ABSTRACT
The control of molecular orientation in thin solid film phases of organic semiconductors is a basic factor for the exploitation of their physical properties for optoelectronic devices. We compare structural and optical properties of thin films of the organic semiconductor α-quarterthiophene grown by molecular beam epitaxy on different organic substrates. We show how epitactic interactions, characteristic of the surface of organic crystals, can drive the orientation of the crystalline overlayer and the selection of specific polymorphs and new pseudomorphic phases. We identify a key role in this phenomenon played by the marked groove-like corrugations present in some organic crystal surfaces. Since different polymorphs possess rather different performance in terms of, e.g., charge carrier mobility, this strategy is demonstrated to allow for the growth of oriented phases with enhanced physical properties, while keeping the substrate at room temperature. These results provide useful guidelines for the design of technological substrates for organic epitaxy and they substantiate the adoption of an organic epitaxy approach for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices based on thin films of organic semiconductors.
ABSTRACT
The electronic properties of Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te/CdTe semiconductor superlattices (SLs) with high Mn concentrations (x up to 0.8) were studied by means of low and room temperature photoluminescence (PL). The samples were grown by MBE on GaAs substrates with CdTe buffers. PL allowed the investigation of the optical emission from the fundamental 11H excitonic transition, revealing the high quantum efficiency and quality of the SLs. The temperature dependence of the excitonic PL energy position and excitonic line-shape broadening were studied. An exciton-longitudinal optical phonon couple model can be used to explain the experimental results very well. Photoreflectance (PR) spectra were also performed in order to compare with the authors' photoluminescence results. The combined use of PL and PR allowed a full understanding of the electronic states and optical emission characteristics of the authors' SLs. The authors' results indicate that high quality Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te/CdTe SLs with high Mn concentrations can be grown using MBE on GaAs substrates. The possibility to have magnetic semiconductor nanostructures opens the way to applications in the field of spintronics toward devices based on new concepts.