Band gap maps beyond the delocalization limit: correlation between optical band gaps and plasmon energies at the nanoscale

Recent progresses in nanoscale semiconductor technology have heightened the need for measurements of band gaps with high spatial resolution. Band gap mapping can be performed through a combination of probe-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and monochromated electron energy-l...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2018-01, Vol.8 (1), p.848-7, Article 848
Main Authors: Zhan, Wei, Venkatachalapathy, Vishnukanthan, Aarholt, Thomas, Kuznetsov, Andrej Yu, Prytz, Øystein
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/357/995
639/301/930/12
Band gap
Data processing
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Spatial discrimination
Spectroscopy
Transmission electron microscopy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recent progresses in nanoscale semiconductor technology have heightened the need for measurements of band gaps with high spatial resolution. Band gap mapping can be performed through a combination of probe-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and monochromated electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), but are rare owing to the complexity of the experiments and the data analysis. Furthermore, although this method is far superior in terms of spatial resolution to any other techniques, it is still fundamentally resolution-limited due to inelastic delocalization of the EELS signal. In this work we have established a quantitative correlation between optical band gaps and plasmon energies using the Zn 1− x Cd x O/ZnO system as an example, thereby side-stepping the fundamental resolution limits of band gap measurements, and providing a simple and convenient approach to achieve band gap maps with unprecedented spatial resolution.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-18949-9