Doped semiconductor systems have for decades provided an excellent platform to study novel concepts in solid state physics such as quantum hall effect, metal-to-insulator transition (MIT), weak localization and many body interaction effects. Doped Si, in particular and doped Ge has been studied extensively to study MIT as a function of dopant concentration or uniaxial stress. Spin transport phenomena have also been probed in bulk doped Si. All the previous studies involved bulk doped semiconductors where the dopants are spread through the bulk of the material. However spatial confinement of dopants in one or more dimensions may lead to a range of exotic quantum phenomena such as an absence of Anderson localization in one and two dimensions, hole-mediated (Nagaoka) ferromagnetism and new modes of quantum transport, when the Fermi energy lies at or close to centre of the band. Since many of these phenomena are inherent to lower dimensions, it has been hard to observe these experimentally in bulk doped crystals of Si and Ge. Recent advances in the monolayer doping techniques with atoms that closely pack on a surface, has made it possible to design a new class of 2D electron systems (2DES) in elemental semiconductors, such as Si and Ge, where the dopant (P) atoms are confined within a few atomic planes. The uniqueness of these systems lies not merely in the planar doping profile in bulk semiconductors that allow versatile designs of nanodevices, such as 1D wires, tunnel gaps and quantum dots, but also that it is now possible to study the interplay of wavefunction overlap and commensurability effects in 2D with unprecedented control. From an application perspective as well these systems are technologically important as they are aimed at being the building blocks of a solid state quantum computer. This thesis deals with investigating the electrical transport properties, both average (resistance) and dynamic (noise) of doped semiconductor systems in 2D delta layers, 1D wires and 0D quantum dots. We find that the 2D δ-layers shows suppressed low frequency noise and the Hooge parameter of delta doped Si is about five to six orders of magnitude lower when compared to bulk doped Si in metallic regime. At low temperatures, the noise arises in these systems due to universal conductance fluctuations. For 1D wires as well we find that the Hooge parameter is one of the lowest among various 1D systems including carbon nanotubes. We identify that charge traps in the Si/SiO2 are responsible for causing noise in δ-doped systems. Then we study the noise and transport in 2D delta layers as a function of doping density (and hence carrier density and interaction). Weak localization corrections to the conductivity and the universal conductance fluctuations were both found to decrease rapidly with decreasing doping in the Si:P and Ge:P delta layers, suggesting a spontaneous breaking of time reversal symmetry driven by strong Coulomb interactions. At low doping density we observe metal-like dependence of resistance on temperature at low temperatures, raising the possibility of a metallic ground state in 2D at 0 K in doped semiconductors. Finally we probe the low density devices (with broken time reversal symmetry) using superconducting Al as ohmic contacts. Anomalous increase in resistance below the superconducting transition temperature of Al and magnetoresistance with a sharp peak at 0 T is observed. Additionally we find that when the Al is superconducting, there exists a non-local resistance in low doped devices.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:51:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:08:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:51:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:08:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Zircônia 3YTZP apresenta propriedades excelentes à temperatura ambiente, mas estas propriedades são afetadas pelo aumento da temperatura pois esta age negativamente sobre o mecanismo de transformação de fase induzida por tensão, que fortalece a tenacidade da matriz. A adição de Si3N4 e SiC em uma matriz de 3YTZP é muito interessante porque conduz à formação de oxinitreto de silício, melhorando as propriedades mecânicas tais como dureza e tenacidade, mas esta adição está limitada por várias dificuldades que se apresentam durante o processamento e sinterização destes materiais. Neste trabalho foi estudada a obtenção, por sinterização sem pressão, do compósito Y-TZP/Si2N2O, partindo-se da adição de 20vol%Si3N4-SiC em uma matriz de zircônia dopada com 3mol% de Y2O3 - 3YTZP, utilizando-se Al2O3 e Y2O3 como aditivos de sinterização. A mistura foi moída e moldada por prensagem isostática a frio. Amostras foram sinterizadas a 1500º, 1600º e 1700ºC por 2h sem pressão e em atmosfera ambiente, utilizando-se um leito de nitreto de silício. Após sinterização, as amostras foram caracterizadas por difração de raios-X. Foram medidas a densidade, tenacidade, dureza e resistência mecânica à flexão em temperatura ambiente. A estrutura do material foi observada em microscopia eletrônica de varredura e de transmissão, com mapeamento químico, para verificar a homogeneidade e morfologia das fases do compósito. A formação de Si2N2O foi observada no material sinterizado devido à reação entre os pós adicionados. O material obtido apresentou aumento de tenacidade e dureza com o aumento de temperatura de sinterização. As amostras apresentaram boa resistência à oxidação a 1000ºC. / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Submitted by Marco Antonio Oliveira da Silva (maosilva@ipen.br) on 2016-12-21T16:28:43Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-21T16:28:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / O titanato de estrôncio (SrTiO3) possui estrutura cristalina do tipo perovsquita. Materiais com este tipo de estrutura são utilizados para diversas aplicações, tais como, sensores, atuadores, em células a combustível de óxido sólido, entre outros. Devido as suas interessantes propriedades físicas, o SrTiO3 vem sendo intensamente estudado, em especial com a introdução de dopantes. Portanto, neste trabalho foi investigada a influência de diferentes teores de Ca (1; 2,5 e 5% mol) e Pr (0,025; 0,050; 0,075 e 1% mol) na microestrutura e propriedades elétricas e dielétricas do SrTiO3, assim como o material sem aditivos (puro). Os resultados mostram que após a sinterização do SrTiO3 puro, a microestrutura consiste de grãos poligonais com tamanho médio micrométrico, além de texturas lisas e rugosas. A condutividade elétrica das amostras sintetizadas sinterizadas a 1450 e 1500ºC é máxima para 2 horas de patamar. Apenas as amostras de SrTiO3 contendo 1% em mol de Ca apresentam fase única. O tamanho médio de grãos das amostras contendo 1% em mol de Ca é 10,65 ± 0,28 µm e para teores acima deste valor ocorre crescimento significativo dos grãos. As medidas de condutividade elétrica mostraram que as amostras contendo a adição de 1% em mol de Ca possuem maior condutividade dos grãos em relação ao material puro. Para as amostras contendo teores de até 0,075% mol de Pr, pode-se observar alguns grãos lisos e outros rugosos e não há variação considerável do tamanho médio de grãos. As amostras contendo menor teor de Pr (0,025% mol) apresentam maior condutividade dos grãos e contornos de grãos. As amostras de SrTiO3 sintetizado sinterizadas a 1450ºC/10 h apresentaram permissividade elétrica colossal em temperatura ambiente em altas frequências. / Dissertação (Mestrado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Submitted by Pedro Silva Filho (pfsilva@ipen.br) on 2017-11-22T14:03:18Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-22T14:03:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Nas últimas décadas, o consumo de dispositivos eletrônicos e a alta demanda por armazenamento de dados tem mostrado grandes oportunidades para a criação de novas tecnologias que garantam as necessidades mundiais na área de computação e desenvolvimento. Alguns materiais multiferroicos tem sido amplamente estudados e o BiFeO3, considerado o único material multiferroico em temperatura ambiente, ganhou destaque como candidato para produção de dispositivos lógicos e de memória. O uso de técnicas de crescimento como a deposição por laser pulsado permitiu a produção de filmes finos de BiFeO3 com elevado controle de qualidade. Heteroestruturas de filmes multiferroicos de BiFeO3 e LaBiFeO3 foram crescidas com diferentes espessuras sobre substratos de SrTiO3(100), DyScO3(110) e SrTiO3/Si(100) para avaliação e teste de suas propriedades elétricas e magnéticas. Filmes ferromagnéticos de Co0,9Fe0,1 foram depositados por sputtering sobre os filmes multiferroicos para avaliação da interação interfacial entre ordenamentos magnéticos. Técnicas como fotolitografia foram utilizadas para padronização de microdispositivos gravados sobre as amostras. Tanto os filmes finos de BiFeO3 como os de LaBiFeO3 foram crescidos epitaxialmente sobre os substratos já cobertos com uma camada buffer de SrRuO3 usado como contato elétrico inferior. A estrutura cristalina romboédrica das ferritas de bismuto foi confirmada pelos dados de difração de raios X, bem como a manutenção de tensão estrutural causada pela rede cristalina do substrato para amostras de 20 nm. Os valores de coeficiente do tensor piezelétrico d33 foram da ordem de 0,15 V (∼ 60 kV.cm-2) para amostras com 20 nm de espessura enquanto que os valores de voltagem coerciva para as análises de histerese elétrica foram da ordem de 0,5 V para as mesmas amostras. A relação de coercividade elétrica com a espessura corresponde ao perfil encontrado na literatura pela relação E≈d-2/3. As amostras de CoFe/BFO e CoFe/LBFO depositadas em diferentes substratos apresentam acoplamento interfacial entre ordenamento ferromagnético e antiferromagnético com momento ferromagnético de rede. / Tese (Doutorado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP / CAPES:99999.009511/2014-08 / CNPq:146622/2013-2

Un graphe métrique G(X;D) est un graphe dont l’ensemble des sommets est l’ensemble X des points d’un espace métrique (X; d), et dont les arêtes relient les paires fx; yg de sommets telles que d(x; y) 2 D. Dans cette thèse, nous considérons deux problèmes qui peuvent être interprétés comme des problèmes de graphes métriques dans Rn. Premièrement, nous nous intéressons au célèbre problème d’empilements de sphères, relié au graphe métrique G(Rn; ]0; 2r[) pour un rayon de sphère r donné. Récemment, Venkatesh a amélioré d’un facteur log log n la meilleure borne inférieure connue pour un empilement de sphères donné par un réseau, pour une suite infinie de dimensions n. Ici nous prouvons une version effective de ce résultat, dans le sens où l’on exhibe, pour la même suite de dimensions, des familles finies de réseaux qui contiennent un réseaux dont la densité atteint la borne de Venkatesh. Notre construction met en jeu des codes construits sur des corps cyclotomiques, relevés en réseaux grâce à un analogue de la Construction A. Nous prouvons aussi un résultat similaire pour des familles de réseaux symplectiques. Deuxièmement, nous considérons le graphe distance-unité G associé à une norme k_k. Le nombre m1 (Rn; k _ k) est défini comme le supremum des densités réalisées par les stables de G. Si la boule unité associée à k _ k pave Rn par translation, alors il est aisé de voir que m1 (Rn; k _ k) > 1 2n . C. Bachoc et S. Robins ont conjecturé qu’il y a égalité. On montre que cette conjecture est vraie pour n = 2 ainsi que pour des régions de Voronoï de plusieurs types de réseaux en dimension supérieure, ceci en se ramenant à la résolution de problèmes d’empilement dans des graphes discrets. / A distance graph G(X;D) is a graph whose set of vertices is the set of points X of a metric space (X; d), and whose edges connect the pairs fx; yg such that d(x; y) 2 D. In this thesis, we consider two problems that may be interpreted in terms of distance graphs in Rn. First, we study the famous sphere packing problem, in relation with thedistance graph G(Rn; (0; 2r)) for a given sphere radius r. Recently, Venkatesh improved the best known lower bound for lattice sphere packings by a factor log log n for infinitely many dimensions n. We prove an effective version of this result, in the sense that we exhibit, for the same set of dimensions, finite families of lattices containing a lattice reaching this bound. Our construction uses codes over cyclotomic fields, lifted to lattices via Construction A. We also prove a similar result for families of symplectic lattices. Second, we consider the unit distance graph G associated with a norm k _ k. The number m1 (Rn; k _ k) is defined as the supremum of the densities achieved by independent sets in G. If the unit ball corresponding with k _ k tiles Rn by translation, then it is easy to see that m1 (Rn; k _ k) > 1 2n . C. Bachoc and S. Robins conjectured that the equality always holds. We show that this conjecture is true for n = 2 and for several Voronoï cells of lattices in higher dimensions, by solving packing problems in discrete graphs.

Bien que la dynamique des réseaux périodiques non-linéaires ait été investiguée dans les domainestemporel et fréquentiel, il existe un réel besoin d’identifier des relations pratiques avec lephénomène de la localisation d’énergie en termes d’interactions modales et topologies de bifurcation.L’objectif principal de cette thèse consiste à exploiter le phénomène de la localisation pourmodéliser la dynamique collective d’un réseau périodique de résonateurs non-linéaires faiblementcouplés.Un modèle analytico-numérique a été développé pour étudier la dynamique collective d’unréseau périodique d’oscillateurs non-linéaires couplés sous excitations simultanées primaire et paramétrique,où les interactions modales, les topologies de bifurcations et les bassins d’attraction ontété analysés. Des réseaux de pendules et de nano-poutres couplés électrostatiquement ont étéinvestigués sous excitation extérieure et paramétrique, respectivement. Il a été démontré qu’enaugmentant le nombre d’oscillateurs, le nombre de solutions multimodales et la distribution desbassins d’attraction des branches résonantes augmentent. Ce modèle a été étendu pour investiguerla dynamique collective des réseaux 2D de pendules couplés et de billes sphériques en compressionsous excitation à la base, où la dynamique collective est plus riche avec des amplitudes de vibrationplus importantes et des bandes passantes plus larges. Une deuxième investigation de cettethèse consiste à identifier les solitons associés à la dynamique collective d’un réseau périodique etd’étudier sa stabilité. / Although the dynamics of periodic nonlinear lattices was thoroughly investigated in the frequencyand time-space domains, there is a real need to perform profound analysis of the collectivedynamics of such systems in order to identify practical relations with the nonlinear energy localizationphenomenon in terms of modal interactions and bifurcation topologies. The principal goal ofthis thesis consists in exploring the localization phenomenon for modeling the collective dynamicsof periodic arrays of weakly coupled nonlinear resonators.An analytico-numerical model has been developed in order to study the collective dynamics ofa periodic coupled nonlinear oscillators array under simultaneous primary and parametric excitations,where the bifurcation topologies, the modal interactions and the basins of attraction havebeen analyzed. Arrays of coupled pendulums and electrostatically coupled nanobeams under externaland parametric excitations respectively were considered. It is shown that by increasing thenumber of coupled oscillators, the number of multimodal solutions and the distribution of the basinsof attraction of the resonant solutions increase. The model was extended to investigate the collectivedynamics of periodic nonlinear 2D arrays of coupled pendulums and spherical particles underbase excitation, leading to additional features, mainly larger bandwidth and important vibrationalamplitudes. A second investigation of this thesis consists in identifying the solitons associated tothe collective nonlinear dynamics of the considered arrays of periodic structures and the study oftheir stability.

One of the fundamental problems in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry is to understand the nature of the solution space of a system of multivariate polynomial equations over a field k, such as real or complex numbers. An important algorithmic tool in this study is the notion of Groebner bases (Buchberger (1965)). Given a system of polynomial equations, f1= 0,..., fm = 0, Groebner basis is a “canonical" generating set of the ideal generated by f1,...., fm, that can answer, constructively, many questions in computational ideal theory. It generalizes several concepts of univariate polynomials like resultants to the multivariate case, and answers decisively the ideal membership problem. The dimension of the solution set of an ideal I called the affine variety, an important concept in algebraic geometry, is equal to the Krull dimension of the corresponding coordinate ring, k[x1,...,xn]/I. Groebner bases were first introduced to compute k-vector space bases of k[x1,....,xn]/I and use that to characterize zero-dimensional solution sets. Since then, Groebner basis techniques have provided a generic algorithmic framework for computations in control theory, cryptography, formal verification, robotics, etc, that involve multivariate polynomials over fields. The main aim of this thesis is to study problems related to computational ideal theory over Noetherian commutative rings (e.g: the ring of integers, Z, the polynomial ring over a field, k[y1,…., ym], etc) using the theory of Groebner bases. These problems surface in many domains including lattice based cryptography, control systems, system-on-chip design, etc. Although, formal and standard techniques are available for polynomial rings over fields, the presence of zero divisors and non units make developing similar techniques for polynomial rings over rings challenging. Given a polynomial ring over a Noetherian commutative ring, A and an ideal I in A[x1,..., xn], the first fundamental problem that we study is whether the residue class polynomial ring, A[x1,..., xn]/I is a free A-module or not. Note that when A=k, the answer is always ‘yes’ and the k-vector space basis of k[x1,..., xn]/I plays an important role in computational ideal theory over fields. In our work, we give a Groebner basis characterization for A[x1,...,xn]/I to have a free A-module representation w.r.t. a monomial ordering. For such A-algebras, we give an algorithm to compute its A-module basis. This extends the Macaulay-Buchberger basis theorem to polynomial rings over Noetherian commutative rings. These results help us develop a theory of border bases in A[x1,...,xn] when the residue class polynomial ring is finitely generated. The theory of border bases is handled as two separate cases: (i) A[x1,...,xn]/I is free and (ii) A[x1,...,xn]/I has torsion submodules. For the special case of A = Z, we show how short reduced Groebner bases and the characterization for a free A-module representation help identify the cases when Z[x1,...,xn]/I is isomorphic to ZN for some positive integer N. Ideals in such Z-algebras are called ideal lattices. These structures are interesting since this means we can use the algebraic structure, Z[x1,...,xn]/I as a representation for point lattices and extend all the computationally hard problems in point lattice theory to Z[x1,...,xn]/I . Univariate ideal lattices are widely used in lattice based cryptography for they are a more compact representation for lattices than matrices. In this thesis, we give a characterization for multivariate ideal lattices and construct collision resistant hash functions based on them using Groebner basis techniques. For the construction of hash functions, we define a worst case problem, shortest substitution problem w.r.t. an ideal in Z[x1,...,xn], and establish hardness results for this problem. Finally, we develop an approach to compute the Krull dimension of A[x1,...,xn]/I using Groebner bases, when A is a Noetherian integral domain. When A is a field, the Krull dimension of A[x1,...,xn]/I has several equivalent algorithmic definitions by which it can be computed. But this is not true in the case of arbitrary Noetherian rings. We introduce the notion of combinatorial dimension of A[x1,...,xn]/I and give a Groebner basis method to compute it for residue class polynomial rings that have a free A-module representation w.r.t. a lexicographic ordering. For such A-algebras, we derive a relation between Krull dimension and combinatorial dimension of A[x1,...,xn]/I. For A-algebras that have a free A-module representation w.r.t. degree compatible monomial orderings, we introduce the concepts of Hilbert function, Hilbert series and Hilbert polynomials and show that Groebner basis methods can be used to compute these quantities. We then proceed to show that the combinatorial dimension of such A-algebras is equal to the degree of the Hilbert polynomial. This enables us to extend the relation between Krull dimension and combinatorial dimension to A-algebras with a free A-module representation w.r.t. a degree compatible ordering as well.

In this work, we study two problems in information-theoretic security. Firstly, we study a wireless network where two nodes want to securely exchange messages via an honest-but-curious bidirectional relay. There is no direct link between the user nodes, and all communication must take place through the relay. The relay behaves like a passive eavesdropper, but otherwise follows the protocol it is assigned. Our objective is to design a scheme where the user nodes can reliably exchange messages such that the relay gets no information about the individual messages. We first describe a perfectly secure scheme using nested lattices, and show that our scheme achieves secrecy regardless of the distribution of the additive noise, and even if this distribution is unknown to the user nodes. Our scheme is explicit, in the sense that for any pair of nested lattices, we give the distribution used for randomization at the encoders to guarantee security. We then give a strongly secure lattice coding scheme, and we characterize the performance of both these schemes in the presence of Gaussian noise. We then extend our perfectly-secure and strongly-secure schemes to obtain a protocol that guarantees end-to-end secrecy in a multichip line network. We also briefly study the robustness of our bidirectional relaying schemes to channel imperfections. In the second problem, we consider the scenario where multiple terminals have access to private correlated Gaussian sources and a public noiseless communication channel. The objective is to generate a group secret key using their sources and public communication in a way that an eavesdropper having access to the public communication can obtain no information about the key. We give a nested lattice-based protocol for generating strongly secure secret keys from independent and identically distributed copies of the correlated random variables. Under certain assumptions on the joint distribution of the sources, we derive achievable secret key rates. The tools used in designing protocols for both these problems are nested lattice codes, which have been widely used in several problems of communication and security. In this thesis, we also study lattice constructions that permit polynomial-time encoding and decoding. In this regard, we first look at a class of lattices obtained from low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, called Low-density Construction-A (LDA) lattices. We show that high-dimensional LDA lattices have several “goodness” properties that are desirable in many problems of communication and security. We also present a new class of low-complexity lattice coding schemes that achieve the capacity of the AWGN channel. Codes in this class are obtained by concatenating an inner Construction-A lattice code with an outer Reed-Solomon code or an expander code. We show that this class of codes can achieve the capacity of the AWGN channel with polynomial encoding and decoding complexities. Furthermore, the probability of error decays exponentially in the block length for a fixed transmission rate R that is strictly less than the capacity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first capacity-achieving coding scheme for the AWGN channel which has an exponentially decaying probability of error and polynomial encoding/decoding complexities.

The present work focuses on the growth and characterizations of GaN and InN layers and nanostructures on p-Si(100) and p-Si(111) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and the studies of GaN/p-Si and InN/p-Si heterojunctions properties. The thesis is divided in to seven different chapters. Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction on III-nitride materials, growth systems, substrates, possible device applications and technical background. Chapter 2 deals with experimental techniques including the details of PAMBE system used in the present work and characterization tools for III-nitride epitaxial layers as well as nanostructures. Chapter 3 involves the growth of GaN films on p-Si(100) and p-Si(111) substrates. Phase pure wurtzite GaN films are grown on Si (100) substrates by introducing a silicon nitride layer followed by low temperature GaN growth as buffer layers. GaN films grown directly on Si (100) are found to be phase mixtured, containing both cubic and hexagonal modifications. The x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy studies reveal that the significant enhancement in the structural and optical properties of GaN films grown with silicon nitride buffer layer grown at 800 oC, when compared to the samples grown in the absence of silicon nitride buffer layer and with silicon nitride buffer layer grown at 600 oC. Core-level photoelectron spectroscopy of SixNy layers reveals the sources for superior qualities of GaN epilayers grown with the high temperature substrate nitridation process. The discussion has been carried out on the typical inverted rectification behavior exhibited by n-GaN/p-Si heterojunctions. Considerable modulation in the transport mechanism is observed with the nitridation conditions. The heterojunction fabricated with the sample of substrate nitridation at high temperature exhibites superior rectifying nature with reduced trap concentrations. Lowest ideality factors (~1.5) are observed in the heterojunctions grown with high temperature substrate nitridation which is attributed to the recombination tunneling at the space charge region transport mechanism at lower voltages and at higher voltages space charge limited current conduction is the dominating transport mechanism. Whereas, thermally generated carrier tunneling and recombination tunneling are the dominating transport mechanisms in the heterojunctions grown without substrate nitridation and low temperature substrate nitridation, respectively. A brief comparison of the structural, optical and heterojunction properties of GaN grown on Si(100) and Si(111) has been carried out. Chapter 4 involves the growth and characterizations of InN nanostructures and thinfilms on p-Si(100) and p-Si(111) substrates. InN QDs are grown on Si(100) at different densities. The PL characteristics of InN QDs are studied. A deterioration process of InN QDs, caused by the oxygen incorporation into the InN lattice and formation of In2O3/InN composite structures was established from the results of TEM, XPS and PL studies. The results confirm the partial oxidation of the outer shell of the InN QDs, while the inner core of the QDs remains unoxidized. InN nanorods are grown on p-Si(100), structural characterizations are carried out by SEM, and TEM. InN nanodots are grown on p-Si(100), structural characterizations are performed. InN films were grown on Si(100) and Si(111) substrates and structural characterizations are carried out. Chapter 5 deals with the the heterojunction properties of InN/p-Si(100) and InN/p-Si(111).The transport behavior of the InN NDs/p-Si(100) diodes is studied at various bias voltages and temperatures. The temperature dependent ZB BH and ideality factors of the forward I-V data are observed, while it is governed through the modified Richardson’s plot. The difference in FB BH and C-V BH and the deviation of ideality factor from unity indicate the presence of inhomogeneities at the interface. The band offsets derived from C-V measurements are found to be Δ EC=1.8 eV and Δ EV =1.3 eV, which are in close agreement with Anderson’s model. The band offsets of InN/p-Si heterojunctions are estimated using XPS data. A type-III band alignment with a valence band offset of Δ EV =1.39 eV and conduction band offset of ΔEC=1.81 eV is identified. The charge neutrality level model provides a reasonable description of the band alignment of the InN/p-Si interface. The interface dipole deduced by comparison with the electron affinity model is 0.06 eV. The transport studies of InN NR/p-Si(100) heterojunctions have been carried out by conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) as well as conventional large area contacts. Discussion of the electrical properties has been carried out based on local current-voltage (I-V) curves, as well as on the 2D conductance maps. The comparative studies on transport properties of diodes fabricated with InN NRs and NDs grown on p-Si(100) substrates and InN thin films grown on p-Si(111) substrates have also been carried out. Chapter 6 deals with the growth and characterizations of InN/GaN heterostructures on p-Si(100) and p-Si(111) substarets and also on the InN/GaN/p-Si heterojunction properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies reveal a considerable variation in crystalline quality of InN with grown parameters. Deterioration in the rectifying nature is observed in the case of InN/GaN/p-Si(100) heterojunction substrate when compared to InN/GaN/p-Si (111) due to the defect mediated tunneling effect, caused by the high defect concentration in the GaN and InN films grown on Si(100) and also due to the trap centers exist in the interfaces. Reduction in ideality factor is also observed in the case of n-InN/n-GaN/p–Si(111) when compared to n-InN/n-GaN/p–Si(100) heterojunction. The sum of the ideality factors of individual diodes is consistent with experimentally observed high ideality factors of n-InN/n-GaN/p–Si double heterojunctions due to double rectifying heterojunctions and metal semiconductor junctions. Variation of effective barrier heights and ideality factors with temperature are confirmed, which indicate the inhomogeneity in barrier height, might be due to various types of defects present at the GaN/Si and InN/GaN interfaces. The dependence of forward currents on both the voltage and temperatures are explained by multi step tunneling model and the activation energis were estimated to be 25meV and 100meV for n-InN/n-GaN/p–Si(100) and n-InN/n-GaN/p–Si(111) heterojunctions, respectively. Chapter 7 gives the summary of the present study and also discusses about future research directions in this area.