A. DeMasi

Electronic structure of In2O3 from resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy

The valence and conduction band structures of In2O3 have been measured using a combination of valence band x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, O K-edge resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy, and O K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Excellent agreement is noted between the experimental spectra and O 2p partial density of states calculated within hybrid density functional theory. Our data are consistent with a direct band gap for In2O3.

Nanopatterning of metal-coated silicon surfaces via ion beam irradiation: Real time x-ray studies reveal the effect of silicide bonding

We investigated the effect of silicide formation on ion-induced nanopatterning of silicon with various ultrathin metal coatings. Silicon substrates coated with 10 nm Ni, Fe, and Cu were irradiated with 200 eV argon ions at normal incidence. Real time grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS) and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) were performed during the irradiation process and real time measurements revealed threshold conditions for nanopatterning of silicon at normal incidence irradiation. Three main stages of the nanopatterning process were identified. The real time GISAXS intensity of the correlated peaks in conjunction with XRF revealed that the nanostructures remain for a time period after the removal of the all the metal atoms from the sample depending on the binding energy of the metal silicides formed. Ex-situ XPS confirmed the removal of all metal impurities. In-situ XPS during the irradiation of Ni, Fe, and Cu coated silicon substrates at normal incidence demonstrated phase separation and the formation of different silicide phases that occur upon metal-silicon mixing. Silicide formation leads to nanostructure formation due the preferential erosion of the non-silicide regions and the weakening of the ion induced mass redistribution.

Probing the Effect of Relative Molecular Orientation on the Photovoltaic Device Performance of an Organic Bilayer Heterojunction Using Soft x-ray Spectroscopies

The orientation of the constituent molecules in organic thin film devices can affect significantly their performance due to the highly anisotropic nature of π-conjugated molecules. We report here an angle dependent x-ray absorption study of the control of such molecular orientation using well-ordered interlayers for the case of a bilayer heterojunction of chloroaluminum phthalocyanine (ClAlPc) and C60. Furthermore, the orientation-dependent energy level alignment of the same bilayer heterojunction has been measured in detail using synchrotron radiation-excited photoelectron spectroscopy. Regardless of the orientation of the organic interlayer, we find that the subsequent ClAlPc tilt angle improves the π-π interaction at the interface, thus leading to an improved short-circuit current in photovoltaic devices based on ClAlPc/C60. The use of the interlayers does not change the effective band gap at the ClAlPc/C60 heterointerface, resulting in no change in open-circuit voltage.

Real time x-ray studies during nanostructure formation on silicon via low energy ion beam irradiation using ultrathin iron films

Real time grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) are used to elucidate nanodot formation on silicon surfaces during low energy ion beam irradiation of ultrathin iron-coated silicon substrates. Four surface modification stages were identified: (1) surface roughening due to film erosion, (2) surface smoothing and silicon-iron mixing, (3) structure formation, and (4) structure smoothing. The results conclude that 2.5 × 1015 iron atoms in a 50 nm depth triggers surface nanopatterning with a correlated nanodots distance of 25 nm. Moreover, there is a wide window in time where the surface can have correlated nanostructures even after the removal of all the iron atoms from the sample as confirmed by XRF and ex-situ x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In addition, in-situ XPS results indicated silicide formation, which plays a role in the structure formation mechanism.

Real-time Growth Study of Plasma Assisted Atomic Layer Epitaxy of InN Films by Synchrotron X-ray Methods

The temporal evolution of high quality indium nitride (InN) growth by plasma-assisted atomic layer epitaxy (ALEp) on a-plane sapphire at 200 and 248 °C was probed by synchrotron x-ray methods. The growth was carried out in a thin film growth facility installed at beamline X21 of the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory and at beamline G3 of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Cornell University. Measurements of grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS) during the initial cycles of growth revealed a broadening and scattering near the diffuse specular rod and the development of scattering intensities due to half unit cell thick nucleation islands in the Yoneda wing with correlation length scale of 7.1 and 8.2 nm, at growth temperatures (Tg) of 200 and 248 °C, respectively. At about 1.1 nm (two unit cells) of growth thickness nucleation islands coarsen, grow, and the intensity of correlated scattering peak increased at the correlation length scale of 8.0 a...

Plasma-assisted atomic layer epitaxial growth of aluminum nitride studied with real time grazing angle small angle x-ray scattering

Wide bandgap semiconducting nitrides have found wide-spread application as light emitting and laser diodes and are under investigation for further application in optoelectronics, photovoltaics, and efficient power switching technologies. Alloys of the binary semiconductors allow adjustments of the band gap, an important semiconductor material characteristic, which is 6.2 eV for aluminum nitride (AlN), 3.4 eV for gallium nitride, and 0.7 eV for (InN). Currently, the highest quality III-nitride films are deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition and molecular beam epitaxy. Temperatures of 900 °C and higher are required to deposit high quality AlN. Research into depositing III-nitrides with atomic layer epitaxy (ALEp) is ongoing because it is a fabrication friendly technique allowing lower growth temperatures. Because it is a relatively new technique, there is insufficient understanding of the ALEp growth mechanism which will be essential to development of the process. Here, grazing incidence small...