Probing the interfacial and sub-surface structure of Si/Si1 – xGex multilayers

The ability to determine structural and compositional information from the sub-surface region of a semiconductor material has been demonstrated using a new time-of-flight medium energy ion scattering spectroscopy (ToF-MEISS) system. A series of silicon–silicon/germanium (Si/Si1 – xGex) heterostructure and multilayer samples, grown using both solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and gas source chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on Si(100) substrates, have been investigated. These data indicate that each individual layer of Si1 – xGex (x ~ 0.22) in both two- and three-period samples, can be uniquely identified with a resolution of approximately 3 nm. A comparison of MBE and CVD grown samples has also been made using layers with similar structures and composition. The total Ge content of each sample was confirmed using conventional Rutherford backscattering spectrometry

Core-level photoemission spectroscopy of nitrogen bonding in GaNxAs1–x alloys

The nitrogen bonding configurations in GaNxAs1–x alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy with 0.07=0.03, the nitrogen is found to exist in a single bonding configuration – the Ga–N bond; no interstitial nitrogen complexes are present. The amount of nitrogen in the alloys is estimated from the XPS using the N 1s photoelectron and Ga LMM Auger lines and is found to be in agreement with the composition determined by x-ray diffraction

Origin of the n-type conductivity of InN: the role of positively charged dislocations

As-grown InN is known to exhibit high unintentional n-type conductivity. Hall measurements from a range of high-quality single-crystalline epitaxially grown InN films reveal a dramatic reduction in the electron density (from low 1019 to low 1017 cm–3) with increasing film thickness (from 50 to 12 000 nm). The combination of background donors from impurities and the extreme electron accumulation at InN surfaces is shown to be insufficient to reproduce the measured film thickness dependence of the free-electron density. When positively charged nitrogen vacancies (VN+) along dislocations are also included, agreement is obtained between the calculated and experimental thickness dependence of the free-electron concentration

Gamma-ray Spectral Evolution of NGC1275 Observed with Fermi-LAT

We report on a detailed investigation of the high-energy gamma-ray emission from NGC\,1275, a well-known radio galaxy hosted by a giant elliptical located at the center of the nearby Perseus cluster. With the increased photon statistics, the center of the gamma-ray emitting region is now measured to be separated by only 0.46' from the nucleus of NGC1275, well within the 95% confidence error circle with radius ~1.5'. Early Fermi-LAT observations revealed a significant decade-timescale brightening of NGC1275 at GeV photon energies, with a flux about seven times higher than the one implied by the upper limit from previous EGRET observations. With the accumulation of one-year of Fermi-LAT all-sky-survey exposure, we now detect flux and spectral variations of this source on month timescales, as reported in this paper. The average >100 MeV gamma-ray spectrum of NGC1275 shows a possible deviation from a simple power-law shape, indicating a spectral cut-off around an observed photon energy of E = 42.2+-19.6 GeV, with an average flux of F = (2.31+-0.13) X 10^{-7} ph/cm^2/s and a power-law photon index, Gamma = 2.13+-0.02. The largest gamma-ray flaring event was observed in April--May 2009 and was accompanied by significant spectral variability above E > 1-2 GeV. The gamma-ray activity of NGC1275 during this flare can be described by a hysteresis behavior in the flux versus photon index plane. The highest energy photon associated with the gamma-ray source was detected at the very end of the observation, with the observed energy of E = 67.4GeV and an angular separation of about 2.4' from the nucleus. In this paper we present the details of the Fermi-LAT data analysis, and briefly discuss the implications of the observed gamma-ray spectral evolution of NGC1275 in the context of gamma-ray blazar sources in general.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Ap

Low temperature removal of surface oxides and hydrocarbons from Ge(100) using atomic hydrogen

Germanium is a group IV semiconductor with many current and potential applications in the modern semiconductor industry. Key to expanding the use of Ge is a reliable method for the removal of surface contamination, including oxides which are naturally formed during the exposure of Ge thin films to atmospheric conditions. A process for achieving this task at lower temperatures would be highly advantageous, where the underlying device architecture will not diffuse through the Ge film while also avoiding electronic damage induced by ion irradiation. Atomic hydrogen cleaning (AHC) offers a low temperature, damage-free alternative to the common ion bombardment and annealing (IBA) technique which is widely employed. In this work, we demonstrate with xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) that the AHC method is effective in removing surface oxides and hydrocarbons, yielding an almost completely clean surface when the AHC is conducted at a temperature of 250 ◦C. We compare the post-AHC cleanliness and (2 × 1) low energy electron diffraction (LEED) pattern to that obtained via IBA, where the sample is annealed at 600 ◦C. We also demonstrate that the combination of a sample temperature of 250 ◦C and atomic H dosing is required to clean the surface. Lower temperatures prove less effective in removal of the oxide layer and hydrocarbons, whilst annealing in ultra-high vacuum conditions only removes weakly bound hydrocarbons. Finally, we examine the subsequent H-termination of an IBA-cleaned sample using XPS, LEED and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) in order to examine changes in the work function of Ge(100) upon hydrogenation

Valence band offset of InN/AlN heterojunctions measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The valence band offset of wurtzite-InN/AlN (0001) heterojunctions is determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to be 1.52±0.17 eV. Together with the resulting conduction band offset of 4.0±0.2 eV, a type-I heterojunction forms between InN and AlN in the straddling arrangement

Bandgap and effective mass of epitaxial cadmium oxide

The bandgap and band-edge effective mass of single crystal cadmium oxide, epitaxially grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy, are determined from infrared reflectivity, ultraviolet/visible absorption, and Hall effect measurements. Analysis and simulation of the optical data, including effects of band nonparabolicity, Moss-Burstein band filling and bandgap renormalization, reveal room temperature bandgap and band-edge effective mass values of 2.16±0.02 eV and 0.21±0.01m0 respectively

Photoluminescence spectroscopy of bandgap reduction in dilute InNAs alloys

Photoluminescence (PL) has been observed from dilute InNxAs1–x epilayers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. The PL spectra unambiguously show band gap reduction with increasing N content. The variation of the PL spectra with temperature is indicative of carrier detrapping from localized to extended states as the temperature is increased. The redshift of the free exciton PL peak with increasing N content and temperature is reproduced by the band anticrossing model, implemented via a (5×5) k·p Hamiltonian