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Magnetism in a solid | dia, para, ferro, or of other forms | originates majorly from its electrons; one could, infact, ignore the nuclear contribution. There are two types of electrons in a solid: bound, and free (also called itinerant). It is interesting to note that although several experimental techniques exist that measure the total magnetization/ susceptibility of a solid, no experiment directly probes the individual magnetic contributions from the bound and the itinerant electrons. In the past couple of decades, owing to the advent of sophisticated fabrication facilities, certain man-made, (ferro)magnetic materials have come into existence whose carrier concentrations can be tuned extrinsically: doped semiconductors like DMS (diluted magnetic semiconductors) and hexaborides are two such examples. However, whether the (ferro) magnetism in these materials originate from their itinerant carriers is still an open question. A conclusive answer to this question is eagerly awaited by the scientific community; the answer is not only supposed to solve debates related to the physics of ferromagnetism, but, also, should lend a helping hand in selecting right materials to build devices for upcoming exotic technologies such as Spintronics. A novel experimental technique is proposed in this work that directly measures the itinerant carrier magnetism of a solid. The technique is practically demonstrated on the bulk semiconductor: n-type GaAs. A Landau-Peierls itinerant (dia)magnetic susceptibility as low as 1 10 8 cm 3/mol | which is 10 3 times smaller than the magnetic background stemming from the bound electrons in the GaAs host lattice, and 10 times lower than the sensitivity limit of the SQUID | was clearly, and reproducibly detected from samples having carrier concentrations as low as 5 10 15 cm 3. The technique relies on measurements with MIS capacitors fabricated out of the given semiconductor. Unfortunately, as an artifact, such MIS fabrication processes unintentionally, but unavoidably, introduce certain energy levels in the semiconductor band-gap that unwantedly communicate with its bands by trapping and releasing carriers. Such traps lie along the interface of the semiconductor and the oxide. Though clear signals, which match with theoretically estimated signals within acceptable accuracy, have been measured from the itinerant electrons in GaAs, this work demonstrates theoretical calculations showing that the signals decrease in magnitude owing to the presence of such interface traps. Quantifying this decrement comes as an added advantage of this work, because such measurements can then directly probe the MIS interface and find the concentration of the interface traps (Dit) more accurately and precisely than what is done at present. Thus, the experimental technique this work proposes can also probe a given MIS interface, using time-varying magnetic fields, and reveal a more accurate and precise measure of Dit. Otherwise, the existing techniques for measuring Dit su er from imprecision caused by several theoretical assumptions. A more general technique which can extract Dit accurately and precisely, without needing to know the particular physical model that the interface traps follow for a given MIS capacitor, is what one requires at present, to give CMOS technology the direction and impetus it needs to cross-over to the non-Silicon territory. Such a technique is theoretically developed in this work. How a magnetic field a effects the MIS Energy Band Diagram is also derived in the process. The technique that is developed and demonstrated in this thesis, capable of directly probing both the itinerant magnetism and the MIS interface of a given semiconductor, depends on successfully measuring a very small voltage drop across a MIS capacitor when the latter is externally subjected to a high, time-varying magnetic field. This voltage signal originates because the semiconductor's electronic density of states depends on the magnetic field, thus rendering the semiconductor's electron chemical potential, i.e. the Fermi level, magnetic field dependent. The idea of detecting such magnetic field dependence of electron chemical potential was theoretically proposed more than five decades back, but an experimental detection of the phenomenon, in any bulk (i.e. three dimensional) solid, had remained elusive despite numerous trials. Virtually, the topic had been `dead' for the past couple of decades with very few reports (of trials) getting published on it. The primary reason behind such a failure is an interesting spurious effect that arises and overshadows the signal otherwise coming from the magnetic shift of the electron chemical potential. This is the spurious Hall voltage caused by the time-varying magnetic field and the eddy current it induces in the semiconductor following Faraday's Law of Electromagnetic Induction. Unless this Hall voltage can be reduced below a threshold, there is no hope of successfully measuring the sample signal. In this work, we have discussed about this spurious effect in details and have given experimental recipes to avoid it from interfering with the data. Infact the data we publish for n-GaAs is free from any such spurious effects. From that viewpoint, this work becomes the first to report the experimental detection of the magnetic field dependence of a Fermi level in any bulk solid. A common pulse magnet capable of producing high magnetic field pulses, lasting for only some tens of milliseconds, was built and used for the purpose of this work. For certain samples other than GaAs, however, the spurious Hall voltage may be larger and the proposed technique may fail as one may not be able to rule out the spurious effect with the simple recipe demonstrated here for GaAs. In such a case, measurements are encouraged, instead, in a special magnet uniquely developed to rule out the Hall voltage. This magnet was constructed in-house, and can sit on a table-top and generate magnetic fields as high as a few Teslas that can, further, be `temporally shaped' by the user. Such a class of pulse magnets whose pulse waveforms can be programmed over time are called controlled waveform magnets (CWMs) and the work presented in this thesis also demonstrates the construction and calibration of such a CWM.

Afin de mieux comprendre les différents processus qui apparaissent à la transition supraconducteur-isolant (SIT), nous avons sondé simultanément les propriétés électroniques globales et locales de films minces de NbN, élaborés ex-situ sur un substrat de saphir. La transition a été approchée en réduisant l'épaisseur des échantillons, augmentant la résistance par carré de l'état normal à plusieurs kiloOhms. Les Tc correspondant aux films étudiés varient de Tc≈15K qui est proche de TC-bulk à Tc≈3.8K (Tc/TC-bulk≈0.23). Dans la gamme 0.4TC-bulk<Tc<TC-bulk, les mesures de résistances sont en accord avec la loi de Finkelstein pour la réduction de Tc induite par le désordre et les interactions électron-électron. Les mesures de spectroscopie tunnel locale (STS) montrent l'émergence d'une granularité dans les propriétés supraconductrices en réduisant la Tc, ainsi que le développement d'un fort fond Altshuler-Aronov dans les spectres tunnel dI/dV(V), ce qui est en accord avec le scenario de Finkelstein. Pour l'échantillon le plus désordonné (Tc≈3.8K), des mesures de résistance in-situ et de STS en simultané nous ont permis de suivre sur la même zone de l'échantillon, l'évolution des propriétés supraconductrices en fonction de la température et du champ magnétique, qui ont démontré un comportement percolatif de la transition dans l'état normal de mauvais métal. Cette étude locale a été confirmée par le changement de dimensionnalité des fluctuations Aslamasov-Larkin au-dessus de Tc de 2D à 0D. En outre, une telle étude est particulièrement intéressante pour comprendre les différents phénomènes qui limitent le fonctionnement des détecteurs de photon unique basé sur les films de NbN. / In order to better understand the various processes taking place at the superconductor-insulator transition (SIT), we have probed simultaneously the global and local electronic properties of NbN ultrathin films, elaborated ex-situ on sapphire substrate. The transition was approached by reducing the films thickness, increasing the normal state square resistance to several kiloOhms. The corresponding Tc's of the studied films ranged from about Tc≈15K, which is close to TC-bulk, to Tc≈3.8K (Tc/TC-bulk≈0.23). In the range 0.4TC-bulk<Tc<TC-bulk resistivity measurements are consistent with Finkelstein's reduction of Tc induced by disorder and electron-electron repulsion. Local scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements show the emergence of granularity in the superconducting properties upon Tc reduction, as well as the progressive development of a strong Altshuler-Aronov background in the dI/dV(V) tunneling spectra, in agreement with Finkelstein scenario. For the most disordered film (Tc≈3.8K), simultaneous in-situ resistivity and STS measurements allowed us to follow at the same sample area the evolution of these emergent granular superconducting properties as a function of temperature and magnetic field, which demonstrate a percolative behavior of the transition to the bad-metal normal state. This local picture finds an interesting signature in the change of the dimensionality of the Aslamasov-Larkin fluctuations above Tc from 2D to 0D. Besides, such a study is particularly interesting to better understand the various phenomena occurring in and limiting the behavior of single-photon detectors patterned out of NbN films.

The aim of this master thesis is the construction of a single-purpose machine used for reeling of composite insulator. In the first part is described the technology of reeling completed by the analysis of used components. Based on the findings, the final constructional version with necessary calculations is stated. The result of this thesis is a 3D model of the chosen design together with drawings and calculations of given parts.

Tato práce se zabývá charakterizací topologického izolátoru Bi2Te3, materiálu s nevodivými stavy v objemu, ale jedním vodivým pásem na povrchu. Tento materiál je zkoumán již přes 60 let, ale i přes to není jeho objemová pásová struktura úplně objasněna, obzvláště charakter zakázaného pásu je stále předmětem diskuze. V této práci jsou prezentovány výsledky infračervené spektroskopie na Landauových hladinách v magnetickém poli až do 34 T, doplněné elipsometrickým měřením mimo magnetické pole. Výsledky těchto měření by měli pomoci vyjasnit některé vlastnosti zakázaného pásu. Pozorovaná optická odezva odpovídá polovodiči s přímým zakázaným pásem, ve kterém se nosiče náboje chovají jako Diracovské hmotné fermiony. Šířka zakázaného pásu za nízkých teplot byla určena jako Eg = (175±5) meV a samotný zakázaný pás se nachází mimo trigonální osu, tím pádem se v první Brillouinově zoně vyskytuje 6 krát nebo 12 krát.

Grâce à leur propriétés uniques, les nanofils d'InAs et de Bi1-xSbx sont important pour les domaines de la nanoélectronique et de l'informatique quantique. Alors que la mobilité électronique de l'InAs est intéressante pour les nanoélectroniques; l'aspect isolant topologique du Bi1-xSbx peut être utilisé pour la réalisation de Qubits basés sur les fermions de Majorana. Dans les deux cas, l'amélioration de la qualité du matériau est obligatoire et ceci est l'objectif principal cette thèse ou` nous étudions l'intégration des nanofils InAs sur silicium (compatibles CMOS) et où nous développons un nouvel isolant topologique nanométrique: le Bi1-xSbx. Pour une compatibilité CMOS complète, la croissance d'InAs sur Silicium nécessite d'être auto- catalysée, entièrement verticale et uniforme sans dépasser la limite thermique de 450 ° C. Ces normes CMOS, combineés à la différence de paramètre de maille entre l'InAs et le silicium, ont empêché l'intégration de nanofils InAs pour les dispositifs nanoélectroniques. Dans cette thèse, deux nouvelles préparations de surface du Si ont été étudiées impliquant des traitements Hydrogène in situ et conduisant à la croissance verticale et auto-catalysée de nanofils InAs compatible avec les limitations CMOS. Les différents mécanismes de croissance résultant de ces préparations de surface sont discutés en détail et un passage du mécanisme Vapor-Solid (VS) au mécanisme Vapor- Liquid-Solid (VLS) est rapporté. Les rapports d'aspect très élevé des nanofils d'InAs sont obtenus en condition VLS: jusqu'à 50 nm de diamètre et 3 microns de longueur. D'autre part, le Bi1-xSbx est le premier isolant topologique 3D confirmé expérimentalement. Dans ces nouveaux matériaux, la présence d'états surfacique conducteurs, entourant le coeur isolant, peut héberger les fermions de Majorana utilisés comme Qubits. Cependant, la composition du Bi1-xSbx doit être comprise entre 0,08 et 0,24 pour que le matériau se comporte comme un isolant topologique. Nous rapportons pour la première fois la croissance de nanofils Bi1-xSbx sans défaut et à composition contrôlée sur Si. Différentes morphologies sont obtenues, y compris des nanofils, des nanorubans et des nanoflakes. Leur diamètre peut être de 20 nm pour plus de 10 microns de long, ce qui en fait des candidats idéaux pour des dispositifs quantiques. Le rôle clé du flux Bi, du flux de Sb et de la température de croissance sur la densité, la composition et la géométrie des structures à l'échelle nanométrique est étudié et discuté en détail. / InAs and Bi1-xSbx nanowires with their distinct material properites hold promises for nanoelec- tronics and quantum computing. While the high electron mobility of InAs is interesting for na- noelectronics applications, the 3D topological insulator behaviour of Bi1-xSbx can be used for the realization of Majorana Fermions based qubit devices. In both the cases improving the quality of the nanoscale material is mandatory and is the primary goal of the thesis, where we study CMOS compatible InAs nanowire integration on Silicon and where we develop a new nanoscale topological insulator. For a full CMOS compatiblity, the growth of InAs on Silicon requires to be self-catalyzed, fully vertical and uniform without crossing the thermal budge of 450 °C. These CMOS standards, combined with the high lattice mismatch of InAs with Silicon, prevented the integration of InAs nanowires for nanoelectronics devices. In this thesis, two new surface preparations of the Silicon were studied involving in-situ Hydrogen gas and in-situ Hydrogen plasma treatments and leading to the growth of fully vertical and self-catalyzed InAs nanowires compatible with the CMOS limitations. The different growth mechanisms resulting from these surface preparations are discussed in detail and a switch from Vapor-Solid (VS) to Vapor- Liquid-Solid (VLS) mechanism is reported. Very high aspect ratio InAs nanowires are obtained in VLS condition: upto 50 nm in diameter and 3 microns in length. On the other hand, Bi1-xSbx is the first experimentally confirmed 3D topololgical insulator. In this new material, the presence of robust 2D conducting states, surrounding the 3D insulating bulk can be engineered to host Majorana fermions used as Qubits. However, the compostion of Bi1-xSbx should be in the range of 0.08 to 0.24 for the material to behave as a topological insula- tor. We report growth of defect free and composition controlled Bi1-xSbx nanowires on Si for the first time. Different nanoscale morphologies are obtained including nanowires, nanoribbons and nanoflakes. Their diameter can be 20 nm thick for more than 10 microns in length, making them ideal candidates for quantum devices. The key role of the Bi flux, the Sb flux and the growth tem- perature on the density, the composition and the geometry of nanoscale structures is investigated and discussed in detail.

The layered honeycomb lattice iridate Na2IrO3 is a novel candidate material for either a topological insulator or spin liquid. These states of matter are one possible starting point for the future realization of scalable quantum computation, but may also find application in magnetic memory or low-power electronic devices. This thesis reports on the pulsed laser deposition of high-quality heteroepitaxial (001)-oriented Na2IrO3 thin films with well-defined in-plane epitaxial relationship on 5-by-5 and 10-by-10 square millimeter single-crystalline sapphire, YAlO3 and zinc oxide substrates. Three-dimensional Mott variable range hopping is the dominant conduction mechanism between 40 and 300 K. Moreover, a signature of the proposed topological insulator phase is found in magnetoresistance by observation of the weak antilocalization effect that is associated with topological surafce states. Compared to single crystals, a smaller, 200-meV optical gap in Na2IrO3 thin films is found by Fourier-transform infrared transmission spectroscopy.

Within condensed matter physics, systems with strong electronic correlations give rise to fascinating phenomena which characteristically require a physical description beyond a one-electron theory, such as high temperature superconductivity, or Mott metal-insulator transitions. In this thesis, a class of strongly correlated electron systems is considered. These systems exhibit fractionally charged excitations with charge +e/2 or -e/2 in two dimensions (2D) and three dimensions (3D), a consequence of both strong correlations and the geometrical frustration of the interactions on the underlying lattices. Such geometrically frustrated systems are typically characterized by a high density of low-lying excitations, leading to various interesting physical effects. This thesis constitutes a study of a model of spinless fermions on the geometrically frustrated kagome lattice. Focus is given in particular to the regime in which nearest-neighbour repulsions V are large in comparison with hopping t between neighbouring sites, the regime in which excitations with fractional charge occur. In the classical limit t = 0, the geometric frustration results in a macroscopically large ground-state degeneracy. This degeneracy is lifted by quantum fluctuations. A low-energy effective Hamiltonian is derived for the spinless fermion model for the case of 1/3 filling in the regime where |t| << V . In this limit, the effective Hamiltonian is given by ring-exchange of order ~ t^3/V^2, lifting the degeneracy. The effective model is shown to be equivalent to a corresponding hard-core bosonic model due to a gauge invariance which removes the fermionic sign problem. The model is furthermore mapped directly to a Quantum Dimer model on the hexagonal lattice. Through the mapping it is determined that the kagome lattice model exhibits plaquette order in the ground state and also that fractional charges within the model are linearly confined. Subsequently a doped version of the effective model is studied, for the case where exactly one spinless fermion is added or subtracted from the system at 1/3 filling. The sign of the newly introduced hopping term is shown to be removable due to a gauge invariance for the case of hole doping. This gauge invariance is a direct result of the bipartite nature of the hole hopping and is confirmed numerically in spectral density calculations. For further understanding of the low-energy physics, a derivation of the model gauge field theory is presented and discussed in relation to the confining quantum electrodynamic in two dimensions. Exact diagonalization calculations illustrate the nature of the fractional charge confinement in terms of the string tension between a bound pair of defects. The calculations employ topological symmetries that exist for the manifold of ground-state configurations. Dynamical calculations of the spectral densities are considered for the full spinless fermion Hamiltonian and compared in the strongly correlated regime with the doped effective Hamiltonian. Calculations for the effective Hamiltonian are then presented for the strongly correlated regime where |t| << V . In the limit g << |t|, the fractional charges are shown to be effectively free in the context of the finite clusters studied. Prominent features of the spectral densities at the Gamma point for the hole and particle contributions are attributed to approximate eigenfunctions of the spinless fermion Hamiltonian in this limit. This is confirmed through an analytical derivation. The case of g ~ t is then considered, as in this case the confinement of the fractional charges is observable in the spectral densities calculated for finite clusters. The bound states for the effectively confined defect pair are qualitatively estimated through the solution of the time-independent Schroedinger equation for a potential which scales linearly with g. The double-peaked feature of spectral density calculations over a range of g values can thus be interpreted as a signature of the confinement of the fractionally charged defect pair. Furthermore, the metal-insulator transition for the effective Hamiltonian is studied for both t > 0 and t < 0. Exact diagonalization calculations are found to be consistent with the predictions of the effective model. Further calculations confirm that the sign of t is rendered inconsequential due to the gauge invariance for g in the regime |t| << V . The charge-order melting metal-insulator transition is studied through density-matrix renormalization group calculations. The opening of the energy gap is found to differ for the two signs of t, reflecting the difference in the band structure at the Fermi level in each case. The qualitative nature of transition in each case is discussed. As a step towards a realization of the model in experiment, density-density correlation functions are introduced and such a calculation is shown for the plaquette phase for the effective model Hamiltonian at 1/3 filling in the absence of defects. Finally, the open problem of statistics of the fractional charges is discussed.

The growing interest in high speed and RF technologies assert for the importance of reliability characterization beyond the conventional DC methodology. In this work, the influence of bias temperature instability (BTI) stress on RF small signal parameters is shown. The correlation between degradation of DC and RF parameters is established which enables the empirical modelling of stress induced changes. Furthermore, S-Parameters characterization is demonstrated as the tool to qualitatively distinguish between HCI and BTI degradation mechanisms with the help of extracted small signal gate capacitances.

Hyperdoping of Si with deep-level impurities has attracted renewed interest for its unique physical properties, such as the broad sub-bandgap absorption in the infrared wavelength at room temperature. In this thesis, tellurium (Te) hyperdoped Si has been prepared by ion implantation and pulsed laser melting with the Te doping concentration several orders of magnitude above the solid solubility limit. The structural, electrical and optical properties were systematically investigated. A strong room-temperature broadband infrared absorption down to 0.048 eV (25 μm) is observed in the resulting Te-hyperdoped Si layers. The room-temperature operation of a mid-infrared photodetector is demonstrated based on Te-hyperdoped Si. In addition, an impurity-induced insulator-to-metal transition in Te-hyperdoped Si has been identified via the electrical transport measurements. Besides, the electron concentration in Te-hyperdoped Si layers is approaching 1021 cm-3 and does not show saturation. Combining density functional calculations and Rutherford backscattering/channeling measurements, the microscopic mechanism for yielding the outstanding physical properties listed above has been unveiled. The Te-dimer complex sitting on adjacent Si lattice sites has the smallest formation energy and is thus the preferred configuration at high doping concentration. Those substitutional Te are effective donors, leading to the non-saturating carrier concentration as well as to the insulator to metal transition. Finally, a comprehensive study regarding the thermal stability has been performed and the Te-hyperdoped Si layers exhibits thermal stability up to 400 °C with a duration of at least 10 minutes. Therefore, Te-hyperdoped Si opens two perspectives for opto/micro-electronics. One is realization of broadband infrared photodetection at room temperature by using only Si materials, which may be integrated into on-chip Si-based photonic systems. The second is to achieve ultra-high n-type carrier concentrations for nano-electronics by forming Te-dimer dopants, which can overcome the saturation problem of conventional shallow n-type dopants.