Time–Energy Quantum Uncertainty—Quantifying the Effectiveness of Surface Defect Passivation Protocols for Low-Dimensional Semiconductors
Type
ArticleAuthors
Alfaraj, Nasir
Alghamdi, Wael
Alawein, Meshal
Ajia, Idris A.

Priante, Davide

Janjua, Bilal

Sun, Haiding
Ng, Tien Khee

Ooi, Boon S.

Roqan, Iman S.

Li, Xiaohang

KAUST Department
Advanced Semiconductor LaboratoryComputer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division
Electrical Engineering Program
Material Science and Engineering Program
Photonics Laboratory
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Semiconductor and Material Spectroscopy (SMS) Laboratory
Date
2020-01-05Online Publication Date
2020-01-05Print Publication Date
2020-02-25Embargo End Date
2021-01-22Submitted Date
2019-09-06Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/661038
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The degree of enhancement in radiative recombination in ensembles of semiconductor nanowires after chemical treatment is quantified within a derived limit, by correlating the energy released during the photoemission processes of the light–matter reaction and the effective carrier recombination lifetimes. It is argued that the usage of surface recombination velocity or surface saturation current density as passivation metrics that assess the effectiveness of surface passivation does not provide strict and universal theoretical bounds within which the degree of passivation can be confined. In this context, the model developed in this study provides a broadly applicable surface passivation metric for direct energy bandgap semiconductor materials. This is because of its reliance on the dispersion in energy and lifetime of electron–hole recombination emission at room temperature, in lieu of the mere dependence on the ratio of peak emission spectral intensities or temperature- and power-dependent photoluminescence measurements performed prior and subsequent to surface treatment. We show that the proposed quantification method, on the basis of steady-state and transient photoluminescence measurements performed entirely at room temperature, provides information on the effectiveness of surface state passivation through a comparison of the dispersion in carrier lifetimes and photon energy emissions in the nanowire ensemble before and after surface passivation. Our measure of the effectiveness of a surface passivation protocol is in essence the supremum of lower bounds one can derive on the product of Δt and ΔE.Citation
Alfaraj, N., Alghamdi, W., Alawein, M., Ajia, I. A., Priante, D., Janjua, B., … Li, X. (2020). Time–Energy Quantum Uncertainty—Quantifying the Effectiveness of Surface Defect Passivation Protocols for Low-Dimensional Semiconductors. ACS Applied Electronic Materials. doi:10.1021/acsaelm.9b00578Sponsors
This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) baseline funding, BAS/1/1664-01-01, Competitive Research Grant (CRG) URF/1/3437-01-01 and URF/1/3771-01-01, and GCC Research Council Grant REP/1/3189-01-01. D.P., B.J., T.K.N., and B.S.O. acknowledge the nancial support from King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), grant no. KACST TIC R2- FP-008, KAUST baseline funding, BAS/1/1614-01-01, and MBE equipment funding, C/M20000-12-001-77. The authors thank Prof. Enzo Di Fabrizio of KAUST for his helpful suggestions and insightful comments on the manuscript.Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)Journal
ACS Applied Electronic MaterialsAdditional Links
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsaelm.9b00578ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1021/acsaelm.9b00578