ZnO is a wide‐bandgap (3.37 eV at room temperature) oxide semiconductor that is attractive for its great potential in short‐wavelength optoelectronic devices, in which high quality films and heterostructures are essential for high performance. In this study, controlled growth of ZnO‐based thin films and heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is demonstrated on different substrates with emphasis on interface engineering. It is revealed that ultrathin AlN or MgO interfacial layers play a key role in establishing structural and chemical compatibility between ZnO and substrates. Furthermore, a quasi‐homo buffer is introduced prior to growth of a wurtzite MgZnO epilayer to suppress the phase segregation of rock‐salt MgO, achieving wide‐range bandgap tuning from 3.3 to 4.55 eV. Finally, a visible‐blind UV detector exploiting a double heterojunction of n‐ZnO/insulator‐MgO/p‐Si and a solar‐blind UV detector using MgZnO as an active layer are fabricated by using the growth techniques discussed here.

A phenomenon of wurtzite (w), zincblende (zb), and rock-salt (rs) phase separation was investigated in ZnCdO films having Cd contents in the range of 0%-60% settling a discussion on the phase stability issues in ZnCdO. First, low-Cd-content (17%) ZnCdO was realized preferentially in a w matrix determining optimal Zn-lean conditions by tuning the precursor decomposition rates during synthesis. However, more detailed analysis of x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) data revealed that the w single-phase stability range is likely to be as narrow as 0%-2% Cd, while samples containing 7%-17% of Cd exhibit a mixture of w and zb phases. Second, high-Cd-content (32%-60%) ZnCdO samples were realized, supplying more of the Cd precursor utilizing Zn-lean growth conditions, however, resulting in a mixture of w, zb, and rs phases. Characteristic PL signatures at 2.54 and 2.31 eV were attributed to zb-ZnCdO and rs-CdO, respectively, while the band gap variation in w-Zn 1−x Cd x O is given by (3.36-0.063x) as determined at 10 K. The phase separation is interpreted in terms of corresponding changes in the charge distribution and reduced stacking fault energy.

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Grating-based X-ray phase contrast imaging is promising especially in the medical area. Two or three gratings are involved in grating-based X-ray phase contrast imaging in which the absorption grating of high-aspect-ratio is the most important device and the fabrication process is a great challenge. The material with large atomic number Z is used to fabricate the absorption grating for excellent absorption of X-ray, and Au is usually used. The fabrication process, which involves X-ray lithography, development and gold electroplating, is described in this paper. The absorption gratings with 4 [Formula: see text]m period and about 100 [Formula: see text]m height are fabricated and the high-aspect-ratio is 50.

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Silicon nanopillars with average diameters from 200 to 900 nm and heights from 0.5 to 3 μm have been successfully fabricated by cesium chloride (CsCl) self‐assembly lithography and dry etching as antireflection layer for solar cells. The antireflection and photovoltaic characteristics for the structures of silicon nanopillars have been researched and show that the reflectivity, photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE), and external quantum efficiency (EQE) are greatly influenced by the average diameter and height of nanopillars. The nanopillars with small diameters and large heights can supress reflection, but have less‐favorable photovoltic properties because of greater surface recombination and a greater number of lattice defects. The lowest reflectivity was achieved for silicon nanopillars of 200 nm average diameter and 1.5 μm height, for which the reflectivity was below 5 % between the wavelengths of 400 and 1000 nm, and the solar cell with silicon nanopillars of 600 nm average diameter and 1.5 μm height exhibited the best solar cell performance with a PCE of 14.83 %, a short‐circuit current density (Jsc) of 36.89 mA cm−2, and an open‐circuit voltage (Voc) of 542 mV.