ABSTRACT
It is shown that substrate pixelisation before epitaxial growth can significantly impact the emission color of semiconductor heterostructures. The wavelength emission from InxGa1-xN/GaN quantum wells can be shifted from blue to yellow simply by reducing the mesa size from 90 × 90 µm2 to 10 × 10 µm2 of the patterned silicon used as the substrate. This color shift is mainly attributed to an increase of the quantum well thickness when the mesa size decreases. The color is also affected, in a lesser extent, by the trench width between the mesas. Cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging is used to map the wavelength emission of the InxGa1-xN/GaN quantum wells. Whatever the mesa size is, the wavelength emission is red-shifted at the mesa edges due to a larger quantum well thickness and In composition.
ABSTRACT
Chondrules, millimeter-sized igneous spherules comprising the major component of most chondritic meteorites, formed during the first 4 million to 5 million years of the evolution of the solar protoplanetary disk and, therefore, can potentially offer important constraints on the conditions in the disk, provided that the processes that led to their formation can be understood. High-resolution cathodoluminescence (CL) survey of chondrules from various chondrite groups revealed changes of CL activator concentrations of magnesium-rich olivines. We show that these overlooked internal zoning structures provide evidence for high-temperature gas-assisted near-equilibrium epitaxial growth of olivines during chondrule formation. We argue that this interaction with the surrounding gas, rather than various cooling histories, defined chondrule composition and texture. Chondrules are thus direct thermochemical sensors of their high-temperature gaseous environment, and high partial pressures of gaseous Mg and SiO are required in their solar protoplanetary disk-forming region to maintain olivine saturation in chondrules. The inferred crystallization of olivines, from stable melts approaching equilibrium with the surrounding gas, provides an explanation for the notable absence of large and systematic isotopic fractionations in chondrules.
ABSTRACT
Graphene has been intensively studied in recent years in order to take advantage of its unique properties. Its synthesis on SiC substrates by solid-state graphitization appears a suitable option for graphene-based electronics. However, before developing devices based on epitaxial graphene, it is desirable to understand and finely control the synthesis of material with the most promising properties. To achieve these prerequisites, many studies are being conducted on various SiC substrates. Here, we review 3C-SiC(100) epilayers grown by chemical vapor deposition on Si(100) substrates for producing graphene by solid state graphitization under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions. Based on various characterization techniques, the structural and electrical properties of epitaxial graphene layer grown on 3C-SiC(100)/Si(100) are discussed. We establish that epitaxial graphene presents properties similar to those obtained using hexagonal SiC substrates, with the advantage of being compatible with current Si-processing technology.
ABSTRACT
The atomic structure of the cubic-SiC(001) surface during ultra-high vacuum graphene synthesis has been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and low-energy electron diffraction. Atomically resolved STM studies prove the synthesis of a uniform, millimeter-scale graphene overlayer consisting of nanodomains rotated by ±13.5° relative to the left angle bracket 110 right angle bracket-directed boundaries. The preferential directions of the domain boundaries coincide with the directions of carbon atomic chains on the SiC(001)-c(2 × 2) reconstruction, fabricated prior to graphene synthesis. The presented data show the correlation between the atomic structures of the SiC(001)-c(2 × 2) surface and the graphene/SiC(001) rotated domain network and pave the way for optimizing large-area graphene synthesis on low-cost cubic-SiC(001)/Si(001) wafers.
