nanocrystals (SiNCs) embedded in SiO2, in order to clarify the P donor doping effects for photoluminescence (PL) of SiNCs in wide P concentrations ranging in three orders. Some types of defects such as Pb centers were found to remain significantly at the interfaces between SiNCs and the surrounding SiO2 even by high-temperature (1000 °C) annealing of all the samples. Hydrogen atom treatment (HAT) method can efficiently passivate remaining interface defects, leading to significant increase in the intensity of PL arising from the recombination of electron-hole pairs confined in SiNCs, in addition to significant decrease in interface defects with dangling bonds detected by electron spin resonance. From both the results of the P dose dependence before and after HAT, it is found that the amount of remaining defects is higher for samples with SiNCs damaged by implantation with relatively lower P+ doses and then annealed, and that through HAT the observed PL intensity increases surely as the P concentration increases up to a critical concentration. Then it begins to decrease due to Auger nonradiative recombination above the critical concentration which depends on the size of SiNCs. These results suggest an effect of relatively low concentration of P atoms for the enhancement of PL intensity of SiNCs and we present an unconventional idea for explaining it.

Local structure of transition metal (TM)-encapsulated Si clusters TMSin is investigated by x-ray absorption fine structure. For a series of W-encapsulated Si cluster (WSin) films, the extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) results indicate that the W atoms are coordinated by 9–10 Si atoms with a large structural disorder. The x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra exhibit intense white lines for the cluster films, which distinguishes the different local structures from that of amorphous W–Si alloy. Multiple-scattering XANES calculations indicate that the intense white lines are reproduced by the WSin cage clusters with a W atom in the Sin cage centre. Combining the XANES and EXAFS results, it is revealed that the WSin cage structure (n = 8 or 12) is formed, characterized by strengthened covalency consistent with considerable bond contraction.