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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 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Formation of epitaxial Co{sub 1-x}Ni{sub x}Si{sub 2} nanowires on thin-oxide-capped (001)Si

Epitaxial Co{sub 1-x}Ni{sub x}Si{sub 2} alloy nanowires have been grown on (001)Si substrates by a combination of reactive deposition epitaxy and oxide-mediated epitaxy. The thin native oxide layer can serve as a diffusion barrier to diminish the flux of metal atoms from the top of oxide layer to Si surface and promote the growth of nanowires. The elemental distributions of Ni and Co in nanowires were determined by energy dispersive spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope. The factors that cause the distributions of Ni and Co in nanowires were discussed.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Energy band alignment of atomic layer deposited HfO{sub 2} oxide film on epitaxial (100)Ge, (110)Ge, and (111)Ge layers

Crystallographically oriented epitaxial Ge layers were grown on (100), (110), and (111)A GaAs substrates by in situ growth process using two separate molecular beam epitaxy chambers. The band alignment properties of atomic layer hafnium oxide (HfO{sub 2}) film deposited on crystallographically oriented epitaxial Ge were investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Valence band offset, {Delta}E{sub v} values of HfO{sub 2} relative to (100)Ge, (110)Ge, and (111)Ge orientations were 2.8 eV, 2.28 eV, and 2.5 eV, respectively. Using XPS data, variation in valence band offset, {Delta}E{sub V}(100)Ge>{Delta}E{sub V}(111)Ge>{Delta}E{sub V}(110)Ge, was obtained related to Ge orientation. Also, the conduction band offset, {Delta}E{sub c} relation, {Delta}E{sub c}(110)Ge>{Delta}E{sub c}(111)Ge>{Delta}E{sub c}(100)Ge related to Ge orientations was obtained using the measured bandgap of HfO{sub 2} on each orientation and with the Ge bandgap of 0.67 eV. These band offset parameters for carrier confinement would offer an important guidance to design Ge-based p- and n-channel metal-oxide field-effect transistor for low-power application.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

An ultra-thin buffer layer for Ge epitaxial layers on Si

Using an Fe{sub 3}Si insertion layer, we study epitaxial growth of Ge layers on a Si substrate by a low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy technique. When we insert only a 10-nm-thick Fe{sub 3}Si layer in between Si and Ge, epitaxial Ge layers can be obtained on Si. The detailed structural characterizations reveal that a large lattice mismatch of {approx}4% is completely relaxed in the Fe{sub 3}Si layer. This means that the Fe{sub 3}Si layers can become ultra-thin buffer layers for Ge on Si. This method will give a way to realize a universal buffer layer for Ge, GaAs, and related devices on a Si platform.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Single domain Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} films grown on InP(111)A by molecular-beam epitaxy

We report the growth of single-domain epitaxial Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} films on InP(111)A substrate by molecular-beam epitaxy. Nucleation of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} proceeds at steps, so the lattices of the substrate play the guiding role for a unidirectional crystalline film in the step-flow growth mode. There exists a strong chemical interaction between atoms at the heterointerface, so the growth does not follow the van der Waals epitaxy process. A mounded morphology of thick Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} epilayers suggests a growth kinetics dictated by the Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier. The Schubnikov de Haas oscillations observed in magnetoresistance measurements are attributed to Landau quantization of the bulk states of electrons.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Two-step growth of high quality Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} (0001) by molecular beam epitaxy

Large-area topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films were grown on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} (0001) using a two-temperature step molecular beam epitaxy growth process. By depositing a low temperature nucleation layer to serve as a template for high temperature epitaxial film growth, a high quality terrace-step surface morphology with a significant reduction in three-dimensional defect structures was achieved. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that high crystalline quality Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} layers were grown incoherently by van der Waals epitaxy using this technique. Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements verified the integrity of this growth method by confirming the presence of metallic surface states on cleaved two-step Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} samples.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Population dynamics in epitaxial Er{sub 2}O{sub 3} thin films grown on Si(111)

We grow single crystal erbium-oxide (Er{sub 2}O{sub 3}) epitaxially on a Si (111) substrate by using molecular beam epitaxy and investigate the population dynamics in Er{sup 3+} ions for the coherent manipulation of the population in Er{sub 2}O{sub 3}. Sharp and discrete Stark energy levels of the {sup 4}I{sub 13/2} manifold as small as 200 {mu}eV are observed with inhomogeneous broadening caused by the uniform crystal field of the epitaxial Er{sub 2}O{sub 3}. We also experimentally determine the time constant of the resonant population transfer between spatially distant Er{sup 3+}-ion sites, which is limited to the manipulation time of the population in the Er{sub 2}O{sub 3} crystals. Using selective excitation of the Stark level in the {sup 4}I{sub 13/2} manifold, we obtain the energy transfer times between spatially distant Er{sup 3+} ions, and they are about 2 {mu}s between sites whose crystallographic symmetry is different and 10 {mu}s between sites whose symmetry is the same.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Magnetic properties of Mn{sub 3}O{sub 4} film under compressive stress grown on MgAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} (001) by molecular beam epitaxy

High quality single-crystalline Mn{sub 3}O{sub 4} thin films were grown on MgAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} (001) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that the films are compressed in the (001) plane and elongated in the perpendicular direction via in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction and ex-situ X-ray diffraction, which is confirmed by frequency hardening of relevant Raman bands. Different from the bulk, the epitaxial film with a thickness of 65 nm shows more obvious magnetic anisotropy and higher magnetic phase transition temperatures (T{sub N} = 50 K, T{sub 1} = 40.5 K, and T{sub 2} = 36 K) than that of the bulk (T{sub N} = 42 K, T{sub 1} = 39 K, and T{sub 2} = 33 K). The variation of magnetic properties could be attributed to the changes of interplay among spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom owing to the residual strain in the epitaxial film.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Self-organization during growth of ZrN/SiN{sub x} multilayers by epitaxial lateral overgrowth

ZrN/SiN{sub x} nanoscale multilayers were deposited on ZrN seed layers grown on top of MgO(001) substrates by dc magnetron sputtering with a constant ZrN thickness of 40 Å and with an intended SiN{sub x} thickness of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 15 Å at a substrate temperature of 800 °C and 6 Å at 500 °C. The films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The investigations show that the SiN{sub x} is amorphous and that the ZrN layers are crystalline. Growth of epitaxial cubic SiN{sub x}—known to take place on TiN(001)—on ZrN(001) is excluded to the monolayer resolution of this study. During the course of SiN{sub x} deposition, the material segregates to form surface precipitates in discontinuous layers for SiN{sub x} thicknesses ≤6 Å that coalesce into continuous layers for 8 and 15 Å thickness at 800 °C, and for 6 Å at 500 °C. The SiN{sub x} precipitates are aligned vertically. The ZrN layers in turn grow by epitaxial lateral overgrowth on the discontinuous SiN{sub x} in samples deposited at 800 °C with up to 6 Å thick SiN{sub x} layers. Effectively a self-organized nanostructure can be grown consisting of strings of 1–3 nm large SiN{sub x} precipitates along apparent column boundaries in the epitaxial ZrN.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Growth and transport properties of epitaxial lattice matched half Heusler CoTiSb/InAlAs/InP(001) heterostructures

We demonstrate the integration of the lattice matched single crystal epitaxial Half Heusler compound CoTiSb with In{sub 0.52}Al{sub 0.48}As/InP(001) heterostructures using molecular beam epitaxy. CoTiSb belongs to the subset of Half Heusler compounds that is expected to be semiconducting, despite being composed entirely of metallic constituents. The lattice matching and epitaxial alignment of the CoTiSb films were confirmed by reflection high energy electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction. Temperature dependent transport measurements indicate semiconducting-like behavior, with a room temperature Hall mobility of 530 cm{sup 2}/Vs and background Hall carrier density of 9.0 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}, which is comparable to n-Si with similar carrier density. Below 100 K, the films show a large negative magnetoresistance, and possible origins of this negative magnetoresistance are discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

The correlation of epitaxial graphene properties and morphology of SiC (0001)

The electronic properties of epitaxial graphene (EG) on SiC (0001) depend sensitively on the surface morphology of SiC substrate. Here, 2–3 layers of graphene were grown on on-axis 6H-SiC with different step densities realized through controlling growth temperature and ambient pressure. We show that epitaxial graphene on SiC (0001) with low step density and straight step edge possesses fewer point defects laying mostly on step edges and higher carrier mobility. A relationship between step density and EG mobility is established. The linear scan of Raman spectra combined with the atomic force microscopy morphology images revealed that the Raman fingerprint peaks are nearly the same on terraces, but shift significantly while cross step edges, suggesting the graphene is not homogeneous in strain and carrier concentration over terraces and step edges of substrates. Thus, control morphology of epitaxial graphene on SiC (0001) is a simple and effective method to pursue optimal route for high quality graphene and will be helpful to prepare wafer sized graphene for device applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Selective epitaxial growth of monolithically integrated GaN-based light emitting diodes with AlGaN/GaN driving transistors

In this Letter, we report selective epitaxial growth of monolithically integrated GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) with AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) drivers. A comparison of two integration schemes, selective epitaxial removal (SER), and selective epitaxial growth (SEG) was made. We found the SER resulted in serious degradation of the underlying LEDs in a HEMT-on-LED structure due to damage of the p-GaN surface. The problem was circumvented using the SEG that avoided plasma etching and minimized device degradation. The integrated HEMT-LEDs by SEG exhibited comparable characteristics as unintegrated devices and emitted modulated blue light by gate biasing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Pump-probe surface photovoltage spectroscopy measurements on semiconductor epitaxial layers

Pump-probe Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy (SPS) measurements are performed on semiconductor epitaxial layers. Here, an additional sub-bandgap cw pump laser beam is used in a conventional chopped light geometry SPS setup under the pump-probe configuration. The main role of pump laser beam is to saturate the sub-bandgap localized states whose contribution otherwise swamp the information related to the bandgap of material. It also affects the magnitude of Dember voltage in case of semi-insulating (SI) semiconductor substrates. Pump-probe SPS technique enables an accurate determination of the bandgap of semiconductor epitaxial layers even under the strong influence of localized sub-bandgap states. The pump beam is found to be very effective in suppressing the effect of surface/interface and bulk trap states. The overall magnitude of SPV signal is decided by the dependence of charge separation mechanisms on the intensity of the pump beam. On the contrary, an above bandgap cw pump laser can be used to distinguish the signatures of sub-bandgap states by suppressing the band edge related feature. Usefulness of the pump-probe SPS technique is established by unambiguously determining the bandgap of p-GaAs epitaxial layers grown on SI-GaAs substrates, SI-InP wafers, and p-GaN epilayers grown on Sapphire substrates.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Substrate-dependent post-annealing effects on the strain state and electrical transport of epitaxial La{sub 5/8-y}Pr{sub y}Ca{sub 3/8}MnO{sub 3} films

Large scale electronic phase separation (EPS) between ferromagnetic metallic and charge-ordered insulating phases in La{sub 5/8-y}Pr{sub y}Ca{sub 3/8}MnO{sub 3} (y = 0.3) (LPCMO) is very sensitive to the structural changes. This work investigates the effects of post-annealing on the strain states and electrical transport properties of LPCMO films epitaxially grown on (001){sub pc} SrTiO{sub 3} (tensile strain), LaAlO{sub 3} (compressive strain) and NdGaO{sub 3} (near-zero strain) substrates. Before annealing, all the films are coherent-epitaxial and insulating through the measured temperature range. Obvious change of film lattice is observed during the post-annealing: the in-plane strain in LPCMO/LAO varies from −1.5% to −0.1% while that in LPCMO/STO changes from 1.6% to 1.3%, and the lattice of LPCMO/NGO keeps constant because of the good lattice-match between LPCMO and NGO. Consequently, the varied film strain leads to the emergence of metal-insulator transitions (MIT) and shift of the critical transition temperature in the electrical transport. These results demonstrate that lattice-mismatch combined with post-annealing is an effective approach to tune strain in epitaxial LPCMO films, and thus to control the EPS and MIT in the films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
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

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

Point defect balance in epitaxial GaSb

Positron annihilation spectroscopy in both conventional and coincidence Doppler broadening mode is used for studying the effect of growth conditions on the point defect balance in GaSb:Bi epitaxial layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Positron annihilation characteristics in GaSb are also calculated using density functional theory and compared to experimental results. We conclude that while the main positron trapping defect in bulk samples is the Ga antisite, the Ga vacancy is the most prominent trap in the samples grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The results suggest that the p–type conductivity is caused by different defects in GaSb grown with different methods.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Strain induced ferromagnetism in epitaxial Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} thin films integrated on Si(001)

We report on the epitaxial growth and magnetic properties of antiferromagnetic and magnetoelectric (ME) Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} thin films deposited on cubic yttria stabilized zirconia (c-YSZ)/Si(001) using pulsed laser deposition. The X-ray diffraction (2ϴ and Φ) and TEM characterizations confirm that the films were grown epitaxially. The Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3}(0001) growth on YSZ(001) occurs with twin domains. There are four domains of Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} with in-plane rotation of 30° or 150° from each other about the [0001] growth direction. The epitaxial relation between the layers is given as [001]Si ‖ [001]YSZ ‖ [0001]Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} and [100]Si ǁ [100]YSZ ǁ [101{sup ¯}0] Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} or [112{sup ¯}0] Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3}. Though the bulk Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} is an antiferromagnetic with T{sub N} = 307 K, we found that the films exhibit ferromagnetic like hysteresis loops with high saturation and finite coercive field up to 400 K. The thickness dependent magnetizations together with oxygen annealing results suggest that the ferromagnetism (FM) is due to oxygen related defects whose concentration is controlled by strain present in the films. This FM, in addition to the intrinsic magneto-electric properties of Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3}, opens the door to relevant spintronics applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Anisotropic-strain-relaxation-induced crosshatch morphology in epitaxial SrTiO{sub 3}/NdGaO{sub 3} thin films

We investigate the strain relaxation and surface morphology of epitaxial SrTiO{sub 3} (STO) films grown on (001){sub O} and (110){sub O} planes of orthorhombic NdGaO{sub 3} (NGO), and (001) plane of cubic (LaAlO{sub 3}){sub 0.3}(Sr{sub 2}AlTaO{sub 6}){sub 0.7} (LSAT) substrates. Although the average lattice mismatches are similar, strikingly regular crosshatched surface patterns can be found on STO/NGO(001){sub O}[(110){sub O}] films, contrary to the uniform surface of STO/LSAT(001). Based on the orientation and thickness dependent patterns and high-resolution x-ray diffractions, we ascribe the crosshatch morphology to the anisotropic strain relaxation with possibly the 60° misfit dislocation formation and lateral surface step flow in STO/NGO films, while an isotropic strain relaxation in STO/LSAT. Further, we show that the crosshatched STO/NGO(110){sub O} surface could be utilized as a template to modify the magnetotransport properties of epitaxial La{sub 0.6}Ca{sub 0.4}MnO{sub 3} films. This study highlights the crucial role of symmetry mismatch in determining the surface morphology of the perovskite oxide films, in addition to their epitaxial strain states, and offers a different route for designing and fabricating functional perovskite-oxide devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗