Millimeter-Scale Continuous Film of MoS2 Synthesized Using a Mo, Na, and Seeding Promoter-Based Coating as a Solid Precursor.

While the chemical vapor deposition technique can be used to fabricate 2D materials in a larger area, materials like MoS2 have limited controllability due to their lack of self-controlling nature. This article presents a new technique for synthesizing a void-free millimeter-scale continuous monolayer MoS2 film through the diffusion of a well-controlled Mo, Na, and seeding promoter-based coating under a low-pressure N2 atmosphere. Compared to the conventional method, this technique provides precise control of solid precursors, where MoS2 grows next to the coating. At 800 °C, the synthesized MoS2 showed a uniform single-layer MoS2 film; however, a Na-free coating showed nanoscale voids and poor crystal quality, which are attributed to a higher edge-attachment barrier that slows down the MoS2 lateral growth. The synthesized MoS2 with Na-containing solution showed an intense PL peak with a 1.86 eV band gap. Even at the relatively low temperature of 700 °C, compared to the Na-excluded condition, MoS2 showed almost two times higher area coverage with a comparatively larger crystal size. This finding may assist in the future development of MoS2-based electronic and optoelectronic devices such as transistors and photodetectors.

Selective growth of monolayer and bilayer graphene patterns by a rapid growth method.

The use of next-generation graphene requires the control of the number of deposition layers together with its fast synthesis for its use in advanced and miniaturized devices. Here, this article describes a novel technique for the selective growth of a continuous film of a graphene pattern (controlled monolayer/multilayer design) by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method on Cu foils modified by different plasma treatments. Ex situ Ar plasma treatment is the preferred treatment for monolayer graphene (I2D/IG = 1.81) synthesis. Bilayer graphene (I2D/IG = 1.05) growth was influenced by applying an additional oxygen plasma treatment, which led to different morphologies and control of the surface-active nature of Cu. The required design was achieved by a photolithography process. Graphene synthesis was performed by a short annealing process (60 s) followed by a single-step short burst of graphene growth (60 s). Relatively high density graphene nuclei with faster graphene growth resulted in monolayer graphene in the Ar plasma-treated area. Ex situ oxygen plasma treatment in selected areas was capable of controlling the amount of graphene nuclei formation, while the kink structure was capable of bolstering the adsorption of a relatively high amount of carbon adatoms, resulting in bilayer graphene.

Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene/ITO Nanoparticle Hybrid Transparent Conducting Electrode.

The combination of graphene with conductive nanoparticles, forming graphene-nanoparticle hybrid materials, offers a number of excellent properties for advanced engineering applications. A novel and simple method was developed to deposit 10 wt% tin-doped indium tin oxide (ITO) nanoparticles on graphene. The method involved a combination of a solution-based environmentally friendly electroless deposition approach and subsequent vacuum annealing. A stable organic-free solution of ITO was prepared from economical salts of In(NO3)3 ·H2O and SnCl4. The obtained ITO nanostructure exhibited a unique architecture, with uniformly dispersed 25-35 nm size ITO nanoparticles, containing only the crystallized In2O3 phase. The synthesized ITO nanoparticles-graphene hybrid exhibited very good and reproducible optical transparency in the visible range (more than 85%) and a 28.2% improvement in electrical conductivity relative to graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition. It was observed that the ITO nanoparticles affect the position of the Raman signal of graphene, in which the D, G, and 2D peaks were redshifted by 5.65, 5.69, and 9.74 cm-1, respectively, and the annealing conditions had no significant effect on the Raman signatures of graphene.

Fabrication of highly conductive graphene/ITO transparent bi-film through CVD and organic additives-free sol-gel techniques.

Indium tin oxide (ITO) still remains as the main candidate for high-performance optoelectronic devices, but there is a vital requirement in the development of sol-gel based synthesizing techniques with regards to green environment and higher conductivity. Graphene/ITO transparent bi-film was synthesized by a two-step process: 10 wt. % tin-doped ITO thin films were produced by an environmentally friendly aqueous sol-gel spin coating technique with economical salts of In(NO3)3.H2O and SnCl4, without using organic additives, on surface free energy enhanced (from 53.826 to 97.698 mJm-2) glass substrate by oxygen plasma treatment, which facilitated void-free continuous ITO film due to high surface wetting. The chemical vapor deposited monolayer graphene was transferred onto the synthesized ITO to enhance its electrical properties and it was capable of reducing sheet resistance over 12% while preserving the bi-film surface smoother. The ITO films contain the In2O3 phase only and exhibit the polycrystalline nature of cubic structure with 14.35 ± 0.5 nm crystallite size. The graphene/ITO bi-film exhibits reproducible optical transparency with 88.66% transmittance at 550 nm wavelength, and electrical conductivity with sheet resistance of 117 Ω/sq which is much lower than that of individual sol-gel derived ITO film.

Crystallographic Wet Chemical Etching of Semipolar GaN (11-22) Grown on m-Plane Sapphire Substrates.

This paper reports the etch rates and etched surface morphology of semipolar GaN using a potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. Semipolar (11-22) GaN could be etched easily using a KOH solution and the etch rate was higher than that of Ga-polar c-plane GaN (0001). The etch rate was anisotropic and the highest etch rate was measured to be approximately 116 nm/min for the (1011) plane and 62 nm/min for the (11-20) plane GaN using a 4 M KOH solution at 100 °C, resulting in specific surface features, such as inclined trigonal cells.

Room temperature deposition of silicon nanodot clusters by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

The formation of nanometer-scale (ns)-Si dots and clusters on p-GaN layers has been studied by controlling the early stage of growth during plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at room temperature. We found that ns-Si dots and clusters formed on the p-GaN surface, indicating that growth was the Volmer-Weber mode. The deposition parameters such as radio frequency (RF) power and processing time mainly influenced the size of the ns-Si dots (40 nm-160 nm) and the density of the ns-Si dot clusters.

Ohmic contacts to N-face p-GaN using Ni/Au for the fabrication of polarization inverted light-emitting diodes.

The electrical properties of Ni-based ohmic contacts to N-face p-type GaN were investigated. The specific contact resistance of N-face p-GaN exhibits a linear decrease from 1.01 omega cm2 to 9.05 x 10(-3) omega cm2 for the as-deposited and the annealed Ni/Au contacts, respectively, with increasing annealing temperature. However, the specific contact resistance could be decreased down to 1.03 x 10(-4) omega cm2 by means of surface treatment using an alcohol-based (NH4)2S solution. The depth profile data measured from the intensity of O1s peak in the X-ray photoemission spectra showed that the alcohol-based (NH4)2S treatment was effective in removing the surface oxide layer of GaN.

Free-standing ZnO nanorods and nanowalls by aqueous solution method.

Large quantity of free-standing ZnO nanorods and nanowalls were synthesized at low temperature of below 100 degrees C using zinc acetate, zinc nitrate hexahydrate, and hexamethylenetetramine by using a simple aqueous solution method. The general morphology of the grown ZnO nanostructures which include nanorods and nanowalls was strongly influenced by growth conditions. It was found that the grown ZnO nanorods are of a single-crystalline hexagonal structure and preferred c-axis growth orientation. ZnO nanorods were of better crystallinity than ZnO nanowalls, due to the higher growth temperature used to grow ZnO nanorods. Strong free exciton emission bands with relatively weak deep level emission were clearly observed from ZnO nanorods and nanowalls, indicating their good optical properties.

Microstructural evolution of ZnO by wet-etching using acidic solutions.

The characteristics of the wet-etching of ZnO thin films were investigated using hydrochloric and phosphoric acid solutions as etchants. The etch rate of ZnO films, using a highly diluted hydrochloric acid solutions at a concentration of 0.25% in deionized water, was determined to be about 120 nm/min, and linearly increased with increasing the acid concentration. The surface of ZnO(0001) etched by an HCl solution, observed by scanning electron microscopy, showed a rough morphology with a high density of hexagonal pyramids or cones with sidewall angles of about approximately 45 degrees. Moreover, the sidewall angles of the masked area were similar to those of the pyramids on the surface. In comparison, the surface of ZnO(0001) etched by a phosphoric acid had a smooth surface morphology. The origin of this difference is from the very initial stage of etching, indicating that the etch-mechanism is different for each solution. Furthermore, when H3PO4 was added to the HCl aqueous solution, the morphology of the etched surface was greatly enhanced and the sidewall angle was also increased to about 65 degrees.