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At least 415 records · Page 23
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DOE OSTI2014

Role of interface structure and chemistry in resistive switching of NiO nanocrystals on SrTiO{sub 3}

Nickel oxide (NiO) nanocrystals epitaxially grown on (001) strontium titanate (SrTiO{sub 3}) single crystal substrates were characterized to investigate interface morphology and chemistry. Aberration corrected high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy reveals the interface between the NiO nanocrystals and the underlying SrTiO{sub 3} substrate to be rough, irregular, and have a lower average atomic number than the substrate or the nanocrystal. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy confirm both chemical disorder and a shift of the energy of the Ti L{sub 2,3} peaks. Analysis of the O K edge profiles in conjunction with this shift, implies the presence of oxygen vacancies at the interface. This sheds light into the origin of the previously postulated minority carriers’ model to explain resistive switching in NiO [J. Sullaphen, K. Bogle, X. Cheng, J. M. Gregg, and N. Valanoor, Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 203115 (2012)].

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Connectivity and critical current density of in-situ processed MgB{sub 2} superconductors: Effect of excess Mg and non-carbon based additives

In a sequel to our previous paper (J. Appl. Phys. 113, 036908 (2013)), where we reported comprehensive analysis of inter-grain connectivity (A{sub F}), pinning, percolation threshold (P{sub c}), and anisotropy (γ) in a series of ex-situ processed MgB{sub 2}, we address the same issues in in-situ processed samples. MgB{sub 2} samples with stoichiometric composition, excess Mg (5 wt. %) and further 3 wt. % addition of various non-carbon based additives like nano-Ag, nano-Ni, and YBCO are synthesised by the in-situ route. Detailed investigations of X-ray diffraction, magnetization (M), and resistivity (ρ) as a function of temperature (T) and field (B) in the range 5–300 K and 0–8 T are carried out in all the samples. The resistive superconducting onset T{sub con} ∼ 38.6 ± 0.3 K and offset (where ρ goes to zero) T{sub c0} ∼ 38.1 ± 0.3 K of the samples stay nearly unchanged. The inter-grain connectivity (A{sub F}) of the samples varies between 11%–20%. All the additives result in a critical current density (J{sub c}) higher than the stoichiometric MgB{sub 2} sample, where the highest values (e.g., J{sub c}(1 T, 5 K) ∼ 1.2 × 10{sup 9} A/m{sup 2}) are observed for the sample with 5 wt. % excess Mg. The major findings based on quantitative analysis of ρ (T, B) and J{sub c} (B, T) data in all the samples are: (1) along with previously studied ex-situ samples, the J{sub c}(A{sub F}) shows a significant increase at A{sub F} ∼ 7%; (2) the irreversibility lines lie lower than the characteristic T{sub c0}(B) lines in the B-T phase diagram; (3) a universal core pinning (δl- and/or δT{sub c}- type) mechanism is revealed in the entire T range 5–30 K; and (4) typical values of P{sub c} ∼ 0.57 ± 0.04 is indicative of weak link networks.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

On the limits of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy tuning by a ripple surface pattern

Ion beam patterning of a nanoscale ripple surface has emerged as a versatile method of imprinting uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) on a desired in-plane direction in magnetic films. In the case of ripple patterned thick films, dipolar interactions around the top and/or bottom interfaces are generally assumed to drive this effect following Schlömann's calculations for demagnetizing fields of an ideally sinusoidal surface [E. Schlömann, J. Appl. Phys. 41, 1617 (1970)]. We have explored the validity of his predictions and the limits of ion beam sputtering to induce UMA in a ferromagnetic system where other relevant sources of magnetic anisotropy are neglected: ripple films not displaying any evidence of volume uniaxial anisotropy and where magnetocrystalline contributions average out in a fine grain polycrystal structure. To this purpose, the surface of 100 nm cobalt films grown on flat substrates has been irradiated at fixed ion energy, fixed ion fluency but different ion densities to make the ripple pattern at the top surface with wavelength Λ and selected, large amplitudes (ω) up to 20 nm so that stray dipolar fields are enhanced, while the residual film thickness t = 35–50 nm is sufficiently large to preserve the continuous morphology in most cases. The film-substrate interface has been studied with X-ray photoemission spectroscopy depth profiles and is found that there is a graded silicon-rich cobalt silicide, presumably formed during the film growth. This graded interface is of uncertain small thickness but the range of compositions clearly makes it a magnetically dead layer. On the other hand, the ripple surface rules both the magnetic coercivity and the uniaxial anisotropy as these are found to correlate with the pattern dimensions. Remarkably, the saturation fields in the hard axis of uniaxial continuous films are measured up to values as high as 0.80 kG and obey a linear dependence on the parameter ω{sup 2}/Λ/t in quantitative agreement with Schlömann's prediction for a surface anisotropy entirely ruled by dipolar interaction. The limits of UMA tuning by a ripple pattern are discussed in terms of the surface local angle with respect to the mean surface and of the onset of ripple detachment.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electronic and optical properties of single excitons and biexcitons in type-II quantum dot nanocrystals

In this study, a detailed investigation of the electronic and optical properties (i.e., binding energies, absorption wavelength, overlap of the electron-hole wave functions, recombination oscillator strength, etc.) of an exciton and a biexciton in CdTe/CdSe core/shell type-II quantum dot heterostructures has been carried out in the frame of the single band effective mass approximation. In order to determine the electronic properties, we have self-consistently solved the Poisson-Schrödinger equations in the Hartree approximation. We have considered all probable Coulomb interaction effects on both energy levels and also on the corresponding wave functions for both single exciton and biexciton. In addition, we have taken into account the quantum mechanical exchange-correlation effects in the local density approximation between same kinds of particles for biexciton. Also, we have examined the effect of the ligands and dielectric mismatch on the electronic and optical properties. We have used a different approximation proposed by Sahin and Koc [Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 183103 (2013)] for the recombination oscillator strength of the biexciton for bound and unbound cases. The results obtained have been presented comparatively as a function of the shell thicknesses and probable physical reasons in behind of the results have been discussed in a detail.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Structural, electronic transport and magnetoresistance of a 142nm lead telluride nanowire synthesized using stress-induced growth

In this study, structurally uniform single crystalline PbTe nanowires (NWs) were synthesized using a stress-induced growth. Selected-area electron diffraction patterns show that the PbTe NWs were grown along the [100] direction. The electrical conductivity σ of a NW with 142 nm in diameter exhibited a semiconducting behavior at 50–300 K. An enhancement of electrical conductivity σ up to 2383 S m{sup −1} at 300 K is much higher than σ [0.44–1526 S m{sup −1}, Chen et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, p023115, (2013)] in previous studies. The room temperature magnetoresistance of the 142 nm NW was ∼0.8% at B = 2 T, which is considerably higher than that [0.2% at B = 2 T, Ovsyannikov et al., Sol. State Comm. 126, 373, (2003)] of the PbTe bulk reported.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Energy relaxation of hot electrons in Si-doped GaN

Energy relaxation of the hot electrons in Si-doped bulk GaN is studied theoretically, taking into account non-equilibrium polar optical phonons, electron degeneracy, and screening from the mobile electrons. The electron power dissipation and energy relaxation time are calculated as functions of the electron temperature T{sub e}, the hot-phonon effect (HPE) is examined by varying the optical phonon lifetime values, and the results are compared with previous calculations for typical GaN-based heterostructures. Particular attention is paid to the distinct temperature T{sub e} dependences of the power loss and the energy relaxation time τ{sub E} at the low and high electron temperatures. At low electron temperatures (T{sub e}<500 K), the exponential rise of phonon generation number, fast weakened screening and HPE result in a rapid increase of power loss and sharp drop of relaxation time with T{sub e}. At high electron temperatures (T{sub e}>1500 K), the power loss increases slowly with T{sub e} due to the decrease in phonon generation rate, and the temperature-dependence of the energy relaxation time depends on the polar optical phonon lifetime—saturation in energy relaxation occurs when the phonon lifetime increases or varies little with T{sub e}. Our calculated temperature dependences of the energy relaxation time are in good agreement with experimental findings [Liberis et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 202117 (2006); Matulionis et al., Phys. Status Solidi C 2, 2585 (2005)]. With no HPE, the electron energy relaxation is much faster in bulk GaN (τ{sub E}∼ several tens femtoseconds) than in the GaN-based heterostructures. However, stronger hot-phonon re-absorption occurs in bulk GaN due to rapid polar-optical phonon emission compared to phonon decay. Therefore, including HPE yields very close power loss and energy relaxation times in bulk and heterostructures with similar densities of electrons (τ{sub E}∼ several tenths of a picosecond). Transparent expressions for energy relaxation are obtained in the Boltzmann approximation, which are very useful for resolving the temperature dependences of the energy relaxation in the low- and high-T{sub e} regions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of Ce doping on the electrocaloric effect of Sr{sub x}Ba{sub 1−x}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 6} single crystals

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) of Sr{sub x}Ba{sub (1−x)}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 6} (SBN100x) single crystals, with a tetragonal tungsten bronze structure and a high ECE near room temperature, is studied by direct measurements. It is shown that although the onset of the ECE peak is closer to room temperature in SBN80 than in SBN75, the effect of the increase of the strontium content is very detrimental to the ECE performances with a decrease to ΔT{sub EC} = 0.23 K for SBN80 from the reported value of ΔT{sub EC} = 0.42 K under 10 kV/cm for SBN75 [F. Le Goupil et al., “Anisotropy of the electrocaloric effect in lead-free relaxor ferroelectrics,” Adv. Energy Mater. (published online)]. However, when 1.40% of cerium is introduced in SBN61, the temperature of depolarisation is shifted below 30 °C, while an ECE above 0.6 K is maintained over more than 70 K for a low electric field of 28 kV/cm. The maximum ECE ΔT{sub EC} = 0.85 K is measured at 61 °C. In addition to having an ECE peak close to room temperature, the ECE measured in Ce-doped SBN61 is comparable with the best reported values for lead-free materials [Y. Bai et al., J. Appl. Phys. 110, 094103 (2011); X.-S. Qian et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 24, 1300 (2014)], when linearly extrapolated to higher electric fields.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Anomalous effect due to oxygen vacancy accumulation below the electrode in bipolar resistance switching Pt/Nb:SrTiO{sub 3} cells

In conventional semiconductor theory, greater doping decreases the electronic resistance of a semiconductor. For the bipolar resistance switching (BRS) phenomena in oxides, the same doping principle has been used commonly to explain the relationship between the density variation of oxygen vacancies (V{sub o}¨) and the electronic resistance. We find that the V{sub o}¨ density can change at a depth of ∼10 nm below the Pt electrodes in Pt/Nb:SrTiO{sub 3} cells, depending on the resistance state. Using electron energy loss spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry, we found that greater V{sub o}¨ density underneath the electrode resulted in higher resistance, contrary to the conventional doping principle of semiconductors. To explain this seemingly anomalous experimental behavior, we provide quantitative explanations on the anomalous BRS behavior by simulating the mobile V{sub o}¨ [J. S. Lee et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 253503 (2013)] near the Schottky barrier interface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Investigation of stopping power for deuterons in partially ionized warm Al plasmas

The stopping powers for deuterons in Al plasmas with a fixed density of 0.02 g/cm{sup 3} and the temperatures at 4.5, 13, and 17 eV are studied in detail for a wide projectile energy range with different models. Comparison of these models indicates that our model is totally in best agreement with the experimental data and the main reason for this is that our calculation for the inelastic processes should be the most reliable. It is found that the difference between our model and the local density approximation model (Wang et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2977 (1998)) is mainly due to the quite different physical picture behind them. In Mehlhorn's model (J. Appl. Phys. 52, 6522 (1981)), the Bethe equation is found to overestimate the inelastic stopping in Al plasmas, meanwhile, it is gradually close to our results with temperature decreasing. The model by classical dielectric function with the choice of the maximum of the momentum transfer associated with the temperature is found not suitable to describe the stopping in warm plasmas. With temperature increasing the stopping due to plasma wave rises up which rapidly exceeds the inelastic stopping in warm Al plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Identification of nitrogen- and host-related deep-level traps in n-type GaNAs and their evolution upon annealing

Deep level traps in as-grown and annealed n-GaNAs layers (doped with Si) of various nitrogen concentrations (N=0.2%, 0.4%, 0.8%, and 1.2%) were investigated by deep level transient spectroscopy. In addition, optical properties of GaNAs layers were studied by photoluminescence and contactless electroreflectance. The identification of N- and host-related traps has been performed on the basis of band gap diagram [Kudrawiec, Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 082109 (2012)], which assumes that the activation energy of electron traps of the same microscopic nature decreases with the rise of nitrogen concentration in accordance with the N-related shift of the conduction band towards trap levels. The application of this diagram has allowed to investigate the evolution of donor traps in GaNAs upon annealing. In general, it was observed that the concentration of N- and host-related traps decreases after annealing and PL improves very significantly. However, it was also observed that some traps are generated due to annealing. It explains why the annealing conditions have to be carefully optimized for this material system.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Shock wave compression of hexagonal-close-packed metal single crystals: Time-dependent, anisotropic elastic-plastic response of beryllium

Understanding and modeling the response of hcp metals to high stress impulsive loading is challenging because the lower crystal symmetry, compared to cubic metals, results in a significantly more complex material response. To gain insight into the inelastic deformation of hcp metals subjected to high dynamic stresses, shock wave compression of single crystals provides a useful approach because different inelastic deformation mechanisms can be examined selectively by shock compression along different crystal orientations. As a representative example, we report, here, on wave propagation simulations for beryllium (Be) single crystals shocked along the c-axis, a-axis, and several low-symmetry directions to peak stresses reaching 7 GPa. The simulations utilized a time-dependent, anisotropic material model that incorporated dislocation dynamics, deformation twinning, and shear cracking based descriptions of inelastic deformation. The simulation results showed good overall agreement with measured wave profiles for all the different crystal orientations examined [Pope and Johnson, J. Appl. Phys. 46, 720 (1975)], including features arising from wave mode coupling due to the highly anisotropic inelastic response of Be. This good agreement demonstrates that the measured profiles can be understood in terms of dislocation slip along basal, prismatic, and pyramidal planes, together with deformation twinning along (101{sup ¯}2) planes. Our results show that the response of shocked Be single crystals involves the simultaneous operation of multiple, distinct inelastic deformation mechanisms for all orientations except the c-axis. For shocked c-axis Be, the measured wave profiles do not provide good discrimination between pyramidal slip and other inelastic deformation mechanisms, such as shear cracking. The findings presented here provide insight into the complex inelastic deformation response of shocked Be single crystals and are expected to be useful for other hcp crystals. More broadly, the present work demonstrates the potential of shock wave propagation along low-symmetry directions to examine, and discriminate between, different inelastic deformation mechanisms in crystalline solids.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Resonant nature of intrinsic defect energy levels in PbTe revealed by infrared photoreflectance spectroscopy

Step-scan Fourier-transform infrared photoreflectance and modulated photoluminescence spectroscopy were used to characterize the optical transitions of the epitaxial PbTe thin film grown by molecular beam epitaxy on BaF{sub 2} (111) substrate in the vicinity of energy gap of lead telluride at 77 K. It is found that the intrinsic defect energy levels in the electronic structure are of resonant nature. The Te-vacancy energy level is located above the conduction band minimum by 29.1 meV. Another defect (V{sub X}) energy level situated below valance band maximum by 18.1 meV is also revealed. Whether it is associated with the Pb vacancy is still not clear. It might also be related to the misfit dislocations stemming from the lattice mismatch between PbTe and BaF{sub 2} substrate. The experimental results support the theory prediction (N. J. Parada and G. W. Pratt, Jr., Phys. Rev. Lett. 22, 180 (1969), N. J. Parada, Phys. Rev. B 3, 2042 (1971)) and are consistent with the reported Hall experimental results (G. Bauer, H. Burkhard, H. Heinrich, and A. Lopez-Otero, J. Appl. Phys. 47, 1721 (1976)).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Investigation of in-plane- and z-polarized intersubband transitions in pyramid-shaped InAs/GaAs quantum dots coupled to wetting layer: Size and shape matter

In this work, the effects of the shape and size on the intersubband electronic and optical properties of three-dimensional self-assembled pyramid-shaped InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) were investigated in detail. More precisely, in-plane- and z-polarized transitions dipole moment (TDM), oscillator strength (OS), and absorption coefficients of P-to-S, WL-to-P, and WL-to-S transitions were studied as a function of the QD height. The P-to-S TDM showed to be strong and purely in-plane-polarized transition dominating two others. However, the TDMs and OSs of WL-to-P and WL-to-S transitions which are in-plane- and z-polarized transitions, respectively, showed a competition behavior for short and tall QDs. The former dominates for short QDs, and the latter for tall QDs. The physical reasons behind these interesting phenomena were also explained using the probability of finding the carriers in the pyramid region attached to the WL. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental data reported for short QDs [Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 630 (2003)].

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Field effect in the quantum Hall regime of a high mobility graphene wire

In graphene-based electronic devices like in transistors, the field effect applied thanks to a gate electrode allows tuning the charge density in the graphene layer and passing continuously from the electron to the hole doped regime across the Dirac point. Homogeneous doping is crucial to understand electrical measurements and for the operation of future graphene-based electronic devices. However, recently theoretical and experimental studies highlighted the role of the electrostatic edge due to fringing electrostatic field lines at the graphene edges [P. Silvestrov and K. Efetov, Phys. Rev. B 77, 155436 (2008); F. T. Vasko and I. V. Zozoulenko, Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 092115 (2010)]. This effect originates from the particular geometric design of the samples. A direct consequence is a charge accumulation at the graphene edges giving a value for the density, which deviates from the simple picture of a plate capacitor and also varies along the width of the graphene sample. Entering the quantum Hall regime would, in principle, allow probing this accumulation thanks to the extreme sensitivity of this quantum effect to charge density and the charge distribution. Moreover, the presence of an additional and counter-propagating edge channel has been predicted [P. Silvestrov and K. Efetov, Phys. Rev. B 77, 155436 (2008)] giving a fundamental aspect to this technological issue. In this article, we investigate this effect by tuning a high mobility graphene wire into the quantum Hall regime in which charge carriers probe the electrostatic potential at high magnetic field close to the edges. We observe a slight deviation to the linear shift of the quantum Hall plateaus with magnetic field and we study its evolution for different filling factors, which correspond to different probed regions in real space. We discuss the possible origins of this effect including an increase of the charge density towards the edges.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electromagnetic model for near-field microwave microscope with atomic resolution: Determination of tunnel junction impedance

An electrodynamic model is proposed for the tunneling microwave microscope with subnanometer space resolution as developed by Lee et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 183111 (2010)]. Tip-sample impedance Z{sub a} was introduced and studied in the tunneling and non-tunneling regimes. At tunneling breakdown, the microwave current between probe and sample flows along two parallel channels characterized by impedances Z{sub p} and Z{sub t} that add up to form overall impedance Z{sub a}. Quantity Z{sub p} is the capacitive impedance determined by the near field of the probe and Z{sub t} is the impedance of the tunnel junction. By taking into account the distance dependences of effective tip radius r{sub 0}(z) and tunnel resistance R{sub t}(z) = Re[Z{sub t}(z)], we were able to explain the experimentally observed dependences of resonance frequency f{sub r}(z) and quality factor Q{sub L}(z) of the microscope. The obtained microwave resistance R{sub t}(z) and direct current tunnel resistance R{sub t}{sup dc}(z) exhibit qualitatively similar behavior, although being largely different in both magnitude and the characteristic scale of height dependence. Interpretation of the microwave images of the atomic structure of test samples proved possible by taking into account the inductive component of tunnel impedance ImZ{sub t} = ωL{sub t}. Relation ωL{sub t}/R{sub t} ≈ 0.235 was obtained.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Mean field limit for bosons with compact kernels interactions by Wigner measures transportation

We consider a class of many-body Hamiltonians composed of a free (kinetic) part and a multi-particle (potential) interaction with a compactness assumption on the latter part. We investigate the mean field limit of such quantum systems following the Wigner measures approach. We prove in particular the propagation of these measures along the flow of a nonlinear (Hartree) field equation. This enhances and complements some previous results of the same type shown in Z. Ammari and F. Nier and Fröhlich et al. [“Mean field limit for bosons and propagation of Wigner measures,” J. Math. Phys. 50(4), 042107 (2009); Z. Ammari and F. Nier and Fröhlich et al., “Mean field propagation of Wigner measures and BBGKY hierarchies for general bosonic states,” J. Math. Pures Appl. 95(6), 585–626 (2011); Z. Ammari and F. Nier and Fröhlich et al., “Mean-field- and classical limit of many-body Schrödinger dynamics for bosons,” Commun. Math. Phys. 271(3), 681–697 (2007)].

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Spin decoherence in n-type GaAs: The effectiveness of the third-body rejection method for electron-electron scattering

We study the spin decoherence in n-type bulk GaAs for moderate electronic densities at room temperature using the Ensemble Monte Carlo method. We demonstrate that a technique called “third-body rejection method” devised by B. K. Ridley, J. Phys. C: Solid State Phys. 10, 1589 (1977) can be successfully adapted to Ensemble Monte Carlo method and used to tackle the problem of the electron-electron contribution to spin decoherence in the parameter region under study, where the electron-electron interaction can be reasonably described by a Yukawa potential. This scattering technique is employed in a doping region where one can expect that multiple collisions may play a role in carrier dynamics. By this technique, we are able to calculate spin relaxation times which are in very good agreement with the experimental results found by Oertel et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 13 (2008). Through this method, we show that the electron-electron scattering is overestimated in Born approximation, in agreement with previous results obtained by C. A. Kukkonen and H. Smith, Phys. Rev. B 8, 4601 (1973).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗