SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 1311.5088

Challenges and opportunities of ZnO-related single crystalline heterostructures

Abstract

Recent technological advancement in ZnO heterostructures has expanded the possibility of device functionalities to various kinds of applications. In order to extract novel device functionalities in the heterostructures, one needs to fabricate high quality films and interfaces with minimal impurities, defects, and disorder. With employing molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) and single crystal ZnO substrates, the density of residual impurities and defects can be drastically reduced and the optical and electrical properties have been dramatically improved for the ZnO films and heterostructures with MgxZn1-xO. Here, we overview such recent technological advancement from various aspects of application. Towards optoelectronic devices such as a light emitter and a photodetector in an ultraviolet region, the development of p-type ZnO and the fabrication of excellent Schottky contact, respectively, have been subjected to intensive studies for years. For the former, the fine tuning of the growth conditions to make MgxZn1-xO as intrinsic as possible has opened the possibilities of making p-type MgxZn1-xO through NH3 doping method. For the latter, conducting and transparent polymer films spin-coated on MgxZn1-xO was shown to give almost ideal Schottky junctions. The wavelength-selective detection can be realized with varying the Mg content. From the viewpoint of electronic devices, two-dimensional electrons confined at the MgxZn1-xO/ZnO interfaces are promising candidate for quantum devices because of high electron mobility and strong electron-electron correlation effect. These wonderful features and tremendous opportunities in ZnO-based heterostructures make this system unique and promising in oxide electronics and will lead to new quantum functionalities in optoelectronic devices and electronic applications with lower energy consumption and high performance.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Y. Kozuka, A. Tsukazaki, M. Kawasaki. 2013-11-20. Challenges and opportunities of ZnO-related single crystalline heterostructures. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4853535

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Measuring chiral phonons

Chiral phonons are quantized vibrations where the atomic motion in a solid breaks improper rotation symmetries. In many cases, chiral phonons possess angular momenta and are therefore selective to circularly polarized light. Both fundamental and applied research efforts on chiral phonons have been gaining increasing attention owing to their importance in a variety of fields including spintronics, spin-selective chemical reactions, thermal transport, quantum information processing and biosensing, where the bi-directional spin-lattice coupling enabled by chiral phonons can be harnessed in new ways, and potentially lead to new functionalities. Thus far, the studies of chiral phonons across diverse materials platforms have evolved largely independently within these fields, but the experimental techniques are often interrelated. In this perspective, we present a detailed description, as well as advantages and disadvantages of the current approaches for experimentally measuring chiral phonons in chiral and achiral materials. We conclude with a discussion of new methods for measuring chiral phonons. Ultimately, this work seeks to offer an experimental guide for systematically investigating the properties of chiral phonons in various materials systems and applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

A model of grain growth in UN integrating molecular dynamics, phase-field modeling, and uncertainty quantification

Grain growth kinetics and grain-boundary (GB) properties in uranium mononitride (UN) are investigated through an integrated multiscale framework combining molecular dynamics (MD), phase-field modeling, and surrogate-assisted uncertainty quantification. MD simulations yield GB energies for 27 symmetric tilt boundaries from 0--2000~K, which are consistent with available DFT values. The average GB energy is nearly temperature-independent below 1000~K and increases at higher temperatures. A mechanistic pore-drag model applied to the only available grain growth dataset for actinide nitrides yields a mobility reduction factor of $s \approx 0.93$--$0.99$, statistically indistinguishable from unity, confirming that pore drag is negligible under the experimental conditions. The intrinsic GB mobility is therefore extracted directly from the effective mobility, yielding $M_0 = 2.05\times10^{-15}$~m$^4$/(J$\cdot$s) and $Q_M = 0.89$~eV. Phase-field simulations conducted from 1500--2000~K confirm normal curvature-driven grain growth, with grain size distributions converging to the Hillert-like form. A surrogate-assisted global sensitivity analysis---combining principal component analysis, Gaussian process regression, and Sobol decomposition---reveals that the mobility prefactor $M_0$ dominates output variance at all times, followed by the activation energy $Q_M$, while the GB energy $\gamma$ contributes minimally. These results establish the first quantitative grain growth framework for UN and identify the reduction of uncertainty in $M_0$ and $Q_M$ as the highest-priority target for future experimental efforts.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Silicon Solar Cell Design for >30% Efficiency via Singlet Fission

Singlet fission (SF) materials convert high-energy photons into multiple charge carriers, providing a route to exceed the efficiency limits of single-junction silicon solar cells without many of the complexities of multi-junction tandem designs. Following the first demonstration of an SF-enhanced silicon solar cell in 2025, there is a need to understand how SF materials can be effectively integrated into high-efficiency industrial silicon devices and translated from proof of concept to a manufacturable technology. Using coupled optical and electrical simulations, we assess the efficiency potential of several industrially relevant silicon cell architectures combined with SF materials. Interdigitated back-contact (IBC) cells offer the greatest potential for improvement due to unrestricted front-surface access and can achieve efficiencies exceeding 33%. However, performance is highly sensitive to front-surface passivation quality. Appropriate silicon design, particularly controlled surface doping and fixed interfacial charge, can mitigate recombination losses and relax passivation requirements for ultra-thin exciton-transfer layers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci