Characterization and Stability of Na-doped p-type ZnO Thin Films Preparation by Reactive DC Magnetron Sputtering

Na-doped p-type ZnO thin films have been realized by DC reactive magnetron sputtering with a set of metal-Zn targets doped with various Na contents and under different substrate temperatures, respectively. Hall effect measurement, field-emission SEM, X-ray diffraction and optical transmission were carried out to investigate the effects of Na content and substrate temperature on the properties of p-type films. Results indicate that all the Na-doped ZnO films are strongly (002) oriented, and have an average transmittance ~85% in the visible region. Na-doped p-type ZnO films with good structural, electrical, and optical properties can only be obtained at an intermediate amount of Na content and under appropriate substrate temperature. At the optimal condition, the Na-doped p-type ZnO has the lowest resistivity of 13.8 Ω·cm with the carrier concentration as high as 1.07×1018 cm-3. The stability of the Na-doped p-type ZnO is also studied in this paper and it is found that the electrical properties keep stable in a period of one month.

β-Ga_(2)O_(3)的p型掺杂研究进展

β-Ga_(2)O_(3)具有超宽禁带宽度、高击穿场强、较高的巴利加优值等优点使其成为一种新兴半导体材料,在高功率电子器件、气体传感器、日盲紫外探测器等方面有着极大的应用潜力,但p型掺杂难的问题成为了β-Ga_(2)O_(3)发展的巨大障碍。本文首先简要概述了β-Ga_(2)O_(3)的优点,并介绍了其晶体结构和基本性质。其次,说明了β-Ga_(2)O_(3)的本征缺陷,尤其是氧空位对导电性能的影响。然后,详细讨论了β-Ga_(2)O_(3) p型掺杂的研究现状,包括p型掺杂困难的原因和N掺杂、Mg掺杂、Zn掺杂、其他受主元素掺杂、两种元素共掺杂以及其他方法。最后,总结并对β-Ga_(2)O_(3)未来的发展进行了展望。

MicroRNA-502-3p regulates GABAergic synapse function in hippocampal neurons

Gamma-aminobutyric acid(GABA)ergic neurons,the most abundant inhibitory neurons in the human brain,have been found to be reduced in many neurological disorders,including Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementia.Our previous study identified the upregulation of microRNA-502-3p(miR-502-3p)and downregulation of GABA type A receptor subunitα-1 in Alzheimer's disease synapses.This study investigated a new molecular relationship between miR-502-3p and GABAergic synapse function.In vitro studies were perfo rmed using the mouse hippocampal neuronal cell line HT22 and miR-502-3p agomiRs and antagomiRs.In silico analysis identified multiple binding sites of miR-502-3p at GABA type A receptor subunitα-1 mRNA.Luciferase assay confirmed that miR-502-3p targets the GABA type A receptor subunitα-1 gene and suppresses the luciferase activity.Furthermore,quantitative reve rse transcription-polymerase chain reaction,miRNA in situ hybridization,immunoblotting,and immunostaining analysis confirmed that overexpression of miR-502-3p reduced the GABA type A receptor subunitα-1 level,while suppression of miR-502-3p increased the level of GABA type A receptor subunitα-1 protein.Notably,as a result of the overexpression of miR-502-3p,cell viability was found to be reduced,and the population of necrotic cells was found to be increased.The whole cell patch-clamp analysis of human-GABA receptor A-α1/β3/γ2L human embryonic kidney(HEK)recombinant cell line also showed that overexpression of miR-502-3p reduced the GABA current and overall GABA function,suggesting a negative correlation between miR-502-3p levels and GABAergic synapse function.Additionally,the levels of proteins associated with Alzheimer s disease were high with miR-502-3p overexpression and reduced with miR-502-3p suppression.The present study provides insight into the molecular mechanism of regulation of GABAergic synapses by miR-502-3p.We propose that micro-RNA,in particular miR-502-3p,could be a potential therapeutic to rget to modulate GABAergic synapse function in neurological disorders,including Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's diseaserelated dementia.

Comparison of nitride-based dual-wavelength lightemitting diodes with an InAlN electron-blocking layer and with p-type doped barriers

The advantages of nitride-based dual-wavelength light-emitting diodes （LEDs） with an InA1N electron blocking layer （EBL） are studied. The emission spectra, carrier concentration in the quantum wells （QWs）, energy band and internal quantum efficiency （IQE） are investigated. The simulation results indicate that an LED with an InA1N EBL performs better over a conventional LED with an A1GaN EBL and an LED with p-type-doped QW barriers. All of the advantages are due to the enhancement of carrier confinement and the lower electron leakage current. The simulation results also show that the efficiency droop is markedly improved and the luminous intensity is greatly enhanced when an InAlN EBL is used.

Interlayer distance effects on absorption coefficient and refraction index change in p-type double-δ-doped GaAs quantum wells

In the framework of the Thomas–Fermi(TF) approach, a model for the p-type double-δ-doped(DDD) system in Ga As is presented. This model, unlike other works in the literature, takes into account that the Poisson equation associated with the system is nonlinear. The electronic structure is calculated for heavy and light holes. The changes in the electronic structure result of the distance d between the doped layers are studied. In particular, the relative absorption coefficient as well as the relative refractive index change is calculated as a function of the incident photon energy for heavy holes. The effect of the interlayer distance exhibits, in the absorption coefficient, a red shift of the peak position and a decrease in amplitude when the distance increases. In addition, the relative refractive index change node has a red shift as well as the interlayer distance increases. The calculations show that the effect of the separation between layers has a greater influence on the linear terms. These results are very important for theoretical calculations and engineering of optical and electronic devices based in δ-doped Ga As.

Electronic structures and optical properties of Zn-dopedβ-Ga_2O_3 with different doping sites

The electronic structures and optical properties of intrinsic β-Ga2O3 and Zn-dopedβ-Ga2O3 are investigated by first-principles calculations. The analysis about the thermal stability shows that Zn-doped β-Ga2O3 remains stable. The Zn doping does not change the basic electronic structure of β-Ga2O3, but only generates an empty energy level above the maximum of the valence band, which is shallow enough to make the Zn-doped β-Ga2O3 a typical p-type semiconductor. Because of Zn doping, absorption and reflectivity are enhanced in the near infrared region. The higher absorption and reflectivity of ZnGa（2） than those of ZnGa（1） are due to more empty energy states of ZnGa（2） than those of ZnGa（1） near Ef in the near infrared region.

Effects of N-doping concentration on the electronic structure and optical properties of N-doped β-Ga_2O_3

The electronic structures and the optical properties of N-doped β-Ga2O3 with different N-doping concentrations are studied using the first-principles method.We find that the N substituting O（1） atom is the most stable structure for the smallest formation energy.After N-doping,the charge density distribution significantly changes,and the acceptor impurity level is introduced above the valence band and intersects with the Fermi level.The impurity absorption edges appear to shift toward longer wavelengths with an increase in N-doping concentration.The complex refractive index shows metallic characteristics in the N-doped β-Ga2O3.

Effect on Defect in N or F-Doped Ferromagnetic Zn_1-xCu_xO: First-Principles Study

We investigated the electronic and magnetic properties for O or Zn defect of (Cu, N) or (Cu, F)-co- doped ZnO with the concentration of 2.77% - 8.33% by using the first-principles calculations. The ferromagnetic coupling of Cu atoms in (Cu, N)-codoped ZnO can be attributed to the hole-mediated double-exchange through the strong 2p-3d coupling between Cu and neighboring O (or N) atoms. The ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO is controllable by changing the carrier density. The Cu magnetic moment in low Cu concentration (2.77%) is increased by the N-doping, while for the F-doping it decreases. For two Cu atoms of Zn0.9445Cu0.0555O with O vacancy, the antiferromagnetic state is more energetically favorable than the ferromagnetic state.

高掺杂低位错p型GaN材料生长研究

对采用金属有机化学气相沉积(MOCVD)法在SiC衬底上生长的p型GaN材料进行了研究。p型GaN材料通常采用Mg掺杂来实现,但Mg有效掺杂量的增加会导致材料的空穴浓度提高,表面粗糙度变大、位错密度增加。采用Delta掺杂方式,在Cp_(2)Mg通入量一定的情况下,通过对温度、压力以及Delta掺杂过程中TMGa通入时间的调控实现了对p型GaN材料掺杂浓度与表面粗糙度和位错密度之间的平衡优化。结果显示,生长温度1150℃、生长压力400 mbar(1 mbar=100 Pa)、TMGa通入时间40 s的样品均方根表面粗糙度为0.643 nm,(002)晶面半高宽(FWHM)为176.8 arcsec,空穴迁移率为11.8 cm^(2)/(V·s),空穴浓度为1.02×10^(18)cm^(-3),实现了电学性能与晶体质量的平衡。

Identification of miR-802-5p and its involvement in type 2 diabetes mellitus

MicroRNAs(miRNA)are recently discovered endogenous,small noncoding RNAs(of 22 nucleotides)that play pivotal roles in gene regulation.They are involved in post-transcriptional control of gene expression.miRNAs are emerging as important regulators of cell proliferation,development,cancer formation,stress responses,cell death and physiological conditions.Increasing evidence has demonstrated the human miRNAs bind to their target mRNA sequences with perfect or near-perfect sequence complementarily.This provides a powerful strategy for discovering potential type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)targets and gives the probability to exploit them for diagnostic and therapeutic causes.About 6%of the world population is affected by T2DM,and it is recognized as a global epidemic by the World Health Organization.At present there is no valid biomarker to control or manage T2DM.Therefore,the present study applied a mature sequence of miRNAs from publicly accessible databases to identify the miRNA from T2DM expressed sequence tags,and the results are detailed and discussed below.

重掺杂P型SiC的熔融KOH刻蚀行为研究

本文采用熔融KOH刻蚀方法详细研究了液相法生长的重掺杂P型6H-SiC晶体中的位错情况,探究了时间、温度变化对液相法生长的重掺杂P型6H-SiC晶片表面刻蚀的影响。当提高腐蚀时间或腐蚀温度时,晶片表面的腐蚀坑尺寸均表现出不同程度的增加,过高的温度及长时间刻蚀均导致过腐蚀现象的发生。根据不同腐蚀条件下腐蚀坑的形貌与分布,确定出刻蚀重掺杂P型6H-SiC晶片的最佳工艺参数。利用晶片在不同温度下的腐蚀速率变化关系及阿伦尼乌斯公式计算出晶体的反应活化能为10.59 kcal/mol。最后,对穿透型螺位错(TSD)和穿透型刃位错(TED)的形貌、尺寸和内部结构进行了详细的表征和分析,结果表明P型6H-SiC晶体中腐蚀坑的倾角与腐蚀时间无关。

重掺杂p型SiC晶片Ni/Al欧姆接触特性

系统研究了Al和Ni/Al两种金属体系在重掺杂p型SiC晶片上的欧姆接触特性和电学性质。利用X射线衍射、扫描电子显微镜和综合物性测量系统对这两种电极表面的微观结构和样品的电学性质进行了表征。结果表明:在真空环境下经过800℃退火后Al电极可呈现出欧姆接触行为,其比接触电阻率为1.98×10^(-3)Ω·cm^(2),退火处理后Al电极与SiC在接触界面形成化合物Al_(4)C_(3),有助于提高接触界面稳定性。在Ni/Al复合体系中,当Ni金属层厚度为50 nm时,其比接触电阻率显著降低至4.013×10^(-4)Ω·cm^(2)。退火后Ni与SiC在接触界面生成的Ni_(2)Si有利于欧姆接触的形成和降低比接触电阻率。研究结果可为开发液相法生长的p型SiC晶片电子器件提供参考。

Recent progress of the native defects and p-type doping of zinc oxide

Zinc oxide（ZnO） is a compound semiconductor with a direct band gap and high exciton binding energy.The unique property,i.e.,high efficient light emission at ultraviolet band,makes ZnO potentially applied to the short-wavelength light emitting devices.However,efficient p-type doping is extremely hard for ZnO.Due to the wide band gap and low valence band energy,the self-compensation from donors and high ionization energy of acceptors are the two main problems hindering the enhancement of free hole concentration.Native defects in ZnO can be divided into donor-like and acceptorlike ones.The self-compensation has been found mainly to originate from zinc interstitial and oxygen vacancy related donors.While the acceptor-like defect,zinc vacancy,is thought to be linked to complex shallow acceptors in group-VA doped ZnO.Therefore,the understanding of the behaviors of the native defects is critical to the realization of high-efficient p-type conduction.Meanwhile,some novel ideas have been extensively proposed,like double-acceptor co-doping,acceptor doping in iso-valent element alloyed ZnO,etc.,and have opened new directions for p-type doping.Some of the approaches have been positively judged.In this article,we thus review the recent（2011-now） research progress of the native defects and p-type doping approaches globally.We hope to provide a comprehensive overview and describe a complete picture of the research status of the p-type doping in ZnO for the reference of the researchers in a similar area.

Development in p-type Doping of ZnO

Zinc oxide （ZnO） is a wide band-gap material of the Ⅱ-Ⅵ group with excellent optical properties for optoelectronics applications, such as the flat panel displays and solar cells used in sports tournament. Despite its advantages, the application of ZnO is hampered by the lack of stable p-type doping. In this paper, the recent progress in this field was briefly reviewed, and a comprehensive summary of the research was carded out on ZnO fabrication methods and its electrical, optical, and magnetic properties were presented.

Efficiency enhancement of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with segmentally graded p-type AlGaN layer

AlGaN-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes(UV-LEDs) have attracted considerable interest due to their wide range of application fields. However, they are still suffering from low light out power and unsatisfactory quantum efficiency.The utilization of polarization-doped technique by grading the Al content in p-type layer has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving LED performances by providing sufficiently high hole concentration. However, too large degree of grading through monotonously increasing the Al content causes strains in active regions, which constrains application of this technique, especially for short wavelength UV-LEDs. To further improve 340-nm UV-LED performances, segmentally graded Al content p-Al_xGa_(1-x)N has been proposed and investigated in this work. Numerical results show that the internal quantum efficiency and output power of proposed structures are improved due to the enhanced carrier concentrations and radiative recombination rate in multiple quantum wells, compared to those of the conventional UV-LED with a stationary Al content AlGaN electron blocking layer. Moreover, by adopting the segmentally graded p-Al_xGa_(1-x)N, band bending within the last quantum barrier/p-type layer interface is effectively eliminated.

Enhanced thermoelectric performance in p-type Mg3Sb2 via lithium doping

The Zintl compound Mg3Sb2 has been recently identified as promising thermoelectric material owing to its high thermoelectric performance and cost-effective,nontoxicity and environment friendly characteristics.However,the intrinsically p-type Mg3Sb2 shows low figure of merit（z T = 0.23 at 723 K） for its poor electrical conductivity.In this study,a series of Mg（3-x）LixSb2 bulk materials have been prepared by high-energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering（SPS） process.Electrical transport measurements on these materials revealed significant improvement on the power factor with respect to the undoped sample,which can be essentially attributed to the increased carrier concentration,leading to a maximum z T of0.59 at 723 K with the optimum doping level x = 0.01.Additionally,the engineering z T and energy conversion efficiency are calculated to be 0.235 and 4.89%,respectively.To our best knowledge,those are the highest values of all reported p-type Mg3Sb2-based compounds with single element doping.

The effect of electronic orbital interactions on p-type doping tendency in ZnO series： First-principles calculations

The electronic structures and optical properties of B3 ZnO series of Zn4X4-yMy（X ：O, S, Se or Te; M = N, Sb, C1 or I; y = 0 or 1） are studied by first-principles calculations using a pseudopotential plane-wave method. The results show that Zn d-X p orbital interactions play an important role in the p-type doping tendency in zinc-based Ⅱ-Ⅵ semiconductors. In ZnX, with increasing atomic number of X, Zn d-X p orbital interactions decrease and Zn s-X p orbital interactions increase. Additionally, substituting group-V elements for X will reduce the Zn d-X p orbital interactions while substituting group-VII elements for X will increase the Zn d-X p orbital interactions. The results also show that group-V-doped ZnX and group-Ⅷ-doped ZnX exhibit different optical behaviours due to their different orbital interaction effects.

在蓝宝石衬底上生长的氧化锌p-n同质结发光二极管

用等离子体辅助的分子束外延的方法在蓝宝石衬底上生长了氧化锌的p-n同质结发光二极管。在实验中p型ZnO层是采用NO等离子体作为掺杂剂生长的。在低温下,二极管的I-V特性曲线显示了典型的p-n结整流特性,并且具有很低的开启电压(4 V)。在实验中得到了位于蓝紫区的电致发光。

p-ZnO薄膜及其异质结的光电性质

采用射频磁控溅射法,在不同的Ar∶O2条件下,以高掺磷n型Si衬底为磷掺杂源制备了p型ZnO薄膜和p-ZnO/n-Si异质结。对ZnO∶P薄膜进行了光致发光谱(PL)、霍尔参数、I-V特性、扫描电镜(SEM)和X射线衍射谱(XRD)等测试。结果表明,获得的ZnO∶P薄膜沿(0002)晶面高取向生长,以3.33 eV近带边紫外发光为主,伴有2.69 eV附近的深能级绿色发光峰,空穴浓度为8.982×1017/cm3,空穴迁移率为9.595 cm2/V.s,p-ZnO/n-Si异质结I-V整流特性明显,表明ZnO∶P薄膜具有p型导电特性。

利用MOCVD技术生长As掺杂的p-ZnMgO薄膜

利用GaAs夹层掺杂的新方法,采用金属有机化学气相沉积(MOVCD)技术,通过控制生长温度,在蓝宝石衬底上成功制备出As掺杂的p型ZnMgO薄膜。利用X射线衍射分析(XRD)、霍尔效应测试和光致发光(PL)谱等表征方法对薄膜的晶体结构、电学性能和光学特性进行分析。结果表明:高温生长的ZnMgO薄膜具有良好的c轴取向性;480～520℃时所制备的ZnMgO薄膜为p型导电,500℃时所制备的样品电阻率最低,为26.33Ω.cm,空穴浓度达1.638×1017 cm-3,迁移率为1.45 cm2/(V.s);室温PL谱显示,制得的p型ZnMgO薄膜具有较大的紫外与可见发光峰强度比,表明其具有良好的光学性能。