Photoluminescence properties of size-selected Si nanocluster films prepared by laser ablation

Size-dispersed Si nanocluster films have been synthesized by a method of crossing an Ar gas beam perpendicularly to a silicon cluster beam that is produced by a laser ablation technique. Flight directions of the nanoclusters are changed due to Ar gas collisions, and smaller nanoclusters are deflected further from the axis of the primary cluster beam. The size-dispersed nanocluster films exhibit strong red photoluminescence (PL) after exposure to the air. The PL peak energy changes between 1.42 and 1.72 eV depending on the sample position. The average diameter of the oxidized nanoclusters characterized by transmission electron microscopy is 10 nm at the position of the primary cluster beam axis and becomes smaller as deviated from the axis. The relation between the PL peak energy and the size of the oxidized Si nanoclusters is discussed. Received: 4 May 2000 / Accepted: 9 May 2000 / Published online: 13 July 2000     

脉冲激光沉积制备的Co80Cr20/Ti90Cr10薄膜的结构与磁性

用脉冲激光沉积(PLD)的方法在硅单晶基片上制备了Ti90Cr10和Co80Cr20/Ti90Cr10薄膜,用XRD研究了Ti90Cr10薄膜的晶体结构与制备温度的关系,结果表明随着温度升高,薄膜从非晶态逐步向晶态转化,并且计算了Ti90Cr10薄膜的晶粒大小以及晶格常数.利用透射电镜对Ti90Cr10薄膜进行了表面和截面形貌的表征.采用纳米压痕仪对Ti90Cr10薄膜的硬度和膜基界面结合力进行了分析,表明薄膜的硬度和膜基结合力随制备条件改变有所变化,制备温度增加,薄膜的硬度和膜基结合力随之增加.利用Ti90Cr10薄膜作为中间层,用PLD制备了Co80Cr20磁性层,获得了很好的垂直磁化性质,膜厚减小,矫顽力和矩形比有所增加,600℃真空条件下制备的Co80Cr20(8 nm)/Ti90Cr10(14 nm)薄膜的矫顽力为65.25 kA/m,矩形比为0.86,并且讨论了Co80Cr20/Ti90Cr10薄膜的磁化性质.     

直流磁控溅射Si和玻璃衬底Fe/Co多层膜的磁性能比较

对直流磁控溅射Si和玻璃衬底［Co_t/Fe_3t］₅(t=2, 3, 4, 5nm)多层膜的磁性能进行了比较.对于t相同但衬底不同的样品，实验发现饱和磁化强度相差很小，但是矫顽力却相差很大.对矫顽力差异的理论分析表明，多层膜的粗糙度和畴壁类型是引起这种差异的主要原因.     

直流磁控溅射Si和玻璃衬底Fe/Co多层膜的磁性能比较

对直流磁控溅射Si和玻璃衬底［Co_t/Fe_3t］₅(t=2, 3, 4, 5nm)多层膜的磁性能进行了比较.对于t相同但衬底不同的样品,实验发现饱和磁化强度相差很小,但是矫顽力却相差很大.对矫顽力差异的理论分析表明,多层膜的粗糙度和畴壁类型是引起这种差异的主要原因. 关键词： Fe/Co多层膜 磁性能 矫顽力     

Improved magnetic properties of SmCo-based films deposited on hot Si substrates

The SmCo-based films with different underlayers were deposited on Si substrates at 650 °C by magnetron sputtering process. Effect of different underlayers on the crystal structure and magnetic properties were investigated. The results show that the Al, Cu, and Ag underlayers can not make positive contributions on the crystal structure and magnetic properties. This is very different for the films with Mo and Cr underlayers, which exhibit well preferred orientation growth and improved magnetic properties. Especially, large intrinsic coercivity of 3.52 kOe and maximum energy product of 6.31 MGOe are observed for the films with Mo underlayers, which are found to be suitable for use in developed micro-magnetic devices from the high temperature aging results.     

Some properties of a-C:N films prepared by KrF laser ablation

Thin a-C:N films were prepared by pulsed laser ablation using a KrF excimer laser and a graphite target. The influence of the substrate temperatureT _s (27°C and 330°C), and the nitrogen gas ambient pressurep n (1.5 Pa, 13.3 Pa and 40 Pa) on the film properties was studied. The films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering, spectroscopic ellipsometry and by Raman scattering. The nitrogen content in the films was in the range from 20 to 31 at.%, and those of oxygen from 5.6 to 10.7 at.%. For lowerp n andT _s the film delamination was observed.The authors wish to thank J. Sobota from the Institute of Scientific Instruments of ASCR, Brno, for valuable discussions.This work was supported by Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic under Grant No. 202/93/0464.     

Dielectric properties of europium-indium oxide solid solution films prepared on Si (100) substrates

Thin Eu-In solid solution oxide films (SS) were grown on Si (P) substrates to form MOS devices. The samples were characterised by X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction techniques. The ac-conductance and capacitance of the devices were studied as a function of frequency in the range 500 Hz to 100 kHz, temperature in the range 293-400 K and gate voltage. The investigation established that: (1) the prepared SS exhibit a sudden reversible structural change at about 370 K, (2) the frequency dependence for f>10 kHz of the ac-conductivity and capacitance of the insulator at room temperature is controlled by the ‘corrected barrier hopping’ CBH model, (3) the temperature dependence of the ac-conductance which shows a small activation energy characterises the hopping process of current carriers between equilibrium sites, and (4) the prepared transparent SS have a sufficiently high relative permittivity ?, around 30, which suggests they are promising candidates for high-? dielectric applications.     

Structural and magnetic characterization of LaSrMnO3 thin films deposited by laser ablation on MgO substrates

La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO_3?δ thin films were deposited by laser ablation on MgO substrates under low oxygen pressure cool down. Their structural and magnetic properties are presented. The magnetic and electrical resistivity measurements indicate a reduction of the Curie and the metal–insulator transition temperatures due to the formation of magnetic inhomogeneneous films, where clusters of a metallic phase are mixed in a magnetically disordered insulating matrix. By a low-angle X-ray reflectivity study we show that the thin films are chemically inhomogeneous with an oxygen deficiency in bulk of the film when compared with the film/air interfacial region.     

Ferroelectric and dielectric properties of Li-doped ZnO thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Zinc oxide is a very important piezoelectric material with lower preparation temperature, simpler structure and composition. By doping with some elements having smaller ionic radii, such as lithium, to substitute the zinc ions, it is expected that the center of the positive charge in a unit cell will not overlap with that of the negative charge in the same unit cell, leading to the appearance of the spontaneous polarization. Thin films of Li-doped ZnO with different compositions (Zn_1-xLi_xO_y, x=0.075, 0.1, 0.125 and 0.15) have been prepared on heavily doped Si substrates by a pulsed laser deposition technique. In the films with x=0.1 and x=0.125, ferroelectric P–E hysteresis loops were successfully observed. The remanent polarization and the coercive field of Zn_0.9Li_0.1O_y and Zn_0.875Li_0.125O_y were (0.193 C/cm², 4.8 kV/cm) and (0.255 C/cm², 4.89 kV/cm), respectively. An anomalous point in the dielectric spectrum of the Li-doped ZnO ceramics is observed, showing that the ferroelectric phase transition occurs around 67 °C under 7.5 at.% Li-doped ZnO and 74 °C under 10 at.%. If the remanent polarization of this material can be further increased, it may be used as a ferroelectric material. PACS 77.80.Bh; 78.20.-e; 68.37.Ps     

Effect of different annealing temperature on Sb-doped ZnO thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire substrates

Influence of annealing temperature on the properties of Sb-doped ZnO thin films were studied. Hall measurement results indicated that the Sb-doped ZnO annealed at 950 °C was p-type conductivity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated that the Sb-doped ZnO thin films prepared at the experiments are high c-axis oriented. It was worth noting that p-type sample had the worst crystallinity. The measurements of low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra indicate that the sample annealed at the temperatures of 950 °C showed strong acceptor-bound exciton (A⁰X) emission, and confirmed that it is related to Sb-doping by comparing with the undoped ZnO low-temperature PL spectrum.     

Properties of ZnO thin films grown on Si substrates in vacuum and oxygen ambient by pulsed laser deposition

Epitaxial ZnO thin films have been synthesized directly on Si(1 1 1) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in vacuum. The reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) indicates that streaky patterns can be clearly observed from the ZnO epilayers prepared at 600 and 650 °C, revealing a two-dimensional (2D) growth mode. While the ZnO thin film deposited in oxygen ambient shows ring RHEED pattern. There is a compressive in-plane stress existing in the ZnO epitaxial film, but a tensile one in the polycrystalline film. Compared with the ZnO epilayer, the ZnO polycrystalline film shows more intense ultraviolet emission (UVE) with a small full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 89 meV. It is suggested that the atomically flat epilayers may be powerfully used as transitive stratums to grow high-quality ZnO films suitable for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices.     

Properties of ZnO thin films grown on Si substrates by photo-assisted MOCVD

ZnO thin films were grown on (1 0 0) p-Si substrates by Photo-assisted Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (PA-MOCVD) using diethylzinc (DEZn) and O₂ as source materials and tungsten-halogen lamp as a light source. The effects of tungsten-halogen lamp irradiation on the surface morphology, structural and optical properties of the deposited ZnO films have been investigated by means of atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) spectra measurements. Compared with the samples without irradiation, the several characteristics of ZnO films with irradiation are improved, including an improvement in the crystallinity of c-axis orientation, an increase in the grain size and an improvement in optical quality of ZnO films. These results indicated that light irradiation played an important role in the growth of ZnO films by PA-MOCVD.     

Correlation between surface oxide and photoluminescence properties of Si nanoparticles prepared by pulsed laser ablation

Hydrogenated silicon nanoparticles were prepared by pulsed laser ablation (PLA) of Si target in hydrogen gas. We observed native oxidation process for 250 days by infrared (IR) absorption measurement and investigated correlation between native oxidation and photoluminescence (PL) properties. We found three PL peak regions, around 800 nm, 600–700 nm and 400–500 nm. These PL peak wavelengths depended on the Si-O bond density and remarkable correlation with composition of the oxide layer was not observed. The native oxidation is a passive method to modify the surface. We propose plasma surface treatment as an active method. The PL wavelength varied by the surface treatments due to suppression of native oxidation. The surface modification is an important technique to control PL peak wavelength of silicon nanoparticles. PACS 81.15.Fg; 81.07.Bc; 78.67.-n     

Microstructure and mechanical characteristics of hydroxyapatite coatings on Ti/TiN/Si substrates synthesized by pulsed laser deposition

We synthesized by pulsed laser deposition a bilayer of Ti/TiN on Si(100) wafers which was coated in a next step with hydroxyapatite (samples labelled HA-1). Some of the structures were further thermally treated in a water vapour jet (samples labelled HA-2). In SEM, the HA surface looked rough, with micronic droplets. TEM and SAED investigations revealed a compact organization of HA crystals in the case of the HA-1 sample, while two regions (one compact and one porous) were identified for the HA-2 sample, with triclinic HA crystals within the 500 nm range. In XTEM, at the Si/TiN border, a 2–3 nm SiO₂ layer was visible, whereas at the TiN/Ti border there was a smooth transition from fcc (111) TiN to hcp (100) Ti. The HA crystals were elongated normal to the surface. According to Berkovich indentation qualitative analyses, the sample HA-1 was more homogeneous and harder but brittle. Scratch tests confirmed quantitatively that HA-1 was more resistant and adherent than HA-2 films. In the first case, the big droplets only were removed by the indenter, while the HA-2 films were delaminated on large areas as a result of wedge spallation failure.     

Effects of natural oxidation on the photoluminescence properties of Si nanocrystals prepared by pulsed laser ablation

In this work, Si nanocrystals (Si-NCs) have been prepared by pulsed laser ablation technique in dichloromethane, and the microstructure and photoluminescence (PL) properties of the Si-NCs before and after natural oxidation were investigated. Transmission electron microscopy and Raman results show that the average diameter of the Si-NCs is 2.42 nm in the dichloromethane solution. Blue–violet PL with a lifetime of 4.6 ns is observed at room temperature, and the PL peak shifts toward longer wavelength with the red shift of excitation wavelength. The PL excitation spectrum indicates that the bandgap of the Si-NCs in solution is 2.64 eV, which confirms that the blue–violet PL originates from interband transition of Si-NCs caused by quantum confinement effect. The PL peak red shifts to 607 nm after natural oxidation, and the peak lifetime of which is slow down to 13.1 μs. The fixed PL peak excited by different wavelengths and the slow PL decay time indicate that interface defects become the main PL mechanism after natural oxidation. The results will add new information for understanding the PL mechanism of Si-NCs in different environments.     

Structure and properties of ZnO films grown on Si substrates with low temperature buffer layers

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were grown on Si (1 0 0) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using two-step epitaxial growth method. Low temperature buffer layer (LTBL) was initially deposited in order to obtain high quality ZnO thin film; the as-deposited films were then annealed in air at 700 °C. The effects of LTBL and annealing treatment on the structural and luminescent properties of ZnO thin film were investigated. It was found that tensile strain was remarkably relaxed by employing LTBL and the band-gap redshifted, correspondingly. The shift value was larger than that calculated from band-gap theories. After annealing treatment, it was found that the annealing temperature with 700 °C has little influence on strains of ZnO films with LTBLs other than directly deposited film in our experiments. Interestingly, the different behaviors in terms of the shift of ultraviolet (UV) emission after annealing between films with and without buffer were observed, and a tentative explanation was given in this paper.     

Production and characterization of Nd,Cr:GSGG thin films on Si(001) grown by pulsed laser ablation

Nd,Cr:Gd₃Sc₂Ga₃O₁₂ (GSGG) thin films have been produced for the first time. They were grown on Si(001) substrates at 650 °C by pulsed laser ablation at 248 nm of a crystalline Nd,Cr:GSGG target rod. The laser plume was analyzed using time-of-flight quadrupole mass spectroscopy, and consisted of elemental and metal oxide fragments with kinetic energies typically in the range 10 to 40 eV, though extending up to 100 eV. Although films deposited in vacuum using laser fluences of 0.8±0.1 J cm⁻² reproduced the Nd,Cr:GSGG bulk stoichiometry, those deposited using fluences above ≈3 J cm⁻² resulted in noncongruent material transfer and were deficient in Ga and Cr. Attempts to grow films using synchronized oxygen or oxygen/argon pulses yielded mixed oxide phases. Under optimal growth conditions, the films were heteroepitaxial, with GSGG(001)[100]∥Si(001)[100], and exhibited Volmer–Weber-type growth. Room-temperature emission spectra of the films suggest efficient non-radiative energy transfer between Cr³⁺ and Nd³⁺ ions, similar to that of the bulk crystal. Received: 1 October 1999 / Accepted: 15 October 1999 / Published online: 23 February 2000     

Barium ferrite (BaFe12O19) thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition on MgO buffered Si substrates

Barium ferrite (BaFe₁₂O₁₉) thin films have been deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on Si substrates with MgO underlayers. The films were deposited in oxygen atmosphere by excimer laser (=248 nm, pulse duration=23 ns) in the temperature range 750–900 °C. The experiments showed that the substrate temperature has remarkable effect on the films magnetic and structural properties. The BaFe₁₂O₁₉ films deposited at 900 °C in 200 mTorr oxygen showed some perpendicular orientation, with a perpendicular squareness of 0.5 and an in-plane squareness of 0.3. Such thin BaFe₁₂O₁₉ films have platelet grains with a size of about 300 nm. The perpendicular saturation magnetization and coercivity are 185 emu/cm³ and 1.4 kOe, respectively. PACS 81.15.Fg.; 75.70.Ak; 75.50.Pp; 68.55.j     

Luminescence properties of thin films prepared by laser ablation of Nd-doped potassium gadolinium tungstate

Optically active thin films on Si substrates have been produced by laser ablation of a Nd-doped potassium gadolinium tungstate (Nd:KGW) single crystal. Films grown at low oxygen pressures (<0.6 mbar) are potassium-deficient and appear to be mainly disordered. They show a poor photoluminescence (PL) performance that improves upon annealing in air at temperatures in the range 700–1000 °C. Films grown at high oxygen pressure (1 mbar) show instead good stoichiometry and the presence of a dominant textured gadolinium-tungstate phase compared to KGW. These films have low absorption, a refractive index close to that of bulk KGW and good PL performance, the emission lifetimes being longer (τ>150 μs) under certain conditions than those measured in the single-crystal material. Received: 25 July 2001 / Accepted: 26 July 2001 / Published online: 17 October 2001