Pt-Coated Silicon Nanoparticles: An Investigation into the Hydrosilylation on Hydrogen-Terminated Silicon Surfaces Using Pt(dvs)

The interaction of hydrogen-terminated silicon nanoparticles (H-SiNPs) with Karstedt's catalyst at various temperatures was investigated. The results indicate that at room temperature, the oxidative addition of Pt(0) onto H-SiNPs is irreversible, and the catalyst is not eliminated from the surface of H-SiNPs, enabling a facile synthesis of Pt-loaded SiNPs that can undergo ligand exchange. The nature of the Pt-on-Si ensemble is characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Reaction conditions that enable effective hydrosilylation are discussed. It is found that higher temperatures favor reductive elimination of the catalyst and hydrosilylation of 1-octene onto the surface of the H-SiNPs.

Functional Devices from Bottom-Up Silicon Nanowires: A Review

This paper summarizes some of the essential aspects for the fabrication of functional devices from bottom-up silicon nanowires. In a first part, the different ways of exploiting nanowires in functional devices, from single nanowires to large assemblies of nanowires such as nanonets (two-dimensional arrays of randomly oriented nanowires), are briefly reviewed. Subsequently, the main properties of nanowires are discussed followed by those of nanonets that benefit from the large numbers of nanowires involved. After describing the main techniques used for the growth of nanowires, in the context of functional device fabrication, the different techniques used for nanowire manipulation are largely presented as they constitute one of the first fundamental steps that allows the nanowire positioning necessary to start the integration process. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these manipulation techniques are discussed. Then, the main families of nanowire-based transistors are presented; their most common integration routes and the electrical performance of the resulting devices are also presented and compared in order to highlight the relevance of these different geometries. Because they can be bottlenecks, the key technological elements necessary for the integration of silicon nanowires are detailed: the sintering technique, the importance of surface and interface engineering, and the key role of silicidation for good device performance. Finally the main application areas for these silicon nanowire devices are reviewed.

Semiconductivity Transition in Silicon Nanowires by Hole Transport Layer

The surface of nanowires is a source of interest mainly for electrical prospects. Thus, different surface chemical treatments were carried out to develop recipes to control the surface effect. In this work, we succeed in shifting and tuning the semiconductivity of a Si nanowire-based device from n- to p-type. This was accomplished by generating a hole transport layer at the surface by using an electrochemical reaction-based nonequilibrium position to enhance the impact of the surface charge transfer. This was completed by applying different annealing pulses at low temperature (below 400 °C) to reserve the hydrogen bonds at the surface. After each annealing pulse, the surface was characterized by XPS, Kelvin probe measurements, and conductivity measured by FET based on a single Si NW. The mechanism and conclusion were supported experimentally and theoretically. To this end, this strategy has been demonstrated as an essential tool which could pave a new road for regulating semiconductivity and for other low-dimensional nanomaterials.

Structural Modifications in Epitaxial Graphene on SiC Following 10 keV Nitrogen Ion Implantation

Modification of epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide (EG/SiC) was explored by ion implantation using 10 keV nitrogen ions. Fragments of monolayer graphene along with nanostructures were observed following nitrogen ion implantation. At the initial fluence, sp3 defects appeared in EG; higher fluences resulted in vacancy defects as well as in an increased defect density. The increased fluence created a decrease in the intensity of the prominent peak of SiC as well as of the overall relative Raman intensity. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed a reduction of the peak intensity of graphitic carbon and silicon carbide as a result of ion implantation. The dopant concentration and level of defects could be controlled both in EG and SiC by the fluence. This provided an opportunity to explore EG/SiC as a platform using ion implantation to control defects, and to be applied for fabricating sensitive sensors and nanoelectronics devices with high performance.

Strong selective oxidization on two-dimensional GaN: a first principles study

Ab initio calculations were performed to investigate the chemical oxidation of two-dimensional (2D) gallium nitride (GaN). The nitrogen surface was found to form a metastable configuration under oxygen adsorption, while the gallium surface could be readily transformed to a more stable configuration of HO-GaN-H with an exceptionally low energy barrier. The results also revealed that the adsorption of oxygen adatoms resulted in the reduction of work-function and induced the change from 2D GaN to a new GaNO compound. Our findings indicate that we should pay attention to the oxidation effect of 2D GaN in practical device applications.

Silica scaling in forward osmosis: From solution to membrane interface

Membrane silica scaling hinders sustainable water production. Understanding silica scaling mechanisms provides options for better membrane process management. In this study, we elucidated silica scaling mechanisms on an asymmetric cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane and polyamide thin-film composite (TFC) membrane. Scaling filtration showed that TFC membrane was subjected to more severe water flux decline in comparison with the CTA membrane, together with different scaling layer morphology. To elucidate the silica scaling mechanisms, silica species in the aqueous solution were characterised by mass spectrometry as well as light scattering. Key thermodynamic parameters of silica surface nucleation on the CTA and TFC membranes were estimated to compare the surface nucleation energy barrier. In addition, high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy resolved the chemical origin of the silica-membrane interaction via identifying the specific silicon bonds. These results strongly support that silica scaling in the CTA membrane was driven by the aggregation of mono-silicic acid into large silica aggregates, followed by the deposition from bulk solution onto the membrane surface; by contrast, silica polymerised on the TFC membrane surface where mono-silicic acid interacted with TFC membrane surface, which was followed by silica surface polymerisation.

Interface Passivation and Trap Reduction via a Solution-Based Method for Near-Zero Hysteresis Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors

In this letter, we demonstrate a solution-based method for a one-step deposition and surface passivation of the as-grown silicon nanowires (Si NWs). Using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as a mild oxidizing agent, the NWs' surface traps density was reduced by over 2 orders of magnitude from 1×10(13) cm(-2) in pristine NWs to 3.7×10(10) cm(-2) in DMF-treated NWs, leading to a dramatic hysteresis reduction in NW field-effect transistors (FETs) from up to 32 V to a near-zero hysteresis. The change of the polyphenylsilane NW shell stoichiometric composition was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showing a 35% increase in fully oxidized Si4+ species for DMF-treated NWs compared to dry NW powder. Additionally, a shell oxidation effect induced by DMF resulted is a more stable NW FET performance with steady transistor currents and only 1.5 V hysteresis after 1000 h of air exposure.

Electronic Properties of Si-Hx Vibrational Modes at Si Waveguide Interface

Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in suite with Kelvin probe were conjugated to explore the electronic properties of Si-Hx vibrational modes by developing Si waveguide with large dynamic detection range compared with conventional IR. The Si 2p emission and work-function related to the formation and elimination of Si-Hx bonds at Si surfaces are monitored based on the detection of vibrational mode frequencies. A transition between various Si-Hx bonds and thus related vibrational modes is monitored for which effective momentum transfer could be demonstrated. The combination of the aforementioned methods provides for results that permit a model for the kinetics of hydrogen termination of Si surfaces with time and advanced surface characterizing of hybrid-terminated semiconducting solids.

Percolating silicon nanowire networks with highly reproducible electrical properties

Here, we report the morphological and electrical properties of self-assembled silicon nanowires networks, also called Si nanonets. At the macroscopic scale, the nanonets involve several millions of nanowires. So, the observed properties should result from large scale statistical averaging, minimizing thus the discrepancies that occur from one nanowire to another. Using a standard filtration procedure, the so-obtained Si nanonets are highly reproducible in terms of their morphology, with a Si nanowire density precisely controlled during the nanonet elaboration. In contrast to individual Si nanowires, the electrical properties of Si nanonets are highly consistent, as demonstrated here by the similar electrical properties obtained in hundreds of Si nanonet-based devices. The evolution of the Si nanonet conductance with Si nanowire density demonstrates that Si nanonets behave like standard percolating media despite the presence of numerous nanowire-nanowire intersecting junctions into the nanonets and the native oxide shell surrounding the Si nanowires. Moreover, when silicon oxidation is prevented or controlled, the electrical properties of Si nanonets are stable over many months. As a consequence, Si nanowire-based nanonets constitute a promising flexible material with stable and reproducible electrical properties at the macroscopic scale while being composed of nanoscale components, which confirms the Si nanonet potential for a wide range of applications including flexible electronic, sensing and photovoltaic applications.

Kinetic study of H-terminated silicon nanowires oxidation in very first stages

Oxidation of silicon nanowires (Si NWs) is an undesirable phenomenon that has a detrimental effect on their electronic properties. To prevent oxidation of Si NWs, a deeper understanding of the oxidation reaction kinetics is necessary. In the current work, we study the oxidation kinetics of hydrogen-terminated Si NWs (H-Si NWs) as the starting surfaces for molecular functionalization of Si surfaces. H-Si NWs of 85-nm average diameter were annealed at various temperatures from 50°C to 400°C, in short-time spans ranging from 5 to 60 min. At high temperatures (T ≥ 200°C), oxidation was found to be dominated by the oxide growth site formation (made up of silicon suboxides) and subsequent silicon oxide self-limitation. Si-Si backbond oxidation and Si-H surface bond propagation dominated the process at lower temperatures (T < 200°C).