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Free-standing silicon nanoprobes (SiNPs) are critical tools for intracellular bioelectrical signal recording, while a scalable fabrication of these tiny SiNPs with ab initio geometry designs has not been possible. In this work, we demonstrate a novel growth shaping of slim Si nanowires (SiNWs) into SiNPs with sharp tips (curvature radii

Growing high quality silicon nanowires (SiNWs) at elevated temperature on cooler polymer films seems to be contradictive but highly desirable for building high performance flexible and wearable electronics. In this work, we demonstrate a superfast (vnw > 3.5 μm·s-1) growth of high quality SiNWs on polymer/glass substrates, powered by self-selected laser at 808 nm heating of indium catalyst droplets that absorb amorphous Si layer to produce SiNWs. Because of the tiny heat capacity of the nanodroplets, the SiNW growth can be quickly heated up and frozen via rapid laser ON/OFF switching, enabling a deterministic diameter modulation in the ultralong SiNWs. Finally, prototype field effect transistors are also fabricated upon the laser-droplet-heating grown SiNWs with a high Ion/Ioff ratio of >104 and reasonable subthreshold swing of 386 mV·dec-1, opening a generic new route to integrate high-quality NW channels directly upon large area and lightweight polymer substrates for developing high-performance flexible electronics.

Complementary doping control in silicon nanowire (SiNW) channels is crucial for the construction of high-performance CMOS logics. Though planar in-plane solid–liquid–solid (IPSLS) growth, with an amorphous Si (a-Si) thin film as a precursor, has demonstrated a precise and scalable integration of orderly SiNWs, a complementary and tunable n-type doping has not been accomplished. This has been hindered by the fact that the phosphorus (P) gas dopants will react with the indium (In) catalyst droplet to form insoluble InP precipitates. Nevertheless, we herein report on an unexpected discovery that the P dopants first incorporated into the a-Si matrix can easily diffuse over the In catalyst droplets, without forming an InP compound, and thus reverse continuously the initial p-type SiNWs into an n-type channel. Uniform and efficient doping effects have been confirmed by both atomic probe tomography mapping and the transfer properties of SiNW FETs, which demonstrate a steep subthreshold swing of 105 mV dec−1, an on/off ratio of >107 and an electron mobility of 142 cm2 V−1 s−1. Finally, true CMOS inverters are successfully demonstrated based on the closely-packed SiNW channels of distinct doping polarities, indicating a new convenient and highly efficient doping routine to construct more advanced SiNW logics and sensors.

Graphene nanoribbons are ideal candidates to serve as highly conductive, flexible, and transparent interconnections, or the active channels for nanoelectronics. However, patterning narrow graphene nanoribbons to 30%, while carrying stable and repeatable electronic transport. We suggest that this convenient scalable nanowire lithography technology has great potential to establish a general and efficient strategy to batch-pattern or integrate various two-dimensional materials as active channels and interconnections for emerging flexible electronic applications.

Photogenerated nonequilibrium hot carriers play a key role in graphene's intriguing optoelectronic properties. Compared to conventional photoexcitation, plasmon excitation can be engineered to enhance and control the generation and dynamics of hot carriers. Here, we report an unusual negative differential photoresponse of plasmon-induced "ultrahot" electrons in a graphene-boron nitride-graphene tunneling junction. We demonstrate nanocrescent gold plasmonic nanostructures that substantially enhance the absorption of long-wavelength photons whose energy is greatly below the tunneling barrier and significantly boost the electron thermalization in graphene. We further analyze the generation and transfer of ultrahot electrons under different bias and power conditions. We find that the competition among thermionic emission, the carrier-cooling effect, and the field effect results in a hitherto unusual negative differential photoresponse in the photocurrent-bias plot. Our results not only exemplify a promising platform for detecting low-energy photons, enhancing the photoresponse, and reducing the dark current but also reveal the critically coupled pathways for harvesting ultrahot carriers.

The ability to detect the full-Stokes polarization of light is vital for a variety of applications that often require complex and bulky optical systems. Here, we report an on-chip polarimeter comprising four metasurface-integrated graphene-silicon photodetectors. The geometric chirality and anisotropy of the metasurfaces result in circular and linear polarization-resolved photoresponses, from which the full-Stokes parameters, including the intensity, orientation, and ellipticity of arbitrarily polarized incident infrared light (1550 nm), can be obtained. The design presents an ultracompact architecture while excluding the standard bulky optical components and structural redundancy. Computational extraction of full-Stokes parameters from mutual information among four detectors eliminates the need for a large absorption contrast between different polarization states. Our monolithic plasmonic metasurface integrated polarimeter is ideal for a variety of polarization-based applications including biological sensing, quantum information processing, and polarization photography.

Three-dimensional (3D) construction of free-standing silicon (Si) nanohelices has been a formidable challenge for planar lithography and etching technology. We here demonstrate a convenient 3D growth and integration of Si nanohelices (SiNHs) upon bamboolike cylinders with corrugated sidewall grooves, where the indium catalyst droplets grow around the cylinders in a helical fashion, while consuming precoated amorphous Si (a-Si) thin film to produce crystalline Si nanowires on the sidewalls. At the end of each groove cycle, the droplets are enforced to linefeed/switch into the neighbor groove to continue a spiral growth of SiNHs with readily tunable diameter, pitch, aspect-ratio, and chiral/achiral symmetries. In addition, the SiNHs can be reliably released as free-standing units to serve as elastic links, supports and vibrational resonators. These results highlight the unexplored potential of high precision 3D self-assembly growth in constructing a wide range of sophisticated electromechanical, sensor, and optoelectronic functionalities.

Germanium quantum dots (GeQDs), addressed by self-aligned and epitaxial silicon nanowires (SiNWs) as electrodes, represent the most fundamental and the smallest units that can be integrated into Si optoelectronics for 1550 nm wavelength detection. In this work, individual GeQD photodetectors have been fabricated based on a low temperature self-condensation of uniform amorphous Si (a-Si)/a-Ge bilayers at 300 °C, led by rolling indium (In) droplets. Remarkably, the diameter of the GeQD nodes can be independently controlled to achieve wider GeQDs for maximizing infrared absorption with narrower SiNW electrodes to ensure a high quality Ge/Si hetero-epitaxial connection. Importantly, these hetero GeQD/SiNW photodetectors can be deployed into predesigned locations for scalable device fabrication. The photodetectors demonstrate a responsivity of 1.5 mA W−1 and a photoconductive gain exceeding 102 to the communication wavelength signals, which are related to the beneficial type-II Ge/Si alignment, gradient Ge/Si epitaxial transition and a larger QD/NW diameter ratio. These results indicate a new approach to batch-fabricate and integrate GeQDs for ultra-compact Si-compatible photodetection and imaging applications.

Owing to fascinating optical and electronic properties, graphene has attracted significant attention as an active component in energy harvesting. Steady advances have been achieved in last decade on the hybrid graphene/silicon Schottky solar cells that are based on an unconventional Schottky structured junction. In this brief review, we outlined the device physics and technical strategies devised to improve the power conversion efficiency of the hybrid graphene/silicon Schottky solar cells. The research results accumulated in the graphene/silicon prototype are expected to promote the low-cost solar cells.

Flexibility and power-to-weight (PTW) ratio are the key factors for promoting wearable or portable solar cell applications. Planar hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films deposited directly on soft aluminum foils (AF) are usually subject to easy cracking and delamination due to the mechanical instability on AF surface. Here, an exceptionally robust three-dimensional (3D) construction of a-Si:H radial p-i-n junction solar cells on soft supermarket-available AF of 15 µm thick is reported, where the discrete and firmly standing Si nanowire (SiNW) cores, grown and rooted on the soft AF surface, frame up a 3D architecture that protects the protrusive photo-active radial junctions from the unstable a-Si/Al bottom layer. An excellent flexibility and integrity of the 3D a-Si:H radial junctions have been achieved, even under bending to radius of 5 mm. Remarkably, without any diffusion barrier protection, a power conversion efficiency of 5.6% has been recorded, with an open-circuit voltage of 0.71 V and photo-current density of 14.2 mA/cm2, leading to a high PTW ratio of > 1300 W/kg. Importantly, the overall fabrication cost can be largely slashed off, by ~46% compared to conventional a-Si:H solar cells, as the need for a bottom TCO contact/texturing layer, for a back-reflection coating and for a glass/polymer substrate are all exempted.

Geometric and compositional modulations are the principal parameters of control to tailor the band profile in germanium/silicon (Ge/Si) heteronanowires (NWs). This has been achieved mainly by alternating the feeding precursors during a uniaxial growth of Ge/Si NWs. In this work, a self-automated growth of Ge/Si hetero island-chain nanowires (hiNWs), consisting of wider c-Ge islands connected by thinner c-Si chains, has been accomplished via an indium (In) droplet-mediated transformation of uniform amorphous a-Si/a-Ge bilayer thin films. The surface-running In droplet enforces a circulative hydrodynamics in the nanoscale droplet, which can modulate the absorption depth into the amorphous bilayer and enable a single-run growth of a superlattice-like hiNWs without the need for any external manipulation. Meanwhile, the separation and accumulation of electrons and holes in the phase-modulated Ge/Si superlattice leads to a modulated surface potential profile that can be directly resolved by Kelvin probe force microscopy. This simple self-assembly growth and modulation dynamics can help to establish a powerful new concept or strategy to tailor and program the geometric and compositional profiles of more complex hetero nanowire structures, as promising building blocks to develop advanced nanoelectronics or optoelectronics.

Flexible pressure sensors are the cornerstone of electronic skins with tactile function. However, flexible pressure sensors tend to have disadvantages of slow response speed and large hysteresis, which are caused mainly by the viscoelasticity and interfacial adhesion of flexible materials. In this letter, we adopted silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays to fabricate a pressure sensor with a piezo-capacitance when the SiNWs are bending under pressure, which avoided the viscoelasticity and interfacial adhesion accompanying with common flexible materials. The sensor recorded unprecedented low hysteresis (~2.26%) and an extremely short response time (~3 ms). With high sensitivity (up to ~8.2 kPa−1), large response capacitance, ultralow detection limit (0.1 Pa), and good repeatability and stability, the sensor holds potential applications in advanced electronic skins, especially when high-precision and high-speed sensing are required.

Stretchable electronics are finding widespread applications in bio-sensing, skin-mimetic electronics, and flexible displays, where high-density integration of elastic and durable interconnections is a key capability. Instead of forming a randomly crossed nanowire (NW) network, here, a large-scale and precise integration of highly conductive nickel silicide nanospring (SiNix -NS) arrays are demonstrated, which are fabricated out of an in-plane solid-liquid-solid guided growth of planar Si nanowires (SiNWs), and subsequent alloy-forming process that boosts the channel conductivity over 4 orders of magnitude (to 2 × 104 S cm-1 ). Thanks to the narrow diameter of the serpentine SiNix -NS channels, the elastic geometry engineering can be accomplished within a very short interconnection distance (down to ≈3 µm), which is crucial for integrating high-density displays or logic units in a rigid-island and elastic-interconnection configuration. Deployed over soft polydimethylsiloxane thin film substrate, the SiNix -NS array demonstrates an excellent stretchability that can sustain up to 50% stretching and for 10 000 cycles (at 15%). This approach paves the way to integrate high-density inorganic electronics and interconnections for high-performance health monitoring, displays, and on-skin electronic applications, based on the mature and rather reliable Si thin film technology.

High power-to-weight ratio (PTWR) is an important figure-of-merit for high performance flexible/portable solar cells. Marrying advanced tandem junction design with three-dimensional (3D) Si nanowire (SiNW) framework enables a promising route to boost the PTWR. In this work, a radial tandem junction (RTJ) thin film solar cell has been demonstrated, for the first time, over SiNWs, which consist of radially deposited p-i-n multilayers with hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) absorption layers in the outer and the inner junctions, respectively. The strong light trapping within the 3D SiNW framework allows for the use of a very thin a-SiGe:H (~45 nm) absorption layer to harvest efficiently the long wavelengths. The RTJ cells fabricated via a one-pump-down process in a single PECVD chamber, directly upon 15 µm thick aluminum foils demonstrate an excellent flexibility that can bend to 10 mm radius and achieve a record PTWR~1628 W/kg, and accomplish a high open-circuit voltage, filling factor and conversion efficiency of 1.2 V, 61.5% and 8.1% on glass, respectively, substantially improved compared to those accomplished by radial single junction cells. These results highlight the unique potential of 3D radial tandem technology to enable a new generation of high performance and durable flexible photovoltaics.

Line-shape engineering is a key strategy to endow extra stretchability to 1D silicon nanowires (SiNWs) grown with self-assembly processes. We here demonstrate a deterministic line-shape programming of in-plane SiNWs into extremely stretchable springs or arbitrary 2D patterns with the aid of indium droplets that absorb amorphous Si precursor thin film to produce ultralong c-Si NWs along programmed step edges. A reliable and faithful single run growth of c-SiNWs over turning tracks with different local curvatures has been established, while high resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals a high quality monolike crystallinity in the line-shaped engineered SiNW springs. Excitingly, in situ scanning electron microscopy stretching and current-voltage characterizations also demonstrate a superelastic and robust electric transport carried by the SiNW springs even under large stretching of more than 200%. We suggest that this highly reliable line-shape programming approach holds a strong promise to extend the mature c-Si technology into the development of a new generation of high performance biofriendly and stretchable electronics.

We propose a deep-groove thin-film active antenna for Si-based hot-electron photodetectors. Simulation results show that near-perfect absorption is achieved when the incidence light is strongly confined within the grooves at cavity resonance modes. Meanwhile, superior internal quantum efficiency is expected due to that the generated hot electrons can be effectively extracted by emitting over the designed multi Schottky barriers, especially at the bottom region of the grooves. By using a rigorous calculation method based on the specific absorption spatial distribution, it is found that higher photoresponsivity can be obtained by tailoring the groove depth and metal thickness to make sure more hot electrons are generated at the bottom region of the grooves. The optimized device exhibits an unbiased responsivity of ~12 mA/W at 1550 nm, which suggests a promising candidate for infrared Si-based photodetection.

Evolutionary process of a nanoscale FinFET channel during rapid hydrogen thermal treatment is modeled using a kinetic Monte Carlo simulation. In this paper, a novel model of nanoscale FinFET channel is proposed based on the surface diffusion theory of silicon fin structures. The evolution characteristics of fin surface morphology, including line edge roughness (LER), line width roughness, and the cross-correlation coefficient ρ, are investigated in the diffusion process of silicon fin structures at different temperatures and time. All the characteristic parameters can directly affect the carrier transport performance of FinFET. The LER of a silicon fin has been effectively reduced by at least 60%. The linewidth roughness and ρ was also investigated in the evolution of FinFET channel. The results indicate that an optimized nanoscale FinFET channel can be achieved by controlling the migration of surface silicon atoms in rapid hydrogen thermal treatment technology application, yielding atomically smooth sidewall surfaces. The present experimental results are coincided with the simulation results. Thus, such technology plays a crucial role in the application of nanoscale FinFET.

The evolution of a two-dimensional silicon surface under hydrogen thermal treatment is studied by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, focusing on the dependence of the migration behaviors of surface atoms on both the temperature and hydrogen pressure. We adopt different activation energies to analyze the influence of hydrogen pressure on the evolution of surface morphology at high temperatures. The reduction in surface roughness is divided into two stages, both exhibiting exponential dependence on the equilibrium time. Our results indicate that a high hydrogen pressure is conducive to obtaining optimized surfaces, as a strategy in the applications of three-dimensional devices.

Performance characteristics, such as dark current and response time, of ZnO nanowire (NW) photodetectors are usually degraded by H2O/O2 adsorption on the NW surfaces. In this work, ZnO NW photodetectors based on Au Schottky contact through passivating surface states were investigated. ZnO NW photodetectors were fabricated with a lateral electrode structure, in which Au served as Au/ZnO Schottky contact and semi-transparent top electrode. Specifically, passivation of the surface states of ZnO NWs by using highly intensive UV irradiation effectively improved the photoresponse. A physical model based on surface band theory was developed to understand the origin of the performance improvement of the photodetector. The present device architecture prevents ZnO NWs photodetector from H2O/O2 adsorption in air and efficiently extracts photogenerated carriers across a diametrical direction.

We demonstrate that a bipolar non-volatile resistive switching behaviour with negative differential resistance (NDR) effect is realized in a Cu/BaTiO3/Ag device, which was deposited on a Si substrate via magnetron sputtering equipment. We suggest that the bipolar resistive switching is dominated by the trapping/detrapping of electrons at the BaTiO3–Cu interface. In addition, we demonstrate that the device exhibits good performance, including a large on/off ratio, high reliability and long retention time. Therefore, BaTiO3 may become a good candidate for application in resistive switching random access memory (RRAM) devices.

High mobility, scalable and even transparent thin-film transistors (TFTs) are always being pursued in the field of large area electronics. While excimer laser-beam-scanning can crystallize amorphous Si (a-Si) into high mobility poly-Si, it is limited to small areas. We here demonstrate a robust nano-droplet-scanning strategy that converts an a-Si:H thin film directly into periodic poly-Si nano-channels, with the aid of well-coordinated indium droplets. This enables the robust batch-fabrication of high performance Fin-TFTs with a high hole mobility of >100 cm2 V−1 s−1 and an excellent subthreshold swing of only 163 mV dec−1, via a low temperature

In this work, three-dimensional (3D) radial heterojunction photodetectors (PD) were constructed over vertical crystalline Si nanowires (SiNWs), with stacked hydrogenated amorphous germanium (a-Ge:H)/a-Si:H thin film layer as absorbers. The hetero absorber layer is designed to benefit from the type-II band alignment at the a-Ge/a-Si hetero-interface, which could help to enable an automated photo-carrier separation without exterior power supply. By inserting a carefully controlled a-Si passivation layer between the a-Ge:H layer and the p-type SiNWs, we demonstrate first a convenient fabrication of a new hetero a-Ge/a-Si structure operating as self-powered photodetectors (PD) in the near-infrared (NIR) range up to 900 nm, indicating a potential to serve as low cost, flexible and high performance radial junction sensing units for NIR imaging and PD applications.

Implanted pacemakers are usually bulky and rigid electronics that are constraint by limited battery lifetimes, and need to be installed and repaired via surgeries that risk secondary infection and injury. In this work, a flexible self-powered photoelectric cardiac stimulator is demonstrated based on hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) radial p-i-n junctions (RJs), constructed upon standing Si nanowires grown directly on aluminum thin foils. The flexible RJ stimulators, with an open-circuit voltage of 0.67 V and short-circuit current density of 12.7 mA cm-2 under standard AM1.5G illumination, can be conformally attached to the uneven tissue surface to pace heart-beating under modulated 650 nm laser illumination. In vivo pacing evaluations on porcine hearts show that the heart rate can be effectively controlled by the external photoelectric stimulations, to increase from the normal rate of 101-128 beating min-1 . Importantly, the a-Si:H RJ units are highly biofriendly and biodegradable, with tunable lifetimes in phosphate-buffered saline environment controlled by surface coating and passivation, catering to the needs of short term or lasting cardiac pacing applications. This implantable a-Si:H RJ photoelectric stimulation strategy has the potential to establish eventually a self-powered, biocompatible, and conformable cardiac pacing technology for clinical therapy.

Assembling nanoscale building blocks into an orderly network with a programmable layout and channel designs represents a critical capability to enable a wide range of stretchable electronics. Here, we demonstrate the growth-in-place integration of silicon nanowire (SiNW) springs into highly stretchable, transparent, and quasicontinuous functional networks with a close to unity interconnection among the discrete electrode joints because of a unique double-lane/double-step guiding edge design. The SiNW networks can be reliably transferred to a soft elastomer substrate, conformally attached to highly curved surfaces, or deployed as self-supporting/movable membranes suspended over voids. A high stretchability of >40% is achieved for the SiNW network on an elastomer, which can be employed as a transparent and semiconducting thin-film material endowed with a high carrier mobility of >50 cm2/(V s), Ion/Ioff ratio >104, and a tunable transmission of >80% over a wide spectrum range. Reversibly stretchable and bendable sensors based on the SiNW network have been successfully demonstrated, where the local strain distribution within the spring network can be directly observed and analyzed by finite element simulations. This SiNW network has a unique potential to eventually establish a new generically purposed waferlike platform for constructing soft electronics with Si-based hard performances.

Despite the fundamental difference in material systems and temporal evolution, self-oscillating growth of silicon nanowires (SiNWs), led by metal droplets, resembles very much natural river meanders in terms of their sinuosity, fractal dimensions, and scaling law. Both of them are driven by the release of higher potential energy stored in the disorder hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) matrix or at highlands, tailored by a streamwise flow mechanism and subject to an erodible boundary constraint imposed by the a-Si:H thin film or the soil banks, respectively. Under specific conditions, the cross-droplet/stream velocity difference can be magnified, during the in-plane growth of SiNWs, to stimulate regular swaggering dynamics that produce continuous and smooth SiNW meanders. This interesting phenomenon indicates a rather simple and highly efficient strategy to shape complex elastic channels with only a few control parameters. A kinetic model has been established to explain the underlying mechanism of the self-oscillating meandering growth, which has unique potential to transform rigid SiNW channels into elastic forms for flexible or stretchable electronic applications.Despite the fundamental difference in material systems and temporal evolution, self-oscillating growth of silicon nanowires (SiNWs), led by metal droplets, resembles very much natural river meanders in terms of their sinuosity, fractal dimensions, and scaling law. Both of them are driven by the release of higher potential energy stored in the disorder hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) matrix or at highlands, tailored by a streamwise flow mechanism and subject to an erodible boundary constraint imposed by the a-Si:H thin film or the soil banks, respectively. Under specific conditions, the cross-droplet/stream velocity difference can be magnified, during the in-plane growth of SiNWs, to stimulate regular swaggering dynamics that produce continuous and smooth SiNW meanders. This interesting phenomenon indicates a rather simple and highly efficient strategy to shape complex elastic channels with only a few control parameters. A kinetic model has been established to explain the underlying mechanism of the sel...

Three-dimensional (3D) construction of radial junction hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells on standing silicon nanowires (SiNWs) is a promising strategy to maximize the light harvesting performance and improve the photocarrier collection in an optimized junction configuration. The unique light in-coupling and absorption behaviour in the antenna-like 3D photonic structures also necessitates a set of new theoretical models and simulation tools to design, predict and optimize the photovoltaic performance of radial junction solar cells, which can be rather different from planar junction solar cells. Recently, the performance of radial junction a-Si:H thin film solar cells has progressed steadily to a level comparable or even superior to that of their planar counterparts, with plenty of room for further improvement. This review will first address the growth strategy and critical parameter control of SiNWs produced via a plasma-assisted low-temperature vapour-liquid-solid procedure using low-melting-point metals as the catalyst. Then, the construction of high-performance radial junction thin film solar cells over the standing SiNW matrix, as well as their optimal structural designs, will be introduced. At the end, the new applications of 3D radial junction units will be summarized, which include, for example, the construction of very flexible, low-cost and efficient a-Si:H solar cells with the highest power-to-weight ratio, the demonstration of highly sensitive solar-blind photodetectors operating at the ultraviolet wavelength spectrum and the development of novel biomimetic radial tandem junction photodetectors with an intrinsic red-green-blue (RGB) colour distinguishing capability.

Ultrathin silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are ideal 1D channels to construct high performance nanoelectronics and sensors. We here report on a high-density catalytic growth of orderly ultrathin SiNWs, with diameter down to D nw = 27 ± 2 nm and narrow NW-to-NW spacing of only S nw ∼80 nm, without the use of high-resolution lithography. This has been accomplished via a terrace-confined strategy, where tiny indium (In) droplets move on sidewall terraces to absorb precoated amorphous Si layer as precursor and produce self-aligned SiNW array. It is found that, under proper parameter control, a tighter terrace-step confinement can help to scale the dimensions of the SiNW array down to the extremes that have not been reported before, while maintaining still a stable guiding growth over complex contours. Prototype SiNW field effect transistors demonstrate a high I on/I off current ratio ∼107, low leakage current of ∼0.3 pA and steep subthreshold swing of 220 mV dec−1. These results highlight the unexplored potential of catalytic growth in advanced nanostructure fabrication that is highly relevant for scalable SiNW logic and sensor applications.

The ability to program highly modulated morphology upon silicon nanowires (SiNWs) has been fundamental to explore new phononic and electronic functionalities. We here exploit a nanoscale locomotion of metal droplets to demonstrate a large and readily controllable morphology engineering of crystalline SiNWs, from straight ones into continuous or discrete island-chains, at temperature, The ability to program periodic morphology into nanowires affords control over photonic and electronic transport properties. Here, the authors stimulate Plateau-Rayleigh transformations in silicon nanowires through an oscillating catalyst droplet, resulting in nanowires with island-chain morphology.

Crystalline Si nanowire (SiNW) springs, produced via a low temperature (

2D organic materials with in-plane van der Waals forces among molecules have unique characteristics that ensure a brilliant future for multifunctional applications. Soluble organic semiconductors can be used to achieve low-cost and high-throughput manufacturing of electronic devices. However, achieving solution-processed 2D single-crystalline semiconductors with uniform morphology remains a substantial challenge. Here, the fabrication of 2D molecular single-crystal semiconductors with precise layer definition by using a floating-coffee-ring-driven assembly is presented. In particular, bilayer molecular films exhibit single-crystalline features with atomic smoothness and high film uniformity over a large area; field-effect transistors yield average and maximum carrier mobilities of 4.8 and 13.0 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively. This work demonstrates the strong potential of 2D molecular crystals for low-cost, large-area, and high-performance electronics.

The conventional field cooling process for antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic bilayer system might strongly damage the interface of BiFeO3 (BFO) with metallic ferromagnetic layer, leading to significant deterioration of exchange bias (EB). In this paper, a field cooling process with fast laser annealing has been proposed and applied on polycrystalline-BFO/Co bilayers, which can effectively modify the EB. In those samples with obvious EB, it is found that the exchange field (HE) increases abruptly when the laser fluence rises to a critical value, and decreases when the laser fluence is large enough. On the other hand, in those samples with negligible HE, EB could be easily induced after field cooling with proper laser fluence. In addition, the sign of HE could also be changed, depending on the direction of the cooling field. In contrast, after field cooling by conventional heat treatment, EB could be neither induced nor enhanced. The feasibility of fast laser annealing accompanied with field cooling to enhance or induce EB in the BFO/Co bilayer can be understood by much less interfacial diffusion in comparison with conventional field cooling.

Seeking long cycle lifetime and high rate performance are still challenging aspects to promote the application of silicon-loaded lithium ion batteries (LIBs), where optimal structural and compositional design are critical to maximize a synergistic effect in composite core-shell nanowire anode structures. We here propose and demonstrate a high quality conformal coating of an amorphous Si (a-Si) thin film over a matrix of highly cross-linked CuO nanowires (NWs). The conformal a-Si coating can serve as both a high capacity storage medium and a high quality binder that joins crossing CuO NWs into a continuous network. And the CuO NWs can be reduced into highly conductive Cu cores in low temperature H2 annealing. In this way, we have demonstrated an excellent cycling stability that lasts more than 700 (or 1000) charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 3.6 A g(-1) (or 1 A g(-1)), with a high capacity retention rate of 80%. Remarkably, these Cu/a-Si core-shell anode structures can survive an extremely high charging current density of 64 A g(-1) for 25 runs, and then recover 75% initial capacity when returning to 1 A g(-1). We also present the first and straightforward experimental proof that these robust highly-cross-linked core-shell networks can preserve the structural integrity even after 1000 runs of cycling. All these results indicate a new and convenient strategy towards a high performance Si-loaded battery application.

Miniature spectrometers provide promising potential for on-chip or in situ optical analysis. In recent years there has been significant progress towards reducing the size and improving the performance of these spectrometers. The workhorse is light splitting components. This work has been led primarily by the innovative use of new light analysis strategies and new nanostructured materials with the notable increase in the spectral range and resolution. This review summarizes the latest developments classified as monochromatic, modulated and computational types of miniature spectrometers according to the spectral extraction methods. Particularly, we highlight the recent advances in designing of sophisticated gratings, resonators, interferometers and photonic crystals (PCs), the emerging of novel nanostructured materials and improvement in the computational spectra reconstruction algorithms. We examine the different approaches employed to reduce size and enhance light–matter interaction of the final spectrometers, especially emphasizing the trade-off between various metrics of the spectrometer including device footprint, measurable spectral range, spectral resolution, sensitivity as well as complementary metal oxide semiconductor compatibility. We also examine potential applications of on-chip spectrometers and outlook where further developments are required.

Guided growth of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) into precise locations, via an in-plane solid–liquid–solid (IPSLS) mechanism, is a key basis for scalable integration of SiNW-based electronics, but an effective n-type doping has not yet been accomplished. In this work, we report a bismuth (Bi) catalyzed and doped growth of IPSLS SiNWs, where the incorporation of Bi atoms gives rise to efficient n-type doping, as confirmed by electron dispersion analysis and transfer properties of SiNW transistors. Interestingly, a rich geometry evolution is observed during the Bi-catalyzed planar growth, which evolves from discrete islands to continuous island chains and to uniform segments, prior to a final droplet collapsing/flattening at the end. A growth model has been established to address this peculiar phenomenon, emphasizing the impact of surface/interface tensions on the stability of the leading catalyst droplet. These results provide a solid basis for the construction of more advanced complementary SiNW logics and electronics.

Seeking an ultra-compact new architecture or strategy to achieve filter-less Red/Green/Blue (RGB) color sensing is critical for developing a wide range of high-resolution, low-cost and flexible color discrimination and imaging applications. In this work, a new inversely stacked biomimetic radial junction (RJ) PINIP photodetector, comprising of coaxial multilayers of intrinsic and doped hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) thin films coated over silicon nanowires (SiNWs), is demonstrated, which can accomplish bias-selected and tunable spectrum responses to the R, G and B color bands, mimicking the response mechanism in human eyes. Compared to the Bayer matrix sensors, the width of a fundamental RJ-PINIP sensing unit is reduced from ~3 μm to

In this paper, 1D In2Te3 nanowires were synthesizes through a simple solvothermal approach. The morphology was first studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the results, the nanowires have a diameter from 100 to 200 nm and a length of dozens of microns. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectrum were used to study the composition, crystal structures, and optical property. Based on the typical nanowire sample, experiment factors were changed to synthsize other samples in order to study the influence factors. A possible growth mechanism of the nanowires was proposed based on a series of experimental results. This material has a broad light detection range covering the UV-visible-NIR region from the photoelectrical test, which makes it potential for applications in photodetectors and solar cells.

Wafer-scale three-dimensional (3D) surface enhancement Raman scattering (SERS) substrates were prepared using the plasma etching and ion sputtering methods that are completely compatible with well-established silicon device technologies. The substrates are highly sensitive with excellent uniformity and reproducibility, exhibiting an enhancement factor up to 10 12 with a very low relative standard deviation (RSD) around 5%. These are attributed mainly to the uniform-distributed, multiple-type high-density hot spots originating from the structural characteristics of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) decorated Si nanocone (NC) arrays. We demonstrate that the trace dimethyl phthalate (DMP) at a concentration of 10 −7 M can be well detected using this SERS substrate, showing that the AgNPs-decorated SiNC arrays can serve as efficient SERS substrates for phthalate acid esters (PAEs) detection with high sensitivity.

A 3.5 nm amorphous CoFeB film was sputtered on GaAs (001) wafer substrate without applying magnetic field during deposition, and a significant in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) field (Hu) of about 300 Oe could be achieved. To precisely determine the intrinsic Gilbert damping constant (α) of this film, both ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TRMOKE) techniques were utilized. With good fitting of the dynamic spectra of FMR and TRMOKE, α is calculated to be 0.010 and 0.013, respectively. Obviously, the latter is 30% larger than the former, which is due to the transient heating effect during the TRMOKE measurement. In comparison with ordinary amorphous CoFeB films with negligible magnetic anisotropies, α is enhanced significantly in the CoFeB/GaAs(001) film, which may be mainly resulted from the enhanced spin-orbit coupling induced by the CoFeB/GaAs interface. However, the significant in-plane UMA plays minor role in the enhancement of α.

Nanocrystals of up-conversion (UC) phosphor Yb 3+ /Tm 3+ co-doped NaYF 4 are prepared by a facile hydrothermal method using oleic acid as a stabilizing agent. The as-prepared nanocrystals are of hexagonal phase, and have tube-like morphology and strong ultraviolet (UV) and blue UC fluorescence intensity, which have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and luminescence spectroscopy. The effect of Yb 3+ concentration on the UC emission properties is also analyzed. Our results reveal that the intensity of emission peaks can be controlled by varying the Yb 3+ concentration and these NaYF 4 nanotubes are highly efficient host material. The as-prepared NaYF 4 nanotubes show potential applications in UV compact solid state lasers and multi-channel fluorescent label.

Geometry and doping control in silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are both crucial aspects in fabricating three-dimensional (3D) radial junction thin film solar cells, while the coupling between them remains a peculiar aspect to be better understood. In this work, we focus on the geometry evolution and the doping effects realized in tin-catalyzed SiNWs grown via a plasma-enhanced vapor-liquid-solid procedure by using different diborane (B2H6) dopant flows. It is shown that with the increase of B2H6 flow rate from 0.3 to 2.1 SCCM, the radial growth of SiNWs is greatly accelerated by more than 30%, while the length is shortened to 50%. This can be related to the enhanced chemisorption probability of SiHx radicals, with the addition of B2H6, on the SiNW sidewall during silane (SiH4) plasma deposition in PECVD system, which leads to easier nucleation directly on the sidewalls and faster radial expansion of the SiNWs. A trade-off has to be sought between seeking a strong light trapping and ensuring a sufficient doping for high-quality PIN junction with the increase of B2H6 doping flow. These new understandings lay a critical basis for understanding and searching for an optimal growth control for constructing high-performance 3D radial junction thin-film solar cells.

The heteroepitaxial growth of crystal silicon thin films on sapphire, usually referred to as SoS, has been a key technology for high-speed mixed-signal integrated circuits and processors. Here, we report a novel nanoscale SoS heteroepitaxial growth that resembles the in-plane writing of self-aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs) on R-plane sapphire. During a low-temperature growth at 900 °C, the bottom heterointerface cultivates crystalline Si pyramid seeds within the catalyst droplet, while the vertical SiNW/catalyst interface subsequently threads the seeds into continuous nanowires, producing self-oriented in-plane SiNWs that follow a set of crystallographic directions of the sapphire substrate. Despite the low-temperature fabrication process, the field effect transistors built on the SoS-SiNWs demonstrate a high on/off ratio of >5 × 104 and a peak hole mobility of >50 cm2/V·s. These results indicate the novel potential of deploying in-...

The evolutionary process of nanoscale FinFET channel was investigated under hydrogen thermal treatment using kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulation. We adopt appropriate activation energy to analyze the influence of hydrogen treatment temperatures and time on fin structure. Line edge roughness (LER) of silicon fin structure is effectively reduced in present KMC model. Our results indicate that optimized fin structure can be obtained by precisely adjusting migration of surface silicon atoms at high temperatures, which play a crucial role in the application of three-dimensional devices.

Effective control of the domain wall (DW) motion along the magnetic nanowires is of great importance for fundamental research and potential application in spintronic devices. In this work, a series of permalloy nanowires with an asymmetric notch in the middle were fabricated with only varying the width (d) of the right arm from 200 nm to 1000 nm. The detailed pinning and depinning processes of DWs in these nanowires have been studied by using focused magneto-optic Kerr effect (FMOKE) magnetometer, magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and micromagnetic simulation. The experimental results unambiguously exhibit the presence of a DW pinned at the notch in a typical sample with d equal to 500 nm. At a certain range of 200 nm d d dependences, which may be originated from different potential well/barrier generated by the asymmetric notch with varying d.