Doped semiconductor nanocrystal junctions

Abstract

Semiconductor junctions are the basis of electronic and photovoltaic devices. Here, we investigate junctions formed from highly doped (N D ≈ 10 20 - 10 21cm-3) silicon nanocrystals (NCs) in the 2-50 nm size range, using Kelvin probe force microscopy experiments with single charge sensitivity. We show that the charge transfer from doped NCs towards a two-dimensional layer experimentally follows a simple phenomenological law, corresponding to formation of an interface dipole linearly increasing with the NC diameter. This feature leads to analytically predictable junction properties down to quantum size regimes: NC depletion width independent of the NC size and varying as N D - 1 / 3, and depleted charge linearly increasing with the NC diameter and varying as N D 1 / 3. We thus establish a "nanocrystal counterpart" of conventional semiconductor planar junctions, here however valid in regimes of strong electrostatic and quantum confinements. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.