Matching Items (11)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Nanowires
- Creators: Vasileska, Dragica
- Creators: Chen, Tingyong
- Creators: Zhang, Yong-Hang
Description
One dimensional (1D) and quasi-one dimensional quantum wires have been a subject of both theoretical and experimental interest since 1990s and before. Phenomena such as the "0.7 structure" in the conductance leave many open questions. In this dissertation, I study the properties and the internal electron states of semiconductor quantum wires with the path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) method. PIMC is a tool for simulating many-body quantum systems at finite temperature. Its ability to calculate thermodynamic properties and various correlation functions makes it an ideal tool in bridging experiments with theories. A general study of the features interpreted by the Luttinger liquid theory and observed in experiments is first presented, showing the need for new PIMC calculations in this field. I calculate the DC conductance at finite temperature for both noninteracting and interacting electrons. The quantized conductance is identified in PIMC simulations without making the same approximation in the Luttinger model. The low electron density regime is subject to strong interactions, since the kinetic energy decreases faster than the Coulomb interaction at low density. An electron state called the Wigner crystal has been proposed in this regime for quasi-1D wires. By using PIMC, I observe the zig-zag structure of the Wigner crystal. The quantum fluctuations suppress the long range correla- tions, making the order short-ranged. Spin correlations are calculated and used to evaluate the spin coupling strength in a zig-zag state. I also find that as the density increases, electrons undergo a structural phase transition to a dimer state, in which two electrons of opposite spins are coupled across the two rows of the zig-zag. A phase diagram is sketched for a range of densities and transverse confinements. The quantum point contact (QPC) is a typical realization of quantum wires. I study the QPC by explicitly simulating a system of electrons in and around a Timp potential (Timp, 1992). Localization of a single electron in the middle of the channel is observed at 5 K, as the split gate voltage increases. The DC conductance is calculated, which shows the effect of the Coulomb interaction. At 1 K and low electron density, a state similar to the Wigner crystal is found inside the channel.
ContributorsLiu, Jianheng, 1982- (Author) / Shumway, John B (Thesis advisor) / Schmidt, Kevin E (Committee member) / Chen, Tingyong (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Ros, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation presents research findings on the three materials systems: lateral Si nanowires (SiNW), In2Se3/Bi2Se3 heterostructures and graphene. The first part of the thesis was focused on the growth and characterization of lateral SiNW. Lateral here refers to wires growing along the plane of substrate; vertical NW on the other hand grow out of the plane of substrate. It was found, using the Au-seeded vapor – liquid – solid technique, that epitaxial single-crystal SiNW can be grown laterally along Si(111) substrates that have been miscut toward [11− 2]. The ratio of lateral-to-vertical NW was found to increase as the miscut angle increased and as disilane pressure and substrate temperature decreased. Based on this observation, growth parameters were identified whereby all of the deposited Au seeds formed lateral NW. Furthermore, the nanofaceted substrate guided the growth via a mechanism that involved pinning of the trijunction at the liquid/solid interface of the growing nanowire.
Next, the growth of selenide heterostructures was explored. Specifically, molecular beam epitaxy was utilized to grow In2Se3 and Bi2Se3 films on h-BN, highly oriented pyrolytic graphite and Si(111) substrates. Growth optimizations of In2Se3 and Bi2Se3 films were carried out by systematically varying the growth parameters. While the growth of these films was demonstrated on h-BN and HOPG surface, the majority of the effort was focused on growth on Si(111). Atomically flat terraces that extended laterally for several hundred nm, which were separated by single quintuple layer high steps characterized surface of the best In2Se3 films grown on Si(111). These In2Se3 films were suitable for subsequent high quality epitaxy of Bi2Se3 .
The last part of this dissertation was focused on a recently initiated and ongoing study of graphene growth on liquid metal surfaces. The initial part of the study comprised a successful modification of an existing growth system to accommodate graphene synthesis and process development for reproducible graphene growth. Graphene was grown on Cu, Au and AuCu alloys at varioua conditions. Preliminary results showed triangular features on the liquid part of the Cu metal surface. For Au, and AuCu alloys, hexagonal features were noticed both on the solid and liquid parts.
Next, the growth of selenide heterostructures was explored. Specifically, molecular beam epitaxy was utilized to grow In2Se3 and Bi2Se3 films on h-BN, highly oriented pyrolytic graphite and Si(111) substrates. Growth optimizations of In2Se3 and Bi2Se3 films were carried out by systematically varying the growth parameters. While the growth of these films was demonstrated on h-BN and HOPG surface, the majority of the effort was focused on growth on Si(111). Atomically flat terraces that extended laterally for several hundred nm, which were separated by single quintuple layer high steps characterized surface of the best In2Se3 films grown on Si(111). These In2Se3 films were suitable for subsequent high quality epitaxy of Bi2Se3 .
The last part of this dissertation was focused on a recently initiated and ongoing study of graphene growth on liquid metal surfaces. The initial part of the study comprised a successful modification of an existing growth system to accommodate graphene synthesis and process development for reproducible graphene growth. Graphene was grown on Cu, Au and AuCu alloys at varioua conditions. Preliminary results showed triangular features on the liquid part of the Cu metal surface. For Au, and AuCu alloys, hexagonal features were noticed both on the solid and liquid parts.
ContributorsRathi, Somilkumar J (Author) / Drucker, Jeffery (Thesis advisor) / Smith, David (Committee member) / Chen, Tingyong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This dissertation aims to demonstrate a new approach to fabricating solar cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems with the potential to reduce their cost and complexity of manufacturing, called Monolithically Integrated Laterally Arrayed Multiple Band gap (MILAMB) solar cells. Single crystal semiconductor alloy nanowire (NW) ensembles are grown with the alloy composition and band gap changing continuously across a broad range over the surface of a single substrate in a single, inexpensive growth step by the Dual-Gradient Method. The nanowire ensembles then serve as the absorbing materials in a set of solar cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems.
Preliminary design and simulation studies based on Anderson's model band line-ups were undertaken for CdPbS and InGaN alloys. Systems of six subcells obtained efficiencies in the 32-38% range for CdPbS and 34-40% for InGaN at 1-240 suns, though both materials systems require significant development before these results could be achieved experimentally. For an experimental demonstration, CdSSe was selected due to its availability. Proof-of-concept CdSSe nanowire ensemble solar cells with two subcells were fabricated simultaneously on one substrate. I-V characterization under 1 sun AM1.5G conditions yielded open-circuit voltages (Voc) up to 307 and 173 mV and short-circuit current densities (Jsc) up to 0.091 and 0.974 mA/cm2 for the CdS- and CdSe-rich cells, respectively. Similar thin film cells were also fabricated for comparison. The nanowire cells showed substantially higher Voc than the film cells, which was attributed to higher material quality in the CdSSe absorber. I-V measurements were also conducted with optical filters to simulate a simple form of spectrum-splitting. The CdS-rich cells showed uniformly higher Voc and fill factor (FF) than the CdSe-rich cells, as expected due to their larger band gaps. This suggested higher power density was produced by the CdS-rich cells on the single-nanowire level, which is the principal benefit of spectrum-splitting. These results constitute a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration of the MILAMB approach to fabricating multiple cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaics. Future systems based on this approach could help to reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems and offer a low cost alternative to multi-junction tandems for achieving high efficiencies.
Preliminary design and simulation studies based on Anderson's model band line-ups were undertaken for CdPbS and InGaN alloys. Systems of six subcells obtained efficiencies in the 32-38% range for CdPbS and 34-40% for InGaN at 1-240 suns, though both materials systems require significant development before these results could be achieved experimentally. For an experimental demonstration, CdSSe was selected due to its availability. Proof-of-concept CdSSe nanowire ensemble solar cells with two subcells were fabricated simultaneously on one substrate. I-V characterization under 1 sun AM1.5G conditions yielded open-circuit voltages (Voc) up to 307 and 173 mV and short-circuit current densities (Jsc) up to 0.091 and 0.974 mA/cm2 for the CdS- and CdSe-rich cells, respectively. Similar thin film cells were also fabricated for comparison. The nanowire cells showed substantially higher Voc than the film cells, which was attributed to higher material quality in the CdSSe absorber. I-V measurements were also conducted with optical filters to simulate a simple form of spectrum-splitting. The CdS-rich cells showed uniformly higher Voc and fill factor (FF) than the CdSe-rich cells, as expected due to their larger band gaps. This suggested higher power density was produced by the CdS-rich cells on the single-nanowire level, which is the principal benefit of spectrum-splitting. These results constitute a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration of the MILAMB approach to fabricating multiple cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaics. Future systems based on this approach could help to reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems and offer a low cost alternative to multi-junction tandems for achieving high efficiencies.
ContributorsCaselli, Derek (Author) / Ning, Cun-Zheng (Thesis advisor) / Tao, Meng (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Vasileska, Dragica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
In this project, a novel method is presented for measuring the resistivity of nanoscale metallic conductors (nanowires) using a variable-spacing 2-point method with a modified ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscope. An auxiliary field emission imaging method that allows for scanning insulating surfaces using a large gap distance (20nm) is also presented. Using these methods, the resistivity of self-assembled endotaxial FeSi2 nanowires (NWs) on Si(110) was measured. The resistivity was found to vary inversely with NW width, being rhoNW = 200 uOhm cm at 12 nm and 300 uOhm cm at 2 nm. The increase at small w is attributed to boundary scattering, and is fit to the Fuchs-Sondheimer model, yielding values of rho0 = 150 uOhm cm and lambda = 2.4 nm, for specularity parameter p = 0.5. These results are attributed to a high concentration of point defects in the FeSi2 structure, with a correspondingly short inelastic electron scattering length. It is remarkable that the defect concentration persists in very small structures, and is not changed by surface oxidation.
ContributorsTobler, Samuel (Author) / Bennett, Peter (Thesis advisor) / McCartney, Martha (Committee member) / Tao, Nongjian (Committee member) / Doak, Bruce (Committee member) / Chen, Tingyong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
One of the challenges in future semiconductor device design is excessive rise of power dissipation and device temperatures. With the introduction of new geometrically confined device structures like SOI, FinFET, nanowires and continuous incorporation of new materials with poor thermal conductivities in the device active region, the device thermal problem is expected to become more challenging in coming years. This work examines the degradation in the ON-current due to self-heating effects in 10 nm channel length silicon nanowire transistors. As part of this dissertation, a 3D electrothermal device simulator is developed that self-consistently solves electron Boltzmann transport equation with 3D energy balance equations for both the acoustic and the optical phonons. This device simulator predicts temperature variations and other physical and electrical parameters across the device for different bias and boundary conditions. The simulation results show insignificant current degradation for nanowire self-heating because of pronounced velocity overshoot effect. In addition, this work explores the role of various placement of the source and drain contacts on the magnitude of self-heating effect in nanowire transistors. This work also investigates the simultaneous influence of self-heating and random charge effects on the magnitude of the ON current for both positively and negatively charged single charges. This research suggests that the self-heating effects affect the ON-current in two ways: (1) by lowering the barrier at the source end of the channel, thus allowing more carriers to go through, and (2) via the screening effect of the Coulomb potential. To examine the effect of temperature dependent thermal conductivity of thin silicon films in nanowire transistors, Selberherr's thermal conductivity model is used in the device simulator. The simulations results show larger current degradation because of self-heating due to decreased thermal conductivity . Crystallographic direction dependent thermal conductivity is also included in the device simulations. Larger degradation is observed in the current along the [100] direction when compared to the [110] direction which is in agreement with the values for the thermal conductivity tensor provided by Zlatan Aksamija.
ContributorsHossain, Arif (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Ahmed, Shaikh (Committee member) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Nanowires (NWs) have attracted many interests due to their advance in synthesis and their unique structural, electrical and optical properties. NWs have been realized as promising candidates for future photonic platforms. In this work, erbium chloride silicate (ECS), CdS and CdSSe NWs growth by vapor-liquid-solid mechanism and their characterization were demonstrated. In the ECS NWs part, systematic experiments were performed to investigate the relation between growth temperature and NWs structure. Scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence characterization were used to study the NWs morphology, crystal quality and optical properties. At low growth temperature, there was strong Si Raman signal observed indicating ECS NWs have Si core. At high growth temperature, the excess Si signal was disappeared and the NWs showed better crystal quality and optical properties. The growth temperature is the key parameter that will induce the transition from Si/ECS core-shell NWs structure to solid ECS NWs. With the merits of high Er concentration and long PL lifetime, ECS NWs can serve as optical gain material with emission at 1.5 μm for communications and amplifiers. In the CdS, CdSSe NWs part, the band gap engineering of CdSSe NWs with spatial composition tuning along single NWs were demonstrated. The first step of realizing CdSSe NWs was the controlled growth of CdS NWs. It showed that overall pressure would largely affect the lengths of the CdS NWs. NWs with longer length can be obtained at higher pressure. Then, based on CdS NWs growth and by adding CdSe step by step, composition graded CdSSe alloy NWs were successfully synthesized. The temperature control over the source vapor concentration plays the key role for the growth.
ContributorsNing, Hao (Author) / Ning, Cunzheng (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation addresses challenges pertaining to multi-junction (MJ) solar cells from material development to device design and characterization. Firstly, among the various methods to improve the energy conversion efficiency of MJ solar cells using, a novel approach proposed recently is to use II-VI (MgZnCd)(SeTe) and III-V (AlGaIn)(AsSb) semiconductors lattice-matched on GaSb or InAs substrates for current-matched subcells with minimal defect densities. CdSe/CdTe superlattices are proposed as a potential candidate for a subcell in the MJ solar cell designs using this material system, and therefore the material properties of the superlattices are studied. The high structural qualities of the superlattices are obtained from high resolution X-ray diffraction measurements and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images. The effective bandgap energies of the superlattices obtained from the photoluminescence (PL) measurements vary with the layer thicknesses, and are smaller than the bandgap energies of either the constituent material. Furthermore, The PL peak position measured at the steady state exhibits a blue shift that increases with the excess carrier concentration. These results confirm a strong type-II band edge alignment between CdSe and CdTe. The valence band offset between unstrained CdSe and CdTe is determined as 0.63 eV±0.06 eV by fitting the measured PL peak positions using the Kronig-Penney model. The blue shift in PL peak position is found to be primarily caused by the band bending effect based on self-consistent solutions of the Schrödinger and Poisson equations. Secondly, the design of the contact grid layout is studied to maximize the power output and energy conversion efficiency for concentrator solar cells. Because the conventional minimum power loss method used for the contact design is not accurate in determining the series resistance loss, a method of using a distributed series resistance model to maximize the power output is proposed for the contact design. It is found that the junction recombination loss in addition to the series resistance loss and shadowing loss can significantly affect the contact layout. The optimal finger spacing and maximum efficiency calculated by the two methods are close, and the differences are dependent on the series resistance and saturation currents of solar cells. Lastly, the accurate measurements of external quantum efficiency (EQE) are important for the design and development of MJ solar cells. However, the electrical and optical couplings between the subcells have caused EQE measurement artifacts. In order to interpret the measurement artifacts, DC and small signal models are built for the bias condition and the scan of chopped monochromatic light in the EQE measurements. Characterization methods are developed for the device parameters used in the models. The EQE measurement artifacts are found to be caused by the shunt and luminescence coupling effects, and can be minimized using proper voltage and light biases. Novel measurement methods using a pulse voltage bias or a pulse light bias are invented to eliminate the EQE measurement artifacts. These measurement methods are nondestructive and easy to implement. The pulse voltage bias or pulse light bias is superimposed on the conventional DC voltage and light biases, in order to control the operating points of the subcells and counterbalance the effects of shunt and luminescence coupling. The methods are demonstrated for the first time to effectively eliminate the measurement artifacts.
ContributorsLi, Jingjing (Author) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Thesis advisor) / Tao, Meng (Committee member) / Schroder, Dieter (Committee member) / Vasileska, Dragica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This thesis mainly focuses on the study of quantum efficiency (QE) and its measurement, especially for nanowires (NWs). First, a brief introduction of nano-technology and nanowire is given to describe my initial research interest. Next various fundamental kinds of recombination mechanisms are described; both for radiative and non-radiative processes. This is an introduction for defining the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). A relative IQE measurement method is shown following that. Then it comes to the major part of the thesis discussing a procedure of quantum efficiency measurement using photoluminescence (PL) method and an integrating sphere, which has not been much applied to nanowires (NWs). In fact this is a convenient and useful approach for evaluating the quality of NWs since it considers not only the PL emission but also the absorption of NWs. The process is well illustrated and performed with both wavelength-dependent and power-dependent measurements. The measured PLQE is in the range of 0.3% ~ 5.4%. During the measurement, a phenomenon called photodegradation is observed and examined by a set of power-dependence measurements. This effect can be a factor for underestimating the PLQE and a procedure is introduced during the sample preparation process which managed to reduce this effect for some degree.
ContributorsChen, Dongzi (Author) / Ning, Cun-Zheng (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Semiconductor nanowires have the potential to emerge as the building blocks of next generation field-effect transistors, logic gates, solar cells and light emitting diodes. Use of Gallium Nitride (GaN) and other wide bandgap materials combines the advantages of III-nitrides along with the enhanced mobility offered by 2-dimensional confinement present in nanowires. The focus of this thesis is on developing a low field mobility model for a GaN nanowire using Ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) techniques. A 2D Schrödinger-Poisson solver and a one-dimensional Monte Carlo solver is developed for an Aluminum Gallium Nitride/Gallium Nitride Heterostructure nanowire. A GaN/AlN/AlGaN heterostructure device is designed which creates 2-dimensional potential well for electrons. The nanowire is treated as a quasi-1D system in this work. A self-consistent 2D Schrödinger-Poisson solver is designed which determines the subband energies and the corresponding wavefunctions of the confined system. Three scattering mechanisms: acoustic phonon scattering, polar optical phonon scattering and piezoelectric scattering are considered to account for the electron phonon interactions in the system. Overlap integrals and 1D scattering rate expressions are derived for all the mechanisms listed. A generic one-dimensional Monte Carlo solver is also developed. Steady state results from the 1D Monte Carlo solver are extracted to determine the low field mobility of the GaN nanowires.
ContributorsKumar, Viswanathan Naveen (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Zhao, Yuji (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation describes fundamental studies of hollow carbon nanostructures, which may be used as electrodes for practical energy storage applications such as batteries or supercapacitors. Electron microscopy is heavily utilized for the nanoscale characterization. To control the morphology of hollow carbon nanostructures, ZnO nanowires serve as sacrificial templates. The first part of this dissertation focuses on the optimization of synthesis parameters and the scale-up production of ZnO nanowires by vapor transport method. Uniform ZnO nanowires with 40 nm width can be produced by using 1100 °C reaction temperature and 20 sccm oxygen flow rate, which are the two most important parameters.
The use of ethanol as carbon source with or without water steam provides uniform carbonaceous deposition on ZnO nanowire templates. The amount of as-deposited carbonaceous material can be controlled by reaction temperature and reaction time. Due to the catalytic property of ZnO surface, the thicknesses of carbonaceous layers are typically in nanometers. Different methods to remove the ZnO templates are explored, of which hydrogen reduction at temperatures higher than 700 °C is most efficient. The ZnO templates can also be removed under ethanol environment, but the temperatures need to be higher than 850 °C for practical use.
Characterizations of hollow carbon nanofibers show that the hollow carbon nanostructures have a high specific surface area (>1100 m2/g) with the presence of mesopores (~3.5 nm). The initial data on energy storage as electrodes of electrochemical double layer capacitors show that high specific capacitance (> 220 F/g) can be obtained, which is related to the high surface area and unique porous hollow structure with a thin wall.
The use of ethanol as carbon source with or without water steam provides uniform carbonaceous deposition on ZnO nanowire templates. The amount of as-deposited carbonaceous material can be controlled by reaction temperature and reaction time. Due to the catalytic property of ZnO surface, the thicknesses of carbonaceous layers are typically in nanometers. Different methods to remove the ZnO templates are explored, of which hydrogen reduction at temperatures higher than 700 °C is most efficient. The ZnO templates can also be removed under ethanol environment, but the temperatures need to be higher than 850 °C for practical use.
Characterizations of hollow carbon nanofibers show that the hollow carbon nanostructures have a high specific surface area (>1100 m2/g) with the presence of mesopores (~3.5 nm). The initial data on energy storage as electrodes of electrochemical double layer capacitors show that high specific capacitance (> 220 F/g) can be obtained, which is related to the high surface area and unique porous hollow structure with a thin wall.
ContributorsSong, Yian (Author) / Liu, Jingyue (Committee member) / Smith, David (Committee member) / McCartney, Martha (Committee member) / Chen, Tingyong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016