Electronic properties of hybrid organic-inorganic semiconductors

Hybrid semiconductors comprising networks of inorganic II-VI semiconductor segments bonded to organic solvent chains show promise as a versatile material system that offers the capability of synthesizing many new electronic structures that are desirable for photonic applications. Polarized optical absorption and reflection are measured in single crystal semiconductor nanostructures composed of arrays of monolayers or linear chains. This shows very sharp spectral signatures of excitonic transitions, providing evidence of an electronic bandstructure that is strongly modified from the bulk inorganic semiconductor. Together with x-ray diffraction structural analysis, it gives a clear image of a monolayer multiple quantum well structure in which a chemical growth process has achieved a quantum confinement larger than other known heterostructure types, together with near-zero layer width fluctuations, a very large oscillator strength and large exciton binding energy.