Related papers: Silicon Oxide is a Non-Innocent Surface for Molecu…
Silicon (Si) is one of the most extensively studied materials owing to its significance to semiconductor science and technology. While efforts to find a new three-dimensional (3D) Si crystal with unusual properties have made some progress,…
High resolution resistors capable of detecting minuscule currents are vital for advanced sensors, but existing off-shelf models struggle with inconsistent resistance under varying voltages. The underlying physics of this issue is rooted in…
The inherent network of nanopores and voids in silicon dioxide (SiO2) is generally undesirable for aspects of film quality, electrical insulation and dielectric performance. However, if we view these pores as natural nano-patterns embedded…
The absence of piezoelectricity in silicon makes direct electro-mechanical applications of this mainstream semiconductor impossible. Integrated electrical control of the silicon mechanics, however, would open up new perspectives for on-chip…
Silicon is a promising anode material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. However, the volume change and the voltage hysteresis during lithiation and delithiation are two substantial drawbacks to their lifetime and performance. We…
Silicon carbide (SiC), is an artificial semiconductor used for high-power transistors and blue LEDs, for its extraordinary properties. SiC would be attractive for more applications, but large-scale or large-surface area fabrication, with…
We demonstrate that magnetic multilayer nanopillars can be efficiently protected from oxidation by coating with silicon. Both the protected and the oxidized nanopillars exhibit an increase of reversal current at cryogenic temperatures.…
We measure and model electroadhesion across multi-asperity silicon interfaces with nanometer scale roughness. When electrically biased, our naturally oxidized silicon interfaces display a leakage current consistent with the Fowler-Nordheim…
SiC is set to enable a new era in power electronics impacting a wide range of energy technologies, from electric vehicles to renewable energy. Its physical characteristics outperform silicon in many aspects, including band gap, breakdown…
Silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors (MOSFETs) enable high-voltage and high-temperature power conversion. Compared to Si devices, they suffer from pronounced gate leakage due to the reduced electron…
We introduce a model that accounts for the bipolar resistive switching phenomenom observed in transition metal oxides. It qualitatively describes the electric field-enhanced migration of oxygen vacancies at the nano-scale. The numerical…
Silicon nanoparticles are widely used in the medical area and until now they have not manifested toxicological effects in humans beings. In order to understand the physical properties that determine their low-toxicity, we perform ab initio…
High mobility and dilute two-dimensional electron systems exhibit metallic behavior down to the lowest experimental temperatures. In studies of ionic liquid gated insulating silicon, we have observed transitions to a metallic state in low…
Silicon suboxide is currently considered as a unique candidate for lithium ion batteries anode materials due to its considerable capacity. However, no adequate information exist about the role of oxygen content on its performance. To this…
Silicon together with its native oxide SiO$_2$ was recognized as an outstanding material system for the semiconductor industry in the 1950s. In state-of-the-art device technology, SiO$_2$ is widely used as an insulator in combination with…
Beyond a critical disorder, two-dimensional (2D) superconductors become insulating. In this Superconductor-Insulator Transition (SIT), the nature of the insulator is still controversial. Here, we present an extensive experimental study on…
Successful isolation of graphene from graphite opened a new era for material science and con- densed matter physics. Due to this remarkable achievement, there has been an immense interest to synthesize new two dimensional materials and to…
On-chip optical isolators play a key role in optical communications and computing based on silicon integrated photonic structures. Recently there have raised great attentions and hot controversies upon isolation of light via linear and…
Superoxide-based non-aqueous metal oxygen batteries have received considerable research attention, as they exhibit high energy densities and round-trip efficiencies. The cycling performance, however, is still poor. Here we study the cycling…
We performed an {\it ab initio} investigation on the properties of rutile tin oxide (SnO$_{x}$) nanowires. We computed the wire properties determining the equilibrium geometries, binding energies and electronic band structures for several…