Cheng-Lun Hsin

National Central University | NCU · Department of Electrical Engineering

In this study, we present the fabrication and thermoelectric properties of MgAgSb composites. The fabrication process was based on the concept of nanoparticle engineering. Mg3Sb2 and Ag3Sb nanopowders were first synthesized and subsequently used for MgAgSb formation. The effects of Mg2Cu, Mg2Ni, and Mg2Sn as doping species on thermoelectric propert...

Thermoelectric materials are considered promising candidates for thermal energy conversion. This study presents the fabrication of Zn– and Ce–alloyed In2O3 with a porous structure. The electrical conductivity was improved by the alloying effect and an ultra–low thermal conductivity was observed owing to the porous structure, which concomitantly pro...

Thermoelectric materials have attracted considerable attention in recent decades due to their thermal energy conversion. Suppression of the thermal conductivity and enhancement of the figure of merit (ZT) can be achieved through porosity and nanoengineering. This paper reports the fabrication of compact and porous Mg2(SiSn) flakes in the submillime...

The synergy of photonic and electronic signal transmission in the near-infrared spectrum is an ideal solution for optoelectronic integrated circuits in high-speed communication systems. In this study, we fabricated high-quality germanium mesa on Si by rapid-melting growth technique for a PIN photodetector. The quality of Ge was investigated through...

Waste heat scavenging and IC hot spot cooling have been important topics of investigation for many decades. In this study, a novel sub-millimeter silicide/Si nanowires/Ag paste thermoelectric device is fabricated and its thermoelectric properties from 25 to 200 °C are studied. Polyimide packaging between the nanowires was used to enhance the mechan...

In this report, α-In2Se3 single-crystal nanobelts and nanowires were grown in the thermal chemical vapor deposition furnace. The growth direction of the nanobelts was identified by standard microscopy techniques and was along the in-plane direction, while that of the nanowire was along the c-axis. The temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of t...

Herein, we report the formation of buffer-free germanium (Ge) on silicon by a two-step rapid melting growth technique for separate absorption and multiplication (SAM) avalanche photodetectors (APDs) as well as its characteristic measurements. The quality of the Ge film was verified by standard electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The high-qu...

VO2(B) nanobelts were grown by a vapor transport and condensation method in a furnace and identified by standard electron microscopy methods. A phase transition process from VO2(B) to VO2(M1) was made possible under electron beam irradiation. To identify the phase transition, the variations of the phase and diffraction pattern were recorded for the...

Thermal conductivity is an intriguing physical property in the nanometer or quantum regime. In this study, we report the growth and thermal conductivity of β-FeSi2 thin film and single crystalline nanowires. The sample structures and chemical composition were identified by standard microscopy techniques. The temperature-dependent thermal conductivi...

Ultra-thin epitaxial silicides were formed and their structures were examined by electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The epitaxial relationship between the silicides and Si was discovered and examined by electron diffraction patterns. The thickness of the silicide can be controlled by a double-sputtering process, rather than by the amount of...

Graphene has demonstrated its potential in several practical applications owing to its remarkable electronic and physical properties. In this study, we successfully fabricated a suspended graphene device with a width down to 20 nm. The morphological evolution of graphene under various electric field effects was systematically examined using an in-s...

High figure-of-merit (ZT) thermoelectric (TE) materials that efficiently convert heat into electricity have attracted great attention for providing a promising solution to sustainable energy technology. For a high performance TE material, the concurrent of low thermal conductivity (κ) and high electrical conductivity (σ) is essential since ZT incre...

In this report, Si5Ge5 alloy and Si/Ge composite quantum dots (CQDs) layers were grown on Si substrates. Seebeck coefficient (S) of Si and Ge wafers, as well as these two samples, were patterned and measured from 60 to 180 °C in [110] and [010] directions. For Si, Ge, and Si5Ge5, the S of each is a constant in this temperature range. However, the S...

The advanced back-end module of very-large-scale-integrated-circuits (VLSIs) requires an ultrathin diffusion barrier layer between the Cu interconnect and low-K oxides. In this letter, we investigated the electrical properties of the barrier layer formed by a Ta-Mn alloy on SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http:/...

Ultra-thin epitaxial NiSi2 was formed, and its structure was examined by electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. Compared with previous reports, the measured resistivity of the epitaxial NiSi2 was unprecedentedly low, reaching 7 μΩ cm in the experimental results and up to 14.93 μΩ cm after modification. The reliability, which was investigated un...

The elastic modulus of multilayer graphene is found to be more robust to damage created by high-energy α-particle irradiation as compared to monolayer graphene. Theoretical analysis indicates that irradiation of multilayer graphene generates interlayer links that potentially increase the stiffness of the multilayer by passivating local defects.

Germanium-based optoelectronic devices have the potential applications in optical communication and detections. In this letter, we demonstrated that high-quality Ge quasi-epilayer can be achieved by rapid-melting-growth and integrated-circuit compatible process. Raman and microscopy techniques revealed that the as-deposited Ge on the silicon substr...

NiCo (10 at.% of Co) alloy was employed for the formation of the metal silicide and germanosilicide as the contact layer for future CMOS source/drain. The resistivity and structure evolution of NiCo silicide and germanosilicide were investigated, and the performance of the NiCo silicide is better than conventional NiSi and comparable with NiPt sili...

The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of individual Au/In2O3 bilayered nanowires on a quartz substrate is investigated using dark-field scattering spectroscopy. The In2O3 nanowires are grown along the [422] direction via a self-forming process by surface diffusion, and the zone axis is found to be in the [111] direction. The samples are co...

Regularly distributed dislocation networks with a controllable spacing have been formed by wafer bonding. Different kinds of Si bicrystals were fabricated by (001), (111) and (110) Si wafers bonded with (001) silicon-on-insulator (SOI). NiSi2 formed on the bicrystal was found to be affected by the underlying dislocation arrays, confined by the disl...

Resistive random access memory (ReRAM) has been considered the most promising next-generation non-volatile memory. In recent years, the switching behavior has been widely reported and understanding the switching mechanism can improve the stability and scalability of devices. We designed an innovative sample structure for in-situ transmission electr...

In this article, we report the synthesis of single-crystalline nickel silicide nanowires (NWs) via chemical vapor deposition method using NiCl2.6H2O as a single-source precursor. Various morphologies of delta-Ni2Si NWs were successfully acquired by controlling the growth conditions. The growth mechanism of the delta-Ni2Si NWs was thoroughly discuss...

Copper silicide has been studied in the applications of electronic devices and catalysts. In this study, Cu3Si/Si nanowire heterostructures were fabricated through solid state reaction in an in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM). The dynamic diffusion of the copper atoms in the growth process and the formation mechanism are characterized....

Thermoelectric materials have attracted much attention due to the current interest in energy conversion and recent advancements in nano-engineering. A simple approach to synthesize BiTe and Bi2Te3 micro/nanowires was developed by combining solution chemistry reactions and catalyst-free vapor-solid growth. A pathway to transform the as-grown BiTe na...

Resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) has been of wide interest for its potential to replace flash memory in the next-generation nonvolatile memory roadmap. In this study, we have fabricated the Au/ZnO-nanowire/Au nano-memory device by electron beam lithography, and subsequently utilized in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to observe th...

The delicate balance between elastic energy and electrostatic energy in highly strained BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films results in complex mixed-phase patterns, which poses significant challenges for theoretical understanding and complicates the realization of its full potential in magnetoelectric, electromechanical, and photovoltaic devices. In this lette...

We report the melting behaviours of ZnO nanowire by heating ZnO-Al(2)O(3) core-shell heterostructures to form Al(2)O(3) nanotubes in an in situ ultrahigh vacuum transmission electron microscope (UHV-TEM). When the ZnO-Al(2)O(3) core-shell nanowire heterostructures were annealed at 600 °C under electron irradiation, the amorphous Al(2)O(3) shell bec...

Single-crystalline germanium nanowires were synthesized via vapor–liquid–solid mechanism. The characteristics of the Ge nanowires were investigated by a transmission electron microscope to identify the [111] growth direction. The Ge nanowire-based field-effect-transistors on Si3N4 dielectrics were fabricated, showing a p-type semiconducting behavio...

Well-aligned ZnO nanowires (NWs) were successfully synthesized on Si(100) by the process of carbothermal reduction and vapor-liquid-solid method. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy results confirmed that ZnO NWs were single crystalline wurtzite structures and grew along the [0001] direction. The influences of substrat...

In this article, ZnO nanostructures were synthesized via the hydrothermal method which used ZnCl(2) and HMTA mixed solution as the precursor. A multistep growth was adopted to improve the growth restriction of a closed system, not only the length but also the aspect ratio were increased with steps of growth, and the shape of nanorods maintained int...

Single-crystalline Genanowires have been synthesized on Au-coated Si substrates through a thermal evaporation, condensation method and vapor–liquid–solid mechanism. The [111] growth direction of the Genanowires was analyzed using HRTEM and fast Fourier transform diffraction patterns. Global back-gated Genanowire field-effect transistors (FETs) on t...

With the miniaturization of electron devices, the minuscule structures are important to state-of-the-art science and technology. Therefore, the growth methods and properties of nanomaterials have been extensively studied recently. Here, we use chemical vapor transport (CVT) methods to synthesize single-crystalline cobalt silicide nanowires (NWs) by...

In(2)Se(3) is an essential phase change material and CuInSe(2) is the fundamental basis of the copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) solar energy material. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility to transform the phase change material to the solar energy material via the solid state reaction. The In(2)Se(3) nanobelts (NBs) were synthesized...

A nanotemplate of Si bicrystal was fabricated by wafer bonding. The surface electronic energy arrangement on the surface of the Si bicrystal has been measured by scanning tunneling microscopy. The stress effect on the stepped growth of titanium silicidenanorods on Si bicrystal was observed in an ultrahigh vacuum transmission electron microscope in...

A new approach to form the In2O3 nanorings (NRs) has been proven by tailoring the difference between property of metal and metal oxide. The formation process of the In2O3 NRs is proposed to be resulted form a subtle competition between the oxidation and evaporation of indium at the rim and center, respectively. Patterned In2O3 NRs have been grown o...

Single-crystalline cobalt silicide/SiO(x) nanocables have been grown on Co thin films on an SiO(2) layer by a self-catalysis process via vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. The nanocables consist of a core of CoSi nanowires and a silicon oxide shell with a length of several tens of micrometers. In the confined space in the oxide shell, the CoSi phase is...

A manipulation probe and an atomic force microscope (SFM) tip was used to investigate the mechanical behavior of a single silicon nanowires (SiNW) under bulking and bending conditions. The results show that under a homogeneous strain, the NW would become semicircular at the maximum deformation and its value is found to be ca. 1.5%. An increase in c...

Regularly distributed dislocation network with a controllable spacing could be formed by wafer bonding. Different kinds of Si bicrystals were fabricated by (001), (111) and (110) Si wafers bonded with (001) SOI. NiSi2 formed on the bicrystal was found to be affected by the underlying dislocation arrays. The nanostructures were confined by the dislo...

Erbium-doped silicon nanowires have been grown via a vapor transport and condensation method with ErCl3∙6H2O powder as part of the source in one step. The Er-doped silicon nanowires exhibit the room temperature photoluminescence at a wavelength of 1.54 μm, ideal for optical communication. From I-V measurements, the resistivity of 4.2 at. % Er-doped...

Lateral orientated growth of In2O3 nanowire (NW) and nanorod (NR) arrays has been achieved by a vapor transport and condensation method on (001) and (111) surfaces of Si substrates. The single crystalline In2O3 NWs and NRs were grown along [211] in parallel to the Si +/-[110] and lying in the substrate plane. The electrical measurements show that t...

The use of an n-type ZnO Nanowire (NW) to produce a p-n junction that served as a diode, was analyzed. In situ I-V measurements and the manipulation of ZnO NWs were carried out in an multiprobe nanoelectronics measurement (MPNEM) system. The two-terminal method was applied for electrical transport measurements at high vacuum to minimize influences...

Dynamic study of the growth of TiSi2 nanorods on Si bicrystal was conducted in an ultrahigh vacuum transmission electron microscope. The growth of the nanorods was affected by the underlying dislocation grids significantly. The dislocation grids confined the shape of the nanoclusters and nanorods. Compared to the time of the nanorod remaining at th...

The growth of In2O3 nanowires on Si substrate with different zinc doping levels has been achieved by a vapor transport and condensation method. The atomic percentage in doping level is approximately proportional to the weight of ZnO powder added in the source. The ultraviolet (UV) and green light photoemissions of the In2O3 nanowires are depressed...

Beaklike SnO2 nanorods were synthesized by a vapor-liquid-solid approach using Au as a catalyst. The nanorods grow along the [10 1] direction and the beak is formed by switching the growth direction to [1 12] through controlling the growth conditions at the end of the synthesis. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the nanorods exhibits visible l...

Self-assembled single-crystal nanorings (NRs), as small as 10 nm, on Si and Si-Ge alloys have been fabricated by the mediation of Au nanodots. Si-Ge thin films were transformed into Si-Ge nanorings (silicon nanorings doped with controlled amount of Ge) with the assistance of Au catalysts deposited directly onto the thin film with a simple process....

The growth of high-density Si nanorings has been achieved on ultrathin Au films on silicon substrate. Nanorings, which are gold-free and epitaxially grown on (001) Si, had a narrow distribution of height and diameter of 1.4±0.3 and 24.9±4.0 nm, with a density of 4.3×1010 cm−2. In situ ultrahigh-vacuum transmission electron microscopy revealed that...

Self-assembled In2O3 nanocrystal chains have been synthesized by a vapor transport and condensation method. The nanocrystal chains were straight and with diameters of 100 200 nm. The nanocrystal and nanowire were found to be of the same orientation. The pyramid and triangular slab-like nanostructures were also found and discussed. The possible form...

A technique has been developed to transform a Si-Ge thin film into Si-Ge oxide nanowires with the assistance of Au particles through a three-step annealing process. A honeycomb network of Au colloidal nanoparticles was self-assembled; 400°C annealing removes the surface surfactant; 800°C annealing forms hexagonally self-assembled Au particles on th...