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Scanning Probing of the Tribovoltaic Effect at the Sliding Interface of Two Semiconductors
Author(s) -
Zheng Mingli,
Lin Shiquan,
Xu Liang,
Zhu Laipan,
Wang Zhong Lin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.202000928
Subject(s) - materials science , semiconductor , triboelectric effect , heterojunction , wafer , contact electrification , doping , surface states , surface photovoltage , electric field , electron , condensed matter physics , optoelectronics , composite material , surface (topology) , geometry , mathematics , physics , quantum mechanics , spectroscopy
Contact electrification (CE or triboelectrification) is a common phenomenon, which can occur for almost all types of materials. In previous studies, the CE between insulators and metals has been widely discussed, while CE involving semiconductors is only recently. Here, a tribo‐current is generated by sliding an N‐type diamond coated tip on a P‐type or N‐type Si wafers. The density of surface states of the Si wafer is changed by introducing different densities of doping. It is found that the tribo‐current between two sliding semiconductors increases with increasing density of surface states of the semiconductor and the sliding load. The results suggest that the tribo‐current is induced by the tribovoltaic effect, in which the electron–hole pairs at the sliding interface are excited by the energy release during friction, which may be due to the transition of electrons between the surface states during contact, or bond formation across the sliding interface. The electron–hole pairs at the sliding interface are subsequently separated by the built‐in electric field at the PN or NN heterojunctions, which results in a tribo‐current, in analogy to that which occurs in the photovoltaic effect.