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The nucleation, nano-platelet growth, and optical properties under quantum confinement are investigated in the topological semimetal superlattice Bi2–Bi2Se3 as a function of thickness and Ar + ion pressure in sputtered growths. Quantum confinement and evolution of the band structure with a series of reduced dimensionality and surface terminations are studied by density functional theory corroborating the observed optical properties. An initial Volmer–Weber growth mode of nano-platelets is observed until a pressure-dependent critical thickness, where a transition to Frank–van der Merwe growth occurs. Nucleation statistics characterized using atomic force microscopy find the nearest-neighbor ordering of nano-platelets. Optical properties using ultraviolet to visible light spectroscopy measurements in transmission mode reveal a marked increase in optical bandgap below a nano-platelet critical volume reaching a maximum of 2.21 eV. Raman vibrational spectroscopy is performed, revealing softening of vibrational modes as the nano-platelet volume decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magneto-transport measurements have been made on strain-free In0.25Ga0.75Sb/InAs superlattices grown on GaSb substrates. The superior structural quality of these superlattices compared to older materials in the literature resulted in a much higher resolution of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. Three separate conduction channels were observed. Measurements with the magnetic field in the plane of the sample indicated that the channel with the longer period was due to three dimensional-like conduction within the superlattice while the other two channels showed two dimensional behavior most likely associated with conduction at the surface or interfaces between the superlattice and bulk-like layers. Comparison with multi-carrier analysis indicated that the channel with intermediate period was due to hole conduction while the others were due to electron conduction. Oscillations were observed at temperatures up to 20?K. The concentration of the superlattice channel at low temperature was 5.93?×?1015 cm-3 while those of the two dimensional hole and electron channels were 1.64?×?1011 cm-2 and 5.20?×?1011 cm-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical properties of In0.25Ga0.75Sb/InAs superlattices designed for use as very long wavelength infrared detectors were studied with magnetic field dependent transport measurements and multicarrier analysis. Two electron channels and one hole channel were identified. The low concentration, high mobility electron channel was identified with conduction within the superlattice. Residual electron concentrations in the superlattice are found to be in the high 1010 cm-2 range with mobilities on the order of 40 000 cm²/V s. The other electron and hole channels have significantly lower mobilities with concentrations in the 1011 cm-2 range and can have a significant impact on the resistivity, carrier concentration, and mobility as measured at a single magnetic field value in conventional transport measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interface misfit formation has been used for the growth of high mobility GaSb/InAs single quantum wells (SQW) formed on GaAs substrates. The SQW structure was topped with 800 Å GaSb, followed by 100 Å GaSb:Si (5×108 cm-3), 10 nm GaSb, 10 nm InAs, and finally 250 nm GaSb on a GaAs substrate. The structural quality was examined using high resolution x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Reciprocal space mapping indicated that the GaSb was completely relaxed. A high resolution x-ray rocking curve showed good agreement between the proposed structure and the simulation, assuming that all layers were relaxed to the GaSb lattice, and clearly showed interference fringing from individual layers. Atomic force microscopy showed the film appeared textured, and that the final growth occurred by step flow growth. The observed peak-to-peak roughness was 7 nm over a 100×100 μm2 square area. Plane view transmission electron microscopy analysis showed a nearly regular array of Lomer dislocations responsible for the relaxation of the strain in the two films. The mobility of the SQW was measured as a function of temperature. The room temperature mobility was 13 900 cm2/V s and a peak mobility of 25 200 cm2/V s was observed at ∼60 K, and remained nearly constant at lower temperatures. The sheet concentration was 2.3×1012/cm2 at room temperature, and dropped to 7.35×1011/cm2 at 60 K. Magnetoresistance measurements revealed the presence of Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations at 1.2 K; indicating the presence of a good quality two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). Further support for the high quality of the 2DEG is provided by the observation of sharply defined quantum Hall plateaus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of a single electron quantum well of GaSb/InAs/GaSb on GaAs (001) is examined by using interfacial misfit formation (IMF) growth. The dominant scattering mechanism is due to interface roughness scattering and the correspondence of surface roughness with the threading dislocations has shown that a much higher mobility is expected by achieving a more complete relaxation of the structure of interface misfit dislocations.

We investigate the minority carrier lifetime of Be-doped InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattices as a function of doping density and temperature using time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) to determine if switching the superlattice type from the typical n-type residual carrier concentration to p-type may improve device performance by improving the lifetime-mobility product. The introduction of the Be dopant to the superlattice reduces the carrier lifetime, first by a factor of ∼3 for doping densities near or below the n-type residual carrier concentration, then by an order of magnitude for samples doped well above the residual carrier concentration. Further, the higher-doped p-type samples demonstrate two distinct TRPL decay regimes and two peaks in the PL spectra, suggesting the formation of an additional acceptor-related recombination pathway leading to the observed shorter carrier lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report that graphene grown by molecular beam epitaxy from solid carbon (CMBE) on (0001) SiC in the presence of unintentional oxygen exhibits a small bandgap on the order of tens of meV. The presence of bandgaps is confirmed by temperature dependent Hall effect and resistivity measurements. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements suggest that oxygen incorporates into the SiC substrate in the form of O-Si-C and not into the graphene as graphene oxide or some other species. The effect is independent of the carrier type of the graphene. Temperature dependent transport measurements show the presence of hopping conduction in the resistivity and a concurrent disappearance of the Hall voltage. Interactions between the graphene layers and the oxidized substrate are believed to be responsible for the bandgap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the observation of an abnormal carrier transport phenomenon in polycrystalline semiconducting graphene grown by solid carbon source molecular beam epitaxy. At the lowest temperatures in samples with small grain size, the conduction does not obey the two-dimensional Mott-type variable-range hopping (VRH) conduction often reported in semiconducting graphene. The hopping exponent p is found to deviate from the 1/3 value expected for Mott VRH with several samples exhibiting a p=2/5 dependence. We also show that the maximum energy difference between hopping sites is larger than the activation energy for nearest-neighbor hopping, violating the assumptions of the Mott model. The 2/5 dependence more closely agrees with the quasi-one-dimensional VRH model proposed by Fogler, Teber, and Shklovskii (FTS). In the FTS model, conduction occurs by tunneling between neighboring metallic wires. We suggest that metallic edge states and conductive grain boundaries play the role of the metallic wires in the FTS model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]