Magnetic properties of Mn-doped ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductors

A series of Mn-doped ZnO films have been prepared in different sputtering plasmas by using the inductively coupled plasma enhanced physical vapour deposition. The films show paramagnetic behaviour when they are deposited in an argon plasma. The Hall measurement indicates that ferromagnetism cannot be realized by increasing the electron concentration. However, the room-temperature ferromagnetism is obtained when the films are deposited in a mixed argon-nitrogen plasma. The first-principles calculations reveal that antiferromagnetic ordering is favoured in the case of the substitution of Mn^2＋ for Zn^2＋ without additional acceptor doping. The substitution of N for O （NO^-） is necessary to induce ferromagnetic couplings in the Zn-Mn-O system. The hybridization between N 2p and Mn 3d provides an empty orbit around the Fermi level. The hopping of Mn 3d electrons through the empty orbit can induce the ferromagnetic coupling. The ferromagnetism in the N-doped Zn-Mn-O system possibly originates from the charge transfer between Mn^2＋ and Mn^3＋ via NO^-, The key factor is the empty orbit provided by substituting N for O, rather than the conductivity type or the carrier concentration.

Halogen modified organic porous semiconductors in photocatalysis: mechanism, synthesis, and application

Photocatalysis is considered as the promising energy conversion way to resolve the issues of energy crisis and environmental pollution.As the key point of the photocatalysis,the photocatalyst determines the final conversion efficiency from solar,therefore,the composition and photoelectronic nature of which deserve to be valued.Halogen often affects immensely the intrinsic electron configuration of the matrix because of electrophilic property,and thus its topic has attracted lots of attention for photocatalytic application.In this review,halogencontained organic porous semiconductors are discussed in detailed.Firstly,the role of halogens in photocatalysis based on organic porous semiconductors are categorized.Then,the way to introduce the halogens into organic porous semiconductors and their applications in photocatalysis are reviewed.At last,the outlooks are given at the end of this paper.This review would bring new insights into the non-metal doping engineering for improving the photocatalytic performance of organic semiconductors.

Advances in new generation diluted magnetic semiconductors with independent spin and charge doping

As one branch of spintronics, diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) are extensively investigated due to their fundamental significance and potential application in modern information society. The classical materials (Ga,Mn)As of III-V group based DMSs has been well studied for its high compatibility with the high-mobility semiconductor GaAs. But the Curie temperature in (Ga,Mn)As film is still far below room temperature because the spin & charge doping is bundled to the same element that makes the fabrication very difficult. Alternatively, the discovery of a new generation DMSs with independent spin and charge doping, such as (Ba,K)(Zn,Mn)2As2 (briefly named BZA), attracted considerable attention due to their unique advantages in physical properties and heterojunction fabrication. In this review we focus on this series of new DMSs including (I) materials in terms of three types of new DMSs, i.e. the "111","122" and "1111" system;(II) the physical properties of BZA;(III) single crystals & prototype device based on BZA. The prospective of new type of DMSs with independent spin and charge doping is briefly discussed.

Room temperature ferromagnetism of Si-doped ZnO thin films prepared by sol-gel method

Pure ZnO and Si-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on quartz substrate by using sol-gel spin coating process. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that all the thin films have hexagonal wurtzite structure and preferred c-axis orientation. Si-doped ZnO films show room temperature ferromagnetism （RTFM） and reach the maximum saturation magnetization value of 1.54 kA.m at 3 % Si concentration. RTFM of Si-doped ZnO decreases with the increasing annealing temperature because of the formation of SiO2. Photoluminescence measurements suggest that the RTFM in Si-doped ZnO can be attributed to the defect complex related to zinc vacancies Vzn and oxygen interstitials O1.

High-voltage super-junction lateral double-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor with a partial lightly doped pillar

A novel super-junction lateral double-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor （SJ-LDMOS） with a partial lightly doped P pillar （PD） is proposed. Firstly, the reduction in the partial P pillar charges ensures the charge balance and suppresses the substrate-assisted depletion effect. Secondly, the new electric field peak produced by the P/P junction modulates the surface electric field distribution. Both of these result in a high breakdown voltage （BV）. In addition, due to the same conduction paths, the specific on-resistance （Ron,sp） of the PD SJ-LDMOS is approximately identical to the conventional SJ-LDMOS. Simulation results indicate that the average value of the surface lateral electric field of the PD SJ-LDMOS reaches 20 V/μm at a 15 μm drift length, resulting in a BV of 300 V.

Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of Li-doped ZnO Thin Films Influenced by Annealing Temperature

Li-doped ZnO thin films had been grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering and then annealed under various annealing temperatures. The characteristics of ZnO films were examined by XRD, FESEM, Hall measurement and optical transmission spectra. Results showed that p type conduction was observed in Li doped ZnO films annealed at 500-600 ℃ and thep type ZnO films possessed a good crystalline with c-axis orientation, dense surface, and average transmission of about 85% in visible spectral region.

Universal Theory and Basic Rules of Strain-Dependent Doping Behaviors in Semiconductors

Enhancing the dopability of semiconductors via strain engineering is critical to improving their functionalities,which is,however,largely hindered by the lack of basic rules.In this study,for the first time,we develop a universal theory to understand the total energy changes of point defects(or dopants)with different charge states under strains,which can exhibit either parabolic or superlinear behaviors,determined by the size of defect-induced local volume change(ΔV).In general,ΔV increases(decreases)when an electron is added(removed)to(from)the defect site.Consequently,in terms of this universal theory,three basic rules can be obtained to further understand or predict the diverse strain-dependent doping behaviors,i.e.,defect formation energies,charge-state transition levels,and Fermi pinning levels,in semiconductors.These three basic rules could be generally applied to improve the doping performance or overcome the doping bottlenecks in various semiconductors.

STM and STS investigations of Ce-doped TiO_2 nanoparticles

Ce-doped titanium oxide nanoparticles were investigated in the paper. The surface structures of undoped and Ce-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were observed by scanning tunneling microscopy （STM）. The experimental results of scanning tunneling spectroscopy （STS） show that the surface electronic structures of TiO2 nanoparticles are modified by introducing new electronic states in the surface band gap through cerium ion doping. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of doping concentration on the surface band gap of TiO2.

Effect of defect complex on magnetic properties of (Fe, Mn)-doped ZnO thin films

We have observed room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn-doped and (Fe, Mn)-codoped ZnO thin films grown under different oxygen partial pressures by pulsed laser deposition. The X-ray diffraction and optical transmission spectra studies demonstrate the natural incorporation of Fe and Mn cations into wurtzite ZnO lattices. The effects of transition metal doping and defects on the magnetic properties was investigated. It is found that room temperature ferromagnetism is sensitive to oxygen vacancy and Zn vacancy. The absence of ferromagnetism in pure ZnO films grown under different oxygen partial pressures reveals that the transition metal ions should also play an important role in inducing the ferromagnetism.

Synthesis and characterization of p-type boron-doped IIb diamond large single crystals

High-quality p-type boron-doped IIb diamond large single crystals are successfully synthesized by the temperature gradient method in a china-type cubic anvil high-pressure apparatus at about 5.5 GPa and 1600 K. The morphologies and surface textures of the synthetic diamond crystals with different boron additive quantities are characterized by using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope respectively. The impurities of nitrogen and boron in diamonds are detected by micro Fourier transform infrared technique. The electrical properties including resistivities, Hall coefficients, Hall mobilities and carrier densities of the synthesized samples are measured by a four-point probe and the Hall effect method. The results show that large p-type boron-doped diamond single crystals with few nitrogen impurities have been synthesized. With the increase of quantity of additive boron, some high-index crystal faces such as {113} gradually disappear, and some stripes and triangle pits occur on the crystal surface. This work is helpful for the further research and application of boron-doped semiconductor diamond.

One-pot synthesis and optical properties of In- and Sn-doped ZnO nanoparticles

Colloidal indium-doped zinc oxide (IZO) and tin-doped zinc oxide (ZTO) nanoparticles were successfully prepared in organic solution, with metal acetylacetonate as the precursor and oleylamine as the solvent. The crystal and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV−visible spectrophotometry, and fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively; the surface and structure morphologies were observed by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The XRD patterns of the IZO and ZTO nanoparticles all exhibited similar diffraction peaks consistent with the standard XRD pattern of ZnO, although the diffraction peaks of the IZO and ZTO nanoparticles were slightly shifted with increasing dopant concentration. With increasing dopant concentration, the fluorescent emission peaks of the IZO nanoparticles exhibited an obvious red shift because of the difference in atomic radii of indium and zinc, whereas those of the ZTO nanoparticles exhibited almost no shift because of the similarity in atomic radii of tin and zinc. Furthermore, the sizes of the IZO and ZTO nanoparticles distributed in the ranges 20–40 and 20–25 nm, respectively, which is attributed to the difference in ionic radii of indium and tin. © 2017, University of Science and Technology Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Effects of temperature and Nickel content on magnetic properties of Ni-doped ZnO

Magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs), Ni-doped ZnO materials, prepared by sol-gel method were investigated by measuring magnetization as functions of magnetic field. The Ni content affects the magnetic properties at low sintered temperature but it has few effects on the magnetic properties at high sintered temperature. The sintered temperature has great effects on the magnetic properties of Ni/ZnO at high original mole ratio of Ni/Zn while it has slight effects on the magnetic properties of Ni/ZnO at low original mole ratio of Ni/Zn whatever low or high sintered temperature.

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.

The effects of Zn vacancies on ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO films controlled by oxygen pressure and Li doping

Zn0.99Cu0.01O films were studied experimentally and theoretically. The films were prepared by pulsed-laser deposition on Pt（111）/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates under various oxygen pressures to investigate the growth-dependence of the ferromagnetic properties. The structural, magnetic, and optical properties were studied, and it was found that all the samples possess a typical wurtzite structure, and that the films exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism. The sample deposited at 600 ℃ and an oxygen pressure of 10 Pa showed a large saturation magnetization of 0.83 μB/Cu. The enhanced ferromagnetism in the （Cu, Li）-codoped ZnO is attributable to the existence of Zn vacancies （Vzn）, as shown by first-principles calcu- lations. The photoluminescence analysis demonstrated the existence of Vzn in both Zn0.99Cu0.01 O and （Cu, Li）-codoped ZnO thin films, and this plays an important role in the increase of ferromagnetism, according to the results of first-principles calculations.

Growth and Properties of In-Doped Semi-insulating GaAs Crystals

Semi-insulating (SI) GaAs doped with indium has been grown and characterized. The relationship between the dislocation density and dopant concentration has been discussed. Study of the uniformity of electric properties of In-doped SI-GaAs, which has been annealed at 950°C for 6h under arsenic pressure, associates with decreases of point defects and arsenic vacancies.

Nearly Degenerate Four-Wave Mixing in Semiconductor-doped Glasses

This paper presents the nearly degenerate four wave mixing properties of glass doped with semiconductor CdS x Se 1-x ,nonlinear response time of the material obtained by the laser induced transient grating technique,and properties of photoluminescence of the glass and the blue shift in the luminescence spectra with an increasing intensity of input beam as well. The nonlinearity of the material is believed to be due to the band filling in semiconductor microcrystallites.

Tailoring the structural and magnetic properties of Cu-doped ZnO by c-axis pressure

The structural and magnetic properties of the Cu-doped ZnO（ZnO：Cu） under c-axis pressure were studied using first-principle calculations. It was found that the ZnO：Cu undergoes a structural transition from Wurtzite to Graphite-like structure at a c-axis pressure of 7–8 GPa. This is accompanied by an apparent loss of ferromagnetic stability, indicating a magnetic transformation from a ferromagnetic state to a paramagnetic-like state. Further studies revealed that the magnetic instability is closely related to the variation in crystalline field originated from the structural transition, which is in association with the overlapping of spin–charge density between the Cu^2＋ and adjacent O^2-.

A first-principles study of the magnetic properties in boron-doped ZnO

First-principles calculations based on density functional theory are performed to study the origin of ferromagnetism in boron-doped ZnO. It is found that boron atoms tend to reside at Zn sites. The induced Zn vacancy is a key factor for ferromagnetism in Znl-xBxO （0 〈 x 〈 1） systems. The nearest oxygen atoms coordinated with the B Zn vacancy pair show a few hole states in the 2p orbitals and induce magnetic moments. However, the configuration of two boron atoms inducing one Zn vacancy is nonmagnetic, with a lower formation energy than that of the B-Zn vacancy pair. This explains the difference between the theoretical and experimental magnetic moments.

Quantum diffusion in bilateral doped chains

In this paper, we quantitatively study the quantum diffusion in a bilateral doped chain, which is randomly doped on both sides. A tight binding approximation and quantum dynamics are used to calculate the three electronic characteristics： autocorrelation function C（t）, the mean square displacement d（t） and the participation number P（E） in different doping situations. The results show that the quantum diffusion is more sensitive to the small ratio of doping than to the big one, there exists a critical doping ratio qo, and C（t）, d（t） and P（E） have different variation trends on different sides of qo. For the self-doped chain, the doped atoms have tremendous influence on the central states of P（E）, which causes the electronic states distributed in other energy bands to aggregate to the central band （E = 0） and form quasi-mobility edges there. All of the doped systems experience an incomplete transition of metal-semiconductor-metal.

Growth of Fe-Doped and V-Doped MoS2 and Their Magnetic-Electrical Effects

Magnetism in two-dimensional(2D)materials has attracted much attention recently.However,intrinsic magnetic 2D materials are rare and mostly unstable in ambient.Although heteroatom doping can introduce magnetism,the basic property especially the electrical-magnetic coupling property has been rarely revealed.Herein,both iron(Fe)-doped and vanadium(V)-doped MoSfilms were grown by chemical vapor deposition.Through studying the structure and electrical property of Fe-doped and V-doped MoS,it was found that both Fe and V doping would decrease the electron concentration,exhibiting a p-type doping effect.Significantly,V-doped MoSdisplays a p-type conduction behavior.Although the carrier mobility decreases after heteroatom doping,both Fe and V doping could endow MoSwith magnetism,in which the transfer curves of both MoStransistors exhibit a strong magneticdependent behavior.It is found that the magnetic response of Fe-doped MoScan be tuned from~0.2 nA/T to~1.3 nA/T,with the tunability much larger than that of V-doped MoS.At last,the magnetic mechanism is discussed with the local magnetic property performed by magnetic force microscopy.The typical morphology-independent magnetic signal demonstrates the formed magnetic domain structure in Fe-doped MoS.This study opens new potential to design novel magnetic-electrical devices.