A large amount of work world-wide has been directed towards obtaining an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of porous Si. Much progress has been made following the demonstration in 1990 that highly porous material could emit very efficient visible photoluminescence at room temperature. Since that time, all features of the structural, optical and electronic properties of the material have been subjected to in-depth scrutiny. It is the purpose of the present review to survey the work which has been carried out and to detail the level of understanding which has been attained. The key importance of crystalline Si nanostructures in determining the behaviour of porous Si is highlighted. The fabrication of solid-state electroluminescent devices is a prominent goal of many studies and the impressive progress in this area is described.

The structural and luminescence properties of porous silicon

Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is emerging as a viable candidate for certain classes of power electronics, solar blind UV photodetectors, solar cells, and sensors with capabilities beyond existing technologies due to its large bandgap. It is usually reported that there are five different polymorphs of Ga2O3, namely, the monoclinic (β-Ga2O3), rhombohedral (α), defective spinel (γ), cubic (δ), or orthorhombic (e) structures. Of these, the β-polymorph is the stable form under normal conditions and has been the most widely studied and utilized. Since melt growth techniques can be used to grow bulk crystals of β-GaO3, the cost of producing larger area, uniform substrates is potentially lower compared to the vapor growth techniques used to manufacture bulk crystals of GaN and SiC. The performance of technologically important high voltage rectifiers and enhancement-mode Metal-Oxide Field Effect Transistors benefit from the larger critical electric field of β-Ga2O3 relative to either SiC or GaN. However, the absence of clear demonstrations of p-type doping in Ga2O3, which may be a fundamental issue resulting from the band structure, makes it very difficult to simultaneously achieve low turn-on voltages and ultra-high breakdown. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances in the growth, processing, and device performance of the most widely studied polymorph, β-Ga2O3. The role of defects and impurities on the transport and optical properties of bulk, epitaxial, and nanostructures material, the difficulty in p-type doping, and the development of processing techniques like etching, contact formation, dielectrics for gate formation, and passivation are discussed. Areas where continued development is needed to fully exploit the properties of Ga2O3 are identified.

A review of Ga2O3 materials, processing, and devices

A biosensor has been developed based on induced wavelength shifts in the Fabry-Perot fringes in the visible-light reflection spectrum of appropriately derivatized thin films of porous silicon semiconductors. Binding of molecules induced changes in the refractive index of the porous silicon. The validity and sensitivity of the system are demonstrated for small organic molecules (biotin and digoxigenin), 16-nucleotide DNA oligomers, and proteins (streptavidin and antibodies) at pico- and femtomolar analyte concentrations. The sensor is also highly effective for detecting single and multilayered molecular assemblies.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/278/5339/840.full.pdf

A Porous Silicon-Based Optical Interferometric Biosensor

This is a review article on the current status and future prospects of the research and development on gallium oxide (Ga2O3) power devices. Ga2O3 possesses excellent material properties, in particular for power device applications. It is also attractive from an industrial viewpoint since large-size, high-quality wafers can be manufactured from a single-crystal bulk synthesized by melt–growth methods. These two features have drawn much attention to Ga2O3 as a new wide bandgap semiconductor following SiC and GaN. In this review, we describe the recent progress in the research and development on fundamental technologies of Ga2O3 devices, covering single-crystal bulk and wafer production, homoepitaxial thin film growth by molecular beam epitaxy and halide vapor phase epitaxy, as well as device processing and characterization of metal–semiconductor field-effect transistors, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors and Schottky barrier diodes.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0268-1242/31/3/034001/pdf

Recent progress in Ga2O3 power devices

The first GaS nanosheet-based photodetectors are demonstrated on both mechanically rigid and flexible substrates. Highly crystalline, exfoliated GaS nanosheets are promising for optoelectronics due to strong absorption in the UV–visible wavelength region. Photocurrent measurements of GaS nanosheet photodetectors made on SiO2/Si substrates and flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates exhibit a photoresponsivity at 254 nm up to 4.2 AW–1 and 19.2 AW–1, respectively, which exceeds that of graphene, MoS2, or other 2D material-based devices. Additionally, the linear dynamic range of the devices on SiO2/Si and PET substrates are 97.7 dB and 78.73 dB, respectively. Both surpass that of currently exploited InGaAs photodetectors (66 dB). Theoretical modeling of the electronic structures indicates that the reduction of the effective mass at the valence band maximum (VBM) with decreasing sheet thickness enhances the carrier mobility of the GaS nanosheets, contributing to the high photocurrents. Double-pea...

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Highly Responsive Ultrathin GaS Nanosheet Photodetectors on Rigid and Flexible Substrates

Absorption and reflection spectra of β-Ga2O3 are measured with polarized light in the wavelength region near its absorption edge. The crystals of β-Ga2O3 are grown by using a Ga/HCl/O2/Ar vapor reaction system. The platelike crystals of β-Ga2O3 have (100), (010), and (001) surfaces, and the major surface is (100). The energies of the absorption edge are observed to be 4.90 eV for E//b, 4.54 eV for E//c, and 4.56 eV for E⊥b&c at room temperature. The energies for E//b and for E//c at 77 K are larger than those at room temperature by 40 meV and 220 meV, respectively. Reflection minima are observed at 5.06 eV and 5.30 eV for E//b, and at 4.63 eV and 5.30 eV for E//c at room temperature.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1143/JJAP.13.1578/pdf

Absorption and Reflection of Vapor Grown Single Crystal Platelets of β-Ga2O3

The photoluminescence and optical absorption properties of Zn‐doped GaS crystals prepared by the iodine vapor transport method are reported. Undoped GaS crystals are also used for comparison. Zn substituted for a Ga site acts as an acceptor having a deep energy level and forms a complex with the iodine coactivator, which can be the luminescence center. When increasing the charged amount of Zn, the near‐blue emission band of 2.47 eV at 97 K becomes dominant, while the 2.17‐eV emission band due to the Ga vacancies, which is dominant in the undoped crystals, gradually vanishes because of the reduction of the Ga vacancies. It is thus described that Zn is a promising dopant in GaS for near‐blue‐light‐emitting devices.

Near‐blue photoluminescence of Zn‐doped GaS single crystals

The peak frequency of the dielectric loss angle of gas molecules adsorbed in a porous silicon gas sensor having a 2.4 nm pore radius is found to vary inversely proportional to the third power of the gas molecular radius. Peak frequency is extremely sensitive to the pore radius, becoming about one order of magnitude higher for a pore radius of 1 nm. The temperature dependence of the peak frequency in the range of 0 to 25 °C was also determined.

Gas identification by a single gas sensor using porous silicon as the sensitive material

In a previous experiment, it was shown that a gas identification sensor using porous silicon necessitated more than 60% concentration for identification. In the present study, it was shown by means of an experiment using water vapor that the concentration limit for gas identification may be controlled by changing the sensor temperature. In addition, the possibility of quantitative analysis of gas identification in which the sensor temperature is taken as a new parameter was proposed.

Identification of Water Molecules in Low Humidity and Possibility of Quantitative Gas Analysis using Porous Silicon Gas Sensor

Three lifetime components, one of which is extremely long (25±2 ns), have been observed in experimental studies of positron annihilation in porous silicon, made by anodization in hydrofluoric acid. The Doppler‐broadened spectrum of the porous silicon is sharp compared with that of crystal silicon and becomes even narrower in an applied magnetic field. The positronium yield in the porous silicon therefore is concluded from the long lifetime, narrow Doppler spectrum and its narrowing in a magnetic field. The porous structure is the cause of positronium formation.

Akira Kinoshita

Papers

Absorption and Reflection of Vapor Grown Single Crystal Platelets of β-Ga2O3

Near‐blue photoluminescence of Zn‐doped GaS single crystals

Gas identification by a single gas sensor using porous silicon as the sensitive material

Identification of Water Molecules in Low Humidity and Possibility of Quantitative Gas Analysis using Porous Silicon Gas Sensor

Positron annihilation in porous silicon