National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

The high exciton binding energy and band gap energy of ZnO thin films open the prospect of fabricating semiconductor lasers in the ultraviolet spectral range. A prerequisite for laser diode fabrication is highly p-doped ZnO which was not reproducibly obtained up to now. Without intentional doping ZnO exhibits n-type conduction. ZnO thin films have been obtained by radio-frequency assisted pulsed laser deposition. A metallic Zn target was used for ablation in an oxygen and nitrogen RF discharge. The electrical and morphological properties of the films grown on Si were studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), optical absorption and Hall Effect measurements for different ratios between the nitrogen and oxygen content. The AFM images of the as grown ZnO films reveal high quality surfaces with low values for the surface roughness and a sharp distribution of grains sizes as an effect of the RF discharge. The XRD patterns for all samples exhibit only (002) and (004) peaks indicating that the c-axis is always oriented normal to the substrate surface. The films present p-type conductivity with different carrier concentration and mobility depending on the nitrogen/oxygen ratio. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We report a microstructural and compositional study of a 90% Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3 - 10% PbTiO3 ceramic sample. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed the presence of compositional ordered nano-domains (1 - 4 mn), observable in two specific orientations, [0 (1) over bar 1] and [1 1 (2) over bar]. However, the visibility and the ordering degree of the nano-domains on the HRTEM images are not at all obvious. Fourier filtering of the images clearly revealed the ordered domains. Antiphase boundaries lying in the (111) planes separate them, while (100) and (111) facets separate the ordered domains from the disordered matrix. Their shape is plate-like, not uniformly spread in the disordered matrix. Their average size varies in different regions of the sample, most probably due to a non-uniform distribution of Ti, as observed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. (c) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The paper presents a quantum confinement model for the electrical transport, the phototransport and the photoluminescence phenomena in nanocrystalline silicon. The infinite rectangular quantum well was proved to be the best choice for the investigated systems - nanocrystalline porous silicon and silicon nanodots embedded in an amorphous silicon dioxide matrix. Previous microstructure investigations have shown that the nanocrystalline porous silicon is formed by a nanowire network, so that the electron Hamiltonian is the sum of a one-dimensional Bloch-like Hamiltonian and a two-dimensional infinite rectangular quantum well. In the case of the silicon nanodots, the quantum well is three-dimensional. In both cases, the quantum well introduces quantum confinement levels in the band gap, the investigated phenomena being related with transitions between these levels.

Microstructural characterization by transmission electron microscopy of the {111} planar defects induced in Si by treatment in hydrogen plasma is discussed. The {111} defects are analyzed by conventional ( TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Quantitative image processing by the geometrical phase method is applied to the experimental high-resolution image of an edge-on oriented {111} defect to measure the local displacements and strain field around it. Using these data, a structural model of the defect is derived. The validity of the structural model is checked by high-resolution image simulation and comparison with experimental images.

We report experimental investigations and modeling of the electronic transport in Si-SiO2 nanocomposite films. The current-voltage characteristics measured at room temperature are interpreted as due to high field-assisted tunneling. The activation energies from the current-temperature curves,are given by the energy separations between quantum confinement electronic states, determined from a quantum well model. Consequently, the calculated mean diameter of a nanodot (5.2 nm) is in good agreement with the microstructure data (5 nm). Also, the potential barrier between nanocrystalline Si and amorphous SiO2, previously obtained for nanocrystalline oxidized porous Si (2.2 eV), is confirmed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this work, we present the fabrication and full characterization of stoichiometric SiO2 nanoisland arrays ( dots) on silicon, grown through an anodic porous alumina template. Atomic force and transmission electron microscopy (AFM, TEM) were used to characterize the morphology, size, size distribution and density of the dots as a function of the anodization time used. It was found that dot density is lower for very short anodization times, and it stabilizes after a certain time. The dot height increases rapidly after nucleation, reaching values of 8 - 10 nm. With prolonged oxidation the dots continue to nucleate to fill the available area on the silicon surface underneath the porous alumina, while the well developed dots grow in height and width, reaching saturation values at 14 and 55 nm respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron energy loss spectroscopy ( EELS) were used to investigate the stoichiometry and surface coverage of the dots.

Electron-trapped Fe+-type centers, produced by x-ray irradiation at 80 K and further annealing at higher temperatures in iron-doped SrCl2 single crystals grown in chlorine gas, have been investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance. The Fe+(III) and Fe+(IIIa) centers, produced by annealing at temperatures higher than 200 K, exhibit monoclinic local symmetry with the two g down arrow- tensor principal axes situated in the (110) plane slightly tilted away from the [001] and [1-10] directions, respectively. The Fe+(IV) center, observed after several cycles of irradiation and annealing to 700 K, exhibits tetragonal local symmetry around < 100 > and a well-resolved four-component structure, attributed to the superhyperfine interaction with a neighboring monovalent impurity ion. The presence and properties of the low symmetry radiation-induced Fe+ paramagnetic centers are attributed to trapping and the thermally activated movement of chlorine interstitials. Both precursor Fe2+ and resulting Fe+ centers are perturbed by these interstitials, which are introduced in SrCl2:Fe crystals during growth under a chlorine atmosphere.

Pulse shaping introduces the method that makes possible the production of tunable arbitrary shaped pulses. We extend this method to control the prevalent growth of cubic SiC films on Si (10 0) substrates by pulsed laser deposition at temperatures around 973 K from a SiC target in vacuum. We used a laser system generating 200 fs pulses duration at 800 nm with 600 mu J at 1 kHz. The obtained structures are investigated by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and profilometry. We observed grains embedded in an amorphous texture, characteristic in our opinion to the depositions obtained with very short pulses. We present a comparison of deposited films with and without pulse shaping. Pulse shaping promotes increased crystallization and results in the deposition of thin structures of cubic SiC with a strongly reduced density of particulates, under similar deposition conditions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We achieved the growth of cubic silicon carbide (SiC) films on (100)Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at moderate temperatures such as 750 degrees C, from a SiC target in vacuum. The as-deposited films are morphologically and structurally characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM/HRTEM). The morphology of deposited films is dominated by columns nucleated from a thin nanostructured beta silicon carbide (beta-SiC) interface layer. The combined effects of columnar growth, tilted facets of the emerging columns and the presence of particulates on the film surface, lead to a rather rough surface of the films. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Detailed knowledge of the type and strength of pair interactions between high-spin metal ions is paramount to the understanding and design of molecular magnetic materials. In this work, the anisotropic magnetic interactions in a beta-diketonate-alkoxide iron(III) dimer compound, [Fe-2(OCH3)(2)(dbM)(4), Hdbm = diberizoyhriethane] (Fe-2) have been investigated by single crystal electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in the W-band (at 95 GHz). The diamagnetic Substitution method. was employed using the isomorphous gallium(III)-based compound doped with iron(III) to produce Ga-Fe dimers(GaFe). The single-ion zero-field splitting(ZFS) tensor could be separately determined in GaFe with the iron ion in a local environment quasi-identical to the one in Fe2. Its principal directions are found to point in arbitrary directions, uncorrelated with the Fe-O bonds. The Fe2 EPR spectra consist of transitions within the lowest multiplet states S = 1, 2, 3, which were analyzed using the full Spill Hamiltonian description of all exchange coupled pair of s = 5/2 spins. The anisotropic spin-spin interaction tensor of Fe2 possesses a principal axis close to the Fe-Fe direction and was shown to arise both from through-space (dipolar) and through-bond (anisotropic exchange) contributions. The latter involves ail rhombic component J(E) = (J(X) - J(Y))/2 approximate to 0.093 cm(-1) of magnitude comparable. to the dipolar interaction, and even to the rhombic part of the single-ion ZFS (E = 0.097 cm(-1)). Our results show that the anisotropic exchange, usually neglected for S-type ions, is significant for the anisotropic interactions in exchange-coupled iron(III) clusters, including the Fe-4 and Fe-8 families of single-molecule magnets and the anti Ferrornagnetic iron wheels. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.