Semiconductors nanocrystals

The Spectrum of an Exciton in Nanocrystal Semiconductor Structures - Theory... 

Nanocrystal semiconductor memory (Tiwari et al., 1996) is another application based on the small capacitance of quantum dots (or nanocrystals, as they are often called in this context). In a conventional field effect transistor inversion is obtained by applying a suitable bias voltage to the gate. The incorporation of nanocrystals in the gate insulator would provide a means to apply a field offest by charging the quantum dots. Working devices have been successfully manufactured. 

Metallic and semiconductor nanoparticles or nanocrystals —chunks of matter intennediate in size and physical properties between single atoms and tire macroscopic bulk materials—are of great interest botli for tlieir... 

For tire purjDoses of tliis review, a nanocrystal is defined as a crystalline solid, witli feature sizes less tlian 50 nm, recovered as a purified powder from a chemical syntliesis and subsequently dissolved as isolated particles in an appropriate solvent. In many ways, tliis definition shares many features witli tliat of colloids , defined broadly as a particle tliat has some linear dimension between 1 and 1000 nm [1] tire study of nanocrystals may be drought of as a new kind of colloid science [2]. Much of die early work on colloidal metal and semiconductor particles stemmed from die photophysics and applications to electrochemistry. (See, for example, die excellent review by Henglein [3].) However, the definition of a colloid does not include any specification of die internal stmcture of die particle. Therein lies die cmcial distinction in nanocrystals, die interior crystalline stmcture is of overwhelming importance. Nanocrystals must tmly be little solids (figure C2.17.1), widi internal stmctures equivalent (or nearly equivalent) to drat of bulk materials. This is a necessary condition if size-dependent studies of nanometre-sized objects are to offer any insight into die behaviour of bulk solids. 

We begin our discussion of nanocrystals in diis chapter widi die most challenging problem faced in die field die preparation and characterization of nanocrystals. These systems present challenging problems for inorganic and analytical chemists alike, and die success of any nanocrystal syndiesis plays a major role in die furdier quantitative study of nanocrystal properties. Next, we will address die unique size-dependent optical properties of bodi metal and semiconductor nanocrystals. Indeed, it is die striking size-dependent colours of nanocrystals diat first attracted... 

An equally important challenge for nanocrystal assembly is the fonnation of specific nanocrystal arrangements in solution. By using complementary DNA strands as tethers, Mirkin et al [102, 103] fonned aggregates of gold nanocrystals with specific sizes Alivisatos et al also used DNA to stmcture semiconductor nanocrystal molecules, though in this case the molecules contained only a few nanocrystals placed controlled distances from each other [104, 105 and 106]. The potential applications of biomolecular teclmiques to this area of nanoscience are immense, and the opportunities have been reviewed in several recent publications [107, 108, 109 and 110]. 

This section will outline the simplest models for the spectra of both metal and semiconductor nanocrystals. The work described here has illustrated that, in order to achieve quantitative agreement between theory and experiment, a more detailed view of the molecular character of clusters must be incoriDorated. The nature and bonding of the surface, in particular, is often of crucial importance in modelling nanocrystal optical properties. Wlrile this section addresses the linear optical properties of nanocrystals, both nonlinear optical properties and the photophysics of these systems are also of great interest. The reader is referred to the many excellent review articles for more in-depth discussions of these and other aspects of nanocrystal optical properties [147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153 and 1541. 

Figure C2.17.11. Exciton energy as a function of particle size. The Bms fonnula is used to calculate the energy shift of the exciton state as a function of nanocrystal radius, for several different direct-gap semiconductors. These estimates demonstrate the size below which quantum confinement effects become significant.

Peng Z G, Wickham J and Alivisatos A P 1998 Kinetics of ll-VI and lll-V colloidal semiconductor nanocrystal growth focusing of size distributions J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120 5343... 

Sachleben J R ef a/1998 Solution-state NMR studies of the surface structure and dynamics of semiconductor nanocrystals J. Phys. Chem. B 102 10 117... 

Brus L E 1993 NATO ASI School on Nanophase Materials ed G C Had]lpanayls (Dordrecht Kluwer) Allvisatos A P 1996 Semiconductor clusters, nanocrystals and quantum dots Science 271 933 Heath J R and Shlang J J 1998 Covalency In semiconductor quantum dots Chem. See. Rev. 27 65 Brus L 1998 Chemical approaches to semiconductor nanocrystals J. Phys. Chem. Solids 59 459 Brus L 1991 Quantum crystallites and nonlinear optics App/. Phys. A 53 465... 

Goldstein A N, Echer C M and Alivisatos A P 1992 Melting in semiconductor nanocrystals Science 256 1425... 

Alivisatos, A. P. (1996). Semiconductor clusters, nanocrystals, and quantum dots. Science, 271 933-937. 

Colvin, V. Schlamp, M. and Alivisatos, A. P. (1994). Light-emitting diodes made from cadmium selenide nanocrystals and a semiconductor polymer. Nature, 370,354-357. 

Peng, X. G. (2003). Mechanisms for the Shape-control and Shape-Evolution of Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystals. Adv. Mater., 15,459-463. 

Rogach, A. L. Nagesha, D. Ostrander, J. W. Giersig, M. and Kotov, N. A. (2000). "Raisin Bun"-Type Composite Spheres of Silica and Semiconductor Nanocrystals. Chem. Mater., 12, 2676-2685. 

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