arXiv subjects

Daniele Ercolani

Publications and source records attributed to Daniele Ercolani.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

High Mobility Free-Standing InSb Nanoflags Grown On InP Nanowire Stems For Quantum Devices

High quality heteroepitaxial two-dimensional (2D) InSb layers are very difficult to realize owing to the large lattice mismatch with other widespread semiconductor substrates. A way around this problem is to grow free-standing 2D InSb nanostructures on nanowire (NW) stems, thanks to the capability of NWs to efficiently relax elastic strain along the sidewalls when lattice-mismatched semiconductor systems are integrated. In this work, we optimize the morphology of free-standing 2D InSb nanoflags (NFs). In particular, robust NW stems, optimized growth parameters, and the use of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), to precisely orient the substrate for preferential growth, are implemented to increase the lateral size of the 2D InSb NFs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of these NFs reveals defect-free zinc blend crystal structure, stoichiometric composition, and relaxed lattice parameters. The resulting NFs are large enough to fabricate Hall-bar contacts with suitable length-to-width ratio enabling precise electrical characterization. An electron mobility of ~29,500 cm2/Vs is measured, which is the highest value reported for free-standing 2D InSb nanostrutures in literature. We envision the use of 2D InSb NFs for fabrication of advanced quantum devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Growth and Strain Relaxation Mechanisms of InAs/InP/GaAsSb Core-Dual-Shell Nanowires

The combination of core/shell geometry and band gap engineering in nanowire heterostructures can be employed to realize systems with novel transport and optical properties. Here, we report on the growth of InAs/InP/GaAsSb core-dual-shell nanowires by catalyst-free chemical beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates. Detailed morphological, structural, and compositional analyses of the nanowires as a function of growth parameters were carried out by scanning and transmission electron microscopy and by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Furthermore, by combining the scanning transmission electron microscopy-Moire technique with geometric phase analysis, we studied the residual strain and the relaxation mechanisms in this system. We found that InP shell facets are well-developed along all the crystallographic directions only when the nominal thickness is above 1 nm, suggesting an island-growth mode. Moreover, the crystallographic analysis indicates that both InP and GaAsSb shells grow almost coherently to the InAs core along the 112 direction and elastically compressed along the 110 direction. For InP shell thickness above 8 nm, some dislocations and roughening occur at the interfaces. This study provides useful general guidelines for the fabrication of high-quality devices based on these core-dual-shell nanowires.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Orbital Tuning of Tunnel Coupling in InAs/InP Nanowire Quantum Dots

We report results on the control of barrier transparency in InAs/InP nanowire quantum dots via the electrostatic control of the device electron states. Recent works demonstrated that barrier transparency in this class of devices displays a general trend just depending on the total orbital energy of the trapped electrons. We show that a qualitatively different regime is observed at relatively low filling numbers, where tunneling rates are rather controlled by the axial configuration of the electron orbital. Transmission rates versus filling are further modified by acting on the radial configuration of the orbitals by means of electrostatic gating, and the barrier transparency for the various orbitals is found to evolve as expected from numerical simulations. The possibility to exploit this mechanism to achieve a controlled continuous tuning of the tunneling rate of an individual Coulomb blockade resonance is discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Thermoelectric conversion at 30K in InAs/InP nanowire quantum dots

We demonstrate high-temperature thermoelectric conversion in InAs/InP nanowire quantum dots by taking advantage of their strong electronic confinement. The electrical conductance G and the thermopower S are obtained from charge transport measurements and accurately reproduced with a theoretical model accounting for the multi-level structure of the quantum dot. Notably, our analysis does not rely on the estimate of co-tunnelling contributions since electronic thermal transport is dominated by multi-level heat transport. By taking into account two spin-degenerate energy levels we are able to evaluate the electronic thermal conductance K and investigate the evolution of the electronic figure of merit ZT as a function of the quantum dot configuration and demonstrate ZT ~ 35 at 30 K, corresponding to an electronic effciency at maximum power close to the Curzon- Ahlborn limit.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Near-field terahertz probes with room-temperature nanodetectors for subwavelength resolution imaging

Near-field imaging with terahertz (THz) waves is emerging as a powerful technique for fundamental research in photonics and across physical and life sciences. Spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit can be achieved by collecting THz waves from an object through a small aperture placed in the near-field. However, light transmission through a sub-wavelength size aperture is fundamentally limited by the wave nature of light. Here, we conceive a novel architecture that exploits inherently strong evanescent THz field arising within the aperture to mitigate the problem of vanishing transmission. The sub-wavelength aperture is originally coupled to asymmetric electrodes, which activate the thermo-electric THz detection mechanism in a transistor channel made of flakes of black-phosphorus or InAs nanowires. The proposed novel THz near-field probes enable room-temperature sub-wavelength resolution coherent imaging with a 3.4 THz quantum cascade laser, paving the way to compact and versatile THz imaging systems and promising to bridge the gap in spatial resolution from the nanoscale to the diffraction limit.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Ionic liquid gating of InAs nanowire-based field effect transistors

We report the operation of a field-effect transistor based on a single InAs nanowire gated by an ionic liquid. Liquid gating yields very efficient carrier modulation with a transconductance value thirty time larger than standard back gating with the SiO2 /Si++ substrate. Thanks to this wide modulation we show the controlled evolution from semiconductor to metallic-like behavior in the nanowire. This work provides the first systematic study of ionic-liquid gating in electronic devices based on individual III-V semiconductor nanowires: we argue this architecture opens the way to a wide range of fundamental and applied studies from the phase-transitions to bioelectronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Gate-tunable spatial modulation of localized plasmon resonances

Nanoplasmonics exploits the coupling between light and collective electron density oscillations (plasmons) to bypass the stringent limits imposed by diffraction. This coupling enables confinement of light to sub-wavelength volumes and is usually exploited in nanostructured metals. Substantial efforts are being made at the current frontier of the field to employ electron systems in semiconducting and semimetallic materials since these add the exciting possibility of realizing electrically tunable and/or active nanoplasmonic devices. Here we demonstrate that a suitable design of the doping profile in a semiconductor nanowire (NW) can be used to tailor the plasmonic response and induce localization effects akin to those observed in metal nanoparticles. Moreover, by field-effect carrier modulation, we demonstrate that these localized plasmon resonances can be spatially displaced along the nanostructure body, thereby paving the way for the implementation of spatially tunable plasmonic circuits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

InAs nanowire superconducting tunnel junctions: spectroscopy, thermometry and nanorefrigeration

We demonstrate an original method -- based on controlled oxidation -- to create high-quality tunnel junctions between superconducting Al reservoirs and InAs semiconductor nanowires. We show clean tunnel characteristics with a current suppression by over $4$ orders of magnitude for a junction bias well below the Al gap $Δ_0 \approx 200\,μ{\rm eV}$. The experimental data are in close agreement with the BCS theoretical expectations of a superconducting tunnel junction. The studied devices combine small-scale tunnel contacts working as thermometers as well as larger electrodes that provide a proof-of-principle active {\em cooling} of the electron distribution in the nanowire. A peak refrigeration of about $δT = 10\,{\rm mK}$ is achieved at a bath temperature $T_{bath}\approx250-350\,{\rm mK}$ in our prototype devices. This method opens important perspectives for the investigation of thermoelectric effects in semiconductor nanostructures and for nanoscale refrigeration.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Suspended InAs nanowire Josephson junctions assembled via dielectrophoresis

We present a novel technique for the realization of suspended Josephson junctions based on InAs semiconductor nanowires. The devices are assembled using a technique of drop-casting guided by dielectrophoresis that allows to finely align the nanostructures on top of the electrodes. The proposed architecture removes the interaction between the nanowire and the substrate which is known to influence disorder and the orientation of the Rashba vector. The relevance of this approach in view of the implementation of Josephson junctions based on High-Temperature Superconductors is discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Nanoscale spin rectifiers controlled by the Stark effect

The control of orbital and spin state of single electrons is a key ingredient for quantum information processing, novel detection schemes, and, more generally, is of much relevance for spintronics. Coulomb and spin blockade (SB) in double quantum dots (DQDs) enable advanced single-spin operations that would be available even for room-temperature applications for sufficiently small devices. To date, however, spin operations in DQDs were observed at sub-Kelvin temperatures, a key reason being that scaling a DQD system while retaining an independent field-effect control on the individual dots is very challenging. Here we show that quantum-confined Stark effect allows an independent addressing of two dots only 5 nm apart with no need for aligned nanometer-size local gating. We thus demonstrate a scalable method to fully control a DQD device, regardless of its physical size. In the present implementation we show InAs/InP nanowire (NW) DQDs that display an experimentally detectable SB up to 10 K. We also report and discuss an unexpected re-entrant SB lifting as a function magnetic-field intensity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Mapping of Axial Strain in InAs/InSb Heterostructured Nanowires

The article presents a mapping of the residual strain along the axis of InAs/InSb heterostructured nanowires. Using confocal Raman measurements, we observe a gradual shift in the TO phonon mode along the axis of these nanowires. We attribute the observed TO phonon shift to a residual strain arising from the InAs/InSb lattice mismatch. We find that the strain is maximum at the interface and then monotonically relaxes towards the tip of the nanowires. We also analyze the crystal structure of the InSb segment through selected area electron diffraction measurements and electron diffraction tomography on individual nanowires.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Strain induced band alignment in wurtzite-zincblende InAs heterostructured nanowires

We study band alignment in wurtzite-zincblende polytype InAs heterostructured nanowires using temperature dependent resonance Raman measurements. Nanowires having two different wurtzite fractions are investigated. Using visible excitation wavelengths in resonance Raman measurements, we probe the electronic band alignment of these semiconductor nanowires near a high symmetry point of the Brillouin zone (E$_{1}$ gap). The strain in the crystal structure, as revealed from the shift of the phonon mode, explains the observed band alignment at the wurtzite-zincblende interface. Our experimental results are further supported by electronic structure calculations for such periodic heterostructured interface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Raman scattering study of InAs nanowire under high pressure

The pressure dependent phonon modes of predominant wurtzite InAs nanowires has been investigated in a diamond anvil cell under hydrostatic pressure up to 58 GPa. The TO and LO at Gamma point and other optical phonon frequencies increase linearly while the LO TO splitting decreases with pressure. The recorded Raman modes have been used to determine the mode Gruneisen parameters and also the value of Borns transverse effective charge. The calculated Borns transverse effective charge exhibits a linear reduction with increasing pressure implying an increase in covalency of nanowires under compression. The intensity of the Raman modes shows a strong enhancement as the energy of E1 band gap approaches the excitation energy, which has been discussed in terms of resonant Raman scattering. An indication of structural phase transformation has been observed above pressure 10.87 GPa. We propose this transformation may be from wurtzite to rock salt phase although further experimental and theoretical confirmations are needed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Large thermal biasing of individual gated nanostructures

We demonstrate a novel nanoheating scheme that yields very large and uniform temperature gradients up to about 1K every 100nm, in an architecture which is compatible with the field-effect control of the nanostructure under test. The temperature gradients demonstrated largely exceed those typically obtainable with standard resistive heaters fabricated on top of the oxide layer. The nanoheating platform is demonstrated in the specific case of a short-nanowire device.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Giant thermovoltage in single InAs-nanowire field-effect transistors

Millivolt range thermovoltage is demonstrated in single InAs-nanowire based field effect transistors. Thanks to a buried heating scheme, we drive both a large thermal bias DT>10K and a strong field-effect modulation of electric conductance on the nanostructures. This allows the precise mapping of the evolution of the Seebeck coefficient S as a function of the gate-controlled conductivity between room temperature and 100K$. Based on these experimental data a novel estimate of the electron mobility is given. This value is compared with the result of standard field-effect based mobility estimates and discussed in relation to the effect of charge traps in the devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Electronic Band Structure of Wurtzite GaP Nanowires via Resonance Raman Spectroscopy

Raman measurements are performed on defect-free wurzite GaP nanowires. Resonance Raman measurements are carried out over the excitation energy range between 2.19 and 2.71 eV. Resonances at 2.38 eV and 2.67 eV of the E1(LO) mode and at 2.67 eV of the A1(LO) are observed. The presence of these intensity resonances clearly demonstrates the existence of energy states with Gamma_9hh and Gamma_7V (Gamma_7C) symmetries of the valence (conduction) band and allows to measure WZ phase GaP band energies at the Gamma point. In addition, we have investigated temperature dependent resonant Raman measurements, which allowed us to extrapolate the zero temperature values of Gamma point energies, along with the crystal field and spin-orbit splitting energies. Above results provide a feedback for refining available theoretical calculations to derive the correct wurtzite III-V semiconductor band structure.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Internal field induced enhancement and effect of resonance in Raman scattering of InAs nanowires

An internal field induced resonant intensity enhancement of Raman scattering of phonon excitations in InAs nanowires is reported. The experimental observation is in good agreement with the simulated results for the scattering of light under varying incident wavelengths, originating from the enhanced internal electric field in an infinite dielectric cylinder. Our analysis demonstrates the combined effect of the first higher lying direct band gap energy (E1) and the refractive index of the InAs nanowires in the internal field induced resonant Raman scattering. Furthermore, the difference in the relative contribution of electro-optic effect and deformation potential in Raman scattering of nanowires and bulk InAs over a range of excitation energies is discussed by comparing the intensity ratio of their LO and TO phonon modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Raman sensitivity to crystal structure in InAs nanowires

We report a combined electron transmission and Raman spectroscopy study of InAs nanowires. We demonstrate that the temperature dependent behavior of optical phonon energies can be used to determine the relative wurtzite fraction in the InAs nanowires. Furthermore, we propose that the interfacial strain between zincblende and wurtzite phases along the length of the wires manifests in the temperature-evolution of the phonon linewidths. From these studies, temperature-dependent Raman measurements emerge has a non-invasive method to study polytypism in such nanowires.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗