Beng Kang Tay

Vertical and in-plane heterostructures from WS2/MoS2 monolayers

Layer-by-layer stacking or lateral interfacing of atomic monolayers has opened up unprecedented opportunities to engineer two-dimensional heteromaterials. Fabrication of such artificial heterostructures with atomically clean and sharp interfaces, however, is challenging. Here, we report a one-step growth strategy for the creation of high-quality vertically stacked as well as in-plane interconnected heterostructures of WS2/MoS2 via control of the growth temperature. Vertically stacked bilayers with WS2 epitaxially grown on top of the MoS2 monolayer are formed with preferred stacking order at high temperature. A strong interlayer excitonic transition is observed due to the type II band alignment and to the clean interface of these bilayers. Vapour growth at low temperature, on the other hand, leads to lateral epitaxy of WS2 on MoS2 edges, creating seamless and atomically sharp in-plane heterostructures that generate strong localized photoluminescence enhancement and intrinsic p-n junctions. The fabrication of heterostructures from monolayers, using simple and scalable growth, paves the way for the creation of unprecedented two-dimensional materials with exciting properties.

Photoluminescence study of ZnO films prepared by thermal oxidation of Zn metallic films in air

Zinc oxide (ZnO) films were synthesized by thermal oxidation of metallic zinc films in air. The influence of annealing temperatures ranging from 320 to 1000 °C on the structural and optical properties of ZnO films is investigated systematically using x-ray diffraction and room temperature photoluminescence (PL). The films show a polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure without preferred orientation. Room temperature PL spectra of the ZnO films display two emission bands, predominant excitonic ultraviolet (UV) emission and weak deep level visible emission. It is observed that the ZnO film annealed at 410 °C exhibits the strongest UV emission intensity and narrowest full width at half maximum (81 meV) among the temperature ranges studied. The excellent UV emission from the film annealed at 410 °C is attributed to the good crystalline quality of the ZnO film and the low rate of formation of intrinsic defects at such low temperature. The visible emission consists of two components in the green and yellow ...

Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of Crystalline Monolayer MoSe2

Recently, two-dimensional layers of transition metal dichalcogenides, such as MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, and WSe2, have attracted much attention for their potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices. The selenide analogues of MoS2 and WS2 have smaller band gaps and higher electron mobilities, making them more appropriate for practical devices. However, reports on scalable growth of high quality transition metal diselenide layers and studies of their properties have been limited. Here, we demonstrate the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of uniform MoSe2 monolayers under ambient pressure, resulting in large single crystalline islands. The photoluminescence intensity and peak position indicates a direct band gap of 1.5 eV for the MoSe2 monolayers. A back-gated field effect transistor based on MoSe2 monolayer shows n-type channel behavior with average mobility of 50 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), a value much higher than the 4-20 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) reported for vapor phase grown MoS2.

Properties of carbon ion deposited tetrahedral amorphous carbon films as a function of ion energy

Ion energy, controlled by the substrate bias, is an important parameter in determining properties of films deposited by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique. The substrate bias determines the ion energy distribution of the growth species. The ion energy is varied, while keeping the other deposition conditions constant, in order to study the effect of ion energy on the film properties. The films were characterized by their optical and mechanical parameters using an ellipsometer, surface profilometer, optical spectrometer, and nanoindenter. Electron energy‐loss spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy were used for structural analysis of the films.

Comprehensive study of ZnO films prepared by filtered cathodic vacuum arc at room temperature

Room temperature deposition of high crystal quality zinc oxide (ZnO) films was realized by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) technique. Detrimental macroparticles in the plasma as byproducts of arcing process are removed with an off-plane double bend magnetic filter. The influence of oxygen pressure on the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO films were investigated in detail. The crystal structure of ZnO is hexagonal with highly c-axis orientation. Intrinsic stress decreases with an increase of chamber pressure, and near stress-free film was obtained at 1×10−3 Torr. Films with optical transmittance above 90% in the visible range and resistivity as low as 4.1×10−3 Ω cm were prepared at pressure of 5×10−4 Torr. Energetic zinc particles in the cathodic plasma and low substrate temperature enhance the probability of formation of zinc interstitials in the ZnO films. The observation of strong ultraviolet photoluminescence and weak deep level emission at room temperature manifest the high ...

All Metal Nitrides Solid‐State Asymmetric Supercapacitors

Two metal nitrides, TiN porous layers and Fe2 N nanoparticles, are grown uniformly with the assistance of atomic layer deposition on vertically aligned graphene nanosheets and used as the cathode and anode for solid-state supercapacitors, respectively. Full cells are constructed and show good flexibility, high-rate capability, and 98% capacitance retention after 20,000 cycles.

UV Raman characteristics of nanocrystalline diamond films with different grain size

Abstract Nanocrystalline diamond films with different size were characterized by ultraviolet (UV) (244 nm) Raman spectroscopy. It was found that a diamond peak at 1333 cm −1 was enhanced, while the D and G peak of graphite as well as photoluminescence was suppressed, compared with that measured by visible (514.5 nm) Raman. With decreasing the particle size from 120 to 28 nm, the diamond peak shifts from 1332.8 to 1329.6 cm −1 , the line width of the peak becomes broader, the intensity ratio of diamond and G peak decreases. The down shift and broadening of the diamond peak depending on the particle size by UV Raman measurements are consistent with the phonon confinement model.

Mechanical properties and Raman spectra of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films with high sp3 fraction deposited using a filtered cathodic arc

Abstract The mechanical and structural properties of the tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films deposited by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique on silicon at room temperature have been studied over the carbon ion energy range 15–200 eV. High (about 80% or higher) sp3 bond fractions were obtained for almost all ion energies investigated (E > 50 eV), with a maximum of about 87% at about 95 eV. The variations in the mechanical properties have been correlated to the sp3 fraction and show an almost linear dependence on the small variation in sp3 content. The maximum hardness, Youngs modulus, stress critical load and minimum friction coefficient all coincide with the highest sp3 fraction as determined by electron-energy-loss spectroscopy. All films are atomically smooth. The Raman spectra of these films when fitted with a skewed Lorentzian, a parameter Q, which measures the degree of skewness, is noticeably dependent on films with sp2 content below 30% and can also be used to verify the ion energy c...

Bond-order–bond-length–bond-strength (bond-OLS) correlation mechanism for the shape-and-size dependence of a nanosolid

A bond-order–bond-length–bond-strength (bond-OLS) correlation mechanism is presented for consistent insight into the origin of the shape-and-size dependence of a nanosolid, aiming to provide guidelines for designing nanomaterials with desired functions. It is proposed that the coordination number imperfection of an atom at a surface causes the remaining bonds of the lower-coordinated surface atom to relax spontaneously; as such, the bond energy rises (in absolute value). The bond energy rise contributes not only to the cohesive energy (ECoh) of the surface atom but also to the energy density in the relaxed region. ECoh relates to thermodynamic properties such as self-assembly, phase transition and thermal stability of a nanosolid. The binding energy density rise is responsible for the changes of the system Hamiltonian and related properties, such as the bandgap, core-level shift, phonon frequency and the dielectrics of a nanosolid of which the surface curvature and the portion of surface atoms vary with particle size. The bond-OLS premise, involving no assumptions or freely adjustable parameters, has led to consistency between predictions and experimental observations of a number of outstanding properties of nanosolids.

Raman studies of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc

Abstract Raman spectra of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films have been obtained as a function of impinging carbon ion energy. In order to analyze the spectra quantitatively, the Raman spectra were fitted using a least-squares computer program. The relative Raman intensity is found to decrease with increasing sp 3 /sp 2 bonding ratio in the films. In particular, the parameters from the fits show a strong correlation between the relative intensity ratio and the sp 3 fraction.