Anisotropic metal–insulator transition in strained VO_(2)(B) single crystal

Mechanical strain can induce noteworthy structural and electronic changes in vanadium dioxide, imparting substantial scientific importance to both the exploration of phase transitions and the development of potential technological applications. Unlike the traditional rutile(R) phase, bronze-phase vanadium dioxide [VO_(2)(B)] exhibits an in-plane anisotropic structure. When subjected to stretching along distinct crystallographic axes, VO_(2)(B) may further manifest the axial dependence in lattice–electron interactions, which is beneficial for gaining insights into the anisotropy of electronic transport.Here, we report an anisotropic room-temperature metal–insulator transition in single-crystal VO_(2)(B) by applying in-situ uniaxial tensile strain. This material exhibits significantly different electromechanical responses along two anisotropic axes.We reveal that such an anisotropic electromechanical response mainly arises from the preferential arrangement of a straininduced unidirectional stripe state in the conductive channel. This insulating stripe state could be attributed to the in-plane dimerization within the distorted zigzag chains of vanadium atoms, evidenced by strain-modulated Raman spectra. Our work may open up a promising avenue for exploiting the anisotropy of metal–insulator transition in vanadium dioxide for potential technological applications.

Band structures of strained kagome lattices

Materials with kagome lattices have attracted significant research attention due to their nontrivial features in energy bands.We theoretically investigate the evolution of electronic band structures of kagome lattices in response to uniaxial strain using both a tight-binding model and an antidot model based on a periodic muffin-tin potential.It is found that the Dirac points move with applied strain.Furthermore,the flat band of unstrained kagome lattices is found to develop into a highly anisotropic shape under a stretching strain along y direction,forming a partially flat band with a region dispersionless along ky direction while dispersive along kx direction.Our results shed light on the possibility of engineering the electronic band structures of kagome materials by mechanical strain.

An analytical threshold voltage model for dual-strained channel PMOSFET

Based on the analysis of vertical electric potential distribution across the dual-channel strained p-type Si/strained Si1-xGex/relaxd Si1-yGey（s-Si/s-SiGe/Si1-yGey） metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor （PMOSFET）, analytical expressions of the threshold voltages for buried channel and surface channel are presented. And the maximum allowed thickness of s-Si is given, which can ensure that the strong inversion appears earlier in the buried channel （compressive strained SiGe） than in the surface channel （tensile strained Si）, because the hole mobility in the buried channel is higher than that in the surface channel. Thus they offer a good accuracy as compared with the results of device simulator ISE. With this model, the variations of threshold voltage and maximum allowed thickness of s-Si with design parameters can be predicted, such as Ge fraction, layer thickness, and doping concentration. This model can serve as a useful tool for p-channel s-Si/s-SiGe/Si1-yGey metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor （MOSFET） designs.

Determination of conduction band edge characteristics of strained Si/Si1-xGex

The feature of conduction band （CB） of Tensile-Strained Si（TS-Si） on a relaxed Si1-xGex substrate is systematically investigated, including the number of equivalent CB edge energy extrema, CB energy minima, the position of the extremal point, and effective mass. Based on an analysis of symmetry under strain, the number of equivalent CB edge energy extrema is presented; Using the K.P method with the help of perturbation theory, dispersion relation near minima of CB bottom energy, derived from the linear deformation potential theory, is determined, from which the parameters, namely, the position of the extremal point, and the longitudinal and transverse masses （m1^＊ and mt^＊）are obtained.

Novel vertical stack HCMOSFET with strained SiGe/Si quantum channel

A novel vertical stack heterostructure CMOSFET is investigated, which is structured by strained SiGe/Si with a hole quantum well channel in the compressively strained Sil-xGex layer for p-MOSFET and an electron quantum well channel in the tensile strained Si layer for n-MOSFET. The device possesses several advantages including： 1） the integration of electron quantum well channel with hole quantum well channel into the same vertical layer structure; 2） the gate work function modifiability due to the introduction of poly-SiGe as a gate material; 3） better transistor matching; and 4） flexibility of layout design of CMOSFET by adopting exactly the same material lays for both n-channel and p-channel. The MEDICI simulation result shows that p-MOSFET and n-MOSFET have approximately the same matching threshold voltages. Nice performances are displayed in transfer characteristic, transconductance and cut-off frequency. In addition, its operation as an inverter confirms the CMOSFET structured device to be normal and effective in function.

ELECTRONIC STRUCTURES OF (CdSe)_n/(ZnSe)_m STRAINED-LAYER SUPERLATTICES

The electronic structures of (CdSe)n/(ZnSe)m strained-lager soperfattice (SLS) were investigated by the recursion method in the tight-bindiop opproximation. The total,local, and partial density of states were calculated for n=1, m=5.The total density of states (TDOS) for bulk CdSe, ZnSe and n=1, 3, m=1, 3, 5, for SLS were investigated.Fermi energy, the band gap, the valence of an atom, and the ionization potential and the electron affinity were discassed.

The study on two-dimensional analytical model for gate stack fully depleted strained Si on silicon-germanium-on-insulator MOSFETs

Based on the exact resultant solution of two-dimensional Poisson＇s equation in strained Si and Si1-xCex layer, a simple and accurate two-dimensional.analytical model including surface channel potential, surface channel electric field, threshold voltage and subthreshold swing for fully depleted gate stack strained Si on silicon-germanium-on-insulator （SGOI） MOSFETs has been developed. The results show that this novel structure can suppress the short channel effects （SCE）, the drain-induced barrier-lowering （DIBL） and improve the subthreshold performance in nanoelectronics application. The model is verified by numerical simulation. The model provides the basic designing guidance of gate stack strained Si on SGOI MOSFETs.

Screening influence on the Stark effect of impurity states in strained wurtzite GaN/Al_xGa_(1-x)N heterojunctions under pressure

The screening effect of the random-phase-approximation on the states of shallow donor impurities in free strained wurtzite GaN/AlxGa1-xN heterojunctions under hydrostatic pressure and an external electric field is investigated by using a variational method and a simplified coherent potential approximation. The variations of Stark energy shift with electric field, impurity position, A1 component and areal electron density are discussed. Our results show that the screening dramatically reduces both the blue and red shifts as well as the binding energies of impurity states. For a given impurity position, the change in binding energy is more sensitive to the increase in hydrostatic pressure in the presence of the screening effect than that in the absence of the screening effect. The weakening of the blue and red shifts, induced by the screening effect, strengthens gradually with the increase of electric field. Furthermore, the screening effect weakens the mixture crystal effect, thereby influencing the Stark effect. The screening effect strengthens the influence of energy band bending on binding energy due to the areal electron density.

Time-dependent Early-age Behaviors of Concrete under Restrained Condition

To investigate the early-age behaviors of concrete under a restrained condition, a set of apparatus was developed. In this way, the tensile creep and other early-age properties can be investigated in depth. By measuring the modulus of elasticity of concrete, synchronous shrinkage of concrete and steel rings and free shrinkage of concrete, the deformations of concrete ring can be quantified respectively. The experimental results show the tensile stress in concrete is time-dependent, and the stress at cracking is much lower than the tensile strength at that age; the tensile creep plays an important role in relaxing the tensile stress and postponing the cracking of concrete.

Optical properties of InGaAsBi/GaAs strained quantum wells studied by temperature-dependent photoluminescence

The effect of bismuth on the optical properties of InGaAsBi/GaAs quantum well structures is investigated using the temperature-dependent photoluminescence from 12 K to 450 K.The incorporation of bismuth in the InGaAsBi quantum well is confirmed and found to result in a red shift of photoluminescence wavelength of 27.3 meV at 300 K.The photoluminescence intensity is significantly enhanced by about 50 times at 12 K with respect to that of the InGaAs quantum well due to the surfactant effect of bismuth.The temperature-dependent integrated photoluminescence intensities of the two samples reveal different behaviors related to various non-radiative recombination processes.The incorporation of bismuth also induces alloy non-uniformity in the quantum well,leading to an increased photoluminescence linewidth.

A new method of fabricating strained Silicon materials

Strain-relaxed SiGe virtual substrates are of great importance for fabricating strained Si materials. Instead of using graded buffer method to obtain fully relaxed SiGe film, in this study a new method to obtain relaxed SiGe film and strained Si film with much thinner SiGe film was proposed. Almost fully relaxed thin SiGe buffer layer was obtained by Si/SiGe/Si multi-structure oxidation and the SiO2 layer removing before SiGe regrowth. Raman spectroscopy analysis indicates that the regrown SiGe film has a strain relaxation ratio of about 93% while the Si cap layer has a strain of 0.63%. AFM shows good surface roughness. This new method is proved to be a useful approach to fabricate thin relaxed epilayers and strain Si films.

First-Principles Study of Properties of Strained PbTiO_3/KTaO_3 Superlattice

The impacts of strain and polar discontinuities on the performance of superlattices have attracted widespread attention. Using first-principles calculation, we study the polarization and piezoelectricity of PbTiO3/KTa03 （PTO//KTO） superl^ttices with strain and polsr discontinuities. The strain caused by lattice mismatch between the superlattice and the substrate induces lattice distortion, the displacement of each atom and dynamical charge transfer between the Ti atom or Ta atom and the 0 atoms in the PTO//KTO superlattice. With more compressive or less tensile strain, the polarization value increases linearly, piezoelectric tensor e31 （e32） increases while e33 and e25 （e16） increase negatively. Polarity discontinuity caused by the interracial charge will produce large irreversible polarization. Proved by F-point phonons of PTO//KTO superlattices of different strain values, the polar discontinuity and the piezoelectric properties are just weakly dependent on temperature as found in PTO//KTO superlattices.

Analytical solution for a strained reinforcement layer bonded to lip-shaped crack under remote modeⅢuniform load and concentrated load

In this paper, the analytical solution of stress field for a strained reinforcement layer bonded to a lip-shaped crack under a remote mode III uniform load and a concentrated load is obtained explicitly in the series form by using the technical of conformal mapping and the method of analytic continuation. The effects of material combinations, bond of interface and geometric configurations on interfaciai stresses generated by eigenstrain, remote load and concentrated load are studied. The results show that the stress concentration and interfaciai stresses can be reduced by rational material combinations and geometric configurations designs for different load forms.

Strained and strain-relaxed epitaxial Ge_(1-x)Sn_x alloys on Si(100) substrates

Epitaxial Ge1-xSnx alloys are grown separately on a Ge-buffer/Si（100） substrate and directly on a Si（100） substrate by molecular beam epitaxy （MBE） at low temperature. In the case of the Ge buffer/Si（100） substrate, a high crystalline quality strained Ge0.97Sn0.03 alloy is grown, with a Xmin value of 6.7% measured by channeling and random Rutherford baekscattering spectrometry （RBS）, and a surface root-mean-square （RMS） roughness of 1.568 nm obtained by atomic force microscopy （AFM）. In the case of the Si（100） substrate, strain-relaxed Ge0.97Sn0.03 alloys are epitaxially grown at 150℃-300℃, with the degree of strain relaxation being more than 96%. The X-ray diffraction （XRD） and AFM measurements demonstrate that the alloys each have a good crystalline quality and a relatively flat surface. The predominant defects accommodating the large misfit are Lomer edge dislocations at the interface, which are parallel to the interface plane and should not degrade electrical properties and device performance.

Two-dimensional models of threshold voltage and subthreshold current for symmetrical double-material double-gate strained Si MOSFETs

The two-dimensional models for symmetrical double-material double-gate （DM-DG） strained Si （s-Si） metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors （MOSFETs） are presented. The surface potential and the surface electric field ex- pressions have been obtained by solving Poisson＇s equation. The models of threshold voltage and subthreshold current are obtained based on the surface potential expression. The surface potential and the surface electric field are compared with those of single-material double-gate （SM-DG） MOSFETs. The effects of different device parameters on the threshold voltage and the subthreshold current are demonstrated. The analytical models give deep insight into the device parameters design. The analytical results obtained from the proposed models show good matching with the simulation results using DESSIS.

Numerical study of strained InGaAs quantum well lasers emitting at 2.33 μm using the eight-band model

We investigate the band structure of a compressively strained In（Ga）As/In0.53Ga0.47As quantum well （QW） on an InP substrate using the eight-band k.p theory. Aiming at the emission wavelength around 2.33 μm, we discuss the influences of temperature, strain and well width on the band structure and on the emission wavelength of the QW. The wavelength increases with the increase of temperature, strain and well width. Furthermore, we design an InAs /In0.53Ga0.47As QW with a well width of 4.1 nm emitting at 2.33 μm by optimizing the strain and the well width.

Retarded thermal oxidation of strained Si substrate

Strained Si is recognized as a necessary technology booster for modem integrated circuit technology. However, the thermal oxidation behaviors of strained Si substrates are not well understood yet despite their importance. In this study, we for the first time experimentally find that all types of strained Si substrates （uniaxial tensile, uniaxial compressive, biaxial tensile, and biaxial compressive） show smaller thermal oxidation rates than an unstrained Si substrate. The possible mechanisms for these retarded thermal oxidation rates in strained Si substrates are also discussed.

PHOTOLUMINESCENCE SPECTRA OF STRAINED HETEROSTRUCTURE OF InP ON GaAs SUBSTRATE GROWN BY METAI^ ORGANIC CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION

A high-energy shift of the band-band recombination has been observed tn photoluminescence spectra of the strained InP layer grown on GaAs substrate.The InP layer is under biaxial compressive strain at temperatures below the growth temperaiure,because the thermal expansion coefficient of InP is smaller than that of GaAs,The strain value determined by the energy shift of the bandedge peak is in good agreement with the calculated thermal strain.A band to carbon acceptor recombination is also identified.

Experimental Synthesis of Strained Monolayer Silver Arsenide on Ag(111)Substrates

Two-dimensional(2 D)materials are playing more and more important roles in both basic sciences and industrial applications.For 2 D materials,strain could tune the properties and enlarge applications.Since the growth of 2 D materials on substrates is often accompanied by strain,the interaction between 2 D materials and substrates is worthy of careful attention.Here we demonstrate the fabrication of strained monolayer silver arsenide(AgAs)on Ag(111)by molecular beam epitaxy,which shows one-dimensional stripe structures arising from uniaxial strain.The atomic geometric structure and electronic band structure are investigated by low energy electron diffraction,scanning tunneling microscopy,x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principle calculations.Monolayer AgAs synthesized on Ag(111)provides a platform to study the physical properties of strained 2 D materials.

PHOTOLUMINESCENCE STUDIES OF In_(0.25)Ga_(0.75)As-GaAs STRAINED QUANTUM WELLS UNDER HIGH PRESSURE

We report the results of the photoluminescence(PL)studies of the Ino.jsGao.r$As-GaAs strained quantum wells(QW’s)at 77K and at high pressures up to 5Okbar.The pressure coefficients of the T valley of(InGa)As-GaAs strained QW’s are presented for the first time.The crossover between the energy level in the well and the X valley in the barrier GaAs has been observed.The ratio of the conduction band offset to valence band offset in In_(0.25)Ga_(0.75)As-GaAs heterojunction was determined to be Qc=ΔEc:ΔEv=0.68:0.32.Some discussions about GaAs-Al0.3Ga0.7As QW’s are also presented.