Zheng Zuo

In-situ epitaxial growth of graphene/h-BN van der Waals heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy.

Van der Waals materials have received a great deal of attention for their exceptional layered structures and exotic properties, which can open up various device applications in nanoelectronics. However, in situ epitaxial growth of dissimilar van der Waals materials remains challenging. Here we demonstrate a solution for fabricating van der Waals heterostructures. Graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) heterostructures were synthesized on cobalt substrates by using molecular beam epitaxy. Various characterizations were carried out to evaluate the heterostructures. Wafer-scale heterostructures consisting of single-layer/bilayer graphene and multilayer h-BN were achieved. The mismatch angle between graphene and h-BN is below 1°.

Distributed Bragg reflector assisted low-threshold ZnO nanowire random laser diode

An electrically pumped nitrogen doped p-type ZnO nanowires/undoped n-type ZnO thin film homojunction random laser with a 10-period SiO2/SiNx distributed Bragg reflector is demonstrated. The formation of p-n homojunction is confirmed by the current-voltage and photocurrent characteristics. The random lasing behaviors with a low threshold of around 3 mA are observed. The output power is measured to be 220 nW at a drive current of 16 mA.

Electron carrier concentration dependent magnetization and transport properties in ZnO:Co diluted magnetic semiconductor thin films

Diluted magnetic semiconducting ZnO:Co thin films with above room-temperature TC were prepared. Transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction studies indicate the ZnO:Co thin films are free of secondary phases. The magnetization of the ZnO:Co thin films shows a free electron carrier concentration dependence, which increases dramatically when the free electron carrier concentration exceeds ∼1019 cm−3, indicating a carrier-mediated mechanism for ferromagnetism. The anomalous Hall effect is observed in the ZnO:Co thin films. The anomalous Hall coefficient and its dependence on longitudinal resistivity were analyzed. The presence of a side-jump contribution further supports an intrinsic origin for ferromagnetism in ZnO:Co thin films. These observations together with the magnetic anisotropy and magnetoresistance results support an intrinsic carrier-mediated mechanism for ferromagnetic exchange in ZnO:Co diluted magnetic semiconductor materials.

Microstructure and transport properties of ZnO: Mn diluted magnetic semiconductor thin films

Microstructural studies using transmission electron microscopy were performed on a ZnO:Mn diluted magnetic semiconductor thin film. The high-resolution imaging and electron diffraction reveal that the ZnO:Mn thin film has a high structural quality and is free of clustering/segregated phases. High-angle annular dark field imaging and x-ray diffraction patterns further support the absence of phase segregation in the film. Magnetotransport was studied on the ZnO:Mn samples, and from these measurements, the temperature dependence of the resistivity and magnetoresistance, electron carrier concentration, and anomalous Hall coefficient of the sample is discussed. The anomalous Hall coefficient depends on the resistivity, and from this relation, the presence of the quadratic dependence term supports the intrinsic spin-obit origin of the anomalous Hall effect in the ZnO:Mn thin film.

Direct growth of graphene on in situ epitaxial hexagonal boron nitride flakes by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) single-crystal domains were grown on cobalt (Co) substrates at a substrate temperature of 850–900 °C using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Three-point star shape h-BN domains were observed by scanning electron microscopy, and confirmed by Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The h-BN on Co template was used for in situ growth of multilayer graphene, leading to an h-BN/graphene heterostructure. Carbon atoms preferentially nucleate on Co substrate and edges of h-BN and then grow laterally to form continuous graphene. Further introduction of carbon atoms results in layer-by-layer growth of graphene on graphene and lateral growth of graphene on h-BN until it may cover entire h-BN flakes.

Self-assembled Cubic Boron Nitride Nanodots

One of the low-dimensional Boron Nitride (BN) forms, namely, cubic-BN (c-BN) nanodots (NDs), offers a variety of novel opportunities in battery, biology, deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes, sensors, filters, and other optoelectronic applications. To date, the attempts towards producing c-BN NDs were mainly performed under extreme high-temperature/high-pressure conditions and resulted in c-BN NDs with micrometer sizes, mixture of different BN phases, and containing process-related impurities/contaminants. To enhance device performance for those applications by taking advantage of size effect, pure, sub-100 nm c-BN NDs are necessary. In this paper, we report self-assembled growth of c-BN NDs on cobalt and nickel substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that the nucleation, formation, and morphological properties of c-BN NDs can be closely correlated with the nature of substrate including catalysis effect, lattice-mismatch-induced strain, and roughness, and growth conditions, in particular, growth time and growth temperature. The mean lateral size of c-BN NDs on cobalt scales from 175 nm to 77 nm with the growth time. The growth mechanism of c-BN NDs on metal substrates is concluded to be Volmer-Weber (VW) mode. A simplified two-dimensional numerical modeling shows that the elastic strain energy plays a key role in determining the total formation energy of c-BN NDs on metals.

Peculiarly strong room-temperature ferromagnetism from low Mn-doping in ZnO grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Strong room-temperature ferromagnetism is demonstrated in single crystalline Mn-doped ZnO thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Very low Mn doping concentration is investigated, and the measured magnetic moment is much larger than what is expected for an isolated ion based on Hunds rules. The ferromagnetic behavior evolves with Mn concentration. Both magnetic anisotropy and anomalous Hall effect confirm the intrinsic nature of ferromagnetism. While the Mn dopant plays a crucial role, another entity in the system is needed to explain the observed large magnetic moments.