Search

The investigation of the mechanisms driving the growth of single crystalline organic thin films is a fundamental issue of organic electronics in view of the optimization of transport properties in thin film-based devices. In this paper, a complete azimuthal order of heteroepitaxial domains of α-quaterthiophene grown by organic molecular beam epitaxy on tetracene single crystal substrates is assessed by oblique incidence absorption spectroscopy and fully validated by empirical force field calculations. The effect of the many-body interactions combined with the symmetry of the substrate and deposit surfaces involved in the heterojunction is demonstrated to drive toward this relevant achievement, which unveils new strategies for controlling the growth of single crystalline organic thin films.

A close relation between structural and optical properties of any semiconductor material does exist. An adequate knowledge and understanding of this relationship is necessary for fabrication of devices with desired optical properties. The structural quality and hence the optical properties can be influenced by the growth method and the substrate used. The aim of this work was to investigate the change in optical properties caused by growth techniques and substrate modification. To study the influence of growth technique on optical properties, ZnO nanostructures were grown using atmospheric pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (APMOCVD) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The structural and optical investigations were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro photoluminescence (μ-PL), respectively. The results revealed that the grown structures were in the shape of nano-rods with slightly different shapes. Optical investigation revealed that low temperature PL spectrum for both the samples was dominated by neutral donor bound excitons emission and it tends to be replaced by free exciton (FX) emission in the temperature range of 60-140K. Both excitonic emissions show a typical red-shift with increase in temperature but with a different temperature dynamics for both the sample and this is due to difference in exciton-phonon interaction because of the different sizes of nano-rods. Defect level emission (DLE) is negligible in both the sample at low temperature but it increased linearly in intensity after 130 K up to the room temperature.Modification in substrate can also play a significant role on structural and optical properties of the material. Specially variation in the miscut angle of substrate can help to control the lateral sizes of the Nanostructures and thus can help to obtain better structural andoptical quality. Also optical quality is a key requirement for making blue and ultraviolet LEDs. Therefore, ZnO Nanostructures were grown on SiC on-axis and off-axis substrates having different off-cut angles. Morphological investigation revealed thatgrown structures are epitaxial for the case when substrate off-cut angle is higher and deposition rate is low. Low temperature PL spectrum of all the samples was dominated by neutral donor bound excitons and free exciton emission become dominant at 100 K for all the samples which completely eliminate the neutral donor bound excitonic emission at 160K. Two electron satellite of the neutral donor bound excitons and LO phonons of excitonic features are also present. A typical red-shift in excitonic features was evident in temperature dependence measurement. Red-shift behavior of free exciton for all the samples was treated by applying Varshni empirical expression and several important parameter, such as, the Debye temperature and the band gap energy value was extracted. Thermal quenching behavior was also observed and treated by thermal quenching expression and value of the activation energy for non-radiative channel was extracted. The results that are obtained demonstrate a significant contribution in the fields of ZnO based nano-optoelectronics and nano-electronics.

Synthesis by the hydrothermal method has various advantages, including low reaction temperature, three-dimensional substrate availability, and automatic polarization alignment during the process. In this review, powder synthesis, the fabrication of piezoelectric thin films, and their applications are introduced. A polycrystalline lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film was applied to a micro ultrasonic motor, and an epitaxial lead titanate (PbTiO3) thin film was estimated as a ferroelectric data storage medium. Ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties were successfully obtained for epitaxial PbTiO3 films. As lead-free piezoelectric powders, KNbO3 and NaNbO3 powders were synthesized by the hydrothermal method and sintered together to form (K,Na)NbO3 ceramics, from which reasonable piezoelectric performance was achieved.

The fabrication of epitaxially grown Zn-substituted LiNbO3 (Zn:LiNbO3) waveguide films and rib waveguides is reported and detailed investigations about microstructure, morphology and optical waveguide properties are provided. Zn:LiNbO3 films were grown on congruent X-cut LiNbO3 substrates by a modified liquid phase epitaxy in solid-liquid coexisting solutions. The homogeneously Zn-substituted films exhibit high crystalline perfection and extremely flat surfaces with averaged surface roughness of rms = 0.2-0.3 nm. At the film/substrate interface a Zn-containing transient layer has been observed, which allows the growth of elastically strained Zn:LiNbO3 film lattices. X-ray diffraction reciprocal-space measurements prove the pseudomorphic film growth. The refractive index difference between substrate and film depends on the zinc substitution content, which increase with rising growth temperatures. For films with 5.3 mol% Zn (Delta n(o) approximate to +5 x 10(-3)) only ordinary ray propagation was observed, while for films with 7.5 mol% Zn (Delta n(o) approximate to +8 x 10(-3), Delta n(e) approximate to +5 x 10(-3)) both modes, TM and TE propagate. Stress-induced refractive index changes are in the order of Delta n approximate to 10(-4). In rib waveguide microstructures singlemode propagation with nearly symmetrical field distribution has been observed. To demonstrate the potential of the proton exchange-assisted dry-etching technique interferometer microstructures were fabricated.

Solid phase epitaxial regrowth (SPER) of p -doped preamorphized Si was studied by time resolved reflectivity. Strain and dopant concentration were opportunely varied by implanting neutral (Ge) and isovalent (B, Ga) impurities in order to disentangle the two different effects on SPER. Larger SPER rate variations occurred in strained doped Si with respect to undoped samples. The generalized Fermi level shifting model was implemented to include the role of the strain and to fit the experimental data over a large range of temperature for p - and n -type doping. We introduced a charged defect, whose energy level is independent of the dopant species. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.

(Sn, Fe)-codoped In2O3 epitaxial films were deposited on (111)-oriented Y-stabilized ZrO2 substrates by pulsed laser deposition with constant Fe concentration and different Sn concentrations. The influence of Sn concentration on the crystal structure and properties of Fe-doped In2O3 ferromagnetic semiconductor films has been investigated systematically. Experimental results indicate that Sn doping can effectively reduce the surface roughness and suppresses breakup of the films into separated islands. At the same time, the optical band gap increases and the electrical properties improve correspondingly. However, although the carrier density increases dramatically with the Sn doping, no obvious change of the ferromagnetism is observed. This is explained by a modified bounded magnetic polaron model.