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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 1,207 records · Page 67
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DOE OSTI2011

Epitaxial growth and piezoelectric characterization of the (1-x)BiScO{sub 3}-(x)PbTiO{sub 3} ultrathin film

We studied ferroelectric properties of morphotropic phase boundary (1-x)BiScO{sub 3}-(x)PbTiO{sub 3} (BSPT, x = 0.64) epitaxial thin films on SrTiO{sub 3} (001) and Nb:SrTiO{sub 3} (001). BSPT thin films with various thicknesses were deposited using off-axis radio frequency magnetron sputtering. By analyzing x-ray data of BSPT thin films with various thicknesses, we confirmed that films thinner than {approx}22 nm were in a strained state. Films thicker than {approx}22 nm were in a relaxed state because of the strain relaxation mechanism caused by misfit dislocation formation. Clear piezoresponses and polarization reversal phenomena can be observed in the ultrathin limit down to 8 nm through Piezo Force Microscope experiments. The piezoresponse data as a function of thickness correlates with the structural modification of thin films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Absence of vapor-liquid-solid growth during molecular beam epitaxy of self-induced InAs nanowires on Si

The growth mechanism of self-induced InAs nanowires (NWs) grown on Si (111) by molecular beam epitaxy was investigated by in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction and ex situ scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Abrupt morphology transition and in-plane strain relaxation revealed that InAs NWs nucleate without any significant delay and under the absence of indium (In) droplets. These findings are independent of the As/In-flux ratio, revealing entirely linear vertical growth rate and nontapered NWs. No evidence of In droplets nor associated change in the NW apex morphology was observed for various growth termination procedures. These results highlight the absence of vapor-liquid-solid growth, providing substantial benefits for realization of atomically abrupt doping and composition profiles in future axial InAs-based NW heterostructures on Si.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Residual and nitrogen doping of homoepitaxial nonpolar m-plane ZnO films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We report the homoepitaxial growth by molecular beam epitaxy of high quality nonpolar m-plane ZnO and ZnO:N films over a large temperature range. The nonintentionally doped ZnO layers exhibit a residual doping as low as {approx}10{sup 14} cm{sup -3}. Despite an effective incorporation of nitrogen, p-type doping was not achieved, ZnO:N films becoming insulating. The high purity of the layers and their low residual n-type doping evidence compensation mechanisms in ZnO:N films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Spontaneous formation of highly regular superlattice structure in InGaN epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

In this letter, we have investigated the structural properties of thick InGaN layers grown on GaN by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, using two growth rates of 1.0 and 3.6 A/s. A highly regular superlattice (SL) structure is found to be spontaneously formed in the film grown at 3.6 A/s but not in the film grown at 1.0 A/s. The faster grown film also exhibits superior structural quality, which could be due to the surface roughness suppression caused by kinetic limitation, and the inhibition of the Frank-Read dislocation generation mechanism within the spontaneously formed SL structure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Green luminescence of InGaN nanowires grown on silicon substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Indium gallium nitride nanowires show promise as being prime candidates for optical devices since they can be grown with band gaps spanning the visible spectra, while at the same time can be composed of stress free material. The goal of the work presented here was to obtain InGaN nanowires producing green emission at room temperature. Two growth recipes were found to yield InGaN nanowire growth on silicon substrates using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. At room temperature the photoluminescence (PL) of wire ensembles indeed peaked at 530 nm but, in addition, it was discovered that at low temperatures the emission often covered a broader (360-700 nm) spectrum. This broad optical range indicated indium content fluctuations in individual wires, wire-to-wire fluctuations, or a combination of the two. EDX measurements performed on single wires confirmed this hypothesis and correlated well with PL data. Low temperature PL studies of InGaN individual wires also revealed interwire and intrawire inhomogeneity of emission spectra stemming from a nonuniform indium distribution. The emission quantum yield for bright single wires was extracted to be more than 50% at 4 K. The findings suggest that the wire surfaces do not efficiently quench optical emission at low temperatures. These defect-free wires offer not only a potential path for green emitters, but also as integrated phosphors for broad spectral emission.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2011

Dependence of crystal orientation and bandgap on substrate temperature of molecular-beam epitaxy grown InN on bare Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} (0001)

The issue of variable bandgap values for InN films grown on c-sapphire has been addressed in this work. {alpha}-InN films have been deposited in nitrogen rich condition at different substrate temperatures on bare Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} (0001) by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). The results of several complementary characterization techniques show that single crystalline wurtzite InN is formed, but their orientation depends on the substrate temperature. The bandgap measured on these samples (1.78 eV) is explained by Moss-Burstein shift on these degenerately n-doped samples. Our results discount effects of crystal orientation, presence of oxygen at grain boundaries and In/N stoichiometry as factors that influence the measured band-gap values.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Improved tunneling magnetoresistance at low temperature in manganite junctions grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We report resistance versus magnetic field measurements for a La{sub 0.65}Sr{sub 0.35}MnO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3}/La{sub 0.65}Sr{sub 0.35}MnO{sub 3} tunnel junction grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, that show a large field window of extremely high tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) at low temperature. Scanning the in-plane applied field orientation through 360 deg., the TMR shows fourfold symmetry, i.e., biaxial anisotropy, aligned with the crystalline axis but not the junction geometrical long axis. The TMR reaches {approx}1900% at 4 K, corresponding to an interfacial spin polarization of >95% assuming identical interfaces. These results show that uniaxial anisotropy is not necessary for large TMR, and lay the groundwork for future improvements in TMR in manganite junctions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Martensite transformation of epitaxial Ni-Ti films

The structure and phase transformations of thin Ni-Ti shape memory alloy films grown by molecular beam epitaxy are investigated for compositions from 43 to 56 at. % Ti. Despite the substrate constraint, temperature dependent x-ray diffraction and resistivity measurements reveal reversible, martensitic phase transformations. The results suggest that these occur by an in-plane shear which does not disturb the lattice coherence at interfaces.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Internal quantum efficiency of III-nitride quantum dot superlattices grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

We present a study of the optical properties of GaN/AlN and InGaN/GaN quantum dot (QD) superlattices grown via plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy, as compared to their quantum well (QW) counterparts. The three-dimensional/two-dimensional nature of the structures has been verified using atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The QD superlattices present higher internal quantum efficiency as compared to the respective QWs as a result of the three-dimensional carrier localization in the islands. In the QW samples, photoluminescence (PL) measurements point out a certain degree of carrier localization due to structural defects or thickness fluctuations, which is more pronounced in InGaN/GaN QWs due to alloy inhomogeneity. In the case of the QD stacks, carrier localization on potential fluctuations with a spatial extension smaller than the QD size is observed only for the InGaN QD-sample with the highest In content (peak emission around 2.76 eV). These results confirm the efficiency of the QD three-dimensional confinement in circumventing the potential fluctuations related to structural defects or alloy inhomogeneity. PL excitation measurements demonstrate efficient carrier transfer from the wetting layer to the QDs in the GaN/AlN system, even for low QD densities ({approx}10{sup 10} cm{sup -3}). In the case of InGaN/GaN QDs, transport losses in the GaN barriers cannot be discarded, but an upper limit to these losses of 15% is deduced from PL measurements as a function of the excitation wavelength.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2011

Usage of antimony segregation for selective doping of Si in molecular beam epitaxy

An original approach to selective doping of Si by antimony (Sb) in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is proposed and verified experimentally. This approach is based on controllable utilization of the effect of Sb segregation. In particular, the sharp dependence of Sb segregation on growth temperature in the range of 300-550 deg. C is exploited. The growth temperature variations between the kinetically limited and maximum segregation regimes are suggested to be utilized in order to obtain selectively doped structures with abrupt doping profiles. It is demonstrated that the proposed technique allows formation of selectively doped Si:Sb layers, including delta ({delta}-)doped layers in which Sb concentrations can be varied from 5 x 10{sup 15} to 10{sup 20} cm{sup -3}. The obtained doped structures are shown to have a high crystalline quality and the short-term growth interruptions, which are needed to change the substrate temperature, do not lead to any significant accumulation of background impurities in grown samples. Realization of the proposed approach requires neither too low (<300 deg. C), nor too high (>600 deg. C) growth temperatures or any special equipment for the MBE machines.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Oxygen incorporation effects in annealed epitaxial La{sub (1-x)}Sr{sub x}MnO{sub 3} thin films

This paper presents our results regarding oxygen incorporation effects in epitaxial La{sub (1-x)}Sr{sub x}MnO{sub 3} thin films, deposited on SrTiO{sub 3} (001) single crystal substrates, by annealing in different gas mixtures of argon and oxygen. A particular emphasis is placed on the correlation of structural properties with the magnetic properties of the films, Curie temperature, and coercive field. In this sense, we demonstrate that the evolution of the diffuse part of the {omega}-scans performed on the films are due to oxygen excess in the film lattice, which creates cationic vacancies within the films. Also, we show that two regimes of oxygen incorporation in the films exist, one in which the films evolve toward a single phase and oxygen stoichiometry is recovered, and a second one dominated by oxygen over-doping effects. In order to support our study, XPS measurements were performed, from which we have evaluated the Mn{sup 3+}/Mn{sup 4+} ionic ratio.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Mechanism of Charge Transport in Cobalt and Iron Phthalocyanine Thin Films Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc), iron phthalocyanine (FePc) and their composite (CoPc-FePc) films have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies showed that composite films has better structural ordering compared to individual CoPc and FePc films. The temperature dependence of resistivity (in the temperature range 25 K- 100 K) showed that composite films are metallic, while individual CoPc and FePc films are in the critical regime of metal-to-insulator (M-I) transition The composite films show very high mobility of 110 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1} at room temperature i.e. nearly two order of magnitude higher compared to pure CoPc and FePc films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Theoretical And Experimental Studies Of The Effects Of Rapid Thermal Annealing In GaAs/AlGaAs Quantum Dots Grown By Droplet Epitaxy

We fabricated low-density GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots for single photon source by droplet epitaxy. We investigated the emission energies of the dots and underlying superlattice by using photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence measurements. By forming a mesa etched structure, we distinguished the transitions from the superlattice and the dots. And we calculated the diffusion length in this system from the peak shift of the superlattice, and applied the diffusion to the dots to investigate the emission energy shift of the QDs.z

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Excitation Power Dependence Of Photoluminescence From GaAs Quantum Dot Prepared By Droplet Epitaxy Method

GaAs quantum dot (QD) was grown by droplet epitaxy (DE) method and the excitation power dependence of photoluminescence (PL) were carried out. To investigate the effect of annealing temperature on QDs optical properties, the two step RTA process was carried out in a various temperature range from 800 to 1000 deg. C. As the thermal annealing temperature increases, the PL peak position is blue-shifted due to the change of the composition and size distribution of QDs, and the highest PL intensity is observed at the sample annealed at 900 deg. C. The integrated PL intensity (I{sub PL}) is plotted against the excitation density in a log-log scale and the slope was calculated.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2011

Cu-doped AlN: A possible spinaligner at room-temperature grown by molecular beam epitaxy?

Cu-doped AlN was prepared by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy on C-plane sapphire substrates. The growth conditions were investigated for different Cu to Al flux ratios from 1.0% to 4.0%. The formation of Cu-Al alloys on the surface was observed for all doping level. In contrast to Cu-doped GaN, all samples showed diamagnetic behavior determined by SQUID measurements.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Strong circular photogalvanic effect in ZnO epitaxial films

A strong circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) in ZnO epitaxial films was reported under interband excitation. It was observed that CPGE current is as large as 100 nA/W in ZnO, which is about one order in magnitude higher than that in InN film while the CPGE currents in GaN films are not detectable. The possible reasons for the above observations are the strong spin orbit coupling in ZnO or the inversed valence band structure of ZnO.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗