arXiv subjects

Gary A. Steele

Publications and source records attributed to Gary A. Steele.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Mechanics of freely-suspended ultrathin layered materials

The study of atomically thin two-dimensional materials is a young and rapidly growing field. In the past years, a great advance in the study of the remarkable electrical and optical properties of 2D materials fabricated by exfoliation of bulk layered materials has been achieved. Due to the extraordinary mechanical properties of these atomically thin materials, they also hold a great promise for future applications such as flexible electronics. For example, this family of materials can sustain very large deformations without breaking. Due to the combination of small dimensions, high Young's modulus and high crystallinity of 2D materials, they have attracted the attention of the field of nanomechanical systems as high frequency and high quality factor resonators. In this article, we review experiments on static and dynamic response of 2D materials. We provide an overview and comparison of the mechanics of different materials, and highlight the unique properties of these thin crystalline layers. We conclude with an outlook of the mechanics of 2D materials and future research directions such as the coupling of the mechanical deformation to their electronic structure.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Molybdenum-Rhenium alloy based high-$Q$ superconducting microwave resonators

Superconducting microwave resonators (SMR) with high quality factors have become an important technology in a wide range of applications. Molybdenum-Rhenium (MoRe) is a disordered superconducting alloy with a noble surface chemistry and a relatively high transition temperature. These properties make it attractive for SMR applications, but characterization of MoRe SMR has not yet been reported. Here, we present the fabrication and characterization of SMR fabricated with a MoRe 60-40 alloy. At low drive powers, we observe internal quality-factors as high as 700,000. Temperature and power dependence of the internal quality-factors suggest the presence of the two level systems from the dielectric substrate dominating the internal loss at low temperatures. We further test the compatibility of these resonators with high temperature processes such as for carbon nanotube CVD growth, and their performance in the magnetic field, an important characterization for hybrid systems.

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arXiv2014

Identifying signatures of photothermal current in a double-gated semiconducting nanotube

The remarkable electrical and optical properties or single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) allowed for engineering device prototypes showing great potential for applications such as photodectors and solar cells. However, any path towards industrial maturity requires a detailed understanding of the fundamental mechanisms governing the process of photocurrent generation. Here, we present scanning photocurrent microscopy measurements on a double-gated suspended semiconducting SWNT and show that both photovoltaic and photothermal mechanisms are relevant for the interpretation of the photocurrent. We find that the dominant or non-dominant character of one or the other processes depends on the doping profile, and that the magnitude of each contribution is strongly influenced by the series resistance from the band alignment with the metal contacts. These results provide new insight into the interpretation of features in scanning photocurrent microscopy and lay the foundation for the understanding of optoelectronic devices made from SWNTs.

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arXiv2014

Photovoltaic and photothermoelectric effect in a double-gated WSe2 device

Tungsten diselenide (WSe2), a semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC), shows great potential as active material in optoelectronic devices due to its ambipolarity and direct bandgap in its single-layer form. Recently, different groups have exploited the ambipolarity of WSe2 to realize electrically tunable PN junctions, demonstrating its potential for digital electronics and solar cell applications. In this Letter, we focus on the different photocurrent generation mechanisms in a double-gated WSe2 device by measuring the photocurrent (and photovoltage) as the local gate voltages are varied independently in combination with above- and below-bandgap illumination. This enables us to distinguish between two main photocurrent generation mechanisms: the photovoltaic and photothermoelectric effect. We find that the dominant mechanism depends on the defined gate configuration. In the PN and NP configurations, photocurrent is mainly generated by the photovoltaic effect and the device displays a maximum responsivity of 0.70 mA/W at 532 nm illumination and rise and fall times close to 10 ms. Photocurrent generated by the photothermoelectric effect emerges in the PP configuration and is a factor of two larger than the current generated by the photovoltaic effect (in PN and NP configurations). This demonstrates that the photothermoelectric effect can play a significant role in devices based on WSe2 where a region of strong optical absorption, caused by e.g. an asymmetry in flake thickness or optical absorption of the electrodes, generates a sizeable thermal gradient upon illumination.

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arXiv2014

Photovoltaic effect in few-layer black phosphorus PN junctions defined by local electrostatic gating

The photovoltaic effect is one of the fundamental light-matter interactions in light energy harvesting. In conventional photovoltaic solar cells, the photogenerated charge carriers are extracted by the built-in electric field of a PN junction, typically defined by ionic dopants in a semiconductor. In atomically thin semiconductors, the doping level can be controlled by the field-effect without need of implanting dopants in the lattice, which makes 2D semiconductors prospective materials to implement electrically tunable PN junctions. However, most 2D semiconducting materials do not show ambipolar P-type and N-type field-effect transport, necessary to realize PN junctions. Few-layer black phosphorus is a recently isolated 2D semiconductor that presents a direct bandgap, high mobility, current on/off ratio and ambipolar operation. Here, we fabricate few-layer black phosphorus (b-P) field-effect transistors with split bottom gates and crystalline hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) dielectric. We demonstrate electrostatic control of the local charge carrier type and density above each gate in the device, tuning its electrical behaviour from metallic to rectifying. Illuminating a gate-defined PN junction, we observe zero-bias photocurrents and significant open-circuit voltage, which we attribute to the separation of electron-hole pairs driven by the internal electric field at the junction region. Due to the small bandgap of the material, we observe photocurrents and photovoltages for illumination wavelengths up to 940 nm, attractive for energy harvesting applications in the near-infrared region

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arXiv2014

Isolation and characterization of few-layer black phosphorus

Isolation and characterization of mechanically exfoliated black phosphorus flakes with a thickness down to two single-layers is presented. A modification of the mechanical exfoliation method, which provides higher yield of atomically thin flakes than conventional mechanical exfoliation, has been developed. We present general guidelines to determine the number of layers using optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy in a fast and reliable way. Moreover, we demonstrate that the exfoliated flakes are highly crystalline and that they are stable even in free-standing form through Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements. A strong thickness dependence of the band structure is found by density functional theory calculations. The exciton binding energy, within an effective mass approximation, is also calculated for different number of layers. Our computational results for the optical gap are consistent with preliminary photoluminescence results on thin flakes. Finally, we study the environmental stability of black phosphorus flakes finding that the flakes are very hydrophilic and that long term exposure to air moisture etches black phosphorus away. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that the aging of the flakes is slow enough to allow fabrication of field-effect transistors with strong ambipolar behavior. Density functional theory calculations also give us insight into the water-induced changes of the structural and electronic properties of black phosphorus.

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arXiv2014

Ultrahigh photoresponse of few-layer TiS3 nanoribbon transistors

Here, we isolate thin TiS3 ribbons, a layered direct band gap semiconductor (1.1 eV, well suited for detection all across the visible spectrum), thus far almost unexplored. We fabricate field effect transistors and study their electrical characteristics and optoelectronic properties. The measured FET characteristics show mobilities up to 2.6 cm^2/Vs and ON/OFF ratios up to 10^4. Under illumination, the TiS3 NR-FETs present an ultrahigh photoresponse of 2910 A/W and fast rise/fall times of ~4 ms. In addition, we measure cutoff frequencies (f3dB) up to 1000 Hz. The strong combination of ultrahigh sensitivity all along the visible spectrum and fast time response of TiS3 nanoribbon transistors put them among the best nanoscale photodetectors to date.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Fast and broadband photoresponse of few-layer black phosphorus field-effect transistors

Few-layer black phosphorus, a new elemental 2D material recently isolated by mechanical exfoliation, is a high-mobility layered semiconductor with a direct bandgap that is predicted to strongly depend on the number of layers, from 0.35 eV (bulk) to 2.0 eV (single-layer). Therefore, black phosphorus is an appealing candidate for tunable photodetection from the visible to the infrared part of the spectrum. We study the photoresponse of field-effect transistors (FETs) made of few-layer black phosphorus (3 nm to 8 nm thick), as a function of excitation wavelength, power and frequency. In the dark state, the black phosphorus FETs can be tuned both in hole and electron doping regimes allowing for ambipolar operation. We measure mobilities in the order of 100 cm2/V s and current ON/OFF ratio larger than 103. Upon illumination, the black phosphorus transistors show response to excitation wavelengths from the visible up to 940 nm and rise time of about 1 ms, demonstrating broadband and fast detection. The responsivity reaches 4.8 mA/W and it could be drastically enhanced by engineering a detector based on a PN junction. The ambipolar behavior coupled to the fast and broadband photodetection make few-layer black phosphorus a promising 2D material for photodetection across the visible and near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Deterministic transfer of two-dimensional materials by all-dry viscoelastic stamping

Deterministic transfer of two-dimensional crystals constitutes a crucial step towards the fabrication of heterostructures based on artificial stacking of two-dimensional materials. Moreover, control on the positioning of two-dimensional crystals facilitates their integration in complex devices, which enables the exploration of novel applications and the discovery of new phenomena in these materials. Up to date, deterministic transfer methods rely on the use of sacrificial polymer layers and wet chemistry to some extent. Here, we develop an all-dry transfer method that relies on viscoelastic stamps and does not employ any wet chemistry step. This is found very advantageous to freely suspend these materials as there are no capillary forces involved in the process. Moreover, the whole fabrication process is quick, efficient, clean, and it can be performed with high yield.

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arXiv2014

Single-layer MoS2 mechanical resonators

Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of single-layer MoS2 mechanical resonators. The fabricated resonators have fundamental resonance frequencies in the order of 10 MHz to 30 MHz (depending on their geometry) and their quality factor is about ~55 at room temperature in vacuum. The dynamical properties clearly indicate that monolayer MoS2 membranes are in the membrane limit (i.e., tension dominated), in contrast to their thicker counterparts, which behave as plates. We also demonstrate clear signatures of nonlinear behaviour of our atomically thin membranes, thus providing a starting point for future investigations on the nonlinear dynamics of monolayer nanomechanical resonators.

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arXiv2014

Fast and reliable identification of atomically thin layers of TaSe2 crystals

Deposition of clean and defect-free atomically thin two-dimensional crystalline flakes on surfaces by mechanical exfoliation of layered bulk materials has proven to be a powerful technique, but it requires a fast, reliable and non-destructive way to identify the atomically thin flakes among a crowd of thick flakes. In this work, we provide general guidelines to identify ultrathin flakes of TaSe2 by means of optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Additionally, we determine the optimal substrates to facilitate the optical identification of atomically thin TaSe2 crystals. Experimental realization and isolation of ultrathin layers of TaSe2 enables future studies on the role of the dimensionality in interesting phenomena such as superconductivity and charge density waves.

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arXiv2013

Local strain engineering in atomically thin MoS2

Tuning the electronic properties of a material by subjecting it to strain constitutes an important strategy to enhance the performance of semiconducting electronic devices. Using local strain, confinement potentials for excitons can be engineered, with exciting possibilities for trapping excitons for quantum optics and for efficient collection of solar energy. Two-dimensional materials are able to withstand large strains before rupture, offering a unique opportunity to introduce large local strains. Here, we study atomically thin MoS2 layers with large local strains of up to 2.5% induced by controlled delamination from a substrate. Using simultaneous scanning Raman and photoluminescence imaging, we spatially resolve a direct bandgap reduction of up to 90 meV induced by local strain. We observe a funnel effect in which excitons drift hundreds of nanometers to lower bandgap regions before recombining, demonstrating exciton confinement by local strain. The observations are supported by an atomistic tight-binding model developed to predict the effect of inhomogeneous strain on the local electronic states in MoS2. The possibility of generating large strain-induced variations in exciton trapping potentials opens the door for a variety of applications in atomically thin materials including photovoltaics, quantum optics and two-dimensional optoelectronic devices.

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arXiv2013

The effect of the substrate on the Raman and photoluminescence emission of single layer MoS2

We quantitatively study the Raman and photoluminescence (PL) emission from single layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) on dielectric (SiO2, hexagonal boron nitride, mica and the polymeric dielectric Gel-Film) and conducting substrates (Au and few-layer graphene). We find that the substrate can affect the Raman and PL emission in a twofold manner. First, the absorption and emission intensities are strongly modulated by the constructive/destructive interference within the different substrates. Second, the position of the A1g Raman mode peak and the spectral weight between neutral and charged excitons in the PL spectra are modified by the substrate. We attribute this effect to substrate-induced changes in the doping level and in the decay rates of the excitonic transitions. Our results provide a method to quantitatively study the Raman and PL emission from MoS2-based vertical heterostructures and represent the first step in ad-hoc tuning the PL emission of 1L MoS2 by selecting the proper substrate.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Large and tunable photo-thermoelectric effect in single-layer MoS2

We study the photoresponse of single-layer MoS2 field-effect transistors by scanning photocurrent microscopy. We find that, unlike in many other semiconductors, the photocurrent generation in single-layer MoS2 is dominated by the photo-thermoelectric effect and not by the separation of photoexcited electron-hole pairs across the Schottky barriers at the MoS2/electrode interfaces. We observe a large value for the Seebeck coefficient for single-layer MoS2 that, by an external electric field, can be tuned between -4x10^2 uV/K and -1x10^5 uV/K. This large and tunable Seebeck coefficient of the single-layer MoS2 paves the way to new applications of this material such as on-chip thermopower generation and waste thermal energy harvesting.

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arXiv2012

Valley-spin blockade and spin resonance in carbon nanotubes

Manipulation and readout of spin qubits in quantum dots made in III-V materials successfully rely on Pauli blockade that forbids transitions between spin-triplet and spin-singlet states. Quantum dots in group IV materials have the advantage of avoiding decoherence from the hyperfine interaction by purifying them with only zero-spin nuclei. Complications of group IV materials arise from the valley degeneracies in the electronic bandstructure. These lead to complicated multiplet states even for two-electron quantum dots thereby significantly weakening the selection rules for Pauli blockade. Only recently have spin qubits been realized in silicon devices where the valley degeneracy is lifted by strain and spatial confinement. In carbon nanotubes Pauli blockade can be observed by lifting valley degeneracy through disorder. In clean nanotubes, quantum dots have to be made ultra-small to obtain a large energy difference between the relevant multiplet states. Here we report on low-disorder nanotubes and demonstrate Pauli blockade based on both valley and spin selection rules. We exploit the bandgap of the nanotube to obtain a large level spacing and thereby a robust blockade. Single-electron spin resonance is detected using the blockade.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Probing the charge of a quantum dot with a nanomechanical resonator

We have used the mechanical motion of a carbon nanotube (CNT) as a probe of the average charge on a quantum dot. Variations of the resonance frequency and the quality factor are determined by the change in average charge on the quantum dot during a mechanical oscillation. The average charge, in turn, is influenced by the gate voltage, the bias voltage, and the tunnel rates of the barriers to the leads. At bias voltages that exceed the broadening due to tunnel coupling, the resonance frequency and quality factor show a double dip as a function of gate voltage. We find that increasing the current flowing through the CNT at the Coulomb peak does not increase the damping, but in fact decreases damping. Using a model with energy-dependent tunnel rates, we obtain quantitative agreement between the experimental observations and the model. We theoretically compare different contributions to the single-electron induced nonlinearity, and show that only one term is significant for both the Duffing parameter and the mode coupling parameter. We also present additional measurements which support the model we develop: Tuning the tunnel barriers of the quantum dot to the leads gives a 200-fold decrease of the quality factor. Single-electron tunneling through an excited state of the CNT quantum dot also changes the average charge on the quantum dot, bringing about a decrease in the resonance frequency. In the Fabry-Pérot regime, the absence of charge quantization results in a spring behaviour without resonance frequency dips, which could be used, for example, to probe the transition from quantized to continuous charge with a nanomechanical resonator.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Mechanical properties of freely suspended atomically thin dielectric layers of mica

We have studied the elastic deformation of freely suspended atomically thin sheets of muscovite mica, a widely used electrical insulator in its bulk form. Using an atomic force microscope, we carried out bending test experiments to determine the Young's modulus and the initial pre-tension of mica nanosheets with thicknesses ranging from 14 layers down to just one bilayer. We found that their Young's modulus is high (190 GPa), in agreement with the bulk value, which indicates that the exfoliation procedure employed to fabricate these nanolayers does not introduce a noticeable amount of defects. Additionally, ultrathin mica shows low pre-strain and can withstand reversible deformations up to tens of nanometers without breaking. The low pre-tension and high Young's modulus and breaking force found in these ultrathin mica layers demonstrates their prospective use as a complement for graphene in applications requiring flexible insulating materials or as reinforcement in nanocomposites.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Strong and tunable mode coupling in carbon nanotube resonators

The non-linear interaction between two mechanical resonances of the same freely suspended carbon nanotube resonator is studied. We find that in the Coulomb blockade regime, the non-linear modal interaction is dominated by single-electron-tunneling processes, and that the mode-coupling parameter can be tuned with the gate voltage, allowing both mode softening and mode stiffening behavior. This is in striking contrast to tension-induced mode coupling in strings, where the coupling parameter is positive and gives rise to a stiffening of the mode. The strength of the mode coupling in carbon nanotubes in the Coulomb blockade regime is observed to be six orders of magnitude larger than the mechanical mode coupling in micromechanical resonators.

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