OMVPE growth of P-type GaN using solution Cp2Mg

Bis(cyclopentadienyl)magnesium (Cp₂Mg) is a common source for p-type doping in GaN and AlInGaP materials. It is a white crystalline solid with very low vapor pressure, leading to transport problems similar to solid trimethyindium (TMI). Some of these problems can be alleviated by a newly developed source-solution magnesocene, Cp₂Mg, dissolved in a solvent that is essentially nonvolatile. In this paper, we report the growth and comparative results of Mg-doped GaN grown by OMVPE using solid and solution Cp₂Mg. Using both sources, we optimized parameters to obtain high-quality GaN growth with hole concentrations up to 1 10¹⁸/cm³.     

Catfish Effect Induced by Anion Sequential Doping for Microwave Absorption

Heteroatom doping engineering is desirable in tuning crystal structures and electrical properties, which is considered an opportunity to further develop microwave absorption materials. However, the competition mechanism and priority among doped atoms have not been revealed, which are insufficient to guide the most reasonable dielectric coupling model and design high-performance absorbers. In this work, based on in situ N and O, ex situ S is introduced through external thermal driving, leading to fierce competition among anions. Specifically, S atoms replace pyrrole N, drive out lattice O, and create O vacancies, bringing more extensive local charge redistribution and stronger electron interaction, thus activating the defect-induced polarization (3–6 times higher than conduction loss) in the middle/high-frequency region. Therefore, the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 9.03 GHz and the minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of −64.05 dB at a filling rate of 10 wt.% are obtained, which improves the record of carbon absorbers as reported. Through macro-designs, i.e., multi-layer gradient metamaterial, or utilizing other advantages, e.g., cost-effective, stable chemical properties and wide-angle absorption, porous carbon may possess a great application prospect in the naval field.     

Study on the basic capacitance–voltage characteristics of organic molecular semiconductors

Capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of organic molecular semiconductors attracted much research interest recently, but no convincing physical mechanism has been established so far. In this work, the C–V characteristics of pentacene-based devices have been systematically investigated at various frequencies. Only one peak occurs when the measuring frequency is less than 3 kHz or greater than 8 kHz. While within the frequency range between the two, two C–V peaks are observed with quite different dependence on temperature, which suggests that the origins of these two C–V peaks are respectively mobile holes and trapped carriers. This conclusion is also experimentally validated with the C–V characteristics of intentionally doped devices.     

Understanding Boosted Selective CO2-to-CO Photoreduction with Pure Water Vapor over Hierarchical Biomass-Derived Carbon Matrix

Solar-driven CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) with water into carbon-neutral fuels is of great significance but remains challenging due to thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness of CO₂. Biomass-derived nitrogen-doped carbon (N-C_b) have been considered as promising earth-abundant photocatalysts for CO₂RR, although their activities are not ideal and the reaction mechanism is still unclear. Herein, an efficient catalyst is developed for CO₂-to-CO conversion realized on diverse N-C_b materials with hierarchical pore structures. It is demonstrated that the CO₂-to-CO conversion preferentially takes place on positively charged carbon atoms next to pyridinic-N using two representatives treated pollens with the largest difference in pyridinic-N density and N content as model photocatalysts. Systematic experimental results indicate that surface local electric field originating from charge separation can be boosted by hierarchical pore structures, doped N, as well as pyridinic-N. Mechanistic studies reveal that positively charged carbon atoms next to pyridinic-N serve as active sites for CO₂RR, reduce the energy barrier on the formation of CO*, and facilitate the CO₂RR performance. All these benefits cooperatively contribute to treated chrysanthemum pollen catalyst exhibiting excellent CO formation rate of 203.2 µmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ with 97.2% selectivity in pure water vapor. These results provide a new perspective into CO₂RR on N-C_b, which shall guide the design of nature-based photocatalysts for high-performance solar-fuel generation.     

CuI Encapsulated within Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks with High Current Carrying Capacity and Excellent Conductivity

High current carrying capacity and high conductivity are two important indicators for materials used in microscale electronics and inverters. However, it is challenging to obtain high conductivity and high current carrying capacity at the same time since high conductivity requires a weakly bonded system to provide free electrons, while high current carrying capacity requires a strongly bonded system. In this paper, CuI@SWCNT networks by filling the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with CuI is ingeniously prepared. CuI@SWCNT shows good stability due to the confinement protection of SWCNTs. Through the host-guest hybridization, CuI@SWCNT networks exhibit a current carrying capacity of 2.04 × 10⁷ A cm⁻² and a conductivity of 31.67 kS m⁻¹. Their current carrying capacity and conductivity are significantly improved compared with SWCNT. The Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements show a drop of surface potential energy after SWCNT filled with CuI, indicating that the CuI guest molecules regulate the position of the Fermi level of SWCNTs, increasing carrier concentration, achieving high conductivity and high current carrying capacity. This study offers ideas and solutions for the regulation of high-performance carbon tube networks, which hold great promise for future applications in carbon-based electronic devices.     

太阳电池掩膜窗口宽度与电极宽度比对光生电流性能的影响

提出了一个有效工艺设计参数——选择性扩散掩膜窗口宽度与电极宽度的比值T。研究结果表明,对不同的衬底浓度和掺杂浓度均存在一个最佳T值可以获得最大短路电流。选择性扩散浓度为1×1018~1×10-3cm-3时,其最佳T值为1;选择性扩散浓度为1×10-3cm-3时,最佳T值小于0.5。电极宽度的增加减小了光生电流,但对最佳T值影响较小。选择性掺杂浓度的增加会使得最佳T值减小。     

量子阱红外探测器掺杂阱中能级的计算

量子阱中能级位置的确定是获得量子阱红外探测器其它设计参数的基础。为了提供足够的载流子跃迁,阱层一般为重掺杂层。重掺杂使半导体材料禁带宽度变窄,从而改变量子阱中能级的位置。通过对不同温度、量子阱区不同掺杂浓度条件下的量子阱材料PL 谱进行测量,得出PL 谱峰值波长对应的电子跃迁峰值能量,它与阱中基态能级的位置有关。分别计算了考虑和不考虑禁带变窄效应时的电子跃迁峰值能量,并与实验结果相比较,可以看出考虑禁带变窄效应时与实验结果相吻合,因此掺杂量子阱区能级的计算需要考虑禁带变窄效应,这样可以较为精确的得出阱中能级的位置。     

Quantitative oxygen measurements in OMVPE Al x Ga1−x As grown by methyl precursors

Oxygen has always been considered to be a major contaminant in the organo-metallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) of Al _x Ga_1−x As. Oxygen incorporation has been invoked as a contributor to low luminescence efficiency, dopant compensation and degradation of surface morphology among other deleterious effects. This study presents quantitative measurements of oxygen concentration in nominally high purity Al _x Ga_1−x As. The oxygen concentration was measured as a function of alloy composition, growth temperature, andV/III ratio. Quantitative secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements were used to determine the oxygen content as well as the carbon concentration in the film. The oxygen concentration increases with decreased growth temperature and V/III ratio while increasing superlinearly with Al content in the epitaxial layer.     

Arsenic incorporation in MBE grown Hg1−xCdxTe

The p-type doping of Hg_1−xCd_xTe (MCT) has proven to be a significant challenge in present day MCT-based detector technology. One of the most promising acceptor candidates, arsenic, behaves as an amphoteric dopant which can be activated as an acceptor during Hg-rich, low temperature annealing of as-grown molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) samples. This study focuses on developing an understanding of the microscopic behavior of arsenic incorporation during MBE growth. In particular, the question of whether arsenic incorporates as individual As atoms, as As₂ dimers, or as As₄ tetramers is addressed for MBE growth with an As₄ source. A quasithermodynamical model is employed to describe the MCT growth and As incorporation, with parameters fitted to an extensive database of samples grown at the Microphysics Laboratory. The best fits for growth temperatures between 175 and 185°C are obtained for arsenic incorporation as As₄ or possibly as As₄ clusters, with lower probabilities for As₂ and individual As atoms. Based on these results, we investigate the relaxed atomic configurations of As₄ and As₂ in bulk HgTe by ab initio total energy calculations. The calculations are performed in the pseudopotential density-functional framework within the local density approximation, employing supercells with periodic boundary conditions. The lattice distortions due to As₄ and As₂ in bulk HgTe are predicted to be modest due to the small size of these arsenic clusters.