Electrical and Optical Properties of GaSe Thin Films

The structure, electrical transport, and optical properties of GaSe films fabricated by means of radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering in Ar were investigated. The as-sputtered GaSe films were amorphous, and their optical energy gap Eg are 1.9～2.6 eV. The effect of the synthesis conditions on the optical and electrical properties of the GaSe films has also been studied

Effect of compensation doping on the electrical and optical properties of mid-infrared type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice photodetectors

This paper presents a theoretical study on the electrical and optical properties of mid-infrared type-II InAs/GaSb superlattices with different beryllium concentrations in the InAs layer of the active region. Dark current, resistancearea product, absorption coefficient and quantum efficiency characteristics are thoroughly examined. The superlattice is residually n-type and it becomes slightly p-type by varying beryllium-doping concentrations, which improves its electrical performances. The optical performances remain almost unaffected with relatively low p-doping levels and begin to deteriorate with increasing p-doping density. To make a compromise between the electrical and optical performances, the photodetector with a doping concentration of 3 ×10^15 cm-3 in the active region is believed to have the best overall performances.

Electrical and optical properties of Sb-doped ZnO thin films synthesized by sol–gel method

Sb-doped ZnO thin films with different values of Sb content （from 0 to 1.1 at.%） are deposited by the sol-gel dip- coating method under different sol concentrations. The effects of Sb-doping content, sol concentration, and annealing ambient on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of ZnO films are investigated. The results of the X-ray diffraction and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy （UV-VIS） spectrophotometer indicate that each of all the films retains the wurtzite ZnO structure and possesses a preferred orientation along the c axis, with high transmittance （〉 90%） in the visible range. The Hall effect measurements show that the vacuum annealed thin films synthesized in the sol concentration of 0.75 mol/L each have an adjustable n-type electrical conductivity by varying Sb-doping density, and the photoluminescence （PL） spectra revealed that the defect emission （around 450 nm） is predominant. However, the thin films prepared by the sol with a concentration of 0.25 mol/L, despite their poor conductivity, have priority in ultraviolet emission, and the PL peak position shows first a blue-shift and then a red-shift with the increase of the Sb doping content.

Nanopores/Nanochannels Based on Electrical and Optical Dual Signal Response for Application in Biological Detection

Cancers and chronic diseases have always been global health problems. The occurrence and development of such diseases are closely related to the abnormalities of proteins, nucleic acids, ions or small molecules in the body. Nowadays, nanopores/nanochannels have emerged as a powerful platform for detecting these biomolecules based on the electrical signal variation caused by biomolecules passing. However, detection relied on the electrical signal easily suffered from the clogging defects, low throughput, and strong background signals. Fortunately, the emergence of designing nanopores/nanochannels based on electrical and optical dual signal response has brought innovative impetus to biological detection, which can also identify the chemical compositions and conformations of the biomolecules. In this review, we summarize the reasonable preparation of nanopores/nanochannels with electrical and optical dual signal response and their application in biological detection. According to different biomolecules, we divide the targets into four types, including nucleic acids, small molecules, ions and proteins. In each section, the design of representative examples and the principle of dual signal generation are introduced and discussed. Finally, the prospects and challenges of nanopores/nanochannels based on electrical and optical dual signal response are also discussed.

Effect of Annealing on Microstructure and Electrical Characteristics of Doped Poly （3-Hexylthiophene） Films

The effect of annealing on the microstructure and electrical characteristics of poly （3-hexylthiophene） （P3HT） films doped with very small amounts of the electron acceptor 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane （F4-TCNQ） is studied. X-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectrum studies show that unlike the pure P3HT film, the thermal treatment on the doped fihns under an Ar atmosphere can effectively enhance the crystalline order of P3HT films, as well as successfully facilitate the orientation of the polymer chains. This improvement is attributed to the electrostatic force between P3HT and F4-TCNQ molecules. This force induces the polymer chains to crystallize and orient during the annealing process. As a result, annealing significantly improves performance, especially for the Ion/Ioff ratio of the TFTs based on the doped P3HT films.

Nonlinear Optical Properties and Ultrafast Dynamics of Undoped and Doped Bulk SiC

Ultrafast third-order nonlinear optical response of bulk 6H-SiC undoped and doped with different nitrogen concentrations are investigated utilizing femtosecond Z-scan and optical Kerr effect （OKE） techniques at the wavelength of 800hm. The Z-scan measurement shows that the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities of the doped samples are improved in comparison to the intrinsic sample. The OKE results additionally reveal that the instantaneous nonlinear optical response of the samples can be ascribed to the distortion of the electron cloud. The ultrafast transient spectroscopic measurements with the one-color and two-color pump-probe techniques demonstrate that the ultrafast recovery process in subpicosecond domain is induced by two-photon absorption process, while the slow relaxation component reflects the carrier dynamics of the excited electrons.

First-Principles Investigations of the Phase Transition and Optical Properties of Solid Oxygen

Using density-functional-theory calculations, a monoclinic metallic post-ζ phase （space group C2/c） is predicted at 215 GPa. The calculated phonon dispersion curves suggest that this structure is stable at least up to 310 GPa. Oxygen remains a molecular crystal and there is no dissociation in the related pressure range. Moreover, it is found that the phase transition from （ to post-ζ phase is attributed to phonon softening, The significant change in the optical properties can be used to identify the phase transition.

Influence of Substrate Temperature and Nitrogen Gas on Zinc Nitride Thin Films Prepared by RF Reactive Sputtering

Zinc nitride （Zn3N2） thin films were prepared by radio frequency （RF） magnetron sputtering on quartz glass at different substrate temperatures.The structure and composition were characterized by X-ray diffraction and Raman-scattering measurements,respectively.The polycrystalline phase Zn3N2 films appeared when the ratio of the N2 partial pressure to the total pressure reached 1/2.The effects of the substrate temperature on the electrical and optical properties of the Zn3N2 films were investigated by Hall measurements and optical transmission spectra.The electrical and optical properties of the films were highly dependent on the substrate temperature.With the substrate temperature increasing from 100 to 300℃,the resistivity of the Zn3N2 films decreased from 0.49 to 0.023Ω·cm,the carrier concentration increased from 2.7×10^16 to 8.2×10^19cm^-3,and the electron mobility decreased from 115 to 32cm^2/（V·s）.The deposited Zn3N2 films were considered to be n-type semiconductors with a direct optical band gap,which was around 1.23eV when the substrate temperature was 200℃.

Effect of the Sputtering Parameters on the Structure and Properties of Cu_3N Thin Film Materials

Copper nitride （Cu3N） thin films were successfully deposited on glass substrates by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering.The effects of sputtering parameters on the structure and properties of the films were studied.The experimental results show that with increasing of RF power and nitrogen partial pressure,the preferential crystalline orientation of Cu3N film is changed from （111） to （100）.With increasing of substrate temperature from 70 ℃ to 200 ℃,the film phase is changed from Cu3N phase to Cu.With increasing sputtering power from 80 W to 120 W,the optical energy decreases from 1.85 eV to 1.41 eV while the electrical resistivity increases from 1.45 ×102 Ω·cm to 2.99×103 Ω·cm,respectively.

Effect of Oxygen Partial Pressure on Epitaxial Growth and Properties of Laser-Ablated AZO Thin Films

Al-doped ZnO（AZO） thin films were grown on c-sapphire substrates by laser ablation under different oxygen partial pressures（P_（O2））.The effect of P_（O2） on the crystal structure,preferred orientation as well as the electrical and optical properties of the films was investigated.The structure characterizations indicated that the as-grown films were single-phased with a wurtzite ZnO structure,showing a significant c-axis orientation.The films were well crystallized and exhibited better crystallinity and denser texture when deposited at higher P_（O2）.At the optimum oxygen partial pressures of 10- 15 Pa,the AZO thin films were epitaxially grown on c-sapphire substrates with the（0001） plane parallel to the substrate surface,i e,the epitaxial relationship was AZO（000 1） // A1_2O_3（000 1）.With increasing P_（O2）,the value of Hall carrier mobility was increased remarkably while that of carrier concentration was decreased slightly,which led to an enhancement in electrical conductivity of the AZO thin films.All the films were highly transparent with an optical transmittance higher than 85%.

Study of the Formation Conditions of Aluminum Oxide Nanoparticles in an Overstressed Nanosecond Discharge Between Aluminum Electrodes in a Mixture of Nitrogen and Oxygen

The results of the study of oscillograms of voltage,current,pulsed electric power and energy input into the plasma of an overstressed nanosecond discharge between aluminum electrodes in argon and mixtures of nitrogen with oxygen(100-1)at pressures in the range of 13.3-103.3 kPa are presented,the emission plasma spectra are studied.It is shown that in mixtures of nitrogen with oxygen at atmospheric pressure,nanoparticles of aluminum oxide(Al2O3)are formed,the luminescence of which manifests itself in the spectral range of 200-600 nm and which is associated with the formation of F-,F+-centers and more complex aggregate formations based on oxygen vacancies.Calculations of the electron-kinetic coefficients of plasma,transport characteristics,such as mean electron energies in the range 5.116-13.41 eV,are given.The electron concentration was 1.6∙10^(20)m^(-3)-1.1∙10^(20)m^(-3)at a current density of 5.1∙10^(6)A/m^(2)and l.02∙10^(7)A/m^(2)on the surface of the electrode of the radiation source(0.196·10^(-4)m^(2)).Also drift velocities,temperatures and concentrations of electrons,specific losses of the discharge power for elastic and inelastic processes of collisions of electrons per unit of the total concentration of the mixture from the reduced electric field strength(E/N)for a mixture of aluminum,nitrogen,oxygen,rate constants of collisions of electrons with aluminum atoms on the E/N parameter in plasma on a mixture of aluminum vapor,oxygen and nitrogen=30:1000:100000 Pa at a total mixture pressure of P=101030 Pa are given.

Physical and Chemical Properties of GdN: A Critical Comparison between Single Crystals and Thin Films, Theory and Experiment

Since about 10 years, there is a controversy about physics and chemistry of GdN between stoichiometric (tested) large single crystals and off-stoichiometric thin films. GdN single crystals are anti-ferromagnetic for applied magnetic fields of only 10 Oe, become ferromagnetic for excess electrons and larger magnetic fields. They are semimetallic. Thin films are ferromagnetic and semiconductors. Over the time, many experiments have been performed on both systems and the physics in each system is consistent. Band structure computations either yield ferromagnetic semimetals or ferromagnetic semiconducting thin films. There seems to be two incompatible worlds, those of single crystals and those of thin films. In the present work, the author compares directly the various measurements and calculations and gives reasons for their different results.

Effects of H on Electronic Structure and Ideal Tensile Strength of W： A First-Principles Calculation

We investigate the structure, energetics, and the ideal tensile strength of tungsten （W） with hydrogen （H） using a first-principles method. Both density of states （DOS） and the electron localization function （ELF） reveal the underlying physical mechanism that the tetrahedral interstitial H is the most energetically favorable. The firstprinciples computational tensile test （FPCTT） shows that the ideal tensile strength is 29.1 GPa at the strain of 14% along the [001] direction for the intrinsic W, while it decreases to 27.1 GPa at the strain of 12% when one impurity H atom is embedded into the bulk W. These results provide a useful reference to understand W as a plasma facing material in the nuclear fusion Tokamak.

Off-Resonant Third-Order Optical Nonlinearity of Au Nanoparticle Array by Femtosecond Z-scan Measurement

A periodic triangular-shaped Au nanoparticle array is fabricated on a quartz substrate using nanosphere lithography and pulsed laser deposition, and the linear and nonlinear optical properties of metal particles are studied. The morphology of the polystyrene nanosphere mask （D = 820 nm） and the Au nanoparticle array are investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The surface plasmon resonance absorption peak is observed at 606 nm, which is in good agreement with the calculated result using the discrete dipole approximation method. By performing the Z-scan method with femtosecond laser （800 nm, 50 fs）, the optical nonlinearities of A u nanoparticle array are determined. The results show that the Au particles exhibit negative nonlinear absorption and positive nonlinear refractive index with the effective third-order optical nonlinear susceptibility Xeff^（3） can be up to （8.8 ± 1.0）× 10^-10 esu under non-resonant femtosecond laser excitation.

Characterization of ZnO:Al Films Deposited on Organic Substrate by r.f. Magnetron Sputtering

Transparent conducting Al-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:AI) films with good adhesion have been deposited on polyimide thin film substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering technique at low substrate temperature (25-180℃). The structural, optical and electrical properties of the deposited films were investigated. High quality films with electrical resistivity as low as 8.5×10-4 Ω·cm and the average transmittance over 74% in the wavelength range of the visible spectrum have been obtained. The electron carrier concentrations are in the range from 2.9×1020 to 7.1×1020 cm-3 with mobilities from 4 to 8.8 cm2 V-1s-1. The densities of the films are in the range from 4.58 to 5.16 g/cm-3.

Atmospheric Pressure Carbon Dioxide Plasma Jet Generated by Alternating Current Driven Non-thermal Arc Plasma Torch

An atmospheric-pressure carbon dioxide(CO_2) plasma jet(CPJ) produced by alternating current driven non-thermal arc plasma torch is presented.The discharge features of CPJ and their non-linear behavior are analyzed based on the temporal evolution of voltage and current.With the increase of gas flowrate,the quantities of the current and voltage spikes increase in an operation cycle of power supply.The spatial gas temperature distribution is obtained by the gray value method,which basically agrees well with that of determined by the diatomic molecule of OH fitting method in experimental errors.

ZnO-Based Transparent Thin-Film Transistors with MgO Gate Dielectric Grown by in-situ MOCVD

ZnO transparent thin-film transistors with MgO gate dielectric were fabricated by in-situ metal organic chemicM vapor deposition （MOCVD） technology. We used an uninterrupted growth method to simplify the fabrication steps and to avoid the unexpectable contaminating during epitaxy process. MgO layer is helpful to reduce the gate leakage current, as well as to achieve high transparency in visible light band, due to the wide band gap （7. 7eV） and high dielectric constant （9.8）. The XRD measurement indicates that the ZnO layer has high crystal quality. The field effect mobility and the on/off current ratio of the device is 2.69cm^2V^-1s^-1 and - 1 × 10^4, respectively.

Highly Efficient Simplified Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Utilizing F4-TCNQ as an Anode Buffer Layer

We demonstrate that the electroluminescent performances of organic light-emitting diodes （OLEDs） are significantly improved by evaporating a thin F4-TCNQ film as an anode buffer layer on the ITO anode. The optimum Alq3-based OLEDs with F4-TCNQ buffer layer exhibit a lower turn-on voltage of 2.6 V, a higher brightness of 39820cd/m^2 at 13 V, and a higher current efficiency of 5.96cd/A at 6 V, which are obviously superior to those of the conventional device （turn-on voltage of 4.1 V, brightness of 18230cd/m^2 at 13 V, and maximum current efficiency of 2.74calla at 10 V）. Furthermore, the buffered devices with F4-TCNQ as the buffer layer could not only increase the efficiency but also simplify the fabrication process compared with the p-doped devices in which F4-TCNQ is doped into β-NPB as p-HTL （3.11 cd/A at 7 V）. The reason why the current efficiency of the p-doped devices is lower than that of the buffered devices is analyzed based on the concept of doping, the measurement of absorption and photoluminescence spectra of the organic materials, and the current density-voltage characteristics of the corresponding hole-only devices.

Annealing Effect on Photovoltages of Quartz Single Crystals

We investigate the photovoltaic effects of quartz single crystals annealed at high temperatures in ambient atmosphere. The open-circuit photovoltages and surface morphologies strongly depend on the heating treatments. When the annealing temperature increases from room temperature to 900℃, the rms roughness of quartz single crystal wafers increases from 0.207 to 1.011 nm. In addition, the photovoltages decrease from 1.994μV at room temperature to 1.551 μV after treated at 500℃, and then increase up to 9.8μV after annealed at 900℃. The inner mechanism of the present photovoltaic response and surface morphologies is discussed.

Effect of High Temperature Annealing on Conduction-Type ZnO Films Prepared by Direct-Current Magnetron Sputtering

We experimentally find that the ZnO thin films deposited by dc-magnetron sputtering have different conduction types after annealing at high temperature in different ambient. Hall measurements show that ZnO films annealed at 1100℃ in N2 and in 02 ambient become n-type and p-type, respectiveIy. This is due to the generation of different intrinsic defects by annealing in different ambient. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and photolumineseence measurements indicate that zinc interstitial becomes a main defects after annealing at 1100℃ in N2 ambient, and these defects play an important role for n-type conductivity of ZnO. While the ZnO films annealed at 1100℃ in O2 ambient, the oxygen antisite contributes ZnO films to p-type.