The valence-band x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra of the Ge nanocrystals deposited by the cluster-beam evaporation technique were studied, and suggest the presence of the tetragonal crystal structure (ST-12) of Ge in the Ge nanocrystals. Although the ST-12 structure of Ge is known to be metastable and is transformed to the diamond structure, which is the crystal structure of bulk Ge, at relatively low temperatures, the XPS and absorption spectra of the Ge nanocrystals annealed at various temperatures show that the obtained ST-12 structure is thermally stable. The critical temperature for the phase transformation of the Ge nanocrystals is found to be higher than 700 °C. These results are consistent with our earlier study using Raman spectroscopy.
Gold clusters synthesized by the solution-based growth technique have exhibited ultraviolet (UV) light emission with nearly zero Stokes shift. Atomic arrangement decided optical properties of the Au microclusters have been studied extensively. In addition to the time-of-flight mass spectra, the comparison of experimental and theoretical emission and absorption spectra confirms the presence of Au8 clusters with the planar hexagon+1-shaped geometry. The observed UV emission is attributed to the transition from the highest occupied to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals of the hexagon+1 structured Au8 clusters.
ZnO thin films were deposited using atom beam sputtering and their modifications have been shown by two processes: (a) thermal annealing of ZnO thin films in oxygen and (b) athermal annealing by irradiation of these films by swift heavy ions (SHIs) in a high vacuum chamber. The as-deposited films showed the nanocrystalline nature with a preferred orientation along the c-axis of the hexagonal structure as revealed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra. The influence of the thermal annealing and athermal annealing on the structural and surface modifications of these thin films were investigated. XRD and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the improvement in the crystallinity of ZnO thin film by both thermal annealing and SHI irradiation. The Zn–O bonding was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and the interpretation of IR spectra corroborated the XRD and Raman results. Surface morphology was investigated by atomic force microscopy. The AFM study of the films implied no significant change in the roughness of the films in both types of annealing conditions. It was concluded that the modification of nanocrystalline ZnO thin film could be possible by both thermal and athermal annealing. Results indicate that transient annealing by SHI irradiation induces the highly textured c-axis oriented ZnO thin film for device applications, comparable to those of high temperature annealing.
The formation of twin is common during GaAs(111) and GaN(0001) molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) metalorganic chemical vapor deposition growth. A stacking fault in the zinc-blende (ZB)(111) direction can be described as an insertion of one monolayer of wurtzite structure, sandwiched between two ZB structures that have been rotated 60° along the growth direction. GaAs(111)A/B MBE growth within typical growth temperature regimes is complicated by the formation of pyramidal structures and 60° rotated twins, which are caused by faceting and stacking fault formation. Although previous studies have revealed much about the structure of these twins, a well-established simple nondestructive characterization method which allows the measurement of total aerial density of the twins does not exist at present. In this article, the twin density of AlGaAs layers grown on 1° miscut GaAs(111)B substrates has been measured using high resolution x-ray diffraction, and characterized with a combination of Nomarski microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. These comparisons permit the relationship between the aerial twin density and the growth condition to be determined quantitatively.
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