Realization of silicon quantum wires based on Si/SiGe/Si heterostructure

We report on the successful fabrication of silicon quantum wires with SiO2 boundaries on SiGe/Si heterostructures by combining Si/SiGe/Si heteroepitaxy, selective chemical etching, and subsequent thermal oxidation. The observational result of scanning electron microscope is demonstrated. The present method provides a well-controllable way to fabricate silicon quantum wires.     

Modification of the lattice thermal conductivity in silicon quantum wires due to spatial confinement of acoustic phonons

Lattice thermal conductivity in silicon quantum wires is theoretically investigated. The bulk of heat in silicon structures is carried by acoustic phonons within a small region in the first Brillouin zone. Our formalism rigorously takes into account modification of these acoustic phonon modes and phonon group velocities in free- and clamped-surface wires due to spatial confinement. From our numerical results, we predict a significant decrease (more than an order of magnitude) of the lattice thermal conductivity in cylindrical quantum wires with diameter D =  200 Å. The decrease is about two times stronger in quantum wires than in quantum wells of corresponding dimensions. Our theoretical results are in qualitative agreement with experimentally observed drop of the lattice thermal conductivity in silicon low-dimensional structures.     

Observation of a compressed state of the quantum wire material in porous silicon by the method of Raman scattering

An experiment on Raman scattering in porous silicon containing a regular system of quantum wires reveals a shift of the phonon frequencies of the silicon lattice toward higher energies. The effect is interpreted as a manifestation of a compressed state of the material in the quantum wires. It is shown that the observed deformation plays a large role in the formation of the structure of porous silicon. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 10, 695–700 (25 November 1996)     

Saturation of optical transitions in quantum dots and wires of porous silicon

The bleaching bands have been observed in the time-resolved nonlinear transmission spectra of porous silicon. The increase of transmission at discrete frequencies has been attributed to a saturation of optical transitions between the energy levels of electrons and holes spatially confined within quasi-zero-dimensional (quantum dots) and quasi-one-dimensional (quantum wires) nanostructures. The results of independent measurements using transmission electron microscopy have confirmed the existence of quantum dots and wires of corresponding size. The slowed-down energy relaxation from upper to lower levels of size quantization compared with intraband relaxation in the bulk have been observed in the cooled (80K) platelets of porous silicon.     

Rashba effect in Ga<Subscript>x</Subscript>In<Subscript>1-x</Subscript>As/InP quantum wire structures

An overview is given on the Rashba effect in Ga_xIn_1-xAs/InP quantum wires. First, the effect of Rashba spin–orbit coupling on the energy level spectrum of quantum wires with different shapes of the confining potential is theoretically investigated. The wave functions as well as the spin densities in the quantum wire are analyzed for different magnetic fields. It is found that, owing to the additional geometrical confinement, a modification of the characteristic beating pattern in the magnetoresistance can be expected. The theoretical findings are compared to measurements on two different types of wires: First, single wires and, second, sets of parallel wires. A characteristic beating pattern in the Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations is observed for wires with an effective width down to approximately 400 nm. The beating pattern is significantly better resolved for the samples with sets of parallel wires, owing to the effective suppression of conductance fluctuations. A comparison with theoretical simulations confirms that the strength of the Rashba effect is basically not affected by the geometrical confinement of the wires. However, for wires with a very small effective width the strong carrier confinement leads to a suppression of the characteristic beating pattern in the Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations. PACS 71.70.Ej; 73.63.-b; 71.70.Di     

STM studies on quantum wire structures in air and liquid helium

In this work, low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies on quantum wires are reported, which were fabricated by laser holography and wet chemical etching. Inverted heterostructures with thin and highly doped cap layers were used as substrates in order to keep the total tunneling barrier as small as possible. Current—voltage curves were measured on the wires and in the depleted areas between them. Between the wires, significant current is only observed for electrons which tunnel from the GaAs valence band into the STM tip, whereas symmetric curren voltage curves are observed on the wires. This behavior is ascribed to the influence of surface depletion and thus, a comparison of current imaging spectroscopy data taken at 300 K and in liquid helium directly yields the edge depletion width of the quantum wires.     

Selective growth of GaAs quantum dots and vertical quantum wires in two-dimensional V-grooves

We propose and demonstrate a novel technique for the fabrication of quantum dot (QD) structures using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The GaAs quantum dots are grown at the bottom of the two-dimensional V-groove (2DVG) structures which are composed of (1 1 1)A and (1 1 1)B-facets on GaAs(1 0 0). The 2DVG is formed by MOCVD selective growth on a SiO₂ patterned substrate. It should be noted that the 2DVGs cannot be formed by a chemical wet etching technique because the facet's anisotropy of etching ratios are different. By changing the growth condition, we can obtain GaAs QD structures which have a size of less than 10 nm, and vertical GaAs quantum wires (V-QWRs) in 2DVGs. We have observed photoluminescence from each structure. We have also demonstrated stacking of GaAs QDs in the 2DVG on GaAs (1 0 0).     

Optical emission from the one-dimensional electron gas in narrow modulation-doped GaAs/(InGa)As/(AlGa)As quantum wires fabricated by lateral top barrier modulation

We report on the fabrication and photoluminescence characterisation of n-type doped quantum wires, which are based on a modulation-doped GaAs/(InGa)As/(AlGa)As quantum well structure, as used in inverted high electron mobility transistors. Lateral patterning was performed by electron beam lithography followed by a selective wet etch process to remove the n-type doped GaAs top barrier between the wire regions. The removal of the top barrier was verified by micro-Raman spectroscopy. Spatially indirect emission from the one-dimensional (ID) electron gas formed in the quantum wires is observed in low-temperature photoluminescence, even for the narrowest geometrical wire width of 23 nm. The emission shows a blue-shift for wire widths below 100 nm, which amounts to up to 60 meV for the narrowest wires.PACS: 78.66.Fd, 73.20.Dx, 78.55.Cr     

Effect of oxidizing environments on the diffusion-segregation boron distribution in the thermal silicon dioxide-silicon system

The diffusion-segregation boron distribution in the silicon dioxide-silicon system upon oxidation in different environments is studied by secondary-ion mass spectrometry and numerical simulation. The coefficient of boron segregation at the SiO₂/Si interface and the enhancement of boron diffusion in silicon as functions of the type of oxidizing environment (dry oxygen, wet oxygen, and the presence of hydrochloric acid vapor), the orientation of the silicon surface, and the temperature of oxidizing annealing are obtained. A qualitative model is proposed based on the assumption that the segregation mass transfer of boron through the SiO₂/Si interface is associated with the generation of nonequilibrium intrinsic interstitials.     

Electric field effect on low temperature nanoscale oxidation

The influence of electric fields on the low temperature oxidation of individual nanoscale tungsten wires was investigated. In the experiments at room temperature, the nanowires were biased as anode opposite to a macroscopic cathode and H₂O-vapor with a pressure of 10^?7–10¹ mbar was provided as oxygen source. Under the influence of an electric field, a dramatic change of the oxidation behavior is observed with the formation of several 10 nm thick oxide layers for electric fields exceeding a threshold. The chemical composition of the layers formed is determined with laser-assisted atom probe tomography to be slightly understoichiometric WO₃. After an initial period of fast growth, the oxidation rate later rapidly decreases to immeasurable low values. Evaluation of the electric field distribution in the vicinity of the sample by the finite element method reveals that oxide formation only proceeds if a critical field in the range of 0.7–5.0 V/nm, depending on the H₂O-pressure, is present. This critical field is attributed to a field-activated reaction of H₂O at the oxide–vapor interface. Besides for tungsten, field-induced oxidation is also observed for aluminum and p-doped silicon and thus apparently is a widely material independent phenomenon.     

The effect of oxidation on physical properties of porous silicon layers for optical applications

In order to understand the optical loss mechanisms in porous silicon based waveguides, structural and optical studies have been performed. Scanning and transmission electron microscopic observations of porous silicon layers are obtained before and after an oxidation process at high temperature in wet O₂. Pore size and shape of heavily p-type doped Si wafers are estimated and correlated to the optical properties of the material before and after oxidation. The refractive index was measured and compared to that determined by the Bruggeman model.     

Room temperature two-terminal characteristics in silicon nanowires

Quantum effects in silicon nanowires due to one-dimensional carrier confinement were observed at room temperature. Electrical transport properties were measured on narrow thin-silicon-on-insulator wires that were defined by e-beam lithography and further narrowed and thinned down by oxidation to a final thickness of around 3 nm, and a width of 29 nm. The room temperature current-voltage characteristics of the resulting silicon nanowires are shown to exhibit a zero current state may be due to the occurrence of Coulomb blockade.     

Electronic structure of ZnO wurtzite quantum wires

The electronic structure and optical properties of ZnO wurtzite quantum wires with radius R≥3 nm are studied in the framework of six-band effective-mass envelope function theory. The hole effective-mass parameters of ZnO wurtzite material are calculated by the empirical pseudopotential method. It is found that the electron states are either two-fold or four-fold degenerate. There is a dark exciton effect when the radius R of the ZnO quantum wires is in the range of [3,19.1] nm (dark range in our model). The dark ranges of other wurtzite semiconductor quantum wires are calculated for comparison. The dark range becomes smaller when the |Δ_so| is larger, which also happens in the quantum-dot systems. The linear polarization factor of ZnO quantum wires is larger when the temperature is higher.     

Effect of rapid thermal oxidation on structure and photoelectronic properties of silicon oxide in monocrystalline silicon solar cells

This paper concerns the topic of surface passivation properties of rapid thermal oxidation on p-type monocrystalline silicon wafer for use in screen-printed silicon solar cells. It shows that inline thermal oxidation is a very promising alternative to the use of conventional batch type quartz tube furnaces for the surface passivation of industrial phosphorus-diffused emitters. Five minutes was the most favorable holding time for the rapid thermal oxidation growth of the solar cell sample, in which the average carrier lifetime was increased 19.4 μs. The Fourier transform infrared spectrum of the rapid thermal oxidation sample, whose structure was Al/Al-BSF/p-type Si/n-type SiP/SiO₂/SiN_x/Ag solar cell with an active area of 15.6 cm², contained an absorption peak at 1085 cm⁻¹, which was associated with the Si–O bonds in silicon oxide. The lowest average reflectance of this sample is 0.87%. Furthermore, for this sample, its average of internal quantum efficiency and conversion efficiency are respectively increased by 8% and 0.23%, compared with the sample without rapid thermal oxidation processing.     

Single-electron tunneling in silicon nanostructures

We present a brief overview on different realizations of single-electron devices fabricated in silicon-on-insulator films. Lateral structuring of highly doped silicon films allows us to observe quasi-metallic Coulomb blockade oscillations in shrunken wires where no quantum dot structure is geometrically defined. Embedding quantum dot structures into the inversion channel of a silicon-on-insulator field-effect transistor Coulomb blockade up to 300 K is observed. In contrast to the quasi-metallic structures, in these devices the influence of the quantum mechanical level spacing inside the dot becomes visible. Suspending highly doped silicon nanostructures leads to a novel kind of Coulomb blockade devices allowing both high-power application as well as the study of electron–phonon interaction. Received: 14 April 2000 / Accepted: 17 April 2000 / Published online: 6 September 2000     

Manifestation of outgoing resonance in stokes and anti-stokes spectra of ZnTe and ZnMgTe quantum wires

The spectra of resonant light scattering by ZnTe quantum wires have been measured at excitation energies of 2.18–2.72 eV. The quantum wires have been grown on Si(100) and GaAs(100) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The effect of outgoing resonance with the electron transition energy E ₀ on the intensity of phonon lines of the Stokes spectrum and on the intensity ratio of the Stokes and anti-Stokes spectral lines has been studied. The energy E ₀ has been determined in ZnTe and ZnMgTe quantum wires from the edge luminescence spectra.     

Raman scattering and hot luminescence spectra of Zn1 − x Mn x Te quantum wires

The Raman scattering and luminescence spectra of Zn_{1 − x} Mn _x Te (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6) quantum wires have been investigated. The quantum wires have been grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on the (100)GaAs substrate with Au used as a catalyst. The spectrum of optical phonons in ZnMnTe quantum wires varies with a variation in x in accordance with an intermediate (between one- and two-mode) type of transformation. The optical phonon spectrum has been analyzed in terms of the microscopic theory. It has been demonstrated that the experimental data can be brought in accord with the theory by properly modifying the calculated density of phonon states for ZnTe. The spatial confinement has been found to affect the electronic states in Zn_{1 − x} Mn _x Te quantum wires.     

The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence from overgrown GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As quantum dots and wires

Photoluminescence measurements on GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As quantum dots and wires fabricated using electron bears lithography and reactive ion etching are reported both before and after regrowth with a layer of Al_0.4Ga_0.6As. Dots exhibit little change in luminescence efficiency from the bulk with a reduction in diameter either before or after regrowth. Surface recombination therefore appears to be suppressed. In wires, however, luminescence intensity is very sensitive to wire width, decreasing rapidly with this parameter, but recovers and becomes independent of size after overgrowth. The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence from the dots and wires showed that dots and wires less than 150nm in width luminesced to higher temperatures than the larger diameter structures and dots liminesced to higher temperatures than wires of comparable width. This suggests that there is a finite coherence area effect which increases the radiative lifetimes of excitons in the quantum structures due to the geometric constraint, in the lateral direction in the wires and in all three directions in the dots. Below 20K bound exciton luminescence dominates in the dots but not in the wires. In wires it is still possible for the excitons to diffuse to nonradiative sites within the exciton lifetime. Regrowth at 750°C causes migration of aluminium into the quantum well and causes the shape of the well to become parabolic resulting shifts in the exciton emission to shorter wavelengths, making it difficult to separate the effect of processing from those due to quantum confinement.     

Infrared-induced emission from silicon quantum wires

We present the first findings of a study of infrared-induced emission from silicon quantum wires, which is due to the formation of a correlation gap in the DOS of the degenerate hole gas. The quantum wires in this case are created by an electrostatic confining potential inside ultra-shallow p–n junctions which are realized using controlled surface injection of self-interstitials and vacancies in the process of non-equilibrium boron diffusion.     

Influence of quantization of band states on the effective electron mass in quaternary alloys

Summary An attempt is made to study the effective electron mass in quaternary alloys, taking a In_1−x Ga _x As _y P_1−y lattice matched to InP, by using the three-band Kane model under different physical conditions,e.g. bulk specimens, magnetic quantization, cross-field configuration, quantum well, electric-field-aided quantum well, magnetic-field-aided quantum well, quantum well under cross fields, quantum well wires, electric-field-aided quantum well wires, magnetic-field-aided quantum well wires and quantum well wires under cross fields by formulating the respective expressions. We have plotted the effective Fermi level mass with various physical variables under different conditions. In the presence of a quantizing magnetic field the effective mass depends on the spin splitting of Landau levels due to the spin-orbit splitting parameter of the valence bands. Under cross-field configuration and the various quantum confined low-dimensional systems, the effective masses depend on the respective quantum numbers in addition to the Fermi energies even for parabolic models because of the inherent features of such systems. In addition, the corresponding results for relatively wide-gap materials have also been obtained from our generalized formulations under certain limiting conditions.