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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Interplay of Cu and oxygen vacancy in optical transitions and screening of excitons in ZnO:Cu films

We study room temperature optics and electronic structures of ZnO:Cu films as a function of Cu concentration using a combination of spectroscopic ellipsometry, photoluminescence, and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. Mid-gap optical states, interband transitions, and excitons are observed and distinguishable. We argue that the mid-gap states are originated from interactions of Cu and oxygen vacancy (Vo). They are located below conduction band (Zn4s) and above valence band (O2p) promoting strong green emission and narrowing optical band gap. Excitonic states are screened and its intensities decrease upon Cu doping. Our results show the importance of Cu and Vo driving the electronic structures and optical transitions in ZnO:Cu films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Phase transformation in multiferroic Bi{sub 5}Ti{sub 3}FeO{sub 15} ceramics by temperature-dependent ellipsometric and Raman spectra: An interband electronic transition evidence

Thermal evolution and an intermediate phase between ferroelectric orthorhombic and paraelectric tetragonal phase of multiferroic Bi{sub 5}Ti{sub 3}FeO{sub 15} ceramic have been investigated by temperature-dependent spectroscopic ellipsometry and Raman scattering. Dielectric functions and interband transitions extracted from the standard critical-point model show two dramatic anomalies in the temperature range of 200–873 K. It was found that the anomalous temperature dependence of electronic transition energies and Raman mode frequencies around 800 K can be ascribed to intermediate phase transformation. Moreover, the disappearance of electronic transition around 3 eV at 590 K is associated with the conductive property.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Growth mechanisms study of microcrystalline silicon deposited by SiH{sub 4}/H{sub 2} plasma using tailored voltage waveforms

The use of Tailored Voltage Waveforms is a technique wherein one uses non-sinusoidal waveforms with a period equivalent to RF frequencies to excite a plasma. It has been shown to be an effective technique to decouple maximum Ion Bombardment Energy (IBE) from the ion flux at the surface of the electrodes. In this paper, we use it for the first time as a way to scan through the IBE in order to study the growth mechanism of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon using a SiH{sub 4}/H{sub 2} chemistry. We find that at critical energies, a stepwise increase in the amorphous to microcrystalline transition thickness is observed, as detected by Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry. The same energy thresholds (30 eV and 70 eV) are found to be very influential on the final surface morphology of the samples, as observed by Atomic Force Microscopy. These thresholds correspond to SiH{sub x}{sup +} bulk displacement (30 eV) and H{sub x}{sup +} (70 eV) surface displacement energies. A model is therefore proposed to account for the impact of these ions on the morphology of μc-Si:H growth.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electronic structure and optical responses of nanocrystalline BiGaO{sub 3} films: A combination study of experiment and theory

High-quality nanocrystalline BiGaO{sub 3} (BGO) films have been prepared by a modified sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the films are polycrystalline and exhibit an orthorhombic structure. The dispersion functions near infrared-ultraviolet region were extracted by fitting spectroscopic ellipsometry with the Tauc-Lorentz model. Moreover, first-principle calculations on dielectric functions and band gap were carried out, which are in good agreement with the experimental results. It was found that BGO belongs to an indirect band gap oxide with the fundamental gap of about 2.17 eV, which is suitable for ferroelectric based photovoltaic devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Temperature dependent dielectric function and the E{sub 0} critical points of hexagonal GaN from 30 to 690 K

The complex dielectric function ε and the E{sub 0} excitonic and band-edge critical-point structures of hexagonal GaN are reported for temperatures from 30 to 690 K and energies from 0.74 to 6.42 eV, obtained by rotating-compensator spectroscopic ellipsometry on a 1.9 μm thick GaN film deposited on a c-plane (0001) sapphire substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. Direct inversion and B-splines in a multilayer-structure calculation were used to extract the optical properties of the film from the measured pseudodielectric function 〈ε〉. At low temperature sharp E{sub 0} excitonic and critical-point interband transitions are separately observed. Their temperature dependences were determined by fitting the data to the empirical Varshni relation and the phenomenological expression that contains the Bose-Einstein statistical factor.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Magneto-optical spectroscopy of ferromagnetic shape-memory Ni-Mn-Ga alloy

Magneto-optical properties of single crystal of Ni{sub 50.1}Mn{sub 28.4}Ga{sub 21.5} magnetic shape memory alloy in martensite and austenite phase were systematically studied. Crystal orientation was approximately along (100) planes of parent cubic austenite. At room temperature, the sample was in modulated 10M martensite phase and transformed to cubic austenite at 323 K. Spectral dependence of polar magneto-optical Kerr effect was obtained by generalized magneto-optical ellipsometry with rotating analyzer in the photon energy range from 1.2 to 4 eV, and from room temperature to temperature above the Curie point. The Kerr rotation spectra exhibit prominent features typical for complexes containing Mn atoms. Significant spectral changes during transformation to austenite can be explained by different optical properties caused by changes in density of states near the Fermi energy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Optical and magneto-optical properties of Co-doped CeO{sub 2−δ} films in the 0.5 to 4 eV range

Magnetically doped Ce{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}O{sub 2−δ} (nominal x = 0.05 and 0.10) films were systematically studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry and magneto-optical spectroscopy. The samples were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on MgO(100) substrates and grew as textured polycrystalline films with thickness between 200 and 750 nm. They exhibited room temperature ferromagnetism and an out-of-plane easy axis attributed to magnetoelastic effects from the in-plane compressive strain. The dispersion of dielectric function of Ce{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}O{sub 2−δ} films was parametrized by the sum of Tauc-Lorentz and damped Lorentz oscillators and adjusted numerically. Deduced optical band gaps were similar to those of pure CeO{sub 2}, but the Co doping increased the optical absorption. The magneto-optical spectroscopy was carried out in both Faraday and Kerr configurations in the photon energy range from 0.5 to 4 eV, showing a strong dependence of the magneto-optical effect on the Co content near the optical band edge.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ge interface engineering using ultra-thin La{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} films: A study into the effect of deposition temperature

A study into the optimal deposition temperature for ultra-thin La{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge and Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge gate stacks has been conducted in this paper with the aim to tailor the interfacial layer for effective passivation of the Ge interface. A detailed comparison between the two lanthanide oxides (La{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}) in terms of band line-up, interfacial features, and reactivity to Ge using medium energy ion scattering, vacuum ultra-violet variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VUV-VASE), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction is shown. La{sub 2}O{sub 3} has been found to be more reactive to Ge than Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}, forming LaGeO{sub x} and a Ge sub-oxide at the interface for all deposition temperature studied, in the range from 44 °C to 400 °C. In contrast, Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge deposited at 400 °C allows for an ultra-thin GeO{sub 2} layer at the interface, which can be eliminated during annealing at temperatures higher than 525 °C leaving a pristine YGeO{sub x}/Ge interface. The Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge gate stack deposited at lower temperature shows a sub-band gap absorption feature fitted to an Urbach tail of energy 1.1 eV. The latter correlates to a sub-stoichiometric germanium oxide layer at the interface. The optical band gap for the Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge stacks has been estimated to be 5.7 ± 0.1 eV from Tauc-Lorentz modelling of VUV-VASE experimental data. For the optimal deposition temperature (400 °C), the Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge stack exhibits a higher conduction band offset (>2.3 eV) than the La{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge (∼2 eV), has a larger band gap (by about 0.3 eV), a germanium sub-oxide free interface, and leakage current (∼10{sup −7} A/cm{sup 2} at 1 V) five orders of magnitude lower than the respective La{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge stack. Our study strongly points to the superiority of the Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ge system for germanium interface engineering to achieve high performance Ge Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor technology.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

A study on the evolution of dielectric function of ZnO thin films with decreasing film thickness

Dielectric function, band gap, and exciton binding energies of ultrathin ZnO films as a function of film thickness have been obtained with spectroscopic ellipsometry. As the film thickness decreases, both real (ε{sub 1}) and imaginary (ε{sub 2}) parts of the dielectric function decrease significantly, and ε{sub 2} shows a blue shift. The film thickness dependence of the dielectric function is shown related to the changes in the interband absorption, discrete-exciton absorption, and continuum-exciton absorption, which can be attributed to the quantum confinement effect on both the band gap and exciton binding energies.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of Mg doping on the structural and free-charge carrier properties of InN films

We present a comprehensive study of free-charge carrier and structural properties of two sets of InN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy and systematically doped with Mg from 1.0 × 10{sup 18} cm{sup −3} to 3.9 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup −3}. The free electron and hole concentration, mobility, and plasmon broadening parameters are determined by infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry. The lattice parameters, microstructure, and surface morphology are determined by high-resolution X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Consistent results on the free-charge carrier type are found in the two sets of InN films and it is inferred that p-type conductivity could be achieved for 1.0 × 10{sup 18} cm{sup −3} ≲ [Mg] ≲ 9.0 × 10{sup 19} cm{sup −3}. The systematic change of free-charge carrier properties with Mg concentration is discussed in relation to the evolution of extended defect density and growth mode. A comparison between the structural characteristics and free electron concentrations in the films provides insights in the role of extended and point defects for the n-type conductivity in InN. It further allows to suggest pathways for achieving compensated InN material with relatively high electron mobility and low defect densities. The critical values of Mg concentration for which polarity inversion and formation of zinc-blende InN occurred are determined. Finally, the effect of Mg doping on the lattice parameters is established and different contributions to the strain in the films are discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Study of optical properties of asymmetric bipolar pulse DC magnetron sputtered Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5} thin film as a function of oxygen content in deposition ambient

Tantalum penta-oxide thin films have been deposited by reactive sputtering technique using asymmetric bipolar pulsed DC source at various oxygen percentage viz. 0 to 50 %. The optical properties of the films have been studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. It has been observed that compact films with low void fraction, high refractive index and band gap can be obtained by the above technique with oxygen percentage in the range of 30–40%. The films deposited with zero or very low oxygen content have high deposition rate and yield metal rich films with large voids, defects, low band gap and high refractive index. Similarly films deposited with >40% oxygen content again contain voids and defects due to the presence of large amount of gas molecules in the sputtering ambient.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Phase diagram of the CF{sub 4} monolayer and bilayer on graphite

We report an experimental study of physisorbed monolayers and bilayers of CF{sub 4} on graphite using infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy supplemented by ellipsometry. The symmetric C–F stretch mode ν{sub 3} near 1283 cm{sup −1} in the gas is strongly blue shifted in the film by dynamic dipole coupling. This blue shift provides a very sensitive measure of the inter-molecular spacing in the monolayer and, less directly, in the bilayer. We find that important corrections are necessary to the volumetric coverage scales used in previous heat capacity and x-ray diffraction studies of this system. This requires quantitative and some qualitative changes to the previously proposed phase diagram. We find evidence for a new phase transition in the middle of the hexagonal incommensurate region and construct new phase diagrams in both the variables coverage-temperature and chemical potential-temperature. We determine the compressibility and thermal expansion in the low-pressure hexagonal incommensurate phase and values for the entropy change in several phase transitions. Below about 55 K there is evidence of solution of up to 7% of an impurity, most likely CO, in our monolayer but not the bilayer film.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Extracting the effective mass of electrons in transparent conductive oxide thin films using Seebeck coefficient

A method is proposed that combines Seebeck coefficient and carrier concentration to determine the electron effective mass of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin films. Experiments were conducted to test the validity of this approach on the transparent conductive Ga-doped ZnO thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering. An evident agreement of the calculated electron effective mass of the films is observed between the proposed approach and the previous studies. Besides, the optical carrier concentration and mobility derived from the calculated electron effective mass and spectroscopic ellipsometry using a complex dielectric function are consistent with those from direct Hall-effect measurement. The agreements suggest that Seebeck coefficient can serve as an alternative tool for extracting the effective mass of electrons in TCO films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ordinary and extraordinary dielectric functions of rutile SnO{sub 2} up to 20 eV

Spectroscopic ellipsometry at room temperature is applied in order to determine the ordinary (ε{sub ⊥}) and extraordinary (ε{sub ∥}) dielectric functions (DFs) of rutile SnO{sub 2} corresponding to electric field (E) polarization perpendicular (E⊥c) and parallel (E∥c) to the optical axis (c), respectively. Strong anisotropic behavior is found for the full spectral range from 0.5 up to 20 eV. The onsets of strong absorption are found at 4.28 eV and 5.42 eV for E⊥c and E∥c, respectively. A dipole-forbidden band gap at (3.59 ± 0.2) eV at room temperature is found by line shape fits to the imaginary parts of the DFs. Further high-energy transitions are resolved. Their accurate energy values are obtained by fitting the second derivatives of the DFs. Comparison to published DFs calculated by ab-initio theory demonstrates that the electron-hole interaction in SnO{sub 2} is strong and has to be included for interpretation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Structural properties of relaxed thin film germanium layers grown by low temperature RF-PECVD epitaxy on Si and Ge (100) substrates

We report on unusual low temperature (175 °C) heteroepitaxial growth of germanium thin films using a standard radio-frequency plasma process. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveal a perfect crystalline quality of epitaxial germanium layers on (100) c-Ge wafers. In addition direct germanium crystal growth is achieved on (100) c-Si, despite 4.2% lattice mismatch. Defects rising from Ge/Si interface are mostly located within the first tens of nanometers, and threading dislocation density (TDD) values as low as 10{sup 6} cm{sup −2} are obtained. Misfit stress is released fast: residual strain of −0.4% is calculated from Moiré pattern analysis. Moreover we demonstrate a striking feature of low temperature plasma epitaxy, namely the fact that crystalline quality improves with thickness without epitaxy breakdown, as shown by TEM and depth profiling of surface TDD.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ellipsometric characterization and density-functional theory analysis of anisotropic optical properties of single-crystal α-SnS

We report on the anisotropic optical properties of single-crystal tin monosulfide (SnS). The components ε{sub a}, ε{sub b}, and ε{sub c} of the pseudodielectric-function tensor (ε)=(ε₁)+i(ε₂) spectra are taken from 0.73 to 6.45 eV by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The measured (ε) spectra are in a good agreement with the results of the calculated dielectric response from hybrid density functional theory. The (ε) spectra show the direct band-gap onset and a total of eight above-band-gap optical structures that are associated with the interband-transition critical points (CPs). We obtain accurate CP energies by fitting analytic CP expressions to second-energy-derivatives of the (ε) data. Their probable electronic origins and implications for photovoltaic applications are discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ultrafast transient reflectance of epitaxial semiconducting perovskite thin films

Ultrafast pump-probe transient reflectance (TR) spectroscopy was used to study carrier dynamics in an epitaxial perovskite oxide thin film of LaFeO{sub 3} (LFO) with a thickness of 40 unit cells (16 nm) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (LaAlO{sub 3}){sub 0.3}(Sr{sub 2}AlTaO{sub 6}){sub 0.7} (LSAT). TR spectroscopy shows two negative transients in reflectance with local maxima at ∼2.5 eV and ∼3.5 eV which correspond to two optical transitions in LFO as determined by ellipsometry. The kinetics at these transients were best fit with an exponential decay model with fast (5–40 ps), medium (∼200 ps), and slow (∼ 3 ns) components that we attribute mainly to recombination of photoexcited carriers. Moreover, these reflectance transients did not completely decay within the observable time window, indicating that ∼10% of photoexcited carriers exist for at least 3 ns. This work illustrates that TR spectroscopy can be performed on thin (<20 nm) epitaxial oxide films to provide a quantitative understanding of recombination lifetimes, which are important parameters for the potential utilization of perovskite films in photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Integrating atomic layer deposition and ultra-high vacuum physical vapor deposition for in situ fabrication of tunnel junctions

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a promising technique for growing ultrathin, pristine dielectrics on metal substrates, which is essential to many electronic devices. Tunnel junctions are an excellent example which require a leak-free, ultrathin dielectric tunnel barrier of typical thickness around 1 nm between two metal electrodes. A challenge in the development of ultrathin dielectric tunnel barriers using ALD is controlling the nucleation of dielectrics on metals with minimal formation of native oxides at the metal surface for high-quality interfaces between the tunnel barrier and metal electrodes. This poses a critical need for integrating ALD with ultra-high vacuum (UHV) physical vapor deposition. In order to address these challenges, a viscous-flow ALD chamber was designed and interfaced to an UHV magnetron sputtering chamber via a load lock. A sample transportation system was implemented for in situ sample transfer between the ALD, load lock, and sputtering chambers. Using this integrated ALD-UHV sputtering system, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) Nb-Al/Al{sub 2}O{sub 2}/Nb Josephson tunnel junctions were fabricated with tunnel barriers of thickness varied from sub-nm to ∼1 nm. The suitability of using an Al wetting layer for initiation of the ALD Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} tunnel barrier was investigated with ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, and electrical transport measurements. With optimized processing conditions, leak-free SIS tunnel junctions were obtained, demonstrating the viability of this integrated ALD-UHV sputtering system for the fabrication of tunnel junctions and devices comprised of metal-dielectric-metal multilayers.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗