Warm white LEDs based on Lumogen® Red and Yellow

One of the most widespread solutions for the production of white LEDs is the frequency downconversion of a part of the light, coming from a blue source, by exciting one or more materials (typically Ce:YAG) that emit at longer wavelength [1]. In this work we report ona simple and less expensive method to fabricate warmwhite-light LEDsusingthe photoluminescence of Lumogen®, a perylene-based polymer dyecommercialized by BASF,that has already beenprovedto be a good substitute for conventi onal inorganic colour conversion [2],[3]. Standard InGaN-based blue LEDs (~ 450 nm) were fabricated on a sapphire substrate by metal organic chemical vapour deposition. Both Lumogen® Yellow, and Red dyes wered…

Indium Tin Oxide Photoablation: Spectroscopic Analysis of the Plume

New process of silicon carbide purification intended for silicon passivation

Abstract In this work, we report on a new, efficient and low cost process of silicon carbide (SiC) powder purification intended to be used in photovoltaic applications. This process consists on the preparation of porous silicon carbide layers followed by a photo-thermal annealing under oxygen atmosphere and chemical treatment. The effect of etching time on impurities removal efficiency was studied. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) results showed that the best result was achieved for an etching time of 10 min followed by gettering at 900 °C during 1 h. SiC purity is improved from 3N (99.9771%) to 4N (99.9946%). Silicon carbide thin films were deposited onto s…

Electrochemically prepared oxides for resistive switching devices

Redox-based resistive switching memories (ReRAM) based on metal oxides are considered as the next generation non-volatile memories and building units for neuromorphic computing. Using different deposition techniques results however in different structural and electric properties, modulating the device performance. In this study HfO2 and Nb2O5 were prepared electrochemically by anodizing sputtering-deposited Hf and Nb in borate buffer solution. Photoelectrochemical measurements were used to study the solid state properties of the anodic oxides, such as band gap and flat band potential. In the case of anodic HfO2, detected photocurrent is ascribed to optical transitions between localized (gen…

Resonant wavelength control of a 1.3 µm microcavity by intracavity steam oxidation

Custom measurement system for memristor characterisation

Abstract A cheap, compact and customisable characterisation system for memristor devices, working between ± 10 V, is presented. SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) simulations are performed to verify the circuit feasibility and a proper software is developed to drive the system. The potentiality of the realised system is tested by performing several electrical measurements on both Cu/HfO2/Pt memristors and two-terminals commercial devices.

Study of Influence of the LED Technologies on Visual and Subjective/Individual Aspects

The general aim of this paper is that to further deepen and elaborate the results obtained in a previous study of the authors, in which the relationship between the characteristics of five different types of LED lamps and the humans non-image-forming reactions were investigated, by conducting a more detailed statistical analysis and by highlighting the neurological aspects.

The Effect of Nb Incorporation on the Electronic Properties of Anodic HfO2

Hafnium oxide and Nb doped HfO2 were grown by anodizing sputtering-deposited Hf and Hf-4at.%Nb. Photoelectrochemical characterization was carried out in order to estimate solid state properties such as band gap, flat band potential and electrons internal photoemission threshold energy as a function of thickness and composition of anodic oxides. Optical transitions at energy lower than the band gap value of the investigated anodic films were evidenced, and they are attributed to optical transitions involving localized states inside the band gap. Such states were located at 3.6 eV and 3.9 eV below the conduction band edge for the Nb free and Nb containing hafnium oxide, respectively. Impedanc…

Fabbricazione di LED bianchi tramite down-conversion di coloranti basati su perilene

A high efficiency cool white LED was obtained by generation of yellow down-conversion from a GaN/InGaN blue LED. Using photoluminescence of a perylene-based polymer dye we achieved a good substitute for conventional inorganic color conversion.

Photocatalysis of rhodamine B and methyl orange degradation under solar light on ZnO and Cu2O thin films

We report the photocatalytic properties of ZnO and Cu2O thin films deposited on glass substrates at room temperature by DC sputtering and pulsed laser deposition. The photoactivity of the films was investigated through the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) under solar light. In order to select the most suitable film of ZnO for the of RhB and MO degradation, the relationship between the characteristics (e.g. energy levels and defects concentration) of ZnO films and their effectiveness in the photocatalytic yield of RhB and MO been studied, where several films were deposited by using different oxygen partial pressures (PO2: 0.05–1.3 mbar), while Cu2O films were grown und…

Selective modification of bandgap in GaInNAs/GaAs structures by quantum well intermixing

Hybrid Inorganic‐Organic White Light Emitting Diodes

This chapter reviews the state of the art of materials, technologies, characterizations, process and challenges concerning hybrid white light‐emitting diodes (LEDs). Here, for a “hybrid LED” we mean a device based on a layer of organic phosphors (or a mix of inorganic and organic ones) pumped by a high‐energy inorganic LED. Light is emitted by a frequency down‐conversion (sometimes simply named color‐conversion) process. Benefits and weak spots of this technology are investigated with a special attention for the materials involved into the process of frequency down‐conversion, in order to envisage the future impact of the hybrid lighting technology among the well‐established inorganic ones.

Highly Sensitive Polarization Rotation Measurement through a High‐Order Vector Beam Generated by a Metasurface

The precise determination of the polarization state of light is fundamental for a vast variety of applications in remote sensing, astronomy, optics and terahertz technology, to name just a few. Typically, polarization characterization is performed by using a combination of multiple optical devices such as beam splitters, polarizers, and waveplates. Moreover, to achieve high-precision, balanced photodetectors and lock-in amplifiers are employed, thus contributing to increasing system complexity. Here, a technique for polarization rotation measurements with a dynamic range of 180° and a sensitivity of about 10−2 degrees is realized using a properly designed metasurface. Such device generates …

High-power picosecond quasi-CW 1.3 µm Nd-laser passively modelocked using novel low-loss GaInNAs SBRs

Microreflectivity studies of wavelength control in oxidised AlGaAs microcavity

Polycrystalline MoO3 films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition for infrared polarization manipulation

We performed infrared optical characterization of polycrystalline MoO3 films deposited by pulsed laser deposition on fused silica substrates. Several samples have been fabricated using different parameters such as temperature and oxygen pressure. Our analysis shows that under appropriate fabrication conditions it is possible to obtain a dominant α-phase film, with a well-defined, normal to surface (z-axis) orientation. These results are confirmed by reflection spectra performed at 45° incidence angle revealing a strong modulation of the sharp z-phonon Reststrahlen band as a function of the incident field linear polarization.

Erroneous p-type assignment by Hall effect measurements in annealed ZnO films grown on InP substrate

We report on incorrect carrier type identification achieved by Hall effect measurements performed on ZnO films grown by pulsed laser deposition on InP substrates and subsequently annealed for 1 h at 600 C in air. While Hall measurements, after post-growth annealing, reveal a change in the electrical properties of the films, from n-type to p-type, both photocurrent-based and standard C V measurements performed on the same samples show no change in the native n-type doping of the ZnO films. A possible interpretation of the two results is reported. In particular, p-type conductivity observed by Hall effect may be ascribed to a highly conductive thin layer formed during the annealing process at…

GaInNAs/GaAs Bragg-mirror-based structures for novel 1.3μm device applications

We report the use of GaInNAs/GaAs material system for a range of 1.3 μm vertical-cavity devices namely VCSELs, VCSOAs, VECSELs and SESAMs. Using optical pumping, we demonstrate that up to 4 mW of 1290 nm output power can be fibre-coupled from a VCSEL. We also show that tayloring the VCSEL structure allows to produce a monolithic long-wavelength VCSOA with up to 16 dB of gain. We also report the first demonstration of a 1.3 μm VECSEL with more than 0.5 W of CW ouptut power. Finally, annealing effects on the properties of a GaInNAs SBR and modelocking of two Nd:doped solid state lasers using this element are described.

Improved Cu2O/AZO Heterojunction by Inserting a Thin ZnO Interlayer Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Cu2O/ZnO:Al (AZO) and Cu2O/ZnO/AZO heterojunctions have been deposited on glass substrates by a unique three-step pulsed laser deposition process. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the oxide films were investigated before their implementation in the final device. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the materials were highly crystallized along the c-axis. All films were highly transparent in the visible region with enhanced electrical properties. Atomic force and scanning electron microscopies showed that the insertion of a ZnO layer between the Cu2O and AZO films in the heterojunction enhanced the average grain size and surface roughness. The heterojunctions exhibi…

The p-Type Doping of ZnO: Mirage or Reality?

This chapter deals with a critical review on p-type doping of ZnO. In the past 15 years, ZnO has attracted considerable attention due to its unique properties, which make it a promising material for optoelectronic devices applications. However, a reliable p-type ZnO doping remains a major challenge because of self-compensation effects; thus, despite the advantages of these devices, the fabrication of ZnO-based devices is hampered by the lack of a stable p-type doping. A careful and critical analysis of the results reported in literature raises many doubts about the correctness of the doping-type assignments and, in general, the values of the electrical parameters reported. A historical surv…

Frequency-Downconversion Stability of PMMA Coatings in Hybrid White Light-Emitting Diodes

We report on the properties of a poly(methyl methacrylate)-based coating used as a host for an organic dye in hybrid white light-emitting diodes. The device is composed by a pump source, which is a standard inorganic GaN/InGaN blue light-emitting diode (LED) emitting at around 450 nm, and a spin-coated conversion layer making use of Lumogen® F Yellow 083. Under prolonged irradiation, the coating exhibits significant bleaching, thus degrading the color rendering performance of the LED. We present experimental results that confirm that the local temperature rise of the operating diode does not affect the conversion layer. It is also proven that, during the test, the photostability of the orga…

Antenna Tapering Strategy for Near-Field Enhancement Optimization in Terahertz Gold Nanocavities

Plasmonic nanoantennas (NAs) have received a growing attention in recent years due to their ability to confine light on sub-wavelength dimensions [1]. More recently, this property has been exploited in the terahertz (THz) frequency range (0.1–10 THz) for enhanced sensing and spectroscopy [2], as well as for more fundamental investigations [3]. These applications typically require high local electric fields that can be achieved by concentrating THz radiation into deeply sub-wavelength volumes located at the NAs extremities. However, the achievable near-field enhancement values are severely limited by the poor resonance quality factor of traditional rod-shaped THz NAs. Unlike what is commonly…

Rotational Doppler Frequency Shift from Time‐Evolving High‐Order Pancharatnam–Berry Phase: A Metasurface Approach

The Doppler frequency shift of sound or electromagnetic waves has been widely investigated in many different contexts and, nowadays, represents a formidable tool in medicine, engineering, astrophysics, and optics. Such effect is commonly described in the framework of the universal energy-momentum conservation law. In particular, the rotational Doppler effect has been recently demonstrated using light carrying orbital angular momentum. When a wave undergoes a cyclic adiabatic transformation of its Hamiltonian, it is known to acquire the so-called Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phase. In this work, an experimental evidence of the direct connection between the high-order PB phase time evolution on th…

Blue-violet heterojunction LEDs based on hydrothermally synthesized ZnO nanorods

Zinc oxide nanorods have great potential for the realization of high efficiency heterostructure LEDs based on p-doped GaN. Well-aligned vertical nanorods are desirable to enhance the LED outcoupling performances due to a better confinement of the light [1]. However, due to the lack of reproducible p-type ZnO, a p-GaN substrate is still needed. This work reports on the fabrication of n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction LEDs based on vertical ZnO nanorods grown by hydrothermal method. The chemical reaction in the hydrothermal growth of ZnO is based on the decomposition of zinc nitrate, (Zn(NO3)2) with resulting Zn2+ ions reacting with the hydroxyl ions obtained by the thermal degradation of hexamethyl…

An experimental study on relationship between LED lamp characteristics and non image-forming

The general aim of the experimental study, presented in this paper, was that to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of five different types of LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamps, which are nowadays those allowing the highest energy consumption reduction, and the humans non image-forming (NIF) reactions.

Wide Temperature Operation of 40-Gb/s 1550-nm Electroabsorption Modulated Lasers

Electroabsorption modulated lasers (EMLs) exploiting the quantum confined Stark effect need thermoelectric coolers to achieve stable output power levels and dynamic extinction ratios. Temperature-independent operation is reported between 20/spl deg/C and 70/spl deg/C for InGaAlAs-InP-based monolithically integrated 1550-nm EMLs exploiting a shared active area at 40 Gb/s by actively controlling the electroabsorption modulator bias voltage. Dynamic extinction ratios of at least 8 dB and fiber-coupled mean modulated optical power of at least 0.85 mW are obtained over the mentioned temperature range.

TiO2 in memristors and resistive random access memory devices

Abstract One of the most recent applications of TiO2 thin films is as an oxide layer in memristors, electronic devices considered as one of the most promising nonvolatile memories and as possible building units for neuromorphic computing. This chapter aims to describe several fabrication ways, either (electro)chemical or physical methods, of TiO2 thin films and to highlight the relationship between method and layer properties. Some fundamentals on the mechanism of memristors’ operation, that is, resistive switching in oxide thin films, will be given, classifying the different types of devices based on the used electrode materials and underlying physicochemical processes. Finally, it will be…

Generation of Structured Light via Nano Structures and Applications

The generation of structured light by means of metasurfaces is presented and the applications in the characterizations of polarization rotation and Pancharatnam-Berry phase are discussed.

Enhancement of photoconversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells exploiting pulsed laser deposited niobium pentoxide blocking layers

Abstract Among all the photovoltaic technologies developed so far, dye-sensitized solar cells are considered as a promising alternative to the expensive and environmentally unfriendly crystalline silicon-based solar cells. One of the possible strategies employed to increase their photovoltaic efficiency is to reduce the charge recombination at the cell conductive substrate through the use of a compact blocking layer. In this paper, we report on the fabrication and characterization of dye-sensitized solar cells employing niobium pentoxide (Nb 2 O 5 ) thin film blocking layer deposited through the pulsed laser deposition technique on conductive substrates. The careful selection of the optimal…

Deposition of High Quality Indium Tin Oxide Films by Monitoring InO Emission Lines

Film di ZnO drogati di tipo p per diffusione termica di atomi di fosforo da substrati di InP

We report on p-type doping of ZnO films grown by pulsed-laser deposition on InP substrates. Electrical properties change of the films, from n-type to p-type, has been observed after postgrowth annealing at 600°C for 1h in air.

40 GHz Monolithic Integrated 1.3 µm InGaAlAs-InP Laser-Modulator with Double-Stack MQW Layer Structure

Stability improvement of PMMA and Lumogen® coatings for hybrid white LEDs

Hybrid white LEDs employing perylene-based dyes for the frequency down-conversion of blue light, generated by a standard inorganic source, suffer from colour rendering variations due to the degradation of the organic molecule under prolonged irradiation. To avoid such inconvenient, proper encapsulation of the dyes in resins or other polymer matrices can prevent their accelerated ageing; nevertheless, embedding polymers can also exhibit significant bleaching caused by chemico-physical agents. Among all, polymethyl methacrilate (PMMA) is one of the most used materials for the fabrication of hybrid LEDs' colour conversion coatings, therefore its stability needs to be investigated.

Fabrication and characterization of microscale HfO2-based Memristors

Memristors are metal/insulator/metal devices whose resistance can be switched between two different states (i.e. the low resistive state LRS, and the high resistive state, HRS) by applying a proper voltage value over the two metal contacts [1], [2]. Their simple structure makes memristors prone to extreme down scaling and 3-D stacking potentiality, and excellent compatibility with the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Moreover, because of their low power consumption and high speed, memristors are rightly considered the elemental bricks for a next generation of high-density nonvolatile memories. HfO2 has attracted much attention as an oxide material for memristor app…

Fabrication and characterization of micrometer-scale ZnO memristors

Memristors are an interesting class of resistive random access memory (RRAM) based on the electrical switching of metal oxide film resistivity . They are characterized for exhibiting resistive switching between a high-resistance state (HRS) and a low-resistance state (LRS) and have been recently considered as one of the most promising candidates for next-generation nonvolatile memory devices because of their low power consumption, fast switching operation, nondestructive readout, and remarkable scalability. The device structure is simply an oxide layer sandwiched between two metal electrodes. The switching behaviour is dependent both on the oxide material and the choice of metal electrodes.…

Anodic TiO2 in ReRAM: Influence of Si-doping on the Resistive Switching Properties of Titanium Oxide

TiO2 has attracted much attention due to its potential widespread applications, including capacitors, photocatalysis, solar energy conversion and, more recently, redox-based random access memories (ReRAM). For micro and nano-electronics applications, TiO2 is usually grown through Chemical and Physical Vapour Deposition techniques, such as Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD), Sputtering and so on. In ReRAM field, the control of oxide structure (crystallinity, defects concentration etc.) and the choice of electrodes are crucial to have resistive switching phenomena inside the oxide. Thus, anodizing can be proposed as a simple and low cost way to grow TiO2 and to tune …

Electrochemical methods for carrier type identification of ZnO films grown by pulsed laser deposition on InP.

Optical, structural, and morphological characterisation of epitaxial ZnO films grown by pulsed-laser deposition

We report on ZnO epitaxial growth by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) on different substrates, such as quartz, sapphire, and GaN template. Approximately 1 mu m-thick films were grown under different substrate temperatures and background oxygen conditions. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated preferential growth along the c-axis direction with a full-width at half maximum(FWHM) of the rocking curve as narrow as 230 arcs in the case of the GaN template. Low-temperature photoluminescence showed A-excitonic emission near 3.36 eV and a FWHM of (DXA)-X-0 emission as small as 2.89 meV at 9 K. Atomic force microscope measurements showed that roughness as low as 18 nm could be obtained. These results p…

Effects of rapid thermal annealing on the optical properties of low-loss 1.3μm GaInNAs∕GaAs saturable Bragg reflectors

We report studies of the effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the optical properties of a low-loss 1.3 mum saturable Bragg reflector (SBR), consisting of a GaInNAs/GaAs single quantum well embedded in an AlAs/GaAs Bragg reflector grown monolithically on a GaAs substrate. RTA gives rise to a blueshift of the photoluminescence (PL) peak (and therefore of the excitonic absorption peak) and an enhancement of PL intensity, while the reflectivity properties including peak reflectivity and bandwidth are not degraded. Temperature dependent photoluminescence measurements show that the RTA-induced blueshift of photoluminescence consists of two components: one originating from the increase of op…

Analysis of Transition Metal Oxides based Heterojunction Solar Cells with S-shaped J-V curves

The use of transition metal oxides for the selective carrier contact in the crystalline silicon solar cells technology is rising to interest for the excellent optoelectrical properties of these materials whose implementation, however, can result in lousy performing cells due to an S-shaped electrical characteristic. In this paper, we fabricated solar cells showing S-shaped J-V curve and carried out an analysis of the reasons of such behavior using a model involving the series of a standard cell equivalent circuit with a Schottky junction in order to explain these atypical performances. A good matching between the experimental measurements and the adopted theoretical model was obtained. The …

White LED light obtained by frequency down-conversion of perylene-based dyes

Resistive switching behaviour in ZnO and VO 2 memristors grown by pulsed laser deposition

The resistive switching behaviour observed in microscale memristors based on laser ablated ZnO and VO 2 is reported. A comparison between the two materials is reported against an active device size. The results show that devices up to 300 × 300 μm 2 exhibit a memristive behaviour regardless of the device size, and 100 × 100 μm 2 ZnO-based memristors have the best resistance off/on ratio.

Electrochemical fabrication of amorphous TiO2/Poly-3,4 Ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) hybrid structures for electronic devices.

Generation of white LED light by frequency downconversion using a perylene-based dye

A high efficiency white light emitting diode (LED) was fabricated by generation of frequency down-conversion from a GaN/InGaN blue LED. In place of conventional inorganic phosphors, a perylene-based dye was used for colour conversion. The resulting hybrid structure is analysed by focusing on the visual performance of the realised LEDs employing the most relevant photometric parameters of a light source. Preparation of the organic polymer is described as well. The thermal stability of the dye was investigated and a simple structure which avoids colour degradation is proposed.

Progress in Violet Light-Emitting Diodes Based on ZnO/GaN Heterojunction

Progress in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on ZnO/GaN heterojunctions has run into several obstacles during the last twenty years. While both the energy bandgap and lattice parameter of the two semiconductors are favorable to the development of such devices, other features related to the electrical and structural properties of the GaN layer prevent an efficient radiative recombination. This work illustrates some advances made on ZnO/GaN-based LEDs, by using high-thickness GaN layers for the p-region of the device and an ad hoc device topology. Heterojunction LEDs consist of a quasicoalesced non-intentionally doped ZnO nanorod layer deposited by chemical bath deposition onto a metal&ndash

Effects of the process conditions on the plume of a laser-irradiated indium–tin-oxide target

Abstract The plume of a laser-ablated indium–tin-oxide target was investigated by optical emission spectroscopy. Atomic and ionic species of indium, tin and oxygen were observed; moreover, molecular bands of indium oxide were identified in the fluorescent spectra. The effects of the oxygen as a background gas and of the laser fluence on the behaviour of the ejected particles were studied with respect to the intensity of the emission and the delay time as a function of the observation distance from the target surface. The non-linear behaviour of the fluorescent species with the process conditions could infer spatial variations of the plume composition. The analysis demonstrates a plume expan…

Influence of electrodes layout on hydrothermally-grown GaN/ZnO LEDs

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on zinc oxide, with wide direct band gap, have drawn much attention in the last years. ZnO, which is natural n-type, has excellent physical and chemical properties, is inexpensive, abundant and nontoxic. Unfortunately, the preparation of reproducible and high quality p-type ZnO film is comparatively difficult, due to the low solubility of acceptor dopants, self-compensating effects, and acceptor level energy height. Although many groups have reported on ZnO-based homostructure LEDs, the results are controversial as recently reviewed in [1]. Hence, heterojunction LEDs based on ZnO as the nside and GaN as the p-side of the junction have been put forward [2].…

Effect of the Si doping on the properties of AZO/SiC/Si heterojunctions grown by low temperature pulsed laser deposition

Abstract The structural and photoelectrical properties of Al-doped ZnO (AZO)/SiC/p-Si and AZO/SiC/n-Si heterojunctions, fabricated at low temperature by pulsed laser deposition, were investigated by means of a number of techniques. Raman analysis indicates that SiC layers have the cubic 3C-SiC phase, whilst X-ray diffraction measurements show that AZO films exhibit a hexagonal wurtzite structure, highly textured along the c-axis, with average crystallites size of 35.1 nm and lattice parameter c of 0.518 nm. The homogeneous and dense surface morphology observed by scanning electron microscopy was confirmed by atomic force microscopy images. Moreover, UV–Vis-NIR spectra indicated a high trans…

Resistive switching in microscale anodic titanium dioxide-based memristors

Licence CC BY-NC-ND The potentiality of anodic TiO2 as an oxide material for the realization of resistive switching memory cells has been explored in this paper. Cu/anodic-TiO2/Ti memristors of different sizes, ranging from 1 × 1 μm2 to 10 × 10 μm2 have been fabricated and characterized. The oxide films were grown by anodizing Ti films, using three different process conditions. Measured IV curves have shown similar asymmetric bipolar hysteresis behaviors in all the tested devices, with a gradual switching from the high resistance state to the low resistance state and vice versa, and a R_OFF/R_ON ratio of 80 for the thickest oxide film devices.

Trapping cold atoms using surface-grown carbon nanotubes

We present a feasibility study for loading cold atomic clouds into magnetic traps created by single-wall carbon nanotubes grown directly onto dielectric surfaces. We show that atoms may be captured for experimentally sustainable nanotube currents, generating trapped clouds whose densities and lifetimes are sufficient to enable detection by simple imaging methods. This opens the way for a different type of conductor to be used in atomchips, enabling atom trapping at submicron distances, with implications for both fundamental studies and for technological applications.

Metallization of Si heterojunction solar cell by Cu electroplating

In response to recent climate change, many renewable energy solutions have acquired great importance; in fact, the need of sustainable development is increasing and the use of renewable energy, such as solar energy, can be applied to many industrial and consumer applications. Photovoltaic systems, which are made up of solar cells, are used for electrical vehicle charging stations and to supply remote areas not connected to the power distribution network; moreover, solar energy is widely used as a primary or secondary source of domestic electric power. In this scenario, the increasing in efficiency, and the cost reduction of solar cells, becomes a priority in the diffusion of PV systems for …

GaInNAs VCSEL structure as a modelocking element for a 1.3 µm Nd:YVO4 laser

Rhodamine (B) photocatalysis under solar light on high crystalline ZnO films grown by home-made DC sputtering

Abstract ZnO thin films were deposited by home-made DC sputtering of zinc target under mixed gases (Argon, Oxygen) plasma on glass substrates. Films were deposited by varying oxygen partial pressure (PO2) from 0.09 to 1.3 mbar in the deposition chamber, at a fixed substrate temperature of 100 °C. The samples were characterized by photoluminescence (PL), X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical transmissions (UV–vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrical (Hall effect) measurements. The results indicate that by varying the oxygen pressure in the deposition chamber, the films show a precise and well defined photoluminescence emissions for each range of pressure covering almost the entire …

Improving nanoscale terahertz field localization by means of sharply tapered resonant nanoantennas

Abstract Terahertz resonant nanoantennas have recently become a key tool to investigate otherwise inaccessible interactions of such long-wavelength radiation with nano-matter. Because of their high-aspect-ratio rod-shaped geometry, resonant nanoantennas suffer from severe loss, which ultimately limits their field localization performance. Here we show, via a quasi-analytical model, numerical simulations, and experimental evidence, that a proper tapering of such nanostructures relaxes their overall loss, leading to an augmented local field enhancement and a significantly reduced resonator mode volume. Our findings, which can also be extended to more complex geometries and higher frequencies,…

Integrated InGaAlAs/InP laser-modulator using an identical multiple quantum well active layer

We present experimental results on 40 Gb/s large-signal modulation performance of 1.31 μm monolithic integrated laser-modulator in the InGaAlAs/InP material system, exploiting the gain and absorption properties of an identical multiple quantum well (MQW) active layer. In continuous wave operation, at 15◦ C, the devices achieved threshold currents < 28 mA, fiber coupled optical power levels up to +0.4 dBm. The measured small signal modulation bandwidth was about 32 GHz. An air-cavity based Fabry-Perot interferometer has been realized to characterize the spectral chirp of the integrated structures in the time domain up to 40 Gb/s.

Warm white LED light by frequency down-conversion of mixed yellow and red Lumogen®

This work reports on the benefits and promising opportunities offered by white LED hybrid technology, based on a mixing perylene-based dyes in order to obtain a warm white light for frequency-down conversion. In a standard Ce:YAG-based white LED, the white light appears cold due to the weakness of red wavelength components in the emission spectrum. In order to obtain a warmer white, one possible solution is to add a red phosphor to the yellow one to move the chromatic coordinates properly, though the luminous efficiency drastically decreases due to the increased light absorption of the coating layer. It is generally believed that the low efficiency of warm white LEDs is the main issue today…

Warm white LED light by frequency down- conversion of mixed perylene-based dyes

The growing demand of the solid-state lighting market for the development of sources for illumination has led to the fabrication of the first white LED in 1997, which employed a blue LED coated by a Ce:YAG phosphor to mix the down-converted yellow light with the blue one. The white light appears cold due to the weakness of red components in the emission spectrum. In order to obtain a warmer white, one possible solution is to add a red phosphor to the yellow one to move the chromatic coordinates properly, though the luminous efficiency drastically decreases due to the increased light absorption of the coating layer. It is generally believed that the low efficacy of warm white LEDs is the mai…

Electrochemical Fabrication of High K Niobium-Tantalum Mixed Oxides/Poly 3-4 Ethylene Dioxythiophene Junctions.

Electrochemical Fabrication and Physicochemical Characterization of Metal/High-k Insulating Oxide/Polymer/Electrolyte Junctions

Photoelectrochemical polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, was successfully realized on anodic film grown to 50 V on magnetron sputtered Ti-6 atom % Si alloys. Scanning electron microscopy allowed us to evidence formation of compact and uniform polymer layers on the oxide surface. Photoelectrochemical and impedance measurements showed that photopolymerization allows one to grow PEDOT in its conducting state, while a strong cathodic polarization is necessary to bring the polymer in its p-type semiconducting state. Information on the optical and electrical properties of metal/oxide/polymer/electrolyte junctions proves that PEDOT has promising performance as an electrolyte…

Well-aligned hydrothermally synthesized zinc oxide nanorods on p-GaN without a seed layer

Zinc oxide nanorods have great potential for the realization of high efficiency heterostructure LEDs based on pdoped gallium nitride. In order to obtain a good confinement of the light, a well-aligned nanorod waveguiding structure is desirable. This paper reports on the fabrication of vertical zinc oxide nanorods using a solution-based growth process that does not require a seed layer. The nanorods obtained follow the crystalline growth direction of the GaN layer along the c-axis. Various results with different reagent concentrations are reported.

Characterization of selective quantum well intermixing in 1.3 µm GaInNAs/GaAs structures

Multiscale Approach in Studying the Influence of Annealing Conditions on Conductivity of TiO2 Nanotubes

Titanium oxide nanotubes (NTs) have attracted much attention during last decade due to their special characteristics such as one-dimensional highly ordered geometry with large surface area and good chemical and optical stability.

Forming-Free and Self-Rectifying Resistive Switching Effect in Anodic Titanium Dioxide-Based Memristors

The paper presents the resistive switching of electroforming-free Ti/anodic- TiO 2 /Cu memristors. Anodic TiO 2 thin films were prepared by anodizing Ti layers. Microscale devices were fabricated by direct laser-assisted photolithography. Experimental results showed a bipolar and self-rectifying behavior of the devices, which could be useful for crossbar array configurations. Moreover, a gradual resistive switching of the devices in both directions was observed, indicating the presence of multi-level resistance states.

Density of States characterization of TiO2 films deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition for Heterojunction solar cells

The application of titanium dioxide (TiO2) in the photovoltaic field is gaining traction as this material can be deployed in doping-free heterojunction solar cells with the role of electron selective contact. For modeling-based optimization of such contact, knowledge of the titanium oxide defect density of states is crucial. In this paper, we report a method to extract the defect density through nondestructive optical measures, including the contribution given by small polaron optical transitions. The presence of both related to oxygen-vacancy defects and polarons is supported by the results of optical characterizations and the evaluation of previous observations resulting in a defect band …

A Novel Atom Trap Based on Carbon Nanotubes

Hybrid LEDs pave way to new lighting applications

Many analysts agree that the global lighting market is close to a real revolution: the LED revolution. One of the most widespread solutions for the production of white LEDs is the conversion of a part of the light, coming from a known source, by exciting one or more materials that emit at a longer wavelength. The result is an emission spectrum given by the superposition of the single source and the photoexcited material; the big advantage is that the phenomenon of photoluminescence replaces the further integration of other solid-state devices of different colors. The photoluminescence of a perylene-based polymer dye turned out to be a good substitute for conventional inorganic color convers…

Microreflectivity studies of wavelength control in oxidised AlGaAs microcavities

Wet oxidation of GaAs/AlGaAs structures is an important technique in the processing of advanced devices such as vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). In one VCSEL application, the low-index and electrically-insulating AlxOy layers have been used to obtain high-reflectivity and broad bandwidth distributed Bragg reflector mirrors (DBRs). A further recent development has shown that combined lateral–vertical oxidation of intracavity AlGaAs layers can be used to tune the resonant wavelength of a semiconductor microcavity. The slow oxidation rate limits the lateral scale of practical wet oxidation to mesas structures of 50–100 μm in width. Therefore post-processing assessment of spect…

Selective modification of the band gaps of GaInNas/GaAs structures by quantum well intermixing techniques

We report the unambiguous demonstration of controlled quantum well intermixing (QWI) in the technologically important GaInNAs/ GaAs 1.3 mum material system. QWI is a key technique to selectively modify the band gap of quantum wells, which has found broad application in semiconductor lasers and photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Extending such technology to GaInNAs/GaAs structures is highly desirable due to the technologically advantageous properties of this material system. Here, we investigate well-characterized GaInNAs quantum well material which has been annealed "to saturation" before QWI processing to allow unambiguous interpretation of results. After RTA at 700 degreesC for similar …

Selective modification of bandgaps of GaInNAs/GaAs structures by quantum well intermixing techniques

Photoelectrochemical Polymerization of 3-4 Ethylenedioxythiophene on High k Niobium-Tantalum Mixed Oxides.

Anodized Ti-Si Alloy as Gate Oxide of Electrochemically-Fabricated Organic Field-Effect Transistors

Organic field-effect transistors were fabricated using an electrochemical route. The dielectric oxide was grown by anodization of a Ti:Si alloy, while 3,4-polyethylenedioxythiophene has been employed as a semiconducting polymer. OutputI-Vcharacteristics showed a transistor effect dependent on dielectric thickness. Fitting between I-V measurements and theoretical simulations in the triode region confirmed the presence of a conduction path through the polymer which degrades the electrical characteristics of the devices.

Chemical Bath Deposition as a Simple Way to Grow Isolated and Coalesced ZnO Nanorods for Light-Emitting Diodes Fabrication

A way to grow and characterize isolated and coalesced ZnO nanorods on $p$ -GaN/sapphire structure is presented. Chemical bath deposition can be used to grow ZnO nanorods of device-quality, simply controlling the duration time of the growth process and the concentration of the nutrient solution in the bath. Increasing the duration of the process, as well as the concentration of the solution, leads to compact and sound layers instead of separated nanorods. However, too high concentrations stop the growth process. Light-emitting diodes fabricated on these ZnO-p-GaN heterostructure have a peak of electroluminescence at 400 nm and exhibit interesting electrical and optical properties. Optical po…

Electrochemical polymerization of ambipolar carbonyl-functionalized indenofluorene with memristive properties

Abstract Carbonyl-functionalized indenofluorene was electropolymerized with a high faradaic efficiency of 85% and the solid state properties of the resulting polymeric thin films were investigated. They displayed modular optical properties depending on their oxidation state. The approach used for inorganic semiconductors was applied to polyindeonofluorene derivative. Mott-Schottky analysis evidenced a switching from p-type to n-type electrical conduction, suggesting an ambipolar behaviour of the polymer. As an application, flexible organic memristors were fabricated and resistive switching properties were observed.

Coalescence of ZnO nanorods grown by chemical bath deposition

In this work, a way to grow isolated and coalesced ZnO nanorods on p-GaN/sapphire structure is presented. Chemical bath deposition [1],[2] was used to grow ZnO nanorods of device-quality on a p-GaN/n-GaN/sapphire template, simply controlling the duration time of the growth process and the concentration of the nutrient solution in the bath. Several p-GaN templates were soaked in a nutrient solution, prepared with different concentration of zinc nitrate hexahydrate (Sigma-Aldrich, reagent grade 98%) and hexamethylenetetramine (Alfa Aesar, ACS 99%) in deionized water, while being heated at a temperature of 80 °C for a period varying from 8 to 25 hours; then, the samples were left in the soluti…

Color Conversion Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Carbon Dots: A Review

This paper reviews the state-of-the-art technologies, characterizations, materials (precursors and encapsulants), and challenges concerning multicolor and white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on carbon dots (CDs) as color converters. Herein, CDs are exploited to achieve emission in LEDs at wavelengths longer than the pump wavelength. White LEDs are typically obtained by pumping broad band visible-emitting CDs by an UV LED, or yellow–green-emitting CDs by a blue LED. The most important methods used to produce CDs, top-down and bottom-up, are described in detail, together with the process that allows one to embed the synthetized CDs on the surface of the pumping LEDs. Experimental results…

1.3 µm GaInNAs optically-pumped vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifier

A GaInNAs/GaAs vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (VCSOA) is reported. This is believed to be the first monolithic VCSOA operating at 1.3 mum. Under continuous-wave optical pumping in a singlemode fibre coupled format, gain figures of up to 17.7 dB were achieved. Amplification with 12 GHz bandwidth,was obtained at 12.8 dB peak gain.

Long-wavelength monolithic GaInNAs vertical-cavity optical amplifiers

We report on the continuous-wave amplification characteristics of an optically pumped 1.3-μm multiple-quantum-well GaInNAs-GaAs vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (VCSOA). The VCSOA structure was monolithically grown by molecular beam epitaxy and operated in reflection mode in a fiber-coupled system. The maximum on-chip gain attained, limited by the onset of laser action, was 15.6 dB at 196 mW of 980-nm pump power. For a chip gain of 10.4 dB, the optical bandwidth was 10.8 GHz and the saturation output power was -9 dBm. By varying the pump laser power, a maximum extinction ratio of 22.3 dB was obtained. Temperature-controlled tuneable operation of the device is also presented a…

1.3 µm GaInNAs monolithic vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifier

Photo-Electrochemical deposition of Poly-3,4 Ethylenedioxythiophene on Anodic Films on Ti-Si Alloys.

Pulsed laser deposition of ZnO and VO2 films for memristor fabrication

Memristors are resistive switching memory devices which have attracted much attention over the last years for high-density memory applications because of their simple structure, small cell size, high speed, low power consumption, potential for 3-D stacking and excellent compatibility with the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology [1]. Beside nonvolatile memory applications, memristors have been also proposed for other different applications including biosensors [2] and neuromorphic [3] circuits. The device structure is simply an oxide material sandwiched between two metal electrodes. The switching behavior is not only dependent on the oxide material but also on the choic…

Current Spreading Length and Injection Efficiency in ZnO/GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes

We report on carrier injection features in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on nonintentionally doped-ZnO/p-GaN heterostructures. These LEDs consist of a ZnO layer grown by chemical-bath deposition (CBD) onto a p-GaN template without using any seed layer. The ZnO layer (~1- $\mu \text{m}$ thickness) consists of a dense collection of partially coalesced ZnO nanorods, organized in wurtzite phase with marked vertical orientation, whose density depends on the concentration of the solution during the CBD process. Due to the limited conductivity of the p-GaN layer, the recombination in the n-region is strongly dependent on the spreading length of the holes, ${L}_{h}$ , coming from the p-contact…

Quantum well intermixing in GaInNAs/GaAs structures

We report on the characteristics of quantum well intermixing in GaInNAs/GaAs structures of differing N content. Rapid thermal annealing combined with SiO2 caps deposited on the surface of the samples is used to disorder 1.3 mum GaInNAs/GaAs multiquantum wells which have been preannealed in-situ to the stage of blueshift saturation. The different effects of two capping layer deposition techniques on the interdiffusion of In-Ga have been compared, particular regarding the role of sputtering processes. The dependence of quantum well intermixing-induced photoluminescence blueshift on N concentration has provided extra information on the intrinsic properties of the GaInNAs/GaAs material system. …

In situ monitoring of pulsed laser indium–tin-oxide film deposition by optical emission spectroscopy

We performed optical emission spectroscopy to monitor the plasma produced during the ablation of indium-tin-oxide targets under different oxygen pressure conditions using a pulsed UV laser. Molecular bands of InO were identified in the fluorescent spectra produced by pulsed laser ablation. InO line monitoring allowed obtaining the optimal conditions for good-quality ITO film deposition. We demonstrated that it is possible to correlate InO line spectroscopic parameters with the conditions required to fabricate a high-conductivity and high-transparent ITO thin film. In particular, low resistivity (10-4 to 10-3 Ω cm) was obtained in films deposited at room temperature by regulating oxygen pres…

Low-loss 1.3 µm GaInNAs saturable Bragg reflector for high-power picosecond neodymium lasers

Correlation between in situ structural and optical characterization of the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition of VO2 thin films on sapphire

A detailed structural investigation of the semiconductor-to-metal transition (SMT) in vanadium dioxide thin films deposited on sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition was performed by in situ temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The structural results are correlated with those of infrared radiometry measurements in the SWIR (2.5-5 μm) and LWIR (8-10.6 μm) spectral ranges. The main results indicate a good agreement between XRD and optical analysis, therefore demonstrating that the structural transition from monoclinic to tetragonal phases is the dominating mechanism for controlling the global properties of the SMT transition. The picture that emerges is a SMT tr…