In order to improve the performance of existing technologies based on single crystal diamond grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), and to open up new technologies in fields such as quantum computing or solid state and semiconductor disc lasers, control over surface and bulk crystalline quality is of great importance. Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching using an Ar/Cl gas mixture is demonstrated to remove sub-surface damage of mechanically processed surfaces, whilst maintaining macroscopic planarity and low roughness on a microscopic scale. Dislocations in high quality single crystal CVD diamond are shown to be reduced by using substrates with a combination of low surface damage and low densities of extended defects. Substrates engineered such that only a minority of defects intersect the epitaxial surface are also shown to lead to a reduction in dislocation density. Anisotropy in the birefringence of single crystal CVD diamond due to the preferential direction of dislocation propagation is reported. Ultra low birefringence plates (< 10-5) are now available for intra-cavity heat spreaders in solid state disc lasers, and the application is no longer limited by depolarisation losses. Birefringence of less than 5*10-7 along a direction perpendicular to the CVD growth direction has been demonstrated in exceptionally high quality samples.
A cheap and flexible method is introduced that enables the epitaxial growth of bilayer graphene on Pt(111) by sequential chemical vapour deposition. Extended regions of two stacked graphene sheets are obtained by, first, the thermal decomposition of ethylene and the subsequent formation of graphene. In the second step, a sufficiently thick Pt film buries the first graphene layer and acts as a platform for the fabrication of the second graphene layer in the third step. A final annealing process then leads to the diffusion of the first graphene sheet to the surface until the bilayer stacking wit…
Two-dimensional molybdenum disulphide on graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition is a promising van der Waals system for applications in optoelectronics and catalysis. To extend the fundamental understanding of growth and intrinsic properties of molybdenum disulphide on graphene, molybdenum disulphide on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite is a suitable model system. Here we show, experimentally and by density-functional-theory calculations, that molybdenum disulphide flakes grow in two orientations. One of the orientations is energetically preferred, the other one is rotated by 30 degree.…
Aluminum oxide thin films were deposited on silicon substrates under different deposition conditions using pulse pressure metal organic chemical vapour deposition (PP-MOCVD). The current study investigates into the growth mechanism of the deposited film and the control of the film morphology by varying the processing parameters of PP-MOCVD - choice of solvent, concentration, and presence of a shield. Aluminum sec-butoxide (ASB) was used as the aluminum source while hexane and toluene were used as the solvents. The films were deposited at 475oC at different precursor concentrations. It was obse…
Emerging flexible and wearable technologies such as healthcare electronics and energy-harvest devices could be transformed by the unique properties of graphene. The vision for a graphene-driven industrial revolution is motivating intensive research on the synthesis of (1) high quality and (2) low cost graphene. Hot-wall chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is one of the most competitive growth methods, but its long processing times are incompatible with production lines. Here we demonstrate the growth of high quality monolayer graphene using a technique that is 100 times faster than standard hot-w…
A graphyne (GY) family composed of the triple (sp) and double (sp2) bonds-hybridized carbon atoms is a promising allotrope of carbon for the development of nanoscale electronic devices. Unlike graphene, the GY family containing carbon sp bonds remains an unsolved problem in efficient two-dimensional (2D) growth due to monomer instability and side reactions. Herein, we synthesize GY into a single 2D layer by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at low temperatures preventing unexpected reactions, using 1,3,5-tribromo-2,4,6-triethynylbenzene (TBTEB). The CVD-grown GY via a surface-confined coupling b…
The preparation of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides on an industrially relevant scale will rely heavily on bottom-up methods such as chemical vapour deposition. In order to obtain sufficiently large quantities of high-quality material, a knowledge-based optimization strategy for the synthesis process must be developed. A major problem that has not yet been considered is the degradation of materials by etching during synthesis due to the high growth temperatures. To address this problem, we introduce a mathematical model that accounts for both growth and, for the first time, etc…
In this paper the design of a simple, space constrained chemical vapour deposition reactor for diamond growth is detailed. Based on the design by NIRIM, the reactor is composed of a quartz discharge tube placed within a 2.45 GHz waveguide to create the conditions required for metastable growth of diamond. Utilising largely off-the-shelf components and a modular design, the reactor allows for easy modification, repair, and cleaning between growth runs. The elements of the reactor design are laid out with the CAD files, parts list, and control files made easily available to enable replication. F…
Graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) were synthesized by atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition of propane (C3H8) employing Ni (salen) powder without the introduction of a substrate. The graphitic nature of the GNFs was examined by an X-ray diffraction method. Scanning electron microscopy results revealed that GNFs were stacked on top of one another and had a high aspect ratio. Transmission electron microscopy studies suggested that the GNFs were made up of a number of crystalline graphene layers, some of which were even single crystalline as evident from the selected area diffraction pattern. …
Successful ways of fully exploiting the excellent structural and multifunctional performance of graphene and related materials are of great scientific and technological interest. New opportunities are provided by the fabrication of a novel class of nanocomposites with a nanolaminate architecture. In this work, by using the iterative lift-off/float-on process combined with wet depositions, we incorporated cm-size graphene monolayers produced via Chemical Vapour Deposition into a poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix with a controlled, alternate-layered structure. The produced nanolaminate sh…
Nitrogen is frequently included in chemical vapour deposition feed gases to accelerate diamond growth. While there is no consensus for an atomistic mechanism of this effect, existing studies have largely focused on the role of sub-surface nitrogen and nitrogen-based adsorbates. In this work, we demonstrate the catalytic effect of surface-embedded nitrogen in nucleating new layers of (100) diamond. To do so we develop a model of nitrogen overgrowth using density functional theory. Nucleation of new layers occurs through C insertion into a C--C surface dimer. However, we find that C insertion in…
We analyse the morphological, structural and luminescence properties of self-assembled ZnO nanowires grown by chemical vapour transport on Si(001). The examination of nanowire ensembles by scanning electron microscopy reveals that a non-negligible fraction of nanowires merge together forming coalesced aggregates during growth. We show that the coalescence degree can be unambiguously quantified by a statistical analysis of the cross-sectional shape of the nanowires. The examination of the structural properties by X-ray diffraction evidences that the nanowires crystallize in the wurtzite phase, …
The present work deals with the synthesis of crystalline carbon nitride thin films by microwave plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition in N$_2$/CH$_4$ gas mixture. The discharge analysis by optical emission spectroscopy shows that the increase in the N$_2$/CH$_4$ ratio involves an important production of the CN and C$_2$ radicals. In the films X-ray energy dispersion spectroscopy shows that the N/C ratio decreases when the CH$_4$ percentage in N$_2$ increases. Xray diffraction and electron diffraction are used to study the carbon nitride films nature. Scanning electron microscopy shows tha…
Effects related to deposition temperature of ZnCoO films grown by Atomic Layer Deposition - uniformity of Co distribution, structural, optical, electrical and magnetic properties
A microwave plasma model of a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) reactor is presented for understanding spatial heteroepitaxial growth of polycrystalline diamond on Si. This work is based on the TM0(n>1)p clamshell style reactor (Seki Diamond/ASTEX SDS 6K, Carat CTS6U, ARDIS-100 style) whereby a simplified H_2 plasma model is used to show the radial variation in growth rate over small samples with different sample holders. The model uses several steps: an electromagnetic (EM) eigenfrequency solution, a frequency-transient EM/plasma fluid solution and transient a heat transfer solution at low and…
Relevance of the purity level in a MetalOrganic Vapour Phase Epitaxy reactor environment for the growth of high quality pyramidal sitecontrolled Quantum Dots
We discuss the origin of the temperature dependence of resistivity observed in highly oriented LaNiO_3 thin films (of thickness d) grown on SrTiO_3 substrate by a pulsed laser deposition technique. All the experimental data are found to collapse into a single universal curve [T/T_{sf}(d)]^{3/2} for the entire temperature interval (20K<T<300K) with T_{sf}(d) being the onset temperature for triggering a resonant scattering of conduction electrons by spin fluctuations in LaNiO_3/SrTiO_3 heterostructure.
We present a comparative study on the influence of applied magnetic field on the resistance of $C_{1-x}Co_x$ thin films (with $x=0.1$, $0.15$ and $0.2$) grown on $Si$ substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique. It is found that the behavior of magnetoresistance (MR) drastically depends on the temperature. Namely, at low temperatures MR is positive and its behavior is governed by the field mediated weak localization scenario. While at high temperatures MR turns negative and its behavior is dominated by electron scattering on ferromagnetic cobalt atoms.
We present measurements of resistivity $ρ$ in highly oriented $LaNiO_3$ films grown on $LaAlO_3$ substrates by using a pulsed laser deposition technique. The experimental data are found to follow a universal $ρ(T) \propto T^{3/2}$ dependence for the entire temperature interval ($20K<T<300K$). The observed behavior has been attributed to a resonant scattering of electrons on antiferromagnetic fluctuations (with a characteristic energy $\hbar ω_{sf}\simeq 2.1meV$) triggered by spin-density wave propagating through the interface boundary of $LaNiO_3/LaAlO_3$ sandwich.
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have recently attracted attention due to their interesting electronic and optical properties. Fabrication of these materials in a reliable and facile method is important for future applications, as are methods to characterize material quality. Here we present the chemical vapor deposition of MoSe2 monolayer and few layer crystals. These results show the practicality of using chemical vapor deposition to reliably fabricate these materials. Low frequency Raman spectra and mapping of shear and layer breathing modes of MoSe2 are presented for the first time.…
Enhanced chemical vapour deposition of monolayer MoS2 films via a clean promoter
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin（都柏林三一学院物理系）；School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin（都柏林三一学院化学系）；Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER) Research Centers, Trinity College Dublin（都柏林三一学院自适应纳米结构与纳米器件研究中心及先进材料与生物工程研究中心）；School of Physics and Materials Science, Nanchang University（南昌大学物理与材料科学学院）
Although chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the preferred routes to synthetic diamond crystals, a full knowledge of the point defects produced during growth is still incomplete. Here we exploit the charge and spin properties of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in type-1b CVD diamond to expose an optically and magnetically dark point defect, so far virtually unnoticed despite an abundance comparable to (if not greater than) that of substitutional nitrogen. Indirectly-detected photo-luminescence spectroscopy indicates a donor state 1.6 eV above the valence band, although the defect's microsc…
The authors report in situ Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) of the surfaces of complex oxides thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The authors demonstrate the utility of the technique in studying chemical composition by collecting characteristic Auger spectra of elements from samples such as complex oxide thin films and single crystals as well as metal foils. In the case of thin films, AES studies can be performed with single unit cell precision by monitoring thickness during deposition with reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). The authors address some of the cha…
(111)NiO epitaxial layers are grown on c-sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Structural and morphological properties of the films are studied using in-plane as well as out-of-plane high resolution X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy techniques as functions of growth temperature, oxygen pressure and the pulses count of the laser. The study shows that continuous epitaxial films of thickness as low as 3 nm with high crystalline quality, smooth surface and interface morphology can be grown by this technique. The study also reveals the co-existence of 60°-rotat…
Here we report mid infrared (mid-IR) photothermal response of multi layer MoS2 thin film grown on crystalline (p-type silicon and c-axis oriented single crystal sapphire) and amorphous substrates (Si/SiO2 and Si/SiN) by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The photothermal response of the MoS2 films was measured as changes in the resistance of MoS2 films when irradiated with mid IR (7 to 8.2 μm) source. We show that it is possible to enhance the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of the MoS2 thin film by controlling the interface through proper choice of substrate and growth condi…
Multilayer graphene (MLG) grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a promising material for electronic and optoelectronic devices. Understanding the stacking configuration and interlayer coupling of MLGs is technologically relevant and of importance for the device applications. Here, we reported a kind of twisted MLGs (tMLGs), which are formed by stacking one graphene monolayer on the top of AB-stacked MLG by rotating a certain angle between them. The twist angle of tMLGs are identified by the twist-related modes, R and R'. With increasing the total layer number of N, the observed interlaye…
We report on a laser annealing procedure which greatly improves the quality of suspended monolayers of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown MoSe2. Annealing with a green laser locally heats the suspended flake to approximately 600 K, which both removes contaminants and reduces strain gradients. At 4 K, we observe linewidths as narrow as 3.5 meV (1.6nm) full-width at half-max (FWHM) for both photoluminescence (PL) and reflection. Large peak reflectances up to 47% are also observed. These values are comparable to those of the highest quality hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) encapsulated samples. W…
Combining MoS$_2$ monolayers to form multilayers allows to access new functionalities. In this work, we examine the correlation between the stacking order and the interlayer coupling of valence states in MoS$_2$ homobilayer samples grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and artificially stacked bilayers from CVD monolayers. We show that hole delocalization over the bilayer is allowed in 2H stacking and results in strong interlayer exciton absorption and also in a larger A-B exciton separation as compared to 3R bilayers, where both holes and electrons are confined to the individual layers. Co…
Rare-earth nickelates are strongly correlated oxides displaying a metal-to-insulator transition at a temperature tunable by the rare-earth ionic radius. In PrNiO$_3$ and NdNiO$_3$, the transition is very sharp and shows an hysteretic behavior akin to a first-order transition. Both the temperature at which the transition occurs and the associated resistivity change are extremely sensitive to doping and therefore to off-stoichiometry issues that may arise during thin film growth. Here we report that strong deviations in the transport properties of NdNiO$_3$ films can arise in films grown consecu…
The formation of various uncommon shaped voids along with regular triangular and square voids in the epitaxial 3C-SiC films on Si has been investigated by optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC films on Si (001) and (111) substrates has been performed using hexamethyldisilane in a resistance-heated chemical vapor deposition reactor. The influence of the orientation of the Si substrate in determining the shape of the voids has clearly been observed. In addition, the growth period and the growth-temperature have been considered as the major parameters to…
Networks of vertically c-oriented prism shaped InN nanowalls, are grown on c-GaN/sapphire templates using a CVD technique, where pure indium and ammonia are used as metal and nitrogen precursors. A systematic study of the growth, structural and electronic properties of these samples shows a preferential growth of the islands along [11-20] and [0001] directions leading to the formation of such a network structure, where the vertically [0001] oriented tapered walls are laterally align along one of the three [11-20] directions. Inclined facets of these walls are identified as r-planes [(1-102)-pl…
The crystal structures of LaAlO3 films grown by pulsed laser deposition on SrTiO3 substrates at oxygen pressure of 10-3 mbar or 10-5 mbar, where kinetics of ablated species hardly depend on oxygen background pressure, are compared. Our results show that the interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 is sharper when the oxygen pressure is lower. Over time, the formation of various crystalline phases is observed while the crystalline thickness of the LaAlO3 layer remains unchanged. X-ray scattering as well as atomic force microscopy measurements indicate three-dimensional growth of such phases, which a…
