Ferroelectric materials are very promising for a variety of applications such as high-permittivity capacitors, ferroelectric memories, pyroelctric sensors, piezoelectric and electrostrictive transducers and electro-optic devices, etc. In the area of ferroelectric ceramics, lead-based compounds, which include lead zirconatetitanate (PZT) solid solutions, occupy an important place because of their superior physical properties. However, due to the toxicity of lead, there is an increasing concern over recycling and disposing of the devices made out of these compounds, which has compelled the researchers around the globe to search for lead-free compounds with promising piezo and ferroelectric properties. Ferroelectric materials that belong to Aurivillius family of oxides have become increasingly important from the perspective of industrial applications because of their high Curie-temperatures, high resistivity, superior polarization fatigue resistanceand stable piezoelectric properties at high temperatures. These bismuth layer-structured ferroelectrics (BLSF) comprise an intergrowth of [Bi2O2]2+ layers and [An+1Bn O3n+1]2- pseudo-perovskite units, where ‘n’ represents the number of perovskite-like layers stacked along the c-axis. ‘A’ stands for a mono-, di- or trivalent ions or a combination of them, ‘B’ represents a small ion with high valencysuch as Ti4+, Nb5+, Ta5+or a combination of them.Ferroelectricity in the orthorhombic phase of these compounds was generally attributed to the cationic displacement along the polar a-axis and the tilting of octahedra around the a- and c-axes. Sr2Bi4Ti5O18(SBT) is ann = 5 member of the Aurivillius family and possess promising ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties that could be exploited for a wide range of applications, including ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAM), piezoelectric actuators, transducers and transformers. Reports in the literaturereveal that the ferroelectricand piezoelectric properties of these oxides can be tuned depending on synthesis routes vis-a-vis micro-structural aspects (texture, grain size) and site specific dopant substitutions.In the present study, textured SBT ceramics were fabricated using pre-reacted precursors and their anisotropic dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties were demonstrated. Grain size tunability with regard to their physical properties was accomplished in the ceramics, fabricated using fine powders obtained from citrate assisted sol-gel synthesis. The grain size dependent second harmonic generation activity of SBT ceramics was investigated. Enhancement in the piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of SBT ceramics was achieved by substituting A site ions (Sr2+) with a combination of Na+ and Bi3+. From the perspective of non-linear optical device applications, physical properties associated with the SBT crystallized in a transparent lithium borate glass matrix were studied. The results obtained in the present investigations are organized as follows, Chapter 1 gives a brief exposure to the field of ferroelectrics. The emphasis has been on the ferroelectric oxides belonging to the Aurivillius family. Structural aspects and the underlying phenomena associated with ferroelectricity in these compounds are discussed. A brief introduction to the glasses, thermodynamic aspects of glass formation and fabrication of glass- ceramics are included. Basic principles involved in the non-linear optical activities are highlighted. Chapter 2 describes the various experimental techniques that were employed to synthesize and characterize the materials under investigation. The experimental details pertaining to the measurement of various physical properties are included. Chapter 3 deals with the fabrication of Sr2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramics using the pre-reacted Bi4Ti3O12 and SrTiO3 powders viasolid-state reaction route. These in stoichiometric ratio were uniaxially pressed and sintered at 1130oC for 3 h resulting in textured Sr2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramics. The obtained dense ceramics exhibited crystallographic anisotropy with prominent c-axis oriented grains (Lotgering factor of 0.62) parallel to the uniaxially pressed direction. The resultant anisotropy in the ceramics was attributed to the reactive template-like behavior of Bi4Ti3O12 that was used as a precursor to fabricate Sr2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramics. Dielectric, ferro and piezoelectric properties measured on the ceramics in the direction perpendicular to the uniaxially pressed axis were found to be superior to that measured in the parallel direction. Chapter 4 reports the details pertaining to the synthesis of strontium bismuth titanate (Sr2Bi4Ti5O18) powders comprising crystallites of average sizes in the range of 94–1400 nm via citrate-assisted sol-gel route. X-ray powder diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy were employed for the structural studies. A crystallite size-dependent variation in the lattice parameters and the shift in the Raman vibration modes were observed. Second harmonic signal (532 nm) intensity of the Sr2Bi4Ti5O18 powders increased with the increase in the average crystallite size and the maximum intensity obtained in the reflection mode was 1.4 times as high as that of the powdered KH2PO4. Piezo force microscopic analyses carried out on an isolated crystallite of size 74 nm, established its single domain nature with the coercive field as high as 347 kV/cm. There was a systematic increase in the d33 value with an increase in the size of the crystallite and a high piezoelectric coefficient of ~27 pm/V was obtained from an isolated crystallite of size 480 nm. Chapter 5 illustrates the details concerning the fabrication of Sr2Bi4Ti5O18(SBT) ceramics with different grain sizes (93 nm–1.42 μm) using nano-crystalline powders synthesized via citrate assisted sol-gel method. The grain growth in these powder compacts was found to be controlled via the grain boundary curvature mechanism, associated with anactivation energy of 181.9 kJ/mol. Interestingly with a decrease in grain size there was an increase in the structural distortion which resulted in a shift of Curie-temperature (phase transition) towards higher temperatures than that of conventional bulk ceramics. Extended Landau phenomenological theory for the ferroelectric particles was invoked to explain experimentally observed size dependent phase transition temperature and the critical size for SBT is predicted to be 11.3 nm. Grain size dependent dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of the SBT ceramics were studied and the samples comprising average grain size of 645 nm exhibited superior physical properties that include remnant polarization (2Pr) = 16.4 μC cm-2, coercive field (Ec) = 38 kV cm-1, piezoelectric coefficient (d33) = 22 pC N-1 and planar electromechanical coupling coefficient (kp) = 14.8 %. In Chapter 6, the studies pertaining to the fabrication of Sr(2-x)(Na0.5Bi0.5)xBi4Ti5O18 (SNBT) ceramics for various x values (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5), using fine powders synthesized via sol-gel route are dealt with. X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopic studies were carried out to confirm composition dependent structural changes taking place in the SNBT ceramics. Scanning electron microscopic studies carried out on ceramics revealed that dopants played an important role in inhibiting the grain growth. Dielectric constants of the ceramics were found to decrease with an increase in ‘x’. The increase in Curie temperature with increase in ‘x’ is attributed to the decrease in the tolerance factor. Particularly,x = 0.3 composition of the SNBT ceramics exhibited better piezo and ferroelectric properties with a higher Curie-temperature (569 K). The piezoelectric coefficient (d33) and the planar electromechanical coupling coefficient (kp) of SNBT(x = 0.3) were enhanced by 25% and 42% respectively as compared to that of the undoped ceramics. Chapter 7 deals with the glasses in the system (100 –x) {Li2O + 2B2O3} ─x {2SrO + 2Bi2O3 +5TiO2} (where, x = 10, 25 and 35) fabricated via conventional melt-quenching technique. The amorphous and glassy characteristics of the samples were confirmed respectively using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) methods. All the compositions under investigation exhibited two distinct crystallization peaks (exothermic peaks in the DSC traces): the first peak at ~ 545 °C and the second at ~610 °C that were found to be associated with the crystallization of the phases (as confirmed from the XRD studies) Sr2Bi4Ti5O18 (SBT)and Li2B4O7 (LBO) respectively. Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics (using modified Ozawa-type plots) for SBT crystallization in the LBO glass matrix for the compositions x = 10 and 35, indicated three dimensional growth of the crystallites from pre-existing nuclei present in the as-quenched samples and their effective activation energies for crystallization were found to be around 686 ± 85 kJ/mol and 365 ± 53 kJ/mol, respectively. The optical band gap of the as-quenched glasses for the composition x = 35 was 2.52 eV, is less than that of the composition x = 10 (2.91 eV). The Urbach energies for the as-quenched glasses of compositions x = 10, 25 and 35 were found to be 118 ± 2 meV, 119 ± 2 meV and 192 ± 1 meV respectively.The glasses associated with the composition x = 35, on controlled heat-treatment at 515 °C for various durations (1―20 h), yielded glass-ceramics comprising SBT nano-crystals (18―28 nm) embedded in the LBO glass matrix. Compressive strain in the nano-crystallites of SBT, analyzed using Williamson-Hall method was found to decrease with an increase in the crystallite size. The second harmonic generation signal (532 nm) intensity emanating from glass-nanocrystal composites comprising 22.1 nm SBT crystallites was nearly 0.3 times that of a KDP single crystal. Although each chapter is provided with conclusions and a list of references, thesis ends with a separate summary and conclusions.

The American Cancer Society predicts that 1,665,540 people will be diagnosed with cancer, and 585,720 people will die from cancer in 2014. One of the most common types of cancer in the United States is skin cancer. Melanoma alone is predicted to account for 10,000 of the cancer related deaths in 2014. As a highly mobile and aggressive form of cancer, melanoma is difficult to fight once it has metastasized through the body. Early detection in such varieties of cancer is critical in improving survival rates in afflicted patients. Present methods of detection rely on visual examination of suspicious regions of tissue via various forms of biopsies. Accurate assessment of cancerous cells via this method are subjective, and often unreliable in the early stages of cancer formation when only few cancer cells are forming. With fewer cancer cells, it is less likely that a cancer cell will appear in a biopsied tissue. This leads to a lower detection rate, even when cancer is present. This lack of detection when cancer is in fact present is referred to as a false negative. False negatives can have a highly detrimental effect on treating the cancer as soon as possible. More accurate methods of detecting cancer in early stages, in a nonsubjective form would alleviate these problems. A proposed alternative to visual examination of biopsied legions is to utilize fluorescent nanocrystalline biomarker constructs to directly attach to the abnormal markers found on cancerous tissues. Quantum dots (QDs) are hydrophobic nanoscale crystals composed of semiconducting materials which fluoresce when exposed to specific wavelengths of radiation, most commonly in the form of an ultraviolet light source. The QD constructs generated were composed of cadmium-selenium (CdSe) cores encapsulated with zinc-sulfide (ZnS) shells. These QDs were then encapsulated with phospholipids in an effort to create a hydrophilic particle which could interact with polar fluids as found within the human body. The goal of this thesis is to develop a method for the solubilization, encapsulation, and initial functionalization of CdSe/ZnS QDs. The first stage of this thesis focused on the generation of CdSe/ZnS QDs and the fluorescence differences between unshelled and shelled QDs. The second stage focused on utilizing the shelled QDs to generate hydrophilic constructs by utilizing phospholipids to bind with the QDs. Analysis via spectroscopy was performed in an effort to characterize the difference in QDs both prior to and after the encapsulation process. The method generated provides insight on fluorescence trends and the encapsulation of QDs in polar substances. Future research focusing on the repeatability of the process, introducing the QD constructs to a biological material, and eventual interaction with cancer cells are the next steps in generating a new technique to target and reveal skin cancer cells in the earliest possible stages without using a biopsy.

Funktionalisierte organische Perylenbisimidfarbstoffe (PBI) und aus Cadmiumselenid bestehende Halbleiternanokristalle werden hinsichtlich physikalischer sowie chemischer Wechselwirkungsprozesse miteinander und mit ihrer Umgebung mittels zeitaufgelöster optischer Spektroskopie untersucht. Im Mittelpunkt der Studien an diesem organisch/anorganischen Modellsystem nanoskopischer Größe steht die Aggregatbildungskinetik und die Identifikation und Quantifizierung von Transferpozessen. Die Anbindung der gut löslichen PBI-Farbstoffe an die Oberfläche solcher Halbleiternanokristalle mittels spezieller Ankergruppen wird durch Selbstorganisation in Lösung realisiert. Die Kombination von Absorptions- und zeitaufgelöster Fluoreszenzspektroskopie zeigt einen unterschiedlich starken Einfluss von Liganden und Farbstoffen auf die Fluoreszenzlöschung der Nanokristalle und belegt, dass Resonanzenergietransfer zum Farbstoff nur in sehr geringem Maße die physikalische Ursache der Fluoreszenzlöschung ist. Die Anzahl adsorbierter Farbstoffe und die Stärke der Fluoreszenzlöschung eines einzelnen Farbstoffmoleküls werden aus zeitaufgelösten Einzelmolekülexperimenten an immobilisierten Emittern gewonnen, welche den direkten spektroskopischen Zugang zur Verteilung gebundener und freier Farbstoffe/Nanokristalle erlaubt. Darüber hinaus werden ankergruppen- und umgebungsspezifische Einflüsse auf die Konformations- und Orientierungsdynamik von Perylenbisimidmolekülen dargestellt. Abschließend werden photo-physikalische Gemeinsamkeiten chemisch unterschiedlich hervorgerufener Fluoreszenzlöschungsprozesse herausgearbeitet und im Kontext von Einzelkristall-Blinkprozessen diskutiert.

The aim of this work is to create a process which allows the tailored growth of Ge nanocrystals for use in photovoltic applications. The multilayer systems used here provide a reliable method to control the Ge nanocrystal size after phase separation. In this thesis, the deposition of GeOx/SiO2 and Ge:SiOx~ 2/SiO2 multilayers via reactive dc magnetron sputtering and the self-ordered Ge nanocrystal formation within the GeOx and Ge:SiOx~ 2 sublayers during subsequent annealing is investigated. Mostly the focus of this work is on the determination of the proper deposition conditions for tuning the composition of the systems investigated. For the GeOx/SiO2 multilayers this involves changing the GeOx composition between elemental Ge (x = 0) and GeO2 (x = 2), whereas for the Ge:SiOx~ 2/SiO2 multilayers this involves changing the stoichiometry of the Ge:SiOx~ 2 sublayers in the vicinity of stochiometric silica (x = 2). The deposition conditions are controlled by the variation of the deposition rate, the deposition temperature and the oxygen partial pressure. A convenient process window has been found which allows the sequential deposition of GeOx/SiO2 or Ge:SiOx ~2/SiO2 without changing the oxygen partial pressure during deposition. For stoichiometry determination Rutherford back-scattering spectrometry has been applied extensively. The phase separation in the spatially confined GeOx and Ge:SiOx ~2 sublayers was investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Ge K-edge. The Ge sub-oxides content of the as-deposited multilayers diminishes with increasing annealing temperature, showing complete phase separation at approximately 450° C for both systems (using inert N2 at ambient pressure). With the use of chemical reducing H2 in the annealing atmosphere, the temperature regime where the GeOx phase separation occurs is lowered by approximately 100 °C. At temperatures above 400° C the sublayer composition, and thus the density of the Ge nanocrystals, can be altered by making use of the reduction of GeO2 by H2. The Ge nanocrystal formation after subsequent annealing was investigated with X-ray scattering, Raman spectroscopy and electron microscopy. By these methods the existence of 2 - 5 nm Ge nanocrystals at annealing temperatures of 550 (GeOx) - 700° C (Ge:SiOx ~2) has been confirmed which is within the multilayer stability range. The technique used allows the production of extended multilayer stacks (50 periods ~ 300 nm) with very smooth interfaces (roughness ~ 0.5 nm). Thus it was possible to produce Ge nanocrystal layers with ultra-thin SiO2 separation layers (thickness ~ 1 nm) which offers interesting possibilities for charge transport via direct tunneling.

The aim of this work is to create a process which allows the tailored growth of Ge nanocrystals for use in photovoltic applications. The multilayer systems used here provide a reliable method to control the Ge nanocrystal size after phase separation. In this thesis, the deposition of GeOx/SiO2 and Ge:SiOx~ 2/SiO2 multilayers via reactive dc magnetron sputtering and the self-ordered Ge nanocrystal formation within the GeOx and Ge:SiOx~ 2 sublayers during subsequent annealing is investigated. Mostly the focus of this work is on the determination of the proper deposition conditions for tuning the composition of the systems investigated. For the GeOx/SiO2 multilayers this involves changing the GeOx composition between elemental Ge (x = 0) and GeO2 (x = 2), whereas for the Ge:SiOx~ 2/SiO2 multilayers this involves changing the stoichiometry of the Ge:SiOx~ 2 sublayers in the vicinity of stochiometric silica (x = 2). The deposition conditions are controlled by the variation of the deposition rate, the deposition temperature and the oxygen partial pressure. A convenient process window has been found which allows the sequential deposition of GeOx/SiO2 or Ge:SiOx ~2/SiO2 without changing the oxygen partial pressure during deposition. For stoichiometry determination Rutherford back-scattering spectrometry has been applied extensively. The phase separation in the spatially confined GeOx and Ge:SiOx ~2 sublayers was investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Ge K-edge. The Ge sub-oxides content of the as-deposited multilayers diminishes with increasing annealing temperature, showing complete phase separation at approximately 450° C for both systems (using inert N2 at ambient pressure). With the use of chemical reducing H2 in the annealing atmosphere, the temperature regime where the GeOx phase separation occurs is lowered by approximately 100 °C. At temperatures above 400° C the sublayer composition, and thus the density of the Ge nanocrystals, can be altered by making use of the reduction of GeO2 by H2. The Ge nanocrystal formation after subsequent annealing was investigated with X-ray scattering, Raman spectroscopy and electron microscopy. By these methods the existence of 2 - 5 nm Ge nanocrystals at annealing temperatures of 550 (GeOx) - 700° C (Ge:SiOx ~2) has been confirmed which is within the multilayer stability range. The technique used allows the production of extended multilayer stacks (50 periods ~ 300 nm) with very smooth interfaces (roughness ~ 0.5 nm). Thus it was possible to produce Ge nanocrystal layers with ultra-thin SiO2 separation layers (thickness ~ 1 nm) which offers interesting possibilities for charge transport via direct tunneling.:Contents 1 Introduction and motivation 1 2 Basic aspects 6 2.1 Microstructure of sub-stoichiometric oxides (SiOx, GeOx) 6 2.2 Phase transformations 9 2.3 Quantum confinement effect in nanocrystals 12 2.4 Applications of nanostructures in 3rd generation photovoltaics 17 3 Experimental setup 21 3.1 The magnetron deposition chamber 21 3.2 (Reactive) dc sputtering 22 3.3 Annealing processing 26 3.4 X-ray facilities 26 4 Analytical methods 30 4.1 Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) 30 4.2 Raman scattering 33 4.3 (Grazing incidence) X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) 35 4.4 X-ray reflectivity (XRR) 39 4.5 X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) 41 4.6 Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) 42 5 Properties of reactive dc magnetron sputtered Si-Ge-O (multi)layers 44 5.1 Deposition rate and film stoichiometry investigations 44 5.2 Stoichiometry dependent properties of GeOx/SiO2 multilayers 47 5.3 Lateral intercluster distance of the Ge nanocrystals in multilayers 51 6 Confined Ge nanocrystal growth in GeOx/SiO2 multilayers 54 6.1 Phase separation in GeOx single layers and GeOx/SiO2 multilayers 54 6.2 Crystallization in GeOx single layers and GeOx/SiO2 multilayers 58 6.3 Multilayer stability and smallest possible Ge nanocrystal size 60 6.4 Stacked Ge NC films with ultra thin SiO2 separation layers 66 7 Confined Ge nanocrystal growth in Ge:SiOx/SiO2 multilayers 71 7.1 Phase separation in Ge:SiOx/SiO2 multilayers 72 7.2 Crystallisation in Ge:SiOx/SiO2 multilayers 76 8 Summary and conclusions 79 List of Figures 83 List of Tables 85 Bibliography 86