Nonthermal Plasma Synthesized Boron-Doped Germanium Nanocrystals

Doping enables the effective tuning of the properties of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs). In this paper, germanium (Ge) NCs are doped with boron (B) in nonthermal plasma. It is shown that B atoms prefer residing at/near the NC surface, rather than in the NC core. The surface state of Ge NCs is modified by the B doping. The oxidation of B-doped Ge NCs is not as serious as that of undoped Ge NCs. Devices based on B-doped Ge-NC films cast from the dispersion of B-doped Ge NCs have been fabricated. It is shown that the electrical conduction of the B-doped Ge-NC films is closely related to the doping level of B.