Crystallographic Effects on Nanoscale Electrical Properties of Ultrathin Lanthanum Aluminate Films

We describe an investigation of the electrical properties of interfacial dislocations in strained layer heterostructures. We have been measuring both the structural and electrical characteristics of strained layer p-n junction diodes simultaneously in a transmission electron microscope, enabling us to correlate changes in the electrical characteristics of a device with the formation of dislocations.The presence of dislocations within an electronic device is known to degrade the device performance. This degradation is of increasing significance in the design and processing of novel strained layer devices which may require layer thicknesses above the critical thickness (hc), where it is energetically favourable for the layers to relax by the formation of misfit dislocations at the strained interfaces. In order to quantify how device performance is affected when relaxation occurs we have therefore been investigating the electrical properties of dislocations at the p-n junction in Si/GeSi diodes.

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The morphologies and electrical properties of indium contacts on (100) cadmium telluride surfaces

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100131747 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (2) ◽

pp. 1422-1423

Author(s):

A.M. Letsoalo ◽

M.E. Lee ◽

E.O. de Neijs

Keyword(s):

Electrical Properties ◽

Cadmium Telluride ◽

Methanol Solution ◽

Electrical Characteristics ◽

Metal Contacts ◽

Deposition Technique ◽

Interfacial Layers ◽

Semiconductor Contacts ◽

Grown Single Crystal ◽

Diamond Abrasive

Semiconductor devices require metal contacts for efficient collection of electrical charge. The physics of these metal/semiconductor contacts assumes perfect, abrupt and continuous interfaces between the layers. However, in practice these layers are neither continuous nor abrupt due to poor nucleation conditions and the formation of interfacial layers. The effects of layer thickness, deposition rate and substrate stoichiometry have been previously reported. In this work we will compare the effects of a single deposition technique and multiple depositions on the morphology of indium layers grown on (100) CdTe substrates. The electrical characteristics and specific resistivities of the indium contacts were measured, and their relationships with indium layer morphologies were established.Semi-insulating (100) CdTe samples were cut from Bridgman grown single crystal ingots. The surface of the as-cut slices were mechanically polished using 5μm, 3μm, 1μm and 0,25μm diamond abrasive respectively. This was followed by two minutes immersion in a 5% bromine-methanol solution.

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TEM study of lanthanum aluminate

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100178434 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 1060-1061

Author(s):

C.Y. Yang ◽

Z.R. Huang ◽

Y.Q. Zhou ◽

C.Z. Li ◽

W.H. Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Domain Boundary ◽

Point Group ◽

Optical Microscope ◽

Dark Field ◽

Zone Axis ◽

Superconducting Film ◽

Ion Milling ◽

Lanthanum Aluminate ◽

Ring Diameter ◽

Diffraction Patterns

Lanthanum aluminate(LaAlO3) single crystal as a substrate for high Tc superconducting film has attracted attention recently. We report here a transmission electron microscopy(TEM) study of the crystal structure and phase transformation of LaAlO3 by using Philips EM420 and EM430 microscopes. Single crystals of LaAlO3 were investigated first by optical microscope. Stripe-shaped domains of mm size are clearly seen(Fig.1a), and 90° domain boundary is also obvious. TEM specimens were prepared by mechanical grinding and polishing followed by ion-milling.Fig.lb shows μm size stripe domains of LaAlO3. Convergent beam electron diffraction patterns (CBED) from single domain were taken.Fig. 2a and Fig. 2c are [001] zone axis patterns which show a 4mm symmetry, and the (200) dark field of this zone axis gives 2mm symmetry(fig.2b). Therefore the point group of this crystal is either 4/mmm or m3m. The projection of the first order Laue zone(FOLZ) reflections on zero layer (fig. 2c) shows that the unit cell is face centered. A tetragonal unit ceil is chosen, with a=0.532nm and c=0.753nm, c being determined from the FOLZ ring diameter.

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Formation of high temperature phase in flash-evaporated SnSe films

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100176629 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 698-699

Author(s):

J.P.S. Hanjra

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Electrical Properties ◽

Energy Gap ◽

Dominant Role ◽

Fine Powder ◽

High Temperature Phase ◽

Temperature Phase ◽

Water Mixture ◽

Flash Evaporation ◽

Photovoltaic Applications

Tin mono selenide (SnSe) with an energy gap of about 1 eV is a potential material for photovoltaic applications. Various authors have studied the structure, electronic and photoelectronic properties of thin films of SnSe grown by various deposition techniques. However, for practical photovoltaic junctions the electrical properties of SnSe films need improvement. We have carried out investigations into the properties of flash evaporated SnSe films. In this paper we report our results on the structure, which plays a dominant role on the electrical properties of thin films by TEM, SEM, and electron diffraction (ED).Thin films of SnSe were deposited by flash evaporation of SnSe fine powder prepared from high purity Sn and Se, onto glass, mica and KCl substrates in a vacuum of 2Ø micro Torr. A 15% HF + 2Ø% HNO3 solution was used to detach SnSe film from the glass and mica substrates whereas the film deposited on KCl substrate was floated over an ethanol water mixture by dissolution of KCl. The floating films were picked up on the grids for their EM analysis.

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