Copper‐oxide compound semiconductors provide a unique possibility to tune the optical and electronic properties from insulating to metallic conduction, from bandgap energies of 2.1 eV to the infrared at 1.40 eV, i.e., right into the middle of the efficiency maximum for solar‐cell applications. Three distinctly different phases, Cu2O, Cu4O3, and CuO, of this binary semiconductor can be prepared by thin‐film deposition techniques, which differ in the oxidation state of copper. Their material properties as far as they are known by experiment or predicted by theory are reviewed. They are supplemented by new experimental results from thin‐film growth and characterization, both will be critically discussed and summarized. With respect to devices the focus is on solar‐cell performances based on Cu2O. It is demonstrated by photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) that the heterojunction system p‐Cu2O/n‐AlGaN is much more promising for the application as efficient solar cells than that of p‐Cu2O/n‐ZnO heterojunction devices that have been favored up to now.

Lasers that use metallic cavities have emerged recently as a new class of light source [1][2][3] . Plasmonic lasers achieve optical confinement and feedback using surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), quasiparticles of photons and electrons at metal-dielectric interfaces, which can be amplified by suitable optical gain media 4 . The high gain of inorganic crystalline semiconductors is typically necessary to overcome fast electron scattering in metals (~10 fs), which leaves plasmonic lasers with high parasitic cavity loss. Nevertheless, SPPs offer the capability to reduce optical mode sizes far below the scale of the vacuum wavelength 3,5-8 leading to compact lasers that can generate extremely focussed optical excitations on potentially ultrafast time scales 1,9 with applications in Raman sensing

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Direct evidence of the transition from amplified spontaneous emission to laser action in optically pumped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires, at room temperature, is presented. The optical power evolves from a superlinear to a linear regime as the pump power exceeds threshold, concomitant with a transition to directional emission along the nanowire and the emergence of well defined cavity Fabry–Pérot modes around a wavelength of ≈385 nm, the intensity of which exceeds the spontaneous emission background by orders of magnitude. The laser oscillation threshold is found to be strongly dependent on nanowire diameter, with no laser oscillation observed for diameters smaller than ∼150 nm. Finally, we use an alternative “head on” detection geometry to measure the output power of a single nanowire laser.

Tellurium-modified silicon nanowires with a large negative temperature coefficient of resistance Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 133111 (2012) Tapered and aperiodic silicon nanostructures with very low reflectance for solar hydrogen evolution Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 133906 (2012) Minimizing scattering from antireflective surfaces replicated from low-aspect-ratio black silicon Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 131902 (2012) Robust hydrophobic Fe-based amorphous coating by thermal spraying Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 121603 (2012) Influence of high temperature on solid state nuclear track detector parameters Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 093502 (2012) Additional information on J. Appl. Phys.Successful ex situ and in situ cleaning procedures for AlN and GaN surfaces have been investigated and achieved. Exposure to HF and HCl solutions produced the lowest coverages of oxygen on AlN and GaN surfaces, respectively. However, significant amounts of residual F and Cl were detected. These halogens tie up dangling bonds at the nitride surfaces hindering reoxidation. The desorption of F required temperatures Ͼ850°C. Remote H plasma exposure was effective for removing halogens and hydrocarbons from the surfaces of both nitrides at 450°C, but was not efficient for oxide removal. Annealing GaN in NH 3 at 700-800°C produced atomically clean as well as stoichiometric GaN surfaces.