skip to main content


Title: Surface transfer doping of MoO 3 on hydrogen terminated diamond with an Al 2 O 3 interfacial layer
A thin layer of Al 2 O 3 was employed as an interfacial layer between surface conductive hydrogen-terminated (H-terminated) diamond and MoO 3 to increase the distance between the hole accumulation layer in diamond and negatively charged states in the acceptor layer and, thus, reduce the Coulomb scattering and increase the hole mobility. The valence band offsets are found to be 2.7 and 3.1 eV for Al 2 O 3 /H-terminated diamond and MoO 3 /H-terminated diamond, respectively. Compared to the MoO 3 /H-terminated diamond structure, a higher hole mobility was achieved with Al 2 O 3 inserted as an interface layer. This work provides a strategy to achieve increased hole mobility of surface conductive diamond by using optimal interlayer along with high high electron affinity surface acceptor materials.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1710551 2003567
NSF-PAR ID:
10337572
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Volume:
120
Issue:
19
ISSN:
0003-6951
Page Range / eLocation ID:
191602
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. In this work, the structural and electrical properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposited Si-doped β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 thin films grown on (010) β-Ga 2 O 3 substrates are investigated as a function of Al composition. The room temperature Hall mobility of 101 cm 2 /V s and low temperature peak mobility (T = 65 K) of 1157 cm 2 /V s at carrier concentrations of 6.56 × 10 17 and 2.30 × 10 17  cm −3 are measured from 6% Al composition samples, respectively. The quantitative secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) characterization reveals a strong dependence of Si and other unintentional impurities, such as C, H, and Cl concentrations in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 thin films, with different Al compositions. Higher Al compositions in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 result in lower net carrier concentrations due to the reduction of Si incorporation efficiency and the increase of C and H impurity levels that act as compensating acceptors in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films. Lowering the growth chamber pressure reduces Si concentrations in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films due to the increase of Al compositions as evidenced by comprehensive SIMS and Hall characterizations. Due to the increase of lattice mismatch between the epifilm and substrate, higher Al compositions lead to cracking in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films grown on β-Ga 2 O 3 substrates. The (100) cleavage plane is identified as a major cracking plane limiting the growth of high-quality Si-doped (010) β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films beyond the critical thicknesses, which leads to highly anisotropic and inhomogeneous behaviors in terms of conductivity. 
    more » « less
  2. Recent work has demonstrated a low-temperature route to fabricating mixed ionic/electronic conducting (MIEC) thin films with enhanced oxygen exchange kinetics by crystallizing amorphous-grown thin films under mild temperatures, eluding conditions for deleterious A-site cation surface segregation. Yet, the complex, multiscale chemical and structural changes during MIEC crystallization and their implications for the electrical properties remain relatively unexplored. In this work, micro-structural and atomic-scale structural and chemical changes in crystallizing SrTi 0.65 Fe 0.35 O 3− δ thin films on insulating (0001)-oriented Al 2 O 3 substrates are observed and correlated to changes in the in-plane electrical conductivity, measured in situ by ac impedance spectroscopy. Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Fe and Ti K-edges gives direct evidence of oxidation occurring with the onset of crystallization and insight into the atomic-scale structural changes driven by the chemical changes. The observed oxidation, increase in B-site polyhedra symmetry, and alignment of neighboring B-site cation coordination units demonstrate increases in both hole concentration and mobility, thus underpinning the measured increase of in-plane conductivity by over two orders of magnitude during crystallization. High resolution transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy of films at various degrees of crystallinity reveal compositional uniformity with extensive nano-porosity in the crystallized films, consistent with solid phase contraction expected from both oxidation and crystallization. We suggest that this chemo-mechanically driven dynamic nano-structuring is an additional contributor to the observed electrical behavior. By the point that the films become ∼60% crystalline (according to X-ray diffraction), the conductivity reaches the value of dense, fully crystalline films. Given the resulting high electronic conductivity, this low-temperature processing route leading to semi-crystalline hierarchical films exhibits promise for developing high performance MIECs for low-to-intermediate temperature applications. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract In this paper, transient delayed rise and fall times for beta gallium oxide ( β -Ga 2 O 3 ) nanomembrane (NM) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) formed on four different substrates (diamond, Si, sapphire, and polyimide) were measured using a sub-micron second resolution time-resolved electrical measurement system under different temperature conditions. The devices exhibited noticeably less-delayed turn on/turn off transient time when β -Ga 2 O 3 NM SBDs were built on a high thermal conductive (high- k ) substrate. Furthermore, a relationship between the β -Ga 2 O 3 NM thicknesses under different temperature conditions and their transient characteristics were systematically investigated and verified it using a multiphysics simulator. Overall, our results revealed the impact of various substrates with different thermal properties and different β -Ga 2 O 3 NM thicknesses on the performance of β -Ga 2 O 3 NM-based devices. Thus, the high- k substrate integration strategy will help design future β -Ga 2 O 3 -based devices by maximizing heat dissipation from the β -Ga 2 O 3 layer. 
    more » « less
  4. Developing efficient and stable organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is crucial for the technology's commercial success. However, combining these key attributes remains challenging. Herein, we incorporate the small molecule 2-((3,6-dibromo-9 H -carbazol-9-yl)ethyl)phosphonic acid (Br-2PACz) between the bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) and a 7 nm-thin layer of MoO 3 in inverted OPVs, and study its effects on the cell performance. We find that the Br-2PACz/MoO 3 hole-extraction layer (HEL) boosts the cell's power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 17.36% to 18.73% (uncertified), making them the most efficient inverted OPVs to date. The factors responsible for this improvement include enhanced charge transport, reduced carrier recombination, and favourable vertical phase separation of donor and acceptor components in the BHJ. The Br-2PACz/MoO 3 -based OPVs exhibit higher operational stability under continuous illumination and thermal annealing (80 °C). The T 80 lifetime of OPVs featuring Br-2PACz/MoO 3 – taken as the time over which the cell's PCE reduces to 80% of its initial value – increases compared to MoO 3 -only cells from 297 to 615 h upon illumination and from 731 to 1064 h upon continuous heating. Elemental analysis of the BHJs reveals the enhanced stability to originate from the partially suppressed diffusion of Mo ions into the BHJ and the favourable distribution of the donor and acceptor components induced by the Br-2PACz. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    Ultrathin (sub-2 nm) Al2O3/MgO memristors were recently developed using anin vacuoatomic layer deposition (ALD) process that minimizes unintended defects and prevents undesirable leakage current. These memristors provide a unique platform that allows oxygen vacancies (VO) to be inserted into the memristor with atomic precision and study how this affects the formation and rupture of conductive filaments (CFs) during memristive switching. Herein, we present a systematic study on three sets of ultrathin Al2O3/MgO memristors with VO-doping via modular MgO atomic layer insertion into an otherwise pristine insulating Al2O3atomic layer stack (ALS) using anin vacuoALD. At a fixed memristor thickness of 17 Al2O3/MgO atomic layers (∼1.9 nm), the properties of the memristors were found to be affected by the number and stacking pattern of the MgO atomic layers in the Al2O3/MgO ALS. Importantly, the trend of reduced low-state resistance and the increasing appearance of multi-step switches with an increasing number of MgO atomic layers suggests a direct correlation between the dimension and dynamic evolution of the conducting filaments and the VOconcentration and distribution. Understanding such a correlation is critical to an atomic-scale control of the switching behavior of ultrathin memristors.

     
    more » « less