Progress in tailoring the size, shape and positioning of Quantum Dots on the substrate is crucial for their potential applications in new optoelectronic devices for nano-photonics as well as in quantum information and computation. Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy in pulsed deposition mode we demonstrate that the nucleation of InAs Quantum Dots can be selectively guided on the GaAs(001) surface by a suitable choice of the kinetic parameters for the growth of both the GaAs buffer layer and the InAs Quantum Dots. By developing a two-species rate-equation kinetic model we show that the positioning of the Quantum Dots on only one side of mounds of the GaAs buffer can be traced back to the very small As flux gradient between the two mound slopes $\left( {\Delta F_A /F_A \approx 1 - 5\% } \right)$ caused by the proper tilting of the incoming As flux. Such gradient originates, at the relatively high growth-temperature, a net cation flow from one slope of the mound to the other that is responsible for the selective growth.

Alkyl-terminated SixG1-x nanocrystals are prepared at room temperature by co-reduction of Si and Ge precursors by hydride reducing agents within inverse micelles. Compositional control of the alloy silicon-germanium NCs (ca. 3.6 nm) is achieved by varying the relative amounts of each precursor used in the synthesis. Transmission electron microscopy imaging confirmed that the NCs are highly crystalline with a narrow size distribution; optical spectroscopy shows strong quantum confinement effects, with moderate absorption in the UV spectral range, and a strong blue emission with a marked dependency on excitation wavelength.

The modelling of of silicon gate-all-around nanowire transistors by non-equilibrium Green function methods requires the computation of self-energies for inelastic electron-phonon interactions. It is shown that many approximations designed to reduce numerical complexityto these self-energies in fact fail because they do not satisfy appropriate causality conditions. Four familiar approximations are discussed and their failures resolved. It is also shown that a condition for the spectral density sum rule to hold (and hence accurate density of states in energy) depends on a simple causality condition.

Thanks to an original approach based on the carburization of silicon nanowires, silicon carbide-based one dimensional nanostructures – SiC nanotubes, Si-SiC core-shell nanowires and SiC nanowires – have been synthesized. The original process, which relies on controlling the out-diffusion of Si atoms through SiC, can be monitored by the temperature, the pressure and the time of carburization. These SiC-based 1D nanostructures have been characterized by SEM, FIB-SEM and TEM microscopies and also Raman spectroscopy. Bio-nano-sensors, nano-Field-Effect-Transistors (nano-FETs) or gas sensors may be some applications for these nanostructures.

During the epitaxial bottom up growth of nanowire (NW) arrays, occasional kinks in growth direction can lead to intersecting and consequently self-welded crystalline connections between NWs. In order to study these self-welded metallurgical NW junctions, a NW bridge device architecture which requires no post-growth processing was used to grow and stabilize Si NW junctions. Scanning Photocurrent Microscopy (SPCM) was used to study the optoelectronic properties of the NW junctions as well as the characteristics of the NW bridge devices. SPCM measurements show a bias dependent photocurrent (PC) response at the NW junction indicating local band bending at this location. A decay of the PC response away from the junction is also seen in the secondary NW channel ensuring an electrical connection. These junction properties may be important for ensemble NW optical devices.

Non-equilibrium Green’s functions (NEGF) simulations are carried out to determine the impact of an unintentional dopant in the middle of the channel of a FinFET. We consider two different geometries scaled according to the ITRS and two different types of dopants, donors and acceptors. We show that there is a degradation of the subthreshold characteristics with the scaling of the smooth device and also a stronger impact of the stray dopants in the middle of the channel, with variations up to 32% in the current in on-state conditions.

We demonstrate the superior inductive properties of coiled carbon nanotubes (CCNTs) through numerical computation and analytical modeling, for the next generation of nanoscale, on-chip inductors. Taking advantage of the kinetic inductance (Lk), particularly evident at the nanoscale we find that the inductance can be increased by three orders of magnitude through changing the tube radius as well as the coil radius while the device footprint of the CCNTs can be reduced by 60%. By varying the geometric parameters of the coiled structure, the external magnetic inductance (LM,ext) can be as high as 20% of the Lk. We also report that the self resonant frequency (fSR) of CCNTs can be as much of the order of THz whereas the fSR of conventional copper(Cu) spiral inductors are limited to around 40GHz. Moreover when the material volume is considered, CCNTs have the potential to achieve Quality Factor (Q) eight times as Cu and when the footprint volume is considered Q can be twice as Cu All these promising properties of CCNTs make them a potential candidate for the entire frequency spectrum.

In this article, structural evolution in nickel doped zinc oxide nanostructures is reported. The ZnO nanostructures are synthesized with 1-10% of Ni doping adopting a chemical precipitation method. The undoped and doped nanostructures thus prepared, were systematically investigated employing X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM/SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and micro-Raman spectroscopy (μRS). The identification of wurtzite phase and determination of lattice parameters of Ni doped ZnO nanocrystallites is ascertained through XRD analysis. TEM/SEM images reveal the structural alteration of ZnO with variation of Ni doping concentrations. The study of vibrational modes of nanostructures at different stages of structural transformation, as performed through FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, assist in deciphering the crucial role of Ni doping concentration in gradual evolution of nickel doped ZnO structure from nanoparticles to nanorods.

This paper presents that the fine tuning of efficient fluorescence emission in a very wide range of wavelength from near-UV through visible to near-IR by control over size, structural phase, and surface of germanium nanoparticles (Ge NPs). To achieve this, we prepared two parent samples composed of NPs with different emission photon energies, and separated the NPs by emission color through a combinatorial column techniques. In the NPs obtained by the separation, the spectral line widths of each emission became very narrow. Furthermore, the absolute fluorescence quantum yields for each emission were high enough for the industrial use of fluorescence labeling tags. Another scientific impact is the finding of new family of luminescent Ge, that is, the NPs emitting the lights in the violet and green-gap wavelength regions, respectively. It is commonly believed that a broad spectral line width frequently observed from Ge NP appears due to an indirect bandgap nature inherited even in nanostructures, but the present study provides obvious experimental evidences that a broad luminescence spectrum is expressed as ensemble of different spectral lines, and can be separated into the fractions emitting the lights in each wavelength region by the appropriate post-synthetic process.

We present two distinct methods to nanostructure the surface of amorphous silicon to produce unique, nanoscale surface features. One method is a dry etch process that employs a modified Bosch1 process on an advanced silicon etcher to produce needle-like features of amorphous silicon. Likewise, we also investigated metal-assisted wet chemical etching2 as an alternative method to nanostructure the amorphous silicon to produce porous-like features. The resulting surface topography leads to an optically black appearance over patterned or large areas. This is a result of the interspacing between each needle and pore that leads to a high optical absorption. Thus, we designate it as black amorphous silicon (b-a-Si). We have deposited and formed regions of b-a-Si on variety of insulating films and metal electrodes, including chrome and titanium. In this study, we characterize the electrical and optical properties of as-deposited amorphous silicon and nanostructured amorphous silicon.

Here, we present a method for the fabrication of silicon (Si) nanowires and Si nanowire-gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) heterostructures for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect. Branched Si nanowires were grown in atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Further decoration of these nanowires was achieved by a galvanic deposition of gold followed by annealing procedure. This resulted in Si nanowires-AuNPs heterostructures with controlled size and inter-particle spacing. Furthermore, the fabricated heterostructures were studied for Raman signal enhancement of the low concentration (∼10-6 M) dye (Rhodamine 6G, R6G). It was observed that heterostructuring of SiNWs with AuNPs led to improvement of R6G signals as compared to AuNPs dispersed on flat Si substrate.

Heteroepitaxy of SiGe alloys on Si (001) under certain growth conditions has previously been shown to cause self-assembly of nanostructures called Quantum Dot Molecules, QDMs, where pyramidal pits and 3D islands cooperatively form. QDMs have potential applications to nanologic device architectures such as Quantum Cellular Automata that relies on localization of charges inside islands to create bi-stable logic states. In order to determine the applicability of QDMs to such structures it is necessary to understand the nano-scale chemistry of QDMs because the chemistry affects local bandgap which in turn affects a QDM’s charge confinement property. We investigate the nanoscale chemistry of QDMs in the Si0.7Ge0.3/Si (100) system using Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). Our AES analysis indicates that compressively strained QDM pit bases are the most Ge rich regions in a QDM. The segregation of Ge to these locations cannot be explained by strain energy minimization.

It is known that methanol and ethylene form distinct one-dimensional patterns along the dimer row on the Ge(100)-2 × 1 surface. A unified explanation for the pattern formation is attempted in this study through theoretical methods. Kinetic parameters of the precursor-mediated adsorption of the two molecules are calculated using density functional theory methods. The potential energy surface along the reaction channel was found to vary according to nearest-neighbor occupation. Monte Carlo simulations were performed with calculated kinetic coefficients and assumptions of a one-dimensional lattice with nearest neighbor interactions. The simulation results effectively reproduce the coverage-dependent evolution of longer-range adsorption patterns.

The influence of film thickness and line width on the morphology of epitaxial SiGe was studied after an annealing step. The morphology of 5 nm and 19 nm thick SiGe was characterized in 60-490 nm wide lines which were oriented along <100> on Si (001) substrates. We have shown that the annealed SiGe morphology changed significantly as a function of line width and film thickness. Wide lines of 19 nm thick SiGe showed ridge formation; as the line width was decreased the morphology stabilized and then became unstable with the formation of bulges. The morphology of 5 nm thick SiGe consisted of ridges in wide lines, changed to faceted islands in narrower lines and was stable in the narrowest lines.

In this study, Pd thin film is used as catalyst to grow epitaxial InAs nanowires on GaAs(111)B substrate in a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition reactor to explore the growth mechanism and the effects of non-gold catalysts in the growth of III-V epitaxial nanowires. Through detailed morphological, structural and chemical characterization using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, it is found that defect-free zinc-blende structured epitaxial InAs nanowires are grown along the <110> directions with four {111} sidewall facets forming a diamond shaped cross-section. Furthermore, the interface between the nanowire/catalyst is found to be the uncommon {113} planes. It is anticipated that these zinc-blende structured InAs nanowires are grown via the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. The defect-free nature of these nanowires arises from the non-<111> growth direction and non-{111} nanowire/catalyst interface.

Metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) of silicon (Si) is a simple and low-cost process to fabricate Si nanostructures with varying aspect ratio and properties. In this work, we report on the structural and vibrational properties of Si nanostructures synthesized with varying metal catalyst. The morphology of the synthesized nanowires was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The optical and vibrational properties of the Si nanostructures were studied by photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy using three different excitation sources (UV, visible and near-infrared) and are correlated to their microstructures. We propose that the excessive injection of holes into Si at the metal-Si interface and its diffusion to the nanowire surfaces facilitate the etching of Si on these surfaces, leading to a mesoporous network of Si nanocrystallites. When etched with catalytic Au nanoparticles, “hay-stacked” mesoporous Si nanowires were obtained. The straighter nanowires etched with Ag nanoparticles, consisted of a single crystalline core with a thin porous layer that decreased in thickness towards the base of the nanowire. This difference is due to the higher catalytic activity of Au compared to Ag for H2O2 decomposition. The SERRS observed during UV and visible Raman with Ag-etched Si nanowires and near-infrared Raman with Au-etched Si nanowires is due to the presence of the sunken metal nanoparticles. In addition, we explored the influence of varying H2O2 and HF concentration as well as the influence of increased etching temperature on the resultant nanostructured Si morphology. Such Si nanostructures may be useful for a wide range of applications such as photovoltaic and biological and chemical sensing.

We present a practical technique for fabricating silicon nanowire bridges on pre-patterned Si electrodes arrays. Silicon nanowires, catalyzed by gold nanoparticles, were grown on silicon electrodes from HF treated Au colloid as well as on electrodes treated with poly-L-lysine. Negligible growth was observed on untreated substrates due to poor adhesion of gold nanoparticles to the hydrogen terminated Si surface. In contrast, the treatments significantly increased occurrence of silicon nanowire bridges, which can be attributed to improved deposition of gold nanoparticles on the surface. Deposition time and concentrations of colloids also affected the occurrence of SiNW bridges. These results indicate that our techniqute for fabricating nanowire bridge arrays will be useful for large-area nanowire applications.

Highly monodispersed ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized in polyol medium. The control on crystal size was attempted at 180°C by monitoring the heating rate of reacting solutions and the cooling rate (quenching) at the end of the reaction time. The possibility to promote crystal growth by heterogeneous nucleation was also evaluated; in this approach, pre-synthesized 5-nm pure ZnO nanocrystals were used as seeds in fresh Zn-polyol solutions at suitable seeds/ZnO w/w ratios. As-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Absorbance (UV-vis) and Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). XRD measurements confirmed the formation of well crystallized ZnO-wurtzite with absence of secondary phases in both seeds and grown crystals. FT-IR analyses evidenced the presence of organic moieties on the surface of the nanoparticles that are associated to the functional groups of polyol by-products; these adsorbed species would have prevented particles from aggregation. PL measurements (excitation wavelength 345 nm) reveled that a tuning in the emission bands of ZnO NPs can be achieved through synthesis conditions and crystal size. HRTEM measurements evidenced the formation of bare ZnO NPs of 2 nm, 6 nm, 20 nm and clusters of small nanocrystals.

An improved 2D device model is generated to simulate the DC properties of hydrogen- terminated diamond MISFETs by taking into account the effect of electric field on hole mobility. At high lateral field, the mobility degrades due to velocity saturation and at high transverse field, the mobility decreases because of strong surface phonon scattering. As either field increases to a certain level (∼ 1MV/cm), the mobility becomes independent of doping concentration and the maximum transverse field appears at the boundary between surface acceptor region and bulk. The threshold voltage is found to be a strong function of gate length and can change from negative to positive, which will change the operation mode of the device. In addition, the simulation also shows that the transconductance reaches a maximum value at 80nm gate length but decreases after further shrinkage, which might be also related to the velocity saturation effect induced by large lateral field.

Semiconductor heterostructures as quantum dots demonstrate discrete atom-like energy level structure based on several hundred of electron confinement states. In the case of double QD (DQD) or double QR (DQR), there is a single electron spectrum composed of a set of quasi-doublets. We study these specific spectrum properties with their relation to the electron tunneling in DQD (DCQR) when the wave function of electron localized initially in one of the double quantum object is spread into whole system. The double InAs/GaAs quantum dots are considered within the effective approach. Tunneling in DQD is studied in connection with change of inter-dot distance and QD geometry. There are two types of such tunneling in DQD. The first is related to tunneling in the system of two identical QDs; the second one occurs in the system of non-identical QDs. The tunneling in the DQR is a tunneling in the system with non-identical quantum objects. The quasi-doublets of the DQD spectrum play an important role in the tunneling. We study effect of violation of symmetry of DQD geometry on the tunneling and show that the violation of symmetry makes difficulties for such tunneling.