The effect of interfacial phases on the electrical properties of Au/Ti/SiO2/InSb metal-insulator (oxide)-semiconductor (MIS or MOS) structures was investigated by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. With increasing the deposition temperature of silicon oxide from 100 to 350°C using PECVD, the change in the interfacial phases between SiO2 and InSb were analyzed by resonant Raman spectroscopy to verify the relation between the breakdown of C-V characteristics and the change of interfacial phases. The shape of C-V characteristics was dramatically changed when the deposition temperature was above 300°C. The C-V measurements and Raman spectra represented that elemental Sb accumulation resulted from the chemical reaction of Sb oxide with InSb substrate was responsible for the failure in the C-V characteristics of MIS structure.

Synthesis of ‘solid solution’ and ‘core-shell’ types of well defined Co-Pt based nanoalloys smaller than 10nm have been achieved by redox transmetalation reactions. This redox transmetalation are selectively observed only if the redox potential between two metals is favorable. The composition of the magnetic alloys can also be tuned by adjusting the ratio of reactants. Annealed core-shell nanoparticles transformed into mixed nanoalloys with face centered tetragonal (fct) structures, which show large coercivity and ferromagnetism at room temperature. These nanoparticles can potentially be used as an independent single magnetic bit of tera-bit information storage. Also, this kind of redox transmetalation reaction can be utilized as a general process to synthesize various types of nanoalloys with controlled composition in a selective fashion.

The effect of varying the Si layer thickness on the Er3+ photoluminescence properties of Er-doped Si/SiO2 superlattice is investigated. We find that as the Si layer thickness is reduced from 3.6 nm down to a monolayer of Si, the Er3+ luminescence intensity increases by over an order of magnitude. Temperature dependence of the Er3+ luminescence intensity and time-resolved measurement of Er3+ luminescence intensity identify the increase in the excitation rate as the likely cause for such an increase, and underscore the importance of the Si/SiO2 interface in determining the Er3+ luminescence properties.