Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Amorphous”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,207 records · Page 67
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Ferroelectric switching of poly(vinylidene difluoride-trifluoroethylene) in metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor non-volatile memories with an amorphous oxide semiconductor

Ferroelectric polarization switching of poly(vinylidene difluoride-trifluoroethylene) is investigated in different thin-film device structures, ranging from simple capacitors to dual-gate thin-film transistors (TFT). Indium gallium zinc oxide, a high mobility amorphous oxide material, is used as semiconductor. We find that the ferroelectric can be polarized in both directions in the metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor (MFS) structure and in the dual-gate TFT under certain biasing conditions, but not in the single-gate thin-film transistors. These results disprove the common belief that MFS structures serve as a good model system for ferroelectric polarization switching in thin-film transistors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

High mobility amorphous InGaZnO{sub 4} thin film transistors formed by CO{sub 2} laser spike annealing

Amorphous InGaZnO{sub 4} (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) hold great potential for large area and flexible electronics with current research focused on improving the mobility and stability. In this work, we report on properties of IGZO TFTs fabricated using laser spike annealing (LSA) with a scanned continuous wave CO{sub 2} laser. For peak annealing temperatures near 430 °C and a 1 ms dwell, TFTs exhibit saturation field-effect mobilities above 70 cm{sup 2}/V-s (V{sub on} ∼ −3 V), a value over 4 times higher than furnace-annealed control samples (∼16 cm{sup 2}/V-s). A model linking oxygen deficient defect structures with limited structural relaxation after the LSA anneal is proposed to explain the observed high mobility. This mobility is also shown to be comparable to the estimated trap-free mobility in oxide semiconductors and suggests that shallow traps can be removed by transient thermal annealing under optimized conditions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Low temperature behavior of hyperfine fields in amorphous and nanocrystalline FeMoCuB

Low temperature (4.2 K) magnetic behavior of Fe{sub 76}Mo{sub 8}Cu{sub 1}B{sub 15} metallic glass was studied by {sup 57}Fe Mössbauer spectrometry (MS) and {sup 57}Fe NMR. Distributions of hyperfine magnetic fields P(B) were determined for as-quenched and annealed (nanocrystalline) samples with relative fraction of the grains about 43%. P(B) distributions were derived for both the amorphous matrix and nanocrystalline grains. NMR of alloys with natural and {sup 57}Fe enriched Fe enabled to assess the contribution of {sup 11}B to the total NMR signal. P(B) distribution of the as-quenched alloy derived from MS matches reasonably well the one from NMR of the enriched sample. NMR signal from the sample with natural Fe exhibits contributions from {sup 11}B nuclei. The principal NMR lines of the annealed alloys at 47 MHz correspond to bcc Fe nanocrystals. Small asymmetry of the lines towards higher frequencies might be an indication of possible impurity atoms in the bcc structure. The observed differences between natural and enriched samples are attributed to higher sensitivity in the latter. Positions of the lines attributed to bcc Fe nanocrystals obtained from MS and NMR are in perfect agreement.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the dynamics of the reentrant spin-glass state of the Fe{sub 100−x}Zr{sub x} (x = 9, 10) amorphous alloys

Low temperature magnetization (M) and ac susceptibility (χ{sub ac}) data were used to investigate the reentrant spin-glass state in lengths of melt-spun ribbons of Fe{sub 100−x}Zr{sub x} (x = 9, 10) amorphous alloys. The temperature range investigated was from 2 to 300 K, while the applied magnetic field H was varied in the range of ±85 kOe. The magnetic properties were found to be strongly influenced by the sample composition despite the fact that the amount of Fe varies by 1 at. %. For instance, the Curie temperature (T{sub C}) is reduced from 232.5 K to 213.0 K with decreasing Fe concentration, while M for the lower Fe concentration, measured at the highest applied magnetic field (H = 85 kOe) was nearly double the value for that of the higher; the coercivity in the ferromagnetic regime is reduced by a factor close to five when x is increased from 9 at. % to 10 at. %. The ac susceptibility measured for frequencies f in the range of 10–10{sup 4 }Hz showed a sharp drop in the magnitude of the in-phase contribution (χ{sub ac}{sup ′}) and a peak at the out-of-phase component (χ{sub ac}{sup ″}), which shifts to higher temperatures with increasing values of f. The Voguel-Fulcher law applied to the χ{sub ac}{sup ″} data yielded an activation energy E{sub a}/k{sub B} = 21.3 K (40.1 K), the glassy temperature T{sub G} = 15.5 K (38.2 K), and a relaxation time τ{sub 0}=9.1×10{sup −7} s (8.3×10{sup −7} s), for the sample with x = 10 (x = 9). A plot of χ{sub ac}{sup ″}vsχ{sub ac}{sup ′} for a broad range of T and f yielded a broad maximum near the glassy temperature T{sub G} for both sample concentrations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide as electron transport layer in organic photodetectors

Amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) is demonstrated as an electron transport layer (ETL) in a high-performance organic photodetector (OPD). Dark current in the range of 10 nA/cm{sup 2} at a bias voltage of −2 V and a high photoresponse in the visible spectrum were obtained in inverted OPDs with poly(3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C{sub 61}-butyric acid methyl ester active layer. The best results were obtained for the optimum a-IGZO thickness of 7.5 nm with specific detectivity of 3 × 10{sup 12} Jones at the wavelength of 550 nm. The performance of the best OPD devices using a-IGZO was shown to be comparable to state-of-the-art devices based on TiO{sub x} as ETL, with higher rectification achieved in reverse bias. Yield and reproducibility were also enhanced with a-IGZO, facilitating fabrication of large area OPDs. Furthermore, easier integration with IGZO-based readout backplanes can be envisioned, where the channel material can be used as photodiode buffer layer after additional treatment.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Magnetic properties of CuFe{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 2} nanoparticles surrounded by amorphous SiO{sub 2}

CuFe{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 2} (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) nanoparticles surrounded by amorphous SiO{sub 2} with an average diameter of 30–50 nm were synthesized using a wet chemical method. The annealing temperatures were controlled to yield various sizes of single-phase CuFe{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 2} nanoparticles. CuFeO{sub 2} bulk crystal is known to have a multiferroic delafossite structure with two Néel temperatures of 11 and 14 K; however, the transition temperature shifted higher as the Cr–ion doping level increased. In addition, the lattice constants decreased in accordance with increased Cr-ion doping, which was confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurements. The magnetization curves showed weak ferromagnetic behavior and no coercivity was observed. Hence, frustration in the triangular lattice of the delafossite structure can be released by Cr–ion doping and higher magnetization can be expected. A fine structure analysis through X-ray absorption fine structure measurements was also conducted. It was found that the structure of the Cu ion is similar to that of Cu{sub 2}O, and the c axis of the CuFe{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 2} should be shortened by the Cr–ion doping.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Spin orientation driven static and dynamic magnetic process in amorphous FeCoBSi thin films

The spin orientation dependence of magnetic hysteresis and microwave ferromagnetic resonance data are investigated in FeCoBSi amorphous thin films. Demagnetization effect allows the weak interface-rooted out-of-plane anisotropy to build up local spin orientation domains under the dominant in-plane anisotropy. As a result, two phase magnetization reversal and double-peak ferromagnetic resonance traces with varying damping behavior are observed. Due to the distribution of in-plane and out-of-plane spin orientations, the ferromagnetic resonance bandwidth has been extensively expanded with the full width at half maximum increased from 1.2 GHz to 3.5 GHz.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Semiconductor to metallic transition in bulk accumulated amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide dual gate thin-film transistor

We investigated the effects of top gate voltage (V{sub TG}) and temperature (in the range of 25 to 70 {sup o}C) on dual-gate (DG) back-channel-etched (BCE) amorphous-indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) characteristics. The increment of V{sub TG} from -20V to +20V, decreases the threshold voltage (V{sub TH}) from 19.6V to 3.8V and increases the electron density to 8.8 x 10{sup 18}cm{sup −3}. Temperature dependent field-effect mobility in saturation regime, extracted from bottom gate sweep, show a critical dependency on V{sub TG}. At V{sub TG} of 20V, the mobility decreases from 19.1 to 15.4 cm{sup 2}/V ⋅ s with increasing temperature, showing a metallic conduction. On the other hand, at V{sub TG} of - 20V, the mobility increases from 6.4 to 7.5cm{sup 2}/V ⋅ s with increasing temperature. Since the top gate bias controls the position of Fermi level, the temperature dependent mobility shows metallic conduction when the Fermi level is above the conduction band edge, by applying high positive bias to the top gate.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

High quality, giant crystalline-Ge stripes on insulating substrate by rapid-thermal-annealing of Sn-doped amorphous-Ge in solid-liquid coexisting region

Formation of large-grain (≥30 μm) Ge crystals on insulating substrates is strongly desired to achieve high-speed thin-film transistors. For this purpose, we propose the methods of Sn-doping into amorphous-Ge combined with rapid-thermal-annealing (RTA) in the solid-liquid coexisting temperature region for the Ge-Sn alloy system. The densities of micro-crystal-nuclei formed in this temperature region become low by tuning the RTA temperature close to the liquidus curve, which enhances the lateral growth of GeSn. Thanks to the very small segregation coefficient of Sn, almost all Sn atoms segregate toward edges of the stripes during growth. Agglomeration of GeSn degrades the surface morphologies; however, it is significantly improved by lowering the initial Sn concentration. As a result, pure Ge with large crystal grains (∼40 μm) with smooth surface are obtained by optimizing the initial Sn concentration as low as 3 ∼ 5%. Lateral growth lengths are further increased through decreasing the number of nuclei in stripes by narrowing stripe width. In this way, high-crystallinity giant Ge crystals (∼200 μm) are obtained for the stripe width of 3 μm. This “Si-seed free” technique for formation of large-grain pure Ge crystals is very useful to realize high-performance thin-film devices on insulator.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

The role of N-Si-O bonding configurations in tunable photoluminescence of oxygenated amorphous silicon nitride films

Last year, we have reported that the internal quantum efficiency of photoluminescence (PL) from amorphous silicon oxynitride (a-SiN{sub x}O{sub y}) films has been achieved as high as 60%. The present work intensively investigated the mechanisms for tunable PL in the 2.05–2.95 eV range from our a-SiN{sub x}:O films, by using a combination of optical characterizations, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements. The results of XPS, EPR, and photoluminescence excited measurements indicated that the incorporation of oxygen atoms into silicon nitride (a-SiN{sub x}) networks not only reduced the band tail structure disorder (Urbach tail width E{sub U}) but also created N-Si-O (N{sub x}) defect states in the band gap. We have discovered the distinctive PL characteristics from a-SiN{sub x}:O films with various NH{sub 3/}SiH{sub 4} ratios. The PL peak energy (E{sub PL}) is independent of the excitation energy (E{sub exc}) and the PL intensity (I{sub PL}) is regardless of the optical band gap (E{sub opt}) but is proportional to the N{sub x} defects concentration, both of which are completely different from the PL characteristics by band tail states recombination mechanism, in which the E{sub PL} is proportional to E{sub exc} (when E{sub exc} ≤ E{sub opt}) and the I{sub PL} is dependent on the relative position of E{sub exc} and E{sub opt}. Based on the N-Si-O bonding configurations and the distinctive PL characteristics, the radiative recombination mechanism through the N-Si-O defect states has been proposed, by which the performance of stimulated emission may be realized in this kind of a-SiN{sub x}:O films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Channel length dependence of negative-bias-illumination-stress in amorphous-indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors

We have investigated the dependence of Negative-Bias-illumination-Stress (NBIS) upon channel length, in amorphous-indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). The negative shift of the transfer characteristic associated with NBIS decreases for increasing channel length and is practically suppressed in devices with L = 100-μm. The effect is consistent with creation of donor defects, mainly in the channel regions adjacent to source and drain contacts. Excellent agreement with experiment has been obtained by an analytical treatment, approximating the distribution of donors in the active layer by a double exponential with characteristic length L{sub D} ∼ L{sub n} ∼ 10-μm, the latter being the electron diffusion length. The model also shows that a device with a non-uniform doping distribution along the active layer is in all equivalent, at low drain voltages, to a device with the same doping averaged over the active layer length. These results highlight a new aspect of the NBIS mechanism, that is, the dependence of the effect upon the relative magnitude of photogenerated holes and electrons, which is controlled by the device potential/band profile. They may also provide the basis for device design solutions to minimize NBIS.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the use of a charged tunnel layer as a hole collector to improve the efficiency of amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells

A new concept, using a negatively charged tunnel layer as a hole collector, is proposed and theoretically investigated for application in amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells. The concept features a glass/transparent conductive oxide/ultra-thin negatively charged tunnel layer/intrinsic a-Si:H/n-doped a-Si:H/metal structure. The key feature of this so called t{sup +}-i-n structure is the introduction of a negatively charged tunnel layer (attracting holes from the intrinsic absorber layer), which substitutes the highly recombination active p-doped a-Si:H layer in a conventional p-i-n configuration. Atomic layer deposited aluminum oxide (ALD AlO{sub x}) is suggested as a potential candidate for such a tunnel layer. Using typical ALD AlO{sub x} parameters, a 27% relative efficiency increase (i.e., from 9.7% to 12.3%) is predicted theoretically for a single-junction a-Si:H solar cell on a textured superstrate. This prediction is based on parameters that reproduce the experimentally obtained external quantum efficiency and current-voltage characteristics of a conventional processed p-i-n a-Si:H solar cell, reaching 9.7% efficiency and serving as a reference. Subsequently, the p-doped a-Si:H layer is replaced by the tunnel layer (studied by means of numerical device simulation). Using a t{sup +}-i-n configuration instead of a conventional p-i-n configuration will not only increase the short-circuit current density (from 14.4 to 14.9 mA/cm{sup 2}, according to our simulations), it also enhances the open-circuit voltage and the fill factor (from 917 mV to 1.0 V and from 74% to 83%, respectively). For this concept to work efficiently, a high work function front electrode material or a high interface charge is needed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Gate-tunable coherent transport in Se-capped Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} grown on amorphous SiO{sub 2}/Si

A topological insulator (TI) is an exotic material that has a bulk insulating gap and metallic surface states with unique spin-momentum locking characteristics. Despite its various important applications, large scale integration of TI into MOSFET technologies and its coherent transport study are still rarely explored. Here, we report the growth of high quality Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} thin film on amorphous SiO{sub 2}/Si substrate using MBE. By controlling the thickness of the film at ∼7 nm and capping the as grown film in situ with a 2 nm-thick Se layer, largest electrostatic field effect is obtained and the resistance is changed by almost 300%. More importantly, pronounced gate-tunable weak antilocalization (WAL) is observed, which refers to modulation of α from ∼−0.55 to ∼−0.2 by applying a back gate voltage. The analysis herein suggests that the significant gate-tunable WAL is attributable to the transition from weak disorder into intermediate disorder regime when the Fermi level is shifted downward by increasing the negative back gate voltage. Our findings may pave the ways towards the development of TI-based MOSFET and are promising for the applications of electric-field controlled spintronic and magnetic device.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Thermal stability and photoconductive properties of photosensors with an alternating multilayer structure of amorphous Se and As{sub x}Se{sub 1−x}

In this study, we fabricated a-Se based photosensors with an alternating multilayer structure of a-Se and As{sub x}Se{sub 1−x} by rotational thermal evaporation deposition. During the deposition of the amorphous As{sub x}Se{sub 1−x} layers, As diffuses into the underlying a-Se component layers, thereby improving the thermal stability of the multilayer photosensor and thus increasing the breakdown electric field. Although the As doping introduces carrier traps in the a-Se layers, the multilayer photosensors demonstrate an effective quantum efficiency comparable to the single-layered a-Se sensor under the blue light illumination but are with a lower dark current density by two orders of magnitude. In addition to the top As{sub x}Se{sub 1−x} layer being functioning as an electron blocking layer, carrier traps present in the multilayer structure may decrease the drift mobility of charge carriers and disturb electric field distribution in the photosensors, thereby suppressing the dark current.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

A transparent diode with high rectifying ratio using amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide/SiN{sub x} coupled junction

We introduce a transparent diode that shows both high rectifying ratio and low leakage current at process temperature below 250 °C. This device is clearly distinguished from all previous transparent diodes in that the rectifying behavior results from the junction between a semiconductor (amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO)) and insulator (SiN{sub x}). We systematically study the properties of each junction within the device structure and demonstrate that the a-IGZO/SiN{sub x} junction is the source of the outstanding rectification. The electrical characteristics of this transparent diode are: 2.8 A/cm{sup 2} on-current density measured at −7 V; lower than 7.3 × 10{sup −9} A/cm{sup 2} off-current density; 2.53 ideality factor; and high rectifying ratio of 10{sup 8}–10{sup 9}. Furthermore, the diode structure has a transmittance of over 80% across the visible light range. The operating principle of the indium-tin oxide (ITO)/a-IGZO/SiN{sub x}/ITO device was examined with an aid of the energy band diagram and we propose a preliminary model for the rectifying behavior. Finally, we suggest further directions for research on this transparent diode.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Effect of 50MeV Li{sup 3+} ion irradiation on structural, optical and electrical properties of amorphous Se{sub 95}Zn{sub 5} thin films

Present work focuses on the effect of swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation of 50MeV Li{sup 3+} ions by varying the fluencies in the range of 1×10{sup 12} to 5×10{sup 13} ions/cm{sup 2} on the morphological, structural, optical and electrical properties of amorphous Se{sub 95}Zn{sub 5} thin films. Thin films of ~250nm thickness were deposited on cleaned glass substrates by thermal evaporation technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows the pristine thin film of Se{sub 95}Zn{sub 5} growsin hexagonal phase structure. Also it was found that the small peak observed in XRD spectra vanishes after SHI irradiation indicates the defects of the material increases. The optical parameters: absorption coefficient (α), extinction coefficient (K), refractive index (n) optical band gap (E{sub g}) and Urbach’s energy (E{sub U}) are determined from optical absorption spectra data measured from spectrophotometry in the wavelength range 200-1000nm. It was found that the values of absorption coefficient, refractive index and extinction coefficient increases while the value optical band gap decreases with the increase of ion fluence. This post irradiation change in the optical parameters was interpreted in terms of bond distribution model. Electrical properties such as dc conductivity and temperature dependent photoconductivity of investigated thin films were carried out in the temperature range 309-370 K. Analysis of data shows activation energy of dark current is greater as compared to activation energy photocurrent. The value of activation energy decreases with the increase of ion fluence indicates that the defect density of states increases.Also it was found that the value of dc conductivity and photoconductivity increases with the increase of ion fluence.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

A tunable amorphous p-type ternary oxide system: The highly mismatched alloy of copper tin oxide

The approach of combining two mismatched materials to form an amorphous alloy was used to synthesise ternary oxides of CuO and SnO{sub 2}. These materials were analysed across a range of compositions, and the electronic structure was modelled using density functional theory. In contrast to the gradual reduction in optical band gap, the films show a sharp reduction in both transparency and electrical resistivity with copper contents greater than 50%. Simulations indicate that this change is caused by a transition from a dominant Sn 5s to Cu 3d contribution to the upper valence band. A corresponding decrease in energetic disorder results in increased charge percolation pathways: a “compositional mobility edge.” Contributions from Cu(II) sub band-gap states are responsible for the reduction in optical transparency.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Photoelectron emission yield experiments on evolution of sub-gap states in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin films with post deposition hydrogen treatment

Total photoyield emission spectroscopy (TPYS) was applied to study the evolution of sub-gap states in hydrogen-treated amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) thin films. The a-IGZO thin films were subjected to hydrogen radicals and subsequently annealed in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. A clear onset of the electron emission was observed at around 4.3 eV from the hydrogen-treated a-IGZO thin films. After successive UHV annealing at 300 °C, the onset in the TPYS spectra was shifted to 4.15 eV, and the photoelectron emission from the sub-gap states was decreased as the annealing temperature was increased. In conjunction with the results of thermal desorption spectrometer, it was deduced that the hydrogen atoms incorporated in the a-IGZO thin films induced metastable sub-gap states at around 4.3 eV from vacuum level just after the hydrogenation. It was also suggested that the defect configuration was changed due to the higher temperature UHV annealing, and that the hydrogen atoms desorbed with the involvement of Zn atoms. These experiments produced direct evidence to show the formation of sub-gap states as a result of hydrogen incorporation into the a-IGZO thin films.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗