Probing electron charging in nanocrystalline Si dots using Kelvin probe force microscopy

Salem, Mohamed; Mizuta, Hiroshi; Oda, Shunri

doi:10.1063/1.1804250

Cited by 37 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…[60] This technique permitted the measurement of the size dependence of the work function for different nanostructures, such as multi-walled nanotubes, [61] and the charging behavior of dots. [55] One of the most promising applications of KPFM is indeed its use on working devices, where the effect of current or light passing through the device can be observed on different areas of the device. Jiang et al used KPFM to observe the effect of illumination on charge generation and potential build-up on solar cells, performing the measurements jointly with macroscopic current-voltage and cyclic voltammetry characterizations.…”

Section: Kpfm Of Conventional Inorganic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8). [53] KPFM measurements have also been performed on quantum dots, [54,55] quantum wells under illumination, [56] laser diodes, [57] nanotubes, [58,59] and chemically sensitive field-effect transistors. [60] This technique permitted the measurement of the size dependence of the work function for different nanostructures, such as multi-walled nanotubes, [61] and the charging behavior of dots.…”

Section: Kpfm Of Conventional Inorganic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electronic Characterization of Organic Thin Films by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy

2006

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This review highlights the potential of Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) beyond imaging to simultaneously study structural and electronic properties of functional surfaces and interfaces. This is of paramount importance since it is well established that a solid surface possesses different properties than the bulk material. The versatility of the technique allows one to carry out investigations in a non‐invasive way for different environmental conditions and sample types with resolutions of a few nanometers and some millivolts. KPFM can be used to acquire a wide knowledge of the overall electronic and electrical behavior of a sample surface. Moreover, by KPFM it is possible to study complex electronic phenomena in supramolecular engineered systems and devices. The combination of such a methodology with external stimuli, e.g., light irradiation, opens new doors to the exploration of processes occurring in nature or in artificial complex architectures. Therefore, KPFM is an extremely powerful technique that permits the unraveling of electronic (dynamic) properties of materials, enabling the optimization of the design and performance of new devices based on organic‐semiconductor nanoarchitectures.

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Section: Kpfm Of Conventional Inorganic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Kpfm Of Conventional Inorganic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic Characterization of Organic Thin Films by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy

2006

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“…On the other hand, with many difficulties associated with the interpretation of those results the best information that could have been deduced from them was that the confined level separations and the CB energy are of the order of 0.1-0.3 eV for NCs in the 3-5 nm size regime. Also, charges induced by electrical force microscopy (EFM) have been used by a few groups [60][61][62] to demonstrate that charge storage can be induced in individual Si NCs when they are removed well from each other. Another (more complicated to interpret but simpler to fabricate) structure that was studied by many authors [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] is the 2D array configuration that is diluted enough so that the interaction between the NCs is negligible.…”

Section: Previous Studies Of Transport In Systems Of Simentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical Transport Mechanisms in Ensembles of Silicon Nanocystallites

Balberg

2010

Silicon Nanocrystals

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While the optical [1][2][3] properties of various ensembles of individual Si nanocrystallites (NCs) and the memory-charge storage (CS) characteristics of two-dimensional (2D) arrays of Si NCs [4] have been investigated by many researchers, relatively little attention was paid to the transport properties of 3D ensembles of such quantum dots (QDs) [5]. The interest in the last systems, however, is expected to follow the new basic physics that it reveals and the potential applications of such systems. Following the reasonable (though still controversial [6]) understanding of granular metals [7,8], where the electrical conduction takes place via metallic particles, additional significant insights into the transport mechanism [5,9] and new phenomena are expected in Si NCs due to the presence of confined levels [10]. In particular, the combination of Coulomb blockade (CB) effects and the quantum confinement (QC) restrictions can yield various resonant tunneling effects [11] as well as various quantum phase transformations [12] that are beyond the scope of this chapter. From the application point of view, one realizes that significant electroluminescence (EL) can come about only as a result of efficient transport in 3D ensembles of Si NCs [4,13,14] that are dense enough to yield strong light emission. Finding the conditions for the optimization of the luminescence and the transport is then the route to achieve efficient Si-based photoelectronic devices [15].In this chapter, we present a review on the electrical transport in the ensembles of Si NCs. Since we are concerned with the transport in 3D ensembles of quantum dots, we will only briefly review the main results obtained from lower dimensional ensembles (i.e., 1D-like [16, 17] or perpendicular to 2D arrays [18][19][20][21]) of Si QDs in order to provide a reference for the effects of the small size of the single Si NCs on the transport in ensembles of larger dimensions. We will see that in spite of many studies of these 0D-like and 2D systems, which are essentially associated with single isolated NCs, and their potential use as nonvolatile memories, only the basics of the Silicon Nanocrystals: Fundamentals, Synthesis and Applications. Edited by Lorenzo Pavesi and Rasit Turan

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“…As shown in Fig. 2(b), this approach not only permits the evaluation of stored electrons in individual dots at normal ambient conditions, but also enables the direct monitoring of dynamic characteristics of charge decay [14].…”

Section: Charge Storage Study In Silicon Dots By Kfmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Storing of electrons in individual Si dots was evaluated by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KFM) [14]. We proposed novel memory devices based on nano electro-mechanical systems [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charge storage and electron/light emission properties of silicon nanocrystals

Oda

Huang

Salem

et al. 2007

Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures

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Monodispersed silicon nanocrystals show novel electrical and optical characteristics of silicon quantum dots, such as single-electron tunneling, ballistic electron transport, visible photoluminescence and high-efficiency electron emission.Single-electron memory effects have been studied using a short-channel MOSFET incorporating Si quantum dots as a floating gate. Surface nitridation of Si nanocrystal memory nodes extends the charge-retention time significantly. Single-electron storage in individual Si dots has been evaluated by Kelvin probe force microscopy.Photoluminescence and electron emission are observed for surface-oxidized silicon nanocrystals. Efficiency of the no-phonon-assisted transition increases with decreasing core Si size. Electron emission efficiency as high as 5% has been achieved for the Si-nanocrystalbased cold electron emitter devices. The non-Maxwellian energy distribution of emitted electrons suggests that the mechanism of electron emission is due to ballistic transport through arrays of surface-oxidized Si nanocrystals. Combined with the ballistic electron emission, the quasi-direct light emission properties can be used for developing Si-based lasers. r

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Probing electron charging in nanocrystalline Si dots using Kelvin probe force microscopy

Cited by 37 publications

References 18 publications

Electronic Characterization of Organic Thin Films by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy

Electronic Characterization of Organic Thin Films by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy

Electrical Transport Mechanisms in Ensembles of Silicon Nanocystallites

Charge storage and electron/light emission properties of silicon nanocrystals

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