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Over the last decade, gallium nitride (GaN) has emerged as an excellent material for the fabrication of power devices. Among the semiconductors for which power devices are already available in the market, GaN has the widest energy gap, the largest critical field, and the highest saturation velocity, thus representing an excellent material for the fabrication of high-speed/high-voltage components. The presence of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization allows us to create a two-dimensional electron gas, with high mobility and large channel density, in the absence of any doping, thanks to the use of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. This contributes to minimize resistive losses; at the same time, for GaN transistors, switching losses are very low, thanks to the small parasitic capacitances and switching charges. Device scaling and monolithic integration enable a high-frequency operation, with consequent advantages in terms of miniaturization. For high power/high-voltage operation, vertical device architectures are being proposed and investigated, and three-dimensional structures—fin-shaped, trench-structured, nanowire-based—are demonstrating great potential. Contrary to Si, GaN is a relatively young material: trapping and degradation processes must be understood and described in detail, with the aim of optimizing device stability and reliability. This Tutorial describes the physics, technology, and reliability of GaN-based power devices: in the first part of the article, starting from a discussion of the main properties of the material, the characteristics of lateral and vertical GaN transistors are discussed in detail to provide guidance in this complex and interesting field. The second part of the paper focuses on trapping and reliability aspects: the physical origin of traps in GaN and the main degradation mechanisms are discussed in detail. The wide set of referenced papers and the insight into the most relevant aspects gives the reader a comprehensive overview on the present and next-generation GaN electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical eigenstates with a high quality (Q) factor provide substantial advantages for a broad spectrum of optical devices, particularly those demanding strong light–matter interactions. Recently, it has been demonstrated that ultrahigh- Q resonances can be realized in planar photonic structures by merging multiple bound states in the continuum (BICs) in the momentum space. Photonic lattices with thin-film geometry are known to support abundant TE-polarized and TM-polarized BICs. While prior research has explored the merging of TE-polarized BICs, this paper presents analytical and numerical results concerning the merging of TM-polarized BICs in laterally periodic one-dimensional photonic lattices. As the thickness of photonic lattices increases, TM-polarized accidental BICs descend along the dispersion curves and eventually merge at the upper edge of the second stop band. Employing coupled-mode analysis, we calculate the analytical merging thickness at which multiple TM-polarized BICs come together at the second-order Γ point. We confirm the merging of TM-polarized BICs through finite-element method simulations. Our results can be beneficial for achieving ultrahigh- Q resonances through the merging of BICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the flexural elastic wave propagation properties in phononic crystals (PCs) consisting of co-axial steel and electrorheological (ER) elastomer pillars deposited on a thin plate. The finite element method and the super cell technique are used to calculate the band structures and transmission spectra. It is found that the band gap boundaries of the PCs can be tuned by applying an electric field to the ER elastomer component. The relationship between the band gap boundaries and the electric field is given. It is also found that point and line defects can be created by properly applying an electric field to some of the cells. These defects bring defect bands inside the original band gaps and lead to elastic wave confinement in the point defect or along the line defect. The dependence of the defect band frequencies on the electric field is expounded. Band gap tunability, wave confinement, and wave guiding achieved by applying electric field in this paper are useful in applications of flexural vibration reduction and energy harvesting in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) piezoelectric nanomaterials have widely been studied recently due to their promise for various applications in technology. Investigation of vertical piezoelectricity will contribute to a deeper understanding of the intrinsic mechanism of piezoelectric effects in the 2D structures. In this paper, we report a first-principle study for the structural, electronic, piezoelectric, and transport properties of new-designed Janus WSi Z 3 H (Z = N, P, and As) monolayers. The structural stability of WSi Z 3 H is theoretically confirmed based on the energetic, phonon dispersion, and also elastic analyses. At the ground state, while WSiN 3 H is an indirect semiconductor, both WSiP 3 H and WSiAs 3 H are predicted to be direct semiconductors with smaller bandgaps. When the spin-orbit coupling effects are taken into account, a large valley spin splitting is observed at the K point of WSi Z 3 H materials. Interestingly, a giant Rashba spin splitting is found in WSiP 3 H and WSiAs 3 H with Rashba constant α R up to 770.91 meV Å. Additionally, our first-principles study indicates that Janus WSi Z 3 H monolayers are piezoelectric semiconductors with high out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficient | d 31 | , up to 0.15 pm/V, due to the broken mirror symmetry. Besides, with high electron mobilities and also possessing direct band gaps, WSiP 3 H and WSiAs 3 H monolayers are favorable for applications in optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By applying an asymmetric on-site restoring force in a 1D chain of oscillators, we demonstrate experimentally that a morphing in the bandgap structure or passive bandgap reconfiguration can be triggered by an increase in environmental excitation amplitude. Recent studies on wave propagation have focused on new capabilities and behaviors resulting from intrinsic nonlinearities. This paper details a bistable experimental design that achieves amplitude dependent filtering through passive bandgap reconfiguration, which is triggered by a bifurcation. The system studied comprises a 1D chain of axially aligned pendulums in dimer unit cells with geometrically nonlinear nearest neighbor coupling where bistability is induced through repulsive magnets. When the bistability is asymmetric, each potential well has a different linear spectra. Though this paper uses mechanically coupled oscillators as an example, the phenomenon itself could be used in any wave propagation media where asymmetric bistability can be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the influence of disorder on 1D periodic lattice of resonant scatterers is inspected. These latter have multiple resonance frequencies which produce band gaps in the transmission spectrum. One peculiarity of the presented system is that it is chosen with a nearly perfect overlap between the Bragg and the second hybridization band gaps. In the case of a perfectly ordered lattice, and around this overlap, this produces a narrow transparency band within a large second bandgap. As expected, the effect of the disorder is generally to increase the width of the band gaps. Nevertheless, the transparency band appears to be robust with respect to an increase in the disorder. In this paper, we study this effect by means of experimental investigations and numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloidal crystals provide a versatile platform for designing phononic metamaterials with exciting applications for sound and heat management. New advances in the synthesis and self-assembly of anisotropic building blocks such as colloidal clusters have expanded the library of available micro- and nano-scale ordered multicomponent structures. Diamond-like supercrystals formed by such clusters and spherical particles are notable examples that include a rich family of crystal symmetries such as diamond, double diamond, zinc-blende, and MgCu2. This work investigates the design of phononic supercrystals by predicting and analyzing phonon transport properties. In addition to size variation and structural diversity, these supercrystals encapsulate different sub-lattice types within one structure. Computational models are used to calculate the effect of various parameters on the phononic spectrum of diamond-like supercrystals. The results show that structures with relatively small or large filling factors (f > 0.65 or f < 0.45) include smaller bandgaps compared to those with medium filling factors (0.65 > f > 0.45). The double diamond and zinc-blende structures render the largest bandgap size compared to the other supercrystals studied in this paper. Additionally, this article discusses the effect of incorporating various configurations of sub-lattices by selecting different material compositions for the building blocks. The results suggest that, for the same structure, there exist multiple phononic variants with drastically different band structures. This study provides a valuable insight for evaluating novel colloidal supercrystals for phononic applications and guides the future experimental work for the synthesis of colloidal structures with desired phononic behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the analysis of highly doped silicon, energy band gap narrowing (BGN) and degeneracy effects may be accounted for separately, as a net BGN in conjunction with Fermi-Dirac statistics, or lumped together in an apparent BGN used with Boltzmann statistics. This paper presents an experimental study of silicon highly doped with boron, with the aim of evaluating the applicability of previously reported BGN models. Different boron diffusions covering a broad range of dopant densities were prepared, and their characteristic recombination current parameters J0 were measured using a contactless photoconductance technique. The BGN was subsequently extracted by matching theoretical simulations of carrier transport and recombination in each of the boron diffused regions and the measured J0 values. An evaluation of two different minority carrier mobility models indicates that their impact on the extraction of the BGN is relatively small. After considering possible uncertainties, it can be concluded that the BGN is slightly larger in p+ silicon than in n+ silicon, in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions by Schenk. Nevertheless, in quantitative terms that theoretical model is found to slightly underestimate the BGN in p+ silicon. With the two different parameterizations derived in this paper for the BGN in p+ silicon, both statistical approaches, Boltzmann and Fermi-Dirac, provide a good agreement with the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent electrodes are an important component in many optoelectronic devices, especially solar cells. In this paper, we investigate a nanowire transparent electrode that also functions as an anti-reflection coating for silicon solar cells, taking into account the practical constraints that the electrode is typically encapsulated and needs to be in electric contact with the semiconductor. Numerical simulations show that the electrode can provide near-perfect broadband anti-reflection over much of the frequency range above the silicon band gap for both polarizations while keeping the sheet resistance sufficiently low. To provide insights into the physics mechanism of this broadband anti-reflection, we introduce a generalized Fabry-Perot model, which captures the effects of the higher order diffraction channels as well as the modification of the reflection coefficient of the interface introduced by the nanowires. This model is validated using frequency-domain electromagnetic simulations. Our work here provides design guidelines for nanowire transparent electrode in a device configuration that is relevant for solar cell applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodic structures are effective in attenuating waves in low frequency range at local resonance (LR) conditions, but it is still a challenge to achieve this in very low frequency range. The main original contribution of this paper is to further lower the band gaps of flexural wave propagation in LR beams by developing a new resonator with high-static-low-dynamic stiffness (HSLDS). The proposed resonator is designed by combining a vertical spring with two oblique springs that provide negative stiffness in the vertical direction, and thus the stiffness of the vertical spring can be counteracted effectively by the negative-stiffness (NS) mechanisms. The band structures of HSLDS-LR beams, obtained by the transfer matrix method and verified by numerical simulations, demonstrate that band gaps can be shifted to much lower frequency than that of conventional LR beams. Most importantly, the band gaps can be assigned to desired locations by adjusting only the stiffness of the oblique springs. For wave attenuation in HSLDS-LR beams with a finite length, a sufficient number of unit cells are required to achieve a good performance of attenuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of a superlattice in graphene can serve as a way to modify its electronic band structure and thus to engineer its electronic transport properties. Recent experiments have discovered a Kekulé bond ordering in graphene deposited on top of a copper substrate, leading to the breaking of the valley degeneracy while preserving the highly desirable feature of linearity and gapless character of its band dispersion. In this paper, we study the effects of a Kekulé distortion in zigzag graphene nanoribbons in both the subband spectrum and on its electronic transport properties. We extend our study to also investigate the electronic conductance in graphene nanoribbons composed of sequentially ordered ν = ± 1 Kek-Y superlattices. We find interesting resonances in the conductance response emerging in the otherwise energy gap regions, which scales with the number of Kek-Y interfaces minus one. Such features resemble the physics of resonant tunneling behavior observed in semiconductor heterostructures. Our findings provide a possible way to measure the strength of the Kekulé parameter in graphene nanoribbons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility of inducing a sizeable energy gap in the electronic structure of a graphene layer is still one of the biggest and most debated challenges in graphene electronics. Despite promising theoretical results, some experimental studies report the absence of a bandgap even in highly mechanically strained graphene. In this paper, we address the main reasons for these discrepancies and study the influence of uniaxial tensile and shear strains as well as their combinations on the eventual bandgap opening in monolayer graphene. Deformation-dependent bandgap diagrams are constructed over a wide range of the strain tensor parameters of up to 26%, which is close to predicted graphene breaking point. The use of a combination of shear strain and uniaxial tensile deformations is found to be the easiest way for bandgap opening and tuning. The results of our numerical calculations demonstrate that shear strains can induce a bandgap of up to 4 eV at the largest elastic deformations, while a combination of shear and uniaxial strains can provide an energy gap of up to 6 eV that is substantially higher than for some materials (including silicon) typically used in nanoelectronic devices. The numerically obtained findings are carefully contrasted with other results available in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The germanium-tin (Ge-Sn) alloy has been considered a candidate for applications in Short Wave Infrared optical electronics, because it has the property of transforming pure germanium (Ge), typically an indirect bandgap material, into a direct bandgap material. In this paper, the effects of volumetric and potential energy changes are utilized to calculate how the band structure of the Ge-Sn alloy changes with respect to the fraction of tin (Sn). The results indicate that a transition occurs for a Sn fraction ranging from 5.81% to 8.75% with the alloy lattice-constant bowing parameter that ranges from 0.3 Å to 0.0 Å. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiconducting Zn chalcogenide monolayers are important members of the 2D family of materials due to their unique electronic properties. In this paper, we focus on strain-modulated electronic properties of monolayers of ZnX, with X being O, S, Se, and Te. ZnO and ZnS monolayers have a hexagonal graphene-like planar structure, while ZnSe and ZnTe monolayers exhibit slightly buckled silicene and germanene-like structures, respectively. Density functional theory calculations find the hexagonal ZnO monolayer to be dynamically stable. However, ZnS, ZnSe, and ZnTe monolayers are predicted to be less stable with small imaginary frequencies. The application of tensile strain to these monolayers, interestingly, yields stability of dynamically less stable structures together with the modification in the nature of the bandgap from direct to indirect. For a tensile strain of about 8%, a closure of the bandgap in ZnTe is predicted with the semiconductor-metal transition. The results, therefore, find strain-induced stability and modification in electronic properties of monolayers of Zn chalcogenides, suggesting the use of these monolayers for novel device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss how the deliberate and controlled introduction of strain can be used to improve the performance of semiconductor lasers. We show how strain-induced modifications of the electronic band structure give rise to significant changes in the valence band of III-V semiconductors which have been used to produce devices with lower threshold currents and higher efficiencies. We furthermore illustrate how the strain limit of semiconductor layers can be overcome by using strain compensation techniques and how this is being widely adopted in lasers based on a number of emerging III-V systems, enhancing device efficiency and output power and extending the wavelength of operation. We show how strained layers are also being used to optimize the performance of mid-infrared lasers through band offset control. Finally, we show how strain may be used to facilitate the production of lasers on silicon through controlling the conduction band valley splitting in group IV semiconductors or through the development of novel direct bandgap III-V systems that may be grown lattice matched to silicon. Such systems are expected to be of significant potential for the future convergence of electronic and photonic devices and highlight the ongoing importance of strain engineering in photonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, InAlAs digital alloys have been shown to exhibit unique electronic dispersion properties, which can be used to make low-noise avalanche photodiodes. In this paper, the strain effect is analyzed for its impact on the band structure of the InAlAs digital alloy. Simulation using a tight binding model that includes the strain effect yields bandgap energies that are consistent with experimental results. The bandgap would be larger without strain. In addition, a positive relationship has been found between minigaps of the InAlAs digital alloy and the band offset between bulk InAs and AlAs at the same position in k-space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a new multi-resonator metamaterial (MRM) for attenuating impact stress waves. Theoretical analyses show that the MRM has wider bandgaps than those of a single-resonator metamaterial (SRM) and a dual-resonator metamaterial (DRM), and numerical studies are conducted to compare the performances of the MRM, SRM, and DRM in mitigating impact forces. The influences of the number of unit cells, the spring stiffnesses, and the resonator masses on the mitigation of impact force are analyzed by studying a one-dimensional impact wave model. In addition, the calculation results of a three-dimensional crash model clearly confirm the outstanding features of the MRM, which can provide a thin and light structure with a wider attenuation region of the frequency spectrum and a better mitigation effect of the impact force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the dynamic and vibration energy harvesting behaviors of defect phononic crystal beams in thermal environments. Variations in the first bandgap and the defect band for flexural waves are discussed with different geometric parameters of the defect cell and structural temperatures by using the supercell technique for infinite defect phononic crystal beams. Transmission characters of defect models with a finite length are studied, considering the influence of thermal loads, and the performance of the defect based energy harvesting is discussed as well. Predicted results indicate that temperature increments reduce the frequency ranges of bandgap and defect band due to the softening effect of thermal load on the phononic crystal beam, and the performance in defect based energy harvesting is obviously depressed with temperature rise. Defect cells with a higher content of the soft component are beneficial for generating defect modes which have relatively stable frequencies in thermal environments. However, higher levels of open-circuit voltage and output power of harvested energy are more likely to be generated with defect cells which have a higher content of the hard component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction of graphene with a defect layer of a 1D defective photonic structure correspondingly could open a Dirac gap in its nonlinear energy dispersion. Also, an excitonic gap could be created upon applied strong magnetic fields at low temperatures. Now, the exact solution for the transmission of the allowed defective states under the influence of a homogeneous magnetic field requires providing a new scheme for the transfer matrix method to cover the circularly polarized propagation of the light in the terahertz frequency regime. In this paper, through an easy-to-follow framework for obtaining the distinct expression of the related transfer matrix method, it is observed that the hybrid defective states in the suggested optical structure undergo an unconventional transmission map as a function of the Dirac gap. Moreover, it is shown that mapping the transmission spectrum in the frequency space reveals peculiar results for narrow-band transport of the defective states. Finally, it is demonstrated that the transmission spectrum shows plateaus as a function of the applied magnetic field analogous to the situations observed for the conductance of a 2D electron gas system in the quantum Hall effect regime. This almost simple suggested design which can be fully controlled marks the first optical counterpart of the quantum Hall effect in optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the mechanism for opening a locally resonant band gap in a thin elastic plate is investigated. Two previously suggested structures, which are constructed by periodically drilling holes on elastic plate and then filling them with the rubber-coated masses, or just by periodically stubbing the rubber rods with mass cap on the plate, are revisited. We find that, because of the partial band gaps for in-plane and out-of-plane plate modes cannot be appropriately overlapped, the full band gaps in both of the structures are generally narrow. The reason for this phenomenon is based on the selective coupling between the different resonant patterns of the resonant units and the in-plane and out-of-plane plate modes. Based on the understanding, a new structure with the three-layered spherical resonant units is proposed. Numerical results show that, making use of such kind of resonant units, a large sub-wavelength full band gap can be opened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to extend the traditional plane wave expansion method to calculate the band structure of a proposed piezoelectric phononic crystal (PC) nanobeam with surface effect. The first four orders were chosen to investigate the influence of electrical fields, surface effects, and geometric parameters upon bandgaps. We chose the external electrical voltage applied as the influencing parameter related to electric field. Residual surface stress and material intrinsic length were chosen as the influencing parameters related to surface effect. The influencing geometric parameters were the length of PZT-5H material and epoxy in a unit cell, along with the width and thickness of the PC nanobeam. We hypothesized that data arising from these investigations would be helpful in designing piezoelectric nanobeam-based devices [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to extend the traditional plane wave expansion method to calculate the band structure of a proposed piezoelectric phononic crystal (PC) nanobeam with surface effect. The first four orders were chosen to investigate the influence of electrical fields, surface effects, and geometric parameters upon bandgaps. We chose the external electrical voltage applied as the influencing parameter related to electric field. Residual surface stress and material intrinsic length were chosen as the influencing parameters related to surface effect. The influencing geometric parameters were the length of PZT-5H material and epoxy in a unit cell, along with the width and thickness of the PC nanobeam. We hypothesized that data arising from these investigations would be helpful in designing piezoelectric nanobeam-based devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we present a general endoreversible model to calculate the efficiency and the output power of energy emissive harvesters. Our model improves previous models since it includes the entropy losses associated to the energy transport happening in the energy emissive harvesters. Our model is developed for both harvesters exchanging energy with the environment through the full spectrum and when the exchange is mediated by a bandgap. For cells exchanging energy through a bandgap, we use the concept of electronic temperature previously introduced by Strandberg to model the operation of the cells at different polarization voltages and to make a model for thermoradiative cells. We calculate the output power and the efficiency of cold-carrier emissive energy harvesters working at temperatures between 300 and 500 K in environments with temperatures between 50 and 300 K. In the last part of the paper, we calculate the output power and the efficiency of thermoradiative cells working at different polarization voltages. We compare our results to those obtained in the works of Byrnes and Strandberg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a study of the effects of different superlattice structural parameters on the bandgap and on both the vertical and in-plane mobility of electrons in InAs/GaSb type-II superlattices using a fully numerical finite difference method. The analysis of our results clearly indicates the significance of interface roughness scattering and, in particular, that the influence of interface roughness correlation length and height is considerable. A comparison of our calculated results with published experimental data is shown to be in good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study the bandgap properties of two-dimensional phononic crystals with cross-like holes using the finite element method. The influence of the geometry parameters of the holes on the bandgaps is discussed. In contrast to a system of square holes, which does not exhibits bandgaps if the symmetry of the holes is the same as that of the lattice, systems of cross-like holes show large bandgaps at lower frequencies. The bandgaps are significantly dependent upon the geometry (including the size, shape, and rotation) of the cross-like holes. The vibration modes of the bandgap edges are computed and analyzed in order to clarify the mechanism of the generation of the lowest bandgap. It is found that the generation of the lowest bangdap is a result of the local resonance of the periodically arranged lumps connected with narrow connectors. Spring-mass models are developed in order to predict the frequencies of the lower bandgap edges. The study in this paper is relevant to the optimal design of the bandgaps in light porous materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report a simple and effective design of a polarization independent and wide incident angle plasmonic metamaterial based unified broadband absorber and thermal emitter consisting of hexagonally packed tungsten doughnuts (hexa-rings) for thermophotovoltaic system. The proposed design shows more than 85% of absorption over 0.3 to 2.18 μm, that is, over the broad spectral range from the ultraviolet to the near infrared (NIR), and 100% absorption and thermal emission at 2.18 μm. Further, the NIR plasmonic absorption and thermal emission peak is tuned from the spectral range 2.18 to 3 μm for different low bandgap photovoltaic materials by varying the design parameters such as inner and outer ring radius, instead of varying any other design parameters in the proposed design. The possibility of the realization of hexa-doughnut structures through a single-step phase engineered interference lithography technique is also demonstrated through the realization of micro/nanostructure samples over large area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we have successfully grown the high-quality ScNiBi single crystals by a Bi flux method and investigated their electronic-transport properties. It was found that the ScNiBi single crystal is a gapless semiconductor with positive linear magnetoresistance (MR). Moreover, the field-dependent MR in the low-field region has demonstrated obvious weak antilocalization (WAL) effect below 50 K. The extremely large prefactor α and angle-dependent magnetoconductance ΔGxx suggest that the WAL effect originates from the contribution of a strong bulk spin-orbital coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, there has been a growing interest in layered transition metal dichalcogenides such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Most studies so far have focused on the electronic and optoelectronic properties of single-layer MoS2, whose band structure features a direct bandgap, in sharp contrast to the indirect bandgap of thicker MoS2. In this paper, we present a systematic study of the thickness-dependent electrical and thermoelectric properties of few-layer MoS2. We observe that the electrical conductivity (σ) increases as we reduce the thickness of MoS2 and peaks at about two layers, with six-times larger conductivity than our thickest sample (23-layer MoS2). Using a back-gate voltage, we modulate the Fermi energy (EF) of the sample where an increase in the Seebeck coefficient (S) is observed with decreasing gate voltage (EF) towards the subthreshold (OFF state) of the device, reaching as large as 500 µV/K in a four-layer MoS2. While previous reports have focused on a single-layer MoS2 and measured Seebeck coefficient in the OFF state, which has vanishing electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power factor (PF = S²σ), we show that MoS2-based devices in their ON state can have PF as large as >50 µW/cm K² in the two-layer sample. The PF increases with decreasing thickness and then drops abruptly from double-layer to single-layer MoS2, a feature we suggest as due to a change in the energy dependence of the electron mean-free-path according to our theoretical calculation. Moreover, we show that care must be taken in thermoelectric measurements in the OFF state to avoid obtaining erroneously large Seebeck coefficients when the channel resistance is very high. Our study paves the way towards a more comprehensive examination of the thermoelectric performance of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light confinement induced by resonant states in aperiodic photonic structures is interesting for many applications. A particular case of these resonances can be found in 2D quasicrystalline arrangements of dielectric cylinders. These systems present a rather isotropic band gap as well as isolated in-gap photonic states (as a result of spatially localized resonances). These states are built by high symmetry polygonal clusters that can be regarded as photonic molecules. In this paper, we study the transmission properties of a slab of glass cylinders arranged in approximants of the decagonal quasicrystalline structure. In particular, we investigate the influence of the slab width in the transmission contrast between the states and the gap. The study is both experimental and numerical in the microwave regime. We find that the best transmission contrast is found for a width of around three times the radiation wavelength. The transmission in the band gap region is mediated by the resonances of the photonic molecules. If the samples are thin enough, they become transparent except around a resonance of the photonic molecule which reflects the incoming light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a high-current interruption, the contact surface in a vacuum interrupter might be severely damaged by constricted vacuum arcs causing a molten area on it. As a result, a protrusion will be initiated by a transient recovery voltage after current zero, enhancing the local electric field and making breakdowns occur easier. The objective of this paper is to simulate the deformation process on the molten area under a high electric field by adopting the finite element method. A timedependent Electrohydrodynamic model was established, and the liquid-gas interface was tracked by the level-set method. From the results, the liquid metal can be deformed to a Taylor cone if the applied electric field is above a critical value. This value is correlated to the initial geometry of the liquid metal, which increases as the size of the liquid metal decreases. Moreover, the buildup time of a Taylor cone obeys the power law t = k x E-3, where E is the initial electric field and k is a coefficient related to the material property, indicating a temporal self-similar characteristic. In addition, the influence of temperature has little impact on the deformation but has great impact on electron emission. Finally, the possible reason to initiate a delayed breakdown is associated with the deformation. The breakdown does not occur immediately when the voltage is just applied upon the gap but is postponed to several milliseconds later when the tip is formed on the liquid metal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a class of pentamode metamaterials for which the frequency range of the acoustics band gaps can be tuned and large figures of merit can be obtained. The band structures of the pentamode metamaterials are calculated systematically by using the finite element method. The numerical results show that the lower edge frequency of the first acoustics band gaps of pentamode metamaterials can be tuned between 3.72 kHz and 10.6 kHz by changing the diameters of the bottom and top touch cones slightly, and the relative bandwidth of the first acoustics band gaps can also be expanded. In addition, compared with the results seen in the previous research in this area, the volume filling fraction of pentamode metamaterials can be decreased by 15.7%-24.4% and the maximum figure of merit can be increased by 39.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When ion irradiation introduces point-defects in semiconductors/insulators, discrete energy levels can be introduced in the bandgap, and then optical transitions whose energies are lower than the bandgap become possible. The electronic transitions between the discrete level and the continuous host band are observed as a continuous tail starting from the fundamental edge. This is the wellknown mechanism of the absorption tail close to the band-edge observed in many semiconductors/ insulators. In this paper, we propose another mechanism for the absorption tail, which is probably active in Nd-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) after ion irradiation and annealing. A Nd:YAG bulk crystal was irradiated with 15MeV Au5+ ions to a fluence of 8×1014 ions/cm². The irradiation generates an amorphous layer of ~3 μm thick with refractive index reduction of Δn=-0.03. Thermal annealing at 1000 ℃ induces recrystallization to randomly aligned small crystalline grains. Simultaneously, an extraordinarily long absorption tail appeared in the optical spectrum covering from 0.24 to ~2 μm without fringes. The origin of the tail is discussed based on two models: (i) conventional electronic transitions between defect levels and YAG host band and (ii) enhanced light scattering by randomly aligned small grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a double-vibrator three-component pillared phononic crystal plate and theoretically studies the properties of vibration band gaps of this plate. The band structures and the displacement fields of the eigenmodes are calculated by the finite element method. Comparing the transmission power spectrums of the vibrations in the plate, the flexural vibration gap is proved more useful than the longitudinal vibration gap. The influence of the lattice constant, the height, and diameter of the pillars on the flexural vibration gaps are investigated. A supercell composed of the uni-vibrator and the double-vibrator unit cells is also investigated, and the analysis shows that the starting frequencies of the gaps in this supercell structure depend on the features of its pillars. This research can be used in the low frequency vibration insulation of plate structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of the microparticles with spherical or cylindrical symmetry have exceptionally high quality factors and small mode volume. Quantum dots (QDs) are zero dimensional systems with variable band gap as well as luminescent properties with applications in photonics. In this paper, the WGMs have been observed in the luminescence spectra of CdSe QD-coated single silica microspheres. Theoretical estimations of variation of resonance frequency, electric field, and Q-values have been done for a multilayer coating of QDs on silica microspheres. Observed WGMs have been identified for their mode number and polarization using Mie theory. Broadening of modes due to material absorption has been observed. Splitting of WGMs has also been observed due to coherent coupling of counter propagating waves in the microcavity due to the presence of QDs. At room temperature, the time-resolved study indicates the modification of the radiative rate due to coupling of WGMs of the microcavity-QD hybrid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a two-dimensional heat-exhaust and sound-proof acoustic meta-structure exhibiting tunable multi-band negative effective mass density. The meta-structure was composed of periodic funnel-shaped units in a square lattice. Each unit cell operates simultaneously as a Helmholtz resonator (HR) and an extended pipe chamber resonator (EPCR), leading to a negative effective mass density creating bandgaps for incident sound energy dissipation without transmission. This structure allowed large heat-flow through the cross-sectional area of the extended pipe since the resonance was generated by acoustic elements without using solid membranes. The pipes were horizontally directed to a flow source to enable small flow resistance for cooling. Measurements of the sound transmission were performed using a two-load, four-microphone method for a unit cell and small reverberation chamber for two-dimensional panel to characterize the acoustic performance. The effective mass density showed significant frequency dependent variation exhibiting negative values at the specific bandgaps, while the effective bulk modulus was not affected by the resonator. Theoretical models incorporating local resonances in the multiple resonator units were proposed to analyze the noise reduction mechanism. The acoustic meta-structure parameters to create broader frequency bandgaps were investigated using the theoretical model. The negative effective mass density was calculated to investigate the creation of the bandgaps. The effects of design parameters such as length, cross-sectional area, and volume of the HR; length and cross-sectional area of the EPCR were analyzed. To maximize the frequency band gap, the suggested acoustic meta-structure panel, small neck length, and cross-sectional area of the HR, large EPCR length was advantageous. The bandgaps became broader when the two resonant frequencies were similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the HgCdTe PBπn (π represents p-type absorption layer) long-wavelength infrared detector based on bandgap-engineering is designed and validated by the preliminary experiments. Numerical simulation was applied to calculate the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic and zerobias resistance-area product (R0A) for PBπn detectors and traditional pn photodiodes. The results show that the performance of PBπn detector was significantly improved compared with that of conventional pn photodiodes. The design of PBπn barrier structure can essentially reduce the dark current, while significantly improving the responsivity. In addition, when reverse biased, optimized PBπn device can also suppress Auger processes in the absorption layer under the high temperature up to 215 K. The proposed HgCdTe long wavelength infrared detectors based on vertical PBπn structure pave the way for development of high performance and high operation temperature infrared sensor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we demonstrate that the hybridization bandgap (HBG) can be tuned conveniently by deep subwavelength meta-molecules with in-unit interaction. Spontaneous-emission-cancellationlike (SEC-like) effect is realized in a meta-molecule by introducing the destructive interference of two detuned meta-atoms. The meta-atoms consisting of subwavelength zero-index-metamaterialbased resonators are side-coupled to a microstrip. Compared to conventional HBG configurations, the presence of in-unit interaction between meta-atoms provides more flexibility in tuning the bandgap properties, keeping the device volume almost unchanged. Both numerical simulations and microwave experiments confirm that the width, depth, and spectrum shape of HBG can be tuned by simply introducing SEC-like interaction into the meta-molecule. Due to these features, our design may be promising to be applied in microwave or optics communications systems with strict limitation of device volume and flexible bandgap properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we elaborate on the interpretation and use of photoluminescence (PL) measurements as they relate to the "donor/acceptor" and "electrostatic potential fluctuations" models for compensated semiconductors. Low-temperature (7k) PL measurements were performed on highefficiency Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 and two Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 solar cells with high- and low-S/(S'Se) ratio, all fabricated by a hydrazine solution-processing method. From excitation-dependent PL, the total defect density (which include radiative and non-radiative defects) within the band gap (Eg) was estimated for each material and the consequent depth of the electrostatic potential fluctuation (γ) was calculated. The quasi-donor-acceptor pair (QDAP) density was estimated from the blueshift magnitude of the QDAP PL peak position in power-dependent PL spectra. As a further verification, we show that the slope of the lifetime as a function of photon energies (dτ/dE) is consistent with our estimate for the magnitude of γ. Lastly, the energetic depth of the QDAP defects is examined by studying the spectral evolution of the PL as a function of temperature. The shallow defect levels in CIGSSe resulted in a significant blue-shift of the PL peak with temperature, whereas no obvious shift was observed for either CZTSSe sample, indicating an increase in the depth of the defects. Further improvement on Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 solar cell should focus on reducing the sub-Eg defect density and avoiding the formation of deep defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigated the characteristics of band gaps and defect states in a locally resonant phononic crystal structure consisting of multiple square stubs deposited on both sides of a thin homogeneous plate. Using the finite element method and supercell technique, we calculated the dispersion relationships and power transmission spectra of this structure, which agree well with each other. This structure offers wide band gaps at extremely low frequencies. Moreover, we investigated how the band gaps are affected by the distance between two adjacent square stubs, finding that acoustic band gaps are very sensitive to the distance between two adjacent square stubs, a property important for practical applications. Based on this finding, we proposed a novel method to form phononic crystal structure defect: Defect bands can be induced by creating defects inside the original complete band gaps. The frequency can then be tuned by changing the distance between two adjacent square stubs of the defect scatterer. These results will help in fabricating devices, such as acoustic filters and waveguides whose band frequency can be modulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite that Tauc plot extrapolation has been widely adopted for extracting bandgap energies of semiconductors, there is a lack of theoretical support for applying it to nanocrystals. In this paper, direct-allowed optical transitions in semiconductor nanocrystals have been formulated based on a purely theoretical approach. This result reveals a size-dependant transition of the power factor used in Tauc plot, increasing from one half used in the 3D bulk case to one in the 0D case. This size-dependant intermediate value of power factor allows a better extrapolation of measured absorption data. Being a material characterization technique, the generalized Tauc extrapolation gives a more reasonable and accurate acquisition of the intrinsic bandgap, while the unjustified purpose of extrapolating any elevated bandgap caused by quantum confinement is shown to be incorrect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

InxGa1-xN, with the tunable direct bandgaps from ultraviolet to near infrared region, offers a promising candidate for the high-efficiency next-generation thin-film photovoltaic applications. Although the adoption of thick InGaN film as the active region is desirable to obtain efficient light absorption and carrier collection compared to InGaN/GaN quantum wells structure, the understanding on the effect from structural design is still unclear due to the poor-quality InGaN films with thickness and difficulty of p-type doping. In this paper, we comprehensively investigate the effects from film epitaxy, doping, and device structural design on the performances of the InGaN-based solar cells. The high-quality InGaN thick film is obtained on AlN/sapphire template, and p- In0.08Ga0.92N is achieved with a high hole concentration of more than 1018cm-3. The dependence of the photovoltaic performances on different structures, such as active regions and p-type regions is analyzed with respect to the carrier transport mechanism in the dark and under illumination. The strategy of improving the p-i interface by using a super-thin AlN interlayer is provided, which successfully enhances the performance of the solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bandgap engineering in a single material along the axial length of nanowires may be realized by arranging periodic twinning, whose twin plane is vertical to the axial length of nanowires. In this paper, we report the effect of twin on photoluminescence of ZnSe nanowires, which refers to the bandgap of it. The exciton-related emission peaks of transverse twinning ZnSe nanowires manifest a 10-meV-blue-shift in comparison with those of longitudinal twinning ZnSe nanowires. The blue-shift is attributed to quantum confinement effect, which is influenced severely by the proportion of wurtzite ZnSe layers in ZnSe nanowires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, low-frequency band gaps in two-dimensional Helmholtz resonant phononic crystals (PCs) composed of multilayer-split-tube resonators are investigated. The band structures, transmission spectra, and pressure field of the acoustic modes of these PCs are calculated by using a finite element method (FEM). The numerical results show that the first band gap of the structure is from 88 to 140 Hz. The transmission spectra are in accordance with those of the dispersion relation calculations. The acoustic modes of the bands are analyzed to reveal the nature of this phenomenon. It is found that the interaction between the local resonance and the traveling wave modes in proposed structure is responsible for the formation of the first band gap. The influences of the structural parameters on the band gaps are investigated by using FEM and the electrical circuit analogy. Numerical results show that the band gaps can be modulated in an even wider frequency range by changing the structural parameters, such as the rotation angle, the number of tubes, and the radius of the outer tube. The structural design results provide an effective way for phononic crystals to obtain the low-frequency band gaps, which have potential application in the low-frequency noise reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 3D (dimensional) diamond structure photonic crystal heterostructures with different lattice constants were prepared using rapid prototyping and gel casting with alumina. In this paper, heterostructures with inclined and curved interfaces were designed and its bandgap properties were studied. The normalized resonant intensity of electromagnetic wave in heterostructure with inclined and curved interface is stronger than that in the ordinary heterostructure without modified interface. The influence of curved interface on transmission properties of electromagnetic wave was investigated with the radius of curvature ranging from 17mm to 37mm at 5mm interval. The results show that two resonant modes appear in the photonic band gap, being similar to the band gap characteristics of the photonic crystals with two defects inside. With the increasing of the radius of curvature, the resonant mode shift to higher frequency. In the structure with a radius of curvature of 32 mm, a guiding band appears in the photonic band gap. Further increase in the radius of curvature, the guiding band will split into two resonant modes again and the two resonant modes shift to lower frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hafnium dioxide or hafnia is a wide band gap dielectric used in a range of electronic applications from field effect transistors to resistive memory. In many of these applications, it is important to maintain control over oxygen stoichiometry, which can be realized in practice by using a metal layer, specifically hafnium, to getter oxygen from the adjacent dielectric. In this paper, we employ density functional theory to study the thermodynamic stability of an interface between (100)-oriented monoclinic hafnia and hafnium metal. The nudged elastic band method is used to calculate the energy barrier for migration of oxygen from the oxide to the metal. Our investigation shows that the presence of hafnium lowers the formation energy of oxygen vacancies in hafnia, but more importantly the oxidation of hafnium through the migration of oxygen from hafnia is favored energetically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the plane wave method is extended to include the diffuse interface in the calculation of the dispersion of spin waves in two-dimension magnonic crystals. The diffuse interfaces with linear and sinusoidal profiles of variation in the spontaneous magnetization and exchange constant are considered and the effects of the thicknesses and profiles of diffuse interfaces on the magnonic band gaps are investigated. The results show that the thicknesses and profiles of diffuse interfaces are clearly seen to play a significant role in determining the size and position of the magnonic band gaps in the both square and triangular lattices in the exchange interaction regime. The smooth (linear or sinusoidal) interface does not lead to disappearance of the band gaps, instead it may lead to larger band gaps than those in the model with sharp (infinitely thin) diffuse interface under certain conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep level traps have considerable effects on the electrical properties and radiation detection performance of high resistivity CdZnTe. A deep-trap model for high resistivity CdZnTe was proposed in this paper. The high resistivity mechanism and the electrical properties were analyzed based on this model. High resistivity CdZnTe with high trap ionization energy Et can withstand high bias voltages. The leakage current is dependent on both the deep traps and the shallow impurities. The performance of a CdZnTe radiation detector will deteriorate at low temperatures, and the way in which sub-bandgap light excitation could improve the low temperature performance can be explained using the deep trap model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

InAs-Sb/GaSb type-II strain compensated superlattices (SLS) are currently being used in mid-wave and long-wave infrared photodetectors. The electronic bandstructure of InSb and GaSb shows very strong anisotropy and non-parabolicity close to the Γ-point for the conduction band (CB) minimum and the valence band (VB) maximum. Particularly around the energy range of 45-80 meV from band-edge we observe strong non-parabolicity in the CB and light hole VB. The band-edge dispersion determines the electrical properties of a material. When the bulk materials are combined to form a superlattice we need a model of bandstructure which takes into account the full bandstructure details of the constituents and also the strong interaction between the conduction band of InAs and valence bands of GaSb. There can also be contact potentials near the interface between two dissimilar superlattices which will not be captured unless a full bandstructure calculation is done. In this study, we have done a calculation using second nearest neighbor tight binding model in order to accurately reproduce the effective masses. The calculation of mini-band structure is done by finding the wavefunctions within one SL period subject to Bloch boundary conditions ψ(L)=ψ(0)eikL. We demonstrate in this paper how a calculation of carrier concentration as a function of the position of the Fermi level (EF) within bandgap(Eg) should be done in order to take into account the full bandstructure of broken-bandgap material systems. This calculation is key for determining electron transport particularly when we have an interface between two dissimilar superlattices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new structure of two-dimensional phononic crystals consisting of one or more rows of parallel rectangular rods placed periodically in a homogenous slab, in which the rods are not connected directly but linked through neck structures with the slab, is proposed, and the Lamb wave propagation in this structure is investigated with numerical analysis. The dispersion relations and the power transmission spectra are studied using the finite-element method. In contrast to the phononic crystals where the rods and the slab are completely in contact, the proposed structure with necks are proved to display band gaps at much lower frequencies. The displacement fields of the eigenmodes of the band edges are computed and analyzed to clarify the mechanism for the generation of the low-frequency band gaps. It is found that the low-frequency band gaps are attributed to the interaction between the local resonance of the rod inclusion connected with the neck and the Lamb modes of the four plates which are formed by the introduction of the neck. Furthermore, the influences of the geometry parameters of the neck on the band gaps are discussed. Numerical results show that band gaps are significantly dependent upon the width and the position of the necks while insensitive to the neck length. These properties of Lamb waves can potentially be applied to optimize band gaps, generate filters, and design acoustic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally study phononic band gaps and waveguiding for plate-mode acoustic waves in a square array of stepped cylinders coated on an aluminum thin plate. We show that the stepped cylinders shaped with a small segment of reduced diameter can change the phonon resonance frequencies and result in tailorable band gaps. We demonstrate the band-gap and waveguiding effects in the phononic plate utilizing finite-element method numerical calculations and pulse laser ultrasonic measurements. Experimental results agree well with the numerical predictions. The phononic band gaps, slow resonant acoustic waves, and waveguiding in the lower frequency range are experimentally observed. The results enable enhanced control over phononic metamaterial, which has applications in low-frequency guiding and isolation of acoustic waves, acoustic absorbers, and nondestructive evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]