Thermionic Emission Process Research Articles

Superior role of V2O5 and yttrium interface layers in enhancing MIS radical photodiode performance

In this study, Cu/n-Si Schottky diodes with V2O5–Y insulating interface layer were designed for the fabrication of metal/insulator/semiconductor (MIS) structures. The effects of different Y–V2O5 interface layers placed between metals and semiconductors on the critical electrical parameters of Schottky diodes were examined. Electrical parameters of the prepared sample such as barrier height (ΦB), ideality factor (n), photosensitivity (Ps), photosensitivity (R), quantum efficiency (QE) and detectivity (D∗) were obtained from the expression. Characteristics of I–V The modification in these parameters can be attributed to the use of Schottky diodes as intermediate layers. Additionally, n, ΦB values were calculated using the thermionic emission process and the photodiode parameters Ps, R, QE and D∗ the results were compared with each other. Experiments have shown that the Schottky structure with V2O5–Y interlayer leads to higher values of Ps = 799.70 % and under the light condition of 6 wt% of Y lower value n = 2.01. This provides evidence of the improved performance of MIS models.

Analysis of application range of simplified models for field to thermo-field to thermionic emission processes from the cathode

Electron emission plays a dominant role in plasma–cathode interactions and is a key factor in many plasma phenomena and industrial applications. It is necessary to illustrate the various electron emission mechanisms and the corresponding applicable description models to evaluate their impacts on discharge properties. In this study, detailed expressions of the simplified formulas valid for field emission to thermo-field emission to thermionic emission typically used in the numerical simulation are proposed, and the corresponding application ranges are determined in the framework of the Murphy–Good theory, which is commonly regarded as the general model and to be accurate in the full range of conditions of the validity of the theory. Dimensionless parameterization was used to evaluate the emission current density of the Murphy–Good formula, and a deviation factor was defined to obtain the application ranges for different work functions (2.5‒5 eV), cathode temperatures (300‒6000 K), and emitted electric fields (105 to 1010 V·m−1). The deviation factor was shown to be a nonmonotonic function of the three parameters. A comparative study of particle number densities in atmospheric gas discharge with a tungsten cathode was performed based on the one-dimensional implicit particle-in-cell (PIC) with the Monte Carlo collision (MCC) method according to the aforementioned application ranges. It was found that small differences in emission current density can lead to variations in the distributions of particle number density due to changes in the collisional environment. This study provides a theoretical basis for selecting emission models for subsequent numerical simulations.

Van der Waals heterostructure of Bi2O2Se/MoTe2 for high-performance multifunctional devices

Two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures exhibit distinctive electronic and optoelectronic properties, making them promising structures for constructing advanced multifunctional devices. However, devices based on conventional charge-carrier transport mechanisms often perform only a single function, which limits its integration and performance. Here, we present a vertical van der Waals heterostructure made of Bi2O2Se and MoTe2, allowing it to act as high-performance backward diode, forward diode, photodetector and photovoltaic device at various working conditions. The applications are enabled by band-alignment switching between p–n heterostructure controlled by minority carrier diffusion and n–n heterostructure governed by the thermionic emission and tunneling-mediated processes. As a backward diode, the device displays a high reverse rectification ratio of 5.0 × 104. As a photodetector, the device demonstrates a broad spectral photoresponse ranging from ultraviolet (365 nm) to near-infrared (1050 nm). When irradiated by 532 nm laser, the photodetector shows a responsivity of up to 11.6 A/W and achieves quick response/recovery speed of 19.6/8.8 μs. As a photovoltaics device, an external quantum efficiency of 78% and a responsivity of 0.33 A/W are observed. This study showcases the potential for high-performance multifunctional devices utilizing Bi2O2Se/MoTe2 heterostructures and provides comprehensive insights into the designed band alignment and its applications.

Tunable ultrafast thermionic emission from femtosecond-laser hot spot on a metal surface by control of laser polarization and angle of incidence: A numerical investigation

Ultrafast laser induced thermionic emission from metal surfaces has several applications. Here, we investigate the role of laser polarization and angle of incidence on the ultrafast thermionic emission process from laser driven gold coated glass surface. The spatio-temporal evolution of electron and lattice temperatures are obtained using an improved three-dimensional (3D) two-temperature model (TTM) which takes into account the 3D laser pulse profile focused obliquely onto the surface. The associated thermionic emission features are described through the modified Richardson-Dushman equation, including dynamic space-charge effects and are included self-consistently in our numerical approach. We show that temperature-dependent reflectivity influences laser energy absorption. The resulting peak electron temperature on the metal surface monotonically increases with the angle of incidence for the P polarization, while for the S polarization it shows the opposite trend. We observe that thermionic emission duration shows a strong dependence on the angle of incidence and contrasting polarization dependent behavior. The duration of the thermionic current shows strong correlation to the intrinsic electron-lattice thermalization time, in a fluence regime well below the damage threshold of gold. The observations and insights have important consequences in designing ultrafast thermionic emitters using a metal based architecture.

Effects of carrier-blocking barrier height on two-step photocurrent generation in dilute nitride intermediate band solar cells

GaAs:N dilute nitride intermediate band solar cells (IBSCs) with different barrier heights for blocking electron transport from the intermediate band (IB) were prepared and the role of such an electron blocking layer (EBL) was investigated. It is found that the EBL effectively confines electrons in the IB states, and the two-step photocurrent generation process is strongly affected by its barrier height. A rate equation analysis well reproduced experimental observations of the applied voltage dependence of the two-step photocurrent generation process. It revealed that the electron extraction both from the conduction band and the IB through the EBL is governed by the thermionic emission process. To meet the requirements of an ideal IBSC, optimized device structures including the barrier height of the EBL have to be designed properly taking into account the material parameters and carrier dynamics under the actual operating condition.

Positive temperature coefficient of resistance of Mg-GeO2 nanowire array film

Here, glancing angle deposition is employed to synthesize the undoped GeO2 and Mg-doped (0.4 and 0.8 at. %) GeO2 nanowires (NWs) on a Si substrate. The microscopic images show the formation of the NW-like morphology of the grown materials. The gradual decrease in the average ratio of length to diameter depicts the worsening of the formation of NWs with the incorporation of Mg into the GeO2 host lattice. This also affects the crystallinity characteristics of the materials, which have been demonstrated from the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern of the materials. The polycrystallinity nature of undoped GeO2 NWs changes to amorphous due to the introduction of Mg, which has been confirmed from both the obtained SAED and x-ray diffraction patterns of the samples. The presence of Mg was confirmed from the obtained broad bands at 473 and 437 cm−1 in the Fourier transmission spectrum of the doped samples. The increasing conductance with the temperature of Au/undoped GeO2 devices can be explained by the thermionic emission process, whereas the Mg-GeO2 device shows an overall decrease in conductance with increasing temperature. We have ascribed the origin of this abnormal conductance as the positive temperature coefficient of resistance, which is one of the first reports, due to the generation of random grain boundaries and enormous electron trapping at the Au/Mg-GeO2 NW junction. Furthermore, the undoped GeO2 NW device shows good temperature-dependent conductivity as well as stability compared to the doped one.

Electron Transport in Double-Barrier Semiconductor Heterostructures for Thermionic Cooling

We investigate electron transport in asymmetric double-barrier ($\mathrm{Al},\mathrm{Ga})\mathrm{As}/\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}$ thermionic cooling heterostructures. Measurements of temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics confirm that the dominant electron transport is a sequential process of resonant tunneling injection into and thermionic emission from the quantum-well (QW) cooling layer. The thermal activation energy of the current is found to be strongly dependent on the bias voltage. Furthermore, instead of showing a simple thermal activation behavior, the current exhibits rather complicated temperature and voltage dependence, particularly when the thermionic emission barrier is low. To establish a quantitative understanding, we develop an intuitive analytical model for sequential electron transport that explicitly takes into account scattering effects in the thermionic emission process from the two-dimensional QW states to the three-dimensional above-barrier states. The observed temperature-dependent sequential current is well explained by the present theory.

Spatially heterogeneous ultrafast interfacial carrier dynamics of 2D-MoS2 flakes

Understanding the ultrafast carrier dynamics of transition metal dichalcogenides is critical for future applications in high-speed electronic and optoelectronic devices. In this work, we used a combination of femtosecond (fs) time-resolved micro-area photoelectron spectroscopy and photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) to obtain the space-resolved surface photovoltage (SPV) and photoelectron intensity dynamics of two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) flakes, both of which exhibited high spatial heterogeneity and defect effects. Additionally, surface S vacancy defects were characterized by spatially resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The SPV relaxation dynamics indicated that the charge carrier lifetime in the space-charge layer (SCL) ranged from several to tens of nanoseconds and was dominated by the thermionic emission process. The defects, which acted as electron-hole recombination centers, greatly shortened the charge carrier lifetime by almost one order of magnitude. Furthermore, three relaxation processes were observed in the photoelectron intensity dynamics, namely, two fast processes with rates of 3–6 ps (ps) and 60–100 ps, which were largely affected by the defect density, and one slow relaxation process with a rate of 2–5 ns (ns). However, these were not related to the defect density and were attributed to the transportation of electrons towards the bulk. Therefore, our results provide a deeper understanding of the interfacial carrier dynamics of 2D-MoS2 materials and the effects of defects on charge carrier lifetime in the SCL.

Gate-switchable rectification in isotype van der Waals heterostructure of multilayer MoTe2/SnS2 with large band offsets

Despite intensive studies on van der Waals heterostructures based on two-dimensional layered materials, isotype vdW heterojunctions, which consist of two different semiconductors with the same majority carrier, have received little attention. We demonstrate an n–n isotype field-effect heterojunction device composed of multilayer moly ditelluride (MoTe2) and tin disulfide (SnS2). The carrier transport flowing through the n-MoTe2/n-SnS2 heterojunction exhibits a clear rectifying behavior exceeding 103, even at a moderate source–drain voltage of 1 V in ambient environment. Owing to the large band offsets between the two materials, a potential barrier exceeding ~1 eV is formed, which is verified by comparing a numerical solution of Poisson’s equation and experimental data. In contrast to the conventional p–n heterostructure operating by diffusion of the minority carrier, we identify the carrier transport is governed by the majority carrier via the thermionic emission and tunneling-mediated process through the potential barrier. Furthermore, the gate voltage can completely turn off the device and even enhance the rectification. A ternary inverter based on the isotype MoTe2/SnS2 heterojunction and a SnS2 channel transistor is demonstrated for potential multivalued logic applications. Our results suggest that the isotype vdW heterojunction will become an able candidate for electronic or optoelectronic devices after suitable band engineering and design optimization.

Correlating Thermionic Emission with Specific Surface Reconstructions in a Hydrogenated Single-Crystal Diamond.

Thermionic emission relies on the low work function and negative electron affinity of the, often functionalized, surface of the emitting material. However, there is little understanding of the interplay between thermionic emission and temperature-driven dynamic surface transformation processes as these are not represented on the traditional Richardson-Dushman equation for thermionic emission. Here, we show a new model for thermionic emission that can reproduce the effect of dynamic surface changes on the electron emission and correlate the components of the thermionic emission with specific surface reconstruction phases on the surface of the emitter. We use hydrogenated <100> single-crystal and polycrystalline diamonds as thermionic emitters to validate our model, which shows excellent agreement with the experimental data and could be applicable to other emitting materials. Furthermore, we find that tailoring the coverage of specific structures of the C(100)-(2 × 1):H surface reconstruction could increase the thermionic emission of diamond by several orders of magnitude.

Analysis of Double Gaussian Distribution at the Interface of Ni/Ta2O5/P-Si Schottky Barrier Diodes Using Temperature Dependent Current-Voltage (I-V) Measurements

The electrical properties have been investigated for Ni/Ta2O5/p-Si Metal/insulator/semiconductor SBD in the temperature regime 175–400 K. The electrical parameters were analyzed using current-voltage characteristics as a function of operating temperature. It is observed that the Schottky barrier height increased whereas ideality factor and series resistance decreased with increasing the operating temperature. The characteristic temperature (To) value calculated from Norde and Cheung methods was compared. This analysis showed that To value extracted from both the techniques are in close agreement with each other. Experimental results revealed that the thermal coefficient was −4.5 mV/K. The Gaussian distribution of the barrier height was estimated from the plot of zero-bias barrier height (Φbo) versus 1/2kT plot and the estimated value of (Φbo) of 0.92 eV and 0.79 eV with standard deviation (σ0) of 0.023 V and 0.014 V, respectively. The mean BH and the Richardson constant values were determined using ln (Io/T2)-q2 $$ {\sigma}_0^2 $$ /2(kT)2 versus 1000/T plot and were 0.89 eV and 0.76 eV and 30.03 and 26.85 A/cm−2 K−2, respectively. In addition to the thermionic emission process, two more conduction mechanisms such as Poole-Frenkel emission in the temperature regime 175–275 K and Schottky emission dominant beyond 300 K temperature were noticed.

Temperature dependent electrical studies on Cu/AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes with its microstructural characterization

The performance of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure based devices depends largely upon electrical behavior of Schottky contact which controls the current flowing through the channel. In this work, electrical behavior of Copper (Cu) Schottky diodes on Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures grown on Silicon have been investigated using temperature dependent current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques. An ideality factor (η) of 1.3 at room temperature (RT) signified that the forward current is dominated by thermionic emission process for current flow in the Schottky diode. The strong polarization field effects with in the barrier layer of the strained AlGaN/GaN heterostructure were considered for evaluating the barrier height using C-V measurements. The barrier height from such analysis was found to be 1.66 eV at RT which is significantly higher than theoretically predicted barrier height for Cu/AlGaN/GaN Schottky diodes. This observation of high barrier height is attributed to the presence of an ultra-thin Cu2O layer between Cu and AlGaN layer as revealed from scanning transmission electron microscopy. The temperature dependence of the barrier height suggests inhomogeneous nature of the Cu/AlGaN/GaN interface with different level of barrier inhomogeneities in different temperature ranges. Further, frequency-dependent C-V measurements were used to electrically characterize surface traps at Cu/AlGaN/GaN interface. Present study highlights the potential of Cu as a Schottky contact on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures for achieving high barrier height which is of utmost importance in GaN based device technology.

Design and beam dynamic simulation of the thermionic RF electron gun with external resonant cavity for transverse emittance reduction

Abstract The accelerator components and radiation production systems at the PBP-CMU Electron Linac Laboratory of the Plasma and Beam Physics Research Facility are currently being developed and upgraded to make it possible for generation of the mid-infrared free-electron laser (MIR FEL) and the coherent intense terahertz (THz) radiation via transition radiation and superradiant undulator radiation. To generate a high brightness radiation, a high quality electron beam is crucially required. One of the important keys for this issue is the good performance and reliable electron source . Development of a new thermionic radio-frequency (RF) electron gun is foreseen at our facility. The design of the new RF gun was conducted with the aim to reduce transverse emittance while keeping the longitudinal phase space distribution that is suitable for the bunch compression with the alpha magnet. The present design of the PBP-CMU RF electron gun, which has 1-1/2 cell TM 010 reentrant cylindrical standing-wave resonant cavities and a side-coupling cavity, was used as the starting model for this work. The shape and dimensions of the new RF gun were optimized and the electromagnetic field distribution was simulated by using the program CST Microwave Studio 2016. Electron beam dynamic simulations were done with program ASTRA. The initial particle distribution from thermionic emission process was created by using the self-developed MATLAB script that provides the thermal emittance values corresponding well to the theoretical values. The results of this work suggest that by adding an external resonant cavity with a rounded pill-box shape to the present RF gun model can reduce the transverse emittance. This additional cavity has an optimal length of 25 mm and is connected to the present RF gun at the position 13 mm downstream the second cavity exit. The RF wave is coupled from the second cavity to the external cavity via the second side-coupling cavity. The entire structure finally has a resonant frequency of 2856.03 MHz, an unloaded quality factor of 15623 and a shunt impedance of 1.18 M Ω . The maximum electric field values in the first, the second and the external cavity are 32.8, 65.0 and 29.8 MV/m, respectively. The results from beam dynamic simulations show that this new design RF gun should be able to produce electron bunches with a charge of 170 pC per bunch, a maximum kinetic energy of 2.72 MeV and an energy spread of 540 keV. The simulated horizontal and vertical normalized emittances of 90% beam were respectively reduced by 11.6% and 4.5% compared to the values obtained from the original PBP-CMU RF gun. Furthermore, it was found that the transverse emittance is conserved at the distance longer than 60 cm downstream the external cavity exit.

Electron Transfer in Nanoscale Contact Electrification: Photon Excitation Effect.

Contact electrification (CE) (or triboelectrification) is a well-known phenomenon, and the identity of the charge carriers and their transfer mechanism have been discussed for decades. Recently, the species of transferred charges in the CE between a metal and a ceramic was revealed as electron transfer and its subsequent release is dominated by the thermionic emission process. Here, the release of CE-induced electrostatic charges on a dielectric surface under photon excitation is studied by varying the light intensity and wavelength, but under no significant raise in temperature. The results suggest that there exists a threshold photon energy for releasing the triboelectric charges from the surface, which is 4.1 eV (light wavelength at 300 nm) for SiO2 and 3.4 eV (light wavelength at 360 nm) for PVC; photons with energy smaller than this cannot effectively excite the surface electrostatic charges. This process is attributed to the photoelectron emission of the charges trapped in the surface states of the dielectric material. Further, a photoelectron emission model is proposed to describe light-induced charge decay on a dielectric surface. The findings provide an additional strong evidence about the electron transfer process in the CE between metals and dielectrics as well as polymers.

Thermionic emission of carriers in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple quantum wells

The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) intensity of InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN multiple quantum wells were correlated with the structural properties such as polarization strength and ground-state quantum levels for the triangular quantum wells. For x – y ≤ 0.2, the PL intensity increased with increasing the In-content of the well. In this region, we found that the PL intensity can be well described by the thermionic emission process with an activation energy corresponding to the energy difference between the valence band of barrier and the quantum level of holes in the well at the well/barrier interface. The pre-factor of the exponential component of effective barrier, reflecting the effective density of nonradiative recombination centers in the barriers, was 3.7 times larger for the samples with GaN barriers than that with InGaN barriers, indicating that the PL intensity is also influenced by the optical quality of barriers when the effective barrier height is relatively low.

Combined thermionic emission and tunneling mechanisms for the analysis of the leakage current for Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes

A new analysis method of reverse leakage current for β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes is performed by using two models: bias dependence and no bias dependence of barrier height. The method incorporates both the current induced by the tunneling of carriers through the Schottky barrier and the current induced by the thermionic emission of carriers across the metal–semiconductor interface. The experimental reverse transition voltage between thermionic emission and tunneling process can be determined from the intersection of the two components that were separated from the total current. Below the reverse transition voltage, the thermionic emission current dominates, and above it, the tunneling current dominates, while near the reverse transition voltage, neither tunneling nor thermionic emission accurately describes the conduction process because the both currents have the same order of magnitude; therefore, the both mechanisms must be combined together. The experimental reverse transition voltage (bias-dependent model) increases for low and high temperatures and decreases at intermediate temperatures for β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes. The bias dependence of the barrier height model shows that the barrier height is strongly dependent (increases) on the reverse bias, in particular at low temperatures and low reverse bias. This model can explain the discrepancy between the experimental characteristics and those calculated by no bias dependence of barrier height model.

Effects of a Si-doped InGaN Underlayer on the Optical Properties of InGaN/GaN Quantum Well Structures with Different Numbers of Quantum Wells.

In this paper we report on the optical properties of a series of InGaN polar quantum well structures where the number of wells was 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 and which were grown with the inclusion of an InGaN Si-doped underlayer. When the number of quantum wells is low then the room temperature internal quantum efficiency can be dominated by thermionic emission from the wells. This can occur because the radiative recombination rate in InGaN polar quantum wells can be low due to the built-in electric field across the quantum well which allows the thermionic emission process to compete effectively at room temperature limiting the internal quantum efficiency. In the structures that we discuss here, the radiative recombination rate is increased due to the effects of the Si-doped underlayer which reduces the electric field across the quantum wells. This results in the effect of thermionic emission being largely eliminated to such an extent that the internal quantum efficiency at room temperature is independent of the number of quantum wells.

Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis

We analyze the temperature-dependent dark saturation current density and open-circuit voltage (VOC) for GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from 25 to 400 °C. As expected, the intrinsic carrier concentration, ni, dominates the temperature dependence of the dark currents. However, at 400 °C, we measure VOC that is ∼50 mV higher for the GaAs solar cell and ∼60–110 mV lower for the GaInP and AlGaInP solar cells compared to what would be expected from commonly used solar cell models that consider only the ni2 temperature dependence. To better understand these deviations, we measure the carrier lifetimes of p-type GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP double heterostructures (DHs) from 25 to 400 °C using time-resolved photoluminescence. Temperature-dependent minority carrier lifetimes are analyzed to determine the relative contributions of the radiative recombination, interface recombination, Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, and thermionic emission processes. We find that radiative recombination dominates for the GaAs DHs with the effective lifetime approximately doubling as the temperature is increased from 25 °C to 400 °C. In contrast, we find that thermionic emission dominates for the GaInP and AlGaInP DHs at elevated temperatures, leading to a 3–4× reduction in the effective lifetime and ∼40× increase in the surface recombination velocity as the temperature is increased from 25 °C to 400 °C. These observations suggest that optimization of the minority carrier confinement layers for the GaInP and AlGaInP solar cells could help to improve VOC and solar cell efficiency at elevated temperatures. We demonstrate VOC improvement at 200–400 °C in GaInP solar cells fabricated with modified AlGaInP window and back surface field layers.

Sub-60-mV/decade Negative Capacitance FinFET With Sub-10-nm Hafnium-Based Ferroelectric Capacitor

The negative capacitance (NC) of ferroelectric materials has paved the way for achieving sub-60-mV/decade switching feature in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) field-effect transistors, by simply inserting a ferroelectric thin layer in the gate stack. However, in order to utilize the ferroelectric capacitor (as a breakthrough technique to overcome the Boltzmann limit of the device using thermionic emission process), the thickness of the ferroelectric layer should be scaled down to sub-10-nm for ease of integration with conventional CMOS logic devices. In this paper, we demonstrate an NC fin-shaped field-effect transistor (FinFET) with a 6-nm-thick HfZrO ferroelectric capacitor. The performance parameters of NC FinFET such as on-/off-state currents and subthreshold slope are compared with those of the conventional FinFET. Furthermore, a repetitive and reliable steep switching feature of the NC FinFET at various drain voltages is demonstrated.

Electron-emission materials: Advances, applications, and models

Abstract