Nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) was prepared by exposing the graphene transferred to different substrates to atomic nitrogen plasma.

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of thin ($2 lm) CdTe layers characterized by high crystal quality and low defect density on lattice mismatched substrates, such as GaAs and Si, has thus far been difficult to achieve. In this work, we report the effects of in situ thermal deoxidation under In and As 4 overpressure prior to the CdTe growth on epiready GaAs(211)B wafers, aiming to enhance CdTe crystal quality. Thermally deoxidized GaAs samples were analyzed using in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction, along with ex situ x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy. MBE-grown CdTe layers were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Everson-type wet chemical defect decoration etching. We found that In-assisted desorption allowed for easier surface preparation and resulted in a smoother surface compared to As-assisted surface preparation. By applying In-assisted thermal deoxidation to GaAs substrates prior to the CdTe growth, we have obtained single crystal CdTe films with a CdTe(422) XRD rocking curve with a full-width half-maximum value of 130.8 arc-s and etch pit density of 4 9 10 6 cm À2 for 2.54 lm thickness. We confirmed, by XPS analysis, no In contamination on the thermally deoxidized surface.

Highly crystalline ZnTe thin films were grown on GaAs (211)B substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for potential applications such as MCT detectors and optoelectronic devices. We investigated the effects of Te to Zn (VI/II) flux ratio on the quality of ZnTe films in terms of crystal orientation, elemental composition, surface roughness, and dislocation density. Atomic concentrations of Zn, Te, and oxygen complexes due to oxygen contamination on the film surfaces were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. X-ray double crystal rocking curve full width half maximum (FWHM) of ZnTe (422) peak was observed as 233 arcseconds for a 1.66 μm thick film, which indicates high crystallinity. Wet chemical etching was applied to the films to quantify the crystal quality by calculating etch pit densities (EPD) from scanning electron microscope images. A very low EPD value of 1.7 × 10 7 cm −2 was measured. Additionally, the root mean square roughness values, obtained from atomic force microscopy topography images were in the range of 10-25 nm. These values were supported by FWHM values of red green blue color intensity histograms obtained from Nomarski Microscope images. The results of our analyses indicate that the VI/II flux ratios of 4 and 4.5 produce the best quality ZnTe films on GaAs (211)B substrates.

Room temperature light emission from optically active defect centers in two-dimensional layered materials has attracted great interest in recent years owing to the critical applications in the field of quantum information technologies. Therefore, efficient generation, detection, characterization, and manipulation of spatially localized emission from the defect centers are of crucial importance. Here, we report localized, stable, and bright room temperature photoluminescence (PL) emission from defects in WO3. In particular, the experimentally observed polarized and power dependent PL emission shows single photon characteristics. In addition, density functional theory calculations indicate that the source of the emission is most probably oxygen vacancy defects in WO3. The PL emission obtained from the localized defect centers in WO3 at room temperature has been, further, enhanced more than 20 times by using plasmonic gold nanoparticles.

Buffer and/or adhesive layers were used to decrease the dewetting of Ni thin film at graphene growth temperatures of around 900 °C. Depositing a thin buffer (Al2O3) layer onto SiO2/Si substrate significantly reduced the dewetting effect and surface roughness of Ni catalyst film. Thin adhesive (Cr) layers with or without Al2O3 buffer layers increased the texturing in (1 1 1) orientation, which was promoted by growing at an elevated temperature (450 °C). The effects of pretreatment and growth temperature on crystal orientation, grain size and surface roughness of Ni film were analyzed. Our results indicated a large positive correlation coefficient between the film thickness and surface roughness for thinner and non-buffered films, and a negative correlation coefficient between the thickness and 900 °C -annealed film roughness for thicker and buffered films. The graphene coverage was greatly improved over the films grown with Al2O3 and/or Cr layers. In summary, we suggest that growing high quality, large area, 1- or 2-layer graphene on polycrystalline Ni transition metal thin film is optimized by using Al2O3 and/or Cr layers to reduce Ni dewetting, surface roughness, and groove depth while controlling grain size and texturing in (1 1 1) orientation by annealing at 900 °C.