SERS Activity of Semiconductors: Crystalline and Amorphous Nanomaterials

Surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy on semiconductors has attracted increasing attention due to its high spectral reproducibility and unique selectively to target molecules. Recently, endeavors have been made in fabricating novel SERS‐active semiconductor substrates and exploring new enhancement mechanisms to improve the sensitivity of semiconductor substrates. This Minireview explains the enhancement mechanism of the semiconductor SERS effect in a brief tutorial and summarize recent developments of novel semiconductor substrates, in particular with regard to the remarkable SERS activity of amorphous semiconductor nanomaterials. Potential applications of semiconductor SERS are also a key issue of concern. We discuss a variety of promising applications of semiconductor SERS in the fields of in situ analytical chemistry, spectroelectrochemical analysis, biological sensing, and trace detection.     

Application of Autoradiography to the Investigation of New Doping Techniques of Semiconductor Materials

The development of technology of new semiconductor devices requires fundamental studies of a number of phenomena taking place in semiconductors during the doping process or accompanying the doping process.

These studies are concerned with the following problems:

1. Diffusion of gold in silicon and the effect of diffusion layers (particularly phosphorus layers) and epitaxial silicon layers on the distribution of gold in thin silicon plates.

2. Distribution of admixtures in silicon introduced with the aid of the ion implantation technique. Our studies concerned with the second of the above mentioned problems comprised an autoradiographic examination of the homogeneity of the beam of phosphorus ions implanted in silicon, and a study of some apparatus factors and of the purity of the basic material on the implantation.     

Pt coated Cr2O3 thin films for resistive gas sensors

The resistive response of atomic layer deposited thin epitaxial α-Cr₂O₃(0 0 1) films, to H₂ and CO in air, was studied. The films were covered with Pt nanoislands formed by electron-beam evaporation of a sub-monolayer amount of the material. The gas measurements were performed at 250°C and 450°C. These temperatures led to different proportion of chemical states, Pt²⁺ and Pt⁴⁺, to which the Pt oxidized. The modification was ascertained by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy method. As a result of the modification, the response was fast at 250°C, but slowed at 450°C. A disadvantageous abundance of Pt⁴⁺ arising at 450°C in air could be diminished by high-vacuum annealing thus restoring the response properties of the system at 250°C.      

Wire metamaterial based on semiconductor matrices

In this Letter, we have presented a new approach for the fabrication of nanowire media (wire metamaterials) by electrochemical methods. A^IIIB^V porous matrices (a host medium) were prepared by anodic electrochemical etching of industrial substrates. The host medium has been filled via electrochemical deposition with a metal and by means of annealing process. We have shown that this technique can be used to fabricate a nanowire medium with unique parameters (such as aspect ratio, high electric permittivity and strong χ⁽³⁾ nonlinearity near the fundamental absorption edge of the host media). (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Electrical conduction mechanisms of thermally evaporated 5,10,15, 20-tetraphenyl-21H, 23H-porphine iron (III) chloride thin films

The J–V characteristics of the Au/5,10,15, 20-tetraphenyl-21H, 23H-porphine iron (III) chloride (FeTPPCl)/ITO device exhibits rectifying behavior in the dark which can be explained due to the formation of Schottky barrier at ITO/FeTPPCl junction and the typical junction parameters were estimated in temperatures from 302 to 368 K. The temperature dependence of DC electrical conductivity showed that FeTPPCl films behave as semiconducting materials. These results indicate that the DC electrical conduction is through an activated process having three conduction mechanisms in the investigated range of temperatures. A variable range hopping model, a polaron model and band to band transitions have been used to explain the conduction mechanisms for FeTPPCl films.     

单晶金刚石p型和n型掺杂的研究

超宽禁带半导体材料金刚石在热导率、载流子迁移率和击穿场强等方面表现出优异的性质,在功率电子学领域具有广阔的应用前景。实现p型和n型导电是制备金刚石半导体器件的基础要求,其中p型金刚石的发展较为成熟,主流的掺杂元素是硼,但在高掺杂时存在空穴迁移率迅速下降的问题;n型金刚石目前主流的掺杂元素是磷,还存在杂质能级深、电离能较大的问题,以及掺杂之后金刚石晶体中的缺陷造成载流子浓度和迁移率都比较低,电阻率难以达到器件的要求。因此制备高质量的p型和n型金刚石成为研究者关注的焦点。本文主要介绍金刚石独特的物理性质,概述化学气相沉积法和离子注入法实现金刚石掺杂的基本原理和参数指标,进而回顾两种方法进行单晶金刚石薄膜p型和n型掺杂的研究进展,系统总结了其面临的问题并对未来方向进行了展望。     

Room-temperature ferromagnetism of Cu ion-implanted Ga-doped ZnO

1 MeV Cu²⁺ ions have been implanted into un-doped ZnO and Ga-doped ZnO films with a dose of 1 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm² at room-temperature. Cu ion-implanted Ga-doped ZnO had ferromagnetism at room-temperature and the saturation magnetization of this sample was estimated to be 0.12 μ_B per Cu, while the Cu ion-implanted un-doped ZnO did not show ferromagnetic behavior. Near-edge X-ray fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy revealed that a partial amount of implanted Cu ions existed as Cu²⁺ (d⁹) state in Ga-doped ZnO film. On the other hand, almost Cu atoms existed as Cu¹⁺ (d¹⁰) state in un-doped ZnO film. However, the subsequent annealing at temperature above 800 °C on this ferromagnetic sample induced the annihilation of ferromagnetism due to the formation of non-ferromagnetic Cu₂O phase.     

Transient analysis on surface heated piezoelectric semiconductor plate lying on rigid substrate

Based on the thermo-electro-elastic coupling theory, the mathematical model for a surface heated piezoelectric semiconductor (PS) plate is developed in the time domain. Applying the direct and inverse Laplace transformations to the established model, the mechanical and electrical responses are investigated. The comparison between the analytical solution and the finite element method (FEM) is conducted, which illustrates the validity of the derivation. The calculated results show that the maximum values of the mechanical and electrical fields appear at the heating surface. Importantly, the perturbation carriers tend to concentrate in the zone near the heating surface under the given boundary conditions. It can also be observed that the heating induced elastic wave leads to jumps for the electric potential and perturbation carrier density at the wavefront. When the thermal relaxation time is introduced, all the field quantities become smaller because of the thermal lagging effect. Meanwhile, it can be found that the thermal relaxation time can describe the smooth variation at the jump position. Besides, for a plate with P-N junction, the effect of the interface position on the electrical response is studied. The effects of the initial carrier density on the electrical properties are discussed in detail. The conclusions in this article can be the guidance for the design of PS devices serving in thermal environment.     

Size-dependent optical properties and carriers dynamics in CdSe/ZnS quantum dots

Size-dependence of optical properties and energy relaxation in CdSe/ZnS quantum dots （QDs） were investigated by two-colour femtosecond （fs） pump-probe （400/800 nm） and picosecond time-resolved photoluminescence （ps TRPL） experiments. Pump-probe measurement results show that there are two components for the excited carriers relaxation, the fast one with a time constant of several ps arises from the Auger-type recombination, which shows almost particle sizeindependence. The slow relaxation component with a time constant of several decades of ns can be clearly determined with ps TRPL spectroscopy in which the slow relaxation process shows strong particle size-dependence. The decay time constants increase from 21 to 34 ns with the decrease of particle size from 3.2 to 2.1 nm. The room-temperature decay lifetime is due to the thermal mixing of bright and dark excitons, and the size-dependence of slow relaxation process can be explained very well in terms of simple three-level model.     

Microscopic phonon theory of Si/Ge nanocrystals

Microscopic phonon theory of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) is reviewed in this paper. Phonon modes of Si and Ge NCs with various sizes of up to 7 nm are investigated by valence force field theory. Phonon modes in spherical SiGe alloy NCs approximately 3.6 nm (containing 1147 atoms) in size have been investigated as a function of the Si concentration. Phonon density-of-states, quantum confinement effects, as well as Raman intensities are discussed.