1/f noise in hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium alloys

Measurements were made of conductance noise of a-Si:H and a-Si 1-xGex:H in two different geometries: one where the current flow is transverse to the surface and the other where it is longitudinal to the surface. Because of the large change in sample resistance between the two geometries, it was not possible to measure both geometries at the same temperature. For both geometries, alloyinzg with up to 40% Ge reduces the noise magnitude by several orders of magnitude over that found in a-Si:H. The decrease is incompatible with several popular noise models. Extrapolating the temperature trends for each geometry shows that it is possible that the noise observed in the transverse samples has the same origin as the higher frequency part of the double power law spectra observed in the longitudinal samples.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad

Roadmap on chalcogenide photonics

Alloys of sulfur, selenium and tellurium, often referred to as chalcogenide semiconductors, offer a highly versatile, compositionally-controllable material platform for a variety of passive and active photonic applications. They are optically nonlinear, photoconductive materials with wide transmission windows that present various high- and low-index dielectric, low-epsilon and plasmonic properties across ultra-violet, visible and infrared frequencies, in addition to an, non-volatile, electrically/optically induced switching capability between phase states with markedly different electromagnetic properties. This roadmap collection presents an in-depth account of the critical role that chalcogenide semiconductors play within various traditional and emerging photonic technology platforms. The potential of this field going forward is demonstrated by presenting context and outlook on selected socio-economically important research streams utilizing chalcogenide semiconductors. To this end, this roadmap encompasses selected topics that range from systematic design of material properties and switching kinetics to device-level nanostructuring and integration within various photonic system architectures

Atomic structure and defect dynamics of monolayer lead iodide nanodisks with epitaxial alignment on graphene

Lead Iodide (PbI2) is a large bandgap 2D layered material that has potential for semi- conductor applications. However, atomic level study of PbI2 monolayer has been limited due to challenges in obtaining thin crystals. Here, we use liquid exfoliation to produce monolayer PbI2 nanodisks (30-40 nm in diameter and > 99% monolayer purity) and deposit them onto suspended graphene supports to enable atomic structure study of PbI2. Strong epitaxial alignment of PbI2 monolayers with the underlying graphene lattice occurs, leading to a phase shift from the 1 T to 1 H structure to increase the level of commensuration in the two lattice spacings. The fundamental point vacancy and nanopore structures in PbI2 monolayers are directly imaged, showing rapid vacancy migration and self-healing. These results provide a detailed insight into the atomic structure of monolayer PbI2, and the impact of the strong van der Waals interaction with graphene, which has importance for future applications in optoelectronics

Conductance fluctuations in undoped intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon films prepared using several deposition techniques

Coplanar conductance fluctuations in a range of device quality undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films prepared using different deposition systems were measured in the temperature range of 440-505 K for frequencies from 2 Hz to 3 kHz. The 1/fa type noise spectra had two different power law dependencies, one at lower frequencies with slope α1 close to unity and a second region at higher frequencies with slope α2 around 0.60. The noise power density decreases with increasing temperature in the high frequency region, but only increases much less with temperature at low frequencies. The results indicate that the noise in undoped intrinsic a-Si:H films is due to two independent noise mechanisms operating simultaneousl

1/f noise in amorphous silicon and silicon-germanium alloys

We report measurements of conductance noise of a-Si1-XGeX:H in two different geometries; one where the current flow is transverse to the surface and the other longitudinal to it. Because of the large increase in sample resistance in going from transverse to longitudinal conduction, it was not possible to measure both geometries at the same temperature. However, the temperature trends are compatible with a common noise source. For both geometries, alloying with up to 40% Ge reduces the noise magnitude by a factor of 50 over that found in a-Si:

1/f-noise study of undoped intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films

Conductance fluctuations in four samples of undoped intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) were measured in the temperature range of 450 K to 500 K and for frequencies from 2 Hz to 3 kHz. The noise spectra divide into two regions that each fit a 1/fα power law but with different slope parameters α and different temperature dependences. At low frequencies, α is greater than unity and increases with temperature. At high frequencies, α is near 0.6 and temperature independent, but the noise magnitude decreases rapidly with temperature. We infer from the different dependences on temperature that the noise is generated by two independent mechanisms operating simultaneously in a-Si:H. We also observe that the 1/f noise exhibits a quadratic dependence on bias current and Gaussian statistics

1/f Noise in doped and undoped amorphous silicon

We measured the spectrum of conductance fluctuations in n-type, p-type, and undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) as a function of temperature. In general, the spectra can be fit to a power law, 1/fα, although in the p-type and undoped samples deviations from a strict power law occur. For n-type and p-type samples, the noise magnitude increases with temperature by approximately a factor of 5 from 295 to 450 K. The slope parameter, α, also increases with temperature in the p-type samples from near unity to 1.4 but not in the n-type sample where it remains near 1.05 independent of temperature. The undoped sample could be measured only over a limited range of elevated temperatures, but α does trend larger. The undoped and lightly doped material have similar noise levels but larger p-type doping reduces the noise by two orders of magnitude. Correlation measurements indicate the 1/f noise is Gaussian for all samples. However, intermittent random-telegraph noise is observed in n-type material