Jesse Maassen

Anisotropic in-plane thermal conductivity observed in few-layer black phosphorus.

Black phosphorus has been revisited recently as a new two-dimensional material showing potential applications in electronics and optoelectronics. Here we report the anisotropic in-plane thermal conductivity of suspended few-layer black phosphorus measured by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The armchair and zigzag thermal conductivities are ∼20 and ∼40 W m−1 K−1 for black phosphorus films thicker than 15 nm, respectively, and decrease to ∼10 and ∼20 W m−1 K−1 as the film thickness is reduced, exhibiting significant anisotropy. The thermal conductivity anisotropic ratio is found to be ∼2 for thick black phosphorus films and drops to ∼1.5 for the thinnest 9.5-nm-thick film. Theoretical modelling reveals that the observed anisotropy is primarily related to the anisotropic phonon dispersion, whereas the intrinsic phonon scattering rates are found to be similar along the armchair and zigzag directions. Surface scattering in the black phosphorus films is shown to strongly suppress the contribution of long mean-free-path acoustic phonons.

Graphene spintronics: the role of ferromagnetic electrodes.

We report a first principles study of spin transport under finite bias through a graphene-ferromagnet (FM) interface, where FM = Co(111), Ni(111). The use of Co and Ni electrodes achieves spin efficiencies reaching 80% and 60%, respectively. This large spin filtering results from the materials specific interaction between graphene and the FM which destroys the linear dispersion relation of the graphene bands and leads to an opening of spin-dependent energy gaps of ≈0.4-0.5 eV at the K points. The minority spin band gap resides higher in energy than the majority spin band gap located near E(F), a feature that results in large minority spin dominated currents.

Effects of Surface Band Bending and Scattering on Thermoelectric Transport in Suspended Bismuth Telluride Nanoplates

A microdevice was used to measure the in-plane thermoelectric properties of suspended bismuth telluride nanoplates from 9 to 25 nm thick. The results reveal a suppressed Seebeck coefficient together with a general trend of decreasing electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity with decreasing thickness. While the electrical conductivity of the nanoplates is still within the range reported for bulk Bi2Te3, the total thermal conductivity for nanoplates less than 20 nm thick is well below the reported bulk range. These results are explained by the presence of surface band bending and diffuse surface scattering of electrons and phonons in the nanoplates, where pronounced n-type surface band bending can yield suppressed and even negative Seebeck coefficient in unintentionally p-type doped nanoplates.

Auxetic Black Phosphorus: A 2D Material with Negative Poisson’s Ratio

The Poissons ratio of a material characterizes its response to uniaxial strain. Materials normally possess a positive Poissons ratio - they contract laterally when stretched, and expand laterally when compressed. A negative Poissons ratio is theoretically permissible but has not, with few exceptions of man-made bulk structures, been experimentally observed in any natural materials. Here, we show that the negative Poissons ratio exists in the low-dimensional natural material black phosphorus and that our experimental observations are consistent with first-principles simulations. Through applying uniaxial strain along armchair direction, we have succeeded in demonstrating a cross-plane interlayer negative Poissons ratio on black phosphorus for the first time. Meanwhile, our results support the existence of a cross-plane intralayer negative Poissons ratio in the constituent phosphorene layers under uniaxial deformation along the zigzag axis, which is in line with a previous theoretical prediction. The phenomenon originates from the puckered structure of its in-plane lattice, together with coupled hinge-like bonding configurations.

Raman spectroscopy of the internal strain of a graphene layer grown on copper tuned by chemical vapor deposition

Strain can be used as an alternate way to tune the electronic properties of graphene. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to tune the uniform strain of graphene simply by changing the chemical vapor deposition growth temperature of graphene on copper. Due to the cooling of the graphene on copper system, we can induce a uniform compressive strain on graphene. The strain is analyzed by Raman spectroscopy, where a shift in the 2D peak is observed and compared to our ab initio calculations of the graphene on copper system as a function of strain.

Steady-state heat transport: Ballistic-to-diffusive with Fourier's law

It is generally understood that Fouriers law does not describe ballistic phonon transport, which is important when the length of a material is similar to the phonon mean-free-path. Using an approach adapted from electron transport, we demonstrate that Fouriers law and the heat equation do capture ballistic effects, including temperature jumps at ideal contacts, and are thus applicable on all length scales. Local thermal equilibrium is not assumed, because allowing the phonon distribution to be out-of-equilibrium is important for ballistic and quasi-ballistic transport. The key to including the non-equilibrium nature of the phonon population is to apply the proper boundary conditions to the heat equation. Simple analytical solutions are derived, showing that (i) the magnitude of the temperature jumps is simply related to the material properties and (ii) the observation of reduced apparent thermal conductivity physically stems from a reduction in the temperature gradient and not from a reduction in actual thermal conductivity. We demonstrate how our approach, equivalent to Fouriers law, easily reproduces results of the Boltzmann transport equation, in all transport regimes, even when using a full phonon dispersion and mean-free-path distribution.

A computational study of the thermoelectric performance of ultrathin Bi2Te3 films

The ballistic thermoelectric performance of ultrathin films of Bi2Te3, ranging in thickness from 1 to 6 quintuple layers, is analyzed using density functional theory combined with the Landauer approach. Our results show that the thinnest film, corresponding to a single quintuple layer, has an intrinsic advantage originating from the particular shape of its valence band, leading to a large power factor and figure-of-merit exceeding bulk Bi2Te3. The interaction between the top and bottom topological surface states is key. The thinnest film yields a six-fold increase in power factor compared to bulk.

Thermoelectric properties of epitaxial ScN films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering onto MgO(001) substrates

Epitaxial ScN(001) thin films were grown on MgO(001) substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The deposition was performed in an Ar/N2 atmosphere at 2 × 10−3 Torr at a substrate temperature of 850 °C in a high vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 10−8 Torr. In spite of oxygen contamination of 1.6 ± 1 at. %, the electrical resistivity, electron mobility, and carrier concentration obtained from a typical film grown under these conditions by room temperature Hall measurements are 0.22 mΩ cm, 106 cm2 V−1 s−1, and 2.5 × 1020 cm−3, respectively. These films exhibit remarkable thermoelectric power factors of 3.3–3.5 × 10−3 W/mK2 in the temperature range of 600 K to 840 K. The cross-plane thermal conductivity is 8.3 W/mK at 800 K yielding an estimated ZT of 0.3. Theoretical modeling of the thermoelectric properties of ScN calculated using a mean-free-path of 23 nm at 300 K is in very good agreement with the experiment. These results also demonstrate that further optimization of the power factor of ScN is...

First principles study of electronic transport through a Cu(111)∣graphene junction

We report first principles investigations of the nonequilibrium transport properties of a Cu(111)|graphene interface. The Cu(111) electrode is found to induce a transmission minimum (TM) located -0.68eV below the Fermi level, a feature originating from the Cu-induced charge transfer resulting in n-type doped graphene with the Dirac point coinciding with the TM. An applied bias voltage shifts the n-graphene TM relative to the pure graphene TM and leads to a distinctive peak in the differential conductance indicating the doping level, a characteristic not observed in pure graphene.

Full band calculations of the intrinsic lower limit of contact resistivity

The intrinsic lower limit of contact resistivity (ρcLL) for InAs, In0.53Ga0.47As, GaSb, and Si is calculated using a full band ballistic quantum transport approach. Surprisingly, our results show that ρcLL is almost independent of the semiconductor. An analytical model, derived for 1D, 2D, and 3D, correctly reproduces the numerical results and explains why ρcLL is very similar in all cases. Our analysis sets a minimal carrier density required to meet the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors call for ρc=10−9 Ω-cm2 by 2023. Comparison with experiments shows there is room for improvement, which will come from optimizing interfacial properties.