Thickness-Dependent Cross-Plane Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Exfoliated Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Submicrometer-thick layers of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) exhibit high in-plane thermal conductivity and useful optical properties, and serve as dielectric encapsulation layers with low electrostatic inhomogeneity for graphene devices. Despite the promising applications of hBN as a heat spreader, the thickness dependence of its cross-plane thermal conductivity is not known, and the cross-plane phonon mean free paths (MFPs) have not been measured. We measure the cross-plane thermal conductivity of hBN flakes exfoliated from bulk crystals.

Self-Winding Helices as Slow-Wave Structures for Sub-Millimeter Traveling-Wave Tubes.

We present a transformative route to obtain mass-producible helical slow-wave structures for operation in beam-wave interaction devices at THz frequencies. The approach relies on guided self-assembly of conductive nanomembranes. Our work coordinates simulations of cold helices (i.

High-Ge-Content SiGe Alloy Single Crystals Using the Nanomembrane Platform.

The growth of single crystals of Ge-rich SiGe alloys in an extended composition range is demonstrated using the nanomembrane (NM) platform and III-V growth substrates. Thin films of high-Ge-content SiGe films are grown on GaAs(001) to below the kinetic critical thickness and released from the growth substrate by selectively etching a release layer to relax the strain. The resulting crystalline nanomembranes at the natural lattice constant of the alloy are transferred to a new host and epitaxially overgrown at similar compositions to make a thicker single crystal.

Alignment of semiconducting graphene nanoribbons on vicinal Ge(001).

Chemical vapor deposition of CH4 on Ge(001) can enable anisotropic growth of narrow, semiconducting graphene nanoribbons with predominately smooth armchair edges and high-performance charge transport properties. However, such nanoribbons are not aligned in one direction but instead grow perpendicularly, which is not optimal for integration into high-performance electronics. Here, it is demonstrated that vicinal Ge(001) substrates can be used to synthesize armchair nanoribbons, of which ∼90% are aligned within ±1.

Optical Properties of Tensilely Strained Ge Nanomembranes.

Group-IV semiconductors, which provide the leading materials platform of micro- electronics, are generally unsuitable for light emitting device applications because of their indirect- bandgap nature. This property currently limits the large-scale integration of electronic and photonic functionalities on Si chips. The introduction of tensile strain in Ge, which has the effect of lowering the direct conduction-band minimum relative to the indirect valleys, is a promising approach to address this challenge.

Silicon Nanomembranes with Hybrid Crystal Orientations and Strain States.

Methods to integrate different crystal orientations, strain states, and compositions of semiconductors in planar and preferably flexible configurations may enable nontraditional sensing-, stimulating-, or communication-device applications. We combine crystalline-silicon nanomembranes, patterning, membrane transfer, and epitaxial growth to demonstrate planar arrays of different orientations and strain states of Si in a single membrane, which is then readily transferable to other substrates, including flexible supports. As examples, regions of Si(001) and Si(110) or strained Si(110) are combined to form a multicomponent, single substrate with high-quality narrow interfaces.

Distinct Nucleation and Growth Kinetics of Amorphous SrTiO on (001) SrTiO and SiO/Si: A Step toward New Architectures.

Integration of emerging complex-oxide compounds into sophisticated nanoscale single-crystal geometries faces significant challenges arising from the kinetics of vapor-phase thin-film epitaxial growth. A comparison of the crystallization of the model perovskite SrTiO (STO) on (001) STO and oxidized (001) Si substrates indicates that there is a viable alternative route that can yield three-dimensional epitaxial synthesis, an approach in which STO is crystallized from an amorphous thin film by postdeposition annealing. The crystallization of amorphous STO on single-crystal (001) STO substrates occurs via solid-phase epitaxy (SPE), without nucleation and with a temperature-dependent amorphous/crystalline interface velocity.

Passivation of Germanium by Graphene.

The oxidation of Ge covered with graphene that is either grown on or transferred to the surface is investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Graphene properly grown by chemical vapor deposition on Ge(100), (111), or (110) effectively inhibits room-temperature oxidation of the surface. When graphene is transferred to the Ge surface, oxidation is reduced relative to that on uncovered Ge but has the same power law dependence.

Gate fidelity and coherence of an electron spin in an Si/SiGe quantum dot with micromagnet.

The gate fidelity and the coherence time of a quantum bit (qubit) are important benchmarks for quantum computation. We construct a qubit using a single electron spin in an Si/SiGe quantum dot and control it electrically via an artificial spin-orbit field from a micromagnet. We measure an average single-qubit gate fidelity of ∼99% using randomized benchmarking, which is consistent with dephasing from the slowly evolving nuclear spins in the substrate.

Direct oriented growth of armchair graphene nanoribbons on germanium.

Graphene can be transformed from a semimetal into a semiconductor if it is confined into nanoribbons narrower than 10 nm with controlled crystallographic orientation and well-defined armchair edges. However, the scalable synthesis of nanoribbons with this precision directly on insulating or semiconducting substrates has not been possible. Here we demonstrate the synthesis of graphene nanoribbons on Ge(001) via chemical vapour deposition.

Electronic Transport Properties of Epitaxial Si/SiGe Heterostructures Grown on Single-Crystal SiGe Nanomembranes.

To assess possible improvements in the electronic performance of two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in silicon, SiGe/Si/SiGe heterostructures are grown on fully elastically relaxed single-crystal SiGe nanomembranes produced through a strain engineering approach. This procedure eliminates the formation of dislocations in the heterostructure. Top-gated Hall bar devices are fabricated to enable magnetoresistivity and Hall effect measurements.

Neurite guidance and three-dimensional confinement via compliant semiconductor scaffolds.

Neurons are often cultured in vitro on a flat, open, and rigid substrate, a platform that does not reflect well the native microenvironment of the brain. To address this concern, we have developed a culturing platform containing arrays of microchannels, formed in a crystalline-silicon nanomembrane (NM) resting on polydimethylsiloxane; this platform will additionally enable active sensing and stimulation at the local scale, via devices fabricated in the silicon. The mechanical properties of the composite Si/compliant substrate nanomaterial approximate those of neural tissue.

Exceptional charge transport properties of graphene on germanium.

The excellent charge transport properties of graphene suggest a wide range of application in analog electronics. While most practical devices will require that graphene be bonded to a substrate, such bonding generally degrades these transport properties. In contrast, when graphene is transferred to Ge(001) its conductivity is extremely high and the charge carrier mobility derived from the relevant transport measurements is, under some circumstances, higher than that of freestanding, edge-supported graphene.

Strained-germanium nanostructures for infrared photonics.

The controlled application of strain in crystalline semiconductors can be used to modify their basic physical properties to enhance performance in electronic and photonic device applications. In germanium, tensile strain can even be used to change the nature of the fundamental energy band gap from indirect to direct, thereby dramatically increasing the interband radiative efficiency and allowing population inversion and optical gain. For biaxial tension, the required strain levels (around 2%) are physically accessible but necessitate the use of very thin crystals.

Strain-engineered surface transport in Si(001): complete isolation of the surface state via tensile strain.

By combining density functional theory, nonequilibrium Green's function formulism and effective-Hamiltonian approaches, we demonstrate strain-engineered surface transport in Si(001), with the complete isolation of the Si surface states from the bulk bands. Our results show that sufficient tensile strain can effectively remove the overlap between the surface valence state and the bulk valence band, because of the drastically different deformation potentials. Isolation of the surface valence state is possible with a tensile strain of ∼1.

Fast flexible electronics with strained silicon nanomembranes.

Fast flexible electronics operating at radio frequencies (>1 GHz) are more attractive than traditional flexible electronics because of their versatile capabilities, dramatic power savings when operating at reduced speed and broader spectrum of applications. Transferrable single-crystalline Si nanomembranes (SiNMs) are preferred to other materials for flexible electronics owing to their unique advantages. Further improvement of Si-based device speed implies significant technical and economic advantages.

Strain engineered SiGe multiple-quantum-well nanomembranes for far-infrared intersubband device applications.

SiGe/Si quantum wells are of great interest for the development of Group-IV THz quantum cascade lasers. The main advantage of Group-IV over III-V materials such as GaAs is that, in the former, polar phonon scattering, which significantly diminishes the efficiency of intersubband light emission, is absent. However, for SiGe/Si multiple-quantum-well structures grown on bulk Si, the lattice mismatch between Si and Ge limits the critical thickness for dislocation formation and thus the number of periods that can be grown.

Probing the electronic structure at semiconductor surfaces using charge transport in nanomembranes.

The electrical properties of nanostructures are extremely sensitive to their surface condition. In very thin two-dimensional crystalline-semiconductor sheets, termed nanomembranes, the influence of the bulk is diminished, and the electrical conductance becomes exquisitely responsive to the structure of the surface and the type and density of defects there. Its understanding therefore requires a precise knowledge of the surface condition.

Semiconductor nanomembranes: a platform for new properties via strain engineering.

New phenomena arise in single-crystal semiconductors when these are fabricated in very thin sheets, with thickness at the nanometer scale. We review recent research on Si and Ge nanomembranes, including the use of elastic strain sharing, layer release, and transfer, that demonstrate new science and enable the fabrication of materials with unique properties. Strain engineering produces new strained forms of Si or Ge not possible in nature, new layered structures, defect-free SiGe sheets, and new electronic band structure and photonic properties.

Straining nanomembranes via highly mismatched heteroepitaxial growth: InAs islands on compliant Si substrates.

Freestanding, edge-supported silicon nanomembranes are defined by selective underetching of patterned silicon-on-insulator substrates. The membranes are afterward introduced into a molecular beam epitaxy chamber and overgrown with InAs, resulting in the formation of InAs islands on flat areas and at the top of the Si nanomembranes. A detailed analysis of sample morphology, island structure, and strain is carried out.

Direct-bandgap light-emitting germanium in tensilely strained nanomembranes.

Silicon, germanium, and related alloys, which provide the leading materials platform of electronics, are extremely inefficient light emitters because of the indirect nature of their fundamental energy bandgap. This basic materials property has so far hindered the development of group-IV photonic active devices, including diode lasers, thereby significantly limiting our ability to integrate electronic and photonic functionalities at the chip level. Here we show that Ge nanomembranes (i.

Translation and manipulation of silicon nanomembranes using holographic optical tweezers.

We demonstrate the use of holographic optical tweezers for trapping and manipulating silicon nanomembranes. These macroscopic free-standing sheets of single-crystalline silicon are attractive for use in next-generation flexible electronics. We achieve three-dimensional control by attaching a functionalized silica bead to the silicon surface, enabling non-contact trapping and manipulation of planar structures with high aspect ratios (high lateral size to thickness).

Fabrication of ultrahigh-density nanowires by electrochemical nanolithography.

An approach has been developed to produce silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) rapidly on semiconductor wafers using electrochemical deposition. The closely packed AgNPs have a density of up to 1.4 × 1011 cm-2 with good size uniformity.

Influence of surface properties on the electrical conductivity of silicon nanomembranes.

Because of the large surface-to-volume ratio, the conductivity of semiconductor nanostructures is very sensitive to surface chemical and structural conditions. Two surface modifications, vacuum hydrogenation (VH) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) cleaning, of silicon nanomembranes (SiNMs) that nominally have the same effect, the hydrogen termination of the surface, are compared. The sheet resistance of the SiNMs, measured by the van der Pauw method, shows that HF etching produces at least an order of magnitude larger drop in sheet resistance than that caused by VH treatment, relative to the very high sheet resistance of samples terminated with native oxide.