skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Orientation-Controlled Anisotropy in Single Crystals of Quasi-1D BaTiS 3
Low-dimensional materials with chain-like (one-dimensional) or layered (two-dimensional) structures are of significant interest due to their anisotropic electrical, optical, and thermal properties. One material with a chain-like structure, BaTiS3 (BTS), was recently shown to possess giant in-plane optical anisotropy and glass-like thermal conductivity. To understand the origin of these effects, it is necessary to fully characterize the optical, thermal, and electronic anisotropy of BTS. To this end, BTS crystals with different orientations (a- and c-axis orientations) were grown by chemical vapor transport. X-ray absorption spectroscopy was used to characterize the local structure and electronic anisotropy of BTS. Fourier transform infrared reflection/transmission spectra show a large in-plane optical anisotropy in the a-oriented crystals, while the c-axis oriented crystals were nearly isotropic in-plane. BTS platelet crystals are promising uniaxial materials for infrared optics with their optic axis parallel to the c-axis. The thermal conductivity measurements revealed a thermal anisotropy of ∼4.5 between the c- and a-axis. Time-domain Brillouin scattering showed that the longitudinal sound speed along the two axes is nearly the same, suggesting that the thermal anisotropy is a result of different phonon scattering rates.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2122071 2122070
PAR ID:
10332595
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Chemistry of Materials
ISSN:
0897-4756
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract Polarimetric infrared (IR) detection bolsters IR thermography by leveraging the polarization of light. Optical anisotropy, i.e., birefringence and dichroism, can be leveraged to achieve polarimetric detection. Recently, giant optical anisotropy is discovered in quasi‐1D narrow‐bandgap hexagonal perovskite sulfides, A1+xTiS3, specifically BaTiS3and Sr9/8TiS3. In these materials, the critical role of atomic‐scale structure modulations in the unconventional electrical, optical, and thermal properties raises the broader question of the nature of other materials that belong to this family. To address this issue, for the first time, high‐quality single crystals of a largely unexplored member of the A1+xTiX3(X = S, Se) family, BaTiSe3are synthesized. Single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction determined the room‐temperature structure with theP31cspace group, which is a superstructure of the earlier reportedP63/mmcstructure. The crystal structure of BaTiSe3features antiparallelc‐axis displacements similar to but of lower symmetry than BaTiS3, verified by the polarization dependent Raman spectroscopy. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is used to characterize the optical anisotropy of BaTiSe3, whose refractive index along the ordinary (E⊥c) and extraordinary (E‖c) optical axes is quantitatively determined by combining ellipsometry studies with FTIR. With a giant birefringence Δn∼ 0.9, BaTiSe3emerges as a new candidate for miniaturized birefringent optics for mid‐wave infrared to long‐wave infrared imaging. 
    more » « less
  2. We investigate the amorphous-to-crystalline transformation of antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) on UHV-prepared GaAs (001) substrates. In the bulk orthorhombic form, Sb2Se3 is a layered quasi-1D semiconductor with highly anisotropic properties of interest for optical and electronic devices. We find that an amorphous layer deposited by molecular beam epitaxy annealed at or above 230 °C yields a textured-epitaxial structure among some randomly oriented domains. The textured-epitaxial Sb2Se3 grains are oriented with the covalently bonded “1D axis” constrained in-plane to GaAs [110] and with multiple van der Waals (hk0) orientations out-of-plane. The same texture was achieved exclusively without randomly oriented grains using continuous-wave laser radiation, highlighting the use of thermal and optical methods to yield anisotropic crystalline Sb2Se3 films directly from the amorphous phase. Polarized reflectance and polarized microscopy confirm the unique state of in-plane birefringence in the crystallized thin film. Overall, we show that solid-phase heteroepitaxy provides additional pathways to the integration of low-symmetry chalcogenide semiconductors for demanding applications where the inherent anisotropy needs to be preserved. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract The densification of integrated circuits requires thermal management strategies and high thermal conductivity materials 1–3 . Recent innovations include the development of materials with thermal conduction anisotropy, which can remove hotspots along the fast-axis direction and provide thermal insulation along the slow axis 4,5 . However, most artificially engineered thermal conductors have anisotropy ratios much smaller than those seen in naturally anisotropic materials. Here we report extremely anisotropic thermal conductors based on large-area van der Waals thin films with random interlayer rotations, which produce a room-temperature thermal anisotropy ratio close to 900 in MoS 2 , one of the highest ever reported. This is enabled by the interlayer rotations that impede the through-plane thermal transport, while the long-range intralayer crystallinity maintains high in-plane thermal conductivity. We measure ultralow thermal conductivities in the through-plane direction for MoS 2 (57 ± 3 mW m −1  K −1 ) and WS 2 (41 ± 3 mW m −1  K −1 ) films, and we quantitatively explain these values using molecular dynamics simulations that reveal one-dimensional glass-like thermal transport. Conversely, the in-plane thermal conductivity in these MoS 2 films is close to the single-crystal value. Covering nanofabricated gold electrodes with our anisotropic films prevents overheating of the electrodes and blocks heat from reaching the device surface. Our work establishes interlayer rotation in crystalline layered materials as a new degree of freedom for engineering-directed heat transport in solid-state systems. 
    more » « less
  4. AlN thin films are enabling significant progress in modern optoelectronics, power electronics, and microelectromechanical systems. The various AlN growth methods and conditions lead to different film microstructures. In this report, phonon scattering mechanisms that impact the cross-plane (κ z ; along the c-axis) and in-plane (κ r ; parallel to the c-plane) thermal conductivities of AlN thin films prepared by various synthesis techniques are investigated. In contrast to bulk single crystal AlN with an isotropic thermal conductivity of ∼330 W/m K, a strong anisotropy in the thermal conductivity is observed in the thin films. The κ z shows a strong film thickness dependence due to phonon-boundary scattering. Electron microscopy reveals the presence of grain boundaries and dislocations that limit the κ r . For instance, oriented films prepared by reactive sputtering possess lateral crystalline grain sizes ranging from 20 to 40 nm that significantly lower the κ r to ∼30 W/m K. Simulation results suggest that the self-heating in AlN film bulk acoustic resonators can significantly impact the power handling capability of RF filters. A device employing an oriented film as the active piezoelectric layer shows an ∼2.5× higher device peak temperature as compared to a device based on an epitaxial film. 
    more » « less
  5. Low-temperature thermal conductivity ( κ ), as well as the magnetic properties and specific heat, are studied for the frustrated zigzag spin-chain material SrEr 2 O 4 by using single-crystal samples. The specific heat data indicate the long-range antiferromagnetic transition at ∼ 0.73 K and the existence of strong magnetic fluctuations. The magnetizations at very low temperatures for magnetic field along the c axis (spin chain direction) or the a axis reveal the field-induced magnetic transitions. The κ shows a strong dependence on magnetic field, applied along the c axis or the a axis, which is closely related to the magnetic transitions. Furthermore, high magnetic field induces a strong increase of κ . These results indicate that thermal conductivity along either the c axis or the a axis are mainly contributed by phonons, while magnetic excitations play a role of scattering phonons. 
    more » « less