Thin film micro-scaled cold cathode structures of undoped and Si-doped AlN grown on SiC substrate with low turn-on voltage

The field emission characteristics of the AlN thin films with micro-scaled cold cathode structures are tested in the high vacuum system. The aluminum nitride(AlN) thin films with a thickness of about 100 nm are prepared on the n-type 6H-SiC(0001) substrate at 1100°C by metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) under low pressure. The I–V curves and surface micro-images of undoped and Si-doped AlN films are investigated. From the I–V and Fowler–Nordheim plots,it can be seen that the Si-doped Al N shows better field emission characteristics compared with the undoped AlN sample.The obtained turn-on field is 6.7 V/μm and the maximum emission current density is 154 m A/cm2 at 69.3 V for the Sidoped AlN film cathode after proper surface treatment. It is proposed that the relatively low electric resistivity of Si-doped Al N films is significant for electron migration to the surface region, and their rougher surface morphology is beneficial to a higher local electric field enhancement for the field emission.     

Room-temperature epitaxial growth of V2O3 films

Herein we report the room-temperature epitaxial growth of V2O3 films by laser molecule beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction profiles show the room-temperature epitaxial V2O3 films orient in the [110] direction on α-Al2O3(0001) substrates. Atomic force microscopy measurements reveal that the ultra-smooth surfaces with root-mean-square surface roughness of 0.11 nm and 0.28 nm for 10-nm-thick and 35-nm-thick V+2O3 film, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicate the V3 oxidation state in the films. Typical metal-insulator transition is observed in films at about 135 K. The resistivities at 300 K are approximately 0.8 mΩ cm and 0.5 mΩ cm for 10-nm-thick and 35-nm-thick V2O3 film, respectively.     

Photoelectric characteristics of silicon P–N junction with nanopillar texture:Analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Silicon nanopillars are fabricated by inductively coupled plasma(ICP) dry etching with the cesium chloride(CsCl)islands as masks originally from self-assembly. Wafers with nanopillar texture or planar surface are subjected to phosphorus(P) diffusion by liquid dopant source(POCl3) at 870℃ to form P–N junctions with a depth of 300 nm. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) is used to measure the Si 2p core levels of P–N junction wafer with nanopillar texture and planar surface. With a visible light excitation, the P–N junction produces a new electric potential for photoelectric characteristic, which causes the Si 2p core level to have a energy shift compared with the spectrum without the visible light.The energy shift of the Si 2p core level is-0.27 eV for the planar P–N junction and-0.18 eV for the nanopillar one. The difference in Si 2p energy shift is due to more space lattice defects and chemical bond breaks for nanopillar compared with the planar one.     

Preparation of AlN film grown on sputter-deposited and annealed AlN buffer layer via HVPE

AlN films grown on sputter-deposited and annealed AlN buffer layer by high temperature hydride vapor phase epitaxy(HVPE)have been fabricated and structurally characterized.The crystalline quality and surface morphology of as-grown AlN films with various V/III ratios were studied and compared.The XRD results showed that the crystalline quality of the AlN film could be optimized when the growth V/III ratio was 150.At the same time,the full width at half-maximum(FWHM)values of(0002)-and(10ˉ12)-plane were 64 arcsec and 648 arcsec,respectively.As revealed by AFM,the AlN films grown with higher V/III ratios of 150 and 300 exhibited apparent hillock-like surface structure due to the low density of screw threading dislocation(TD).The defects microstructure and strain field around the HVPE-AlN/sputtered-AlN/sapphire interfaces have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy(TEM)technique combined with geometric phase analysis(GPA).It was found that the screw TDs within AlN films intend to turn into loops or half-loops after originating from the AlN/sapphire interface,while the edge ones would bend first and then reacted with others within a region of 400 nm above the interface.Consequently,part of the edge TDs propagated to the surface vertically.The GPA analysis indicated that the voids extending from sapphire to HVPE-AlN layer were beneficial to relax the interfacial strain of the best quality AlN film grown with a V/III ratio of 150.     

Field Emission Characteristics of BN Films Treated with H2 and O2 Plasma

BN films were synthesized on the (100)-oriented surface of n-Si (0.008-0.02Ωm) by rf magnetron sputtering physical vapor deposition (PVD). A BN film was first treated with H2 plasma for 60 rain and then the H2 treated sample was treated with O2 plasma for 15rain. The films were characterizes by using Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The field emission characteristics of BN films were measured in an ultrahigh vacuum system. A turn-on electric field of 8 V/μm and a current of 400μA/cm^2 were obtained for the BN film treated with H2 plasma. The results show that the surface plasma treatment makes no apparent influence on the surface morphology of the BN films. The transformations of the sample emission characteristics have to do with the surface negative electron affinity (NEA) of the films possibly. The turn-on electric field of the BN film treated with H2 plasma is lower than that without treatment, which possibly attributes to the surface NEA effect. The surface NEA of the H2 treated BN film is lost after O2 plasma treatment.     

Effects of annealing time on the structure,morphology, and stress of gold–chromium bilayer film

In this work, a 200-nm-thick gold film with a 10-nm-thick chromium layer used as an adhesive layer is fabricated on fused silica by the electron beam evaporation method. The effects of annealing time at 300℃ on the structure, morphology and stress of the film are studied. We find that chromium could diffuse to the surface of the film by formatting a solid solution with gold during annealing. Meanwhile, chromium is oxidized on the surface and diffused downward along the grain grooves in the gold film. The various operant mechanisms that change the residual stresses of gold films for different annealing times are discussed.     

Deposition of Diamond-Like carbon Films by High-Intensity Pulsed Ion Beam Ablation at Various Substrate Temperatures

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been deposited on to Si substrates at substrate temperatures from 255℃ to 400O℃ by a high-intensity pulsed-ion-beam (HIPIB) ablation deposition technique. The formation of DLC is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. According to an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, the concentration of sp^3 carbon in the films is about 40% when the substrate temperature is below 300℃ C. With increasing substratetemperature from 25℃ to 400℃, the concentration of sp^3 carbon decreases from 43% to 8%. In other words,sp3 carbon is graphitized into sp^2 carbon when the substrate temperature is above 300℃. The results of xray diffraction and atomic force microscopy show that, with increasing the substrate temperature, the surface roughness and the friction coefficient increase, and the microhardness and the residual stress of the films decrease.     

High Refractive Index Ti_3O_5 Films for Dielectric Metasurfaces

Ti_3 O_5 films are deposited with the help of an electron beam evaporator for their applications in metasurfaces.The film of subwavelength(632 nm) thickness is deposited on a silicon substrate and annealed at 400°C. The ellipsometr.y result shows a high refractive index above 2.5 with the minimum absorption coefficient in the visible region, which is necessary for high efficiency of transparent metasurfaces. Atomic force microscopy analysis is employed to measure the roughness of the as-deposited films. It is seen from micrographs that the deposited films are very smooth with the minimum roughness to prevent scattering and absorption losses for metasurface devices. The absence of grains and cracks can be seen by scanning electron microscope analysis, which is favorable for electron beam lithography. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reveals the transmission and reflection obtained from the film deposited on glass substrates. The as-deposited film shows high transmission above 60%,whieh is in good agreement with metasurfaces.     

Structure Properties of MgxZn1-xO Films Deposited at Low Temperature

MgxZn1-xO films (x = 0.23) have been prepared on silicon substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at 80℃. The structure properties of Mgx Zn1-xO films are studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectra. The analysis of XRD and HRTEM indicates that the Mgx Zn1-xO films have hexagonal wurtzite single-phase structures and a preferred orientation with the c axis perpendicular to the substrates. Raman spectra of ZnO and MgxZn1-xO films reveal that the MgxZn1-xO films have not only the hexagonal wurtzite structure but also higher crystalline quality than ZnO films.     

Preparation and Microstructure of Tantalum Nitride Thin Film by Cathodic Arc Deposition

Tantalum nitride （TAN） thin films are achieved on Si（111） and SS317L substrates by cathodic vacuum arc technique, which is rarely reported in the literature. The crystal structure, composition and surface morphology of the films are characterized by x-ray diffraction （XRD）, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）, auger electron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The influence of substrate negative bias on crystal structure, composition, surface morphology of the TaN films is systematically studied. At the substrate bias of 0 V and -50 V, the amorphous TaN film is obtained. As the bias increases to -100 V, cubic TaN phase can be found. Stoichiometric TaN with hexagonal lattice preferred （300） orientation is prepared at a bias of -200 V. Combine the XRD and XPS results, the binding energy value of 23.6eV of Ta 4f（7/2） is contributed to hexagonal TaN. Compared to other techniques, TaN thin films fabricated by cathodic vacuum arc at various substrate biases show different microstructures.     

Surface chemical disorder and lattice strain of GaN implanted by 3-MeV Fe10+ ions

Chemical disorder on the surface and lattice strain in GaN implanted by Fe¹⁰⁺ ions are investigated. In this study, 3-MeV Fe¹⁰⁺ ions fluence ranges from 1×10¹³ ions/cm² to 5×10¹⁵ ions/cm² at room temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high-resolution x-ray diffraction, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize lattice disorder. The transition of Ga-N bonds to oxynitride bonding is caused by ion sputtering. The change of tensile strain out-of-plane with fluence was measured. Lattice disorder due to the formation of stacking faults prefers to occur on the basal plane.     

In-plane oriented CH_3NH_3PbI_3 nanowire suppression of the interface electron transfer to PCBM

One-dimensional nanowire is an important candidate for lead-halide perovskite-based photonic detectors and solar cells. Its surface population, diameter, and growth direction, etc., are critical for device performance. In this research,we carried out a detailed study on electron transfer process at the interface of nanowire CH_3 NH_3 PbI_3(N-MAPbI_3)/Phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl-ester synonym(PCBM), as well as the interface of compact CH_3 NH_3 PbI_3(C-MAPbI_3)/PCBM by transient absorption spectroscopy. By comparing the carrier recombination dynamics of N-MAPbI_3, N-MAPbI_3/PCBM,C-MAPbI_3, and C-MAPbI_3/PCBM from picosecond(ps) to hundred nanosecond(ns) time scale, it is demonstrated that electron transfer at N-MAPbI_3/PCBM interface is less efficient than that at C-MAPbI_3/PCBM interface. In addition, electron transfer efficiency at C-MAPbI_3/PCBM interface was found to be excitation density-dependent, and it reduces with photo-generation carrier concentration increasing in a range from 1.0 × 1018 cm~(-3)–4.0 × 1018 cm~(-3). Hot electron transfer,which leads to acceleration of electron transfer between the interfaces, was also visualized as carrier concentration increases from 1.0 × 10~(18) cm~(-3)–2.2 × 10~(18) cm~(-3).     

N极性GaN/AlGaN异质结二维电子气模拟

通过自洽求解薛定谔方程和泊松方程,较系统地研究了GaN沟道层、AlGaN背势垒层、Si掺杂和AlN插入层对N极性GaN/AlGaN异质结中二维电子气(2DEG)的影响,分析表明,GaN沟道层厚度、AlGaN背势垒层厚度及Al组分变大都能一定程度上提高二维电子气面密度,AlGaN背势垒层的厚度和Al组分变大也可提高二维电子气限阈性,且不同的Si掺杂形式对二维电子气的影响也有差异,而AlN插入层在提高器件二维电子气面密度、限阈性等方面表现都较为突出,在模拟中GaN沟道层厚度小于5nm时无法形成二维电子气,超过20nm后二维电子气面密度趋于饱和,而AlGaN背势垒厚度超过40nm后二维电子气也有饱和趋势,对均匀掺杂和delta掺杂而言AlGaN背势垒层Si掺杂浓度超过5×10~(19)cm~(-3)后2DEG面密度开始饱和,而厚度为2nmAlN插入层的引入会使2DEG面密度从无AlN插入层时的0.93×10~(13)cm~(-2)提高到1.17×10~(13)cm~(-2)。     

FORMATION OF A BURIED LAYER OF ALUMINIUM NITRIDE BY HIGH DOSE N2+ IMPLANTATION INTO ALUMINIUM

Aluminium films with various thickness between 700 nm and 1μm were deposited on Si (100) substrates, and 400 keV N₂⁺ ions with doses ranging from 4.3×10¹⁷ to 1.8×10¹⁸ N/cm² were implanted into the alu-minium films on silicon, Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) and channeling, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and spreading resistance probes (SRP) were used to characterize the synthesized aluminium nitride. The experiments showed that when the implantation dose was higher than a critical dose N_c, a buried stoichiometric AlN layer with high resistance was formed, while no apparent AlN XRD peaks in the as-implanted samples were observed; however, there was a strong AlN(100) diffraction peak appearing after annealing at 500 ℃ for 1h. The computer program, Implantation of Reactive Ions into Silicon (IRIS), has been modified and used to simulate the formation of the buried AlN layer as N₂⁺ is implanted into aluminium. We find a good agreement between experimental measurements and IRIS simulation.     

Introducing voids around the interlayer of AlN by high temperature annealing

Introducing voids into AlN layer at a certain height using a simple method is meaningful but challenging. In this work, the AlN/sapphire template with AlN interlayer structure was designed and grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Then, the AlN template was annealed at 1700 ℃ for an hour to introduce the voids. It was found that voids were formed in the AlN layer after high-temperature annealing and they were mainly distributed around the AlN interlayer. Meanwhile, the dislocation density of the AlN template decreased from 5.26×10⁹ cm^-2 to 5.10×10⁸ cm^-2. This work provides a possible method to introduce voids into AlN layer at a designated height, which will benefit the design of AlN-based devices.     

Structure and luminescence of a-plane GaN on r-plane sapphire substrate modified by Si implantation

We show the structural and optical properties of non-polar a-plane GaN epitaxial films modified by Si ion implantation. Upon gradually raising Si fluences from 5×10¹³ cm^-2 to 5×10¹⁵ cm^-2, the n-type dopant concentration gradually increases from 4.6×10¹⁸ cm^-2 to 4.5×10²⁰ cm^-2, while the generated vacancy density accordingly raises from 3.7×10¹³ cm^-2 to 3.8×10¹⁵ cm^-2. Moreover, despite that the implantation enhances structural disorder, the epitaxial structure of the implanted region is still well preserved which is confirmed by Rutherford backscattering channeling spectrometry measurements. The monotonical uniaxial lattice expansion along the a direction (out-of-plane direction) is observed as a function of fluences till 1×10¹⁵ cm^-2, which ceases at the overdose of 5×10¹⁵ cm^-2 due to the partial amorphization in the surface region. Upon raising irradiation dose, a yellow emission in the as-grown sample is gradually quenched, probably due to the irradiation-induced generation of non-radiative recombination centers.     

Low-temperature synthesis of AlN films through electron cyclotron resonance plasma-aided reactive pulsed laser deposition

Combination of pulsed laser ablation with electron cyclotron resonance microwave discharge was demonstrated for a novel method for low-temperature thin film growth. Aluminum nitride thin films were synthesized on silicon substrates at temperatures below 80 °C by means of reactive pulsed laser deposition in nitrogen plasma generated from the electron cyclotron resonance discharge. The synthesized films show a very smooth surface and were found to have a stoichiometric AlN composition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis evidenced the formation of aluminum nitride compound. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the characteristic phonon modes of AlN. The AlN films were observed to be highly transparent in the visible and near-IR regions and have a sharp absorption edge near 190 nm. The band gap of the synthesized AlN films was determined to be 5.7 eV. The mechanisms responsible for the low-temperature film synthesis are also discussed in the paper. The nitrogen plasma facilitates the nitride formation and enhances the film growth. Received: 17 March 2000 / Accepted: 28 March 2000 / Published online: 23 May 2001     

Device simulation of lead-free CH_3NH_3SnI_3 perovskite solar cells with high efficiency

The lead-free perovskite solar cells(PSCs) have drawn a great deal of research interest due to the Pb toxicity of the lead halide perovskite.CH_3NH_3SnI_3 is a viable alternative to CH_3NH_3PbX_3,because it has a narrower band gap of 1.3 eV and a wider visible absorption spectrum than the lead halide perovskite.The progress of fabricating tin iodide PSCs with good stability has stimulated the studies of these CH_3NH_3SnI_3 based cells greatly.In the paper,we study the influences of various parameters on the solar cell performance through theoretical analysis and device simulation.It is found in the simulation that the solar cell performance can be improved to some extent by adjusting the doping concentration of the perovskite absorption layer and the electron affinity of the buffer and HTM,while the reduction of the defect density of the perovskite absorption layer significantly improves the cell performance.By further optimizing the parameters of the doping concentration(1.3 × 10~(16) cm~3) and the defect density(1 × 10~(15) cm~3) of perovskite absorption layer,and the electron affinity of buffer(4.0 eV) and HTM(2.6 eV),we finally obtain some encouraging results of the J_(sc) of 31.59 mA/cm~2,V_(oc) of 0.92 V,FF of 79.99%,and PCE of 23.36%.The results show that the lead-free CH_3NH_3SnI_3 PSC is a potential environmentally friendly solar cell with high efficiency.Improving the Sn~(2+) stability and reducing the defect density of CH_3NH_3SnI_3 are key issues for the future research,which can be solved by improving the fabrication and encapsulation process of the cell.     

Cu在Pt表面扩散激活能和扩散系数的ASED-MO计算

本文应用ASED-MO方法,计算研究了Cu在Pt(111),(100),(110)表面的扩散问题。Cu原子在上述三个表面上的扩散激活能的计算结果分别为0.167eV,0.162eV和0.668eV;300K时的扩散系数分别为3.04×10¹⁰m²/s,3.69×10^-10m²/s和2.42×10^-18m²/s。计算结果表明,Cu原子在Pt(111)和(100)面上,扩散激活能很小,极易迁移,而在(110)面上,激活能较大,扩散系数甚小。     

Validity conditions for complete and partial local thermodynamicequilibrium of nonhydrogenic level systems and their application tocopper vapor arcs in vacuum

Validity conditions for complete and partial local thermodynamic equilibrium (CLTE and PLTE) of homogeneous, time-dependent, and optically thin plasmas are derived. For Cu I, electron densities of n_e⩾(5×10²²-5×10²³ ) m^-3 are required for the establishment of CLTE. For Cu I and Cu II, n_e⩾(5×10²¹-5×10²¹ -5×10²²) m^-3 is necessary for PLTE (for electron temperatures of 1-2 eV). Application to low-current copper vapor arcs in vacuum shows that CLTE can be expected for r<200-600 μm (r=distance from the cathode spot). A further limitation follows for temperatures of 2 eV or higher if diffusion effects are taken into consideration. Consequently, the use of the LTE formulas in plasma spectroscopy of low-current vacuum arcs is very limited