Nanostructuring of a material leads to enormous effects on its excited state properties. This stu... more Nanostructuring of a material leads to enormous effects on its excited state properties. This study, through the application of different state-of-the-art ab initio theoretical tools, investigates the effect of size on the electronic gap of germanium nanocrystals highlighting similarities and differences with respect to equivalent silicon nanostructures. We performed both GW and ΔSCF calculations for the determination of their electronic structure. While it is known that ΔSCF corrections to the Kohn−Sham gap vanish for extended systems, the two approaches were expected to be equivalent in the limit of small clusters. However, it has been recently found that for hydrogenated Si clusters the ΔSCF gaps are systematically smaller than the GW ones, while the opposite is true for Ag clusters. In this work we find that the GW gaps are larger than the ΔSCF ones for all the Ge dots, with the exception of the smallest one. Such crossing between the ΔSCF and the GW gap values was not expected and has never been observed before. Moreover, also for hydrogenated Si nanocrystals we found a similar behavior. The origin of this crossing might be found in the Rydberg character of the LUMO of the smallest clusters and can also explain the qualitative differences in the comparison between GW and ΔSCF found in the previous studies.
The interfacial structure of a silicon grain boundary (Si-GB) plays a decisive role on its chemic... more The interfacial structure of a silicon grain boundary (Si-GB) plays a decisive role on its chemical functionalization and has implications in diverse physical–chemical properties of the material. Therefore, the GB interface is particularly relevant when the material is employed in high performance technological applications. Here, we studied from first principles the role of GB interface by providing an atomistic understanding of two different [Formula: see text]3{112} Si-GB models. These models are ([Formula: see text]) and ([Formula: see text]) [Formula: see text]3{112} Si-GBs, which lead to different structural reconstruction. Starting from these two models, we have shown that geometry optimization has an important role on the structural reconstruction of the GB interface and, therefore, on its properties. For this reason, we discussed different methodologies to define an optimal relaxation protocol. The influence of the local structures in ([Formula: see text]) and ([Formula: se...
The local environment of light emitting silicon nanocrystals (Si-nc) embedded in amorphous SiO2 h... more The local environment of light emitting silicon nanocrystals (Si-nc) embedded in amorphous SiO2 has been studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and by ab-initio total energy calculations. Si-nc have been formed by PECVD deposition of SiOx with different Si content (from 35 to 42 at.%) and thermal annealing at high temperature (1250 °C). The comparison between total electron yield (TEY) and photoluminescence yield (PLY) spectra has allowed the identification of a modified region of SiO2 (about 1 nm thick) surrounding the Si-nc, which participates to the light emission of Si-nc. Total energy calculations, within the density functional theory, clearly show that Si-nc are surrounded by a cap-shell of stressed SiO2 with a thickness of about 1 nm. The optoelectronic properties show the appearance of localized states not only in the Si-nc core region but also in the modified SiO2 region.
ABSTRACTWe developed an ab initio formalism based on Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory for... more ABSTRACTWe developed an ab initio formalism based on Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory for the calculation of the second-order susceptibility Χ(2) (Luppi et al. J. Chem. Phys. 132, 241104(2010)). We apply this formalism to the calculation of second-harmonic generation spectra of hexagonal SiC polytypes, ZnGeP2 (ZGP) and GaP. Starting from the independent-particle approximation, we include manybody effects, such as quasiparticle via the scissors operator, crystal local fields and excitons. We consider two different types of kernels: the ALDA and the “long-range” kernel. We analyze the effects of the different electron-electron descriptions in the spectra, finding good agreement with experiments.
EPIOPTICS-8 - Proceedings of the 33rd Course of the International School of Solid State Physics, 2006
We review the state of the art of the theoretical approaches for ab initio studies of the electro... more We review the state of the art of the theoretical approaches for ab initio studies of the electronic and optical properties of matter. Examples within Density Functional Theory, Many-Body perturbation Theory and Time Dependent Density Functional Theory are presented and discussed. The static and the time-dependent DFT avoid dealing directly with the Many-Body equation by mapping the interacting system into
ABSTRACT CMOS circuitry dominates the current semiconductor market due to the astonishing power o... more ABSTRACT CMOS circuitry dominates the current semiconductor market due to the astonishing power of silicon electronic integration technology. In contrast to the dominance of silicon in electronics, photonics utilises a diversity of materials for emitting, guiding, modulating and detecting light. In the last ten years a big research effort was aimed to render Si an optical active material so that it can be turned from an electronic material to a photonic material. For some the future of Si-based photonic lays in 'hybrid' solutions, for others the utilisation of more photonic functions by silicon itself. During the last two years many breakthroughs in the field have appeared. In this paper we will review what we believe the most important: optical gain in silicon nanostructures.
Breaking the internal crystalline symmetry of silicon by an external mechanical stress gives the ... more Breaking the internal crystalline symmetry of silicon by an external mechanical stress gives the material a novel nonlinear optical property.
A first-principles calculation of the impurity screening in Si and Ge nanocrystals is presented. ... more A first-principles calculation of the impurity screening in Si and Ge nanocrystals is presented. We show that isocoric screening gives results in agreement with both the linear response and the pointcharge approximations. Based on the present ab initio results, and by comparison with previous calculations, we propose a physical real-space interpretation of the several contributions to the screening. Combining the Thomas-Fermi theory and simple electrostatics, we show that it is possible to construct a model screening function that has the merit of being of simple physical interpretation. The main point upon which the model is based is that, up to distances of the order of a bond length from the perturbation, the charge response does not depend on the nanocrystal size. We show in a very clear way that the link between the screening at the nanoscale and in the bulk is given by the surface polarization. A detailed discussion is devoted to the importance of local field effects in the screening. Our first-principles calculations and the Thomas-Fermi theory clearly show that in Si and Ge nanocrystals, local field effects are dominated by surface polarization, which causes a reduction of the screening in going from the bulk down to the nanoscale. Finally, the model screening function is compared with recent state-of-the-art ab initio calculations and tested with impurity activation energies.
Silicon photonics meets the electronics requirement of increased speed and bandwidth with on-chip... more Silicon photonics meets the electronics requirement of increased speed and bandwidth with on-chip optical networks. All-optical data management requires nonlinear silicon photonics. In silicon only third-order optical nonlinearities are present owing to its crystalline inversion symmetry. Introducing a second-order nonlinearity into silicon photonics by proper material engineering would be highly desirable. It would enable devices for wideband wavelength conversion operating at relatively low optical powers. Here we show that a sizeable second-order nonlinearity at optical wavelengths is induced in a silicon waveguide by using a stressing silicon nitride overlayer. We carried out second-harmonic-generation experiments and first-principle calculations, which both yield large values of strain-induced bulk second-order nonlinear susceptibility, up to 40 pm V −1 at 2,300 nm. We envisage that nonlinear strained silicon could provide a competing platform for a new class of integrated light sources spanning the near-to mid-infrared spectrum from 1.2 to 10 µm.
Abstract Using first-principle density-functional theory in the GGA approximation we have studied... more Abstract Using first-principle density-functional theory in the GGA approximation we have studied the electronic screening in semiconductor nanocrystals. Combining simple electrostatics and the Thomas-Fermi theory it is shown that an analytical and general form of a model position-dependent screening function can be obtained. Taking as a case study silicon nanocrystals, the relative weights of the nanocrystal core and surface polarization contribution to the screening are thoroughly discussed. The connection between the ...
... Nersisyan; Svetlana Serak. Light amplification in a liquid network confined in a porous matri... more ... Nersisyan; Svetlana Serak. Light amplification in a liquid network confined in a porous matrix. Author(s): Egon Gross; Dmitri Kovalev; Nicolai Kuenzner; Joachim Diener; Frederick Koch; Victor Y. Timoshenko; Minoru Fujii. Control of ...
A comprehensive understanding of the structural condition and impurity agglomerates in poly-Si st... more A comprehensive understanding of the structural condition and impurity agglomerates in poly-Si structures can be obtained through the topological analysis of ELF for the characterization of chemical changes induced by defects.
The electronic structure and magnetic properties of Mn doped zinc blende cadmium sulfide Cd 1−x M... more The electronic structure and magnetic properties of Mn doped zinc blende cadmium sulfide Cd 1−x Mn x S (x = 6.25 %) have been studied using spin-polarized density functional theory within the framework of Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA), its further corrections including Hubbard U interactions (GGA + U) and a model for exchange and correlation potential Tran Blaha modified Becke-Johnson (TB-mBJ). Ferromagnetic interactions have been observed between Mn atoms via S atom due to strong p-d hybridization. The magnetic moments on Mn and its neighboring atoms have also been studied in detail using different charge analysis techniques. It has been observed that p-d hybridization reduced the value of local magnetic moment of Mn in comparison to its free space charge value and produced small local magnetic moments on the nonmagnetic S and Cd host sites. The magnetocrystalline anisotropy in [1 0 0] and [1 1 1] directions as well as exchange splitting parameters N oα and N oβ have been analyzed to confirm that ferromagnetism exists. We conclude that the ferromagnetic phase in Mn-doped CdS is not stable in "near" configuration but it is stable for "far" configuration. Mn doped CdS is a p-type semiconductor and the d-states at the top of the valence band edge give a very useful material for photoluminescence and magneto-optical devices.
Journal of Computational Methods in Science and Engineering, 2007
The absorption and the emission spectra of undoped and doped silicon nanocrystals of different si... more The absorption and the emission spectra of undoped and doped silicon nanocrystals of different size and surface terminations have been calculated within a first-principles framework. The effects induced by the creation of an electron-hole pair on the atomic structure and on the optical spectra of hydrogenated silicon nanoclusters as a function of dimension are discussed showing the strong interplay between the structural and optical properties of the system. Starting from the hydrogenated clusters,(i) different Si/O bonding ...
The effects of B and P codoping on the impurity formation energies and electronic properties of S... more The effects of B and P codoping on the impurity formation energies and electronic properties of Si nanocrystals (Si-nc) are calculated by a first-principles method. We show that, if carriers in the Si-nc are perfectly compensated by simultaneous doping with n-and p-type impurities, the Si-nc undergo a minor structural distortion around the impurities and that the formation energies are always smaller than those for the corresponding single-doped cases. The band gap of the codoped Si-nc is strongly reduced with respect to the gap of ...
Doping control at the nanoscale can be used to modify optical and electronic properties thus indu... more Doping control at the nanoscale can be used to modify optical and electronic properties thus inducing interesting effects that cannot be observed in pure systems. By using Density Functional Theory, Silicon Nanocrystals (Si-nc) of different size (diameter ranging from 1.1 nm to 1.8 nm) have been studied localizing impurities at different substitutional sites and calculating the impurity formation energies. Starting from hydrogen terminated silicon Si-nc, we found that codoping is always energetically favored with respect to a single B-or P-doping and that the two impurities tend to occupy nearest neighbor sites near the surface. The formation energy depends on the distance between the two impurities. The codoped Si-nc present bandedge states localized on the impurities which are responsible for a red-shift of the absorption threshold with respect to that of pure undoped Si nanocrystals. Concerning the emission spectra, we find a Stokes shift of the photoluminescence to a lower energy with respect to the absorption edge due to the nanocrystal (nc) structural relaxation after the creation of the electron-hole pair. We have calculated the absorption and emission spectra going beyond a single-particle approach showing the important role played by the many-body effects. The presence of electronic quasi-direct optical transitions between the donor and acceptor states within the band-gap makes it possible to engineer the optical properties of Si-nc.
Nanostructuring of a material leads to enormous effects on its excited state properties. This stu... more Nanostructuring of a material leads to enormous effects on its excited state properties. This study, through the application of different state-of-the-art ab initio theoretical tools, investigates the effect of size on the electronic gap of germanium nanocrystals highlighting similarities and differences with respect to equivalent silicon nanostructures. We performed both GW and ΔSCF calculations for the determination of their electronic structure. While it is known that ΔSCF corrections to the Kohn−Sham gap vanish for extended systems, the two approaches were expected to be equivalent in the limit of small clusters. However, it has been recently found that for hydrogenated Si clusters the ΔSCF gaps are systematically smaller than the GW ones, while the opposite is true for Ag clusters. In this work we find that the GW gaps are larger than the ΔSCF ones for all the Ge dots, with the exception of the smallest one. Such crossing between the ΔSCF and the GW gap values was not expected and has never been observed before. Moreover, also for hydrogenated Si nanocrystals we found a similar behavior. The origin of this crossing might be found in the Rydberg character of the LUMO of the smallest clusters and can also explain the qualitative differences in the comparison between GW and ΔSCF found in the previous studies.
The interfacial structure of a silicon grain boundary (Si-GB) plays a decisive role on its chemic... more The interfacial structure of a silicon grain boundary (Si-GB) plays a decisive role on its chemical functionalization and has implications in diverse physical–chemical properties of the material. Therefore, the GB interface is particularly relevant when the material is employed in high performance technological applications. Here, we studied from first principles the role of GB interface by providing an atomistic understanding of two different [Formula: see text]3{112} Si-GB models. These models are ([Formula: see text]) and ([Formula: see text]) [Formula: see text]3{112} Si-GBs, which lead to different structural reconstruction. Starting from these two models, we have shown that geometry optimization has an important role on the structural reconstruction of the GB interface and, therefore, on its properties. For this reason, we discussed different methodologies to define an optimal relaxation protocol. The influence of the local structures in ([Formula: see text]) and ([Formula: se...
The local environment of light emitting silicon nanocrystals (Si-nc) embedded in amorphous SiO2 h... more The local environment of light emitting silicon nanocrystals (Si-nc) embedded in amorphous SiO2 has been studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and by ab-initio total energy calculations. Si-nc have been formed by PECVD deposition of SiOx with different Si content (from 35 to 42 at.%) and thermal annealing at high temperature (1250 °C). The comparison between total electron yield (TEY) and photoluminescence yield (PLY) spectra has allowed the identification of a modified region of SiO2 (about 1 nm thick) surrounding the Si-nc, which participates to the light emission of Si-nc. Total energy calculations, within the density functional theory, clearly show that Si-nc are surrounded by a cap-shell of stressed SiO2 with a thickness of about 1 nm. The optoelectronic properties show the appearance of localized states not only in the Si-nc core region but also in the modified SiO2 region.
ABSTRACTWe developed an ab initio formalism based on Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory for... more ABSTRACTWe developed an ab initio formalism based on Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory for the calculation of the second-order susceptibility Χ(2) (Luppi et al. J. Chem. Phys. 132, 241104(2010)). We apply this formalism to the calculation of second-harmonic generation spectra of hexagonal SiC polytypes, ZnGeP2 (ZGP) and GaP. Starting from the independent-particle approximation, we include manybody effects, such as quasiparticle via the scissors operator, crystal local fields and excitons. We consider two different types of kernels: the ALDA and the “long-range” kernel. We analyze the effects of the different electron-electron descriptions in the spectra, finding good agreement with experiments.
EPIOPTICS-8 - Proceedings of the 33rd Course of the International School of Solid State Physics, 2006
We review the state of the art of the theoretical approaches for ab initio studies of the electro... more We review the state of the art of the theoretical approaches for ab initio studies of the electronic and optical properties of matter. Examples within Density Functional Theory, Many-Body perturbation Theory and Time Dependent Density Functional Theory are presented and discussed. The static and the time-dependent DFT avoid dealing directly with the Many-Body equation by mapping the interacting system into
ABSTRACT CMOS circuitry dominates the current semiconductor market due to the astonishing power o... more ABSTRACT CMOS circuitry dominates the current semiconductor market due to the astonishing power of silicon electronic integration technology. In contrast to the dominance of silicon in electronics, photonics utilises a diversity of materials for emitting, guiding, modulating and detecting light. In the last ten years a big research effort was aimed to render Si an optical active material so that it can be turned from an electronic material to a photonic material. For some the future of Si-based photonic lays in 'hybrid' solutions, for others the utilisation of more photonic functions by silicon itself. During the last two years many breakthroughs in the field have appeared. In this paper we will review what we believe the most important: optical gain in silicon nanostructures.
Breaking the internal crystalline symmetry of silicon by an external mechanical stress gives the ... more Breaking the internal crystalline symmetry of silicon by an external mechanical stress gives the material a novel nonlinear optical property.
A first-principles calculation of the impurity screening in Si and Ge nanocrystals is presented. ... more A first-principles calculation of the impurity screening in Si and Ge nanocrystals is presented. We show that isocoric screening gives results in agreement with both the linear response and the pointcharge approximations. Based on the present ab initio results, and by comparison with previous calculations, we propose a physical real-space interpretation of the several contributions to the screening. Combining the Thomas-Fermi theory and simple electrostatics, we show that it is possible to construct a model screening function that has the merit of being of simple physical interpretation. The main point upon which the model is based is that, up to distances of the order of a bond length from the perturbation, the charge response does not depend on the nanocrystal size. We show in a very clear way that the link between the screening at the nanoscale and in the bulk is given by the surface polarization. A detailed discussion is devoted to the importance of local field effects in the screening. Our first-principles calculations and the Thomas-Fermi theory clearly show that in Si and Ge nanocrystals, local field effects are dominated by surface polarization, which causes a reduction of the screening in going from the bulk down to the nanoscale. Finally, the model screening function is compared with recent state-of-the-art ab initio calculations and tested with impurity activation energies.
Silicon photonics meets the electronics requirement of increased speed and bandwidth with on-chip... more Silicon photonics meets the electronics requirement of increased speed and bandwidth with on-chip optical networks. All-optical data management requires nonlinear silicon photonics. In silicon only third-order optical nonlinearities are present owing to its crystalline inversion symmetry. Introducing a second-order nonlinearity into silicon photonics by proper material engineering would be highly desirable. It would enable devices for wideband wavelength conversion operating at relatively low optical powers. Here we show that a sizeable second-order nonlinearity at optical wavelengths is induced in a silicon waveguide by using a stressing silicon nitride overlayer. We carried out second-harmonic-generation experiments and first-principle calculations, which both yield large values of strain-induced bulk second-order nonlinear susceptibility, up to 40 pm V −1 at 2,300 nm. We envisage that nonlinear strained silicon could provide a competing platform for a new class of integrated light sources spanning the near-to mid-infrared spectrum from 1.2 to 10 µm.
Abstract Using first-principle density-functional theory in the GGA approximation we have studied... more Abstract Using first-principle density-functional theory in the GGA approximation we have studied the electronic screening in semiconductor nanocrystals. Combining simple electrostatics and the Thomas-Fermi theory it is shown that an analytical and general form of a model position-dependent screening function can be obtained. Taking as a case study silicon nanocrystals, the relative weights of the nanocrystal core and surface polarization contribution to the screening are thoroughly discussed. The connection between the ...
... Nersisyan; Svetlana Serak. Light amplification in a liquid network confined in a porous matri... more ... Nersisyan; Svetlana Serak. Light amplification in a liquid network confined in a porous matrix. Author(s): Egon Gross; Dmitri Kovalev; Nicolai Kuenzner; Joachim Diener; Frederick Koch; Victor Y. Timoshenko; Minoru Fujii. Control of ...
A comprehensive understanding of the structural condition and impurity agglomerates in poly-Si st... more A comprehensive understanding of the structural condition and impurity agglomerates in poly-Si structures can be obtained through the topological analysis of ELF for the characterization of chemical changes induced by defects.
The electronic structure and magnetic properties of Mn doped zinc blende cadmium sulfide Cd 1−x M... more The electronic structure and magnetic properties of Mn doped zinc blende cadmium sulfide Cd 1−x Mn x S (x = 6.25 %) have been studied using spin-polarized density functional theory within the framework of Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA), its further corrections including Hubbard U interactions (GGA + U) and a model for exchange and correlation potential Tran Blaha modified Becke-Johnson (TB-mBJ). Ferromagnetic interactions have been observed between Mn atoms via S atom due to strong p-d hybridization. The magnetic moments on Mn and its neighboring atoms have also been studied in detail using different charge analysis techniques. It has been observed that p-d hybridization reduced the value of local magnetic moment of Mn in comparison to its free space charge value and produced small local magnetic moments on the nonmagnetic S and Cd host sites. The magnetocrystalline anisotropy in [1 0 0] and [1 1 1] directions as well as exchange splitting parameters N oα and N oβ have been analyzed to confirm that ferromagnetism exists. We conclude that the ferromagnetic phase in Mn-doped CdS is not stable in "near" configuration but it is stable for "far" configuration. Mn doped CdS is a p-type semiconductor and the d-states at the top of the valence band edge give a very useful material for photoluminescence and magneto-optical devices.
Journal of Computational Methods in Science and Engineering, 2007
The absorption and the emission spectra of undoped and doped silicon nanocrystals of different si... more The absorption and the emission spectra of undoped and doped silicon nanocrystals of different size and surface terminations have been calculated within a first-principles framework. The effects induced by the creation of an electron-hole pair on the atomic structure and on the optical spectra of hydrogenated silicon nanoclusters as a function of dimension are discussed showing the strong interplay between the structural and optical properties of the system. Starting from the hydrogenated clusters,(i) different Si/O bonding ...
The effects of B and P codoping on the impurity formation energies and electronic properties of S... more The effects of B and P codoping on the impurity formation energies and electronic properties of Si nanocrystals (Si-nc) are calculated by a first-principles method. We show that, if carriers in the Si-nc are perfectly compensated by simultaneous doping with n-and p-type impurities, the Si-nc undergo a minor structural distortion around the impurities and that the formation energies are always smaller than those for the corresponding single-doped cases. The band gap of the codoped Si-nc is strongly reduced with respect to the gap of ...
Doping control at the nanoscale can be used to modify optical and electronic properties thus indu... more Doping control at the nanoscale can be used to modify optical and electronic properties thus inducing interesting effects that cannot be observed in pure systems. By using Density Functional Theory, Silicon Nanocrystals (Si-nc) of different size (diameter ranging from 1.1 nm to 1.8 nm) have been studied localizing impurities at different substitutional sites and calculating the impurity formation energies. Starting from hydrogen terminated silicon Si-nc, we found that codoping is always energetically favored with respect to a single B-or P-doping and that the two impurities tend to occupy nearest neighbor sites near the surface. The formation energy depends on the distance between the two impurities. The codoped Si-nc present bandedge states localized on the impurities which are responsible for a red-shift of the absorption threshold with respect to that of pure undoped Si nanocrystals. Concerning the emission spectra, we find a Stokes shift of the photoluminescence to a lower energy with respect to the absorption edge due to the nanocrystal (nc) structural relaxation after the creation of the electron-hole pair. We have calculated the absorption and emission spectra going beyond a single-particle approach showing the important role played by the many-body effects. The presence of electronic quasi-direct optical transitions between the donor and acceptor states within the band-gap makes it possible to engineer the optical properties of Si-nc.
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Papers by E. Degoli