Optimization of Gallium concentration to improve the performance of ZnO nanopowders for nanophotonic applications

This study reports the effects of gallium concentration on the properties of doped zinc oxide nanopowders. Both pure and gallium doped zinc oxide (GZO) nanoparticles were prepared via a simple and effective sol-gel method. The structural, morphological and optical properties of synthesized GZO nanopowders were investigated using different characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, Photoluminescence spectroscopy, X-ray and ion-beam-induced luminescence (IBIL) measurements. Firstly, in the presence of Ga ions in the host the purity of synthesized sample was evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the presence of bonding states of Zn, O, and Ga on the surface of powders. Raman spectroscopy analysis showed that the increase of Ga content upper than 1 at.% leads to an increase in the number of defects in the ZnO lattice. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) confirmed that the uniform integration of spherical and hexagonal rod shape particles can be found in the doped samples. According to FESEM images, the particle size of prepared nanopowders increased from 101 to 200 nm by increasing in the Ga doping concentration. The photoluminescence, X-ray and ion beam induced luminescence results of the pure and doped ZnO powders revealed novel blue-green emission band from 400 up to 550 nm at room temperature. Optical and structural studies confirmed the optimized Ga concentration is 1 at.%.     

氧化铟对ZnO压敏陶瓷压敏特性及微观结构的影响

用粘度为0．1～0．3mm的氧化锌粉末为原料，制得了氧化锌压敏陶瓷片，研究了In_2O_3掺杂对其压敏特性和微观结构的影响、结果表明：这种氧化锌粉末具有很高的烧结活性，适合作低压压敏电阻器。当烧结温度一定（1240℃）时。阀值电压Vc随着In_2O_3含量的增高而增加，其原自是由于In_2O_3含量的增加，在高温时烧结体内In_2O_3的分解量增加，从而使烧结体中的孔隙率增加。导电性降低。     

Theoretical and experimental investigations of the thermoelectric properties of Al-, Bi- and Sn-doped ZnO

In this paper, the thermoelectric properties of ZnO doped with Al, Bi and Sn were investigated by combining experimental and theoretical methods. The average Seebeck coefficient of Bi doped ZnO over the measured temperature range is improved from −90 to −497 μV/K. However, segregation of Bi₂O₃ in ZnO:Bi sample, confirmed by FESEM, lead to enormous grain growth and low electrical conductivity, which makes Bi is not a good dopant to improve ZT value of ZnO. As a 4+ valence cation, Sn doping actually show an increase in carrier concentration to 10²⁰ cm⁻³, further enhancing the electrical conductivity. Unfortunately, the Seebeck coefficient of ZnO:Sn samples is even lower than pure ZnO sample, which lead to a low ZT value. As for ZnO:Al sample, with nearly no change in lattice thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient were both enhanced. Threefold enhancement in ZT value has been achieved in ZnO:Al sample at 760 °C compared with pure ZnO.     

Scanning spreading resistance microscopy for failure analysis of nLDMOS devices with decreased breakdown voltage

Scanning Spreading Resistance Microscopy (SSRM) is successfully applied to investigate failing nLDMOS test devices that exhibit a lowered break down voltage (BVDSS) in electrical test. Cross-sectional, two-dimensional maps of the local sample resistivity from fail and reference (pass) devices reveal significant differences of the dopant concentration in individual, specific regions. This important information enables unambiguous identification of the root cause of the device failure to be dopant related. Furthermore, from a set of hypothesis, which explains the failed electrical test, SSRM results confirm exactly one and rule out the other. These are two important steps towards root cause identification. Since a relative comparison of fail and pass SSRM scans is sufficient for this failure analysis, an extensive data calibration for the absolute dopant concentration by means of additional SSRM measurements on test samples with known dopant concentration is not required. The ability of SSRM to prove or disprove miscellaneous fail hypothesis even without data calibration makes this method a very powerful tool for analysis of dopant related failure types.     

Effects of exo-electron emission from MgO thin film on statistical delay of glow discharge of ac-PDP

Relationship between exo-electron emission currents and statistical delay of glow discharges of ac-PDP was investigated by measuring exo-electron currents. The currents were measured as a function of time and doping elements. The measured results indicated that the exo-electron currents decrease exponentially with time, while the statistical delay increases with time. The results demonstrate that the statistical discharge delay is inversely proportional to the currents of exo-electron emission from MgO film in a time interval of 1 to 10 ms.     

Hydrogen evolution reaction: The role of arsenene nanosheet and dopant

The state-of-the-art density functional theory (DFT) is employed to study the catalytic activity of arsenene for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). We have included dispersion correction to get accurate adsorption energy on the individual catalytic surface (top site). Using binding energy calculation, arsenene is shown to be a potential candidate for HER. Here we investigate the stability and electronic properties of the honeycomb structure of the arsenene system using first-principles calculation to find the effect of different dopants on the fundamental band gap, which is one of the primary parameters in the photocatalytic water splitting. Further, we sieved the dopant for better HER catalytic activity by substituting one of the arsenene (As) atoms by B, N, O, Ge, Ga and Se atoms to make arsenene a better candidate for HER. Our studies depict that HER activity is increased by 82% for O-doped arsenene and OER activity by 87% for B-doped arsenene as compared to pristine arsenene.     

Study on silicon surface oxidation of post-implant resist cleaning

Minimum substrate loss is required for resist strip of high dose, ultra shallow junction implant for source/drain extensions. Silicon surface oxidation of downstream plasma resist strip results in silicon recess of the source/drain extension regions. This paper reports the study of silicon surface oxidation for different resist strip plasma chemistries and the effect of plasma strip process parameters such as power, pressure and temperature on silicon surface oxidation. A good agreement was found between optical ellipsometry, XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and TEM (transmission electron spectroscopy) for thickness measurement of very thin (<20 Å) oxide grown on silicon surface due to plasma exposure. Selectivity of crust breakthrough and resist removal over silicon oxidation was also discussed in this paper along with dopant loss.     

Determination of the dopant weight fraction in polyaniline films using a quartz-crystal microbalance

The electrical conductivity of polyaniline depends on factors such as degree of oxidation, type of protonation, and dopant weight fraction. The last of these factors is connected with the loss of mass during the deprotonation of polyaniline, and can thus conveniently be determined in situ by the use of a quartz microbalance. This is illustrated in the present paper which concerns the determination of the weight fraction of acid in thin polyaniline films prepared by the chemical oxidation of aniline in the aqueous solutions of sulfuric and phosphoric acids. It is illustrated that the deprotonation-reprotonation processes are fast, complete, and reversible. Polyaniline has sulfate counter-ions in 0.1 M sulfuric acid while, in 0.5-1 M sulfuric acid, hydrogen sulfate counter-ions are present. The quartz microbalance involving polyaniline films can be used in the sensing of the acidity.     

Dopant segregation in SOI Schottky-barrier MOSFETs

We present experimental results on silicon-on-insulator Schottky-barrier MOSFETs with fully silicided NiSi source and drain contacts. Dopant segregation during silicidation was used to improve the device characteristics: on-currents, significantly higher than without dopant segregation as well as an almost ideal off-state are demonstrated in n-type as well as p-type SB-MOSFETs. Temperature dependent measurements show that the effective Schottky-barrier height in devices with segregation can be strongly lowered. In addition, we investigate the dopant segregation technique with simulations. Comparing simulations with experiments it turns out that the spatial extend of the segregation layer is on the few nanometer scale which is necessary for ultimately scaled devices. Furthermore, the use of ultrathin-body SOI in combination with ultrathin gate oxides results in an even further increased transmission through the Schottky barriers and consequently leads to strongly improved device characteristics. As a result, the dopant segregation technique greatly relaxes the requirement of low Schottky-barrier silicides for high performance transistor devices.     

POLYMER DIODES MADE OF ION IMPLANTED POLYACETYLENE FILMS

Polyacetylene films were doped with FeCl3 and implanted with 30 k'eV K+ ions. Physical changes to the films were examined by a series of measurements, which include the four-probe test, infrared ray absorption and 2 MeV He+ particle elastic recoil dettection and Rutherford backscattering. The chemical dopants (Fe+++ and Cl-) were redistributed after the implantation and the different species (K+. Fe+++ and Cl-ions) formed p - n junctions at the implantation depths. The implanted films exhibited desirable Ⅰ-Ⅴ characteristics, with current densities as high as 600 mA/cm- at 3V and back - to - forward ratio of current over 300. The polymer diodes kept their behavior for over 60 days. Discussions on the results were given in detail.