Abstract: The spin-polarized transport property of a diluted magnetic semiconductor two-dimensional electron gas is investigated theoretically at low temperature. A large current polarization can be found in this system even at small magnetic fields and oscillates with increasing magnetic field while the carrier polarization is vanishingly small. The magnitude as well as the sign of the current polarization can be tuned by varying magnetic field, the electron density and the Mn concentration. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract: It was recently shown that the electronic band alignment in lateral two-dimensional heterostructures is strongly dependent on the system geometry, such as heterostructure width and layer thickness. This is so even in the absence of polar edge terminations because of the appearance of an interface dipole between the two different materials. In this study, this work is expanded to include two-dimensional materials that possess an electronic dipole over their surface, i.e., in the direction transverse to the crystal plane. To this end, a heterostucture consisting of polar hydrofluorinated graphene and non-polar graphane layers is studied with first-principles calculations. As for nonpolar heterostructures, a significant geometry dependence is observed with two different limits for the band offset. For infinitely wide heterostructures, the potential step in the vacuum is equally divided over the two sides of the heterostructure, resulting in a finite potential step in the heterostructure. For infinitely thick heterostructure slabs, on the other hand, the band offset is reduced, similar to the three-dimensional case.

Abstract: Moire patterns in the pseudo-magnetic field and in the strain profile of graphene (GE) when put on top of a hexagonal lattice substrate are predicted from elasticity theory. The van der Waals interaction between GE and the substrate induces out-of-plane deformations in graphene which results in a strain field, and consequently in a pseudo-magnetic field. When the misorientation angle is about 0.5 degrees, a three-fold symmetric strain field is realized that results in a pseudo-magnetic field very similar to the one proposed by F. Guinea, M. I. Katsnelson, and A. K. Geim [Nature Phys. 6, 30 (2010)]. Our results show that the periodicity and length of the pseudo-magnetic field can be tuned in GE by changing the misorientation angle and substrate adhesion parameters and a considerable energy gap (23 meV) can be obtained due to out-of-plane deformation of graphene which is in the range of recent experimental measurements (20-30 meV). (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Abstract: The Hall (R-H) and bend (R-B) resistances of a graphene Hall bar structure containing a pn-junction are calculated when in the ballistic regime. The simulations are done using the billiard model. Introducing a pn-junction-dividing the Hall bar geometry in two regions-leads to two distinct regimes exhibiting very different physics: (1) both regions are of n-type and (2) one region is n-type and the other p-type. In regime (1), a “Hall plateau”-an enhancement of the resistance-appears for R-H. On the other hand, in regime (2), we found a negative R-H, which approaches zero for large B. The bend resistance is highly asymmetric in regime (2) and the resistance increases with increasing magnetic field B in one direction while it reduces to zero in the other direction. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4704667]

Abstract: The buckling of defected rectangular graphene nanoribbons when subjected to axial stress with supported boundary conditions is investigated using atomistic simulations. The buckling strain and mechanical stiffness of monolayer graphene decrease with the percentage of randomly distributed vacancies. The elasticity to plasticity transition in the stress-strain curve, at low percentage of vacancies, are found to be almost equal to the buckling strain thresholds and they decrease with increasing percentage of vacancies.

Abstract: Being the working principle of a tunnel field-effect transistor, band-to-band tunneling is given a rigorous quantum mechanical treatment to incorporate confinement effects, multiple electron and hole valleys, and interactions with phonons. The model reveals that the strong band bending near the gate dielectric, required to create short tunnel paths, results in quantization of the energy bands. Comparison with semiclassical models reveals a big shift in the onset of tunneling. The effective mass difference of the distinct valleys is found to reduce the subthreshold swing steepness.

Abstract: We demonstrate the feasibility of coincidence measurements on a conventional transmission electron microscope, revealing the temporal
correlation between electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy events. We make use of a
delay line detector with ps-range time resolution attached to a modified EELS spectrometer. We demonstrate that coincidence between both
events, related to the excitation and deexcitation of atoms in a crystal, provides added information not present in the individual EELS or
EDX spectra. In particular, the method provides EELS with a significantly suppressed or even removed background, overcoming the many
difficulties with conventional parametric background fitting as it uses no assumptions on the shape of the background, requires no user input
and does not suffer from counting noise originating from the background signal. This is highly attractive, especially when low concentrations
of elements need to be detected in a matrix of other elements.

Abstract: Transition metal oxide-based resistor random access memory (RRAM) takes advantage of oxygen-related defects in its principle of operation. Since the change in resistivity of the material is controlled by the oxygen deficiency level, it is of major importance to quantify the kinetics of the oxygen diffusion, key factor for oxide stoichiometry. Ab initio accelerated molecular dynamics techniques are employed to investigate the oxygen diffusivity in amorphous hafnia (HfOx, x = 1.97, 1.0, 0.5). The computed kinetics is in agreement with experimental measurements. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3697690]

Abstract: A first-principles modeling approach is used to investigate the vibrational properties of HfO2. The calculated phonon density of states is compared to experimental results obtained from inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) of various metal-oxide-semiconductor devices with HfO2 gate stacks. This comparison provides deep insights into the nature of the signatures of the complicated IETS spectra and provides valuable structural information about the gate stack, such as the possible presence of oxygen vacancies in jet-vapour deposited HfO2. Important structural differences between the interface of atomic-layer or molecular-beam deposited HfO2 and the Si substrate are also revealed.

Abstract: A magnetron discharge is characterized by drifts of the charged particles guiding center, caused by the magnetic field, in contrast to unmagnetized discharges. Because of these drifts, a pronounced asymmetry of the discharge can be observed in a dual magnetron setup. In this work, it is found that the shape of the discharge in a dual magnetron configuration depends on the magnetic field configuration. In a closed configuration, strong drifts were observed in one preferential direction, whereas in a mirror configuration the deflection of the discharge was not so pronounced. Our calculations confirm experimental observations.

Abstract: The magneto- and Hall resistance of a locally gated cross shaped graphene Hall bar is calculated. The edge of the top gate is placed diagonally across the center of the Hall cross. Four-probe resistance is calculated using the Landauer-Büttiker formalism, while the transmission coefficients are obtained using the non-equilibrium Green's function approach. The interplay between transport due to edge channels and snake states is investigated. When two edge channels are occupied, we predict oscillations in the Hall and the bend resistance as function of the magnetic field, which are a consequence of quantum interference between the occupied snake states.

Abstract: The electron bounce resonance heating (BRH) in dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas operated in oxygen and argon has been studied by different experimental methods. In comparison with the electropositive argon discharge, the BRH in an electronegative discharge occurs at larger electrode gaps. Kinetic particle simulations reveal that in the oxygen discharge, the bulk electric field becomes quite strong and is out of phase with the sheath field. Therefore, it retards the resonant electrons when traversing the bulk, resulting in a suppressed BRH. This effect becomes more pronounced at lower high-frequency power, when the discharge mode changes from electropositive to electronegative.

Abstract: The two-dimensional (2D) transition metal trihalide (TMX3, X = Cl, Br, I) family has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to the realization of CrCl3, CrBr3, and CrI3 monolayers. Up to now, the main focus of the theoretically predicted TMX3 monolayers has been on the Chern insulator states, which can realize the quantum anomalous Hall effect. Here, using first-principles calculations, we theoretically demonstrate that the stable OsCl3 monolayer has a ferromagnetic ground state and a spin-polarized Dirac point without spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which disappears in the band structure of a Janus OsBr1.5Cl1.5 monolayer. We find that OsCl3 exhibits in-plane magnetization when SOC is included. By manipulating the magnetization direction along the C-2 symmetry axis of the OsCl3 structure, a gapless half-Dirac semimetal state with SOC can be achieved, which is different from the gapped Chern insulator state. Both semimetal states of OsCl3 monolayer without and with SOC exhibit a linear half-Dirac point (twofold degenerate) with high Fermi velocities. The achievement of the 2D semimetal state with SOC is expected to be found in other TMX3 monolayers, and we confirm it in a TiCl3 monolayer. This provides a different perspective to study the band structure with SOC of the 2D TMX3 family.