Search

During deposition, modification, and etching of thin films and nanomaterials in reactive plasmas, many active species can interact with the sample simultaneously. This includes reactive neutrals formed by fragmentation of the feed gas, positive ions, and electrons generated by electron-impact ionization of the feed gas and fragments, excited states (in particular, long-lived metastable species), and photons produced by spontaneous de-excitation of excited atoms and molecules. Notably, some of these species can be transiently present during the different phases of plasma processing, such as etching of thin layer deposition. To monitor plasma–surface interactions during materials processing, a new system combining beams of neutral atoms, positive ions, UV photons, and a magnetron plasma source has been developed. This system is equipped with a unique ensemble of in-plasma surface characterization tools, including (1) a Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometer (RBS), (2) an Elastic Recoil Detector (ERD), and (3) a Raman spectroscopy system. RBS and ERD analyses are carried out using a differentially pumped 1.7 MV ion beam line Tandetron accelerator generating a beam at grazing incidence. The ERD system is equipped with an absorber and is specifically used to detect H initially bonded to the surface; higher resolution of surface H is also available through nuclear reaction analysis. In parallel, an optical port facing the substrate is used to perform Raman spectroscopy analysis of the samples during plasma processing. This system enables fast monitoring of a few Raman peaks over nine points scattered on a 1.6 × 1.6 mm2 surface without interference from the inherent light emitted by the plasma. Coupled to the various plasma and beam sources, the unique set of in-plasma surface characterization tools detailed in this study can provide unique time-resolved information on the modification induced by plasma. By using the ion beam analysis capability, the atomic concentrations of various elements in the near-surface (e.g., stoichiometry and impurity content) can be monitored in real-time during plasma deposition or etching. On the other hand, the evolution of Raman peaks as a function of plasma processing time can contribute to a better understanding of the role of low-energy ions in defect generation in irradiation-sensitive materials, such as monolayer graphene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an invariant expansion, we build an Hamiltonian describing the influence of the crystal-field, the electron-hole exchange interaction, and any symmetry-breaking perturbations on the fine structure of excitons bound to systems of reduced symmetry: D2d, C3v, and C2v. Several perturbations are considered, including, but not limited to, an electric field, a magnetic field, a strain field, and their combinations. For each symmetry system considered, symmetrized excitonic wave functions, build from heavy- and light-holes states, are used to expand the Hamiltonian in the form of matrices, whose eigenvalues directly provide the energy of the excitonic states and whose eigenstates can be used to determine oscillator strengths of optical transitions. Using this model, we satisfactorily reproduce the excitonic emission observed from nitrogen dyads in GaAs and tellurium dyads in strained ZnSe. We also present Hamiltonians for independent heavy- and light-hole subsystems. Comparing the two models, we demonstrate that the splitting observed in strained quantum dots of C2v symmetry does not necessarily imply a significant anisotropic exchange interaction. This splitting can be produced by a weak coupling between heavy- and light-hole bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the design of a confocal microscope adapted for optical spectroscopy and imaging at cryogenic temperatures. This system is based on the existing approach of partly inserting the optical components of the microscope inside a helium-bath cryostat. It provides a spatial resolution approaching the diffraction limit with a mechanical stability allowing uninterrupted integration times exceeding 10 h and allows keeping track of a single emitter for unlimited periods of time. Furthermore, our design allows scanning the excitation spot and detection area independently of the sample position. This feature provides the means to perform probeless transport experiments on one-dimensional nanostructures. The scanning capabilities of this microscope are fully detailed and characterized using the photoluminescence of single nitrogen dyads at 4.5 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic and structural properties of MBE-grown films of Zn1− xCr xTe were investigated. The magnetization versus magnetic field ( M–H) measurement of Zn1− xCr xTe ( x = 0.01–0.17) showed clear hysteresis loop at low temperatures. The ferromagnetic transition temperature ( TC) estimated from the Arrott-plot analysis increased almost linearly with the Cr composition ( x) up to 275 K at x = 0.17. However, in the magnetization versus temperature ( M–T) measurement, the irreversibility between the zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) processes was observed. This is typically observed in the magnetic random system such as spin-glass or superparamagnetic phase. In the high resolution transmission microscopy (HRTEM) observations, structural defects such as stacking faults and polycrystalline-like structure were observed at high Cr compositions, whereas any apparent precipitates of different phases were not seen in all the range of Cr compositions examined. The correlation of the observed magnetic randomness with the local structural defects was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(Ga,Mn)N and (Zn,Co)O wide band gap diluted magnetic semiconductor epilayers have been investigated by magneto-optical spectroscopy. In both cases, absorption bands observed below the energy gap allow us to study the nature of the valence and spin state of the incorporated magnetic element. Exchange interactions between magnetic ions and carriers can be observed by analyzing the magnetic circular dichroism in transmission or the exciton Zeeman splitting in reflection for (Zn,Co)O. A first estimation of the exchange integrals can be given for both materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the correlation between the Rashba spin–orbit coefficient α and potential shape of the quantum wells (QW), where α values are experimentally deduced from the weak antilocalization analysis. We studied the gate I– V properties of the QW samples and have obtained results consistent with the potential shapes predicted for these QWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of a vertical electric field on the fine structure splitting of neutral exciton of monolayer fluctuation GaAs quantum dots were investigated. Using the gate voltage between the top gate electrode and the bottom n-GaAs substrate, the fine structure splitting of the neutral exciton was tuned to 15–30 μeV. Photon correlation measurements demonstrate neutral exciton single photon emission and neutral exciton—biexciton cascaded emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric and magnetic properties were investigated on p-type Zn1-xCrxTe doped with nitrogen (N) as an acceptor. Thin films of p-Zn1-xCrxTe (x≤=0.09) were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy with the supply of N2 gas excited by rf plasma. With the increase of Cr composition x at an almost fixed N concentration of the order of 1020 cm-3, the temperature dependence of resistivity changed from metallic behavior to an insulating one, accompanied with a significant decrease of the hole concentration. The magnetization measurements revealed that ferromagnetic behaviors observed in undoped Zn1-xCrxTe were suppressed due to the nitrogen doping; with N concentrations of the order of 1020 cm-3, hysteresis loops in the magnetization curve disappeared, the magnitude of magnetization decreased, and the ferromagnetic transition were not observed down to 2 K according to the Arrott plot analysis. These experimental findings are discussed on the basis of the ferromagnetic double exchange interaction which is considered to work on the Cr 3d impurity level formed in the band gap of ZnTe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the growth of Mn-doped wurtzite GaN epilayers by nitrogen plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, with a systematic attention to the dependence on the growth conditions. The addition of Mn modifies the growth diagram related to the Ga/N flux ratio. In particular, the stable Ga-bilayer coverage on the growth surface for the Ga-rich condition is destabilized in the presence of Mn. Mn incorporation in the epilayers is found to strongly depend on the Ga/N flux ratio: it varies by two orders of magnitude between the Ga-rich and the N-rich growth conditions. X-ray diffraction measurements on epilayers grown in the stoichiometric condition reveal a clear contrast between the precipitation of perovskite GaMn[sub 3]N clusters at Mn compositions higher than 1.7%, and the single phase of wurtzite Ga[sub 1-x]Mn[sub x]N at lower Mn compositions. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]