中国物理B ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (11): 118103-118103.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/26/11/118103

• INTERDISCIPLINARY PHYSICS AND RELATED AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY • 上一篇    下一篇

An easy way to controllably synthesize one-dimensional SmB6 topological insulator nanostructures and exploration of their field emission applications

Xun Yang(杨汛), Hai-Bo Gan(甘海波), Yan Tian(田颜), Ning-Sheng Xu(许宁生), Shao-Zhi Deng(邓少芝), Jun Chen(陈军), Huanjun Chen(陈焕君), Shi-Dong Liang(梁世东), Fei Liu(刘飞)   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
  • 收稿日期:2017-08-07 修回日期:2017-08-16 出版日期:2017-11-05 发布日期:2017-11-05
  • 基金资助:

    Project supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB933601), National Project for the Development of Key Scientific Apparatus of China (Grant No. 2013YQ12034506), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China, the Science and Technology Department of Guangdong Province, China, the Education Department of Guangdong Province, China, and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. 2016A030313313).

An easy way to controllably synthesize one-dimensional SmB6 topological insulator nanostructures and exploration of their field emission applications

Xun Yang(杨汛), Hai-Bo Gan(甘海波), Yan Tian(田颜), Ning-Sheng Xu(许宁生), Shao-Zhi Deng(邓少芝), Jun Chen(陈军), Huanjun Chen(陈焕君), Shi-Dong Liang(梁世东), Fei Liu(刘飞)   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
  • Received:2017-08-07 Revised:2017-08-16 Online:2017-11-05 Published:2017-11-05
  • Contact: Fei Liu E-mail:liufei@mail.sysu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    Project supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB933601), National Project for the Development of Key Scientific Apparatus of China (Grant No. 2013YQ12034506), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China, the Science and Technology Department of Guangdong Province, China, the Education Department of Guangdong Province, China, and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. 2016A030313313).

摘要:

A convenient fabrication technique for samarium hexaboride (SmB6) nanostructures (nanowires and nanopencils) is developed, combining magnetron-sputtering and chemical vapor deposition. Both nanostructures are proven to be single crystals with cubic structure, and they both grow along the[001] direction. Formation of both nanostructures is attributed to the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism, and the content of boron vapor is proposed to be the reason for their different morphologies at various evaporation distances. Field emission (FE) measurements show that the maximum current density of both the as-grown nanowires and nanopencils can be several hundred μA/cm2, and their FN plots deviate only slightly from a straight line. Moreover, we prefer the generalized Schottky-Nordheim (SN) model to comprehend the difference in FE properties between the nanowires and nanopencils. The results reveal that the nonlinearity of FN plots is attributable to the effect of image potential on the FE process, which is almost independent of the morphology of the nanostructures. All the research results suggest that the SmB6 nanostructures would have a more promising future in the FE area if their surface oxide layer was eliminated in advance.

关键词: one-dimensional SmB6 nanostructures, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), field emission (FE), image potential

Abstract:

A convenient fabrication technique for samarium hexaboride (SmB6) nanostructures (nanowires and nanopencils) is developed, combining magnetron-sputtering and chemical vapor deposition. Both nanostructures are proven to be single crystals with cubic structure, and they both grow along the[001] direction. Formation of both nanostructures is attributed to the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism, and the content of boron vapor is proposed to be the reason for their different morphologies at various evaporation distances. Field emission (FE) measurements show that the maximum current density of both the as-grown nanowires and nanopencils can be several hundred μA/cm2, and their FN plots deviate only slightly from a straight line. Moreover, we prefer the generalized Schottky-Nordheim (SN) model to comprehend the difference in FE properties between the nanowires and nanopencils. The results reveal that the nonlinearity of FN plots is attributable to the effect of image potential on the FE process, which is almost independent of the morphology of the nanostructures. All the research results suggest that the SmB6 nanostructures would have a more promising future in the FE area if their surface oxide layer was eliminated in advance.

Key words: one-dimensional SmB6 nanostructures, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), field emission (FE), image potential

中图分类号:  (Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization)

  • 81.07.-b
81.15.Gh (Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced CVD, MOCVD, ALD, etc.)) 79.70.+q (Field emission, ionization, evaporation, and desorption) 73.20.-r (Electron states at surfaces and interfaces)