硅基Ⅳ族材料外延生长及其发光和探测器件研究进展

硅基光电集成回路是信息时代最具影响力的核心技术之一,由硅基光源、光电探测器、光调制器等模块组成.硅材料是微电子集成电路的基石,然而在光电集成方面却遇到了瓶颈.首先,由于硅是间接带隙材料,其发光效率极低,因此难以应用于硅基高效光源的研制.其次,硅在近红外通讯波段吸收系数很低,因此在近红外光电探测器的应用中具有较大的局限性.然而,研究者发现,通过能带工程将硅与其他Ⅳ族材料相融合不仅可以有效提高直接带高效发光效率,同时能使材料在近红外波段具有较高的吸收系数.因此,以Ⅳ族材料为基础,与硅工艺兼容的硅基光电集成回路引起了研究者的广泛关注.本文综述了课题组在硅基材料外延生长及其发光和探测器件方面的研究进展.介绍了硅基Ⅳ族材料Ge,SiGe/Ge异质结和量子阱材料的外延生长技术,以及硅基GeSn量子点发光材料的制备新方法.基于硅基Ⅳ族异质结构材料,发展调制金属与半导体接触势垒高度新机理,研制了多种结构的光电探测器.设计并制备了与互补金属氧化物半导体(Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor,CMOS)结构兼容的横向异质结以及双有源区垂直共振腔型两种结构硅基电致发光器件,有效提升器件的发光性能,并观察到应变锗发光增益现象.     

金属量子结构中的半导体输运性质及其调控

随着后摩尔时代的推进,以硅为基础的半导体器件正接近其性能极限.除了不断引入新的器件结构外,设计具有半导体特性的金属量子结构为微电子器件的性能提升提供了全新的解决方案;而打开金属带隙,使其具有栅极可调半导体输运,是实现其应用的关键.以此为目的,自20世纪末以来,多种金属量子结构便逐步被设计与开发,其输运特性的有效调控也被学术界广泛研究.本文回顾了零维量子点、一维纳米线/纳米管、二维材料/人工二维晶格/超导薄膜等不同维度金属量子结构的研究进展;针对这些结构体系,介绍了其各自的能隙调控思想,总结分析了可控输运特性的实现方法与内在机制,对比展示了材料结构的电学性能及应用前景.基于目前报道的研究结果,提出了未来预期的研究方向:开发金属量子结构中输运与自旋关联特性,设计同时传输电荷与自旋信息,且具有栅极可调输运带隙的全金属沟道材料、结构与器件.     

Coherent singlet-triplet oscillations in a silicon-based double quantum dot

Silicon is more than the dominant material in the conventional microelectronics industry: it also has potential as a host material for emerging quantum information technologies. Standard fabrication techniques already allow the isolation of single electron spins in silicon transistor-like devices. Although this is also possible in other materials, silicon-based systems have the advantage of interacting more weakly with nuclear spins. Reducing such interactions is important for the control of spin quantum bits because nuclear fluctuations limit quantum phase coherence, as seen in recent experiments in GaAs-based quantum dots. Advances in reducing nuclear decoherence effects by means of complex control still result in coherence times much shorter than those seen in experiments on large ensembles of impurity-bound electrons in bulk silicon crystals. Here we report coherent control of electron spins in two coupled quantum dots in an undoped Si/SiGe heterostructure and show that this system has a nuclei-induced dephasing time of 360 nanoseconds, which is an increase by nearly two orders of magnitude over similar measurements in GaAs-based quantum dots. The degree of phase coherence observed, combined with fast, gated electrical initialization, read-out and control, should motivate future development of silicon-based quantum information processors.     

二维V型AlP半导体及其可调直接带隙

一种新型单分子层V型结构磷化铝(V-AlP)二维半导体材料被理论预测,且通过第一性原理计算,它的稳定性和电学性质也得到详细考察. 在外加应力和电场作用下,其电子结构被有效地调控.计算结果表明它有很好的稳定性,且具有宽的直接带隙(2.6 eV).在双轴应力下,其带隙可以在(1～2.6 eV)范围内调控.在外加张力的作用下,其直接带隙可以转变成间接带隙.在不同的应力作用下, 单层 V-AlP的能带结构变化趋势明显不同,因此其表现出对外加应力的各向异性. 当外加电场从5 V·nm－1变为10 V·nm－1时,单层V-AlP的带隙可以从0 eV线性调控到2.6 eV. 研究结果表明应力和电场都可以有效地改变单层V-AlP的电子能带结构,因此这种二维V－AlP在纳米电子器件中有着广阔的应用前景.     

碳化硅电力电子器件及其在电力电子变压器中的应用

随着“坚强智能电网”建设的不断深化以及“泛在电力物联网”概念的提出,硅基电力电子器件以及电力电子化装置正面临着新的挑战。以碳化硅基为代表的宽禁带功率半导体器件,因其高耐压、高耐温、高频开关等优良特性,在中高压领域前景广阔。其典型应用之一即因硅基器件耐压水平有限而难有突破的电力电子变压器。电力电子变压器除了能实现传统工频交流变压器的电压变换和电气隔离功能之外,还在故障切除、功率调控、分布式可再生能源接入等方面有独特优势。本文首先对碳化硅电力电子器件的研究与发展作简要概述,而后对电力电子变压器的发展进行了简单梳理。最后,重点介绍了几种典型的应用碳化硅器件的电力电子变压器,以便相关研究的进一步开展。     

Quantum phase transition in a single-molecule quantum dot

Quantum criticality is the intriguing possibility offered by the laws of quantum mechanics when the wave function of a many-particle physical system is forced to evolve continuously between two distinct, competing ground states. This phenomenon, often related to a zero-temperature magnetic phase transition, is believed to govern many of the fascinating properties of strongly correlated systems such as heavy-fermion compounds or high-temperature superconductors. In contrast to bulk materials with very complex electronic structures, artificial nanoscale devices could offer a new and simpler means of understanding quantum phase transitions. Here we demonstrate this possibility in a single-molecule quantum dot, where a gate voltage induces a crossing of two different types of electron spin state (singlet and triplet) at zero magnetic field. The quantum dot is operated in the Kondo regime, where the electron spin on the quantum dot is partially screened by metallic electrodes. This strong electronic coupling between the quantum dot and the metallic contacts provides the strong electron correlations necessary to observe quantum critical behaviour. The quantum magnetic phase transition between two different Kondo regimes is achieved by tuning gate voltages and is fundamentally different from previously observed Kondo transitions in semiconductor and nanotube quantum dots. Our work may offer new directions in terms of control and tunability for molecular spintronics.     

Ge/Si nanowire heterostructures as high-performance field-effect transistors

Semiconducting carbon nanotubes and nanowires are potential alternatives to planar metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) owing, for example, to their unique electronic structure and reduced carrier scattering caused by one-dimensional quantum confinement effects. Studies have demonstrated long carrier mean free paths at room temperature in both carbon nanotubes and Ge/Si core/shell nanowires. In the case of carbon nanotube FETs, devices have been fabricated that work close to the ballistic limit. Applications of high-performance carbon nanotube FETs have been hindered, however, by difficulties in producing uniform semiconducting nanotubes, a factor not limiting nanowires, which have been prepared with reproducible electronic properties in high yield as required for large-scale integrated systems. Yet whether nanowire field-effect transistors (NWFETs) can indeed outperform their planar counterparts is still unclear. Here we report studies on Ge/Si core/shell nanowire heterostructures configured as FETs using high-kappa dielectrics in a top-gate geometry. The clean one-dimensional hole-gas in the Ge/Si nanowire heterostructures and enhanced gate coupling with high-kappa dielectrics give high-performance FETs values of the scaled transconductance (3.3 mS microm(-1)) and on-current (2.1 mA microm(-1)) that are three to four times greater than state-of-the-art MOSFETs and are the highest obtained on NWFETs. Furthermore, comparison of the intrinsic switching delay, tau = CV/I, which represents a key metric for device applications, shows that the performance of Ge/Si NWFETs is comparable to similar length carbon nanotube FETs and substantially exceeds the length-dependent scaling of planar silicon MOSFETs.     

Optically programmable electron spin memory using semiconductor quantum dots

The spin of a single electron subject to a static magnetic field provides a natural two-level system that is suitable for use as a quantum bit, the fundamental logical unit in a quantum computer. Semiconductor quantum dots fabricated by strain driven self-assembly are particularly attractive for the realization of spin quantum bits, as they can be controllably positioned, electronically coupled and embedded into active devices. It has been predicted that the atomic-like electronic structure of such quantum dots suppresses coupling of the spin to the solid-state quantum dot environment, thus protecting the 'spin' quantum information against decoherence. Here we demonstrate a single electron spin memory device in which the electron spin can be programmed by frequency selective optical excitation. We use the device to prepare single electron spins in semiconductor quantum dots with a well defined orientation, and directly measure the intrinsic spin flip time and its dependence on magnetic field. A very long spin lifetime is obtained, with a lower limit of about 20 milliseconds at a magnetic field of 4 tesla and at 1 kelvin.     

Optical emission from a charge-tunable quantum ring

Quantum dots or rings are artificial nanometre-sized clusters that confine electrons in all three directions. They can be fabricated in a semiconductor system by embedding an island of low-bandgap material in a sea of material with a higher bandgap. Quantum dots are often referred to as artificial atoms because, when filled sequentially with electrons, the charging energies are pronounced for particular electron numbers; this is analogous to Hund's rules in atomic physics. But semiconductors also have a valence band with strong optical transitions to the conduction band. These transitions are the basis for the application of quantum dots as laser emitters, storage devices and fluorescence markers. Here we report how the optical emission (photoluminescence) of a single quantum ring changes as electrons are added one-by-one. We find that the emission energy changes abruptly whenever an electron is added to the artificial atom, and that the sizes of the jumps reveal a shell structure.     

A role for graphene in silicon-based semiconductor devices

As silicon-based electronics approach the limit of improvements to performance and capacity through dimensional scaling, attention in the semiconductor field has turned to graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Its high mobility of charge carriers (electrons and holes) could lead to its use in the next generation of high-performance devices. Graphene is unlikely to replace silicon completely, however, because of the poor on/off current ratio resulting from its zero bandgap. But it could be used to improve silicon-based devices, in particular in high-speed electronics and optical modulators.     

Co掺杂ZnSe团簇稳定性和磁性质

采用密度泛函理论研究了Co原子单掺杂和双掺杂(ZnSe)12团簇的结构、电子性质和磁性质.考虑了三种掺杂方式:替代掺杂、外掺杂和内掺杂.首先比较了各种掺杂团簇的稳定性.单掺杂时,外掺杂团簇是最稳定结构,双掺杂时,内掺杂团簇是最稳定结构.在结构优化的基础上,对掺杂团簇又进行了磁性计算.团簇磁矩主要来自Co-3d态的贡献,4s和4p态也贡献了一小部分磁矩.由于轨道杂化,相邻的Zn和Se原子上也产生少量自旋.最重要的是,我们指出内双掺杂团簇是铁磁耦合,在纳米量子器件领域有潜在的应用价值.     

Self-assembled monolayer organic field-effect transistors

The use of individual molecules as functional electronic devices was proposed in 1974 (ref. 1). Since then, advances in the field of nanotechnology have led to the fabrication of various molecule devices and devices based on monolayer arrays of molecules. Single molecule devices are expected to have interesting electronic properties, but devices based on an array of molecules are easier to fabricate and could potentially be more reliable. However, most of the previous work on array-based devices focused on two-terminal structures: demonstrating, for example, negative differential resistance, rectifiers, and re-configurable switching. It has also been proposed that diode switches containing only a few two-terminal molecules could be used to implement simple molecular electronic computer logic circuits. However, three-terminal devices, that is, transistors, could offer several advantages for logic operations compared to two-terminal switches, the most important of which is 'gain'-the ability to modulate the conductance. Here, we demonstrate gain for electronic transport perpendicular to a single molecular layer ( approximately 10-20 A) by using a third gate electrode. Our experiments with field-effect transistors based on self-assembled monolayers demonstrate conductance modulation of more than five orders of magnitude. In addition, inverter circuits have been prepared that show a gain as high as six. The fabrication of monolayer transistors and inverters might represent an important step towards molecular-scale electronics.     

Silicon dots films deposited by spin-coating as a generated carrier addition layer of third generation photovoltaics

In this work, silicon ink composing of silicon powder and zinc oxide solution was formulated and spin-coated on quartz and n/p-Si substrates followed by drying the films under atmosphere at the temperature of 550°C. The results showed that this top-addition layer could be the highly promising layer for photo-generating carriers in third-generation photovoltaics to enhance blue-light absorption. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques were used to study the presence of silicon and zinc oxide nano-crystallites. The thin films consisting of different energy bandgap of Si nanocrystals(～100 nm) with narrow bandgap and spherical Zn O:Bi nanocrystal(～20 nm) with wider bandgap could be obtained from the evidence of bandgap enlargement. The band gaps of the thin films were tunable by adjusting silicon dots density in Zn O:Bi film. Energy upshift of light absorption edge depended on the silicon dots density was observed in the range 1.6–3.3 eV related band gap enlargement by Tauc plot. Under illumination, a high photocurrent gain of the thin film comprised of low Si dots density coated on a quartz substrate was about 10~3 times higher compared with its dark current. This result is agreeably explained in terms of its lower superficial trap states at the interface between silicon and zinc oxide matrix. The composite layer can be applied to a third-generation solar cell with the efficiency 1.50% higher than that with a typical crystalline-Si solar cell.     

Indium phosphide nanowires as building blocks for nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices

Nanowires and nanotubes carry charge and excitons efficiently, and are therefore potentially ideal building blocks for nanoscale electronics and optoelectronics. Carbon nanotubes have already been exploited in devices such as field-effect and single-electron transistors, but the practical utility of nanotube components for building electronic circuits is limited, as it is not yet possible to selectively grow semiconducting or metallic nanotubes. Here we report the assembly of functional nanoscale devices from indium phosphide nanowires, the electrical properties of which are controlled by selective doping. Gate-voltage-dependent transport measurements demonstrate that the nanowires can be predictably synthesized as either n- or p-type. These doped nanowires function as nanoscale field-effect transistors, and can be assembled into crossed-wire p-n junctions that exhibit rectifying behaviour. Significantly, the p-n junctions emit light strongly and are perhaps the smallest light-emitting diodes that have yet been made. Finally, we show that electric-field-directed assembly can be used to create highly integrated device arrays from nanowire building blocks.     

Room-temperature fabrication of transparent flexible thin-film transistors using amorphous oxide semiconductors

Transparent electronic devices formed on flexible substrates are expected to meet emerging technological demands where silicon-based electronics cannot provide a solution. Examples of active flexible applications include paper displays and wearable computers. So far, mainly flexible devices based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and organic semiconductors have been investigated. However, the performance of these devices has been insufficient for use as transistors in practical computers and current-driven organic light-emitting diode displays. Fabricating high-performance devices is challenging, owing to a trade-off between processing temperature and device performance. Here, we propose to solve this problem by using a novel semiconducting material--namely, a transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor from the In-Ga-Zn-O system (a-IGZO)--for the active channel in transparent thin-film transistors (TTFTs). The a-IGZO is deposited on polyethylene terephthalate at room temperature and exhibits Hall effect mobilities exceeding 10 cm2 V(-1) s(-1), which is an order of magnitude larger than for hydrogenated amorphous silicon. TTFTs fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate sheets exhibit saturation mobilities of 6-9 cm2 V(-1) s(-1), and device characteristics are stable during repetitive bending of the TTFT sheet.     

Kondo physics in carbon nanotubes

The connection of electrical leads to wire-like molecules is a logical step in the development of molecular electronics, but also allows studies of fundamental physics. For example, metallic carbon nanotubes are quantum wires that have been found to act as one-dimensional quantum dots, Luttinger liquids, proximity-induced superconductors and ballistic and diffusive one-dimensional metals. Here we report that electrically contacted single-walled carbon nanotubes can serve as powerful probes of Kondo physics, demonstrating the universality of the Kondo effect. Arising in the prototypical case from the interaction between a localized impurity magnetic moment and delocalized electrons in a metallic host, the Kondo effect has been used to explain enhanced low-temperature scattering from magnetic impurities in metals, and also occurs in transport through semiconductor quantum dots. The far greater tunability of dots (in our case, nanotubes) compared with atomic impurities renders new classes of Kondo-like effects accessible. Our nanotube devices differ from previous systems in which Kondo effects have been observed, in that they are one-dimensional quantum dots with three-dimensional metal (gold) reservoirs. This allows us to observe Kondo resonances for very large electron numbers (N) in the dot, and approaching the unitary limit (where the transmission reaches its maximum possible value). Moreover, we detect a previously unobserved Kondo effect, occurring for even values of N in a magnetic field.     

Kondo resonance in a single-molecule transistor

When an individual molecule, nanocrystal, nanotube or lithographically defined quantum dot is attached to metallic electrodes via tunnel barriers, electron transport is dominated by single-electron charging and energy-level quantization. As the coupling to the electrodes increases, higher-order tunnelling and correlated electron motion give rise to new phenomena, including the Kondo resonance. To date, all of the studies of Kondo phenomena in quantum dots have been performed on systems where precise control over the spin degrees of freedom is difficult. Molecules incorporating transition-metal atoms provide powerful new systems in this regard, because the spin and orbital degrees of freedom can be controlled through well-defined chemistry. Here we report the observation of the Kondo effect in single-molecule transistors, where an individual divanadium molecule serves as a spin impurity. We find that the Kondo resonance can be tuned reversibly using the gate voltage to alter the charge and spin state of the molecule. The resonance persists at temperatures up to 30 K and when the energy separation between the molecular state and the Fermi level of the metal exceeds 100 meV.     

碳纳米管用于场效应晶体管的应用研究

 传统硅晶体管在微小化方面遇到瓶颈,碳纳米管作为一维量子材料,成为未来晶体管最具潜力的候选者。介绍了几种典型的碳纳米管场效应晶体管结构的基本工作原理及独特性能;着重介绍了近年来几种常见的碳纳米管场效应晶体管,并结合其结构与工作原理,论述了一系列技术革新和性能改进;总结了碳纳米管场效应晶体管未来需解决的几个重要问题。     

面向SWCNT-FET制造的介电泳装配技术

针对单壁碳纳米管(SWCNT)场效应晶体管(FET)制造过程中面临的SWCNT装配问题,采用介电泳技术实现SWCNT在微电极上的有效装配.对SWCNT在非均匀电场中所受到的介电泳力进行了相关理论分析,利用COMSOL多物理场耦合软件模拟了介电泳驱动电场,并做了大量装配实验,获得了高效装配SWCNT所需的实验参数.AFM扫描观测及电特性测试验证了这种方法的有效性,同时也为其他一维纳米材料纳电子器件的装配制造提供了借鉴.     

Colloidal nanocrystal heterostructures with linear and branched topology

The development of colloidal quantum dots has led to practical applications of quantum confinement, such as in solution-processed solar cells, lasers and as biological labels. Further scientific and technological advances should be achievable if these colloidal quantum systems could be electronically coupled in a general way. For example, this was the case when it became possible to couple solid-state embedded quantum dots into quantum dot molecules. Similarly, the preparation of nanowires with linear alternating compositions--another form of coupled quantum dots--has led to the rapid development of single-nanowire light-emitting diodes and single-electron transistors. Current strategies to connect colloidal quantum dots use organic coupling agents, which suffer from limited control over coupling parameters and over the geometry and complexity of assemblies. Here we demonstrate a general approach for fabricating inorganically coupled colloidal quantum dots and rods, connected epitaxially at branched and linear junctions within single nanocrystals. We achieve control over branching and composition throughout the growth of nanocrystal heterostructures to independently tune the properties of each component and the nature of their interactions. Distinct dots and rods are coupled through potential barriers of tuneable height and width, and arranged in three-dimensional space at well-defined angles and distances. Such control allows investigation of potential applications ranging from quantum information processing to artificial photosynthesis.