Carsten Ronning

Manganese-doped ZnO nanobelts for spintronics

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanobelts synthesized by thermal evaporation have been ion implanted with 30 keV Mn+ ions. Both transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence investigations show highly defective material directly after the implantation process. Upon annealing to 800 °C, the implanted Mn remains in the ZnO nanobelts and the matrix recovers both in structure and luminescence. The produced high-quality ZnO:Mn nanobelts are potentially useful for spintronics.

Cleaning of AlN and GaN surfaces

Successful ex situ and in situ cleaning procedures for AlN and GaN surfaces have been investigated and achieved. Exposure to HF and HCl solutions produced the lowest coverages of oxygen on AlN and GaN surfaces, respectively. However, significant amounts of residual F and Cl were detected. These halogens tie up dangling bonds at the nitride surfaces hindering reoxidation. The desorption of F required temperatures >850 °C. Remote H plasma exposure was effective for removing halogens and hydrocarbons from the surfaces of both nitrides at 450 °C, but was not efficient for oxide removal. Annealing GaN in NH3 at 700–800 °C produced atomically clean as well as stoichiometric GaN surfaces.

High-performance ZnO nanowire field effect transistors

ZnO nanowires with high crystalline and optical properties are characterized, showing strong effect of the surface defect states. In order to optimize the performance of devices based on these nanowires, a series of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor compatible surface passivation procedures is employed. Electrical transport measurements demonstrate significantly reduced subthreshold swing, high on/off ratio, and unprecedented field effect mobility.

Laser action in nanowires: Observation of the transition from amplified spontaneous emission to laser oscillation

Direct evidence of the transition from amplified spontaneous emission to laser action in optically pumped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires, at room temperature, is presented. The optical power evolves from a superlinear to a linear regime as the pump power exceeds threshold, concomitant with a transition to directional emission along the nanowire and the emergence of well defined cavity Fabry–Perot modes around a wavelength of ≈385 nm, the intensity of which exceeds the spontaneous emission background by orders of magnitude. The laser oscillation threshold is found to be strongly dependent on nanowire diameter, with no laser oscillation observed for diameters smaller than ∼150 nm. Finally, we use an alternative “head on” detection geometry to measure the output power of a single nanowire laser.

Single step integration of ZnO nano- and microneedles in Si trenches by novel flame transport approach: whispering gallery modes and photocatalytic properties.

Direct growth of quasi-one-dimensional nano- and microstructures in desired places of complex shaped substrates using simple growth methods is highly demanded aspect for various applications. In this work, we have demonstrated direct integration of ZnO nano- and microneedles into Si trenches by a novel flame transport synthesis approach in a single fabrication step. Growth of partially and fully covered or filled trenches in Si substrate with ZnO nano- and microneedles has been investigated and is discussed here. Detailed microstructural studies revealed the evolution of the ZnO nano- and microneedles as well as their firm adhesion to the wall in the Si trenches. Micro-photoluminescence measurements at different locations along the length of needles confirmed the good crystalline quality and also the presence of whispering gallery mode resonances on the top of needles due to their hexagonal shape. Faceted ZnO nano- and microstructures are also very important candidates with regard to photocatalytic activity. First, photocatalytic measurements from the grown ZnO nano- and microneedles have shown strong degradation of methylene blue, which demonstrate that these structures can be of significant interest for photocatalysis and self-cleaning chromatography columns.

Evidence of intrinsic ferromagnetism in individual dilute magnetic semiconducting nanostructures.

Semiconductors doped with magnetic ions, also known as dilute magnetic semiconductors, are both semiconducting and ferromagnetic. It remains unclear, however, whether this ferromagnetism is intrinsic, as is required for spintronic applications, or is due instead to dopant clustering. Here, we report conclusive evidence for intrinsic ferromagnetism in individual ZnO nanoparticles doped with transition metal ions. Through a simultaneous magnetic and microstructural characterization using electron magnetic chiral dichroism and channelling-enhanced electron energy loss microanalysis, respectively, we show that ZnO nanoparticles have intrinsic ferromagnetism when doped with cobalt, but not when doped with iron.

Conduction processes in boron- and nitrogen-doped diamond-like carbon films prepared by mass-separated ion beam deposition

Abstract Boron- and nitrogen-doped diamond-like amorphous carbon (DLC) films were prepared by alternating direct deposition of low energy mass-separated 12C+ and dopant ions. Concentration vs. depth profiles for N and B dopants were determined by neutron depth profiling. The measured current-voltage characteristics of these films, which were deposited on polished stainless steel, are explained best by Frenkel-Poole emission for high electric fields. Two different trap states Φ1 and Φ2 were found to contribute to the conduction process. At low electric fields our results suggest that conduction is due to variable-range hopping via localized states at the Fermi level. The doped DLC films show a higher electrical conductivity, indicative of an increased density of localized states, rather than a shift in the Fermi level. A diode-like device was prepared, but the measured I-V curves did not indicate that a p-n junction had formed. DLC/Si heterojunctions were also prepared and their current-voltage characteristics are presented and discussed.

Finite size effect in ZnO nanowires

To clarify the size effect in semiconductor nanowires with decreasing diameters but not yet reaching the quantum confinement region, single crystalline zinc oxide nanowires with diameters around 10nm are synthesized. Electrical transport measurements of these thin nanowires show significant increase in conductivity accompanied by diminished gate modulation and reduced mobility. This phenomenon is a result of the enrichment of surface states owing to the increased surface-to-volume ratio. The enhanced surface effect is confirmed by the temperature dependent photoluminescence measurements and contributes to the “anomalous” blueshift. This study shows that surface states play a dominant role in the electrical and optical properties of quasi-one-dimensional materials.

Ion implantation into gallium nitride

This comprehensive review is concerned with studies regarding ion implanted gallium nitride (GaN) and focuses on the improvements made in recent years. It is divided into three sections: (i) structural properties, (ii) optical properties and (iii) electrical properties. The first section includes X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), Rutherford Backscattering (RBS), emission channeling (EC) and perturbed γγ-angular correlation (PAC) measurements on GaN implanted with different ions and doses at different temperatures as a function of annealing temperature. The structural changes upon implantation and the respective recovery upon annealing will be discussed. Several standard and new annealing procedures will be presented and discussed. The second section describes mainly photoluminescence (PL) studies, however, the results will be discussed with respect to Raman and ellipsometry studies performed by other groups. We will show that the PL-signal is very sensitive to the processes occurring during implantation and annealing. The results of Hall and C–V measurements on implanted GaN are presented in Section 3. We show and discuss the difficulties in achieving electrical activation. However, optical and electrical properties are both a result of the structural changes upon implantation and annealing. Each section will be critically discussed with respect to the existing literature, and the main conclusions are drawn from the interplay of the results obtained from the different techniques used/reviewed.

Cubic boron nitride films grown by low energy B+ and N+ ion beam deposition

We have studied the growth and the properties of BN films prepared by exclusive deposition of mass separated 11B+ and 14N+ ions. BN films grown with ion energies of 500 eV and at substrate temperatures of 350 °C show the IR absorption peak at 1080 cm−1, characteristic for c‐BN. These films are nearly stoichiometric and, with transmission electron diffraction, the presence of c‐BN nanocrystals was revealed. We compare the growth conditions for ion beam deposition on BN, CN, and diamondlike carbon and propose that the nucleation of nanocrystalline c‐BN is related to the ionicity of the BN bond.