Electrical transport in three-dimensional ensembles of silicon quantum dots

The evolvement of the transport mechanism with the ensemble density of Si quantum dots

“…2. The typical diameters of the NCs were around 3 nm, at the Si-phase poor end of the film, and around 10 nm, at the Si rich end of the films [5]. Noting that the key parameter that determines the transport properties in such ensembles is the interparticle distance we distinguish, as apparent to the eye, between 'touching" and "non touching" pairs of NCs.…”

“…However, in view of the limited scope of this paper we concentrate here on the two extreme density limits, the low density and the high density regimes. The understanding of these limits is expected to enable the understanding of the phenomena observed in the intermediate density regimes, as we have discussed previously [2,5]. Also, in our previous papers a critical review of the relevant literature was provided, enabling the interested reader to appreciate the state of the art of the present subject [2,5,6].…”

“…In view of the above, basic physics (indirect gap) and the importance of the technology of microelectronics, we have intensively studied the transport properties of ensembles of Si NCs [2]. In our previous papers and reviews we presented our pertinent experimental results and discussed them in light of the possible models that may account for the results that we found [3][4][5][6]. We have argued then in favor of some particular models on the basis of the comprehensive data that we acquired and some physical arguments that we presented.…”

“…The understanding of these limits is expected to enable the understanding of the phenomena observed in the intermediate density regimes, as we have discussed previously [2,5]. Also, in our previous papers a critical review of the relevant literature was provided, enabling the interested reader to appreciate the state of the art of the present subject [2,5,6]. In this paper we describe briefly the systems that we studied, our major results according to the above mentioned two significant NCs density regimes and then we give a brief summary of the understanding that we gained thus far.…”

“…On the other hand one cannot control the density of the ensemble and the structure of the system in not stable. In contrast, the films deposited by cosputtering have exactly the opposite advantages and disadvantages [2,5]. Correspondingly, the complementary properties of the two types of systems have enabled us a comprehensive, systematic and detailed study of the transport properties as a function of the NCs density.…”