Bhola N. Pal

Solution-deposited sodium beta-alumina gate dielectrics for low-voltage and transparent field-effect transistors.

Sodium beta-alumina (SBA) has high two-dimensional conductivity, owing to mobile sodium ions in lattice planes, between which are insulating AlO(x) layers. SBA can provide high capacitance perpendicular to the planes, while causing negligible leakage current owing to the lack of electron carriers and limited mobility of sodium ions through the aluminium oxide layers. Here, we describe sol-gel-beta-alumina films as transistor gate dielectrics with solution-deposited zinc-oxide-based semiconductors and indium tin oxide (ITO) gate electrodes. The transistors operate in air with a few volts input. The highest electron mobility, 28.0 cm2 V(-1) s(-1), was from zinc tin oxide (ZTO), with an on/off ratio of 2 x 10(4). ZTO over a lower-temperature, amorphous dielectric, had a mobility of 10 cm2 V(-1) s(-1). We also used silicon wafer and flexible polyimide-aluminium foil substrates for solution-processed n-type oxide and organic transistors. Using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulphonate) conducting polymer electrodes, we prepared an all-solution-processed, low-voltage transparent oxide transistor on an ITO glass substrate.

Heavily doped n-type PbSe and PbS nanocrystals using ground-state charge transfer from cobaltocene

Colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) of lead chalcogenides are a promising class of tunable infrared materials for applications in devices such as photodetectors and solar cells. Such devices typically employ electronic materials in which charge carrier concentrations are manipulated through “doping;” however, persistent electronic doping of these NCs remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate that heavily doped n-type PbSe and PbS NCs can be realized utilizing ground-state electron transfer from cobaltocene. This allows injecting up to eight electrons per NC into the band-edge state and maintaining the doping level for at least a month at room temperature. Doping is confirmed by inter- and intra-band optical absorption, as well as by carrier dynamics. Finally, FET measurements of doped NC films and the demonstration of a p-n diode provide additional evidence that the developed doping procedure allows for persistent incorporation of electrons into the quantum-confined NC states.

All solution-processed, hybrid light emitting field-effect transistors

All solution-processed, high performance hybrid light emitting transistors (HLETs) are realized. Using a novel combination of device architecture and materials a bilayer device comprised of an inorganic and organic semiconducting layer is fabricated and the optoelectronic properties are presented.

Humidity sensing by nanocomposites of silver in silicate glass ceramics

Silver nanoparticles of diameters in the range 3.4 to 13.2 nm were grown within a silicate glass ceramics containing barium titanate phase. The glass ceramics were filled with silver particles by subjecting the former to a Na+–Ag+ ion exchange process followed by a reduction treatment in hydrogen. Silver particles were formed at the interfaces of the silicate glass and the barium titanate phases, respectively. The silver particle sizes could be varied by controlling the fractal structure of the crystalline phase by prior heat treatment. Electrical resistivity measurements were carried out on cold-pressed specimens of nanocomposite powders prepared as just stated. A five order of magnitude resistivity change was recorded in the case of nanocomposite specimen with a silver particle diameter of 10.1 nm in the relative humidity range of 25% to 85%. The resistivity of the nanocomposites was found to be controlled by a variable range hopping conduction. It is believed that the silver nanoparticles provide sites...

Colloidal ZnO Quantum Dots Based Spectrum Selective Ultraviolet Photodetectors

This letter reports (possibly for first time) the synthesis, fabrication, and characterization of a solution processed colloidal ZnO quantum dots (QDs) photoconductor-based spectrum selective ultraviolet (UV) photodetector on low-cost glass substrates without using any additional absorption tuning layer. The QD nature of colloidal ZnO was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy measurements in terms of average particle size (~2.53nm) smaller than Bohr’s radius (~2.87 nm for ZnO). Furthermore, annealing at the ambient environment showed a shift in the bandgap from 3.231 to 3.136 eV of the ZnO QDs corresponding to the change in the annealing temperature from 450 °C and 600 °C. The responsivity characteristics showed a spectrum selective UV photoconductor nature with a full width half maximum of ~49 nm and the maximum responsivity of ~15.04 A/W at 2 V bias voltage and ~360-nm operating wavelength. The response time and recovery time were measured as 7.2 and ~18.5 s, respectively. The responsivity is believed to be the best among the reported ZnO QDs-based spectrum selective detectors.

Humidity sensing by fractally grown nanocomposites

Fractal structure of α-iron was grown within gel-derived silica films. These were subjected to oxidation treatments at a temperature of 400K for durations varying from 1to4h. Nanoshells of Fe3O4 up to a thickness of 2nm were formed in the process. The electrical resistivity of these nanocomposites was shown to arise due to a small polaron hopping mechanism between Fe2+ and Fe3+ sites. The nanocomposite films exhibited about three to four orders-of-magnitude resistivity change for an increase of relative humidity from 35% to 95%. The decrease was found to be exponential in nature and is believed to arise due to the injection of electrons to the oxide nanoshell.

Solution processed Li5AlO4 dielectric for low voltage transistor fabrication and its application in metal oxide/quantum dot heterojunction phototransistors

Li5AlO4, a well-known material for solid state electrolyte application, has never been considered hitherto as a gate dielectric of metal oxide thin film transistors (TFTs). Here we demonstrate the salient features of Li5AlO4 as a gate dielectric outperforming the conventional inorganic dielectrics used in TFTs. The high dielectric constant (k) of this insulator has been achieved by utilizing the improved capacitance contributed by mobile lithium ions (Li+) within the dielectric film. We have synthesized this dielectric via a cost-effective sol–gel method followed by a low-temperature annealing process yielding three phases such as amorphous-Li5AlO4 (a-Li5AlO4), α-Li5AlO4, and β-Li5AlO4 under different annealing conditions. Optimized TFTs fabricated with all of these three phases of Li5AlO4 on top of a highly doped silicon (p++-Si) wafer and a solution processed semiconducting layer of indium zinc oxide (IZO) exhibit an excellent TFT performance at different operating voltages. Among these three different types of TFTs, the device with an α-Li5AlO4 gate dielectric annealed at 500 °C shows the best device performance with an on/off ratio of 5 × 104 and an electron mobility of 21.4 ± 2.16 cm2 V−1 s−1. In addition, this device requires the least drain voltage (<2 V) to reach the saturation drain current due to the higher Li+ mobility of the α-Li5AlO4 gate dielectric. This TFT performance on the p++-Si substrate is superior to that of a previously reported device with a sodium beta-alumina (SBA) gate dielectric, where the percentage of mobile ions within the dielectric material was comparatively much lower. Moreover, this dielectric requires ∼300 °C lower annealing temperature compared to the SBA dielectric. A metal oxide/quantum dot heterojunction phototransistor was fabricated by coating an IZO TFT with colloidal lead sulphide (PbS) quantum dots that shows a responsivity and a response time of 4.5 × 10−4 A W−1 and 2.2 s respectively.

Electrically aligned binary system of nanoparticles

Aligned arrays of binary nanoparticles of silver and silver oxide, respectively, with mean diameters of 8.5nm have been prepared within a polymethylmethacrylate film. The alignment along an electric-field direction has been achieved by applying an electric field of ∼10V∕mm at frequency ranging from 1kHzto1MHz. This behavior has been explained as arising due to a dipole-dipole interaction between the metal and oxide nanoparticles, respectively. The electrical resistivity is shown to arise due to variable range hopping mechanism. These nanocomposites exhibit three orders of magnitude resistivity changes as the relative humidity is varied from 35% to 95%.

Single quantum dot rectifying diode with tunable threshold voltage

An ambient atmosphere single quantum dot (QDs) rectifying diode with tunable threshold voltage has been fabricated using cobalt (Co) doped CdS QDs with a device structure of ITO/ZnO/QDs. Current–voltage (I–V) characterization of this device has been tested using ambient atmosphere scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). The scanning tunnelling spectra (STS) shows a very high rectification behavior of this single dot based device with a ratio of 103. The threshold voltage of this device decreases with increase in doping concentration of QDs. Reduction of this turn-on voltage occurs due to the formation of additional energy band of Co impurity within the band gap of QDs that exist closer to the valance band (VB) of CdS. Existence of this additional energy band has also been observed in the UV-VIS absorption data of Co doped CdS, which introduces an additional absorption peak in the near infrared region. This impurity band is fully populated at room temperature and the width of this band increases with doping concentration, which is the key for the tunability of threshold voltage. This finding has been explained with one empirical model of relative band shifting of semiconductor–QDs–tip interfaces with positive and negative substrate bias.

Wavefunction engineering in core-shell semiconductor nanocrystals: from fine-tuned exciton dynamics and suppressed Auger recombination to dual color electroluminescence

Using semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) one can produce extremely strong spatial confinement of electronic wave functions not accessible with other types of nanostructures. As a result, NCs exhibit important physical properties which, in combination with the chemical stability and solution processability, make this class of functional materials particularly appealing for several technological fields, such as solid-state lighting, lasers, photovoltaics, and electronics. Generally, the tunability of their physical properties is achieved through particle-size control of the quantum confinement effect. Wavefunction engineering adds a degree of freedom for manipulating the physical properties of NCs by selectively confining the carriers in specific domains of the material, thereby controlling the spatial overlap between the electron and hole wavefunctions. This design has been applied to several material systems in different geometries and has been shown to successfully control the emission energy and recombination dynamics as well as to reduce nonradiative Auger recombination, a process in which, as a consequence of strong spatial confinement, the energy of one electron-hole pair is nonradiatively transferred to a third charge carrier. The focus of this presentation is on nanocrystal heterostructures that comprise a small CdSe core overcoated with a thick shell of wider-gap CdS. These quasi-type II structures show greatly suppressed Auger recombination, which allows us to realize broadband optical gain (extends over 500 meV)1, and are a remarkable class of model compounds for investigating the influence of nanoengineered electron-hole overlap on the exciton fine structure.2 We indeed recently showed that this quasi-type II motif can be used to tune the energy splitting between optically active (“bright”) and optically passive (“dark”) excitons due to strong electron-hole exchange interaction, which is typical of quantum-confined semiconductor nanocrystals. This design provides a new tool for controlling excitonic dynamics including absolute recombination time scales and temperature and magnetic field dependences separately from the confinement energy. As a result of reduced Auger recombination, in combination with essentially complete suppression of energy-transfer in thick-shell NCs films, we recently fabricated bright, monochrome LEDs based on these nanostructures. Our results indicate that the luminance and efficiency can be improved dramatically by increasing the shell thickness without detrimental effects of increased turn-on voltage.3 Detailed structural and spectroscopic studies reveal a crucial role of interfaces on the Auger recombination process ion these heterostructures. Specifically, we observe a sharp transition to Auger-recombination-free behavior for shell thickness ~1.8-2.5 nm, accompanied by the development of an intense phonon mode characteristic of a CdSeS alloy.4 These results suggest that the likely reason for suppressed Auger recombination in these nanostructures is the “smoothing out” of the otherwise sharp confinement potential due to formation of a graded interfacial CdSeS layer between the CdSe core and the CdS shell, as was recently proposed by theoretical calculations by Cragg and Efros.5