Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) structures containing 74Ge nanocrystals (NC-Ge) imbedded inside the SiO_2 layer were studied for their capacitance characterization. Ge atoms were introduced by implantation of 74Ge+ ions with energy of 150 keV into relatively thick (~640nm) amorphous SiO_2 films. The experimental characterization included room temperature measurements of capacitance-voltage (C-V) dependences at high frequencies (100 kHz and 1 MHz).
Four groups of MOS structures have been studied: The 1st - "initial" samples, without Ge atoms (before ion implantation). The 2nd - "implanted" samples, after Ge+ ion implantation but before annealing, with randomly distributed Ge atoms within the struggle layer. The 3rd - samples after formation of Ge nanocrystals by means of annealing at 800 degree C ("NC-Ge" samples), and the 4th - "final" samples: NC-Ge samples that were subjected by an intensive neutron irradiation in a research nuclear reactor with the integral dose up to 10^20 neutrons/cm^2 followed by the annealing of radiation damage.
It is shown that in "initial" samples, the C-V characteristics have a step-like form of "S-shape", which is typical for MOS structures in the case of high frequency. However, in "implanted" and "NC-Ge" samples, C-V characteristics have "U-shape" despite the high frequency operation, In addition, "NC-Ge" samples exhibit a large hysteresis which may indicate charge trapping at the NC-Ge. Combination of the "U-shape" and hysteresis characteristics allows us to suggest a novel 4-digits memory retention unit. "Final" samples indicate destruction of the observed peculiarities of C-V characteristics and recurrence to the C-V curve of "initial" samples.
Sn$_{0.97-y}$Co$_{0.03}$Ni$_{y}$O$_{2}$ (0 $\leq y \leq$ 0.04) nanocrystals, with average crystallite size in the range of 7.3 nm ($y$=0.00) to 5.6 nm ($y$=0.04), have been synthesized using pH-controlled chemical co-precipitation technique. The non-stoichiometric Sn related defects and the O related stoichiometric Frenkel defects arising in the nanocrystals because of co-doping have been identified and their effect on the structural and optical properties of the nanocrystals have been extensively studied. It has been observed, using XPS that on increasing the Ni co-doping concentration ($y$),…
Silicon nanocrystals with diameters between 1 and 3 nm and surfaces passivated by chlorine or a mixture of chlorine and hydrogen were modeled using density functional theory, and their properties compared with those of fully hydrogenated nanocrystals. It is found that fully and partially chlorinated nanocrystals are stable, and have higher electron affinity, higher ionization energy and lower optical absorption energy threshold. As the hydrogenated silicon nanocrystals, chlorinated silicon nanocrystals doped with phosphorus or boron require a high activation energy to transfer an electron or h…
Layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are attracting increasing attention because they exhibit unconventional magnetic properties due to crystal imperfections in their usually non-magnetic 2D structure. This work aims to investigate the magnetic response of self-engineered Se deficient TiSe$_2$ thin films, synthesized using chemical vapour deposition. We demonstrate tunability of the ferromagnetic order with the introduction of Au atoms using low energy Au ion implantation, which works as a controlling knob to vary the stoichiometry of Se in TiSe$_{2-x}$. The corresponding isothermal…
We present two applications of a single nitrogen vacancy center in a nanodiamond as quantum probe for plasmonic nanostructures. Coupling to the nanostructures is achieved in a highly controlled manner by picking up a pre-characterized nanocrystal with an atomic force microscope and placing it at the desired position. Local launching of single excitations into a nanowire with a spatial control of few nanometers is demonstrated. Further, a two dimensional map of the electromagnetic environment of a plasmonic bowtie antenna was derived, resembling an ultimate limit of fluorescence lifetime nanosc…
We report an experimental study of the longitudinal relaxation time ($T_1$) of the electron spin associated with single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects hosted in nanodiamonds (ND). We first show that $T_1$ decreases over three orders of magnitude when the ND size is reduced from 100 to 10 nm owing to the interaction of the NV electron spin with a bath of paramagnetic centers lying on the ND surface. We next tune the magnetic environment by decorating the ND surface with Gd$^{3+}$ ions and observe an efficient $T_{1}$-quenching, which demonstrates magnetic noise sensing with a single electron spi…
We combine magnetometry and magnetic small-angle neutron scattering to study the influence of the microstructure on the macroscopic magnetic properties of a nanocrystalline Ni bulk sample, which was prepared by straining via high-pressure torsion. As seen by magnetometry, the mechanical deformation leads to a significant increase of the coercivity compared to nondeformed polycrystalline Ni. The neutron data reveal a significant spin-misalignment scattering caused by the high density of crystal defects inside the sample, which were created by the severe plastic deformation during the sample pre…
The nucleation and structure of silicon nanocrystals formed by different preparation conditions and silicon concentration (28 - 70 area %) have been studied using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Filtered TEM (EFTEM) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS). The nanocrystals were formed after heat treatment at high temperature of a sputtered 10 nm thick silicon rich oxide on 3 nm SiO$_2$ layer made by Rapid Thermal Oxidation (RTO) of silicon. Nanocrystals precipitate when the excess silicon concentration exceeds 50 area %. Below this percentage amorphous silicon nanoclusters we…
We have studied magnetization of graphene nanocrystals obtained by sonic exfoliation of graphite. No ferromagnetism is detected at any temperature down to 2 K. Neither do we find strong paramagnetism expected due to the massive amount of edge defects. Rather, graphene is strongly diamagnetic, similar to graphite. Our nanocrystals exhibit only a weak paramagnetic contribution noticeable below 50K. The measurements yield a single species of defects responsible for the paramagnetism, with approximately one magnetic moment per typical graphene crystallite.
Copper-doped zinc sulfide (ZnS:Cu) exhibits down-conversion luminescence in the UV, visible, and IR regions of the electromagnetic spectrum; the visible red, green, and blue emission is referred to as R-Cu, G-Cu, and B-Cu, respectively. The sub-bandgap emission arises from optical transitions between localized electronic states created by point defects, making ZnS:Cu a prolific phosphor material and an intriguing candidate material for quantum information science, where point defects excel as single-photon sources and spin qubits. Colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) of ZnS:Cu are particularly interes…
Dynamical structural defects exist naturally in a wide variety of solids. They fluctuate temporally, and hence can deteriorate the performance of many electronic devices. Thus far, the entities of such dynamic objects have been identified to be individual atoms. On the other hand, it is a long-standing question whether a nanocrystalline grain constituted of a large number of atoms can switch, as a whole, reversibly like a dynamical atomic defect (i.e., a two-level system). This is an emergent issue considering the current development of nanodevices with ultralow electrical noise, qubits with l…
In recent years many experiments have demonstrated the possibility to achieve efficient photoluminescence from Si/SiO2 nanocrystals. While it is widely known that only a minor portions of the nanocrystals in the samples contribute to the observed photoluminescence, the high complexity of the Si/SiO2 interface and the dramatic sensitivity to the fabrication conditions make the identification of the most active structures at the experimental level not a trivial task. Focusing on this aspect we have addressed the problem theoretically, by calculating the radiative recombination rates for differen…
We investigate the effect of low-coordinated surface atoms on the defect-induced magnetism in MgO nanocrystallites using hybrid density functional theory calculations. It has been demonstrated that when Mg vacancies are introduced at the corners of cube-like MgO clusters, a magnetic state becomes lower in total energy than the nonmagnetic singlet state by 1-2 eV, resulting in the spin-polarized ground state. The spin density is not only located at the surrounding O atoms neighbor to the corner Mg vacancy site but is also extended to the distant (1 nm or longer) low-coordinated surface O atoms …
A single Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) center hosted in a diamond nanocrystal is positioned at the extremity of a SiC nanowire. This novel hybrid system couples the degrees of freedom of two radically different systems, i.e. a nanomechanical oscillator and a single quantum object. The dynamics of the nano-resonator is probed through time resolved nanocrystal fluorescence and photon correlation measurements, conveying the influence of a mechanical degree of freedom given to a non-classical photon emitter. Moreover, by immersing the system in a strong magnetic field gradient, we induce a magnetic coupli…
We studied the effects of high-pressure on the crystalline structure of bulk and nanocrystalline scheelite-type PbMoO4. We found that in both cases the compressibility of the materials is highly non-isotropic, being the c-axis the most compressible one. We also observed that the volume compressibility of nanocrystals becomes higher that the bulk one at 5 GPa. In addition, at 10.7(8) GPa we observed the onset of an structural phase transition in bulk PbMoO4. The high-pressure phase has a monoclinic structure similar to M-fergusonite. The transition is reversible and not volume change is detecte…
Lead-halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) exhibit unique optoelectronic properties, many of which originate from a purported bright-triplet exciton fine-structure. A major impediment to measuring this fine-structure is inhomogeneous spectral broadening, which has limited most experimental studies to single-nanocrystal spectroscopies. It is shown here that the linearly-polarized single-particle selection rules in PNCs are preserved in nonlinear spectroscopies of randomly-oriented ensembles. Simulations incorporating rotational-averaging demonstrate that techniques such as transient absorption …
High quality factor dielectric cavities designed to a nanoscale accuracy are mostly used to increase the spontaneous emission rate of a single emitter. Here we show that the coupling, at room temperature, between thick shell CdSe/CdS nanocrystals and random metallic films offers a very promising alternative approach. Optical modes confined at the nanoscale induce strong Purcell factors reaching values as high as 60. Moreover the quantum emission properties can be tailored: strong antibunching or radiative biexcitonic cascades can be obtained with high photon collection efficiency and extremely…
In most of the realistic ab initio and model calculations which have appeared on the emission of light from Si nanocrystals, the role of surface oxygen has been usually ignored, underestimated or completely ruled out. We investigate theoretically, by density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) possible modes of oxygen bonding in hydrogen terminated silicon quantum dots using as a representative case of the Si29 nanocrystal. We have considered Bridge-bonded oxygen (BBO), Doubly-bonded oxygen (DBO), hydroxyl (OH) and Mix of these oxidizing agents. Due to stoichiometry, all comparisons performed are un…
Silicon lasers have been the most challenging element for the monolithic integrated Si photonics. Here we report the first successful all-Si laser at room temperature based on silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) with high optical gains. The active Si NC layer was made from hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) that had undergone a phase separation annealing, followed by high-pressure hydrogen passivation. Using the nanoimprint technique, a second-order Bragg grating was made on the active layer as the distributed feedback (DFB) laser cavity. This Si NC DFB laser device was optically pumped with femtosecond …
