Size Effects in Transport Properties of PbSe Thin Films

Abstract

This paper presents an overview and analysis of our earlier obtained experimental results on the dependences of kinetic properties of single PbSe quantum wells and PbSe-based superlattices on the PbSe layer thickness d. The observed oscillatory character of these dependences is attributed to quantum size effects due to electron or hole confinement in quantum wells. Some general regularities and factors that determine the character of these quantum size effects are established. The influence of the oxidation processes and doping on the d-dependences of the transport properties is revealed. A periodic change in the conductivity type related to quantum size oscillations is detected. It is shown that the experimentally determined values of the oscillation period Dd are in good agreement with the results of theoretical calculations based on the model of a rectangular quantum well with infinitely high walls, taking into account the dependence of the Fermi energy e F on d and the availability of subbands below e F . It is established that the Dd value for the superlattices is practically equal to the Dd value observed for the single PbSe thin film.

Quantum shape oscillations in the thermodynamic properties of confined electrons in core–shell nanostructures

“…For moderately degenerate conditions, on the other hand, QShE lead to an irregular oscillatory behavior, despite their weaker magnitude. Quantum oscillations due to quantum size effects at nanoscale have been attributed to the strong variations in the occupations of the states near to the Fermi surface [12,[32][33][34]64]. A similar effect also plays a role here in the systems under QShE.…”

“…The well-known examples are the quantum oscillations in resistivity (Shubnikov-de Haas effect) and in magnetization (de Haas-van Alphen effect) caused by Landau quantization due to the magnetic field [5]. Energy level quantization due to size effects also causes quantum oscillations in certain thermodynamic and transport properties [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] of various semiconductor and metallic nanostructures which have been extensively studied due to their importance on nanoscale electronics and nano-engineered devices [16][17][18][19]. In low dimensional materials, quantum size effects [3,20,21] become stronger and give rise to distinct subbands [22] and size quantization effect [23,24].…”

“…specific heat [25][26][27][28][29], thermopower [30,31]) appear due to the nature of Fermi-Dirac distribution function and its derivative with respect to energy (so called occupancy variance or thermal broadening function) respectively [32][33][34]. Size-dependent quantum oscillations attracted a great deal of interest particularly in recent decades [6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]35].…”

Metal Oxide based Chalcogenides Heterostructure Thin Film Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Solar Hydrogen Generation

“…Properties: The size effects in thin film greatly influence the noted properties of thin films namely electrical properties, mechanical and optical properties, as reported by many researchers [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. There are other important functional properties as well thin film can perform besides conventional properties.…”

Discrete and Weyl density of states for photonic dispersion relation

“…The recent progress in nano-science and nano-technology indicates that the concept of the density of states is also useful in these cutting edge fields [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. However, it should be noted that domain sizes can often be on the order of the de Broglie wavelength of particles at nano-scale.…”