Mobility gaps: a mechanism for band gaps in melanins

The semiconductor behavior of melanins is reviewed and compared with quantum mechanical models of conduction in amorphous solids. The available data are consistent with extensions of Mott's basic model for amorphous semiconductors, whereas they are inconsistent with crystalline semiconductor models. An investigation of the specific conduction mechanisms operative in melanins in terms of the amorphous model should reveal important aspects of the band structure.     

Molecular beam epitaxy

Molecular beam epitaxy is an ultrahigh vacuum technique for growing very thin epitaxial layers of semiconductor crystals. Because it is inherently a slow growth process, extreme dimensional control over both major compositional variations and impurity incorporation can be achieved. The result is that it has been possible, with one combination of lattice-matched semiconductors, GaAs and Alx-Gal-xAs, to demonstrate a large variety of novel single-crystal structures. These results have important implications for fundamental studies of the physics of thin-layered structures and for the development of new semiconductor electronic and optoelectronic devices.     

Melting in semiconductor nanocrystals

New physics occurs in semiconductors when one or more dimensions of the crystal are reduced to a size comparable to bulk electron delocalization lengths (tens to hundreds of angstroms). The properties of "quantum dots" or semiconductor nanocrystals are now being studied, as techniques to fabricate the crystallites are developed. Temperature-dependent electron diffraction studies on nanocrystals of CdS show a large depression in the melting temperature with decreasing size, as a larger fraction of the total number of atoms is on the surface. Thermal stability may play a role in determining the uses of semiconductor nanocrystals.     

Spatially resolved spin-injection probability for gallium arsenide

We report a large spin-polarized current injection from a ferromagnetic metal into a nonferromagnetic semiconductor, at a temperature of 100 Kelvin. The modification of the spin-injection process by a nanoscale step edge was observed. On flat gallium arsenide [GaAs(110)] terraces, the injection efficiency was 92%, whereas in a 10-nanometer-wide region around a [111]-oriented step the injection efficiency is reduced by a factor of 6. Alternatively, the spin-relaxation lifetime was reduced by a factor of 12. This reduction is associated with the metallic nature of the step edge. This study advances the realization of using both the charge and spin of the electron in future semiconductor devices.     

Functional nanoscale electronic devices assembled using silicon nanowire building blocks

Because semiconductor nanowires can transport electrons and holes, they could function as building blocks for nanoscale electronics assembled without the need for complex and costly fabrication facilities. Boron- and phosphorous-doped silicon nanowires were used as building blocks to assemble three types of semiconductor nanodevices. Passive diode structures consisting of crossed p- and n-type nanowires exhibit rectifying transport similar to planar p-n junctions. Active bipolar transistors, consisting of heavily and lightly n-doped nanowires crossing a common p-type wire base, exhibit common base and emitter current gains as large as 0.94 and 16, respectively. In addition, p- and n-type nanowires have been used to assemble complementary inverter-like structures. The facile assembly of key electronic device elements from well-defined nanoscale building blocks may represent a step toward a "bottom-up" paradigm for electronics manufacturing.     

果蔬冷藏车太阳能半导体冷藏系统的设计

太阳能半导体冷藏系统用半导体制冷片制冷,用于果蔬冷藏车上冷藏水果、蔬菜。文中介绍了半导体制冷器的结构和温度控制电路、太阳能半导体冷藏系统的设计,为果蔬冷藏车的太阳能半导体冷藏系统的开发及其应用提供了基本结构和原理。     

Hydrogen-evolving solar cells

Sunlight is directly converted to chemical energy in hydrogen-evolving photoelectrochemical cells with semiconductor electrodes. Their Gibbs free energy efficiency of solar-to-hydrogen conversion, 13.3 percent, exceeds the solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency of green plants and approaches the solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency of the best p-n junction cells. In hydrogen-evolving photoelectrodes, electron-hole pairs photogenerated in the semiconductor are separated at electrical microcontacts between the semiconductor and group VIII metal catalyst islands. Conversion is efficient when the island diameters are small relative to the wave-lengths of sunlight exciting the semiconductor; when the island spacings are smaller than the diffusion length of electrons at the semiconductor surface; when the height of the potential energy barriers that separate the photogenerated electrons from holes at the semiconductor surface is raised by hydrogen alloying of the islands; when radiationless recombination of electron-hole pairs at the semiconductor-solution interface between the islands is suppressed by controlling the semiconductor surface chemistry; and when the semiconductor has an appropriate band gap (1.0 to 1.8 electron volts) for efficient solar conversion.     

半导体物理学的发展及启示

半导体物理学是凝聚态物理学的一个重要分支，也是现代微电子器件工艺学的理论核心。研究和探讨半导体物理学的发展规律，对于掌握半导体科学技术今后的发展趋势具有重要意义。文章着重回顾与评述了晶体管的发明过程、半导体超晶格物理的发展以及半导体纳米量子器件的研究进展，展望了新型半导体纳米材料的发展前景，并以半导体物理学的发展历程为依据剖析了其发展规律和特点     

A stretchable form of single-crystal silicon for high-performance electronics on rubber substrates

We have produced a stretchable form of silicon that consists of submicrometer single-crystal elements structured into shapes with microscale, periodic, wavelike geometries. When supported by an elastomeric substrate, this "wavy" silicon can be reversibly stretched and compressed to large levels of strain without damaging the silicon. The amplitudes and periods of the waves change to accommodate these deformations, thereby avoiding substantial strains in the silicon itself. Dielectrics, patterns of dopants, electrodes, and other elements directly integrated with the silicon yield fully formed, high-performance "wavy" metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors, p-n diodes, and other devices for electronic circuits that can be stretched or compressed to similarly large levels of strain.     

Observation of metastable structural excitations and concerted atomic motions on a crystal surface

The addition of a small number of lead atoms to a germanium(111) surface reduces the energy barrier for activated processes, and with a tunneling microscope it is possible to observe concerted atomic motions and metastable structures on this surface near room temperature. The formation and annihilation of these metastable structural surface excitations is associated with the shift in position of large numbers of germanium surface atoms along a specific row direction like beads on an abacus. The effect provides a mechanism for understanding the transport of atoms on a semiconductor surface.     

Experimental tunneling ratchets

Adiabatically rocked electron ratchets, defined by quantum confinement in semiconductor heterostructures, were experimentally studied in a regime where tunneling contributed to the particle flow. The rocking-induced electron flow reverses direction as a function of temperature. This result confirms a recent prediction of fundamentally different behavior of classical versus quantum ratchets. A wave-mechanical model reproduced the temperature-induced current reversal and provides an intuitive explanation.     

Structure of the Reduced TiO2(110) Surface Determined by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The scanning tunneling microscope has been used to image a reduced TiO(2)(110) surface in ultrahigh vacuum. Structural units with periodicities rangng from 21 to 3.4 angstroms have been clearly imaged, demonstrating that atomic resolution imaging of an ionic, wide band gap (3.2 electron volts) semiconductor is possible. The observed surface structures can be explained by a model involving ordered arrangements of two-dimensional defects known as crystallographic shear planes and indicate that the topography of nonstoichiometric oxide surfaces can be complex.     

Spin Hall effect transistor

The field of semiconductor spintronics explores spin-related quantum relativistic phenomena in solid-state systems. Spin transistors and spin Hall effects have been two separate leading directions of research in this field. We have combined the two directions by realizing an all-semiconductor spin Hall effect transistor. The device uses diffusive transport and operates without electrical current in the active part of the transistor. We demonstrate a spin AND logic function in a semiconductor channel with two gates. Our study shows the utility of the spin Hall effect in a microelectronic device geometry, realizes the spin transistor with electrical detection directly along the gated semiconductor channel, and provides an experimental tool for exploring spin Hall and spin precession phenomena in an electrically tunable semiconductor layer.     

基于虚拟机技术和有限元分析的键合机机械结构与系统动态性能分析

随着半导体制造技术不断向微细化、高速、高密度方向发展,开发高精度、高效率、高可靠性的键合机是对封装设备制造业刻不容缓的要求.而深入认识、分析和改善键合机的机械结构与性能成为广大科研工作者面临的首要任务.利用虚拟机技术软件(ADAMS)建立了某键合机的动力学模型,并通过仿真验证了模型的正确性;利用有限元分析软件(PANTRAN)分析了该键合机中关键部件的物性特性对整机精度的影响,并得出初步的结论.     

Optical gain and stimulated emission in nanocrystal quantum dots

The development of optical gain in chemically synthesized semiconductor nanoparticles (nanocrystal quantum dots) has been intensely studied as the first step toward nanocrystal quantum dot lasers. We examined the competing dynamical processes involved in optical amplification and lasing in nanocrystal quantum dots and found that, despite a highly efficient intrinsic nonradiative Auger recombination, large optical gain can be developed at the wavelength of the emitting transition for close-packed solids of these dots. Narrowband stimulated emission with a pronounced gain threshold at wavelengths tunable with the size of the nanocrystal was observed, as expected from quantum confinement effects. These results unambiguously demonstrate the feasibility of nanocrystal quantum dot lasers.     

Coherent optical spectroscopy of a strongly driven quantum dot

Quantum dots are typically formed from large groupings of atoms and thus may be expected to have appreciable many-body behavior under intense optical excitation. Nonetheless, they are known to exhibit discrete energy levels due to quantum confinement effects. We show that, like single-atom or single-molecule two- and three-level quantum systems, single semiconductor quantum dots can also exhibit interference phenomena when driven simultaneously by two optical fields. Probe absorption spectra are obtained that exhibit Autler-Townes splitting when the optical fields drive coupled transitions and complex Mollow-related structure, including gain without population inversion, when they drive the same transition. Our results open the way for the demonstration of numerous quantum level-based applications, such as quantum dot lasers, optical modulators, and quantum logic devices.     

Heavily doped semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots

Doping of semiconductors by impurity atoms enabled their widespread technological application in microelectronics and optoelectronics. However, doping has proven elusive for strongly confined colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals because of the synthetic challenge of how to introduce single impurities, as well as a lack of fundamental understanding of this heavily doped limit under strong quantum confinement. We developed a method to dope semiconductor nanocrystals with metal impurities, enabling control of the band gap and Fermi energy. A combination of optical measurements, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, and theory revealed the emergence of a confined impurity band and band-tailing. Our method yields n- and p-doped semiconductor nanocrystals, which have potential applications in solar cells, thin-film transistors, and optoelectronic devices.     

基于H桥驱动电路的半导体制冷片恒温控制系统

设计了一种以单片机HT46R47为核心,半导体制冷片为发热制冷体的智能恒温控制系统.通过H桥驱动电路控制半导体制冷片进行加热或制冷,实现了自动恒温控制.     

Nanowire nanosensors for highly sensitive and selective detection of biological and chemical species

Boron-doped silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were used to create highly sensitive, real-time electrically based sensors for biological and chemical species. Amine- and oxide-functionalized SiNWs exhibit pH-dependent conductance that was linear over a large dynamic range and could be understood in terms of the change in surface charge during protonation and deprotonation. Biotin-modified SiNWs were used to detect streptavidin down to at least a picomolar concentration range. In addition, antigen-functionalized SiNWs show reversible antibody binding and concentration-dependent detection in real time. Lastly, detection of the reversible binding of the metabolic indicator Ca2+ was demonstrated. The small size and capability of these semiconductor nanowires for sensitive, label-free, real-time detection of a wide range of chemical and biological species could be exploited in array-based screening and in vivo diagnostics.     

Predicting new solids and superconductors

It is now possible to start with a simple model of a solid composed of atomic cores and itinerant valence electrons and compute the total energy for a given structural arrangement of atoms with enough precision to predict the existence of new solids and their properties. The application of the model based on the pseudopotential method is described with silicon chosen as a prototype material. With only information about the constituent atoms, the electronic, structural, vibrational, and even superconducting properties of solids can be calculated from first principles. The successful predictions of superconductivity in highly condensed hexagonal silicon and the existence of new high-pressure semiconductor phases are highlighted. A discussion is presented of the use of the method to discover new stable or metastable solids at high pressures.