Highly polar materials are usually preferred over weakly polar ones to study strong electron-phonon interactions and its fascinating properties. Here, we report on the achievement of simultaneous confinement of charge carriers and phonons at the vicinity of a 2D vertical homovalent singularity (antiphase boundary, (APB)) in an (In, Ga)P/SiGe/Si sample. The impact of the electron-phonon interaction on the photoluminescence processes is then clarified, by combining transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, ab initio calculations, Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence experiments. 2D localization and layer group symmetry properties of homovalent electronic states and phonons are studied by first principles methods, leading to the prediction of a type II band alignment between the APB and the surrounding semiconductor matrix. A Huang-Rhys factor of 8 is finally experimentally determined for the APB emission line, underlining that a large and unusually strong electron-phonon coupling can be achieved by 2D vertical quantum confinement in an undoped III-V semiconductor. This work extends the concept of electron-phonon interaction to 2D vertically buried III-V homovalent nanoobjects and therefore provides different approaches for material designs, vertical carrier transport, heterostructure design on silicon and device applications with weakly polar semiconductors.

In this paper, we demonstrate that the alignment density of individualized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) can be greatly improved by heating-enhanced dielectrophoresis (HE-DEP) process. The observations by scanning electron microscope (SEM) suggest ultrahigh alignment density and good alignment quality of SWCNTs. The intuitive alignment density of individualized SWCNTs is much higher than the currently reported best results. The reason of this HE-DEP process is explained by simulation work and ascribed to the heating-enhanced convection process, and the “convection force” induced by the heating effect is assessed in a novel way.

Here, the structural, electronic and optical properties of the GaP 1-x Sb x /Si tandem materials association are determined in view of its use for solar water splitting applications. The GaPSb crystalline layer is grown on Si by Molecular Beam Epitaxy with different Sb contents. The bandgap value and bandgap type of GaPSb alloy are determined on the whole Sb range, by combining experimental absorption measurements with tight binding (TB) theoretical calculations. The indirect (X-band) to direct (Γ-band) cross-over is found to occur at 30% Sb content. Especially, at a Sb content of 32%, the GaP 1-x Sb x alloy reaches the desired 1.7eV direct bandgap, enabling efficient sunlight absorption, that can be ideally combined with the Si 1.1 eV bandgap. Moreover, the band alignment of GaP 1-x Sb x alloys and Si with respect to water redox potential levels has been analyzed, which shows the GaPSb/Si association is an interesting combination both for the hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reactions. These results open new routes for the development of III-V/Si low-cost high-efficiency photoelectrochemical cells.

, et al.. Cathodoluminescence hyperspectral analysis of whispering gallery modes in active semiconductor wedge resonators.

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