333 research outputs found
On giant piezoresistance effects in silicon nanowires and microwires
The giant piezoresistance (PZR) previously reported in silicon nanowires is
experimentally investigated in a large number of surface depleted silicon nano-
and micro-structures. The resistance is shown to vary strongly with time due to
electron and hole trapping at the sample surfaces. Importantly, this time
varying resistance manifests itself as an apparent giant PZR identical to that
reported elsewhere. By modulating the applied stress in time, the true PZR of
the structures is found to be comparable with that of bulk silicon
Effect of the Pauli principle on photoelectron spin transport in GaAs
In p+ GaAs thin films, the effect of photoelectron degeneracy on spin
transport is investigated theoretically and experimentally by imaging the spin
polarization profile as a function of distance from a tightly-focussed light
excitation spot. Under degeneracy of the electron gas (high concentration, low
temperature), a dip at the center of the polarization profile appears with a
polarization maximum at a distance of about from the center. This
counterintuitive result reveals that photoelectron diffusion depends on spin,
as a direct consequence of the Pauli principle. This causes a concentration
dependence of the spin stiffness while the spin dependence of the mobility is
found to be weak in doped material. The various effects which can modify spin
transport in a degenerate electron gas under local laser excitation are
considered. A comparison of the data with a numerical solution of the coupled
diffusion equations reveals that ambipolar coupling with holes increases the
steady-state photo-electron density at the excitation spot and therefore the
amplitude of the degeneracy-induced polarization dip. Thermoelectric currrents
are predicted to depend on spin under degeneracy (spin Soret currents), but
these currents are negligible except at very high excitation power where they
play a relatively small role. Coulomb spin drag and bandgap renormalization are
negligible due to electrostatic screening by the hole gas
Spin and recombination dynamics of excitons and free electrons in p-type GaAs : effect of carrier density
Carrier and spin recombination are investigated in p-type GaAs of acceptor
concentration NA = 1.5 x 10^(17) cm^(-3) using time-resolved photoluminescence
spectroscopy at 15 K. At low pho- tocarrier concentration, acceptors are mostly
neutral and photoelectrons can either recombine with holes bound to acceptors
(e-A0 line) or form excitons which are mostly trapped on neutral acceptors
forming the (A0X) complex. It is found that the spin lifetime is shorter for
electrons that recombine through the e-A0 transition due to spin relaxation
generated by the exchange scattering of free electrons with either trapped or
free holes, whereas spin flip processes are less likely to occur once the
electron forms with a free hole an exciton bound to a neutral acceptor. An
increase of exci- tation power induces a cross-over to a regime where the
bimolecular band-to-band (b-b) emission becomes more favorable due to screening
of the electron-hole Coulomb interaction and ionization of excitonic complexes
and free excitons. Then, the formation of excitons is no longer possible, the
carrier recombination lifetime increases and the spin lifetime is found to
decrease dramatically with concentration due to fast spin relaxation with free
photoholes. In this high density regime, both the electrons that recombine
through the e-A0 transition and through the b-b transition have the same spin
relaxation time.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Spin dependent photoelectron tunnelling from GaAs into magnetic Cobalt
The spin dependence of the photoelectron tunnel current from free standing
GaAs films into out-of- plane magnetized Cobalt films is demonstrated. The
measured spin asymmetry (A) resulting from a change in light helicity, reaches
+/- 6% around zero applied tunnel bias and drops to +/- 2% at a bias of -1.6 V
applied to the GaAs. This decrease is a result of the drop in the photoelectron
spin polarization that results from a reduction in the GaAs surface
recombination velocity. The sign of A changes with that of the Cobalt
magnetization direction. In contrast, on a (nonmagnetic) Gold film A ~ 0%
When is a surface foam-phobic or foam-philic?
By integrating the Young-Laplace equation, including the effects of gravity,
we have calculated the equilibrium shape of the two-dimensional Plateau borders
along which a vertical soap film contacts two flat, horizontal solid substrates
of given wettability. We show that the Plateau borders, where most of a foam's
liquid resides, can only exist if the values of the Bond number and
of the liquid contact angle lie within certain domains in
space: under these conditions the substrate is
foam-philic. For values outside these domains, the substrate cannot support a
soap film and is foam-phobic. In other words, on a substrate of a given
wettability, only Plateau borders of a certain range of sizes can form. For
given , the top Plateau border can never have greater
width or cross-sectional area than the bottom one. Moreover, the top Plateau
border cannot exist in a steady state for contact angles above 90. Our
conclusions are validated by comparison with both experimental and numerical
(Surface Evolver) data. We conjecture that these results will hold, with slight
modifications, for non-planar soap films and bubbles. Our results are also
relevant to the motion of bubbles and foams in channels, where the friction
force of the substrate on the Plateau borders plays an important role.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figure
Absence of an intrinsic value for the surface recombination velocity in doped semiconductors
A self-consistent expression for the surface recombination velocity and
the surface Fermi level unpinning energy as a function of light excitation
power () is presented for n- and p-type semiconductors doped above the
10 cm range. Measurements of on p-type GaAs films using a
novel polarized microluminescence technique are used to illustrate two limiting
cases of the model. For a naturally oxidized surface is described by a
power law in whereas for a passivated surface varies
logarithmically with . Furthermore, the variation in with surface state
density and bulk doping level is found to be the result of Fermi level
unpinning rather than a change in the intrinsic surface recombination velocity.
It is concluded that depends on throughout the experimentally
accessible range of excitation powers and therefore that no instrinsic value
can be determined. Previously reported values of on a range of
semiconducting materials are thus only valid for a specific excitation power.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Photoassisted tunneling from free-standing GaAs thin films into metallic surfaces
The tunnel photocurrent between a gold surface and a free-standing
semiconducting thin film excited from the rear by above bandgap light has been
measured as a function of applied bias, tunnel distance and excitation light
power. The results are compared with the predictions of a model which includes
the bias dependence of the tunnel barrier height and the bias-induced decrease
of surface recombination velocity. It is found that i) the tunnel photocurrent
from the conduction band dominates that from surface states. ii) At large
tunnel distance the exponential bias dependence of the current is explained by
that of the tunnel barrier height, while at small distance the change of
surface recombination velocity is dominant
What is the shape of an air bubble on a liquid surface?
We have calculated the equilibrium shape of the axially symmetric meniscus along which a spherical bubble contacts a flat liquid surface, by analytically integrating the Young-Laplace equation in the presence of gravity, in the limit of large Bond numbers. This method has the advantage that it provides semi-analytical expressions for key geometrical properties of the bubble in terms of the Bond number. Results are in good overall agreement with experimental data and are consistent with fully numerical (Surface Evolver) calculations. In particular, we are able to describe how the bubble shape changes from hemispherical, with a shallow flat bottom, to lenticular, with a deeper, curved bottom, as the Bond number is decreased
Giant room temperature piezoresistance in a metal/silicon hybrid
Metal/semiconductor hybrids are artificially created structures presenting
novel properties not exhibited by either of the component materials alone. Here
we present a giant piezoresistance effect in a hybrid formed from silicon and
aluminum. The maximum piezoresistive gage factor (GF) of 843, measured at room
temperature, compares with a GF of -93 measured in the bulk homogeneous
silicon. This piezoresistance boost is not due to the silicon/aluminum
interface, but results from a stress induced anisotropy in the silicon
conductivity that acts to switch current away from the highly conductive
aluminum for uniaxial tensile strains. Its magnitude is shown, via the
calculation of hybrid resistivity weighting functions, to depend only on the
geometrical arrangement of the component parts of the hybrid.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
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