We have applied the photoexcited muon spin spectroscopy technique (photo-$mu$SR) to intrinsic germanium with the goal of developing a new method for characterizing excess carrier kinetics in a wide range of semiconductors. Muon spin relaxation rates can be a unique measure of excess carrier density and utilized to investigate carrier dynamics. The obtained carrier lifetime spectrum can be modeled with a simple diffusion equation to determine bulk recombination lifetime and carrier mobility. Temperature dependent studies of these parameters can reveal the recombination and diffusion mechanism.
Cathodoluminescence spectra were measured to determine the characteristics of luminescence bands and carrier dynamics in beta-Ga2O3 bulk single crystals. The CL emission was found to be dominated by a broad UV emission peaked at 3.40 eV, which exhibi
ts strong quenching with increasing temperature; however, its spectral shape and energy position remain virtually unchanged. We observed a super-linear increase of CL intensity with excitation density; this kinetics of carrier recombination can be explained in terms of carrier trapping and charge transfer at Fe impurity centres. The temperature-dependent properties of this UV band are consistent with weakly bound electrons in self-trapped excitons with an activation energy of 48 +/- 10 meV. In addition to the self-trapped exciton emission, a blue luminescence (BL) band is shown to be related to a donor-like defect, which increases significantly in concentration after hydrogen plasma annealing. The point defect responsible for the BL, likely an oxygen vacancy, is strongly coupled to the lattice exhibiting a Huang-Rhys factor of ~ 7.3.
The quasiparticle spectra of atomically thin semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and their response to an ultrafast optical excitation critically depend on interactions with the underlying substrate. Here, we present a comparative
time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TR-ARPES) study of the transient electronic structure and ultrafast carrier dynamics in the single- and bilayer TMDCs MoS$_2$ and WS$_2$ on three different substrates: Au(111), Ag(111) and graphene/SiC. The photoexcited quasiparticle bandgaps are observed to vary over the range of 1.9-2.3 eV between our systems. The transient conduction band signals decay on a sub-100 fs timescale on the metals, signifying an efficient removal of photoinduced carriers into the bulk metallic states. On graphene, we instead observe two timescales on the order of 200 fs and 50 ps, respectively, for the conduction band decay in MoS$_2$. These multiple timescales are explained by Auger recombination involving MoS$_2$ and in-gap defect states. In bilayer TMDCs on metals we observe a complex redistribution of excited holes along the valence band that is substantially affected by interactions with the continuum of bulk metallic states.
The determination of the carrier diffusion length of semiconductors such as GaN and GaAs by cathodoluminescence imaging requires accurate knowledge about the spatial distribution of generated carriers. To obtain the lateral distribution of generated
carriers for sample temperatures between 10 and 300 K, we utilize cathodoluminescence intensity profiles measured across single quantum wells embedded in thick GaN and GaAs layers. Thin (Al,Ga)N and (Al,Ga)As barriers, respectively, prevent carriers diffusing in the GaN and GaAs layers to reach the well, which would broaden the profiles. The experimental CL profiles are found to be systematically wider than the energy loss distributions calculated by means of the Monte Carlo program CASINO, with the width monotonically increasing with decreasing temperature. This effect is observed for both GaN and GaAs and becomes more pronounced for higher acceleration voltages. We discuss this phenomenon in terms of the electron-phonon interaction controlling the energy relaxation of hot carriers, and of the non-equilibrium phonon population created by this relaxation process. Finally, we present a phenomenological approach to simulate the carrier generation volume that can be used for the investigation of the temperature dependence of carrier diffusion.
We present a stochastic simulation method designed to study at an atomic resolution the growth kinetics of compounds characterized by the sp3-type bonding symmetry. Formalization and implementation details are discussed for the particular case of the
3C-SiC material. A key feature of our numerical tool is the ability to simulate the evolution of both point-like and extended defects, whereas atom kinetics depend critically on process-related parameters. In particular, the simulations can describe the surface state of the crystal and the generation/evolution of defects as a function of the initial substrate condition and the calibration of the simulation parameters. We demonstrate that quantitative predictions of the microstructural evolution of the studied systems can be readily compared with the structural characterization of actual processed samples.
The kinetics of the charge carrier recombination in dye molecule-doped multilayer organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) was quantified by transient electroluminescence (EL). Three sets of dye molecules, such as derivatives of naphthalimide and stilbe
ne, were used as dopants in light-emission layer. Although the devices show almost the same EL spectra for each set of molecules, they show very different EL efficiency. The difference in EL efficiency was attributed to the difference in charge carrier recombination, as revealed by transient EL. The recombination coefficient ({gamma}) was determined from the long-time component of the temporal decay of the EL intensity after a rectangular voltage pulse was turned off. It was found that {gamma} and EL efficiency were both strongly dependent on the molecular structures of the dopants, and the donor groups and {pi}-conjugated structure guaranteed high {gamma} and EL efficiency in OLEDs.