Jenh-Yih Juang

Large Scale Single-Crystal Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Nanotip Arrays For High Efficiency Solar Cell

In this paper, we demonstrated direct formation of large area Cu(In,Ga)Se(2) nanotip arrays (CIGS NTRs) by using one step Ar(+) milling process without template. By controlling milling time and incident angles, the length of CIGS NTRs with adjustable tilting orientations can be precisely controlled. Formation criteria of these CIGS NTRs have been discussed in terms of surface curvature, multiple components, and crystal quality, resulting in a highly anisotropic milling effect. The CIGS NTRs have very low reflectance <0.1% at incident wavelengths between 300 to 1200 nm. Open circuit voltage and short circuit current of CIGS NTRs solar cell were measured to be ∼390 mV and ∼22.56 mA/cm(2), yielding the filling factor and the efficiency of 59 and 5.2%, respectively. In contrast to CIGS thin film solar cell with efficiency of 3.2%, the nanostructured CIGS NTRs can have efficiency enhancement of ∼160% due to the higher light absorption ability because of the nanostructure. The merits of current approach include the latest way via template-free direct creating process of nanostructured CIGS NTRs with controllable dimensionality and large scale production without postselenization process.

Field Emission Properties of Gold Nanoparticle-Decorated ZnO Nanopillars

The structural and optoelectronic properties of ZnO nanopillars (ZnO-NPs) grown on Si substrates by the vapor transport deposition method were investigated. In particular, by varying the deposition duration and hence the morphology of the vertically aligned ZnO-NPs, the resultant field emission characteristics were systematically compared. In addition to identifying the advantageous field emission properties exhibited in the pencil-like ZnO-NPs, we observed that by adhering Au nanoparticles on the surface of the ZnO-NPs the turn-on field and the maximum current density can be drastically improved from 3.15 V/μm and 0.44 mA/cm(2) at 5 V/μm for the best ZnO-NPs to 2.65 V/μm and 2.11 mA/cm(2) at 5 V/μm for Au/ZnO-NPs, respectively. The enhancement of field emission characteristics that resulted from Au-nanoparticle decoration is discussed on the basis of charge-transfer-induced band structure modifications.

Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy observations of structural damage in Al0.16Ga0.84N thin film under contact loading

This article reports a nanomechanical response study of the contact-induced deformation behavior in Al0.16Ga0.84N thin film by means of a combination of nanoindentation and the cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) techniques. Al0.16Ga0.84N thin film is deposited by using the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition method. Hardness and Young’s modulus of the Al0.16Ga0.84N films were measured by a Berkovich nanoindenter operated with the continuous contact stiffness measurements mode. The obtained values of the hardness and Young’s modulus are 19.76±0.15 and 310.63±9.41 GPa, respectively. The XTEM images taken in the vicinity just underneath the indenter tip revealed that the multiple “pop-ins” observed in the load-displacement curve during loading are due primarily to the activities of dislocation nucleation and propagation. The absence of discontinuities in the unloading segments of the load-displacement curve suggests that no pressure-induced phase transition was involved.

Enhanced visible photoluminescence from ultrathin ZnO films grown on Si-nanowires by atomic layer deposition

Bright room temperature visible emission is obtained in heterostructures consisting of approximately 3.5 nm thick ZnO ultrathin films grown on Si-nanowires produced by means of self-masking dry etching in hydrogen-containing plasma. The ZnO films were deposited on Si-nanowires by using atomic layer deposition (ALD) under an ambient temperature of 25 degrees C. The orders of magnitude enhancement in the intensity of the room temperature photoluminescence peaked around 560 nm in the present ZnO/Si-nanowire heterostructures is presumably due to the high aspect (surface/volume) ratio inherent to the Si-nanowires, which has, in turn, allowed considerably more ZnO material to be grown on the template and led to markedly more efficient visible emission. Moreover, the ordered nanowire structure also features an extremely low reflectance (approximately 0.15%) at 325 nm, which may further enhance the efficiency of emission by effectively trapping the excitation light.

Field Emission in Vertically Aligned ZnO/Si-Nanopillars with Ultra Low Turn-On Field

An effective method of fabricating vertically aligned silicon nanopillars (Si-NPs) was realized by using the self-assembled silver (Ag) nanodots as natural metal-nanomask during dry etching process. The obtained Si-NPs were preferentially aligned along the c-axis direction. Ultrathin ZnO films (~9 nm) were subsequently deposited on the Si-NPs by atomic layer deposition (ALD) to enhance the field emission property. The average diameter of the ZnO/Si-NPs is in the order of tens of nanometers, which enables efficient field emission and gives rise to marked improvement in the field enhancement factor, β. The turn-on field defined by the 10 μA/cm(2) current density criterion is ~0.74 V/μm with an estimated β ≈ 1.33×10(4). The low turn-on field and marked enhancement in β were attributed to the small radius of curvature, high aspect ratio, and perhaps more importantly, proper density distribution of the ZnO/Si-NPs.

Structural and nanomechanical properties of BiFeO3 thin films deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

The nanomechanical properties of BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films are subjected to nanoindentation evaluation. BFO thin films are grown on the Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by using radio frequency magnetron sputtering with various deposition temperatures. The structure was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, and the results confirmed the presence of BFO phases. Atomic force microscopy revealed that the average film surface roughness increased with increasing of the deposition temperature. A Berkovich nanoindenter operated with the continuous contact stiffness measurement option indicated that the hardness decreases from 10.6 to 6.8 GPa for films deposited at 350°C and 450°C, respectively. In contrast, Youngs modulus for the former is 170.8 GPa as compared to a value of 131.4 GPa for the latter. The relationship between the hardness and film grain size appears to follow closely with the Hall–Petch equation.

Deformation behaviors of InP pillars under uniaxial compression

Understanding the dislocation-based plasticity in prominent functional materials at the sub-micron scale is important not only for gaining insights into the fundamental mechanisms of small scale plasticity but also for designing reliable devices in the field of nano- or micro-electromechanical systems. Recent advancement in nanoscale fabrication and mechanical measurements has enabled the systematic investigation of size effects on the deformation behaviors of various materials. In this way, the size-scale effects on the materials mechanics can be explored under the conditions of minimized imposed deformation gradients, thus, limiting influence from concomitant changes in local strength and hardening rate resulted from the evolution of geometrically necessary dislocations induced by strain gradients. 1 Indeed, the compression tests on micro-pillars made of various materials 1‐4 have been demonstrated to exhibit dramatically different deformation behaviors as compared to their bulk counterparts. For instance, in addition to prevailing the tenet of “smaller is stronger” in essentially all the measurements preformed, drastic reduction in brittle-to-ductile transition temperatures in micro-compression of GaAs 5,6 and Si 7 was also observed when the diameter of the testing pillars is smaller than certain critical sizes. However, because of the small sizes of the structures, observation and subsequent analysis remain as challenging tasks and even involve numerous assumptions. To address this issue, micro-compression tests on pillars made of various materials have been conducted and analyzed with the aids of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to delineate the activities of the extended defects associated with the compression-induced deformation. 3‐9 Very recently, in-situ micro-compression test on Al micro-pillars has been conducted directly inside a high-resolution electron microscope. 10 This enables the in-situ observations of the structural changes during compression test and provides information concerning the mechanisms governing the manifestations of

Enhanced Free Exciton and Direct Band-Edge Emissions at Room Temperature in Ultrathin ZnO Films Grown on Si Nanopillars by Atomic Layer Deposition

Room-temperature ultraviolet (UV) luminescence was investigated for the atomic layer deposited ZnO films grown on silicon nanopillars (Si-NPs) fabricated by self-masking dry etching in hydrogen-containing plasma. For films deposited at 200 °C, an intensive UV emission corresponding to free-exciton recombination (~3.31 eV) was observed with a nearly complete suppression of the defect-associated broad visible range emission peak. On the other hand, for ZnO films grown at 25 °C, albeit the appearance of the defect-associated visible emission, the UV emission peak was observed to shift by ~60 meV to near the direct band edge (3.37 eV) recombination emission. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) showed that the ZnO films obtained at 25 °C were consisting of ZnO nanocrystals with a mean radius of 2 nm embedded in a largely amorphous matrix. Because the Bohr radius of free-exictons in bulk ZnO is ~2.3 nm, the size confinement effect may have occurred and resulted in the observed direct band edge electron-hole recombination. Additionally, the results also demonstrate order of magnitude enhancement in emission efficiency for the ZnO/Si-NP structure, as compared to that of ZnO directly deposited on Si substrate under the same conditions.

PREPARATION AND ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF YBA2CU3OX FILMS WITH CONTROLLED OXYGEN STOICHIOMETRIES

We describe a novel technique capable of controlling the oxygen content of YBa2Cu3Ox (YBCO) films in a precise and reversible manner. The temperature dependence of resistivity and the distinct two-plateau behavior in critical temperature Tco versus oxygen content plot of these films are consistent with those observed in the bulk and single crystals of YBCO. The O 1s and Cu 2p absorption spectra of these films were measured by polarization-dependent X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The intensity variations of the pre-edge peaks as a function of oxygen content are discussed. We also used these films to systematically study the electron-phonon coupling strength and the position of Fermi level by using a femtosecond pump-probe technique. A clear sign-reversal of the transient reflectivity, which was consistently explained by the thermomodulation model, was observed. Both of these optical measurements support the idea that the electronic structure of YBCO cuprates is based on the charge transfer model with hybridization between the Cu and O sites.

Van der Waals epitaxy of functional MoO2 film on mica for flexible electronics

Flexible electronics have a great potential to impact consumer electronics and with that our daily life. Currently, no direct growth of epitaxial functional oxides on commercially available flexible substrates is possible. In this study, in order to address this challenge, muscovite, a common layered oxide, is used as a flexible substrate that is chemically similar to typical functional oxides. We fabricated epitaxial MoO2 films on muscovite via pulsed laser deposition technique. A combination of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirms van der Waals epitaxy of the heterostructures. The electrical transport properties of MoO2 films are similar to those of the bulk. Flexible or free-standing MoO2 thin film can be obtained and serve as a template to integrate additional functional oxide layers. Our study demonstrates a remarkable concept to create flexible electronics based on functional oxides.