Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 57 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-57).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, August, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-162)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Doolittle, W. Alan, Committee Chair ; Ferguson, Ian T., Committee Member ; Cressler, John D., Committee Member ; Dorsey, John F., Committee Member ; Carter, W. Brent, Committee Member.

Th. 3e cycle--Electronique, électrotech. autom.--Toulouse 3, 1981. N°: 2479.

The syntheses of octasubstituted and unsusbstitituted Gallium(III) chloride and indium(III) chloride phthalocyanines (GaPc and InPc), their photophysical, photochemical and nonlinear optical parameters are hereby presented. The photocatalytic oxidation of 1-hexene using the synthesized GaPc and InPc complexes as well as electrochemical characterization is also presented in this thesis. Fluorescence quantum yields do not vary much among the four Ga complexes, except for complex 21c; therefore it was concluded that the effect of substituents is not significant among them. Solvents however, had an effect on the results. Lower Φ[subscript F] values were obtained in low viscosity solvents like toluene, relative to highly viscous solvents, such as DMSO. The triplet quantum yields were found to be lower in DMSO than in DMF and toluene. The rate constants for fluorescence, intersystem crossing and internal conversion as well as fluorescence and triplet lifetimes are reported. Photodegradation and singlet oxygen quantum yields have also been reported. There was no clear correlation between the latter parameters. It was however established that the four gallium MPcs were stable, within the allowed stability range for phthalocyanines. High quantum yields of triplet state (Φ[subscript T] ranging from 0.70 to 0.91 in dimethysulfoxide, DMSO) and singlet oxygen generation (Φ[subscript greek capital letter delta], ranging from 0.61 to 0.79 in DMSO) were obtained. Short triplet lifetimes 50 to 60 μs were obtained in DMSO). Calculated non-linear parameters of these complexes are compared with those of the corresponding GaPc derivatives and tetrasubstituted GaPc and InPc complexes. The optical limiting threshold intensity (I[subscript lim]) values for the InPc and GaPc derivatives were calculated and compared with those of corresponding tetrasubstituted InPc and GaPc complexes. The octasubstituted were found to be better optical limiters. Photocatalytic oxidation of 1-hexene by GaPc (21a-c) and InPc (22a-c) derivatives is also presented. The photocatalytic oxidation products for 1-hexene were 1,2- epoxyhexane and 1-hexen-3-ol. The % conversion values of 1-hexene and % selectivity of 1,2-epoxyhexane were generally higher for InPc derivatives. Even though InPc derivatives showed better photocatalytic results than GaPc derivatives, the former were less stable relative to the latter. Both type I and type II mechanism were implicated in the photocatalysis mechanism.

In this study the growth and characterisation of undoped and Si-doped AlxGa1-xN has been performed. The layers were grown using low-pressure metalorganic vapour phase deposition (MOCVD) on sapphire substrates. The optical and electrical properties of the AlxGa1-xN layers were studied using variable temperature Hall effect and photoluminescence measurements. AlxGa1-xN layers were grown over the entire composition range. Room temperature ultraviolet (UV) transmission measurements showed that the material quality was very good for layers with an Al content, x, of 0 _ x _ 0.5. However, the quality of layers of higher composition was seen to rapidly decrease with increasing x. The electrical and optical properties of AlxGa1-xN with x < 0.5 were also good, comparable to those reported on in literature. The study of the Si-doping of AlxGa1-xN was performed in two parts; firstly a series of Al0.23Ga0.77N samples was grown in which the doping level was increased from zero to n _ 3 × 1018 cm-3. A similar, albeit a less rigorous, study was performed for Al0.41Ga0.59N and Al0.5Ga0.5N. A second series of samples was then grown in which the doping level was kept constant, while the Al content was incrementally increased. Room temperature Hall effect measurements performed on Si-doped Al0.23Ga0.77N showed that the electron concentration did not scale linearly with the silane flow, as was the case in GaN. It was also seen that the electron mobility of the layers increased with slight Si-doping, possibly due to an improvement in the crystalline quality and/or a change in the conduction mechanism. It was also found that at higher compositions (x = 0.41 and 0.50) an increase in the doping level resulted in an increase in the mobility. Variable temperature Hall effect and photoluminescence measurements, performed on the Al0.23Ga0.77N samples, revealed a good correlation between the first PL activation energy E1 and the donor activation energy ED, prompting the conclusion that the first PL recombination channel in AlxGa1-xN is due to the delocalisation of excitons bound at neutral Si donors. Furthermore, E1 and ED were seen to decrease with n1/3, as is the case for GaN and other semiconductor materials. It was also observed that strong exciton localisation occurs in slightly Si-doped material, with the amount of localization becoming less at higher doping levels. Possible mechanisms responsible for the second PL recombination channel of activation energy E2 were also proposed. The electrical and optical properties of the second set of AlxGa1-xN samples was then studied. The PL properties of undoped AlxGa1-xN were typical of a homogeneous alloy system, with the increase in the PL FWHM and exciton localisation energies with x following the trend predicted by alloy disorder theory. The variation of the band gap energy with the Al content could not, however, be fitted over the entire composition range using a single bowing parameter. It was proposed that this was due either to an effect of the 9 7 valence band crossover, or due to exciton localisation at alloy disorder and/or impurities. As was the case for GaN and Al0.23Ga0.77N, all undoped material was highly resistive. As was mentioned earlier, the exciton localisation energies increased according to alloy disorder theory in undoped AlxGa1-xN. In the doped samples, however, a large increase in the donor localisation energy was measured for x > 0.3. The possibility that Si could become a DX-centre in AlxGa1-xN was then investigated. However, Hall effect measurements showed that the Si activation energy increased in good agreement with the model of a shallow effective mass state donor, with no sudden increase in ED being observed up to x = 0.4. It was then suggested that the increase in the E1 and E2 activation energies, as well as the exciton localisation energies, could be due to the 9 7 valence band crossover, which occurs at roughly the same composition. However, due to the scarcity of reports on the valence band structure in AlxGa1-xN no conclusions could be made at this stage as to the effect of the 9 7 valence band crossover on the PL properties of AlxGa1-xN.

We have determined that the temperature for desorption of gallium oxide from GaAs increases linearly with oxide thickness, for oxide layers between about 6Å and 26Å thick. The temperature for the oxide desorption ranged from 580°C to 630°C. The wafer temperature was determined from the optical band-gap measured from the diffuse reflectivity of the sample, which was polished on the front surface and textured on the back surface. Different thicknesses of oxide layers were created by varying the exposure time of the GaAs wafers to a low pressure oxygen plasma. The oxide thicknesses were determined by XPS analysis. Desorption experiments were carried out in a VG V80H MBE system under a As4 beam equivalent pressure of 1.5 x 10⁻⁵ ton. Measurement of diffuse light scattering using a HeNe laser shows an abrupt and non-reversible increase in the scattered light intensity during the oxide desorption. This suggests the surface is macroscopically roughened due to inhomogeneous desorption of the oxide. The oxide desorption was also studied by monitoring the secondary electrons produced by the high energy electrons from the RHEED gun. After the gallium oxide desorption there is a reversible, order of magnitude, increase in the number of scattered electrons produced by the incoming primary beam. We interpret this result as evidence for some form of microscopic roughening. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

Test pieces of GaAs were cut from Czochralski grown <100> wafers. Prior to deformation the dislocation configuration was established by cathodoluminescence (CL). Etch pits produced by molten KOH on examined crystal surfaces coincided with the CL images. The test pieces were capped with Si₃N₄, heated to between 950 and 1050°C, and plastically deformed by bending. The dislocation configuration after bending was then compared to that of the undeformed crystal. It was observed that heating to 1050°C did not significantly change the as grown cellular dislocation arrays in the crystal. With strain the dislocation configuration changed appreciably. New bands of dislocations were formed, parallel to the bend axis with dislocation free regions between them. Increasing the strain increased the number of bands. Observations were made on undoped crystals with high and low dislocation densities, and Si doped crystals. The luminescent properties of the dislocations were observed to change with heating and strain. As grown, a dislocation imaged as a dark spot surrounded by a bright halo, giving bright dislocation networks. After heating to 950°C samples showed only the dark spots without halos. After deformation, all the new dislocations appeared as dark spots or lines without halos. At very low strains, the original dislocations were still evident but were distinct from the new arrays. In an attempt to correlate the dislocation images with impurity segregation some observations of the samples were made using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). The results suggest the possibility of the dark areas in the CL images being associated with the presence of carbon. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Materials Engineering, Department of / Graduate