Ionic-liquid-gating setup for stable measurements and reduced electronic inhomogeneity at low temperatures

The ionic-liquid-gating technique can be applied to the search for novel physical phenomena at low temperatures because of its wide controllability of the charge carrier density. Ionic-liquid gated field-effect transistors are often fragile upon cooling, however, because of the large difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of frozen ionic liquids and solid target materials. In this paper, we provide a practical technique for setting up ionic-liquid-gated field-effect transistors for low-temperature measurements. It allows stable measurements and reduces the electronic inhomogeneity by reducing the shear strain generated in frozen ionic liquid.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Langevin equation with Coulomb friction

We propose a Langevin model with Coulomb friction. Through the analysis of the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation, we have obtained the steady velocity distribution function under the influence of the external field.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. to be published in Physica

Superconductivity in CVD Diamond Thin Film Well-Above Liquid Helium Temperature

Diamond has always been adored as a jewel. Even more fascinating is its outstanding physical properties; it is the hardest material known in the world with the highest thermal conductivity. Meanwhile, when we turn to its electrical properties, diamond is a rather featureless electrical insulator. However, with boron doping, it becomes a p-type semiconductor, with boron acting as a charge acceptor. Therefore the recent news of superconductivity in heavily boron-doped diamond synthesized by high pressure sintering was received with considerable surprise. Opening up new possibilities for diamond-based electrical devices, a systematic investigation of these phenomena clearly needs to be achieved. Here we show unambiguous evidence of superconductivity in a diamond thin film deposited by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Furthermore the onset of the superconducting transition is found to be 7.4K, which is higher than the reported value in ref(7) and well above helium liquid temperature. This finding establishes the superconductivity to be a universal property of boron-doped diamond, demonstrating that device application is indeed a feasible challenge.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Smart Power Devices and ICs Using GaAs and Wide and Extreme Bandgap Semiconductors

We evaluate and compare the performance and potential of GaAs and of wide and extreme bandgap semiconductors (SiC, GaN, Ga2O3, diamond), relative to silicon, for power electronics applications. We examine their device structures and associated materials/process technologies and selectively review the recent experimental demonstrations of high voltage power devices and IC structures of these semiconductors. We discuss the technical obstacles that still need to be addressed and overcome before large-scale commercialization commences

Low-energy electrodynamics of superconducting diamond

Heavily-boron-doped diamond films become superconducting with critical temperatures $T_c$ well above 4 K. Here we first measure the reflectivity of such a film down to 5 cm$^{-1}$, by also using Coherent Synchrotron Radiation. We thus determine the optical gap, the field penetration depth, the range of action of the Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham sum rule, and the electron-phonon spectral function. We conclude that diamond behaves as a dirty BCS superconductor.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figure

Microscopic Evidence for Evolution of Superconductivity by Effective Carrier Doping in Boron-doped Diamond:11B-NMR study

We have investigated the superconductivity discovered in boron (B)-doped diamonds by means of 11B-NMR on heteroepitaxially grown (111) and (100) films. 11B-NMR spectra for all of the films are identified to arise from the substitutional B(1) site as single occupation and lower symmetric B(2) site substituted as boron+hydrogen(B+H) complex, respectively. A clear evidence is presented that the effective carriers introduced by B(1) substitution are responsible for the superconductivity, whereas the charge neutral B(2) sites does not offer the carriers effectively. The result is also corroborated by the density of states deduced by 1/T1T measurement, indicating that the evolution of superconductivity is driven by the effective carrier introduced by substitution at B(1) site.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. B (Brief report

Holes in the valence band of superconducting boron-doped diamond film studied by soft X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy

Carbon- and boron-2$p$ states of superconducting and non-superconducting boron-doped diamond samples are measured using soft X-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy. For the superconducting sample, a large density of hole states is observed in the valence band in addition to the states in the impurity band. The hole states in the valence band is located at about 1.3 eV below the valence band maximum regardless of the doping level, which cannot be interpreted within a simple rigid band model. Present experimental results, combined with the first principles calculations, suggest that superconductivity is to be attributed to the holes in the valence band.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure