Observation of low-dimensional state tunneling in nanocrystalline silicon∕crystalline silicon heterostructures

Abstract

We report on the observation of resonant tunneling phenomena due to the electronic transport through zero- and two-dimensional (0D and 2D) states in n-type nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si)∕p-type crystalline silicon heterostructures. The transport information of both the 0D and 2D carriers has been extracted by the analysis of magnetic-field-dependent Hall data. Clear 2D-0D steplike and 0D-0D spikelike resonant tunneling structures have been demonstrated up to the high temperature of 220 and 50K in the natural quantum dot system, respectively. The revealed quantum tunneling information should facilitate more practical and more efficient application of nc-Si-based resonant tunneling devices.

Prediction of size disorder induced resonant tunneling in large scale nanodot arrays

“…The principal feature of the resonant tunneling is the existence of resonant peaks in current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, which has been intensively experimentally observed [1][2][3][4][5][6] and theoretically studied [7][8][9][10]. For the simplest single or double dots case, the resonant tunneling occurs when the electron levels in one dot are aligned to those in the electrode or the other dot.…”

The Properties of Si1–xGex Nanodot Arrays Prepared by Plasma‐Enhanced CVD on Porous Alumina Templates

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Among the many possible methods of preparing nc-Si 1-x Ge x films, precipitating them from a SiO 2 -Si-Ge matrix by high-temperature annealling has proven to be a successful and popular method of preparing a dense array of well-passivated nc-Si 1-x Ge x in a manner that it is possible with standard Si processing technology. [7] The growth of nc-Si 1-x Ge x in this mode relies on a strain-induced "self-islanding" process, and it is therefore only applicable to largely lattice-mismatched heteroepitaxial systems.…”

Fabrication of highly ordered nanocrystalline Si:H nanodots for the application of nanodevice arrays

“…The small natural quantum dots (NQDs) of nano-scale Si grains allow us to observe zero-dimensional (0D) electronic states with macroscopic contacts at high temperature, as demonstrated by the appearance of Coulomb staircases in ultra-thin nc-Si/Si diodes [4] and nc-Si/a-SiO 2 systems [5]. Very recently, we have presented clear high temperature resonant tunneling through both the 0D and interfacial 2-D states in nc-Si:H/crystalline-Si (c-Si) NQD systems, based on the identification of confined lowdimensional carriers by magnetic-field-dependent Hall effect measurements [6]. The advantages of greater fabrication simplicity and higher operational temperature in NQDs open the way for much wider applications of quantum confinement phenomena in nc-Si:H on desirable silicon substrates in the microelectronic industry.…”

“…For nanodevices, however, another promising approach is the fabrication of highly ordered semiconductor nanodot arrays with the dot size down to tens of nanometers [7], which has been called artificial quantum dots (AQDs) [4,6]. For the growth methods, in comparison with the strain-induced Stranski-Kranstanov (SK) mode and lithography approach, utilization of the selforganized porous alumina membrane (PAM) as an evaporation or etching mask has several advantages in terms of its uniform nanopore size and spacing to neighbors and its ability to prepare fine structures with high throughout [7,8].…”