In this paper electrical transport studies are performed on thin carbon films deposited on SiO2/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) applying laser ablation of micro-crystalline graphite ...target. Experiments were carried out on 320 - 420 nm thick SiO2 on Si substrates as well as on hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) films deposited on SiO2/Si. Structural studies by means of XPS, SEM and Raman spectroscopy revealed that the films can be characterized as nano-sized carbon phases possessing different phase composition (i.e. the ratio sp3/sp2 hybridized carbon, etc.). The electrical conductivity/resistivity of the films was measured in the temperature range 10 K < T < 300 K. Four-contact Van der Pauw method as well as two contact schemes have been applied. Some films have low room temperature resistivity in the range ρ = (0.1–1.5)×10-3 Ω.·m and consist predominantly of sp2 hybridized carbon with Raman spectra, which resemble that of nano-sized graphene depending on the deposition conditions and substrates used. The thinnest only 0.5 nm layer deposited directly on SiO2 exhibits relatively low specific resistance (~10-3 Ω. m), which can be taken as an indication of good deposition conditions of graphene-like layers. The current flow mechanism was explored at temperatures from 300 K down to 10K. The temperature dependence reveals non-metallic behavior - the conductivity decreases at decreasing temperature as opposed to typical metal behaviour. A model of variable range hopping (VRH) mechanism is applied to explain the low temperature conductivity drawn from transport in nanocrystalline disordered systems.
Abstract
It has recently been shown both theoretically and experimentally that a significant modification of the aC:H films is possible using UV irradiation even with a very low irradiation fluence. ...Some initial results on the modification of aC:H films with thickness of about 40 nm with UV laser irradiation are presented here. The fourth harmonic (λ = 266 nm) of a Nd:YAG laser system (the fundamental wavelength λ = 1064 nm) was used in our experiments. The modified areas of the aC:H films were characterized by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy as well as by atomic force microscopy (AFM). A significant modification of aC:H films under certain conditions (laser irradiation fluence and modification modes) to multi-layer graphene accompanied by ablation of a part of the film was established. It was also found that similar aC:H films deposited on 330 nm SiO
2
/Si substrates did not undergo significant modification under these conditions.
Abstract
Graphene layers and nanostructures were deposited on silicon dioxide (SiO
2
/Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) substrates at low gas pressure (1 – 5 torr) by microwave discharge PECVD (Plasma ...Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition). The advantage of this method is the relatively low temperature (600-700°C) of the substrate in the deposition process. The diffusion processes of hydrocarbon radicals on the surface of the substrates have a significant effect on the homogeneity of deposited structures. The deposited graphene nanotubes on SiC were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy is applied for characterization of the graphene layers. The deposited carbon layers on SiO
2
were analyzed by atomic force microscope and their thickness (12-20 nm) were determined.
The β-carboline motif is common in drug discovery and among numerous biologically active natural products. However, its synthetic preparation relies on multistep sequences and heavily depends on the ...type of substitution required in the core of the desired β-carboline target. Herein, we demonstrate that this structural motif can be accessed with the microwave-assisted electrocyclic cyclization of heterotrienic aci (alkylideneazinic acid) forms of 3-nitrovinylindoles. The reaction can start with 3-nitrovinylindoles themselves under two sets of conditions. The first one involves microwave irradiation of butanolic solutions of 3-nitrovinylindoles, whereas the second one consists of prior Boc protection of indolic nitrogen, where the protecting group cleanly comes off during the course of the reaction. Alternatively, the reaction can start with 3-nitrovinylindoles prepared in situ using various processes. Finally, the reaction may utilize indoles with β-nitrostyrenes, likely involving the intermediacy of spirocyclic oxazolines, which rearrange to similar heterotrienic systems undergoing cyclization to β-carbolines. As part of this study, several natural products, namely, alkaloids norharmane, harmane, and eudistomin N, were synthesized.
Nitroalkanes activated with polyphosphoric acid could serve as efficient electrophiles in reactions with amines and hydrazines, enabling various cascade transformations toward heterocyclic systems. ...This strategy was developed for an innovative synthetic protocol employing simultaneous or sequential annulation of two different heterocyclic cores, affording 1,2,4triazolo4,3-
quinolines with 1,3,4-oxadiazole substituents.
Abstract
We studied the growth temperature effect on nitrogen incorporation into GaAsN layers grown by liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE). The growth of dilute nitrides at nearly equilibrium conditions ...during LPE presents several major challenges: low solubility of nitrogen in Ga-melt, small incorporation efficiency in the solid and high volatility of nitrogen. GaAsN layers are grown from three different initial epitaxy temperatures: 580 °C, 680 °C and 780° C using GaN powder in the melt as a source of nitrogen. The N content in GaAsN is estimated from X-ray diffraction curves applying Vegard’s law. The local microstructure and surface morphology of the grown layers are studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy measurements, respectively. The absorption edge and the composition dependence of the effective band gap are determined by employing optical transmission and surface photovoltage spectroscopies.
•Metamorphic GaAsSb layers on GaAs have been grown by low-temperature LPE.•The incorporation of Sb in the As- sublattice is found to be 8%.•Temperature-dependent PL measurements revealed localized ...states in the bandgap.•“Anti-Stokes” shift of ∼60–70 meV found between emission (PL) and absorption (SPV).•Long-wavelength photosensitivity of GaAsSb is extended to 1.2 eV as found by SPV.
In this paper, we present an original study on metamorphic GaAsSb layers grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) on GaAs substrates for photovoltaic applications. To ensure a controlled growth of the layers with reproducible composition and properties a low-temperature (below 600 °C) variant of LPE was used combined with a precise choice of the technological conditions. This allowed obtaining layers with ∼8% Sb in the As sublattice. The crystal structure, composition, surface morphology, local arrangement and chemical bonding of Sb in the obtained layers were investigated by a variety of measurement methods including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Hall-effect measurements were performed in the temperature range of 80–300 K to clarify the influence of defects on the transport properties. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra at low excitation power were measured to evaluate the optical quality and identify localized states in the grown layers. The optical absorption properties and the transport of the photogenerated carriers in the grown samples were investigated using surface photovoltage (SPV) spectroscopy at room temperature. The SPV measurements have shown that the long-wavelength photosensitivity of the GaAsSb layers is extended down to 1.2 eV.
Dilute nitride InGaAsN and GaAsSbN layers are grown by low-temperature liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) on GaAs substrates and characterized in view of application in solar cells. The composition of the ...layers is determined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements confirm the Sb content and provide information about the chemical bonding of the N atoms. The band gap values at room temperature assessed from surface photo-voltage and photoluminescence measurements are in good agreement. The experimental results show that the layers exhibit reproducible properties, including a good optical quality and a photosensitivity red limit extended in comparison to GaAs down to about 1.33 - 1.37 eV for InGaAsN and 1.19 - 1.23 eV for GaAsSbN layers. The results obtained highlight the capacity of the LPE for growing dilute nitride layers with good optical quality for photovoltaic applications.
A new approach is proposed for determining the semiconductor conductivity type (n or p) based on measurements of surface photovoltage (SPV) phase spectra in metal–insulator–semiconductor structures ...under modulated super-bandgap optical excitation. It is shown that the sign of the bandgap-related knee in the spectrum of the SPV phase modulus gives information about the surface band bending direction and thus about the semiconductor type. The proposed approach can be applied also to multilayered structures, containing buried interfaces in order to obtain the band bending in the sample region, where the light is absorbed. Further on, the SPV phase spectral dependence is discussed taking into account the recombination processes in the system under study. It is concluded that for the cases of non-linear recombination the SPV phase spectrum reveals the peculiarities of the optical absorption coefficient spectrum, which is known until now only for the SPV amplitude spectrum. This is confirmed by SPV phase and amplitude spectral measurements in bulk Si, as well as in GaAs quantum wells.
A total of 47 active badger burrows in the Southeastern Bulgaria were described in order to find whether there are preferences to terrain exposure for its digging activity. The most of the dens were ...found on terrain with south exposure - 23.4%, followed by these on the east and west side -19.15% each. The dens faced to these three directions, together with these to intercardinal directions connected with south, represented 80.85% of the active badger dens found. A tendency in the preference of the European badger to the southern exposure of the terrain for its digging activity in the region of South-eastern Bulgaria was established.