Electrical and Magnetic Investigations of Magnesium-doped Epitaxial Gadolinium Nitride Thin Films

<p>Mg-doped epitaxial GdN thin films with various Mg-doping levels were grown using molecular beam epitaxy, and their electric, magnetic and optoelectronic properties were investigated. Characterisation through X-ray diffraction technique showed that there is no systematic variation in the crystallographic structure of the films with increasing level of Mg-doping, for Mg concentrations up to ~5 x 10¹⁹ atoms/cm³. However, from Mg concentration ~2 x 10²⁰ atoms/cm³ a clear deterioration in the crystalline quality was seen. We observed an increase in the resistivity of the films from 0.002 Ωcm to 600 Ωcm at room temperature when increasing the Mg-doping level, resulting in semi-insulating films for Mg concentrations up to 5 x 10¹⁹ atoms/cm³. Hall effect measurements revealed that the n-type carrier concentration was reduced from 7 x 10²⁰ cm⁻³ for an undoped film to 5 x 10¹⁵ cm⁻³ for a heavily doped film, demonstrating electron compensation in GdN via Mg-doping. Magnetic measurements exhibited substantial contrasts in the films, with a Curie temperature of ~70 K for an undoped film reduced down to ~50 K for a heavily Mg-doped film. Finally, photoconductivity measurements showed that films with higher level of Mg-doping displaying a faster photoconductive response. The decay time of 13000 s for an undoped film was reduced to 170 s with a moderate level of Mg-doping, which raises the possibility of Mg impurities providing hole traps that act as recombination centres in n-type GdN films.</p>

Electrical and Magnetic Investigations of Magnesium-doped Epitaxial Gadolinium Nitride Thin Films

<p>Mg-doped epitaxial GdN thin films with various Mg-doping levels were grown using molecular beam epitaxy, and their electric, magnetic and optoelectronic properties were investigated. Characterisation through X-ray diffraction technique showed that there is no systematic variation in the crystallographic structure of the films with increasing level of Mg-doping, for Mg concentrations up to ~5 x 10¹⁹ atoms/cm³. However, from Mg concentration ~2 x 10²⁰ atoms/cm³ a clear deterioration in the crystalline quality was seen. We observed an increase in the resistivity of the films from 0.002 Ωcm to 600 Ωcm at room temperature when increasing the Mg-doping level, resulting in semi-insulating films for Mg concentrations up to 5 x 10¹⁹ atoms/cm³. Hall effect measurements revealed that the n-type carrier concentration was reduced from 7 x 10²⁰ cm⁻³ for an undoped film to 5 x 10¹⁵ cm⁻³ for a heavily doped film, demonstrating electron compensation in GdN via Mg-doping. Magnetic measurements exhibited substantial contrasts in the films, with a Curie temperature of ~70 K for an undoped film reduced down to ~50 K for a heavily Mg-doped film. Finally, photoconductivity measurements showed that films with higher level of Mg-doping displaying a faster photoconductive response. The decay time of 13000 s for an undoped film was reduced to 170 s with a moderate level of Mg-doping, which raises the possibility of Mg impurities providing hole traps that act as recombination centres in n-type GdN films.</p>

Fabrication of Tantalum Oxyfluoride and Oxynitride Thin Films via Ammonolysis of Sol-Gel Processed Tetraethoxo (β-diketonato) Tantalum (V) Precursors for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

In the present report, the generation of Tantalum oxyfluoride and oxynitride upon ammonolysis of the gel obtained from modified tantalum-alkoxo complexes is reported. To the best of our knowledge, this is first report of the formation of tantalum oxyfluoride thin films via ammonolysis of the β-diketone modified tantalum-alkoxo complex [Ta(OEt)4(CF3COCH2COCH3)]m. The integration of nitrogen and fluorine in lattice sites of metal oxides leads to significant reduction in the band gap, resulting in their activation under visible light. Moreover, in this report the effect of the modified alkoxide precursors and ammonolysis on the photo-physical properties of Ta2O5 thin films have also been investigated and compared with the results obtained from films fabricated from unmodified tantalum (V) ethoxide. 1H NMR, 13C NMR and elemental analyses confirmed successful modification of tantalum (V) ethoxide to [Ta(OCH2CH3)4(CH3COCHClCOCH3)]m (1), [Ta(OCH2CH3)4(CF3COCH2COCH3]m (2) and [Ta(OCH2CH3)4 (CH3COC(CH3)2COCH3))]m (3). The fabrication of Ta2O5 thin films involved the spin casting of the gels of modified tantalum alkoxo complexes (processed by sol-gel method) on to glass substrate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show that nitrogen was incorporated into the ammonolyzed films fabricated from complex precursors (1) and (3), while the presence of fluorine as tantalum oxyfluoride was confirmed in the ammonolyzed film fabricated from complex (2) precursor. The optical characterization insinuate band gap narrowing from 3.55 eV for undoped film prepared from tantalum (V) ethoxide to 3.47 eV for undoped film prepared from [Ta(OEt)4(CF3COCH2COCH3)]m and 3.05 eV for ammonolyzed film obtained from [Ta(OEt)4(CF3COCH2COCH3)]m precursor. Furthermore, enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of the films is demonstrated by degradation of methylene blue dye.

Effect of Sb-doping on Optical Properties of Fe2O3 Thin Films

Fe2O3 and Sb doped Fe2O3 thin films with deferent percentage wereintended via spray pyrolysis technique. Effect of Sb doped on opticalparameters was studied utilizing Double beam spectrophotometer in orderto locate transmittance spectra. Absorbance was raised with accretion of Sbconcentration, same behavior was noticed for extinction coefficient. Energygap was decreased from 3.25 eV for undoped film to 3.0 eV on 3% Sbdoping., while Reflectance, absorption coefficient and refractive indexwere shown the opposite behavior by decrease their values with increasingof Sb.

Magnetoresistance Measurements on Boron-Doped and Undoped Ni3Al Thin Films

Magnetoresistance measurements were performed in magnetic fields up to 5 T, to examine the effects of boron doping on the electron transport properties of Ni3Al thin (500 Å, nominal, thickness) films. Both a doped (~200 ppm B) and undoped film were investigated. Four-probe magnetoresistance (magnetic field = 50 G and 5 T) measurements indicate that both samples undergo a phase transition in the 200 K – 300 K temperature range.