Dependence of the microstructural properties on the substrate temperature in strained CdTe (1 0 0)/GaAs (1 0 0) heterostructures

CdTe thin films were grown on GaAs (1 0 0) substrates by using molecular beam epitaxy at various temperatures. The bright-field transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images and the high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) images showed that the crystallinity of CdTe epilayers grown on GaAs substrates was improved by increasing the substrate temperature. The result of selected-area electron diffraction pattern (SADP) showed that the orientation of the grown CdTe thin films was the (1 0 0) orientation. The lattice constant the strain, and the stress of the CdTe thin film grown on the GaAs substrate were determined from the SADP result. Based on the SADP and HRTEM results, a possible atomic arrangement for the CdTe/GaAs heterostructure is presented.     

Reconstruction behaviour of fcc(110) transition metal surfaces and their vicinals

The fcc(110) surfaces are well known for their strong tendency to missing-row (MR) type reconstructions either in the clean state (Au, Pt) or driven by adsorbates (Ni, Cu, Pd, Ag). The present knowledge on the different reconstruction behaviour of flat (110) surfaces is reviewed. The survey focuses on recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies, which for the first time also elucidate the dynamics of the reconstruction process for the various systems. An overview of our recent STM and low energy electron diffraction studies on vicinal Au(110) and Ni(110) surfaces is given, aiming for a deeper understanding of the influence of steps on reconstruction behaviour of fcc(110) surfaces on the one hand, and on the stability of reconstructing vicinal surfaces on the other. Finally, we report on the reconstruction behaviour of Ir(110), which stabilizes in the clean state by formation of mesoscopic (331) facets and dereconstructs to the (1×1) phase upon oxygen adsorption at 700–900 K.     

Critical diameters and temperature domains for MBE growth of III–V nanowires on lattice mismatched substrates

We report on the growth properties of InAs, InP and GaAs nanowires (NWs) on different lattice mismatched substrates, in particular, on Si(111), during Au‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We show that the critical diameter for the epitaxial growth of dislocation‐free III–V NWs decreases as the lattice mismatch increases and equals 24 nm for InAs NWs on Si(111), 39 nm for InP NWs on Si(111), 44 nm for InAs NWs on GaAs(111)B, and 110 nm for GaAs NWs on Si(111). When the diameters exceed these critical values, the NWs are dislocated or do not grow at all. The corresponding temperature domains for NW growth extend from 320 °C to 340 °C for InAs NWs on Si(111), 330 °C to 360 °C for InP NWs on Si(111), 370 °C to 420 °C for InAs NWs on GaAs(111)B and 380 °C to 540 °C for GaAs NWs on Si(111). Experimental values for critical diameters are compared to the previous findings and are discussed within the frame of a theoretical model. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Observation of p(1×1)-type rows on TiO2(110)-p(1×2) surface by scanning tunneling microscope (STM)

The TiO₂(110) surfaces were observed by a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM). We found two types of bright p(1×1)-type rows on the p(1×2) surface. One p(1×1)-type formed independently and corresponds to the bridging oxygen rows. The second p(1×1)-type appeared in a bright grouping, forming narrow rows, and corresponds to the five-fold titanium rows. The above results suggest the following two conclusions. First, the density of state (DOS) on the bridging oxygen rows becomes higher than that on the five-fold titanium atom rows when a bridging oxygen row exists independently on the p(1×2) surface. Second, the bright rows on a TiO₂(110)-p(1×1) surface correspond to the five-fold titanium atom rows. The results further show the validity of DOS calculations on the TiO₂(110)-p(1×1) surface by Diebold et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 (1996) 1322]. The difference of width for Ti₂O₃ unit rows on the p(1×2) and p(1×3) surfaces in STM images are also discussed.     

Interface formation in CdTe solar cells: Nucleation of CdTe on CdS(0001) and (10$ \bar 1 $0)

The growth of CdTe on (0001) and (10 0) surfaces of CdS was studied using low energy electron diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicate oriented growth of the CdTe films with a faster nucleation of CdTe on CdS(0001), explaining the preferred (111) orientation of CdTe films on polycrystalline substrates. The faster nucleation on the (0001) surface is attributed to the formation of a stable CdS(0001):Te surface termination, which is identified from surface sensitive Te 4d spectra and a 2√3 × 2√3 surface reconstruction. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Impact of surface step heights of 6H-SiC (0 0 0 1) vicinal substrates in heteroepitaxial growth of 2H-AlN

Impact of step height of silicon carbide (SiC) substrates on heteroepitaxial growth of aluminum nitride (AlN) was investigated. Step-and-terrace structures with various step heights, 6 monolayer (ML), 3ML and 1ML, were formed on 6H-SiC (0 0 0 1) vicinal substrates by high-temperature gas etching. 2H-AlN layers were grown on the substrate by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) and then these layers were characterized by atomic-force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). High-quality AlN can be grown on SiC substrates with 6ML- and 3ML-height step, while AlN grown on SiC substrates with 1ML-height step exhibited inferior crystalline quality. A model for high-quality AlN growth on SiC substrates with 3ML-height step is proposed.     

Induced spin polarization of copper spin 1/2 molecular layers

Thin films of the metal organic molecule bis(4-cyano-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)copper(II) (or Cu(CNdpm)₂), (C₂₄H₃₆N₂O₄Cu, Cu(II)), deposited on ferromagnetic Co(111) at 40 K, exhibit a finite electron spin polarization. The spin polarization magnitude and sign for Cu(CNdpm)₂ deposited on Co(111) is coverage dependent, but deviates from the mean field expectations for a simple paramagnet on a ferromagnetic substrate. The spin asymmetry is seen to favor select molecular orbitals, consistent with the predicted single molecule density of states. The overlayer polarization observed indicates a strong influence of the ferromagnetic Co(111) substrate and some extra-molecular magnetic coupling.     

Theoretical Prediction for Structural Stabilities and Optical Properties of SrS, SrSe and SrTe under High Pressure

An investigation on the structural stabilities and electronic properties of SrX （X =S, Se and Te） under high pressure is conducted using the first-principles calculation based on density functional theory （DFT） with the plane wave basis set as implemented in the CASTEP code. Our results demonstrate that the sequence of the pressure-induced phase transition of the three compounds is the NaCl-type （B1） structure （Fm3rn） to the CsC1- type （B2） structure （Pm3m）. The phase transition and the metallization pressures are determined theoretically. The pressure effect on the optical properties is discussed. The results are compared with the previous calculations and experimental data.     

Mo Back Contact for Flexible Polyimide Substrate Cu（In,Ga）Se2 Thin-Film Solar Cells

A dc magnetic sputtering process is applied to growth of a Mo back. contact layer onto the flexible polyimide （PI） and rigid soda-lime glass （SLC） substrates. The structural and electrical properties of the Mo layer coated on the two kinds of substrates are investigated by x-ray diffraction （XRD） and Hall effect measurements. The results show that the Mo layer on SLG indicate more better crystal quality and lower resistivity than that on the PI sheets. In contrast to the SLG substrate, the resistivity of the Mo layer on PI is increased by the vacuum annealing process at the substrate temperature of 450℃ under Se atmosphere, which is attributed to the cracked Mo layer induced by the mismatch of the coefficient of thermal expansion between PI and Mo material. The Cu（In,Ga）Se2 （CIGS） solar cells based on the PI and SLO substrates show the best conversion efficiencies of 8.16% and 10.98% （active area, 0.2cm^2）, respectively. The cell efficiency of flexible CIGS solar cells on PI is limited by its relatively lower fill factor caused by the Mo back contact.     

Substrate-target distance dependence of structural and optical properties in case of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 films obtained by pulsed laser deposition

The paper presents the influence of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) parameters on the structural and optical properties of PZT thin films grown on platinum substrate. X-ray diffraction (XRD), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to determine the thin film properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are employed to get additional information. By changing the distance between target and substrate, different crystalline orientations of PZT are obtained. The thin film thickness and its roughness, as well as the refractive index are also influenced by the chosen distance.     

X‐ray excited optical luminescence from crystalline silicon

Synchrotron based X‐ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) has been measured with many direct bandgap semiconductors. We present XEOL measurements on crystalline silicon (Si), obtained despite of its indirect bandgap and the consequently low luminescence efficiency. Spectra of monocrystalline and multicrystalline (mc) Si at room temperature are compared to theoretical spectra. A possible application in the synchrotron‐based research on mc‐Si is exemplified by combining XEOL, X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and microscope images of grain boundaries. This approach can be utilized to investigate the recombination activity of metal precipitates, to analyze areas of different lifetimes on mc‐Si samples and to correlate additional material parameters to XRF measurements. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Surface preparation effect of GaAs(110) substrates on the ZnSe epitaxial layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The effect of the surface preparation of the GaAs(110) substrate on the ZnSe epitaxial layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was investigated by means of etch-pit density (EPD) measurements, surface morphology observation, and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) analysis. The ZnSe epitaxial layer grown on a GaAs(110) surface prepared by cleaving the (001)-oriented wafer in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) showed about 5×10⁴ cm^-2 of EPD. This value is much lower than that observed from both the samples grown on the mechanically polished surface with and without a GaAs buffer layer. Due to the non-stoichiometric surface after thermal evaporation of the surface oxide, three-dimensional growth can easily occur on the mechanically polished GaAs(110) substrate. These results suggest that the stoichiometric and atomically flat substrate surface is essential for the growth of low-defect ZnSe epitaxial layers on the GaAs(110) non-polar surface. Received: 21 August 1998 / Accepted: 19 October 1998 / Published online: 28 April 1999     

Exploring magnetic properties of ultrathin epitaxial magnetic structures using magneto-optical techniques

We describe magneto-optic Kerr effect studies of ultrathin Fe and Ni films on single crystal surfaces of Ag and Cu. Monolayer Fe films on Ag(100) exhibit the theoretically predicted spin-orbit anisotropy, but also yield some interesting discrepancies between behavior predicted by Kerr effect and by spin-polarized photoemission experiments. Layer-dependent studies of the magnetic moment of Ni on Ag(111) and Ag(100) suggest sp-d hybridization effects quench the first layer magnetic moment on Ag(111) but not on Ag(100). Temperature dependent studies of thin film magnetization obtained from Kerr effect measurements yield thickness dependent Curie temperatures, and critical exponents for several thin film systems.     

Effect of Time-Dependent Ionization on Propagation of a Few-Cycle Circularly Polarized Laser Pulse in Two-Level Medium

Influence of multiphoton ionization on the propagation and spectrum of few-cycle circularly （elliptically） polarized laser pulses in an open two-level medium （two-level plus continuum model） is investigated based on the conventional two-level model proposed by Slavcheva and Hess （Phys. Rev. A 72 （2005） 053804）, and the propagation dynamics of an arbitrary elliptically polarized laser pulse is reduced into that of right and left circularly polarized laser pulses. When the laser intensity is high enough to cause ionization, there are significant impacts of ionization on the pulse reshaping and on the higher order spectral components, and the impacts for the open two-level model are different from those for the dosed two-level model.     

The interplay between geometry,electronic structure,and reactivity of Cu-Ni bimetallic (111) surfaces

The mutual influence of surface geometry (e.g. lattice parameters, morphology) and electronic structure is discussed for Cu-Ni bimetallic (111) surfaces. It is found that on flat surfaces the electronic d-states of the adlayer experience very little influence from the substrate electronic structure which is due to their large separation in binding energies and the close match of Cu and Ni lattice constants. Using carbon monoxide and benzene as probe molecules, it is found that in most cases the reactivity of Cu or Ni adlayers is very similar to the corresponding (111) single crystal surfaces. Exceptions are the adsorption of CO on submonolayers of Cu on Ni(111) and the dissociation of benzene on Ni/Cu(111) which is very different from Ni(111). These differences are related to geometric factors influencing the adsorption on these surfaces. Received: 26 August 2002 / Accepted: 4 September 2002 / Published online: 5 February 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +44-1223/76-2829, E-mail: gh10009@cam.ac.uk [+1pt] Present address: University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Department of Chemistry, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK     

Modifying Quantum Well States of Pb Thin Films via Interface Engineering

We demonstrate the importance of interface modification on improving electron confinement by preparing Pb quantum islands on Si（111） substrates with two different surface reconstructions, i.e., Si（111）-7 ×7 and Si（111）- Root3×Root3-Pb （hereafter, 7 ×7 and R3）. Characterization with scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy shows that growing Pb films directly on a 7 × 7 surface will generate many interface defects, which makes the lifetime of quantum well states （QWSs） strongly dependent on surface locations. On the other hand, QWSs in Pb films on an R3 surface are well defined with small variations in linewidth on different surface locations and are much sharper than those on the 7 × 7 surface. We show that the enhancement in quantum confinement is primarily due to the reduced electron-defect scattering at the interface.     

Influence of Different Interlayers on Growth Mode and Properties of InN by MOVPE

We grow InN epilayers on different interlayers by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy （MOVPE） method, and investigate the effect of interlayer on the properties and growth mode of InN films. Three InN samples were deposited on nitrided sapphire, low-temperature InN （LT-InN） and high-temperature GaN （HT-GaN）, respectively. The InN layer grown directly on nitrided sapphire owns the narrowest x-ray diffraction rocking curve （XRC） width of 300 aresee among the three samples, and demonstrates a two-dimensional （2D） step-flow-like lateral growth mode, which is much different from the three-dimensional （3D） pillar-like growth mode of LT-InN and HT-GaN buffered samples. It seems that mismatch tensile strain is helpful for the lateral epitaxy of InN film, whereas compressive strain promotes the vertical growth of InN films.     

Effect of （2 ×1） Surface Reconstruction on Elasticity of a Silicon Nano-Plate

A semi-continuum approach is developed to describe the effect of （2 ×1） surface reconstruction on the elastic modulus of the silicon nano-plate. Young＇s moduli of a （001） silicon nano-plate along the high-symmetry [100] direction are obtained with and without considering （2 × 1） surface reconstruction. The approach predicts that the nano-plate with unreconstructed （001） surface is elastically softer than the bulk while it exhibits the opposite behaviour with （2 × 1） reconstructed surface. On the （001） surface, the （2 × 1） reconstructed surface dominates the plate as the thickness of the plate scaling decreases to several tens of nanometre. Whether the nano-plate is softer or stiffer depends on bond loss, bond saturation and direction of bond alignment, which have major impacts on the mechanics of the nano-plate.     

Development of the Technique for Fabricating Submicron Moire Gratings on Metal Materials Using Focused Ion Beam Milling

A focused gallium ion （Ga＋） beam is used to fabricate micro/submicron spacing gratings on the surface of porous NiTi shape memory alloy （SMA ）. The crossing type of gratings with double-frequency （25001/mm and 50001/mm） using the focused ion beam （FIB） milling are successfully produced in a combination mode or superposition mode. Based on the double-frequency gratings, high-quality scanning electron microscopy （SEM） Moird patterns are obtained to study the micro-scale deformation of porous NiTi SMA. The grating fabrication technique is discussed in detail. The experimental results verify the feasibility of fabricating high frequency grating on metal surface using FIB milling.     

Tuning strain relaxation by surface morphology: Surfactant-mediated epitaxy of germanium on silicon

In this paper, we summarize the results on the surfactant-mediated epitaxy (SME) of germanium on (0 0 1) and (1 1 1) silicon substrates. Then, we discuss, how the surfactant-controlled development of micro-facets determines the strain relaxation process. We place particular emphasis on the different types of strain-compensating dislocation networks that form at the Ge/Si(0 0 1) interface in epitaxy with and without Sb as a surfactant. At elevated temperatures, high Sb-coverage promotes the generation of a regular array of edge type misfit dislocations, which allows for abrupt instead of gradual strain relaxation in the initial stage of growth.