Molecular dynamics study on the dependence of thermal conductivity on size and strain in GaN nanofilms

The thermal conductivity of GaN nanofilm is simulated by using the molecular dynamics(MD)method to explore the influence of the nanofilm thickness and the pre-strain field under different temperatures.It is demonstrated that the thermal conductivity of GaN nanofilm increases with the increase of nanofilm thickness,while decreases with the increase of temperature.Meanwhile,the thermal conductivity of strained GaN nanofilms is weakened with increasing the tensile strain.The film thickness and environment temperature can affect the strain effect on the thermal conductivity of GaN nanofilms.In addition,the analysis of phonon properties of GaN nanofilm shows that the phonon dispersion and density of states of GaN nanofilms can be significantly modified by the film thickness and strain.The results in this work can provide the theoretical supports for regulating the thermal properties of GaN nanofilm through tailoring the geometric size and strain engineering.

On the role of piezoelectricity in phonon properties and thermal conductivity of GaN nanofilms

The effect of piezoelectricity on phonon properties and thermal conductivity of gallium nitride （GaN） nanofilms is theoretically investigated. The elasticity model is utilized to derive the phonon properties in spatially confined GaN nanofilms. The piezoelectric constitutive relation in GaN nanofilms is taken into account in calculating the phonon dispersion relation. The modified phonon group velocity and phonon density of state as well as the phonon thermal conductivity are also obtained due to the contribution of piezoelectricity. Theoretical results show that the piezoelectricity in GaN nanofilms can change significantly the phonon properties such as the phonon group velocity and density of states, resulting in the variation of the phonon thermal conductivity of GaN nanofilms remarkably. Moreover, the piezoelectricity of GaN can modify the dependence of thermal conductivity on the geometrical size and temperature. These results can be useful in modeling the thermal performance in the active region of GaN-based electronic devices.

Influence of surface scattering on the thermal properties of spatially confined GaN nanofilm

Gallium nitride（GaN）, the notable representative of third generation semiconductors, has been widely applied to optoelectronic and microelectronic devices due to its excellent physical and chemical properties. In this paper, we investigate the surface scattering effect on the thermal properties of GaN nanofilms. The contribution of surface scattering to phonon transport is involved in solving a Boltzmann transport equation（BTE）. The confined phonon properties of GaN nanofilms are calculated based on the elastic model. The theoretical results show that the surface scattering effect can modify the cross-plane phonon thermal conductivity of GaN nanostructures completely, resulting in the significant change of size effect on the conductivity in GaN nanofilm. Compared with the quantum confinement effect, the surface scattering leads to the order-of-magnitude reduction of the cross-plane thermal conductivity in GaN nanofilm. This work could be helpful for controlling the thermal properties of Ga N nanostructures in nanoelectronic devices through surface engineering.

Effects of surface charges on phonon properties and thermal conductivity in GaN nanofilms

Surface charges can modify the elastic modulus of nanostructure,leading to the change of the phonon and thermal properties in semiconductor nanostructure.In this work,the influence of surface charges on the phonon properties and phonon thermal conductivity of GaN nanofilm are quantitatively investigated.In the framework of continuum mechanics,the modified elastic modulus can be derived for the nanofilm with surface charges.The elastic model is presented to analyze the phonon properties such as the phonon dispersion relation,phonon group velocity,density of states of phonons in nanofilm with the surface charges.The phonon thermal conductivity of nanofilm can be obtained by considering surface charges.The simulation results demonstrate that surface charges can significantly change the phonon properties and thermal conductivity in a GaN nanofilm.Positive surface charges reduce the phonon energy and phonon group velocity but increase the density of states of phonons.The surface charges can change the size and temperature dependence of phonon thermal conductivity of GaN nanofilm.Based on these theoretical results,one can adjust the phonon properties and temperature/size dependent thermal conductivity in GaN nanofilm by changing the surface charges.

基于GaN纳米薄膜的室温三甲胺气体传感器

三甲胺在实验室和工业生产中被广泛使用,由于其具有毒性和挥发性,开发能够在室温下对其进行检测的传感器尤为重要。采用气喷旋涂和高温氮化的方法制备出GaN纳米薄膜,再利用磁控溅射仪对薄膜的两端溅射覆盖一层金作为电极制作成气体传感器单元并进行了一系列气敏测试。在室温条件下,GaN纳米薄膜传感器对10ppm三甲胺的响应值为2.54,响应/恢复时间分别为41 s和139 s,检测下限为1ppm。传感器在1ppm~50ppm三甲胺浓度范围内也呈现出良好的线性响应,并具有优异的重复性、稳定性和选择性。GaN纳米薄膜传感器的表面堆积覆盖有许多的纳米颗粒,形成的独特结构有利于气体分子的吸附。纳米薄膜表面存在大量的化学吸附氧,使得传感器对三甲胺展现出良好的传感性能。

基于银纳米薄膜欧姆接触的高波长选择性紫外探测器研究

常规的半导体紫外探测器波长响应范围宽,而紫外光的应用具有较强的波长选择性,如320nm波段的紫外光在医学方面有重要的应用,因此,具有高波长选择性的紫外探测器的研制有重要意义。文章采用GaN基p-i-n探测器结构,通过在p区覆盖银纳米薄膜作为欧姆接触层和波长选择透射层,成功制备了对320nm波段紫外光高选择性探测的紫外探测器,器件性能如下:70nm银层的紫外光透射率峰值超过30%,器件在-5V偏压下的暗电流为10-12 A量级,响应峰值为0.06A/W,响应峰发生在325nm处,光谱响应峰半高宽约30nm。