a b s t r a c tZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized by the sol-gel method with approximately 10 nm diameter and the humidity adsorption and desorption kinetics of ZnO nanoparticles were investigated by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique. The morphology and crystal structure of the ZnO nanoparticles have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The roughness of the surface has been investigated using atomic force microscope (AFM). The dynamic Langmuir adsorption model was used to determine the kinetic parameters such as adsorption and desorption rates and Gibbs free energy under relative humidity between 45% and 88%. The relative sensitivity of the ZnO nanoparticles-based humidity sensor was determined by electrical resistance measurements. Our reproducible experimental results show that ZnO nanoparticles have a great potential for humidity sensing applications at room temperature operations.

a b s t r a c tThe humidity-sensing properties of ZnO nanowires synthesized by carbothermal catalyst-free vapor solid (VS) technique were studied. The morphology and the crystal structure were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The humidity adsorption and desorption kinetics of the synthesized ZnO nanowires were investigated via quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements. The observed positive frequency shift of ZnO nanowires when loaded on the QCM crystal under varying relative humidity conditions can be explained in terms of visco-elastic variations in their mechanical stiffness.

The electron Landé g factor (g * ) is investigated both experimentally and theoretically in a series of GaBixAs1−x/GaAs strained epitaxial layers, for bismuth compositions up to x = 3.8%. We measure g * via time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy, which we use to analyze the spin quantum beats in the polarization of the photoluminescence in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. The experimental measurements are compared directly to atomistic tight-binding calculations on large supercells, which allows us to explicitly account for alloy disorder effects. We demonstrate that the magnitude of g * increases strongly with increasing Bi composition x and, based on the agreement between the theoretical calculations and experimental measurements, elucidate the underlying causes of the observed variation of g * . By performing measurements in which the orientation of the applied magnetic field is changed, we further demonstrate that g * is strongly anisotropic. We quantify the observed variation of g * with x, and its anisotropy, in terms of a combination of epitaxial strain and Bi-induced hybridization of valence states due to alloy disorder, which strongly perturbs the electronic structure.

In this study, molecular beam epitaxial-grown GaAs/GaBiAs single quantum well systems with two different Bi contents were investigated. Spectral dependence of room temperature photomodulated reflectance (PR) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements in the temperature range of 35-300 K were employed. PR spectra indicate that increasing Bi concentration promotes a tendency to approach quantized higher energy levels in the heavy and light holes' bands due to the different effects of compressive strain, which depends on Bi concentrations. In addition, a defect level is identified at 0.71 eV at room temperature PR spectra and is attributed to a As Ga antisite defect in GaAs barrier layers caused by the low temperature growth process. From the analysis of the temperature dependence of emission energy and amplitude in the PL spectra, localized states are determined in the range of 8 to 45 meV and attributed to the different bonding configuration of Bi clusters. Low temperature PL results imply that Bi cluster states tend to move into the valance band when Bi content increases from 2.4 to 7.0% in the GaBiAs system.

Bulk GaAs1 - xBix/GaAs alloys with various bismuth compositions are studied using power- and temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL), Raman scattering, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). PL measurements exhibit that the bandgap of the alloy decreases with increasing bismuth composition. Moreover, PL peak energy and PL characteristic are found to be excitation intensity dependent. The PL signal is detectable below 150 K at low excitation intensities, but quenches at higher temperatures. As excitation intensity is increased, PL can be observable at room temperature and PL peak energy blueshifts. The quenching temperature of the PL signal tends to shift to higher temperatures with increasing bismuth composition, giving rise to an increase in Bi-related localization energy of disorders. The composition dependence of the PL is also found to be power dependent, changing from about 63 to 87 meV/Bi% as excitation intensity is increased. In addition, S-shaped temperature dependence at low excitation intensities is observed, a well-known signature of localized levels above valence band. Applying Varshni’s law to the temperature dependence of the PL peak energy, the concentration dependence of Debye temperature (β) and thermal expansion coefficient (α) are determined. AFM observations show that bismuth islands are randomly distributed on the surface and the diameter of the islands tends to increase with increasing bismuth composition. Raman scattering spectra show that incorporation of Bi into GaAs causes a new feature at around 185 cm-1 with slightly increasing Raman intensity as the Bi concentration increases. A broad feature located between 210 and 250 cm-1 is also observed and its intensity increases with increasing Bi content. Furthermore, the forbidden transverse optical (TO) mode becomes more pronounced for the samples with higher bismuth composition, which can be attributed to the effect of Bi-induced disorders on crystal symmetry.PACS78.55Cr 78.55-m 78.20-e 78.30-j

We investigate electronic transport properties of as-grown and annealed n-type modulationdoped Al 0.15 Ga 0.85 As/GaAs 1−x Bi x (x=0 and 0.04) quantum well (QW) structures using magnetotransport measurements in the temperature range 4.2 K and 60 K and at magnetic fields up to 18 T. Thermal annealing process was applied at two different temperatures, 700 °C and 350 °C during 60 s and 180 s, respectively. We find that electron effective mass and 2D electron density in as-grown Bi-containing sample are slightly lower than that in Bi-free one. Furthermore, quantum electron mobility and quantum scattering time are observed to be decreased in Bi-containing samples. The annealing process at 700 °C causes a slight increase in electron effective mass and 2D electron density. A negligible decrease in electron effective mass and an increase in 2D electron density are determined following annealing at 350 °C. The observed change in electron effective mass following thermal annealing process is attributed to changing 2D electron density in the samples. No improvement on quantum electron mobility and quantum scattering time are observed following thermal annealing at both process temperatures. We determine that one electron subband (e1) for as-grown and annealed (at 700 °C for 60 s) Bicontaining QWs and two electron subbands (e1 and e2) for the annealed (at 350 °C for 180 s) GaAsBi QW sample and the Bi-free QW sample contribute to electronic transport. Our results reveal that there is no significant direct effect of Bi on effective electron mass, but an indirect effect, in which Bi can provoke changes in 2D electron density and hence causes not to observe actual band-edge electron mass but a deviation from its band-edge value. Therefore, it can be concluded that dispersion curve of conduction band does not change as an effect of Bi incorporation in GaAs.

No abstract

No abstract