Characterization of Ambipolar GaSb/InAs Core-Shell Nanowires by Thermovoltage Measurements.

In semiconductor heterostructures with a type II band alignment, such as GaSb-InAs, conduction can be tuned from electron- to hole-dominated using an electrostatic gate. However, traditional conductance measurements give no direct information on the carrier type, and thus limit the ability to distinguish transport effects originating from the two materials. Here, we employ thermovoltage measurements to GaSb/InAs core-shell nanowires, and reliably identify the dominant carrier type at room temperature as well as in the quantum transport regime at 4.2 K, even in cases where the conductance measurement does not allow for such a distinction. In addition, we show that theoretical modeling using the conductance data as input can reproduce the measured thermovoltage under the assumption that electron and hole states shift differently in energy with the applied gate voltage.

Electrical properties of GaSb/InAsSb core/shell nanowires.

Temperature dependent electronic properties of GaSb/InAsSb core/shell and GaSb nanowires have been studied. Results from two-probe and four-probe measurements are compared to distinguish between extrinsic (contact-related) and intrinsic (nanowire) properties. It is found that a thin (2-3 nm) InAsSb shell allows low barrier charge carrier injection to the GaSb core, and that the presence of the shell also improves intrinsic nanowire mobility and conductance in comparison to bare GaSb nanowires. Maximum intrinsic field effect mobilities of 200 and 42 cm(2) Vs(-1) were extracted for the GaSb/InAsSb core/shell and bare-GaSb NWs at room temperature, respectively. The temperature-dependence of the mobility suggests that ionized impurity scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism in bare GaSb while phonon scattering dominates in core/shell nanowires. Top-gated field effect transistors were fabricated based on radial GaSb/InAsSb heterostructure nanowires with shell thicknesses in the range 5-7 nm. The fabricated devices exhibited ambipolar conduction, where the output current was studied as a function of AC gate voltage and frequency. Frequency doubling was experimentally demonstrated up to 20 kHz. The maximum operating frequency was limited by parasitic capacitance associated with the measurement chip geometry.

Demonstration of defect-free and composition tunable GaxIn1-xSb nanowires.

The Ga(x)In(1-x)Sb ternary system has many interesting material properties, such as high carrier mobilities and a tunable range of bandgaps in the infrared. Here we present the first report on the growth and compositional control of Ga(x)In(1-x)Sb material grown in the form of nanowires from Au seeded nanoparticles by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The composition of the grown Ga(x)In(1-x)Sb nanowires is precisely controlled by tuning the growth parameters where x varies from 1 to ∼0.3. Interestingly, the growth rate of the Ga(x)In(1-x)Sb nanowires increases with diameter, which we model based on the Gibbs-Thomson effect. Nanowire morphology can be tuned from high to very low aspect ratios, with perfect zinc blende crystal structure regardless of composition. Finally, electrical characterization on nanowire material with a composition of Ga(0.6)In(0.4)Sb showed clear p-type behavior.

Tunnel field-effect transistors based on InP-GaAs heterostructure nanowires.

We present tunneling field-effect transistors fabricated from InP-GaAs heterostructure nanowires with an n-i-p doping profile, where the intrinsic InP region is modulated by a top gate. The devices show an inverse subthreshold slope down to 50 mV/dec averaged over two decades with an on/off current ratio of approximately 10(7) for a gate voltage swing (V(GS)) of 1 V and an on-current of 2.2 µA/µm. Low-temperature measurements suggest a mechanism of trap-assisted tunneling, possibly explained by a narrow band gap segment of InGaAsP.

High current density Esaki tunnel diodes based on GaSb-InAsSb heterostructure nanowires.

We present electrical characterization of broken gap GaSb-InAsSb nanowire heterojunctions. Esaki diode characteristics with maximum reverse current of 1750 kA/cm(2) at 0.50 V, maximum peak current of 67 kA/cm(2) at 0.11 V, and peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) of 2.1 are obtained at room temperature. The reverse current density is comparable to that of state-of-the-art tunnel diodes based on heavily doped p-n junctions. However, the GaSb-InAsSb diodes investigated in this work do not rely on heavy doping, which permits studies of transport mechanisms in simple transistor structures processed with high-κ gate dielectrics and top-gates. Such processing results in devices with improved PVR (3.5) and stability of the electrical properties.

InAs/GaSb heterostructure nanowires for tunnel field-effect transistors.

InAs/GaSb nanowire heterostructures with thin GaInAs inserts were grown by MOVPE and characterized by electrical measurements and transmission electron microscopy. Down-scaling of the insert thickness was limited because of an observed sensitivity of GaSb nanowire growth to the presence of In. By employing growth interrupts in between the InAs and GaInAs growth steps it was possible to reach an insert thickness down to 25 nm. Two-terminal devices show a diode behavior, where temperature-dependent measurements indicate a heterostructure barrier height of 0.5 eV, which is identified as the valence band offset between the InAs and GaSb. Three-terminal transistor structures with a top-gate positioned at the heterointerface show clear indications of band-to-band tunnelling.

Electrochemical and catalytic investigations of dopamine and uric acid by modified carbon nanotube paste electrode.

The redox response of a modified carbon nanotube paste electrode of 2,2'-[1, 2-ethanediylbis(nitriloethylidyne)]-bis-hydroquinone was investigated. Mixture of dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA), can be separated from one another with a potential difference of 180 mV between them at a scan rate of 25 mVs(-1) by cyclic voltammetry. These conditions are sufficient to allow determination of DA and UA both individually and simultaneously. The electrocatalytic currents increases linearly with the DA and UA concentrations in the ranges of 0.1-900 microM and 20-650 microM, and the detection limits for DA and UA, were 0.087 and 15 muM, respectively. The diffusion coefficient (D/cm(2) s(-1)=7.3x10(-6)) and the kinetic parameters such as the electron transfer coefficient, (alpha=0.32) and the heterogeneous rate constant, (k'/cm s(-1)=2.21x10(-3)) for DA were determined using electrochemical approaches.

Novel 2,2'-[1,2-ethanediylbis(nitriloethylidyne)]-bis-hydroquinone double-wall carbon nanotube paste electrode for simultaneous determination of epinephrine, uric acid and folic acid.

The electro-oxidation of epinephrine (EP), uric acid (UA), folic acid (FA), and their mixture has been studied by modified carbon nanotube paste electrode of 2,2'-[1,2-ethanediylbis(nitriloethylidyne)]-bis-hydroquinone using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and differential pulse voltammetry. This modified electrode exhibited potent and persistent electron mediating behavior followed by well-separated oxidation peaks towards EP, UA and FA with activation overpotential. For the ternary mixture containing EP, UA and FA the three compounds can be well separated from each other at the scan rate of 20 mV s(-1). The obtained catalytic peak current, was linearly dependent on the EP, UA and FA concentrations in the range of 0.7-1200 microM, 25-750 microM and 15-800 microM and the detection limits for EP, UA and FA were 0.216+/-0.004, 8.8+/-0.2 and 11.0+/-0.3 microM, respectively. The diffusion coefficient (D), and the kinetic parameters such as electron transfer coefficient, (alpha) and heterogeneous rate constant, (k') for EP were also determined using electrochemical approaches. The modified electrode showed good sensitivity, selectivity and stability, and was employed for the determination of EP, UA and FA in the real samples.