Progress in the development of high-efficiency GaAs solar cells on low-cost, large-area, large-grain, optical-grade polycrystalline Ge substrates is described in this paper. First, we present results on the growth of specular GaAs-AlGaAs layers, across the various crystalline orientations of a polycrystalline Ge substrate, by metallorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Second, we present the preliminary optimization of minority-carrier properties of GaAs-AlGaAs structures on poly-Ge substrates towards the improvement of GaAs solar cells. We have demonstrated comparable minority-carrier lifetimes in GaAs double-hetero structures grown on optical-grade poly-Ge substrates and electronic-grade single-crystal Ge substrates. In addition, we describe device-structure optimization that have led us to achieve a open-circuit voltage of {approximately}1 Volt in a GaAs ...
The use of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) combined with in situ sputter etching for revealing the metallurgy of the metal-semiconductor interface is presented. The physical basis, measurement techniques, and data interpretation for Auger analysis of thin-film structures are briefly reviewed. Results of a detailed study of an alloyed multilayered contact (Ni/Au-Ge) on n-type epitaxial GaAs are summarized to illustrate how electrical and metallurgical contact properties can be correlated using AES. In addition, the results of a study of the growth kinetics and chemical phase identification of palladium silicide on single-crystal Si is given, as well as the initial results of a study of aluminum-palladium silicide interaction at elevated temperature. (auth)
The use of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) combined with in situ sputter etching for revealing the metallurgy of the metal-semiconductor interface is presented. The physical basis, measurement techniques, and data interpretation for Auger analysis of thin-film structures are briefly reviewed. Results of a detailed study of an alloyed multilayered contact (Ni/Au-Ge) on n-type epitaxial GaAs are summarized to illustrate how electrical and metallurgical contact properties can be correlated using AES. In addition, the results of a study of the growth kinetics and chemical phase identification of palladium silicide on single-crystal Si is given, as well as the initial results of a study of aluminum-palladium silicide interaction at elevated temperature.
A review is given of the state-of-the-art of single and polycrystalline solar cells, which includes a short theoretical review, laboratory achievements, and production methods. The Si single and polycrystalline cell and the amorphous Si cell are described, including material preparation, crystal and sheet growth, and cell and panel production. Promising second generation thin film solar cells including GaAs, CdS(CuInSe/sub 2/), and CdTe are briefly described. Economical aspects are discussed.
This paper will discuss initial studies of thin-film GaAs grown by molecular-beam epitaxy for use in developing a thin-film GaAs solar cell. Photocurrent and photoluminescence intensity are related to the material morphology as a function of growth conditions. Growth temperature and V/III ratio have a dramatic effect on the photocurrent. However, it seems likely that even after optimizing such growth parameters, it will be necessary to provide substrates that can provide templates to enhance grain size from the start of thin-film growth. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}
Surface scientists argue about the fundamental nature of Schottky barriers, or more precisely what determines the location of the Fermi level at semiconductor surfaces and interfaces. Electrical and materials engineers worry about how to make Schottky barrier diodes and gates to field effect transistors and the control of barrier heights. There is some interesting middle ground in which the location of the surface and interface Fermi level can, for example, determine semiconductor doping characteristics during crystalgrowth. The authors will discuss several interesting and well known examples of doping characteristics which are still somewhat mysterious. Specifically, they address the following question: (1) why is Ge doped GaAs p type when grown from Ga melts but n type when grown from Au melts (2) why is low resistivity p type ZnSe, AlAs, and AlGaInP hard to make, and more importantly, how can the problem be fixed. In ...
High-purity and doped GaAs films have been grown by Liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) for development of a blocked impurity band (BIB) detector for far-infrared radiation. The film growth process developed has resulted in the capability to grow GaAs with a net active impurity concentration below 1 x 10{sup 13} cm{sup -3}, ideal for the blocking layer of the BIB detector. The growth of n-type LPE GaAs films with donor concentrations below the metal-insulator transition, as required for the absorbing layer of a BIB detector, has been achieved. The control of the donor concentration, however, was found to be insufficient for detector production. The growth by LPE of a high-purity film onto a commercially grown vapor-phase epitaxial (VPE) n-type GaAs doped absorbing layer resulted in a BIB device that showed a significant reduction in the ...
Epitaxial metastable (GaSb)/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ alloys with compostions across the pseudobinary phase diagram have been grown on (100) GaAs substrates by multitarget rf sputtering. An essential feature allowing the growth of these metastable materials was low-energy ion bombardment of the growing film during deposition to enhance surface diffusion, promote mixing, and preferentially sputter incipient second-phase precipitates. Annealing experiments indicated that the metastable films exhibit good high-temperature stability and that they transform through a continuous series of GaSb-rich and Ge-rich phases in which the solute concentrations decrease until the equilibrium two-phase alloy is obtained. While the calculated free-energy difference between the single-phase metastable and equilibrium states is approx.18 meV, the measured activation barrier for the transformation is approx.3 eV. All films were p-type with room-temperature hole ...
We have investigated the formation and coarsening of Ga droplets on focused-ion-beam (FIB) irradiated GaAs surfaces. To separately examine formation and coarsening, Ga droplets were fabricated by Ga"+ FIB irradiation of GaAs substrates with and without pre-patterned holes. We determined the droplet growth rate and size distribution as a function of FIB energy following irradiation. The data suggest a droplet formation mechanism that involves Ga precipitation from a Ga-rich layer, followed by droplet coarsening via a combination of diffusion and Ostwald ripening or coalescence via droplet migration (dynamic coalescence).
The properties of Mn-doped GaAs layers grown by laser deposition were investigated with measurements of Hall effect and magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). The electrical and magnetic parameters of the layers were defined by growth temperature and quantity of sputtered Mn. It was shown that room-temperature ferromagnetism is revealed by MOKE and, after ruby laser 25 ns pulse annealing, by Hall effect measurements.
This paper reports advances in the development of solar cells made from GaAs-on-Si structures prepared by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The use of concentrator cells, operating at [similar to]200 suns, has led to the efficiency achievements of 21.3% (AM1.5D) for a GaAs-on-Si solar cell, and 27.6 (AM1.5D) for a homoepitaxial GaAs cell. The development of epitaxial multilayer dielectric mirrors (Bragg reflectors), as back-surface reflectors in thin-film GaAs cells, on both Si and GaAs substrates, is shown to lead to modest efficiency increases, over that of conventional designs.
GaAs1-xPx p-n junction structures were grown on the epi-ready n-type GaAs(100) substrate by solid source MBE system for different phosphor compositions. To obtain the lattice-match sample structure was applied graded growth procedure. The structural and optical properties of the sample structures with different P concentration were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). In addition, The range of lattice parameters in the graded epilayer and phosphorous composition were determined from the HRXRD rocking curve simulation. We analyse dielectric function spectra of disordered GaAs1-xPx junction structures measured using spectroscopic ellipsometry at room temperature in the 0.6-4.7 eV photon energy region. The critical energy points such as band gap energy and spin-orbit-split energy of these structures were determined using SE data. It is detected that E0, E1 ,E2 ...
Single crystal cubic boron nitride (cBN) was heteroepitaxially grown on a seed crystal of diamond under static high pressure and high temperature at 5.5GPa and 1,600--1,700 C, respectively, for 10--100 hour. A temperature gradient method was employed for the crystalgrowth by using lithium boron nitride as a solvent. Initial growth feature of cBN crystal was found on the diamond seed surface after the growing time of 10 minutes. The nucleation sites of the crystals seem to be near the etch pits on the diamond surface which were introduced by the surface dissolution by the solvent for cBN growth. Two types of growth features, island and step growth were typically shown on the surface. It can be seen that grown crystal appearing as a (111) nitrogen face was ...
By gas-source molecular-beam epitaxy, we obtained a device-quality GaInP epitaxial layer lattice matched to (100)-GaAs substrates, with a photoluminescence efficiency comparable to that of a crystal grown by liquid-phase epitaxy. A GaInP/AlInP double heterostructure laser with a GaInP active layer was fabricated, and pulsed lasing operation was achieved at room temperature for, we believe, the first time.
The utilization of GaAs in photovoltaic (PV) applications has been hindered by the cost of substrates and processing. This paper examines the cost effectiveness of GaAs cells for use in concentrator modules when produced at the 10 to 50 MW level per year. Information on costs associated with substrates, epitaxial processing, and subsequent device fabrication will be compared to allowable costs as projected by the US Department of Energy (DOE). The high cot of GaAs solar cells can be mitigated by use of low-cost substrates or high-concentration systems. The costs then can be accommodated when the production level is sufficiently high to take advantage of economies of scale in device processing and substrate price benefits when procured at high volumes. We have found that development of processing equipment, both for the epitaxial growth and device processing, is the key to obtaining production costs ...
The feasibility of continuous production of gallium arsenide ribbon single crystals, by passage of a molten zone through boron-oxide encapsulated GaAs feedstock, is being investigated. Polycrystalline GaAs ribbons have been grown in graphite boats by passage of a wide zone through B2O3-encapsulated feed-stock, confined by a quartz cover plate. Failure to remove the encapsulant above its glass transition temperature, however, resulted in cracking of the ribbons on cooling to room temperature. In order to study the crucial zone melting step in isolation from the encapsulation steps of the continuous process, a constrained-zone melting apparatus has been constructed in which the boron oxide serves only as a sealant to suppress arsenic vaporization. Large grained polycrystalline samples have been produced with this apparatus.
The paper reports on the results of a study of the synthesis conditions effects on magnetic and transport properties of nanosized layers of high-T{sub c} diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS), such as Ge:Mn, Si:Mn and Si:Fe, fabricated by laser-plasma deposition over a wide range of the growth temperature, T{sub g}=(20-550) deg. C on single-crystalGaAs or Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} substrates. Ferromagnetism of the layers was detected by measurement data of the magneto-optical Kerr effect, anomalous Hall effect, negative magnetoresistance and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) at 5-500 K. The optimum growth temperature, T{sub g}, for Si:Mn/GaAs layers with T{sub c}{approx}400 K is shown to be about 400 deg. C. The Si:Mn/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} layers with 35% of Mn have the metal-type of conductivity with manifestation of magnetization up to room temperature. Different types of uniformly doped structures and digital ...
Single crystals of ytterbium tartrate trihydrate have been grown by gel method using silica and agar-agar gels as media of growth. The medium of growth influences the morphology of grown crystals, silica gel yielding single and polycrystalline in the form of spherulites whereas agar-agar gel leading to growth of single and twinned crystals. Materials grown as single crystals have been characterized by using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), EDAX, XRD, FT-IR, CHN and thermogravimetric techniques. The stoichiometry of the grown single crystals is suggested to be Yb(C4H4O6) (C4H5O6).3H2O. The FT-IR spectrum shows the presence of singly as well as doubly ionized tartrate ligands. Results of thermal analysis indicate that the material is thermally stable up to a temperature of 200...
The strain gradient crystal plasticity theory is applied to study the deformation of planar single crystal with a void under a nominally uniaxial tension. The crystal theory assumes elevated strain hardening due to slip gradients and has a constitutive length scale. The effects of the void size with respect to the constitutive length scale on the single crystal deformation are investigated.
A high degree of structural perfection is an essential requirement for CdTe crystals used as substrates for the epitaxial growth of CdHgTe alloys. Here, a method for the evaluation of the structural perfection of CdTe crystals is proposed which is based on X-ray diffraction measurements using both two-crystal and three-crystal diffractometers (differential version). The method makes it possible to obtain more information on structural perfection both at the crystal surface and within the crystal body.
This work is concentrated on growth, spectroscopy and laser performance of thulium-doped vanadate crystals. At the beginning the growth techniques are analyzed and then the matrix of vanadates crystal, its structure and physicochemical properties are explained together with the rare earth activators influence. Detailed spectroscopy of the thulium-doped vanadate crystals then follows. On the background of this theoretical analysis and state of the art of the subject the description of thulium vanadate lasers (especially Tm:YVO"4, Tm:GdVO"4, and Tm:LuVO"4) together with their generated output radiation characteristics are presented.
GaAs material and device structure optimization studies on optical-grade, millimeter-and-less grain-size polycrystalline Ge substrates are presented. We discuss the growth of high-quality epitaxial layers across various crystalline orientations of a polycrystalline substrate; this is important for obtaining high-performance solar cells. The GaAs solar cell on n-type poly-Ge substrate is a p-on-n type, with an undoped spacer between the p-emitter and the n-base. An experimental study of dark currents in these junctions, with and without the spacer, as a function of temperature (77K to 288K) is presented; this study suggests that the spacer reduces the tunneling contribution to dark current. In addition, we describe device-structure optimization studies that have led us to achieve an open-circuit voltage (V{sub oc}) exceeding 1 Volt and an AM1.5 efficiency of {approximately}19{percent} for a 4-cm{sup 2}-area ...
Quaternary semiconductor compounds are ideal candidates for use in monolithic cascade solar cells because the lattice constant and the bandgap of such compounds can be independently varied. The quaternary semiconductor compound Ga[sub 0.83]In[sub 0.17]As[sub 0.67]P[sub 0.33] not only is lattice matched to GaAs and Ge but also provides a current matched top cell for the GaInAsP/Ge monolithic cascade solar cell. Under concentration of 100 suns, the projected efficiency for such a cell is about 34%. The growth of Ga[sub 0.83]In[sub 0.17]As[sub 0.67]P[sub 0.33] lattice matched to GaAs and Ge has been demonstrated. GaInAsP solar cells have been grown on both GaAs and Ge substrates. A GaInAsP on GaAs solar cell with an active area efficiency of 23.2% for 1 sun, AM 1.5 direct illumination has been prepared. A proposed structure for the GaInAsP/Ge cascade cell is also given.
Today TBP and TBAs are the compounds which have the highest potential to replace the hydrides arsine and phosphine in the MOVPE process. The authors have demonstrated the entire material system Ga-In-As-P can be grown without any loss of quality using TBP and TBAs not only in one reactor, but in a complete family of reactors. These reactors range from small-scale single wafer R and D reactors to multiwafer Planetary Reactor systems. Both InP based and GaAs based materials could be grown with an excellent quality. Thus all growth processes for III-V devices--long and short wavelength lasers, LEDs, high speed transistors, etc.--can be switched to TBP and TBAs. This will drastically reduce safety hazards and lead to processes that have advantages both from the ecological and economical point of view.
The development of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum) mineral scale in reverse osmosis (RO) membrane desalting was investigated by direct real-time observation of crystalgrowth. Gypsum scaling studies were conducted in a specially modified plate-and-frame reverse osmosis cell fitted with an optical window, with dark-field membrane lighting arrangement within the membrane cell to enhance crystal boundaries and allow recording of digital surface images magnified through an optical microscope. The evolution of the surface number density (SND) of gypsum crystals resembled a sigmoidal population growth process with an increasing rate of crystal formation at higher solution supersaturation (with respect to gypsum) at the membrane surface. The rate of formation of new crystals declined as the su...
As the only non-polar plane the (110) surface has a unique role in GaAs. Together with Silicon as a dopant it is an important substrate orientation for the growth of n-type or p-type heterostructures. As a consequence, this thesis will concentrate on growth and research on that surface. In the course of this work we were able to realize two-dimensional electron systems with the highest mobilities reported so far on this orientation. Therefore, we review the necessary growth conditions and the accompanying molecular process. The two-dimensional electron systems allowed the study of a new, intriguing transport anisotropy not explained by current theory. Moreover, we were the first growing a two-dimensional hole gas on (110) GaAs with Si as dopant. For this purpose we invented a new growth modulation technique necessary to retrieve high mobility systems. In ...
Pattern formation on GaAs by Ga"+ focused-ion-beam (FIB) irradiation and subsequent Cl_2 gas etching was carried out. A higher etch rate at the FIB-irradiated area compared with that not irradiated under Cl_2 gas allows pattern construction without a mask process. The degree of residual crystal damage was evaluated using photoluminescence (PL) intensity measurements. The PL intensity in the etched region was one order of magnitude stronger than that of FIB sputtering, and was several times stronger than that of Ga"+ FIB-assisted Cl_2 etching. Etch depths of the order of 100 nm, which is five times deeper than that obtained by FIB sputtering, were efficiently performed using moderate Ga"+-ion doses.
Pattern formation on GaAs by Ga{sup +} focused-ion-beam (FIB) irradiation and subsequent Cl{sub 2} gas etching was carried out. A higher etch rate at the FIB-irradiated area compared with that not irradiated under Cl{sub 2} gas allows pattern construction without a mask process. The degree of residual crystal damage was evaluated using photoluminescence (PL) intensity measurements. The PL intensity in the etched region was one order of magnitude stronger than that of FIB sputtering, and was several times stronger than that of Ga{sup +} FIB-assisted Cl{sub 2} etching. Etch depths of the order of 100 nm, which is five times deeper than that obtained by FIB sputtering, were efficiently performed using moderate Ga{sup +}-ion doses.
A comparison of nucleation and crystallization of Li{sub 2}O{sm_bullet}2SiO{sub 2} between microwave and conventional heating was investigated. Standard stereological techniques were used to evaluate the results. Nucleation and crystallization behaviors during microwave heating appeared different from conventional heating. Work is in progress to better understand the effects of microwaves on nucleation and crystallization in glass.
Various chemical, physical, and mechanical methods to prevent unwanted deposition of mineral scale are described. The suitability of the different methods, which largely depends on the specific features and requirements of the system involved, is discussed. Special emphasis is placed upon the threshold treatment, where the growth process is retarded by the addition of trace amounts of growth inhibitors. Growth experiments have been performed on barium sulfate and calcium sulfate dihydrate seed crystals, suspended in a supersaturated solution with and without organic bisphosphonates as inhibitors. Two methods are selected for the analysis of the growth data. A degree of inhibition is defined to obtain a quantitative description of the influence of a growth inhibitor on the growth rate of the crystals. In addition the ...
Experimental data are reported on the micro-irregularities of resistivity in longitudinal and transverse specimens of germanium 0.5 to 0.8 mm in thickness and 25 to 40 mm in width. These data are correlated with the conditions of growth of the crystals. (16 refs).
A p[sup +]-Al[sub 0.3]Ga[sub 0.7]As/n[sup +]-GaAs heterojunction tunnel diode was fabricated using Atomic Layer Epitaxy (ALE) growth technique. Background carbon doping of [similar to]10[sup 20] cm[sup [minus]3] was achieved in the p-side of the diode by optimizing growth conditions such as V/III ratio, exposure times to reactant gases, and growth temperature. In the n-side of the diode GaAs was doped with silane and doping concentrations as high as 7[times]10[sup 18] cm[sup [minus]3] were also achieved. The dopants are chosen to satisfy the high levels and low diffusion requirements. The diode can be used to interconnect the high and low band-gap cells in the AlGaAs/GaAs cascade solar cell structure. The reactor used in this investigation is a commercial MOCVD system which has been specially modified for dual operation of ALE and MOCVD growth modes.
Gaseous Nitrogen Dewar apparatus developed by Dr. Alex McPherson of the University of California, Irvine for use aboard Mir and the International Space ...
The growth of an oxide interfacial layer was recently found to increase the open-circuit voltage (OCV) and efficiency by up to 60 per cent in GaAs metal-semiconductor solar cells. Details of oxidation techniques to provide the necessary oxide thickness and chemical structure and using ozone, water-vapor-saturated oxygen, or oxygen gas discharges are described, as well as apparent crystallographic orientation effects. Preliminary results of the oxide chemistry obtained from X-ray, photoelectron spectroscopy are given. Ratios of arsenic oxide to gallium oxide of unity or less seem to be preferable. Samples with the highest OVC predominantly have As(+3) in the arsenic oxide rather than As(+5). A major difficulty at this time is a reduction in OCV by 100-200 mV when the antireflection coating is vacuum deposited.
A local Heine-Abarenkov model potential is proposed for zinc blende-type crystals. The potential parameters are determined by satisfying the zero pressure condition and the first zero of the empirical pseudopotential interpolated from band calculations. Two sets of parameters are presented for thirteen tetrahedral compounds such as AlP, AlAs, AlSb, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, InSb, ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, and CdTe.
Large single crystals of PETN, RDX, and TNT can be grown easily from evaporating ethyl acetate solutions. The crystals all share a similar type of defect that may not be commonly recognized. The defect generates conical faces ideally mosaic crystals, and may account for the polymorphs'' of TNT and detonator grades of PETN. TATB crystals manufactured by the amination of trichlorotrinitrobenzene in dry toluene entrain two forms of ammonium chloride. One of these forms causes worm holes'' in the TATB crystals that may be the reason for its unusually low failure diameters. Strained HMX crystals form mechanical twins that can spontaneously revert back to the untwinned form when the straining force is removed. Large strains or temperatures above 100[degrees]C lock in the mechanical twins.
Large single crystals of PETN, RDX, and TNT can be grown easily from evaporating ethyl acetate solutions. The crystals all share a similar type of defect that may not be commonly recognized. The defect generates conical faces ideally mosaic crystals, and may account for the ``polymorphs`` of TNT and detonator grades of PETN. TATB crystals manufactured by the amination of trichlorotrinitrobenzene in dry toluene entrain two forms of ammonium chloride. One of these forms causes ``worm holes`` in the TATB crystals that may be the reason for its unusually low failure diameters. Strained HMX crystals form mechanical twins that can spontaneously revert back to the untwinned form when the straining force is removed. Large strains or temperatures above 100{degrees}C lock in the mechanical twins.
The kinetics of calcium sulfate crystalgrowth is of importance in various fields, such as geochemistry, desalination technology, petroleum industry, and water and wastewater treatment. The seeded crystalgrowth rate of calcium sulfate dihydrate was measured as a function of supersaturation in NaCl electrolyte solutions from 0 to 6 m at temperatures of 25, 50, 70, and 90 C. The growth followed a second-order parabolic rate law with activation energies greater than 53 kJ/mol which suggested the surface reaction as the rate-limiting step. It was observed that the rate constant and the activation energy are solution composition dependent. The rate constant increases with NaCl concentration up to 3 molal and then begins to fall slightly. The activation energy dropped from 61 kJ/mol in the pure Ca-SO[sub 4]H[sub 2]O system to 53 kJ/mol in 3.0 m NaCl solutions. The electrolyte effect was ...
We report investigations of enhancement in material conversion efficiency of KDP for SHG applications. The limitation of conventional technique of growing KDP crystal was overcome in the present work by adopting a growth method to grow KDP directly in type-II phase matching direction. The conventional technique results in #approx#30% of the crystal volume usable for SHG applications whereas the present method has resulted in enhancing it to #approx#90%. The orientation of the element was confirmed by frequency conversion experiment using Nd:YAG laser. The UV-vis transmittance obtained was 92%. The interferometric results show that the crystals have excellent optical homogeneity.
We have investigated the generation and propagation of misfit dislocations in strained In/sub y/Ga/sub 1-//sub y/As/GaAs multiquantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, with cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. The samples are of excellent optical quality, with multiquantum wells having well widths of 100 A, being characterized by excitonic linewidths and Stokes shifts of 1.5--2.5 and 1--2 meV, respectively. We have examined the growth of 2-..mu..m-thick multiquantum-well samples grown either directly on GaAs, or with an intermediate composition buffer layer, and for the cases of small (y = 0.07) and large (y = 0.16) misfits. It is seen that for the case of quantum wells with small misfit, grown directly on GaAs, metastable growth can be achieved. This is confirmed by low-temperature absorption measurements and from transmission electron microscopy experiments performed both before and ...
Atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) was used to grow several components of the cascade solar cell structure in the AlGaAs/GaAs system. An ALE reactor was constructed for multiwafer growth with a growth rate of 0.6 {mu}m h{sup -1}. Device quality GaAs and Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}As films were grown with p-type background carbon doping in the ranges 10{sup 16}-10{sup 19} cm{sup -3} and 10{sup 16}-10{sup 20} cm{sup -3} respectively. N-type films were achieved by SiH{sub 4} doping, producing carrier concentrations in the range 10{sup 16}-10{sup 18} cm{sup -3}. In addition, the potential applications of the ALE technique in the photovoltaic field are discussed. (orig.).
The site-selective growth of InAs quantum dots (QDs) by a combined focused ion beam (FIB) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) process has been demonstrated. An array of FIB modified spots on MBE grown GaAs was fabricated. Thereafter, an in situ annealing step followed by InAs deposition was performed. The InAs QDs were preferentially formed in the holes generated by the FIB. The influences of ion dose, annealing parameters, and InAs amount were investigated. With optimized parameters, the authors observe more than 50% single dot occupancy per holes. Photoluminescence spectra confirm the good optical quality of the QDs.
In this paper, we discuss various aspects of the development of an inverted-grown AlGaAs/GaAs cascade solar cell incorporating a patterned germanium tunnel junction. Topics include the development of the Al{sub 0.37}Ga{sub 0.63}As top cell, the growth of the GaAs bottom cell over the patterned germanium tunnel junction, and a technique for selective removal of thin AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures after lattice-matched growth on germanium substrates. The problems to be overcome for the achievement of around 30% efficiencies in the AlGaAs/GaAs cascade cell under concentrator applications are also discussed. (orig.).
Inverted growth and the development of associated cell processing, are likely to offer a significant degree of freedom for improving the performance of many III-V multijunction cascades and open new avenues for advanced multijunction concepts. This is especially true for the development of high-efficiency Al[sub 0.37]Ga[sub 0.63]As/GaAs cascades where the high growth temperatures required for the AlGaAs top cell growth can cause the deterioration of the tunnel junction interconnect. In the approach of inverted-grown AlGaAs/GaAs cascade cells, the AlGaAs top cell is grown first at 780 [degree]C and the GaAs tunnel junction and bottom cell are grown at 675 [degree]C. After the inverted growth, the AlGaAs/GaAs cascade structure is selectively removed from the parent substrate. The feasibility of inverted growth is demonstrated by a fully-processed, inverted-grown, ...
In-situ TEM investigations during thermal treatment of amorphous Pd{sub 81}Si{sub 19} have been performed. It was found that crystalline nuclei are formed near the perforation edge of the hole produced by electrochemical polishing. After impinging with neighboring crystals, a crystallization front formed which was aligned parallel to the perforation edge. The crystallization front moved in the direction perpendicular to the perforation edge. Crystalgrowth was found to proceed faster in thinner parts of the specimen than in thicker parts. The results are described qualitatively within a thermodynamic model taking into account volume-, surface- and interfacial free energies and an appropriate specimen geometry.
Based on the corrected phase diagrams proper growth conditions for Li2Zn2(MoO4)3 crystals are selected. Large crystals (up to 100 mm), both impurity-free and activated by transition metal ions (Cu, Cr), are grown by the low-gradient Czochralski method. By the EPR method the charge state and structural position of copper and chromium ions are determined. The performed studies of luminescent properties show that for impurity-free crystals luminescence with ? = 388 nm with a two-exponential luminescence decay with ?1 = 2 ns and ?2 = 6 ns is observed at room temperature. At 77 K for both impurity-free crystals and those activated with transition metal ions luminescence with ? = 560 nm and the luminescence lifetime ? = 100 ns is observed, the intensity of luminescence with ? = 560 nm depending ...
Single crystals of semi-organic L-histidine hydrobromide have been grown by slow evaporation technique from a mixture of L-histidine and hydrobromic acid in aqueous solution at ambient temperature. From high-resolution X-ray diffraction analysis, the crystalline perfection of the grown crystal has been studied. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectral analysis, Thermo-Gravimetry (TG), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and hardness test have been employed to characterize the as-grown crystals. The UV cutoff wavelength of the grown crystal is below 300 nm and has a wide transparency window, which is suitable for second harmonic generation of laser in the blue region. Nonlinear optical characteristics have been studied using Q switched Nd:YAG laser (#lambda#=1064 nm). The second harmonic generation conversion efficiency of the grown ...
Self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) are envisioned as building blocks for realization of novel nanoelectronic devices, for which the site-selective growth is highly desirable. This thesis presents a successful route toward selective positioning of self-assembled InAs QDs on patterned GaAs surface by combination of in situ focused ion beam (FIB) implantation and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology. First, a buffer layer of GaAs was grown by MBE before a square array of holes with a pitch of 1-2 #mu#m was fabricated by FIB implantation of Ga and In, ions respectively. Later, an in-situ annealing step followed by InAs deposition was performed. The InAs QDs were preferentially formed in the holes generated by FIB. The influence of ion dose, annealing parameters and InAs amount was investigated in this work. With optimized parameters, more than 50 % single dot occupancy per hole is achieved. Furthermore, the photoluminescence ...
We carried out theoretical analyses based on ab initio calculations incorporates in which free energy of the vapor phase is incorporated in order to determine the initial growth kinetics of c-GaN on GaN(001)-(4x1). The feasibility of the theoretical approach had been confirmed by calculations of Ga adsorption-desorption transition temperature and transition beam equivalent pressures on the GaAs(001)-(4x2)b2 surface in our previous work [Y. Kangawa, T. Ito, A. Taguchi, K. Shiraishi, T. Ohachi, Surf. Sci. 493 (2001) 178]. The results of calculations suggest that no Ga adsorption occurs on the initial surface under typical growth conditions but that a Ga adsorption site appears after N adsorption on GaN(001)-(4x1). That is, in the initial growth stage of c-GaN on GaN(001)-(4x1), a N-adsorbed ...
Significant progress has been achieved recently in the growth of Yttrium Calcium Oxyborate (YCOB) crystals. Boules have been grown capable of producing large aperture nonlinear crystal plates suitable for high average power frequency conversion or optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA). With a large aperture (5.5 cm x 8.5 cm) YCOB crystal we have demonstrated a record 227 W of 523.5nm light (22.7 J/pulse, 10 Hz, 14 ns). We have also demonstrated the applicability of YCOB for 1053 nm OPCPA.
We present the results of a comprehensive study of the temperature dependences of the quantum efficiency for ultraviolet detectors based on GaAs, GaP and 4H--SiC Schottky structures, and on Si, GaAs p-n structures. For ultraviolet detectors based on Schottky structures, the quantum efficiency increases with increasing temperature for all photon energies, even including the semiconductor intrinsic absorption region. On the other hand, for ultraviolet detectors based on p-n structures, the quantum efficiency is practically temperature independent in the semiconductor intrinsic absorption region. The change in the quantum efficiency for the GaAs and Si detectors is less than 0.01% per degree. To explain the measurements, a variable trap occupancy model is presented. Subsurface imperfections of the semiconductor cause fluctuations in the profile of the conduction band and the valence band edges. In the presence of an electric ...
We present the results of a comprehensive study of the temperature dependences of the quantum efficiency for ultraviolet detectors based on GaAs, GaP and 4H--SiC Schottky structures, and on Si, GaAs p-n structures. For ultraviolet detectors based on Schottky structures, the quantum efficiency increases with increasing temperature for all photon energies, even including the semiconductor intrinsic absorption region. On the other hand, for ultraviolet detectors based on p-n structures, the quantum efficiency is practically temperature independent in the semiconductor intrinsic absorption region. The change in the quantum efficiency for the GaAs and Si detectors is less than 0.01% per degree. To explain the measurements, a variable trap occupancy model is presented. Subsurface imperfections of the semiconductor cause fluctuations in the profile of the conduction band and the valence band edges. In the presence of an electric ...
For visible-light-emitting laser diodes, InGaAsP double heterostructures have been grown on GaAs substrates using liquid-phase epitaxy. As the growth temperature is as high as about 780 /sup 0/C, a large amount of phosphorus evaporates from the solutions for the cladding layers during the growth process. The phosphorus vapor disturbs the solution composition for the active layer, so that very thin and uniform active layers cannot be obtained. By using In-P-Sn solution and supplying the phosphorus partial pressure around the graphite boat, the influence of phosphorus vapor ambient for InGaAsP (lambda/sub P//sub L/ = 805 nm) growth is confirmed. When the phosphorus partial pressure increases, the surface of epitaxial layer becomes rough and the substrate is partly etched back. From x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectral measurements, the composition of the grown layer is also found to be ...
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were modified with poly(hexamethylene adipamide) (also known as Nylon 66) via a controlled polymer solution crystallization method. A 'nanohybrid shish kebab' (NHSK) structure was found wherein the MWNT resembled the shish while Nylon 66 lamellar crystals formed the kebabs. These Nylon 66-functionalized MWNTs were used as precursors to prepare polymer/MWNT nanocomposites. Excellent dispersion was revealed by optical and electron microscopies. Nitric acid etching of the nanocomposites showed that MWNT formed a robust network in Nylon 66. Non-isothermal DSC results showed multiple melting peaks, which can be attributed to lamellar thickness changes upon heating. The crystallite sizes L{sub 100} and L{sup 010} of Nylon 66, determined by WAXD, decreased with increasing MWNT contents. Isothermal DSC results showed that crystallization kinetics increased first and then ...
An attempt has been made to grow L-tartaric acid nicotinamide (LTN); a complex of tartaric acid, by employing a modified unidirectional method. The crystalline structure and quality are investigated by single crystal XRD and rocking curve studies. The linear and nonlinear optical properties are studied by UV-vis-NIR spectral analysis, SHG test, phase matching and laser induced damage threshold measurement. For comparison, parallel growth of the crystal was carried out by conventional method and the properties of the LTN samples grown by the conventional and unidirectional methods are investigated. The mechanical, photoconductivity and dielectric behavior of LTN crystals are also investigated.
Substitution of various rare earths R within the class of R2PdSi3 single crystals with hexagonal AlB2-type crystallographic structure reveals the systematic dependence of anisotropic magnetic properties governed by the interplay of crystal-electric field effects and magnetic two-ion interactions. Here we compare the floating zone (FZ) crystalgrowth with radiation heating of compounds with R = Tb, Tm, Pr, and Gd. The congruent melting behavior enabled moderate growth velocities of 3 to 5 mmh-1. The preferred growth directions are close to the basal plane of the hexagonal unit cell. The composition of the crystals, except of Tb2PdSi3, is slightly Pd-depleted with respect to the nominal composition 16.7 at.% Pd. Thin precipitates of RSi secondary phases were detected in the crystal matrix. Their phase fraction can be ...
The transformation from the as-quenched amorphous to the crystalline state in Fe_7_8B_1_3Si_9 alloy has been investigated using a new-type neutron diffractometer. The time resolved diffraction patterns clearly show that this alloy crystallizes into FeSi alloy and Fe_2B in that order. The time evolution of these crystalline phases can be analyzed by the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation with the exponent of about 2.5 over a wide temperature range. This suggests that the crystallization occurs by the diffusion-controlled growth with a constant nucleation rate. The scaling behavior in the crystallization kinetics is also discussed. (author).
The transformation from the as-quenched amorphous to the crystalline state in Fe/sub 78/B/sub 13/Si/sub 9/ alloy has been investigated using a new-type neutron diffractometer. The time resolved diffraction patterns clearly show that this alloy crystallizes into FeSi alloy and Fe/sub 2/B in that order. The time evolution of these crystalline phases can be analyzed by the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation with the exponent of about 2.5 over a wide temperature range. This suggests that the crystallization occurs by the diffusion-controlled growth with a constant nucleation rate. The scaling behavior in the crystallization kinetics is also discussed.
A practical hands-on course encompassing enzyme purification, biochemical characterization, and crystallization that completed the course work of 350 second-year bachelor students enrolled in molecular biology/biochemistry was given at the Universite Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg (France). The experimental part of the practical dealt entirely with the model protein lysozyme isolated from hen egg-white. It was designed as a research project to give students the possibility to practice biochemical methods such as chromatography, electrophoresis, and spectrophotometry. It also included enzyme activity assay and protein crystalgrowth that are usually taught in master-level courses. The organization of the practical work and the related experimental procedures are described and discussed.
Main topic of the project was the manufacturing of highly efficient GaAs-solar cells and the fabrication of concentrator cells. During this process significant progress was made with the material preparation, the solar cell technology and the material and process characterisation. This succeeded in the following efficiencies: - GaAs solar cell made by MOVPE technology: 22.9% on 4 cm{sup 2} (AM1.5g) - GaAs solar cell made by LPE-ER process: 22.8% on 4 cm{sup 2} (AM1.5g) - GaAs concentrator solar cell made by LPE-ER process: 24.9% at C=100xAM1.5d - GaAs concentrator module with fresnel lenses: Module efficiency 20.1% (under irradiation of 793 W/m{sup 2}). Another main focus was the epitaxy of GaAs on Si substrate. Two different approaches were investigated. Together with the cooperation partner ASE, Heilbronn a selective growth technology was developed that led to ...
To improve organic electronic applications, knowledge about microscopic mechanisms determining the charge carrier mobilities is pivotal. 9,10-Diphenylanthracene (DPA) has been identified as model system to study those correlations due to its high electron and hole mobilities at room temperature and its complex structural phase behaviour. We demonstrate our temperature dependent Time-Of-Flight data on single crystals grown by vapor phase transport (VPT) and by Bridgman growth technique. Both preparation techniques revealed crystals of different morphologies resulting in significant variations of the related bipolar mobilities. As a key result, the charge carrier mobility of {proportional_to}1 cm{sup 2}/Vs at room temperature along the (111)-direction of Bridgman crystals exceeds that along the (001)-direction of VPT grown crystals by about one order of magnitude. The observed ...
The present communication deals with the synthesis, single crystalgrowth and characterization of a new nonlinear optical material L-proline strontium chloride monohydrate (L-PSCM). Single crystals have been grown using the slow solvent evaporation technique. Single crystal XRD analysis confirmed that the crystal belongs to the orthorhombic structure with lattice parameter a=6.6966(3) A, b=12.4530(5) A, c=15.2432(5) A and space group P2_12_12_1. Presence of various functional groups in L-PSCM and protonation of the ions were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis. The melting point of the single crystal was found to be 126 "oC using DSC. Ultraviolet-visible spectral analyses showed that the crystal has low UV cut-off at 226 nm combined with very good transparency of 90% in a wide range. The optical band gap was ...
The (Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P material system, lattice matched to GaAs substrates, is useful for visible laser diodes. Here, low pressure organometallic vapor phase epitaxial growth of Ga/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P and (Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P is examined. Epitaxial layers of bulk materials are characterized using photoluminescence, electroreflectance, Raman scattering spectroscopy, and surface morphology studies to determine lattice match and optimum growth conditions. Lattice matching at the growth temperature produces featureless growth surfaces, while lattice matching at room temperatures results in minimum photoluminescence linewidth but cracked surface due to tensile strain during growth. Raman scattering spectra of the quaternary reveal a three-mode structure, with spectral peaks due to GaP-like, in P-like, and AIP-like LO ...
The (Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P material system, lattice matched to GaAs substrates, is useful for visible laser diodes. Here, low pressure organometallic vapor phase epitaxial growth of Ga/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P and (Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P is examined. Epitaxial layers of bulk materials are characterized using photoluminescence, electroreflectance, Raman scattering spectroscopy, and surface morphology studies to determine lattice match and optimum growth conditions. Lattice matching at the growth temperature produces featureless growth surfaces, while lattice matching at room temperatures results in minimum photoluminescence linewidth but cracked surface due to tensile strain during growth. Raman scattering spectra of the quaternary reveal a three-mode structure, with spectral peaks due to GaP-like, in P-like, and AIP-like LO ...
Nanoscale islands of Cu2O have been synthesized on single-crystal SrTiO3 (100) substrates using oxygen plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (OPA-MBE). Island growth location has been controlled by using an ex-situ Ga+ focused ion beam (FIB) to modify the growth surface in discrete locations prior to island synthesis. Analysis of Cu2O dot growth on unmodified substrate regions revealed an evolution of dot size and array density. Atomic force microscopy studies show that certain FIB substrate modification and MBE growth condition combinations lead to directed self-assembly of islands. Islands initially formed in the FIB-generated surface topography and filled those features before nucleating on neighboring unmodified surface regions.
Nanoscale islands of Cu_2O have been synthesized on single-crystal SrTiO_3 (100) substrates using oxygen plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). Island growth location has been controlled by using an ex situ Ga"+ focused ion beam (FIB) to modify the growth surface in discrete locations prior to island synthesis. The FIB modifications have generated surface topography with lateral dimensions of 150-200 nm. Ex situ atomic force microscopy study after island growth reveals that certain FIB substrate modification and MBE growth condition combinations lead to directed self-assembly of metal oxide islands at the edges of the FIB modified zones.
Nanoscale islands of Cu?O have been synthesized on single crystal SrTiO? (100) substrates using oxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Island growth location has been controlled by using an ex-situ Ga? focused ion beam (FIB) to modify the growth surface in discrete locations prior to island sythesis. The FIB modifications have generated surface topography with lateral dimensions of 150-200 nm. Ex-situ AFM study after island growth reveals that certain FIB substrate modification and MBE growth condition combinations lead to directed self-assembly of metal oxide islands at the edges of the FIB modified zones.
Photorefractives, in general, are among the most promising materials solutions to real time optical correlation. Applications include military target recognition and civilian robotic vision. Crystals of sillenite structure photorefractives, Bi12XO20, where X equals Si, Ge, or Ti, have been grown by melt techniques and in the case of bismuth silicon oxide (BSO) and bismuth titanium oxide (BTO) by the hydrothermal method of high-temperature/high-pressure solution growth. The two growth methods are discussed and crystals grown by the two methods are compared in this paper. Optical absorption and TSC studies show that hydrothermal BSO is essentially free of the native antisite Bi defect which usually acts as a donor. These studies also show that the trap density is greatly reduced in hydrothermal material. Preliminary experiments show that hydrothermal BTO crystals have improved ...
Fractal dimensional analysis was employed to obtain a quantitative measure of the morphology of polymer networks formed by UV irradiation induced polymerization of photo-reactive mesogenic monomers dissolved in a liquid crystal host medium. The fractal dimensions obtained, may be interpreted by polymer network growth following a percolation-like model for monomer concentrations well below the solubility limit. On passing the solubility limit, the polymerization process changes from a (radical chain) solution polymerization to a dispersion polymerization, with fractal dimensions decreasing and suggesting a cluster-cluster aggregation process for monomer concentrations above the solubility limit, similar to the aggregation of colloidal particles.
The dependence of the photoluminescent properties of In_0_._4_8(Al_yGa_1_-_y)_0_._5_2P alloys (0#<=#y#<=#0.5) on growth temperature and substrate misorientation off GaAs(100) has been studied. Samples were grown using low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. By studying the dependence of ordering behavior in InGaP as a function of substrate misorientation and growth temperature simultaneously, a very large range in low-temperature photoluminescence emission energy---135 meV---has been obtained. The photoluminescence linewidth exhibits a strong, continuous dependence on the extent of atomic ordering (the emission energy) in the alloys. The results indicate that inhomogeneity in the microstructure of the material (i.e., between ''ordered'' domains and the ''disordered'' matrix) is the dominant photoluminescence broadening mechanism. This investigation has allowed a significant optimization of the optical ...
The spontaneous precipitation of calcium sulfate in supersaturated solutions over the temperature range between 25.0 and 80.0 C was investigated by monitoring the solution specific conductivity during desupersaturation. From measurements of the induction times preceding the onset of precipitation the surface energy of the forming solid, identified as gypsum, was found between ca. 12 and 25 mJ/m{sup 2} for the temperature range between 80.0 and 25.0 C, respectively. Kinetics analysis showed that over 50 C it is possible that anhydrous calcium sulfate is forming as a transient phase converting into the more stable calcium sulfate dihydrate. The linear dependence of the rates of precipitation on the relative solution supersaturation suggested a mechanism according to which the growth units are integrated into the active sites of the supercritical nuclei by surface diffusion. According to the morphological examination of the crystals it is possible ...
Continuous freestanding SiC(Al) films were fabricated by melt spinning the aluminum-containing polycarbosilane (A-PCS) precursor. The results showed that the films contained #beta#-SiC crystals, #alpha#-SiC nano-crystals, C clusters and small amount of Al_4O_4C and Al_4SiC_4. The Al atoms in the films played important roles as both sintering aids and grain growth inhibitor. The PL spectrum showed a wide luminescence band from 320 nm to 440 nm, and the origin of PL centered at 385 nm might be related to the #alpha#-SiC nano-crystals using quantum size effects. The obtained films are expected to have important applications in MEMS for the environment of high temperature and optoelectronic devices.
A film of GaSb grown epitaxially on a Si substrate is a direct transition semiconductor useful for application as a light source in Si photonics and channel material in next-generation field effect transistors because its energy bandgap is close to the optical fibre communication wavelength and it possesses high carrier mobility. Here, we report a novel method for heteroepitaxial growth of high-quality GaSb/Si films, despite having a lattice mismatch as large as ? 12%, using elastically strain-relaxed GaSb nanodots with ultrahigh density as seed crystals for film growth. The nanodot seed crystals were grown epitaxially by restricted contact with the Si substrate through nanowindows in an ultrathin SiO(2) film on the Si substrate. A light-emitting diode containing GaSb/Si films with a thickness of ? 90 nm fabricated by this method operated at room temperature. The growth method was ...
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) is a relatively sensitive explosive used in many electroexplosive devices as well as in medicine. Of primary interest to LLNL is its use in items such as exploding bridgewire (EBW) detonators and exploding bridge foil initiators (EFI). In these devices the crystalline powder is pressed into a granular, low-density compact that can be initiated by an exploding wire or foil. The long-term stability of this pressed compact is of interest to weapon stockpile lifetime prediction studies. Key points about potential aging mechanisms can be summarized as follows: (1) There are a number of factors that can contribute to PETN instability. These include particle size, polymorphic phase transitions, crystal structure, impurities, moisture, occlusions, chemical incompatibility and biological (microorganism) action. of these factors the most important for long-term aging of high surface area powders used in detonators appears to be that of ...
Data are presented demonstrating very-short-wavelength (625 nm) room-temperature (300 K) continuous (cw) photopumped laser operation of In/sub 1-//sub y/(Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-//sub x/)/sub y/P-In/sub 1-//sub y/ (Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-//sub x/)/sub y/P quantum well heterostructures grown lattice matched (yapprox. =0.5) on a GaAs substrate via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. In addition, 300 K pulsed laser operation (J/sub th/approx.10/sup 4/ A/cm/sup 2/, 625 nm) of diodes fabricated from the same crystal is described.
We present a comprehensive, up-to-date compilation of band parameters for the technologically important III - V zinc blende and wurtzite compound semiconductors: GaAs, GaSb, GaP, GaN, AlAs, AlSb, AlP, AlN, InAs, InSb, InP, and InN, along with their ternary and quaternary alloys. Based on a review of the existing literature, complete and consistent parameter sets are given for all materials. Emphasizing the quantities required for band structure calculations, we tabulate the direct and indirect energy gaps, spin-orbit, and crystal-field splittings, alloy bowing parameters, effective masses for electrons, heavy, light, and split-off holes, Luttinger parameters, interband momentum matrix elements, and deformation potentials, including temperature and alloy-composition dependences where available. Heterostructure band offsets are also given, on an absolute scale that allows any material to be aligned relative to any other. [copyright] 2001 American ...
Stresses commonly present in AlGaAs/GaAs laser heterostructures were reduced using Molecular Beam Epitaxy grown Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/P/sub 0.01/As/sub 0.99/ cladding layers. The Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/P/sub 0.01/As/sub 0.99/ alloy was grown using an incident P/sub 2/ flux of roughly-equal1 x 10/sup 14//cm/sup 2/ indicating a sticking coefficient of 0.1 at a substrate temperature of 600 /sup 0/C. X-ray automatic Bragg angle control curvature measurements were used to monitor the residual heteroepitaxial stress. Broadened double crystal x-ray linewidths indicated the occurrence of alloy grading and broadened interfaces. The effects of P concentration and film thickness on stress and on the existence of a misfit dislocation grid are discussed.
The solid state reaction between a Pd thin film and a Si substrate produces a single new phase, Pd/sub 2/Si, for temperatures <700/sup 0/C. When the substrate is a single crystal of (111) surface orientation, this process is particularly interesting because the silicide grows epitaxially. Growth of epitaxial interfacial Pd/sub 2/Si was the focus of this study using X-ray diffraction techniques.
The authors have determined quantitative characteristics for oxide films forming on (111) surfaces of cadmium telluride single crystals on anodic oxidation in 0.1 M KOH: the constants in the Guenterschulze-Betz equation and the film growth constant, which is 2.4 nm/V, from which the activation energy for cadmium telluride electrooxidation has been calculated.
This thesis dealt with the metal-organic gas phase epitaxy with nitrogen as carrier gas. For this first by means of three-dimensional modelings of the epitaxy process the influence of the carrier gas on the processes was explained. The optimization of the growth parameter for the whole light-emitting-diode structure in double-hetero arrangement resulted that an a temperature of 770 C and a V/ III-ratio of 150 layers with a high crystal quality could be reached.
Primary dendrite spacings and side-branch coarsening kinetics were examined in specimens of the single-crystal multicomponent commercial superalloy PWA-1480, which were directionally solidified in a psoitive thermal gradient. The experimentally observed dependence of primary dendrite spacings and side-branch coarsening kinetics on growth rate and thermal gradient were in agreement with the behavior predicted by analytical models developed for binary alloys. (orig.).
Biaxially textured tungsten nanorods (A15 crystal structure) have been grown by oblique angle DC magnetron sputtering using a novel rotation mode called 'two-step rotation'. In this mode, the substrate is given a fast rotation through 1800 at 90 rpm and this is followed by a rest period of 30 s. These nanorods are vertically aligned and have a [100] texture normal to the substrate along with preferential in-plane texture as shown by x-ray pole figure analysis. In contrast, the tungsten nanorods obtained without substrate rotation are slanted at an angle of ?450 and have a [100] texture tilted 160 with respect to the substrate normal. The flux is incident from two diametrically opposite points on the sample at an oblique angle, averaging out the growth into vertical columns that retain the in-plane texture. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the tungsten nanorods have a mixture of {211} and {421} crystal habits; these ...
We discuss the transient-enhanced diffusion of Sb, As, P, In, Ga, and B in ion-implanted Si, where the near-surface region has been amorphized by the dopant or by a self-implantation process. With Sb, a large transient diffusion enhancement is observed proportional to dopant concentration. For Sb, As, P, and In, the enhancement follows the relative interstitialcy diffusion coefficient. We believe this behavior is caused by stable implantation-induced point defects present in the amorphous surface layer, which decay during thermal processing to release high concentrations of self-interstitials. This process occurs in competition with the solid phase epitaxial (SPE) growth process, and for high dopant concentrations can occur in the amorphous phase ahead of the crystallization front. We believe this may be the origin of the dopant redistribution which can occur during SPE growth, which sets the upper limit to the dopant ...
Polycrystalline silicon films have been grown from Si{sub 2}H{sub 6} by low-pressure chemical vapour deposition at 800 K and in situ laser annealing (LA) on amorphous silicon seed layers deposited on a metallic Ti/Pd/Ag multilayer. The crystalline volume fraction in the seed layer was controlled by thermal annealing. According to the metal-induced crystallization effect, the presence of the metal induces a lower-temperature crystallization of silicon in the seed layers. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy data show that the formation of palladium silicides in the seed layer drives the growth of wire-like columns which are found to change morphology depending on the seed layer microstructure and LA parameters. It is suggested that superficial palladium was found to affect also the growth rate by enhancing the Si{sub 2}H{sub 6} dissociation.
Polycrystalline silicon films have been grown from Si_2H_6 by low-pressure chemical vapour deposition at 800 K and in situ laser annealing (LA) on amorphous silicon seed layers deposited on a metallic Ti/Pd/Ag multilayer. The crystalline volume fraction in the seed layer was controlled by thermal annealing. According to the metal-induced crystallization effect, the presence of the metal induces a lower-temperature crystallization of silicon in the seed layers. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy data show that the formation of palladium silicides in the seed layer drives the growth of wire-like columns which are found to change morphology depending on the seed layer microstructure and LA parameters. It is suggested that superficial palladium was found to affect also the growth rate by enhancing the Si_2H_6 dissociation.
The crystallization dynamics of Nylon 66/Nylon 48 blends, the crystalline/crystalline polymer blend, was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) under isothermal conditions. The equilibrium melting temperature (T{sub m}{sup 0}), crystalgrowth rate (G) and the nucleation rate (N) depended on both the degree of supercooling ({delta}T) and the blend fraction (phi). The {delta}T/T{sub m}{sup 0} values obtained at the fixed G, which corresponded to the chemical potential different between molecules in the liquid and the crystal states, and the surface free energy parameters evaluated from G and N depended on phi for blends. The results suggested that Nylon 66/Nylon 48 blends are miscible in all blend fractions. The result agrees with the intermolecular interaction parameter ({chi}) obtained from T{sub m}{sup 0} depression. Infrared spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction data indicated that the ...
This paper presents a study on the crystallization and growth mechanism of selenium nanowires induced by silver nanoparticles at ambient conditions with special reference to the effects of factors such as the shapes and size of silver nanoparticles, the induced reaction time, and the molar ratio of Ag{sup 0} to SeO{sub 3}{sup 2-} ions. The synthesis approach is conducted with no need of any stabilizers, and with no sonochemical process and/or templates. It is found that whether silver spherical particles or colloids can lead to the formation of nanowires with average diameter of 25 nm and lengths up to a few micrometers, and silver nanoplates lead to the formation of flat Se nanostructures. In particular, Au, Cu, Pt, and Pd particles cannot induce the growth of selenium nanowires in aqueous solution at room temperature. The results indicate that silver particles play a critical role in determining the ...
The theory for the general case of solar cells operating inside integrating cavity receivers is established. This is applied to the particular case of different configurations of silicon and GaAs cells. The results of the analysis show that a composite system of silicon and GaAs cells manufactured using relatively simple technology could reach an efficiency of 34%. The optimal configuration is that in which the GaAs cells are placed in the directly illuminated area of the receiver and the silicon cells are placed in the indirectly illuminated area of the receiver. (orig.).
Data are presented demonstrating short-wavelength (approx. <6400 A) continuous (cw) laser operation of p-n diode In/sub 0.5/(Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-//sub x/)/sub 0.5/P multiple quantum well heterostructure (QWH) lasers grown lattice matched on GaAs substrates using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. In the range from -30 /sup 0/C to room temperature (RTapprox. =300 K, lambdaapprox. =6395 A) the threshold current density changes from 2.3 x 10/sup 3/ A/cm/sup 2/ (-30 /sup 0/C) to 3.7 x 10/sup 3/ A/cm/sup 2/ (RT, 300 K). The cw 300 K photopumped laser operation of the same quaternary QWH crystal is an order of magnitude lower in threshold (7 x 10/sup 3/ W/cm/sup 2/, J/sub eq/approx.2.9 x 10/sup 3/ A/cm/sup 2/) than previously reported for this crystal system, and agrees with the successful demonstration of cw 300 K laser diodes at this short wavelength.
Room-temperature continuous-wave (cw) operation is achieved in the MBE (molecular-beam epitaxy)-grown InGaP/InGaAlP double-heterostructure (DH) visible laser diodes with a threshold current of 110 mA. The lasing wavelength and threshold current density under pulsed operation are 666 nm and as low as 3.9 kA/cm/sup 2/, respectively. This result is achieved by the introduction of H/sub 2/ into the growth chamber during growth, the continuous growth from one layer to the next layer, and the introduction of a GaAs buffer layer. InGaP/InGaAlP quantum well structures are also grown. From photoluminescence measurements, the conduction-band discontinuity ..delta..E/sub c/ is estimated to be 0.43 of the band-gap difference ..delta..E/sub g/. Furthermore, the multiquantum-well (MQW) structure is found to be stable under thermal treatment at temperatures as high as 750 /sup 0/C. Room-temperature pulsed operation of ...
AlGaInP double heterostructure laser diodes with a GaInP active layer constitute a basic laser structure for visible-light lasers using an AlGaInP alloy system. This paper gives a detailed description of (Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1 - x/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial growth, laser-fabrication processes, and basic device-characteristics for these lasers. The obtained pulsed-threshold-current was about 3.8 kA/cm/sup 2/(3.2 kA/cm/sup 2/ minimum) for laser diodes with an 8-10 /n//m wide and 150-300 ..mu..m long injection stripe. High characteristic-temperature T/sub o/ for the temperature dependence of pulsed threshold current was obtained and was found to be dependent on band-gap-energy differences between active layers and cladding layers. The maximum value for T/sub o/ was 222 K. The lasing wavelength of an AlGaInP double heterostructure laser diode with a GaInP active layer was found to depend on growth conditions and dopant ...
Effect of a planar texture quality and its thickness on lasing spectrums and thresholds in dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) of steroid type is explored. Transition from the qualitative planar texture to the poor texture quality is accompanied by change of characteristic mode structures and by shift of barycentre in the long-wave side and the considerable growth of the lasing threshold. It is found that in the CLC texture created by substrates with perpendicular directions of orientation the stable single-mode lasing takes place. The nature of oscillated modes in such texture is caused by phase jump. The gained results show that in steroid CLC, unlike induced one, lasing spectrums is possible to feature with the coupled wave model. Key words: steroidal cholesteric liquid crystal, distributed feedback lasing, oscillation thresholds, phase defect of periodical structure, transmission and lasing spectra
High-resolution electron microscope observations confirm the presence of small crystallites in thin TbFeCo films protected by Si_3N_4 overcoats. Selected area electron diffraction patterns in top-view projection indicate that the crystals have a face-centered-cubic structure. Microscope analysis reveals grain growth following annealing of these protected thin films at 200 degree C in vacuum, and Kerr measurements yield large reductions in coercivity relative to the room-temperature value. The typical grain size visible in top-view observations increases from about 3 nm in the as-deposited samples to about 30 nm after annealing at 200 degree C for 36 h while the static coercivity, H_c, drops by about 40%. The fcc structure of the crystals is retained after annealing.
Using the method of high resolution electron microscopy (HEM) the shape and structure of powder particles of elementary amorphous boron, prepared by plasmochemical reduction of boron trichloride by hydrogen before and after their heat treatment in vacuum of approximately 1 x 10 SPa at the temperature of approximately 800 deg C for 30 min, have been studied. It is established, that ultradispersed particles of amorphous boron present flat formations (discs) of stable configurations, composed of several icosahedrons (structural elements); their growth during heat treatment takes place first in habitus plane without far order formation, and then, after attaining the diameter of approximately 500 A, the process of three-dimensional crystallization starts, which leads to the formation of crystal lattice of boron US -rhombohedric modification.
A review of the deep-level defects observed in both electron- and proton-irradiated GaAs solar cells is presented. Studies of the effects of periodic and continuous thermal annealing on the radiation-induced electron and hole traps and the recombination parameters in GaAs solar cells were made for a wide range of electron and proton energies, fluence, annealing temperature and annealing time. A refined model for numerical simulations of the displacement damage was developed for computing the defect density and the cell parameters in the electron- and proton-irradiated GaAs solar cells. Excellent agreement was obtained between the calculated values and the experimental data for the proton-irradiated GaAs solar cells. (orig.).
For several decades most of the efforts to develop new scintillator materials have concentrated on high-light-yield inorganic single-crystals while polycrystalline ceramic scintillators, since their inception in the early 1980 s, have received relatively little attention. Nevertheless, transparent ceramics offer a promising approach to the fabrication of relatively inexpensive scintillators via a simple mechanical compaction and annealing process that eliminates single-crystalgrowth. Until recently, commonly accepted concepts restricted the polycrystalline ceramic approach to materials exhibiting a cubic crystal structure. Here, we report our results on the development of two novel ceramic scintillators based on the non-cubic crystalline materials: Lu SiO:Ce (LSO:Ce) and LaBr:Ce. While no evidence for texturing has been found in their ceramic microstructures, our LSO:Ce ceramics exhibit a surprisingly ...
Stability and decomposition of PtSi, NiSi, and PdSi in contact with single crystal or amorphous Si is examined. PtSi, PdSi and NiSi are thermally stable both with Si, but are unstable in contact with metal film. It is shown that epitaxial Si layers can be obtained using both Pd and Al as metal film and layers can be electrically doped by the addition of a doping layer to the thin film structure prior to the heat treatment or by inclusion of Al atoms so that n/sup +/ and p/sup +/ conductivity can be achieved in the grown epilayer. The effects of impurities, substrate orientation on the growth kinetics are also discussed. (LEW)
The phase stability of silicides of Ni, Pt and Pd in contact with single crystal or amorphous silicon is examined. The presence of a particular silicide phase is identified by X-ray diffraction, and Rutherford backscattering is used to study composition. It is concluded that Pt or Pd silicides are suitable for Schottky barriers. Layers of silicon can be grown quickly by solid phase epitaxy at temperatures of 300-500C and using an intermediate metal film. Experimental results are reported. Doped layers have been obtained which have electrical characteristics suitable for the junctions in solar cells. The effects of impurities and orientation of the substrate on the growth kinetics are discussed.
During the recrystallization by solid-phase-epitaxial (SPE) growth of supersaturated silicon alloys, a high concentration of interstitials is trapped. These are released by subsequent heating causing a transient (greatly enhanced) diffusion of the substitutional dopant by an interstitialcy mechanism. The enhancement may be as much as five orders of magnitude over tracer values, and shows an activation energy of only 1.8 +- 0.2 eV. Following the transient, the interstitials condense into loops, allowing an independent estimate to be made of their concentration. From these observations, we propose that during ion implantation, a fraction of the implanted dopants can acquire their natural valency, and retain it as the crystallization interface passes. For group V dopants this creates the trapped interstitials, giving transient enhanced diffusion when they are released by subsequent annealing.
During the recrystallization by solid-phase-expitaxial (SPE) growth of supersaturated silicon alloys, a high concentration of interstitials is trapped. These are released by subsequent heating causing a transient (greatly enhanced) diffusion of the substitutional dopant by an interstitialcy mechanism. The enhancement may be as much as five orders of magnitude over tracer values, and shows an activation energy of only 1.8 +/- 0.2 eV. Following the transient, the interstitials condense into loops, allowing an independent estimate to be made of their concentration. From these observations, it is proposed that during ion implantation, a fraction of the implanted dopants can acquire their natural valency, and retain it as the crystallization interface passes. For group V dopants this creates the trapped interstitials, giving transient enhanced diffusion when they are released by subsequent annealing. 12 references, 6 figures.
The National Center for Photovoltaics sponsored the 15th Workshop on Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells & Modules: Materials and Processes, held in Vail, CO, August 7-10, 2005. This meeting provided a forum for an informal exchange of technical and scientific information between international researchers in the photovoltaic and relevant non-photovoltaic fields. The workshop addressed the fundamental properties of PV silicon, new solar cell designs, and advanced solar cell processing techniques. A combination of oral presentations by invited speakers, poster sessions, and discussion sessions reviewed recent advances in crystalgrowth, new cell designs, new processes and process characterization techniques, and cell fabrication approaches suitable for future manufacturing demands. The theme of this year's meeting was 'Providing the Scientific Basis for Industrial Success.' Specific sessions during the workshop ...
The AlGaInP materials system has recently supported the development of a variety of visible diode laser devices at wavelengths ranging from yellow to red. Presently, the majority of published results are with materials prepared by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE). Many issues with such materials exist, including impurity doping, the role of crystal ordering, defect formation during epitaxial growth, and the proper quantum well heterostructure design required for best device results. This paper addresses these topics and reviews the present state of the art, and projects the anticipated results when the materials' problems have been solved.
This report summarizes the progress of the Solid State Photovoltaic Research Branch of the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) from October 1, 1988, through September 30,l 1989. Six technical sections of the report cover these main areas of SERIs in-house research: Semiconductor CrystalGrowth, Amorphous Silicon Research, Polycrystalline Thin Films, III-V High-Efficiency Photovoltaic Cells, Solid-State Theory, and Laser Raman and Luminescence Spectroscopy. Sections have been indexed separately for inclusion on the data base.
New technologies make multi-megajoule glass lasers economically feasible. Laser architectures using harmonic switchout, target plane holographic injection, phase conjugation, continuous apodization and higher amplifier efficiencies have been devised. A plan for a multi-megajoule laser which can be built for an acceptable cost relies on manufacturing economies of scale and the demonstration of the new technologies presented here. These include continuous pour glass production, rapid harmonic crystalgrowth, switching of large blocks of power using larger capcaitors packed more economically and by using large identical parts counts.
This thesis dealt with the metal-organic gas phase epitaxy with nitrogen as carrier gas. For this first by means of three-dimensional modelings of the epitaxy process the influence of the carrier gas on the processes was explained. The optimization of the growth parameter for the whole light-emitting-diode structure in double-hetero arrangement resulted that an a temperature of 770 C and a V/ III-ratio of 150 layers with a high crystal quality could be reached.
LaAlO{sub 3} and CeO{sub 2} films have been successfully grown using sol-gel precursors. LaAlO{sub 3} precursor solution has been prepared from a metal alkoxide route and spun-cast on a SrTiO{sub 3} (100) single crystal to yield an epitaxial film following pyrolysis at 800{degrees}C in a rapid thermal annealer. A CeO{sub 2} precursor solution has been made using both an aqueous and an alkoxide route.
Lecture notes (pdf) on Ceramics is part of a physics course on the properties of matter from the University of Auckland, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering. The following topics are covered: types of chemical bonding, degree of ionic character, structure of ceramics and crystallography, interstitial sites in different crystal structures, silicate structures, glasses, glass transition temperature, glass viscosity, thermal and mechanical properties of ceramics and glasses, fracture properties of ceramics and processing of ceramic materials. Keywords: ionic bonds; covalent bonds; coordination numbers; thermal shock; grain growth; sintering; green body
The dependence of the photoluminescent properties of In{sub 0.48}(Al{sub {ital y}}Ga{sub 1{minus}{ital y}}){sub 0.52}P alloys (0{le}{ital y}{le}0.5) on growth temperature and substrate misorientation off GaAs(100) has been studied. Samples were grown using low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. By studying the dependence of ordering behavior in InGaP as a function of substrate misorientation and growth temperature simultaneously, a very large range in low-temperature photoluminescence emission energy---135 meV---has been obtained. The photoluminescence linewidth exhibits a strong, continuous dependence on the extent of atomic ordering (the emission energy) in the alloys. The results indicate that inhomogeneity in the microstructure of the material (i.e., between ordered'' domains and the disordered'' matrix) is the dominant photoluminescence broadening mechanism. This ...
The dependence of the photoluminescent properties of In{sub 0.48}(Al{sub {ital y}}Ga{sub 1{minus}{ital y}}){sub 0.52}P alloys (0{le}{ital y}{le}0.5) on growth temperature and substrate misorientation off GaAs(100) has been studied. Samples were grown using low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. By studying the dependence of ordering behavior in InGaP as a function of substrate misorientation and growth temperature simultaneously, a very large range in low-temperature photoluminescence emission energy---135 meV---has been obtained. The photoluminescence linewidth exhibits a strong, continuous dependence on the extent of atomic ordering (the emission energy) in the alloys. The results indicate that inhomogeneity in the microstructure of the material (i.e., between ordered'' domains and the disordered'' matrix) is the dominant photoluminescence broadening mechanism. This ...
Feasibility of depositing continuous films of nano-porous alumino-silicates, primarily zeolites and MCM-41, on metallic and non-metallic substrates was examined with an aim to develop membranes for separation of gaseous mixtures and also for application as hydrogen storage material. Mesoporous silica was deposited in-side the pores of these nano-porous disks with an aim to develop membranes for selective separations. Our study involves supported zeolite film growth on substrates using in-situ hydrothermal synthesis. Faujasite, Silicalite and Mesoporous silica have been grown on various metallic and non-metallic supports. Metallic substrates used for film growth included anodized titanium, sodium hydroxide treated Titanium, Anodized aluminum, and sintered copper. A non-metallic substrate used was nano-porous aluminum oxide. Zeolite film growth was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (AMRAY 1820) and High ...
Primary dendrite spacings, secondary dendrite spacings, and microsegregation have been examined in PWA-1480 single crystal specimens which were directionally solidified during parabolic maneuvers on the KC-135 aircraft. Experimentally observed growth rate and thermal gradient dependence of primary dendrite spacings are in good agreement with predictions from dendrite growth models for binary alloys. Secondary dendrite coarsening kinetics show a reasonable fit with the predictions from an analytical model proposed by Kirkwood for a binary alloy. The partition coefficients of tantalum, titanium, and aluminum are observed to be less than unity, while that for tungsten and cobalt are greater than unity. This is qualitatively similar to the nickel base binaries. Microsegregation profiles experimentally observed for PWA-1480 superalloy show a good fit with Bower, Brody, and Flemings model developed for binary alloys. Transitions ...
Surface compositional changes in GaAs due to RF plasmas of different gases have been investigated by XPS and etch rates were measured using AFM. Angular Resolved XPS (ARXPS) was also employed for depth analysis of the composition of the surface layers. An important role in this study was determination of oxide thickness using XPS data. The study of surface - plasma interaction was undertaken by correlating results of surface analysis with plasma diagnosis. Different experiments were designed to accurately measure the BEs associated with the Ga 3d, Ga 2p sub 3 sub / sub 2 and LMM peaks using XPS analysis and propose identification in terms of the oxides of GaAs. Along with GaAs wafers, some reference compounds such as metallic Ga and Ga sub 2 O sub 3 powder were used. A separate study aiming the identification of the GaAs surface oxides formed on the GaAs surface during and after ...
Recent research has shown that biologically inspired approaches to materials synthesis and self-assembly, hold promise of unprecedented atomic level control of structure and interfaces. In particular, the use of organic molecules to control the production of inorganic technological materials has the potential for controlling grain structure to enhance material strength; controlling facet expression for enhanced catalytic activity; and controlling the shape of nanostructured materials to optimize optical, electrical and magnetic properties. In this work, we use organic molecules to modify silver crystal shapes towards understanding the metal-organic interactions that lead to nanoparticle shape control. Using in situ electrochemical AFM (EC-AFM) as an in situ probe, we study the influence of a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylamminobromide (CTAB) on Ag growth during electrochemical deposition on Ag(100). The results show that the organic ...
The various factors that affect the open-circuit voltage ([ital V][sub oc]) of a two-terminal GaInP[sub 2]/GaAs tandem cell are examined. These include a) an anomalous problem associated with the GaAs bottom cell and b) back surface passivation of the thin GaInP[sub 2] top cell. Solutions to these problems are presented and yield tandem [ital V][sub oc]s close to the practical theoretical limits.
The zinc-blende (ZB) and wurtzite (W) structures are the most common crystal forms of binary octet semiconductors. In this work we have developed a simple scaling that systematizes the {ital T}=0 energy difference {Delta}{ital E}{sub W{minus}ZB} between W and ZB for all simple binary semiconductors. We have first calculated the energy difference {Delta}{ital E}{sub W{minus}ZB}{sup LDF}({ital AB}) for AlN, GaN, InN, AlP, AlAs, GaP, GaAs, ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, CdS, C, and Si using a numerically precise implementation of the first-principles local-density formalism (LDF), including structural relaxations. We then find a {ital linear} scaling between {Delta}{ital E}{sub W{minus}ZB}{sup LDF}({ital AB}) and an atomistic orbital-radii coordinate {ital {tilde R}}({ital A},{ital B}) that depends only on the properties of the free atoms {ital A} and {ital B} making up the binary compound {ital AB}. Unlike classical structural coordinates (electronegativity, ...
By using a model dielectric matrix in electron self-energy evaluations the computational effort of a quasiparticle band-structure calculation for a semiconductor is greatly reduced. Applications to various systems with or without inversion symmetry, having narrow or wide band gaps, and semiconductor alloys demonstrate the reliability and accuracy of the method. Calculations have been performed for thirteen semiconducting or insulating materials: Si, LiCl, AlP, AlAs, AlSb, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, InSb, and the Al{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 0.5}As and In{sub 0.53}Ga{sub 0.47}As alloys. Excellent agreement with experimental results is obtained for the quasiparticle energies for these materials. The only three exceptions, {ital E}({Gamma}{sub 1{ital c}}) of AlP, {ital E}({ital L}{sub 1{ital c}}) of AlAs, and {ital E}({ital L}{sub 1{ital c}}) of AlSb are discussed and attributed to various experimental uncertainties. Several other quasiparticle-excitation-related properties are ...
By using a model dielectric matrix in electron self-energy evaluations the computational effort of a quasiparticle band-structure calculation for a semiconductor is greatly reduced. Applications to various systems with or without inversion symmetry, having narrow or wide band gaps, and semiconductor alloys demonstrate the reliability and accuracy of the method. Calculations have been performed for thirteen semiconducting or insulating materials: Si, LiCl, AlP, AlAs, AlSb, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, InSb, and the Al_0_._5Ga_0_._5As and In_0_._5_3Ga_0_._4_7As alloys. Excellent agreement with experimental results is obtained for the quasiparticle energies for these materials. The only three exceptions, E(#GAMMA#_1_c) of AlP, E(L_1_c) of AlAs, and E(L_1_c) of AlSb are discussed and attributed to various experimental uncertainties. Several other quasiparticle-excitation-related properties are also examined in this work. The many-body corrections to the eigenvalues of ...
For a wider application of GaAs single crystals for semiconductor devices a cheaper process to grow crystals with high purity and low dislocation density is required. According to todays knowledge the Czochralski method with a hot wall vessel should be the choice. The temperature of the vessel has to be 700deg C to avoid condensation of arsenic which vapourizes from the 1240deg C hot melt. Arsenic vapour is very agressive against all metals. Therefore the corrosion resistance of metals and alloys with a high melting point and also ceramics has been tested. All the alloys under investigation are corroded severely so that they have to be excluded as a material for the vessel. The metals tantalum, molybdenum and tungsten are more resistent, titanium forms initially a thick protection layer and further corrosion is greatly reduced. The ceramics investigated (TiB{sub 2}; ALN; Makor; BN) are not attacked by arsenic though they ...
The morphological aspects of ternary phase formation during the Pd-GaAs reaction have been studied by application of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS) techniques. The TEM images show that the first product phase, ''phase I'', forms during deposition of Pd onto (100) GaAs and exhibits the preferred orientation (0001)/sub I/ approx. // (01 anti 1)/sub GaAs/. In the presence of unreacted Pd, the second phase, ''phase II'', nucleates at large-angle grain boundaries in the phase I film as the annealing temperature increases above approx.250C. Energy dispersive analysis of x-rays and RBS suggest the nominal compositions Pd3GaAs and Pd4GaAs for phases I and II, respectively.
The magnetic susceptibility of GaAs samples containing a large concentration of native defects was investigated by dc magnetization measurements. Thin GaAs films grown by molecular-beam epitaxy at very low temperatures and bulk GaAs:S samples irradiated with fast neutrons have been studied. For all samples, the susceptibility follows a Curie-Weiss law, indicating the presence of localized magnetic moments. These moments are attributed to unpaired spins located at the native defects. Negative Curie-Weiss temperatures found for both neutron-irradiated and low-temperature-grown GaAs is a clear manifestation of an antiferromagnetic interaction between the moments. The presence of a highly inhomogeneous distribution of native defects has to be assumed to account for the observed antiferromagnetic ordering.
1. In order to carry out isothermic crystalgrowth experiments of YBCO the 123 primary crystallization field was determined by means of phase diagram investigations and crystalgrowth experiments at different oxygen partial pressure. 2. YBCO single crystals of high crystallographic perfection were grown and conclusions on the flux pinning mechanism were drawn. 3. By means of Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE) single crystalline (Tc{approx}90 K; {Delta}T{<=}0.5 K) c- and a,b- YBCO fils have been prepared on NdGaO{sub 3} and LaGaO{sub 3} substrates. The films were characterized structurally and magnetically. 4. Our fist melt textured YBCO ``single crystals`` possess intracrystalline critical current densities >10{sup 4} A/cm{sup 2} at B{<=}2T. The irreversibility inductions are {<=}6 T at 77 K. A simple demonstrator was constructed ...
Previous studies have documented dissimilatory growth of bacteria on solid Mn{sup 4+} oxide, but Mn{sup 3+} oxides have not been previously studied; here the authors have demonstrated for the first time the bacterial reduction of manganite. Strain MR-4 of Shewanella putrefaciens was able to grow on and rapidly reduce insoluble needle-shaped crystals of synthetic manganite (MnOOH), converting them to soluble Mn{sup 2+} in the process. The rate of Mn{sup 3+} reduction was optimal at pH of 7.0 and 26 C consistent with an enzymatic reaction. In addition the rates of reduction were in proportion to the amount of manganite added, but nearly independent of the cell concentration present (e.g., cell number had only a small effect on the rate of Mn{sup 3+} reduction at early stages of growth) suggesting that surface properties were dictating the rates of metal reduction. This thesis was supported by major differences in reduction ...
The structure of hydroxylated oxide films (passive films) formed on Cr(110) in 0.5 M H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} at +0.35, +0.55, and +0.75 V/SHE has been investigated by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Cathodic reduction pretreatments at {minus}0.54, {minus}0.64, and {minus}0.74 V/SHE destroy the well-defined topography of the single-crystal electrode and they have been excluded from the passivation procedure. Two different passive film structures have been observed, depending on the potential and time of passivation. At low potential (+0.35 V/SHE), the passive film, consisting mostly of chromium hydroxide, has a noncrystalline and granular structure whose roughness suggests local variations of thickness of ca. {+-} 0.5 nm. A similar structure is observed at higher potential (+0.55 V/SHE), but only for a short polarization time. For longer polarization at 0.55 V/SHE, and at higher potentials (+0.75 V/SHE), a crystalline structure is formed; the higher the ...
Single crystals of Li{sub 1.8}(In{sub 0.55}Zr{sub 0.45}){sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} and Li{sub 3}(In{sub 1-x}Sc{sub x}){sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} (x=0.67,0.73) were grown by a flux method. The crystal structure of Li{sub 1.8}(In{sub 0.55}Zr{sub 0.45}){sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} was found to be similar to that of the high temperature {gamma}-phase of Li{sub 3}Sc{sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}. However, Li ions were located on only one site among three available sites. On the other hand, those of Li{sub 3}In{sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}-Li{sub 3}Sc{sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} solid solutions were found to be similar to that of the low temperature {alpha}-phase of Li{sub 3}Sc{sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}. The ionic conductivity of Li{sub 1.8}(In{sub 0.55}Sc{sub 0.45}){sub 2}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} was measured along with the directions perpendicular and parallel to the a-axis. A relatively large anisotropic conductivity was observed in the single ...
We have investigated the detection performance of GaAs detectors made with different thickness and contact geometries. A comparison is made between these detection capabilities and the imaging requirements for the following medical applications: digital mammography, digital chest radiography and nuclear medicine. Experimental results and preliminary images are presented and discussed. (author)
Abstract: We report for the selective-area chemical synthesis of semiconductor single-crystal organic nanowires of silver-tetracyanoquinodimethane (Ag-TCNQ). Straight and smooth Ag-TCNQ nanowires can be produced and patterned on micrometer and nanometer scale on silicon substrates covered with a thin layer of Ag film through the reaction of TCNQ and Ag in a simple gas-solid chemical reaction process. Ag-TCNQ nanowires are characterized by UV-vis, IR and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The Ag-TCNQ nanowires grows preferentially along the [100] direction of strong - stacking of Ag-TCNQ molecules. Nanodevices based on these nanowires are fabricated using focus ion beam (FIB) technique. Electrical properties are characterized and I-V hysteresis is observed, which shows memory effect with electrical switching of three orders on-off ratio. These nanowires could be potential for use in optical storage, ultrahigh-density nanoscale memory and logic devices.
The purpose of this study is to prevent the deactivation of catalysts recycled in the 0.1 t/d bench scale unit (BSU). Catalysts recovered during reactions in the BSU and after reactions in the 5-liter autoclave were analyzed, to investigate the influences of the reaction condition on the property and activity of catalysts. Were used {gamma}-iron oxyhydroxide ({gamma}-FeOOH), {alpha}-iron oxyhydroxide ({alpha}-FeOOH), and natural pyrite (FeS2) as catalysts. At the S/Fe atomic ration of 1.2 under the BSU reaction condition, troilite was more easily formed from {gamma}-FeOOH compared with pyrite and {alpha}-FeOOH. As the reaction proceeded through the first, second, and third reactors, the crystal size increased, the pyrrhotite content decreased, and the troilite content increased. Deactivation due to the formation of troilite was irreversible. At the S/Fe of 3.0, however, both the formation of troilite and the crystalgrowth ...
We report the first visible (657 nm) vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. The photopumped undoped structure was grown using low-pressure metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy in a single-growth sequence on misoriented GaAs substrates. The optical cavity consists of an In{sub 0.54}Ga{sub 0.46}P/In{sub 0.48}(Al{sub 0.7}Ga{sub 0.3}){sub 0.52} P strained quantum-well active region and a lattice-matched In{sub 0.48}(Al{sub {ital y}}Ga{sub 1{minus}{ital y}}){sub 0.52} P (0.7{le}{ital y}{le}1.0) graded spacer region, while the distributed Bragg reflectors are composed of Al{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 0.5}As/AlAs quarter-wave stacks. Room-temperature optically pumped lasing was achieved with a very low-threshold power, clearly demonstrating the viability of this new technology. These results provide the foundation for visible semiconductor laser-diode arrays for a number of applications including laser projection displays, holographic memories, and plastic fiber ...
We have observed resonant changes in the current-voltage characteristics of miniband semiconductor superlattices when the Bloch frequency is resonant with a terahertz field and its harmonics: the inverse Bloch oscillator effect. The resonant feature consists of a peak in the current which grows with increasing laser intensity accompanied by a decrease of the current at the low bias side. The peak position moves linearly with the laser frequency. When the intensity is increased further the first peak starts to decrease and a second peak at about twice the voltage of the first peak is observed due to a two photon resonance. At the highest intensities we observe up to a four photon resonance. A superlattice is expected to show negative differential conductance due to the strong nonparabolicity of the miniband. In this situation the carriers should undergo Bloch oscillations with a frequency {omega}{sub B} = eEd/h. Transient Bloch oscillations of photo excited carriers have been observed ...
A wide variety of thin film coatings, deposited by different techniques and with potential applications in various important areas, have been characterised by the Phase Modulated Spectroscopic Ellipsometer, installed recently in the Spectroscopy Division, B.A.R.C. The Phase Modulated technique provides a faster and more accurate data acquisition process than the conventional ellipsometry. The measured Ellipsometry spectra are fitted with theoretical spectra generated assuming an appropriate model regarding the sample. The fittings have been done objectively by minimising the squared difference (#chi#"2) between the measured and calculated values of the ellipsometric parameters and thus accurate information have been derived regarding the thickness and optical constants (viz, the refractive index and extinction coefficient) of the different layers, the surface roughness and the inhomogeneities present in the layers. Measurements have been done on (i) ion-implanted Si-wafers to ...
The aim of this thesis is to study the coherent transport in semiconducting-superconducting junctions. The SnPb-GaAs system has been studied. It has been shown that the behaviour of this junction is controlled by the disordered area induced by the annealing of the connection near the interface. For a few resistant junction, a conductance anomaly under the gap has been observed and has been explained by a mesoscopic effect in the limit of the very high disorders. The conductance of more resistant junctions has only been bound to the properties of the very disordered area of the semiconductor. The part of the electron-electron interactions on the phase coherence length and on the conductance has been studied. The evolving of the correction of the conductance due to interactions in magnetic field has been followed. The effect of the spin degeneration suppression in CdTe and the GaAs sign inversion in Shubnikov de Haas oscillations rate has been observed. At last has ...
The influence of selenium dioxide (SeO2) on the microstructure and electrodeposition of manganese coatings obtained from a sulfate based neutral solution was investigated by material characterization methods and electrochemical techniques. The crystal structure and surface morphology of these coatings were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and powder X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), respectively. The SEM and XRD data showed that SeO2 could effectively accelerate phase transformation, and facilitate leveled and fine grain growth. The electrochemical results indicated that SeO2 could inhibit hydrogen evolution reaction and promote manganese deposition. The action of selenium dioxide in manganese deposition was found to be a reduction and adsorption mechanism. The process cou...
Abstract A facile and efficient single-step mineralization approach was exploited for achieving nanoscopic hydroxyapatite (HAP) crystal layer in chitosan porous matrix, wherein a mixed water-ethanol solvent was used to control the growth of minerals. The crystallographic structure, morphology, and mechanical properties of the scaffold were analyzed with XRD, FTIR, environmental scanning electric microscopy (ESEM), TEM, and compression tests. The behaviors and responses of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells on the scaffolds were studied as well. The results showed that the scaffolds kept woodpile structure with predefined and controlled hierarchical structure after mineralization. The inorganic phase in the mineralized chitosan scaffolds was determined as pure rod-like HAP, which settled densely...
Analytical TEM and high resolution TEM were used in the microstructural characterization of hot-press sintered Si_3N_4-SiC platelets composites. The quantity of sintering additives, Er_2O_3 and AlN, was varied to produce different matrices, e. g. Si_3N_4, #beta#'+#alpha#'-Sialon and #alpha#'-Sialon. Detailed analysis of platelet-sialon matrix interfaces revealed the presence of AlN polytypoids. The polytypoids nucleate preferentially onto the (0001) plane of SiC and growth epitaxially in several ten nanometer layers contributing in this way to crystallize, partially, the matrix intergranular glass pockets contacting the platelets. Possible applications of the phenomena to microstructural control, grain boundary phase control and enhanced creep resistance are discussed. (orig.).
Yb-, Y-, Yb/Y-, and Yb/Nd-doped -SiAlON ceramics with 5-wt% barium aluminosilicate (BAS) were synthesized by hot pressing. Typical self-reinforced microstructures were obtained in all investigated -SiAlONs in spite of the type of doped cations. This is attributed to the incorporation of BAS, which could supply suitable liquid phase to promote the anisotropic growth of the -SiAlON grains. All the composites exhibited excellent high-temperature mechanical properties and thermal shock resistance due to the formation of a self-reinforced microstructure and the complete crystallization of BAS additive.
The article deals with a novel electrochemical method of preparing long-lived silver nanoparticles suspended in aqueous solution as well as silver powders. The method does not involve the use of any chemical stabilising agents. The morphology of the silver nanoparticles obtained was studied using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements. Silver nanoparticles suspended in water solution that were produced by the present technique are nearly spherical and their size distribution lies in the range of 2 to 20 nm, the average size being about 7 nm. Silver nanoparticles synthesised by the proposed method were sufficiently stable for more than 7 years even under ambient conditions. Silver crystalgrowth on the surface of the cathode in the electrochemical process used was shown to result in micron-sized structures consisting of agglomerated silver nanoparticles ...
X-ray diffraction offers a unique combination of advantages for kinetic study which include the non-destructive nature of the measurement, the use of bulk crystals, and the convenience of the experimental arrangements. These attributes and the availability of position-sensitive detectors and high-flux synchrotron radiation sources make this technique most useful for in situ, dynamical investigations. When using diffraction techniques to determine a diffusion coefficient, the principle of analysis entails a scattering theory and a kinetic model. The former allows the kinetic parameter(s) to be extracted from measured intensity, while the latter relates the kinetic parameter(s) to the diffusion coefficient(s). Three examples are demonstrated: (1) Palladium Silicide (Pd{sub 2}Si) Layer Growth on Silicon, (2) Decomposition of an Ni-12.5at%Si Superalloy, and (3) Short-range Ordering in Cu-Au Solid Solutions.
This report summarizes the progress of the Basic Sciences Branch of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) from October 1, 1989, through September 30, 1990. Six technical sections of the report cover these main areas of NREL's in-house research: Semiconductor CrystalGrowth, Amorphous Silicon Research, Polycrystalline Thin Films, III-V High-Efficiency Photovoltaic Cells, Solid-State Theory, and Solid-State Spectroscopy. Each section of the report was written by the group leader principally in charge of the work. The task in each case was to explain the purpose and major accomplishments of the work in the context of the US Department of Energy's National Photovoltaic Research Program plans.
This report summarizes the progress of the Basic Sciences Branch of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) from October 1, 1989, through September 30, 1990. Six technical sections of the report cover these main areas of NREL`s in-house research: Semiconductor CrystalGrowth, Amorphous Silicon Research, Polycrystalline Thin Films, III-V High-Efficiency Photovoltaic Cells, Solid-State Theory, and Solid-State Spectroscopy. Each section of the report was written by the group leader principally in charge of the work. The task in each case was to explain the purpose and major accomplishments of the work in the context of the US Department of Energy`s National Photovoltaic Research Program plans.
CuPt-type ordering in In{sub 0.49}Al{sub 0.51}P is studied by TEM. The lattice-matched film was grown by MOCVD on a GaAs substrate oriented 10{sup o} off (001) towards [110], at 650 C and 25 nm/min. TEM [110] and [1{bar 1}0] cross-sections (XS) were made by wedge polishing and 2 kV Ar ion milling. In CuPt-type ordering of In{sub 0.52}Ga{sub 0.48}P, alternating In-Ga-In-Ga {l_brace}111{r_brace} planes of group III atoms produce 1/2 {bar 1}11 and 1/2 1{bar 1}1 order spots in the 110 SADP, while the [1{bar 1}0] SADP shows no order spots [1-3]. A few studies have reported this type of order in In{sub 0.49}Al{sub 0.51}P [4]. The 004 BF image of the [1{bar 1}0] XS in Fig. 1 shows uneven light/dark contrast modulation due to phase separation often observed in In{sub 0.52}Ga{sub 0.48}P. There are also light/dark layers marked ML parallel to the film growth plane; such unintentional multilayers have also been observed [5] but their origin is not ...
Myostatin is a member of the transforming growth factor-{beta} (TGF-{beta}) family and a strong negative regulator of muscle growth. Here, we present the crystal structure of myostatin in complex with the antagonist follistatin 288 (Fst288). We find that the prehelix region of myostatin very closely resembles that of TGF-{beta} class members and that this region alone can be swapped into activin A to confer signalling through the non-canonical type I receptor Alk5. Furthermore, the N-terminal domain of Fst288 undergoes conformational rearrangements to bind myostatin and likely acts as a site of specificity for the antagonist. In addition, a unique continuous electropositive surface is created when myostatin binds Fst288, which significantly increases the affinity for heparin. This translates into stronger interactions with the cell surface and enhanced myostatin degradation in the presence of either Fst288 or Fst315. ...
TSS (thermal swing sublimation) method was studied which uses vaporization heat and sensible heat of LNG for solidification and separation of CO2 gas in waste gases of LNG-fired combined cycle power generation system. In experiment, the mixed gas composed of CO2, H2O and N2 was used for simulating waste gas of LNG-fired combined cycle power generation systems, and the growth behavior of ice and dry ice was studied for developing dry ice making technology under low-temperature condition. As the experimental result, the following were clarified: various crystal structures depending on cooling temperature, the effect of gas flow rate on peeling of surface precipitated solids, and solidification characteristics of H2O/CO2 mixed gas. The growth rate of precipitated solid film thickness decreased with an increase in gas flow rate, while increased with CO2 concentration. The shape of a dry ice sublimator similar to that of a ...
A doubly Q-switched laser with both an acousto-optic (AO) modulator and a GaAs saturable absorber can obtain a more symmetric and shorter pulse with high pulse peak power, which has been experimentally proved. The key parameters of an optimally coupled doubly Q-switched laser with both an AO modulator and a GaAs saturable absorber are determined, and a group of general curves are generated for what we believe is the first time, when the single-photon absorption (SPA) and two-photon absorption (TPA) processes of GaAs are combined, and the Gaussian spatial distributions of the intracavity photon density and the initial population-inversion density as well as the influence of the AO Q-switch are considered. These key parameters include the optimal normalized coupling parameter, the optimal normalized GaAs saturable absorber parameters, and the normalized parameters of the AO Q-switch, which can maximize ...
A new structure of GaAs MESFET with high radiation tolerance is proposed. Changes in electrical parameters of a GaAs MESFET as a function of total #gamma#-ray dose have been found to be caused mainly by a decrease in the effective carrier concentration in an active layer. The authors have designed a new structure from a simulation based on an empirical relationship between the changes of the effective carrier concentration and the total #gamma#-ray dose. It has been successfully demonstrated by utilizing a highly-doped thin active layer (4 x 10"1"8 cm"-"3, 100 Angstrom) grown by OMVPE. This MESFET can withstand a dose ten times higher [1 x 10"9 rads(GaAs)] than a conventional one can.
The strongly localized one-electron (D{sup 0}) and two-electron (D{sup -}) donor states are considered with the lattice deformation around the donor center taken into account. For GaAs, donor energy levels have been calculated as functions of the hydrostatic pressure. The calculated energy positions and pressure coefficients agree with the experimental data. It is shown that the interaction with phonons reduces the probability of radiative transitions between the states of different localization and leads to the metastability of shallow-level donor states with respect to the D{sup -} state in GaAs and both the states (D{sup 0} and D{sup -}) in CdF{sub 2}. (author) 7 refs, 1 fig
This paper reports on a series of experiments performed to examine the ability of ion beam assisted thermal deposition to produce good adhesion of Au metallization on GaAs left-angle 100 right-angle substrates. A study of the influence of Ar ion-assisted thermal deposition of the Au films as well as in situ pre-sputtering of the GaAs surface with low-energy Ar ions prior to thermal deposition, shows that strong adhesion can be achieved without resorting to chemical cleaning. The substrate temperature and the relative flux of Ar ions to incident Au atoms were varied in order to correlate these parameters with film adhesion. The interfaces of films processed under these various conditions were examined by XTEM, RBS and XPS. Orientation texture was studied by x-ray diffraction (XRD).
A 5 GHz GaAs monolithic astable multivibrator-type voltage-controlled oscillator has been developed. The monolithic oscillator uses 2 micron long self-aligned TiW-silicide gate MESFETs as well as GaAs Schottky diodes for capacitance. Good agreement between the experiment and calculations for oscillation frequency characteristics versus control voltage is obtained by assuming donor density in the FET active layer to be a Gaussian distribution. This oscillator is useful for monolithic front ends and phase-locked oscillators used in microwave signal processing. X-band oscillation frequency can be obtained with 1 micron long gate FET and low loss resonance inductors.
Textured silicon nitride (Si_3N_4) has been intensively studied over the past 15 years because of its use for achieving its superthermal and mechanical properties. In this review we present the fundamental aspects of the processing and anisotropic properties of textured Si_3N_4, with emphasis on the anisotropic and abnormal grain growth of #beta#-Si_3N_4, texture structure and texture analysis, processing methods and anisotropic properties. On the basis of the texturing mechanisms, the processing methods described in this article have been classified into two types: hot-working (HW) and templated grain growth (TGG). The HW method includes the hot-pressing, hot-forging and sinter-forging techniques, and the TGG method includes the cold-pressing, extrusion, tape-casting and strong magnetic field alignment techniques for #beta#-Si_3N_4 seed crystals. Each processing technique is thoroughly discussed in terms of theoretical ...
In cooling systems, an improved control of scale deposit and corrosion processes is a major challenge and an realistic evaluation tool for water treatments is of the utmost economic importance. In this study, a channel flow cell was used to allow in-situ electrochemical measurements in well defined electrolyte tube flowing conditions. An expression of the mass transfer towards the electrode was established where the diffusion-limited current is a function of Re{sup 1/3} in the laminar regime and was verified experimentally using the redox couples Fe[CN]{sub 6}{sup 4-}/ Fe[CN]{sub 6}{sup 3-} and O{sub 2}/OH{sup -}. This hydrodynamically controlled experimental device was developed to investigate scale deposit processes and to evaluate scale inhibitor efficiency using a electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance. Experiments were performed on three different waters, at various flow rates and temperatures. The efficiency of a well known phosphonate (HEDP) was tested ...
Magnetotactic bacteria contain chains of magnetically interacting crystals (magnetosome crystals), which they use for navigation (magnetotaxis). To improve magnetotaxis efficiency, the magnetosome crystals...Full Text Available
Direct coupljng between Al and Au metal]jzations can result in an increase in gate resistance due to a metallurgical reaction. (purple plague). An RF life test on ...
Electronic and structural properties of antiphase boundaries in group III-V semiconductor compounds have been receiving increased attention due to the potential to integration of optically-active III-V...Full Text Available
This patent describes a {gamma}-ray detector. It comprises: a dislocation-free single crystal having an input surface and a transmission surface at opposite ends thereof; an active shield surrounding the crystal and functioning as an anticoincidence counter; and {gamma}-ray detector means disposed adjacent the transmission surface of the crystal for receiving and detecting {gamma}-rays of a predetermined wavelength incident on the input surface of the crystal at a specific Bragg angle and transmitted through the crystal.
In the last two years, rapid progress has been made in the energy conversion efficiencies of GaAs solar cells fabricated from molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) material. The efficiencies of cells fabricated from MBE material are now comparable with those fabricated from metal-organic chemical vapor deposition material, even for cells of dimension 2 cmx4 cm. This paper reviews the progress in MBE cell efficiencies. Also discussed is the role oval defects play in GaAs diode and solar cell performance. (orig.).
Using the slow electrons spectrometer one can get information on the surface structure, its element composition, chemical bonds, adsorption phenomena, electron state density and surface oscillation. We have developed the methods and created the apparatus that makes it possible to investigate the electron backscattering by solid surface. We have studied the electron scattering by the polycrystalline and monocrystalline. GaAs surface in the energy range of 0 to 9 eV. The FWHM of electron energy distribution function was 70 meV. (author).
New techniques were developed to construct Schottky barrier and homojunction solar cells on GaAs substrates. Schottky barrier metal-semiconductor solar cells were produced for the first time on p-type GaAs substrate using a sputter-deposition method to form the barrier. The sputter deposition of gold or gold/palladium is the key to the method since normal thermal evaporation of gold onto p-type GaAs produces ohmic contacts. The results of this investigation are consistent with the idea that sputter damage produces donor type surface states on GaAs. Barrier heights were measured for both p-type sputtered and n-type thermally evaporated diodes using current-voltage and capacitance-voltage methods. Deep-level transient spectroscopy was used to identify the trap center concentration and energy levels for both diodes in an effort to explain the relatively large dark current in the p-type sputtered diodes. ...
Alloy 800 and Alloy 600 are well known for their resistance to corrosion in an aqueous medium at high pressure and temperature, for which they have been widely used for more than 3 decades in different structural components of water refrigerated nuclear reactors, especially as material for the steam generator tubes (SG) in these nuclear plants. The SG tubes in the Atucha I and Embalse Nuclear Plants are made with Alloy 800. The speed of corrosion of these materials in a reactor's refrigerant medium, while very small is perfectly measurable and can be described by parabolic or logarithmic type kinetics. In other words this speed is high in the first states of growth during the formation of a protective oxide film but then drops to almost stationary values. One characteristic of these films is the formation of a double layer (or duplex): i) an internal adhering layer, of approximately constant thickness, formed by small microcrystals (#<=#0.05 mm), ii) a less ...
The present study has examined for #alpha#/#beta#-Ti alloys the relationship between the morphology and crystallography of Widmanstaetten plates of #alpha#-Ti in colonies within a prior grain of #beta#-Ti. Thus, optical metallography, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy have been used to characterize the morphological features of the microstructure, whereas orientation-imaging microscopy (OM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been employed to reveal crystallographic information. It has been discovered that within a prior #beta#-Ti grain, although the growth direction of the Widmanstaetten plates in given colonies may differ by large angles from #alpha#-plates in other colonies, they may exhibit very close crystallographic relationships. For example, inclined #alpha#-plates may share common basal planes and be related by a rotation of #approx#10.5 deg. about the c-axis of the crystals. This phenomenon ...
In this study, silver nanoparticles were formed on a natural macroporous matrix, the stem of rice-paper plant, by reducing Ag{sup +} in aqueous solution through in situ processing without using any other stabilizers. The pores of the matrix, with their size of about 100 {mu}m, were thought to act as reaction compartments for the nucleation and growth of silver nanoparticles, and the control of nucleation of silver crystal during the reduction reaction was found to be important to the successful formation of nanosized silver particles onto the matrix. The diameter and amount of resultant silver particles can be controlled by changing the reaction conditions. Under optimized conditions, the content of silver particles in the matrix can reach as high as 1.8 wt% with the particle diameters being kept below 100 nm. The anti-microbial activities in terms of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the silver nanoparticle composites against ...
The effect of grain boundary (GB) type on precipitate-free zone (PFZ) width in friction stir-processed 7075-T7 Al alloy is investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and stereology. The average half width of PFZs at random GBs is 70.4 {+-} 0.7 nm. For low-angle GBs, an apparent transition of PFZ half width is observed at a misorientation of 11 deg. For coincidence site lattice ({sigma}) GBs, only {sigma}1, {sigma}3 and {sigma}5 have smaller PFZ width than that of random GBs. Crystal-frame stereology is used to recover the GB plane distribution. It is found that the GB plane distribution is relatively isotropic for most {sigma} GBs. Low/high index plane combinations are observed for most {sigma} GBs; furthermore, most {sigma} GBs have both tilt and twist components. The combined results of TEM and stereology suggest that smaller PFZ width is associated only with low {sigma} GBs since the formation and growth of PFZs at GBs depends ...
We demonstrate a preparative method which produces highly-monodisperse Pt-nanoparticles of tunable size without the external addition of seed particles. Hexachloroplatinic acid is dosed slowly to an ethylene glycol solution at 120 C and reduced in the presence of a stabilizing polymer poly-N-vinylpyrollidone (PVP). Slow addition of the Pt-salt first will first lead to the formation of nuclei (seeds) which then grow further to produce larger particles of any desired size between 3 and 8nm. The amount of added hexachloroplatinic acid precursor controls the size of the final nanoparticle product. TEM was used to determine size and morphology and to confirm the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles. Good reproducibility of the technique was demonstrated. Above 7nm, the particle shape and morphology changes suddenly indicating a change in the deposition selectivity of the Pt-precursor from (100) towards (111) crystal faces and breaking up of larger particles into ...
We show that the morphology and the luminescence properties of ZnO layers produced by magnetron sputtering can be controlled by technological parameters of sputtering, particularly by the ratio of argon to oxygen gases in the gas flow during the growth process. Smooth and flat layers were produced with a high Ar/O ratio, while porous layers with various morphologies were obtained with a low Ar/O ratio. The layers produced with O/Ar ration equal to 10 exhibit extremely high near-bandgap luminescence intensity even higher in comparison with bulk ZnO single crystals. The free carrier density estimated from the analysis of photoluminescence spectra is also very high in these samples suggesting that these technological conditions promote both optical and electrical activation of the doping Al impurity. The samples grown with high Ar/O ratios exhibit strong visible emission which is controlled by the technological conditions.
It is thought that iron-based catalysts for coal liquefaction exercise their catalytic activity by forming pyrrhotite (Fe(1-x)S). However, there are still a lot of unknown problems remained concerning the formation and agglomeration behaviors of pyrrhotite. These make a difficulty for improving the activity of iron-based catalysts. In this study, sulfiding behaviors of {alpha}-iron oxyhydroxide ({alpha}-FeOOH) and {gamma}-iron oxyhydroxide ({gamma}-FeOOH) were investigated to reveal the formation and agglomeration behaviors of pyrrhotite. It was found that pyrrhotite was easily converted from ferric oxyhydroxide catalysts having large specific surface areas at the sulfiding temperature below 250{degree}C, and fine crystallites of pyrrhotite were formed at the initial stage of sulfiding. Crystalgrowth of pyrrhotite at the sulfiding temperature over 350{degree}C depended on the catalyst forms. It was also found that smaller crystallites of ...
Materials Scientists need information on the kinetics of the microstructural evolution processes that determine the finished microstructure, and hence the properties, of any material. E.g. recrystallisation, grain growth and phase changes. Such kinetic information requires reliable discrimination of differently oriented crystallites and/or different crystal phases coupled with useful spatial resolution and temporal resolution (i.e. high frame rates). These imaging results must be realised from a hot and changing specimen, in an instrument that is compatible with that hot specimen and with a practical specimen heater. Focused Ion Beams (FIB) offer strong contrast between crystallites and phases, and hence offer the ability to discriminate between these features even while imaging at fast frame rates, however their compatibility with hot specimens was unproven. Here we report results from a novel combination of FIB with an in-situ heating stage, ...
The development of tough #alpha#-SiAlON with elongated grains in the last five years is summarized. This progress has been guided by the improved understanding of phase relations and nucleation/growth kinetics in SiAlON ceramics. Although most #alpha#-SiAlON compositions can be processed to contain some elongated grains, their microstructure, fracture toughness and R-curve behavior vary greatly. Such variability is due to the different phase stability of #alpha#-SiAlONs and the varying physical chemistry of the competing phases, including the transient/residual liquid. For this reason, microstructure control of #alpha#-SiAlON must pay close attention to the composition, starting powder and heating schedule. Seeding with single crystals of an appropriate #alpha#-SiAlON composition provides an attractive alternative that simplifies the task of microstructure control, since such seeds are thermodynamically stable and they completely dominate the ...
The composition of sputter-deposited HgS films was determined by electron microprobe analysis. From the relative x-ray intensity as a function of film thickness, the depth of the ionizations that produce SK sub(..cap alpha..) and HgM sub(..cap alpha..) was found to be approximately 0.65 ..mu..m at an accelerating voltage of 15 kV. This value agreed well with a value calculated from Castaings' empirical law after absorption correction. The determination of film composition was limited to sufficiently thicker films than this critical value, usually 1 - 2 ..mu..m thick. The relation between the conposition of bulk standard determined by chemical analysis and the x-ray intensity ratio was used for the correction of film composition. The results showed that the crystal structure of HgS films was independent of the composition, i.e., the growth of metastable ..beta..-HgS films was not caused by the nonstoichiometry, and that the composition ...
The composition of sputter-deposited HgS films was determined by electron microprobe analysis. From the relative x-ray intensity as a function of film thickness, the depth of the ionizations that produce SK sub(#alpha#) and HgM sub(#alpha#) was found to be approximately 0.65 #mu#m at an accelerating voltage of 15 kV. This value agreed well with a value calculated from Castaings' empirical law after absorption correction. The determination of film composition was limited to sufficiently thicker films than this critical value, usually 1 - 2 #mu#m thick. The relation between the conposition of bulk standard determined by chemical analysis and the x-ray intensity ratio was used for the correction of film composition. The results showed that the crystal structure of HgS films was independent of the composition, i.e., the growth of metastable #betta#-HgS films was not caused by the nonstoichiometry, and that the composition of #alpha#-HgS films was ...
This handbook is a unique compendium of knowledge on all aspects of the physics of liquid crystals. In over 500 pages it provides detailed information on the physical properties of liquid crystals as well as the recent theories and results on phase transitions, defects and textures of different types of liquid crystals. An in-depth understanding of the physical fundamentals is a prerequisite for everyone working in the field of liquid crystal research. With this book the experts as well as graduate students entering the field get all the information they need.
Radioactive "3"1Si was used as a marker to study metal silicide formation. Activity profiles in the silicides were measured by a combination of ion beam sputtering, radioactivity counting and Rutherford backscattering of charged nuclear particles. It was found that the metal is the diffusing species during Co_2Si, Pt_2Si, NiSi and PtSi formation, while silicon diffuses during CrSi_2, TiSi_2 and ZrSi_2 formation. Silicon was also found to be the diffusing species during second phase formation of CoSi from Co_2Si. However, in this case it was established that the silicon diffuses by a grain boundary and/or interstitial mechanism. Both the metal and silicon diffuse during Ni_2Si and Pd_2Si formation. In an attempt to interpret complex radioactivity profiles a computer program, simulating various diffusion mechanisms during both first and second phase silicide formation, was written. A numerical approach was used whereby silicide growth occurs in small increments and ...
The microstructure of a pressureless sintered (1,605 C, 90 min) O' + #beta#' SiAlON ceramic with CeO_2 doping has been investigated. It is duplex in nature, consisting of very large, slablike elongated O' grains (20--30 #mu#m long), and a continuous matrix of small rodlike #beta#' grains (< 1.0 #mu#m in length). Many #alpha#-Si_3N_4 inclusions (0.1--0.5 #mu#m in size) were found in the large O' grains. CeO_2-doping and its high doping level as well as the high Al_2O_3 concentration were thought to be the main reasons for accelerating the reaction between the #alpha#-Si_3N_4 and the Si-Al-O-N liquid to precipitate O'-SiAlON. This caused the supergrowth of O' grains. The rapid growth of O' crystals isolated the remnant #alpha#-Si_3N_4 from the reacting liquid, resulting in a delay in the #alpha# #-># #beta#-Si_3N_4 transformation. The large O' grains and the #alpha#-Si_3N_4 inclusions have a pronounced effect on the strength degradation of ...
Eukaryotic genomes encode a zinc finger protein (ZPR1) with tandem ZPR1 domains. In response to growth stimuli, ZPR1 assembles into complexes with eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1A (eEF1A) and the survival motor neurons protein. To gain insight into the structural mechanisms underlying the essential function of ZPR1 in diverse organisms, we determined the crystal structure of a ZPR1 domain tandem and characterized the interaction with eEF1A. The ZPR1 domain consists of an elongation initiation factor 2-like zinc finger and a double-stranded {beta} helix with a helical hairpin insertion. ZPR1 binds preferentially to GDP-bound eEF1A but does not directly influence the kinetics of nucleotide exchange or GTP hydrolysis. However, ZPR1 efficiently displaces the exchange factor eEF1B from preformed nucleotide-free complexes, suggesting that it may function as a negative regulator of eEF1A activation. Structure-based mutational and ...
We explore a planar GaAs/AlAs photonic microcavity using pump-probe spectroscopy. Free carriers are excited in the GaAs with short pump pulses. The time-resolved reflectivity is spectrally resolved short probe pulses. We show experimentally that the cavity resonance and its width depend on the dynamic refractive index of both the lambda-slab and the lambda/4 GaAs mirrors. We clearly observe a double exponential relaxation of both the the cavity resonance and its width, which is due to the different recombination timescales in the lambda-slab and the mirrors. In particular, the relaxation time due to the GaAs mirrors approaches the photon storage time of the cavity, a regime for which nonlinear effects have been predicted. The strongly non-single exponential behavior of the resonance and the width is in excellent agreement to a transfer-matrix model taking into account two recombination times. The change in width leads to a ...
The reactions between (100) GaAs and the near-noble metals Ni, Pd, and Pt have been investigated by application of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive analysis of x rays in the scanning TEM and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Emphasis is placed on the evolution of the phase distributions, film compositions, and interface morphologies during annealing at temperatures up to 480 /sup 0/C. The first phase in the Ni/GaAs reaction is shown to have the nominal composition Ni/sub 3/GaAs. Ternary phases of the type Pd/sub x/GaAs are also found to be the dominant products of the Pd/GaAs reaction. Conversely, only binary phases result from the Pt/GaAs reaction. These observations are used to construct isothermal sections of the M--Ga--As thin-film phase diagrams. The behavior of a thin (1--2 nm) native oxide--hydrocarbon layer during the Ni/GaAs, Pd/GaAs, and Pt/GaAs reactions is also investigated. Only the ...
An updated review of the state of the art in the development of GaAs solar cells is provided, with emphasis on AlGaAs-GaAs cells suitable for space applications. A set of theoretically derived characteristics is given for this type of solar cell. Comparison of measured performance with theory shows excellent agreement. Data on the effects of radiation damage (high-energy electrons, protons, and neutrons) is also integrated into a form useful for evaluation purposes. Techniques for fabricating (AlGa)As-GaAs solar cells in quantities large enough for practical applications are discussed and are shown to have been demonstrated. The possibility of extending these techniques to the fabrication of very thin low-weight cells for space applications is also considered. Finally, the results obtained to date in the development of GaAs solar cells for applications requiring concentrated sunlight are reviewed, for terrestrial as well as for space ...
Data are presented on the insulating properties and capacitance-voltage (CV) characteristics of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) device-thickness (below approx. 100 nm) native oxides formed by wet thermal oxidation of thin InAlP epilayers lattice matched to GaAs. Low leakage current densities of J=1.4 x 10-9 A/cm2 and J=8.7 x 10-11 A/cm2 are observed at an applied field of 1 MV/cm for MOS capacitors fabricated with 17 nm and 48 nm oxides, respectively. TEM images show that the In-rich interfacial particles which exist in 110 nm oxides are absent in 17 nm oxide films. Quasi-static capacitance-voltage measurements of MOS capacitors fabricated on both n-type and p-type GaAs show that the InAlP oxide-GaAs interface is sufficiently free of traps to support inversion, indicating an unpinned Fermi level. These data suggest that InAlP native oxides may be a viable insulator for GaAs MOS device applications.
A new monolithic semi-insulating (SI) GaAs sensor design for X-ray imaging applications between 10-100keV has been proposed. Monolithic pixel detectors offer a number of advantages over hybrid bump-bonded detectors, such as high device yield, low costs and are easier to produce large scale arrays. In this thesis, an investigation is made of the use of a SI GaAs wafer as both a detector element and substrate for the epitaxially grown High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs). The design of the HEMT transistors, optimised for this application, were produced with the aid of the Silvaco 'Virtual Wafer Fab' simulation package. It was determined that the device characteristics would consist of a small positive threshold voltage, a low off-state drain current and high transconductance. The final HEMT transistor design, that would be integrated to a pixel detector, had a threshold voltage of 0.17V, an off-state leakage current of approx 1nA and a ...
Purpose:To report crystal formation as a complication of intravitreal ganciclovir injection.Patients and methods:A 73-year-old female patient with...Full Text Available
In this work, we describe the fabrication and operating characteristics of GaAs/AlGaAs thin film solar cells processed by the epitaxial liftoff (ELO) technique. This technique allows the transfer of these cells onto glass substrates. The performance of the lifted-off solar cell is demonstrated by means of electrical measurements under both dark and illuminated conditions. We have also optimized the light trapping conditions in this direct-gap material. The results show that good solar absorption is possible in active layers as thin as 0.32 {mu}m. In such a thin solar cell, the open circuit voltage would be enhanced. We believe that the combination of an epitaxial liftoff thin GaAs film, and nano-texturing can lead to record breaking performance. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}
Picosecond charge-collection transients measured for GaAs/AlGaAs HBTs following 3.0 MeV [alpha]-particle and 620 nm picosecond laser excitation reveal charge-collection efficiencies up to twenty-eight times smaller than for GaAs MESFETs, with [approximately]90% of the charge collected within 75 ps of the ionizing event. The small charge-collection efficiency of the HBTs is a consequence of the ultrafast charge-collection dynamics in these devices. The authors show that picosecond laser excitation reproduces nicely the ion-induced transients, providing a valuable tool for the investigation of charge-collection and SEU phenomena in these devices.
Efficient, low-temperature conversion of infrared light into visible light (red, orange, green) is reported at single heterojunctions and undoped quantum wells of GaAs and ordered Al_xGa_1_-_xInP_2; an increase in photon energy of 700 meV is obtained. The signal originates from the high-band-gap layers and disappears only if the excitation energy is tuned below the GaAs band gap. The intensity of the up-converted photoluminescence (PL) is found to decrease significantly slower with increasing temperature than that of the regular PL and it remains observable up to 200 K. Interface-induced cold Auger processes along with the presence of trapped states for both electrons and holes in these ordered alloys account for this nonlinear mechanism. A colinear double-beam experiment confirms this. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society.
Conventional interconnect and switching technology is rapidly becoming a critical issue in the realization of systems using high speed silicon and GaAs based technologies. In recent years clock speeds and on-chip density for VLSI/VHSIC technology has made packaging these high speed chips extremely difficult. A strong case can be made for using optical interconnects for on-chip/on-wafer, chip-to-chip and board-to-board high speed communications. GaAs integrated optoelectronic circuits (IOC's) are being developed in a number of laboratories for performing Input/Output functions at all levels. In this paper integrated optoelectronic materials, electronics and optoelectronic devices are presented. IOC's are examined from the standpoint of what it takes to fabricate the devices and what performance can be expected.
Deep level effects in GaAs MOSFET have been characterised in the ohmic channel using DLTS, low frequency excess noise and dispersion technique. An isothermal multi exponential curve fitting method has been devised and implanted into the DLTS system. Multi exponential curve fitting method used to decompose a multi exponential transient into its constituents so that the peak signature can be better characterised for the case whereas several peaks are closely spaced. Low frequency excess noise and dispersion techniques also confirm the trap in signature of the same traps observed in the DLTS measurements. (author)
The extracellular domain of human fibroblast growth factor receptor (XC-FGF-R) was expressed in Escherichia coli. The protein was purified to homogeneity and the interaction with basic fibroblast growth...Full Text Available
Crystallization procedure is considered to have adaptability to new reprocessing process based on the PUREX process because it has an advantage in recovering rather pure uranium from contaminated uranium solution without reagent. NEXT (New Extraction System for TRU Recovery) process has been developed by JNC, and applying the crystallization process unit to NEXT process has a capability to contribute to an improvement of economical efficiency and reduction of liquid waste in NEXT process. Thus following studies were carried out. In crystallization process unit, UNH (Uranyl Nitrate Hydrate)-crystals are washed by a nitric acid solution to get high decontamination factor, but the data on UNH-crystals dissolution by washing procedure is insufficient to evaluate the effectiveness of crystallization process unit. So, in this study, the effect of a nitric acid ...
We present a study of the crystal field in PrNiAl, NdNiAl, ErNiAl and ErCuAl intermetallic compounds based on inelastic neutron spectroscopy. These compounds crystallize in the ZrNiAl-type hexagonal structure with an orthorhombic symmetry on rare-earth sites. The results are compared with the specific-heat data, and the lower parts of the crystal-field energy-level schemes are determined. (orig.)
We present a study of the crystal field in PrNiAl, NdNiAl, ErNiAl and ErCuAl intermetallic compounds based on inelastic neutron spectroscopy. These compounds crystallize in the ZrNiAl-type hexagonal structure with an orthorhombic symmetry on rare-earth sites. The results are compared with the specific-heat data, and the lower parts of the crystal-field energy-level schemes are determined. (orig.)
The ErNi{sub 1-} {sub x} Cu {sub x} Al compounds crystallize all in the hexagonal ZrNiAl-type structure. The concentration dependence of lattice constants shows a discontinuity between x=0.5 and 0.6. This structural change has no primary impact on the magnetic order in this series, but influences the crystal field. The lower part of the crystal-field energy-level schemes has been estimated from the specific-heat data.
The ErNi_1_- _x Cu _x Al compounds crystallize all in the hexagonal ZrNiAl-type structure. The concentration dependence of lattice constants shows a discontinuity between x=0.5 and 0.6. This structural change has no primary impact on the magnetic order in this series, but influences the crystal field. The lower part of the crystal-field energy-level schemes has been estimated from the specific-heat data.
The energy levels scheme of octahedrally coordinated Ni2+ ion in single crystal, powder nano-single crystal, ceramics and glass-ceramics of MgGa2O4 host matrix, has been calculated in the exchange charge model of crystal field. The parameters of the crystal field acting on the Ni2+ ion are calculated from the crystal structure data, after optimization of the geometry of the system. The energy level schemes have been calculated by diagonalization of the crystal field Hamiltonian of this system. The obtained results were compared with experimental data; a good agreement were demonstrated, which confirm the validity of the model and used method.
A new separation process of saturated fatty acids (lauric acid-myristic acid) using crystallization from an aqueous ethanol solution has been examined. There were two vessels in this separation process: an extraction vessel and a crystallization vessel. The fatty acids in the aqueous phase were first extracted from their organic phase (melt) in the extraction vessel. The fatty acids in the aqueous phase were continuously introduced to the crystallization vessel, and then the fatty acids were crystallized there. The crystals of the fatty acids were collected continuously above the aqueous phase in the crystallization vessel. In this process, the yield and the purity of the crystals over time were measured, and it was found that the purity of lauric acid increased unsteadily up to 0.98 mole fraction of lauric acid with an increase in the yield ...
A new polarized electron gun for use on the SLC at SLAC has been built and tested. It is a diode gun with a laser driven GaAs photocathode. It is designed to provide short (2ns) pulses of 10 A at 160 kV at 120 Hz. The design features of the gun and results from a testing program on a new and dedicated beam line are presented. Early results from operation on the SLC will also be shown.
The article is the second part of a review dealing with latest developments in the area of solar cell technologies and application. Physical principles, design and efficiency as well as advantages and disadvantages of GaAs- and CdS-solar cells are described. Power generation solar cell systems with voltage converters, combined solar cell/solar collector systems and thermoelectric solar systems are presented in the second part of the article.
The compound semiconductor system InGaAsN exhibits many intriguing properties which are particularly useful for the development of innovative high efficiency thin film solar cells and long wavelength lasers. The bandgap in these semiconductors can be varied by controlling the content of N and In and the thin films can yet be lattice-matched to GaAs. In the present work, x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and grazing incidence x-ray scattering (GIXS) techniques have been employed to probe the local environment surrounding both N and In atoms as well as the interface morphology of InGaAsN thin films epitaxially grown on GaAs. The soft x-ray XAFS results around nitrogen K-edge reveal that N is in the sp{sup 3} hybridized bonding configuration in InGaAsN and GaAsN, suggesting that N impurities most likely substitute for As sites in these two compounds. The results of In K-edge XAFS suggest a possible trend of a slightly larger coordination ...
An unusual S1-nuclease sensitive microsatellite (STMS) has been found in the single copy, rat polymeric immunoglobulin receptor gene (PIGR) terminal exon. In Fisher rats, elements within or beyond the...Full Text Available
Two window layer materials, Al{sub 0.51}In{sub 0.49}P (E{sub g} = 2.3 eV) and Ga{sub 0.51}In{sub 0.49}P (E{sub g} = 1.88 eV) were compared for gas-source and solid-source MBE grown GaAs and Ga{sub 0.84}In{sub 0.16}As{sub 0.68}P{sub 0.32} (E{sub g} = 1.55 eV) solar cells. Due to the wider band-gap of Al{sub 0.51}In{sub 0.49}P, the increased spectral response was observed for both GaAs and Ga{sub 0.84}In{sub 0.16}As{sub 0.68}P{sub 0.32} material based solar cells. In the case of the GaAs cells, the short-circuit current density was observed to increase from 32.5 mA/cm{sup 2} to 34.4 mA/cm{sup 2} with the Al{sub 0.51}In{sub 0.49}P window layer at AM0. Similar improvement was observed for the Ga{sub 0.84}In{sub 0.16}As{sub 0.68}P{sub 0.32} solar cells.
Cerium is known to enter substitutionally in trivalent state when doped in alkali halides. Cerium doped NaCl crystals exhibit greatly enhanced thermoluminescence output upon X-irradiation at RT, the intensity of emission being about 10 times that in undoped crystals for similar dosage of irradiation. The cerium doped crystals give upon X-irradiation a very intense glow peak at 145degC with shoulders at 120degC and 210degC. Upon partially bleaching the crystal with F-light, the peak at 120degC becomes prominent probably due to faster bleaching of the glow at 145degC. From further optical bleaching studies, it is concluded that the glow peak at around 120degC is due to cerium centres in the irradiated crystal and the 145degC peak due to F centres. This F centre emission occurs at lower temperature, compared to that in the undoped crystals where it occurs at around ...
We tried to apply a quartz crystal as a sensor by using the resonant frequency and the resistance properties of quartz crystals. Four kinds of fatty acids that have the same head groups were coated on the surfaces of the quartz crystals, and the shift of the resonant frequency and the resistance were observed based on the lengths of the tail groups. Myristic acid (C{sub 14}), palmitic acid (C{sub 16}), stearic acid (C{sub 18}), and arachidic acid (C{sub 20}) were deposited on the surfaces of quartz crystals by using the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) method. As a result, the resonant frequency change was more sensitive to high molecular-weight fatty acids than to low molecular-weight ones. We also observed the effect of temperature on stearic acid LB films, and the response properties of quartz crystals coated with stearic-acid LB films to organic gases were investigated. As a result, the ...
This SBIR Phase I developed neutron detectors made from gallium arsenide (GaAs) p-type/ intrinsic/n-type (P-I-N) diodes grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) onto semi-insulating (S1) bulk GaAs wafers. A layer of isotonically enriched boron-10 evaporated onto the front surface serves to convert incoming neutrons into lithium ions and a 1.47 MeV alpha particle which creates electron-hole pairs that are detected by the GaAs diode. Various thicknesses of ''intrinsic'' (I) undoped GaAs were tested, as was use of a back-surface field (BSF) formed from a layer of Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}As. Schottky-barrier diodes formed from the same structures without the p+ GaAs top layer were tested as a comparison. After mesa etching and application of contacts, devices were tested in visible light before application of the boron coating. Internal ...
Nuclear radiation detectors in integral execution were produced by successive epitaxial growth from vapor phase of Zn Te and Cd Se thin layers onto scintillating Zn Se (Te) crystals. The irradiation of combined Zn Se (Te) - Zn Te - Cd Se detectors by Cu_K_a X-rays leads to the appearance of photoreceiver e.m.f., which tends to saturation with the increase of X-ray radiation dose reaching the value of 0.34-0.40 V at 200 R/min. The short circuit current dependence of irradiation dose power is linear. The matching factor for detectors with Zn Te-Cd Se photoreceivers with different doping levels is 0.68-0.92. The absolute monochromatic sensitivity is 0.32-0.35 m A/m W at a quantum efficiency 0.58-0.61 and a time constant 2 x 10"-"4 s. The calculated dose sensitivity for Zn Se(Te)-Zn Te-Cd Se combined detectors at the irradiation with X-rays having effective energy 8.86 keV gives the value 3.9 x 10"-"7 A/cm"2 (R/min); the experimental value of dose ...
Structural and functional alterations in hepatocytes of the European eel, Anguilla anguilla, following a 4-week-exposure to 5, 50, and 250 micrograms/liter dinitro-o-cresol (DNOC) were investigated by means of electron microscopy and biochemistry and compared to liver pathology in eels exposed to the chemical spill into the Rhine river at Basle in November 1986. Whereas phenological parameters (growth, condition factor) are unaffected, ultrastructural and biochemical alterations are detectable at greater than or equal to 50 and 5 micrograms/liter DNOC, respectively. Structural modifications include: rounding-up of the nuclei; fractionation and reduction of the rough endoplasmic reticulum; proliferation of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER), mitochondria, peroxisomes, and lysosomes; bundles of rod-shaped SER profiles; annulate lamellae; membrane whorls within mitochondria; crystallization of the peroxisomal matrix and glycogen bodies; ...
To heighten durability and safety of materials/parts for undersea oil drilling, the development of ceramic base materials was made by developing function harmony type process technology which harmonizes on a high grade contrary characteristics and various functions. The paper summed up the fiscal 1997 results. In the design of system formation, computational simulation technology was developed to the composite process and the diploid system. The development of multifunction simultaneous manifestation materials was trially made by the higher nano structure process. A study was made of control of microstructures of porous materials and matrix filling by the gas phase precipitation control. Proposed were selective control of grain growth from species crystals and the columnar particle orientation laminated structure of simultaneous manifestation of strength and toughness. By composite precipitation reaction control, studied were simultaneous ...
This report describes the results of a program conducted at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) to identify alternative methods to measure the surface level in the waste tanks. This program examined commercially available devices for measuring the distance to a target. This is a continuation of a program started in FY93. In the first test sequence, tests were performed.on five devices to determine their applicability to measure the surface level in the waste tanks. The devices were the Enraf-Nonius{trademark} Model 872 Radar Gauge, the Enraf-Nonius{trademark} Model 854 Advanced Technology Gauge (ATG), the Stanley Tool Laser Measuring Device, the Robertshaw Inven-Tel{reg_sign} Precision Level Gauge, and the Micro Switch Model 942 Acoustic Sensor. In addition, discussions were held with several manufacturer representatives regarding other potential devices. The results of these tests were documented in a previous report. Two additional devices ...
[sup 13]C epitaxial diamond films have been grown on [sup 12]C-type IIb diamond substrates doped with boron, using electron assisted chemical vapor deposition. The relation between etch pits to dislocations in [sup 13]C diamond film and the broadening of the first-order Raman peak was examined. The reactant gas was [sup 13]CH[sub 4] of > 99% purity. The substrate temperature was varied from 943 to 1300 C. The uneven surface morphology was confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and laser microscopy. From 943 to 1030 C, etch pit rows along left angle 100 right angle were observed. At 991 C, the etch pit density on a row was 3300 to 5000 pits/cm. The Ar[sup +] laser beam was focused on a transparent area near the row of etch pits, where the boron impurity of the substrate is less than several 10 ppm. The first-order Raman line of [sup 13]C epitaxial diamond film was broadened to 3.6-4.0 cm[sup -1]. The line broadening was 50-90% compared with that of the [sup 12]C diamond ...
A curved crystal X-ray spectrographs of reflection type spherical geometry was required based on the Johann scheme. Due to their high efficiency and resolution, X-ray spectrographs of focusing spectrograph spatial resolution are suitable for detecting weak X-ray spectra in spectrometers for laser fusion research. Spherically bent mica crystal with a radius of curvature of 380 mm was used in the spectrometer. The Bragg angle of the crystal analyzer was 51 degree. The image plate was employed to obtain high spatial resolution and a narrow spectral band width, with an effective area of 30 mm x 80 mm. The designed optical path of the X-ray spectrometer beam was 980 mm long from the source to the crystal and the detector. The first experiment was carried out at the 20 J energy laser facility of Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics. X-ray spectra in an absolute intensity scale ...
The resistance to destruction of spores of Bacillus subtilis var. niger occluded in crystals of calcium carbonate and exposed to ethylene oxide and moist and dry heat...Full Text Available
Cadmium telluride single crystals were subjected to multiple-energy boron ion implants with total doses up to 1.5 x 10 sq cm. Various diagnostic techniques were used to assess the structural and electronic properties of these crystals in their as-implante...
IntroductionThe murine air pouch is a bursa-like space that resembles the human synovial membrane. Injection of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals into the pouch elicits an acute inflammatory...Full Text Available
The mechanical characteristics of semicrystalline materials are related to the proportion, size and structure of the crystalline phase. Studying isothermal crystallization is the first stage in determining what relations exist between structure and charac...
We compared two insecticidal and eight noninsecticidal soil isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis with regard to the solubility of their proteinaceous crystals at alkaline pH values. The...Full Text Available
We report on a high resolution, monolithic crystal PET detector design concept that provides depth of interaction (DOI) positioning within the crystal. Our design utilizes a novel sensor on...Full Text Available
A consistent statistical theory of the crystal-liquid phase transition is developed, being based on a method which takes into account liquidlike fluctuations in crystals and solidlike clusters in liquids. It is shown that degenerate fluidlike droplets have a finite number density at zero temperature, while nondegenerate fluctuations disappear when the temperature goes to zero. The existence of a melting point is proved. This method, which takes into consideration the heterophase fluctuations, provides the possibility of describing metastable states such as a supercooled liquid or an overheated crystal. Conditions for the existence of metastable states are found. The liquid-glass transition can also be described by the method presented here.
... analyzer section for angle resolved measurements, and a thin film evaporator with a quartz crystal microbalance to measure the mass deposition. ...
Growth hormone (GH) has an important role in the regulation of hepatic LDL receptor expression and plasma lipoprotein levels. This investigation was undertaken to evaluate if these effects of GH on...Full Text Available
Target of rapamycin (TOR) kinases control cell growth through two functionally distinct multiprotein complexes. TOR complex 1 (TORC1) controls temporal cell growth and is sensitive to rapamycin, whereas...Full Text Available
Growth of the malolactic bacterium Leuconostoc oenos was improved with respect to both the specific growth rate and the biomass yield during the fermentation of glucose-malate mixtures as compared with...Full Text Available
Mice homozygous for the recessive gene achondroplasia (cn) aged 16 and 17 days and some homozygotes aged 22-34 days have disruptions in the growth of the proximal tibial growth plate which are due solely...Full Text Available
Background and AimsSecondary growth via successive cambia has been intriguing researchers for decades. Insight into the mechanism of growth layer formation is, however, limited to...Full Text Available
Striking differences in differential reflectance and carrier relaxation in In0.4Ga0.6As and In0.4Ga0.6As0.98N0.02 single quantum wells (SQWs) were studied using ultrafast time-resolved photoreflectance. Even with extremely thin SQW of only 60 A within 3000 A wide GaAs confining layers, negative and positive differential reflectance was observed for the excitation photon energy far above the bandgaps at 820 and 880 nm for both samples. Due to absorption by the GaAs confining layer, the peak differential reflectance pumped at 820 nm is an order of magnitude larger than that pumped at 880 nm; and it is larger for InGaAs SQWs than for InGaAsN SQWs. The shorter carrier lifetimes of these samples result from carrier-carrier scattering as pumped at both wavelengths. The longer carrier lifetime as pumped at 880 nm is due to hot phonon decay in InGaAs but may be due to stimulated emission in InGaAsN. The results reveal that the carrier dynamics is ...
III-V semiconductors, GaAs and in particular InGaP, are used in many different electronic applications, such as high power and high frequency devices, laser diodes and high brightness LED. Their direct bandgap and high reliability make them ideal candidates for the realisation of high efficiency solar cells: in the past years they have been successfully used as power sources for satellites in space, where they are able to produce electricity from sunlight with an overall efficiency of around 30%. Nowadays, the use of arsenides and phosphides as photovoltaic (PV) devices is confined only to space applications since their price is much higher than conventional Si flat panel modules, the leading PV market technology. But with the introduction of multijunction solar cells capable of operating in high concentration solar light, the area and, therefore, the cost of these cells can be reduced and will eventually find an application and market also on Earth. This article ...
We have investigated the characteristics of ion-beam-induced spontaneous etching (IBISE) of GaAs in Cl_2 ambient by using a Ga-focused ion beam (FIB) with an energy ranging from 3 to 15 keV. The etched depth of the irradiated region was more than 20 times greater than that of unirradiated region. When the sputtered depth by FIB irradiation amounted to around 8 A at each ion energy, the etched depth in Cl_2 ambient for 1 hour became saturated. The saturated etched depths were 450, 550, 750 and 800 A at the ion energy of 3, 5, 10 and 15 keV, respectively. The residual damage of the etched surface was also investigated by photoluminescence (PL) measurement. The maximal PL intensity was obtained at around the threshold dose of IBISE and increased with decreasing ion energy. The full recovery of PL intensity was observed at the ion energy of 3 keV after annealing at 400degC. (author).
Room-temperature cw operation for InGaP/InGaAlP double heterostructure (DH) laser diodes on GaAs substrates was achieved for the first time. The DH wafers were grown by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using methyl metalorganics. A lasing wavelength of 679 nm and a threshold current of 109 mA at 24C were obtained for an inner stripe structure laser diode with a 250- m-long and 7- m stripe geometry. The laser operated at up to 51C. The characteristic temperature T0 was 87 K at around room temperature. The lowest threshold current density, 5.0 kA/cmS, was obtained with a 20- m stripe width laser diode under room-temperature pulsed operation.
The optoelectronic compounds of GaAs and ZnSe are difficult to analyze by PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission) due to the strong absorption of the As and Se K{sub {alpha}} X-rays. As part of a program to investigate optoelectronic materials using ion beam techniques, we have explored the possibility of using the high sensitivity of PIXE to check these materials for stoichiometry and dopant concentrations. The K{sub {alpha}} X-ray intensity ratios of Ga to As and Zn to Se have been investigated using H beams of 0.5 to 2.5 MeV and He beams of 1.0 to 2.5 MeV. The variation in the X-ray intensity ratio with beam energy and target thickness is modelled in terms of the cross section for X-ray production and the absorption coefficients of the X-rays in the target. The results of this model show the experimental conditions that must be satisfied in order that the X-ray intensity ratios are not strongly affected by X-ray absorption; and therefore, the conditions necessary ...
The optoelectronic compounds of GaAs and ZnSe are difficult to analyze by PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission) due to the strong absorption of the As and Se K_#alpha# X-rays. As part of a program to investigate optoelectronic materials using ion beam techniques, we have explored the possibility of using the high sensitivity of PIXE to check these materials for stoichiometry and dopant concentrations. The K_#alpha# X-ray intensity ratios of Ga to As and Zn to Se have been investigated using H beams of 0.5 to 2.5 MeV and He beams of 1.0 to 2.5 MeV. The variation in the X-ray intensity ratio with beam energy and target thickness is modelled in terms of the cross section for X-ray production and the absorption coefficients of the X-rays in the target. The results of this model show the experimental conditions that must be satisfied in order that the X-ray intensity ratios are not strongly affected by X-ray absorption; and therefore, the conditions necessary for ...
Undoped Al /SUB 0.5/ In /SUB 0.5/ P-Ga /SUB 0.5/ In /SUB 0.5/ P double heterostructure was grown on (100) GaAs by metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition for the first time. A mirror-like grown surface was obtained. Over ten-times stronger photoluminescence-intensity was gained from the sandwiched Ga /SUB 0.5/ In /SUB 0.5/ P-layer, than that from a single epitaxially-grown Ga /SUB 0.5/ In /SUB 0.5/ P-layer on (100) GaAs, indicating that high-quality Al /SUB 0.5/ In /SUB 0.5/ P-Ga /SUB 0.5/ In /SUB 0.5/ P heterointerfaces are formed in the double heterostructure. A lasing action by optical pumping with an argon ion laser was observed in the double heterostructure at 90 K. The observed stimulated emission wavelength was 6470 A.
Efficient, low-temperature conversion of infrared light into visible light (red, orange, green) is reported at single heterojunctions and undoped quantum wells of GaAs and ordered Al{sub {ital x}}Ga{sub 1{minus}{ital x}}InP{sub 2}; an increase in photon energy of 700 meV is obtained. The signal originates from the high-band-gap layers and disappears only if the excitation energy is tuned below the GaAs band gap. The intensity of the up-converted photoluminescence (PL) is found to decrease significantly slower with increasing temperature than that of the regular PL and it remains observable up to 200 K. Interface-induced cold Auger processes along with the presence of trapped states for both electrons and holes in these ordered alloys account for this nonlinear mechanism. A colinear double-beam experiment confirms this. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Using the ammonia (NH3) plasma generated by a helical antenna surrounded by two magnetic coils, the transition of the discharge mode from low-density plasma to high-density one was observed. At the transition, the emission intensities from the H atoms and NH radicals especially increased in the optical emission spectroscopy, while the intensities of the other emission lines also increased abruptly. The nitridation of gallium arsenide (GaAs) surface was performed using the high-density NH3 plasma, and the properties of the nitrided surface layer were compared with those nitrided by high-density N2 plasma using the same apparatus. From the spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements, the thickness of the nitrided layer was estimated to be 16-18 nm, while that by N2 was 3-4 nm. From the Ga 3d spectra, the contamination with oxygen in the nitridation layer by NH3 plasma was less than that by N2 plasma.
The temperature dependence of the spontaneous magnetization of epitaxial iron films with a thickness ranging from d=20 to 200nm has been measured. The films are grown on GaAs (100) substrates which are covered by a 150nm thick silver (100) buffer layer. For three-dimensional BCC iron it was observed already in 1929 that saturation of the spontaneous magnetization for T->0 is perfectly described by a T{sup 2} power law. On the other hand, for thin two-dimensional (2D) iron films a T{sup 3/2} law has been established in many recent experimental investigations. In our iron films grown on diamagnetic silver, this dimensionality change occurs at a thickness between d=100 and 200nm. Comparison of the here-observed T{sup 3/2} coefficients with those on iron films grown on paramagnetic tungsten (110) shows that the 2D interactions are {approx}20 times larger in the films on tungsten. Recent results on Fe films which are grown directly on GaAs ...
To attain reproducible and stable contacts to compound semiconductor devices, it is necessary to achieve thermodynamically stable phases after the reaction of metals with the compound semiconductor. In this study, the final phases produced by the reactions between GaAs and thin metal films of Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, and Pt have been investigated. They are identified as MGa for M = Co, Rh, Ni, Pd, and Pt, monoarsenides of Co and Ni, diarsenides of Rh, Ir, Pd, and Pt, and Ir/sub 3/Ga/sub 5/. These phases, if deposited directly onto GaAs, will produce thermally stable contacts. In addition to the identification of these stable phases, analyses of the products of thin-film M/GaAs reactions by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry reveal the distribution, grain size, and crystallographic texture of these end phases. Trends in these observations across the six metal/GaAs reactions studied are ...
By the example of CH2Cl2, CF2Cl2, CHF2Cl, C2F6, C2H6, SF6 and C6H12 we have investigated the isobaric thermal conductivity jump at crystal-liquid phase transition. It is shown that the reduction in the thermal conductivity at melting derives from the degree of orientational ordering of the crystals at pre-melting point.
Lead tungstate crystals doped with small fractions of praesodynium or molybdenum have been tested in beams of high-energy electrons. The goal of these tests was to study the effects of such dopants on the capability to separate the signal components deriving from the Cherenkov and scintillation light generated by the beam particles. These studies were carried out in view of the possible application of such crystals in dual-readout calorimeters.
Hydrothermal method for preparing crystal borophosphate with zeolite structure is suggested. To increase absorption capacity and thermal stability of final product, aluminium hydroxide sol, ethylenediamine and ethyl acetate are added to the mixture of crystal boric and concentrated phosphoric acids. Thermal stability of the specimens prepared constitutes 880-950 deg, water absorption capacity is within the limits of 0.30-0.32 cmT/g. 1 table.
Experimental data in the Kondo lattice YbPd_2Si_2 is compared with the results of a hybridization model, based ont he 'large degeneracy expansion' approximation, which takes into account the crystal field level splittings of the Yb ion. We show that satisfactory agreement is obtained with a unique set of crystal field and hybridization parameters. (orig.).
Experimental data in the Kondo lattice YbPd{sub 2}Si{sub 2} is compared with the results of a hybridization model, based ont he 'large degeneracy expansion' approximation, which takes into account the crystal field level splittings of the Yb ion. We show that satisfactory agreement is obtained with a unique set of crystal field and hybridization parameters. (orig.).
A method of patterning n-type GaAs, InP, InGaAs, and InGaAsP by photoelectrochemical (PEC) etching in conjunction with a submicron focused ion beam (FIB) at low dose is described. The ion beam is used to produce damage in a desired pattern in the material. Subsequent PEC etching of the material reveals the ion induced features in relief. The procedure is highly sensitive, requiring a dose of only 5 x 10/sup 9/ ions/cm/sup 2/ for the differential etch to become apparent. The sensitivity allows rapid pattern generation in our FIB system.
The use of workstations, controllers or embedded systems and their applications have become much more relevant than previously. PC-based systems, a cooker programmer, applications of, for example, Prolog machines, Unix and Ada papers, Robotics and Automation are typical examples of this. The three keynote addresses of this symposium have as their subjects the most spectacular microcomputer fields and are presented by leading experts. The papers presented cover most of the traditional interests of Euromicro. Special emphasis is given to contributions on the use of workstations and personal computers, on RISC and GaAs and on transputers.
The growth and development of rice (Oryzae sativa) seedlings was shown to be regulated epigenetically by a fungal endophyte. In contrast to un-inoculated (nonsymbiotic) plants, endophyte...Full Text Available
To express growth-related changes in physiologic or other functions in forms usable for kinetic modeling, we are interested in identifying regular relationships that take the form of simple mathematical...Full Text Available
Insect growth regulators (IGRs) are a class of new chemicals that interfere with maturation and reproduction in insects. Proposed hypotheses on the biochemical mechanism of action are presented herein....Full Text Available
6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP) inhibits the growth of. Escherichia coli B. Growth inhibition is ... reversed by subculture of the cells in 6-mercaptopurine- ...
There is conflicting evidence about the effect of parental consanguinity on fetal growth. Previous studies have not always allowed for other factors that are known to affect birth weight, in particular,...Full Text Available
In an earlier paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 66, 41 (1991)), we calculated both the dielectric constant ({epsilon}{sub {infinity}}) and the nonlinear optical susceptibilities for second-harmonic generation ({chi}{sup (2)}) in the static limit for AlP, AlAs, GaP, and GaAs in the local-density approximation with and without a self-energy correction in the form of a scissors operator,'' including local-field effects. In this paper, we expand our presentation of this calculation. Agreement with experiment to within 15% for the nonlinear susceptibility is demonstrated where experiments are available (GaP and GaAs); the dielectric constants are in no worse than 4% agreement with experiment. The virtual hole'' contributions are reformulated to avoid large numerical cancellations in the case of near degeneracies. The virtual electron'' terms dominate over the virtual hole'' terms ...
Three- and four-junction III-V devices are proposed for ultrahigh-efficiency solar cells using a new 1-eV material lattice-matched to GaAs, namely, GaInNAs. We demonstrate working prototypes of a GaInNAs-based solar cell lattice-matched to GaAs with photoresponse down to 1 eV. Under the AM1.5 direct spectrum with all the light higher in energy than the GaAs band gap filtered out, the prototypes grown with base doping of about 10{sup 17}&hthinsp;cm{sup {minus}3} have open-circuit voltages ranging from 0.35 to 0.44 V, short-circuit current densities of 1.8 mA/cm{sup 2}, and fill factors from 61{percent} to 66{percent}. To improve on the current record-efficiency tandem GaInP/GaAs solar cell by adding a GaInNAs junction, the short-circuit current density of this 1-eV cell must be significantly increased. Because these low short-circuit current densities are due to short diffusion lengths, we have demonstrated a ...
This thesis details the first direct ultrafast measurements of the dynamic thermal expansion of a surface and the temperature dependent surface thermal diffusivity using a two-color reflection transient grating technique. Studies were performed on p-type, n-type, and undoped GaAs(100) samples over a wide range of temperatures. By utilizing a 90 fs ultraviolet probe with visible excitation beams, the effects of interband saturation and carrier dynamics become negligible; thus lattice expansion due to heating and subsequent contraction caused by cooling provided the dominant influence on the probe. At room temperature a rise due to thermal expansion was observed, corresponding to a maximum net displacement of {approximately} 1 {Angstrom} at 32 ps. The diffracted signal was composed of two components, thermal expansion of the surface and heat flow away from the surface, thus allowing a determination of the rate of expansion as well as the surface thermal diffusivity, ...
The evolution of metallic substance atomic structure is studied on temperature variation including crystal heating up to melting points, a crystal- liquid phase transition and initiation of a high-density liquid specific structure. It is marked that heat induced changes of simple metal structure can be described as changes around a natural elementary cell which is common for both a crystal and a liquid and consists of a central atom and Z_1 atoms of the first coordination sphere. On this basis the vacancy model of melting is verified. Concentrations of melting vacancies are determined by coordination numbers in the form of Z_1/(1+Z_1)"2 which are the same for both a crystal and a natural elementary cell. The size of natural elementary cells is in an agreement with that of the coordination sphere featured in the liquid and phase transition statistical theory. Calculated data are given for a number of ...
The optical spectroscopy measurements of gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) crystals doped with Yb show evidence of the presence of non-equivalent optical centers with very similar radiative decay rates. The energy level schemes of those centers have been determined on the basis of optical absorption, luminescence and Raman experiments. Crystal field fitting resulted in two sets of slightly different crystal field parameters for two non-equivalent Yb centers. Both sets of parameters describe perfectly the experimentally detected Y b3+ energy levels. Correlation between systematic trends in the experimental energy level schemes and crystal field parameters is discussed.
The absorption and magnetic circular dichroism spectra of [N(n-Bu)_4]"+[(MeCp)_3PrCl]"- dissolved in 2-MeTHF were measured at room and at low temperatures. On the basis of these spectra the crystal field splitting pattern could be derived. The parameters of an empirical Hamiltonian were fitted to the energies of 42 levels to give an r.m.s. deviation of 23 cm"-"1. From the crystal field parameters obtained the crystal field strength of the ligand collective was estimated. Compared with neutral Cp_3Pr circle B complexes the crystal field strength of the anionic [(MeCp)_3PrCl]"- moiety is unusually low. (orig.)
Performance of SRF cavities are limited by non-linear localized effects. The variation of local material characters between "hot" and "cold" spots is thus of intense interest. Such locations were identified in a BCP-etched large-grain single-cell cavity and removed for examination by high resolution electron microscopy (SEM), electron-back scattering diffraction microscopy (EBSD), optical microscopy, and 3D profilometry. Pits with clearly discernable crystal facets were observed in both "hotspot" and "coldspot" specimens. The pits were found in-grain, at bi-crystal boundaries, and on tri-crystal junctions. They are interpreted as etch pits induced by surface crystal defects (e.g. dislocations). All "coldspots" examined had qualitatively low density of etching pits or very shallow tri-crystal boundary junction. EBSD revealed the crystal structure surrounding the ...
Strain-induced crystallization of crosslinked natural rubber (NR) and its synthetic analogue, cis-1,4-polyisoprene (IR), both mixed with various amounts of stearic acid (SA), were investigated by time-resolved X-ray diffraction using a powerful synchrotron radiation source and simultaneous mechanical (tensile) measurement. No acceleration or retardation was observed on NR in spite of the increase of SA amount. Even the SA-free IR crystallized upon stretching, and the overall crystallization behavior of IR shifted to the larger strain ratio with increasing SA content. No difference due to the SA was detected in the deformation of crystal lattice by stress for both NR and IR. These results suggested that the extended network chains are effective for the initiation of crystallization upon stretching, while the role of SA is trivial. These behaviors are much different from their ...
The exchange charge model of crystal field theory has been used to analyze systematically the ground state absorption spectra of octahedrally coordinated Ni{sup 2+} ion in isostructural nickel halide crystals NiCl{sub 2}, NiBr{sub 2}, and NiI{sub 2}. The parameters of the crystal field acting on the Ni{sup 2+} ion are calculated from the available crystal structure data. The obtained energy level schemes are compared with experimental absorption spectra; a good agreement with experimental data is demonstrated. Dependencies of the crystal field invariants and covalence effects on the type of ligands are considered. It is shown numerically that the overlap effects between Ni{sup 2+} ion and ligands increase with an increase of the ligands' atomic number resulting in the following order of the degree of covalence: NiI{sub 2}>NiBr{sub 2}>NiCl{sub 2}.
The exchange charge model of crystal field theory has been used to analyze systematically the ground state absorption spectra of octahedrally coordinated Ni"2"+ ion in isostructural nickel halide crystals NiCl_2, NiBr_2, and NiI_2. The parameters of the crystal field acting on the Ni"2"+ ion are calculated from the available crystal structure data. The obtained energy level schemes are compared with experimental absorption spectra; a good agreement with experimental data is demonstrated. Dependencies of the crystal field invariants and covalence effects on the type of ligands are considered. It is shown numerically that the overlap effects between Ni"2"+ ion and ligands increase with an increase of the ligands' atomic number resulting in the following order of the degree of covalence: NiI_2>NiBr_2>NiCl_2.
Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta isoforms (TGF-beta 1, -beta 2, and -beta 3) regulate cell growth and differentiation and have critical regulatory roles in the process of tissue repair and remodeling....Full Text Available
When a plasma becomes contaminated by foreign particles, generically referred to as dust, the result is called a dusty plasma. At the present time there is a great deal of interest in dusty plasmas because of their roles in terrestrial and extra-terrestrial processes - semiconductor processing, high temperature fusion experiments, stellar formation and the rings of Saturn. This thesis is concerned with the role of dust in processing type plasmas. In the following experiments, artificial dust is introduced into a parallel electrode plasma chamber. Ions and electrons in the plasma charge the dust particles and they become suspended in the plasma due to the balancing of electric and gravitational forces. By illuminating the suspended dust with laser light and using an extremely high speed camera fitted with a macro lens to look at the scattered light, the dust particles are observed directly. Specially written computer software is then able to track and analyse the particles' ...
The structural change of the (100-x)(0.6Li{sub 2}S{center_dot}0.4SiS{sub 2})centre dotxLi{sub 3}PO{sub 4} oxysulfide glassesduring crystallization was analyzed by means of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The unique tetrahedral units of SiO{sub n}S{sub 4-n} (n=1,2,3) and PO{sub n}S{sub 4-n} (n=1,2,3) present in the glass samples vanished and the SiS{sub 4}, PS{sub 4}, SiO{sub 4} units increased with proceeding of the crystallization process. Nonbridging sulfur and oxygen atoms decreased while bridging oxygens and S{sup 2-} increased with proceeding of the crystallization process. Large structural difference between the glass and the corresponding crystallized sample explained the high stability against crystallization found in the oxysulfide glass with the composition of X=5. (author)
The structural change of the (100-x)(0.6Li[sub 2]S[center dot]0.4SiS[sub 2])centre dotxLi[sub 3]PO[sub 4] oxysulfide glassesduring crystallization was analyzed by means of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The unique tetrahedral units of SiO[sub n]S[sub 4-n] (n=1,2,3) and PO[sub n]S[sub 4-n] (n=1,2,3) present in the glass samples vanished and the SiS[sub 4], PS[sub 4], SiO[sub 4] units increased with proceeding of the crystallization process. Nonbridging sulfur and oxygen atoms decreased while bridging oxygens and S[sup 2-] increased with proceeding of the crystallization process. Large structural difference between the glass and the corresponding crystallized sample explained the high stability against crystallization found in the oxysulfide glass with the composition of X=5. (author)
The spectral dependences of absorption photoinduced in a pure bismuth titanium oxide crystal by 532-nm laser pulses are studied. It is shown that optical absorption in the crystal in the range from 492 to 840 nm increases with increasing exposure. The photoinduced absorption relaxes in the dark for more than 60 hours. A model of photoinduced absorption is proposed which assumes the population of two trap centres with the normal energy distribution law for the concentrations of electrons photoexcited from donors to the conduction band. This model well describes the spectral dependences of photoinduced absorption by using the average ionisation energies of the traps E{sub 1} = 1.60 eV and E{sub 2} = 2.57 eV. The model is used to estimate the increase in the photorefractive sensitivity of a bismuth titanium oxide crystal in the near IR region, which was earlier observed after exposing the crystal to ...
In culture migrating and interacting amoeboid cells can form nematic liquid crystal phases. A polar nematic liquid crystal is formed if the interaction has a polar symmetry. One type of white blood cells (granulocytes) form clusters where the cells are oriented towards the center. The core of such an orientational defect (disclination) is either a granulocyte forced to be in an isotropic state or another cell type like a monocyte. An apolar nematic liquid crystal is formed if the interaction has an apolar symmetry. Different cell types like human melanocytes (=pigment cells of the skin), human fibroblasts (=connective tissue cells), human osteoblasts (=bone cells), human adipocytes (= fat cells) etc., form an apolar nematic liquid crystal. The orientational elastic energy is derived and the orientational defects (disclination) of nematic liquid crystals are investigated. The ...
The absorption, emission and magnetic circular dichroism spectra of the anionic complex (Cp_3Pr. NCS)"- were measured at room and low temperatures. On the basis of these spectra the electronic structure in the f-f range could be derived. The parameters of an empirical Hamiltonian were fitted to the experimentally determined crystal field splitting pattern. Compared with the previously examined neutral Cp_3 Pr.X complexes the quadratic crystal field parameter B_0"2 is considerably reduced.
Spontaneous emission in photonic crystals with anisotropic three-dimensional dispersion relation is studied. If the upper level is below a characteristic frequency omega(1), or above omega(2), or between omega(1) and omega(2), the radiation is a localized field with a frequency in the band gap, or a propagating field with a frquency in the band, or a diffusion field, respectively. An analytical expression for the Lamb shift is obtained. The Lamb shift for the current case is small compared to that in an ordinary vacuum or in one- or two-dimensional photonic crystals due to lower density of states. PMID:11017227
The color centers, which are generated in yttrium-aluminium perovskite (YAP):Nd(1 at.%) and YAP:Er(50 at.%) crystals under the influence of ultraviolet and #gamma#-irradiation, have been studied by absorption spectroscopy. The generated color centers are both stable and transient at room temperature. It is shown that the transient color centers are mainly responsible for the decrease of laser generation efficiency of Nd:YAP and YAP:Er irradiated crystals, although physical mechanisms leading to efficiency decrease are different in these materials. (orig.)
The luminescence spectra of trivalent europium ion embedded in various rare earth chromates were analysed. The spectroscopic data in most of chromates are in agreement with the structural determination but for some others the discrepancy between two methods is underlined. Energy level schemes were deducted from the experimental emission spectra and the crystal field simulation has been performed. The maximum splitting of the "7F_1 manifold of the Eu"3"+ ion as a function of N_v, the so-called crystal field strength parameter, is given. This allows us to classify the compounds according to their crystal field extent. (author)
Calcium sulfate dihydrate in large crystal form is produced by maintaining the circulation of the lime containing scrubbing solution in the desulfurization scrubbing of flue gases from a power plant boiler so that it has a residence time of 5 to 25 hours, preferably 15 hours. The crystals are moved by passing a portion of the recirculation through a thinner in which a sludge containing crystals with a mean particle size of which 90% is in excess of 100 microns is removed. This product can be dewatered and treated with sulfuric acid and steam to convert it to the alpha semihydrate and is free from sulfite.
In CsCdBr_3, Tm"3"+ substitutes for Cd"2"+. It predominately forms symmetric dimer centers and single-ion centers, both of trigonal symmetry. The energy level schemes of both centers were determined by EPR and site-selective laser spectroscopy. To describe the spectra term dependent crystal-field parameters were deduced on the basis of a microscopic model taking into account the local lattice deformation induced by the impurity centers and the quasi-resonant virtual scattering of intrinsic lattice excitations by the Tm"3"+ ions. (orig.)
We show that in the Landau gauge of the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory the residual global symmetry supports existence of the topological vortices which resemble disclination defects in the nematic liquid crystals and the Alice (half-quantum) vortices in the superfluid heluim 3 in the A-phase. The theory also possesses half-integer and integer charged monopoles which are analogous to the point-like defects in the nematic crystal and in the liquid helium. We argue that the deconfinement phase transition in the Yang-Mills theory in the Landau gauge is associated with the proliferation of these vortices and/or monopoles. The disorder caused by these defects is suggested to be responsible for the confinement of quarks in the low-temperature phase.
In this project we developed photonic crystal modeling capability and fabrication technology that is scaleable to large area. An intelligent optimization code was developed to find the optimal structure for the desired spectral response. In terms of fabrication, an exhaustive survey of fabrication techniques that would meet the large area requirement was reduced to Deep X-ray Lithography (DXRL) and nano-imprint. Using DXRL, we fabricated a gold logpile photonic crystal in the <100> plane. For the nano-imprint technique, we fabricated a cubic array of gold squares. These two examples also represent two classes of metallic photonic crystal topologies, the connected network and cermet arrangement.
The results of studies of the time-resolved luminescence of self-trapped excitons (STE) with different multiplicity as well as the X-ray emission in oriented BeO crystals under excitation in the vicinity of the 1 s Be photoabsorption edge are presented. The branching of the electronic excitations relaxation depends strongly on the crystal orientation after the inner-shell excitation. The common features between the processes of the STE luminescence and resonantly excited X-ray fluorescence have been discussed.
We consider the radiation of particles (electrons and positrons) undergoing planar channeling in a single crystal of small thickness L. We show that for Lapprox...pi..b/theta/sub L/, where b is the lattice constant and theta/sub L/ is the Lindhard angle, in addition to the principal maxima of spontaneous radiation of channeled particles in the spectrum there are additional interference maxima, and the positions of all maxima of the radiation intensity depend on L. We discuss the dependence of the intensity of radiation at various frequencies on the crystal thickness.
White beam Laue micro-diffraction was performed on directionally solidified, single-crystal Mo pillars in the as-grown state, after focused ion beam (FIB) milling and after pre-straining. The Laue diffraction peaks from the as-grown pillars are very sharp and show no broadening, similar to those from single-crystal Si wafers. Significant broadening and streaking of the peaks occurred after FIB milling and pre-straining, indicative of the damage these treatments induce in the nearly perfect crystal structure of the directionally solidified Mo pillars.
Abstract The creation of chirality on Earth and the development of chiral life have been discussed in this highlight. Convincing evidence for the introduction of chirality on Earth is still fragmentary. We believe that by a combination of chiral crystallization and formation of helical polymers with preferred chiral conformational structure is the key to this question. This concept of macromolecular asymmetry has inspired ideas and resulted in possible rules for how chiral life as we know it, could have been introduced. These investigations needed the understanding of the requirements for chiral crystallization, for the stereochemistry of the initial formation of helical polymers, the measurements of optical activity of solids and their coordination with the fundamentals of chirality. Spac...
The crystal and molecular structures of the anti-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome agent 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) have been determined by x-ray diffraction. There are two crystallographically independent AZT molecules in the crystal asymmetric unit; they have similar conformation and differ primarily in the glycosyl torsion angle. Comparisons with a hydrated thymidylate structure indicate that the azido group does not significantly affect the gross conformational preference of the molecule. The comparisons also suggest possible functional roles for the azido group in enzyme binding.
Lead is known to enter substitutionally in divalent state when doped in alkali halides. When irradiated at room temperature these lead centers (Pb"+"+) act as traps for electrons knocked off from the halogen ions and become Pb"+ and Pb"0 (for large doses of irradiation). These changes could be followed in the optical absorption studies. These lead-doped crystals after X-ray irradiation yield a thermoluminescence output smaller than that observed in 'pure' crystals. However, two new glow peaks are observed in additions to those due to F-centers. In KCl : Pb and Kbr : Pb crystals part of the F-center glow preceds the new glow peaks. The new peaks are attributed to the Pb"+ and Pb"0 centers. The glow peak temperatures and trap depths for these peaks an obtained by total-curve fitting method are reported. (author).
The thermoluminescence (TL) and emission of coloured RbCl and RbCl:Sn crystals are studied in the temperature range 300 to 560 K. The glow peaks responsible for F centres and tin centres in different valence states are identified using optical bleaching studies. The glow peaks are analysed using total curve fitting method and the kinetic parameters are determined. In moderately #gamma#-irradiated tin-doped RbCl crystals, the TL emission bands observed at 4.0, 3.6, and 2.2 eV are attributed to Sn"0, Sn"+, and Sn"- centers, respectively. A comprehensive energy level diagram depicting the various TL processes in these undoped and tin-doped RbCl crystals is proposed. (author).
The SCF approximation is used in a statistical theory of melting based on equality of the chemical potentials. The results for the melting points of the inert gases are close to the observed values.
The thermal conductivity of liquid CHCl3, C6H6, and CCl4 is measured by a steady-state method under saturated vapor pressure in the temperature regions corresponding to pre-crystallization temperatures. The experimental results obtained are used to investigate the isobaric thermal conductivity jump ? ?p at the crystal-liquid phase transition in CHCl3, C6H6, and CCl4. The contributions of the phonon-phonon and phonon-rotational interaction to the total thermal resistance in solid and liquid state are specified using a modified method of reduced coordinates. The decrease in the thermal conductivity at the crystal-liquid phase transition, ? ?p, is explained by a combined effect of variations in positional distribution of molecules and in the form of rotational molecular motion.
The thermal conductivity of liquid CHCl3, C6H6, and CCl4 is measured by a steady-state method under saturated vapor pressure in the temperature regions corresponding to pre-crystallization temperatures. The experimental results obtained are used to investigate the isobaric thermal conductivity jump ??p at the crystal-liquid phase transition in CHCl3, C6H6, and CCl4. The contributions of the phonon-phonon and phonon-rotational interaction to the total thermal resistance in solid and liquid state are specified using a modified method of reduced coordinates. The decrease in the thermal conductivity at the crystal-liquid phase transition, ??p, is explained by a combined effect of variations in positional distribution of molecules and in the form of rotational molecular motion.
The new nonlinear optical crystal Rb3V5O14 has been synthesized by solid state reaction and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR and thermogravimetric analysis. The crystal Rb3V5O14 crystallizes in the trigonal system with space P31m (No. 157), a=b=8.7134(12) A, c=5.2807(11) A and ?=90o, ?=90o, ?=120o, Z=1, ?=3.516 g/cm3. It is a layered structure that is very flat and strongly parallel to c. The V5O14 layer structure consists of corner-linked square and triangular pyramids. The layers are separated by Rb+ ions, which fit equally well on the V5O14 layer. The Kurtz powder SHG measurement, using 1064 nm radiation, showed that the second-harmonic generation efficiency of Rb3V5O14 is about two times that of KDP. -- Graphical abstract: The new nonlinear optical crystal Rb3V5O14 has been synthesized by solid state reaction and characterized by ...
Microwave-hydrothermal processing was compared with conventional hydrothermal processing in the crystallization of hematite from 1M ferric nitrate and hydroxyapatite from calcium oxide and phosphoric acid. Microwave-hydrothermal processing led to the crystallization of hematite while convention-hydrothermal process led to the crystallization of a mixture of goethite and hematite under the same temperature conditions. Thus the crystallization of hematite which is the stable iron oxide phase at high temperatures has been catalyzed by microwaves. Microwave-hydrothermal processing also led to highly crystalline hydroxyapatite powders compared to the conventional hydrothermal processing which also points to the catalytic role of microwaves. The microwave induced effects may be attributed to the generation of localized high temperatures at the reaction sites which enhance reaction rates.
Simulations of the x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) oscillator are presented that include transverse effects and realistic Bragg crystal properties with the two-dimensional code GINGER. In the present cases considered the radiation divergence is much narrower than the crystal acceptance, and the numerical algorithm can be simplified by ignoring the finite angular bandwidth of the crystal. In this regime GINGER shows that the saturated x-ray pulses have 109 photons and are nearly Fourier-limited with peak powers in excess of 1 MW. Wealso include preliminary results for a four-mirror cavity that can be tuned in wavelength over a few percent, with future plans to incorporate the full transverse response of the Bragg crystals into GINGER to more accurately model this tunable source.
Intrusive degassing and recycling of degassed and dense magma at depth have been proposed for a long time at Stromboli. The brief explosive event that occurred at the summit craters on 9 January 2005 threw out bombs and lapilli that could be good candidates to illustrate recycling of shallow degassed magma at depth. We present an extensive data set on both the textures and the mineral, bulk rock and glassy matrix chemistry of the ?9 Jan? products. The latter have the common shoshonitic?basaltic bulk composition of lavas and scoriae issued from typical strombolian activity. In contrast they differ by the heterogeneous chemistry of their matrix glasses and their crystal textures that testify to crystal dissolution event(s) just prior magma crystallization upon ascent and eruption. Comparison...
Results of experimental investigation into radiation electromagnetic effect (REM) in samples of germanium crystals under approximately 40 MeV #alpha#-particle irradiation in a cyclotron are presented. A high level of excitation, volumetric character of generation of non-equilibrium carriers and formation of defects as well as the form of their spatial distribution are shown to result in some peculiarities of the EMF of the REM effect on the particle flux, fluence and sample parameters. Agreement of theoretical calculations, conducted with account of specificity of #alpha#-particle interaction with a crystal, and experimental data is obtained. It is revealed that the REM effect can be applied in obtaining data on spatial distribution of non-equilibrium carrier concentrations along the particle trajectory in the crystal.
Oct 30, 2006 ... Pigment Analysis by HPLC at Horn Point Laboratory. Laurie Van Heukelem. Crystal Thomas. Meg Maddox. University of Maryland Center for ...
A method has been developed to optimize the energy resolution of a horizontally focusing monochromator. The method consists of determining the optimum radius of curvature of the cylindrically bent monochromator crystal by minimizing the total diffracted X-ray flux measured through an X-ray absorption foil. When measured at an absorption edge a global minimum can be identified, which corresponds to the minimum energy band accepted along the entire length of the crystal. Experimental verification of this method has been validated by comparing X-ray fluorescent scans taken for a series of crystal curvatures and by directly measuring the X-ray beam profiles at the corresponding points. The actual optical configuration and asymmetric-cut parameter of the focusing monochromator on beamline X4C at the National Synchrotron Light Source are modeled and ray tracing simulations of the optical system are compared with direct beam ...
A localization criterion for the crystal-liquid phase transition (PT) is suggested, according to which the PT starts when the ratio E d/k B T reaches a boundary value E d(s)/k B T m, above which a solid phase, and below which, a liquid phase is located in the phase diagram. Here, E d is the energy of the delocalization of an atom, k B is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, and E d(s) is the energy of delocalization for the solid phase at the melting point T m. It is shown that this criterion extends the Lindemann criterion of melting to the case of crystallization, and the L?ven criterion of crystallization to the case of melting. It is shown that the localization criterion suggested is applicable both for the normally melting substances and for the substances melting with a decr...
A localization criterion is proposed for the crystal-liquid phase transition (PT). According to this criterion, the PT begins when the E d/k b T ratio reaches a boundary value E d(s)/k b T m such that a solid phase is present above it and a liquid phase is present below it in a phase diagram. Here, E d is the energy of atom delocalization, k b is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, and E d(s) is the delocalization energy for a solid phase at melting point T m. This criterion is shown to generalize the Lindemann criterion of melting to the case of crystallization and the L?ven criterion of crystallization to the case of melting. This localization criterion is found to be applicable for both normally melting substances and substances that melt with a decrease in the specific volume...
The KDP crystal was 10 cm long and cut such that the c-axis was 50.3* to the normal of its input face. We selected for study idler and signal beams ...
LaPO4 single crystals lightly doped with Er3+, and codoped with Er3+ and Yb3+ have been grown by spontaneous nucleation in a lead phosphate flux. Absorption and luminescence spectra have been measured in the visible and near-IR regions and the excited state dynamics has been studied upon pulsed laser excitation. The obtained results have allowed the evaluation of the effective emission cross-sections around 1.5 ?m, that have been found to be similar to important oxide laser crystals doped with Er3+. Efficient visible upconversion has been observed upon excitation at 980 nm in the codoped crystals. This behaviour is attributed to Yb3+-Er3+ energy transfer processes.
Approximately 65% of PSI structures report some type of ligand(s) that is bound in the crystal structure. Here, a description is given of how such ligands are handled and analyzed at the JCSG and a...Full Text Available
Consideration is given to the data, demonstrating the effect of ion radiation on strength characteristics of ionic crystals, presented by magnesium oxide. Crystals, prepared in the form of plates, were irradiated by Si"+, Fe"+, C"+ ions by the dose of 10"1"6-10"1"7 ion/cm"2 at room temperature in vacuum. The following characteristics were investigated: dislocation density, microhardness, crack resistance. Investigation of dislocation structure showed, that dislocation density in irradiated sample was 2-3 times higher, as compared to nonirradiated one. Sufficient increase of fracture viscosity of MgO crystals was revealed. It can be conditioned by occurrence of compression stresses in the surface layer, decelerating crack formation and propagation.
Background: Thyroid-stimulating autoantibodies (TSAb) bind to the thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) extracellular domain, or ectodomain (ECD), comprising a leucine-rich repeat domain (LRD) linked by a hinge region to the transmembrane domain (TMD). The LRD (residues 22???260; signal peptide 1???21) contains two disulfide-bonded loops at its N-terminus. In the crystal structure of the isolated LRD complexed with human TSAb monoclonal antibody (mAb) M22, N-terminal disulfide loop 1 (residues 22???30) could not be determined because of crystal disorder. Nevertheless, present crystal structure data are interpreted to exclude a role for the LRD N-terminal disulfide loops in the TSAb epitope(s), contradicting prior functional evidence of a role for these loops in TSAb function. Materials and Methods: ...
Herein, we demonstrate the structure of the PS colloidal crystals which were fabricated on the hydrophilic/hydrophobic Si wafers by a spin-coating technique. Monodisperse PS colloids are spin-coated onto self-assembled monolayers of 3-(aminopropyl)triethoxysilane and propyltrimethoxysilane coated Si wafers. PS spheres organized as ordered close-packed face-centered cubic structure with (111) planes on the hydrophilic surface while they gathered without the crystal structure on the hydrophobic surface. This paper also reports a simple and rapid method to fabricate the close-packed structure of hollow TiO2 spheres. The colloidal crystal of TiO2 hollow spheres was prepared using the PS sphere template on the hydrophobic surface. The mechanism for the growing multilayers of self-assembled PS p...
The electronic structures of the set of molecular clusters of dielectric oxide crystals AWO4 (A = Pb, Cd, Zn), the sizes of which increase sequentially are ab-initio calculated by the Restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) method. The results of calculations of molecular orbitals and energy dependences of partial densities of electronic states of different clusters are compared each to other and to experimental data. It is found that calculated electronic structures of the tungstate groups and cations which are surrounded in cluster by certain number of the nearest neighbor atoms of the crystals quite well represent the experimentally obtained value of the forbidden gap of corresponding AWO4 crystal. (authors)
replacing the KDP crystal, and introducing computer programs for accumulation of an almost unlimited number of frames. The calibration procedure using solar ...
Sep 19, 2005 ... within a sealed tube to control the environment to which a sample mounts are better suited to handling the very small crystal is exposed. ...
Fatigue crack growth tests of three ferrite-pearlite steels with different size and spacing of pearlite particles, which were uniformly distributed in the ferrite matrix, were carried out to investigate the effect of microstructure on fatigue crack growth behavior in the Paris regime. The fatigue crack growth rates for the three materials did not coincide with each other, even when the crack growth curves were arranged by the effective stress intensity factor range. From in situ observations, crack tip stress shielding phenomena, such as interlocking and branching, were found on the crack wake, which enhanced fatigue crack growth resistance. A small size and spacing of pearlite particle seemed to induce small but frequent crack deflections, which resulted in crack closure phenomena. On the...
The theoretical performance of ideal single- and multijunction cells are compared at 100xconcentration under a range of cloudless-sky conditions. The sensitivities of device performance to cell temperature and spectral variations are shown to depend on the number of junctions (one, two or three), the way in which the junctions are connected (series, parallel or independent), and the band gaps of the devices. The average performances of all of the multijunction devices surpass that of a single-junction GaAs device, but the inconsistency in performance of some of the multijunction devices is significant for large variations in cell temperature and incident spectrum. The choice of band gap and connection scheme is more important than the number of junctions in determining the consistency of device performance. (orig.).
We report measurements of the temperature dependence of the threshold current of GaAs, 1.3-..mu..m InGaAsP, and 1.5-..mu..m InGaAsP double heterostructure lasers using short electrical pulses. T/sub 0/approx.200 K is observed for all the lasers. These high T/sub 0/ values show that the carrier density at threshold does not increase rapidly with increasing temperature in any of the lasers studied and thus the observed low cw T/sub 0/ of InGaAsP lasers is primarily due to a decrease of the carrier lifetime at threshold with increasing temperature.
The current status of non-silicon photovoltaic solar cells is discussed including the identification of current technical and economic issues and future research directions for potential high efficiency low cost technologies. This review covers such advanced materials as CdS/Cu/sub 2/S, CdS/CuInSe/sub 2/, and GaAs homojunction and heterojunction devices; such emerging materials as InP, Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ and CdTe; and liquid junction electrochemical photovoltaic cells. An attempt is made to compare the current relative status of these various technologies and to indicate their near term potential where possible. 105 refs.
Efforts concentrated on updating of the Rockwell reference concept, definition of new system options, studies of special emphasis topics, further definition of the transportation system, and further program definition. The Rockwell reference satellite concept has a gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cell array having flat concentrators with an effective concentration ratio of 1.83at end of life. Alternatives to this concept includes solid state power amplifiers or magnetrons for dc/RF conversion and multibandgap solar cells for solar to dc energy conversion. Two solid state concepts were studied. It was determined that the magnetron approach was the lowest mass and cost system.
We provide a brief review of our recent results from optically detected magnetic resonance studies of grown-in non-radiative defects in two most important dilute nitride systems-Ga(In)NAs grown on GaAs substrates and Ga(Al,In)NP grown on Si and GaP substrates. These results have led to the identification of defect complexes in the alloys, involving intrinsic defects such as As_G_a antisites and Ga_i self-interstitials. They have also shed light on formation mechanisms of the defects and on their role in non-radiative carrier recombination that is harmful to the performance of potential optoelectronic and photonic devices based on these dilute nitrides.
Electron-spin polarization in excess of 70% has been observed in photoemission from a 0.1-#mu#m-thick epitaxial layer of In_xGa_1_-_xAs with x#approx#0.13 grown on a GaAs substrate. Under these conditions, the epitaxial layer is expected to be highly strained by the 0.9% lattice mismatch. The electron polarization and the quantum efficiency have been measured as a function of the excitation photon energy from 1.25 to 2.0 eV. A significant enhancement of the electron polarization occurs in the vicinity of 1.33 eV where the expected strain-induced level splitting permits optical excitation of a single-band transition.
This report describes progress during the first year of a three-year project. The objective of the research is to examine new design approaches for achieving very high conversion efficiencies. The program is divided into two areas. The first centers on exploring new thin-film approaches specifically designed for III-V semiconductors. The second area centers on exploring design approaches for achieving high conversion efficiencies without requiring extremely high quality material. Research activities consisted of an experimental study of minority carrier recombination in n-type, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-deposited GaAs, an assessment of the minority carrier lifetimes in n-GaAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and developing a high-efficiency cell fabrication process.
This report describes progress during the first year of a three-year project. The objective of the research is to examine new design approaches for achieving very high conversion efficiencies. The program is divided into two areas. The first centers on exploring new thin-film approaches specifically designed for III-V semiconductors. The second area centers on exploring design approaches for achieving high conversion efficiencies without requiring extremely high quality material. Research activities consisted of an experimental study of minority carrier recombination in n-type, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-deposited GaAs, an assessment of the minority carrier lifetimes in n-GaAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and developing a high-efficiency cell fabrication process.
The highest equilibrium free-carrier doping concentration possible in a given material is limited by the ''pinning energy'' which shows a remarkable universal alignment in each class of semiconductors. Our first-principles total energy calculations reveal that equilibrium n -type doping is ultimately limited by the spontaneous formation of close-shell acceptor defects: the 3- -charged cation vacancy in AlN, GaN, InP, and GaAs and the 1- -charged DX center in AlAs, AlP, and GaP. This explains the alignment of the pinning energies and predicts the maximum equilibrium doping levels in different materials. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society
The intensity of superstructure reflections and associated diffuse scattering from In_0_._5Ga_0_._5P and In_0_._5Al_0_._5P epitaxic layers grown on (001) GaAs substrates was mapped in reciprocal space. The Warren-Cowley short-range-order parameters were obtained through the usual process for evaluating Fourier coefficients. Varying values for the correlation length in different directions indicate how group III atoms stack up in ordered states. The resultant structure with long-range order confirms the hypothesis made on the basis of electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies. (orig.).
Within the framework of the effective-mass approximation, using a variational method, we have calculated the effect of intense laser radiation on the binding energy of the shallow-donor impurities in a Ga1- x In x N y As1- y /GaAs single quantum well for different nitrogen and indium mole concentrations. Our numerical results show that the binding energy strongly depends on the laser intensity and frequency (via the laser dressing parameter) and it also depends on the nitrogen and indium concentrations. Impurity binding energy under intense laser fields can be tuned by changing the nitrogen and indium mole fraction.
A general model for the analysis of metal-semiconductor solar cells is presented. The model takes into account the cell optical properties, carrier recombination effects, semiconductor minority-carrier properties, series resistance, cell thickness, and active surface area. Numerical methods are used to solve the appropriate continuity equations and hence compute the photocurrent density under AMO conditions. The operation of the model is demonstrated using p- and n-type Si and GaAs with Au being taken as the barrier metal. Calculations are presented showing the effect on solar energy conversion efficiency of surface recombination velocity, barrier height, minority-carrier lifetime, barrier metal thickness, collecting grid configuration, and cell thickness. A comparison of practical and computed data for the Au/n-GaAs system yields good agreement. (AIP)
AIM: To investigate the effects of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) on the differentiation of colonic lamina propria fibroblasts (CLPF) into myofibroblasts in vitro.METHODS:...Full Text Available
Background and AimsIn spatially heterogeneous environments, a trade-off between seedling survival and relative growth rate may promote the coexistence of plant species. In temperate...Full Text Available
Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is an adverse pregnancy outcome associated with significant perinatal and paediatric morbidity and mortality, and an increased risk of chronic disease later in adult life....Full Text Available
The growth regulating factor CTGF/CCN-2 is an integral factor in growth and development, connective tissue maintenance, wound repair and cell cycle regulation. It has recently been reported that CTGF/CCN-2...Full Text Available
Norepinephrine stimulates the growth of a range of bacterial species in nutritionally poor SAPI minimal salts medium containing 30% serum. Addition of size-fractionated serum components to SAPI...Full Text Available
Objective. To determine relative influences of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and preterm birth on risks of cardiovascular, renal, or metabolic dysfunction in adolescent...Full Text Available
SummaryThe Hippo tumor-suppressor pathway controls tissue growth in Drosophila and mammals by regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis. The Hippo pathway includes...Full Text Available
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-specific monoclonal antibodies predominantly inhibit colorectal cancer (CRC) growth by interfering with receptor signaling. Recent analyses have shown that patients...Full Text Available
If bone strength was the only requirement of skeleton, it could be achieved with bulk, but bone must also be light. During growth, bone modelling and remodelling optimize strength, by depositing bone...Full Text Available
Staphylococcus aureus preferentially catabolizes glucose, generating pyruvate, which is subsequently oxidized to acetate under aerobic growth conditions. Catabolite repression of the...Full Text Available
During embryonic development, cells are instructed which position to occupy, they interpret these cues as differentiation programmes, and expand these patterns by growth. Sonic hedgehog...Full Text Available
Recent histological studies suggest relatively rapid growth in dinosaurs. However, the timing of reproductive maturity (RM) in dinosaurs is poorly known because unambiguous indicators of RM are rare....Full Text Available
Many growth factors and hormones modulate the reproductive status in mammals. Among these, insulin and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) regulate the development of gonadal tissues. SH2-B has been...Full Text Available
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase domain mutations hyperactivate the kinase and confer kinase addiction of the non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor...Full Text Available
Binding of epidermal growth factor (EGF) to the EGF receptor (EGFR) initiates signal transduction, ultimately leading to altered gene expression. Ligand-activated EGFR is also rapidly internalized...Full Text Available
Minoxidil induces hair growth in male pattern baldness and prolongs the anagen phase. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) has been reported to act synergistically with minoxidil in vivo:...Full Text Available
Rat somatotropin (growth hormone) was labelled biosynthetically by incubating anterior pituitary lobes with radioactive amino acids for 24 h in a simple buffered salts medium containing glucose. The...Full Text Available
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) related therapies – mainly tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as erlotinib and gefitinib, but also monoclonal antibodies targeting EGFR, for example,...Full Text Available
BackgroundAlthough some previous studies have suggested that posttraumatic growth (PTG) is comprised of several factors with different properties, few have examined both the association...Full Text Available
BackgroundPolymorphisms in Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) gene may influence EGFR production and/or activity, thereby modulating susceptibility to lung...Full Text Available
Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is a potent moderator of soft tissue repair through induction of the inflammatory phase of repair and subsequent enhanced collagen deposition. We examined the effect...Full Text Available
Up-flow anaerobic attached-growth bioreactors filled with pre-treated coir fibres ...coir-fibre arranged in bottle-brush configuration bounded by a novel plastic binding technique ...-three anaerobic filter reactors in series -coir fibre as the bacteria growth media a sedimentation
The receptors for IGF-I (IGF-IR) and insulin (IR) have been implicated in physiological cardiac growth, but it is unknown whether IGF-IR or IR signaling are critically required. We generated mice with...Full Text Available
Insect growth regulators (IGRs) of the juvenile hormone type alter physiological processes essential to insect development and appear to act specifically on insects. Three natural juvenile hormones...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVE: We studied 22 dogs to examine the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) alone, in comparison with omental or muscular wrapping on airway healing in a tracheal autotransplantation...Full Text Available
The effect of growth phase on expression of virulence-associated factors was studied by Northern hybridization in an M1T1 clinical isolate of Streptococcus pyogenes. Expression of M...Full Text Available
Bacteria have the ability to adapt to different growth conditions and to survive in various environments. They have also the capacity to enter into dormant states and some bacteria form spores when...Full Text Available
Growth of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis was observed on media with citrate as the only energy source. At pH 5.6, steady state was achieved in...Full Text Available
Various factors affecting the aggregation of Actinomyces naeslundii strain 12104 were studied. When the pH of glucose-supplemented growth medium fell below 5.5, the cells aggregated and formed microbial...Full Text Available
This study explored posttraumatic growth (PTG), positive change resulting from struggling with trauma, among 7- to 10-year-olds impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Analyses focused on child self-system...Full Text Available
In the CNS, there are widespread and diverse interactions between growth factors and estrogen. Here we examine the interactions of estrogen and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), two...Full Text Available
Both deficiency and excess of growth hormone (GH) are associated with increased mortality and morbidity. GH replacement in otherwise healthy subjects leads to complications, whereas individuals with...Full Text Available
The electrical parameters that affect young seedling growth were investigated. Voltages ranging from 5 to 40 volts were applied longitudinally along the mesocotyl region of 4-day old Zea mays...Full Text Available
... Gastrointestinal Tract On the Growth and Development of Hymenolepis DiminutaKerry L. Dwinell, Paul Bass, Gordon L. Telford, ... central (CNS) nervous systems in the development of Hymenolepis diminuta usi...
We studied the dynamics of microbial communities attached to model aggregates (4-mm-diameter agar spheres) and the component processes of colonization, detachment, growth, and grazing mortality. Agar...Full Text Available
To determine the relative importance of different metabolites of vitamin D in bone growth and development, weanling male rat pups suckled by vitamin D-deficient mothers were given either calcitriol...Full Text Available
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a critical role in normal development as well as retinal vasculature disease. During retinal vascularization, VEGF is most strongly expressed by not yet...Full Text Available
The rare earth antimonates RE_3Sb_5O_1_2 constitute an isostructural series, where the rare earth site symmetry is S_4. The spectroscopic properties of pure or doped compounds of this family are studied in order to derive their energy level schemes and to simulate them through the crystal field theory, by using the approximated D_2_d potential. The paramagnetic susceptibilities are calculated with the derived wavefunctions and compared to experiment.
Structural relaxation, crystallization and optimisation processes in soft magnetic amorphous alloys based on iron are examined by applying different experimental techniques: X-ray diffraction analysis, high-resolution electron microscopy, measurements of magnetic and electric properties (permeability, after-effect resistivity). The presented results are discussed in terms of annealing out of microvoids, formation of nanocrystalline phase and changes of effective magnetostriction constant. (author)
Optical absorption measurements show that substitutional H"- ions, that is, protons with two electrons on anion sites, are thermally more stable than anion vacancies when thermochemically reduced CaO crystals are annealed in a reducing atmosphere. The H"- ions are identified by the infrared vibrational modes observed at 880 and 911 cm"-"1.
Four inorganic hydrogen-bonded crystals with second-order nonlinear properties have been discovered: K_4LiH_3(SO_4)_4, Na_2SeO_4#centre dot#H_2SeO_3#centre dot#H_2O, Cs_1_,_5Li_1_,_5H(SO_4)_2 and NH_4HSeO_4. (author)
A general account of the properties, growing technology and annealing of lead-tin-telluride single crystals is given. Photoconductors were made for the 8 to 14 micron. spectral range and responsivity, detectivity and spectral response measurements showed satisfactory results. Improvement in the growing and annealing of the single crystals promise good performance in the near future.
Results of experimental researches of impurity level crystals Fe1-xCoxSi are presented in this article. Magnetic properties in a temperature range up to T {<=} 1000 K are analyzed. It was established that with Co impurities increasing origin of magnetic ordering exists at low temperatures. At high temperatures a high temperature maximum of susceptibility of nominally pure iron monosilicide crystal is observed.
The nuclear interaction probability of light charged particles in BaF[sub 2] crystals has been studied as a function of the incident particle energy. Light charged particles were identified in charge and mass by measuring their magnetic rigidity and their time-of-flight. The percentage of particles undergoing nuclear interactions has been measured for particles of charge from Z=1 to Z=6 and the experimental data are compared with the results of a model calculation. (orig.)
Radionuclide (R) sorption from a solution (vapor) by freshly formed crystals with production of substitution solid solutions under different types of self-disordering is studied. Changes of self-defectiveness and macrodefectiveness with time and effect of radiation defects in the presence of P macroquantities are taken into account. An analysis for monodispersed sorbents is performed. It is shown that the achievement of equilibrium within a reasonable time in impurity-solid phase system depends on defectiveness which ensures a required level of the coefficient of impurity diffusion in sorbent crystals.
The results of experimental researches of photoluminescence and X-ray luminescence in crystal ZnSe are presented at the different values of tension of electric-field to samples. Observed, that the electric field changes both intensity of stationary luminescence and form of bars in the spectrums of luminescence. At the saliatory change of difference of potentials on the electrodes of crystal in luminescence there are of long duration relaxation processes character of which substantially depends on the type of excitation of standard.
The theoretical treatment of the relation between the critical angle of planar channeling and the characteristics of crystal lattice defects is carried out. The predictions are made about some typical forms of the critical angle dependence on the mean-square static displacement produced by defects, and then these predictions are detailed for the cases of homogeneous disordering, spherical clusters of point defects and dislocation loops. Analytical results are supported by the exact computer calculations for the defects in the intermetallic A-15 compounds.
In scattering of channeled particles by point defects and in emission of gamma rays in the spontaneous-radiation spectral region conditions are attained where the momentum transferred to the defect is taken up by the crystal as a whole. This leads to coherent and interference effects in the radiation from the crystal defects. When the longitudinal momentum transferred is zero, an induced radiation effect appears in the transitions between the states of transverse motion.
We derive the expression for spontaneous emission rate in finite one-dimensional photonic crystal with arbitrary defects using the effective resonator model to describe electromagnetic field distributions in the structure. We obtain explicit formulas for contributions of different types of modes, i.e. radiation, substrate and guided modes. Formal calculations are illustrated with a few numerical examples, which demonstrate that the application of effective resonator model simplifies interpretation of results.
We present a comparative study on the acoustic tunneling through artificial periodical composites, from phononic crystals to acoustic metamaterials. We find that the features of the acoustic tunneling are closely related with the origins of band gaps. In particular, the band gap associated with the negative effective material parameter in the metamaterial results in a better analog of the tunneling effect to the quantum system.
TlGaSe_2 compound belongs to group of layered semiconductors of A"3B"3C_2"6-type. Photoelectric and optical properties of TlGaSe_2 single crystals were investigated in detail. Influence of gamma-, electron and neutron radiation on photoelectric properties of TlGaSe_2 single crystals is investigated too. The present work deals with experimental results relative to X-ray dosimetric characteristics of TlGaSe_2 crystals at 300 K. X-ray conductivity and X-ray dosimetric characteristic measurements are carried out in low load resistance regime. The source of X-ray radiation is the installation of X-ray diffraction analysis (URS-55a) with the BCV-2(Cu). Intensity of X-ray radiation (E) is regulated by measurement with current variation in tube at each given value of X-ray radiation dose E (R/min) are measured by crystal dosimeter DRGZ-02. X-ray conductivity coefficients K_#sigma# characterising X-ray ...
When a highly collimated beam of particles is aimed along the atomic rows of an aligned single crystal, the averaging effect of high speed motion results, to the lowest order of approximation, in crystal electric fields which are transverse to the atomic rows. The enormous magnitude of the crystal transverse electric fields is unsurpassed by any other known earth-bound macroscopic sources. For example, the field strengths along the <100> axis of tungsten at 77 K approach 9{center dot}10{sup 13}V/m. Thus quantum electrodynamic (QED) processes in strong fields which are thought to occur only in the extra-terrestrial environment can now be investigated in the laboratory. Here we review the results of measurements performed at the SPS facility in CERN using highly collimated beams of electrons, positrons and photons in the 20-200 GeV range, and germanium crystals cooled to 77 K with thicknesses ...
We point out that electromagnetic one-way edge modes analogous to quantum Hall edge states, originally predicted by Raghu and Haldane in 2D gyroelectric photonic crystals possessing Dirac point-derived bandgaps, can appear in more general settings. In particular, we show that the TM modes in a gyromagnetic photonic crystal can be formally mapped to electronic wavefunctions in a periodic electromagnetic field, so that the only requirement for the existence of one-way edge modes is that the Chern number for all bands below a gap is non-zero. In a square-lattice gyromagnetic Yttrium-Iron-Garnet photonic crystal operating at microwave frequencies, which lacks Dirac points, time-reversal breaking is strong enough that the effect should be easily observable. For realistic material parameters, the edge modes occupy a 10% band gap. Numerical simulations of a one-way waveguide incorporating this crystal show ...
New alloys of Cu.sub.x Ag.sub.(1-x) InSe.sub.2 (where x ranges between 0 and 1 and preferably has a value of about 0.75) and CuIn.sub.y Ga.sub.(1-y) Se.sub.2 (where y ranges between 0 and 1 and preferably has a value of about 0.90) in the form of single crystals with enhanced structure perfection, which crystals are substantially free of fissures are disclosed. Processes are disclosed for preparing the new alloys of Cu.sub.x Ag.sub.(1-x) InSe.sub.2. The process includes placing stoichiometric quantities of a Cu, Ag, In, and Se reaction mixture or stoichiometric quantities of a Cu, In, Ga, and Se reaction mixture in a refractory crucible in such a manner that the reaction mixture is surrounded by B.sub.2 O.sub.3, placing the thus loaded crucible in a chamber under a high pressure atmosphere of inert gas to confine the volatile Se to the crucible, and heating the reaction mixture to its melting point. The melt can then be cooled slowly to form, ...
In this paper, we present the results of Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition gate-oxide (SiO_2) integrity on ELC (excimer-laser-crystallized), MILC (metal-induced lateral-crystallized) and SPC (solid-phase-crystallized) polysilicon films. We observed that gate oxide strength of poly-Si TFT strongly depends on the crystallization method for the active silicon layer. In the case of ELC films, asperities on the silicon surface reduce the SiO_2 breakdown field significantly. The metallic contaminants in MILC films are responsible for a deleterious impact on gate oxide integrity. Among the three cases, the SiO_2 breakdown field was the highest for the SPC silicon films. The breakdown fields at the 50 % failure points in Weibull plots for the ELC, MILC and SPC cases were 5.1 MV/cm, 6.2 MV/cm, and 8.1 MV/cm, respectively. We conclude that the roughness and metallic contamination of the poly-Si films are ...
An energy analyzer has been constructed and operated in UHV for the purpose of analyzing the energy of neutral atoms scattered from solid surfaces. The analyzer consists of a LiF single crystal located at an angle close to the normal to the sample crystal so that the diffraction pattern obtained by scanning the LiF crystal yields the energy of the scattered atoms. Two designs which have been used are described. The temperature of both sample and analyzer crystal is near 20 K and once cleaned they can be maintained in the state of initial preparation for many weeks. The sample was a (001) Cu surface in this case. Such an energy analyzer can only be used, in most cases, for He atom scattering although Ne atoms could be used if the scattered intensities were adequate. The detector developed in this study is able to detect about 2 x 10"5 atoms/s. The resolution of the spectrometer depends on the incident ...
DescriptionAbstract of Research Proposal The root environment has a major effect on crop growth, both directly through the supply of water and nutrients to the shoot, and indirectly through root to shoot signalling. Better management of crop root systems through agronomic and genetic means has the potential to improve the efficiency of water and nutrient uptake, and limit root restrictions to crop growth. However, progress in this area is currently limited by the lack of sensors for in situ estimates of [continued...
We study the growth of colonies of the yeast Pichia membranaefaciens on agarose film. The growth conditions are controlled in a setup where nutrients are supplied through an agarose film suspended over a solution of nutrients. As the thickness of the agarose film is varied, the morphology of the front of the colony changes. The growth of the front is modeled by coupling it to a diffusive field of inhibitory metabolites. Qualitative agreement with experiments suggests that such a coupling is responsible for the observed instability of the front.
Roots of maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings continue to grow at low water potentials that cause complete inhibition of shoot growth. In this study, we have investigated the role of abscisic...Full Text Available
In order to better understand the molecular mechanisms of human hair growth control and to test hair growth-modulatory drugs, appropriate in vitro models are required. Here, we report the long-term...Full Text Available
Growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF-9), an oocyte-secreted member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily, progesterone receptor, cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox2; Ptgs2), and the EP2 prostaglandin...Full Text Available
Whether the lusitropic potential of short-term exercise in aged rats is linked to an augmentation in the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH/IGF-1) axis and an alteration in the...Full Text Available
The effect of WC particle size with the addition of VC as a grain growth inhibitor was investigated during the liquid phase sintering of WC-Co system. With increasing WC particle size at the same VC content, the effect of grain growth inhibition was increased. Also, with increasing the VC content, the grain shape of WC was changed from the faceted shape to the distorted shape, and the step density of the WC grain was increased. (orig.)
An interface-marker technique has been used to investigate the relative rates of diffusion of Si and of metal atoms during the growth of metal silicide films. The technique enables recognition of a reference plane in thin film diffusion using Rutherford backscattering, while minimizing any perturbation of the diffusion process. Examples are drawn from studies of the growth of silicides of W, Mo, Ta, Nb, Pd and Pt. (orig.).
Heterostructures based on AlGaInP alloy compounds are very attractive for visible semiconductor lasers, heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), and high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) lattice matched to GaAs substrates. Several wet etching solutions for AlGaP of different compositions have been studied. Al{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 0.5}P is found to etch in HF, H{sub 3}PO{sub 4}, hyphosphorous acid (HOPH{sub 2}:O), HCl, KOH, and 1% Br{sub 2}-methanol (MeOH). Etching of Al{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 0.5}P in HCl is reaction limited with an activation energy of {approximately}54.4 kJ/mol. At fixed conditions, the etch rates of Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1{minus}x}P vary exponentially with x in HF and HCl, while in 1% Br{sub 2}-MeOH and mixtures of HCl and HNO{sub 3} the etch rates follow a linear dependence on AlP mole fraction. HF has been found to be a good etchant for AlGaP over InGaP or AlInP with high selectivity, while HCl is useful for the reverse case. The use of 1% Br{sub 2}-MeOH ...
An interest in electronic materials has led me to investigate new synthetic approaches to III-V' type semiconducting (13-15, current IUPAC designation for B and N groups in the Periodic Table) and magnetic (3-15) compounds. It is now possible to prepare binary (GaAs and GdP) and ternary mixed-metal (Al[sub x]Ga[sub 1-x]As) and mixed-pnictide (GaP[sub x]As[sub 1-x]) compounds in seconds from rapid, low-temperature-initiated metathesis reactions between a metal (III) trihalide and a trisodium pnictide, exemplified by MX[sub 3] + Na[sub 3]Pn [yields] MPn + 3 NaX, where M is Al, Ga, In, (Al,Ga), or a lanthanide; X is F, Cl, or I; and Pn is P, As, Sb, or (P,As). The precursors are mixed together in a dry box and ignited by light grinding with a mortar and pestle, or by brief, local heating from a hot filament. These reactions are very exothermic (calculated [Delta]H[sub rxn] (GaAs) = 138 kcal/mol) and typically reach temperatures in excess ...
We report on the transport properties of a high mobility two-dimensional hole system (2DHS) confined in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on the (100) surface of GaAs. The quantum wells are modulation doped with carbon utilizing a resistive filament source. At T=0.3 K and carrier density p=1x10"1"1 cm"-"2, a mobility of 10"6 cm"2/Vs is achieved. At fixed carrier density p=10"1"1 cm"-"2, the mobility is found to be a nonmonotonic function of the quantum well width. The mobility peaks at 10"6 cm"2/Vs for a 15-nm well and is reduced for both smaller and larger well widths for these (100) samples. The mobility anisotropy is found to be small. Mobility along [011] is approximately 20% higher than along the [011] direction. In addition, the low-temperature carrier density is found to have low sensitivity to light. The hole density increases by only #approx#10% after exposure to red light at T=4.2 K. In structures designed for a lower carrier ...
GaAs-based dc high voltage photoguns used at accelerators with extensive user programs must exhibit long photocathode operating lifetime. Achieving this goal represents a significant challenge for proposed high average current facilities that must operate at tens of milliamperes or more. This paper describes techniques to maintain good vacuum while delivering beam, and techniques that minimize the ill effects of ion bombardment, the dominant mechanism that reduces photocathode yield of a GaAs-based dc high voltage photogun. Experimental results presented here demonstrate enhanced lifetime at high beam currents by: (a) operating with the drive laser beam positioned away from the electrostatic center of the photocathode, (b) limiting the photocathode active area to eliminate photoemission from regions of the photocathode that do not support efficient beam delivery, (c) using a large drive laser beam to distribute ion damage over a larger area, and (d) by applying a relatively low bias ...
This thesis deals with the evaluation of Solar Grade Silicon (SoG-Si) purified by different techniques, and also the fabrication and characterization of high efficiency and advanced bifacial solar cells. In the beginning of Chapter 1, various SoG-Si production methods relevant for this work are qualitatively described. The three feedstock materials used in this work are from the Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) process, metallurgical feedstock-I and feedstock-II process. In metallurgical feedstock-I, the lifetime of the minority charge carriers in multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) samples at the grain boundaries are found to be higher than the grains themselves possibly due to lower resistivities in the grain boundaries. The efficiency of the best solar cell obtained using the mc-Si metallurgical feedstock-I is 16.1%. It has been identified that the fast light induced degradation, whose magnitude is lower than that of a reference cell suggests the formation of a B-metal complex in the SoG-Si ...
Vermicompost preparations are increasingly used in agricultural practice. There is a possibility, that crop plants are sensitive to negative effect of vermicompost at early stages of development. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of vermicompost on seed germination and seedling growth of different vegetable crop species. Vermicompost substitution inhibited seed germination and seedling growth with almost linear decrease of growth with increasing concentration of vermicopost in the substrate. However, both leaf chlorophyll content and photochemical activity of photosynthesis increased in all crop species with the exception of pea seedlings. Vermicompost extract as a watering solution showed positive effect on growth of bean and pea seedlings. Germination response of vermi...
Serum growth hormone (GH) was suppressed in female rats bearing mammary tumors induced by 7, 12, dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) or N-nitrosomethylurea(NMU). Serum GH was suppressed due to treatment with a human GH analog produced by the plerocercoid stage of the tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides. Rats treated with plerocercoid growth factor (PGF) via plerocercoid infection had accelerated growth rates despite marked reductions in GH levels. Approximately two-thirds of the mammary tumors induced by either DMBA or NMU regressed during three weeks of exposure to PGF while most of the control tumors continued to grow. The data support an important regulatory role for GH in growth of mammary tumors in rats. PMID:3019224
Young rats were given a single irradiation dose (0.5, 2, 5 or 8 Gy) to the left knee-joint. The right unexposed knee-joint served as control. The animals were decapitated 1.5, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days after the irradiation. Longitudinal bone growth in the tibial epiphysis was established using tetracycline as an intravital marker. During the first 1.5 days after irradiation with 5 and 8 Gy, the growth was slightly inhibited (6-7%). Maximum growth retardation (20%) was found 7 to 14 days after irradiation with 5 and 8 Gy. No consistent effect occurred after 0.5 and 2 Gy. Between 14 to 30 days following irradiation growth was normalized.
The power?time curves of mice splenic lymphocytes growth at 37??C affected by ginsenoside Rh2 were determined by microcalorimetry using a 3114/3236 TAM air bioactivity monitor with ampoule mode. Then, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Rh2 on splenic lymphocytes growth was determined by serial dilution method. From factor analysis (FA) on six quantitative thermokinetic parameters from the power?time curves, the activity of Rh2 on splenic lymphocytes could be quickly evaluated by analyzing the changes in the two main parameters: growth rate constant k, and maximum heat-output power, P m. The results showed that Rh2 had strong inhibitory activity on splenic lymphocytes growth, and this inhibitory activity was strengthened with increasing concentration of Rh2 in the concentration r...
A novel technique is proposed for the growth of an InN film on a GaN/Al2O3(0001) template by radio-frequency plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MBE). The method involves 1) InN growth under an In-rich condition and 2) additional nitrogen radical irradiation after the InN growth under an In-rich condition. Excess In that appeared on the InN surface in the InN growth under an In-rich condition is transformed to InN by the additional nitrogen radical irradiation. The effective V/III ratio is easily controlled by monitoring the intensity in a reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) pattern. The growth of the InN film by repeating the InN growth under an In-rich condition and the additional nitrogen radical irradiation is also demonstrated. (copyright 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)
The thiazolidinedione (TZD) or glitazone class of peroxisome proliferator-activated-#gamma# (PPAR-#gamma#) ligands not only induce adipocyte differentiation and increase insulin sensitivity, but also exert growth inhibitory effects on several carcinoma cell lines in vitro as well as in vivo. In the current study the in vitro effect of four PPAR-#gamma# agonists (ciglitazone, pioglitazone, troglitazone, rosiglitazone) on the cell growth of seven human neuroblastoma cell lines (Kelly, LAN-1, LAN-5, LS, IMR-32, SK-N-SH, SH-SY5Y) was investigated. Growth rates were assessed by a colorimetric XTT-based assay kit. Expression of PPAR-#gamma# protein was examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. All glitazones inhibited in vitro growth and viability of the human neuroblastoma cell lines in a dose-dependent manner showing considerable effects only at high concentrations (10 #mu#M and 100 ...
Postresection villus hyperplasia is a major compensatory mechanism in the short-bowel patient. Substances capable of augmenting postresection mucosal hyperplasia could have therapeutic implications. Human growth hormone (hGH) and human growth hormone releasing factor (hGHRF) stimulate growth of the gastrointestinal tract; however, the diabetogenic actions of growth hormone limit its usefulness in clinical practice. Plerocercoid larvae of the tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides produce an analog of hGH void of diabetogenic side effects. We assessed effects of plerocercoid growth factor (PGF) on mucosal adaptation following 70% proximal jejunoileal resection in young rats. Mucosal weight, DNA, protein, and total sucrase activity per centimeter of bowel were increased in resected PGF-treated animals compared to resected controls. We conclude PGF augments intrinsic postresection mucosal ...
Tl(InS_2)_1_-_x(FeSe_2)_x single crystals (where x=0; 0.001; 0.005; 0.01 and 0.015) were grown by the Bridgman-Stockbarger method. Obtained single crystals were crystallized in monoclinic structure. The present paper deals with experimental results relative to X-ray dosimetric characteristics of the Tl(InS_2)_1_-_x(FeSe_2)_x solid solutions at 300 K. Installation URS-55a was the source of radiation. X-ray radiation dose (E) falling on the crystals is measured by the crystalline X-ray dosimeter DRGZ-02. The value of X-ray conductivity coefficient K_#sigma# characterising X-ray sensitivity is defined as K_#sigma#= (#sigma#_E-#sigma#_0)/E#sigma#_0. where #sigma#_E is conductivity under the effect of X-ray radiation by intensity E, #sigma#_0 is conductivity in the lack of radiation. Comparing X-ray dosimetric characteristics of TlInS_2 and Tl(InS_2)_1_-_x(FeSe_2)_x crystals notes that ...
Cadmium telluride single crystals were grown heavily doped with chloride by the THM method. The resulting crystals were n-type with free carrier concentrations of the order of 10('12)/cm at room temperature. Hall effect studies revealed room temperature mobilities between 30 and 350 cm('2)/v-sec and resistivites between 2 x 10('3) and 10('4) ohm-cm. Studies were made of the gamma and alpha counting characteristics of these crystals with metal, metal-semiconductor, and metal-insulator electrodes. It was found that the MIS and MSS structures resulted in significant improvement over the MS structures in counting, signal-to-noise and energy resolution.
A pin hole camera assembly for use in viewing an object having a relatively large light intensity range, for example a crucible containing molten metal in an atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS) system is disclosed herein. The assembly includes means for optically compressing the light intensity range appearing at its input sufficient to make it receivable and decipherable by a standard video camera. To accomplish this, the assembly utilizes the combination of interference filter and a liquid crystal notch filter. The latter which preferably includes a cholesteric liquid crystal arrangement is configured to pass light at all wavelengths, except a relatively narrow wavelength band which defines the filter's notch, and includes means for causing the notch to vary to at least a limited extent with the intensity of light at its light incidence surface.
The preparation, crystal structure, and the electrical properties of the compound (ET)/sub 3/Ag/sub x/I/sub 8/ where x = approx. 6.4 and ET is bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene, C/sub 10/S/sub 8/H/sub 8/, are described. The compound possesses a truly two-dimensional polymeric anion, one which combines the structural features of both an organic electronic conductor and an inorganic solid electrolyte. The crystal structure consists of alternating anion and cation donor layers. The compound exhibits high electronic conductivity dominated by the electronic contribution, at least near room temperature.
The luminescence spectra of trivalent europium ion embedded in various rare earth chromates were analysed. The spectroscopic data in most of chromates are in agreement with the structural determination but for some others the discrepancy between two methods is underlined. Energy level schemes were deducted from the experimental emission spectra and the crystal field simulation has been performed. The maximum splitting of the {sup 7}F{sub 1} manifold of the Eu{sup 3+} ion as a function of N{sub v}, the so-called crystal field strength parameter, is given. This allows us to classify the compounds according to their crystal field extent. (author) 11 refs, 8 figs, 2 tabs
This paper attempts to explain the peculiarities of the radial-distribution function of metal glasses without involving ideas of the amorphous structure. On a computer, the radial atomic density for a spherical eutectic single crystal of the composition Fe/sub 84/C/sub 16/ of radius 15 A formed by alternating small crystals of e-Fe and Fe/sub 3/C of cubic form with the edge of the cube ca 10 A. For the sake of clarity, the diagram of such a quasisingle crystal is shown and has been given a cubic boundary. The change in the relationship between the heights of the subpeaks of the second maximum of the radial distribution function of atoms in the Fe-B glasses with a change in the concentration of boron can be explained by the change in the space group of the Fe/sub 3/B metastable boride which is formed in this system.
A novel continuous laminar shear structuring crystallizer with a suitable cooling system was designed and built. This is a new method to continuously crystallize edible fat in the desirable polymorphic form from the melt while being uniformly sheared.The machine consists of four main sections: Feed unit, shearing mechanism, cooling system and power unit. In each of these sections specific design considerations are taken into account which makes the process controllable and continuous. The shearing unit is made of two concentric cylinders. The internal cylinder is stationary and has a cooling system inside for temperature control. The outer cylinder rotates to produce a uniform shear in the sample fluid placed in the 1.5mm gap between the cylinders. The sample's feed rate is controlled whil...
Two approaches are used to analyse X-ray or neutron scattering by crystals with different dislocation ensembles. Analogy between the above concepts is discussed. The microscopical approach takes into account the detailed displacement field due to different types of dislocation arrangement in the crystal. Frequently a phenomenological concept operating with the ideas of displacements, strains and stresses arising in the materials under deformation is applied. Unfortunately, the phenomenological concept cannot take into account that similar stress distributions may have significantly different microscopic reasons. The comparison of the results obtained by both phenomenological and microscopic descriptions of scattering enables us to understand the connection between different types of strains and stresses in the crystal with the type of the defects in it. (orig.)
High molecular weight samples of the novel biodegradable polyester poly(ethylene sebacate) (PESeb) were synthesized. Miscible poly(ethylene sebacate)/poly(4-vinyl phenol) semicrystalline/amorphous blends were prepared by applying the solvent casting method. Miscibility was proved by the single composition dependent glass transition temperature over the entire composition range observed in DSC traces of the quenched blend samples and also by the melting point depression. The Flory-Huggins interaction parameter was found to be x12 = -1.3. Also, FTIR spectra supported the hypothesis of intermolecular interactions due to hydrogen bonding. The crystallization of PESeb in blends was studied. As expected, isothermal crystallization rates decreased in the blends with increasing the PVPh content. T...
Modifications of the structure and mechanical properties in LiF crystals irradiated with MeV-energy Au ions have been studied using nanoindentation, atomic force microscopy and optical spectroscopy. The nanostructuring of crystals under a high-fluence irradiation (above 1013 ions/cm2)?was?observed. Nanoindentation tests show a strong ion-induced increase of hardness (up?to 150?200%), which is related to the high volume concentration of complex color centers, defect aggregates, dislocation loops and grain boundaries acting as strong barriers for dislocations. From the?depth profiling of the hardness and energy loss it follows that both nuclear and electronic stopping mechanisms of MeV Au ions contribute to the creation of damage and hardening. Whereas the electronic stopping is dominating i...
Nanowires, films, and membranes comprising ordered porous manganese oxide-based octahedral molecular sieves, and methods of making, are disclosed. A single crystal ultra-long nanowire includes an ordered porous manganese oxide-based octahedral molecular sieve, and has an average length greater than about 10 micrometers and an average diameter of about 5 nanometers to about 100 nanometers. A film comprises a microporous network comprising a plurality of single crystal nanowires in the form of a layer, wherein a plurality of layers is stacked on a surface of a substrate, wherein the nanowires of each layer are substantially axially aligned. A free standing membrane comprises a microporous network comprising a plurality of single crystal nanowires in the form of a layer, wherein a plurality of layers is aggregately stacked, and wherein the nanowires of each layer are substantially axially aligned.
Measurements are made on the principal magnetic susceptibilities and anisotropies of praseodymium selenate octahydrate single crystals in the temperature range 90 to 300 K. Although the effective magnetic moment is close to the free ion value, the anisotropy is quite high at room temperature. A least sequares fit of the Curie-Weiss law to the observed average susceptibility yields -36.5 K as the paramagnetic Curie temperature. An analysis of the results with a crystal field (CF) of D_4 symmetry, explains the observed results quite well. The CF and the spin-orbit interaction matrix is block diagonalized in the complete 33 dimensional basis of the "3H term in order to obtain the Stark energies and their eigenstates. Intermediate coupling effects are also considered. The ground state being a singlet, the g-factors are absent. Some predictions on the electronic heat capacity and the electronic quadrupole splitting are made in the light of the ...
The magnetic pyrochlore Er{sub 2}Ru{sub 2}O{sub 7} has been studied with neutron scattering and susceptibility measurements down to a base temperature of 270 mK. For the low temperature phase in which the Er sublattice orders, new magnetic Bragg peaks are reported which can be indexed with integer (hkl) for a face centered cubic cell. Inelastic measurements reveal a wealth of crystal field levels of the Er ion and a copious amount of magnetic scattering below 15 meV. The three lowest groups of crystal field levels are at 6.7, 9.1 and 18.5 meV.
The preparation and luminescence properties of crystal phosphors based on alkali metal iodide and calcium oxide substrates were studied. The highest luminescence intensities were achieved with iodide substrates at 200/sup 0/ and with the calcium oxide substrate at 800/sup 0/. The calibration graphs were linear in the thallium concentration ranges 0.03-5.0 and 0.1-2.0 mu g using sodium and potassium oxides, respectively, and in the range 0.05-5 mu g using cesium iodide and calcium oxide. A method is proposed for the determination of down to 3 x 10/sup -4/% thallium in rocks, using a crystal phosphor with sodium iodide substrate.
In CsCdBr{sub 3}, Tm{sup 3+} substitutes for Cd{sup 2+}. It predominately forms symmetric dimer centers and single-ion centers, both of trigonal symmetry. The energy level schemes of both centers were determined by EPR and site-selective laser spectroscopy. To describe the spectra term dependent crystal-field parameters were deduced on the basis of a microscopic model taking into account the local lattice deformation induced by the impurity centers and the quasi-resonant virtual scattering of intrinsic lattice excitations by the Tm{sup 3+} ions. (orig.) 22 refs.
The n3 and n4 vibrational transitions of CH3 and CD3 isolated in solid parahydrogen were studied by high-resolution infrared spectroscopy. The radicals were produced by in situ UV photolysis of methyl iodides trapped in solid parahydrogen. The observed spectra showed clear rotational fine structures, which were subjected to further splitting due to the electrostatic field of solid parahydrogen. The molecular constants and crystal field parameters of the radicals in solid parahydrogen were determined by analyzing the spectral structures of the n3 and n4 transitions of CD3 by the crystal field theory. The rotational constants of the CD3 radical were found to be only a few percent smaller than those in the gas phase. The determined crystal field parameters indicated significant quantum effect...
Counting characteristics of X-ray detectors fabricated from indium-doped, gallium-doped, and chlorine-doped CdTe have been investigated. The detectors fabricated from indium-doped and gallium-doped crystals showed radiation-induced polarization, namely, a progressive decrease of count rate with an increase of photon fluence in the high-photon-fluence region, while the detectors fabricated from chlorine-doped crystals did not. Results from current-voltage characteristics of the detectors indicated that the different counting characteristics of these detectors originated from the difference in internal electric fields in each detector.
The absorption spectra of an unoriented single crystal of the title compound (1) have been measured at room and at low temperatures. Assuming a similar sequence of crystal field (CF) levels as for the previously analyzed Nd[N(SiMe_3)_2]_3 (2) a truncated CF splitting pattern is derived from the spectra obtained. The parameters of an empirical Hamiltonian are fitted to the energies of 71 levels to give an r.m.s. deviation of 24.2 cm"-"1. The parameters obtained are compared with those of 2 and Nd[N(SiMe_3)_2]_3(CNC_6H_1_1)_2 (3). The observed trends of CF parameters are consistent with the results of simple model calculations in the framework of the angular overlap model. (orig.)
The energy dispersive beamline X6A at the National Synchrotron Light Source employs a curved crystal monochromator (polychromator) which focuses a range ([similar to]1 keV) of x-ray energies into a narrow (100--120 [mu]m) line image. Although this beamline was constructed primarily for time-dependent EXAFS experiments, we have begun to explore the use of this instrument for energy dispersive diffraction experiments with different types of sample including macromolecular crystals. The tunability ([ital E]=6.5 to 21 keV) and flexibility ([Delta][ital E]=100--1000 eV) of the instrument makes the beamline ideal as a test bed for the application of polychromatic single-crystal diffraction techniques to different chemical or biological materials.
The magnetic scattering spectra of RAgSb_2 (R = Ho, Er, Tm) intermetallic compounds are measured and their crystal electric field parameters are determined using inelastic neutron scattering. It is revealed that the ground state is a nonmagnetic singlet for the HoAgSb_2 compound, a Kramers doublet with a strongly anisotropic g factor for the ErAgSb_2 compound, and a quasi-doublet (random doublet) characterized by an extremely anisotropic g factor for the TmAgSb_2 compound. The exchange interaction is estimated in the molecular field approximation. The magnetic properties of the RAgSb_2 compounds are analyzed in terms of the energy level schemes and eigenfunctions determined in this study. The calculated anisotropic magnetic susceptibilities for all compounds are in good agreement with the experimental data obtained for single crystals.
Precipitation-hardened single crystals of a beta (bcc) Ti--40 at. percent V--1.0 at. percent Si alloy were deformed in compression at 77 and 298"0K. The dependence of the yield stress upon aging time at 843"0K for solution-treated crystals shows two maxima which are caused by silicide precipitates. The orientation dependence of the yield stress and of the active macroscopic slip plane were determined as a function of aging time. The solution-treated as well as aged crystals exhibit an asymmetry of both the yield stress and the plane of slip, the degree of asymmetry being larger at 77 than at 298"0K. The asymmetry of slip and yielding is not affected by the presence of precipitation hardening. Results indicate that the effect of the dislocation core structure on dislocation motion is independent of the presence of precipitates. (auth).
Mono-layers of stearic and behenic acids deposited with the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, were used as aligning films in nematic liquid crystal cells. During the filling process the liquid crystal adopts a deformed quasi-planar alignment with splay-bend deformation and preferred orientation along the filling direction. This state is metastable and transforms with time into homeotropic once the flow has ceased. The transition is accompanied by formation of disclination lines which nucleate at the edges of the cell. The lifetime of the metastable splay-bend state was found to depend on the cell thickness. On heating, anchoring transition from quasi-homeotropic to degenerate tilted alignment in form of circular domains takes place near the transition to the isotropic phase. The anchoring transition is reversible with a small hysteresis.
Radial sonic crystals (RSC) are fluidlike structures infinitely periodic along the radial direction that verify the Bloch theorem and are possible only if certain specially designed acoustic metamaterials with mass density anisotropy can be engineered (see Torrent and Sanchez-Dehesa 2009 Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 064301). A comprehensive analysis of two-dimensional (2D) RSC shells is reported here. A given shell is in fact a circular slab with a central cavity. These finite crystal structures contain Fabry-Perot-like resonances and modes strongly localized at the central cavity. Semi-analytical expressions are developed to obtain the quality factors of the different resonances, their symmetry features and their excitation properties. The results reported here are completely general and can be extended to equivalent 3D spherical shells and to their photonic counterparts.
A diffusion criterion of the crystal-liquid phase transition (PT) is proposed according to which the PT begins when the E d/ k b ratio reaches a threshold value of E d( s)/ k b T m, where E d is the self-diffusion energy, k B is the Boltzmann constant, T is the absolute temperature, and E d( s) is the self-diffusion energy in the solid phase at the melting temperature T m. It is shown that this criterion is a generalization of the Lindemann criterion and is applicable both to solids exhibiting normal melting and to those melting with a decrease in the specific volume. Based on the new criterion, it is possible to explain the relation T N < T m, where T N, is the crystallization onset temperature. The results of calculations of the T N/ T m ratio well coincide with experimental data.
Norepinephrine stimulates the growth of a range of bacterial species in nutritionally poor SAPI minimal salts medium containing 30% serum. Addition of size-fractionated serum components to SAPI medium indicated that transferrin was required for norepinephrine stimulation of growth of Escherichia coli. Since bacteriostasis by serum is primarily due to the iron-withholding capacity of transferrin, we considered the possibility that norepinephrine can overcome this effect by supplying transferrin-bound iron for growth. Incubation with concentrations of norepinephrine that stimulated bacterial growth in serum-SAPI medium resulted in loss of bound iron from iron-saturated transferrin, as indicated by the appearance of monoferric and apo- isoforms upon electrophoresis in denaturing gels. Norepinephrine also caused the loss of iron from lactoferrin. The pharmacologically inactive metabolite norepinephrine ...
A factor produced by plerocercoids of the tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides is similar to human growth hormone (hGH) in that it stimulates body growth, binds to hGH receptors, cross-reacts with anti-hGH antibodies, and has lactogenic and insulin-like activities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether plerocercoid growth factor (PGF) is similar to hGH in expressing diabetogenic activity in the genetically obese (ob/ob) mouse. To determine an effective dose for use in the obese mice, the ability of daily injections of PGF to stimulate growth of phenotypically normal mice of the same strain was assessed in a 10-day weight gain assay. Injections of PGF stimulated a dose-dependent weight gain (r = 0.83) and 25 ng eq/day of PGF stimulated a response not significantly different from that produced by 100 micrograms of bovine growth hormone/day. Diabetogenicity was assessed using ...
Macrocephaly was defined as a head measuring larger than 98th percentile. We have evaluated CT findings and head growth curves in 25 infants with large heads. Ten (40%) of 25 infants with large heads were normal developmentally and neurologically. Five (20%) of those were mentally retarded. The other 10 infants (40%) included hydrocephalus (4 cases), malformation syndrome (3 cases), brain tumor (1 case), metabolic disorder (1 case) and degenerative disorder (1 case). Their head growth curves were typed as (I), (II) and (III): Type (I) (excessive head growth curve to 2 SDs above normal); Type (II) (head growth curve gradually approached to 2 SDs above normal); Type (III) (head growth curve parallel to 2 SDs above normal). Ten of macrocephaly with normal psychomotor development were studied clinically and radiologically in details. They were all male. CT pictures of those showed ...
The profile imaging technique is used to study the oxidation of ZnTe and InP surfaces induced by in situ reaction due to the electron beam of the microscope and by ex situ heating in air. For both materials, in situ reaction with the electron beam resulted in desorption of the anion species and the formation of the metal oxide. The observation of In metal particles, and the fact that the rate of formation of In_2O_3 was substantially reduced by an improvement of the vacuum near the specimen region, suggested that the presence of oxygen is not involved in the desorption process. The ex situ heating of ZnTe up to 260 degrees C in air resulted in crystals of ZnO and Te metal, generally in a layered surface region with the sequence of ZnTe/Te/ZnO. The large Te crystals usually had an epitaxial relationship with the bulk ZnTe but the small ZnO crystals had random orientations. The ex situ heating of InP to 380 degrees C in air ...
Pd-Si metallic glasses have been utilized as catalysts in the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. The glasses are selective of ethane, whereas the in-situ crystallized glasses select a range of hydrocarbons characteristic of conventional Pd catalysts. This shift in selectivity has been observed in other hydrogenation reactions. Surface crystallization caused by the reaction conditions causes variable selectivity. Crystallization in reaction conditions has been monitored by DSC. During the course of the grant we developed the use of (+)- apopinene (6,6-dimethyl-1R,5R-bicyclo(3.1.1)hept-2-ene) as a molecular probe for determining the number and kinds of active sites on metallic glass catalysts. To accomplish this we conducted many experiments for comparison on other types of catalysts. These were foils, powders, and highly dispersed metals on several different supports. The glassy surfaces appear to be three dimensionally random (hilly ...
The glasses with the composition of 37.5Li2O?(25?x)Fe2O3?xNb2O5?37.5P2O5 (mol%) (x=5,10,15) are prepared, and it is found that the addition of Nb2O5 is effective for the glass formation in the lithium iron phosphate system. The glass?ceramics consisting of Nasicon-type Li3Fe2(PO4)3 crystals with an orthorhombic structure are developed through conventional crystallization in an electric furnace, showing electrical conductivities of 3?10?6?Scm?1 at room temperature and the activation energies of 0.48?eV (x=5) and 0.51?eV (x=10) for Li+ ion conduction in the temperature range of 30?200??C. A continuous wave Nd:YAG laser (wavelength: 1064?nm) with powers of 0.14?0.30?W and a scanning speed of 10??m/s is irradiated onto the surface of the glasses, and the formation of Li3Fe2(PO4)3 crystals is c...
Enolase is a multifunctional enzyme that plays important roles in many biological and disease processes. α-Enolase from human liver (hENO1) was expressed as a soluble protein and purified by...Full Text Available
The three-dimensional structure of the human adenovirus-2 proteinase complexed with its 11 amino acid cofactor, pVIc, was determined at 2.6 A resolution by X-ray crystallographic analysis. The fold...Full Text Available
BackgroundAs the first pathway-specific enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis, phytoene synthase (PSY) is a prime regulatory target. This includes a number of biotechnological approaches...Full Text Available
The frequency dependence of the lasing power of a He-Ne laser was studied using the electrooptic effect in a KDP crystal. The gain profile of the power curve was found to differ noticeably between the high-frequency and low-frequency edges. (AIP). (AIP)