Charge storage characteristics of nonvolatile memories with chemically-synthesized and vacuum-deposited gold nanoparticles

Carrier injection and charge loss characteristics of nonvolatile memories with chemically-synthesized (CS) and vacuum-deposited (VD) gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) have been investigated. Compared to CS counterparts, the memories with VD Au-NPs exhibit a higher dot density of 3.77 × 10¹¹ cm⁻², leading to a larger memory window. Further, the energy from valence-band edge to vacuum level (E_{VB_vac}) of tunneling oxide for the samples with CS and VD Au-NPs is found to be 9.04 and 9.85 eV respectively. The small E_{VB_vac} value of the memories with CS Au-NPs is resulted from the formation of a thin chemical oxide (SiO_x) on thermally-grown SiO₂ tunneling layer during the chemically synthesized process, contributing to a slow erasing behavior. Besides, the programming of the memories with VD Au-NPs is saturated at high gate bias, which has been well-explained by the electrons induced potential coupling between Au-NPs. Superior data retention property and high temperature dependence of charge loss are observed for the memories with CS Au-NPs, which can be ascribed to the thick tunneling oxide layer by the additional SiO_x film.     

Silicon-based thin films as bottom electrodes in chalcogenide nonvolatile memories

The effect of the electrical resistivity of a silicon-germanium (SiGe) thin film on the phase transition in a GeSbTe (GST) chalcogenide alloy and the manufacturing aspect of the fabrication process of a chalcogenide memory device employing the SiGe film as bottom electrodes were investigated. While p-type SiGe bottom electrodes were formed using in situ doping techniques, n-type ones could be made in a different manner where phosphorus atoms diffused from highly doped silicon underlayers to undoped SiGe films. The p-n heterojunction did not form between the p-type GST and n-type SiGe layers, and the semiconduction type of the SiGe alloys did not influence the memory device switching. It was confirmed that an optimum resistivity value existed for memory operation in spite of proportionality of Joule heating to electrical resistivity. The very high resistivity of the SiGe film had no effect on the reduction of reset current, which might result from the resistance decrease of the SiGe alloy at high temperatures.     

Raman spectroscopic characterization of a thiophene‐based active material for resistive organic nonvolatile memories

A combined theoretical and experimental Raman study is presented on a diphenyl bithiophene molecule known as a good candidate for the development of organic nonvolatile memory devices. Spectroscopic markers suitable to distinguish the different stable conformers of the molecule have been predicted and detected. The combined analysis of theoretical and experimental Raman spectra recorded in solution indicates that at room temperature a dynamical equilibrium, characterized by interconversion between the two more stable conformers (namely trans and cis), takes place and that the more populated species is the cis form. Referring to the solid phase instead, Raman spectra of single‐crystal samples show the presence of the only trans conformer, as confirmed by X‐ray measurements. Finally, Raman spectra of thin films, as those used for the memory device, were collected; samples just deposited from solution and after few hours from the deposition were analyzed. Following the evolution of selective spectroscopic Raman markers, an isomerization process from the abundant cis (as‐deposited) to the totally trans (after few hours) conformer in the solid phase was detected. These results open the way to the identification of the molecular isomers present in the thin film of the memory cell and finally of the active molecular species involved in the switching mechanism of the operating device. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probing hadronic polarizations with dilepton anisotropies

We investigate the production of e ⁺ e ^? pairs from p + Be and nucleus-nucleus collisions from 2 GeV/A to 200 GeV/A within a covariant transport approach and focus on the dilepton angular anisotropies as a function of the dilepton invariant mass. Whereas the low mass regime yields information about the Dalitz decays of the Δ, η and ω, above M ≈ 0.5 GeV the angular anisotropies provide additional information about the π ⁺ π ^? → ρ ⁰ → e ⁺ e ^? channel in the medium. The anisotropy coefficient is found to change its sign for M > 0.5 GeV in case of nucleus-nucleus reactions when increasing the bombarding energy from 2 GeV/A to 200 GeV/A which sheds some light on the ππ → ρ dynamics.     

Projective geometry for polarizations in geometric quantization

It is important to know the extent to which the procedure of geometric quantization depends on a choice of polarization of the symplectic manifold that is the classical phase space. Published results have so far been restricted to real and transversal polarizations. It turns out that there is a natural characterization of real transversal Lagrangian distributions and maps among them using projective concepts. We give explicit constructions forR ²ⁿ .On sabbatical leave from the Department of Mathematics, University of Lancaster, England.     

Internal electric fields due to piezoelectric and spontaneous polarizations in CdZnO/MgZnO quantum well with various applied electric field effects

The strain-induced piezoelectric polarization and the spontaneous polarization can be reduced effectively using the applied electric field in the CdZnO/ZnMgO quantum well (QW) structure with high Cd composition. That is, optical properties as a function of internal and external fields in the CdZnO/ZnMgO QW with various applied electric field result in the increased optical gain due to the fact that the QW potential profile is flattened as a result of the compensation of the internal field by the reverse field as confirmed. These results demonstrate that a high-performance optical device operation can be realized in CdZnO/MgZnO QW structures by reducing the droop phenomenon.     

A new scheme for measuring itinerant spin polarizations

An optical method for the measurement of itinerant electron spin polarization is proposed. It is based on the idea that when an itinerant electron is injected into a p-type semiconductor with a valence band spin orbit splitting ? kT, the polarization of the resulting recombination radiation is characteristic of the spin polarization. The feasibility and advantages of this technique are discussed.     

Cubic nonlinearity in shear wave beams with different polarizations

A coupled pair of nonlinear parabolic equations is derived for the two components of the particle motion perpendicular to the axis of a shear wave beam in an isotropic elastic medium. The equations account for both quadratic and cubic nonlinearity. The present paper investigates, analytically and numerically, effects of cubic nonlinearity in shear wave beams for several polarizations: linear, elliptical, circular, and azimuthal. Comparisons are made with effects of quadratic nonlinearity in compressional wave beams.     

Optical properties of quasi-one-dimensional molecular crystals with different polarizations

Quasi-one-dimensional organic compounds in which the acceptor TCNQ molecules form dimers are studied. Site Orbitals describing the electron in half of the TCNQ molecule are introduced. Hubbard's model is generalized so as to take into account the Coulomb repulsion between two electrons at one site. It is shown that the optical excitations of the electron are asssociated with intramolecular vibrations both when the incident light is polarized along the TCNQ chains and when the incident radiation is polarized transverse to the chains. The conductivity of the system with different polarizations is calculated taking into account the electron-vibrational interaction.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 74–78, February, 1986.     

Connecting-layer-based polarizing beam splitter grating with high efficiency for both TE and TM polarizations

We describe a novel polarizing beam splitter (PBS) of transmission connecting-layer-based grating, which can show high efficiency for TE polarization in the ?1st order and TM polarization in the 0th order. According to the modal method, grating duty cycle and period are prescribed to obtain high efficiency for TM polarization. Using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis, grating depth and thickness of the connecting layer are optimized to achieve high efficiency for TE polarization. The presented PBS has advantages of wideband properties for incident wavelength and angle. Most importantly, the efficiency is improved greatly for TE polarization compared with the reported PBS based on fused-silica grating.     

Polarization beam splitter based on dielectric periodic structure with different EFCs for two polarizations

A dielectric multi-layered structure is studied in this letter. It is found that at some frequency ranges, the equal-frequency contours (EFCs) are almost flat for one polarization but still curve for the other. Based on this property, we propose a novel polarization beam splitter.     

Interaction of two light beams with different polarizations in TGS

By ellipsometric measurements we have observed the polarization variations of the primary light beam, with wavelength λ₁=5145 ?, interacting with the secondary light beam of controlled variable polarization, transmitted through a TGS crystal layer. We present a theoretical explanation based on the second-order optical nonlinearity of TGS. Received: 4 December 2001 / Revised version: 28 May 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +48-22/660-5447, E-mail: petyk@if.pw.edu.pl     

Room-temperature single photon sources with definite circular and linear polarizations

We report experimental results of two room-temperature single photon sources with definite polarization based on emitters embedded in either cholesteric or nematic liquid crystal hosts. In the first case, a cholesteric 1-D photonic bandgap microcavity provides circular polarization of definite handedness of single photons from single colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (nanocrystals). In these experiments, the spectral position of the quantum dot fluorescence maximum is at the bandedge of a photonic bandgap structure. The host does not destroy fluorescence antibunching of single emitters. In the second case, photons with definite linear polarization are obtained from single dye molecules doped in a planar-aligned nematic liquid crystal host. The combination of sources with definite linear and circular polarization states of single photons can be used in a practical implementation of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol.     

Manipulate light polarizations with metamaterials: From microwave to visible

Polarization is an important characteristic of electromagnetic (EM) waves, and efficient manipulations over EM wave polarizations are always desirable in practical applications. Here, we review the recent efforts in controlling light polarizations with metamaterials, at frequencies ranged from microwave to visible. We first presented a 4 × 4 version transfer matrix method (TMM) to study the scatterings by an anisotropic metamaterial of EM waves with arbitrary propagating directions and polarizations. With the 4 × 4 TMM, we discovered several amazing polarization manipulation phenomena based on the reflection geometry and proposed corresponding model metamaterial systems to realize such effects. Metamaterial samples were fabricated with the help of finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulations, and experiments were performed to successfully realize these ideas at both microwave and visible frequencies. Efforts in employing metamaterials to manipulate light polarizations based on the transmission geometry are also reviewed.