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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 1,405 records · Page 78
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Recovery of the chemical ordering in L1{sub 0} MnAl epitaxial thin films irradiated by 2 MeV protons

Epitaxial MnAl films with a high chemical ordering were synthesized and characterized during a series of irradiations by 2 MeV protons (H{sup +}). The chemical ordering was first reduced to a minimum at a total fluence (TF) of 1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 15} H{sup +}/cm{sup 2}, and consequently was recovered at the final total fluence of 2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 15} H{sup +}/cm{sup 2}. We attributed the recovery of chemical ordering to thermal effects and the enhanced diffusion caused by the high energy protons. In addition, the damages by the protons have little effect on the magnetic scattering processing in MnAl characterized by the anomalous Hall effect.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Highly mismatched N-rich GaN{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} films grown by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy

We have grown N-rich, dilute Sb GaN{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} alloys by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. At low growth temperature of <100 Degree-Sign C the material loses crystallinity and becomes primarily amorphous with small crystallites of 2-5 nm at a Sb composition of >4 at. %. Despite the different microstructures found for GaN{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} alloys with different composition, the absorption edge shifts continuously from 3.4 eV (GaN) to close to 1 eV for samples with Sb content >30 at. %. GaN{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} alloys with less than 5 at. % Sb show sufficient bandgap reduction ({approx}2 eV), making them suitable for photoelectrochemical applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

GaNAsP: An intermediate band semiconductor grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy

Dilute nitride GaNAsP thin films were grown via a GaAsP metamorphic buffer on GaP(100) substrate with gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. The compositions of this III-V-V-V compound were determined by channeling Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and nuclear reaction analysis. Photoreflectance shows two distinctive transitions from the valence band to the split conduction bands due to N incorporation. Photoluminescence and optical absorption show the fundamental bandgap of Ga(N)AsP is largely tailored by the small amount of N. The observed multiband characteristics and the bandgap tunability of GaNAsP are two merits that fit into the intermediate-band solar cell roadmap, and GaNAsP of high crystal quality provides a strong candidate for intermediate band solar cell materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on semipolar GaN (2021) substrates

Multi-quantum well (MQW) structures and light emitting diodes (LEDs) were grown on semipolar (2021) and polar (0001) GaN substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The In incorporation efficiency was found to be significantly lower for the semipolar plane as compared to the polar one. The semipolar MQWs exhibit a smooth surface morphology, abrupt interfaces, and a high photoluminescence intensity. The electroluminescence of semipolar (2021) and polar (0001) LEDs fabricated in the same growth run peaks at 387 and 462 nm, respectively. Semipolar LEDs with additional (Al,Ga)N cladding layers exhibit a higher optical output power but simultaneously a higher turn-on voltage.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Magnetic and structural properties of BiFeO{sub 3} thin films grown epitaxially on SrTiO{sub 3}/Si substrates

The integration of oxides with semiconductors is important for the technological advancement of the next generation electronics. Concomitant ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic (AF) behavior is demonstrated in single crystal BiFeO{sub 3} (BFO) films grown on 20 nm SrTiO{sub 3} (STO) virtual substrates on Si(100) using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). STO thin films are grown in an oxide MBE chamber by co-deposition of Sr, Ti, and molecular O{sub 2}. Careful control of the O{sub 2} during nucleation produced commensurate growth of STO on Si. The sequence of the steps allows for the suppression of an amorphous SiO{sub 2} layer. This STO(20 nm)/Si structure was used as a virtual substrate for MBE deposition of BFO on Si without breaking vacuum. BFO was deposited using Fe and O{sub 2} plasma with an overpressure of Bi flux, the growth rate was controlled by the incoming Fe flux. The reflection high energy electron diffraction image shows a 2-D growth front with a 6-fold surface reconstruction under optimized O{sub 2} pressure of 5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -8} mbar. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirms the high crystallinity of the films and shows sharp, atomically flat interfaces. The selected area diffraction pattern (SADP) reveals that BFO grows in a distorted rhombohedral crystal structure. X-ray diffraction does not show formation of second phases and is consistent with the TEM and SADP results. The BFO films show AF behavior with a Neel temperature that exceeds 350 K, as expected (T{sub N} = 673 K) and with a residual ferromagnetic behavior that decreases with film thickness and is consistent with the G-type AF due to the canted spins. The saturation magnetization per unit volume for a 40 nm thick film was 180 emu/cm{sup 3} at an in-plane magnetic field of 8 kOe. The ferroelectric behavior of the films was verified using piezoresponse force microscopy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Hydrogen plasma treatments for passivation of amorphous-crystalline silicon-heterojunctions on surfaces promoting epitaxy

The impact of post-deposition hydrogen plasma treatment (HPT) on passivation in amorphous/crystalline silicon (a-Si:H/c-Si) interfaces is investigated. Combining low temperature a-Si:H deposition and successive HPT, a high minority carrier lifetime >8 ms is achieved on c-Si <100>, which is otherwise prone to epitaxial growth and thus inferior passivation. It is shown that the passivation improvement stems from diffusion of hydrogen atoms to the heterointerface and subsequent dangling bond passivation. Concomitantly, the a-Si:H hydrogen density increases, leading to band gap widening and void formation, while the film disorder is not increased. Thus, HPT allows for a-Si:H band gap and a-Si:H/c-Si band offset engineering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As nanowires grown by Mn-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

(Ga,Mn)As nanowires were grown by molecular beam epitaxy using Mn as a growth catalyst on GaAs(001) substrates at 485 Degree-Sign C, i.e., at intermediate temperatures higher than ones used for the growth of (Ga,Mn)As thin films, but lower than the ordinary temperatures of Au-assisted growth of GaAs nanowires. (Ga,Mn)As nanowires obtained with typical lengths between 0.8 and 4 {mu}m and diameters 50-90 nm do not have defects, such as dislocations or precipitates, except for the stacking faults lying parallel to the growth direction. The investigation of magnetic and optical properties has been carried out not only for as-grown samples with nanowires but also for peeled off nanowires from the host substrate. The results obtained demonstrate that (Ga,Mn)As nanowires exhibit ferromagnetic ordering around 70 K.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Photoconductivity of germanium tin alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Photocurrent spectroscopy was used to measure the infrared absorption of germanium-tin alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy. To study dependence on Sn composition, the photocurrent was measured at 100 K on alloys of Ge{sub 1-x}Sn{sub x} with atomic percentages of Sn up to 9.8%. The optical absorption coefficient was calculated from the photocurrent, and it was found that the absorption edge and extracted bandgap energy decreased with increasing Sn content. For all Ge{sub 1-x}Sn{sub x} samples, a fundamental bandgap below that of bulk Ge was observed, and a bandgap energy as low as 0.624 eV was found for a Sn percentage of 9.8% at 100 K.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Metastable fcc-Fe film epitaxially grown on Cu(100) single-crystal underlayer

Fe film of 40 nm thickness is prepared on fcc-Cu(100) single-crystal underlayer at room temperature by ultra-high vacuum molecular beam epitaxy. The film growth and the detailed structure are investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and x-ray diffraction (XRD). An Fe single-crystal with metastable fcc structure nucleates on the underlayer. The HR-TEM shows that fcc lattice is formed from the Fe/Cu interface up to the film surface. A large number of misfit dislocations are introduced around the Fe/Cu interface due to an accommodation of lattice mismatch. Dislocations exist up to the film near surface. The lattice constant is estimated by XRD to be a = 0.3607 nm. The film shows a ferromagnetic property, which reflects the property of fcc-Fe crystal with high-spin ferromagnetic state.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Thermoelectric properties of epitaxial ScN films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering onto MgO(001) substrates

Epitaxial ScN(001) thin films were grown on MgO(001) substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The deposition was performed in an Ar/N{sub 2} atmosphere at 2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} Torr at a substrate temperature of 850 Degree-Sign C in a high vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 10{sup -8} Torr. In spite of oxygen contamination of 1.6 {+-} 1 at. %, the electrical resistivity, electron mobility, and carrier concentration obtained from a typical film grown under these conditions by room temperature Hall measurements are 0.22 m{Omega} cm, 106 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1}, and 2.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 20} cm{sup -3}, respectively. These films exhibit remarkable thermoelectric power factors of 3.3-3.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} W/mK{sup 2} in the temperature range of 600 K to 840 K. The cross-plane thermal conductivity is 8.3 W/mK at 800 K yielding an estimated ZT of 0.3. Theoretical modeling of the thermoelectric properties of ScN calculated using a mean-free-path of 23 nm at 300 K is in very good agreement with the experiment. These results also demonstrate that further optimization of the power factor of ScN is possible. First-principles density functional theory combined with the site occupancy disorder technique was used to investigate the effect of oxygen contamination on the electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of ScN. The computational results suggest that oxygen atoms in ScN mix uniformly on the N site forming a homogeneous solid solution alloy. Behaving as an n-type donor, oxygen causes a shift of the Fermi level in ScN into the conduction band without altering the band structure and the density of states.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Defect mitigation by ion induced amorphousization and solid-phase epitaxy

Ion implantation is a common technique in the semiconductor industry used to modify the electrical properties of materials, usually silicon. Some dopant ions are sufficiently light, such as boron, that they do not create a continuous amorphous layer in silicon over the range of the ions. In the presence of such a layer, most of the ioninduced damage can be removed by solid-phase epitaxy growth (SPEG), which results in recrystallization of the amorphous damage. However, end-of-range defects at the amorphous-crystal interface give rise to threading dislocations during SPEG that degrade the quality of the recrytallized Si. We have studied the end of range defects in silicon with three different implantations. The first was with 80 keV {sup 30}Si with a dose of 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 15} Si/cm{sup 2}, and the second was with 100 keV {sup 72}Ge at a dose of 1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 15} Ge/cm{sup 2}, and the third was a double implant of 100 keV {sup 72}Ge at a dose of 1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 15} Ge/cm{sup 2} followed by 340 keV {sup 28}Si at a dose of 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 14} Si/cm{sup 2}. SPEG was done at 650 Degree-Sign C to recrystalize the implanted samples, and the end of range defects were studied using channeled Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS-c). The effects of photon-assisted hydrogenation on amorphization and recrystallization were also studied.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Electronic and crystalline structures of zero band-gap LuPdBi thin films grown epitaxially on MgO(100)

Thin films of the proposed topological insulator LuPdBi-a Heusler compound with the C1{sub b} structure-were prepared on Ta-Mo-buffered MgO(100) substrates by co-sputtering from PdBi{sub 2} and Lu targets. Epitaxial growth of LuPdBi films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The root-mean-square roughness of the films was as low as 1.45 nm, even though the films were deposited at high temperature. The film composition is close to the ideal stoichiometric ratio. The valence band spectra of the LuPdBi films, observed by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, correspond very well with the ab initio-calculated density of states.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Interface control of surface photochemical reactivity in ultrathin epitaxial ferroelectric films

Asymmetrical electrical boundary conditions in (001)-oriented Pb(Zr{sub 0.2}TiO{sub 0.8})O{sub 3} (PZT) epitaxial ultrathin ferroelectric films are exploited to control surface photochemical reactivity determined by the sign of the surface polarization charge. It is shown that the preferential orientation of polarization in the as-grown PZT layer can be manipulated by choosing an appropriate type of bottom electrode material. PZT films deposited on the SrRuO{sub 3} electrodes exhibit preferential upward polarization (C{sup +}) whilst the same films grown on the (La,Sr)CoO{sub 3}-electrodes are polarized downward (C{sup -}). Photochemical activity of the PZT surfaces with different surface polarization charges has been tested by studying deposition of silver nanoparticles from AgNO{sub 3} solution under UV irradiation. PZT surfaces with preferential C{sup +} orientation possess a more active surface for metal reduction than their C{sup -} counterparts, evidenced by large differences in the concentration of deposited silver nanoparticles. This effect is attributed to band bending at the bottom interface which varies depending on the difference in work functions of PZT and electrode materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Molecular beam epitaxy-grown wurtzite MgS thin films for solar-blind ultra-violet detection

Molecular beam epitaxy grown MgS on GaAs(111)B substrate was resulted in wurtzite phase, as demonstrated by detailed structural characterizations. Phenomenological arguments were used to account for why wurtzite phase is preferred over zincblende phase or its most stable rocksalt phase. Results of photoresponse and reflectance measurements performed on wurtzite MgS photodiodes suggest a direct bandgap at around 5.1 eV. Their response peaks at 245 nm with quantum efficiency of 9.9% and enjoys rejection of more than three orders at 320 nm and close to five orders at longer wavelengths, proving the photodiodes highly competitive in solar-blind ultraviolet detection.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Two-dimensional weak anti-localization in Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin film grown on Si(111)-(7 Multiplication-Sign 7) surface by molecular beam epitaxy

We report on low temperature transport studies of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulator thin films grown on Si(111)-(7 Multiplication-Sign 7) surface by molecular beam epitaxy. A sharp increase in the magnetoresistance with magnetic field at low temperature indicates the existence of weak anti-localization. The measured weak anti-localization effect agrees well with the Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka model, and the extracted phase coherence length shows a power-law dependence with temperature indicating the existence of a two-dimensional system. An insulating ground state has also been observed at low temperature showing a logarithmic divergence of the resistance that appears to be the influence of electron-electron interaction in a two-dimensional system.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Design of an ultrahigh vacuum transfer mechanism to interconnect an oxide molecular beam epitaxy growth chamber and an x-ray photoemission spectroscopy analysis system

We designed a mechanism and the accompanying sample holders to transfer between a VEECO 930 oxide molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and a PHI Versa Probe X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) chamber within a multiple station growth, processing, and analysis system through ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). The mechanism consists of four parts: (1) a platen compatible with the MBE growth stage, (2) a platen compatible with the XPS analysis stage, (3) a sample coupon that is transferred between the two platens, and (4) the accompanying UHV transfer line. The mechanism offers a robust design that enables transfer back and forth between the growth chamber and the analysis chamber, and yet is flexible enough to allow transfer between standard sample holders for thin film growth and masked sample holders for making electrical contacts and Schottky junctions, all without breaking vacuum. We used this mechanism to transfer a barium strontium titanate thin film into the XPS analysis chamber and performed XPS measurements before and after exposing the sample to the air. After air exposure, a thin overlayer of carbon was found to form and a significant shift ({approx}1 eV) in the core level binding energies was observed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Molecular beam epitaxy of n-Zn(Mg)O as a low-damping plasmonic material at telecommunication wavelengths

We demonstrate that Zn(Mg)O:Ga layers can be grown by molecular beam epitaxy in a two-dimensional mode with high structural perfection up to Ga mole fractions of about 6.5%. The doping efficiency is practically 100% so that free-carrier concentrations of almost 10{sup 21} cm{sup -3} can be realized providing a zero-crossover wavelength of the real part of the dielectric function as short as 1.36 {mu}m, while the plasmonic damping does not exceed 50 meV. Structural, electrical, and optical data consistently demonstrate a profound change of the Ga incorporation mode beyond concentrations of 10{sup 21} cm{sup -3} attended by deterioration of the plasmonic features.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Electron microscopy investigations of purity of AlN interlayer in Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N/GaN heterostructures grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy

The electron microscopy was used to characterize the AlN interlayer in Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N/AlN/GaN heterostructures grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE). We show that the AlN interlayer grown by PAMBE is without gallium and oxygen incorporation and the interfaces are coherent. The AlN interlayer has the ABAB stacking of lattice planes as expected for the wurtzite phase. High purity of AlN interlayer with the ABAB stacking leads to larger conduction band offset along with stronger polarization effects. Our studies show that the origin of lower sheet resistance obtained by PAMBE is the purity of AlN interlayer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗