Extraordinary Magnetoresistance in Hybrid Semiconductor-Metal Systems

We show that extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR) arises in systems consisting of two components; a semiconducting ring with a metallic inclusion embedded. The im- portant aspect of this discovery is that the system must have a quasi-two-dimensional character. Using the same materials and geometries for the samples as in experiments by Solin et al.[1;2], we show that such systems indeed exhibit a huge magnetoresistance. The magnetoresistance arises due to the switching of electrical current paths passing through the metallic inclusion. Diagrams illustrating the flow of the current density within the samples are utilised in discussion of the mechanism responsible for the magnetoresistance effect. Extensions are then suggested which may be applicable to the silver chalcogenides. Our theory offers an excellent description and explanation of experiments where a huge magnetoresistance has been discovered[2;3].Comment: 12 Pages, 5 Figure

The Effect of Transfer Printing on Pentacene Thin-Film Crystal Structure

The thermal deposition and transfer Printing method had been used to produce pentacene thin-films on SiO2/Si and plastic substrates (PMMA and PVP), respectively. X-ray diffraction patterns of pentacene thin films showed reflections associated with highly ordered polycrystalline films and a coexistence of two polymorph phases classified by their d-spacing, d(001): 14.4 and 15.4 A.The dependence of the c-axis correlation length and the phase fraction on the film thickness and printing temperature were measured. A transition from the 15.4 A phase towards 14.4 A phase was also observed with increasing film thickness. An increase in the c-axis correlation length of approximately 12% ~16% was observed for Pn films transfer printed onto a PMMA coated PET substrate at 100~120 C as compared to as-grown Pn films on SiO2/Si substrates. The transfer printing method is shown to be an attractive for the fabrication of pentacene thin-film transistors on flexible substrates partly because of the resulting improvement in the quality of the pentacene film.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Electron-Energy-Loss Study of Stage-1 Potassium-Intercalated Graphite

Electron-energy-loss spectra of stage-1 K-intercalated graphite single crystals were obtained with a scanning transmission electron microscope. The complex dielectric function with electric polarization perpendicular to the c axis was derived by Kramers-Kronig analysis. The energy-loss peak at 2.5 eV is consistent with previous optical measurements, while the splitting of the one at 27 eV can be interpreted by folding the Brillouin zone of pristine graphite. Splittings and shifts of the interband transitions were observed and compared with calculations

Excitonic transitions in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs multiple quantum wells affected by interface roughness

Time-resolved photoluminescence has been used to study the effects of interface roughness on excitonic transitions in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs multiple quantum wells. In addition to the luminescence linewidth broadening and Stokes red shift, the interface roughness also strongly affects the dynamic process of optical transitions so that the excitonic transition peak shifts with delay time. However, the heavy-hole exciton transition has red shifts at short delay times and exhibits a turnover at longer delay times. A maximum shift of about 0.1 meV at a delay time of 4 ns was obtained. We have demonstrated that the peak shift is caused by interface roughness in the quantum wells. Furthermore, the decay of the excitonic transition is found to fit a two-exponential form. Based on a model involving interface roughness and two-exponential decay, we calculated the position of the excitonic transition peak as a function of delay time. Our calculations are consistent with experimental results

Multifunctional semiconductor micro-Hall devices for magnetic, electric, and photo-detection

We report the real-space voltage response of InSb/AlInSb micro-Hall devices to local photo-excitation, electric, and magnetic fields at room temperature using scanning probe microscopy. We show that the ultrafast generation of localised photocarriers results in conductance perturbations analogous to those produced by local electric fields. Experimental results are in good agreement with tight-binding transport calculations in the diffusive regime. The magnetic, photo, and charge sensitivity of a 2 μm wide probe are evaluated at a 10 μA bias current in the Johnson noise limit (valid at measurement frequencies > 10 kHz) to be, respectively, 500 nT/√Hz; 20 pW/√Hz (λ = 635 nm) comparable to commercial photoconductive detectors; and 0.05 e/√Hz comparable to that of single electron transistors. These results demonstrate the remarkably versatile sensing attributes of simple semiconductor micro-Hall devices that can be applied to a host of imaging and sensing applications