Effect of correlation between the shallow and deep metastable level subsystems on the excitonic photoluminescence spectra in <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-GaAs

The excitonic photoluminescence spectra of GaAs epitaxial layers are studied. Changes in the relative arrangement of shallow and deep centers in the tetrahedral lattice are shown to bring about changes in the decay kinetics and the shape of the (D⁰, x) emission line (corresponding to an exciton bound to a shallow neutral donor). This change in the excitonic photoluminescence spectra is caused by dispersion in the exciton binding energy of shallow donors E_D, the dispersion being a result of the influence of the subsystem of deep metastable defects in n-GaAs crystals.     

Photoluminescence and EPR of porous silicon formed on <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript> single crystals implanted with boron and phosphorus ions

The effect of combined doping by shallow donor and acceptor impurities on boosting the quantum yield of porous-silicon photoluminescence (PL) in the visible and near IR range was studied using phosphorus and boron ion implantation. Nonuniform doping of samples and subsequent oxidizing annealing were performed before and after porous silicon was formed on silicon single crystals strongly doped by arsenic or boron up to ≈10¹⁹ cm^?3. The concentration of known P_b centers of nonradiative recombination was controlled by electron paramagnetic resonance. It is shown that there is an optimal joined content of shallow donors and acceptors that provides a maximum PL intensity in the vicinity of the red part of the visible spectrum. According to estimates, the PL quantum yield in the transitional n ⁺⁺-p ⁺ or p ⁺⁺-n ⁺ layer of porous silicon increases by two orders of magnitude as compared to that in porous silicon formed on silicon not subjected to ion irradiation.     

Shallow thermal donors in nitrogen-doped silicon single crystals

Czochralski-grown nitrogen-doped silicon crystals contain shallow thermal donors (STD) which are not present in reference crystals. In the course of annealing at 600 or 650°C, the STD concentration reaches saturation and this concentration scales with nitrogen content N as N^1/2. This implies that an STD includes only one nitrogen atom and that the most likely model of the STD defect is the NO_m complex of an interstitial nitrogen atom with m oxygen atoms. The number m is estimated as, on the average, m=3 from data on the temperature dependence of the equilibrium constant for the complex formation reaction     

Radiation resistance of 4<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-SiC Schottky diodes under irradiation with 0.9-MeV electrons

Degradation of the parameters of 4H-SiC Schottky diodes after irradiation with 0.9-MeV electrons is studied. A charge-carrier removal rate of 0.07–0.09 cm^–1 is determined. The Schottky diodes under investigation are shown to retain rectifying current-voltage characteristics up to doses of ~10¹⁷ cm^–2. The radiation resistance of SiC Schottky diodes is found to be much greater than that of Si p–i–n-diodes with the same breakdown voltage.     

Single-particle properties of <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> = 12 to <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> = 20 silicon isotopes within the dispersive optical model

Experimental neutron and proton single-particle energies in N = 12 to N = 20 silicon isotopes and data on neutron and proton scattering by nuclei of the isotope ²⁸Si are analyzed on the basis of the dispersive optical model. Good agreement with available experimental data was attained. The occupation probabilities calculated for the single-particle states in question suggest a parallel-type filling of the 1d and 2s _1/2 neutron states in the isotopes ^{26,28,30,32,34}Si. The single-particle spectra being considered are indicative of the closure of the Z = 14 proton subshell in the isotopes ^30,32,34Si and the N = 20 neutron shell.     

Investigation of semicoherent interactions of 1-GeV protons with silicon

An experiment on studying the ²⁸Si(p, p′ γ ₀ X)²⁴Mg semicoherent reaction is carried out at the MAG setup on the 1-GeV proton beam of the U-10 ITEP accelerator. Two particles, proton and γ-ray photon, which accompanies the transition of the ²⁴Mg* nucleus from the first excited state to the ground state, are detected. When the events with the proton emission angle from 3° to 6.5° are selected, the following four processes are observed: the direct knockout of a nuclear α cluster by a proton, the formation of a _ΔSi isobaric nucleus, the formation of a Δ₁₂₃₂ isobar, and the production of a π ⁰ meson at rest in the nuclear coordinate system. The cross sections for the indicated processes are obtained.     

Electron gas induced in SrTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript>

This mini-review is dedicated to the 85th birthday of Prof. L.V. Keldysh, from whom we have learned so much. In this paper, we study the potential and electron density depth profiles in surface accumulation layers in crystals with a large and nonlinear dielectric response such as SrTiO₃ (STO) in the cases of planar, spherical, and cylindrical geometries. The electron gas can be created by applying an induction D₀ to the STO surface. We describe the lattice dielectric response of STO using the Landau–Ginzburg free energy expansion and employ the Thomas–Fermi (TF) approximation for the electron gas. For the planar geometry, we arrive at the electron density profile n(x) ∝ (x + d)^–12/7, where d ∝ D₀^–12/7. We extend our results to overlapping electron gases in GTO/STO/GTO heterojunctions and electron gases created by spill-out from NSTO (heavily n-type doped STO) layers into STO. Generalization of our approach to a spherical donor cluster creating a big TF atom with electrons in STO brings us to the problem of supercharged nuclei. It is known that for an atom with a nuclear charge Ze where Z > 170, electrons collapse onto the nucleus, resulting in a net charge Zn < Z. Here, instead of relativistic physics, the collapse is caused by the nonlinear dielectric response. Electrons collapse into the charged spherical donor cluster with radius R when its total charge number Z exceeds the critical value Z_c ≈ R/a, where a is the lattice constant. The net charge eZ_n grows with Z until Z exceeds Z* ≈ (R/a)^9/7. After this point, the charge number of the compact core Z_n remains ≈ Z*, with the rest Z* electrons forming a sparse TF atom with it. We extend our studies of collapse to the case of long cylindrical clusters as well.     

Excitation of even levels of erbium atoms without a change in the number of 4<Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis> electrons

The excitation of even levels of erbium atoms by slow electrons that occurs without a change in the number of electrons in the 4f shell is experimentally studied. The levels investigated belong to the 4f ¹²6s7s, 4f ¹²5d6s, 4f ¹²6s6d configurations. The cross sections measured at an electron energy of 30 eV lie within the range (0.2–18) × 10^?18 cm².     

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Investigations of ZnSe:Mn Nanocrystals

Colloidal nanocrystals of ZnSe doped with Mn²⁺ were synthesized in non-polar medium using hot-injection technique. Obtained samples were characterized by means of photoluminescence and absorption spectroscopies. To confirm the incorporation of Mn²⁺ impurity and to reveal its state and localization, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was employed. As a result, EPR spectra were analyzed and hyperfine splitting constant and g-factor for Mn²⁺ dopant were determined.     

Multicomponent Electron–Hole Liquid in Si/SiGe Quantum Wells

The density functional theory is used to calculate the energy of an electron–hole liquid in Si/Si_1–xGe_x/Si quantum wells. Three one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equations for electrons and light and heavy holes are solved numerically. It is shown that, in shallow quantum wells (small x), both light and heavy holes exist in the electron–hole liquid. Upon an increase in the Ge content, a transition to a state with one type of holes occurs, with the equilibrium density of electron–hole pairs decreasing by more than a factor of 2.     

On the born relation for crystals with diamond and sphalerite structure

The experimental data on the elastic constants C_ij for crystals with diamond and sphalerite structure at T=293 K were used to check the Born relation Δ4C₁₁(C₁₁?C₄₄)/(C₁₁+C₁₂)²=1. The relation was shown to be satisfied with a low accuracy for diamond due to a large scatter in the C_ij experimental values and with accuracies of 8.3, 7.6, 1.6, and 1.0% for Si, SiC, Ge, and α-Sn, respectively. For II–VI, III–V, and I–VII compounds with sphalerite structure, Λ was found to systematically deviate from unity toward lower values, and it was shown that the quantity (1-Λ) can be used to estimate the bond ionicity in these crystals. The effect of anharmonicity on the Λ values for Ge, Si, GaAs, InAs, and ZnSe was estimated; this effect was found to be insignificant.     

Ionization mechanisms of aluminum acceptor impurity in silicon

Processes of ionization of shallow acceptor centers (ACs) in silicon are studied. In crystalline silicon samples with phosphorus (1.6×10¹³, 2.7×10¹³, and 2.3×10¹⁵cm^?3) and boron (1.3×10¹⁵cm^?3) impurities, _μAl impurity atoms were produced by implantation of negative muons. It is found that thermal ionization is the main mechanism for ionizing the Al acceptor impurity in both p-type and n-type silicon with an impurity concentration of ?10¹⁵cm^?3 at T>45 K. The thermal ionization rate of Al ACs in Si varies from ～10⁵ to ～10⁶s^?1 in the temperature range 45–55 K.     

Exact Solutions of the Gardner Equation and their Applications to the Different Physical Plasmas

Traveling wave solution of the Gardner equation is studied analytically by using the two dependent (G^′/G,1/G)-expansion and (1/G^′)-expansion methods and direct integration. The exact solutions of the Gardner equations are obtained. Our analytic solutions are applied to the unmagnetized four-component and dusty plasma systems consisting of hot protons and electrons to investigate dynamical features of the solitons and shock waves produced in these systems. A wide variety of parameters of the plasma is used, and the basic features of the Gardner solitons that are beyond the existing study in literature are found. It is observed that the analytic solutions from (G^′/G,1/G)-expansion and (1/G^′)-expansion methods only produce shock waves but the solitary waves are found from the analytic solutions derived from the direct integration. It is also noted that the superhot electrons and relative mass density of the electrons significantly effect the soliton’s amplitude, width, and position. We have also numerically proved that the combination of every value of nomalized density μ₁ or temperature ratio σ₁ with the other sets of plasma parameters creates a region where the solutions have similar physical properties. The time-dependent behavior of the soliton is also studied, and a periodic motion of soliton along the phase variable η is found during the evolution. The investigations and the limits presented in this study may be helpful for studying and understanding the nonlinear properties of the solitary and shock waves seen in various physical and astrophysical plasma systems.     

Kinetics of the behavior of photosensitive impurities and defects in high-purity semi-insulating silicon carbide

The kinetics of the behavior of photosensitive impurities and defects in the high-purity semi-insulating material 4H-SiC has been studied both theoretically and experimentally using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) under photoexcitation and optical admittance spectroscopy. The rate equations describing the processes of recombination, trapping, and ionization of nonequilibrium charge carriers bound dynamically to shallow donors and acceptors (nitrogen and boron), as well as of charge carrier transfer from the shallow nitrogen donor to deep levels of intrinsic defects, have been solved. A comparison of the calculations with the experimental curves plotting the decay of admittance conductance and EPR signal intensities due to nitrogen and boron after termination of photoexcitation has revealed that the probabilities of hole trapping by an ionized acceptor and the rate of ionization of a neutral boron acceptor are two orders of magnitude higher than those of similar processes in a system of donor levels. The latter is dominated by cascade electron transitions between levels in the band gap, as well as by electron-hole recombination.     

Ein experimenteller Beitrag zu der durch langsame Primärelektronen ausgelösten Sekundärelektronenemission

The energy distribution of secondary electrons emitted from a highly degassed polycristalline Pt surface was investigated as a function of low energy (V _p ) primary electrons 5<V _p <150eV. The measurements were carried out in an UHV of better than 10^?10 mm Hg. The dependence of the numberN _S ^(Ev) of secondary electrons of a fixed energyE _v (3<E _v <12eV) on the energyV _p of the primaries (=isochromates) is studied. A lot of observations can be detected:

1. I.
   The exit depth of true secondary electrons is strongly dependent of their energy.     
   
   

On the theory of the resonant interaction of electrons with a high-frequency electric field in one-dimensional two-barrier nanostructures with symmetric barriers of finite height and width

The theory of the interaction of electrons with a high-frequency electric field in one-dimensional two-barrier nanostructures with symmetric barriers of finite height and widths was developed. An exact solution to the Schrödinger equation was found for electrons in this nanostructure in the absence of high-frequency electric field. An analytical expression for the direct current I ₀ induced in this structure by an incident electron flux with energy ε differing slightly from the resonant level energy ε _r (|ε ? ε _r | << ε _r ) was derived. In the small-signal approximation, the active (field-phased) component I _c of the alternating electric current was calculated. At ε > ε _r , the current I _c is negative in the entire frequency range, which suggests the possibility of ac electric field amplification and generation in the two-barrier resonant-tunneling structure with the barriers of finite height and width. Within the applicability of the theory (?ω << ε _r ), the frequency at which amplification and generation of the ac electric field are possible reaches ω ? 10¹³ s ^?1; the power transferred by electrons to the field is ～1 W/cm².     

EPR and photoluminescence spectra of smooth CD<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> films from T-10 tokamak: The effect of iron impurity

The electron and spin structure of thick smooth hydrocarbon CD _x films (“flakes”) with a high relative deuterium concentration of x ~ 0.5, redeposited from deuterium plasma discharge onto the walls of the vacuum chamber of the T-10 tokamak and containing ~1 at % of 3d-metal impurities due to erosion of the chamber walls, are studied using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and photoluminescence (PL). The resulting spectra are compared for the first time to the EPR and photoluminescence spectra of polymer (soft) a-C:H(D) films (H(D)/C ~ 0.5), which are considered model analogues of smooth CD _x films. A certain similarity of the CD _x films with a-C:H films was found in the electronic structure of the valence band. At the same time, the differences in the EPR and photoluminescence spectra were observed due to the presence of 3d-metal impurities in the CD _x samples, contributing to the conversion of sp ³ → sp ² in the formation of films in the tokamak and upon heating and thermal desorption. An impurity of, presumably, 3d metals was detected for the first time by EPR in the a-C:H films in an amount of approximately 0.2 ppm, related to the evaporation of graphite.     

Photoproduction of Triplets on Free Electrons and the Search for the Dark Photon

We have investigated the photoproduction of triplets on free electrons, γe^– → e⁺e^–e^–, in which dark photon A′ can be formed as an intermediate state with subsequent decay into an e⁺e^– pair. This effect appears as a result of the so-called kinetic mixing and is characterized by the small parameter describing the intensity of the interaction of the dark photon with charged Standard Model (SM) particles in terms of electric charge e. The search for a manifestation of A′ in this process is advantageous since the background to the A′ signal is purely electrodynamic and, hence, can be calculated with the required accuracy. We calculate this background taking into account the identity of final electrons. As regards A′, its contribution is taken into account only in Compton-type diagrams (of virtual Compton scattering) in which a virtual dark photon is a time-like particle and its propagator has the form of a Breit–Wigner resonance. It is only in the vicinity of resonance that A′ can be manifested. We calculate the invariant mass distribution of both e⁺e^– pairs formed in the process and analyze the kinematic region in which relatively small squares of momenta transferred from the target electron to the formed electrons are excluded. In these conditions, the contribution to the differential cross section from Compton-type diagrams is not suppressed relative to the contribution of the remaining (Borsellino) diagrams. A number of limitations on parameter depending on the dark photon mass and the statistics (number) of events are obtained for a special method of gathering events in which the invariant mass of one e⁺e^– pair remains fixed and of the other pair is scanned.     

Röntgenspektroskopische Untersuchung der Struktur des Valenzbandes von Silicium,Siliciumcarbid und Siliciumdioxid

With a photon-counting concave grating spectrograph the SiL _2,3 emission bands of pure Si, SiC and SiO₂ (quartz) were investigated. The observed bands are in good agreement with recent measurements using photon-counting devices but differ markedly from those obtained with photographic registration. The comparison of these SiL _2,3 bands with the corresponding SiKβ bands observed by other authors shows that the intensity distributions are more or less complementary. For Si and SiC the experimental results are compared with recent calculations of the electronic band structure. The agreement between the measuredK andL emission bands of silicon and the calculated density of states curve of silicon is satisfactory.     

Effect of the Lattice and Spin-Phonon Contributions on the Temperature Behavior of the Ground State Splitting of Gd<Superscript>3+</Superscript> in SrMoO<Subscript>4</Subscript>

The temperature behavior of the EPR spectra of the Gd³⁺ impurity center in single crystals of SrMoO₄ in the temperature range T = 99–375 K is studied. The analysis of the temperature dependences of the spin Hamiltonian b ₂ ⁰ (T) = b₂(F) + b₂(L) and P ₂ ⁰ (T) = P₂(F) + P₂(L) (for Gd¹⁵⁷) describing the EPR spectrum and contributing to the Gd³⁺ ground state splitting ΔE is carried out. In terms of the Newman model, the values of b₂(L) and P₂(L) depending on the thermal expansion of the static lattice are estimated; the b₂(F) and P₂(F) spin-phonon contributions determined by the lattice ion oscillations are separated. The analysis of b ₂ ⁰ (T) and P ₂ ⁰ (T) is evidence of the positive contribution of the spin-phonon interaction; the model of the local oscillations of the impurity cluster with close frequencies ω describes well the temperature behavior of b₂(F) and P₂(F).