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Top 20 Most Read Articles
January 2012
The 20 articles with the most full-text downloads during the month, in descending order.
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A comprehensive review of ZnO materials and devices J. Appl. Phys. 98, 041301 (2005); doi:10.1063/1.1992666 (103 pages) Online Publication Date: 30 August 2005
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The semiconductor ZnO has gained substantial interest in the research community in part because of its large exciton binding energy (60 meV) which could lead to lasing action based on exciton recombination even above room temperature. Even though research focusing on ZnO goes back many decades, the renewed interest is fueled by availability of high-quality substrates and reports of p-type conduction and ferromagnetic behavior when doped with transitions metals, both of which remain controversial. It is this renewed interest in ZnO which forms the basis of this review. As mentioned already, ZnO is not new to the semiconductor field, with studies of its lattice parameter dating back to 1935 by
Bunn [Proc. Phys. Soc. London 47, 836 (1935)
], studies of its vibrational properties with Raman scattering in 1966 by
Damen et al. [Phys. Rev. 142, 570 (1966)
], detailed optical studies in 1954 by
Mollwo [Z. Angew. Phys. 6, 257 (1954)
], and its growth by chemical-vapor transport in 1970 by
Galli and Coker [Appl. Phys. Lett. 16, 439 (1970)
]. In terms of devices, Au Schottky barriers in 1965 by
Mead [Phys. Lett. 18, 218 (1965)
], demonstration of light-emitting diodes (1967) by
Drapak [Semiconductors 2, 624 (1968)
], in which Cu2O was used as the p-type material, metal-insulator-semiconductor structures (1974) by
Minami et al. [Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 13, 1475 (1974)
], ZnO/ZnSe n-p junctions (1975) by
Tsurkan et al. [Semiconductors 6, 1183 (1975)
], and Al/Au Ohmic contacts by
Brillson [J. Vac. Sci. Technol. 15, 1378 (1978)
] were attained. The main obstacle to the development of ZnO has been the lack of reproducible and low-resistivity p-type ZnO, as recently discussed by
Look and Claflin [Phys. Status Solidi B 241, 624 (2004)
]. While ZnO already has many industrial applications owing to its piezoelectric properties and band gap in the near ultraviolet, its applications to optoelectronic devices has not yet materialized due chiefly to the lack of p-type epitaxial layers. Very high quality what used to be called whiskers and platelets, the nomenclature for which gave way to nanostructures of late, have been prepared early on and used to deduce much of the principal properties of this material, particularly in terms of optical processes. The suggestion of attainment of p-type conductivity in the last few years has rekindled the long-time, albeit dormant, fervor of exploiting this material for optoelectronic applications. The attraction can simply be attributed to the large exciton binding energy of 60 meV of ZnO potentially paving the way for efficient room-temperature exciton-based emitters, and sharp transitions facilitating very low threshold semiconductor lasers. The field is also fueled by theoretical predictions and perhaps experimental confirmation of ferromagnetism at room temperature for potential spintronics applications. This review gives an in-depth discussion of the mechanical, chemical, electrical, and optical properties of ZnO in addition to the technological issues such as growth, defects, p-type doping, band-gap engineering, devices, and nanostructures.
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J. Appl. Phys. 110, 121301 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3665219 (29 pages) Online Publication Date: 22 December 2011
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We present an overview of gauge fields in spintronics, focusing on their origin and physical consequences. Important topics, such as the Berry gauge field associated with adiabatic quantum evolution as well as gauge fields arising from other non-adiabatic considerations, are discussed. We examine the appearance and effects of gauge fields across three spaces, namely real-space, momentum-space, and time, taking on a largely semiclassical approach. We seize the opportunity to study other “spin-like” systems, including graphene, topological insulators, magnonics, and photonics, which emphasize the ubiquity and importance of gauge fields. We aim to provide an intuitive and pedagogical insight into the role played by gauge fields in spin transport.
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Low-frequency acoustic absorption of localized resonances: Experiment and theory J. Appl. Phys. 107, 023519 (2010); doi:10.1063/1.3284943 (5 pages) Online Publication Date: 27 January 2010
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The idea of localized resonance in phononic crystals is introduced to improve the low-frequency acoustic absorption of viscoelastic materials, which are widely used underwater to absorb the unwanted noise and meet a difficult challenge to enhance low-frequency absorption. Experimental measurements for acoustic absorptances of various viscoelastic polymer slabs embedded with locally resonant scatterers, i.e., heavy spheres coated by soft silicon rubber, are reported. Theoretical investigations using a layer-multiple-scattering method show good agreement with the experiment results, which supports unambiguously the observed low-frequency absorption phenomenon. The physical mechanism for the low-frequency absorption is also investigated by referring the elements of the Mie scattering matrix. The observations suggest that the scattered energy tends to remain in transverse waves, which enhance the multiple scattering, damp rapidly in viscoelastic polymer and dominate the acoustic absorption.
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J. Appl. Phys. 110, 096106 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3660694 (3 pages) Online Publication Date: 14 November 2011
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A novel characterization method is presented to directly observe the pure converse magnetoelectric (ME) effect, i.e., the electric-field modification of magnetization, in composite magnetic/ferroelectric (FE) layered thin films. A low-frequency AC electric-voltage, rather than DC voltage bias, is applied to the FE thin films to minimize the leakage current, whereby the possible side effect of heating can be avoided. In particular, by synchronizing the frequency of the Kerr signal detector to the AC actuation voltage bias, the voltage-induced change of the magnetization in the magnetic films can be in situ recorded even under zero external magnetic fields. For illustration, this method is applied to two similar magnetic/FE composite thin films, with significant strain-mediated converse ME coupling being demonstrated in both cases.
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Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p‐n Junction Solar Cells J. Appl. Phys. 32, 510 (1961); doi:10.1063/1.1736034 (10 pages) Online Publication Date: 11 June 2004
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In order to find an upper theoretical limit for the efficiency of p‐n junction solar energy converters, a limiting efficiency, called the detailed balance limit of efficiency, has been calculated for an ideal case in which the only recombination mechanism of hole‐electron pairs is radiative as required by the principle of detailed balance. The efficiency is also calculated for the case in which radiative recombination is only a fixed fraction fc of the total recombination, the rest being nonradiative. Efficiencies at the matched loads have been calculated with band gap and fc as parameters, the sun and cell being assumed to be blackbodies with temperatures of 6000°K and 300°K, respectively. The maximum efficiency is found to be 30% for an energy gap of 1.1 ev and fc = 1. Actual junctions do not obey the predicted current‐voltage relationship, and reasons for the difference and its relevance to efficiency are discussed. |
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Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys J. Appl. Phys. 89, 5815 (2001); doi:10.1063/1.1368156 (61 pages)
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We present a comprehensive, up-to-date compilation of band parameters for the technologically important III–V zinc blende and wurtzite compound semiconductors: GaAs, GaSb, GaP, GaN, AlAs, AlSb, AlP, AlN, InAs, InSb, InP, and InN, along with their ternary and quaternary alloys. Based on a review of the existing literature, complete and consistent parameter sets are given for all materials. Emphasizing the quantities required for band structure calculations, we tabulate the direct and indirect energy gaps, spin-orbit, and crystal-field splittings, alloy bowing parameters, effective masses for electrons, heavy, light, and split-off holes, Luttinger parameters, interband momentum matrix elements, and deformation potentials, including temperature and alloy-composition dependences where available. Heterostructure band offsets are also given, on an absolute scale that allows any material to be aligned relative to any other. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. |
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Surface modification of monocrystalline zinc oxide induced by high-density electronic excitation J. Appl. Phys. 110, 124310 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3671006 (8 pages) Online Publication Date: 20 December 2011
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Strong modifications of semiconductors can be provoked by high-density electronic excitation. We report on surface structuring of monocrystalline wurtzite O-face (0001) ZnO excited by UV femtosecond laser pulses (248 nm) below the ablation threshold. At fluences above 11 mJ/cm2, nanoholes of D=10 nm diameter appear quasi-periodically separated by a distance ∼30 nm (=3 D). Dual-pulse (pump-pump) experiments permit estimation of the electronic excitation lifetime responsible for this nanostructuring, which is in agreement with the electron-hole plasma lifetime 220 ps. The nanostructuring results in a smaller monocrystalline domain of ∼0.1 μm size and increases the crystalline interplane c-distance by 0.11%. The excitonic luminescence of the irradiated sample is found to increase by about 10 times. The nanostructuring remains stable in a limited range of laser fluences: above 40 mJ/cm2 the surface melts, which accelerates the photoinduced bonds breaking leading to surface erosion. We tentatively ascribe the related mechanism to the nucleation-growth of cluster vacancies at crystal dislocations accelerated by the non-thermal (electronic) melting of the surface layer. At fluences lower than 11 mJ/cm2, larger volcano-like features of 60-nm diameter were observed. The characteristic crater shape and irregular surface repartition permit their assignment to thermal explosion of impurities due to multiple exciton condensation.
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J. Appl. Phys. 110, 123913 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3671632 (6 pages) Online Publication Date: 23 December 2011
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This paper describes a full micromagnetic characterization of the magnetization dynamics driven by spin-polarized current in anisotropic spin-torque oscillators (STOs). For field angles approaching the hard in-plane axis, the excited mode is uniform and a super-critical Hopf-bifurcation takes place at the critical current density JC. For field angles close to the easy axis of the free layer, the excited mode is localized (non-uniform) and a sub-critical Hopf-bifurcation occurs at JC. In this latter region, a hysteretic behaviour is, therefore, found. We demonstrate numerically that the non-linearities of the STO are strongly reduced when the oscillation frequency at the critical current is near the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) frequency computed at zero bias current, and in particular, this condition corresponds to the field orientation at which a minimum in the FMR-frequency is achieved.
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Adaptive oxide electronics: A review J. Appl. Phys. 110, 071101 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3640806 (20 pages) Online Publication Date: 5 October 2011
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Novel information processing techniques are being actively explored to overcome fundamental limitations associated with CMOS scaling. A new paradigm of adaptive electronic devices is emerging that may reshape the frontiers of electronics and enable new modalities. Creating systems that can learn and adapt to various inputs has generally been a complex algorithm problem in information science, albeit with wide-ranging and powerful applications from medical diagnosis to control systems. Recent work in oxide electronics suggests that it may be plausible to implement such systems at the device level, thereby drastically increasing computational density and power efficiency and expanding the potential for electronics beyond Boolean computation. Intriguing possibilities of adaptive electronics include fabrication of devices that mimic human brain functionality: the strengthening and weakening of synapses emulated by electrically, magnetically, thermally, or optically tunable properties of materials.In this review, we detail materials and device physics studies on functional metal oxides that may be utilized for adaptive electronics. It has been shown that properties, such as resistivity, polarization, and magnetization, of many oxides can be modified electrically in a non-volatile manner, suggesting that these materials respond to electrical stimulus similarly as a neural synapse. We discuss what device characteristics will likely be relevant for integration into adaptive platforms and then survey a variety of oxides with respect to these properties, such as, but not limited to, TaOx, SrTiO3, and Bi4-xLaxTi3O12. The physical mechanisms in each case are detailed and analyzed within the framework of adaptive electronics. We then review theoretically formulated and current experimentally realized adaptive devices with functional oxides, such as self-programmable logic and neuromorphic circuits. Finally, we speculate on what advances in materials physics and engineering may be needed to realize the full potential of adaptive oxide electronics.
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Will we exceed 50% efficiency in photovoltaics? J. Appl. Phys. 110, 031301 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3600702 (19 pages) Online Publication Date: 8 August 2011
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Solar energy is the most abundant and reliable source of energy we have to provide for the multi-terawatt challenge we are facing. Although huge, this resource is relatively dispersed. High conversion efficiency is probably necessary for cost effectiveness. Solar cell efficiencies above 40% have been achieved with multijunction (MJ) solar cells. These achievements are here described. Possible paths for improvement are hinted at including third generation photovoltaics concepts. It is concluded that it is very likely that the target of 50% will eventually be achieved. This high efficiency requires operating under concentrated sunlight, partly because concentration helps increase the efficiency but mainly because the cost of the sophisticated cells needed can only be paid by extracting as much electric power form each cell as possible. The optical challenges associated with the concentrator optics and the tools for overcoming them, in particular non-imaging optics, are briefly discussed and the results and trends are described. It is probable that optical efficiency over 90% will be possible in the future. This would lead to a module efficiency of 45%. The manufacturing of a concentrator has to be addressed at three levels of integration: module, array, and photovoltaic (PV) subfield. The PV plant as a whole is very similar than a flat module PV plant with two-axes tracking. At the module level, the development of tools for easy manufacturing and quality control is an important topic. Furthermore, they can accommodate in different position cells with different spectral sensitivities so complementing the effort in manufacturing MJ cells. At the array level, a proper definition of the nameplate watts, since the diffuse light is not used, is under discussion. The cost of installation of arrays in the field can be very much reduced by self aligning tracking control strategies. At the subfield level, aspects such as the self shadowing of arrays causes the CPV subfields to be sparsely packed leading to a ground efficiency, in the range of 10%, that in some cases will be below that of fixed modules of much lower cell efficiency. All this taken into account, High Concentration PV (HCPV) has the opportunity to become the cheapest of the PV technologies and beat the prevalent electricity generation technologies. Of course the way will be paved with challenges, and success is not guaranteed.
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J. Appl. Phys. 111, 013101 (2012); doi:10.1063/1.3673331 (7 pages) Online Publication Date: 4 January 2012
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Multicolor emitting phosphors LiBaPO4:RE (RE = Eu2+, Tb3+, Sm3+) reported as interesting down-conversion luminescent materials in white light-emitting diodes (w-LEDs) have been prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction. The excitation and emission spectra indicate that these phosphors can be effectively excited by the near-UV light, and emit blue, green, and red light, respectively. The photoluminescence properties, decay times, and Commission Internationale de I’Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity indexes are determined for various concentrations of the activators Eu2+, Tb3+, and Sm3+ in LiBaPO4 host. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent luminescence of these phosphors was investigated. The emission intensities of Tb3+- and Sm3+-doped LiBaPO4 increased unexpectedly with increasing temperature. This interesting phenomenon is proposed to be the result of two ground states in the configurational coordination diagram. The present investigation suggests that LiBaPO4:RE (RE = Eu2+, Tb3+, Sm3+) were potential candidates for application in w-LEDs.
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J. Appl. Phys. 93, 793 (2003); doi:10.1063/1.1524305 (26 pages) Online Publication Date: 27 December 2002
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Rapid progress in the synthesis and processing of materials with structure on nanometer length scales has created a demand for greater scientific understanding of thermal transport in nanoscale devices, individual nanostructures, and nanostructured materials. This review emphasizes developments in experiment, theory, and computation that have occurred in the past ten years and summarizes the present status of the field. Interfaces between materials become increasingly important on small length scales. The thermal conductance of many solid–solid interfaces have been studied experimentally but the range of observed interface properties is much smaller than predicted by simple theory. Classical molecular dynamics simulations are emerging as a powerful tool for calculations of thermal conductance and phonon scattering, and may provide for a lively interplay of experiment and theory in the near term. Fundamental issues remain concerning the correct definitions of temperature in nonequilibrium nanoscale systems. Modern Si microelectronics are now firmly in the nanoscale regime—experiments have demonstrated that the close proximity of interfaces and the extremely small volume of heat dissipation strongly modifies thermal transport, thereby aggravating problems of thermal management. Microelectronic devices are too large to yield to atomic-level simulation in the foreseeable future and, therefore, calculations of thermal transport must rely on solutions of the Boltzmann transport equation; microscopic phonon scattering rates needed for predictive models are, even for Si, poorly known. Low-dimensional nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes, are predicted to have novel transport properties; the first quantitative experiments of the thermal conductivity of nanotubes have recently been achieved using microfabricated measurement systems. Nanoscale porosity decreases the permittivity of amorphous dielectrics but porosity also strongly decreases the thermal conductivity. The promise of improved thermoelectric materials and problems of thermal management of optoelectronic devices have stimulated extensive studies of semiconductor superlattices; agreement between experiment and theory is generally poor. Advances in measurement methods, e.g., the 3ω method, time-domain thermoreflectance, sources of coherent phonons, microfabricated test structures, and the scanning thermal microscope, are enabling new capabilities for nanoscale thermal metrology. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. |
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Surface plasmon enhanced silicon solar cells J. Appl. Phys. 101, 093105 (2007); doi:10.1063/1.2734885 (8 pages) Online Publication Date: 7 May 2007
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Thin-film solar cells have the potential to significantly decrease the cost of photovoltaics. Light trapping is particularly critical in such thin-film crystalline silicon solar cells in order to increase light absorption and hence cell efficiency. In this article we investigate the suitability of localized surface plasmons on silver nanoparticles for enhancing the absorbance of silicon solar cells. We find that surface plasmons can increase the spectral response of thin-film cells over almost the entire solar spectrum. At wavelengths close to the band gap of Si we observe a significant enhancement of the absorption for both thin-film and wafer-based structures. We report a sevenfold enhancement for wafer-based cells at λ = 1200 nm and up to 16-fold enhancement at λ = 1050 nm for 1.25 μm thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) cells, and compare the results with a theoretical dipole-waveguide model. We also report a close to 12-fold enhancement in the electroluminescence from ultrathin SOI light-emitting diodes and investigate the effect of varying the particle size on that enhancement.
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Small molecular weight organic thin-film photodetectors and solar cells J. Appl. Phys. 93, 3693 (2003); doi:10.1063/1.1534621 (31 pages) Online Publication Date: 21 March 2003
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In this review, we discuss the physics underlying the operation of single and multiple heterojunction, vacuum-deposited organic solar cells based on small molecular weight thin films. For single heterojunction cells, we find that the need for direct contact between the deposited electrode and the active organics leads to quenching of excitons. An improved device architecture, the double heterojunction, is shown to confine excitons within the active layers, allowing substantially higher internal efficiencies to be achieved. A full optical and electrical analysis of the double heterostructure architecture leads to optimal cell design as a function of the optical properties and exciton diffusion lengths of the photoactive materials. Combining the double heterostructure with novel light trapping schemes, devices with external efficiencies approaching their internal efficiency are obtained. When applied to an organic photovoltaic cell with a power conversion efficiency of 1.0%±0.1% under 1 sun AM1.5 illumination, devices with external power conversion efficiencies of 2.4%±0.3% are reported. In addition, we show that by using materials with extended exciton diffusion lengths LD, highly efficient double heterojunction photovoltaic cells are obtained, even in the absence of a light trapping geometry. Using C60 as an acceptor material, double heterostructure external power conversion efficiencies of 3.6%±0.4% under 1 sun AM1.5 illumination are obtained. Stacking of single heterojunction devices leads to thin film multiple heterojunction photovoltaic and photodetector structures. Thin bilayer photovoltaic cells can be stacked with ultrathin (∼5 Å), discontinuous Ag layers between adjacent cells serving as efficient recombination sites for electrons and holes generated in the neighboring cells. Such stacked cells have open circuit voltages that are n times the open circuit voltage of a single cell, where n is the number of cells in the stack. In optimized structures, the short circuit photocurrent remains approximately constant upon stacking thin cells, leading to higher achievable power conversion efficiencies, as confirmed by modelling optical interference effects and exciton migration. A 2.5%±0.3% power efficiency under 100 mW/cm2 AM1.5 illumination conditions is obtained by stacking two ∼1% efficient devices. Alternatively, when the contact layers between the stacked cells are eliminated, a multilayer structure consisting of alternating films of donor and acceptor-type materials is obtained. Since the thicknesses of the individual layers (∼5 Å) can be substantially smaller than the exciton diffusion length, nearly 100% of the photogenerated excitons are dissociated, and the resulting free charges are detected. In addition, the ultrathin organic layers facilitate electron and hole transport through the multilayer stack by tunneling. When these devices are operated as photodetectors under applied fields >106 V/cm, the carrier collection efficiency reaches 80%, leading to external quantum efficiencies of 75%±1% across the visible spectrum in cells containing the thinnest layers. We find that due to the fast carrier tunneling process, the temporal response of these multilayer detectors is a direct measure of exciton dynamics. Response times of 720±50 ps are achieved, leading to a 3 dB bandwidth of 430±30 MHz. A summary of representative results obtained for both polymer and small molecule photovoltaic cells and photodetectors is included in this review. Prospects for further improvements in organic solar cells and photodetectors are considered. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. |
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ZnO Schottky barriers and Ohmic contacts J. Appl. Phys. 109, 121301 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3581173 (33 pages) Online Publication Date: 23 June 2011
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ZnO has emerged as a promising candidate for optoelectronic and microelectronic applications, whose development requires greater understanding and control of their electronic contacts. The rapid pace of ZnO research over the past decade has yielded considerable new information on the nature of ZnO interfaces with metals. Work on ZnO contacts over the past decade has now been carried out on high quality material, nearly free from complicating factors such as impurities, morphological and native point defects. Based on the high quality bulk and thin film crystals now available, ZnO exhibits a range of systematic interface electronic structure that can be understood at the atomic scale. Here we provide a comprehensive review of Schottky barrier and ohmic contacts including work extending over the past half century. For Schottky barriers, these results span the nature of ZnO surface charge transfer, the roles of surface cleaning, crystal quality, chemical interactions, and defect formation. For ohmic contacts, these studies encompass the nature of metal-specific interactions, the role of annealing, multilayered contacts, alloyed contacts, metallization schemes for state-of-the-art contacts, and their application to n-type versus p-type ZnO. Both ZnO Schottky barriers and ohmic contacts show a wide range of phenomena and electronic behavior, which can all be directly tied to chemical and structural changes on an atomic scale.
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E-H mode transition in low-pressure inductively coupled nitrogen-argon and oxygen-argon plasmas J. Appl. Phys. 109, 113302 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3587156 (9 pages) Online Publication Date: 1 June 2011
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This work investigates the characteristics of the E-H mode transition in low-pressure inductively coupled N2-Ar and O2-Ar discharges using rf-compensated Langmuir probe measurements and optical emission spectroscopy (OES). As the ICP power increases, the emission intensities from plasma species, the electron density, the electron temperature, and the plasma potential exhibit sudden changes. The Ar content in the gas mixture and total gas pressure have been varied in an attempt to fully characterize the plasma parameters. With these control parameters varying, the changes of the transition threshold power and the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) are explored. In N2-Ar and O2-Ar discharges at low-pressures of several millitorr, the transition thresholds are observed to decrease with Ar content and pressure. It is observed that in N2-Ar plasmas during the transition, the shape of the EEDF changes from an unusual distribution with a flat hole near the electron energy of 3 eV in the E mode to a Maxwellian distribution in the H mode. However, in O2 -Ar plasmas, the EEDFs in the E mode at low Ar contents show roughly bi-Maxwellian distributions, while the EEDFs in the H mode are observed to be nearly Maxwellian. In the E and H modes of O2-Ar discharges, the dissociation fraction of O2 molecules is estimated using optical emission actinometry. During the E-H mode transition, the dissociation fraction of molecules is also enhanced.
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Multiferroic magnetoelectric composites: Historical perspective, status, and future directions J. Appl. Phys. 103, 031101 (2008); doi:10.1063/1.2836410 (35 pages) Online Publication Date: 5 February 2008
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Multiferroic magnetoelectric materials, which simultaneously exhibit ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism, have recently stimulated a sharply increasing number of research activities for their scientific interest and significant technological promise in the novel multifunctional devices. Natural multiferroic single-phase compounds are rare, and their magnetoelectric responses are either relatively weak or occurs at temperatures too low for practical applications. In contrast, multiferroic composites, which incorporate both ferroelectric and ferri-/ferromagnetic phases, typically yield giant magnetoelectric coupling response above room temperature, which makes them ready for technological applications. This review of mostly recent activities begins with a brief summary of the historical perspective of the multiferroic magnetoelectric composites since its appearance in 1972. In such composites the magnetoelectric effect is generated as a product property of a magnetostrictive and a piezoelectric substance. An electric polarization is induced by a weak ac magnetic field oscillating in the presence of a dc bias field, and/or a magnetization polarization appears upon applying an electric field. So far, three kinds of bulk magnetoelectric composites have been investigated in experimental and theoretical, i.e., composites of (a) ferrite and piezoelectric ceramics (e.g., lead zirconate titanate), (b) magnetic metals/alloys (e.g., Terfenol-D and Metglas) and piezoelectric ceramics, and (c) Terfenol-D and piezoelectric ceramics and polymer. The elastic coupling interaction between the magnetostrictive phase and piezoelectric phase leads to giant magnetoelectric response of these magnetoelectric composites. For example, a Metglas/lead zirconate titanate fiber laminate has been found to exhibit the highest magnetoelectric coefficient, and in the vicinity of resonance, its magnetoelectric voltage coefficient as high as 102 V/cm Oe orders has been achieved, which exceeds the magnetoelectric response of single-phase compounds by many orders of magnitude. Of interest, motivated by on-chip integration in microelectronic devices, nanostructured composites of ferroelectric and magnetic oxides have recently been deposited in a film-on substrate geometry. The coupling interaction between nanosized ferroelectric and magnetic oxides is also responsible for the magnetoelectric effect in the nanostructures as was the case in those bulk composites. The availability of high-quality nanostructured composites makes it easier to tailor their properties through epitaxial strain, atomic-level engineering of chemistry, and interfacial coupling. In this review, we discuss these bulk and nanostructured magnetoelectric composites both in experimental and theoretical. From application viewpoint, microwave devices, sensors, transducers, and heterogeneous read/write devices are among the suggested technical implementations of the magnetoelectric composites. The review concludes with an outlook on the exciting future possibilities and scientific challenges in the field of multiferroic magnetoelectric composites.
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J. Appl. Phys. 110, 123713 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3671403 (13 pages) Online Publication Date: 23 December 2011
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The structural, magnetic, electrical, and thermal transport properties of Ca3Co4O9 ceramics sintered under high magnetic field were investigated. Crystal grain texturing and densification were achieved through cold-pressing and high-magnetic-field sintering techniques. The c-axis of the layered crystal grain was partly oriented along the c-axis of the pressed samples via a cold-pressing technique, and the degree of orientation was further increased while applying the magnetic field in the sample sintering progress. The easy magnetization axis of Ca3Co4O9 polycrystalline ceramics was found to be the c-axis. The room-temperature resistivity along the ab-plane of the sample sintered under 8 T magnetic field was about 30% smaller than that of the sample sintered without magnetic field, and the Seebeck coefficient of the former reached 177.7 μV/K at the room temperature, which is about 50% larger than that of the latter. Consequently, for the sample sintered at 8 T magnetic field, the power factor along the ab-plane was enhanced by about 1.8 times compared to the sample without magnetic field sintering. The obtained result is suggested to originate from the variations of the carrier mobility and spin-orbital degeneracy due to high-magnetic-field sintering in the progress of the sample preparation.
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Elastic, anelastic, and piezoelectric coefficients of GaN J. Appl. Phys. 111, 013509 (2012); doi:10.1063/1.3674271 (6 pages) Online Publication Date: 6 January 2012
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We report elastic, anelastic, and piezoelectric coefficients of wurtzite GaN measured by resonant-ultrasound spectroscopy coupled with laser-Doppler interferometry. Five rectangular parallelepiped specimens, measuring 6.5 × 2.0 × 4.0 mm3, cut from two single crystals were used. Our values of elastic and piezoelectric coefficients were C11 = 359.4 GPa, C12 = 129.2 GPa, C13 = 92.0 GPa, C33 = 389.9 GPa, C44 = 98.0 GPa, e15 = 0.10 C/m2, e31 = 0.17 C/m2, and e33 = 0.29 C/m2. In anelastic coefficients, anisotropy was observed between Q11−1 and Q33−1.
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A semi-analytical model for semiconductor solar cells J. Appl. Phys. 110, 123104 (2011); doi:10.1063/1.3671061 (17 pages) Online Publication Date: 23 December 2011
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A semi-analytical model is constructed for single- and multi-junction solar cells. This model incorporates the key performance aspects of practical devices, including nonradiative recombination, photon recycling within a given junction, spontaneous emission coupling between junctions, and non-step-like absorptance and emittance with below-bandgap tail absorption. Four typical planar structures with the combinations of a smooth/textured top surface and an absorbing/reflecting substrate (or backside surface) are investigated, through which the extracted power and four types of fundamental loss mechanisms, transmission, thermalization, spatial-relaxation, and recombination loss are analyzed for both single- and multi-junction solar cells. The below-bandgap tail absorption increases the short-circuit current but decreases the output and open-circuit voltage. Using a straightforward formulism this model provides the initial design parameters and the achievable efficiencies for both single- and multiple-junction solar cells over a wide range of material quality. The achievable efficiency limits calculated using the best reported materials and AM1.5 G one sun for GaAs and Si single-junction solar cells are, respectively, 27.4 and 21.1% for semiconductor slabs with a flat surface and a non-reflecting index-matched absorbing substrate, and 30.8 and 26.4% for semiconductor slabs with a textured surface and an ideal 100% reflecting backside surface. Two important design rules for both single- and multi-junction solar cells are established: i) the optimal junction thickness decreases and the optimal bandgap energy increases when nonradiative recombination increases; and ii) the optimal junction thickness increases and the optimal bandgap energy decreases for higher solar concentrations.
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