Tailoring the Properties of Dilute Nitride-Bismide Semiconductor Alloys

技术支持：本计画旨在进一步了解稀氮化物-二氮化物半导体合金异质结构之微结构与性质。该项目是密歇根大学，圣母大学，科克大学和廷德尔研究所（爱尔兰）的研究人员之间的跨学科和合作。一个主要的目标是识别和理解合成/加工机制沿着的条件需要操纵的微观结构和随之而来的电子状态和这些材料的光发射效率。将使用等离子体辅助的分子束外延，使用两性（第IV族）和替代（第VI族）掺杂剂合成稀氮化物-二酰亚胺合金膜。微结构将使用一种新的方法来定制种子成分模式，使用预生长聚焦离子束注入。原子到纳米尺度的结构将使用最先进的显微镜和光谱技术来确定。这些结果将使用一套互补的计算研究来解释，包括密度泛函理论，紧束缚计算和基于有效质量的计算。非技术性：该项目涉及材料科学领域的基础研究问题，与电子学和光子学的技术相关。该项目的科学见解预计将使温度不敏感的光发射器，高效率光电子器件和高性能晶体管的开发能够用于电信，雷达和汽车行业。研究生，本科生和高中生将受益于在跨学科的化学，物理和工程学科的跨学科科学学习环境中共同工作。已建立的合作构成了一种有利的方法，受益于涵盖理论和实验的研究人员的互补专业知识。所创造的新知识将通过出版物和介绍广泛传播。外联活动将强调对妇女和代表性不足的少数族裔的辅导。

Technical: This project aims for greater understanding of the microstructure and properties of dilute nitride-bismide semiconductor alloy heterostructures. The project is interdisciplinary and collaborative among investigators at U-Michigan, U-Notre Dame, U-College Cork, and the Tyndall Institute (Ireland). A primary objective is to identify and understand synthesis/processing mechanisms along with conditions needed to manipulate the microstructure and consequent electronic states and optical emission efficiencies of these materials. Dilute nitride-bismide alloy films will be synthesized using plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy, using both amphoteric (group IV) and alternative (group VI) dopants. The microstructure will be tailored using a novel approach to seed compositional patterns using pre-growth focused-ion-beam implantation. The atomic-to-nanometer-scale structure will be determined using state-of-the-art microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. These results will be interpreted using a complementary set of computational studies, including density functional theory, tight-binding calculations, and effective-mass based calculations.Non-technical: The project addresses basic research issues in a topical area of materials science with technological relevance in electronics and photonics. The scientific insights from this project are expected to enable the development of temperature-insensitive light-emitters, high efficiency photovoltaics, and high performance transistors to be used in the telecommunications, radar, and automotive industries. Graduate, undergraduate, and high school students will benefit from working together in an interdisciplinary scientific learning environment across disciplines of chemistry, physics, and engineering. The established collaboration constitutes an advantageous approach, benefitting from the complementary expertise of investigators covering theory and experiment. The new knowledge created will be broadly disseminated through publications and presentations. Outreach activities will emphasize the mentoring of women and underrepresented minorities.