Abstract
The quantum confinement effect is important in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics applications; however, there is a discrepancy between the theory of quantum confinement, which indicates that band-gap widening occurs only at small sizes, and experimental observations of band-gap widening in large-diameter nanowires (NWs). This paper reports an obvious blue shift of the absorption edge in the UV-visible absorption spectra of SiC NWs with diameters of 50–300 nm. On the basis of quantum confinement theory and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images of SiC NWs, band-gap widening in SiC NWs with diameters of up to hundreds of nanometers is fully explained; the results could help to explain similar band-gap widening in other NWs with large diameters.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61675234) and the Advanced Research Foundation of the National University of Defense Technology (Grant No. zk16-03-40).
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Peng, G., Yu, X., He, YL. et al. Quantum confinement effect in β-SiC nanowires. Front. Phys. 13, 137802 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-018-0768-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-018-0768-0