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Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T11:06:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-11-01 $\beta $ -Ga2O3 is one of the promising semiconductor materials that has been widely used in power electronics and ultraviolet (UV) detectors due to its wide bandgap and high sensitivity to UV light. Specifically, for the UV detection application, it has been reported that the photocurrent was in the scale of microamps ( $\mu \text{A}$ ), which normally requires sophisticated signal processing units. In this work, a novel approach based upon coupling of two Schottky diodes is reported, leads to a substantial increase in photocurrent (186 times) when benchmarked against a conventional planar UV photodiode. The detectivity and responsivity of the new device have also been significantly increased; the rectification ratio of this device was measured to be $1.7\times 10^{7}$ with ultralow dark current, when measured in the reverse bias. The results confirm that the approach of coupling two Schottky diodes has enormous potential for improving the optical performance of deep UV sensors. Departamento de Fisica UNESP - Sao Paulo State University Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Centre College of Engineering Swansea University School of Electronic Engineering Bangor University Departamento de Fisica UNESP - Sao Paulo State University

Electrochemical biosensors using carbon-based electrodes are being widely developed for the detection of a range of different diseases. Since their sensitivity depends on the surface coverage of bioreceptor moieties, it necessarily depends on the surface coverage of amine precursors. Electrochemical techniques, using ferrocene carboxylic acid as a rapid and cheap assay, were used to assess the surface coverage of amino-phenyl groups attached to the carbon electrode. While the number of electrons transferred in the first step of diazotisation indicated a surface coverage of 8.02 ± 0.2 × l0−10 (mol/cm2), and those transferred in the second step, a reduction of nitrophenyl to amino-phenyl, indicated an amine surface coverage of 4–5 × l0−10 (mol/cm2), the number of electrons transferred during attachment of the amine coupling assay compound, ferrocene carboxylic acid, indicated a much lower available amine coverage of only 2.2 × l0−11 (mol/cm2). Furthermore, the available amine coverage was critically dependent upon the number of cyclic voltammetry cycles used in the reduction, and thus the procedures used in this step influenced the sensitivity of any subsequent sensor. Amine coupling of a carboxyl terminated anti-beta amyloid antibody specific to Aβ(1-42) peptide, a potential marker for Alzheimer’s disease, followed the same pattern of coverage as that observed with ferrocene carboxylic acid, and at optimum amine coverage, the sensitivity of the differential pulse voltammetry sensor was in the range 0–200 ng/mL with the slope of 5.07 µA/ng.mL−1 and R2 = 0.98.

β-Ga 2 O 3 is a promising semiconductor for electronic devices. In the present work we have demonstrated a novel method for manufacturing a β-Ga 2 O 3 Schottky diode, in which the same electrode material is used for both contacts. The device is tested it for its applicability in deep UV sensing. Devices were manufactured directly onto β-Ga 2 O 3 (010) wafer material. From the perspective of diode performance, a high rectification ratio of 1.5x107 and high forward current of 17.58 mA/cm2 at −5 V bias was obtained. A responsivity of 12.5 mA/W was recorded when irradiated with light possessing a wavelength of 254 nm. Importantly, detailed analysis is conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the Schottky diode using Cheung’s and Norde’s methods allowing for accurate calculation of the Schottky barrier height in this device.

Multi-probe instruments based on scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) are becoming increasingly common for their ability to perform nano- to atomic-scale investigations of nanostructures, surfaces and in situ reactions. A common configuration is the four-probe STM often coupled with in situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that allows precise positioning of the probes onto surfaces and nanostructures enabling electrical and scanning experiments to be performed on highly localised regions of the sample. In this paper, we assess the sensitivity of four-probe STM for in-line resistivity measurements of the bulk ZnO surface. The measurements allow comparisons to established models that are used to relate light plasma treatments (O and H) of the surfaces to the resistivity measurements. The results are correlated to x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and show that four-probe STM can detect changes in surface and bulk conduction mechanisms that are beyond conventional monochromatic XPS.

ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays were examined with Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) in cross-section after preparation by Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling. This technique revealed that ZnO nanowires grown using a Au catalyzed vapor technique typically have Au particles at the NW tips, and also randomly dispersed across the base crystal growth that joins adjacent NWs. It is shown the adjacent NWs and the combined base growth is one crystal structure which can be used as a back electrical contact making fabrication of vertical array devices possible. However, the base growth displays detrimental features such as embedded Au particles and lattice defects which can affect the electrical output through depletion regions and scattering centers. In an effort to overcome these problems we investigate a growth method that is nucleated through a minor alteration of the a-plane sapphire surface roughness via a weak chemical etch. Observations of various stages of the growth show the growth nucleates as separate nanoislands that grow in c-plane alignment with Sapphire (1-210), and as growth continues these islands meet and form a polycrystalline film. Further growth initiates nanowire growth and the formation of a single crystal base layer and NW structure that can cover several square millimeter’s. This allows high quality arrays that are relatively free from defects to be formed without any metals contamination and ready for further device processing.

Selecting the electrical properties of nanomaterials is essential if their potential as manufacturable devices is to be reached. Here, we show that the addition or removal of native semiconductor material at the edge of a nanocontact can be used to determine the electrical transport properties of metal–nanowire interfaces. While the transport properties of as-grown Au nanocatalyst contacts to semiconductor nanowires are well-studied, there are few techniques that have been explored to modify the electrical behavior. In this work, we use an iterative analytical process that directly correlates multiprobe transport measurements with subsequent aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy to study the effects of chemical processes that create structural changes at the contact interface edge. A strong metal–support interaction that encapsulates the Au nanocontacts over time, adding ZnO material to the edge region, gives rise to ohmic transport behavior due to the enhanced quantum-mechanical tunneling path. Removal of the extraneous material at the Au–nanowire interface eliminates the edge-tunneling path, producing a range of transport behavior that is dependent on the final interface quality. These results demonstrate chemically driven processes that can be factored into nanowire-device design to select the final properties.

ZnO is a wide bandgap semiconductor that has many potential applications including solar cell electrodes, transparent thin film transistors and gas/biological sensors. Since the surfaces of ZnO materials have no amorphous or oxidised layers, they are very environmentally sensitive, making control of their semiconductor properties challenging. In particular, the electronic properties of ZnO nanostructures are dominated by surface effects while surface conduction layers have been observed in thin films and bulk crystals. Therefore, the ability to use the ZnO materials in a controlled way depends on the development of simple techniques to modulate their surface electronic properties. Here, we use monochromatic x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the use of different wet chemical treatments (EtOH, H2O2) to control the electronic properties of ZnO nanowires by modulating the surface depletion region. The valence band and core level XPS spectra are used to explore the relationship between the surface chemistry of the nanowires and the surface band bending.

Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors are becoming more widely accepted for use in power electronics due to their superior electrical energy efficiencies and improved power densities. Although WBG cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) displays a modest bandgap compared to its commercial counterparts (4H-silicon carbide and gallium nitride), this material has excellent attributes as the WBG semiconductor of choice for low-resistance, reliable diode and MOS devices. At present the material remains firmly in the research domain due to numerous technological impediments that hamper its widespread adoption. The most obvious obstacle is defect-free 3C-SiC; presently, 3C-SiC bulk and heteroepitaxial (on-silicon) display high defect densities such as stacking faults and antiphase boundaries. Moreover, heteroepitaxy 3C-SiC-on-silicon means low temperature processing budgets are imposed upon the system (max. temperature limited to ~1400 °C) limiting selective doping realisation. This paper will give a brief overview of some of the scientific aspects associated with 3C-SiC processing technology in addition to focussing on the latest state of the art results. A particular focus will be placed upon key process steps such as Schottky and ohmic contacts, ion implantation and MOS processing including reliability. Finally, the paper will discuss some device prototypes (diodes and MOSFET) and draw conclusions around the prospects for 3CSiC devices based upon the processing technology presented., This research was funded by the European Union within the framework of the project CHALLENGE, grant number 720827.