Optical inter- and intra-band transitions in silicon nanocrystals: The role of surface vibrations

Silicon nanocrystals (ncs) belong to an interesting class of semiconductor nanostructures that manifest size dependent electronic properties. This well known effect of quantum confinement can explain many properties of silicon ncs. However, with decreasing size and dimension of the ncs, the role of surface phenomena becomes substantial. For example, we have shown recently that the strong luminescence from these ncs should be assigned to the exclusion of nonradiative channels rather than to the enhancement of radiative inter-band transitions. In addition, using infrared intra-band transitions spectroscopy, we were able to resolve the quantized electronic sublevels of small silicon ncs. We have found that under appropriate conditions, these electronic sublevels are resonantly coupled to surface vibrations. We suggest that this coupling mechanism is responsible for the exclusion of nonradiative channels in silicon ncs.     

Interpretation of initial stage of 3C-SiC growth on Si(1 0 0) using dimethylsilane

The initial stage of cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) growth on a Si(0 0 1) surface using dimethylsilane (DMS) as a source gas was observed using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). It was found that the dimer vacancies initially existing on the Si(0 0 1)-(2 × 1) surface were repaired by the Si atoms in DMS molecules, during the formation of the c(4 × 4) surface. From the STM measurement, nucleation of SiC was found to start when the Si surface was covered with the c(4 × 4) structure but before the appearance of SiC spots in the RHEED pattern. The growth mechanism of SiC islands was also discussed based on the results of RHEED, STM and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD).     

Diamond surface modification following thermal etching of Si supported hydrogenated diamond films by DBr

In this work, we study the modification of hydrogenated diamond films deposited on silicon resulting from its exposure to DBr followed by an annealing above 600 K, using high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). This procedure results in silicon carbide SiC formation within the diamond film, as evidenced by the observation of a loss peak at 117 meV and its first harmonic at 233 meV in HREEL spectra. This diamond surface modification is interpreted as resulting from the reaction of products of the silicon support thermally activated etching with hydrogenated diamond.     

Silicon-Based Integrated Optic Pressure Sensor Using Intermodal Interference between TM-Like and TE-Like Modes

In this paper, a silicon-based integrated optic pressure sensor using an intermodal interference between the fundamental TM-like and TE-like modes is described. The sensor consists of a micromachined rectangular diaphragm and a straight polystyrene optical waveguide passing over the diaphragm. Its sensitivity is theoretically known to be strongly dependent on the position of the waveguide over the diaphragm. To experimentally investigate such dependence, we fabricated a sensor with a 1.2 mm ×10 mm ×20 μm diaphragm, over which waveguides were placed at 50 μm intervals. The measured phase sensitivity was 98 mrad/kPa for the waveguide nearest to the diaphragm edge. The measurement was also carried out for the other waveguides. As theoretically expected, the largest sensitivity was obtained for the waveguide nearest to the edge.     

Evolution of stress and strain relaxation of Ge and SiGe alloy films on Si(0 0 1)

The growth of Ge and SiGe alloy films on Si substrates has attracted considerable interest in the last years because of their importance for optoelectronic devices as well as Si-based high speed transistors. Here we give a short overview on our recent real time stress measurements of Ge and SiGe alloy films on Si(0 0 1) performed with a sensitive cantilever beam technique and accompanied by structural investigations with atomic force microscopy. Characteristic features in the stress curves provide detailed insight into the development and relief of the misfit strain. For the Stranski–Krastanow system Ge/Si(0 0 1) as well as for SiGe films with Si contents below 20%, the strain relaxation proceeds mainly into two steps: (i) by the formation of 3D islands on top of the Ge wetting layer; (ii) via misfit dislocations in larger 3D islands and upon their percolation.     

Chirality Driven by Magnetic Dipole Response for Demultiplexing of Surface Waves

Surface electromagnetic waves are characterized by the intrinsic spin‐orbit interaction which results in the fascinating spin‐momentum locking. Therefore, directional coupling of light to surface waves can be achieved through chiral nanoantennas. Here, we show that dielectric nanoantenna provides chiral response with strong spectral dependence due to the interference of electric and magnetic dipole momenta when placed in the vicinity of the metal‐air interface. Remarkably, chiral behaviour in the proposed scheme does not require elliptical polarization of the pump beam or the geometric chirality of the nanoantenna. We show that the proposed ultracompact and simple dielectric nanoantenna allows for both directional launching of surface plasmon polaritons on a thin gold film and their demultiplexing with a high spectral resolution.     

Room-temperature magnetic properties of SiC based nanowires synthesized via microwave heating method

Two kinds of ferromagnetic SiC based nanowires with and without Ni catalyst were successfully synthesized by employing microwave heating method. The comprehensive characterizations and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) have been applied to investigate the micro-structures and magnetic properties of as-grown nanowires. For the nanowires synthesized without using Ni catalyst, the diameters and lengths are in the range of 20–60 nm and dozens of micrometers, respectively. Particularly, the results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) show that the nanowires consist of SiC core and SiO_x shell. The SiC/SiO_x coaxial nanowires exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism with saturation magnetization (Ms) of 0.2 emu/g. As to the nanowires obtained using Ni catalyst, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results indicate that the Ni catalyzed nanowires have a nano-particle attached on the tip and a uniform diameter of approximately 50 nm. The vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism can be used to explain the formation of the Ni catalyzed nanowires. The detection result of VSM indicates that the Ni catalyzed nanowires possess the paramagnetism and the ferromagnetism, simultaneously. The enhancement of the ferromagnetism, compared with the SiC/SiO_x coaxial nanowires, could be attributed to the Ni₂Si and NiSi phases.     

Oxide reduced silicon nanowires

Core crystalline silicon nanowires with a heavily reduced amorphous shell have been successfully synthesised using palladium as a metal catalyst. We present two approaches to reduce the oxidation of the nanowires during the thermal annealing growth. The ratios of the amorphous shell to crystalline core of the nanowires produced, from the two methods, are compared and show a remarkable drop (hence thinner oxide) compared to wires fabricated using currently available techniques. In addition, a focused ion beam was utilised to contact the oxide-reduced nanowires for transport measurements, without first removing the thin oxide shell. The oxygen-reduced core-shell silicon nanowires showed a very low electrical resistivity (4 × 10⁻¹ Ω cm). Our novel approach presents a new alternative to the production of low cost, high yield, highly conducting silicon nanowires offering a wide range of opportunities for semiconductor based technology.     

含次环己基有机硅单体及二聚体的NMR谱与结构

含次环已基有机硅单体及其二聚体业已成功地合成^[1],本文研究了这类新单体和二聚体的¹H-NMR、¹³C-NMR、和²⁹Si-NMR谱,从而确定了它们的结构。     

ICP-AES内标法测定硅铝钡合金中铝和钡

研究了以电感耦合等离子体发射光谱仪测定硅铝钡合金中铝和钡的方法。考查了方法的线性范围,检测限和RSD等指标,实验表明,方法简便,结果准确。