Pankaj Misra

Effect of Si doping on electrical and optical properties of ZnO thin films grown by sequential pulsed laser deposition

The sequential pulsed laser deposition technique was used to grow highly transparent and c-axis oriented thin films of Si doped ZnO on sapphire substrates. On doping with Si, the resistivity of the virgin ZnO thin films was found to decrease from ~3.0 ? 10?2 to 6.2 ? 10?4???cm and its bandgap increased from about 3.28 to 3.44?eV at different doping concentrations. XPES measurements revealed that Si predominantly occupies the Zn lattice sites in the Si+3 state. The increase in the bandgap of the ZnO films with increasing Si concentration was found to be due to the collective effects of high carrier concentration induced Burstein?Moss blue shift and bandgap narrowing. Efficient photoluminescence (PL) was observed at room temperature from these Si doped ZnO films. The bandgaps obtained from the PL measurements were found to be Stokes shifted as compared with those obtained from the transmission spectra. Si doping of ZnO offers the possibility of developing superior transparent conducting electrodes for applications such as in display panels, solar cells and transparent resistive non-volatile memories.

Field emission studies on well adhered pulsed laser deposited LaB6 on W tip

Lanthanum hexaboride films have been deposited on a tungsten tip by pulsed laser deposition technique. The field emission studies have been performed in the conventional field emission geometry. The Fowler-Nordheim plot obtained from the current-voltage characteristic is found to be linear in accordance with the quantum mechanical tunneling phenomenon. A current density of 1.2×104A∕cm2 is drawn from the deposited tip. The field enhancement factor is calculated to be 5537cm−1, indicating that the field emission is from nanoscale protrusions present on emitter surface. The emission current-time plots show the very good stability of the emitter.

Room temperature photoluminescence from ZnO quantum wells grown on (0001) sapphire using buffer assisted pulsed laser deposition

Efficient room temperature (RT) photoluminescence (PL) is achieved on ZnO multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on sapphire by pulsed laser deposition using a buffer assisted growth scheme. Absorption spectra of these MQWs at RT showed the excitonic features entwined with the band edges, which pointed to the excitonic nature of the PL transitions. At RT the band edge of these MQWs shifted from ∼3.36to3.78eV on decreasing the well layer thickness from ∼4to1nm. In the range from 10K to RT, the PL spectral linewidth increased and the peak shifted monotonically towards red with increasing temperature.

Correlation of spectral features of photoluminescence with residual native defects of ZnO thin films annealed at different temperatures

We investigated the effects of post-growth annealing in the temperature range of 873 to 1273 K on the spectral features of photoluminescence (PL) vis-a-vis the crystalline and compositional native defects of ZnO thin films grown at 773 K by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on sapphire substrates. It is found in the PL spectra at 10 K that the deep level emission (DLE) shifted from red-orange spectral region of ∼1.8–2.4 eV to yellow–green region of ∼2.4–2.9 eV with the increasing temperature of annealing. We propose that the PL in red-orange region originating from the singly ionized oxygen vacancies diminished due to increased replenishment of oxygen with increasing annealing temperature and that in the yellow–green region originating from the oxygen interstitials and/or zinc vacancies increased due to enhanced concentration of these point defects. As the annealing temperature was increased, the overall intensity of PL in the DLE region increased slightly up to 973 K but beyond that it increased steeply and ...

Multilevel unipolar resistive memory switching in amorphous SmGdO3 thin film

Multilevel resistive switching was observed in random access memory device using amorphous SmGdO3 (SGO) ternary oxide thin films. Non-volatile and stable 4-level resistance states with sufficient margin of resistance ratios were observed by varying compliance current which was attributed to compliance current dependent variation in size of conducting filaments. As fabricated Pt/SGO/Pt devices exhibited excellent switching parameters such as stable resistance ratios of reset (ON) to set (OFF) states, non-overlapping switching voltages, excellent data retention, and endurance. Temperature dependent variation of resistances of ON and OFF states of the device was studied to elucidate current conduction and resistive switching mechanisms.

Forming free resistive switching in graphene oxide thin film for thermally stable nonvolatile memory applications

Forming free and thermally stable bipolar resistive switching behavior was observed in the memory devices composed of graphene oxide (GO) thin films on ITO coated glass substrate with Platinum (Pt) as the top electrode. The switching between the low resistance state and high resistance state showed a reliable and repeating behavior with an on/off ratio of 104 at room temperature. The Pt/GO/ITO device showed metallic and semiconducting characteristics in low and high resistance states, respectively, when resistance was measured as a function of temperature. Ohmic conduction was found to dominate in all regions of switching operation except for the high voltage regime of high resistance state where space charge limited conduction was found to be the main mechanism of current conduction. The device showed good endurance up to 104 s and retention characteristics up to 100 cycles with on/off ratio ∼104. The switching mechanism was found to be governed by migration of oxygen between GO layer and bottom ITO elec...

Studies on structural, dielectric, and transport properties of Ni0.65Zn0.35Fe2O4

We report the crystal structure, dielectric, transport, and magnetic properties of Ni0.65Zn0.35Fe2O4. Rietveld refinement results of X-ray diffraction patterns confirm the phase formation of the material with cubic crystal structure ( Fd3¯m). The frequency dependent ac conductivity behavior obeys the Jonschers power law and is explained using the jump relaxation model. The observed behavior of temperature dependent bulk conductivity is attributed to the variable-range hopping of localized polarons. The correlation of polaron conduction and high permittivity behavior of NZFO is established on the basis of long range and short range conduction mechanisms. The complex impedance spectra clearly show the contribution of both grain and grain boundary effect on the electrical properties.

Photovoltaic effect in transition metal modified polycrystalline BiFeO3 thin films

We report photovoltaic (PV) effect in multiferroic Bi0.9Sm0.1Fe0.95Co0.05O3 (BSFCO) thin films. Transition metal modified polycrystalline BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films have been deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrate successfully through pulsed laser deposition (PLD). PV response is observed under illumination both in sandwich and lateral electrode configurations. The open-circuit voltage (Voc) and the short-circuit current density (Jsc) of the films in sandwich electrode configuration under illumination are measured to be 0.9 V and −0.051 µA cm−2. Additionally, we report piezoresponse for BSFCO films, which confirms ferroelectric piezoelectric behaviour.

Unipolar resistive switching behavior of amorphous YCrO3 films for nonvolatile memory applications

Amorphous YCrO3 (YCO) films were prepared on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition in order to investigate resistive switching (RS) phenomenon. The Pt/YCO/Pt device showed stable unipolar RS with resistance ratio of ∼105 between low and high resistance states, excellent endurance and retention characteristics, as well as, non-overlapping switching voltages with narrow dispersions. Based on the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and temperature dependent switching characteristics, observed RS was mainly ascribed to the oxygen vacancies. Moreover, current-voltage characteristics of the device in low and high resistance states were described by Ohmic and trap controlled space–charge limited conduction mechanisms, respectively.

Studies of the switchable photovoltaic effect in co-substituted BiFeO3 thin films

We report the photovoltaic properties of doped ferroelectric [Bi0.9La0.1][Fe0.97Ti0.02Zr0.01]O3 (BLFTZO) thin films. Polycrystalline BLFTZO films were fabricated on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. Al-doped ZnO transparent top electrodes complete the ZnO:Al/BLFTZO/Pt metal-ferroelectric-metal capacitor structures. BLFTZO showed switchable photoresponse in both polarities. The open circuit voltage (VOC) and short circuit current (JSC) were found to be ∼0.022 V and ∼650 μA/cm2, respectively after positive poling, whereas significant difference in VOC ∼ 0.018V and JSC ∼ 700 μA/cm2 was observed after negative poling. The observed switchable photocurrent and photovoltage responses are explained on the basis of polarization flipping in BLFTZO due to the applied poling field.