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Electronic devices based on semiconductor nanowires will rely on the location and number of dopant atoms in the host semiconductor being controlled during the fabrication process. It has now been shown that the properties of dopant atoms — in particular, their ionization energies — change with nanowire radius more markedly than previously predicted.
Knowledge about strain at the nanoscale is essential for tailoring the mechanical and electronic properties of materials. It has now been shown that infrared near-field microscopy can provide direct, non-invasive mapping of residual strain fields, with nanoscale resolution. In addition, plasmon-assisted near-field imaging of free-carrier properties in nanoscale strain fields has been demonstrated.
