Faxian Xiu

High-mobility Sb-doped p-type ZnO by molecular-beam epitaxy

Reproducible Sb-doped p-type ZnO films were grown on n-Si (100) by electron-cyclotron-resonance-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. The existence of Sb in ZnO:Sb films was confirmed by low-temperature photoluminescence measurements. An acceptor-bound exciton (A°X) emission was observed at 3.358 eV at 8 K. The acceptor energy level of the Sb dopant is estimated to be 0.2 eV above the valence band. Temperature-dependent Hall measurements were performed on Sb-doped ZnO films. At room temperature, one Sb-doped ZnO sample exhibited a low resistivity of 0.2Ωcm, high hole concentration of 1.7×1018cm−3 and high mobility of 20.0cm2∕Vs. This study suggests that Sb is an excellent dopant for reliable and reproducible p-type ZnO fabrication.

Very large magnetoresistance in graphene nanoribbons

Graphene has unique electronic properties1,2 and graphene nanoribbons are of particular interest because they exhibit a conduction band gap, which arises due to size confinement and edge effects3-11. Theoretical studies have suggested that graphene nanoribbons could have interesting magneto-electronic properties with very large magnetoresistance predicted4,12-20. Here we report the experimental observation of a significant enhancement in the conductance of a graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistor in a perpendicular magnetic field. A negative magnetoresistance of nearly 100% was observed at low temperatures, with over 50% remaining at room temperature. This magnetoresistance can be tuned by varying the gate or source-drain bias. We also find that the charge transport in the nanoribbons is not significantly modified by an in-plane magnetic field. The large values of the magnetoresistance we observe may be attributed to the reduction of quantum confinement by the formation of cyclotron orbits and the delocalization effect under the perpendicular magnetic field15-20.

Photoluminescence study of Sb-doped p-type ZnO films by molecular-beam epitaxy

We investigated photoluminescence (PL) from reliable and reproducible Sb-doped p-type ZnO films grown on n-Si (100) by molecular-beam epitaxy. Well-resolved PL spectra were obtained from completely dopant-activated samples with hole concentrations above 1.0×1018cm−3. From free electron to acceptor transitions, acceptor binding energy of 0.14 eV is determined, which is in good agreement with analytical results of the temperature-dependent PL measurements. Another broad peak at 3.050 eV, which shifts to lower energy at higher temperatures, indicates the formation of deep acceptor level bands related to Zn vacancies, which are created by Sb doping.

p-type ZnO films with solid-source phosphorus doping by molecular-beam epitaxy

Phosphorus-doped p-type ZnO films were grown on r-plane sapphire substrates using molecular-beam epitaxy with a solid-source GaP effusion cell. X-ray diffraction spectra and reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns indicate that high-quality single crystalline (112¯0) ZnO films were obtained. Hall and resistivity measurements show that the phosphorus-doped ZnO films have high hole concentrations and low resistivities at room temperature. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements at 8 K reveal a dominant acceptor-bound exciton emission with an energy of 3.317 eV. The acceptor energy level of the phosphorus dopant is estimated to be 0.18 eV above the valence band from PL spectra, which is also consistent with the temperature dependence of PL measurements.

p-type behavior from Sb-doped ZnO heterojunction photodiodes

Antimony (Sb) doping was used to realize p-type ZnO films on n-Si (100) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. These samples were fabricated into p-n heterojunction diodes. p-type behavior of Sb-doped ZnO was studied by carrying out I-V and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. I-V curves showed rectifying behavior similar to a p-type Schottky diode with a turn-on voltage around 2.4V, which is consistent with the Schottky barrier of about 2.2V obtained from C-V characterization. Good photoresponse in the UV region was obtained, which further proved that Sb doping could be used to fabricate p-type ZnO for photodetector and other optoelectronic applications.

Metal Nanodot Memory by Self-Assembled Block Copolymer Lift-Off

As information technology demands for larger capability in data storage continue, ultrahigh bit density memory devices have been extensively investigated. To produce an ultrahigh bit density memory device, multilevel cell operations that require several states in one cell have been proposed as one solution, which can also alleviate the scaling issues in the current state-of-the-art complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. Here, we report the first demonstration of metal nanodot memory using a self-assembled block copolymer lift-off. This metal nanodot memory with simple low temperature processes produced an ultrawide memory window of 15 V at the +/-18 V voltage sweep. Such a large window can be adopted for multilevel cell operations. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies showed a periodic metal nanodot array with uniform distribution defined by the block copolymer pattern. Consequently, this metal nanodot memory has high potential to reduce the variability issues that metal nanocrystal memories previously had and multilevel cells with ultrawide memory windows can be fabricated with high reliability and manufacturability.

Na-Doped p-Type ZnO Microwires

p-Type ZnO microwires were first synthesized by a simple chemical vapor deposition method using Na as the dopant source. p-Type doping was confirmed by the electrical transport in single-wire field-effect transistors and low-temperature photoluminescence. The carrier mobility of the microwires was estimated to be approximately 2.1 cm(2) V(-1) S(-1).

Electric-field-controlled ferromagnetism in high-Curie-temperature Mn0.05Ge0.95 quantum dots

Electric-field manipulation of ferromagnetism has the potential for developing a new generation of electric devices to resolve the power consumption and variability issues in todays microelectronics industry. Among various dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMSs), group IV elements such as Si and Ge are the ideal material candidates because of their excellent compatibility with the conventional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology. Here we report, for the first time, the successful synthesis of self-assembled dilute magnetic Mn(0.05)Ge(0.95) quantum dots with ferromagnetic order above room temperature, and the demonstration of electric-field control of ferromagnetism in MOS ferromagnetic capacitors up to 100 K. We found that by applying electric fields to a MOS gate structure, the ferromagnetism of the channel layer can be effectively modulated through the change of hole concentration inside the quantum dots. Our results are fundamentally important in the understanding and to the realization of high-efficiency Ge-based spin field-effect transistors.

Homojunction photodiodes based on Sb-doped p-type ZnO for ultraviolet detection

ZnO-based p-n homojunctions were grown using molecular-beam epitaxy. Sb and Ga were used as dopants to achieve the p-type and n-type ZnO, respectively. The mesa devices were fabricated by employing wet etching and standard photolithography techniques. Al∕Ti metal was deposited by electron-beam evaporation and annealed to form Ohmic contacts. Current-voltage measurements of the device showed good rectifying behavior, from which a turn-on voltage of about 2V was obtained. Very good response to ultraviolet light illumination was observed from photocurrent measurements.

Investigating the origin of Fermi level pinning in Ge Schottky junctions using epitaxially grown ultrathin MgO films

Fermi level (FL) pinning at the Ge valence band results in a high Schottky barrier height for all metal/n-Ge contacts. The origin of this pinning effect has been ascribed to either metal induced gap states or surface states arise from the native defects at the Ge surface, such as dangling bonds. The discrepancy in the reported results/explanations is mainly due to the lack of an explicit characterization of a high quality metal/Ge or metal/ultrathin oxide/Ge junction, which should be ideally single crystalline, atomically smooth and free of process-induced defects or intermixing. We report the Schottky characteristics of high quality metal/MgO/n-Ge junctions with the ultrathin MgO epitaxially grown on Ge. We find the depinning effect displays a weak dependence on the MgO thickness, indicating the interface states due to the native defects on Ge surface are likely to play the dominant role in FL pinning.