Inorganic Halide Perovskite Quantum Dots:A Versatile Nanomaterial Platform for Electronic Applications

Metal halide perovskites have generated significant attention in recent years because of their extraordinary physical properties and photovoltaic performance.Among these,inorganic perovskite quantum dots(QDs)stand out for their prominent merits,such as quantum confinement effects,high photoluminescence quantum yield,and defect-tolerant structures.Additionally,ligand engineering and an all-inorganic composition lead to a robust platform for ambient-stable QD devices.This review presents the state-of-the-art research progress on inorganic perovskite QDs,emphasizing their electronic applications.In detail,the physical properties of inorganic perovskite QDs will be introduced first,followed by a discussion of synthesis methods and growth control.Afterwards,the emerging applications of inorganic perovskite QDs in electronics,including transistors and memories,will be presented.Finally,this review will provide an outlook on potential strategies for advancing inorganic perovskite QD technologies.

Tight-binding study of quantum transport in nanoscale GaAs Schottky MOSFET

This paper explores the band structure effect to elucidate the feasibility of an ultra-scaled GaAs Schottky MOSFET （SBFET） in a nanoscale regime. We have employed a 20-band sp3dSs＊ tight-binding （TB） approach to compute E - K dis- persion. The considerable difference between the extracted effective masses from the TB approach and bulk values implies that quantum confinement affects the device performance. Beside high injection velocity, the ultra-scaled GaAs SBFET suffers from a low conduction band DOS in the F valley that results in serious degradation of the gate capacitance. Quan- tum confinement also results in an increment of the effective Schottky barrier height （SBH）. Enhanced Schottky barriers form a double barrier potential well along the channel that leads to resonant tunneling and alters the normal operation of the SBFET. Major factors that may lead to resonant tunneling are investigated. Resonant tunneling occurs at low temperatures and low drain voltages, and gradually diminishes as the channel thickness and the gate length scale down. Accordingly, the GaAs （100） SBFET has poor ballistic performance in nanoscale regime.

On the binding energies of excitons in polar quantum well structures in a weak electric field

The binding energies of excitons in quantum well structures subjected to an applied uniform electric field by taking into account the exciton longitudinal optical phonon interaction is calculated. The binding energies and corresponding Stark shifts for Ⅲ-Ⅴ and Ⅱ-Ⅵ compound semiconductor quantum well structures have been numerically computed. The results for GaAs/A1GaAs and ZnCdSe/ZnSe quantum wells are given and discussed. Theoretical results show that the exciton-phonon coupling reduces both the exciton binding energies and the Stark shifts by screening the Coulomb interaction. This effect is observable experimentally and cannot be neglected.

Phonon thermal transport properties of XB_(2)(X=Mg and Al)compounds:considering quantum confinement and electron-phonon interaction

XB_(2)(X=Mg and Al)compounds have drawn great attention for their superior electronic characteristics and potential applications in semiconductors and superconductors.The study of phonon thermal transport properties of XB_(2)is significant to their application and mechanism behind research.In this work,the phonon thermal transport properties of three-dimensional(3D)and two-dimensional(2D)XB_(2)were studied by first-principles calculations.After considering the electron-phonon interaction(EPI),the thermal conductivities(TCs)of 3D Mg B_(2)and 3D Al B_(2)decrease by 29%and 16%which is consistent with experimental values.Moreover,the underlying mechanisms of reduction on lattice TCs are the decrease in phonon lifetime and heat capacity when considering quantum confinement effect.More importantly,we are surprised to find that there is a correlation between quantum confinement effect and EPI.The quantum confinement will change the phonon and electron characteristics which has an impact on EPI.Overall,our work is expected to provide insights into the phonon thermal transport properties of XB_(2)compounds considering EPI and quantum confinement effect.

Recent Progress of Layered Perovskite Solar Cells Incorporating Aromatic Spacers

Layered two dimensional(2D) or quasi-2D perovskites are emerging photovoltaic materials due to their superior environment and structure stability in comparison with their 3D counterparts. The typical 2D perovskites can be obtained by cutting 3D perovskites along < 100 > orientation by incorporation of bulky organic spacers, which play a key role in the performance of 2D perovskite solar cells(PSCs). Compared with aliphatic spacers, aromatic spacers with high dielectric constant have the potential to decrease the dielectric and quantum confinement effect of 2D perovskites, promote efficient charge transport and reduce the exciton binding energy, all of which are beneficial for the photovoltaic performance of 2D PSCs. In this review, we aim to provide useful guidelines for the design of aromatic spacers for 2D perovskites. We systematically reviewed the recent progress of aromatic spacers used in 2D PSCs. Finally, we propose the possible design strategies for aromatic spacers that may lead to more efficient and stable 2D PSCs.

Novel method to determine effective length of quantum confinement using fractional-dimension space approach

The binding energy and effective mass of a polaron confined in a GaAs film deposited on an AlGal-xAs substrate are investigated, for different film thickness values and aluminum concentra- tions and within the framework of the fractional-dimensional space approach. Using this scheme, we propose a new method to define the effective length of the quantum confinement. The limita- tions of the definition of the original effective well width are discussed, and the binding energy and effective mass of a polaron confined in a GaAs film are obtained. The fl-actional-dimensional theo- retical results are shown to be in good agreement with previous, more detailed calculations based on second-order perturbation theory.

Silicon nanoparticles: Preparation, properties, and applications

Silicon nanoparticles have attracted great attention in the past decades because of their intriguing physical properties, active surface state, distinctive photoluminescence and biocompatibility. In this review, we present some of the recent progress in preparation methodologies and surface functionalization approaches of silicon nanoparticles. Further, their promising applications in the fields of energy and electronic engineering are introduced.

Photoluminescence Properties of Nanocrystalline 3C-SiC Films

Nanocrystalline （nc） 3C-SiC films on the Si substrate were prepared by the helicon wave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition （HW-PECVD） technique. With the SiH4-CH4 gas flow ratio changing, the films exhibit different photoluminescence （PL） characteristics. Under the stoichiometric condition, the PL peak redshift from 470 nm to 515 nm is detected with the increase of excitation wavelength, which can be attributed to the quantum confinement effect radiation of 3C-SiC nanocrystals of different sizes. However, the appearance of an additional PL band at 436 nm in Si-rich film might be sourced back to the excess of Si defect centers in it. This is also the case for C-rich film for its PL band lying at 570 nm. The results above quoted indicate an important influence of gas flow ratio on the PL properties of the SiC films providing an effective guidance for analyzing the luminescence mechanism and exploring the high-efficiency light emission of the SiC films.

Band structure of silicon and germanium thin films based on first principles

In nanomaterials, optical anisotropies reveal a fundamental relationship between structural and optical properties, in which directional optical properties can be exploited to enhance the performance of optoelectronic devices. First principles calculation based on density functional theory （DFT） with the generalized gradient approximation （GGA） are carried out to investigate the energy band gap structure on silicon （Si） and germanium （Ge） nanofilms. Simulation results show that the band gaps in Si （100） and Ge （111） nanofilms become the direct-gap structure in the thickness range less than 7.64 nm and 7.25 nm respectively, but the band gaps of Si （111） and Ge （110） nanofilms still keep in an indirect-gap structure and are independent on film thickness, and the band gaps of Si （110） and Ge （100） nanofilms could be transferred into the direct-gap structure in nanofilms with smaller thickness. It is amazing that the band gaps of Si（1-x）/ZGexSi（1-x）/2 sandwich structure become the direct-gap structure in a certain area whether （111） or （100） surface. The band structure change of Si and Ge thin films in three orientations is not the same and the physical mechanism is very interesting, where the changes of the band gaps on the Si and Ge nanofilms follow the quantum confinement effects.

Metallic Graphene Nanoribbons

Isolated graphene nanoribbons(GNRs)usually have energy gaps,which scale with their widths,owing to the lateral quantum confinement effect of GNRs.The absence of metallic GNRs limits their applications in device interconnects or being one-dimensional physics platform to research amazing properties based on metallicity.A recent study published in Science provided a novel method to produce metallic GNRs by inserting a symmetric superlattice into other semiconductive GNRs.This finding will broader the applications of GNRs both in nanoelectronics and fundamental science.

Physical Parameter Variation Analysis on the Performance Characteristics of Nano DG-MOSFETs

DG-MOSFETs are the most widely explored device architectures for nano-scale CMOS circuit design in sub-50 nm due to the improved subthreshold slope and the reduced leakage power compared to bulk MOSFETs. In thin-film (tsi < 10 nm) DG-MOS structures, charge carriers are affected by tsi- induced quantum confinement along with the confinement caused by a very high electric field at the interface. Therefore, quantum confinement effects on the device characteristics are also quite important and it needs to be incorporated along with short channel effects for nano-scale circuit design. In this paper, we analyzed a DG-MOSFET structure at the 20 nm technology node incorporating quantum confinement effects and various short channel effects. The effect of physical parameter variations on performance characteristics of the device such as threshold voltage, subthreshold slope, ION - IOFF ratio, DIBL, etc. has been investigated and plotted through extensive TCAD simulations. The physical parameters considered in this paper are operating temperature (Top), channel doping concentration (Nc), gate oxide thickness (tox) and Silicon film thickness (tsi). It was observed that quantum confinement of charge carriers significantly affected the performance characteristics (mostly the subthreshold characteristics) of the device and therefore, it cannot be ignored in the subthreshold region-based circuit design like in many previous research works. The ATLASTM device simulator has been used in this paper to perform simulation and parameter extraction. The TCAD analysis presented in the manuscript can be incorporated for device modeling and device matching. It can be used to illustrate exact device behavior and for proper device control.

Electrically pumped terahertz laser based on a topological insulator quantum dot array

The energy level separation between the edge states in topological insulator quantum dots lies in the terahertz(THz) range.Quantum confinement ensures the nonuniformity of the energy level separation near the Dirac point. Based on these features, we propose that a topological insulator quantum dot array can be operated as an electrically pumped continuous-wave THz laser. The proposed device can operate at room temperature, with power exceeding 10 mW and quantum efficiency reaching ~50%. This study may promote the usage of topological insulator quantum dots as an important source of THz radiation.

Recent progresses on InGaN quantum dot light-emitting diodes

InGaN quantum dots （QDs） have attracted many research interests in recent years for their potentials to realize long wavelength visible emission from green to red, which can pave a way to fabricate the phosphor-free white light emitting diodes （LEDs）. In this paper, we reported our recent progresses on InGaN QD LEDs, the discussions were dedicated to the basic physics model of the strain relaxation in self-assembled InGaN QDs, the growth of InGaN QDs with a growth interruption method by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy, the optimization of GaN barrier growth in multilayer InGaN QDs, the demonstration of green, yellow-green and red InGaN QD LEDs, and future challenges.