Superconductivity and nucleation from fractal anisotropy and product-like fractal measure

Superconductivity is analysed based on the product-like fractal measure approach with fractal dimension α introduced by Li and Ostoja-Starzewski in their attempt to explore anisotropic fractal elastic media. Our study shows the emergence of a massless state at the boundary of the superconductor and the simultaneous occurrence of isothermal and adiabatic processes in the superconductor depending on the position of the electrons. Several physical quantities were found to be position-dependent comparable with those arising in heavy doping and p–n junction. At the boundary of the superconductor, a shrinkage of the magnetic field was observed, leading to a scenario equivalent to the Meissner–Ochsenfeld effect. An enhancement of the London penetration depth is revealed and such an improvement was observed in pnictides at the onset of commensurate spin-density-wave order inside the superconducting phase at zero temperature. The Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory was also analysed and the appearance of zero-energy states is detected. Nucleation of superconductivity in a bulk was also studied. The system acts as a quantum damped harmonic oscillator and our analysis showed that type-I superconductivity occurs when κ < 2 / ( 1 + α ) , whereas type II occurs for κ > 2 / ( 1 + α ) , where κ is the Ginzburg–Landau parameter. The transition at the passage from the ‘genuine’ to the ‘intermediate’ type-I estimates 0.767767 < α ≤ 1 .

Sub-nanosecond Infrared Photodetection using III-V Colloidal Quantum Dots

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are promising materials for IR light detection due to their tunable bandgap and solution processing; but to date, the time response of CQD IR photodiodes has been inferior to that provided by Si and InGaAs. We reasoned that the high permittivity of II-VI CQDs leads to slow charge extraction due to screening and capacitance; whereas III-Vs – if their surface chemistry could be mastered – offer a strong covalent character for low permittivity and fast operation. In initial studies, we found that existing covalent character led to imbalanced charge transport in InAs, the result of unpassivated surfaces and uncontrolled heavy doping. We report surface management using amphoteric ligand coordination and find that it addresses simultaneously the In and As surface dangling bonds. The new InAs CQD solids combine high mobility (0.04 cm2 V-1 s-1) with a 4x reduction in permittivity compared to PbS CQDs. The resulting photodiodes achieve a response time faster than 300 ps – a more than 100x improvement compared to the best previously-reported CQD photodiodes – combined with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 30% at 940 nm.

Controlling the Doping Depth in Silicon Micropillars

Micropillar arrays with radial p–n junctions are attractive for photovoltaic applications, because the light absorption and carrier collection become decoupled. The main challenge in manufacturing radial p–n junctions is achieving shallow (dopant depth <200 nm) and heavy doping (>1020 cm−3) that will allow the formation of a quasi-neutral region (QNR) and space charge region (SCR) in its tiny geometry. This experimental study investigates an approach that allows shallow and heavy doping in silicon micropillars. It aims to demonstrate that silicon dioxide (SiO2) can be used to control the dopant penetration depth in silicon micropillars.