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We present X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, van der Pauw Hall mobilities, low-temperature far-infrared magneto transmission (FIR-MT), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) results from graphene films produced by radiative heating in an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) chamber or produced by radio frequency (RF) furnace annealing in a high vacuum chemical vapor deposition system on Si- and C-face 4H SiC substrates at 1200-1600 degrees C. Although the vacuum level and heating methods are different, graphene films produced by the two methods are chemically similar with the RF furnace annealing typically producing thicker graphene films than UHV. We observe, however, that the formation of graphene on the two faces is different with the thicker graphene films on the C-face RF samples having higher mobility. The FIR-MT showed a 0(-1) --> 1(0) Landau level transition with a square root B dependence and a line width consistent with a Dirac fermion with a mobility >250,000 cm(2) x V(-1) x s(-1) at 4.2 K in a C-face RF sample having a Hall-effect carrier mobility of 425 cm(2) x V(-1) x s(-1) at 300 K. AFM shows that graphene grows continuously over the varying morphology of both Si and C-face substrates.

The silicon vacancy in silicon carbide is a strong emergent candidate for applications in quantum information processing and sensing. We perform room temperature optically-detected magnetic resonance and spin echo measurements on an ensemble of vacancies and find the properties depend strongly on magnetic field. The spin echo decay time varies from less than 10 s at low fields to 80 s at 68 mT, and a strong field-dependent spin echo modulation is also observed. The modulation is attributed to the interaction with nuclear spins and is welldescribed by a theoretical model.Deep defect centers in solids are of great current interest as quantum bits or quantum emitters for applications in quantum computing, communication, and sensing, as they combine strengths from the solid state and the atomic world. In particular, the electronic and spin states of some defects have many desirable properties including high efficiency emission of single photons [1-4], highly coherent spin states even at room temperature [5-10], and optical initialization and readout [11][12][13]. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, consisting of a nitrogen atom substituted for a carbon next to a vacancy, have been extensively studied and have thus become the standard for such defects.

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An MOS transistor fabricated on (001) β-Ga 2 O 3 exfoliated from a commercial (−201) β-Ga 2 O 3 substrate is reported. A maximum drain current of 11.1 mA/mm was measured, and a non-destructive breakdown was reached around 80 V in the off state. Threshold voltage of +2.9 V was extracted at 0.1 V drain bias, and peak transconductance of 0.18 mS/mm was measured at V DS = 1 V, corresponding to a field effect mobility of 0.17 cm 2 /Vs. Hall effect and electron spin resonance data suggested that electron conductivity was due primarily to O vacancy donors (V O + ) with an estimated density of 2. The single-crystal monoclinic (β) phase of Ga 2 O 3 is an advantageous material for high-power, high-temperature electronic device applications due to its high energy gap (4.8-4.9 eV) and high breakdown field (8 MV/cm), yielding a nearly ten-fold higher Baliga figure of merit than that of 4H-SiC (BFOM Ga 2 O 3 = 3444, BFOM 4H-SiC = 300).1 Commercially available β-Ga 2 O 3 substrates enable the epitaxial growth of low defect density epitaxial β-Ga 2 O 3 by a number of methods, including chemical vapor deposition, hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE), and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), among others.2-6 Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) based on Ga 2 O 3 have exhibited very low turn on voltage and reverse leakage current, suggesting that unintentionally doped Ga 2 O 3 has extremely low generation/recombination rates and thus a high photoconductive gain.7 Advances in doping control have enabled exceptional early reports of metal-and metal-insulatorgated field effect transistors (MOSFETs). Wong et al. demonstrated a field-plated β-Ga 2 O 3 MOSFET with a breakdown voltage of over 750 V using a Si-implanted channel.8 Most recently, Green and coworkers have reported a Ga 2 O 3 MOSFET with a Sn-doped channel and a 0.6 μm gate-drain spacing to operate at 200 V drain bias, experimentally demonstrating gate-drain fields in excess of 3 MV/cm. 9This excellent progress has positioned Ga 2 O 3 as a viable candidate for next generation material for power applications. However, no demonstration of normally-off operation, a key requirement for fail-safe operation of power switches, has been achieved or proposed to-date.From a practical perspective, development of Ga 2 O 3 transistors has been limited by the availability of device-quality epitaxial films. For this reason, early reports have exploited the relatively large a-plane lattice constant of β-Ga 2 O 3 (1.2 nm) in order to mechanically exfoliate thin films from the (001) plane of a substrate using the scotch tape method to fabricate back-gated devices. 10,11 We employed a similar method to transfer a thin (∼300 nm) Ga 2 O 3 flake onto a SiO 2 /Si substrate, 12 and performed a standard top-side insulated-gate process to fabricate a three-terminal device. We also utilized a high-k HfO 2 gate dielectric process, as only SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 have been reported to-date. 13,14Experimental A thin sliver of Ga 2 O 3 was cleaved along the (001) face of an on-axis (−201), non-intentionally n-type doped (∼3 ×...

Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy has been performed on a set of self-assembled InSb, GaSb, and AlSb quantum dot (QD) heterostructures grown on GaAs. Strong emission bands with peak energies near 1.15 eV and linewidths of ∼80 meV are observed at 1.6 K from 3 monolayer (ML) InSb and GaSb QDs capped with GaAs. The PL from a capped 4 ML AlSb QD sample is weaker with peak energy at 1.26 eV. The PL bands from these Sb-based QD samples shift to lower energy by 20–50 meV with decreasing excitation power density. This behavior suggests a type II band lineup. Support for this assignment, with electrons in the GaAs and holes in the (In,Ga,Al)Sb QDs, is found from the observed shift of GaSb QD emission to higher energies when the GaAs barrier layers are replaced by Al0.1Ga0.9As.

Melanin is a pigment produced by organisms throughout all domains of life. Due to its unique physicochemical properties, biocompatibility, and biostability, there has been an increasing interest in the use of melanin for broad applications. In the vast majority of studies, melanin has been either chemically synthesized or isolated from animals, which has restricted its use to small-scale applications. Using bacteria as biocatalysts is a promising and economical alternative for the large-scale production of biomaterials. In this study, we engineered the marine bacterium Vibrio natriegens, one of the fastest-growing organisms, to synthesize melanin by expressing a heterologous tyrosinase gene and demonstrated that melanin production was much faster than in previously reported heterologous systems. The melanin of V. natriegens was characterized as a polymer derived from dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA) and, similarly to synthetic melanin, exhibited several characteristic and useful features. Electron microscopy analysis demonstrated that melanin produced from V. natriegens formed nanoparticles that were assembled as “melanin ghost” structures, and the photoprotective properties of these particles were validated by their protection of cells from UV irradiation. Using a novel electrochemical reverse engineering method, we observed that melanization conferred redox activity to V. natriegens. Moreover, melanized bacteria were able to quickly adsorb the organic compound trinitrotoluene (TNT). Overall, the genetic tractability, rapid division time, and ease of culture provide a set of attractive properties that compare favorably to current E. coli production strains and warrant the further development of this chassis as a microbial factory for natural product biosynthesis. IMPORTANCE Melanins are macromolecules that are ubiquitous in nature and impart a large variety of biological functions, including structure, coloration, radiation resistance, free radical scavenging, and thermoregulation. Currently, in the majority of investigations, melanins are either chemically synthesized or extracted from animals, which presents significant challenges for large-scale production. Bacteria have been used as biocatalysts to synthesize a variety of biomaterials due to their fast growth and amenability to genetic engineering using synthetic biology tools. In this study, we engineered the extremely fast-growing bacterium V. natriegens to synthesize melanin nanoparticles by expressing a heterologous tyrosinase gene with inducible promoters. Characterization of the melanin produced from V. natriegens-produced tyrosinase revealed that it exhibited physical and chemical properties similar to those of natural and chemically synthesized melanins, including nanoparticle structure, protection against UV damage, and adsorption of toxic compounds. We anticipate that producing and controlling melanin structures at the nanoscale in this bacterial system with synthetic biology tools will enable the design and rapid production of novel biomaterials for multiple applications.