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Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are materials that can exhibit intriguing optical properties like a change of the bandgap from indirect to direct when being thinned down to a monolayer. Well-resolved narrow excitonic resonances can be observed for such monolayers although only for materials of sufficient crystalline quality and so far mostly available in the form of micrometer-sized flakes. A further significant improvement of optical and electrical properties can be achieved by transferring the TMD on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). To exploit the full potential of TMDs in future applications, epitaxial techniques have to be developed that not only allow the growth of large-scale, high-quality TMD monolayers but also allow the growth to be performed directly on large-scale epitaxial hBN. In this work, we address this problem and demonstrate that MoSe2 of high optical quality can be directly grown on epitaxial hBN on an entire 2 in. wafer. We developed a combined growth theme for which hBN is first synthesized at high temperature by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and as a second step MoSe2 is deposited on top by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at much lower temperatures. We show that this structure exhibits excellent optical properties, manifested by narrow excitonic lines in the photoluminescence spectra. Moreover, the material is homogeneous on the area of the whole 2 in. wafer with only ±0.14 meV deviation of excitonic energy. Our mixed growth technique may guide the way for future large-scale production of high quality TMD/hBN heterostructures.

The lattice mismatch between interesting 2D materials and commonly available 3D substrates is one of the obstacles in the epitaxial growth of monolithic 2D/3D heterostructures, but a number of 2D materials have not yet been considered for epitaxy. Here we present the first molecular beam epitaxy growth of NiTe$_{2}$ 2D transition metal dichalcogenide. Importantly, the growth is realized on a nearly lattice matched GaAs(111)B substrate. Structural properties of the grown layers are investigated by electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, and scanning tunnelling microscopy. Surface coverage and atomic scale order is evidenced by images obtained with atomic force, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. Basic transport properties were measured confirming that NiTe$_{2}$ layers are metallic, with the Hall concentration of $10^{20}$cm$^{-3}$ to $10^{23}$cm$^{-3}$, depending on the growth conditions.

This work presents the evolution of morphological, structural and magnetic properties of amorphous Fe-Ni wire-like nanochains caused by thermal oxidation. The initial Fe1−x Ni x samples (x = 0.75; 0.50; 0.25) were prepared through the magnetic-field-induced synthesis, and then they were heated in dry air at 400 °C and 500 °C. These treatments led to two competing simultaneous processes occurring in the investigated samples, i.e., (i) a conversion of amorphous material into crystalline material, and (ii) their oxidation. Both of them strictly affected the morphological and structural properties of the Fe-Ni nanochains which, in turn, were associated with the amount of iron in material. It was found that the Fe0.75Ni0.25 and Fe0.50Ni0.50 nanochains were covered during thermal treatment by the nanoparticle oxides. This coverage did not constitute a good barrier against oxidation, and these samples became more oxidized than the Fe0.25Ni0.75 sample which was covered by oxide nanosheets and contained additional Ni3B phase. The specific morphological evolutions of the Fe-Ni nanochains also influenced their saturation magnetizations, whereas their coercivities did not vary significantly. The obtained results constitute an important source of information for future application of the thermally treated Fe-Ni nanochains which could be applied in the energy storage devices or catalysis.

The substrate is one of the key components that determines the quality of the epitaxial layers. However, the implications of growing two-dimensional layers on three-dimensional bulk substrates have not yet been fully understood, and these implications need to be studied for different combinations of materials and substrates. Here, we present a study that addresses the influence of the sapphire substrate off-cut angle on the final growth of two-dimensional layers of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). A two-step wafer-scale process was used in one epitaxial MOVPE procedure. The main process starts with a self-limiting continuous growth of a BN buffer followed by flow-modulated epitaxy in the second step, and is used to study substrates with different off-cuts angles, pre-growth nitridation steps, and post-growth annealing. An initial nitridation step at the growth temperature allowed for the growth of an AlN sublayer. This layer is shown to smooth out the underlying sapphire and establishes an ‘effective’ sapphire/AlN substrate. This step is also responsible for enforcing a specific growth of the BN layer in a crystallographic orientation, which is shown to strongly deviate from the substrate for off-cut angles larger than 0.3°. A substrate with off-cut angle of 1° clearly yields the highest quality of h-BN layers as evidenced by the lowest amount of debris on the surface, most intense x-ray diffraction signal, minimal Raman phonon line width and thinnest amorphous BN (a-BN) at the interface with the effective substrate. Our study shows that the off-cut angles of sapphire substrates strongly influence the final epitaxial h-BN, clearly indicating the importance of optimal substrate preparation for the growth of two-dimensional BN layers. Post-growth annealing in N2 atmosphere at 800 °C improves the top surface morphology of the final stack, as well as suppresses further the presence of a-BN.

So far it has been proven that the magnetic-field-induced (MFI) synthesis is a process which mainly leads to the formation of magnetic metallic one-dimensional nanostructures. Taking an advantage o...

Hydrogen is an important building block in global strategies towards a future green energy system. To make this transition possible, intense scientific efforts are needed, also in the field of materials science. Two-dimensional crystals, such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), are very promising in this regard, as it was demonstrated that micrometer-sized exfoliated flakes are excellent barriers to molecular hydrogen. However, it remains an open question whether large-area layers fabricated by industrially relevant methods preserve such promising properties. In this work we show that electron beam-induced splitting of water creates hBN bubbles that effectively store molecular hydrogen for weeks and under extreme mechanical deformation. We demonstrate that epitaxial hBN allows direct visualization and monitoring of the process of hydrogen generation by radiolysis of interfacial water. Our findings show that hBN is not only a potential candidate for hydrogen storage, but also holds promise for the development of unconventional hydrogen production schemes.

We demonstrate quantum emission capabilities from boron nitride structures which are relevant for practical applications and can be seamlessly integrated into a variety of heterostructures and devices. First, the optical properties of polycrystalline BN films grown by metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy are inspected. We observe that these specimens display an antibunching in the second-order correlation functions, if the broadband background luminescence is properly controlled. Furthermore, the feasibility to use flexible and transparent substrates to support hBN crystals that host quantum emitters is explored. We characterise hBN powders deposited onto polydimethylsiloxane films, which display quantum emission characteristics in ambient environmental conditions.

The thermal treatment of chains composed of amorphous Fe 1-x Co x nanoparticles in two different oxygen atmospheres was studied. The nanostructures were manufactured using a magnetic-field-induced coreduction reaction, in which the precursor solutions containing 1:3 and 3:1 proportions of Fe 2+ and Co 2+ ions were reduced with sodium borohydride. The as-prepared nanochains were then heated for 30 min at 400 and 500 °C in dry air or argon containing about 1% oxygen. These processes led to their oxidation, and, as a result, the thermally treated Fe 1-x Co x nanochains were transformed into cobalt ferrite. Heating at 500 °C in the air-containing atmosphere caused the nanomaterials to lose their nanochain structures. In accordance to room-temperature magnetic measurements, the as-prepared and thermally treated Fe 1-x Co x nanochains were ferromagnetic. The highest saturation magnetization (MS) was measured for the Fe 1-x Co x nanochains treated at 400 °C in dry air (105 A·m 2 /kg and 154 A·m 2 /kg for Fe 0.25 Co 0.75 and Fe 0.75 Co 0.25 , respectively), whereas the lowest M S was found for the Fe 0.25 Co 0.75 heated at 500 °C in dry air (17 A·m 2 /kg) and the Fe 0.75 Co 0.25 heated at 500 °C in argon (16 A·m 2 /kg).

MnBi$_{2}$Te$_{4}/$(Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$)$_{n}$ materials system has recently generated strong interest as a natural platform for realization of the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) state. The system is magnetically much better ordered than substitutionally doped materials, however, the detrimental effects of certain disorders are becoming increasingly acknowledged. Here, from compiling structural, compositional, and magnetic metrics of disorder in ferromagnetic MnBi$_{2}$Te$_{4}/$(Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$)$_{n}$ it is found that migration of Mn between MnBi$_{2}$T$e_{4}$ septuple layers (SLs) and otherwise non-magnetic Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ quintuple layers (QLs) has systemic consequences - it induces ferromagnetic coupling of Mn-depleted SLs with Mn-doped QLs, seen in ferromagnetic resonance as an acoustic and optical resonance mode of the two coupled spin subsystems. Even for a large SL separation (n $\gtrsim$ 4 QLs) the structure cannot be considered as a stack of uncoupled two-dimensional layers. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory studies show that Mn disorder within an SL causes delocalization of electron wavefunctions and a change of the surface bandstructure as compared to the ideal MnBi$_{2}$Te$_{4}/$(Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$)$_{n}$. These findings highlight the critical importance of inter- and intra-SL disorder towards achieving new QAH platforms as well as exploring novel axion physics in intrinsic topological magnets., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, corrected typos, corrected references to figures for section 5

In this paper, we apply the angle-resolved Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance (ODMR) technique to study series of strained (Cd, Mn)Te/(Cd, Mg)Te quantum wells (QWs) produced by molecular beam epitaxy. By analyzing characteristic features of ODMR angular scans, we determine strain-induced axial-symmetry spin Hamiltonian parameter D with neV precision. Furthermore, we use low-temperature optical reflectivity measurements and X-ray diffraction scans to evaluate the local strain present in QW material. In our analysis, we take into account different thermal expansion coefficients of GaAs substrate and CdTe buffer. The additional deformation due to the thermal expansion effects has the same magnitude as deformation origination from the different compositions of the samples. Based on the evaluated deformations and values of strain-induced axial-symmetry spin Hamiltonian parameter D, we find strain spin-lattice coefficient G11 = (72.2 +- 1.9) neV for Mn2+ in CdTe and shear deformation potential b = (-0.94 +- 0.11) eV for CdTe.

The main objective of this work is to study the influence of thermal oxidation on the chemical composition and magnetic properties of iron nanoparticles which were manufactured in a simple chemical reduction of Fe3+ ions coming from iron salt with sodium borohydride. The annealing processing was performed in an argon atmosphere containing the traces of oxygen to avoid spontaneous oxidation of iron at temperatures ranging from 200 °C to 800 °C. The chemical composition and magnetic properties of as-prepared and thermally-treated nanoparticles were determined by means of X-ray diffractometry, Raman spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry. Due to the magnetic interactions, the investigated iron nanoparticles tended to create the dense aggregates which were difficult to split even at low temperatures. This caused that there was no empty space between them, which led to their partial sintering at elevated temperatures. These features hindered their precise morphological observations using the electron microscopy techniques. The obtained results show that the annealing process up to 800 °C resulted in a progressive change in the chemical composition of as-prepared iron nanoparticles which was associated with their oxidation. As a consequence, their magnetic properties also depended on the annealing temperature. For instance, considering the values of saturation magnetization, its highest value was recorded for the as-prepared nanoparticles at 1 T and it equals 149 emu/g, while the saturation point for nanoparticles treated at 600 °C and higher temperatures was not reached even at the magnetic field of about 5 T. Moreover, a significant enhancement of coercivity was observed for the iron nanoparticles annealed over 600 °C.

In the last few years, perovskite-based solar cells have seen rapid improvements of their power conversion efficiencies (PCE) that have already reached silicon cell values. The commercial use of perovskite cell technology remains, however, a challenge due to durability issues. In fact, perovskite films when exposed to moisture and oxygen undergo degradation within a couple of hours or days. In order to address these problems, several strategies have been developed in recent years, including surface passivation and coating. Herein, we analyze and compare two perovskite stability improvement approaches, each aimed at the reduction of the oxygen diffusion, one by adding chlorine to perovskite precursors in order to block iodine vacancy sites, and the other by coating the perovskite layers with protective Al2O3 films using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). The study provides an experimental verification of the degradation mechanism linking it to oxygen diffusion into the perovskite films. As shown by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, the addition of chlorine into the iodine-based perovskite film slows down the oxygen diffusion, while X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements show improved stability of such iodide perovskite with chlorine addition. Characteristic times for oxygen diffusion into subsurface region as well as for degradation process of film volume are provided and discussed. XRD measurements are also used to show that an additional significant stability improvement can also be achieved when the films are coated with a protective ALD Al2O3 layer.

This work describes the detailed studies performed on the nanocomposite composed of chemically-modified multiwall carbon nanotubes covered by hematite nanoparticles which diameters vary from 10 nm to 70 nm. This nanomaterial was fabricated in two-steps facile chemical synthesis and was characterized with the use of several experimental techniques, such as: thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission Mossbauer spectroscopy in order to determine its structure precisely. Moreover, the investigated nanocomposite was tested as an anode material of Li-ion batteries. Its cycling performance was stable during 40 cycles, while its capacity was retained at the level of 330 and 230 mAh/g at the discharge/charge rate of 25 and 200 mA/g, respectively.

A method of growing highly oriented MoS

The MOVPE growth of h-BN (more specifically sp2-BN) layers encounters problems concerning growth efficiency, crystallographic quality and a large quantity of optically active point defects of undisclosed nature. Our results show that high quality layers can be grown with continuous or modulated flow methods. Depending on the conditions, the synthesis is limited by insufficient ammonia dissociation, boron diffusion on the surface or probability of chemisorption on atomic steps. Despite the common belief, gas phase parasitic reactions were not observed. It is crucial to control the balance between mass transport, diffusion and desorption from the surface. Supersaturation of TEB leads to a fast nucleation of randomly oriented crystal grains and 3D growth. Epitaxial, two-dimensional (2D) layers can be only obtained with a very low growth rate. The amount of point defects, influencing the optical properties of the layers, depends on the growth conditions and, especially, ammonia supply.

A method of growing highly oriented MoS2 is presented. First, a Mo film is deposited on a graphene/SiC(0001) substrate and the subsequent annealing of it at 750 °C leads to intercalation of Mo underneath the graphene layer, which is confirmed by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements. Formation of highly oriented MoS2 layers is then achieved by sulfurization of the graphene/Mo/SiC system using H2S gas. X-ray diffraction reveals that the MoS2 layers are highly oriented and parallel to the underlying SiC substrate surface. Further SIMS experiments reveal that the intercalation process occurs via the atomic step edges of SiC and Mo and S atoms gradually diffuse along SiC atomic terraces leading to the creation of the MoS2 layer. This observation can be explained by a mechanism of highly oriented growth of MoS2: nucleation of the crystalline MoS2 phase occurs underneath the graphene planes covering the flat parts of SiC steps and Mo and S atoms create crystallization fronts moving along terraces.

This work describes an oxidation process of iron-iron oxide core-shell nanowires at temperatures between 100 °C and 800 °C. The studied nanomaterial was synthesized through a simple chemical reduction of iron trichloride in an external magnetic field under a constant flow of argon. The electron microscopy investigations allowed determining that the as-prepared nanowires were composed of self-assembled iron nanoparticles which were covered by a 3 nm thick oxide shell and separated from each other by a thin interface layer. Both these layers exhibited an amorphous or highly-disordered character which was traced by means of transmission electron microscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The thermal oxidation was carried out under a constant flow of argon which contained the traces of oxygen. The first stage of process was related to slow transformations of amorphous Fe and amorphous iron oxides into crystalline phases and disappearance of interfaces between iron nanoparticles forming the studied nanomaterial (range: 25-300 °C). After that, the crystalline iron core and iron oxide shell became oxidized and signals for different compositions of iron oxide sheath were observed (range: 300-800 °C) using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy. According to the thermal gravimetric analysis, the nanowires heated up to 800 °C under argon atmosphere gained 37% of mass with respect to their initial weight. The structure of the studied nanomaterial oxidized at 800 °C was mainly composed of α-Fe2O3 (∼ 93%). Moreover, iron nanowires treated above 600 °C lost their wire-like shape due to their shrinkage and collapse caused by the void coalescence.

Magnetic properties of 20 nm thick (Ga,Mn)As layer deposited on (Ga,ln)As buffer with very large epitaxial tensile strain are investigated. Gal,In,As buffer with x=30% provides a 2% lattice mismatch, which is an important extension of the mismatch range studied so far (up to 0.5%). Evolution of magnetic anisotropy as a function of temperature is determined by magnetotransport measurements. Additionally, results of direct measurements of magnetization are shown. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Manufacturing process of wire-like binary or ternary metal nanoalloys applying the magnetic-field-induced (MFI) synthesis is still a challenging task. Hence, this work demonstrates for the first time how to produce the iron-nickel wire-like nanostructures with Fe0·75Ni0.25, Fe0·5Ni0.5 and Fe0·25Ni0.75 compositions. In a contrary to the previously reported synthesis of the Fe–Ni wire-like nanomaterials, this process has been carried out at room temperature without employment of templates, surfactants, organic solvents, and other chemical additives. The as-prepared samples exhibit specific structures with the amorphous bimetallic alloy cores covered by thin amorphous oxide shells. Moreover, they are composed of nanoparticles which are aligned in nearly linear chains. The Fe–Ni samples are ferromagnetic materials. Their coercivity values and saturation magnetizations depend on chemical compositions and dimensions of the investigated chains. The highest saturation magnetization and the lowest coercivity is found for the material with the lowest content of nickel and vice versa.

This work describes a use of a composite nanomaterial which consists of multiwall carbon nanotubes covered by iron oxide nanoparticles as a hybrid electrode in aqueous supercapacitor. The investigated nanomaterial was manufactured in a two-step simple chemical synthesis in which the first step was a functionalization of carbon nanotubes whereas the second one was the deposition of iron oxide. According the morphological and structural characterization, the carbon nanotubes with diameters of 10–40 nm were successfully covered by randomly-dispersed magnetite nanoparticles with average diameter of 10 nm. Moreover, the thermogravimetric analysis results indicated that the mass ratio between carbon nanotubes and iron oxide nanoparticles was about 65–35%. The electrochemical performance of studied hybrid electrode was tested in 1 M aqueous KCl electrolyte. The highest specific capacitance of 143 F g‒1 was recorded at a discharge current density of 1 A g‒1. The investigated nanomaterial also exhibited excellent cycling stability i.e. 81% retention of the initial capacitance after 3000 cycles.

The surface-enhanced Raman scattering in graphene deposited on AlxGa1−xN/GaN axial heterostructure nanowires was investigated. It was found that the intensity of graphene Raman spectra is not correlated with aluminium content. Analysis of graphene Raman band parameters, Kelvin probe force microscopy, and electroreflectance showed a screening of polarisation charges. Theoretical calculations demonstrated that plasmon resonance in graphene is far beyond the Raman spectral range. This excludes the presence of an electromagnetic mechanism of surface-enhanced Raman scattering, hence suggesting a chemical mechanism of enhancement.

Graphene paper prepared by new proprietary method involving high pressure and high temperature treatment in the reduction process show new possibilities in this area. Di erent phase content: multilayer and single layer graphene stacks recorded in this study for RGO samples are accompanied by the speci c electric and optical parameters. We have found that process temperatures above 900 ◦C play crucial role in structural and other properties. For the process temperature around 2000 ◦C we found the onset of the graphitization in the samples.

The aim of this work is to study the preparation and characterization of a new nanocomposite which consists of chemically-modified multiwall carbon nanotubes covered by randomly-deposited nanoparticles of hematite. The morphology, structural and physical properties of the investigated nanomaterial were determined by means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometry at ambient conditions. The presence of residual catalyst nanospheres inside multiwall carbon nanotubes was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The signal coming from this contamination was under the detection limit of X-ray diffractometer, therefore it was not registered.

The combined magnetometric and microwave spectroscopy study of Fe/(Ga,Mn)As hybrids is reported. Temperature-dependent remnant magnetization data revealed unexpected non-monotonic behavior when measured along one of the in-plane crystallographic directions of (Ga,Mn)As, with a slope-sign change at the Curie point of the ferromagnetic semiconductor. Subsequent ferromagnetic resonance measurements presented uniaxial and cubic+uniaxial symmetries of in-plane magnetic anisotropy in Fe and (Ga,Mn)As, respectively. The apparent non-monotonicity of magnetization was explained as a manifestation of competition between the applied magnetic field and temperature-altered magnetic anisotropy in ferromagnetic metal layer.

Dopants of transition metal ions in II-VI semiconductors exhibit native 2+ valency. Despite this, 3+ or mixed 3+/2+ valency of iron ions in ZnO was reported previously. Several contradictory mechanisms have been put forward for explanation of this fact so far. Here we analyze Fe valency in ZnO by complementary theoretical and experimental studies. Our calculations within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA+$U)$ indicate that the Fe ion is a relatively shallow donor. Its stable charge state is ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ in ideal ZnO, however, the high energy of the (+/0) transition level enhances the compensation of ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ to ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{3+}$ by nonintentional acceptors in real samples. Using several experimental methods like electron paramagnetic resonance, magnetometry, conductivity, excitonic magnetic circular dichroism, and magnetophotoluminescence we confirm the 3+ valency of the iron ions in polycrystalline (Zn,Fe)O films with the Fe content attaining 0.2%. We find a predicted increase of $n$-type conductivity upon the Fe doping with the Fe donor ionization energy of $0.25\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$ eV consistent with the results of theoretical considerations. Moreover, our magneto-optical measurements confirm the calculated nonvanishing s,p-d exchange interaction between band carriers and localized magnetic moments of the ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{3+}$ ions in the ZnO, being so far an unsettled issue.

X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and Optical absorption estimates of the thickness of graphene multi layer stacks (number of graphene layers) are presented for three different growth techniques. The objective of this work was focused on comparison and reconciliation of the two already widely used methods for thickness estimates (Raman and Absorption) with the calibration of the X-ray method as far as Scherer constant K is concerned and X-ray based Wagner-Aqua extrapolation method.

Features associated with short and prolonged growth time in the chemical vapor deposition process of growth of graphene stacks on SiC (0001) substrate are reported. In particular general bimodal (as far as d002 interlayer spacing is concerned) distribution of graphene species across the surface of the samples is observed. It consists of thin few layer graphene coverage of most of the sample surface accompanied by thick graphite-like island distribution. It points to the two independent channels of graphene stacks growth with two characteristic growth rates.

GaN:Cr and GaN:Fe single crystals as well as GaN:Mn micropowders highly doped by transition metals were grown to investigate low temperature superconductivity. Magnetic measurements revealed type I superconductivity with TC ≈ 6 K and HC ≈ 600 Oe, identical for all compounds and also identical to that observed before in GaP:Cr and GaAs:Cr. The presence of amorphous inclusions of gallium may explain existing superconductivity as a result of a phase transition leading to β-Ga during cooling down of the sample. Since the observed parameters are close to those characteristic for superconducting Ga(II) this possibility could not be ruled out.

A good selection of growth parameters (in-situ etching, C/Si ratio, growth rate) enables obtaining of ~1nm high steps of epitaxial layers, which are comparable to the size of an elementary cell (8°off-axis) and achieve the density of BPD=8•103/cm2. Due to crystallization on substrates with low misorientation (

Polytype instability of SiC epitaxial films was the main focus of attention in the experiment performed since this factor has a decisive influence on graphene growth, which was the second stage of the experiment. Layers deposited in various initial C/Si ratios were analyzed. Our observations indicate that the initial C/Si ratio in epitaxial growth is a crucial parameter determining which polytype will be grown, in particular for cubic (3C) or hexagonal (4H) polytypes. If the initial C/Si ratio was close to its final value, the dominant polytype was 4H. On the other hand, when the initial C/Si ratio was close to zero, 3C became the major polytype in spite of a non favourable growth temperature. The results for graphene growth on an epi-SiC layer and a bulk substrate, in which case the dominant polytype was 4H, are also presented. These results indicate that layers on epitaxial 4H-SiC are thicker, more relaxed and have better quality in comparison with samples on 4H-SiC substrates. Morphology and defects in SiC epilayers were analyzed using Nomarsky optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD). Graphene quality was characterized by Raman spectroscopy.

The impact of hydrostatic pressure on magnetic anisotropy energies in (Ga, Mn)As thin films with in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic easy axes predefined by epitaxial strain was investigated. In both types of sample we observed a clear increase in both in-plane and out-of-plane anisotropy parameters with pressure. The out-of-plane anisotropy constant is well reproduced by the mean-field p-d Zener model; however, the changes in uniaxial anisotropy are much larger than expected in the Mn-Mn dimer scenario.

We present the realization and characterization of a 20 fold, fully lattice-matched epitaxial distributed Bragg reflector based on (Cd,Zn)Te and (Cd,Zn,Mg)Te layers. We also present a microcavity based on (Cd,Zn,Mg)Te containing a (Cd,Zn)Te quantum well. Reflectivity spectra, photoluminescence in real space and in far field are presented., Comment: 4 pages, 9 figures

Efficient control of intercalation of epitaxial graphene by specific elements is a way to change properties of the graphene. Results of several experimental techniques, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, micro-Raman mapping, reflectivity, attenuated total reflection, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray reflectometry, gave a new insight into the intercalation of oxygen in the epitaxial graphene grown on 4H-SiC(0001). These results confirmed that oxygen intercalation decouples the graphene buffer layer from the 4H-SiC surface and converts it into the graphene layer. However, in contrast to the hydrogen intercalation, oxygen does not intercalate between carbon planes (in the case of few layer graphene) and the interlayer spacing stays constant at the level of 3.35–3.32 A. Moreover, X-ray reflectometry showed the presence of an oxide layer having the thickness of about 0.8 A underneath the graphene layers. Apart from the formation of the nonuniform thin oxide layer, generation of defects in graphene caused by...

Structural investigations of hydrogenated epitaxial graphene grown on SiC(0001) are presented. It is shown that hydrogen plays a dual role. In addition to contributing to the well-known removal of the buffer layer, it goes between the graphene planes, resulting in an increase of the interlayer spacing to 3.6 A–3.8 A. It is explained by the intercalation of molecular hydrogen between carbon planes, which is followed by H2 dissociation, resulting in negatively charged hydrogen atoms trapped between the graphene layers, with some addition of covalent bonding to carbon atoms. Negatively charged hydrogen may be responsible for p-doping observed in hydrogenated multilayer graphene.