5,221 research outputs found
Macroscopic and microscopic studies of electrical properties of very thin silicon dioxide subject to electrical stress
The electrical characteristics of various size tunnel switch diode devices, composed of Al/SiO2/n-Si/p+-Si layers, which operate with a range of parameters (such as current densities in excess of 104 A/cm2) that stress the oxide layer far beyond the levels used in typical thin oxide metal-oxide semiconductor research have been examined. It is found that the first time a large current and electric field are applied to the device, a "forming" process enhances transport through the oxide in the vicinity of the edges of the gate electrode, but the oxide still retains its integrity as a tunnel barrier. The device operation is relatively stable to stresses of greater than 107 C/cm2 areally averaged, time-integrated charge injection. Duplication and characterization of these modified oxide tunneling properties was attempted using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to stress and probe the oxide. Electrical stressing with the STM tip creates regions of reduced conductivity, possibly resulting from trapped charge in the oxide. Lateral variations in the conductivity of the unstressed oxide over regions roughly 20ā50 nm across were also found
The Presence of Deep Levels in Ion Implanted Junctions
It has been found that ion implantation doping results in the generation and diffusion of defect species, forming deep trapping levels. The effect of these levels on the electrical characteristics of zincāimplanted GaAs diodes has been observed for the case of 70ākV implantation at 400Ā°C into substrates with nātype concentrations ranging from 1 Ć 10^16 to 1.8 Ć 10^18 atoms/cm^3. Capacitanceāvoltage measurements have indicated the presence of a semiāinsulating layer in the diodes, varying in thickness from 0.18 Ī¼ for the most heavily doped substrate to 2.7 Ī¼ for the lightest. Frequency dependence of the junction capacitance and power law variation of forward current vs voltage have also been observed and are attributed to deep levels
Accommodation of lattice mismatch in Ge_(x)Si_(1āx)/Si superlattices
We present evidence that the critical thickness for the appearance of misfit defects in a given material and heteroepitaxial structure is not simply a function of lattice mismatch. We report substantial differences in the relaxation of mismatch stress in Ge_(0.5)Si_(0.5)/Si superlattices grown at different temperatures on (100) Si substrates. Samples have been analyzed by xāray diffraction, channeled Rutherford backscattering, and transmission electron microscopy. While a superlattice grown at 365āĀ°C demonstrates a high degree of elastic strain, with a dislocation density <10^5 cm^(ā2) , structures grown at higher temperatures show increasing numbers of structural defects, with densities reaching 2Ć10^(10) cm^(ā2) at a growth temperature of 530āĀ°C. Our results suggest that it is possible to freeze a latticeāmismatched structure in a highly strained metastable state. Thus it is not surprising that experimentally observed critical thicknesses are rarely in agreement with those predicted by equilibrium theories
Low Luminosity Companions to White Dwarfs
This paper presents results of a near-infrared imaging survey for low mass
stellar and substellar companions to white dwarfs. A wide field proper motion
survey of 261 white dwarfs was capable of directly detecting companions at
orbital separations between and 5000 AU with masses as low as 0.05
, while a deep near field search of 86 white dwarfs was capable of
directly detecting companions at separations between and 1100 AU with
masses as low as 0.02 . Additionally, all white dwarf targets were
examined for near-infrared excess emission, a technique capable of detecting
companions at arbitrarily close separations down to masses of 0.05 .
No brown dwarf candidates were detected, which implies a brown dwarf
companion fraction of % for white dwarfs. In contrast, the stellar
companion fraction of white dwarfs as measured by this survey is 22%,
uncorrected for bias. Moreover, most of the known and suspected stellar
companions to white dwarfs are low mass stars whose masses are only slightly
greater than the masses of brown dwarfs. Twenty previously unknown stellar
companions were detected, five of which are confirmed or likely white dwarfs
themselves, while fifteen are confirmed or likely low mass stars.
Similar to the distribution of cool field dwarfs as a function of spectral
type, the number of cool unevolved dwarf companions peaks at mid-M type. Based
on the present work, relative to this peak, field L dwarfs appear to be roughly
2-3 times more abundant than companion L dwarfs. Additionally, there is no
evidence that the initial companion masses have been altered by post main
sequence binary interactions.Comment: 149 pages, 59 figures, 11 tables, accepted to ApJ Supplement
Are Coronae of Magnetically Active Stars Heated by Flares? III. Analytical Distribution of Superimposed Flares
(abridged) We study the hypothesis that observed X-ray/extreme ultraviolet
emission from coronae of magnetically active stars is entirely (or to a large
part) due to the superposition of flares, using an analytic approach to
determine the amplitude distribution of flares in light curves. The
flare-heating hypothesis is motivated by time series that show continuous
variability suggesting the presence of a large number of superimposed flares
with similar rise and decay time scales. We rigorously relate the amplitude
distribution of stellar flares to the observed histograms of binned counts and
photon waiting times, under the assumption that the flares occur at random and
have similar shapes. Applying these results to EUVE/DS observations of the
flaring star AD Leo, we find that the flare amplitude distribution can be
represented by a truncated power law with a power law index of 2.3 +/- 0.1. Our
analytical results agree with existing Monte Carlo results of Kashyap et al.
(2002) and Guedel et al. (2003). The method is applicable to a wide range of
further stochastically bursting astrophysical sources such as cataclysmic
variables, Gamma Ray Burst substructures, X-ray binaries, and spatially
resolved observations of solar flares.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap
Thermodynamically admissible form for discrete hydrodynamics
We construct a discrete model of fluid particles according to the GENERIC
formalism. The model has the form of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics including
correct thermal fluctuations. A slight variation of the model reproduces the
Dissipative Particle Dynamics model with any desired thermodynamic behavior.
The resulting algorithm has the following properties: mass, momentum and energy
are conserved, entropy is a non-decreasing function of time and the thermal
fluctuations produce the correct Einstein distribution function at equilibrium.Comment: 4 page
Strain relaxation kinetics in Si1āxGex/Si heterostructures
Strain relaxation in Si1āxGex/Si superlattices and alloy films is studied as a function of ex situ anneal treatment with the use of x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Samples are grown by molecular-beam epitaxy at an unusually low temperature (ā365 Ā°C). This results in metastably strained alloy and superlattice films significantly in excess of critical thicknesses previously reported for such structures. Significant strain relaxation is observed upon anneal at temperatures as low as 390 Ā°C. After a 700 Ā°C, 2 h anneal, superlattices are observed to relax less fully (~43% of coherent strain) than corresponding alloys (~84% of coherent strain). Also, the strain relaxation kinetics of a Si1āxGex alloy layer is studied quantitatively. Alloy strain relaxation is approximately described by a single, thermally activated, first order kinetic process having activation energy Ea=2.0 eV. The relevance of our results to the microscopic mechanisms responsible for strain relaxation in lattice-mismatched semiconductor heterostructures is discussed
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