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At least 1,567 records · Page 87
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DOE OSTI2014

Resistance switching in epitaxial SrCoO{sub x} thin films

We observed bipolar switching behavior from an epitaxial strontium cobaltite film grown on a SrTiO{sub 3} (001) substrate. The crystal structure of strontium cobaltite has been known to undergo topotactic phase transformation between two distinct phases: insulating brownmillerite (SrCoO{sub 2.5}) and conducting perovskite (SrCoO{sub 3−δ}) depending on the oxygen content. The current–voltage characteristics of the strontium cobaltite film showed that it could have a reversible insulator-to-metal transition triggered by electrical bias voltage. We propose that the resistance switching in the SrCoO{sub x} thin film could be related to the topotactic phase transformation and the peculiar structure of SrCoO{sub 2.5}.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Large epitaxial bi-axial strain induces a Mott-like phase transition in VO{sub 2}

The metal insulator transition (MIT) in vanadium dioxide (VO{sub 2}) has been an important topic for recent years. It has been generally agreed upon that the mechanism of the MIT in bulk VO{sub 2} is considered to be a collaborative Mott-Peierls transition, however, the effect of strain on the phase transition is much more complicated. In this study, the effect of the large strain on the properties of VO{sub 2} films was investigated. One remarkable result is that highly strained epitaxial VO{sub 2} thin films were rutile in the insulating state as well as in the metallic state. These highly strained VO{sub 2} films underwent an electronic phase transition without the concomitant Peierls transition. Our results also show that a very large tensile strain along the c-axis of rutile VO{sub 2} resulted in a phase transition temperature of ∼433 K, much higher than in any previous report. Our findings elicit that the metal insulator transition in VO{sub 2} can be driven by an electronic transition alone, rather the typical coupled electronic-structural transition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ferromagnetism and the electronic band structure in (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) epitaxial layers

Impact of Bi incorporation into (Ga,Mn)As layers on their electronic- and band-structures as well as their magnetic and structural properties has been studied. Homogenous (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) layers of high structural perfection have been grown by the low-temperature molecular-beam epitaxy technique. Post-growth annealing treatment of the layers results in an improvement of their structural and magnetic properties and an increase in the hole concentration in the layers. The modulation photoreflectance spectroscopy results are consistent with the valence-band model of hole-mediated ferromagnetism in the layers. This material combines the properties of (Ga,Mn)As and Ga(Bi,As) ternary compounds and offers the possibility of tuning its electrical and magnetic properties by controlling the alloy composition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Toward epitaxially grown two-dimensional crystal hetero-structures: Single and double MoS{sub 2}/graphene hetero-structures by chemical vapor depositions

Uniform large-size MoS{sub 2}/graphene hetero-structures fabricated directly on sapphire substrates are demonstrated with layer-number controllability by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images provide the direct evidences of layer numbers of MoS{sub 2}/graphene hetero-structures. Photo-excited electron induced Fermi level shift of the graphene channel are observed on the single MoS{sub 2}/graphene hetero-structure transistors. Furthermore, double hetero-structures of graphene/MoS{sub 2}/graphene are achieved by CVD fabrication of graphene layers on top of the MoS{sub 2}, as confirmed by the cross-sectional HRTEM. These results have paved the possibility of epitaxially grown multi-hetero-structures for practical applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Decoupled scenario between the conductive carriers and the ferromagnetism in epitaxial Zn{sub 0.85−x}Mg{sub x}Co{sub 0.15}O thin films

A series of Zn{sub 0.85−x}Mg{sub x}Co{sub 0.15}O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) thin films were fabricated by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy to investigate the correlation between the electrical transport properties and the ferromagnetism. It is observed that the saturation magnetization remains almost unchanged even though the resistivity of the Zn{sub 0.85−x}Mg{sub x}Co{sub 0.15}O films dramatically increases more than 6 orders with increasing Mg concentration. Moreover, the absence of detectable anomalous Hall effects and very small magnetoresistance in the films reveal the absence of spin polarization of conductive carriers and very weak spin-dependent scattering or tunneling processes. All these results suggest that the conductive carriers are decoupled with the ferromagnetism in the Zn{sub 0.85−x}Mg{sub x}Co{sub 0.15}O films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Growth and characterization of dilute nitride GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} nanowires and GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x}/GaN{sub y}P{sub 1−y} core/shell nanowires on Si (111) by gas source molecular beam epitaxy

We have demonstrated self-catalyzed GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} and GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x}/GaN{sub y}P{sub 1−y} core/shell nanowire growth by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. The growth window for GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} nanowires was observed to be comparable to that of GaP nanowires (∼585 °C to ∼615 °C). Transmission electron microscopy showed a mixture of cubic zincblende phase and hexagonal wurtzite phase along the [111] growth direction in GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} nanowires. A temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) study performed on GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x}/GaN{sub y}P{sub 1−y} core/shell nanowires exhibited an S-shape dependence of the PL peaks. This suggests that at low temperature, the emission stems from N-related localized states below the conduction band edge in the shell, while at high temperature, the emission stems from band-to-band transition in the shell as well as recombination in the GaN{sub x}P{sub 1−x} core.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Different temperature scaling of strain-induced magneto-crystalline anisotropy and Gilbert damping in Co{sub 2}FeAl film epitaxied on GaAs

The temperature dependence of the Gilbert damping and magnetic anisotropy are investigated in L2{sub 1} Co{sub 2}FeAl films epitaxially grown on GaAs (001) substrate by the time resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect. We found that the in-plane biaxial anisotropy increases by more than 90% with the temperature decreasing from 300 K to 80 K, which is mainly due to the strong variation of the magneto-elastic coefficients. In contrast, the intrinsic Gilbert damping rises only about 10%, which is mainly attributed to the reduction of the electron phonon scattering rate, independent of the strain-induced spin-orbit coupling energy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Crossover of conduction mechanism in Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4} epitaxial thin films

High quality epitaxial Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4} thin films with various thicknesses (9–300 nm) have been grown on SrTiO{sub 3} (001) substrates and their electric transport properties have been investigated. All samples showed the expected insulating behavior with a strong resistivity dependence on film thickness, which can be as large as three orders of magnitude at low temperature. A close examination of the transport data revealed interesting crossover behaviors for the conduction mechanism upon variation of thickness and temperature. While Mott variable range hopping (VRH) dominated the transport for films thinner than 85 nm, high temperature (>200 K) thermal activation behavior was observed for films with large thickness (≥85 nm), which was followed by a crossover from Mott to Efros-Shklovskii (ES) VRH in the low temperature range. This low temperature crossover from Mott to ES VRH indicates the presence of a Coulomb gap (∼3 meV). Our results demonstrate the competing and tunable conduction in Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4} thin films, which in turn would be helpful for understanding the insulating nature related to strong spin-orbital-coupling of the 5d iridates.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Magnetic properties of epitaxial Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} films with various crystal orientations and tunnel magnetoresistance effect at room temperature

Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} is a ferrimagnetic spinel ferrite that exhibits electric conductivity at room temperature (RT). Although the material has been predicted to be a half metal according to ab-initio calculations, magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} electrodes have demonstrated a small tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect. Not even the sign of the tunnel magnetoresistance ratio has been experimentally established. Here, we report on the magnetic properties of epitaxial Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} films with various crystal orientations. The films exhibited apparent crystal orientation dependence on hysteresis curves. In particular, Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}(110) films exhibited in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. With respect to the squareness of hysteresis, Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} (111) demonstrated the largest squareness. Furthermore, we fabricated MTJs with Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}(110) electrodes and obtained a TMR effect of −12% at RT. The negative TMR ratio corresponded to the negative spin polarization of Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} predicted from band calculations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Probing optical band gaps at the nanoscale in NiFe₂O₄ and CoFe₂O₄ epitaxial films by high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy

Nanoscale optical band gap variations in epitaxial thin films of two different spinel ferrites, i.e., NiFe₂O₄ (NFO) and CoFe₂O₄ (CFO), have been investigated by spatially resolved high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. Experimentally, both NFO and CFO show indirect/direct band gaps around 1.52 eV/2.74 and 2.3 eV, and 1.3 eV/2.31 eV, respectively, for the ideal inverse spinel configuration with considerable standard deviation in the band gap values for CFO due to various levels of deviation from the ideal inverse spinel structure. Direct probing of the regions in both the systems with tetrahedral A site cation vacancy, which is distinct from the ideal inverse spinel configuration, shows significantly smaller band gap values. The experimental results are supported by the density functional theory based modified Becke-Johnson exchange correlation potential calculated band gap values for the different cation configurations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Radiation-induced defects in GaN bulk grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy

Defects induced by electron irradiation in thick free-standing GaN layers grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy were studied by deep level transient spectroscopy. In as-grown materials, six electron traps, labeled D2 (E{sub C}–0.24 eV), D3 (E{sub C}–0.60 eV), D4 (E{sub C}–0.69 eV), D5 (E{sub C}–0.96 eV), D7 (E{sub C}–1.19 eV), and D8, were observed. After 2 MeV electron irradiation at a fluence of 1 × 10{sup 14 }cm{sup −2}, three deep electron traps, labeled D1 (E{sub C}–0.12 eV), D5I (E{sub C}–0.89 eV), and D6 (E{sub C}–1.14 eV), were detected. The trap D1 has previously been reported and considered as being related to the nitrogen vacancy. From the annealing behavior and a high introduction rate, the D5I and D6 centers are suggested to be related to primary intrinsic defects.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhancement of current collection in epitaxial lift-off InAs/GaAs quantum dot thin film solar cell and concentrated photovoltaic study

We report the fabrication of a thin film InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cell (QD cell) by applying epitaxial lift-off (ELO) approach to the GaAs substrate. We confirmed significant current collection enhancement (∼0.91 mA/cm{sup 2}) in the ELO-InAs QD cell within the wavelength range of 700 nm–900 nm when compared to the ELO-GaAs control cell. This is almost six times of the sub-GaAs bandgap current collection (∼0.16 mA/cm{sup 2}) from the wavelength range of 900 nm and beyond, we also confirmed the ELO induced resonance cavity effect was able to increase the solar cell efficiency by increasing both the short circuit current and open voltage. The electric field intensity of the resonance cavity formed in the ELO film between the Au back reflector and the GaAs front contact layer was analyzed in detail by finite-differential time-domain (FDTD) simulation. We found that the calculated current collection enhancement within the wavelength range of 700 nm–900 nm was strongly influenced by the size and shape of InAs QD. In addition, we performed concentrated light photovoltaic study and analyzed the effect of intermediate states on the open voltage under varied concentrated light intensity for the ELO-InAs QD cell.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Potential variations around grain boundaries in impurity-doped BaSi₂ epitaxial films evaluated by Kelvin probe force microscopy

Potential variations around the grain boundaries (GBs) in antimony (Sb)-doped n-type and boron (B)-doped p-type BaSi₂ epitaxial films on Si(111) were evaluated by Kelvin probe force microscopy. Sb-doped n-BaSi₂ films exhibited positively charged GBs with a downward band bending at the GBs. The average barrier height for holes was approximately 10 meV for an electron concentration n ≈ 10¹⁷ cm⁻³. This downward band bending changed to upward band bending when n was increased to n = 1.8 × 10¹⁸cm⁻³. In the B-doped p-BaSi₂ films, the upward band bending was observed for a hole concentration p ≈ 10¹⁸cm⁻³. The average barrier height for electrons decreased from approximately 25 to 15 meV when p was increased from p = 2.7 × 10¹⁸ to p = 4.0 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³. These results are explained under the assumption that the position of the Fermi level E{sub f} at GBs depends on the degree of occupancy of defect states at the GBs, while E{sub f} approached the bottom of the conduction band or the top of the valence band in the BaSi₂ grain interiors with increasing impurity concentrations. In both cases, such small barrier heights may not deteriorate the carrier transport properties. The electronic structures of impurity-doped BaSi₂ are also discussed using first-principles pseudopotential method to discuss the insertion sites of impurity atoms and clarify the reason for the observed n-type conduction in the Sb-doped BaSi₂ and p-type conduction in the B-doped BaSi₂.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Room temperature photoluminescence from In{sub x}Al{sub (1−x)}N films deposited by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

InAlN films deposited by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy exhibited a lateral composition modulation characterized by 10–12 nm diameter, honeycomb-shaped, columnar domains with Al-rich cores and In-rich boundaries. To ascertain the effect of this microstructure on its optical properties, room temperature absorption and photoluminescence characteristics of In{sub x}Al{sub (1−x)}N were comparatively investigated for indium compositions ranging from x = 0.092 to 0.235, including x = 0.166 lattice matched to GaN. The Stokes shift of the emission was significantly greater than reported for films grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, possibly due to the phase separation in these nanocolumnar domains. The room temperature photoluminescence also provided evidence of carrier transfer from the InAlN film to the GaN template.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhancement of pyroelectric signal by continuous ultraviolet illumination of epitaxial Pb(Zr{sub 0.2}Ti{sub 0.8})O{sub 3} films

The pyroelectric signal generated by an epitaxial Pb(Zr{sub 0.2}Ti{sub 0.8})O{sub 3} film can be enhanced by continuous illumination with ultraviolet (UV) light. The measured signal increases more than 2 times at low modulation frequencies of the incident infrared (IR) radiation (∼10 Hz) and at wavelengths where the short-circuit photocurrent presents the maximum value (∼280–300 nm). The tentative explanation is that the changes in polarization induced by the temperature variation under modulated IR illumination are generating a variable internal electric field, able to collect the photogenerated carriers produced under continuous UV illumination leading to an additional signal in phase with the pyroelectric one. This finding could be exploited for designing pyroelectric detectors with enhanced characteristics by combining both UV and IR responses.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Molecular beam epitaxial growth of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} nanowires and nanoflakes

Topological Insulators are in focus of immense research efforts and rapid scientific progress is obtained in that field. Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} has proven to be a topological insulator material that provides a large band gap and a band structure with a single Dirac cone at the Γ-point. This makes Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} one of the most promising three dimensional topological insulator materials. While Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} nanowires and nanoflakes so far were fabricated with different methods and for different purposes, we here present the first Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} nanowires as well as nanoflakes grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The nanostructures were nucleated on pretreated, silicon (100) wafers. Altering the growth conditions nanoflakes could be fabricated instead of nanowires; both with high crystalline quality, confirmed by scanning electron microscopy as well as transmission electron microscopy. These nanostructures have promise for spintronic devices and Majorana fermion observation in contact to superconductor materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Composition profiling of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots grown by droplet epitaxy

Droplet epitaxy (DE) is a growth method which can create III-V quantum dots (QDs) whose optoelectronic properties can be accurately controlled through the crystallisation conditions. In this work, GaAs/AlGaAs DE-QDs have been analyzed with the complimentary techniques of cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy and atom probe tomography. Structural details and a quantitative chemical analysis of QDs of different sizes are obtained. Most QDs were found to be pure GaAs, while a small proportion exhibited high intermixing caused by a local etching process. Large QDs with a high aspect ratio were observed to have an Al-rich crown above the GaAs QD. This structure is attributed to differences in mobility of the cations during the capping phase of the DE growth.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Engineering 180° ferroelectric domains in epitaxial PbTiO{sub 3} thin films by varying the thickness of the underlying (La,Sr)MnO{sub 3} layer

Epitaxial ferroelectric thin films of PbTiO{sub 3} (PTO) grown on top of nominally La{sub 0.7}Sr{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3} (LSMO) submicron hillocks on Nb-doped SrTiO{sub 3} (100) substrate were investigated by means of scanning transmission electron microscopy. 180° ferroelectric domains were observed in the c-axis oriented PTO films. The formation and configuration of ferroelectric domains and domain walls were found to exhibit strong correlation with the thickness of the underlying LSMO hillocks. The domain walls start at the locations of the hillocks where the LSMO layer has a thickness of about 3 nm. Our results demonstrate that controlling the thickness variation (shape) of the LSMO hillocks can manipulate the position and density of the ferroelectric domain walls, which are considered to be the active elements for future nanoelectronics.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗