Determining by Raman spectroscopy the average thickness and N-layer-specific surface coverages of MoS2 thin films with domains much smaller than the laser spot size.

Raman spectroscopy is a widely used technique to characterize nanomaterials because of its convenience, non-destructiveness, and sensitivity to materials change. The primary purpose of this work is to determine via Raman spectroscopy the average thickness of MoS2 thin films synthesized by direct liquid injection pulsed-pressure chemical vapor deposition (DLI-PP-CVD). Such samples are constituted of nanoflakes (with a lateral size of typically 50 nm, i.e., well below the laser spot size), with possibly a distribution of thicknesses and twist angles between stacked layers. As an essential preliminary, we first reassess the applicability of different Raman criteria to determine the thicknesses (or layer number, N) of MoS2 flakes from measurements performed on reference samples, namely well-characterized mechanically exfoliated or standard chemical vapor deposition MoS2 large flakes deposited on 90 ± 6 nm SiO2 on Si substrates. Then, we discuss the applicability of the same criteria for significantly different DLI-PP-CVD MoS2 samples with average thicknesses ranging from sub-monolayer up to three layers. Finally, an original procedure based on the measurement of the intensity of the layer breathing modes is proposed to evaluate the surface coverage for each N (i.e., the ratio between the surface covered by exactly N layers and the total surface) in DLI-PP-CVD MoS2 samples.

Negative Magnetoresistivity in Highly Doped n-Type GaN.

This paper presents low-temperature measurements of magnetoresistivity in heavily doped n-type GaN grown by basic GaN growth technologies: molecular beam epitaxy, metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy, halide vapor phase epitaxy and ammonothermal. Additionally, GaN crystallized by High Nitrogen Pressure Solution method was also examined. It was found that all the samples under study exhibited negative magnetoresistivity at a low temperature (10 K < T < 50 K) and for some samples this effect was observed up to 100 K. This negative magnetoresistivity effect is analyzed in the frame of the weak localization phenomena in the case of three-dimensional electron gas in a highly doped semiconductor. This analysis allows for determining the phasing coherence time τφ for heavily doped n-type GaN. The obtained τφ value is proportional to T−1.34, indicating that the electron−electron interaction is the main dephasing mechanism for the free carriers.