C. Bazioti

Observation of surface Dirac cone in high-quality ultrathin epitaxial Bi2Se3 topological insulator on AlN(0001) dielectric.

Bi2Se3 topological insulators (TIs) are grown on AlN(0001)/Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. In a one-step growth at optimum temperature of 300 °C, Bi2Se3 bonds strongly with AlN without forming interfacial reaction layers. This produces high epitaxial quality Bi2Se3 single crystals with a perfect registry with the substrate and abrupt interfaces, allowing thickness scaling down to three quintuple layers (QL) without jeopardizing film quality. It is found by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy that, remarkably, Bi2Se3 films maintain the 3D TI properties at very low thickness of 3QL (∼2.88 nm), exhibiting top surface gapless metallic states in the form of a Dirac cone.

Defects, strain relaxation, and compositional grading in high indium content InGaN epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We investigate the structural properties of a series of high alloy content InGaN epilayers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, employing the deposition temperature as variable under invariant element fluxes. Using transmission electron microscopy methods, distinct strain relaxation modes were observed, depending on the indium content attained through temperature adjustment. At lower indium contents, strain relaxation by V-pit formation dominated, with concurrent formation of an indium-rich interfacial zone. With increasing indium content, this mechanism was gradually substituted by the introduction of a self-formed strained interfacial InGaN layer of lower indium content, as well as multiple intrinsic basal stacking faults and threading dislocations in the rest of the film. We show that this interfacial layer is not chemically abrupt and that major plastic strain relaxation through defect introduction commences upon reaching a critical indium concentration as a result of compositional pulling. Upon further increase of the indium content, this relaxation mode was again gradually succeeded by the increase in the density of misfit dislocations at the InGaN/GaN interface, leading eventually to the suppression of the strained InGaN layer and basal stacking faults.

Sub-surface laser nanostructuring in stratified metal/dielectric media: a versatile platform towards flexible, durable and large-scale plasmonic writing

Laser nanostructuring of pure ultrathin metal layers or ceramic/metal composite thin films has emerged as a promising route for the fabrication of plasmonic patterns with applications in information storage, cryptography, and security tagging. However, the environmental sensitivity of pure Ag layers and the complexity of ceramic/metal composite film growth hinder the implementation of this technology to large-scale production, as well as its combination with flexible substrates. In the present work we investigate an alternative pathway, namely, starting from non-plasmonic multilayer metal/dielectric layers, whose growth is compatible with large scale production such as in-line sputtering and roll-to-roll deposition, which are then transformed into plasmonic templates by single-shot UV-laser annealing (LA). This entirely cold, large-scale process leads to a subsurface nanoconstruction involving plasmonic Ag nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a hard and inert dielectric matrix on top of both rigid and flexible substrates. The subsurface encapsulation of Ag NPs provides durability and long-term stability, while the cold character of LA suits the use of sensitive flexible substrates. The morphology of the final composite film depends primarily on the nanocrystalline character of the dielectric host and its thermal conductivity. We demonstrate the emergence of a localized surface plasmon resonance, and its tunability depending on the applied fluence and environmental pressure. The results are well explained by theoretical photothermal modeling. Overall, our findings qualify the proposed process as an excellent candidate for versatile, large-scale optical encoding applications.

Influence of laser annealing on the structural properties of sputtered AlN:Ag plasmonic nanocomposites

We propose a process of deposition of plasmonic nanocomposites comprising magnetron sputtering of AlN:Ag multilayers combined with intermediate steps of flash annealing. When the AlN matrix structure was amorphous, thermal annealing induced the break-up of silver layers and the formation of homogeneously distributed spherical nanoparticles. On the other hand, in the case of a nanocrystalline AlN matrix, the larger nanoparticles were observed to form only at an interfacial and a surface zone. Further treatment by laser annealing was employed in order to photo-modulate the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) by promoting ripening of the nanoparticles. Using high resolution transmission electron microscopy, it was observed that laser annealing caused nanoparticle enlargement with a concurrent improvement of their separation, while retaining their average spherical shape. Optical reflectance measurements showed that better LSPR was obtained when the AlN matrix was amorphous due to the restrained nanoparticle ripening inside nanocrystalline AlN. Roughening at the film/substrate interface and film degradation after laser annealing at the employed radiation wavelength where reduced compared to similar samples grown by pulsed laser deposition. Based on finite difference time domain simulations and X-ray reflectivity measurements, this was attributed to the improved quality of the AlN matrix.

Stacking fault domains as sources of a-type threading dislocations in III-nitride heterostructures

A mechanism for the nucleation of a-type threading dislocation half-loops from basal stacking faults in wurtzite III-nitride heterostructures is presented. Transmission electron microscopy observations, in conjunction with topological and strain analysis, show that there are two possible configurations of closed domains comprising basal stacking faults of I1 type. It is shown that the lattice dislocation may emanate when the sphalerite structural units of the stacking faults in the closed domain are oriented in a parallel manner. The closed domain configurations do not introduce any shift on the basal planes, resulting in zero defect content along the growth direction. The stacking fault domains are hexagonal, with sides along the ⟨ 101¯0⟩ directions, and the threading dislocation half loops nucleate at the line nodes. The mechanism was found to be operational in multiple III-nitride systems.

Photoluminescence enhancement of ZnO via coupling with surface plasmons on Al thin films

We present that the ultra-violet emission of ZnO can be enhanced, as much as six-times its integral intensity, using an Al thin interlayer film between the Si substrate and ZnO thin film and a post-fabrication laser annealing process. The laser annealing is a cold process that preserves the chemical state and integrity of the underlying aluminum layer, while it is essential for the improvement of the ZnO performance as a light emitter and leads to enhanced emission in the visible and in the ultraviolet spectral ranges. In all cases, the metal interlayer enhances the intensity of the emitted light, either through coupling of the surface plasmon that is excited at the Al/ZnO interface, in the case of light-emitting ZnO in the ultraviolet region, or by the increased back reflection from the Al layer, in the case of the visible emission. In order to evaluate the process and develop a solid understanding of the relevant physical phenomena, we investigated the effects of various metals as interlayers (Al, Ag, a...

Evolution of stratification in high-alloy content InGaN epilayers grown on (0001) AlN

ABSTRACT The structural properties of InxGa1−xN epilayers, deposited on (0001) AlN templates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, were studied by transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, as a function of growth temperature. Single phase films with high indium content and well-ordered heteroepitaxial interfaces were attained at lower temperatures. Delayed plastic relaxation resulted in the structural stratification of high-temperature films due to the compositional pulling. Such films relaxed by a stacking fault mechanism, contrary to low temperature ones that exhibited relaxation by misfit dislocations. Despite the higher defect content of the former, their phonon mean free path was also higher, showing that alloying-induced fluctuations of the periodic potential constitute a more critical parameter. Cubic interfacial zones were suppressed at lower growth temperatures. This is part of a thematic issue on Nanoscale Materials Characterisation and Modeling by Advances Microscopy Methods - EUROMAT.

Compositional and strain analysis of In(Ga)N/GaN short period superlattices

Extensive high resolution transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopy observations were performed in In(Ga)N/GaN multi-quantum well short period superlattices comprising two-dimensional quantum wells (QWs) of nominal thicknesses 1, 2, and 4 monolayers (MLs) in order to obtain a correlation between their average composition, geometry, and strain. The high angle annular dark field Z-contrast observations were quantified for such layers, regarding the indium content of the QWs, and were correlated to their strain state using peak finding and geometrical phase analysis. Image simulations taking into thorough account the experimental imaging conditions were employed in order to associate the observed Z-contrast to the indium content. Energetically relaxed supercells calculated with a Tersoff empirical interatomic potential were used as the input for such simulations. We found a deviation from the tetragonal distortion prescribed by continuum elasticity for thin films, i.e., the strain in the rel...

Raman and photoluminescence mapping of InxGa1−xN (x ∼ 0.4) at high pressure: Optical determination of composition and stress

The pressure response of a polar wurtzite InxGa1−xN (x = 0.37) film epitaxially grown on a GaN/sapphire template was studied by means of combined Raman and photoluminescence (PL) mappings. The pressure slopes of the Raman peaks (∂ω/∂P ∼ 4.7 cm−1·GPa−1) of the studied alloy are indicative of its intermediate stiffness between the end members of the InxGa1−xN system. The data analysis suggests that in our experiments the obtained slopes have marginal contribution, if any, from the substrate. Furthermore, the similarity of the ambient pressure value of the PL peak energy (∼1.97 eV) and its pressure slope (∂EPL/∂P ∼ 30 meV·GPa−1) with those obtained by absorption measurements implies that PL can be used to follow the pressure evolution of the energy bandgap. Finally, we demonstrate that all-optical characterization of the composition and residual stress of InxGa1−xN samples is feasible.

Lattice-Mismatched Epitaxial Growth On Porous III-V Substrates

There is a limited number of III-V semiconductor substrates which are available at acceptable quality and cost. Restriction to lattice-matched systems would greatly limit the number of applications. Development of vapor phase growth techniques allowed to precisely control the layer thickness and uniformity on the atomic level. Still, when the critical layer thickness is exceeded, misfit dislocations are created having negative impact on the performance, reliability and lifetime of semiconductor devices (1). The ability to grow pseudomorphic layers thicker than the critical layer thickness is be beneficial in many applications. One of the unexplored approaches to meet this need consists in the growth on a porous substrate, which was theoretically predicted to be capable of accommodating elastic strains at the heteroepitaxial interface (2). Focus of this paper is on the InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures, which allow to vary the lattice mismatch in a wide range up to 7.4 %. The InGaAs system is flexible in terms of the range of optical wavelengths that can be emitted and absorbed; by varying the indium concentration, emission or detection wavelengths ranging from 1.1 to 3 μm may be achieved. InGaAs is a material widely used in electronic and optoelectronic devices such as high electron mobility transistors (3), laser diodes (4), infrared detectors (5), and photovoltaic cells (6).