Rita Magri

Simultaneously B- and P-doped silicon nanoclusters: Formation energies and electronic properties

The effects of B and P codoping on the impurity formation energies and electronic properties of Si nanocrystals (Si-nc) are calculated by a first-principles method. We show that, if carriers in the Si-nc are perfectly compensated by simultaneous doping with n- and p-type impurities, the Si-nc undergo a minor structural distortion around the impurities and that the formation energies are always smaller than those for the corresponding single-doped cases. The band gap of the codoped Si-nc is strongly reduced with respect to the gap of the pure ones showing the possibility of an impurity based engineering of the photoluminescence properties of Si-nc.

Engineering silicon nanocrystals: Theoretical study of the effect of codoping with boron and phosphorus

We show that the optical and electronic properties of nanocrystalline silicon can be efficiently tuned using impurity doping. In particular, we give evidence, by means of ab initio calculations, that by properly controlling the doping with either one or two atomic species, a significant modification of both the absorption and the emission of light can be achieved. We have considered impurities, either boron or phosphorous (doping) or both (codoping), located at different substitutional sites of silicon nanocrystals with size ranging from

Silicon nanocrystallites in a SiO2 matrix: Role of disorder and size

1.1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{to}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}1.8\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}

Excitons in silicon nanocrystallites: The nature of luminescence

in diameter. We have found that the codoped nanocrystals have the lowest impurity formation energies when the two impurities occupy nearest neighbor sites near the surface. In addition, such systems present band-edge states localized on the impurities, giving rise to a redshift of the absorption thresholds with respect to that of undoped nanocrystals. Our detailed theoretical analysis shows that the creation of an electron-hole pair due to light absorption determines a geometry distortion that, in turn, results in a Stokes shift between adsorption and emission spectra. In order to give a deeper insight into this effect, in one case we have calculated the absorption and emission spectra beyond the single-particle approach, showing the important role played by many-body effects. The entire set of results we have collected in this work give a strong indication that with the doping it is possible to tune the optical properties of silicon nanocrystals.

Understanding Doping In Silicon Nanostructures

We compare, through first-principles pseudopotential calculations, the structural, electronic, and optical properties of different size silicon nanoclusters embedded in a

Evolution of the band-gap and band-edge energies of the lattice-matched GaInAsSb∕GaSb and GaInAsSb∕InAs alloys as a function of composition

{\text{SiO}}_{2}

The Unexpected Role of Arsenic in Driving the Selective Growth of InAs Quantum Dots on GaAs

crystalline or amorphous matrix with that of freestanding, hydrogenated, and hydroxided silicon nanoclusters of corresponding size and shape. We find that the largest effect on the optoelectronic behavior is due to the amorphization of the embedded nanocluster. In that, the amorphization reduces the fundamental gap while increasing the absorption strength in the visible range. Increasing the nanocluster size does not change substantially this picture but only leads to the reduction in the absorption threshold, following the quantum confinement rule. Finally, through the calculation of the optical absorption spectra both in an independent-particle and a many-body approach, we show that the effect of local fields is crucial for describing properly the optical behavior of the crystalline case while it is of minor importance for amorphous systems.

Electronic structure of self-assembled In As ∕ In P quantum dots: Comparison with self-assembled In As ∕ Ga As quantum dots

The absorption and emission spectra of silicon nanocrystals up to 1 nm diameter have been calculated within a first-principles framework. Our calculations include geometry optimization and the many-body effects induced by the creation of an electron-hole pair. Starting from hydrogenated silicon clusters of different sizes, different Si/O bondings at the cluster surface have been considered. We found that the presence of a Si-O-Si bridge bond causes significant excitonic luminescence features in the visible range that are in fair agreement with experiment.

Theory of optical properties of 6.1 Å III–V superlattices: The role of the interfaces

The effects of both single doping and simultaneous codoping on the structural, electronic, and optical properties of Si nanocrystals are calculated by the first-principles method. We show that the amount of the nanocrystal relaxation around the impurity is directly related to the impurity valence. Moreover, both the neutral impurity formation energies and the impurity activation energies scale with the reciprocal radius. Interestingly, no significant variation of the activation energy on the impurity species is found, and the cluster relaxation gives a minor contribution to it. The role of the impurity position within the nanocrystal has also been elucidated showing that the subsurface positions are the most stable ones. We show that, if the carriers in the Si nanocrystals are perfectly compensated by simultaneous doping with the n- and p-type impurities, the nanocrystals undergo a minor structural distortion around the impurities. The formation energies are always smaller than that for the corresponding single-doped cases. Moreover, in the case of codoping, the bandgap is strongly reduced with respect to the gap of the pure crystals showing the possibility of an impurity-based engineering of the photoluminescence properties of the Si nanocrystals

Gain Theory And Models In Silicon Nanostructures

Using atomistic pseudopotential calculations we predict the evolution of the valence-band maximum energy Eυ(x,y) and conduction-band minimum energy Ec(x,y) for a compositionally graded quaternary Ga1−yInyAsxSb1−x alloy lattice matched to GaSb or InAs as a function of (x,y) or, equivalently, as a function of distance from the substrate. We find upward-concave bowing for both Ec and Eυ, in contradiction with simple interpolative models. A transition from staggered (type II) to broken-gap (type III) lineup relative to GaSb is predicted to occur at x=0.81 and y=0.92 on a GaSb substrate, and at x=0.59 and y=0.62 on an InAs substrate. In the latter case, the quaternary alloy has a minimum gap at x=0.85 and y=0.87.