Edward Sachet

Entropy-stabilized oxides.

Configurational disorder can be compositionally engineered into mixed oxide by populating a single sublattice with many distinct cations. The formulations promote novel and entropy-stabilized forms of crystalline matter where metal cations are incorporated in new ways. Here, through rigorous experiments, a simple thermodynamic model, and a five-component oxide formulation, we demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that entropy predominates the thermodynamic landscape, and drives a reversible solid-state transformation between a multiphase and single-phase state. In the latter, cation distributions are proven to be random and homogeneous. The findings validate the hypothesis that deliberate configurational disorder provides an orthogonal strategy to imagine and discover new phases of crystalline matter and untapped opportunities for property engineering.

Mid-infrared surface plasmon resonance in zinc oxide semiconductor thin films

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in semiconducting materials at mid-infrared (mid-IR) energies offers the potential for new plasmonic functionalities and integration schemes. Mainstream semiconductors are transparent to mid-IR energies, thus a tightly integrated monolithic package for SPR sensing becomes feasible. We report mid-IR surface plasmon resonance in zinc oxide as a model material for semiconductors with 4 × 1019 to 8 × 1019 cm−3 carriers. The surface plasmon modes were characterized using spectroscopic IR-ellipsometry and compared to a reflectivity simulation. The data confirm the feasibility of mid-IR SPR, show a generic ability for plasmon tuning, and demonstrate the predictive power of the reflectivity model.

Growth of (111) oriented NiFe2O4 polycrystalline thin films on Pt (111) via sol-gel processing

Polycrystalline NiFe2O4 (NFO) thin films are grown on (111) platinized Si substrates via chemical solution processing. θ-2θ x-ray diffraction, x-ray pole figures and electron diffraction indicate that the NFO has a high degree of 〈111〉 uniaxial texture normal to the film plane. The texturing is initiated by nucleation of (111) planes at the Pt interface and is enhanced with decreasing film thickness. As the NFO magnetic easy-axis is 〈111〉, the out-of-plane magnetization exhibits improved Mr/Ms and coercivity with respect to randomly oriented films on silicon substrates. The out-of-plane Mr/Ms ratio for (111) textured NFO thin film is improved from 30% in 150 nm-thick films to above 70% in 50 nm-thick films. The improved out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy is comparable to epitaxial NFO films of comparable thickness deposited by pulsed laser deposition and sputtering.

Ge doped GaN with controllable high carrier concentration for plasmonic applications

Controllable Ge doping in GaN is demonstrated for carrier concentrations of up to 2.4 × 1020 cm−3. Low temperature luminescence spectra from the highly doped samples reveal band gap renormalization and band filling (Burstein-Moss shift) in addition to a sharp transition. Infrared ellipsometry spectra demonstrate the existence of electron plasma with an energy around 3500 cm−1 and a surface plasma with an energy around 2000 cm−1. These findings open possibilities for the application of highly doped GaN for plasmonic devices.

Structural and magnetic properties of biaxially textured NiFe2O4 thin films grown on c-plane sapphire

Chemical solution deposition is used to grow biaxially textured NiFe2O4 (NFO) thin films on (0001) sapphire substrates; a high degree of out-of-plane orientation in the 〈111〉 direction is confirmed by θ–2θ X-ray diffraction and pole figures. X-ray φ-scanning indicates in-plane texture and an epitaxial relationship between NFO (111) and Al2O3 (0001) in two crystallographic variants. The out-of-plane magnetization exhibits improved Mr/Ms from 0.5 in 110 nm-thick films to 0.8 in 60 nm-thick films. Compared to uniaxially textured NFO films on platinized silicon, the out-of-plane coercivity is reduced by 20%. The improved out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy is comparable to epitaxial NFO films of similar thickness deposited by pulsed laser deposition and sputtering.

Polarity characterization by anomalous x-ray dispersion of ZnO films and GaN lateral polar structures

We demonstrate the use of anomalous x-ray scattering of constituent cations at their absorption edge, in a conventional Bragg-Brentano diffractometer, to measure absolutely and quantitatively the polar orientation and polarity fraction of unipolar and mixed polar wurtzitic crystals. In one set of experiments, the gradual transition between c+ and c− polarity of epitaxial ZnO films on sapphire as a function of MgO buffer layer thickness is monitored quantitatively, while in a second experiment, we map the polarity of a lateral polar homojunction in GaN. The dispersion measurements are compared with piezoforce microscopy images, and we demonstrate how x-ray dispersion and scanning probe methods can provide complementary information that can discriminate between polarity fractions at a material surface and polarity fractions averaged over the film bulk.

High mobility yttrium doped cadmium oxide thin films

Donor doped CdO thin films on c-plane sapphire are prepared by reactive co-sputtering from Cd-metal and Y-metal targets which are driven using pulsed-dc and RF power respectively. Intrinsic CdO exhibits a carrier density of 1.8 × 1019 cm−3 and a mobility of 330 cm2 V−1 s−1. By increasing the Y-flux, carrier density values can be increased smoothly and reproducibly to a maximum value of 3.3 × 1020 cm−3. Mobility increases with Y flux, and exhibits a broad plateau between approximately 5 × 1019 cm−3 and 2 × 1020 cm−3. Higher carrier concentrations produce a sharp drop in mobility. The increase in mobility is attributed to a reduction of intrinsic donors (i.e., oxygen vacancies) with increasing carrier density while the ultimate decrease in mobility results from a combination of factors including cadmium vacancies, reduced crystal quality, and smaller crystallite sizes, all of which accompany carrier density values greater than the mid 1020 cm−3 range. This work demonstrates that CdO thin films can be prepar...

Interplay between mass-impurity and vacancy phonon scattering effects on the thermal conductivity of doped cadmium oxide

Understanding the impact and complex interaction of thermal carrier scattering centers in functional oxide systems is critical to their progress and application. In this work, we study the interplay among electron and phonon thermal transport, mass-impurity scattering, and phonon-vacancy interactions on the thermal conductivity of cadmium oxide. We use time domain thermoreflectance to measure the thermal conductivity of a set of CdO thin films doped with Dy up to the saturation limit. Using measurements at room temperature and 80 K, our results suggest that the enhancement in thermal conductivity at low Dy concentrations is dominated by an increase in the electron mobility due to a decrease in oxygen vacancy concentration. Furthermore, we find that at intermediate doping concentrations, the subsequent decrease in thermal conductivity can be ascribed to a large reduction in phononic thermal transport due to both point defect and cation-vacancy scattering. With these results, we gain insight into the comple...

As good as gold and better: conducting metal oxide materials for mid-infrared plasmonic applications

The field of infrared surface plasmon resonance (IR-SPR) spectroscopy has the potential to enable unique applications and technologies in chemical sensing, heat harvesting, and infrared detectors. Finding an ideal material that can support a surface plasmon in the IR region has been a challenge for more than a decade. High carrier mobility, μ > 200 cm2 V−1 s−1, and tunable carrier concentration in the range 1019 < n < 1021 cm−3 are two necessary criteria for a spectrally narrow tunable plasmon resonance band in the IR. The ideal material would also be easy to prepare and robust in water and under ambient conditions. In this review, we highlight the development of the field over the last decade. We also provide a guide to explain the extension of visible plasmonics to the infrared region and the evolution of IR-SPR using conducting metal oxides (CMOs). CMOs are free electron conductors and most of them have no interfering electronic or vibrational transitions in the range of interest. Therefore, these materials also provide an excellent test of the fundamental physics of SPR, including the effects of surface fields, enhancement phenomena and the relationship between thin film epsilon near zero (ENZ) mode and the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in nanocrystals. In summary, we discuss the materials challenges and prospects for this field of research.

Femtosecond switching of infrared light using a plasmonic cadmium oxide perfect absorber

Using a high-electron-mobility cadmium oxide perfect absorber and intraband optical pumping, we experimentally demonstrate a reflective polarizer with a polarization extinction ratio of 91 that can be switched on and off within 800 fs.