Fabrication of nc-Si/SiO2 structure by thermal oxidation method and its luminescence characteristics

Nano-crystalline silicon/silicon oxide （nc-Si/SiO2） structures have been prepared from amorphous silicon films on both silicon and quartz substrates by using electron-beam evaporation approach and annealing at temperatures about 600 ℃ in air. As a thermal oxidation procedure, the annealing treatment is not only a crystallization process but also an oxidation process. Scanning electron microscopy is employed to characterize the surface morphology of the nc-Si/SiO2 layers. Transmission electron microscopy study shows the sizes of nc-Si grains on the two different substrates. The nc-Si/SiO2 structures exhibit visible luminescence at room temperature as confirmed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. Comparing the photoluminescence spectra of different samples, our results agree with the quantum confinement-luminescence center model.     

An Array of One-Dimensional Porous Silicon Photonic Crystal Reflector Islands for a Far-Infrared Image Detector

With the aid of photolithography, an array of one-dimensional porous silicon photonic crystai reflector islands for a far infrared image detector ranging from 10 μm to 14 μm is successfully fabricated. Silicon nitride formed by low pressure chemical vapor deposition （LPCVD） was used as the masking layer for the island array formation. After etching, the microstructures were examined by a scanning electron microscope and the optical properties were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, the result indicates that the multilayer structure could be obtained in the perpendicular direction via periodically alternative etching current in each pre-pattern. At the same time, the island array has a well-proportioned lateral etching effect, which is very useful for the thermal isolation in lateral orientation of the application in devices. It is concluded that regardless of the absorption of the deposition layer on the substrate, the localized photonic crystalline islands have higher reflectivity. The designed islands structure not only prevents the cracking of the porous silicon layers but is also useful for the application in the cold part for the sensor devices and the iliterconnection of each pixel.     

Pseudo nanocrystal silicon induced .luminescence enhancement in a-Si/SiO2 multilayers

Enhanced photoluminescence （PL） at room temperature from thermally annealed a-Si：H/SiO2 multilayers is observed through the step-by-step thermal post-treatment. The correlation between the PL and the crystallization process is studied using temperature-dependent PL, Raman, cross section high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （XHRTEM） and x-ray diffraction （XRD） techniques. An intensified PL band around 820 nm is discovered from the sample annealed near the crystallization onset temperature, which is composed of two peaks centred at 773 nm and 863 nm, respectively. It is found that the PL band centred at 863 nm is related to the pseudo nanocrystal （p-nc-Si） silicon, and the PL band centred at 773 nm is attributed to Si = O bonds stabilized in the p-nc-Si surface.     

Synthesis and Field Emission of ZnO Nanostructures on CuO Catalyzed Porous Silicon Substrate

Mass production of ZnO nanobelts and hexagonal nanorods has been successfully synthesized on CuO catalyzed porous silicon （PS） using a simple vapour-solid （VS） growth method. A comparison of their morphologies is investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The transmission electron microscopy （TEM） confirms that ZnO nanobelts and nanorods are single crystalline with the growth direction of （0110） and （0001）, respectively. Field emission tests indicate that the ZnO nanostructures on porous silicon have low turn-on field of about 3.6 V/μm （at 1.0μA/cm^2） and the threshold field of about 8.3 V/μm （at 1.0mA/cm^2）, high emission site density （ESD） of approximately 104 cm^-2.     

Optoelectronic characterization of ZnS/PS systems

ZnS thin films are deposited on porous silicon （PS） substrates with different porosities by pulsed laser deposition （PLD）. The photoluminescence （PL） spectra of the samples are measured at room temperature. The results show that the PL intensity of PS after deposition of ZnS increases and is associated with a blue shift. With the increase of PS porosity, a green emission at about 550 nm is observed in the PL spectra of ZnS/PS systems, which may be ascribed to the defect-center luminescence of ZnS films. Junction current- voltage （I-V） characteristics were studied. The rectifying behavior of I-V characteristics indicates the formation of ZnS/PS heterojunctions, and the forward current is seen to increase when the PS porosity is increased.     

Variability on Raman Shift to Stress Coefficient of Porous Silicon

Porous silicon film is a capillary-like medium, which is able to reveal different meso-elastic modulus with porosity. During the preparation of porous silicon samples, the capillary force is a non-classic force related to the liquid evaporation which directly influences the evolution of residual stress. In this study, a non-linear relation of Raman shift to stress coefficient and the porosity is obtained from the elastic modulus measured with nano-indentation by Bellet et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 60 （1996） 3772] Dynamic capillarity during the drying process of porous silicon is investigated using micro-Raman spectroscopy, and the results reveal that the residual stress resulted from the capillarity increased rapidly. Indeed, the dynamic capillarity has a close relationship with a great deal of micro-pore structures of the porous silicon.     

Study of He-induced nano-cavities as sinks of oxygen for forming silicon-on-insulator

In the present work, a Cz-Silicon wafer is implanted with helium ions to produce a buried porous layer, and then thermally annealed in a dry oxygen atmosphere to make oxygen transport into the cavities. The formation of the buried oxide layer in the case of internal oxidation （ITOX） of the buried porous layer of cavities in the silicon sample is studied by positron beam annihilation （PBA）. The cavities are formed by 15 keV He implantation at a fluence of 2×10^16 cm^-2 and followed by thermal annealing at 673 K for 30 min in vacuum. The internal oxidation is carried out at temperatures ranging from 1073 to 1473 K for 2 h in a dry oxygen atmosphere. The layered structures evolved in the silicon are detected by using the PBA and the thicknesses of their layers and nature are also investigated. It is found that rather high temperatures must be chosen to establish a sufficient flux of oxygen into the cavity layer. On the other hand high temperatures lead to coarsening the cavities and removing the cavity layer finally.     

Growth and Characterization of a Kind of Nitrogen-Rich Niobium Nitride for Bolometer Applications at Terahertz Frequencies

Niobium is sputtered onto a single crystalline silicon substrate in N2：Ar=4：1 gas mixture at the total pressure of 2 Pa. The temperature coefficient of resistance of the sample is about 0.5% at 30OK, and up to 7% at 77K, indicating the possibility of using it to make room-temperature bolometers with performances better than those based on Pt, Bi, or Nb. For a 60-nm-thick sample, the rms surface roughness is 0.45nm over an area of 2 μm × 2 μm. Analyses based on x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy indicate that the samples are Nb5N6 thin films in which there is a combination of Nb^3＋ and Nb^5＋, or Nb^4＋.     

Low-Temperature （〈 100℃） Poly-Si Thin Film Fabrication on Glass

Polycrystalline silicon （poly-Si） thin-film is fabricated on Al-coated planar glass substrates at the temperature below 100℃, using aluminium-induced crystallized （AIC） amorphous silicon （a-S0 deposited by dc-magnetron sputtering under an electric field. The properties of NA poly-Si films （AIC of dc-magnetron sputtered silicon non-annealing） are characterized by Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction （XRD） spectroscopy. A narrow and symmetrical Rarnan peak at a wave number of about 521 cm^-1 is observed for samples, showing that the films are fully crystallized. XRD spectra reveal that the films are preferentially （111） oriented. Furthermore, the XRD spectrum of the sample prepared without electric field does not show any XRD peaks for poly-Si, which only appears at about 38° for AI （111） orientation. It is indicated that the electric field plays an important role in crystallization of poly-Si during the dc-magnetron sputtering. Thus, high quality poly-Si film can be obtained at low temperature and separate post-deposition step of AIC of a-silicon can be avoided.     

Two-Step Oxidation of Pb（111） Surfaces

We report on a two-step method for oxidation of Pb（111） surfaces, which consists of low temperature （90K） adsorption of 02 and subsequent annealing to room temperature. In situ scanning tunnelling microscopy observation reveals that oxidation of Pb（111） can occur effectively by this method, while direct room temperature adsorption results in no oxidation. Temperature-dependent adsorption behaviour suggests the existence of a precursor state for 02 adsorption on Pb（111） surfaces and can explain the oxidation-resistance of clean Pb（111） surface at room temperature.     

Low Threshold Distributed Feedback Quantum Cascade Lasers with Widely Spaced Emission Wavelengths

We report lasing properties of distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers （DFB QCLs） including a doublephonon-resonance active region, at wavelength of about 8.4 μm. A broad gain spectrum is generated due to the coupling between the lower laser level in the active region and the levels in the injector, and is demonstrated by the lasing spectrum of the corresponding Fabry-Perot QCLs whose width is 0.5 μm at 1.5 times of the threshold current. As a result, the DFB QCLs employing different grating periods exhibit a wavelength span of 0.18μm at room temperature and total wavelength coverage of 0.28μm at various heat sink temperatures. A high side mode suppression ratio of about 30dB and a low threshold current density of 1.78kA/cm^2 are achieved as the lasers operate at room temperature in pulsed mode.     

Large Storage Window in a-SiNx/nc-Si/a-SiNx Sandwiched Structure for Nanocrystalline Silicon Floating Gate Memory Application

An a-SiNx/nanocrystalline silicon [（nc-Si）/a-SiNx] sandwiched structure is fabricated in a plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition （PECVD） system at low temperature （250℃）. The nc-Si layer is fabricated from a hydrogen-diluted silane mixture gas by using a layer-by-layer deposition technique. Atom force microscopy measurement shows that the density of nc-Si is about 2 ×10^11 cm^-2. By the pretreatment of plasma nitridation, low density of interface states and high-quality interface between the Si substrate and a-SiNs insulator layer are obtained. The density of interface state at the midgap is calculated to be 1 ×10^10 cm^-2eV^-1 from the quasistatic and high frequency C - V data. The charging and discharging property of nc-Si quantum dots is studied by capacitance-voltage （C- V） measurement at room temperature. An ultra-large hysteresis is observed in the C - V characteristics, which is attributed to storage of the electrons and holes into the nc-Si dots. The long-term charge-loss process is studied and ascribed to low density of interface states at SiNx/Si substrate.     

Preparation of graphene oxides with different sheet sizes by temperature control

The sheet size of a graphene oxide(GO) can greatly influence its electrical, optical, mechanical, electrochemical and catalytic property. It is a key challenge to how to control the sheet size during its preparation in different application fields. According to our previous theoretical calculations of the effect of temperature on the oxidation process of graphene,we use Hummers method to prepare GOs with different sheet sizes by simply controlling the temperature condition in the process of the oxidation reaction of potassium permanganate(KMn O_4) with graphene and the dilution process with deionized water. The results detected by transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and atomic force microscopy(AFM)show that the average sizes of GO sheets prepared at different temperatures are about 1 μm and 7 μm respectively. The ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy(UV-vis) shows that lower temperature can lead to smaller oxidation degrees of GO and less oxygen functional groups on the surface. In addition, we prepare GO membranes to test their mechanical strengths by ultrasonic waves, and we find that the strengths of the GO membranes prepared under low temperatures are considerably higher than those prepared under high temperatures, showing the high mechanical strengths of larger GO sheets. Our experimental results testify our previous theoretical calculations. Compared with the traditional centrifugal separation and chemical cutting method, the preparation process of GO by temperature control is simple and low-cost and also enables large-size synthesis. These findings develop a new method to control GO sheet sizes for large-scale potential applications.     

A CMOS-compatible silicon substrate optimization technique and its application in radio frequency crosstalk isolation

In this paper, a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor （CMOS）-compatible silicon substrate optimization technique is proposed to achieve effective isolation. The selective growth of porous silicon is used to effectively suppress the substrate crosstalk. The isolation structures are fabricated in standard CMOS process and then this post-CMOS substrate optimization technique is carried out to greatly improve the performances of crosstalk isolation. Three-dimensional electro-magnetic simulation is implemented to verify the obvious effect of our substrate optimization technique. The morphologies and growth condition of porous silicon fabricated have been investigated in detail. Furthermore, a thick selectively grown porous silicon （SGPS） trench for crosstalk isolation has been formed and about 20dB improvement in substrate isolation is achieved. These results demonstrate that our post-CMOS SGPS technique is very promising for RF IC applications.     

White electroluminescence of n-ZnO：Al/p-diamond heterostructure devices

An n-ZnO：A1/p-boron-doped diamond heterostructure electroluminescent device is produced, and a rectifying be- havior can be observed. The electroluminescence spectrum at room temperature exhibits two visible bands centred at 450 nm-485 nm （blue emission） and 570 nm-640 nm （yellow emission）. Light emission with a luminance of 15 cd/m2 is observed from the electroluminescent device at a forward applied voltage of 85 V, which is distinguished from white light by the naked eye.     

Strong Electron Field Emission from Nano-CdS Modified Porous Silicon

A nano-CdS modified porous silicon (nano-CdS/PS) field emitter is fabricated by chemical method at room temperature. The electron field emission characteristics show that the turn-on field for nano-CdS/PS is about 4.0 Vim and the emission current reaches about 20μA/cm^2 at 5.0 V/μm. This emission current is 20 times larger than that of the PS substrate without nano-CdS modification. The strong field emission properties make the nano-CdS/PS field emitter a good candidate for applications in the field of electronic and optoelectronic devices.     

Transparent Ni^2＋-Doped MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 Glass Ceramics with Broadband Infrared Luminescence

We report on transparent Ni^2＋-doped MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass ceramics with broadband infrared luminescence. Ni^2＋-doped MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass is prepared by using the conventional method. After heat treatment at high temperature, MgAl2O4 crystallites are precipitated, and their average size is about 4.3 nm. No luminescence is detected in the as-prepared glass sample, while broadband infrared luminescence centred at around 1315 nm with full width at half maximum （FWHM） of about 300 nm is observed from the glass ceramics. The observed infrared emission could be attributed to the ^3T2g（^3F）→^3A2g（^3F） transition of octahedral Ni^2＋ ions in the MgAl2O4 crystallites of the transparent glass ceramics. The product of the fluorescence lifetime and the stimulated emission cross section is about 1.6×10^-24 s cm^2.     

Centimetre-Long Single Crystalline ZnO Fibres Prepared by Vapour Transportation

Centimetre-long ZnO fibres are synthesized by vapour transportation via thermal evaporation of ZnO powders. The growth process is carried out in a graphite crucible, in which ZnO powder is loaded as the source material, and a silicon wafer is positioned on the top of the crucible as the growth substrate. During the growth process, the source temperature is kept at 800℃ and the substrate temperature is kept at 600℃. Typical growth time to obtain centimetre-long ZnO fibres is 5-10 hours. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, x-ray diffraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, and selected area electron diffraction （SAED） measurement results show that ZnO fibres are single crystalline with high crystalline quality and very low defects concentration.     

Effect of Carbonized Conditions on Residual Strain and Crystallinity Quality of Heteroepitaxial Growth 3C-SiC Films

Heteroepitaxial growth of SiC on n-Si（111） substrates is performed by a low pressure chemicaJ vapor deposition process. The effects of different carbonized temperature and carbonized time on the crystalline quality and the residual strain of 3C-SiC films are discussed. The results show that the residual strain is obviously reduced and the crystalline quality is greatly improved at the best carbonized temperature of 1000℃ and the carbonized time of 5 min. Under these optimized carbonization conditions, thick epitaxial films of about 15 μm with good crystalline quality and low residual strain can be obtained.     

Correlated Photon Pair Generation in Silicon Wire Waveguides at 1.5 μm

Correlated photon pairs at 1.5 μm are generated in a silicon wire waveguide （SWW） with a length of only 1.6 mm. Experimental results show that the single-side count rates on both sides increase quadratically with pump light, indicating that photons are generated from the spontaneous four-wave mixing （SFWM） processes. The quantum correlation property of the generated photons is demonstrated by the ratio between coincident and accidental coincident count rates. The highest ratio measured at room temperature is to be about 19, showing that generated photon pairs have strong quantum correlation property and low noise. What is more, the wavelength correlation property of the coincident count is also measured to demonstrate the correlated photon pair generation. The experimental results demonstrate that SWWs have great potential in on-chip integrated low-noise correlated photon pair sources at 1.5 μm.