Abstract: Freestanding silicene is predicted to display comparable electronic properties as graphene. However, the yet synthesized silicenelike structures have been only realized on different substrates which turned out to exhibit versatile crystallographic structures that are very different from the theoretically predicted buckled phase of freestanding silicene. This calls for a different approach where silicene is stabilized using very weakly interacting surfaces. We propose here a route by using graphene bilayer as a scaffold. The confinement between the flat graphene layers results in a planar clustering of Si atoms with small buckling, which is energetically unfavorable in vacuum. Buckled hexagonal arrangement of Si atoms similar to freestanding silicene is observed for large clusters, which, in contrast to Si atoms on metallic surfaces, is only very weakly van der Waals coupled to the graphene layers. These clusters are found to be stable well above room temperature. Our findings, which are supported by density-functional tight-binding calculations, show that intercalating bilayer graphene with Si is a favorable route to realize silicene.

Abstract: From the theory of many-electron states in atoms, we know that there exists a strong Coulomb repulsion, which results in the electronic term structure of atoms and is responsible for Hunds rules. By expanding the Coulomb on-site repulsion into a multipolar series, we derive this interaction and show that it is also present in solids as a correlation effect, which means that the interaction requires a multideterminant version of the Hartree-Fock method. Of particular interest is the case where this interaction couples states of localized ( f) and delocalized ( s) electrons. We show that the interaction is bilinear in the creation/annihilation operators for localized electrons and bilinear in the operators for conduction electrons. To study the coupling, we consider a simple model in the framework of an effective limited configuration interaction method with one localized f-electron and one itinerant s-electron per crystal site. The on-site multipole interaction between the f- and s-electrons is explicitly taken into account. It is shown that depending on the low-lying excitation spectrum imposed by the crystal electric field, the model can lead not only to ferromagnetism but also to a nonmagnetic state. The model is relevant for solids with localized and itinerant electron states.

Abstract: Full ab initio techniques are applied to study the electronic and dynamical properties of free standing, hydrogen-passivated Si/Ge core-shell nanowires oriented along the [110] direction. All studied wires exhibit a direct band gap and are found to be structurally stable. The different contributions of the core and shell atoms to the phonon spectra are identified. The acoustic phonon velocities and the frequencies of some typical optical modes are compared with those of pure Si and Ge nanowires. These depend either on the concentration or on the type of core material. Optical modes are hardened and longitudinal acoustic velocities are softened with decreasing wire diameter.

Abstract: Ginzburg-Landau theory is one of the most powerful phenomenological theories in physics, with particular predictive value in superconductivity. The formalism solves coupled nonlinear differential equations for both the electronic and magnetic responsiveness of a given superconductor to external electromagnetic excitations. With order parameter varying on the short scale of the coherence length, and the magnetic field being long-range, the numerical handling of 3D simulations becomes extremely challenging and time-consuming for realistic samples. Here we show precisely how one can employ graphics-processing units (GPUs) for this type of calculations, and obtain physics answers of interest in a reasonable time-frame – with speedup of over 100x compared to best available CPU implementations of the theory on a 2563grid. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Graphene interconnects are being considered as a promising candidate for beyond CMOS applications, thanks to the intrinsic higher carrier mobility, lower aspect ratio and better reliability with respect to conventional Cu damascene interconnects. However, similarly to Cu, line edge roughness can seriously affect graphene resistance, something which must be taken into account when evaluating the related performance benefits. In this letter, we present a model for assessing the impact of edge scattering on the resistance of graphene interconnects. Our model allows the evaluation of the total mean free path in graphene lines as a function of graphene width, diffusive scattering probability and edge roughness standard deviation and autocorrelation length. We compare our model with other models from literature by benchmarking them using the same set of experimental data. We show that, as opposed to the considered models from literature, our model is capable to describe the mobility drop with scaling caused by significantly rough edges.

Abstract: Graphene nanosheets have recently received a revival of interest as a new class of ultrathin, high-flux, and energy-efficient sieving membranes because of their unique two-dimensional and atomically thin structure, good flexibility, and outstanding mechanical properties. However, for practical applications of graphene for advanced water purification and desalination technologies, the creation of well controlled, high-density, and subnanometer diameter pores becomes a key factor. Here, we conduct reactive force-field molecular dynamics simulations to study the effect of external strain on nanopore creation in the suspended graphene by bombardment with Si clusters. Depending on the size and energy of the clusters, different kinds of topography were observed in the graphene sheet. In all the considered conditions, tensile strain results in the creation of nanopores with regular shape and smooth edges. On the contrary, compressive strain increases the elastic response of graphene to irradiation that leads to the formation of net-like defective structures with predominantly carbon atom chains. Our findings show the possibility of creating controlled nanopores in strained graphene by bombardment with Si clusters. Published by AIP Publishing.

Abstract: Group II-VI semiconductor honeycomb monolayers have a noncentrosymmetric crystal structure and therefore are expected to be important for nano piezoelectric device applications. This motivated us to perform first principles calculations based on density functional theory to unveil the piezoelectric properties (i.e., piezoelectric stress (e(11)) and piezoelectric strain (d(11)) coefficients) of these monolayer materials with chemical formula MX (where M = Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Zr, Cd and X = S, Se, Te). We found that these two-dimensional materials have peculiar piezoelectric properties with d(11) coefficients 1 order of magnitude larger than those of commercially utilized bulk materials. A clear trend in their piezoelectric properties emerges, which

Abstract: Hall probe magnetometry has been used to investigate the magnetization of individual cylindrically shaped Pb nanowires grown by electrocrystallization on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrode. These measurements have been interpreted by comparison with three-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau (GL) calculations for nanowires with our sample parameters. We find that the measured superheating field and the critical field for surface superconductivity are strongly influenced by the temperature-dependent coherence length, ξ(T) and penetration depth λ(T) and their relationship to the nanowire diameter. As the temperature is increased toward Tc this drives a change in the superconductor-normal transition from first order irreversible to first order reversible and finally second order reversible. We find that the geometrical flux confinement in our type-I nanowires leads to the formation of a one-dimensional row of single-quantum vortices. While GL calculations show a quite uniform distribution of vortices in thin nanowires, clear vortex bunching is found as the diameter increases, suggesting a transition to a more classical type-I behavior. Subtle changes in minor magnetization loops also indicate that slightly different flux configurations can form with the same vorticity, which depend on the sample history.

Abstract: Here we summarize results from our study of the critical depinning current J(c) versus the applied magnetic flux Phi, for: (i) quasiperiodic (QP) one-dimensional (1D) chains and (ii) 2D arrays of pinning centers placed on the nodes of a five-fold Penrose lattice. In 1D QP chains, the peaks in J(c)(Phi) are determined by a sequence of harmonics of the long and short segments of the chain. The critical current J(c)(Phi) has a remarkable self-similarity. In 2D QP pinning arrays, we predict analytically and numerically the main features of J(c)(Phi), and demonstrate that the Penrose lattice of pinning sites provides an enormous enhancement of J(c)(Phi), even compared to triangular and random pinning site arrays. This huge increase in J(c)(Phi) could be useful for applications. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Herein, using first-principles calculations the structural and electronic properties of the Ti(2)CO(2)MXene monolayer with and without oxygen vacancies are systematically investigated with different defect concentrations and patterns, including partial, linear, local, and hexagonal types. The Ti(2)CO(2)monolayer is found to be a semiconductor with a bandgap of 0.35 eV. The introduction of oxygen vacancies tends to increase the bandgap and leads to electronic phase transitions from nonmagnetic semiconductors to half-metals. Moreover, the semiconducting characteristic of O-vacancy Ti(2)CO(2)can be adjusted via electric fields, strain, and F-atom substitution. In particular, an electric field can be used to alter the nonmagnetic semiconductor of O-vacancy Ti(2)CO(2)into a magnetic one or into a half-metal, whereas the electronic phase transition from a semiconductor to metal can be achieved by applying strain and F-atom substitution. The results provide a useful guide for practical applications of O-vacancy Ti(2)CO(2)monolayers in nanoelectronic and spinstronic nanodevices.

Abstract: Heterostructure tunnel field-effect transistors (HTFET) are promising candidates for low-power applications in future technology nodes, as they are predicted to offer high on-currents, combined with a sub-60 mV/dec subthreshold swing. However, the effects of important quantum mechanical phenomena like size confinement at the heterojunction are not well understood, due to the theoretical and computational difficulties in modeling realistic heterostructures. We therefore present a ballistic quantum transport formalism, combining a novel envelope function approach for semiconductor heterostructures with the multiband quantum transmitting boundary method, which we extend to 2D potentials. We demonstrate an implementation of a 2-band version of the formalism and apply it to study confinement in realistic heterostructure diodes and p-n-i-n HTFETs. For the diodes, both transmission probabilities and current densities are found to decrease with stronger confinement. For the p-n-i-n HTFETs, the improved gate control is found to counteract the deterioration due to confinement. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Abstract: Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is considered as an ideal semiconductor material for solid-state neutron detector, owing to its large neutron scattering section because of the low atomic number of B and excellent physical properties. Here we study the influence of neutron irradiation on crystal structure and on intermediate energy state (IMES) levels induced by the presence of impurities and defects in hBN. Large-size and thick pyrolytic and hot-pressed hBN (PBN and HBN) samples, which can be directly applied for neutron detector devices, are prepared and bombarded by neutrons with different irradiation fluences. The SEM and TEM are used to observe the sample difference of PBN and HBN. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy are applied to examine the influence of neutron irradiation on lattice structures along different crystal directions of PBN and HBN samples. Photoluminescence (PL) is employed to study the effect of neutron irradiation on IMESs in these samples. We find that the neutron irradiation does not alter the in-plane lattice structures of both PBN and HBN samples, but it can release the inter-layer tensions induced by sample growth of the PBN samples. Interestingly and surprisingly, the neutron irradiation does not affect the IMES levels responsible for PL generation, where PL is attributed mainly from phonon-assisted radiative electron-hole coupling for both PBN and HBN samples. Furthermore, the results indicate that the neutron irradiation can weaken the effective carrier-phonon coupling and exciton transitions in PBN and HBN samples. Overall, both PBN and HBN samples show some degree of the resistance to neutron irradiation in terms of these basic physical properties. The interesting and important findings from this work can help us to gain an in-depth understanding of the influence of neutron irradiation on basic physical properties of hBN materials. These effects can be taken into account when designing and applying the hBN materials for neutron detectors.

Abstract: High-performance rechargeable batteries are becoming very important for high-end technologies with their ever increasing application areas. Hence, improving the performance of such batteries has become the main bottleneck to transferring high-end technologies to end users. In this study, we propose an argon intercalation strategy to enhance battery performance via engineering the interlayer spacing of honeycomb structures such as graphite, a common electrode material in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, we systematically investigated the LIB performance of graphite and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) when argon atoms were sent into between their layers by using first-principles density-functional-theory calculations. Our results showed enhanced lithium binding for graphite and h-BN structures when argon atoms were intercalated. The increased interlayer space doubles the gravimetric lithium capacity for graphite, while the volumetric capacity also increased by around 20% even though the volume was also increased. The ab initio molecular dynamics simulations indicate the thermal stability of such graphite structures against any structural transformation and Li release. The nudged-elastic-band calculations showed that the migration energy barriers were drastically lowered, which promises fast charging capability for batteries containing graphite electrodes. Although a similar level of battery promise was not achieved for h-BN material, its enhanced battery capabilities by argon intercalation also support that the argon intercalation strategy can be a viable route to enhance such honeycomb battery electrodes.

Abstract: Hot-electron transport is studied for a two-dimensional electron gas coupled to longitudinal-optical phonons in crossed electric and magnetic fields. At low electric and high magnetic fields the electrons are accumulated, while at high electric fields they are in a streaming state. We develop a streaming-to-accumulation transition model and compare the results with that from a Monte Carlo simulation.

Abstract: http://cmt.ua.ac.be/hsahin/publishedpapers/46.pdf