Centrum pre Nanodiagnostiku Materiálov

GRANČIČ, B. – PLEVA, Milan – MIKULA, M. – ČAPLOVIČOVÁ, Mária – SATRAPINSKYY, L – ROCH, Tomáš – TRUCHLÝ, M. – SAHUL, Martin – GREGOR, M. – ŠVEC, Peter, Sr. – ZAHORAN, Miroslav – KÚŠ, Peter

In Surface & Coatings Technology. Vol. 367, June (2019)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2019.04.017

Abstract

Magnetron co-sputtering from TiB₂ and TaB₂ stoichiometric targets is used to prepare AlB₂-prototype ternary Ti_1-xTa_xB_2±Δ solid solution, with x in the range from 0 to 1. Using this technique, the boron-to-metal ratio (B/Me) varies with the actual Ti and Ta content. The boron-to‑tantalum ratio can be increased by decreasing the TaB₂ target voltage, which has a considerable effect on the coating structure. Coatings with B/Me > 2 reveal highly textured nanocolumnar structure, while the coatings with B/Me < 2 tend to be nanocrystalline (without any preferred crystallite orientation) or amorphous. All the deposited coatings have a hardness higher than 32 GPa. The under-stoichiometric (B/Me < 2) coatings show material pile-up around the cube-corner indent edges, an indication for plastic flow and increased ductility.

BENKOVIČOVÁ, Monika – HOLOS, Ana – NÁDAŽDY, Peter – HALAHOVETS, Yurily – KOTLÁR, Mário – KOLLÁR, Jozef – ŠIFFALOVIČ, Peter – JERGEL, Matej – MAJKOVÁ, Eva – MOSNÁČEK, Jaroslav – IVANČO, Ján

In Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. Vol. 21, iss. 18 (2019)

https://doi.org/10.1039/C9CP02064K

Abstract

The ability to control the interparticle distance in self-assembled arrays of nanoparticles plays an important role in a large number of applications, which require tunable electronic and photonic properties. Importantly, practical applications in real devices rely on arrays satisfying more stringent requirements of lateral homogeneity controlled over a large scale. Herein, the interparticle distance in ordered nanoparticle assemblies was controlled by varying the nanoparticle effective size via the molecular chemical nature and chain length of the ligand. Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were functionalized by three types of ligands, namely (i) a mixture of oleic acid/oleylamine (OA/OAm), (ii) poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PBA) and (iii) polystyrene (PS), while two different molar masses of PBA and PS were used. The polymeric ligands with narrow dispersity and bearing phosphonic chain-end groups were prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization. Functionalization of the IONPs with polymeric ligands was achieved using a ligand exchange method. Both the hydrodynamic diameter and size distribution of the nanoparticles in colloidal solution were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The mean interparticle distances in Langmuir–Schaefer monolayers prepared on solid substrates were assessed by means of the pair correlation function calculated from the atomic force microscopy (AFM) images. Furthermore, the lateral ordering, homogeneity, and interparticle distances averaged over a mesoscopic scale of the ordered monolayers were studied by the grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) technique. We demonstrate that the (nanoparticle) centre-to-centre distance in the ordered assemblies constituted by the IONPs with the core diameter of about 6 nm can be varied from 7.6 to about 12 nm with the resulting interparticle gap change by a factor of about 4.

Prerna Chauhan, Stanislav Hasenöhrl, Edmund Dobročka, Ľubomír Vančo, Roman Stoklas, Jaroslav Kováč, Peter Šiffalovič, Ján Kuzmík

In Applied Surface Science. Vol.470, (2019)

doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2018.10.231

Abstract

Thick (>150nm) InxAl1-xN layers were grown on GaN/sapphire (0001) by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. Growth temperature of InxAl1-xN layers was reduced from 790 to 730°C, to examine the effects of growth temperature in InxAl1-xN layers grown under H2 carrier gas. Indium incorporation, surface morphology, electrical, and optical properties of InxAl1-xN layers were examined as a function of growth temperature. Increase in In-molar fraction, as determined by high resolution X-ray diffraction, was observed with decreasing growth temperature of InxAl1-xN layers at the expense of surface roughness. Unstrained InxAl1-xN layer was achieved at 730°C under H2 carrier gas with x=0.18. However, InxAl1-xN layer grown under N2 carrier gas at 730°C to study the effects of carrier gas, was observed with two times higher In-molar fraction (x=0.37) and one order lower carrier concentration. This work shows the essential requirement of a multi-characterization approach to establish a connection between structural, electrical, and optical properties to improve our understanding towards InxAl1-xN. Edge threading dislocations density is found to be the most important parameter in deciding the characteristics of an InxAl1-xN layer.

CHAUHAN, Prerna – HASENÖHRL, Stanislav – DOBROČKA, Edmund – CHAUVAT, Marie-Pierre – MINJ, A. – GUCMANN, Filip – VANČO, Ľubomír – KOVÁČ, Jaroslav jr. – KRET, S. – RUTERANA, Pierre – KUBALL, Martin – ŠIFFALOVIČ, Peter – KUZMÍK, Ján

In Journal of Applied Physics. 125, iss. 10 (2019)

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5079756

Abstract

Two In𝑥Al1−𝑥NInAl1−N layers were grown simultaneously on different substrates [sapphire (0001) and the Ga-polar GaN template], but under the same reactor conditions, they were employed to investigate the mechanism of strain-driven compositional evolution. The resulting layers on different substrates exhibit different polarities and the layer grown on sapphire is N-polar. Moreover, for the two substrates, the difference in the degree of relaxation of the grown layers was almost 100%, leading to a large In-molar fraction difference of 0.32. Incorporation of In in In𝑥Al1−𝑥NInAl1−N layers was found to be significantly influenced by the strain imposed by the under-layers. With the evolutionary process of In-incorporation during subsequent layer growth along [0001], the direction of growth was investigated in detail by Auger electron spectroscopy. It is discovered that the In0.60Al0.40NIn0.60Al0.40N layer grown directly on sapphire consists of two different regions with different molar fractions: the transition region and the uniform region. According to the detailed cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, the transition region is formed near the hetero-interface due to the partial strain release caused by the generation of misfit-dislocations. The magnitude of residual strain in the uniform region decides the In-molar fraction. In𝑥Al1−𝑥NInAl1−N layers were analyzed by structural and optical characterization techniques. Our present work also shows that a multi-characterization approach to study In𝑥Al1−𝑥NInAl1−N is a prerequisite for their applications as a buffer layer.

HASENÖHRL, Stanislav – CHAUHAN, Prerna – DOBROČKA, Edmund – STOKLAS, Roman – VANČO, Ľubomír – VESELÝ, Marián – BOUAZZAOUI, Farah – CHAUVAT, Marie-Pierre – RUTERANA, Pierre – KUZMÍK, Ján

In Applied Physics Express. Vol. 12, iss. 1 (2019)

https://doi.org/10.7567/1882-0786/aaef41

Abstract

InAlN/GaN structures are grown using organometallic chemical vapor deposition at 730 °C. The sample for which the chamber cleaning step was applied after GaN growth shows a sharp In_0.3Al_0.7N/GaN transition, free electron density of ∼2 × 10¹¹ cm⁻² and mobility of 44 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. On the other hand, the sample prepared without growth interruption demonstrated In_0.4Al_0.15Ga_0.45N at the interface and compositional grading towards the In_0.4Al_0.6N surface. In this case a two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) is created with a density of ∼2 × 10¹² cm⁻² and mobility of ∼0.6 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. Ga incorporation in the InAlN barrier is crucial for designing non-inverted 2DHG transistors.