| 1. |
- Rodner, Marius, 1991-, et al.
(author)
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Iron oxide nanoparticle decorated graphene for ultra-sensitive detection of volatile organic compounds
- 2018
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In: Proceedings of EUROSENSORS 2018. - Basel Switzerland : MDPI.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It has been found that two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, can be used as remarkable gas detection platforms as even minimal chemical interactions can lead to distinct changes in electrical conductivity. In this work, epitaxially grown graphene was decorated with iron oxide nanoparticles for sensor performance tuning. This hybrid surface was used as a sensing layer to detect formaldehyde and benzene at concentrations of relevance in air quality monitoring (low parts per billion). Moreover, the time constants could be drastically reduced using a derivative sensor signal readout, allowing detection at the sampling rates desired for air quality monitoring applications.
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| 2. |
- Shtepliuk, Ivan I., 1987-, et al.
(author)
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Lead (Pb) interfacing with epitaxial graphene
- 2018
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In: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 20:25, s. 17105-17116
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Here, we report the electrochemical deposition of lead (Pb) as a model metal on epitaxial graphene fabricated on silicon carbide (Gr/SiC). The kinetics of electrodeposition and morphological characteristics of the deposits were evaluated by complementary electrochemical, physical and computational methods. The use of Gr/SiC as an electrode allowed the tracking of lead-associated redox conversions. The analysis of current transients passed during the deposition revealed an instantaneous nucleation mechanism controlled by convergent mass transport on the nuclei locally randomly distributed on epitaxial graphene. This key observation of the deposit topology was confirmed by low values of the experimentally-estimated apparent diffusion coefficient, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. First principles calculations showed that the nucleation of Pb clusters on the graphene surface leads to weakening of the interaction strength of the metal-graphene complex, and only spatially separated Pb adatoms adsorbed on bridge and/or edge-plane sites can affect the vibrational properties of graphene. We expect that the lead adatoms can merge in large metallic clusters only at defect sites that reinforce the metal-graphene interactions. Our findings provide valuable insights into both heavy metal ion electrochemical analysis and metal electroplating on graphene interfaces that are important for designing effective detectors of toxic heavy metals.
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| 3. |
- Deminskyi, Petro, 1987-, et al.
(author)
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Atomic layer deposition of InN using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma
- 2019
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In: Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A. Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 0734-2101 .- 1520-8559. ; 37:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Indium nitride (InN) is a low bandgap, high electron mobility semiconductor material of interest to optoelectronics and telecommunication. Such applications require the deposition of uniform crystalline InN thin films on large area substrates, with deposition temperatures compatible with this temperature-sensitive material. As conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) struggles with the low temperature tolerated by the InN crystal, the authors hypothesize that a time-resolved, surface-controlled CVD route could offer a way forward for InN thin film deposition. In this work, the authors report atomic layer deposition of crystalline, wurtzite InN thin films using trimethylindium and ammonia plasma on Si(100). They found a narrow atomic layer deposition window of 240-260 degrees C with a deposition rate of 0.36 A/cycle and that the flow of ammonia into the plasma is an important parameter for the crystalline quality of the film. X-ray diffraction measurements further confirmed the polycrystalline nature of InN thin films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show nearly stoichiometric InN with low carbon level (amp;lt;1 at. %) and oxygen level (amp;lt;5 at. %) in the film bulk. The low carbon level is attributed to a favorable surface chemistry enabled by the NH3 plasma. The film bulk oxygen content is attributed to oxidation upon exposure to air via grain boundary diffusion and possibly by formation of oxygen containing species in the plasma discharge. Published by the AVS.
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| 4. |
- Hänninen, Tuomas, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Silicon carbonitride thin films deposited by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering
- 2018
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In: Surface & Coatings Technology. - : Elsevier. - 0257-8972 .- 1879-3347. ; 335, s. 248-256
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Amorphous silicon carbonitride thin films for biomedical applications were deposited in an industrial coating unit from a silicon target in different argon/nitrogen/acetylene mixtures by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (rHiPIMS). The effects of acetylene (C2H2) flow rate, substrate temperature, substrate bias voltage, and HiPIMS pulse frequency on the film properties were investigated. Low C2H2 flow rates (<10 sccm) resulted in silicon nitride-like film properties, seen from a dense morphology when viewed in cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy, a hardness up to ∼22 GPa as measured by nanoindentation, and Si-N bonds dominating over Si-C bonds in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy core-level spectra. Higher C2H2 flows resulted in increasingly amorphous carbon-like film properties, with a granular appearance of the film morphology, mass densities below 2 g/cm3 as measured by X-ray reflectivity, and a hardness down to 4.5 GPa. Increasing substrate temperatures and bias voltages resulted in slightly higher film hardnesses and higher compressive residual stresses. The film H/E ratio showed a maximum at film carbon contents ranging between 15 and 30 at.% and at elevated substrate temperatures from 340 °C to 520 °C.
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| 5. |
- Karhu, Robin, 1987-, et al.
(author)
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Long Charge Carrier Lifetime in As-Grown 4H-SiC Epilayer
- 2016
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In: Materials Science Forum. - : Trans Tech Publications. - 0255-5476 .- 1662-9752. ; 858, s. 125-128
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Over 150 μm thick epilayers of 4H-SiC with long carrier lifetime have been grown with a chlorinated growth process. The carrier lifetime have been determined by time resolved photoluminescence (TRPL), the lifetime varies a lot between different areas of the sample. This study investigates the origins of lifetime variations in different regions using deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), low temperature photoluminescence (LTPL) and a combination of KOH etching and optical microscopy. From optical microscope images it is shown that the area with the shortest carrier lifetime corresponds to an area with high density of structural defects.
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| 6. |
- Nagy, Roland, et al.
(author)
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Quantum Properties of Dichroic Silicon Vacancies in Silicon Carbide
- 2018
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In: Physical Review Applied. - 2331-7019. ; 9:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although various defect centers have displayed promise as either quantum sensors, single photon emitters, or light-matter interfaces, the search for an ideal defect with multifunctional ability remains open. In this spirit, we study the dichroic silicon vacancies in silicon carbide that feature two well-distinguishable zero-phonon lines and analyze the quantum properties in their optical emission and spin control. We demonstrate that this center combines 40% optical emission into the zero-phonon lines showing the contrasting difference in optical properties with varying temperature and polarization, and a 100% increase in the fluorescence intensity upon the spin resonance, and long spin coherence time of their spin-3/2 ground states up to 0.6 ms. These results single out this defect center as a promising system for spin-based quantum technologies.
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| 7. |
- Nguyen, Son Tien, et al.
(author)
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Ligand hyperfine interactions at silicon vacancies in 4H-SiC
- 2019
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In: Journal of Physics. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0953-8984 .- 1361-648X. ; 31:19
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The negative silicon vacancy (V-Si(-)) in SiC has recently emerged as a promising defect for quantum communication and room-temperature quantum sensing. However, its electronic structure is still not well characterized. While the isolated Si vacancy is expected to give rise to only two paramagnetic centers corresponding to two inequivalent lattice sites in 4H-SiC, there have been five electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) centers assigned to V-Si(-) in the past: the so-called isolated no-zero-field splitting (ZFS) V-Si(-) center and another four axial configurations with small ZFS: T-V1a, T-V2a, T-V1b, and T-V2b. Due to overlapping with Si-29 hyperfine (hf) structures in EPR spectra of natural 4H-SiC, hf parameters of T-V1a have not been determined. Using isotopically enriched 4H-(SiC)-Si-28, we overcome the problems of signal overlapping and observe hf parameters of nearest C neighbors for all three components of the S = 3/2 T-V1a and T-V2a centers. The obtained EPR data support the conclusion that only T-V1a and T-V2a are related to V-Si(-) and the two configurations of the so-called isolated no-ZFS V-Si(-) center, V-Si(-) (I) and V-Si(-) (II), are actually the central lines corresponding to the transition I-1/2 amp;lt;-amp;gt; I + 1/2 of the T-V2a and T-V1a centers, respectively.
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| 8. |
- Shi, Yuchen, et al.
(author)
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A comparative study of high-quality C-face and Si-face 3C-SiC(1 1 1) grown on off-oriented 4H-SiC substrates
- 2019
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In: Journal of Physics D. - : Biopress Ltd. - 0022-3727 .- 1361-6463. ; 52:34
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a comparative study of the C-face and Si-face of 3C-SiC(111) grown on off-oriented 4H-SiC substrates by the sublimation epitaxy. By the lateral enlargement method, we demonstrate that the high-quality bulk-like C-face 3C-SiC with thickness of ~1 mm can be grown over a large single domain without double positioning boundaries (DPBs), which are known to have a strongly negative impact on the electronic properties of the material. Moreover, the C-face sample exhibits a smoother surface with one unit cell height steps while the surface of the Si-face sample exhibits steps twice as high as on the C-face due to step-bunching. High-resolution XRD and low temperature photoluminescence measurements show that C-face 3C-SiC can reach the same high crystalline quality as the Si-face 3C-SiC. Furthermore, cross-section studies of the C- and Si-face 3C-SiC demonstrate that in both cases an initial homoepitaxial 4H-SiC layer followed by a polytype transition layer are formed prior to the formation and lateral expansion of 3C-SiC layer. However, the transition layer in the C-face sample is extending along the step-flow direction less than that on the Si-face sample, giving rise to a more fairly consistent crystalline quality 3C-SiC epilayer over the whole sample compared to the Si-face 3C-SiC where more defects appeared on the surface at the edge. This facilitates the lateral enlargement of 3C-SiC growth on hexagonal SiC substrates.
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| 9. |
- Shi, Yuchen, et al.
(author)
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Elimination of step bunching in the growth of large-area monolayer and multilayer graphene on off-axis 3CSiC (111)
- 2018
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In: Carbon. - : Elsevier. - 0008-6223 .- 1873-3891. ; 140, s. 533-542
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Multilayer graphene has exhibited distinct electronic properties such as the tunable bandgap for optoelectronic applications. Among all graphene growth techniques, thermal decomposition of SiC is regarded as a promising method for production of device-quality graphene. However, it is still very challenging to grow uniform graphene over a large-area, especially multilayer graphene. One of the main obstacles is the occurrence of step bunching on the SiC surface, which significantly influences the formation process and the uniformity of the multilayer graphene. In this work, we have systematically studied the growth of monolayer and multilayer graphene on off-axis 3CSiC(111). Taking advantage of the synergistic effect of periodic SiC step edges as graphene nucleation sites and the unique thermal decomposition energy of 3CSiC steps, we demonstrate that the step bunching can be fully eliminated during graphene growth and large-area monolayer, bilayer, and four-layer graphene can be controllably obtained on high-quality off-axis 3CSiC(111) surface. The low energy electron microscopy results demonstrate that a uniform four-layer graphene has been grown over areas of tens of square micrometers, which opens the possibility to tune the bandgap for optoelectronic devices. Furthermore, a model for graphene growth along with the step bunching elimination is proposed.
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| 10. |
- ul-Hassan, Jawad, et al.
(author)
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Quasi-free-standing monolayer and bilayer graphene growth on homoepitaxial on-axis 4H-SiC(0001) layers
- 2015
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In: Carbon. - : Elsevier BV. - 0008-6223 .- 1873-3891. ; 82:C, s. 12-23
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Quasi-free-standing monolayer and bilayer graphene is grown on homoepitaxial layers of 4H-SiC. The SiC epilayers themselves are grown on the Si-face of nominally on-axis semi-insulating substrates using a conventional SiC hot-wall chemical vapor deposition reactor. The epilayers were confirmed to consist entirely of the 4H polytype by low temperature photoluminescence. The doping of the SiC epilayers may be modified allowing for graphene to be grown on a conducing substrate. Graphene growth was performed via thermal decomposition of the surface of the SiC epilayers under Si background pressure in order to achieve control on thickness uniformity over large area. Monolayer and bilayer samples were prepared through the conversion of a carbon buffer layer and monolayer graphene respectively using hydrogen intercalation process. Micro-Raman and reflectance mappings confirmed predominantly quasi-free-standing monolayer and bilayer graphene on samples grown under optimized growth conditions. Measurements of the Hall properties of Van der Pauw structures fabricated on these layers show high charge carrier mobility (> 2000 cm(2)/Vs) and low carrier density (
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| 11. |
- Winters, Michael, 1986, et al.
(author)
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Assessment of H-intercalated graphene for microwave FETs through material characterization and electron transport studies
- 2015
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In: Carbon. - : Elsevier BV. - 0008-6223 .- 1873-3891. ; 81:1, s. 96-104
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Epitaxial graphene is grown on semi-insulating (SI) 4H-SiC in a hot wall CVD reactor by graphitization and in-situ intercalation with (H)ydrogen. A holistic material characterization is performed in order to ascertain the number of layers, layer uniformity, and electron transport properties of the epi-layers via electronic test structures and Raman spectroscopy. Bilayer graphene field effect transistors (GFETs) are fabricated using a full electron beam lithography (EBL) process which is optimized for low contact resistances of r(c)
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