Fabrication of bi-layer graphene and theoretical simulation for its possible application in thin film solar cell.

Science.gov (United States)

Behura, Sanjay K; Mahala, Pramila; Nayak, Sasmita; Yang, Qiaoqin; Mukhopadhyay, Indrajit; Janil, Omkar

2014-04-01

High quality graphene film is fabricated using mechanical exfoliation of highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite. The graphene films on glass substrates are characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A very high intensity ratio of 2D to G-band (to approximately 1.67) and narrow 2D-band full-width at half maximum (to approximately 40 cm(-1)) correspond to the bi-layer graphene formation. The bi-layer graphene/p-GaN/n-InGaN/n-GaN/GaN/sAl2O3 system is studied theoretically using TCAD Silvaco software, in which the properties of exfoliated bi-layer graphene are used as transparent and conductive film, and the device exhibits an efficiency of 15.24% compared to 13.63% for ITO/p-GaN/n-InGaN/n-GaN/GaN/Al2O3 system.

Thickness oscillations of the transport properties in n-type Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulator thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rogacheva, E.I., E-mail: rogacheva@kpi.kharkov.ua [National Technical University “Kharkov Polytechnic Institute”, 21 Frunze Street, Kharkov 61002 (Ukraine); Budnik, A.V.; Sipatov, A.Yu.; Nashchekina, O.N. [National Technical University “Kharkov Polytechnic Institute”, 21 Frunze Street, Kharkov 61002 (Ukraine); Fedorov, A.G. [Institute for Single Crystals of NAS of Ukraine, 60 Lenin Prospect, Kharkov 61001 (Ukraine); Dresselhaus, M.S.; Tang, S. [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2015-11-02

The dependences of the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and Hall coefficient on the thickness (d = 20–155 nm) of the n-type thin films grown on the glass substrates by the thermal evaporation in vacuum of the n-type Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulator crystals have been measured. It has been established that these dependences have an oscillatory character with a substantial amplitude. The obtained results are interpreted in terms of quantum size effects, taking into account the peculiar properties of the surface layers of the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films connected with the topological insulator nature of the bismuth telluride. - Highlights: • The thickness dependences of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films kinetic coefficients were obtained. • The dependences have oscillatory character with a substantial undamped amplitude. • The oscillation period increases with decreasing film thickness. • The oscillations are attributed to electron confinement in the film growth direction. • It is suggested that topological surface layer affects quantum processes in films.

Bi-epitaxial YBa2Cu3Ox Thin Films on Tilted-axes NdGaO3 Substrates with CeO2 Seeding Layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mozhaev, P B; Mozhaeva, J E; Jacobsen, C S; Hansen, J Bindslev; Bdikin, I K; Luzanov, V A; Kotelyanskii, I M; Zybtsev, S G

2006-01-01

Bi-epitaxial YBa 2 Cu 3 O x (YBCO) thin films with out-of-plane tilt angle in the range 18 - 27 0 were manufactured using pulsed laser deposition on NdGaO 3 tilted-axes substrates with CeO 2 seeding layers. The YBCO thin film orientation over the seeding layer depended on deposition conditions. Removal of the seeding layer from part of the substrate surface by ionbeam etching resulted in formation of a bi-epitaxial thin film with different c-axis orientation of two parts of the film. The bi-epitaxial film orientation and structure were studied using X-ray diffraction techniques, and surface morphology was observed with atomic force microscope (AFM). Photolithography and ion-beam etching techniques were used for patterning bi-epitaxial thin films. Electrical characterization of the obtained structures was performed

Evaporation-driven instability of the precorneal tear film.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Cheng-Chun; Cerretani, Colin; Braun, Richard J; Radke, C J

2014-04-01

Tear-film instability is widely believed to be a signature of eye health. When an interblink is prolonged, randomly distributed ruptures occur in the tear film. "Black spots" and/or "black streaks" appear in 15 to 40 s for normal individuals. For people who suffer from dry eye, tear-film breakup time (BUT) is typically less than a few seconds. To date, however, there is no satisfactory quantitative explanation for the origin of tear rupture. Recently, it was proposed that tear-film breakup is related to locally high evaporative thinning. A spatial variation in the thickness of the tear-film lipid layer (TFLL) may lead to locally elevated evaporation and subsequent tear-film breakup. We examine the local-evaporation-driven tear-film-rupture hypothesis in a one-dimensional (1-D) model for the evolution of a thin aqueous tear film overriding the cornea subject to locally elevated evaporation at its anterior surface and osmotic water influx at its posterior surface. Evaporation rate depends on mass transfer both through the coating lipid layer and through ambient air. We establish that evaporation-driven tear-film breakup can occur under normal conditions but only for higher aqueous evaporation rates. Predicted roles of environmental conditions, such as wind speed and relative humidity, on tear-film stability agree with clinical observations. More importantly, locally elevated evaporation leads to hyperosmolar spots in the tear film and, hence, vulnerability to epithelial irritation. In addition to evaporation rate, tear-film instability depends on the strength of healing flow from the neighboring region outside the breakup region, which is determined by the surface tension at the tear-film surface and by the repulsive thin-film disjoining pressure. This study provides a physically consistent and quantitative explanation for the formation of black streaks and spots in the human tear film during an interblink. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhanced Optical and Electrical Properties of TiO{sub 2} Buffered IGZO/TiO{sub 2} Bi-Layered Films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, Hyun-Joo; Kim, Daeil [University of Ulsan, Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

2016-08-15

In and Ga doped ZnO (IGZO, 100-nm thick) thin films were deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering without intentional substrate heating on a bare glass substrate and a TiO{sub 2}-deposited glass substrate to determine the effect of the thickness of a thin TiO{sub 2} buffer layer on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of the films. The thicknesses of the TiO{sub 2} buffer layers were 5, 10 and 15 nm, respectively. As-deposited IGZO films with a 10 nm-thick TiO{sub 2} buffer layer had an average optical transmittance of 85.0% with lower resistivity (1.83×10-2 Ω cm) than that of IGZO single layer films. The figure of merit (FOM) reached a maximum of 1.44×10-4 Ω-1 for IGZO/10 nm-thick TiO{sub 2} bi-layered films, which is higher than the FOM of 6.85×10-5 Ω-1 for IGZO single layer films. Because a higher FOM value indicates better quality transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films, the IGZO/10 nm-thick TiO{sub 2} bi-layered films are likely to perform better in TCO applications than IGZO single layer films.

Influence of a ZnO Buffer Layer on the Structural, Optical, and Electrical Properties of ITO/ZnO Bi-Layered Films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heo, Sung-Bo; Moon, Hyun-Joo; Kim, Daeil; Kim, Jun-Ho

2016-01-01

Sn-doped indium oxide (ITO) films and ITO/ZnO bi-layered films were prepared on polycarbonate substrates by RF magnetron sputtering without intentional substrate heating. In order to consider the influence of the ZnO thickness on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of ITO/ZnO films, the thickness of the ZnO buffer layer was varied from 5 to 20 nm. As-deposited ITO films show an average optical transmittance of 79.2% in the visible range and an electrical resistivity of 3.0×10"-"4 Ωcm, while films with a 5-nm thick ZnO buffer layer film show an electrical resistivity of 2.6×10"-"4 Ωcm and films with a 20-nm thick ZnO buffer layer show an optical transmittance of 82.0%. Based on the figure of merit, it is concluded that the ZnO buffer layer enhances the optical and electrical performance of ITO films used as transparent conducting oxides in flexible display applications.

Water-evaporation reduction by duplex films: application to the human tear film.

Science.gov (United States)

Cerretani, Colin F; Ho, Nghia H; Radke, C J

2013-09-01

Water-evaporation reduction by duplex-oil films is especially important to understand the physiology of the human tear film. Secreted lipids, called meibum, form a duplex film that coats the aqueous tear film and purportedly reduces tear evaporation. Lipid-layer deficiency is correlated with the occurrence of dry-eye disease; however, in-vitro experiments fail to show water-evaporation reduction by tear-lipid duplex films. We review the available literature on water-evaporation reduction by duplex-oil films and outline the theoretical underpinnings of spreading and evaporation kinetics that govern behavior of these systems. A dissolution-diffusion model unifies the data reported in the literature and identifies dewetting of duplex films into lenses as a key challenge to obtaining significant evaporation reduction. We develop an improved apparatus for measuring evaporation reduction by duplex-oil films including simultaneous assessment of film coverage, stability, and temperature, all under controlled external mass transfer. New data reported in this study fit into the larger body of work conducted on water-evaporation reduction by duplex-oil films. Duplex-oil films of oxidized mineral oil/mucin (MOx/BSM), human meibum (HM), and bovine meibum (BM) reduce water evaporation by a dissolution-diffusion mechanism, as confirmed by agreement between measurement and theory. The water permeability of oxidized-mineral-oil duplex films agrees with those reported in the literature, after correction for the presence of mucin. We find that duplex-oil films of bovine and human meibum at physiologic temperature reduce water evaporation only 6-8% for a 100-nm film thickness pertinent to the human tear film. Comparison to in-vivo human tear-evaporation measurements is inconclusive because evaporation from a clean-water surface is not measured and because the mass-transfer resistance is not characterized. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Film flow analysis for a vertical evaporating tube with inner evaporation and outer condensation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Il Seouk

2008-01-01

A numerical study for the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics of the evaporating tube with the films flowing down on both the inside and outside tube walls has been carried out. The condensation occurs along the outside wall while the evaporation occurs at the free surface of the inside film. The transport equations for momentum and energy are parabolized by the boundary-layer approximation and solved by using the marching technique. The calculation domain of 2 film flow regions (evaporating and condensation films at the inside and outside tube wall respectively) and tube wall is solved simultaneously. The coupling technique for the problem with the 3 different regions and the 2 interfaces of them has been developed to calculated the temperature field. The velocity and temperature fields and the amount of the condensed and evaporated mass as well as the position where the evaporating film is completely dried out are successfully predicted for various inside pressures and inside film inlet flow rates

Stability of low-carrier-density topological-insulator Bi2Se3 thin films and effect of capping layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salehi, Maryam; Brahlek, Matthew; Koirala, Nikesh; Moon, Jisoo; Oh, Seongshik; Wu, Liang; Armitage, N. P.

2015-01-01

Although over the past number of years there have been many advances in the materials aspects of topological insulators (TIs), one of the ongoing challenges with these materials is the protection of them against aging. In particular, the recent development of low-carrier-density bulk-insulating Bi 2 Se 3 thin films and their sensitivity to air demands reliable capping layers to stabilize their electronic properties. Here, we study the stability of the low-carrier-density Bi 2 Se 3 thin films in air with and without various capping layers using DC and THz probes. Without any capping layers, the carrier density increases by ∼150% over a week and by ∼280% over 9 months. In situ-deposited Se and ex situ-deposited poly(methyl methacrylate) suppress the aging effect to ∼27% and ∼88%, respectively, over 9 months. The combination of effective capping layers and low-carrier-density TI films will open up new opportunities in topological insulators

Modification of photosensing property of CdS–Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} bi-layer by thermal annealing and swift heavy ion irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shaikh, Shaheed U.; Siddiqui, Farha Y. [Thin Film and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Department of Physics (India); Department of Nanotechnology, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad 431004 (India); Singh, Fouran; Kulriya, Pawan K. [Inter University Accelerator Center, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110 067 (India); Phase, D.M. [UGC DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Khandwa Road, Indore 452017 (India); Sharma, Ramphal, E-mail: ramphalsharma@yahoo.com [Thin Film and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Department of Physics (India); Department of Nanotechnology, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad 431004 (India)

2016-02-01

The CdS–Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} bi-layer thin films have been deposited on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass substrates at room temperature by Chemical Bath Deposition Technique (CBD) and bi-layer thin films were annealed in air atmosphere for 1 h at 250 {sup °}C. The air annealed sample was irradiated using Au{sup 9+} ions at the fluence 5 × 10{sup 11} ion/cm{sup 2} with 120 MeV energy. Effects of Swift Heavy Ion (SHI) irradiation on CdS–Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} bi-layer thin films were studied. The results are explained on the basis annealing and high electronic excitation, using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Selective Electron Area Diffraction (SEAD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Raman Spectroscopy, UV spectroscopy and I–V characteristics. The photosensing property after illumination of visible light over the samples is studied. These as-deposited, annealed and irradiated bi-layer thin films are used to sense visible light at room temperature. - Graphical abstract: Schematic illustration of CdS–Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} bi-layer thin film (a) As-deposited (b) Annealed (c) irradiated sample respectively (d) Model of bi-layer photosensor device (e) Graph of illumination intensity verses photosensitivity. - Highlights: • CdS–Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} bi-layer thin film prepared at room temperature. • Irradiated using Au{sup 9+} ions at the fluence of 5 × 10{sup 11} ion/cm{sup 2} with 120 MeV energy. • Study of modification induced by irradiations. • Study of Photosensitivity after annealing and irradiation.

Effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on structural and opto-electrical properties of bi-layer CdS-Bi2S3 thin films prepared by solution growth technique at room temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Shaikh, Shaheed U.; Siddiqui, Farha Y.; Desale, Deepali J.; Ghule, Anil V.; Singh, Fouran; Kulriya, Pawan K.; Sharma, Ramphal

2015-01-01

CdS-Bi2S3 bi-layer thin films have been deposited by chemical bath deposition method on Indium Tin Oxide glass substrate at room temperature. The as-deposited thin films were annealed at 250 °C in an air atmosphere for 1 h. An air annealed thin film was irradiated using Au9+ ions with the energy of 120 MeV at fluence 5×1012 ions/cm2 using tandem pelletron accelerator. The irradiation induced modifications were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, UV spectroscopy and I-V characteristics. XRD study reveals that the as-deposited thin films were nanocrystalline in nature. The decrease in crystallite size, increase in energy band gap and resistivity were observed after irradiation. Results are explained on the basis of energy deposited by the electronic loss after irradiation. The comparative results of as-deposited, air annealed and irradiated CdS-Bi2S3 bi-layer thin films are presented.

Influence of different substrates on the ionic conduction in LiCoO{sub 2}/LiNbO{sub 3} thin-film bi-layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horopanitis, E.E.; Perentzis, G.; Papadimitriou, L. [Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Physics, Section of Solid State Physics, Thessaloniki (Greece)

2008-07-01

LiNbO{sub 3} thin films, deposited by e-gun evaporation, show lithium deficiency, which is cured by ''Li doping''. The ''Li doping'' of the films was achieved by preparing a structure of Li-Nb-O/Li/Li-Nb-O, which after annealing forms a homogenized LiNbO{sub 3} layer because of diffusion of Li in the two Li-Nb-O layers. The LiCoO{sub 2}/LiNbO{sub 3} bi-layers were prepared either on Stainless Steel/TiN or on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Co/Pt substrates/ohmic-contacts by depositing first either the cathode LiCoO{sub 2} or the electrolyte LiNbO{sub 3}. The Nyquist plots of the AC impedance measurements of all structures showed that the interfaces prepared on Stainless-Steel/TiN consisted of two semicircles. The structures deposited on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Co/Pt showed a third semicircle, which is probably due to the roughness of the substrate. It is important that the ionic properties of the bi-layers with the cathode material deposited first, a usual structure in a microbattery, are improved compared to the other structures. The quality of the LiNbO{sub 3} layer depends very much on the substrate. It can be evaluated from Arrhenius plots that the activation energy of this layer is considerably lower when the whole structure is deposited on Stainless Steel/TiN. (copyright 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Crystallized InBiS3 thin films with enhanced optoelectronic properties

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, N.; Hussain, Arshad; Ahmed, R.; Omar, M. Firdaus Bin; Sultan, M.; Fu, Yong Qing

2018-04-01

In this paper, a one-step thermal evaporation approach was used for fabrication of indium bismuth sulphide thin films, and the synergetic effects of co-evaporation of two sources (indium granules and Bi2S3 powders) were investigated using different characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the crystalline orthorhombic structure for the post-annealed samples. Surface roughness and crystal size of the obtained film samples were increased with increasing annealing temperatures. Analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed the formation of the InBiS3 structure for the obtained films, which is also confirmed by the XRD results. The optical absorption coefficient value of the annealed samples was found to be in the order of 105 cm-1 in the visible region of the solar spectrum. The optical band gap energy and electrical resistivity of the fabricated samples were observed to decrease (from 2.2 to 1.3 eV, and from 0.3 to 0.01 Ω-cm, respectively) with increasing annealing temperatures (from 200 to 350 °C), indicating the suitability of the prepared InBiS3 thin films for solar cell applications.

Development of Falling Film Heat Transfer Coefficient for Industrial Chemical Processes Evaporator Design

KAUST Repository

Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil; Burhan, Muhammad; Ng, Kim Choon

2018-01-01

In falling film evaporators, the overall heat transfer coefficient is controlled by film thickness, velocity, liquid properties and the temperature differential across the film layer. This chapter presents the heat transfer behaviour for evaporative

Bubble-assisted film evaporation correlation for saline water at sub-atmospheric pressures in horizontal-tube evaporator

KAUST Repository

Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil

2013-01-01

In falling film evaporators, the overall heat transfer coefficient is controlled by film thickness, velocity, liquid properties and the temperature differential across the film layer. This article presents the heat transfer behavior for evaporative film boiling on horizontal tubes, but working at low pressures of 0.93-3.60 kPa (corresponding solution saturation temperatures of 279-300 K) as well as seawater salinity of 15,000 to 90,000 mg/l or ppm. Owing to a dearth of literature on film-boiling at these conditions, the article is motivated by the importance of evaporative film boiling in the desalination processes such as the multi-effect distillation (MED) or multi-stage flashing (MSF): It is observed that in addition to the above-mentioned parameters, evaporative heat transfer of seawater is affected by the emergence of micro-bubbles within the thin film layer, particularly when the liquid saturation temperatures drop below 298 K (3.1 kPa). Such micro bubbles are generated near to the tube wall surfaces and they enhanced the heat transfer by two or more folds when compared with the predictions of conventional evaporative film boiling. The appearance of micro-bubbles is attributed to the rapid increase in the specific volume of vapor, i.e., dv/dT, at low saturation temperature conditions. A new correlation is thus proposed in this article and it shows good agreement to the measured data with an experimental uncertainty of 8% and regression RMSE of 3.5%. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preparation of Ferroelectric Thin Films of Bismuth Layer Structured Compounds

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Hitoshi; Mihara, Takashi; Yoshimori, Hiroyuki; Araujo, Carlos

1995-09-01

Ferroelectric thin films of bismuth layer structured compounds, SrBi2Ta2O9, SrBi2Nb2O9, SrBi4Ti4O15 and their solid solutions, were formed onto a sputtered platinum layer on a silicon substrate using spin-on technique and metal-organic decomposition (MOD) method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and some electrical measurements were performed on the prepared thin films. XRD results of SrBi2(Ta1- x, Nb x)2O9 films (0≤x≤1) showed that niobium ions substitute for tantalum ions in an arbitrary ratio without any change of the layer structure and lattice constants. Furthermore, XRD results of SrBi2 xTa2O9 films (0≤x≤1.5) indicated that the formation of the bismuth layer structure does not always require an accurate bismuth content. The layer structure was formed above 50% of the stoichiometric bismuth content in the general formula. SrBi2(Ta1- x, Nb x)2O9 films with various Ta/Nb ratios have large enough remanent polarization for nonvolatile memory application and have shown high fatigue resistance against 1011 cycles of full switching of the remanent polarization. Mixture films of the three compounds were also investigated.

Bi-epitaxial YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub x} Thin Films on Tilted-axes NdGaO{sub 3} Substrates with CeO{sub 2} Seeding Layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mozhaev, P B [Institute of Physics and Technology RAS, 117218, Moscow (Russian Federation); Mozhaeva, J E [Institute of Physics and Technology RAS, 117218, Moscow (Russian Federation); Jacobsen, C S [Technical University of Denmark, Physics Department, Lyngby, DK-2800, Denmark (Denmark); Hansen, J Bindslev [Technical University of Denmark, Physics Department, Lyngby, DK-2800, Denmark (Denmark); Bdikin, I K [CICECO, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, 3810-193 (Portugal); Luzanov, V A [Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Moscow, 125009 (Russian Federation); Kotelyanskii, I M [Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Moscow, 125009 (Russian Federation); Zybtsev, S G [Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Moscow, 125009 (Russian Federation)

2006-06-01

Bi-epitaxial YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub x} (YBCO) thin films with out-of-plane tilt angle in the range 18 - 27{sup 0} were manufactured using pulsed laser deposition on NdGaO{sub 3} tilted-axes substrates with CeO{sub 2} seeding layers. The YBCO thin film orientation over the seeding layer depended on deposition conditions. Removal of the seeding layer from part of the substrate surface by ionbeam etching resulted in formation of a bi-epitaxial thin film with different c-axis orientation of two parts of the film. The bi-epitaxial film orientation and structure were studied using X-ray diffraction techniques, and surface morphology was observed with atomic force microscope (AFM). Photolithography and ion-beam etching techniques were used for patterning bi-epitaxial thin films. Electrical characterization of the obtained structures was performed.

Epitaxial growth of Co(0 0 0 1)hcp/Fe(1 1 0)bcc magnetic bi-layer films on SrTiO3(1 1 1) substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohtake, Mitsuru; Shikada, Kouhei; Kirino, Fumiyoshi; Futamoto, Masaaki

2008-01-01

Co(0 0 0 1) hcp /Fe(1 1 0) bcc epitaxial magnetic bi-layer films were successfully prepared on SrTiO 3 (1 1 1) substrates. The crystallographic properties of Co/Fe epitaxial magnetic bi-layer films were investigated. Fe(1 1 0) bcc soft magnetic layer grew epitaxially on SrTiO 3 (1 1 1) substrate with two type variants, Nishiyama-Wasserman and Kurdjumov-Sachs relationships. An hcp-Co single-crystal layer is obtained on Ru(0 0 0 1) hcp interlayer, while hcp-Co layer formed on Au(1 1 1) fcc or Ag(1 1 1) fcc interlayer is strained and may involve fcc-Co phase. It has been shown possible to prepare Co/Fe epitaxial magnetic bi-layer films which can be usable for patterned media application

Transparent Conductive In and Ga Doped ZnO/Cu Bi-Layered Films Deposited by DC and RF Magnetron Sputtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moon, Hyun-Joo; Song, Young-Hwan; Oh, Jung-Hyun; Heo, Sung-Bo; Kim, Daeil

2016-01-01

In- and Ga-doped ZnO (IGZO) films were deposited on 5 nm thick Cu film buffered poly-carbonate substrates with RF magnetron sputtering and the effects of the Cu buffer layer on the optical and electrical properties of the films were investigated. The IGZO single layer films exhibited an electrical resistivity of 1.2×10"-1 Ω cm while the IGZO/Cu bi-layered films exhibited a lower resistivity of 1.6×10"-3 Ω cm. With respect to optical properties, the optical band gap of the IGZO films appeared to decrease as a result of an increasing carrier concentration due to the Cu buffer layer. In addition, the RMS roughness (8.2 nm) of the IGZO films also decreased to 6.8 nm by a Cu buffer layer in AFM observation. Although the optical transmittance in the range of visible wavelengths was deteriorated by the Cu buffer layer, the IGZO films with a 5 nm thick Cu buffer layer exhibited a higher figure of merit of 2.6×10"-4 Ω"-1 compared with the IGZO single layer films due to enhanced optoelectrical performance.

Transparent Conductive In and Ga Doped ZnO/Cu Bi-Layered Films Deposited by DC and RF Magnetron Sputtering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, Hyun-Joo; Song, Young-Hwan; Oh, Jung-Hyun; Heo, Sung-Bo; Kim, Daeil [University of Ulsan, Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

2016-06-15

In- and Ga-doped ZnO (IGZO) films were deposited on 5 nm thick Cu film buffered poly-carbonate substrates with RF magnetron sputtering and the effects of the Cu buffer layer on the optical and electrical properties of the films were investigated. The IGZO single layer films exhibited an electrical resistivity of 1.2×10{sup -}1 Ω cm while the IGZO/Cu bi-layered films exhibited a lower resistivity of 1.6×10{sup -}3 Ω cm. With respect to optical properties, the optical band gap of the IGZO films appeared to decrease as a result of an increasing carrier concentration due to the Cu buffer layer. In addition, the RMS roughness (8.2 nm) of the IGZO films also decreased to 6.8 nm by a Cu buffer layer in AFM observation. Although the optical transmittance in the range of visible wavelengths was deteriorated by the Cu buffer layer, the IGZO films with a 5 nm thick Cu buffer layer exhibited a higher figure of merit of 2.6×10{sup -}4 Ω{sup -}1 compared with the IGZO single layer films due to enhanced optoelectrical performance.

Lead-doped electron-beam-deposited Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconducting thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agnihotry, S.A.; Saini, K.K.; Kant, C.; Sharma, C.P.; Ekbote, S.N.; Asthana, P.; Nagpal, K.C.; Chandra, S. (National Physical Lab., New Delhi (India))

1991-03-20

Superconducting thin films of the lead-doped Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system have been prepared on (100) single-crystal SrTiO{sub 3} substrates by an electron beam deposition technique using a single sintered pellet as the evaporation source. As-deposited films are amorphous and non-superconducting; post-deposition annealing at an optimized temperature in air has been found to result in crystalline and superconducting films. The superconducting characteristics of the films have been observed to be sensitive not only to the duration and temperature of post-deposition annealing but also to the lead content and the sintering parameters for the pellet to be used as the evaporation source. A pellet with nominal composition Bi{sub 3}Pb{sub 1}Sr{sub 3}Ca{sub 3}Cu{sub 4}O{sub y} that had been sintered for 200 h zero resistivity Tc{sup 0}=112 K. However, films deposited using such a pellet as the evaporation source had Tc{sup 0} {approx equal} 73-78 K, as had the films deposited from a pellet without any lead. We investigated systematically films deposited from pellets with more lead and sintered for different durations. It is evident from these investigations that pellets with nominal composition Bi{sub 3}Pb{sub 2}Sr{sub 3}Ca{sub 3}Cu{sub 4}O{sub y}, i.e. with an excess of lead, and sintered for about 75 h when used as the evaporation source yield films with Tc{sup 0} {approx equal} 100 K when annealed between 835 and 840deg C for an optimized long duration. The films are characterized by X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy techniques and have been found to be highly c axis oriented. The effect of lead in promoting a high Tc{sup 0}=110 K phase seems to be similar to that in bulk ceramics. (orig.).

Vacuum-evaporated ferroelectric films and heterostructures of vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene copolymer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Draginda, Yu. A., E-mail: lbf@ns.crys.ras.ru; Yudin, S G; Lazarev, V V; Yablonskii, S V; Palto, S P [Russian Academy of Sciences, Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography (Russian Federation)

2012-05-15

The potential of the vacuum method for preparing ferroelectric films and photonic heterostructures from organic materials is studied. Vacuum-evaporated films of fluoropolymers and heterostructures on their basis are obtained and their ferroelectric and spectral properties are studied. In particular, homogeneous films of the well-known piezoelectric polymer polyvinylidene fluoride and ferroelectric material vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene copolymer (P(VDF/TFE)) are produced. Experimental studies of vacuum-evaporated P(VDF/TFE) films confirmed their ferroelectric properties. The heterostructures composed of alternating layers of P(VDF/TFE) copolymer molecules and azodye molecules are fabricated by vacuum evaporation. Owing to the controlled layer thickness and a significant difference in the refractive indices of the P(VDF/TFE) copolymer and azodyes, these heterostructures exhibit properties of photonic crystals. This finding is confirmed by the occurrence of a photonic band in the absorption spectra of the heterostructures.

Properties of Nanostructure Bismuth Telluride Thin Films Using Thermal Evaporation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Swati Arora

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Bismuth telluride has high thermoelectric performance at room temperature; in present work, various nanostructure thin films of bismuth telluride were fabricated on silicon substrates at room temperature using thermal evaporation method. Tellurium (Te and bismuth (Bi were deposited on silicon substrate in different ratio of thickness. These films were annealed at 50°C and 100°C. After heat treatment, the thin films attained the semiconductor nature. Samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM to show granular growth.

Thermogravimetric analysis of fuel film evaporation

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

HU Zongjie; LI Liguang; YU Shui

2006-01-01

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was compared with the petrochemical distillation measurement method to better understand the characteristics of fuel film evaporation at different wall tem- peratures. The film evaporation characteristics of 90# gasoline, 93# gasoline and 0# diesel with different initial thicknesses were investigated at different environmental fluxes and heating rates. The influences of heating rate, film thickness and environmental flux on fuel film evaporation for these fuels were found. The results showed that the environmental conditions in TGA were similar to those for fuel films in the internal combustion engines, so data from TGA were suitable for the analysis of fuel film evaporation. TGA could simulate the key influencing factors for fuel film evaporation and could investigate the basic quantificational effect of heating rate and film thickness. To get a rapid and sufficient fuel film evaporation, sufficiently high wall temperature is necessary. Evaporation time decreases at a high heating rate and thin film thickness, and intense gas flow is important to promoting fuel film evaporation. Data from TGA at a heating rate of 100℃/min are fit to analyze the diesel film evaporation during cold-start and warming-up. Due to the tense molecular interactions, the evaporation sequence could not be strictly divided according to the boiling points of each component for multicomponent dissolved mixture during the quick evaporation process, and the heavier components could vaporize before reaching their boiling points. The 0# diesel film would fully evaporate when the wall temperature is beyond 250℃.

Bi-substituted iron garnet films for one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals: Synthesis and properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaposhnikov, A.N.; Karavainikov, A.V.; Prokopov, A.R.; Berzhansky, V.N.; Salyuk, O.Y.

2012-01-01

Graphical abstract: Faraday hysteresis loops for Bi 1.0 Y 0.5 Gd 1.5 Fe 4.2 Al 0.8 O 12 film on glass-ceramic substrate (a), Bi 2.8 Y 0.2 Fe 5 O 12 film on gallium–gadolinium garnet (b) and for glass-ceramic/SiO 2 /Bi 1.0 Y 0.5 Gd 1.5 Fe 4.2 Al 0.8 O 12 /Bi 2.8 Y 0.2 Fe 5 O 12 structure (c). Highlights: ► Bismuth-substituted iron garnet films as magneto-optical layers in magneto-photonic crystals. ► It is impossible to crystallize the films with high Bi content on amorphous substrates. ► The crystallization of the films can be achieved by their deposition on buffer layer with low bismuth content. -- Abstract: The crystallization processes in Bi 2.8 Y 0.2 Fe 5 O 12 , Bi 2.5 Gd 0.5 Fe 3.8 Al 1.2 O 12 , Bi 1.5 Gd 1.5 Fe 4.5 Al 0.5 O 12 and Bi 1.0 Y 0.5 Gd 1.5 Fe 4.2 Al 0.8 O 12 garnet films deposited by reactive ion beam sputtering on (1 1 1) gadolinium–gallium garnet substrates, optical glass-ceramic and SiO 2 films have been studied. Films were annealed at low pressure in oxygen atmosphere and in the air. The possibility of preparation of crystalline garnet films with high concentration of bismuth on the SiO 2 films using a buffer layer with low concentration of Bi has been shown. This allows to produce one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals with high effective Faraday rotation (several tens of°/μm for the visible optical spectrum).

Influence of an Fe cap layer on the structural and magnetic properties of Fe49Pt51/Fe bi-layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chao-Yang, Duan; Bin, Ma; Zong-Zhi, Zhang; Qing-Yuan, Jin; Fu-Lin, Wei

2009-01-01

The influences of an Fe cap layer on the structural and magnetic properties of FePt/Fe bi-layers are investigated. Compared with single FePt alloy films, a thin Fe layer can affect the crystalline orientation and improve the chemical ordering of L1 0 FePt films. Moreover, the coercivity increases when a thin Fe layer covers the FePt layer. Beyond a critical thickness, however, the Fe cover layer quickens the magnetization reversal of Fe 49 Pt 51 /Fe bi-layers by their exchange coupling

Bismuth iron oxide thin films using atomic layer deposition of alternating bismuth oxide and iron oxide layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Puttaswamy, Manjunath; Vehkamäki, Marko [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Kukli, Kaupo, E-mail: kaupo.kukli@helsinki.fi [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); University of Tartu, Institute of Physics, W. Ostwald 1, EE-50411 Tartu (Estonia); Dimri, Mukesh Chandra [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Akadeemia tee 23, EE-12618 Tallinn (Estonia); Kemell, Marianna; Hatanpää, Timo; Heikkilä, Mikko J. [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Mizohata, Kenichiro [University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Stern, Raivo [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Akadeemia tee 23, EE-12618 Tallinn (Estonia); Ritala, Mikko; Leskelä, Markku [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland)

2016-07-29

Bismuth iron oxide films with varying contributions from Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} or Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} were prepared using atomic layer deposition. Bismuth (III) 2,3-dimethyl-2-butoxide, was used as the bismuth source, iron(III) tert-butoxide as the iron source and water vapor as the oxygen source. The films were deposited as stacks of alternate Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} layers. Films grown at 140 °C to the thickness of 200–220 nm were amorphous, but crystallized upon post-deposition annealing at 500 °C in nitrogen. Annealing of films with intermittent bismuth and iron oxide layers grown to different thicknesses influenced their surface morphology, crystal structure, composition, electrical and magnetic properties. Implications of multiferroic performance were recognized in the films with the remanent charge polarization varying from 1 to 5 μC/cm{sup 2} and magnetic coercivity varying from a few up to 8000 A/m. - Highlights: • Bismuth iron oxide thin films were grown by atomic layer deposition at 140 °C. • The major phase formed in the films upon annealing at 500 °C was BiFeO{sub 3}. • BiFeO{sub 3} films and films containing excess Bi favored electrical charge polarization. • Slight excess of iron oxide enhanced saturative magnetization behavior.

Photoelectrochemical Performance Observed in Mn-Doped BiFeO3 Heterostructured Thin Films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao-Min Xu

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Pure BiFeO3 and heterostructured BiFeO3/BiFe0.95Mn0.05O3 (5% Mn-doped BiFeO3 thin films have been prepared by a chemical deposition method. The band structures and photosensitive properties of these films have been investigated elaborately. Pure BiFeO3 films showed stable and strong response to photo illumination (open circuit potential kept −0.18 V, short circuit photocurrent density was −0.023 mA·cm−2. By Mn doping, the energy band positions shifted, resulting in a smaller band gap of BiFe0.95Mn0.05O3 layer and an internal field being built in the BiFeO3/BiFe0.95Mn0.05O3 interface. BiFeO3/BiFe0.95Mn0.05O3 and BiFe0.95Mn0.05O3 thin films demonstrated poor photo activity compared with pure BiFeO3 films, which can be explained by the fact that Mn doping brought in a large amount of defects in the BiFe0.95Mn0.05O3 layers, causing higher carrier combination and correspondingly suppressing the photo response, and this negative influence was more considerable than the positive effects provided by the band modulation.

Suppression of photo-bias induced instability for amorphous indium tungsten oxide thin film transistors with bi-layer structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Po-Tsun, E-mail: ptliu@mail.nctu.edu.tw; Chang, Chih-Hsiang; Chang, Chih-Jui [Department of Photonics and Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan (China)

2016-06-27

This study investigates the instability induced by bias temperature illumination stress (NBTIS) for an amorphous indium-tungsten-oxide thin film transistor (a-IWO TFT) with SiO{sub 2} backchannel passivation layer (BPL). It is found that this electrical degradation phenomenon can be attributed to the generation of defect states during the BPL process, which deteriorates the photo-bias stability of a-IWO TFTs. A method proposed by adding an oxygen-rich a-IWO thin film upon the a-IWO active channel layer could effectively suppress the plasma damage to channel layer during BPL deposition process. The bi-layer a-IWO TFT structure with an oxygen-rich back channel exhibits superior electrical reliability of device under NBTIS.

Spin-pump-induced spin transport in a thermally evaporated pentacene film

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tani, Yasuo; Shikoh, Eiji, E-mail: shikoh@elec.eng.osaka-cu.ac.jp [Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585 (Japan); Teki, Yoshio [Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585 (Japan)

2015-12-14

We report the spin-pump-induced spin transport properties of a pentacene film prepared by thermal evaporation. In a palladium(Pd)/pentacene/Ni{sub 80}Fe{sub 20} tri-layer sample, a pure spin-current is generated in the pentacene layer by the spin-pumping of Ni{sub 80}Fe{sub 20}, which is independent of the conductance mismatch problem in spin injection. The spin current is absorbed into the Pd layer, converted into a charge current with the inverse spin-Hall effect in Pd, and detected as an electromotive force. This is clear evidence for the pure spin current at room temperature in pentacene films prepared by thermal evaporation.

Thickness and temperature dependence of electrical resistivity of p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 thin films prepared by flash evaporation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duan Xingkai; Yang Junyou; Zhu, W; Fan, X A; Bao, S Q

2006-01-01

P-type Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 thin films with thicknesses in the range 80-320 nm have been deposited by the flash evaporation method on glass substrates at 473 K. XRD and field emission scanning electron microscope were performed to characterize the thin films. The results show that the thin films are polycrystalline and the grain size of the thin films increases with increasing thickness of the thin films. Compositional analysis of the thin films was also carried out by energy-dispersive x-ray analysis. A near linear relationship was observed between the electrical resistivity and the inverse thickness of the annealed thin films, and it agrees with Tellier's model. Electrical resistivity of the annealed thin films was studied in the temperature range 300-350 K, and their thermal activation behaviour was characterized, the activation energy for conduction decreases with increasing thickness of the thin films

Development of Falling Film Heat Transfer Coefficient for Industrial Chemical Processes Evaporator Design

KAUST Repository

Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil

2018-03-07

In falling film evaporators, the overall heat transfer coefficient is controlled by film thickness, velocity, liquid properties and the temperature differential across the film layer. This chapter presents the heat transfer behaviour for evaporative film boiling on horizontal tubes, but working at low pressures of 0.93–3.60 kPa as well as seawater salinity of 15,000–90,000 mg/l or ppm. Owing to a dearth of literature on film-boiling at these conditions, the chapter is motivated by the importance of evaporative film-boiling in the process industries. It is observed that in addition to the above-mentioned parameters, evaporative heat transfer of seawater is affected by the emergence of micro-bubbles within the thin film layer, particularly when the liquid saturation temperatures drop below 25°C (3.1 kPa). Such micro-bubbles are generated near to the tube wall surfaces, and they enhanced the heat transfer by two or more folds when compared with the predictions of conventional evaporative film-boiling. The appearance of micro-bubbles is attributed to the rapid increase in the specific volume of vapour, i.e. dv/dT, at low saturation temperature conditions. A new correlation is thus proposed in this chapter and it shows good agreement to the measured data with an experimental uncertainty less than ±8%.

Bi-substituted iron garnet films for one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals: Synthesis and properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shaposhnikov, A.N.; Karavainikov, A.V.; Prokopov, A.R.; Berzhansky, V.N. [Taurida National V.I. Vernadsky University, Vernadsky Av., 4, 95007 Simferopol (Ukraine); Salyuk, O.Y., E-mail: olga-saliuk@yandex.ru [Institute of Magnetizm NASU and MESU, 36-B Vernadsky Blvd., 03142 Kiev (Ukraine)

2012-06-15

Graphical abstract: Faraday hysteresis loops for Bi{sub 1.0}Y{sub 0.5}Gd{sub 1.5}Fe{sub 4.2}Al{sub 0.8}O{sub 12} film on glass-ceramic substrate (a), Bi{sub 2.8}Y{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 5}O{sub 12} film on gallium–gadolinium garnet (b) and for glass-ceramic/SiO{sub 2}/Bi{sub 1.0}Y{sub 0.5}Gd{sub 1.5}Fe{sub 4.2}Al{sub 0.8}O{sub 12}/Bi{sub 2.8}Y{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 5}O{sub 12} structure (c). Highlights: ► Bismuth-substituted iron garnet films as magneto-optical layers in magneto-photonic crystals. ► It is impossible to crystallize the films with high Bi content on amorphous substrates. ► The crystallization of the films can be achieved by their deposition on buffer layer with low bismuth content. -- Abstract: The crystallization processes in Bi{sub 2.8}Y{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 5}O{sub 12}, Bi{sub 2.5}Gd{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 3.8}Al{sub 1.2}O{sub 12}, Bi{sub 1.5}Gd{sub 1.5}Fe{sub 4.5}Al{sub 0.5}O{sub 12} and Bi{sub 1.0}Y{sub 0.5}Gd{sub 1.5}Fe{sub 4.2}Al{sub 0.8}O{sub 12} garnet films deposited by reactive ion beam sputtering on (1 1 1) gadolinium–gallium garnet substrates, optical glass-ceramic and SiO{sub 2} films have been studied. Films were annealed at low pressure in oxygen atmosphere and in the air. The possibility of preparation of crystalline garnet films with high concentration of bismuth on the SiO{sub 2} films using a buffer layer with low concentration of Bi has been shown. This allows to produce one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals with high effective Faraday rotation (several tens of°/μm for the visible optical spectrum).

Electrical and optical properties of Bi2S3 thin films deposited by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ubale, A.U.; Daryapurkar, A.S.; Mankar, R.B.; Raut, R.R.; Sangawar, V.S.; Bhosale, C.H.

2008-01-01

Bi 2 S 3 thin films were prepared on amorphous glass substrates by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method at room temperature using bismuth nitrate and thioacetamide as the cationic and anionic precursors in aqueous medium. The X-ray diffraction study reveals that as-deposited films of Bi 2 S 3 are amorphous in nature, it becomes polycrystalline after annealing at 573 K. The decrease in activation energy from 0.65 to 0.36 eV and optical band gap energy, E g , from 2.35 to 1.86 eV are observed as film thickness varies from 67 to 150 nm. Such changes are attributed to the quantum size effect in semiconducting films

Low-Power Super-resolution Readout with Antimony Bismuth Alloy Film as Mask layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lai-Xin, Jiang; Yi-Qun, Wu; Yang, Wang; Jing-Song, Wei; Fu-Xi, Gan

2009-01-01

Sb–Bi alloy films are proposed as a new kind of super-resolution mask layer with low readout threshold power. Using the Sb–Bi alloy film as a mask layer and SiN as a protective layer in a read-only memory disc, the super-resolution pits with diameters of 380 nm are read out by a dynamic setup, the laser wavelength is 780 nm and the numerical aperture of pickup lens is 0.45. The effects of the Sb–Bi thin film thickness, laser readout power and disc rotating velocity on the readout signal are investigated. The results show that the threshold laser power of super-resolution readout of the Sb–Bi mask layer is about 0.5 mW, and the corresponding carrier-to-noise ratio is about 20 dB at the film thickness of 50 nm. The super-resolution mechanism of the Sb–Bi alloy mask layer is discussed based on its temperature dependence of reflection

Synthesis and magnetic properties of the thin film exchange spring system of MnBi/FeCo

Science.gov (United States)

Sabet, S.; Hildebrandt, E.; Alff, L.

2017-10-01

Manganese bismuth thin films with a nominal thickness of ∼40 nm were grown at room temperature onto quartz glass substrate in a DC magnetron sputtering unit. In contrast to the usual multilayer approach, the MnBi films were deposited using a single sputtering target with a stoichiometry of Mn55Bi45 (at. %). A subsequent in-situ annealing step was performed in vacuum in order to form the ferromagnetic LTP of MnBi. X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of a textured LTP MnBi hard phase after annealing at 330 °C. This film shows a maximum saturation magnetization of 530 emu/cm3, high out-of-plane coercivity of 15 kOe induced by unreacted bismuth. The exchange coupling effect was investigated by deposition of a second layer of FeCo with 1 nm and 2 nm thickness onto the LTP MnBi films. The MnBi/FeCo double layer showed as expected higher saturation magnetization with increasing thickness of the FeCo layer while the coercive field remained constant. The fabrication of the MnBi/FeCo double layer for an exchange spring magnet was facilitated by deposition from a single stoichiometric target.

Synthesis and characterisation of co-evaporated tin sulphide thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Koteeswara Reddy, N.; Ramesh, K.; Ganesan, R.; Ramakrishna Reddy, K. T.; Gunasekhar, K. R.; Gopal, E. S. R.

2006-04-01

Tin sulphide films were grown at different substrate temperatures by a thermal co-evaporation technique. The crystallinity of the films was evaluated from X-ray diffraction studies. Single-phase SnS films showed a strong (040) orientation with an orthorhombic crystal structure and a grain size of 0.12 μm. The films showed an electrical resistivity of 6.1 Ω cm with an activation energy of 0.26 eV. These films exhibited an optical band gap of 1.37 eV and had a high optical absorption coefficient (>104 cm-1) above the band-gap energy. The results obtained were analysed to evaluate the potentiality of the co-evaporated SnS films as an absorber layer in solar photovoltaic devices.

Depth resolved lattice-charge coupling in epitaxial BiFeO3 thin film

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Hyeon Jun; Lee, Sung Su; Kwak, Jeong Hun; Kim, Young-Min; Jeong, Hu Young; Borisevich, Albina Y.; Lee, Su Yong; Noh, Do Young; Kwon, Owoong; Kim, Yunseok; Jo, Ji Young

2016-12-01

For epitaxial films, a critical thickness (t_c) can create a phenomenological interface between a strained bottom layer and a relaxed top layer. Here, we present an experimental report of how the tc in BiFeO₃ thin films acts as a boundary to determine the crystalline phase, ferroelectricity, and piezoelectricity in 60 nm thick BiFeO₃/SrRuO₃/SrTiO₃ substrate. We found larger Fe cation displacement of the relaxed layer than that of strained layer. In the time-resolved X-ray microdiffraction analyses, the piezoelectric response of the BiFeO₃ film was resolved into a strained layer with an extremely low piezoelectric coefficient of 2.4 pm/V and a relaxed layer with a piezoelectric coefficient of 32 pm/V. The difference in the Fe displacements between the strained and relaxed layers is in good agreement with the differences in the piezoelectric coefficient due to the electromechanical coupling.

Modelling the evaporation of a tear film over a contact lens.

Science.gov (United States)

Talbott, Kevin; Xu, Amber; Anderson, Daniel M; Seshaiyer, Padmanabhan

2015-06-01

A contact lens (CL) separates the tear film into a pre-lens tear film (PrLTF), the fluid layer between the CL and the outside environment, and a post-lens tear film (PoLTF), the fluid layer between the CL and the cornea. We examine a model for evaporation of a PrLTF on a modern permeable CL allowing fluid transfer between the PrLTF and the PoLTF. Evaporation depletes the PrLTF, and continued evaporation causes depletion of the PoLTF via fluid loss through the CL. Governing equations include Navier-Stokes, heat and Darcy's equations for the fluid flow and heat transfer in the PrLTF and porous layer. The PoLTF is modelled by a fixed pressure condition on the posterior surface of the CL. The original model is simplified using lubrication theory for the PrLTF and CL applied to a sagittal plane through the eye. We obtain a partial differential equation (PDE) for the PrLTF thickness that is first-order in time and fourth-order in space. This model incorporates evaporation, conjoining pressure effects in the PrLTF, capillarity and heat transfer. For a planar film, we find that this PDE can be reduced to an ordinary differential equation (ODE) that can be solved analytically or numerically. This reduced model allows for interpretation of the various system parameters and captures most of the basic physics contained in the model. Comparisons of ODE and PDE models, including estimates for the loss of fluid through the lens due to evaporation, are given. © The Authors 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. All rights reserved.

Investigations on electrical, magnetic and optical behaviors of five-layered Aurivillius Bi6Ti3Fe2O18 polycrystalline films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, W.; Xu, W.F.; Wu, J.; Zhu, J.Y.; Chen, G.; Yang, J.; Lin, T.; Meng, X.J.; Tang, X.D.; Chu, J.H.

2012-01-01

Five-layered Aurivillius Bi 6 Ti 3 Fe 2 O 18 (BTF2) polycrystalline thin films were prepared by a chemical solution deposition route. The crystalline structures and microstructures were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, micro-Raman spectrometer and atomic force microscopy. Its electrical and magnetic properties were investigated, and especially optical properties were addressed in detail. Coexistence of the ferroelectric and weak ferromagnetic properties indicated the multiferroic behavior of the BTF2 films. The optical dielectric functions in the photon energy range of 1.13–4.13 eV have been extracted by fitting the experimental data in the light of the Tauc–Lorentz dispersion model. A direct interband transition with bandgap energy ∼ 3.72 eV was determined for the BTF2 films. The weak absorption below band-gap edge was explained by the Urbach band tail rule. Finally, the optical dispersion behaviors of the BTF2 films in the transparent oscillating region were described using a single oscillator model. - Highlights: ► Five-layered Aurivillius Bi 6 Ti 3 Fe 2 O 18 (BTF2) thin films were prepared. ► Electrical and magnetic properties of the BTF2 films were investigated. ► Optical properties of the BTF2 films were especially addressed in detail.

Thin-film encapsulation of organic electronic devices based on vacuum evaporated lithium fluoride as protective buffer layer

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Yingquan; Ding, Sihan; Wen, Zhanwei; Xu, Sunan; Lv, Wenli; Xu, Ziqiang; Yang, Yuhuan; Wang, Ying; Wei, Yi; Tang, Ying

2017-03-01

Encapsulation is indispensable for organic thin-film electronic devices to ensure reliable operation and long-term stability. For thin-film encapsulating organic electronic devices, insulating polymers and inorganic metal oxides thin films are widely used. However, spin-coating of insulating polymers directly on organic electronic devices may destroy or introduce unwanted impurities in the underlying organic active layers. And also, sputtering of inorganic metal oxides may damage the underlying organic semiconductors. Here, we demonstrated that by utilizing vacuum evaporated lithium fluoride (LiF) as protective buffer layer, spin-coated insulating polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and sputtered inorganic material Er2O3, can be successfully applied for thin film encapsulation of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)-based organic diodes. By encapsulating with LiF/PVA/LiF trilayer and LiF/Er2O3 bilayer films, the device lifetime improvements of 10 and 15 times can be achieved. These methods should be applicable for thin-film encapsulation of all kinds of organic electronic devices. Moisture-induced hole trapping, and Al top electrode oxidation are suggest to be the origins of current decay for the LiF/PVA/LiF trilayer and LiF/Er2O3 bilayer films encapsulated devices, respectively.

SILAR deposited Bi2S3 thin film towards electrochemical supercapacitor

Science.gov (United States)

Raut, Shrikant S.; Dhobale, Jyotsna A.; Sankapal, Babasaheb R.

2017-03-01

Bi2S3 thin film electrode has been synthesized by simple and low cost successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method on stainless steel (SS) substrate at room temperature. The formation of interconnected nanoparticles with nanoporous surface morphology has been achieved and which is favourable to the supercapacitor applications. Electrochemical supercapacitive performance of Bi2S3 thin film electrode has been performed through cyclic voltammetry, charge-discharge and stability studies in aqueous Na2SO4 electrolyte. The Bi2S3 thin film electrode exhibits the specific capacitance of 289 Fg-1 at 5 mVs-1 scan rate in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte.

Evaporation of Particle-Stabilized Emulsion Sunscreen Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Binks, Bernard P; Fletcher, Paul D I; Johnson, Andrew J; Marinopoulos, Ioannis; Crowther, Jonathan M; Thompson, Michael A

2016-08-24

We recently showed (Binks et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b02696) how evaporation of sunscreen films consisting of solutions of molecular UV filters leads to loss of UV light absorption and derived sun protection factor (SPF). In the present work, we investigate evaporation-induced effects for sunscreen films consisting of particle-stabilized emulsions containing a dissolved UV filter. The emulsions contained either droplets of propylene glycol (PG) in squalane (SQ), droplets of SQ in PG or droplets of decane in PG. In these different emulsion types, the SQ is involatile and shows no evaporation, the PG is volatile and evaporates relatively slowly, whereas the decane is relatively very volatile and evaporates quickly. We have measured the film mass and area, optical micrographs of the film structure, and the UV absorbance spectra during evaporation. For emulsion films containing the involatile SQ, evaporation of the PG causes collapse of the emulsion structure with some loss of specular UV absorbance due to light scattering. However, for these emulsions with droplets much larger than the wavelength of light, the light is scattered only at small forward angles so does not contribute to the diffuse absorbance and the film SPF. The UV filter remains soluble throughout the evaporation and thus the UV absorption by the filter and the SPF remain approximately constant. Both PG-in-SQ and SQ-in-PG films behave similarly and do not show area shrinkage by dewetting. In contrast, the decane-in-PG film shows rapid evaporative loss of the decane, followed by slower loss of the PG resulting in precipitation of the UV filter and film area shrinkage by dewetting which cause the UV absorbance and derived SPF to decrease. Measured UV spectra during evaporation are in reasonable agreement with spectra calculated using models discussed here.

Controlling compositional homogeneity and crystalline orientation in Bi0.8Sb0.2 thermoelectric thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Rochford, C.; Medlin, D. L.; Erickson, K. J.; Siegal, M. P.

2015-12-01

Compositional-homogeneity and crystalline-orientation are necessary attributes to achieve high thermoelectric performance in Bi1-xSbx thin films. Following deposition in vacuum, and upon air exposure, we find that 50%-95% of the Sb in 100-nm thick films segregates to form a nanocrystalline Sb2O3 surface layer, leaving the film bulk as Bi-metal. However, we demonstrate that a thin SiN capping layer deposited prior to air exposure prevents Sb-segregation, preserving a uniform film composition. Furthermore, the capping layer enables annealing in forming gas to improve crystalline orientations along the preferred trigonal axis, beneficially reducing electrical resistivity.

Controlling compositional homogeneity and crystalline orientation in Bi0.8Sb0.2 thermoelectric thin films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Rochford

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Compositional-homogeneity and crystalline-orientation are necessary attributes to achieve high thermoelectric performance in Bi1−xSbx thin films. Following deposition in vacuum, and upon air exposure, we find that 50%–95% of the Sb in 100-nm thick films segregates to form a nanocrystalline Sb2O3 surface layer, leaving the film bulk as Bi-metal. However, we demonstrate that a thin SiN capping layer deposited prior to air exposure prevents Sb-segregation, preserving a uniform film composition. Furthermore, the capping layer enables annealing in forming gas to improve crystalline orientations along the preferred trigonal axis, beneficially reducing electrical resistivity.

Chemical bath deposition of Cu{sub 3}BiS{sub 3} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deshmukh, S.G., E-mail: deshmukhpradyumn@gmail.com; Vipul, Kheraj, E-mail: vipulkheraj@gmail.com [Department of Applied Physics, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Ichchhanath, Surat (India); Panchal, A.K. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Ichchhanath, Surat (India)

2016-05-06

First time, copper bismuth sulfide (Cu{sub 3}BiS{sub 3}) thin films were synthesized on the glass substrate using simple, low-cost chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The synthesized parameters such as temperature of bath, pH and concentration of precursors were optimized for the deposition of uniform, well adherent Cu{sub 3}BiS{sub 3} thin films. The optical, surface morphology and structural properties of the Cu{sub 3}BiS{sub 3} thin films were studied using UV-VIS-NIR spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The as- synthesized Cu{sub 3}BiS{sub 3} film exhibits a direct band gap 1.56 to 1.58 eV having absorption coefficient of the order of 10{sup 5} cm{sup −1}. The XRD declares the amorphous nature of the films. SEM images shows films were composed of close-packed fine spherical nanoparticles of 70-80 nm in diameter. The chemical composition of the film was almost stoichiometric. The optical study indicates that the Cu{sub 3}BiS{sub 3} films can be applied as an absorber layer for thin film solar cells.

Sequential electro-deposition of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3}/CdS films as co-sensitizer photoanodes for liquid junction solar cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jana, Atanu; Hazra, Prasenjit; Hazra, Mukul; Datta, Jayati, E-mail: jayati_datta@rediffmail.com

2016-11-01

In this investigation multilayered conjugate films are formulated with Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} and CdS nanoparticles (NPs) on FTO glass substrate. Thin layer Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} was deposited and subsequently covered with various levels of CdS coating. Optical properties and XRD analysis of the films show existence of both the compound phases. The morphology of the films studied through electron microscopy reveals coverage of spherical CdS NPs on the network of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} NPs. The electrochemical impedance records and performances output characteristics of the n-type films show that the most efficient co-sensitizer matrix is produced with deep coating of CdS on thin layer of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3}. - Highlights: • Multilayered Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3}/CdS conjugate films are formulated on FTO glass substrate. • Photo-degradation of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} is restricted by the coating of CdS layer. • High level of Cd coating on thin layer of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} have shown appreciable photocurrent output. • Photo-conversion efficiency of 0.93% is observed for the best conjugate film.

YIG: Bi2O3 Nanocomposite Thin Films for Magnetooptic and Microwave Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Nur-E-Alam

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Y3Fe5O12-Bi2O3 composite thin films are deposited onto Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG substrates and their annealing crystallization regimes are optimized (in terms of both process temperatures and durations to obtain high-quality thin film layers possessing magnetic properties attractive for a range of technological applications. The amount of bismuth oxide content introduced into these nanocomposite-type films is controlled by adjusting the RF power densities applied to both Y3Fe5O12 and Bi2O3 sputtering targets during the cosputtering deposition processes. The measured material properties of oven-annealed YIG-Bi2O3 films indicate that cosputtering of YIG-Bi2O3 composites can provide the flexibility of application-specific YIG layers fabrication of interest for several existing, emerging, and also frontier technologies. Experimental results demonstrate large specific Faraday rotation (of more than 1°/µm at 532 nm, achieved simultaneously with low optical losses in the visible range and very narrow peak-to-peak ferromagnetic resonance linewidth of around ΔHpp= 6.1 Oe at 9.77 GHz.

Variation of the optical energy gap with {gamma}-radiation and thickness in Bi-thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Al-Houty, L.; Kassem, M.E.; Abdel Kader, H.I. [Qatar Univ., Doha (Qatar). Dept. of Physics

1995-02-01

The effect of {gamma}-radiation and thickness on the optical energy gap of Bi-thin films has been investigated by measuring their optical absorbance. The measurements were carried out on thermally evaporated films having thicknesses in the range 5-20 nm. Different {gamma}-radiation doses were used ranging from 0-300 Mrad. The optical energy gap as well as the absorption coefficient were found to be {gamma}-dose dependent. (author).

Variation of the optical energy gap with γ-radiation and thickness in Bi-thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Houty, L.; Kassem, M.E.; Abdel Kader, H.I.

1995-01-01

The effect of γ-radiation and thickness on the optical energy gap of Bi-thin films has been investigated by measuring their optical absorbance. The measurements were carried out on thermally evaporated films having thicknesses in the range 5-20 nm. Different γ-radiation doses were used ranging from 0-300 Mrad. The optical energy gap as well as the absorption coefficient were found to be γ-dose dependent. (author)

The microstructure and coefficient transmission of think films Bi2Te3-xSex, alloyed by terbium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdullaev, N.M.; Mekhtieva, S.I.; Jalilov, N.Z.; Memmedov, N.R.; Zeynalov, V.Z.

2007-01-01

The defects of films microstructures of the thermoelectric materials n- and p-type Bi 2 Te 3 -xSe x , alloyed by Tb and Cl, with think, obtained by thermic evaporation in vacuum have been investigated by microscopic methods

Epitaxial growth of topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} film on Si(111) with atomically sharp interface

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bansal, Namrata [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Kim, Yong Seung [Graphene Research Institute, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of); Edrey, Eliav; Brahlek, Matthew; Horibe, Yoichi [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Iida, Keiko; Tanimura, Makoto [Research Department, Nissan Arc, Ltd. Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061 (Japan); Li Guohong; Feng Tian; Lee, Hang-Dong; Gustafsson, Torgny; Andrei, Eva [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Oh, Seongshik, E-mail: ohsean@physics.rutgers.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States)

2011-10-31

Atomically sharp epitaxial growth of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} films is achieved on Si(111) substrate with molecular beam epitaxy. Two-step growth process is found to be a key to achieve interfacial-layer-free epitaxial Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} films on Si substrates. With a single-step high temperature growth, second phase clusters are formed at an early stage. On the other hand, with low temperature growth, the film tends to be disordered even in the absence of a second phase. With a low temperature initial growth followed by a high temperature growth, second-phase-free atomically sharp interface is obtained between Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} and Si substrate, as verified by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction. The lattice constant of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} is observed to relax to its bulk value during the first quintuple layer according to RHEED analysis, implying the absence of strain from the substrate. TEM shows a fully epitaxial structure of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} film down to the first quintuple layer without any second phase or an amorphous layer.

Influence of Evaporation on Soap Film Rupture.

Science.gov (United States)

Champougny, Lorène; Miguet, Jonas; Henaff, Robin; Restagno, Frédéric; Boulogne, François; Rio, Emmanuelle

2018-03-13

Although soap films are prone to evaporate due to their large surface to volume ratio, the effect of evaporation on macroscopic film features has often been disregarded in the literature. In this work, we experimentally investigate the influence of environmental humidity on soap film stability. An original experiment allows to measure both the maximum length of a film pulled at constant velocity and its thinning dynamics in a controlled atmosphere for various values of the relative humidity [Formula: see text]. At first order, the environmental humidity seems to have almost no impact on most of the film thinning dynamics. However, we find that the film length at rupture increases continuously with [Formula: see text]. To rationalize our observations, we propose that film bursting occurs when the thinning due to evaporation becomes comparable to the thinning due to liquid drainage. This rupture criterion turns out to be in reasonable agreement with an estimation of the evaporation rate in our experiment.

Mathematical modeling of wiped-film evaporators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sommerfeld, J.T.

1976-05-01

A mathematical model and associated computer program were developed to simulate the steady-state operation of wiped-film evaporators for the concentration of typical waste solutions produced at the Savannah River Plant. In this model, which treats either a horizontal or a vertical wiped-film evaporator as a plug-flow device with no backmixing, three fundamental phenomena are described: sensible heating of the waste solution, vaporization of water, and crystallization of solids from solution. Physical property data were coded into the computer program, which performs the calculations of this model. Physical properties of typical waste solutions and of the heating steam, generally as analytical functions of temperature, were obtained from published data or derived by regression analysis of tabulated or graphical data. Preliminary results from tests of the Savannah River Laboratory semiworks wiped-film evaporators were used to select a correlation for the inside film heat transfer coefficient. This model should be a useful aid in the specification, operation, and control of the full-scale wiped-film evaporators proposed for application under plant conditions. In particular, it should be of value in the development and analysis of feed-forward control schemes for the plant units. Also, this model can be readily adapted, with only minor changes, to simulate the operation of wiped-film evaporators for other conceivable applications, such as the concentration of acid wastes

Evaporative lithographic patterning of binary colloidal films.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Daniel J; Conrad, Jacinta C; Lewis, Jennifer A

2009-12-28

Evaporative lithography offers a promising new route for patterning a broad array of soft materials. In this approach, a mask is placed above a drying film to create regions of free and hindered evaporation, which drive fluid convection and entrained particles to regions of highest evaporative flux. We show that binary colloidal films exhibit remarkable pattern formation when subjected to a periodic evaporative landscape during drying.

Introducing ultrasonic falling film evaporator for moderate temperature evaporation enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehbani, Maryam; Rahimi, Masoud

2018-04-01

In the present study, Ultrasonic Falling Film (USFF), as a novel technique has been proposed to increase the evaporation rate of moderate temperature liquid film. It is a proper method for some applications which cannot be performed at high temperature, such as foodstuff industry, due to their sensitivity to high temperatures. Evaporation rate of sodium chloride solution from an USFF on an inclined flat plate compared to that for Falling Film without ultrasonic irradiation (FF) at various temperatures was investigated. The results revealed that produced cavitation bubbles have different effects on evaporation rate at different temperatures. At lower temperatures, size fluctuation and collapse of bubbles and in consequence induced physical effects of cavitation bubbles resulted in more turbulency and evaporation rate enhancement. At higher temperatures, the behavior was different. Numerous created bubbles joined together and cover the plate surface, so not only decreased the ultrasound vibrations but also reduced the evaporation rate in comparison with FF. The highest evaporation rate enhancement of 353% was obtained at 40 °C at the lowest Reynolds number of 250. In addition, the results reveal that at temperature of 40 °C, USFF has the highest efficiency compared to FF. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

STUDI EKSPERIMENTAL FALLING FILM EVAPORATOR PADA EVAPORASI NIRA KENTAL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Medya Ayunda Fitri

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Falling film evaporator is a constructed equipment for concentrating dilute solution that are sensitive to heat flowing form a thin film. This research aims to study the evaporation of cane juice concentrated with air flow on falling film evaporator and knowing evaporation rate occured in falling film evaporator used. In the process, cane juice from plant pumped to the falling film evaporator that used in this experiment. This research used concentrated cane juice and air flow rate for variables of this experiment. Cane juice flow from top of evaporator through distributor to form thin film and air flow from the bottom of evaporator. After that, temperatur of pipe wall, inlet and outlet temperature of cane juice and air were measured. This experiment concluded that the highest concentration of outlet solution is 59 brix for liquid flow rate 154 l/h and air flow rate 10 m3/h, and the other hand inlet solution concentration 51 brix. Optimum evaporation rate is 35 kg/m2.h for 51 brix and air flow rate 10 m3/h.

Heat capacity of quantum adsorbates: Hydrogen and helium on evaporated gold films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birmingham, J.T.; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA

1996-06-01

The author has constructed an apparatus to make specific heat measurements of quantum gases adsorbed on metallic films at temperatures between 0.3 and 4 K. He has used this apparatus to study quench-condensed hydrogen films between 4 and 923 layers thick with J = 1 concentrations between 0.28 and 0.75 deposited on an evaporated gold surface. He has observed that the orientational ordering of the J = 1 molecules depends on the substrate temperature during deposition of the hydrogen film. He has inferred that the density of the films condensed at the lowest temperatures is 25% higher than in bulk H 2 crystals and have observed that the structure of those films is affected by annealing at 3.4 K. The author has measured the J = 1 to J = 0 conversion rate to be comparable to that of the bulk for thick films; however, he found evidence that the gold surface catalyzes conversion in the first two to four layers. He has also used this apparatus to study films of 4 He less than one layer thick adsorbed on an evaporated gold surface. He shows that the phase diagram of the system is similar to that for 4 He/graphite although not as rich in structure, and the phase boundaries occur at different coverages and temperatures. At coverages below about half a layer and at sufficiently high temperatures, the 4 He behaves like a two-dimensional noninteracting Bose gas. At lower temperatures and higher coverages, liquidlike and solidlike behavior is observed. The Appendix shows measurements of the far-infrared absorptivity of the high-T c superconductor La 1.87 Sr 0.13 CuO 4

Infrared waveguide fabrications with an E-beam evaporated chalcogenide glass film

KAUST Repository

Yang, Xiaoming

2014-12-12

Chalcogenide glasses have a variety of unique optical properties due to the intrinsic structural flexibility and bonds metastability. They are desirable materials for many applications, such as infrared communication sensors, holographic grating, optical imaging, and ultrafast nonlinear optic devices. Here, we introduce a novel electron-beam evaporation process to deposit the good quality arsenic trisulfide (As2S3) films and then the As2S3 films were used to fabricate the As2S3 waveguides with three approaches. The first method is photoresist lift-off. Because of the restriction of thermal budget of photoresist, the As2S3 film must be deposited at the room temperature. The second one is the silicon dioxide lift-off process on sapphire substrates, in which the As2S3 film could be evaporated at a high temperature (>180 °C) for better film quality. The third one is the plasma etching process with a metal protective thin layer in the pattern development process.

Evaporation of Sunscreen Films: How the UV Protection Properties Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Binks, Bernard P; Brown, Jonathan; Fletcher, Paul D I; Johnson, Andrew J; Marinopoulos, Ioannis; Crowther, Jonathan M; Thompson, Michael A

2016-06-01

We have investigated the evaporation of thin sunscreen films and how the light absorption and the derived sun protection factor (SPF) change. For films consisting of solutions of common UV filters in propylene glycol (PG) as solvent, we show how evaporation generally causes three effects. First, the film area can decrease by dewetting leading to a transient increase in the average film thickness. Second, the film thins by evaporative loss of the solvent. Third, precipitation of the UV filter occurs when solvent loss causes the solubility limit to be reached. These evaporation-induced changes cause the UV absorbance of the film to decrease with resultant loss of SPF over the time scale of the evaporation. We derive an approximate model which accounts semiquantitatively for the variation of SPF with evaporation. Experimental results for solutions of different UV filters on quartz, different skin mimicking substrates, films with added nanoparticles, films with an added polymer and films with fast-evaporating decane as solvent (instead of slow evaporating PG) are discussed and compared with model calculations. Addition of either nanoparticles or polymer suppress film dewetting. Overall, it is hoped that the understanding gained about the mechanisms whereby film evaporation affects the SPF will provide useful guidance for the formulation of more effective sunscreens.

Growth and quantum transport properties of vertical Bi2Se3 nanoplate films on Si substrates.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, M Z; Wang, Z H; Yang, L; Pan, D S; Li, Da; Gao, Xuan; Zhang, Zhi-Dong

2018-05-14

Controlling the growth direction (planar vs. vertical) and surface-to-bulk ratio can lead to lots of unique properties for two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. We report a simple method to fabricate continuous films of vertical Bi2Se3 nanoplates on Si substrate and investigate the quantum transport properties of such films. In contrast to (001) oriented planar Bi2Se3 nanoplate film, vertical Bi2Se3 nanoplate films are enclosed by (015) facets, which possess high surface-to-bulk ratio that can enhance the quantum transport property of topological surface states. And by controlling the compactness of vertical Bi2Se3 nanoplates, we realized an effective tuning of the weak antilocalization (WAL) effect from topological surface states in Bi2Se3 films. Our work paves a way for exploring the unique transport properties of this unconventional structure topological insulator film. © 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Morphological analysis of co-evaporated blend films based on initial growth for organic photovoltaics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shibata, Yosei, E-mail: yosei.shibata@aist.go.jp [Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565 (Japan); Taima, Tetsuya [Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565 (Japan); Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012 (Japan); Zhou, Ying; Ohashi, Noboru; Kono, Takahiro [Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565 (Japan); Yoshida, Yuji, E-mail: yuji.yoshida@aist.go.jp [Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565 (Japan)

2015-11-15

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Initial growth mode of co-evaporated films was observed. • Balanced crystal growth leads to improvement of photovoltaic performance. • Crystal growth of fullerene during co-evaporation process was restricted. • The power conversion efficiency of 3% was obtained without electron blocking layer. - Abstract: Bulk heterojunction structures composed of electron donor and acceptor molecules for application in high-performance organic photovoltaics studied. To fabricate these structures, the co-evaporation method in vacuum is commonly applied; however, the details of the crystal growth process during co-evaporation have not yet been established. Here, we focused on structural analysis of blend films composed of phthalocyanine and fullerene based on initial growth stage. Similar crystal growth behavior to that typically observed in single-component molecules is obtained for the films. These results suggest that the competitive crystal growth between donors and acceptors occurs during co-evaporation process. The balance of thin film growth among donor and acceptor molecules can be related to improved photovoltaic performance. The homogeneous blend structure leads to improvement of the power conversion efficiency from 1.2% to 3.0%.

Electrosprayed heterojunction WO{sub 3}/BiVO{sub 4} films with nanotextured pillar structure for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mali, Mukund G.; Yoon, Hyun; Yoon, Sam S., E-mail: skyoon@korea.ac.kr [School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-713 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Min-woo [School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-713 (Korea, Republic of); Green School, Korea University, Seoul 136-713 (Korea, Republic of); Swihart, Mark T. [Department of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, New York 14260 (United States); Al-Deyab, Salem S. [Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451 (Saudi Arabia)

2015-04-13

We demonstrate that the addition of a tungsten oxide (WO{sub 3}) layer beneath a bismuth vanadate (BiVO{sub 4}) photocatalyst layer with a nanotextured pillar morphology significantly increases the photocurrent density in photoelectrochemical water splitting. The WO{sub 3}-BiVO{sub 4} bilayer films produced a photocurrent of up to 3.3 mA/cm{sup 2} under illumination at 100 mW/cm{sup 2} (AM1.5 spectrum). The bilayer film was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and photoelectrochemical methods, which confirmed the superiority of the bilayer film in terms of its morphology and charge separation and transport ability. Both WO{sub 3} and BiVO{sub 4} were deposited by electrostatic spraying under open-air conditions, which resulted in nanotextured pillars of BiVO{sub 4} atop a smooth WO{sub 3} film. The optimal coating conditions are also reported.

Density functional study of BiSbTeSe{sub 2} topological insulator thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mohammadpourrad, Zahra; Abolhassani, Mohammadreza [Department of Physics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2017-08-15

In this work, using density functional theory calculations, we have investigated the band topology of bulk BiSbTeSe{sub 2} and its thin film electronic properties in several thicknesses. It is one member of the quaternary compounds Bi{sub 2-x}Sb{sub x}Te{sub 3-y}Se{sub y} (BSTS) with the best intrinsic bulk insulating behavior. Based on our calculations we have found that a band inversion at Γ-point is induced when spin-orbit coupling is turned on, with an energy gap of about 0.318 eV. The film thickness has an effect on the surface states such that a gap opens at Dirac point in 6 quintuple-layers film and with decrease in thickness, the magnitude of the gap increases. The atomic contributions have been mapped out for the first few layers of thin films to demonstrate the surface states. The relative charge density has been calculated layer-wise and the penetration depth of the surface states into the bulk region is found to be about 2.5-3.5 quintuple layers, depending on the termination species of thin films. (copyright 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Visible light activity of pulsed layer deposited BiVO{sub 4}/MnO{sub 2} films decorated with gold nanoparticles: The evidence for hydroxyl radicals formation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trzciński, Konrad, E-mail: trzcinskikonrad@gmail.com [Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk (Poland); Szkoda, Mariusz [Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk (Poland); Sawczak, Mirosław [Centre for Plasma and Laser Engineering, The Szewalski Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery, Fiszera 14, 80-231 Gdansk (Poland); Karczewski, Jakub [Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Gdansk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk (Poland); Lisowska-Oleksiak, Anna [Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk (Poland)

2016-11-01

Highlights: • The BiVO{sub 4} + MnO{sub 2} photoactive layers were prepared by pulsed laser deposition method. • Prepared layers can act as photoanodes for water splitting. • The thin BiVO{sub 4} + MnO{sub 2} film can be used as photocatalyst for methylene blue degradation. • The formation of hydroxyl radicals during photocatalys illumination has been proved. • The dropcasted GNP improved significantly photocatalytic properties of tested layers. - Abstract: Thin films containing BiVO{sub 4} and MnO{sub 2} deposited on FTO and modified by Au nanoparticles were studied towards their photoelectrochemical and photocatalytical activities in an aqueous electrolyte. Electrodes were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. The surfactant-free ablation process was used for preparation of the gold nanoparticles (GNP) water suspension. Obtained layers of varied thicknesses (27–115 nm) were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical methods such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear voltammetry and chronoamperometry under visible light illumination and in the dark were applied to characterize layers as photoanodes. Simple modification of the BiVO{sub 4} + MnO{sub 2} layer by drop-casting of small amount of colloidal gold (1.5 × 10{sup −14} mol of GNP on 1 cm{sup 2}) leads to enhancement of the generated photocurrent recorded at E = 0.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl (0.1 M KCl) from 63 μA/cm{sup 2} to 280 μA/cm{sup 2}. Photocatalytical studies were also exploited towards decomposition of methylene blue (MB). A possible mechanism of MB photodegradation was proposed. The formation of hydroxyl radicals was detected by photoluminescence spectra using terephthalic acid as the probe molecule.

Electrical properties and surface morphology of electron beam evaporated p-type silicon thin films on polyethylene terephthalate for solar cells applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ang, P. C.; Ibrahim, K.; Pakhuruddin, M. Z. [Nano-Optoelectronics Research and Technology Laboratory, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden 11800 Penang (Malaysia)

2015-04-24

One way to realize low-cost thin film silicon (Si) solar cells fabrication is by depositing the films with high-deposition rate and manufacturing-compatible electron beam (e-beam) evaporation onto inexpensive foreign substrates such as glass or plastic. Most of the ongoing research is reported on e-beam evaporation of Si films on glass substrates to make polycrystalline solar cells but works combining both e-beam evaporation and plastic substrates are still scarce in the literature. This paper studies electrical properties and surface morphology of 1 µm electron beam evaporated Al-doped p-type silicon thin films on textured polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate for application as an absorber layer in solar cells. In this work, Si thin films with different doping concentrations (including an undoped reference) are prepared by e-beam evaporation. Energy dispersion X-ray (EDX) showed that the Si films are uniformly doped by Al dopant atoms. With increased Al/Si ratio, doping concentration increased while both resistivity and carrier mobility of the films showed opposite relationships. Root mean square (RMS) surface roughness increased. Overall, the Al-doped Si film with Al/Si ratio of 2% (doping concentration = 1.57×10{sup 16} atoms/cm{sup 3}) has been found to provide the optimum properties of a p-type absorber layer for fabrication of thin film Si solar cells on PET substrate.

Electrical properties and surface morphology of electron beam evaporated p-type silicon thin films on polyethylene terephthalate for solar cells applications

Science.gov (United States)

Ang, P. C.; Ibrahim, K.; Pakhuruddin, M. Z.

2015-04-01

One way to realize low-cost thin film silicon (Si) solar cells fabrication is by depositing the films with high-deposition rate and manufacturing-compatible electron beam (e-beam) evaporation onto inexpensive foreign substrates such as glass or plastic. Most of the ongoing research is reported on e-beam evaporation of Si films on glass substrates to make polycrystalline solar cells but works combining both e-beam evaporation and plastic substrates are still scarce in the literature. This paper studies electrical properties and surface morphology of 1 µm electron beam evaporated Al-doped p-type silicon thin films on textured polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate for application as an absorber layer in solar cells. In this work, Si thin films with different doping concentrations (including an undoped reference) are prepared by e-beam evaporation. Energy dispersion X-ray (EDX) showed that the Si films are uniformly doped by Al dopant atoms. With increased Al/Si ratio, doping concentration increased while both resistivity and carrier mobility of the films showed opposite relationships. Root mean square (RMS) surface roughness increased. Overall, the Al-doped Si film with Al/Si ratio of 2% (doping concentration = 1.57×1016 atoms/cm3) has been found to provide the optimum properties of a p-type absorber layer for fabrication of thin film Si solar cells on PET substrate.

Vapor Phase Growth of High-Quality Bi-Te Compounds Using Elemental Bi and Te Sources: A Comparison Between High Vacuum and Atmospheric Pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Concepción, O.; Escobosa, A.; de Melo, O.

2018-03-01

Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), traditionally used in the industry as thermoelectric material, has deserved much attention recently due to its properties as a topological insulator, a kind of material that might have relevant applications in spintronics or quantum computing, among other innovative uses. The preparation of high-quality material has become a very important technological task. Here, we compare the preparation of Bi2Te3 by physical vapor transport from the evaporation of elemental Bi and Te sources, under either low pressure or atmospheric pressure. The layers were characterized by different techniques to evaluate its structural properties. As a result, it is concluded that, as a consequence of the different transport regimes, films grown at atmospheric pressure present better crystal quality.

Experimental study of falling film evaporation in large scale rectangular channel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, X.G.; Yang, Y.H.; Hu, P.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • This paper studies the falling film evaporation in large scale rectangular channel experimentally. • The effects of air flow rate, film temperature and film flow rate on falling film evaporation are analyzed. • Increasing the air flow rate is considered as an efficient method to enhance the evaporation rate. • A correlation including the wave effect for falling film evaporation is derived based on heat and mass transfer analogy. - Abstract: The falling film evaporation in a large scale rectangular channel is experimentally studied in this paper for the design and improvement of passive containment cooling system. The evaporation mass transfer coefficient h D is obtained by the evaporation rate and vapor partial pressure difference of film surface and air bulk. The experimental results indicate that increasing of air flow rate appears to enhance h D , while the film temperature and film flow rate have little effect on h D . Since the wave effect on evaporation is noticed in experiment, the evaporation mass transfer correlation including the wave effect is developed on the basis of heat and mass transfer analogy and experimental data

Dipole pinning effect on photovoltaic characteristics of ferroelectric BiFeO3 films

Science.gov (United States)

Biswas, P. P.; Thirmal, Ch.; Pal, S.; Murugavel, P.

2018-01-01

Ferroelectric bismuth ferrite is an attractive candidate for switchable devices. The effect of dipole pinning due to the oxygen vacancy layer on the switching behavior of the BiFeO3 thin film fabricated by the chemical solution deposition method was studied after annealing under air, O2, and N2 environment. The air annealed film showed well defined and dense grains leading to a lower leakage current and superior electrical properties compared to the other two films. The photovoltage and transient photocurrent measured under positive and negative poling elucidated the switching nature of the films. Though the air and O2 annealed films showed a switchable photovoltaic response, the response was severely affected by oxygen vacancies in the N2 annealed film. In addition, the open circuit voltage was found to be mostly dependent on the polarization of BiFeO3 rather than the Schottky barriers at the interface. This work provides an important insight into the effect of dipole pinning caused by oxygen vacancies on the switchable photovoltaic effect of BiFeO3 thin films along with the importance of stoichiometric, defect free, and phase pure samples to facilitate meaningful practical applications.

Decomposition of thermally unstable substances in film evaporators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matz, G

1982-10-01

It is widely known that film evaporators are considered to permit really gentle evaporation of heat-sensitive substances. Nevertheless, decomposition of such substance still occurs to an extent depending upon the design and operation of the evaporator. In the following a distinction is made between evaporators with films not generated mechanically, namely the long tube evaporator (lTE) or climbing film evaporator, the falling film evaporator (FFE) and the multiple phase helical tube (MPT) or helical coil evaporators (TFE). Figs 1 and 2 illustrate the mode of operation. A theory of the decomposition of thermally unstable substances in these evaporators is briefly outlined and compared with measurements. Such a theory cannot be developed without any experimental checks; on the other hand, meausrements urgently need a theoretical basis if only to establish what actually has to be measured. All experiments are made with a system of readily adjustable decomposability, namely with aqueous solutions of saccharose; the thermal inversion of this compound can be controlled by addition of various amounts or concentrations of hydrochloric acid. In the absence of any catalysis by hydrochloric acid, the decomposition rates within in the temperature interval studied (60-130/sup 0/C) are so low that the experiments would take much too long and determination of the concentration differences (generally by polarimetric methods) would be very complicated. Such slight effects would also be very unfavourable for comparison with theory. (orig.)

Refrigerant falling film evaporation review: Description, fluid dynamics and heat transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernández-Seara, José; Pardiñas, Ángel Á.

2014-01-01

Falling film horizontal tube evaporators for refrigeration equipment are an interesting alternative to pool boiling evaporators concerning operation costs, safety, thermodynamic efficiency, charge of refrigerant or size. Plenty of literature works studied falling film evaporation, but for its application in fields such as desalination and petrochemical industry or OTEC. This review focuses mainly on those works from the literature that analysed the main issues of falling film evaporation of refrigerants, to better understand heat transfer and fluid dynamics in such evaporators. First, falling film evaporation is described and compared to pool boiling, to define its main advantages and inconveniences. Then, the literature concerning film around the tubes and between them is analysed, as well as the phenomenon of film breakdown, which sharply deteriorates the heat transfer performance of falling film evaporators. After it, the results from those works that studied analytically and experimentally the heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) with different types of tubes and refrigerants are discussed. The review finishes with a brief summary of important parameters of falling film evaporation, which might be useful for the design of such equipment. - Highlights: •We defined falling film evaporation and compared it with pool boiling. •We reviewed works from the literature concerning refrigerant falling film evaporation. •We classified the ideas from the works attending to crucial aspects of the process. •We developed a summary of the main ideas which could be useful for design purpose

Growth of (100)-highly textured BaBiO{sub 3} thin films on silicon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferreyra, C. [GIyA and INN, CNEA, Av. Gral Paz 1499, 1650 San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Departamento de Física, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón 1, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Marchini, F. [Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (Argentina); Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Analítica y Química-Física, INQUIMAE-CONICET, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón 2, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Granell, P. [INTI, CMNB, Av. Gral Paz 5445, B1650KNA San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Golmar, F. [Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (Argentina); INTI, CMNB, Av. Gral Paz 5445, B1650KNA San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología, UNSAM, Campus Miguelete, 1650 San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Albornoz, C. [GIyA and INN, CNEA, Av. Gral Paz 1499, 1650 San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); and others

2016-08-01

We report on the growth and characterization of non-epitaxial but (100)-highly textured BaBiO{sub 3} thin films on silicon substrates. We have found the deposition conditions that optimize the texture, and show that the textured growth is favoured by the formation of a BaO layer at the first growth stages. X-ray diffraction Φ-scans, together with the observation that the same textured growth is found on films grown on Pt and SiO{sub 2} buffered Si, demonstrate the absence of epitaxy. Finally, we have shown that our (100)-oriented BaBiO{sub 3} films can be used as suitable buffers for the growth of textured heterostructures on silicon, which could facilitate the integration of potential devices with standard electronics. - Highlights: • BaBiO{sub 3} thin films were grown on Si substrates and characterized. • Films prepared using optimized conditions are highly textured in the (100) direction. • The absence of in-plane texture was demonstrated by X-ray diffraction. • Our films are suitable buffers for the growth of (100)-textured oxide heterostructures.

Parametric study of thin film evaporation from nanoporous membranes

Science.gov (United States)

Wilke, Kyle L.; Barabadi, Banafsheh; Lu, Zhengmao; Zhang, TieJun; Wang, Evelyn N.

2017-10-01

The performance and lifetime of advanced electronics are often dictated by the ability to dissipate heat generated within the device. Thin film evaporation from nanoporous membranes is a promising thermal management approach, which reduces the thermal transport distance across the liquid film while also providing passive capillary pumping of liquid to the evaporating interface. In this work, we investigated the dependence of thin film evaporation from nanoporous membranes on a variety of geometric parameters. Anodic aluminum oxide membranes were used as experimental templates, where pore radii of 28-75 nm, porosities of 0.1-0.35, and meniscus locations down to 1 μm within the pore were tested. We demonstrated different heat transfer regimes and observed more than an order of magnitude increase in dissipated heat flux by operating in the pore-level evaporation regime. The pore diameter had little effect on pore-level evaporation performance due to the negligible conduction resistance from the pore wall to the evaporating interface. The dissipated heat flux scaled with porosity as the evaporative area increased. Furthermore, moving the meniscus as little as 1 μm into the pore decreased the dissipated heat flux by more than a factor of two due to the added resistance to vapor escaping the pore. The experimental results elucidate thin film evaporation from nanopores and confirm findings of recent modeling efforts. This work also provides guidance for the design of future thin film evaporation devices for advanced thermal management. Furthermore, evaporation from nanopores is relevant to water purification, chemical separations, microfluidics, and natural processes such as transpiration.

Tear-Film Evaporation Rate from Simultaneous Ocular-Surface Temperature and Tear-Breakup Area.

Science.gov (United States)

Dursch, Thomas J; Li, Wing; Taraz, Baseem; Lin, Meng C; Radke, Clayton J

2018-01-01

A corneal heat-transfer model is presented to quantify simultaneous measurements of fluorescein tear-breakup area (TBA) and ocular-surface temperature (OST). By accounting for disruption of the tear-film lipid layer (TFLL), we report evaporation rates through lipid-covered tear. The modified heat-transfer model provides new insights into evaporative dry eye. A quantitative analysis is presented to assess human aqueous tear evaporation rate (TER) through intact TFLLs from simultaneous in vivo measurement of time-dependent infrared OST and fluorescein TBA. We interpret simultaneous OST and TBA measurements using an extended heat-transfer model. We hypothesize that TBAs are ineffectively insulated by the TFLL and therefore exhibit higher TER than does that for a well-insulting TFLL-covered tear. As time proceeds, TBAs increase in number and size, thereby increasing the cornea area-averaged TER and decreasing OST. Tear-breakup areas were assessed from image analysis of fluorescein tear-film-breakup video recordings and are included in the heat-transfer description of OST. Model-predicted OSTs agree well with clinical experiments. Percent reductions in TER of lipid-covered tear range from 50 to 95% of that for pure water, in good agreement with literature. The physical picture of noninsulating or ruptured TFLL spots followed by enhanced evaporation from underlying cooler tear-film ruptures is consistent with the evaporative-driven mechanism for local tear rupture. A quantitative analysis is presented of in vivo TER from simultaneous clinical measurement of transient OST and TBA. The new heat-transfer model accounts for increased TER through expanding TBAs. Tear evaporation rate varies strongly across the cornea because lipid is effectively missing over tear-rupture troughs. The result is local faster evaporation compared with nonruptured, thick lipid-covered tear. Evaporative-driven tear-film ruptures deepen to a thickness where fluorescein quenching commences and local

Physical properties of Bi doped CdTe thin films grown by CSVT and their influence on the CdS/CdTe solar cells PV-properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vigil-Galan, O.; Sanchez-Meza, E.; Ruiz, C.M.; Sastre-Hernandez, J.; Morales-Acevedo, A.; Cruz-Gandarilla, F.; Aguilar-Hernandez, J.; Saucedo, E.; Contreras-Puente, G.; Bermudez, V.

2007-01-01

The physical properties of Bi doped CdTe films, grown on glass substrates by the Closed Space Transport Vapour (CSVT) method, from different Bi doped CdTe powders are presented. The CdTe:Bi films were characterized using Photoluminescence, Hall effect, X-Ray diffraction, SEM and Photoconductivity measurements. Moreover, CdS/CdTe:Bi solar cells were made and their characteristics like short circuit current density (J sc ), open circuit voltage (V OC ), fill factor (FF) and efficiency (η) were determined. These devices were fabricated from Bi doped CdTe layers deposited on CdS with the same growth conditions than those used for the single CdTe:Bi layers. A correlation between the CdS/CdTe:Bi solar cell characteristics and the physical properties of the Bi doped CdTe thin films are presented and discussed

Growth and characterization of MnGa thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy on BiSb topological insulator

Science.gov (United States)

Duy Khang, Nguyen Huynh; Ueda, Yugo; Yao, Kenichiro; Hai, Pham Nam

2017-10-01

We report on the crystal growth as well as the structural and magnetic properties of Bi0.8Sb0.2 topological insulator (TI)/MnxGa1-x bi-layers grown on GaAs(111)A substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. By optimizing the growth conditions and Mn composition, we were able to grow MnxGa1-x thin films on Bi0.8Sb0.2 with the crystallographic orientation of Bi0.8Sb0.2(001)[1 1 ¯ 0]//MnGa (001)[100]. Using magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy, we detected both the L10 phase ( x 0.6 ) of MnxGa1-x. For 0.50 ≤ x ≤ 0.55 , we obtained ferromagnetic L10-MnGa thin films with clear perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, which were confirmed by MCD hysteresis, anomalous Hall effect as well as superconducting quantum interference device measurements. Our results show that the BiSb/MnxGa1-x bi-layer system is promising for perpendicular magnetization switching using the giant spin Hall effect in TIs.

Optimization of excess Bi doping to enhance ferroic orders of spin casted BiFeO3 thin film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta, Surbhi; Gupta, Vinay; Tomar, Monika; James, A. R.; Pal, Madhuparna; Guo, Ruyan; Bhalla, Amar

2014-01-01

Multiferroic Bismuth Ferrite (BiFeO 3 ) thin films with varying excess bismuth (Bi) concentration were grown by chemical solution deposition technique. Room temperature multiferroic properties (ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, and piezoelectricity) of the deposited BiFeO 3 thin films have been studied. High resolution X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies reveal that the dominant phases formed in the prepared samples change continuously from a mixture of BiFeO 3 and Fe 2 O 3 to pure BiFeO 3 phase and, subsequently, to a mixture of BiFeO 3 and Bi 2 O 3 with increase in the concentration of excess Bi from 0% to 15%. BiFeO 3 thin films having low content (0% and 2%) of excess Bi showed the traces of ferromagnetic phase (γ-Fe 2 O 3 ). Deterioration in ferroic properties of BiFeO 3 thin films is also observed when prepared with higher content (15%) of excess Bi. Single-phased BiFeO 3 thin film prepared with 5% excess Bi concentration exhibited the soft ferromagnetic hysteresis loops and ferroelectric characteristics with remnant polarization 4.2 μC/cm 2 and saturation magnetization 11.66 emu/g. The switching of fine spontaneous domains with applied dc bias has been observed using piezoresponse force microscopy in BiFeO 3 thin films having 5% excess Bi. The results are important to identify optimum excess Bi concentration needed for the formation of single phase BiFeO 3 thin films exhibiting the improved multiferroic properties.

The effect of Cr buffer layer thickness on voltage generation of thin-film thermoelectric modules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mizoshiri, Mizue; Mikami, Masashi; Ozaki, Kimihiro

2013-01-01

The effect of Cr buffer layer thickness on the open-circuit voltage generated by thin-film thermoelectric modules of Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 (p-type) and Bi 2 Te 2.7 Se 0.3 (n-type) materials was investigated. A Cr buffer layer, whose thickness generally needs to be optimized to improve adhesion depending on the substrate surface condition, such as roughness, was deposited between thermoelectric thin films and glass substrates. When the Cr buffer layer was 1 nm thick, the Seebeck coefficients and electrical conductivity of 1 µm thermoelectric thin films with the buffer layers were approximately equal to those of the thermoelectric films without the buffer layers. When the thickness of the Cr buffer layer was 1 µm, the same as the thermoelectric films, the Seebeck coefficients of the bilayer films were reduced by an electrical current flowing inside the Cr buffer layer and the generation of Cr 2 Te 3 . The open-circuit voltage of the thin-film thermoelectric modules decreased with an increase in the thickness of the Cr buffer layer, which was primarily induced by the electrical current flow. The reduction caused by the Cr 2 Te 3 generation was less than 10% of the total voltage generation of the modules without the Cr buffer layers. The voltage generation of thin-film thermoelectric modules could be controlled by the Cr buffer layer thickness. (paper)

Semiconductor- to metallic-like behavior in Bi thin films on KCl substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bui, Thanh Nhan; Raskin, Jean-Pierre; Hackens, Benoit

2016-01-01

Bi thin films, with a thickness of 100 nm, are deposited by electron-beam evaporation on a freshly cleaved (100) KCl substrate. The substrate temperature during film growth (T_d_e_p) ranges from room temperature up to 170 °C. Films deposited at room temperature exhibit a maze-like microstructure typical of the rhombohedral (110) texture, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction. For T_d_e_p above 80 °C, a different microstructure appears, characterized by concentric triangular shapes corresponding to the trigonal (111) texture. Temperature dependence of the resistivity shows a transition from a semiconductor-like behavior for films deposited at room temperature to a metallic-like behavior for T_d_e_p above 80 °C. From magnetoresistance measurements between room temperature and 1.6 K, we extract the electron and hole mobilities, concentrations, and mean free paths, which allow to draw a complete picture of the transport properties of both types of films.

Structural and electrical properties of epitaxial Si layers prepared by E-beam evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dogan, P. [Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Kekulestr. 5, 12489 Berlin (Germany)], E-mail: pinar.dogan@hmi.de; Rudigier, E.; Fenske, F.; Lee, K.Y.; Gorka, B.; Rau, B.; Conrad, E.; Gall, S. [Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Kekulestr. 5, 12489 Berlin (Germany)

2008-08-30

In this work, we present structural and electrical properties of thin Si films which are homoepitaxially grown at low substrate temperatures (T{sub s} 450-700 deg. C) by high-rate electron beam evaporation. As substrates, monocrystalline Si wafers with (100) and (111) orientations and polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) seed layers on glass were used. Applying Secco etching, films grown on Si(111) wafers exhibit a decreasing etch pit density with increasing T{sub s}. The best structural quality of the films was obtained on Si(100) wafers. Defect etching on epitaxially grown poly-Si absorbers reveal regions with different crystalline quality. Solar cells have been prepared on both wafers and seed layers. Applying Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) and Hydrogen plasma passivation an open circuit voltage of 570 mV for wafer based and 346 mV for seed layer based solar cells have been reached.

Comparative study on Pulsed Laser Deposition and Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation of urease thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smausz, Tomi; Megyeri, Gabor; Kekesi, Renata; Vass, Csaba; Gyoergy, Eniko; Sima, Felix; Mihailescu, Ion N.; Hopp, Bela

2009-01-01

Urease thin films were produced by Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) and Pulsed Laser Deposition from two types of targets: frozen water solutions of urease with different concentrations (1-10% m/v) and pure urease pellets. The fluence of the ablating KrF excimer laser was varied between 300 and 2200 mJ/cm 2 . Fourier transform infrared spectra of the deposited films showed no difference as compared to the original urease. Morphologic studies proved that the films consist of a smooth 'base' layer with embedded micrometer-sized droplets. Absorption-coefficient measurements contradicted the traditional 'absorptive matrix' model for MAPLE deposition. The laser energy was absorbed by urease clusters leading to a local heating-up and evaporation of the frozen matrix from the uppermost layer accompanied by the release of dissolved urease molecules. Significant enzymatic activity of urease was preserved only during matrix assisted transfer.

Thickness dependent quantum oscillations of transport properties in topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rogacheva, E. I.; Budnik, A. V.; Sipatov, A. Yu.; Nashchekina, O. N. [National Technical University “Kharkov Polytechnic Institute,” 21 Frunze St., Kharkov 61002 (Ukraine); Dresselhaus, M. S. [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

2015-02-02

The dependences of the electrical conductivity, the Hall coefficient, and the Seebeck coefficient on the layer thickness d (d = 18−600 nm) of p-type topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films grown by thermal evaporation in vacuum on glass substrates were obtained at room temperature. In the thickness range of d = 18–100 nm, sustained oscillations with a substantial amplitude were revealed. The observed oscillations are well approximated by a harmonic function with a period Δd = (9.5 ± 0.5) nm. At d > 100 nm, the transport coefficients practically do not change as d is increased. The oscillations of the kinetic properties are attributed to the quantum size effects due to the hole confinement in the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} quantum wells. The results of the theoretical calculations of Δd within the framework of a model of an infinitely deep potential well are in good agreement with the experimental results. It is suggested that the substantial amplitude of the oscillations and their sustained character as a function of d are connected with the topologically protected gapless surface states of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and are inherent to topological insulators.

Falling film evaporators: organic solvent regeneration in nuclear fuel reprocessing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcin, I.

1989-01-01

The aim of this work was to improve knowledge about working of falling film evaporators used in nuclear fuel reprocessing plants for organic solvent regeneration. The first part deals with a non evaporation film. An original film thickness measuring technique was used; infrared thermography. It gave indications on hydrodynamics and wave amplitude and pointed out thermocapillary forces to be the cause of bad wetting of the heated wall. By another way we showed that a small slit spacing on the film distributor, an enhanced surface roughness and an important liquid flow rate favour a better wetting. The second part deals with evaporation of a binary solvent mixture. Experiments in an industrial evaporator corroborated the fact that it is essential for the efficiency of the apparatus to work at high flow rates. We propose an over-simple model which can be used to estimate performances of co-current falling film evaporators of the process [fr

Putting evaporators to work: wiped film evaporator for high level wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dierks, R.D.; Bonner, W.F.

1976-01-01

At Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories, a pilot scale, wiped film evaporator was tested for concentrating high level liquid wastes from Purex-type nuclear fuel recovery processes. The concentrates produced up to 60 wt-percent total solids; and the simplicity of operation and design of the evaporator gave promise for low maintenance and high reliability

Facile Fabrication of BiOI/BiOCl Immobilized Films With Improved Visible Light Photocatalytic Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yingxian Zhong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available HIGHLIGHTSA facial method was used to fabricate BiOI/BiOCl film at room temperature.30% BiOI/BiOCl showed an excellent photocatalytic activity and stability.Improvement of photocatalytic activity was owed to expanded visible light absorption and high separation efficiency of charge.Photocatalysis has been considered to be one of the most promising ways to photodegrade organic pollutants. Herein, a series of BiOI/BiOCl films coating on FTO were fabricated through a simple method at room temperature. The photocatalytic efficiency of 30%BiOI/BiOCl could reach more than 99% aiming to degrading RhB and MB after 90 and 120 min, respectively. Compared with BiOCl, 30%BiOI/BiOCl showed 12 times higher efficiency when degrading RhB. In comparison with BiOI, 30%BiOI/BiOCl showed 5 and 6 times higher efficiency when degrading RhB and MB, respectively. These obvious enhancements were attributed to expanded visible light absorption and high separation performance of photoinduced charge. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of 30%BiOI/BiOCl had no obvious decrease after five recycles, suggesting that it was a promising photocatalyst for the removal of MB and RhB pollutants. Finally, the possible growth process for the BiOI/BiOCl thin films and photocatalysis mechanism were investigated in details. This work would provide insight to the reasonable construction of BiOX heterojunction and the photocatalytic mechanism in degrading organic pollutants.

Optimization of excess Bi doping to enhance ferroic orders of spin casted BiFeO{sub 3} thin film

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gupta, Surbhi; Gupta, Vinay, E-mail: drguptavinay@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi (India); Tomar, Monika [Department of Physics, Miranda Housea, University of Delhi, Delhi (India); James, A. R. [Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad (India); Pal, Madhuparna; Guo, Ruyan; Bhalla, Amar [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Texas at SanAntonio, San Antonio 78249 (United States)

2014-06-21

Multiferroic Bismuth Ferrite (BiFeO{sub 3}) thin films with varying excess bismuth (Bi) concentration were grown by chemical solution deposition technique. Room temperature multiferroic properties (ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, and piezoelectricity) of the deposited BiFeO{sub 3} thin films have been studied. High resolution X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies reveal that the dominant phases formed in the prepared samples change continuously from a mixture of BiFeO{sub 3} and Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} to pure BiFeO{sub 3} phase and, subsequently, to a mixture of BiFeO{sub 3} and Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} with increase in the concentration of excess Bi from 0% to 15%. BiFeO{sub 3} thin films having low content (0% and 2%) of excess Bi showed the traces of ferromagnetic phase (γ-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}). Deterioration in ferroic properties of BiFeO{sub 3} thin films is also observed when prepared with higher content (15%) of excess Bi. Single-phased BiFeO{sub 3} thin film prepared with 5% excess Bi concentration exhibited the soft ferromagnetic hysteresis loops and ferroelectric characteristics with remnant polarization 4.2 μC/cm{sup 2} and saturation magnetization 11.66 emu/g. The switching of fine spontaneous domains with applied dc bias has been observed using piezoresponse force microscopy in BiFeO{sub 3} thin films having 5% excess Bi. The results are important to identify optimum excess Bi concentration needed for the formation of single phase BiFeO{sub 3} thin films exhibiting the improved multiferroic properties.

The modulation and reconstruction of a BiO layer of cuprate Bi2212

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan Wei; Zeng, Z

2011-01-01

Studies based on ab initio density functional theory show that the modulated structures of BiO surfaces of cuprate Bi2212 superconductors are spontaneously formed and closely related to the reconstructions of BiO surfaces. The reconstructions of BiO layers occur both on the surface and in the bulk, accompanied with the formations of BiO-zigzag chains and Bi 2 O 2 quadrilaterals. The structural modulations of the BiO surface are along the b axis, perpendicular to the BiO-zigzag chains along the a axis. Our calculations provide a unified understanding of the formation of modulating structures in Bi2212. Another interesting result is that electronic structures of BiO surfaces are significantly influenced by the CuO 2 layer beneath because of the structural modulations and reconstructions.

Thickness-dependent piezoelectric behaviour and dielectric properties of lanthanum modified BiFeO3 thin films

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Glenda Biasotto

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Bi0.85La0.15FeO3 (BLFO thin films were deposited on Pt(111/Ti/SiO2 /Si substrates by the soft chemical method. Films with thicknesses ranging from 140 to 280 nm were grown on platinum coated silicon substrates at 500°C for 2 hours. The X-ray diffraction analysis of BLFO films evidenced a hexagonal structure over the entire thickness range investigated. The grain size of the film changes as the number of the layers increases, indicating thickness dependence. It is found that the piezoelectric response is strongly influenced by the film thickness. It is shown that the properties of BiFeO3 thin films, such as lattice parameter, dielectric permittivity, piezoeletric coefficient etc., are functions of misfit strains.

Effect of Annealing Temperature on Flowerlike Cu3BiS3 Thin Films Grown by Chemical Bath Deposition

Science.gov (United States)

Deshmukh, S. G.; Patel, S. J.; Patel, K. K.; Panchal, A. K.; Kheraj, Vipul

2017-10-01

For widespread application of thin-film photovoltaic solar cells, synthesis of inexpensive absorber material is essential. In this work, deposition of ternary Cu3BiS3 absorber material, which contains abundant and environmentally benign elements, was carried out on glass substrate. Flowerlike Cu3BiS3 thin films with nanoflakes as building block were formed on glass substrate by chemical bath deposition. These films were annealed at 573 K and 673 K in sulfur ambient for structural improvement. Their structure was characterized using Raman spectroscopy, as well as their surface morphological and optical properties. The x-ray diffraction profile of as-deposited Cu3BiS3 thin film revealed amorphous structure, which transformed to orthorhombic phase after annealing. The Raman spectrum exhibited a characteristic peak at 290 cm-1. Scanning electron microscopy of as-deposited Cu3BiS3 film confirmed formation of nanoflowers with diameter of around 1052 nm. Wettability testing of as-deposited Cu3BiS3 thin film demonstrated hydrophobic nature, which became hydrophilic after annealing. The measured ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectra of the Cu3BiS3 thin films gave an absorption coefficient of 105 cm-1 and direct optical bandgap of about 1.42 eV after annealing treatment. Based on all these results, such Cu3BiS3 material may have potential applications in the photovoltaic field as an absorber layer.

The impact of surface chemistry on the performance of localized solar-driven evaporation system.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Shengtao; Zhang, Yao; Duan, Haoze; Liu, Yanming; Quan, Xiaojun; Tao, Peng; Shang, Wen; Wu, Jianbo; Song, Chengyi; Deng, Tao

2015-09-04

This report investigates the influence of surface chemistry (or wettability) on the evaporation performance of free-standing double-layered thin film on the surface of water. Such newly developed evaporation system is composed of top plasmonic light-to-heat conversion layer and bottom porous supporting layer. Under solar light illumination, the induced plasmonic heat will be localized within the film. By modulating the wettability of such evaporation system through the control of surface chemistry, the evaporation rates are differentiated between hydrophilized and hydrophobized anodic aluminum oxide membrane-based double layered thin films. Additionally, this work demonstrated that the evaporation rate mainly depends on the wettability of bottom supporting layer rather than that of top light-to-heat conversion layer. The findings in this study not only elucidate the role of surface chemistry of each layer of such double-layered evaporation system, but also provide additional design guidelines for such localized evaporation system in applications including desalination, distillation and power generation.

Quantum interference effects in [Co/Bi]n thin films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Athanasopoulos P.

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Magnetoconductivity (MC, Δσ(Β, and Hall coefficient, RH(B, measurements have been performed in polycrystalline thin films of Bi(15nm, Bi(10nm/Co(1nm/Bi(10nm trilayer and [Co(0.7nm/Bi(2nm]10 multilayer, grown by magnetron scattering. The temperature dependence of RH(B curves reveal the existence of a second conduction channel below 250K, that can be assigned to surface states. MC measurements between ±0.4T show at 5K an interplay between weak-antilocalization (WAL in Bi and Bi/Co/Bi films and weal-localization (WL in [Co/Bi]10 multilayer.

Enhanced stability of thin film transistors with double-stacked amorphous IWO/IWO:N channel layer

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Dong; Pi, Shubin; Yang, Jianwen; Tiwari, Nidhi; Ren, Jinhua; Zhang, Qun; Liu, Po-Tsun; Shieh, Han-Ping

2018-06-01

In this work, bottom-gate top-contact thin film transistors with double-stacked amorphous IWO/IWO:N channel layer were fabricated. Herein, amorphous IWO and N-doped IWO were deposited as front and back channel layers, respectively, by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The electrical characteristics of the bi-layer-channel thin film transistors (TFTs) were examined and compared with those of single-layer-channel (i.e., amorphous IWO or IWO:N) TFTs. It was demonstrated to exhibit a high mobility of 27.2 cm2 V‑1 s‑1 and an on/off current ratio of 107. Compared to the single peers, bi-layer a-IWO/IWO:N TFTs showed smaller hysteresis and higher stability under negative bias stress and negative bias temperature stress. The enhanced performance could be attributed to its unique double-stacked channel configuration, which successfully combined the merits of the TFTs with IWO and IWO:N channels. The underlying IWO thin film provided percolation paths for electron transport, meanwhile, the top IWO:N layer reduced the bulk trap densities. In addition, the IWO channel/gate insulator interface had reduced defects, and IWO:N back channel surface was insensitive to the ambient atmosphere. Overall, the proposed bi-layer a-IWO/IWO:N TFTs show potential for practical applications due to its possibly long-term serviceability.

Size effects of polycrystalline lanthanum modified Bi4Ti3O12 thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simoes, A.Z.; Riccardi, C.S.; Cavalcante, L.S.; Gonzalez, A.H.M.; Longo, E.; Varela, J.A.

2008-01-01

The film thickness dependence on the ferroelectric properties of lanthanum modified bismuth titanate Bi 3.25 La 0.75 Ti 3 O 12 was investigated. Films with thicknesses ranging from 230 to 404 nm were grown on platinum-coated silicon substrates by the polymeric precursor method. The internal strain is strongly influenced by the film thickness. The morphology of the film changes as the number of layers increases indicating a thickness dependent grain size. The leakage current, remanent polarization and drive voltage were also affected by the film thickness

Hall Effect and transient surface photovoltage (SPV study of Cu3BiS3 thin films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Mesa

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Here, we present the electrical properties of the compound Cu3BiS3 deposited by co-evaporation. This new compound may have the properties necessary to be used as an absorbent layer in solar cells. The samples were characterized by Hall effect and transient surface photovoltage (SPV measurements. Using Hall effect measurements, we found that the concentration of n charge carriers is in the order of 1016 cm-3 irrespective of the Cu/Bi mass ratio. We also found that the mobility of this compound (μ in the order of 4 cm2 V-1s-1 varies according to the transport mechanisms that govern it and are dependent on temperature. Based on the SPV, we found a high density of surface defects, which can be passivated by superimposing a buffer layer over the Cu3BiS3 compound.

Middle Electrode in a Vertical Transistor Structure Using an Sn Layer by Thermal Evaporation

Science.gov (United States)

Nogueira, Gabriel Leonardo; da Silva Ozório, Maiza; da Silva, Marcelo Marques; Morais, Rogério Miranda; Alves, Neri

2018-03-01

We report a process for performing the middle electrode for a vertical field effect transistor (VOFET) by the evaporation of a tin (Sn) layer. Bare aluminum oxide (Al2O3), obtained by anodization, and Al2O3 covered with a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer were used as the gate dielectric. We measured the electrical resistance of Sn while the evaporation was carried out to find the best condition to prepare the middle electrode, that is, good lateral conduction associated with openings that give permeability to the electric field in a vertical direction. This process showed that 55 nm Sn thick is suitable for use in a VOFET, being easier to achieve optimal thickness when the Sn is evaporated onto PMMA than onto bare Al2O3. The addition of a PMMA layer on the Al2O3 surface modifies the morphology of the Sn layer, resulting in a lowering of the threshold voltage. The values of threshold voltage and electric field, VTH = - 8 V and ETH = 354.5 MV/m respectively, were calculated using an Al2O3 film 20 nm thick covered with a 14 nm PMMA layer as gate dielectric, while for bare Al2O3 these values were VTH = - 10 V and ETH = 500 MV/m.

Middle Electrode in a Vertical Transistor Structure Using an Sn Layer by Thermal Evaporation

Science.gov (United States)

Nogueira, Gabriel Leonardo; da Silva Ozório, Maiza; da Silva, Marcelo Marques; Morais, Rogério Miranda; Alves, Neri

2018-05-01

We report a process for performing the middle electrode for a vertical field effect transistor (VOFET) by the evaporation of a tin (Sn) layer. Bare aluminum oxide (Al2O3), obtained by anodization, and Al2O3 covered with a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer were used as the gate dielectric. We measured the electrical resistance of Sn while the evaporation was carried out to find the best condition to prepare the middle electrode, that is, good lateral conduction associated with openings that give permeability to the electric field in a vertical direction. This process showed that 55 nm Sn thick is suitable for use in a VOFET, being easier to achieve optimal thickness when the Sn is evaporated onto PMMA than onto bare Al2O3. The addition of a PMMA layer on the Al2O3 surface modifies the morphology of the Sn layer, resulting in a lowering of the threshold voltage. The values of threshold voltage and electric field, VTH = - 8 V and ETH = 354.5 MV/m respectively, were calculated using an Al2O3 film 20 nm thick covered with a 14 nm PMMA layer as gate dielectric, while for bare Al2O3 these values were VTH = - 10 V and ETH = 500 MV/m.

Thin film evolution equations from (evaporating) dewetting liquid layers to epitaxial growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thiele, U

2010-01-01

In the present contribution we review basic mathematical results for three physical systems involving self-organizing solid or liquid films at solid surfaces. The films may undergo a structuring process by dewetting, evaporation/condensation or epitaxial growth, respectively. We highlight similarities and differences of the three systems based on the observation that in certain limits all of them may be described using models of similar form, i.e. time evolution equations for the film thickness profile. Those equations represent gradient dynamics characterized by mobility functions and an underlying energy functional. Two basic steps of mathematical analysis are used to compare the different systems. First, we discuss the linear stability of homogeneous steady states, i.e. flat films, and second the systematics of non-trivial steady states, i.e. drop/hole states for dewetting films and quantum-dot states in epitaxial growth, respectively. Our aim is to illustrate that the underlying solution structure might be very complex as in the case of epitaxial growth but can be better understood when comparing the much simpler results for the dewetting liquid film. We furthermore show that the numerical continuation techniques employed can shed some light on this structure in a more convenient way than time-stepping methods. Finally we discuss that the usage of the employed general formulation does not only relate seemingly unrelated physical systems mathematically, but does allow as well for discussing model extensions in a more unified way.

Simple flash evaporator for making thin films of compounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hemanadhan, M.; Bapanayya, Ch.; Agarwal, S. C. [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016 (India)

2010-07-15

A simple and compact arrangement for flash evaporation is described. It uses a cell phone vibrator for powder dispensing that can be incorporated into a vacuum deposition chamber without any major alterations. The performance of the flash evaporation system is checked by making thin films of the optical memory chalcogenide glass Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} (GST). Energy dispersive x-ray analysis shows that the flash evaporation preserves the stoichiometry in thin films.

Triangle islands and cavities on the surface of evaporated Cu(In, Ga)Se2 absorber layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han Anjun; Zhang Yi; Liu Wei; Li Boyan; Sun Yun

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Lots of uncommon triangle islands and cavities are found on (1 1 2) planes terminated by Se atoms of evaporated Cu(In, Ga)Se 2 thin films. ► Se ad-dimer as a nucleus, Cu atom diffusion from Cu(In, Ga)Se 2 grains brings the epitaxial triangle island. ► The triangle islands grow with a two-dimensional layered mode. ► The triangle cavities are formed due to the insufficient coalescence of triangle islands. ► The performance of solar cell without triangle islands is improved. - Abstract: Cu(In, Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) thin films are co-evaporated at a constant substrate temperature of 500 °C on the Mo/soda lime glass substrates. The structural properties and chemical composition of the CIGS films are studied by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and an X-ray fluorescent spectrometer (XRF), respectively. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to study the surface morphology. Lots of uncommon triangle islands and cavities are found on some planes of the CIGS thin films. We investigate the formation mechanism of these triangle islands. It is found that the planes with the triangle islands are (1 1 2) planes terminated by Se atoms. Se ad-dimer as a nucleus, Cu diffusion from CIGS grains brings the epitaxial triangle islands which grow with a two-dimensional layered mode. The film with Cu/(Ga + In) = 0.94–0.98 is one key of the formation of these islands. The triangle cavities are formed due to the insufficient coalescence of triangle islands. The growth of triangle islands brings a compact surface with large layered grains and many jagged edges, but no triangle cavity. Finally, we compare the performance of solar cell with triangle islands and layered gains. It is found that the performance of solar cell with large layered gains is improved.

Effectiveness of Combined Tear Film Therapy in Patients with Evaporative Dry Eye with Short Tear Film Breakup Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yung Hui; Kang, Yeon Soo; Lee, Hyo Seok; Choi, Won; You, In Cheon; Yoon, Kyung Chul

2017-10-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of combined tear film therapy targeted to aqueous, mucin, and lipid layers in patients with refractory evaporative dry eye (EDE) with short tear film breakup time (TBUT). The patients who had EDE with short TBUT and severe symptoms refractory to artificial tears were treated with hyaluronic acid (HA) 0.15% and diquafosol tetrasodium (DQS) 3% (Group 1), HA and carbomer-based lipid-containing eyedrops (Liposic EDO Gel, LPO) (Group 2), or HA, DQS, and LPO (Group 3). Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) score, visual analog scale (VAS) symptom score, TBUT, Schirmer score, and corneal and conjunctival staining scores were evaluated, and noninvasive tear film breakup time (NIBUT) and tear meniscus height were measured using Keratograph ® 5 M before and 1 and 3 months after treatment. OSDI scores, VAS scores, TBUT, and NIBUT were improved at 1 and 3 months after treatment in all groups (all P film layers was most effective in improving ocular symptoms and tear film quality.

Characterization of ITO/CdO/glass thin films evaporated by electron beam technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hussein Abdel-Hafez Mohamed and Hazem Mahmoud Ali

2008-01-01

Full Text Available A thin buffer layer of cadmium oxide (CdO was used to enhance the optical and electrical properties of indium tin oxide (ITO films prepared by an electron-beam evaporation technique. The effects of the thickness and heat treatment of the CdO layer on the structural, optical and electrical properties of ITO films were carried out. It was found that the CdO layer with a thickness of 25 nm results in an optimum transmittance of 70% in the visible region and an optimum resistivity of 5.1×10−3 Ω cm at room temperature. The effect of heat treatment on the CdO buffer layer with a thickness of 25 nm was considered to improve the optoelectronic properties of the formed ITO films. With increasing annealing temperature, the crystallinity of ITO films seemed to improve, enhancing some physical properties, such as film transmittance and conductivity. ITO films deposited onto a CdO buffer layer heated at 450 °C showed a maximum transmittance of 91% in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum associated with the highest optical energy gap of 3.61 eV and electrical resistivity of 4.45×10−4 Ω cm at room temperature. Other optical parameters, such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, dielectric constant, dispersion energy, single effective oscillator energy, packing density and free carrier concentration, were also studied.

Effect of In addition on some physical properties of Sn20Se(60-x) Bi20 amorphous films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amer, H.H.; Abdel-wahab, A.A.; Abdel-Mongy, A.

2012-01-01

The present paper reports the effect of replacement of selenium by indium on the optical gap and some other physical parameters of new quaternary chalcogenide In x Sn 20 Se (60-x) Bi 20 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 at. %) thin films. Thin films with thickness 100 nm of In x Sn 20 Se (60-x) Bi 20 were prepared by thermal evaporation of the bulk samples. Increasing indium content is found to affect the average heat of atomization, the average coordination number, the number of constraints and the cohesive energy of the In x Sn 20 Se (60-x) Bi 20 alloys. Optical absorption measurements showed that the fundamental absorption edge is a function of composition. The optical absorption is due to allowed non-direct transition and the energy gap decreases with the increase of indium content. The chemical bond approach has been applied successfully to interpret the decrease of the optical gap with increasing indium content. The prepared films were irradiated by gamma rays at doses up to 15 Mrad. It was found that the compositions were almost stable against gamma radiation.

Strongly compressed Bi (111) bilayer films on Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} studied by scanning tunneling microscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, K. F.; Yang, Fang; Song, Y. R. [Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Liu, Canhua; Qian, Dong; Gao, C. L.; Jia, Jin-Feng [Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing 210093 (China)

2015-09-21

Ultra-thin Bi films show exotic electronic structure and novel quantum effects, especially the widely studied Bi (111) film. Using reflection high-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy, we studied the structure and morphology evolution of Bi (111) thin films grown on Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}. A strongly compressed, but quickly released in-plane lattice of Bi (111) is found in the first three bilayers. The first bilayer of Bi shows a fractal growth mode with flat surface, while the second and third bilayer show a periodic buckling due to the strong compression of the in-plane lattice. The lattice slowly changes to its bulk value with further deposition of Bi.

Phonons of single quintuple Bi 2 Te 3 and Bi 2 Se 3 films and bulk materials

KAUST Repository

Cheng, Wei; Ren, Shang-Fen

2011-01-01

Phonons of single quintuple films of Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 and corresponding bulk materials are calculated in detail by MedeA (a trademark of Materials Design) and Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP). The calculated results with and without spin-orbit couplings are compared, and the important roles that the spin-orbit coupling plays in these materials are discussed. A symmetry breaking caused by the anharmonic potentials around Bi atoms in the single quintuple films is identified and discussed. The observed Raman intensity features in Bi 2Te3 and Bi2Se3 quintuple films are explained. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Phonons of single quintuple Bi 2 Te 3 and Bi 2 Se 3 films and bulk materials

KAUST Repository

Cheng, Wei

2011-03-10

Phonons of single quintuple films of Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 and corresponding bulk materials are calculated in detail by MedeA (a trademark of Materials Design) and Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP). The calculated results with and without spin-orbit couplings are compared, and the important roles that the spin-orbit coupling plays in these materials are discussed. A symmetry breaking caused by the anharmonic potentials around Bi atoms in the single quintuple films is identified and discussed. The observed Raman intensity features in Bi 2Te3 and Bi2Se3 quintuple films are explained. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Crystallinity and superconductivity of as-grown MgB2 thin films with AlN buffer layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsujimoto, K.; Shimakage, H.; Wang, Z.; Kaya, N.

2005-01-01

The effects of aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layers on the superconducting properties of MgB 2 thin film were investigated. The AlN buffer layers and as-grown MgB 2 thin films were deposited in situ using the multiple-target sputtering system. The best depositing condition for the AlN/MgB 2 bi-layer occurred when the AlN was deposited on c-cut sapphire substrates at 290 deg. C. The crystallinity of the AlN/MgB 2 bi-layer was studied using the XRD φ-scan and it showed that AlN and MgB 2 had the same in-plane alignment rotated at an angle of 30 deg. as compared to c-cut sapphire. The critical temperature of the MgB 2 film was 29.8 K and the resistivity was 50.0 μΩ cm at 40 K

Enhanced Charge Extraction of Li-Doped TiO₂ for Efficient Thermal-Evaporated Sb₂S₃ Thin Film Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Chunfeng; Luo, Jingting; Lan, Huabin; Fan, Bo; Peng, Huanxin; Zhao, Jun; Sun, Huibin; Zheng, Zhuanghao; Liang, Guangxing; Fan, Ping

2018-02-28

We provided a new method to improve the efficiency of Sb₂S₃ thin film solar cells. The TiO₂ electron transport layers were doped by lithium to improve their charge extraction properties for the thermal-evaporated Sb₂S₃ solar cells. The Mott-Schottky curves suggested a change of energy band and faster charge transport in the Li-doped TiO₂ films. Compared with the undoped TiO₂, Li-doped mesoporous TiO₂ dramatically improved the photo-voltaic performance of the thermal-evaporated Sb₂S₃ thin film solar cells, with the average power conversion efficiency ( PCE ) increasing from 1.79% to 4.03%, as well as the improved open-voltage ( V oc ), short-circuit current ( J sc ) and fill factors. The best device based on Li-doped TiO₂ achieved a power conversion efficiency up to 4.42% as well as a V oc of 0.645 V, which are the highest values among the reported thermal-evaporated Sb₂S₃ solar cells. This study showed that Li-doping on TiO₂ can effectively enhance the charge extraction properties of electron transport layers, offering a new strategy to improve the efficiency of Sb₂S₃-based solar cells.

Multiferroic BiFeO{sub 3} thin films: Structural and magnetic characterization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ali, Z. [Physics Department, Faculty of Science (Girls Branch), Al-Azhar University, Cairo (Egypt); Atta, A. [National Center for Radiation Research and Technology (NCRRT), Nasr City, Cairo (Egypt); Abbas, Y. [Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia (Egypt); Sedeek, K.; Adam, A.; Abdeltwab, E. [Physics Department, Faculty of Science (Girls Branch), Al-Azhar University, Cairo (Egypt)

2015-02-27

BiFeO{sub 3} (BFO) film has been deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate by a simple sol–gel spin-coating technique. The crystal phase composition, surface morphology, topography and magnetization measurements of the BFO thin film were investigated using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), scanning electronic microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope and vibrating sample magnetometer, respectively. GIXRD analysis revealed that the film was fully crystallized and no impure phase was observed. Cross-section SEM results indicated that compact and homogeneous BFO thin film was deposited on ITO with a thickness of about 180 nm. Moreover, most of A and E-symmetry normal modes of R3c BFO were assigned by Raman spectroscopy. We report here that the pure phase BFO film shows ferromagnetism at room temperature with remarkably high saturation magnetization of 63 kA m{sup −1}. Our results are discussed mainly in correlation with the condition of processing technique and destruction of the spiral spin cycloid at interface layers and grain boundaries. - Highlights: • Multiferroic BiFeO{sub 3} (BFO) thin film was prepared by sol–gel spin-coating method. • BFO film w asdeposited on indium tin oxide substrate with a thickness of 180 nm. • The film exhibits pure rhombohedral perovskite structure. • High saturation magnetization was recorded for our film at room temperature.

Self-Poling of BiFeO3 Thick Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Khomyakova, Evgeniya; Sadl, Matej; Ursic, Hana; Daniels, John; Malic, Barbara; Bencan, Andreja; Damjanovic, Dragan; Rojac, Tadej

2016-08-03

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) is difficult to pole because of the combination of its high coercive field and high electrical conductivity. This problem is particularly pronounced in thick films. The poling, however, must be performed to achieve a large macroscopic piezoelectric response. This study presents evidence of a prominent and reproducible self-poling effect in few-tens-of-micrometer-thick BiFeO3 films. Direct and converse piezoelectric measurements confirmed that the as-sintered BiFeO3 thick films yield d33 values of up to ∼20 pC/N. It was observed that a significant self-poling effect only appears in cases when the films are heated and cooled through the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition (Curie temperature TC ∼ 820 °C). These self-poled films exhibit a microstructure with randomly oriented columnar grains. The presence of a compressive strain gradient across the film thickness cooled from above the TC was experimentally confirmed and is suggested to be responsible for the self-poling effect. Finally, the macroscopic d33 response of the self-poled BiFeO3 film was characterized as a function of the driving-field frequency and amplitude.

The thickness effect of Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 buffer layer in PbZr0.58Ti0.42O3/Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (PZT/BLT) multilayered ferroelectric thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Jianjun; Li Ping; Zhang Guojun; Yu Jun; Wu Yunyi; Wen Xinyi

2011-01-01

A series of PbZr 0.58 Ti 0.42 O 3 (PZT) thin films with various Bi 3.25 La 0.75 Ti 3 O 12 (BLT) buffer layer thicknesses were deposited on Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 /p-Si(100) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The X-ray diffraction measurements of PZT film and PZT/BLT multilayered films illustrate that the pure PZT film shows (111) preferential orientation, and the PZT/BLT films show (110) preferential orientation with increasing thickness of the BLT layer. There are no obvious diffraction peaks for the BLT buffer layer in the multilayered films, for interaction effect between the bottom BLT and top PZT films during annealing at the same time. From the surface images of field-emission scanning electron microscope, there are the maximum number of largest-size grains in PZT/BLT(30 nm) film among all the samples. The growth direction and grain size have significant effects on ferroelectric properties of the multilayered films. The fatigue characteristics of PZT and PZT/BLT films suggest that 30-nm-thick BLT is just an effective buffer layer enough to alleviate the accumulation of oxygen vacancies near the PZT/BLT interface. The comparison of these results with that of PZT/Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 /p-Si(100) basic structured film suggests that the buffer layer with an appropriate thickness can improve the ferroelectric properties of multilayered films greatly.

Facile Fabrication of BiOI/BiOCl Immobilized Films with Improved Visible Light Photocatalytic Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Yingxian; Liu, Yuehua; Wu, Shuang; Zhu, Yi; Chen, Hongbin; Yu, Xiang; Zhang, Yuanming

2018-03-01

Photocatalysis has been considered to be one of the most promising ways to photodegrade organic pollutants. Herein, a series of BiOI/BiOCl films coating on FTO were fabricated through a simple method at room temperature. The photocatalytic efficiency of 30%BiOI/BiOCl could reach more than 99% aiming to degrading RhB and MB after 90 and 120 min, respectively. Compared with BiOCl, 30%BiOI/BiOCl showed 12 times higher efficiency when degrading RhB. In comparison with BiOI, 30%BiOI/BiOCl showed 5 and 6 times higher efficiency when degrading RhB and MB, respectively. These obvious enhancements were attributed to expanded visible light absorption and high separation performance of photoinduced charge. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of 30%BiOI/BiOCl had no obvious decrease after 5 recycles, suggesting that it was a promising photocatalyst for the removal of MB and RhB pollutants. Finally, the possible growth process for the BiOI/BiOCl thin films and photocatalysis mechanism were investigated in details. This work would provide insight to the reasonable construction of BiOX heterojunction and the photocatalytic mechanism in degrading organic pollutants.

Optical and Electrical Properties of Al/(p)Bi2S3 Schottky Junction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kachari, T.; Wary, G.; Rahman, A.

2010-01-01

Thin film Al/(p)Bi 2 S 3 Schottky junctions were prepared by vacuum evaporation under pressure 10 -6 Torr. The p-type Bi 2 S 3 thin films with acceptor concentration (3.36-7.33)x10 16 /cm 3 were obtained by evaporating 'In' along with Bi 2 S 3 powder and then annealing the films at 453K for 5 hours. Different junction-parameters such as ideality factor, barrier height, effective Richardson's constant, short-circuit current, etc. were determined from I-V characteristics. The junctions exhibited rectifying I-V characteristics and also photovoltaic effect. Ideality factor was found to decrease with the increase of temperature. Proper doping, annealing, and hydrogenation are necessary to reduce the series resistance so as to achieve high carrier efficiency. More works are being carried out in this direction.

BaSi2 formation mechanism in thermally evaporated films and its application to reducing oxygen impurity concentration

Science.gov (United States)

Hara, Kosuke O.; Yamamoto, Chiaya; Yamanaka, Junji; Arimoto, Keisuke; Nakagawa, Kiyokazu; Usami, Noritaka

2018-04-01

Thermal evaporation is a simple and rapid method to fabricate semiconducting BaSi2 films. In this study, to elucidate the BaSi2 formation mechanism, the microstructure of a BaSi2 epitaxial film fabricated by thermal evaporation has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The BaSi2 film is found to consist of three layers with different microstructural characteristics, which is well explained by assuming two stages of film deposition. In the first stage, BaSi2 forms through the diffusion of Ba atoms from the deposited Ba-rich film to the Si substrate while in the second stage, the mutual diffusion of Ba and Si atoms in the film leads to BaSi2 formation. On the basis of the BaSi2 formation mechanism, two issues are addressed. One is the as-yet unclarified reason for epitaxial growth. It is found important to quickly form BaSi2 in the first stage for the epitaxial growth of upper layers. The other issue is the high oxygen concentration in BaSi2 films around the BaSi2-Si interface. Two routes of oxygen incorporation, i.e., oxidation of the Si substrate surface and initially deposited Ba-rich layer by the residual gas, are identified. On the basis of this knowledge, oxygen concentration is decreased by reducing the holding time of the substrate at high temperatures and by premelting of the source. In addition, X-ray diffraction results show that the decrease in oxygen concentration can lead to an increased proportion of a-axis-oriented grains.

Thin film circuits for future applications. Pt. 2. Evaporation technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haug, G; Houska, K H; Schmidt, H J; Sprengel, H P; Wohak, K

1976-06-01

Investigations of thin film diffusion processes and reactions with encapsulation materials resulted in improved long term stability of evaporated NiCr resistors, SiO capacitors and NiCr/Au conductors for thin film circuits. Stable NiCr resistor networks can be formed on ceramic substrates, and SiO capacitors of good quality can be deposited on the new very smooth ceramic substrates. The knowledge of the influence of evaporation parameters make the production of SiO capacitors with definite properties and good reproducibility possible. The range of capacitance of tantalum thin film circuits can be extended by integration with evaporated SiO capacitors.

Falling film evaporation on a tube bundle with plain and enhanced tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Habert, M.

2009-04-01

The complexities of two-phase flow and evaporation on a tube bundle present important problems in the design of heat exchangers and the understanding of the physical phenomena taking place. The development of structured surfaces to enhance boiling heat transfer and thus reduce the size of evaporators adds another level of complexity to the modeling of such heat exchangers. Horizontal falling film evaporators have the potential to be widely used in large refrigeration systems and heat pumps, in the petrochemical industry and for sea water desalination units, but there is a need to improve the understanding of falling film evaporation mechanisms to provide accurate thermal design methods. The characterization of the effect of enhanced surfaces on the boiling phenomena occurring in falling film evaporators is thus expected to increase and optimize the performance of a tube bundle. In this work, the existing LTCM falling film facility was modified and instrumented to perform falling film evaporation measurements on single tube row and a small tube bundle. Four types of tubes were tested including: a plain tube, an enhanced condensing tube (Gewa-C+LW) and two enhanced boiling tubes (Turbo-EDE2 and Gewa-B4) to extend the existing database. The current investigation includes results for two refrigerants, R134a and R236fa, at a saturation temperature of T sat = 5 °C, liquid film Reynolds numbers ranging from 0 to 3000, at heat fluxes between 20 and 60 kW/m² in pool boiling and falling film configurations. Measurements of the local heat transfer coefficient were obtained and utilized to improve the current prediction methods. Finally, the understanding of the physical phenomena governing the falling film evaporation of liquid refrigerants has been improved. Furthermore, a method for predicting the onset of dry patch formation has been developed and a local heat transfer prediction method for falling film evaporation based on a large experimental database has been proposed

Pentacene Active Channel Layers Prepared by Spin-Coating and Vacuum Evaporation Using Soluble Precursors for OFET Applications

OpenAIRE

Ochiai, Shizuyasu; Palanisamy, Kumar; Kannappan, Santhakumar; Shin, Paik-Kyun

2012-01-01

Pentacene OFETs of bottom-gate/bottom-contact were fabricated with three types of pentacene organic semiconductors and cross linked Poly(4-vinylphenol) or polycarbonate as gate dielectric layer. Two different processes were used to prepare the pentacene active channel layers: (1) spin-coating on dielectric layer using two different soluble pentacene precursors of SAP and DMP; (2) vacuum evaporation on PC insulator. X-ray diffraction studies revealed coexistence of thin film and bulk phase of ...

Development of novel control system to grow ZnO thin films by reactive evaporation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerardo Gordillo

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This work describes a novel system implemented to grow ZnO thin films by plasma assisted reactive evaporation with adequate properties to be used in the fabrication of photovoltaic devices with different architectures. The innovative aspect includes both an improved design of the reactor used to activate the chemical reaction that leads to the formation of the ZnO compound as an electronic system developed using the virtual instrumentation concept. ZnO thin films with excellent opto-electrical properties were prepared in a reproducible way, controlling the deposition system through a virtual instrument (VI with facilities to control the amount of evaporated zinc involved in the process that gives rise to the formation of ZnO, by means of the incorporation of PID (proportional integral differential and PWM (pulse width modulation control algorithms. The effectiveness and reliability of the developed system was verified by obtaining with good reproducibility thin films of n+-ZnO and i-ZnO grown sequentially in situ with thicknesses and resistivities suitable for use as window layers in chalcopyrite based thin film solar cells.

Control of oxygen octahedral rotation in BiFeO3 films using modulation of SrRuO3 bottom electrode layer

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sungsu; Jo, Ji Young

2015-03-01

Oxygen octahedral rotation of multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) has attracted great attention due to changes of electrical and magnetic properties. Coupling of octahedral rotation in BFO-bottom electrode layer interface remains unexplored. Recently, there have been reported the control of octahedral rotation in SrRuO3 (SRO) film on SrTiO3 (001) substrate by coherently controlling the oxygen pressure during growth and interfacial coupling. Here we demonstrate that the octahedral rotation of BFO film is changed using tetragonal a0a0c- tilted-SRO bottom electrodes. In this work, BFO/SRO heterostructure is fabricated to SrTiO3 (001) single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition at different oxygen partial pressures. The rotation pattern of FeO6 and the structural symmetry are identified from half-integer reflections using high-resolution X-ray diffraction. The effects depending on octahedral tilting of BFO films on the magnetic and ferroelectric properties will be presented.

Stacking layered structure of polymer light emitting diodes prepared by evaporative spray deposition using ultradilute solution for improving carrier balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoki, Youichi; Shakutsui, Masato; Fujita, Katsuhiko

2009-01-01

Polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) with staking layered structures are prepared by the evaporative spray deposition using ultradilute solution (ESDUS) method, which has enabled forming a polymer layer onto another polymer layer even if both polymers are soluble in a solvent used for the preparation. By this method, polymers having various HOMO and LUMO levels can be stacked as a hole transport layer, an emitting layer and an electron transport layer as commonly employed in small molecule-based organic light emitting diodes. Here we demonstrated that a PLED having a tri-layer structure using three kinds of polymers showed significant improvement in quantum efficiency compared with those having a single or bi-layer structure of corresponding polymers.

Properties of SrBi2Nb2O9 thin films on Pt-coated Si

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avila, R.E.; Navarro, P.O.; Martin, V. del C.; Fernandez, L.M.; Sylvester, G.; Retuert, P.J.; Gramsch, E.

2002-01-01

SrBi 2 Nb 2 O 9 powders and thin films, on Pt-coated Si, were synthesised by the sol-gel method. Three-layer thin films appear homogeneous down to the 100 nm scale, polycrystalline in the tetragonal Aurivillius phase, at a average thickness of 40 nm per layer. The index of refraction at the center of the visible range increases with the sintering temperature from roughly 2.1 (at 400 Centigrade) to 2.5 (at 700 Centigrade). The expression n 2 -1 increases linearly with the relative density of the thin films, in similar fashion as previous studies in PbTiO 3 thin films. The dielectric constant in quasistatic and high frequency (1 MHz) modes, is between 160 and 230. (Author)

Structural and electrical properties of co-evaporated Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} thin films with varied Cu contents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Min Young; Kim, Girim; Kim, Jongwan; Park, Jae Hwan; Lim, Donggun, E-mail: dglim@ut.ac.kr

2013-11-01

Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} (CIGS) thin films were fabricated with varying Cu contents. Cu/(Ga + In) ratios were varied between 0.4 and 1.02. Solar cells were then fabricated by co-evaporation using the CIGS layers as absorbers. The influences of Cu content on the cells' structural, optical and electrical properties were studied. The CIGS thin films were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, four-point probe measurement and Hall measurement. Grain size in the films increased with increasing Cu content. At a Cu/(Ga + In) ratio of 0.86, the (220/204) peak was stronger than the (112) peak and carrier concentration was 1.49 × 10{sup 16} cm{sup −3}. Optimizing the Cu content resulted in a CIGS solar cell with an efficiency of 16.5%. - Highlights: • Improvement of technique to form Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} (CIGS) film by co-evaporation method • Cu/(In + Ga) ratio to improve the efficiency for CIGS thin film solar cell • Cu content effects have been analyzed. • Optimum condition of CIGS layer as an absorber of thin film solar cells.

Structural, optical and magnetic properties of Mn diffusion-doped CdS thin films prepared by vacuum evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aksu, S. [SoloPower, Inc., 5981 Optical Ct., San Jose, CA 95138 (United States); Bacaksiz, E., E-mail: eminb@ktu.edu.tr [Department of Physics, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080 Trabzon (Turkey); Parlak, M. [Department of Physics, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara (Turkey); Yilmaz, S.; Polat, I.; Altunbas, M. [Department of Physics, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080 Trabzon (Turkey); Tuerksoy, M.; Topkaya, R. [Department of Physics, Gebze Institute of Technology, Gebze, 41400 Kocaeli (Turkey); Ozdogan, K. [Department of Physics, Yildiz Technical University, 34210 Istanbul (Turkey)

2011-10-17

Highlights: {yields} Cadmium sulphide thin films were deposited by vacuum evaporation. {yields} Elemental Mn was deposited onto CdS thin films by using electron beam evaporation and annealed under vacuum at different temperatures. {yields} Structural, optical and magnetic studies of Mn-doped CdS have been investigated. {yields} X-ray diffraction results showed that the undoped CdS film had a zinc-blende structure with a strong preferred orientation along the (1 1 1) direction. {yields} Magnetic measurements show that Mn-doped CdS thin films exhibit a ferromagnetism behavior at room temperature. - Abstract: The effect of Mn-doping on the vacuum deposited CdS thin films has been investigated by studying the changes in the structural, optical and magnetic properties of the films. A thin Mn layer evaporated on the CdS film surface served as the source layer for the diffusion doping. Doping was accomplished by annealing the CdS/Mn stack layers at the temperature range from 300 deg. C to 400 deg. C in step of 50 deg. C for 30 min under vacuum. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the undoped CdS film had a zinc-blende structure with a strong preferred orientation along the (1 1 1) direction. The incorporation of Mn did not cause any change in the texture but reduced the peak intensity and lead to a smaller crystallite size. Investigation of surface morphology using atomic force microscopy confirmed the decrease in the grain size with the Mn diffusion. In addition, a more uniform grain size distribution was observed in the doped films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that Mn atoms on the surface of the films were bounded to either sulphur or oxygen atoms. Auger electron spectroscopy of the diffusion-doped CdS sample at 350 deg. C indicated that the atomic Mn concentration was higher close to the surface region and Mn was distributed with a steadily decreasing profile through the bulk of the film with an average atomic concentration value around few

Studies of thin films of Ti- Zr -V as non-evaporable getter films prepared by RF sputtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta, Nidhi; Jagannath,; Sharma, R. K.; Gadkari, S. C.; Muthe, K. P.; Mukundhan, R.; Gupta, S. K.

2013-01-01

Non-Evaporable Getter (NEG) films of the Ti-Zr-V prepared on stainless steel substrates by Radio Frequency sputtering. To observe its getter behavior at the lowest activation temperature, the sample is heated continuously at different temperatures (100°C, 150°C, 200°C and 250°C) for 2 hours. The changes of the surface chemical composition at different temperaturesare analyzed by using XPS and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) techniques. The volume elemental composition of the film has been measured by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The in-situ XPS measurements of the activated getter films show the disappearance of the superficial oxide layer through the variation in the oxygen stoichiometry during thermal activation. Results of these studies show that the deposited films of Ti-Zr-V could be used as NEG to produce extreme high vacuum.

Crystal Structure of AgBi2I7 Thin Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Zewen; Meng, Weiwei; Mitzi, David B; Yan, Yanfa

2016-10-06

Synthesis of cubic-phase AgBi 2 I 7 iodobismuthate thin films and fabrication of air-stable Pb-free solar cells using the AgBi 2 I 7 absorber have recently been reported. On the basis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and nominal composition, it was suggested that the synthesized films have a cubic ThZr 2 H 7 crystal structure with AgBi 2 I 7 stoichiometry. Through careful examination of the proposed structure and computational evaluation of the phase stability and bandgap, we find that the reported "AgBi 2 I 7 " films cannot be forming with the ThZr 2 H 7 -type structure, but rather more likely adopt an Ag-deficient AgBiI 4 type. Both the experimental X-ray diffraction pattern and bandgap can be better explained by the AgBiI 4 structure. Additionally, the proposed AgBiI 4 structure, with octahedral bismuth coordination, removes unphysically short Bi-I bonding within the [BiI 8 ] hexahedra of the ThZr 2 I 7 model. Our results provide critical insights for assessing the photovoltaic properties of AgBi 2 I 7 iodobismuthate materials.

Preparation of BiOBr thin films with micro-nano-structure and their photocatalytic applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Rui [College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Fan, Caimei, E-mail: fancm@163.com [College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Zhang, Xiaochao, E-mail: zhang13598124761@163.com [College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Wang, Yawen; Wang, Yunfang [College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Zhang, Hui [Particle Technology Research Centre, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B9 (Canada)

2014-07-01

A series of micro-nano-structure BiOBr thin films were prepared at a low temperature by the alcoholysis-coating method using BiBr{sub 3} as precursor. The as-prepared films were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area. The obtained results indicated that micro-nano-structure tetragonal BiOBr films with different intensity ratios of (110) to (102) characteristic peaks could be synthesized through controlling the reaction temperature and the calcination temperatures. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activities of BiOBr thin films with different preparation conditions have been evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under UV light irradiation, suggesting that the photocatalytic activity should be closely related to the solvent, the alcoholysis reaction temperature, and the calcining temperature. The best photocatalytic degradation efficiency of MO for BiOBr thin films reaches 98.5% under 2.5 h UV irradiation. The BiOBr thin films display excellent stability and their photocatalytic activity still remains above 90% after being used five times. The main reasons for the higher photocatalytic activity of micro-nano-structure BiOBr microspheres have been investigated. In addition, the possible formation mechanism of BiOBr thin films with micro-nano-structure and excellent photocatalytic activity was proposed and discussed. - Highlights: • The BiOBr film was prepared at low temperature via alcoholysis-coating method. • The optimum process conditions of preparing BiOBr film were discussed. • As-prepared BiOBr films were composed of micro-nano flake structures. • The BiOBr films demonstrated excellent photocatalytic activity. • The formation mechanism of BiOBr films with high activity was proposed.

Crystalline structure and XMCD studies of Co40Fe40B20 grown on Bi2Te3, BiTeI and Bi2Se3

OpenAIRE

Kaveev, A. K.; Sokolov, N. S.; Suturin, S. M.; Zhiltsov, N. S.; Golyashov, V. A.; Tereshchenko, O. E.; Prosvirin, I. P.; Kokh, K. A.; Sawada, M.

2018-01-01

Epitaxial films of Co40Fe40B20 (further - CoFeB) were grown on Bi2Te3(001) and Bi2Se3(001) substrates by laser molecular beam epitaxy (LMBE) technique at 200-400C. Bcc-type crystalline structure of CoFeB with (111) plane parallel to (001) plane of Bi2Te3 was observed, in contrast to polycrystalline CoFeB film formed on Bi2Se3(001) at RT using high-temperature seeding layer. Therefore, structurally ordered ferromagnetic thin films were obtained on the topological insulator surface for the firs...

Controllable Electrical Contact Resistance between Cu and Oriented-Bi2Te3 Film via Interface Tuning.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Xixia; Zhu, Wei; Cao, Lili; Peng, Yuncheng; Shen, Shengfei; Deng, Yuan

2017-08-02

The contact resistance between metals and semiconductors has become critical for the design of thin-film thermoelectric devices with their continuous miniaturization. Herein, we report a novel interface tuning method to regulate the contact resistance at the Bi 2 Te 3 -Cu interface, and three Bi 2 Te 3 films with different oriented microstructures are obtained. The lowest contact resistivity (∼10 -7 Ω cm 2 ) is observed between highly (00l) oriented Bi 2 Te 3 and Cu film, nearly an order of magnitude lower than other orientations. This significant decrease of contact resistivity is attributed to the denser film connections, lower lattice misfit, larger effective conducting contact area, and smaller width of the surface depletion region. Meanwhile, our results show that the reduction of contact resistance has little dependence on the interfacial diffusion based on the little change in contact resistivity after the introduction of an effective Ti barrier layer. Our work provides a new idea for the mitigation of contact resistivity in thin-film thermoelectric devices and also gives certain guidance for the size design of the next-level miniaturized devices.

Vibrational properties of epitaxial Bi4Te3 films as studied by Raman spectroscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Xu

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Bi4Te3, as one of the phases of the binary Bi–Te system, shares many similarities with Bi2Te3, which is known as a topological insulator and thermoelectric material. We report the micro-Raman spectroscopy study of 50 nm Bi4Te3 films on Si substrates prepared by molecular beam epitaxy. Raman spectra of Bi4Te3 films completely resolve the six predicted Raman-active phonon modes for the first time. Structural features and Raman tensors of Bi4Te3 films are introduced. According to the wavenumbers and assignments of the six eigenpeaks in the Raman spectra of Bi4Te3 films, it is found that the Raman-active phonon oscillations in Bi4Te3 films exhibit the vibrational properties of those in both Bi and Bi2Te3 films.

Investigation on synthesis of Bi-based thin films on flat sputter-deposited Ag film by melting process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Su Yanjing; Satoh, Yoshimasa; Arisawa, Shunichi; Awane, Toru; Fukuyo, Akihiro; Takano, Yoshihiko; Ishii, Akira; Hatano, Takeshi; Togano, Kazumasa

2003-01-01

We report on the fabrication of ribbon-like thin films on flat sputter-deposited Ag films whose surface smoothness remained within the order of tens of nm. It was found that the addition of Pb to the starting material improves the wettability of molten phase and facilitates the growth of Bi-2212 ribbon-like thin films on a flat Ag substrate, and that the increase of Ca and Cu in starting material suppresses the intergrowth of the Bi-2201 phase in ribbon-like thin films. By using (Bi,Pb)-2246 powders, with nominal composition of Bi 1.6 Pb 0.4 Sr 1.6 Ca 3.2 Cu 4.8 O y , as the starting material, the superconducting Bi-2212 ribbon-like thin films with an onset T c at 74 K on a very flat Ag substrate were successfully synthesized. Additionally, the growth mechanism of ribbon-like thin films on flat Ag substrate was investigated by in situ high temperature microscope observation

Photocathodic Protection of 304 Stainless Steel by Bi2S3/TiO2 Nanotube Films Under Visible Light.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong; Wang, Xiutong; Wei, Qinyi; Hou, Baorong

2017-12-01

We report the preparation of TiO 2 nanotubes coupled with a narrow bandgap semiconductor, i.e., Bi 2 S 3 , to improve the photocathodic protection property of TiO 2 for metals under visible light. Bi 2 S 3 /TiO 2 nanotube films were successfully synthesized using the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The morphology and structure of the composite films were studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded to analyze the optical absorption property of the composite films. In addition, the influence of Bi 2 S 3 deposition cycles on the photoelectrochemical and photocathodic protection properties of the composite films was also studied. Results revealed that the heterostructure comprised crystalline anatase TiO 2 and orthorhombic Bi 2 S 3 and exhibited a high visible light response. The photocurrent density of Bi 2 S 3 /TiO 2 was significantly higher than that of pure TiO 2 under visible light. The sensitization of Bi 2 S 3 enhanced the separation efficiency of the photogenerated charges and photocathodic protection properties of TiO 2 . The Bi 2 S 3 /TiO 2 nanotubes prepared by SILAR deposition with 20 cycles exhibited the optimal photogenerated cathodic protection performance on the 304 stainless steel under visible light.

Photocathodic Protection of 304 Stainless Steel by Bi2S3/TiO2 Nanotube Films Under Visible Light

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong; Wang, Xiutong; Wei, Qinyi; Hou, Baorong

2017-01-01

We report the preparation of TiO2 nanotubes coupled with a narrow bandgap semiconductor, i.e., Bi2S3, to improve the photocathodic protection property of TiO2 for metals under visible light. Bi2S3/TiO2 nanotube films were successfully synthesized using the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The morphology and structure of the composite films were studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded to analyze the optical absorption property of the composite films. In addition, the influence of Bi2S3 deposition cycles on the photoelectrochemical and photocathodic protection properties of the composite films was also studied. Results revealed that the heterostructure comprised crystalline anatase TiO2 and orthorhombic Bi2S3 and exhibited a high visible light response. The photocurrent density of Bi2S3/TiO2 was significantly higher than that of pure TiO2 under visible light. The sensitization of Bi2S3 enhanced the separation efficiency of the photogenerated charges and photocathodic protection properties of TiO2. The Bi2S3/TiO2 nanotubes prepared by SILAR deposition with 20 cycles exhibited the optimal photogenerated cathodic protection performance on the 304 stainless steel under visible light.

Seed layer technique for high quality epitaxial manganite films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Graziosi

2016-08-01

Full Text Available We introduce an innovative approach to the simultaneous control of growth mode and magnetotransport properties of manganite thin films, based on an easy-to-implement film/substrate interface engineering. The deposition of a manganite seed layer and the optimization of the substrate temperature allows a persistent bi-dimensional epitaxy and robust ferromagnetic properties at the same time. Structural measurements confirm that in such interface-engineered films, the optimal properties are related to improved epitaxy. A new growth scenario is envisaged, compatible with a shift from heteroepitaxy towards pseudo-homoepitaxy. Relevant growth parameters such as formation energy, roughening temperature, strain profile and chemical states are derived.

Superconducting thin films of Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O by laser ablation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bedekar, M.M.

1992-01-01

The discovery of a new class of copper oxide superconductors has led to the development of three major systems that exhibit superconducting properties. The Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductors offer intrinsic advantages due to the high T c , chemical inertness and tolerance for a range of compositions. However, thin film research on these materials has progressed more slowly than the other cuprate systems. This dissertation examines the film growth, by laser ablation, of the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductors and the effect of the deposition parameters such as the laser target interaction, substrate temperature, target to substrate distance, deposition and cooling pressure, target type and processing and the substrate type. CO 2 laser ablation was shown to give rise to a non-stoichiometric material transfer due to the low fluences and long pulse lengths. In situ superconducting thin films with T c(0) 's of 76 K could be deposited using the KrF laser at substrate temperatures of 5 degrees C to 20 degrees C below phases. Lower temperatures gave rise to a mixture of 2201 and glassy phases. An increase in the target to substrate distance led to a deterioration of the electrical and structural properties of the films due to a decrease in the energy for film formation. A maximum in T c(0) was observed at 450 mtorr as the deposition pressure was varied between 200 to 700 mtorr. Optimum oxygen incorporation could be achieved by cooling the films in high oxygen pressures and the best films were obtained with 700 torr cooling pressure. The oxygen deficiency of the hot pressed targets led to inferior properties compared to the conventionally sintered targets. The microwave surface resistance of the films measured at 35 GHz showed an onset at 80 K and dropped below that of copper at 30 K. The study of the laser ablation process in this system revealed the presence of a stoichiometric forward directed component and a diffuse evaporation component

Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting thin films by simultaneous or sequential evaporation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mogro-Campero, A.; Hunt, B.D.; Turner, L.G.; Burrell, M.C.; Balz, W.E.

1988-01-01

Superconducting thin films of Y-Ba-Cu-O near the 1:2:3 stoichiometry were produced by simultaneous (coevaporation) and sequential (multilayer) evaporation in the same evaporator. The best film obtained on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) had a superconducting onset temperature of 104 K, a midpoint T/sub c/ of 92 K, and zero resistance at T≤74 K. Stoichiometry was deduced by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy, and elemental depth profiles were obtained by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Film stoichiometry changes only near the film/substrate boundary for films on YSZ. Films on Si/SiO 2 were not superconducting; depth profiling shows severe changes of film composition with depth. A major theme of this work is process reproducibility, which was found to be poor for coevaporation but improved considerably for sequential evaporation

(110)-Textured Ca-doped BiFeO_3 film on refined Pt(111) electrode layer on glass substrate at reduced temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, H.W.; Shen, C.Y.; Yuan, F.T.; Tien, S.H.; Lin, S.Y.; Chen, W.A.; Wang, C.R.; Tu, C.S.; Jen, S.U.

2016-01-01

Multiferroic and photovoltaic properties of polycrystalline Bi_0_._8_5Ca_0_._1_5FeO_3 (BCFO) film on refined Pt(111) electrode buffered glass substrate have been studied. Optimized Pt(111) electrode layer having large grain size and smooth morphology enables the development of highly (110)-textured BCFO film at a temperature as low as 450 °C. The prepared BCFO film has dense microstructure, fine grain size, and smooth surface morphology. Good ferroelectric properties with the remanent polarization (2P_r) of 108 μC/cm"2 and electrical coercive field of 405 kV/cm are achieved. Improved ferromagnetic properties with magnetization of 9.2 emu/cm"3 and coercivity of 1250 Oe are also attained. Significant PV properties with open-circuit photovoltage of 0.49 V and the short-circuit photocurrent of 67.4 μA/cm"2 at illumination intensity of 228 mW/cm"2 are observed, which are comparable to BCFO ceramics or BFO epitaxial films. - Highlights: • BCFO polycrystalline film with (110) texture is formed on Pt(111) electrode. • Pt(111) underlayer induces BCFO(110) film with fine grain and flat surface. • Good multiferroic and photovoltaic properties are achieved simultaneously. • Improved multiferroic and photovoltaic properties makes BCFO film a multifunctional material for advanced applications.

Space charge limited current conduction in Bi2Te3 thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sathyamoorthy, R.; Dheepa, J.; Velumani, S.

2007-01-01

Bi 2 Te 3 is known for its large thermoelectric coefficients and is widely used as a material for Peltier devices. Bi 2 Te 3 thin films with thicknesses in the range 125-300 A have been prepared by Flash Evaporation at a pressure of 10 -5 m bar on clean glass substrates at room temperature. An Al-Bi 2 Te 3 -Al sandwich structure has been used for electrical conduction properties in the temperature range 303 to 483 K. I-V characteristics showed Ohmic conduction in the low voltage region. In the higher voltage region, a Space Charge Limited Conduction (SCLC) takes place due to the presence of the trapping level. The transition voltage (V t ), between the Ohmic and the SCLC condition was proportional to the square of thickness. Further evidence for this conduction process was provided by the linear dependence of V t on t 2 and log J on log t. The hole concentration in the films were found to be n 0 = 1.65 * 10 10 m -3 . The carrier mobility increases with increasing temperature whereas the density of trapped charges decreases with increasing temperature. The barrier height decreases with an increase in temperature. The increase in the trapping concentration V t is correlated with ascending the degree of preferred orientation of the highest atomic density plane. The activation energy was estimated and the values found to decrease with increasing applied voltage. The zero field value of the activation energy is found to be 0.4 eV

Growth of superconducting Bi/sub 2/Sr/sub 2/CaCu/sub 2/O/sub 8+//sub x/ films on alumina, silicon, and fused quartz

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hung, L.S.; Agostinelli, J.A.; Paz-Pujalt, G.R.; Mir, J.M.

1988-01-01

Interactions between superconducting Bi/sub 2/Sr/sub 2/CaCu/sub 2/O/sub 8+//sub x/ films and substrates were investigated by ion backscattering, x-ray diffraction, and four-point probe resistivity measurements. During annealing at temperatures above- 800 /sup 0/C, Bi/sub 2/Sr/sub 2/CaCu/sub 2/ oxide films rapidly reacted with alumina, Si, Si covered with SiO/sub 2/, and quartz, resulting in catastrophic failure. Zr-based barrier layers were used to minimize film-substrate interactions. When a single ZrO/sub 2/ layer was interposed between the superconducting oxide film and the underlying substrate, the Bi/sub 2/Sr/sub 2/CaCu/sub 2/ oxide films showed a large-grained polycrystalline microstructure and exhibited the orthorhombic structure. Films on sapphire showed transitions to the superconducting state beginning near 100 K with zero resistance achieved at 70 K. Films on Si and thermally grown SiO/sub 2/ showed a similar drop in resistance around 95 K, whereas the transition was broad and the zero resistance state was not reached. For films on quartz, high thermal stress caused cracking of the superconducting oxide film. Best results were achieved using a barrier composed of a Zr-Si-O mixed layer underneath ZrO/sub 2/. In this case, the films grown on Si and quartz were uniform and showed the onset to superconductivity at 95 K, attaining zero resistance at 70 K

Preparation by thermal evaporation under vacuum of thin nickel films without support

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prugne, P.; Garin, P.; Lechauguette, G.

1959-01-01

This note deals with the preparation of nickel films without support by means of the technique described but using a new evaporation apparatus. In effect it was necessary, in order to obtain these nickel films, to modify the thermal evaporation conditions. An attempt to obtain a film without support after evaporation in a conventional apparatus led almost invariably to defeat. This appeared to be due to the high concentration of oxygen and of various vapors (diffusion pumps, degassing, etc.) present in the residual atmosphere of the conventional evaporation system. Reprint of a paper published in 'Le Vide, N. 74, March-April 1958, p. 82-83

Measurement of grassland evaporation using a surface-layer ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Measurement of grassland evaporation using a surface-layer scintillometer. ... Water SA. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search ... of soil heat flux and net irradiance, evaporation rates were calculated as a residual of the ...

Modeling constrained sintering of bi-layered tubular structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tadesse Molla, Tesfaye; Kothanda Ramachandran, Dhavanesan; Ni, De Wei

2015-01-01

Constrained sintering of tubular bi-layered structures is being used in the development of various technologies. Densification mismatch between the layers making the tubular bi-layer can generate stresses, which may create processing defects. An analytical model is presented to describe the densi...... and thermo-mechanical analysis. Results from the analytical model are found to agree well with finite element simulations as well as measurements from sintering experiment....

Thermal spike model interpretation of sputtering yield data for Bi thin films irradiated by MeV {sup 84}Kr{sup 15+} ions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mammeri, S. [Centre de Recherche Nucléaire d’Alger, B.P. 399, 02 Bd. Frantz Fanon, Alger-gare, Algiers (Algeria); Ouichaoui, S., E-mail: souichaoui@gmail.com [Université des Sciences et de la Technologie H. Boumediene (USTHB), Faculté de Physique, Laboratoire SNIRM, B.P. 32, El-Alia, 16111 Bab Ezzouar, Algiers (Algeria); Ammi, H. [Centre de Recherche Nucléaire d’Alger, B.P. 399, 02 Bd. Frantz Fanon, Alger-gare, Algiers (Algeria); Pineda-Vargas, C.A. [iThemba LABS, National Research Foundation, P.O. Box 722, Somerset West 7129 (South Africa); Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, CPUT, P.O. Box 1906, Bellville 7535 (South Africa); Dib, A. [Centre de Recherche Nucléaire d’Alger, B.P. 399, 02 Bd. Frantz Fanon, Alger-gare, Algiers (Algeria); Msimanga, M. [iThemba LABS, National Research Foundation, P. Bag 11, Wits 2050, Johannesburg (South Africa); Department of Physics, Tshwane University of Technology, P. Bag X680, Pretoria 001 (South Africa)

2015-07-01

A modified thermal spike model initially proposed to account for defect formation in metals within the high heavy ion energy regime is adapted for describing the sputtering of Bi thin films under MeV Kr ions. Surface temperature profiles for both the electronic and atomic subsystems have been carefully evaluated versus the radial distance and time with introducing appropriate values of the Bi target electronic stopping power for multi-charged Kr{sup 15+} heavy ions as well as different target physical proprieties like specific heats and thermal conductivities. Then, the total sputtering yields of the irradiated Bi thin films have been determined from a spatiotemporal integration of the local atomic evaporation rate. Besides, an expected non negligible contribution of elastic nuclear collisions to the Bi target sputtering yields and ion-induced surface effects has also been considered in our calculation. Finally, the latter thermal spike model allowed us to derive numerical sputtering yields in satisfactorily agreement with existing experimental data both over the low and high heavy ion energy regions, respectively, dominated by elastic nuclear collisions and inelastic electronic collisions, in particular with our data taken recently for Bi thin films irradiated by 27.5 MeV Kr{sup 15+} heavy ions. An overall consistency of our model calculation with the predictions of sputtering yield theoretical models within the target nuclear stopping power regime was also pointed out.

Cu{sub 2}ZnSnS{sub 4} thin films obtained by sulfurization of evaporated Cu{sub 2}SnS{sub 3} and ZnS layers: Influence of the ternary precursor features

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robles, V.; Guillén, C., E-mail: c.guillen@ciemat.es; Trigo, J.F.; Herrero, J.

2017-04-01

Highlights: • Kesterite Cu{sub 2}ZnSnS{sub 4} is got by sulfurization of evaporated Cu{sub 2}SnS{sub 3} and ZnS layers. • Smooth films are obtained by decreasing the growth temperature of Cu{sub 2}SnS{sub 3}. • The lattice strain and the electrical conductivity increase with the Cu-content. • The energy gap diminishes as the Cu-content and/or the surface roughness increase. - Abstract: Cu{sub 2}ZnSnS{sub 4} (CZTS) thin films have been grown by sulfurization of Cu{sub 2}SnS{sub 3} (CTS) and ZnS layers evaporated on glass substrates. Four CTS precursor films have been tested, with two different atomic compositions (Cu/Sn = 1.7 and Cu/Sn = 2.1) and substrate temperatures (350 and 450 °C), together with analogous ZnS layers deposited by maintaining the substrate at 200 °C. The sulfurization of the CTS and ZnS stacked layers was performed at 500 °C during 1 h. The evolution of the crystalline structure, morphology, optical and electrical properties from each CTS precursor to the CZTS compound has been studied, especially the influence of the ternary precursor features on the quaternary film characteristics. The kesterite structure has been identified after sulfurization of the various samples, with main (112) orientation and mean crystallite sizes S{sub 112} = 40–56 nm, being higher for the Cu-poor compositions. The CZTS average roughness has varied in a wide interval R{sub a} = 8–66 nm, being directly related to the CTS precursor layer, which becomes rougher for a higher deposition temperature or Cu content. Besides, the band gap energy and the electrical resistivity of the CZTS films have changed in the ranges E{sub g} = 1.54–1.64 eV and ρ = 0.2–40 Ωcm, both decreasing when the Cu content and/or the surface roughness increase.

Thermally evaporated thin films of SnS for application in solar cell devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miles, Robert W.; Ogah, Ogah E.; Zoppi, Guillaume; Forbes, Ian

2009-01-01

SnS (tin sulphide) is of interest for use as an absorber layer and the wider energy bandgap phases e.g. SnS 2 , Sn 2 S 3 and Sn/S/O alloys of interest as Cd-free buffer layers for use in thin film solar cells. In this work thin films of tin sulphide have been thermally evaporated onto glass and SnO 2 :coated glass substrates with the aim of optimising the properties of the material for use in photovoltaic solar cell device structures. In particular the effects of source temperature, substrate temperature, deposition rate and film thickness on the chemical and physical properties of the layers were investigated. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis was used to determine the film composition, X-ray diffraction to determine the phases present and structure of each phase, transmittance and reflectance versus wavelength measurements to determine the energy bandgap and scanning electron microscopy to observe the surface topology and topography and the properties correlated to the deposition parameters. Using the optimised conditions it is possible to produce thin films of tin sulphide that are pinhole free, conformal to the substrate and that consist of densely packed columnar grains. The composition, phases present and the optical properties of the layers deposited were found to be highly sensitive to the deposition conditions. Energy bandgaps in the range 1.55 eV-1.7 eV were obtained for a film thickness of 0.8 μm, and increasing the film thickness to > 1 μm resulted in a reduction of the energy bandgap to less than 1.55 eV. The applicability of using these films in photovoltaic solar cell device structures is also discussed.

Enhancement in microstructural and optoelectrical properties of thermally evaporated CdTe films for solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Chander, Subhash; Dhaka, M. S.

2018-03-01

The optimization of microstructural and optoelectrical properties of a thin layer is an important step prior device fabrication process, so an enhancement in these properties of thermally evaporated CdTe thin films is reported in this communication. The films having thickness 450 nm and 850 nm were deposited on thoroughly cleaned glass and indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates followed by annealing at 450 °C in air atmosphere. These films were characterized for microstructural and optoelectrical properties employing X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and source meter. The films found to be have zinc-blende cubic structure with preferred reflection (111) while the crystallographic parameters and direct energy band gap are strongly influenced by the film thickness. The surface morphology studies show that the films are uniform, smooth, homogeneous and nearly dense-packed as well as free from voids and pitfalls as where elemental analysis revealed the presence of Cd and Te element in the deposited films. The electrical analysis showed linear behavior of current with voltage while conductivity is decreased for higher thickness. The results show that the microstructural and optoelectrical properties of CdTe thin layer could be enhanced by varying thickness and films having higher thickness might be processed as promising absorber thin layer to the CdTe-based solar cells.

Carbon dots/BiOCl films with enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Weitian; Yu, Xiang; Shen, Yinghua; Chen, Hongbin; Zhu, Yi, E-mail: tzhury@jnu.edu.cn; Zhang, Yuanming [Jinan University, Department of Chemistry (China); Meng, Hui [Jinan University, Siyuan laboratory, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Vacuum Coating Technologies and New Energy Materials, Department of Physics (China)

2017-02-15

Novel carbon dots with a diameter of 6 nm modified BiOCl (CDs/BiOCl) photocatalyst on FTO was synthesized via a facile immobilization method at room temperature. The crystalline structures, morphologies, optical properties, and photocatalytic properties were studied. The results showed that the CDs/BiOCl films exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than pure BiOCl. The 4 wt% CDs/BiOCl film showed the best photocatalytic activity, which was about eight times than that of pure BiOCl and excellent recyclability even after four recycles. Compared with other film photocatalysts, the photocatalytic activity of 4 wt% CDs/BiOCl was also higher than that of many other photocatalysts. The enhanced activity was ascribed to the enhanced light adsorption and the improvement of charge separation. Holes and superoxide radicals ·O{sub 2}{sup −} were revealed as the dominant reactive species. The photocatalytic mechanism was proposed based on the results.

Development of a hybrid sputtering/evaporation process for Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} thin film solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Acciarri, M.; Binetti, S.; Le Donne, A.; Lorenzi, B.; Caccamo, L.; Miglio, L. [Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali e Solar Energy Research Center MIB-SOLAR, Universita di Milano Bicocca, Milan (Italy); Moneta, R.; Marchionna, S.; Meschia, M. [Voltasolar s.r.l, Turate (Italy)

2011-08-15

In this paper we report a new method for Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} deposition for solar cell application. Differently from the common co-evaporation process, an alterative approach for thin film Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} has been tested: the sputtering deposition of metal elements combined with the selenium evaporation. We have studied the relationships between the growth parameters of our hybrid sputtering/evaporation method and the chemical-physical properties of the CIGS films. The cells are completed with a CdS buffer layer deposited by chemical bath deposition and ZnO + ITO deposited by RF sputtering. Test solar cells of 0.5 cm{sup 2} have shown an efficiency of 10% and 2.5% on glass and stainless steel substrate respectively. (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Prevention of intra-abdominal adhesion by bi-layer electrospun membrane.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Shichao; Wang, Wei; Yan, Hede; Fan, Cunyi

2013-06-04

The aim of this study was to compare the anti-adhesion efficacy of a bi-layer electrospun fibrous membrane consisting of hyaluronic acid-loaded poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) fibrous membrane as the inner layer and PCL fibrous membrane as the outer layer with a single-layer PCL electrospun fibrous membrane in a rat cecum abrasion model. The rat model utilized a cecal abrasion and abdominal wall insult surgical protocol. The bi-layer and PCL membranes were applied between the cecum and the abdominal wall, respectively. Control animals did not receive any treatment. After postoperative day 14, a visual semiquantitative grading scale was used to grade the extent of adhesion. Histological analysis was performed to reveal the features of adhesion tissues. Bi-layer membrane treated animals showed significantly lower adhesion scores than control animals (p compared with the PCL membrane. Histological analysis of the bi-layer membrane treated rat rarely demonstrated tissue adhesion while that of the PCL membrane treated rat and control rat showed loose and dense adhesion tissues, respectively. Bi-layer membrane can efficiently prevent adhesion formation in abdominal cavity and showed a significantly decreased adhesion tissue formation compared with the control.

Solid phase crystallized polycrystalline thin-films on glass from evaporated silicon for photovoltaic applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Dengyuan; Inns, Daniel; Straub, Axel; Terry, Mason L.; Campbell, Patrick; Aberle, Armin G.

2006-01-01

Polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin-films are made on planar and textured glass substrates by solid phase crystallization (SPC) of in situ doped amorphous silicon (a-Si) deposited by electron-beam evaporation. These materials are referred to by us as EVA materials (SPC of evaporated a-Si). The properties of EVA poly-Si films are characterised by Raman microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. A narrow and symmetrical Raman peak at a wave number of about 520 cm -1 is observed for all samples, showing that the films are fully crystallized. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals that the films are preferentially (111)-oriented. Furthermore, the full width at half maximum of the dominant (111) XRD peaks indicates that the structural quality of the films is affected by the a-Si deposition temperature and the surface morphology of the glass substrates. A-Si deposition at 200 instead of 400 deg. C leads to an enhanced poly-Si grain size. On textured glass, the addition of a SiN barrier layer between the glass and the Si improves the poly-Si material quality. No such effect occurs on planar glass. Mesa-type solar cells are made from these EVA films on planar and textured glass. A strong correlation between the cells' current-voltage characteristics and their crystalline material quality is observed

Laser ablation of Bi-substituted gadolinium iron garnet films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, N.; Hayashida, K.; Kawano, K.; Higuchi, K.; Ohkoshi, M.; Tsushima, K.

1995-01-01

Bi-substituted gadolinium iron garnet films were deposited by laser ablation. The composition, the structure and the magnetic properties of the films were found to be strongly dependent both on the compositions of the targets and on the pressure of oxygen. The highest values of Bi-substitution up to x=1.44 with uniform composition were obtained, after annealing in air. ((orig.))

Analysis of heat transfer in a centrifugal film evaporator

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruin, S.

1970-01-01

Heat transfer in a centrifugal film evaporator with a conical heating surface is analyzed. Two regions of transfer can be distinguished: an entrance region, where the temp. profile in the film develops, and an evapn. region, where \\"surface evapn.\\" takes place. Relations are derived for liq.-film

In{sub 6}Se{sub 7} thin films by heating thermally evaporated indium and chemical bath deposited selenium multilayers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ornelas, R.E.; Avellaneda, D. [Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Ingenieria Mecanica y Electrica, San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon-66450 (Mexico); Shaji, S. [Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Ingenieria Mecanica y Electrica, San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon-66450 (Mexico); Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon-CIIDIT, Apodaca, N.L (Mexico); Castillo, G.A.; Roy, T.K. Das [Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Ingenieria Mecanica y Electrica, San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon-66450 (Mexico); Krishnan, B., E-mail: kbindu_k@yahoo.com [Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Ingenieria Mecanica y Electrica, San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon-66450 (Mexico); Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon-CIIDIT, Apodaca, N.L (Mexico)

2012-05-15

Indium selenide (In{sub 6}Se{sub 7}) thin films were prepared via selenization of thermally evaporated indium thin films by dipping in sodium selenosulphate solution followed by annealing in nitrogen atmosphere. First, indium was thermally evaporated on glass substrate. Then, the indium coated glass substrates were dipped in a solution containing 80 ml 0.125 M sodium selenosulphate and 1.5 ml dilute acetic acid (25%) for 5 min. Glass/In-Se layers were annealed at 200-400 Degree-Sign C in nitrogen atmosphere (0.1 Torr) for 30 min. X-ray diffraction studies showed the formation of monoclinic In{sub 6}Se{sub 7}. Morphology of the thin films formed at different conditions was analyzed using Scanning electron microscopy. The elemental analysis was done using Energy dispersive X-ray detection. Electrical conductivity under dark and illumination conditions was evaluated. Optical band gap was computed using transmittance and reflectance spectra. The band gap value was in the range 1.8-2.6 eV corresponding to a direct allowed transition. We studied the effect of indium layer thickness and selenium deposition time on the structure, electrical and optical properties of In{sub 6}Se{sub 7} thin films.

Structural and optical properties of cobalt doped multiferroics BiFeO3 nanostructure thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Prasannakumara, R.; Naik, K. Gopalakrishna

2018-05-01

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) and Cobalt doped BiFeO3 (BiFe1-XCoXO3) nanostructure thin films were deposited on glass substrates by the sol-gel spin coating method. The X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) of the grown BiFeO3 and BiFe1-XCoXO3 nanostructure thin films showed distorted rhombohedral structure. The shifting of peaks to higher angles was observed in cobalt doped BiFeO3. The surface morphology of the BiFeO3 and BiFe1-XCoXO3 nanostructure thin films were studied using FESEM, an increase in grain size was observed as Co concentration increases. The thickness of the nanostructure thin films was examined using FESEM cross-section. The EDX studies confirmed the elemental composition of the grown BiFeO3 and BiFe1-XCoXO3 nanostructure thin films. The optical characterizations of the grown nanostructure thin films were carried out using FTIR, it confirms the existence of Fe-O and Bi-O bands and UV-Visible spectroscopy shows the increase in optical band gap of the BiFeO3 nanostructure thin films with Co doping by ploting Tauc plot.

Experimental investigation on the evaporation of a wet porous layer inside a vertical channel with resolution of the heat equation by inverse method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terzi, A.; Foudhil, W.; Harmand, S.; Ben Jabrallah, S.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Experimental study of the evaporation of a wet porous layer inside a vertical channel. • Resolution of the heat equation by inverse method. • The use of the porous layer is more efficient for high heating flux and low liquid inlet flow. • To improve the evaporation, the system must operate at low water inlet flow. - Abstract: In this paper, we realize an Experimental study of the evaporation of a wet porous layer inside a vertical channel. To develop this study, an experimental dispositive was realised. We measure the temperature along the plate and the evaporated flow rate using the test bed. From these measurements we note that the profiles of the temperature are divided into two areas: the heating and the evaporation zone. We also note that the use of the porous layer is more efficient for high heating flux and low liquid inlet flow. In addition, we studied different dimensionless numbers by solving the energy equation by inverse method. We note that the latent Nusselt number is more important than the sensible Nusselt Number, which proves that the flow dissipated by evaporation is greater than the one used by the film to increase its temperature.

Effects of annealing temperature on the structures, ferroelectric and magnetic properties of Aurivillius Bi5Ti3FeO15 polycrystalline films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, W.; Zhu, J.Y.; Wang, J.L.; Lin, T.; Yang, J.; Meng, X.J.; Tang, X.D.; Zhu, Z.Q.; Chu, J.H

2012-01-01

The effects of annealing temperature on the structures, ferroelectric and magnetic properties of Aurivillius layer-structured Bi 5 Ti 3 FeO 15 (BTF) films were investigated. It was found that an annealing temperature above 625 °C can lead to the appearance of Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 (BiT) secondary phase on Pt substrates. The reduction of the grain sizes was simultaneously confirmed by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy with the introduction of the BiT phase. Moreover, the remanent polarization and coercive field of the BTF films were dramatically enhanced with the introduction of the BiT phase. Improved ferromagnetism for the BTF films was demonstrated upon increasing annealing temperature. Our data indicated that the ferroelectricity strongly correlated with the growth orientation of the BTF films. Finally, the possible factors for the obvious increase of the remanent polarization and coercive field, and the possible reasons for the enhanced ferromagnetic properties were discussed with increasing annealing temperature. - Highlights: ► Effects of annealing temperature on physical properties of BTF films were studied. ► Improved multiferroic properties were shown with annealing temperature. ► Ferroelectricity strongly depended on the growth orientation of the BTF films. ► Possible factors were proposed to explain the improved multiferroic properties.

Prediction of transient maximum heat flux based on a simple liquid layer evaporation model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serizawa, A.; Kataoka, I.

1981-01-01

A model of liquid layer evaporation with considerable supply of liquid has been formulated to predict burnout characteristics (maximum heat flux, life, etc.) during an increase of the power. The analytical description of the model is built upon the visual and photographic observations of the boiling configuration at near peak heat flux reported by other investigators. The prediction compares very favourably with water data presently available. It is suggested from the work reported here that the maximum heat flux occurs because of a balance between the consumption of the liquid film on the heated surface and the supply of liquid. Thickness of the liquid film is also very important. (author)

Electrical Field Effect Dependence of Hall Constant in Bi-films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butenko, A. V.; Sandomirsky, V.; Schlesinger, Y.; Shvarts, Dm.

1998-01-01

The Electrical Field Effect (EFE) was investigated on the capacitive structure Aumica (ns 10 μm ) - Bi films (L ∼ 350≥≥500 angstrem) in the temperature region 15 - 100 K. The thicknesses of Bi films lay in the region of the Quantum Size Effect (QSE). The transverse electric fields reach the value of 106 V/cm. The corresponding surface carrier concentrations are ns ∼ 10 13 [e]/cm 2 , i.e. the average change of carrier concentration in the 500 angstrem film is n s /L ∼ 10 17 cm -3 . The latter value is comparable with the original carrier concentration in Bi film, 3 f 1017 cm-3. However, EEE, the film resistance change Δ R is 0.5 %. On the other hand EFE change of Hall constant (2ΔR H ), that was observed for the first time in this work, is 5 - 30 % (depending on the film thickness). These results point to a small carrier mobility and to an essential change of carrier concentration in the EEE influence region (of the order of the screening length). The interpretation takes into account both classical and quantum versions of Bi film behavior under EFE conditions. A procedure to determine the surface charge carrier mobilities and concentrations from EFE-data (both ΔR and ORE) is propose

Bi--Sr--Ca--Cu--O superconducting films fabricated using metal alkoxides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katayama, S.; Sekine, M.

1991-01-01

Superconducting films in the Bi--Sr--Ca--Cu--O systems were made using metal alkoxides. To prepare a dip-coating solution using a mixed alkoxide solution, insoluble Cu and Bi alkoxides were dissolved by modification with 2-dimethylaminoethanol and formation of a double alkoxide, respectively. Formation of the double alkoxides of Bi with Ca or Sr was confirmed using FT-IR and 1 H-NMR. Bi--Sr--Ca--Cu--O films on yttria-stabilized ZrO 2 and single crystal MgO(100) substrates were made using this solution. The films were closely oriented along the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. The film on MgO(100) fired at 850 degree C for 48 h showed two resistance drops around 115 and 85 K, corresponding to the high-T c and low-T c phases, respectively, and zero resistance at 72 K

Production of BiPbSrCaCuO thin films on MgO and Ag/MgO substrates by electron beam deposition techniques

CERN Document Server

Varilci, A; Gorur, O; Celebi, S; Karaca, I

2002-01-01

Superconducting BiPbSrCaCuO thin films were prepared on MgO(001) and Ag/MgO substrates using an electron beam (e-beam) evaporation technique. The effects of annealing temperature and Ag diffusion on the crystalline structure and some superconducting properties, respectively, were investigated by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and by measurements of the critical temperature and the critical current density. It was shown that an annealing of both types of films at 845 or 860 C resulted in the formation of mixed Bi-2223 and Bi-2212 phases with a high degree of preferential orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrates. The slight increase of the critical temperature from 103 K to 105 K, the enhancement of the critical current density from 2 x 10 sup 3 to 6 x 10 sup 4 A/cm sup 2 , and the improved surface smoothness are due to a possible silver doping from the substrate. (Abstract Copyright [2002], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Influence of the evaporation rate and the evaporation mode on the hydrogen sorption kinetics of air-exposed magnesium films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leon, A.; Knystautas, E.J.; Huot, J.; Schulz, R.

2006-01-01

It has been shown that the hydrogen sorption properties of air-exposed magnesium films are influenced by the deposition parameters such as the evaporation rate or the evaporation mode used during their preparation. As the evaporation rate increases, the structure of the film tends to be highly oriented along the [002] direction and the kinetics of hydrogen absorption and desorption are faster. Moreover, the hydrogen sorption kinetics of magnesium films prepared with an electron beam source under a high vacuum are faster by almost a factor of two compared to those prepared using resistive heating under low vacuum. These two parameters reduce drastically the activation and the incubation period during hydrogen absorption and desorption, respectively

Structuring of thin-film polymer mixtures upon solvent evaporation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaefer, C.; Michels, J.J.; van der Schoot, P.P.A.M.

2016-01-01

We theoretically study the impact of solvent evaporation on the dynamics of isothermal phase separation of ternary polymer solutions in thin films. In the early stages we obtain a spinodal length scale that decreases with time under the influence of ongoing evaporation. After that rapid demixing

Structuring of Thin-Film Polymer Mixtures upon Solvent Evaporation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaefer, C.; Michels, J. J.; van der Schoot, P.

2016-01-01

We theoretically study the impact of solvent evaporation on the dynamics of isothermal phase separation of ternary polymer solutions in thin films. In the early stages we obtain a spinodal length scale that decreases with time under the influence of ongoing evaporation. After that rapid demixing

Bi-layer plate-type acoustic metamaterials with Willis coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Fuyin; Huang, Meng; Xu, Yicai; Wu, Jiu Hui

2018-01-01

Dynamic effective negative parameters are principal to the representation of the physical properties of metamaterials. In this paper, a bi-layer plate-type unit was proposed with both a negative mass density and a negative bulk modulus; moreover, through analysis of these bi-layer structures, some important problems about acoustic metamaterials were studied. First, dynamic effective mass densities and the bulk modulus of the bi-layer plate-type acoustic structure were clarified through both the direct and the retrieval methods, and, in addition, the intrinsic relationship between the sound transmission (absorption) characteristics and the effective parameters was analyzed. Furthermore, the properties of dynamic effective parameters for an asymmetric bi-layer acoustic structure were further considered through an analysis of experimental data, and the modified effective parameters were then obtained through consideration of the Willis coupling in the asymmetric passive system. In addition, by taking both the clamped and the periodic boundary conditions into consideration in the bi-layer plate-type acoustic system, new perspectives were presented for study on the effective parameters and sound insulation properties in the range below the cut-off frequency. The special acoustic properties established by these effective parameters could enrich our knowledge and provide guidance for the design and installation of acoustic metamaterial structures in future sound engineering practice.

Annealing effects on electron-beam evaporated Al2O3 films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shang Shuzhen; Chen Lei; Hou Haihong; Yi Kui; Fan Zhengxiu; Shao Jianda

2005-01-01

The effects of post-deposited annealing on structure and optical properties of electron-beam evaporated Al 2 O 3 single layers were investigated. The films were annealed in air for 1.5 h at different temperatures from 250 to 400 deg. C. The optical constants and cut-off wavelength were deduced. Microstructure of the samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Profile and surface roughness measurement instrument was used to determine the rms surface roughness. It was found that the cut-off wavelength shifted to short wavelength as the annealing temperature increased and the total optical loss decreased. The film structure remained amorphous even after annealing at 400 deg. C temperature and the samples annealed at higher temperature had the higher rms surface roughness. The decreasing total optical loss with annealing temperature was attributed to the reduction of absorption owing to oxidation of the film by annealing. Guidance to reduce the optical loss of excimer laser mirrors was given

Annealing effects on electron-beam evaporated Al 2O 3 films

Science.gov (United States)

Shuzhen, Shang; Lei, Chen; Haihong, Hou; Kui, Yi; Zhengxiu, Fan; Jianda, Shao

2005-04-01

The effects of post-deposited annealing on structure and optical properties of electron-beam evaporated Al 2O 3 single layers were investigated. The films were annealed in air for 1.5 h at different temperatures from 250 to 400 °C. The optical constants and cut-off wavelength were deduced. Microstructure of the samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Profile and surface roughness measurement instrument was used to determine the rms surface roughness. It was found that the cut-off wavelength shifted to short wavelength as the annealing temperature increased and the total optical loss decreased. The film structure remained amorphous even after annealing at 400 °C temperature and the samples annealed at higher temperature had the higher rms surface roughness. The decreasing total optical loss with annealing temperature was attributed to the reduction of absorption owing to oxidation of the film by annealing. Guidance to reduce the optical loss of excimer laser mirrors was given.

Polarization fluctuation behavior of lanthanum substituted Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhong, Ni; Xiang, Ping-Hua, E-mail: phxiang@ee.ecnu.edu.cn; Zhang, Yuan-Yuan; Wu, Xing; Tang, Xiao-Dong; Yang, Ping-Xiong; Duan, Chun-Gang; Chu, Jun-Hao [Key Laboratory of Polar Materials and Devices, Ministry of Education, Department of Electronic Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241 (China)

2015-09-14

Polarization fluctuation behavior of lanthanum substituted Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12} (Bi{sub 4−x}La{sub x}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12}, BLT) ferroelectric thin films has been examined. Remnant polarization exhibits an initial increase (P{sub up}, 1–10{sup 6} cycles) and a subsequent decrease (P{sub down}, 10{sup 6}–10{sup 9} cycles) with switching cycles, whereas the dielectric constant exhibits a continuous decrease. By careful investigations on the effect of switching frequency and annealing atmosphere on the polarization fluctuation characteristics, we propose that this polarization fluctuation characteristic of BLT films is attributed to the competition between domain pinning and passive layer growing effect, due to the redistribution of oxygen vacancy related defect under external applied field. P{sub up} behavior is dominated by the unpinning of pinned domain, while P{sub down} behavior is dominated by the reduction of applied field on BLT bulk layer, due to the growing of the passive layer between BLT and Pt electrode. By assuming the dielectric constant and initial thickness of passive layer, the passive layer was estimated to be about 2–5 times thicker than the initial state after 10{sup 9} cycling.

Photoconductivity in BiFeO3 thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Basu, S. R.; Martin, L. W.; Chu, Y. H.; Gajek, M.; Ramesh, R.; Rai, R. C.; Xu, X.; Musfeldt, J. L.

2008-03-01

The optical properties of epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films have been characterized in the visible range. Variable temperature spectra show an absorption onset near 2.17eV, a direct gap (2.667±0.005eV at 300K), and charge transfer excitations at higher energy. Additionally, we report photoconductivity in BiFeO3 films under illumination from a 100mW /cm2 white light source. A direct correlation is observed between the magnitude of the photoconductivity and postgrowth cooling pressure. Dark conductivities increased by an order of magnitude when comparing films cooled in 760 and 0.1Torr. Large increases in photoconductivity are observed in light.

Multicaloric effect in bi-layer multiferroic composites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vopson, M. M.; Zhou, D.; Caruntu, G.

2015-01-01

The multicaloric effect was theoretically proposed in 2012 and, despite numerous follow up studies, the effect still awaits experimental confirmation. The main limitation is the fact that the multicaloric effect is only observed at a temperature equal to the transition temperature of the magnetic and electric phases coexisting within a multiferroic (MF) (i.e., T ≈ T c m  ≈ T c e ). Such condition is hard to fulfill in single phase MFs and a solution is to develop suitable composite MF materials. Here, we examine the multicaloric effect in a bi-layer laminated composite MF in order to determine the optimal design parameters for best caloric response. We show that magnetically induced multicaloric effect requires magnetic component of heat capacity smaller than that of the electric phase, while the layer thickness of the magnetic phase must be at least 5 times the thickness of the electric phase. The electrically induced multicaloric effect requires the magnetic layer to be 10% of the electric phase thickness, while its heat capacity must be larger than that of the electric phase. These selection rules are generally applicable to bulk as well as thin film MF composites for optimal multicaloric effect

Experimental study of evaporation of horizontal films of water–salt solutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elistratov S.L.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The present studies were carried out for the horizontal films (thin layers of water and water solutions of NaCl, CaCl2, LiCl, and LiBr with different solubility characteristics, as well as with specific features of formation and decay of water hydrates. Required volume of solution Vo of given weight concentration ξo, preliminary heated to the working surface temperature, was put in one step on the horizontal bottom of the bowl, heated to working temperature tCT, by means of volume batchers Thermo Scientific. After evaporation completion, the final mass of solution and form of their residue were registered. At the final stage of evaporation formation of NaCl crystals and water hydrates of CaCl2 · 2H2O, LiCl · H2O, and LiBr · 2H2O occurred.

Strength, stiffness, and microstructure of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films deposited via sputtering and co-evaporation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo, Shi; Jang, Dongchan; Greer, Julia R.; Lee, Jiun-Haw; Liu, Chee-Wee; Shieh, Jia-Min; Shen, Chang-Hong; Wu, Tsung-Ta

2014-01-01

This work examines Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 thin films fabricated by (1) selenization of pre-sputtered Cu-In-Ga and (2) co-evaporation of each constituent. The efficiency disparity between films deposited via these two methods is linked to differences in morphology and microstructure. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy show that selenized films have rougher surfaces and poor adhesion to molybdenum back contact. Transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy revealed multiple voids near the Mo layer in selenized films and a depletion of Na and Se around the voids. Residual stresses in co-evaporated films were found to be ∼1.23 GPa using wafer curvature measurements. Uniaxial compression experiments on 500 nm-diameter nanopillars carved out from co-evaporated films revealed the elastic modulus of 70.4 ± 6.5 GPa. Hertzian contact model applied to nanoindentation data on selenized films revealed the indentation modulus of 68.9 ± 12.4 GPa, which is in agreement with previous reports. This equivalence of the elastic moduli suggests that microstructural differences manifest themselves after the yield point. Typical plastic behavior with two distinct failure modes is observed in the extracted stress-strain results, with the yield strength of 640.9 ± 13.7 MPa for pillars that failed by shearing and 1100.8 ± 77.8 MPa for pillars that failed by shattering.

Improved photoelectrochemical performance of BiVO4/MoO3 heterostructure thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Kodan, Nisha; Mehta, B. R.

2018-05-01

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) and Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) thin films have been prepared by RF sputtering technique. BiVO4 thin films were deposited on indium doped tin oxide (In: SnO2; ITO) substrates at room temperature and 80W applied rf power. The prepared BiVO4 thin films were further annealed at 450°C for 2 hours in air to obtain crystalline monoclinic phase and successively coated with MoO3 thin films deposited at 150W rf power and 400°C for 30 minutes. The effect of coupling BiVO4 and MoO3 on the structural, optical and photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties have been studied. Optical studies reveal that coupling of BiVO4 and MoO3 results in improvement of optical absorption in visible region of solar spectrum. PEC study shows approximate 3-fold and 38-fold increment in photocurrent values of BiVO4/MoO3 (0.38 mA/cm2) heterostructure thin film as compared to MoO3 (0.15 mA/cm2) and BiVO4 (10 µA/cm2) thin films at applied bias of 1 V vs Ag/AgCl in 0.5 M Na2SO4 (pH=7) electrolyte.

Intrinsic Rashba-like splitting in asymmetric Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}/Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} heterogeneous topological insulator films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Xiaofei; Guo, Wanlin, E-mail: wlguo@nuaa.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Mechanical Structures and Key Laboratory for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices (MOE), Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016 (China)

2014-08-25

We show by density functional theory calculations that asymmetric hetero-stacking of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}/Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films can modulate the topological surface states. Due to the structure inversion asymmetry, an intrinsic Rashba-like splitting of the conical surface bands is aroused. While such splitting in homogeneous Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}-class topological insulators can be realized in films with more than three quintuple layers under external electric fields, the hetero-stacking breaks the limit of thickness for preserving the topological nature into the thinnest two quintuple layers. These results indicate that the hetero-stacking can serve as an efficient strategy for spin-resolved band engineering of topological insulators.

Electric and Magnetic Properties of Sputter Deposited BiFeO3 Films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Siadou

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Polycrystalline BiFeO3 films have been magnetron sputter deposited at room temperature and subsequently heat-treated ex situ at temperatures between 400 and 700°C. The deposition was done in pure Ar atmosphere, as the use of oxygen-argon mixture was found to lead to nonstoichiometric films due to resputtering effects. At a target-to-substrate distance d=2′′ the BiFeO3 structure can be obtained in larger range process gas pressures (2–7 mTorr but the films do not show a specific texture. At d=6′′ codeposition from BiFeO3 and Bi2O3 has been used. Films sputtered at low rate tend to grow with the (001 texture of the pseudo-cubic BiFeO3 structure. As the film structure does not depend on epitaxy similar results are obtained on different substrates. A result of the volatility of Bi, Bi rich oxide phases occur after heat treatment at high temperatures. A Bi2SiO5 impurity phase forms on the substrate side, and does not affect the properties of the main phase. Despite the deposition on amorphous silicon oxide substrate weak ferromagnetism phenomena and displaced loops have been observed at low temperatures showing that their origin is not strain. Ba, La, Ca, and Sr doping suppress the formation of impurity phases and leakage currents.

FABRICATION OF ZNS THIN FILM FOR INORGANIC EL BY THE VACCUUM EVAPORATION

OpenAIRE

龍見, 雅美; 島谷, 圭市; 小西, 信行; 元木, 健作

2008-01-01

"Zinc sulfide is a typical material for inorganic electroluminescent(EL) device. Recently very high luminance and life time e has been reported on an inorganic EL device based on thin film zinc sulfide material. The present study tries to realize high quality zinc sulfide thin film for EL device. The thin film was grown by the vacuum evaporation method. In order to obtain stoichiometric thin film, the vacuum evaporation was carried out in a quasi-closed vessel under a condition of sulfur atmo...

Thermoelectric power of Bi and Bi{sub 1{minus}x}Sb{sub x} alloy thin films and superlattices grown by MBE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, S; DiVenere, A; Wong, G K; Ketterson, J B; Meyer, J R; Hoffman, C A

1997-07-01

The authors have measured the thermoelectric power (TEP) of MBE-grown epitaxial Bi and Bi{sub 1{minus}x} alloy thin films and superlattices as a function of temperature in the range 20--300 K. They have observed that the TEP of a Bi thin film of 1 {micro}m thickness is in good agreement with the bulk single crystal value and that the TEPs for superlattices with 400 {angstrom} and 800 {angstrom} Bi well thicknesses are enhanced over the bulk values. For x = 0.072 and 0.088 in Bi{sub 1{minus}x}Sb{sub x} thin films showing semiconducting behavior, TEP enhancement was observed by a factor of two. However as Bi or Bi{sub 1{minus}x}Sb{sub x} well thickness decreases in superlattice geometry, the TEP decreases, which may be due to unintentional p-type doping.

Study of the influence of semiconductor material parameters on acoustic wave propagation modes in GaSb/AlSb bi-layered structures by Legendre polynomial method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Othmani, Cherif, E-mail: othmanicheriffss@gmail.com; Takali, Farid; Njeh, Anouar; Ben Ghozlen, Mohamed Hédi

2016-09-01

The propagation of Rayleigh–Lamb waves in bi-layered structures is studied. For this purpose, an extension of the Legendre polynomial (LP) method is proposed to formulate the acoustic wave equation in the bi-layered structures induced by thin film Gallium Antimonide (GaSb) and with Aluminum Antimonide (AlSb) substrate in moderate thickness. Acoustic modes propagating along a bi-layer plate are shown to be quite different than classical Lamb modes, contrary to most of the multilayered structures. The validation of the LP method is illustrated by a comparison between the associated numerical results and those obtained using the ordinary differential equation (ODE) method. The convergency of the LP method is discussed through a numerical example. Moreover, the influences of thin film GaSb parameters on the characteristics Rayleigh–Lamb waves propagation has been studied in detail. Finally, the advantages of the Legendre polynomial (LP) method to analyze the multilayered structures are described. All the developments performed in this work were implemented in Matlab software.

Study of the influence of semiconductor material parameters on acoustic wave propagation modes in GaSb/AlSb bi-layered structures by Legendre polynomial method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Othmani, Cherif; Takali, Farid; Njeh, Anouar; Ben Ghozlen, Mohamed Hédi

2016-01-01

The propagation of Rayleigh–Lamb waves in bi-layered structures is studied. For this purpose, an extension of the Legendre polynomial (LP) method is proposed to formulate the acoustic wave equation in the bi-layered structures induced by thin film Gallium Antimonide (GaSb) and with Aluminum Antimonide (AlSb) substrate in moderate thickness. Acoustic modes propagating along a bi-layer plate are shown to be quite different than classical Lamb modes, contrary to most of the multilayered structures. The validation of the LP method is illustrated by a comparison between the associated numerical results and those obtained using the ordinary differential equation (ODE) method. The convergency of the LP method is discussed through a numerical example. Moreover, the influences of thin film GaSb parameters on the characteristics Rayleigh–Lamb waves propagation has been studied in detail. Finally, the advantages of the Legendre polynomial (LP) method to analyze the multilayered structures are described. All the developments performed in this work were implemented in Matlab software.

X-ray magnetic spectroscopy of MBE-grown Mn-doped Bi2Se3 thin films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. J. Collins-McIntyre

2014-12-01

Full Text Available We report the growth of Mn-doped Bi2Se3 thin films by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE, investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD, atomic force microscopy (AFM, SQUID magnetometry and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD. Epitaxial films were deposited on c-plane sapphire substrates by co-evaporation. The films exhibit a spiral growth mechanism typical of this material class, as revealed by AFM. The XRD measurements demonstrate a good crystalline structure which is retained upon doping up to ∼7.5 atomic-% Mn, determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS, and show no evidence of the formation of parasitic phases. However an increasing interstitial incorporation of Mn is observed with increasing doping concentration. A magnetic moment of 5.1 μB/Mn is obtained from bulk-sensitive SQUID measurements, and a much lower moment of 1.6 μB/Mn from surface-sensitive XMCD. At ∼2.5 K, XMCD at the Mn L2,3 edge, reveals short-range magnetic order in the films and indicates ferromagnetic order below 1.5 K.

Investigation of Top/Bottom electrode and Diffusion Barrier Layer for PZT Thick Film MEMS Sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hindrichsen, Christian Carstensen; Pedersen, Thomas; Thomsen, Erik Vilain

2008-01-01

Top and bottom electrodes for screen printed piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate, Pb(ZrxTi1 - x)O3 (PZT) thick film are investigated with respect to future MEMS devices. Down to 100 nm thick E-beam evaporated Al and Pt films are patterned as top electrodes on the PZT using a lift-off process...... with a line width down to 3 μ m. A 700 nm thick ZrO2 layer as insolating diffusion barrier layer is found to be insufficient as barrier layer for PZT on a silicon substrate sintered at 850°C. EDX shows diffusion of Si into the PZT layer....

Correlating thermoelectric properties with microstructure in Bi0.8Sb0.2 thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Siegal, M. P.; Lima-Sharma, A. L.; Sharma, P. A.; Rochford, C.

2017-04-01

The room temperature electronic transport properties of 100 nm-thick thermoelectric Bi0.8Sb0.2 films, sputter-deposited onto quartz substrates and post-annealed in an ex-situ furnace, systematically correlate with the overall microstructural quality, improving with increasing annealing temperature until close to the melting point for the alloy composition. The optimized films have high crystalline quality with ˜99% of the grains oriented with the trigonal axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. Film resistivities and Seebeck coefficients are accurately measured by preventing deleterious surface oxide formation via a SiN capping layer and using Nd-doped Al for contacts. The resulting values are similar to single crystals and significantly better than previous reports from films and polycrystalline bulk alloys.

Magneto-optical properties of BiFeO3 thin films using surface plasmon resonance technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paliwal, Ayushi; Sharma, Anjali; Tomar, Monika; Gupta, Vinay

2014-01-01

Indigeneously assembled surface plasmon resonance (SPR) set up has been exploited to study the magnetic field dependent optical properties of BiFeO 3 thin films. BiFeO 3 thin films have been deposited onto gold (Au) coated glass prism by using pulsed laser deposition technique. The surface plasmon modes in prism/Au/BiFeO 3 /air structure have been excited in Kretschmann configuration at the interface of Au/BiFeO 3 thin films. The SPR reflectance curves obtained for prism/Au/BiFeO 3 /air structure were utilized to investigate the optical properties of BiFeO 3 thin films at optical frequency (λ=633 nm) as a function of applied magnetic field. SPR curves shows a continuous shift towards lower angles with increasing applied magnetic field, which indicate the promising application of ferromagnetic BiFeO 3 film as a magnetic field sensor. Complex dielectric constant of deposited BiFeO 3 film was determined by fitting the experimental SPR data with Fresnel's equations. The variation of complex dielectric constant and refractive index of BiFeO 3 film was studied with increase in magnetic field, and the sensitivity of magnetic field sensor was found to be about 0.52 RIU/T

Vibrational properties of epitaxial Bi{sub 4}Te{sub 3} films as studied by Raman spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Hao; Pan, Wenwu; Chen, Qimiao; Wu, Xiaoyan [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 865 Changning Road, Shanghai 200050 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049 (China); Song, Yuxin, E-mail: songyuxin@mail.sim.ac.cn, E-mail: shumin@chalmers.se; Gong, Qian [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 865 Changning Road, Shanghai 200050 (China); Lu, Pengfei [State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, P.O. Box 72, Beijing 100876 (China); Wang, Shumin, E-mail: songyuxin@mail.sim.ac.cn, E-mail: shumin@chalmers.se [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 865 Changning Road, Shanghai 200050 (China); Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg (Sweden)

2015-08-15

Bi{sub 4}Te{sub 3}, as one of the phases of the binary Bi–Te system, shares many similarities with Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}, which is known as a topological insulator and thermoelectric material. We report the micro-Raman spectroscopy study of 50 nm Bi{sub 4}Te{sub 3} films on Si substrates prepared by molecular beam epitaxy. Raman spectra of Bi{sub 4}Te{sub 3} films completely resolve the six predicted Raman-active phonon modes for the first time. Structural features and Raman tensors of Bi{sub 4}Te{sub 3} films are introduced. According to the wavenumbers and assignments of the six eigenpeaks in the Raman spectra of Bi{sub 4}Te{sub 3} films, it is found that the Raman-active phonon oscillations in Bi{sub 4}Te{sub 3} films exhibit the vibrational properties of those in both Bi and Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films.

Thickness and growth-condition dependence of in-situ mobility and carrier density of epitaxial thin-film Bi2Se3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hellerstedt, Jack; Fuhrer, Michael S.; Edmonds, Mark T.; Zheng, C. X.; Chen, J. H.; Cullen, William G.

2014-01-01

Bismuth selenide Bi 2 Se 3 was grown by molecular beam epitaxy, while carrier density and mobility were measured directly in situ as a function of film thickness. Carrier density shows high interface n-doping (1.5 × 10 13  cm −2 ) at the onset of film conduction and bulk dopant density of ∼5 × 10 11  cm −2 per quintuple-layer unit, roughly independent of growth temperature profile. Mobility depends more strongly on the growth temperature and is related to the crystalline quality of the samples quantified by ex-situ atomic force microscopy measurements. These results indicate that Bi 2 Se 3 as prepared by widely employed parameters is n-doped before exposure to atmosphere, the doping is largely interfacial in origin, and dopants are not the limiting disorder in present Bi 2 Se 3 films.

Enhanced Charge Extraction of Li-Doped TiO2 for Efficient Thermal-Evaporated Sb2S3 Thin Film Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Chunfeng; Luo, Jingting; Lan, Huabin; Fan, Bo; Peng, Huanxin; Zhao, Jun; Sun, Huibin; Zheng, Zhuanghao; Liang, Guangxing; Fan, Ping

2018-01-01

We provided a new method to improve the efficiency of Sb2S3 thin film solar cells. The TiO2 electron transport layers were doped by lithium to improve their charge extraction properties for the thermal-evaporated Sb2S3 solar cells. The Mott-Schottky curves suggested a change of energy band and faster charge transport in the Li-doped TiO2 films. Compared with the undoped TiO2, Li-doped mesoporous TiO2 dramatically improved the photo-voltaic performance of the thermal-evaporated Sb2S3 thin film solar cells, with the average power conversion efficiency (PCE) increasing from 1.79% to 4.03%, as well as the improved open-voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Jsc) and fill factors. The best device based on Li-doped TiO2 achieved a power conversion efficiency up to 4.42% as well as a Voc of 0.645 V, which are the highest values among the reported thermal-evaporated Sb2S3 solar cells. This study showed that Li-doping on TiO2 can effectively enhance the charge extraction properties of electron transport layers, offering a new strategy to improve the efficiency of Sb2S3-based solar cells. PMID:29495612

Enhanced Charge Extraction of Li-Doped TiO2 for Efficient Thermal-Evaporated Sb2S3 Thin Film Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunfeng Lan

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We provided a new method to improve the efficiency of Sb2S3 thin film solar cells. The TiO2 electron transport layers were doped by lithium to improve their charge extraction properties for the thermal-evaporated Sb2S3 solar cells. The Mott-Schottky curves suggested a change of energy band and faster charge transport in the Li-doped TiO2 films. Compared with the undoped TiO2, Li-doped mesoporous TiO2 dramatically improved the photo-voltaic performance of the thermal-evaporated Sb2S3 thin film solar cells, with the average power conversion efficiency (PCE increasing from 1.79% to 4.03%, as well as the improved open-voltage (Voc, short-circuit current (Jsc and fill factors. The best device based on Li-doped TiO2 achieved a power conversion efficiency up to 4.42% as well as a Voc of 0.645 V, which are the highest values among the reported thermal-evaporated Sb2S3 solar cells. This study showed that Li-doping on TiO2 can effectively enhance the charge extraction properties of electron transport layers, offering a new strategy to improve the efficiency of Sb2S3-based solar cells.

Chloroform micro-evaporation induced ordered structures of poly(L-lactide) thin films

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Shaoyong; Li, Hongfei; Shang, Yingrui

2013-01-01

Self-assembly of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) in thin films induced by chloroform micro-evaporation was investigated by microscopic techniques and X-ray diffraction studies. A film-thickness dependent on highly ordered structures has been derived from disordered films. Ring-banded spherulitic...... and dendritic morphologies with radial periodic variation of thicknesses were formed in dilute solution driven by micro-evaporation of the solvent. Bunched morphologies stacked with a flat-on lozenge-shaped lamellae were created in thinner films. The formation of the concentric ring banded structures...

Annealing effect on the bipolar resistive switching behaviors of BiFeO3 thin films on LaNiO3-buffered Si substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Xinman; Zhang Hu; Ruan Kaibin; Shi Wangzhou

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Annealing effect on the bipolar resistive switching behaviors of BiFeO 3 thin films with Pt/BiFeO 3 /LNO was reported. ► Rectification property was explained from the asymmetrical contact between top and bottom interfaces and the distinct oxygen vacancy density. ► The modification of Schottky-like barrier was suggested to be responsible for the resistance switching behaviors of Pt/BiFeO 3 /LNO devices. - Abstract: We reported the annealing effect on the electrical behaviors of BiFeO 3 thin films integrated on LaNiO 3 (LNO) layers buffered Si substrates by sol–gel spin-coating technique. All the BiFeO 3 thin films exhibit the reversible bipolar resistive switching behaviors with Pt/BiFeO 3 /LNO configuration. The electrical conduction mechanism of the devices was dominated by the Ohmic conduction in the low resistance state and trap-controlled space charged limited current in the high resistance state. Good diode-like rectification property was observed in device with BiFeO 3 film annealed at 500 °C, but vanished in device with BiFeO 3 film annealed at 600 °C. This was attributed to the asymmetrical contact between top and bottom interfaces as well as the distinct oxygen vacancy density verified by XPS. Furthermore, the modification of Schottky-like barrier due to the drift of oxygen vacancies was suggested to be responsible for the resistance switching behaviors of Pt/BiFeO 3 /LNO devices.

Electronic and optical properties of CdS films deposited by evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, L.; Wei, Z.L.; Zhang, F.M.; Wu, X.S., E-mail: xswu@nju.edu.cn

2015-11-05

CdS films grown by thermal evaporation on glass substrate under ultra-high vacuum are prepared with varying the growth temperature and atmosphere environment. The minimum resistivity of the films is as low as 2.0 Ω·cm, and the carrier density even reaches 1.6 × 10{sup 18} cm{sup −3}, which is much less than that prepared by the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The transmittance and band gap increase with the set the argon atmosphere and the growth temperature in the optimum value. Our results indicate the CdS films grown by evaporation at high vacuum may be more suitable for the application in optoelectronic devices, such as the solar cell materials. - Highlights: • CdS films are grown by the ultra-high vacuum evaporation. • CdS film here with the high carrier density reaches to 10{sup 18} cm{sup −3} is obtained. • The film has low resistivity, which is as low as 2 Ω∙ cm. • The optical band gap become wider from 2.42 eV to 2.54 eV.

Interfacial effects on the electrical properties of multiferroic BiFeO3/Pt/Si thin film heterostructures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yakovlev, S.; Zekonyte, J.; Solterbeck, C.-H.; Es-Souni, M.

2005-01-01

Polycrystalline BiFeO 3 thin films of various thickness were fabricated on (111)Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si substrates via chemical solution deposition. The electrical properties were investigated using impedance and leakage current measurements. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) combined with Ar ion milling (depth profiling) was used to investigate elemental distribution near the electrode-film interface. It is shown that the dielectric constant depends on film thickness due to the presence of an interfacial film-electrode layer evidenced by XPS investigation. Direct current conductivity is found to be governed by Schottky and/or Poole-Frenkel mechanisms

Band alignment measurements at heterojunction interfaces in layered thin film solar cells & thermoelectrics

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Fang

2011-12-01

combination of core levels and valence band ultraviolet photoemission spectra of the bulk materials as well as the heterojunction (Sb2Te 3/Bi2Te3), the VBO at p-type Sb2Te 3 and n-type Bi2Te3 is determined as 0.04 +/- 0.10 eV. Such a small energy offset is within the same magnitude of the thermal energy of kT, at room temperature. The motivation for the II-VI ZnTe-based thin film solar cell derives from the need to identify and overcome performance-limiting properties related to the processing of film deposition using close space sublimation (CSS). Chemical and electronic properties of the CSS grown ZnTe/ZnSe films were studied in x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and photoemission spectroscopy. Specifically, Se oxide was observed on the ZnSe surface, the removal of this oxide generated apparent offsets in the valence band and hence the alignment at the heterojunction energy diagram. Processing steps to mitigate oxidation yielded the best cells. Film structure was studied on the dependence of growth time; physical film damage is found during the initial stages when depositing ZnTe on a grown ZnSe film. Preliminary studies of films grown by evaporation and their characterizations are presented at last. In this thesis, a better understanding of the electronic structure at interfaces is built in two different thin film devices, and the resulting band energy diagram of the corresponding devices offered effective feedback in materials and device.The problem of energy equilibrium in the human body has received a great deal.

Multilayered gold/silica nanoparticulate bilayer devices using layer-by-layer self organisation for flexible bending and pressure sensing applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shah Alam, Md. [Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, Rajshahi 6204 (Bangladesh); Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology, Asian Institute of Technology, 12120 Pathumthani (Thailand); Mohammed, Waleed S., E-mail: waleed.m@bu.ac.th [Center of Research in Optoelectronics, Communication and Control System (BU-CROCCS), School of Engineering, Bangkok University, Pathumthani 12120 (Thailand); Dutta, Joydeep, E-mail: dutta@squ.edu.om [Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology, Asian Institute of Technology, 12120 Pathumthani (Thailand); Chair in Nanotechnology, Water Research Center, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al Khoud 123 (Oman)

2014-02-17

A pressure and bending sensor was fabricated using multilayer thin films fabricated on a flexible substrate based on layer-by-layer self-organization of 18 nm gold nanoparticles separated by a dielectric layer of 30 nm silica nanoparticles. 50, 75, and 100 gold-silica bi-layered films were deposited and the device characteristics were studied. A threshold voltage was required for electron conduction which increases from 2.4 V for 50 bi-layers to 3.3 V for 100 bi-layers. Upon bending of the device up to about 52°, the threshold voltage and slope of the I-V curves change linearly. Electrical characterization of the multilayer films was carried out under ambient conditions with different pressures and bending angles in the direct current mode. This study demonstrates that the developed multilayer thin films can be used as pressure as well as bending sensing applications.

Metal doped polymer films prepared by simultaneous plasma polymerization of tetrafluoromethane and evaporation of gold

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martinu, L.; Biederman, H. (Karlova Univ., Prague (Czechoslovakia). Fakulta Matematicko-Fyzikalni); Zemek, J. (Ceskoslovenska Akademie Ved, Prague. Fyzikalni Ustav)

The incorporation of gold from an evaporation source during plasma polymerization of tetrafluoromethane CF/sub 4/ in an RF (20 MHz) glow discharge excited by means of a planar magnetron has been investigated. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to monitor the deposition process in situ. The structure of the films was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. The sheet resistance and optical transmission measurements have been performed showing a dramatic influence of gold concentration on the film properties. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis were used for determining the concentration depth profiles through the films. It has been shown that the presence of gold in the layers substantially reduces the fluorine content. The effect of various gold incorporation methods on the film characteristics has been discussed.

The effect of FR enhancement in reactive ion beam sputtered Bi, Gd, Al-substituted iron- garnets: Bi2O3 nanocomposite films

OpenAIRE

Berzhansky, V.; Shaposhnikov, A.; Karavainikov, A.; Prokopov, A.; Mikhailova, T.; Lukienko, I.; Kharchenko, Yu.; Miloslavskaya, O.; Kharchenko, N.

2012-01-01

The effect of considerable Faraday rotation (FR) and figure of merit (Q) enhancement in Bi, Gd, Al-substituted iron garnets: Bi2O3 nano-composite films produced by separate reactive ion beam sputtered Bi:YIG and Bi2O3 films was found. It reached threefold enhancement of the FR and twofold of the Q one on GGG substrates.

Magnetic field induced superconductor-insulator transitions for ultra-thin Bi films on the different underlayers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makise, K; Kawaguti, T; Shinozaki, B

2009-01-01

This work shows the experimental results of the superconductor-insulator (S-I) transition for ultra-thin Bi films in magnetic fields. The quench-condensed (q-c) Bi film onto insulating underlayers have been interpreted to be homogeneous. In contrast, the Bi film without underlayers has been regarded as a granular film. The electrical transport properties of ultra-thin metal films near the S-I transition depend on the structure of the film. In order to confirm the effect of the underlayer to the homogeneity of the superconducting films, we investigate the characteristics of S-I transitions of q-c nominally homogeneous Bi films on underlayers of two insulating materials, SiO, and Sb. Under almost the same deposition condition except for the material of underlayer, we prepared the Bi films by repeating the additional deposition and performed in-situ electrical measurement. It is found that the transport properties near the S-I transitions show the remarkable difference between two films on different underlayers. As for Bi films on SiO, it turned out that the temperature dependence of resistance per square R sq (T) of the field-tuned transition and the thickness-tuned transition shows similar behavior; it was a thermally activated form. On the other hand, the R sq (T) of Bi films on Sb for thickness-tuned S-I transition showed logarithmic temperature dependence, but that for field-tuned S-I transition showed a thermally activated form.

Adsorbate-induced modification of electronic band structure of epitaxial Bi(111) films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matetskiy, A.V., E-mail: mateckij@iacp.dvo.ru [Institute of Automation and Control Processes FEB RAS, 5 Radio Street, 690041 Vladivostok (Russian Federation); Bondarenko, L.V.; Tupchaya, A.Y.; Gruznev, D.V. [Institute of Automation and Control Processes FEB RAS, 5 Radio Street, 690041 Vladivostok (Russian Federation); Eremeev, S.V. [Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science, 634021 Tomsk (Russian Federation); Tomsk State University, 634050 Tomsk (Russian Federation); Zotov, A.V. [Institute of Automation and Control Processes FEB RAS, 5 Radio Street, 690041 Vladivostok (Russian Federation); School of Natural Sciences, Far Eastern Federal University, 690950 Vladivostok (Russian Federation); Department of Electronics, Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service, 690600 Vladivostok (Russian Federation); Saranin, A.A. [Institute of Automation and Control Processes FEB RAS, 5 Radio Street, 690041 Vladivostok (Russian Federation); School of Natural Sciences, Far Eastern Federal University, 690950 Vladivostok (Russian Federation)

2017-06-01

Highlights: • Modification of electronic properties of ultrathin Bi films by adsorbates is demonstrated. • Due to electron doping from Cs adatoms, surface-state bands shift to higher binding energies. • As a result, only electron pockets are left in the Fermi map. • Tin acts as an acceptor dopant for Bi, shifting Fermi level upward. • As a result, only hole pockets are left in the Fermi map. - Abstract: Changes of the electronic band structure of Bi(111) films on Si(111) induced by Cs and Sn adsorption have been studied using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. It has been found that small amounts of Cs when it presents at the surface in a form of the adatom gas leads to shifting of the surface and quantum well states to the higher binding energies due to the electron donation from adsorbate to the Bi film. In contrast, adsorbed Sn dissolves into the Bi film bulk upon heating and acts as an acceptor dopant, that results in shifting of the surface and quantum well states upward to the lower binding energies. These results pave the way to manipulate with the Bi thin film electron band structure allowing to achieve a certain type of conductivity (electron or hole) with a single spin channel at the Fermi level making the adsorbate-modified Bi a reliable base for prospective spintronics applications.

Influence of organic films on the evaporation and condensation of water in aerosol.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, James F; Miles, Rachael E H; Haddrell, Allen E; Reid, Jonathan P

2013-05-28

Uncertainties in quantifying the kinetics of evaporation and condensation of water from atmospheric aerosol are a significant contributor to the uncertainty in predicting cloud droplet number and the indirect effect of aerosols on climate. The influence of aerosol particle surface composition, particularly the impact of surface active organic films, on the condensation and evaporation coefficients remains ambiguous. Here, we report measurements of the influence of organic films on the evaporation and condensation of water from aerosol particles. Significant reductions in the evaporation coefficient are shown to result when condensed films are formed by monolayers of long-chain alcohols [C(n)H(2n+1)OH], with the value decreasing from 2.4 × 10(-3) to 1.7 × 10(-5) as n increases from 12 to 17. Temperature-dependent measurements confirm that a condensed film of long-range order must be formed to suppress the evaporation coefficient below 0.05. The condensation of water on a droplet coated in a condensed film is shown to be fast, with strong coherence of the long-chain alcohol molecules leading to islanding as the water droplet grows, opening up broad areas of uncoated surface on which water can condense rapidly. We conclude that multicomponent composition of organic films on the surface of atmospheric aerosol particles is likely to preclude the formation of condensed films and that the kinetics of water condensation during the activation of aerosol to form cloud droplets is likely to remain rapid.

Influence of organic films on the evaporation and condensation of water in aerosol

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, James F.; Miles, Rachael E. H.; Haddrell, Allen E.; Reid, Jonathan P.

2013-01-01

Uncertainties in quantifying the kinetics of evaporation and condensation of water from atmospheric aerosol are a significant contributor to the uncertainty in predicting cloud droplet number and the indirect effect of aerosols on climate. The influence of aerosol particle surface composition, particularly the impact of surface active organic films, on the condensation and evaporation coefficients remains ambiguous. Here, we report measurements of the influence of organic films on the evaporation and condensation of water from aerosol particles. Significant reductions in the evaporation coefficient are shown to result when condensed films are formed by monolayers of long-chain alcohols [CnH(2n+1)OH], with the value decreasing from 2.4 × 10−3 to 1.7 × 10−5 as n increases from 12 to 17. Temperature-dependent measurements confirm that a condensed film of long-range order must be formed to suppress the evaporation coefficient below 0.05. The condensation of water on a droplet coated in a condensed film is shown to be fast, with strong coherence of the long-chain alcohol molecules leading to islanding as the water droplet grows, opening up broad areas of uncoated surface on which water can condense rapidly. We conclude that multicomponent composition of organic films on the surface of atmospheric aerosol particles is likely to preclude the formation of condensed films and that the kinetics of water condensation during the activation of aerosol to form cloud droplets is likely to remain rapid. PMID:23674675

Strength, stiffness, and microstructure of Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} thin films deposited via sputtering and co-evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Shi; Jang, Dongchan; Greer, Julia R., E-mail: jrgreer@caltech.edu [Division of Applied Science and Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, California 91125 (United States); Lee, Jiun-Haw [Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics and Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec 4 Roosevelt, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Liu, Chee-Wee [Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, No 1, Sec 4 Roosevelt, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Shieh, Jia-Min; Shen, Chang-Hong; Wu, Tsung-Ta [National Nano Device Laboratories, Hsinchu Science Park, No. 26, Prosperity Road I, Hsinchu 30078, Taiwan (China)

2014-07-07

This work examines Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} thin films fabricated by (1) selenization of pre-sputtered Cu-In-Ga and (2) co-evaporation of each constituent. The efficiency disparity between films deposited via these two methods is linked to differences in morphology and microstructure. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy show that selenized films have rougher surfaces and poor adhesion to molybdenum back contact. Transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy revealed multiple voids near the Mo layer in selenized films and a depletion of Na and Se around the voids. Residual stresses in co-evaporated films were found to be ∼1.23 GPa using wafer curvature measurements. Uniaxial compression experiments on 500 nm-diameter nanopillars carved out from co-evaporated films revealed the elastic modulus of 70.4 ± 6.5 GPa. Hertzian contact model applied to nanoindentation data on selenized films revealed the indentation modulus of 68.9 ± 12.4 GPa, which is in agreement with previous reports. This equivalence of the elastic moduli suggests that microstructural differences manifest themselves after the yield point. Typical plastic behavior with two distinct failure modes is observed in the extracted stress-strain results, with the yield strength of 640.9 ± 13.7 MPa for pillars that failed by shearing and 1100.8 ± 77.8 MPa for pillars that failed by shattering.

Evaporation and Hydrocarbon Chain Conformation of Surface Lipid Films

Science.gov (United States)

Sledge, Samiyyah M.; Khimji, Hussain; Borchman, Douglas; Oliver, Alexandria; Michael, Heidi; Dennis, Emily K.; Gerlach, Dylan; Bhola, Rahul; Stephen, Elsa

2016-01-01

Purpose The inhibition of the rate of evaporation (Revap) by surface lipids is relevant to reservoirs and dry eye. Our aim was to test the idea that lipid surface films inhibit Revap. Methods Revap were determined gravimetrically. Hydrocarbon chain conformation and structure were measured using a Raman microscope. Six 1-hydroxyl hydrocarbons (11–24 carbons in length) and human meibum were studied. Reflex tears were obtained from a 62-year-old male. Results The Raman scattering intensity of the lipid film deviated by about 7 % for hydroxyl lipids and varied by 21 % for meibum films across the entire film at a resolution of 5 µm2. All of the surface lipids were ordered. Revap of the shorter chain hydroxyl lipids were slightly (7%) but significantly lower compared with the longer chain hydroxyl lipids. Revap of both groups was essentially similar to that of buffer. A hydroxyl lipid film did not influence Revap over an estimated average thickness range of 0.69 to >6.9 µm. Revap of human tears and buffer with and without human meibum (34.4 µm thick) was not significantly different. Revap of human tears was not significantly different from buffer. Conclusions Human meibum and hydroxyl lipids, regardless of their fluidity, chain length, or thickness did not inhibit Revap of buffer or tears even though they completely covered the surface. It is unlikely that hydroxyl lipids can be used to inhibit Revap of reservoirs. Our data do not support the widely accepted (yet unconfirmed) idea that the tear film lipid layer inhibits Revap of tears. PMID:27395776

Deposition of bi-dispersed particles in inkjet-printed evaporating colloidal drops

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Ying; Joshi, Abhijit; Chhasatia, Viral

2010-11-01

In this study, the deposition behaviors of inkjet-printed evaporating colloidal drops consisting of bi-dispersed micro and nano-sized particles are investigated by fluorescence microscopy and SEM. The results on hydrophilic glass substrates show that, evaporatively-driven outward flow drives the nanoparticles to deposit close to the pinned contact line while an inner ring deposition is formed by microparticles. This size-induced particle separation is consistent with the existence of a wedge-shaped drop edge near the contact line region of an evaporating drop on a hydrophilic substrate. The replenishing evaporatively-driven flow assembles nanoparticles closer to the pinned contact line forming an outer ring of nanoparticles and this particle jamming further enhances the contact line pinning. Microparticles are observed to form an inner ring inside the nano-sized deposits. This size-induced particle separation presents a new challenge to the uniformity of functional materials in bioprinting applications where nanoparticles and micro-sized cells are mixed together. On the other hand, particle self-assembly based on their sizes provides enables easy and well-controlled pattern formation. The effects of particle size contrast, particle volume fraction, substrate surface energy, and relative humidity of the printing environment on particle separation are examined in detail.

Structural and optical investigation of Te-based chalcogenide thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sharma, Rita, E-mail: reetasharma2012@gmail.com; Sharma, Shaveta; Thangaraj, R.; Mian, M. [Semiconductors Laboratory, Department of Physics, GND University, Amritsar (India); Chander, Ravi [Applied Science Deptt. Govt. Polytechnic College Amritsar (India); Kumar, Praveen [Department of Physics, DAV University, Sarmastipur, Jalandhar-144012 (India)

2015-05-15

We report the structural and optical properties of thermally evaporated Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}, In{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and InBiTe{sub 3} films by using X-ray diffraction, optical and Raman Spectroscopy techniques. The as-prepared thin films were found to be Semi-crystalline by X-ray diffraction. Particle Size and Strain has been calculated from XRD data. The optical constants, film thickness, refractive index and optical band gap (E{sub g}) has been reported for In{sub 2}Te{sub 3}, InBiTe{sub 3} films. Raman Spectroscopy was performed to investigate the effect of Bi, In, on lattice vibration and chemical bonding in Te based chalcogenide glassy alloys.

Properties of SrBi sub 2 Nb sub 2 O sub 9 thin films on Pt-coated Si

CERN Document Server

Avila, R E; Martin, V D C; Fernandez, L M; Sylvester, G S; Retuert, P J; Gramsch, E

2002-01-01

SrBi sub 2 Nb sub 2 O sub 9 powders and thin films, on Pt-coated Si, were synthesised by the sol-gel method. Three-layer thin films appear homogeneous down to the 100 nm scale, polycrystalline in the tetragonal Aurivillius phase, at a average thickness of 40 nm per layer. The index of refraction at the center of the visible range increases with the sintering temperature from roughly 2.1 (at 400 Centigrade) to 2.5 (at 700 Centigrade). The expression n sup 2 -1 increases linearly with the relative density of the thin films, in similar fashion as previous studies in PbTiO sub 3 thin films. The dielectric constant in quasistatic and high frequency (1 MHz) modes, is between 160 and 230. (Author)

Effect of sputtering power on structure and properties of Bi film deposited by DC magnetron sputtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liao Guo; He Zhibing; Xu Hua; Li Jun; Chen Taihua; Chen Jiajun

2012-01-01

Bi film was fabricated at different sputtering powers by DC magnetron sputtering. The deposition rate of Bi film as the function of sputtering power was studied. The surface topography of Bi film was observed by SEM, and the growth mode of Bi film was investigated. The crystal structure was analyzed by XRD. The grain size and stress of Bi film were calculated. The SEM images show that all the films are columnar growth. The average grain size firstly increases as the sputtering power increases, then decreases at 60 W. The film becomes loose with the increase of sputtering power, while, the film gets compact when the sputtering power becomes from 45 to 60 W. The XRD results show that films are polycrystalline of hexagonal. And the stress transforms from the tensile stress to compressive stress as the sputtering power increases. (authors)

Epitaxial growth and dielectric properties of Bi sub 2 VO sub 5 sub . sub 5 thin films on TiN/Si substrates with SrTiO sub 3 buffer layers

CERN Document Server

Lee, H Y; Choi, B C; Jeong, J H; Joseph, M; Tabata, H; Kawai, T

2000-01-01

Bi sub 2 VO sub 5 sub . sub 5 (BVO) thin films were epitaxially grown on SrTiO sub 3 /TiN/Si substrates by using pulsed laser ablation. A TiN thin film was prepared at 700 .deg. C as a bottom electrode. The TiN film exhibited a high alpha axis orientation and a very smooth morphology. Before the preparation of the BVO thin film, a crystallized SrTiO sub 3 thin film was deposited as a buffer layer on TiN/Si. The BVO thin film grown at a substrate temperature at 700 .deg. C and an oxygen pressure of 50 mTorr was found to be epitaxial along the c-axis. Also, BVO films were observed to have flat surfaces and the step-flow modes. The dielectric constant of the BVO film on STO/TiN/Si was constant at about 8 approx 4 in the applied frequency range between 10 sup 2 and 10 sup 6 Hz.

Measurements of the evaporation rate upon evaporation of thin layer at different heating modes

OpenAIRE

Gatapova E.Ya.; Korbanova E.G.

2017-01-01

Technique for measurements of the evaporation rate of a heated liquid layer is presented. The local minimum is observed which is associated with the point of equilibrium of the liquid–gas interface. It is shown when no heat is applied to the heating element temperature in gas phase is larger than in liquid, and evaporation occurs with the rate of 0.014–0.018 μl/s. Then evaporation rate is decreasing with increasing the heater temperature until the equilibrium point is reached at the liquid–ga...

Heteroepitaxial Growth of Vacuum-Evaporated Si-Ge Films on Nano structured Silicon Substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayu Wazira Azhari; Ayu Wazira Azhari; Kamaruzzaman Sopian; Saleem Hussain Zaidi

2015-01-01

In this study, a low-cost vacuum-evaporated technique is used in the heteroepitaxial growth of Si-Ge films. Three different surface variations are employed: for example polished Si, Si micro pyramids and Si nano pillars profiles. A simple metal-assisted chemical etching method is used to fabricate the Si nano pillars, with Ag acting as a catalyst. Following deposition, substrates are subjected to post-deposition thermal annealing at 1000 degree Celsius to improve the crystallinity of the Ge layer. Optical and morphological studies of surface area are conducted using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. From the infrared spectroscopy analysis, the energy bandgap for Si-Ge films is estimated to be around 0.94 eV. This high-quality Si-Ge film is most favourable for optics, optoelectronics and high-efficiency solar cell applications. (author)

Synthesis, structure and optical properties of thin films from GeS{sub 2}–In{sub 2}S{sub 3} system deposited by thermal co-evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Todorov, R., E-mail: rossen@iomt.bas.bg [Institute of Optical Materials and Technologies “Acad. J. Malinowski”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., bl. 109, 1113 Sofia (Bulgaria); Petkov, K. [Institute of Optical Materials and Technologies “Acad. J. Malinowski”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., bl. 109, 1113 Sofia (Bulgaria); Kincl, M. [Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of Czech Academy of Science, Heyrovsky sq. 2, 162 06 Prague 6 (Czech Republic); Černošková, E. [Faculty of Chemical Technology, University of Pardubice, Studentská 84, 532 10 Pardubice (Czech Republic); Vlček, Mil.; Tichý, L. [Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of Czech Academy of Science, Heyrovsky sq. 2, 162 06 Prague 6 (Czech Republic)

2014-05-02

This paper deals with the properties of the glasses and thin films from multi-component chalcogenide prepared by co-evaporation technique. The thin chalcogenide layers from GeS{sub 2}–In{sub 2}S{sub 3} system were deposited by thermal co-evaporation of GeS{sub 2} and In{sub 2}S{sub 3}. Using X-ray microanalysis it was found that the film compositions are closed to the expected ones. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the thin films deposited by co-evaporation are amorphous. The refractive index, n and the optical band gap, E{sub g}{sup opt} were calculated from the transmittance and reflectance spectra. The thin film's structure was investigated by infrared spectroscopy. It was found that the photo-induced optical changes decrease with increase of indium content while significant thermo-induced changes in the optical properties and structure were observed at 14 at.% indium. The infrared spectra demonstrated high transmittance of the thin films in the range 4000–500 cm{sup −1}. The far-infrared spectra indicated that the indium participates in the glass network of the layers from Ge–S–In system in four coordinated InS{sub 4/2}{sup −} tetrahedral and six-coordinated InS{sub 6/2}{sup 3−} octahedral units. The changes in infrared spectra after annealing of the thin films evidence an increase of population of ethane-like S{sub 3}Ge–GeS{sub 3} units and/or structural or phase change of indium contain units. - Highlights: • The thin layers from GeS{sub 2}–In{sub 2}S{sub 3} system were deposited by thermal co-evaporation. • The photo-induced optical changes decrease with increase of indium content. • The thermo-induced changes in the optical properties and structure were investigated. • The structure of the thin films was investigated by infrared spectroscopy.

Analysis of multiferroic properties in BiMnO3 thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grizalez, M; Mendoza, G A; Prieto, P

2009-01-01

Textured BiMnO 3 [111] thin films on SrTiO 3 (100) and Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 substrates were grown via r.f. magnetron sputtering (13.56 MHz). The XRD spectra confirmed a monoclinic structure and high-quality textured films for the BiMnO 3 films. The films grown on SrTiO 3 (100) showed higher crystalline quality than those developed on Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 . Through optimized oxygen pressure of 5x10 -2 mbar during the r.f. sputtering deposition, the crystalline orientation of the BiMnO 3 film was improved with respect to the previously reported value of 2x10 -1 mbar. The values of spontaneous polarization (P s ), remnant polarization (P r ), and coercive field (F c ) from ferroelectric hysteresis loops (P-E) at different temperatures were also obtained. Samples with higher crystalline order revealed better dielectric properties (high P s and P r values and a low F c ). For films on both types of substrates, the ferroelectric behavior was found to persist up to 400K. Measurements at higher temperatures were difficult to obtain given the increased conductivity of the films. Magnetic hysteresis loops from 5K to 120K were obtained for BiMnO 3 films grown on SrTiO 3 and Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 substrates. The results suggested that the coexistence of the magnetic and electric phases persists up to 120K.

Dopant rearrangement and superconductivity in Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6 thin films under annealing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cancellieri, C; Lin, P H; Ariosa, D; Pavuna, D

2007-01-01

By combining x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and AC susceptibility measurements we investigate the evolution of structural and superconducting properties of La-doped Bi-2201 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) under different annealing conditions. We find that the main effect of oxygen annealing is to improve the crystal coherence by enabling La cation migration to the Sr sites. This activates the desired hole doping. Short-time Ar annealing removes the interstitial oxygen between the BiO layers, fine adjusting the effective hole doping. The superconducting critical temperature is consequently enhanced. However, longer annealings result in phase separation and segregation of the homologous compound Bi-1201. We attribute this effect to the loss of Bi during the annealing

Effects of substrate temperature and post-deposition anneal on properties of evaporated cadmium telluride films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bacaksiz, E.; Basol, B.M.; Altunbas, M.; Novruzov, V.; Yanmaz, E.; Nezir, S.

2007-01-01

The effects of substrate temperature and post-deposition heat treatment steps on the morphology, structural, optical and electrical properties of thin film CdTe layers grown by vacuum evaporation were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to study the structural changes. It was observed that the grain sizes and morphologies of as-deposited layers were similar for substrate temperatures of - 173 deg. C and - 73 deg. C. However, CdTe films produced at a substrate temperature of 27 deg. C had substantially larger grain size and clearly facetted morphology. Annealing at 200-400 deg. C in air did not cause any appreciable grain growth in any of the films irrespective of their growth temperature. However, annealing at 400 deg. C reduced faceting in all cases and initiated fusing between grains. XRD studies showed that this behavior after annealing at 400 deg. C coincided with an onset of a degree of randomization in the originally strong (111) texture of the as-grown layers. Optical band gap measurements showed sharpening of the band-edge upon annealing at 400 deg. C and a band gap value in the range of 1.46-1.49 eV. Resistivity measurements indicated that annealing at 400 deg. C in air forms a highly resistive compensated CdTe film. All results point to 400 deg. C to be a critical annealing temperature at which optical, structural and electrical properties of CdTe layers start to change

Dependency of the properties of Sr xBi yTa2O9 thin films on the Sr and Bi stoichiometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Viapiana, Matteo; Schwitters, Michael; Wouters, Dirk J.; Maes, Herman E.; Van der Biest, Omer

2005-01-01

In this study the properties of ferroelectric SBT thin films crystallized at 700 deg. C have been investigated as function of the Sr and Bi stoichiometry. A matrix of 130 nm Sr x Bi y Ta 2 O 9 films with 0.7 ≤ x ≤ 1.0 and 2.0 ≤ y ≤ 2.4 has been realized by metal-organic spin-on deposition technique on Pt/IrO 2 /Ir/TiAlN/SiO 2 /Si substrates. Within this composition range, we found that the ferroelectric properties peak into a narrow window of 0.8 ≤ x ≤ 0.9 and y ∼ 2.25 with Pr and Ec of 6.5 μC/cm 2 and 50 kV/cm, respectively (at 2.5 V). Outside this composition window, the Pr decreases while the hysteresis loop becomes slanted. For some Sr/Bi-ratios even no ferroelectricity was achieved. 2Ec-tendencies were seen as function of the x/y-ratios, too. Examination of the microstructure of the films by scanning electron microscopy showed that film grain size increased with decreasing Sr-deficiency and that nucleation increased with increasing Bi-excess. At high Sr-deficiency and low Bi-excess, no complete crystallization of the SBT film occurs. From the film morphology, also different phases can be discriminated. X-ray diffraction analysis showed a strong correlation of the film orientation with the film composition. While our results show a clear correlation of Pr, film grain size and orientation with composition, further investigations are required to clarify the relation of the hysteresis parameters with film orientation

SILAR BiOI-Sensitized TiO2 Films for Visible-Light Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B and 4-Chlorophenol.

Science.gov (United States)

Odling, Gylen; Robertson, Neil

2017-04-05

BiOI nanoplates were deposited upon a film of TiO 2 nanoparticles derived from a commercial source using a simple room temperature sequential ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron microscopies have been used to confirm the crystal phase, chemical states of key elements and morphology of the BiOI nanoplate-TiO 2 composites. Using both valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV/Vis diffuse reflectance measurements the band structure of the composites is determined to be that of a type II heterojunction. Through initial screening of the photocatalytic activity of the SILAR-modified films it was determined that five SILAR cycles are optimal in the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B. The visible-light sensitisation effect of BiOI was then proven by examination of the photocatalytic degradation of the colourless organic pollutant 4-chlorophenol, showing a large enhancement over an equivalent TiO 2 film. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Chemical reaction of atomic oxygen with evaporated films of copper, part 4

Science.gov (United States)

Fromhold, A. T.; Williams, J. R.

1990-01-01

Evaporated copper films were exposed to an atomic oxygen flux of 1.4 x 10(exp 17) atoms/sq cm per sec at temperatures in the range 285 to 375 F (140 to 191 C) for time intervals between 2 and 50 minutes. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) was used to determine the thickness of the oxide layers formed and the ratio of the number of copper to oxygen atoms in the layers. Oxide film thicknesses ranged from 50 to 3000 A (0.005 to 0.3 microns, or equivalently, 5 x 10(exp -9) to 3 x 10(exp -7); it was determined that the primary oxide phase was Cu2O. The growth law was found to be parabolic (L(t) varies as t(exp 1/2)), in which the oxide thickness L(t) increases as the square root of the exposure time t. The analysis of the data is consistent with either of the two parabolic growth laws. (The thin-film parabolic growth law is based on the assumption that the process is diffusion controlled, with the space charge within the growing oxide layer being negligible. The thick-film parabolic growth law is also based on a diffusion controlled process, but space-charge neutrality prevails locally within very thick oxides.) In the absence of a voltage measurement across the growing oxide, a distinction between the two mechanisms cannot be made, nor can growth by the diffusion of neutral atomic oxygen be entirely ruled out. The activation energy for the reaction is on the order of 1.1 eV (1.76 x 10(exp -19) joule, or equivalently, 25.3 kcal/mole).

SnS absorber thin films by co-evaporation: Optimization of the growth rate and influence of the annealing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robles, Víctor, E-mail: victor.robles@ciemat.es; Trigo, Juan Francisco; Guillén, Cecilia; Herrero, José

2015-05-01

Tin sulfide thin films were prepared by co-evaporation on soda-lime glass substrates, for use as absorber layers. The synthesis was carried out at 350 °C substrate temperature and varying the growth rate in the 2-6 Å/s range, adjusting the deposition time in order to obtain thicknesses in the 700-1500 nm range. After evaporation, the samples were heated at 400 °C and 500 °C under various atmospheres. The evolution of the morphological, structural and optical properties has been analyzed as a function of the thickness and deposition rate, before and after annealing. For the samples grown at the lowest rate, SnS and Sn{sub 2}S{sub 3} phase mixing has been observed by X-ray diffraction. Samples with reduced thickness preferably crystallize in the SnS phase, whereas thicker layers become richer in the Sn{sub 2}S{sub 3} phase. The sulfur treatment of samples prepared at the lowest rate results in the formation of SnS{sub 2} phase. Otherwise, the samples obtained at the highest rates show single-phase SnS after heating at 400 °C in sulfur atmosphere, with gap energy values around 1.24 eV. - Highlights: • Tin sulfide thin films were deposited by co-evaporation at different growth rates. • The influence of the growth rate and post-annealing at different conditions was studied. • The SnS phase was obtained by optimizing the growth rate and the annealing process. • The SnS phase presented properties for use as absorber layer.

Superconducting properties of Pb82Bi18 films controlled by ferromagnetic nanowire arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ye Zuxin; Lyuksyutov, Igor F; Wu Wenhao; Naugle, Donald G

2011-01-01

The superconducting properties of Pb 82 Bi 18 alloy films deposited on ferromagnetic nanowire arrays have been investigated. Ferromagnetic Co or Ni nanowires are first electroplated into the columnar pores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes. Superconducting Pb 82 Bi 18 films are then quench condensed onto the polished surface of the AAO membranes filled with magnetic nanowires. A strong dependence of the Pb 82 Bi 18 superconducting properties on the ratio of the superconducting film thickness to the magnetic nanowire diameter and material variety was observed.

Superconducting properties of Pb82Bi18 films controlled by ferromagnetic nanowire arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Zuxin; Lyuksyutov, Igor F.; Wu, Wenhao; Naugle, Donald G.

2011-02-01

The superconducting properties of Pb82Bi18 alloy films deposited on ferromagnetic nanowire arrays have been investigated. Ferromagnetic Co or Ni nanowires are first electroplated into the columnar pores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes. Superconducting Pb82Bi18 films are then quench condensed onto the polished surface of the AAO membranes filled with magnetic nanowires. A strong dependence of the Pb82Bi18 superconducting properties on the ratio of the superconducting film thickness to the magnetic nanowire diameter and material variety was observed.

Magneto-optical properties of BiFeO{sub 3} thin films using surface plasmon resonance technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paliwal, Ayushi; Sharma, Anjali [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007 (India); Tomar, Monika [Physics Department, Miranda House, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007 (India); Gupta, Vinay, E-mail: drguptavinay@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007 (India)

2014-09-01

Indigeneously assembled surface plasmon resonance (SPR) set up has been exploited to study the magnetic field dependent optical properties of BiFeO{sub 3} thin films. BiFeO{sub 3} thin films have been deposited onto gold (Au) coated glass prism by using pulsed laser deposition technique. The surface plasmon modes in prism/Au/BiFeO{sub 3}/air structure have been excited in Kretschmann configuration at the interface of Au/BiFeO{sub 3} thin films. The SPR reflectance curves obtained for prism/Au/BiFeO{sub 3}/air structure were utilized to investigate the optical properties of BiFeO{sub 3} thin films at optical frequency (λ=633 nm) as a function of applied magnetic field. SPR curves shows a continuous shift towards lower angles with increasing applied magnetic field, which indicate the promising application of ferromagnetic BiFeO{sub 3} film as a magnetic field sensor. Complex dielectric constant of deposited BiFeO{sub 3} film was determined by fitting the experimental SPR data with Fresnel's equations. The variation of complex dielectric constant and refractive index of BiFeO{sub 3} film was studied with increase in magnetic field, and the sensitivity of magnetic field sensor was found to be about 0.52 RIU/T.

Effect of Hydrogen Post-Annealing on Transparent Conductive ITO/Ga2O3 Bi-Layer Films for Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyeong Heon; Kim, Su Jin; Park, Sang Young; Kim, Tae Geun

2015-10-01

The effect of hydrogen post-annealing on the electrical and optical properties of ITO/Ga2O bi-layer films, deposited by RF magnetron sputtering, is investigated for potential applications to transparent conductive electrodes of ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes. Three samples--an as-deposited sample and two samples post-annealed in N2 gas and N2-H2 gas mixture--were prepared and annealed at different temperatures ranging from 100 °C to 500 °C for comparison. Among these samples, the sample annealed at 300 °C in a mixture of N2 and H2 gases shows the lowest sheet resistance of 301.3 Ω/square and a high UV transmittance of 87.1% at 300 nm.

Preparation of Nd-doped BiFeO{sub 3} films and their electrical properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheng Meng [Key Laboratory of Auxiliary Chemistry and Technology for Chemical Industry, Ministry of Education of China, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Weiyang District, Xi' an 710021 (China); Tan Guoqiang, E-mail: tan3114@163.com [Key Laboratory of Auxiliary Chemistry and Technology for Chemical Industry, Ministry of Education of China, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Weiyang District, Xi' an 710021 (China); Xue Xu; Xia Ao; Ren Huijun [Key Laboratory of Auxiliary Chemistry and Technology for Chemical Industry, Ministry of Education of China, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Weiyang District, Xi' an 710021 (China)

2012-09-01

The Nd-doped BiFeO{sub 3} thin films were prepared on SnO{sub 2}(FTO) substrates spin-coated by the sol-gel method using Nd(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}{center_dot}6H{sub 2}O, Fe(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}{center_dot}9H{sub 2}O and Bi(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}{center_dot}5H{sub 2}O as raw materials. The microstructure and electric properties of the BiFeO{sub 3} thin films were characterized and tested. The results indicate that the diffraction peak of the Nd-doped BiFeO{sub 3} films is shifted towards right as the doping amounts are increased. The structure is transformed from the rhombohedral to pseudotetragonal phase. The crystal grain is changed from an elliptical to irregular polyhedron. Structure transition occurring in the Bi{sub 0.85}Nd{sub 0.15}FeO{sub 3} films gives rise to the largest Pr of 64 {mu}C/cm{sup 2}. The leakage conductance of the Nd doped thin films is reduced. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of Bi{sub 0.85}Nd{sub 0.15}FeO{sub 3} thin film at 10 kHz are 190 and 0.017 respectively.

Spin current relaxation time in thermally evaporated pentacene films

OpenAIRE

Tani, Yasuo; Kondo, Takuya; Teki, Yoshio; Shikoh, Eiji

2017-01-01

The spin current relaxation time [tau] in thermally evaporated pentacene films was evaluated with the spin-pump-induced spin transport properties and the charge current transport properties in pentacene films. Under an assumption of a diffusive transport of the spin current in pentacene films, the zero-field mobility and the diffusion constant of holes in pentacene films were experimentally obtained to be ~8.0x10^-7 m^2/Vs and ~2.0x10^-8 m^2/s, respectively. Using those values and the previou...

Energy and exergy analyses of a bi-evaporator compression/ejection refrigeration cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geng, Lihong; Liu, Huadong; Wei, Xinli; Hou, Zhonglan; Wang, Zhenzhen

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A bi-evaporator compression/ejection refrigeration cycle was studied experimentally. • Experiments were operated at the same external conditions and cooling capacities. • COP improvement was 16.94–30.59% higher than that of the conventional system. • The exergy efficiency of the R134a cycle was improved by 7.57–28.29%. - Abstract: Aiming to reduce the throttling loss in the vapor compression refrigeration cycle, a bi-evaporator compression/ejection refrigeration cycle (BCERC) using an ejector as the expansion device was experimentally investigated with R134a refrigerant. The effects of the compressor frequency and the operating conditions on the coefficient of performance (COP) and the amount of exergy destruction of each component were studied. The results were compared with that of the conventional vapor compression refrigeration cycle under the same external operating conditions and cooling capacities. Results showed that the refrigeration cycle with an ejector as the expansion device exhibited lower irreversibility for each component and total system in comparison with the conventional vapor compression refrigeration cycle. The COP and the exergy efficiency of the BCERC were higher than that of the conventional system. The COP and exergy efficiency improvements became more significant as the condenser water temperature increased, the evaporator water temperature decreased and the compressor frequency increased. In the BCERC with a constant frequency compressor, the COP and the exergy efficiency could be improved by 16.94–30.59%, 7.57–28.29%, respectively. The COP and the exergy efficiency of the BCERC with a variable frequency compressor could increase by around 32.64% and 23.32%, respectively.

Fabrication of Carbon Nanotube Thin Films by Evaporation-Induced Self-Assembly

OpenAIRE

Li, Han

2015-01-01

In summary, we have prepared single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) thin films by the method of evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA). Using the scalable two-plate or lens setups, sorts of different film types or patterns of SWNTs has been successfully fabricated directly from the evaporation of solvents and could be precisely controlled by the concentrations of SWNT in ambient conditions. The special geometry of meniscus as the capillary bridge has not only given rise to a much higher efficie...

Annealing Effect on the Photoelectrochemical Properties of BiVO_4 Thin Film Electrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siti Nur Farhana Mohd Nasir; Mohd Asri Mat Teridi; Mehdi Ebadi; Sagu, J.S.

2015-01-01

Monoclinic bismuth vanadate (BiVO_4) thin film electrodes were fabricated on fluorine-doped tin oxide via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD). Annealing and without annealing effect of thin films were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis) and current voltage measurement. All BiVO_4 thin films showed an anodic photocurrent. The sample of BiVO_4 annealed at 400 degree Celsius exhibited the highest photocurrent density of 0.44 mAcm"-"2 vs. Ag/ AgCl at 1.23 V. (author)

Comparison of physical and electrical properties of GZO/ZnO buffer layer and GZO as source and drain electrodes of α-IGZO thin-film transistors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Jia-Ling; Lin, Han-Yu; Su, Bo-Yuan; Chen, Yu-Cheng [Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Chu, Sheng-Yuan, E-mail: chusy@mail.ncku.edu.tw [Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Liu, Ssu-Yin [Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Chang, Chia-Chiang; Wu, Chin-Jyi [Industrial Technology Research Institute, Mechanical and Systems Research Laboratories, Hsinchu 310, Taiwan (China)

2014-04-01

Highlights: • The electrodes of bi-layer GZO/ ZnO and single-layer GZO in α-IGZO TFT were compared. • The TFT performances of two different structures were systematically investigated. • The bi-layer GZO/100-nm ZnO S/D electrodes showed the better TFT device properties. - Abstract: In this research, top-gate bottom-contact thin-film transistors (TFTs) made with amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (α-IGZO) active layers were grown using the radio-frequency sputtering technique. Two kinds of source and drain (S/D) electrodes, namely bi-layer GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer/Corning 1737 and single-layer GZO/Corning 1737, used in the TFT devices and the electric characteristics of the devices were compared. To explain the differences in the TFT performances with these different S/D electrodes, X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and contact angles were measured. The α-IGZO TFT with the bi-layer GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer structure as S/D electrodes exhibited superior device performance compared to that of the TFT with a single-layer GZO structure, with a higher thin film density (5.94 g/cm{sup 3}), lower surface roughness (0.817 nm), and larger surface energy (62.07 mJ/m{sup 2}) and better adhesion properties of neighboring α-IGZO films. In addition, the mechanisms responsible for the GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer/Corning 1737 structure S/D electrodes improving the device characteristics were systematically investigated. The α-IGZO TFT saturation mobility, subthreshold voltage, on/off current ratio, and the trap density of the GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer/Corning 1737 S/D electrodes were 13.5 cm{sup 2} V{sup −1} S{sup −1}, 0.43 V/decade, 3.56 × 10{sup 7}, and 5.65 × 10{sup 12} eV{sup −1} cm{sup −2}, respectively, indicating the potential of this bi-layer structure to be applied to large-area flat-panel displays.

Comparison of physical and electrical properties of GZO/ZnO buffer layer and GZO as source and drain electrodes of α-IGZO thin-film transistors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Jia-Ling; Lin, Han-Yu; Su, Bo-Yuan; Chen, Yu-Cheng; Chu, Sheng-Yuan; Liu, Ssu-Yin; Chang, Chia-Chiang; Wu, Chin-Jyi

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The electrodes of bi-layer GZO/ ZnO and single-layer GZO in α-IGZO TFT were compared. • The TFT performances of two different structures were systematically investigated. • The bi-layer GZO/100-nm ZnO S/D electrodes showed the better TFT device properties. - Abstract: In this research, top-gate bottom-contact thin-film transistors (TFTs) made with amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (α-IGZO) active layers were grown using the radio-frequency sputtering technique. Two kinds of source and drain (S/D) electrodes, namely bi-layer GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer/Corning 1737 and single-layer GZO/Corning 1737, used in the TFT devices and the electric characteristics of the devices were compared. To explain the differences in the TFT performances with these different S/D electrodes, X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and contact angles were measured. The α-IGZO TFT with the bi-layer GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer structure as S/D electrodes exhibited superior device performance compared to that of the TFT with a single-layer GZO structure, with a higher thin film density (5.94 g/cm 3 ), lower surface roughness (0.817 nm), and larger surface energy (62.07 mJ/m 2 ) and better adhesion properties of neighboring α-IGZO films. In addition, the mechanisms responsible for the GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer/Corning 1737 structure S/D electrodes improving the device characteristics were systematically investigated. The α-IGZO TFT saturation mobility, subthreshold voltage, on/off current ratio, and the trap density of the GZO/100-nm ZnO buffer layer/Corning 1737 S/D electrodes were 13.5 cm 2 V −1 S −1 , 0.43 V/decade, 3.56 × 10 7 , and 5.65 × 10 12 eV −1 cm −2 , respectively, indicating the potential of this bi-layer structure to be applied to large-area flat-panel displays

Strain in epitaxial high-index Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}(221) films grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Bin [Physics Department, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road (Hong Kong); Chen, Weiguang [College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan 453007 (China); School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Zhengzhou Normal University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450044 (China); Guo, Xin; Ho, Wingkin [Physics Department, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road (Hong Kong); Dai, Xianqi [College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan 453007 (China); School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Zhengzhou Normal University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450044 (China); Jia, Jinfeng [Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240 (China); Xie, Maohai, E-mail: mhxie@hku.hk [Physics Department, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road (Hong Kong)

2017-02-28

Highlights: • High-index, off c-axis, Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} has been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on In{sub 2}Se{sub 3}. • A retarded strain relaxation process in such high-index Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} is observed, enabling experimentally probe strain effect on topological insulators. • It has been shown by calculation that the Dirac electrons participate in chemical bonding at the heterointerface. - Abstract: High-index Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}(221) film has been grown on In{sub 2}Se{sub 3}-buffered GaAs(001), in which a much retarded strain relaxation dynamics is recorded. The slow strain-relaxation process of in epitaxial Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}(221) can be attributed to the layered structure of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} crystal, where the epifilm grown along [221] is like a pile of weakly-coupled quintuple layer slabs stacked side-by-side on substrate. Finally, we reveal strong chemical bonding at the interface of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} and In{sub 2}Se{sub 3} by plotting differential charge contour calculated by first-principle method. This study points to the feasibility of achieving strained TIs for manipulating the properties of topological systems.

Luminescence of Bi3+ ions in Y3Al5O12:Bi single crystalline films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zorenko, Yu.; Gorbenko, V.; Voznyak, T.; Vistovsky, V.; Nedilko, S.; Nikl, M.

2007-01-01

The absorption and cathodoluminescence spectra of single crystalline films (SCF) of Y 3 Al 5 O 12 :Bi garnet depending on Bi concentration were analyzed. For consideration of the nature of the UV and visible Bi-related emission bands the time-resolved luminescence of Bi 3+ (ns 2 ) ions in YAG:Bi SCF was studied at 10 K under excitation by synchrotron radiation. The difference in the excitation spectra and emission decay of the UV and visible bands has been explained via radiative relaxation from the 3 P 1,0 excited states to the 1 S 0 ground state of the isolated and pair/clustered Bi 3+ emission centers in the garnet lattice, respectively

Plasma-assisted co-evaporation of {beta}-indium sulfide thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kosaraju, Sreenivas; Marino, Joseph A.; Harvey, John A.; Wolden, Colin A. [Department of Chemical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401 (United States)

2006-05-05

This paper describes the development of plasma-assisted co-evaporation (PACE) for the formation of {beta}-In{sub 2}S{sub 3} thin films. Indium was supplied by conventional thermal evaporation, while the chalcogen gas precursor (H{sub 2}S) was activated using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source. Using a combination of optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry it was shown that the ICP effectively dissociated H{sub 2}S, producing atomic sulfur. Transport modeling was used to quantify the flux distributions of the co-evaporated metal and the plasma-generated species impinging the substrate. Model predictions were validated by measurements of deposition rate and film properties. Substantial improvements in both materials utilization and substrate temperature reduction were realized with respect to conventional co-evaporation. {beta}-In{sub 2}S{sub 3} was formed as low as 100{sup o}C and it was observed that quality was a strong function of S/In ratio. The grain size decreased and the optical band gap increased as the substrate temperature was reduced. (author)

Fermi-level tuning of the Dirac surface state in (Bi1-x Sb x )2Se3 thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Satake, Yosuke; Shiogai, Junichi; Takane, Daichi; Yamada, Keiko; Fujiwara, Kohei; Souma, Seigo; Sato, Takafumi; Takahashi, Takashi; Tsukazaki, Atsushi

2018-02-01

We report on the electronic states and the transport properties of three-dimensional topological insulator (Bi1-x Sb x )2Se3 ternary alloy thin films grown on an isostructural Bi2Se3 buffer layer on InP substrates. By angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we clearly detected Dirac surface states with a large bulk band gap of 0.2-0.3 eV in the (Bi1-x Sb x )2Se3 film with x  =  0.70. In addition, we observed by Hall effect measurements that the dominant charge carrier converts from electron (n-type) to hole (p-type) at around x  =  0.7, indicating that the Fermi level can be controlled across the Dirac point. Indeed, the carrier transport was shown to be governed by Dirac surface state in 0.63  ⩽  x  ⩽  0.75. These features suggest that Fermi-level tunable (Bi1-x Sb x )2Se3-based heterostructures provide a platform for extracting exotic topological phenomena.

BiFeO3 thin films: Novel effects

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

photolithography followed by etching of the silver film. Saturation ... Fe in +3 state. Films thus obtained are therefore highly resistive (ρ ∼ 108–109 cm) and hence exhibit saturated ferroelectric hysteresis loop (figure 3). Anomaly in ... BiFeO3 bulk sample by Rogniskaya et al [4] had indicated abrupt change in lattice parame-.

LED Die-Bonded on the Ag/Cu Substrate by a Sn-BiZn-Sn Bonding System

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Y. K.; Hsu, Y. C.; Lin, E. J.; Hu, Y. J.; Liu, C. Y.

2016-12-01

In this study, light emitting diode (LED) chips were die-bonded on a Ag/Cu substrate by a Sn-BixZn-Sn bonding system. A high die-bonding strength is successfully achieved by using a Sn-BixZn-Sn ternary system. At the bonding interface, there is observed a Bi-segregation phenomenon. This Bi-segregation phenomenon solves the problems of the brittle layer-type Bi at the joint interface. Our shear test results show that the bonding interface with Bi-segregation enhances the shear strength of the LED die-bonding joints. The Bi-0.3Zn and Bi-0.5Zn die-bonding cases have the best shear strength among all die-bonding systems. In addition, we investigate the atomic depth profile of the deposited Bi-xZn layer by evaporating Bi-xZn E-gun alloy sources. The initial Zn content of the deposited Bi-Zn alloy layers are much higher than the average Zn content in the deposited Bi-Zn layers.

Constructing anisotropic single-Dirac-cones in Bi(1-x)Sb(x) thin films.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Shuang; Dresselhaus, Mildred S

2012-04-11

The electronic band structures of Bi(1-x)Sb(x) thin films can be varied as a function of temperature, pressure, stoichiometry, film thickness, and growth orientation. We here show how different anisotropic single-Dirac-cones can be constructed in a Bi(1-x)Sb(x) thin film for different applications or research purposes. For predicting anisotropic single-Dirac-cones, we have developed an iterative-two-dimensional-two-band model to get a consistent inverse-effective-mass-tensor and band gap, which can be used in a general two-dimensional system that has a nonparabolic dispersion relation as in the Bi(1-x)Sb(x) thin film system. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Adsorption-controlled growth of BiMnO3 films by molecular-beam epitaxy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J. H.; Ke, X.; Misra, R.; Schiffer, P.; Ihlefeld, J. F.; Mei, Z. G.; Liu, Z. K.; Xu, X. S.; Musfeldt, J. L.; Heeg, T.; Schlom, D. G.; Roeckerath, M.; Schubert, J.

2010-01-01

We have developed the means to grow BiMnO 3 thin films with unparalleled structural perfection by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy and determined its band gap. Film growth occurs in an adsorption-controlled growth regime. Within this growth window bounded by oxygen pressure and substrate temperature at a fixed bismuth overpressure, single-phase films of the metastable perovskite BiMnO 3 may be grown by epitaxial stabilization. X-ray diffraction reveals phase-pure and epitaxial films with ω rocking curve full width at half maximum values as narrow as 11 arc sec (0.003 deg. ). Optical absorption measurements reveal that BiMnO 3 has a direct band gap of 1.1±0.1 eV.

Thermally evaporated mechanically hard tin oxide thin films for opto-electronic apllications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tripathy, Sumanta K.; Rajeswari, V. P. [Centre for Nano Science and Technology, GVP College of Engineering (Autonomous), Visakhapatnam- 530048 (India)

2014-01-28

Tungsten doped tin oxide (WTO) and Molybdenum doped tin oxide (MoTO) thin film were deposited on corn glass by thermal evaporation method. The films were annealed at 350°C for one hour. Structural analysis using Xray diffraction data shows both the films are polycrystalline in nature with monoclinic structure of tin oxide, Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4}, corresponding to JCPDS card number 01-078-6064. SEM photograph showed that both the films have spherical grains with size in the range of 20–30 nm. Compositional analysis was carried out using EDS which reveals the presence of Sn, O and the dopant Mo/W only thereby indicating the absence of any secondary phase in the films. The films are found to contain nearly 6 wt% of Mo, 8 wt% of W as dopants respectively. The transmission pattern for both the films in the spectral range 200 – 2000 nm shows that W doping gives a transparency of nearly 80% from 380 nm onwards while Mo doping has less transparency of 39% at 380nm. Film hardness measurement using Triboscope shows a film hardness of about 9–10 GPa for both the films. It indicates that W or M doping in tin oxide provides the films the added advantage of withstanding the mechanical wear and tear due to environmental fluctuations By optimizing the optical and electrical properties, W/Mo doped tin oxide films may be explored as window layers in opto-electronic applications such as solar cells.

Thermally evaporated mechanically hard tin oxide thin films for opto-electronic apllications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tripathy, Sumanta K.; Rajeswari, V. P.

2014-01-01

Tungsten doped tin oxide (WTO) and Molybdenum doped tin oxide (MoTO) thin film were deposited on corn glass by thermal evaporation method. The films were annealed at 350°C for one hour. Structural analysis using Xray diffraction data shows both the films are polycrystalline in nature with monoclinic structure of tin oxide, Sn 3 O 4 , corresponding to JCPDS card number 01-078-6064. SEM photograph showed that both the films have spherical grains with size in the range of 20–30 nm. Compositional analysis was carried out using EDS which reveals the presence of Sn, O and the dopant Mo/W only thereby indicating the absence of any secondary phase in the films. The films are found to contain nearly 6 wt% of Mo, 8 wt% of W as dopants respectively. The transmission pattern for both the films in the spectral range 200 – 2000 nm shows that W doping gives a transparency of nearly 80% from 380 nm onwards while Mo doping has less transparency of 39% at 380nm. Film hardness measurement using Triboscope shows a film hardness of about 9–10 GPa for both the films. It indicates that W or M doping in tin oxide provides the films the added advantage of withstanding the mechanical wear and tear due to environmental fluctuations By optimizing the optical and electrical properties, W/Mo doped tin oxide films may be explored as window layers in opto-electronic applications such as solar cells

Effects of solvent evaporation conditions on solvent vapor annealed cylinder-forming block polymer thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Meagan; Jakubowski, William; Nelson, Gunnar; Drapes, Chloe; Baruth, A.

Solvent vapor annealing is a less time and energy intensive method compared to thermal annealing, to direct the self-assembly of block polymer thin films. Periodic nanostructures have applications in ultrafiltration, magnetic arrays, or other structures with nanometer dimensions, driving its continued interest. Our goal is to create thin films with hexagonally packed, perpendicular aligned cylinders of poly(lactide) in a poly(styrene) matrix that span the thickness of the film with low anneal times and low defect densities, all with high reproducibility, where the latter is paramount. Through the use of our computer-controlled, pneumatically-actuated, purpose-built solvent vapor annealing chamber, we have the ability to monitor and control vapor pressure, solvent concentration within the film, and solvent evaporation rate with unprecedented precision and reliability. Focusing on evaporation, we report on two previously unexplored areas, chamber pressure during solvent evaporation and the flow rate of purging gas aiding the evaporation. We will report our exhaustive results following atomic force microscopy analysis of films exposed to a wide range of pressures and flow rates. Reliably achieving well-ordered films, while occurring within a large section of this parameter space, was correlated with high-flow evaporation rates and low chamber pressures. These results have significant implications on other methods of solvent annealing, including ``jar'' techniques.

Direct numerical simulation of 3D particle motion in an evaporating liquid film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hwang, Ho Chan; Son, Gi Hun

2016-01-01

A direct numerical simulation method is developed for 3D particle motion in liquid film evaporation. The liquid-gas and fluid-solid interfaces are tracked by a sharp-interface Level-set (LS) method, which includes the effects of evaporation, contact line and solid particles. The LS method is validated through simulation of the interaction between two particles falling in a single-phase fluid. The LS based DNS method is applied to computation of the particle motion in liquid film evaporation to investigate the particle-interface and particle-particle interactions

Electrical and piezoelectric properties of BiFeO3 thin films grown on SrxCa1−xRuO3-buffered SrTiO3 substrates

KAUST Repository

Yao, Yingbang

2012-06-01

(001)-oriented BiFeO 3 (BFO) thin films were grown on Sr xCa 1-xRuO 3- (SCRO; x = 1, 0.67, 0.33, 0) buffered SrTiO 3 (001) substrates using pulsed laser deposition. The microstructural, electrical, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties of the thin films were considerably affected by the buffer layers. The interface between the BFO films and the SCRO-buffer layer was found to play a dominant role in determining the electrical and piezoelectric behaviors of the films. We found that films grown on SrRuO 3-buffer layers exhibited minimal electrical leakage while films grown on Sr 0.33Ca 0.67RuO 3-buffer layers had the largest piezoelectric response. The origin of this difference is discussed. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Reaction products between Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-oxide thick films and alumina substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alarco, J.A.; Ilushechkin, A.; Yamashita, T.; Bhargava, A.; Barry, J.; Mackinnon, I.D.R.

1997-01-01

The structure and composition of reaction products between Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-oxide (BSCCO) thick films and alumina substrates have been characterized using a combination of electron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX). Sr and Ca are found to be the most reactive cations with alumina. Sr 4 Al 6 O 12 SO 4 is formed between the alumina substrates and BSCCO thick films prepared from paste with composition close to Bi-2212 (and Bi-2212+10 wt.% Ag). For paste with composition close to Bi(Pb)-2223 +20 wt.% Ag, a new phase with f.c.c. structure, lattice parameter about a=24.5 A and approximate composition Al 3 Sr 2 CaBi 2 CuO x has been identified in the interface region. Understanding and control of these reactions is essential for growth of high quality BSCCO thick films on alumina. (orig.)

Optical band gap of ZnO thin films deposited by electron beam evaporation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nadeem, M. Y.; Ali, S. L.; Wasiq, M. F.; Rana, A. M.

2006-01-01

Optical band gap of ZnO thin films deposited by electron beam evaporation at evaporation rates ranging 5 As/sup -1/ to 15 As /sup -1/ and thickness ranging 1000A to 3000A is presented. Deposited films were annealed at 573K for one and half hour. The variations in the optical band gap were observed and showed decreasing behavior from 3.15 eV, 3.05 eV, from 3.18 eV to 3.10 eV and from 3.19 eV to 3.18 eV for films with respective thickness 1000A, 2000 A, 3000 A on increasing the evaporation rate from 5 As/sup-1/ to As/sup -1/ by keeping thickness constant. (author)

YBCO coated conductors by reactive thermal co-evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmatz, U.; Hoffmann, Ch.; Bauer, M.; Metzger, R.; Berberich, P.; Kinder, H. [Technische Univ. Muenchen, Garching (Germany). Physik-Department

2001-12-01

Coated tape conductors of YBCO require a deposition process allowing to obtain a high volume growth rate in order to produce long lengths of tape in a reasonable amount of time. We present our tape coating system where 15 parallel loops of travelling tape of 1 cm width can be coated simultaneously by reactive thermal co-evaporation. For high critical current densities, in-plane alignment of the YBCO film is necessary. Inclined substrate deposition (ISD) is a technique that allows to deposit in-plane oriented buffer layers suitable for YBCO growth at high deposition rates. We present results obtained for YBCO films grown on MgO-ISD buffer layers deposited by e-gun evaporation onto metallic tape substrates. (orig.)

Solid oxide fuel cells with bi-layered electrolyte structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Xinge; Robertson, Mark; Deces-Petit, Cyrille; Xie, Yongsong; Hui, Rob; Qu, Wei; Kesler, Olivera; Maric, Radenka; Ghosh, Dave [Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation, National Research Council Canada, 4250 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5 (Canada)

2008-01-10

In this work, we have developed solid oxide fuel cells with a bi-layered electrolyte of 2 {mu}m SSZ and 4 {mu}m SDC using tape casting, screen printing, and co-firing processes. The cell reached power densities of 0.54 W cm{sup -2} at 650 C and 0.85 W cm{sup -2} at 700 C, with open circuit voltage (OCV) values larger than 1.02 V. The electrical leaking between anode and cathode through an SDC electrolyte has been blocked in the bi-layered electrolyte structure. However, both the electrolyte resistance (R{sub el}) and electrode polarization resistance (R{sub p,a+c}) increased in comparison to cells with single-layered SDC electrolytes. The formation of a solid solution of (Ce, Zr)O{sub 2-x} during sintering process and the flaws in the bi-layered electrolyte structure seem to be the main causes for the increase in the R{sub el} value (0.32 {omega} cm{sup 2}) at 650 C, which is almost one order of magnitude higher than the calculated value. (author)

Bi3+–Pr3+ energy transfer processes and luminescent properties of LuAG:Bi,Pr and YAG:Bi,Pr single crystalline films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zorenko, Y.; Gorbenko, V.; Savchyn, V.; Zorenko, T.; Nikl, M.; Mares, J.A.; Beitlerova, A.; Jary, V.

2013-01-01

Absorption, cathodoluminescence, excitation spectra of photoluminescence (PL) and PL decay kinetics were studied at 300 K for the double doped with Bi 3+ –Pr 3+ and separately doped with Bi 3+ and Pr 3+ Lu 3 Al 5 O 12 (LuAG) and Y 3 Al 5 O 12 (YAG) single crystalline film (SCF) phosphors grown by the liquid phase epitaxy method. The emission bands in the UV range arising from the intrinsic radiative transitions of Bi 3+ based centers, and emission bands in the visible range, related to the luminescence of excitons localized around Bi 3+ based centers, were identified both in Bi–Pr and Bi-doped LuAG and YAG SCFs. The energy transfer processes from the host lattice simultaneously to Bi 3+ and Pr 3+ ions and from Bi 3+ to Pr 3+ ions were investigated. Competition between Pr 3+ and Bi 3+ ions in the energy transfer processes from the LuAG and YAG hosts was evidenced. The strong decrease of the intensity of Pr 3+ luminescence both in LuAG:Pr and YAG:Pr SCFs phosphors, grown from Bi 2 O 3 flux, is observed due to the quenching influence of Bi 3+ flux related impurity. Due to overlap of the UV emission band of Bi 3+ centers with the f–d absorption bands of Pr 3+ ions in the UV range and the luminescence of excitons localized around Bi ions with the f–f absorption bands of Pr 3+ ions in the visible range, an effective energy transfer from Bi 3+ ions to Pr 3+ ions takes place in LuAG:Bi,Pr and YAG:Bi,Pr SCFs, resulting in the appearance of slower component in the decay kinetics of the Pr 3+ d–f luminescence. -- Highlights: • Bi and Pr doped film phosphor grown by liquid phase epitaxy method. • Energy transfer from Bi 3+ to Pr 3+ ions. • Strong quenching of the Pr 3+ luminescence by Bi 3+ co-dopant

Experimental Study of the Cooling of Electrical Components Using Water Film Evaporation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Harmand

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Heat and mass transfer, which occur in the evaporation of a falling film of water, are studied experimentally. This evaporation allows the dissipation of the heat flux produced by twelve resistors, which simulate electrical components on the back side of an aluminium plate. On the front side of the plate, a falling film of water flows by the action of gravity. An inverse heat conduction model, associated with a spatial regularisation, was developed and produces the local heat fluxes on the plate using the measured temperatures. The efficiency of this evaporative process has been studied with respect to several parameters: imposed heat flux, inlet mass flow rate, and geometry. A comparison of the latent and sensible fluxes used to dissipate the imposed heat flux was studied in the case of a plexiglass sheet in front of the falling film at different distances from the aluminium plate.

The influence of the surface composition of mixed monolayer films on the evaporation coefficient of water.

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Rachael E H; Davies, James F; Reid, Jonathan P

2016-07-20

We explore the dependence of the evaporation coefficient of water from aqueous droplets on the composition of a surface film, considering in particular the influence of monolayer mixed component films on the evaporative mass flux. Measurements with binary component films formed from long chain alcohols, specifically tridecanol (C13H27OH) and pentadecanol (C15H31OH), and tetradecanol (C14H29OH) and hexadecanol (C16H33OH), show that the evaporation coefficient is dependent on the mole fractions of the two components forming the monolayer film. Immediately at the point of film formation and commensurate reduction in droplet evaporation rate, the evaporation coefficient is equal to a mole fraction weighted average of the evaporation coefficients through the equivalent single component films. As a droplet continues to diminish in surface area with continued loss of water, the more-soluble, shorter alkyl chain component preferentially partitions into the droplet bulk with the evaporation coefficient tending towards that through a single component film formed simply from the less-soluble, longer chain alcohol. We also show that the addition of a long chain alcohol to an aqueous-sucrose droplet can facilitate control over the degree of dehydration achieved during evaporation. After undergoing rapid gas-phase diffusion limited water evaporation, binary aqueous-sucrose droplets show a continued slow evaporative flux that is limited by slow diffusional mass transport within the particle bulk due to the rapidly increasing particle viscosity and strong concentration gradients that are established. The addition of a long chain alcohol to the droplet is shown to slow the initial rate of water loss, leading to a droplet composition that remains more homogeneous for a longer period of time. When the sucrose concentration has achieved a sufficiently high value, and the diffusion constant of water has decreased accordingly so that bulk phase diffusion arrest occurs in the monolayer

Silver-Doping Effects and Photostructural Transformation in Evaporated AS2S3 Thin Films.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-02-16

of evaporated silver halide films. The details of the preparation of evaporated films of silver halides are reported by Junod at. al. (41 ) The...1980). 40. M.S. Chang, N.D. Hwang, J.T. Chen, Extended Abstr. Electrochem. Soc., 80-1, 692, (1980). 41. P. Junod , N. MHediger, B. Kilchoy. R. Steiger

Magnetoelectric coupling effect in transition metal modified polycrystalline BiFeO3 thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sreenivas Puli, Venkata; Kumar Pradhan, Dhiren; Gollapudi, Sreenivasulu; Coondoo, Indrani; Panwar, Neeraj; Adireddy, Shiva; Chrisey, Douglas B.; Katiyar, Ram S.

2014-01-01

Rare-earth (Sm) and transition metal (Co) modified polycrystalline BiFeO 3 (BFO) thin films have been deposited on Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 /Si substrate successfully through pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Piezoelectric, leakage current and temperature dependent dielectric and magnetic behaviour were investigated for the films. Typical “butterfly-shaped” loop were observed in BSFCO films with an effective piezoelectric constant (d 33 ) ∼94 pm/V at 0.6 MV/cm. High dielectric constant ∼900 and low dielectric loss ∼0.25 were observed at room temperature. M–H loops have shown relatively high saturation magnetization ∼35 emu/cm 3 at a maximum field of H ∼20 kOe. Enhanced magnetoelectric coupling response is observed under applied magnetic field. The multiferroic, piezoelectric, leakage current behaviours were explored. Such studies should be helpful in designing multiferroic materials based on BSFCO films. - Highlights: • Transition metal modified polycrystalline BiFeO 3 thin films prepared using PLD. • High ME-coupling response was observed in co-substituted BiFeO 3 thin films. • High magnetization ∼35 emu/cm 3 at a maximum field of H ∼20 kOe. • Low leakage current might be due to co-substitution in BiFeO 3 thin films. • A notable piezoelectric constant d 33 ∼94 pm/V was found in BiFeO 3 thin films

Fabrication and characterization of In2S3 thin films deposited by thermal evaporation technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timoumi, A.; Bouzouita, H.; Kanzari, M.; Rezig, B.

2005-01-01

Indium sulphide, In 2 S 3 , thin films present an alternative to conventional CdS films as buffer layer for CIS-based thin film solar cells. The objective is to eliminate toxic cadmium for environmental reasons. Indium sulphide is synthesized and deposited by single source vacuum thermal evaporation method on glass substrates. The films are analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and spectrophotometric measurements. They have a good crystallinity, homogeneity and adhesion. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the initial amorphous nature of the deposited InS film and phase transition into crystalline In 2 S 3 formed upon annealing at free air for 250 deg. C substrate temperature for 2 h. The optical constants of the deposited films were obtained from the analysis of the experimental recorded transmission and reflectance spectral data over the wavelength range of 300-1800 nm. We note that the films annealed at 250 deg. C for 2 h show a good homogeneity with 80% transmission. An analysis of the optical absorption data of the deposited films revealed an optical direct band gap energy in the range of 2.0-2.2 eV

Bismuth-doped Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber prepared by multi-layer precursor method and its solar cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chantana, Jakapan; Hironiwa, Daisuke; Minemoto, Takashi; Watanabe, Taichi; Teraji, Seiki; Kawamura, Kazunori

2015-01-01

Bismuth (Bi)-doped Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) films were prepared by the so-called ''multi-layer precursor method'', obtained by depositing them onto Bi layers with various thicknesses on Mo-coated soda-lime glass (SLG) substrates. Material composition (Cu, In, Ga, and Se) profiles of the CIGS films are almost identical, whereas sodium (Na) is reduced, when Bi thickness is increased. Moreover, the incorporation of Bi into the CIGS film is enhanced with thicker Bi layer. With Bi thickness from 0 to 70 nm, the 2.4-μm-thick CIGS absorbers demonstrate the increase in CIGS grain size, carrier lifetime, and carrier concentration, thus improving their cell performances, especially open-circuit voltage (V OC ). With further increase in Bi thickness of above 70 nm, the CIGS films show the deterioration of CIGS film quality owing to the formation of Bi compounds such as Bi, BiSe, and Bi 4 Se 3 . Consequently, Bi-doped CIGS absorber with thickness of 2.4 μm, prepared with the 70-nm-thick Bi layer on Mo-coated SLG substrate, gives rise to the improvement of photovoltaic performances, especially V OC . (copyright 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Strain dependent microstructural modifications of BiCrO{sub 3} epitaxial thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kannan, Vijayanandhini, E-mail: kvnandhini@gmail.com [Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale) (Germany); CNRS, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, UPR 9048, F-33600 Pessac (France); Arredondo, Miryam; Johann, Florian; Hesse, Dietrich [Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale) (Germany); Labrugere, Christine [CNRS, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, UPR 9048, F-33600 Pessac (France); CeCaMA, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, F-33600 Pessac (France); Maglione, Mario [CNRS, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, UPR 9048, F-33600 Pessac (France); Vrejoiu, Ionela [Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale) (Germany)

2013-10-31

Strain-dependent microstructural modifications were observed in epitaxial BiCrO{sub 3} (BCO) thin films fabricated on single crystalline substrates, utilizing pulsed laser deposition. The following conditions were employed to modify the epitaxial-strain: (i) in-plane tensile strain, BCO{sub STO} [BCO grown on buffered SrTiO{sub 3} (001)] and in-plane compressive strain, BCO{sub NGO} [BCO grown on buffered NdGaO{sub 3} (110)] and (ii) varying BCO film thickness. A combination of techniques like X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to analyse the epitaxial growth quality and the microstructure of BCO. Our studies revealed that in the case of BCO{sub STO}, a coherent interface with homogeneous orthorhombic phase is obtained only for BCO film with thicknesses, d < 50 nm. All the BCO{sub STO} films with d ≥ 50 nm were found to be strain-relaxed with an orthorhombic phase showing 1/2 <100> and 1/4 <101> satellite reflections, the latter oriented at 45° from orthorhombic diffraction spots. High angle annular dark field scanning TEM of these films strongly suggested that the satellite reflections, 1/2 <100> and 1/4 <101>, originate from the atomic stacking sequence changes (or “modulated structure”) as reported for polytypes, without altering the chemical composition. The unaltered stoichiometry was confirmed by estimating both valency of Bi and Cr cations by surface and in-depth XPS analysis as well as the stoichiometric ratio (1 Bi:1 Cr) using scanning TEM–energy dispersive X-ray analysis. In contrast, compressively strained BCO{sub NGO} films exhibited monoclinic symmetry without any structural modulations or interfacial defects, up to d ∼ 200 nm. Our results indicate that both the substrate-induced in-plane epitaxial strain and the BCO film thickness are the crucial parameters to stabilise a homogeneous BCO phase in an epitaxially grown film. - Highlights: • Phase pure

Effects of Na incorporation and plasma treatment on Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} ultra-thin layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moreno-Garcia, H., E-mail: hamog@ier.unam.mx [Laboratorio de Espectroscopía, Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 48-3, 62210 Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico); Messina, S. [Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit, Ciudad de la Cultura “Amado Nervo” S/N, C.P. 63155 Tepic, Nayarit (Mexico); Calixto-Rodriguez, M. [Universidad Tecnológica Emiliano Zapata del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad Tecnológica No. 1, C.P. 62760 Emiliano Zapata, Morelos (Mexico); Martínez, H. [Laboratorio de Espectroscopía, Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 48-3, 62210 Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico)

2016-04-01

As-deposited bismuth sulfide thin films prepared by means of a chemical bath deposition were treated with argon AC plasma. In this paper, we present the results on the physical modifications which were observed when a pre-treatment, containing a solution of 1 M sodium hydroxide, was applied to the glass substrates before depositing the bismuth sulfide. The bismuth sulfide thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV–VIS, and electrical measurements. The XRD analysis demonstrated an enhancement in the crystalline properties, as well as an increment in the crystal size. The energy band gap value was calculated as 1.60 eV. Changes in photoconductivity (σ{sub p}) values were also observed due to the pre-treatment in NaOH. A value of σ{sub p} = 6.2 × 10{sup −6} (Ω cm){sup −1} was found for samples grown on substrates without pre-treatment, and a value of σ{sub p} = 0.28 (Ω cm){sup −1} for samples grown on substrates with pre-treatment. Such σ{sub p} values are optimal for the improvement of solar cells based on Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} thin films as absorber material. - Highlights: • We report our findings about Na incorporation and plasma treatment on Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} thin layers. • The Na pre-treatment improves the structural and electrical properties of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} films. • The E{sub g} value was 1.60 eV for films with pre-treatment with NaOH and treatment in Ar plasma.

Electroplex emission from bi-layer blue emitting organic materials

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Fujun; Zhao, Suling; Zhao, Dewei; Jiang, Weiwei; Li, Yuan; Yuan, Guangcai; Zhu, Haina; Xu, Zheng

2007-04-01

Electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of an electron donor, an (poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK))/electron acceptor, and a (2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD)) bi-layer solid film are analysed. The EL emission peak has an apparent red-shift with the increase of driving voltage. There maybe exist an electroplex emission between the PVK and PBD interface under high electric field strength. According to their energy level, the electroplex emission peak should locate at 460 nm. There are great spectra overlapping between PVK emission and electroplex emission, and the ratio of electroplex emission intensity to exciton emission intensity (Ielectroplex/Iexciton) increases from 0.38 at 10 to 0.81 at 16 V. Therefore the measured emission peaks continuously shift from 410 nm at 10 V to 445 nm at 16 V.

Electroplex emission from bi-layer blue emitting organic materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Fujun; Zhao Suling; Zhao Dewei; Jiang Weiwei; Li Yuan; Yuan Guangcai; Zhu Haina; Xu Zheng

2007-01-01

Electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of an electron donor, an (poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK))/electron acceptor, and a (2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD)) bi-layer solid film are analysed. The EL emission peak has an apparent red-shift with the increase of driving voltage. There maybe exist an electroplex emission between the PVK and PBD interface under high electric field strength. According to their energy level, the electroplex emission peak should locate at 460 nm. There are great spectra overlapping between PVK emission and electroplex emission, and the ratio of electroplex emission intensity to exciton emission intensity (I electroplex /I exciton ) increases from 0.38 at 10 to 0.81 at 16 V. Therefore the measured emission peaks continuously shift from 410 nm at 10 V to 445 nm at 16 V

Electroplex emission from bi-layer blue emitting organic materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang Fujun; Zhao Suling; Zhao Dewei; Jiang Weiwei; Li Yuan; Yuan Guangcai; Zhu Haina; Xu Zheng [Key Laboratory for Information Storage, Display and Materials, Institute of Optoelectronic Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China)

2007-04-15

Electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of an electron donor, an (poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK))/electron acceptor, and a (2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD)) bi-layer solid film are analysed. The EL emission peak has an apparent red-shift with the increase of driving voltage. There maybe exist an electroplex emission between the PVK and PBD interface under high electric field strength. According to their energy level, the electroplex emission peak should locate at 460 nm. There are great spectra overlapping between PVK emission and electroplex emission, and the ratio of electroplex emission intensity to exciton emission intensity (I{sub electroplex}/I{sub exciton}) increases from 0.38 at 10 to 0.81 at 16 V. Therefore the measured emission peaks continuously shift from 410 nm at 10 V to 445 nm at 16 V.

Growth of thin fullerene films by matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Canulescu, Stela; Schou, Jørgen; Fæster, Søren

C60 fullerene thin films of average thickness of more than 100 nm on silicon substrates can be produced in vacuum by matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE). A 355 nm Nd:YAG laser was directed onto a frozen target of anisole with a concentration of 0.67 wt% C60. At laser fluences below 1.......5 J/cm2 the dominant fraction of the film molecules are C60 transferred to the substrate without any fragmentation. For high fluences high-resolution SEM images of MAPLE deposited films reveal large circular features on the surface with high amount of material concentrated at edges. These features......, observed over a wide range of laser fluences, are caused by ejection of large matrix-fullerene liquid droplets into the gas-phase and subsequent deposition. At similar laser energies, but using an unfocused laser beam, MAPLE favours evaporation of matrix and organic molecules, resulting in films...

Probing Dirac fermion dynamics in topological insulator Bi2Se3 films with a scanning tunneling microscope.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Can-Li; Wang, Lili; He, Ke; Ji, Shuai-Hua; Chen, Xi; Ma, Xu-Cun; Xue, Qi-Kun

2015-05-01

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy have been used to investigate the femtosecond dynamics of Dirac fermions in the topological insulator Bi2Se3 ultrathin films. At the two-dimensional limit, bulk electrons become quantized and the quantization can be controlled by the film thickness at a single quintuple layer level. By studying the spatial decay of standing waves (quasiparticle interference patterns) off steps, we measure directly the energy and film thickness dependence of the phase relaxation length lϕ and inelastic scattering lifetime τ of topological surface-state electrons. We find that τ exhibits a remarkable (E - EF)(-2) energy dependence and increases with film thickness. We show that the features revealed are typical for electron-electron scattering between surface and bulk states.

Improved Adhesion of Gold Thin Films Evaporated on Polymer Resin: Applications for Sensing Surfaces and MEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behrang Moazzez

2013-05-01

Full Text Available We present and analyze a method to improve the morphology and mechanical properties of gold thin films for use in optical sensors or other settings where good adhesion of gold to a substrate is of importance and where controlled topography/roughness is key. To improve the adhesion of thermally evaporated gold thin films, we introduce a gold deposition step on SU-8 photoresist prior to UV exposure but after the pre-bake step of SU-8 processing. Shrinkage and distribution of residual stresses, which occur during cross-linking of the SU-8 polymer layer in the post-exposure baking step, are responsible for the higher adhesion of the top gold film to the post-deposition cured SU-8 sublayer. The SU-8 underlayer can also be used to tune the resulting gold film morphology. Our promoter-free protocol is easily integrated with existing sensor microfabrication processes.

Synthesis of BiFeO3 thin films on single-terminated Nb : SrTiO3 (111 substrates by intermittent microwave assisted hydrothermal method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Velasco-Davalos

2016-06-01

Full Text Available We report on a simple and fast procedure to create arrays of atomically flat terraces on single crystal SrTiO3 (111 substrates and the deposition of ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films on such single-terminated surfaces. A microwave-assisted hydrothermal method in deionized water and ammonia solution selectively removes either (SrO34− or Ti4+ layers to ensure the same chemical termination on all terraces. Measured step heights of 0.225 nm (d111 and uniform contrast in the phase image of the terraces confirm the single termination in pure and Nb doped SrTiO3 single crystal substrates. Multiferroic BiFeO3 thin films were then deposited by the same microwave assisted hydrothermal process on Nb : SrTiO3 (111 substrates. Bi(NO33 and Fe(NO33 along with KOH served as the precursors solution. Ferroelectric behavior of the BiFeO3 films on Nb : SrTiO3 (100 substrates was verified by piezoresponse force microscopy.

Optical and Morphological Studies of Thermally Evaporated PTCDI-C8 Thin Films for Organic Solar Cell Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronak Rahimi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available PTCDI-C8 due to its relatively high photosensitivity and high electron mobility has attracted much attention in organic semiconductor devices. In this work, thin films of PTCDI-C8 with different thicknesses were deposited on silicon substrates with native silicon dioxide using a vacuum thermal evaporator. Several material characterization techniques have been utilized to evaluate the structure, morphology, and optical properties of these films. Their optical constants (refractive index and extinction coefficient have been extracted from the spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE. X-ray reflectivity (XRR and atomic force microscopy (AFM were employed to determine the morphology and structure as well as the thickness and roughness of the PTCDI-C8 thin films. These films revealed a high degree of structural ordering within the layers. All the experimental measurements were performed under ambient conditions. PTCDI-C8 films have shown to endure ambient condition which allows pots-deposition characterization.

Bismuth-doped Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} absorber prepared by multi-layer precursor method and its solar cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chantana, Jakapan; Hironiwa, Daisuke; Minemoto, Takashi [Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Nojihigashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577 (Japan); Watanabe, Taichi; Teraji, Seiki; Kawamura, Kazunori [Environment and Energy Research Center, Nitto Denko Corporation, 2-8 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan)

2015-06-15

Bismuth (Bi)-doped Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} (CIGS) films were prepared by the so-called ''multi-layer precursor method'', obtained by depositing them onto Bi layers with various thicknesses on Mo-coated soda-lime glass (SLG) substrates. Material composition (Cu, In, Ga, and Se) profiles of the CIGS films are almost identical, whereas sodium (Na) is reduced, when Bi thickness is increased. Moreover, the incorporation of Bi into the CIGS film is enhanced with thicker Bi layer. With Bi thickness from 0 to 70 nm, the 2.4-μm-thick CIGS absorbers demonstrate the increase in CIGS grain size, carrier lifetime, and carrier concentration, thus improving their cell performances, especially open-circuit voltage (V{sub OC}). With further increase in Bi thickness of above 70 nm, the CIGS films show the deterioration of CIGS film quality owing to the formation of Bi compounds such as Bi, BiSe, and Bi{sub 4}Se{sub 3}. Consequently, Bi-doped CIGS absorber with thickness of 2.4 μm, prepared with the 70-nm-thick Bi layer on Mo-coated SLG substrate, gives rise to the improvement of photovoltaic performances, especially V{sub OC}. (copyright 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Analysis of multiferroic properties in BiMnO{sub 3} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grizalez, M [Universidad de la Amazonia, Florencia (Colombia); Mendoza, G A [Department of Physics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota (Colombia); Prieto, P, E-mail: pprieto@calima.univalle.edu.c [Center of Excellence on Novel Materials - CENM (Colombia)

2009-05-01

Textured BiMnO{sub 3} [111] thin films on SrTiO{sub 3} (100) and Pt/TiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} substrates were grown via r.f. magnetron sputtering (13.56 MHz). The XRD spectra confirmed a monoclinic structure and high-quality textured films for the BiMnO{sub 3} films. The films grown on SrTiO{sub 3} (100) showed higher crystalline quality than those developed on Pt/TiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2}. Through optimized oxygen pressure of 5x10{sup -2} mbar during the r.f. sputtering deposition, the crystalline orientation of the BiMnO{sub 3} film was improved with respect to the previously reported value of 2x10{sup -1} mbar. The values of spontaneous polarization (P{sub s}), remnant polarization (P{sub r}), and coercive field (F{sub c}) from ferroelectric hysteresis loops (P-E) at different temperatures were also obtained. Samples with higher crystalline order revealed better dielectric properties (high P{sub s} and P{sub r} values and a low F{sub c}). For films on both types of substrates, the ferroelectric behavior was found to persist up to 400K. Measurements at higher temperatures were difficult to obtain given the increased conductivity of the films. Magnetic hysteresis loops from 5K to 120K were obtained for BiMnO{sub 3} films grown on SrTiO{sub 3} and Pt/TiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} substrates. The results suggested that the coexistence of the magnetic and electric phases persists up to 120K.

Adsorption-controlled growth of ferroelectric PbTiO{sub 3} and Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12} films for nonvolatile memory applications by MBE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Theis, C.D.; Yeh, J.; Schlom, D.G. [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Hawley, M.E.; Brown, G.W. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Center for Materials Science

1997-09-01

Epitaxial PbTiO{sub 3} and Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12} thin films have been grown on (100) SrTiO{sub 3} and (100) LaAlO{sub 3} substrates by reactive molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Titanium is supplied to the film in the form of shuttered bursts each containing a one monolayer dose of titanium atoms for the growth of PbTiO{sub 3} and three monolayers for the growth of Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12}. Lead, bismuth, and ozone are continuously supplied to the surface of the depositing film. Growth of phase pure, c-axis oriented epitaxial films with bulk lattice constants is achieved using an overpressure of these volatile species. With the proper choice of substrate temperature (600--650 C) and ozone background pressure (P{sub O{sub 3}} = 2 {times} 10{sup {minus}5} Torr), the excess of the volatile metals and ozone desorb from the surface of the depositing film leaving a phase-pure stoichiometric crystal. The smooth PbTiO{sub 3} surface morphology revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) suggests that the PbTiO{sub 3} films grow in a layer-by-layer fashion. In contrast the Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12} films contain islands which evolve either continuously or around screw dislocations via a spiral-type growth mechanism.

Demonstration of surface transport in a hybrid Bi2Se3/Bi2Te3 heterostructure

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Yanfei; Chang, Cui-Zu; Jiang, Ying; DaSilva, Ashley; Sun, Yi; Wang, Huichao; Xing, Ying; Wang, Yong; He, Ke; Ma, Xucun; Xue, Qi-Kun; Wang, Jian

2013-01-01

In spite of much work on topological insulators (TIs), systematic experiments for TI/TI heterostructures remain absent. We grow a high quality heterostructure containing single quintuple layer (QL) of Bi2Se3 on 19 QLs of Bi2Te3 and compare its transport properties with 20 QLs Bi2Se3 and 20 QLs Bi2Te3. All three films are grown on insulating sapphire (0001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). In situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) provides direct evidence that the su...

Bi-epitaxial tilted out-of-plane YBCO junctions on NdGaO{sub 3} substrates with YSZ seeding layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mozhaev, P.B. (Institute of Physics and Technology RAS, Moscow (Russian Federation)); Mozhaev, J.E.; Bindslev Hansen, J.; Jacobsen, C.S. (Technical Univ. of Denmark, Dept. of Physics, Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark)); Kotelyanskil, I.M.; Luzanov, V.A. (Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics RAS, Moscow (Russian Federation)); Benacka, S.; Strbik, V. (Institute of Electrical Engineering SAS, Bratislava (SK))

2008-10-15

Bi-epitaxial junctions with out-of plane tilt of the c axis were fabricated of YBCO superconducting thin films on NdGaO{sub 3} substrates with different miscut angles. Bi-epitaxial growth was provided by implementation of an Y:ZrO{sub 2} seeding layer on a certain part of the substrate. Junctions with different orientation of the bi-epitaxial boundaries were fabricated, their DC electrical properties were studied as a function of the boundary orientation angle. The junctions showed extremely high critical current densities for all tested miscut angles and bi-epitaxial boundary orientations (about 105 A/cm2 at 77 K and up to 106 A/cm2 at 4.2 K). The dependence of critical current density on the bi-epitaxial boundary orientation angle may be explained as an effect of a d-wave pairing mechanism in the HTSC with the simple Sigrist-Rice model. The studied boundaries may be considered as model structures for the grain boundaries in the coated conductors. (au)

Self-floating carbon nanotube membrane on macroporous silica substrate for highly efficient solar-driven interfacial water evaporation

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yuchao

2016-01-22

Given the emerging energy and water challenges facing the mankind, solar-driven water evaporation has been gaining renewed research attention from both academia and industry as an energy efficient means of wastewater treatment and clean water production. In this project, a bi-layered material, consisting of a top self-floating hydrophobic CNT membrane and a bottom hydrophilic macroporous silica substrate, was rationally designed and fabricated for highly energy-efficient solar driven water evaporation based on the concept of interfacial heating. The top thin CNT membrane with excellent light adsorption capability, acted as photothermal component, which harvested and converted almost the entire incident light to heat for exclusively heating of interfacial water. On the other hand, the macroporous silica substrate provided multi-functions toward further improvement of operation stability and water evaporation performance of the material, including water pumping, mechanical support and heat barriers. The silica substrate was conducive in forming the rough surface structures of the CNT top layers during vacuum filtration and thus indirectly contributed to high light adsorption by the top CNT layers. With optimized thicknesses of the CNT top layer and silica substrate, a solar thermal conversion efficiency of 82 % was achieved in this study. The bi-layered material also showed great performance toward water evaporation from seawater and contaminated water, realizing the separation of water from pollutants, and indicating its application versatility.

Self-floating carbon nanotube membrane on macroporous silica substrate for highly efficient solar-driven interfacial water evaporation

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yuchao; Zhang, Lianbin; Wang, Peng

2016-01-01

Given the emerging energy and water challenges facing the mankind, solar-driven water evaporation has been gaining renewed research attention from both academia and industry as an energy efficient means of wastewater treatment and clean water production. In this project, a bi-layered material, consisting of a top self-floating hydrophobic CNT membrane and a bottom hydrophilic macroporous silica substrate, was rationally designed and fabricated for highly energy-efficient solar driven water evaporation based on the concept of interfacial heating. The top thin CNT membrane with excellent light adsorption capability, acted as photothermal component, which harvested and converted almost the entire incident light to heat for exclusively heating of interfacial water. On the other hand, the macroporous silica substrate provided multi-functions toward further improvement of operation stability and water evaporation performance of the material, including water pumping, mechanical support and heat barriers. The silica substrate was conducive in forming the rough surface structures of the CNT top layers during vacuum filtration and thus indirectly contributed to high light adsorption by the top CNT layers. With optimized thicknesses of the CNT top layer and silica substrate, a solar thermal conversion efficiency of 82 % was achieved in this study. The bi-layered material also showed great performance toward water evaporation from seawater and contaminated water, realizing the separation of water from pollutants, and indicating its application versatility.

Effects of film thickness and preferred orientation on the dielectric properties of (Bi1.5Zn0.5)(Zn0.5Nb1.5)O7 films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, L Z; Fu, W Y; Wang, S F; Wang, Q; Sun, Z H; Yang, H; Cheng, B L; Wang, H; Zhou, Y L

2007-01-01

(Bi 1.5 Zn 0.5 )(Zn 0.5 Nb 1.5 )O 7 (BZN) films with different thicknesses and preferred orientations have been fabricated on Nb doped SrTiO 3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. As the thickness increases, the permittivity increases, and the dielectric loss decreases, while the tunability only has a little variation. The asymmetric behaviour of the electric field dependent permittivity reduces gradually with the increasing thickness, which should be attributed to the decrease in the effect of the interfacial layer between the dielectric film and substrate (electrode). Furthermore, compared with the (1 0 0) oriented BZN film, BZN film with (1 1 1) preferred orientation exhibits high dielectric loss

Stoichiometric transfer of material in the infrared pulsed laser deposition of yttrium doped Bi-2212 films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Vero, Jeffrey C.; Blanca, Glaiza Rose S.; Vitug, Jaziel R.; Garcia, Wilson O.; Sarmago, Roland V.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → This work describes the stoichiometric transfer of Y-doped Bi-2212 during IR-PLD. → As-deposited films show spheroidal morphology with similar composition as the target. Relatively flat and highly c-axis oriented films were obtained after heat treatment. → IR-PLD can be a viable technique in growing other high Tc superconducting materials. - Abstract: Films of Y-doped Bi-2212 were successfully grown on MgO (1 0 0) substrates by infrared pulsed laser deposition (IR-PLD). With post-heat treatments, smooth and highly c-axis oriented films were obtained. The average compositions of the films have the same stoichiometry as the target. Y content is also preserved on the grown films at all doping levels. The electrical properties of the grown Y-doped Bi-2212 films exhibit the expected electrical properties of the bulk Y-doped Bi-2212. This is attributed to the stoichiometric transfer of material by IR-PLD.

Investigation of the evaporation process conditions on the optical constants of zirconia films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobrowolski, J.A.; Grant, P.D.; Simpson, R.; Waldorf, A.

1989-01-01

Deposition parameters required for producing zirconia films for use in optical multilayer systems by electron-beam gun evaporation of zirconia and zirconium starting materials were investigated. The optical constants were determined as a function of distance, partial pressure of oxygen, and angle of incidence. The direct and reactive evaporation processes yielded ZrO 2 films with refractive indices of 2.08 and 2.14, respectively, for vapor incident on the substrate at normal incidence

Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation for growth of fullerene thin films

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Canulescu, Stela; Schou, Jørgen; Fæster Nielsen, Søren

C60 fullerene thin films of average thickness of more than 100 nm can be produced in vacuum by matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE). A 355 nm Nd:YAG laser was directed onto a frozen target of anisole with a concentration of 0.67 wt% C60. At laser fluences below 1.5 J/cm2, a dominant...... fraction of the film molecules are C60 transferred to the substrate without any fragmentation. Highresolution SEM images of MAPLE deposited films reveal large circular droplets on the surface with high amount of material concentrated at edges (Fig. 1A). These features, observed over a wide range of laser...... fluences, are caused by ejection of large matrix-fullerene liquid droplets into the gas-phase and subsequent deposition. At similar laser energies, but using an unfocused laser beam, MAPLE favours evaporation of matrix and organic molecules, resulting in production of films with smooth surfaces and minimal...

Heterogeneous bilayer films NiFe (Fe)-Dy: magnetic circular dichroism and Dy spin ordering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markov, V.V. E-mail: ise@iph.krasn.ruise@iph.krasnoyarsk.su; Kesler, V.G.; Khudyakov, A.E.; Edelman, I.S.; Bondarenko, G.V

2001-08-01

Results of the magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) investigations in the 3d transition metal-Dy bi-layer films are presented. It is shown that even at room temperature the Dy layer makes a contribution to MCD of the bi-layer film, which corresponds to the MCD value in the single-layer Dy film measured below T{sub C}=85 K. According to the AES data there is no sharp interface between 3d and Dy layers in these films. Some amount of Ni and Fe atoms is dispersed in the Dy layer and some amount of Dy atoms is dispersed in the 3d layer. The comparison of the MCD and AES data allows one to suppose the Dy layer in the bi-layer films to be magnetically ordered at room temperature under the influence of the 3d-layer spin system. The influence spreads to long distances inside Dy layer through the 3d-ions dispersed in it.

Heterogeneous bilayer films NiFe (Fe)-Dy: magnetic circular dichroism and Dy spin ordering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markov, V.V.; Kesler, V.G.; Khudyakov, A.E.; Edelman, I.S.; Bondarenko, G.V.

2001-01-01

Results of the magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) investigations in the 3d transition metal-Dy bi-layer films are presented. It is shown that even at room temperature the Dy layer makes a contribution to MCD of the bi-layer film, which corresponds to the MCD value in the single-layer Dy film measured below T C =85 K. According to the AES data there is no sharp interface between 3d and Dy layers in these films. Some amount of Ni and Fe atoms is dispersed in the Dy layer and some amount of Dy atoms is dispersed in the 3d layer. The comparison of the MCD and AES data allows one to suppose the Dy layer in the bi-layer films to be magnetically ordered at room temperature under the influence of the 3d-layer spin system. The influence spreads to long distances inside Dy layer through the 3d-ions dispersed in it

Studies of metallic species incorporation during growth of SrBi2Ta2O9 films on YBa2Cu3O7-x substrates using mass spectroscopy of recoiled ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dhote, A. M.

1999-01-01

The incorporation of metallic species (Bi, Sr and Ta) during the growth of layered perovskite SrBi 2 Ta 2 O 9 (SBT) on a-axis oriented YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x (YBCO) conducting oxide substrates has been investigated using in situ low energy mass spectroscopy of recoiled ions (MSRI). This technique is capable of providing monolayer-specific surface information relevant to the growth of single and multi-component thin films and layered heterostructures. The data show a temperature dependence of metallic species incorporation during co-deposition of Sr, Bi and Ta on YBCO surfaces. At high temperatures (400 400 C. SBT films grown at temperatures ≤ 400 C and annealed in oxygen or air at 800 C exhibit a polycrystalline structure with partial a-axis orientation

Towards efficient next generation light sources: combined solution processed and evaporated layers for OLEDs

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, D.; Sarfert, W.; Meier, S.; Bolink, H.; García Santamaría, S.; Wecker, J.

2010-05-01

Typically high efficient OLED device structures are based on a multitude of stacked thin organic layers prepared by thermal evaporation. For lighting applications these efficient device stacks have to be up-scaled to large areas which is clearly challenging in terms of high through-put processing at low-cost. One promising approach to meet cost-efficiency, high through-put and high light output is the combination of solution and evaporation processing. Moreover, the objective is to substitute as many thermally evaporated layers as possible by solution processing without sacrificing the device performance. Hence, starting from the anode side, evaporated layers of an efficient white light emitting OLED stack are stepwise replaced by solution processable polymer and small molecule layers. In doing so different solutionprocessable hole injection layers (= polymer HILs) are integrated into small molecule devices and evaluated with regard to their electro-optical performance as well as to their planarizing properties, meaning the ability to cover ITO spikes, defects and dust particles. Thereby two approaches are followed whereas in case of the "single HIL" approach only one polymer HIL is coated and in case of the "combined HIL" concept the coated polymer HIL is combined with a thin evaporated HIL. These HIL architectures are studied in unipolar as well as bipolar devices. As a result the combined HIL approach facilitates a better control over the hole current, an improved device stability as well as an improved current and power efficiency compared to a single HIL as well as pure small molecule based OLED stacks. Furthermore, emitting layers based on guest/host small molecules are fabricated from solution and integrated into a white hybrid stack (WHS). Up to three evaporated layers were successfully replaced by solution-processing showing comparable white light emission spectra like an evaporated small molecule reference stack and lifetime values of several 100 h.

Deposition of yttrium oxysulfide thin films by atomic layer epitaxy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kukli, K.; University of Tartu, Tartu,; Johansson, L-S.; Nykaenen, E.; Peussa, M.; Ninistoe, L.

1998-01-01

Full text: Yttrium oxysulfide is a highly interesting material for optoelectronic applications. It is industrially exploited in the form of doped powder in catholuminescent phosphors, e.g. Y 2 O 2 S: Eu 3+ for colour TV. Attempts to grow thin films of Y 2 O 2 S have not been frequent and only partially successful due to the difficulties in obtaining crystalline films at a reasonable temperature. Furthermore, sputtering easily leads to a sulphur deficiency. Evaporation of the elements from a multi-source offers a better control of the stoichiometry resulting in hexagonal (0002) oriented films at 580 deg C. In this paper we present the first successful thin film growth experiments using a chemical process with molecular precursors. Atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) allows the use of a relatively low deposition temperature and thus compatibility with other technologies. Already at 425 deg C the reaction between H 2 S and Y(thd) 3 (thd = 2,2,6,6 - tetramethyl-heptane-3,5- dione) yields a crystalline Y 2 O 2 S thin film which was characterized by XRD, XRF and XPS

Investigation of Top/bottom Electrode and Diffusion Barrier Layer for PZT thick film MEMS Sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Thomas; Hindrichsen, Christian Carstensen; Lou-Møller, R.

2007-01-01

In this work screen printed piezoelectric Ferroperm PZ26 lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thick film is used for two MEMS devices. A test structure is used to investigate several aspects regarding bottom and top electrodes. 450 nm ZrO2 thin film is found to be an insufficient diffusion barrier layer...... for thick film PZT sintered at 850degC. E-beam evaporated Al and Pt is patterned on PZT with a lift-off process with a line width down to 3 mum. The roughness of the PZT is found to have a strong influence on the conductance of the top electrode....

Determination and analysis of optical constants for Ge{sub 15}Se{sub 60}Bi{sub 25} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Atyia, H.E., E-mail: hebaelghrip@hotmail.com [Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, Cairo (Egypt); Physics Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Science at Turabah, Taif University, Turabah (Saudi Arabia); Hegab, N.A. [Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, Cairo (Egypt)

2014-12-01

Thin films of Ge{sub 15}Se{sub 60}Bi{sub 25} were deposited, at room temperature, on glass substrates by thermal evaporation technique. The optical reflectance and transmittance of amorphous Ge{sub 15}Se{sub 60}Bi{sub 25} films were measured at normal incident in the wavelength range (500–2500 nm). The optical constants, the refractive index n and the absorption index k, were determined and analyzed according to different approximate methods using the transmittance measurements only and accurate method using the transmittance and reflectance measurements. Analysis of the absorption index k data reveal the values of the optical band gap E{sub g}{sup opt}, the width of tails E{sub e} and the type of transitions. Some optical parameters such as, high frequency dielectric constant ε{sub ∞}, dispersion parameters (oscillation energy E{sub s} and the dispersion energy E{sub d}), real and imaginary parts of complex dielectric constant (ε{sub 1} and ε{sub 2}) and dielectric parameters (dissipation factor tan δ, dielectric relaxation time τ, the volume and surface energy loss functions) were estimated by analyzing the refractive index n data.The relative errors for all optical parameters depending on different approximate methods were identified and discussed.

Quantum confinement effect in Bi anti-dot thin films with tailored pore wall widths and thicknesses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Y.; Hirose, Y.; Fukumura, T.; Hasegawa, T.; Nakao, S.; Xu, J.

2014-01-01

We investigated quantum confinement effects in Bi anti-dot thin films grown on anodized aluminium oxide templates. The pore wall widths (w Bi ) and thickness (t) of the films were tailored to have values longer or shorter than Fermi wavelength of Bi (λ F  = ∼40 nm). Magnetoresistance measurements revealed a well-defined weak antilocalization effect below 10 K. Coherence lengths (L ϕ ) as functions of temperature were derived from the magnetoresistance vs field curves by assuming the Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka model. The anti-dot thin film with w Bi and t smaller than λ F showed low dimensional electronic behavior at low temperatures where L ϕ (T) exceed w Bi or t

The role of ultra-fast solvent evaporation on the directed self-assembly of block polymer thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Drapes, Chloe; Nelson, G.; Grant, M.; Wong, J.; Baruth, A.

The directed self-assembly of nano-structures in block polymer thin films viasolvent vapor annealing is complicated by several factors, including evaporation rate. Solvent vapor annealing exposes a disordered film to solvent(s) in the vapor phase, increasing mobility and tuning surface energy, with the intention of producing an ordered structure. Recent theoretical predictions reveal the solvent evaporation affects the resultant nano-structuring. In a competition between phase separation and kinetic trapping during drying, faster solvent removal can enhance the propagation of a given morphology into the bulk of the thin film down to the substrate. Recent construction of a purpose-built, computer controlled solvent vapor annealing chamber provides control over forced solvent evaporation down to 15 ms. This is accomplished using pneumatically actuated nitrogen flow into and out of the chamber. Furthermore, in situ spectral reflectance, with 10 ms temporal resolution, monitors the swelling and evaporation. Presently, cylinder-forming polystyrene-block-polylactide thin films were swollen with 40% (by volume) tetrahydrofuran, followed by immediate evaporation under a variety of designed conditions. This includes various evaporation times, ranging from 15 ms to several seconds, and four unique rate trajectories, including linear, exponential, and combinations. Atomic force microscopy reveals specific surface, free and substrate, morphologies of the resultant films, dependent on specific evaporation conditions. Funded by the Clare Boothe Luce Foundation and Nebraska EPSCoR.

Magnetoelectric coupling effect in transition metal modified polycrystalline BiFeO{sub 3} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sreenivas Puli, Venkata, E-mail: pvsri123@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118 (United States); Department of Physics and Institute of Functional Nanomaterials, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR 00936 (United States); Kumar Pradhan, Dhiren [Department of Physics and Institute of Functional Nanomaterials, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR 00936 (United States); Gollapudi, Sreenivasulu [Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309-4401 (United States); Coondoo, Indrani [Department of Materials and Ceramic and CICECO, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro (Portugal); Panwar, Neeraj [Department of Physics, Central University of Rajasthan, Bandar Sindri, Kishangarh 305801, Rajasthan (India); Adireddy, Shiva; Chrisey, Douglas B. [Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118 (United States); Katiyar, Ram S. [Department of Physics and Institute of Functional Nanomaterials, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR 00936 (United States)

2014-11-15

Rare-earth (Sm) and transition metal (Co) modified polycrystalline BiFeO{sub 3} (BFO) thin films have been deposited on Pt/TiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2}/Si substrate successfully through pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Piezoelectric, leakage current and temperature dependent dielectric and magnetic behaviour were investigated for the films. Typical “butterfly-shaped” loop were observed in BSFCO films with an effective piezoelectric constant (d{sub 33}) ∼94 pm/V at 0.6 MV/cm. High dielectric constant ∼900 and low dielectric loss ∼0.25 were observed at room temperature. M–H loops have shown relatively high saturation magnetization ∼35 emu/cm{sup 3} at a maximum field of H ∼20 kOe. Enhanced magnetoelectric coupling response is observed under applied magnetic field. The multiferroic, piezoelectric, leakage current behaviours were explored. Such studies should be helpful in designing multiferroic materials based on BSFCO films. - Highlights: • Transition metal modified polycrystalline BiFeO{sub 3} thin films prepared using PLD. • High ME-coupling response was observed in co-substituted BiFeO{sub 3} thin films. • High magnetization ∼35 emu/cm{sup 3} at a maximum field of H ∼20 kOe. • Low leakage current might be due to co-substitution in BiFeO{sub 3} thin films. • A notable piezoelectric constant d{sub 33} ∼94 pm/V was found in BiFeO{sub 3} thin films.

Morphological Evolution of Gyroid-Forming Block Copolymer Thin Films with Varying Solvent Evaporation Rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yi-Hsiu; Lo, Ting-Ya; She, Ming-Shiuan; Ho, Rong-Ming

2015-08-05

In this study, we aim to examine the morphological evolution of block copolymer (BCP) nanostructured thin films through solvent evaporation at different rates for solvent swollen polystyrene-block-poly(l-lactide) (PS-PLLA). Interesting phase transitions from disorder to perpendicular cylinder and then gyroid can be found while using a partially selective solvent for PS to swell PS-PLLA thin film followed by solvent evaporation. During the transitions, gyroid-forming BCP thin film with characteristic crystallographic planes of (111)G, (110)G, and (211)G parallel to air surface can be observed, and will gradually transform into coexisting (110)G and (211)G planes, and finally transforms to (211)G plane due to the preferential segregation of constituted block to the surface (i.e., the thermodynamic origin for self-assembly) that affects the relative amount of each component at the air surface. With the decrease on the evaporation rate, the disorder phase will transform to parallel cylinder and then directly to (211)G without transition to perpendicular cylinder phase. Most importantly, the morphological evolution of PS-PLLA thin films is strongly dependent upon the solvent removal rate only in the initial stage of the evaporation process due to the anisotropy of cylinder structure. Once the morphology is transformed back to the isotropic gyroid structure after long evaporation, the morphological evolution will only relate to the variation of the surface composition. Similar phase transitions at the substrate can also be obtained by controlling the ratio of PLLA-OH to PS-OH homopolymers to functionalize the substrate. As a result, the fabrication of well-defined nanostructured thin films with controlled orientation can be achieved by simple swelling and deswelling with controlled evaporation rate.

Influence of Sn incorporation on the properties of CuInS2 thin films grown by vacuum evaporation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zribi, M.; Rabeh, M. Ben; Brini, R.; Kanzari, M.; Rezig, B.

2006-01-01

Structural, morphological and optical properties of Sn-doped CuInS 2 thin films grown by double source thermal evaporation method were studied. Firstly, the films were annealed in vacuum after evaporation from 250 to 500 deg. C for Sn deposition time equal to 3 min. Secondly, the films deposited for several Sn evaporation times were annealed in vacuum after evaporation at 500 deg. C. The X-ray diffraction spectra indicated that polycrystalline Sn-doped CuInS 2 films were obtained and no Sn binary or ternary phases are observed for the Sn evaporation times equal to 5 min. Scanning electron microscopy observation revealed the decrease of the surface crystallinity with increasing the Sn evaporation times and the annealing temperatures. The Sn-doped samples after annealing have bandgap energy of 1.42-1.50 eV. Furthermore, we found that the Sn-doped CuInS 2 thin films exhibit N-type conductivity after annealing

Numerical studies of temperature profile and hydrodynamic phenomena during excimer laser assisted heteroepitaxial growth of patterned silicon and germanium bi-layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Conde, J.C., E-mail: jconde@uvigo.e [Dpto. Fisica Aplicada, E.T.S.I.I. University of Vigo, Campus Universitario, Rua Maxwell s/n, E-36310 Vigo (Spain); Chiussi, S. [Dpto. Fisica Aplicada, E.T.S.I.I. University of Vigo, Campus Universitario, Rua Maxwell s/n, E-36310 Vigo (Spain); Martin, E. [Dpto. de Mecanica, Maquinas Motores Termicos y Fluidos, E.T.S.I.I. University of Vigo, Campus Universitario, Rua Maxwell s/n, E-36310 Vigo (Spain); Gontad, F. [Dpto. Fisica Aplicada, E.T.S.I.I. University of Vigo, Campus Universitario, Rua Maxwell s/n, E-36310 Vigo (Spain); Fornarini, L. [Enea-Frascati, Via Enrico Fermi 45, I-00044 Frascati Roma (Italy); Leon, B. [Dpto. Fisica Aplicada, E.T.S.I.I. University of Vigo, Campus Universitario, Rua Maxwell s/n, E-36310 Vigo (Spain)

2010-01-01

In this manuscript, a 3-D axisymmetric model for the heteroepitaxial growth induced by irradiating thin patterned amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) and germanium (a-Ge:H) bi-layers on Si (100) with pulsed UV-laser radiation, is presented. For reducing optimization steps, an efficient simulation of the laser induced processes that include rapid heating and solidification phenomena in the range of several tenth of nanoseconds, must be performed, if alloy composition and quality has to be adjusted. In this study, the effects of various laser energy densities on different amorphous Si/Ge bi-layer structures has been predicted and adjusted to obtain the desired Ge concentration profiles for applications as sacrificial layers, i.e. a Ge containing film buried under a Si rich surface layer. The numerical model includes the temperature dependent variations of the thermophysical properties and takes the coupled effects of temperature and hydrodynamic phenomena for a Boussinesq fluid, to estimate the element interdiffusion during the process and predicting the concentration profiles.

Tuning the electronic properties at the surface of BaBiO{sub 3} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferreyra, C. [GIyA y INN, CNEA, Av.Gral Paz 1499, (1650), San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Departamento de Física, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina); Guller, F.; Llois, A. M.; Vildosola, V. [GIyA y INN, CNEA, Av.Gral Paz 1499, (1650), San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (Argentina); Marchini, F.; Williams, F. J. [Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (Argentina); Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Analítica y Química-Física, INQUIMAE-CONICET, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón 2, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Lüders, U. [CRISMAT, CNRS UMR 6508, ENSICAEN, 6 Boulevard Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen Cedex 4 (France); Albornoz, C. [GIyA y INN, CNEA, Av.Gral Paz 1499, (1650), San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Leyva, A. G. [GIyA y INN, CNEA, Av.Gral Paz 1499, (1650), San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología, UNSAM, Campus Miguelete, (1650), San Martín, Buenos Aires (Argentina); and others

2016-06-15

The presence of 2D electron gases at surfaces or interfaces in oxide thin films remains a hot topic in condensed matter physics. In particular, BaBiO{sub 3} appears as a very interesting system as it was theoretically proposed that its (001) surface should become metallic if a Bi-termination is achieved (Vildosola et al., PRL 110, 206805 (2013)). Here we report on the preparation by pulsed laser deposition and characterization of BaBiO{sub 3} thin films on silicon. We show that the texture of the films can be tuned by controlling the growth conditions, being possible to stabilize strongly (100)-textured films. We find significant differences on the spectroscopic and transport properties between (100)-textured and non-textured films. We rationalize these experimental results by performing first principles calculations, which indicate the existence of electron doping at the (100) surface. This stabilizes Bi ions in a 3+ state, shortens Bi-O bonds and reduces the electronic band gap, increasing the surface conductivity. Our results emphasize the importance of surface effects on the electronic properties of perovskites, and provide strategies to design novel oxide heterostructures with potential interface-related 2D electron gases.

Real evaporative cooling efficiency of one-layer tight-fitting sportswear in a hot environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, F; Annaheim, S; Morrissey, M; Rossi, R M

2014-06-01

Real evaporative cooling efficiency, the ratio of real evaporative heat loss to evaporative cooling potential, is an important parameter to characterize the real cooling benefit for the human body. Previous studies on protective clothing showed that the cooling efficiency decreases with increasing distance between the evaporation locations and the human skin. However, it is still unclear how evaporative cooling efficiency decreases as the moisture is transported from the skin to the clothing layer. In this study, we performed experiments with a sweating torso manikin to mimic three different phases of moisture absorption in one-layer tight-fitting sportswear. Clothing materials Coolmax(®) (CM; INVISTA, Wichita, Kansas, USA; 100%, profiled cross-section polyester fiber), merino wool (MW; 100%), sports wool (SW; 50% wool, 50% polyester), and cotton (CO; 100%) were selected for the study. The results demonstrated that, for the sportswear materials tested, the real evaporative cooling efficiency linearly decreases with the increasing ratio of moisture being transported away from skin surface to clothing layer (adjusted R(2) >0.97). In addition, clothing fabric thickness has a negative effect on the real evaporative cooling efficiency. Clothing CM and SW showed a good ability in maintaining evaporative cooling efficiency. In contrast, clothing MW made from thicker fabric had the worst performance in maintaining evaporative cooling efficiency. It is thus suggested that thin fabric materials such as CM and SW should be used to manufacture one-layer tight-fitting sportswear. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Growth of BaSi2 film on Ge(100) by vacuum evaporation and its photoresponse properties

Science.gov (United States)

Trinh, Cham Thi; Nakagawa, Yoshihiko; Hara, Kosuke O.; Kurokawa, Yasuyoshi; Takabe, Ryota; Suemasu, Takashi; Usami, Noritaka

2017-05-01

We have successfully grown a polycrystalline orthorhombic BaSi2 film on a Ge(100) substrate by an evaporation method. Deposition of an amorphous Si (a-Si) film on the Ge substrate prior to BaSi2 evaporation plays a critical role in obtaining a high-quality BaSi2 film. By controlling substrate temperature and the thickness of the a-Si film, a crack-free and single-phase polycrystalline orthorhombic BaSi2 film with a long carrier lifetime of 1.5 µs was obtained on Ge substrates. The photoresponse property of the ITO/BaSi2/Ge/Al structure was clearly observed, and photoresponsivity was found to increase with increasing substrate temperature during deposition of a-Si. Furthermore, the BaSi2 film grown on Ge showed a higher photoresponsivity than that grown on Si, indicating the potential application of evaporated BaSi2 on Ge to thin-film solar cells.

Tape casting and partial melting of Bi-2212 thick films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buhl, D.; Lang, T.; Heeb, B. [Nichtmetallische Werkstoffe, Zuerich (Switzerland)] [and others

1994-12-31

To produce Bi-2212 thick films with high critical current densities tape casting and partial melting is a promising fabrication method. Bi-2212 powder and organic additives were mixed into a slurry and tape casted onto glass by the doctor blade tape casting process. The films were cut from the green tape and partially molten on Ag foils during heat treatment. We obtained almost single-phase and well-textured films over the whole thickness of 20 {mu}m. The orientation of the (a,b)-plane of the grains were parallel to the substrate with a misalignment of less than 6{degrees}. At 77K/OT a critical current density of 15`000 A/cm{sup 2} was reached in films of the dimension 1cm x 2cm x 20{mu}m (1{mu}V/cm criterion, resistively measured). At 4K/OT the highest value was 350`000 A/cm{sup 2} (1nV/cm criterion, magnetically measured).

Surface and interface states of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} thin films investigated by optical second-harmonic generation and terahertz emission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hamh, S. Y.; Park, S.-H.; Lee, J. S., E-mail: jsl@gist.ac.kr [Department of Physics and Photon Science, School of Physics and Chemistry, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 500-712 (Korea, Republic of); Jerng, S.-K.; Jeon, J. H.; Chun, S. H. [Department of Physics and Graphene Research Institute, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of); Jeon, J. H.; Kahng, S. J. [Department of Physics, Korea University, Seoul 136-701 (Korea, Republic of); Yu, K.; Choi, E. J. [Department of Physics, University or Seoul, Seoul 130-743 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, S.; Choi, S.-H. [Department of Applied Physics, College of Applied Science, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701 (Korea, Republic of); Bansal, N. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rutgers, The state University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854 (United States); Oh, S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The state University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854 (United States); Park, Joonbum; Kho, Byung-Woo; Kim, Jun Sung [Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-02-01

We investigate the surface and interface states of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} thin films by using the second-harmonic generation technique. Distinct from the surface of bulk crystals, the film surface and interface show the isotropic azimuth dependence of second-harmonic intensity, which is attributed to the formation of randomly oriented domains on the in-plane. Based on the nonlinear susceptibility deduced from the model fitting, we determine that the surface band bending induced in a space charge region occurs more strongly at the film interface facing the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} substrate or capping layer compared with the interface facing the air. We demonstrate that distinct behavior of the terahertz electric field emitted from the samples can provide further information about the surface electronic state of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}.

Few-Layer Nanoplates of Bi 2 Se 3 and Bi 2 Te 3 with Highly Tunable Chemical Potential

KAUST Repository

Kong, Desheng

2010-06-09

A topological insulator (TI) represents an unconventional quantum phase of matter with insulating bulk band gap and metallic surface states. Recent theoretical calculations and photoemission spectroscopy measurements show that group V-VI materials Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, and Sb2Te3 are TIs with a single Dirac cone on the surface. These materials have anisotropic, layered structures, in which five atomic layers are covalently bonded to form a quintuple layer, and quintuple layers interact weakly through van der Waals interaction to form the crystal. A few quintuple layers of these materials are predicted to exhibit interesting surface properties. Different from our previous nanoribbon study, here we report the synthesis and characterizations of ultrathin Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 nanoplates with thickness down to 3 nm (3 quintuple layers), via catalyst-free vapor-solid (VS) growth mechanism. Optical images reveal thickness-dependent color and contrast for nanoplates grown on oxidized silicon (300 nm SiO2/Si). As a new member of TI nanomaterials, ultrathin TI nanoplates have an extremely large surface-to-volume ratio and can be electrically gated more effectively than the bulk form, potentially enhancing surface state effects in transport measurements. Low-temperature transport measurements of a single nanoplate device, with a high-k dielectric top gate, show decrease in carrier concentration by several times and large tuning of chemical potential. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

Spin texture of Bi2Se3 thin films in the quantum tunneling limit.

Science.gov (United States)

Landolt, Gabriel; Schreyeck, Steffen; Eremeev, Sergey V; Slomski, Bartosz; Muff, Stefan; Osterwalder, Jürg; Chulkov, Evgueni V; Gould, Charles; Karczewski, Grzegorz; Brunner, Karl; Buhmann, Hartmut; Molenkamp, Laurens W; Dil, J Hugo

2014-02-07

By means of spin- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy we studied the spin structure of thin films of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 grown on InP(111). For thicknesses below six quintuple layers the spin-polarized metallic topological surface states interact with each other via quantum tunneling and a gap opens. Our measurements show that the resulting surface states can be described by massive Dirac cones which are split in a Rashba-like manner due to the substrate induced inversion asymmetry. The inner and the outer Rashba branches have distinct localization in the top and the bottom part of the film, whereas the band apices are delocalized throughout the entire film. Supported by calculations, our observations help in the understanding of the evolution of the surface states at the topological phase transition and provide the groundwork for the realization of two-dimensional spintronic devices based on topological semiconductors.

Layer-by-layer strippable Ag multilayer films fabricated by modular assembly.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yan; Chen, Xiaoyan; Li, Qianqian; Song, Kai; Wang, Shihui; Chen, Xiaoyan; Zhang, Kai; Fu, Yu; Jiao, Yong-Hua; Sun, Ting; Liu, Fu-Chun; Han, En-Hou

2014-01-21

We have developed a new method to fabricate multilayer films, which uses prepared thin films as modular blocks and transfer as operation mode to build up multilayer structures. In order to distinguish it from the in situ fabrication manner, this method is called modular assembly in this study. On the basis of such concept, we have fabricated a multilayer film using the silver mirror film as the modular block and poly(lactic acid) as the transfer tool. Due to the special double-layer structure of the silver mirror film, the resulting multilayer film had a well-defined stratified architecture with alternate porous/compact layers. As a consequence of the distinct structure, the interaction between the adjacent layers was so weak that the multilayer film could be layer-by-layer stripped. In addition, the top layer in the film could provide an effective protection on the morphology and surface property of the underlying layers. This suggests that if the surface of the film was deteriorated, the top layer could be peeled off and the freshly exposed surface would still maintain the original function. The successful preparation of the layer-by-layer strippable silver multilayer demonstrates that modular assembly is a feasible and effective method to build up multilayer films capable of creating novel and attractive micro/nanostructures, having great potential in the fabrication of nanodevices and coatings.

Organo-layered double hydroxides composite thin films deposited by laser techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Birjega, R. [National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, 409 Atomistilor Str., 77125 Bucharest-Magurele (Romania); Vlad, A., E-mail: angela.vlad@gmail.com [National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, 409 Atomistilor Str., 77125 Bucharest-Magurele (Romania); Matei, A.; Dumitru, M.; Stokker-Cheregi, F.; Dinescu, M. [National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, 409 Atomistilor Str., 77125 Bucharest-Magurele (Romania); Zavoianu, R. [University of Bucharest, Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Technology and Catalysis, 4-12 Regina Elisabeta Bd., Bucharest 030018 (Romania); Raditoiu, V.; Corobea, M.C. [National R.& D. Institute for Chemistry and Petrochemistry, ICECHIM, 202 Splaiul Independentei Str., CP-35-274, 060021 Bucharest (Romania)

2016-06-30

Highlights: • PLD and MAPLE was successfully used to produce organo-layered double hydroxides. • The organic anions (dodecyl sulfate-DS) were intercalated in co-precipitation step. • Zn2.5Al-LDH (Zn/Al = 2.5) and Zn2.5Al-DS thin films obtained in this work could be suitable for further applications as hydrophobic surfaces. - Abstract: We used laser techniques to create hydrophobic thin films of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and organo-modified LDHs. A LDH based on Zn-Al with Zn{sup 2+}/Al{sup 3+} ratio of 2.5 was used as host material, while dodecyl sulfate (DS), which is an organic surfactant, acted as guest material. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) were employed for the growth of the films. The organic anions were intercalated in co-precipitation step. The powders were subsequently used either as materials for MAPLE, or they were pressed and used as targets for PLD. The surface topography of the thin films was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), the crystallographic structure of the powders and films was checked by X-ray diffraction. FTIR spectroscopy was used to evidence DS interlayer intercalation, both for powders and the derived films. Contact angle measurements were performed in order to establish the wettability properties of the as-prepared thin films, in view of functionalization applications as hydrophobic surfaces, owing to the effect of DS intercalation.

An improved film evaporation correlation for saline water at sub-atmospheric pressures

KAUST Repository

Shahzada, Muhammad Wakil; Ng, Kim Choon; Thu, Kyaw; Myat, Aung; Gee, Chun Won

2011-01-01

This paper presents an investigation of heat transfer correlation in a falling-film evaporator working with saline water at sub-atmospheric pressures. The experiments are conducted at different salinity levels ranging from 15000 to 90000 ppm, and the pressures were maintained between 0.92 to 2.81 kPa (corresponds to saturation temperatures of 5.9 – 23 0C). The effect of salinity, saturation pressures and chilled water temperatures on the heat transfer coefficient are accounted in the modified film evaporation correlations. The results are fitted to the Han & Fletcher's and Chun & Seban's falling-film correlations which are used in desalination industry. We modify the said correlations by adding salinity and saturation temperature corrections with respective indices to give a better agreement to our measured data.

Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films grown by flash evaporation and subsequent annealing in Ar atmosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caballero, R.; Izquierdo-Roca, V.; Merino, J.M.; Friedrich, E.J.; Climent-Font, A.; Saucedo, E.; 2UB, Departament d'Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, C. Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain))" data-affiliation=" (IREC, Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, C. Jardins de les Dones de Negre 1, Sant Adriá del Besòs, E-08930 Barcelona (Spain); IN2UB, Departament d'Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, C. Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain))" >Pérez-Rodríguez, A.; León, M.

2013-01-01

A study of Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 thin films grown by flash evaporation and subsequently annealed in Ar atmosphere has been carried out. Prior to thin film deposition, Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 bulk compounds with stoichiometric and Zn-rich compositions were synthesized as evaporation sources. The characteristics of the bulk compounds and thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and elastic back scattering. Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 deposited films contain lower concentrations of Zn than the bulk compounds used as evaporation sources, which is related to a preferential Zn re-evaporation during the deposition process. The desired kesterite composition for solar cell applications was achieved by using a Zn-rich compound as the evaporation source plus a thermal treatment at 620 °C in Ar atmosphere. - Highlights: ► Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) thin films by flash evaporation + annealing in Ar atmosphere ► Difficulty of growing a single phase kesterite material ► X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy to identify the different phases ► Importance of the starting film composition to get the desired CZTS material ► Annealing treatment to obtain the optimum material to be used for CZTS solar cells

Quantum confinement effect in Bi anti-dot thin films with tailored pore wall widths and thicknesses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Y., E-mail: youngok@chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Department of Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Hirose, Y.; Fukumura, T.; Hasegawa, T. [Department of Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Kawasaki 213-0012 (Japan); CREST, JST, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Nakao, S. [Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Kawasaki 213-0012 (Japan); CREST, JST, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Xu, J. [School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 (United States)

2014-01-13

We investigated quantum confinement effects in Bi anti-dot thin films grown on anodized aluminium oxide templates. The pore wall widths (w{sub Bi}) and thickness (t) of the films were tailored to have values longer or shorter than Fermi wavelength of Bi (λ{sub F} = ∼40 nm). Magnetoresistance measurements revealed a well-defined weak antilocalization effect below 10 K. Coherence lengths (L{sub ϕ}) as functions of temperature were derived from the magnetoresistance vs field curves by assuming the Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka model. The anti-dot thin film with w{sub Bi} and t smaller than λ{sub F} showed low dimensional electronic behavior at low temperatures where L{sub ϕ}(T) exceed w{sub Bi} or t.

Effect of oxidant on resputtering of Bi from Bi--Sr--Ca--Cu--O films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grace, J.M.; McDonald, D.B.; Reiten, M.T.; Olson, J.; Kampwirth, R.T.; Gray, K.E.

1992-01-01

The type and partial pressure of oxidant mixed with argon can affect the selective sputtering of Bi in composite-target, magnetron-sputtered Bi--Sr--Ca--Cu--O films. Comparative studies using oxygen and ozone show that ozone is a more potent oxidant, as well as a more potent source of resputterers than is oxygen. Severe resputtering from ozone is significantly reduced by a -40 V potential on the sample block. We suggest that oxygen causes resputtering by forming O + 2 , which interacts with the target to produce energetic O - . In contrast, ozone may form lower-energy O - by electron impact in the dark space. Negative oxygen ions from the target itself may be responsible for a background resputtering effect. Our results and those found for Y--Ba--Cu--O by others are comparable. Bi in Bi--Sr--Ca--Cu--O behaves as Ba in Y--Ba--Cu--O, with regard to selective resputtering; furthermore, the response of Sr, Ca, and Cu to oxygen in sputtered Bi--Sr--Ca--Cu--O is similar to what is observed for Cu in Y--Ba--Cu--O

Layer-by-layer-assembled healable antifouling films.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Dongdong; Wu, Mingda; Li, Bochao; Ren, Kefeng; Cheng, Zhongkai; Ji, Jian; Li, Yang; Sun, Junqi

2015-10-21

Healable antifouling films are fabricated by the exponential layer-by-layer assembly of PEGylated branched poly(ethylenimine) and hyaluronic acid followed by post-crosslinking. The antifouling function originates from the grafted PEG and the extremely soft nature of the films. The rapid and multiple healing of damaged antifouling functions caused by cuts and scratches can be readily achieved by immersing the films in normal saline solution. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ferroelectric properties of sandwich structured (Bi, La)4T3O12/Pb(Zr, Ti)O3/ (Bi, La)4Ti3O12 thin films on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bao Dinghua; Wakiya, Naoki; Shinozaki, Kazuo; Mizutani, Nobuyasu

2002-01-01

Sandwich structured (Bi, La) 4 Ti 3 O 12 /Pb(Zr, Ti)O 3 /(Bi, La) 4 Ti 3 O 12 thin films were fabricated on Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si substrates, with the intention of simultaneously utilizing the advantages of both (Bi, La) 4 Ti 3 O 12 (BLT) and Pb(Zr, Ti)O 3 (PZT) thin films such as non-fatigue behaviours of BLT and good ferroelectric properties of PZT. Both BLT and PZT layers were prepared by a chemical solution deposition technique. The experiments demonstrated that the sandwich structure showed fatigue-free characteristics at least up to 10 10 switching bipolar pulse cycles under 8 V and excellent retention properties. The sandwich structured thin films also exhibited well-defined hysteresis loops with a remanent polarization (2P r ) of 8.8 μC cm -2 and a coercive field (E c ) of 47 kV cm -1 . The room-temperature dielectric constant and dissipation factor were 210 and 0.031, respectively, at a frequency of 100 kHz. These results suggest that this sandwich structure is a promising material combination for ferroelectric memory applications. (author)

Do Lipids Retard the Evaporation of the Tear Fluid?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rantamaki, A. H.; Javanainen, M.; Vattulainen, I.

2012-01-01

phosphatidylcholine (PC), nonpolar cholesteryl ester, triglycerides, and wax ester (WE). Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) and interfacial shear rheometry (ISR) were used to assess the lateral structure and shear stress response of the lipid layers, respectively. RESULTS. Olive oil and long-chain alcohol decreased......PURPOSE. We examined in vitro the potential evaporation-retarding effect of the tear film lipid layer (TFLL). The artificial TFLL compositions used here were based on the present knowledge of TFLL composition. METHODS. A custom-built system was developed to measure evaporation rates at 35 degrees C....... Lipids were applied to an air-water interface, and the evaporation rate through the lipid layer was defined as water loss from the interface. A thick layer of olive oil and a monolayer of long-chain alcohol were used as controls. The artificial TFLLs were composed of 1 to 4 lipid species: polar...

Foam-film-stabilized liquid bridge networks in evaporative lithography and wet granular matter

KAUST Repository

Vakarelski, Ivan Uriev

2013-04-23

Evaporative lithography using latex particle templates is a novel approach for the self-assembly of suspension-dispersed nanoparticles into ordered microwire networks. The phenomenon that drives the self-assembly process is the propagation of a network of interconnected liquid bridges between the template particles and the underlying substrate. With the aid of video microscopy, we demonstrate that these liquid bridges are in fact the border zone between the underlying substrate and foam films vertical to the substrate, which are formed during the evaporation of the liquid from the suspension. The stability of the foam films and thus the liquid bridge network stability are due to the presence of a small amount of surfactant in the evaporating solution. We show that the same type of foam-film-stabilized liquid bridge network can also propagate in 3D clusters of spherical particles, which has important implications for the understanding of wet granular matter. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Performance of a wiped film evaporator with simulated high level waste slurries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dierks, R.D.; Bonner, W.F.

1975-01-01

The horizontal, reverse taper, wiped film evaporator that was evaluated demonstrated a number of positive characteristics with respect to its applicability in the solidification of nuclear fuel recovery process wastes. Foremost among these is its ability to remove the bulk (80 to 90 percent) of the liquid associated with any of the purex-type high level, intermediate level, or mixed waste slurries. The major disadvantage of the evaporator is its current inability to discharge a product that is low enough in liquid content to avoid sticking to the evaporator discharge nozzle. Also, while the indirect indications of the torque required to turn the rotor and the power drawn by the drive motor are indicative of the liquid content of the discharged product, no reliable correlation has been found to cover all of the possible flow rates and feed stock compositions that the evaporator may be required to handle. In addition, no reliable means has been found to indicate the presence or absence of product flow through the discharge nozzle. The lack of a positive means of moving the product concentrate out of the evaporator and into a high temperature receiver is an undesirable feature of the evaporator. Pulverized glass former, or frit, was added to the evaporator feedstock in a ratio of frit to metal oxides of 2 to 1, and the resulting mixture successfully evaporated to a concentrate containing about 50 percent solids. In general, the performance of the wiped film evaporator evaluated was favorable for its use in a nuclear waste fixation process, however further development of the rotor design, power input, and operating techniques will be required to produce a free flowing solid product

Anomalous size effect in conductivity of Bi films of small thickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anopchenko, A.S.; Kashirin, V.Yu.; Komnik, Yu.F.

1995-01-01

Experimental data are obtained at helium temperature, which describe the kinetic properties (conductivity, magnetoresistance and Hall coefficient) of Bi films whose thicknesses are within 100-500 A. The small-thickness Bi films display an anomalous size effect- the growing conductivity at decreasing thickness, and pronounced quantum interference effects - weak electron localization and enhancing electron-electron interaction in a disordered system. The information derived on the kinetic properties of the films is used to identify the character of the changes in the electron and hole concentrations and mobilities with a decreasing thickness. The isotropy of the properties in the films plane due to the axial texture has permitted us to use the equations for a conductor with two types of charge carriers. The used kinetic characteristics correctly take into account the contribution of the quantum corrections related to quantum interference. It is found that the concentration of the charge carries increases appreciably (by about two orders of magnitude) as the film thickness decreases to 100 A, which determines the anomalous size effect in the conductivity of the films

Superconducting Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O thin films from metallo-organic complexes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gruber, H.; Krautz, E.; Fritzer, H.P.; Popitsch, A.

1991-01-01

Thin films in the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system are produced by decomposition of organic precursor compounds containing different metallo-organic complexes. The superconducting phase identified is Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+x on (100)-MgO single crystal substrates, polycrystalline Au- and Ag-ribbons and Bi 2 Sr 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O 10+x on Ag-ribbons. For the 2212-phase a zero resistance temperature of 79 K is found. The 2223-samples on Ag-ribbons show a broad transition at 110 K with a zero resistance at 85 K. SEM and EDX are used for the detection of the microstructure and composition of the prepared films. (orig.)

Low-dose effects in the sputtering of evaporated films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Florio, A.R.O.; Alonso, E.V.; Baragiola, R.A.; Ferron, J. (Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina). Centro Atomico Bariloche)

1983-05-01

We report measurements of the dose dependence of the sputtering of evaporated films by 30 keV ions under UHV. An initial (sub-monolayer) enhanced sputtering is attributed to the removal of weakly bound atoms; this enhancement does not depend on the incidence angle of the projectile.

Effects of co-sintering in self-standing CGO/YSZ and CGO/ ScYSZ dense bi-layers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Teocoli, Francesca; Ni, De Wei; Brodersen, Karen

2014-01-01

-layers are critical due to the mismatch of thermo-mechanical and sintering properties among the materials. Despite the better sinteractivity of ScYSZ, the self-standing CGO/ScYSZ bilayer presents more challenges in terms of densification compared with the CGO/YSZ bi-layer. In particular, above 1200 C, ScYSZ and CGO......-standing bi-layered electrolyte system. The combined use of thermo-mechanical analysis, optical dilatometry, and scanning electron microscopy ensures a systematic characterization of both the individual layers and CGO/YSZ and CGO/ScYSZ bi-layered laminates. The results of the co-firing process of the bi...

Polarized Raman study on the lattice structure of BiFeO3 films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

KAUST Repository

Yang, Yang

2014-11-01

Polarized Raman spectroscopy was used to study the lattice structure of BiFeO3 films on different substrates prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Interestingly, the Raman spectra of BiFeO3 films exhibit distinct polarization dependences. The symmetries of the fundamental Raman modes in 50-700 cm-1 were identified based on group theory. The symmetries of the high order Raman modes in 900-1500 cm-1 of BiFeO3 are determined for the first time, which can provide strong clarifications to the symmetry of the fundamental peaks in 400-700 cm-1 in return. Moreover, the lattice structures of BiFeO3 films are identified consequently on the basis of Raman spectroscopy. BiFeO3 films on SrRuO3 coated SrTiO3 (0 0 1) substrate, CaRuO3 coated SrTiO3 (0 0 1) substrate and tin-doped indium oxide substrate are found to be in the rhombohedral structure, while BiFeO3 film on SrRuO3 coated Nb: SrTiO3 (0 0 1) substrate is in the monoclinic structure. Our results suggest that polarized Raman spectroscopy would be a feasible tool to study the lattice structure of BiFeO3 films.

An improved film evaporation correlation for saline water at sub-atmospheric pressures

KAUST Repository

Shahzada, Muhammad Wakil

2011-10-03

This paper presents an investigation of heat transfer correlation in a falling-film evaporator working with saline water at sub-atmospheric pressures. The experiments are conducted at different salinity levels ranging from 15000 to 90000 ppm, and the pressures were maintained between 0.92 to 2.81 kPa (corresponds to saturation temperatures of 5.9 – 23 0C). The effect of salinity, saturation pressures and chilled water temperatures on the heat transfer coefficient are accounted in the modified film evaporation correlations. The results are fitted to the Han & Fletcher\\'s and Chun & Seban\\'s falling-film correlations which are used in desalination industry. We modify the said correlations by adding salinity and saturation temperature corrections with respective indices to give a better agreement to our measured data.

AC and dielectric properties of vacuum evaporated InTe bilayer thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matheswaran, P. [PG and Research, Department of Physics, Kongunadu Arts and Science College (Autonomous), GN Mills (po), Coimbatore 641 029, Tamil Nadu (India); Sathyamoorthy, R., E-mail: rsathya59@gmail.com [PG and Research, Department of Physics, Kongunadu Arts and Science College (Autonomous), GN Mills (po), Coimbatore 641 029, Tamil Nadu (India); Saravanakumar, R. [PG and Research, Department of Physics, Kongunadu Arts and Science College (Autonomous), GN Mills (po), Coimbatore 641 029, Tamil Nadu (India); Velumani, S. [Department of Electrical Engineering (SEES), CINVESTAV-IPN Zacatenco, D.F., 07360 (Mexico)

2010-10-25

III-VI compound semiconductors receive great attention due to its applications in memory devices, switching devices, gas sensors, hybrid solar cells, etc. InTe thin films were prepared by sequential thermal evaporation of In and Te at Ar atmosphere. X-ray diffraction pattern of the films shows that the films posses mixed phase of In{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and In{sub 2}Te{sub 5}. Grain size (D) and dislocation density were calculated by using Scherer's formula. Surface morphology of the film is analyzed by SEM and the surface is found to be agglomeration of well defined grains. EDS analysis reveals that elemental composition is in right stoichiometry. The value of capacitance and tan {delta} was recorded with respect to different frequencies and at different temperatures. It is observed that the capacitance decreases with increase in frequency at all temperatures. The observed nature of the capacitance is due to the inability of the dipoles to orient in a rapidly varying electric field. The pronounced increase in capacitance toward the low frequency region may be attributed to the blocking of charge carriers at the electrodes which leads to space charge layer resulting in the increase of capacitance. The mechanism responsible for AC conduction is found to be electronic hopping. TCC and TCP values were calculated and the results are discussed.

Numerical study of heat and mass transfer during evaporation of a thin liquid film

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oubella M’hand

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A numerical study of mixed convection heat and mass transfer with film evaporation in a vertical channel is developed. The emphasis is focused on the effects of vaporization of three different liquid films having widely different properties, along the isothermal and wetted walls on the heat and mass transfer rates in the channel. The induced laminar downward flow is a mixture of blowing dry air and vapour of water, methanol or acetone, assumed as ideal gases. A two-dimensional steady state and elliptical flow model, connected with variable thermo-physical properties, is used and the phase change problem is based on thin liquid film assumptions. The governing equations of the model are solved by a finite volume method and the velocity-pressure fields are linked by SIMPLE algorithm. The numerical results, including the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles, as well as axial variations of Nusselt numbers, Sherwood number and dimensionless film evaporation rate are presented for two values of inlet temperature and Reynolds number. It was found that lower the inlet temperature and Re, the higher the induced flows cooling with respect of most volatile film. The better mass transfer rates related with film evaporation are found for a system with low mass diffusion coefficient.

The Effects of Film Thickness and Evaporation Rate on Si-Cu Thin Films for Lithium Ion Batteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Polat, B Deniz; Keles, Ozgul

2015-12-01

The reversible cyclability of Si based composite anodes is greatly improved by optimizing the atomic ratio of Si/Cu, the thickness and the evaporation rates of films fabricated by electron beam deposition method. The galvanostatic test results show that 500 nm thick flim, having 10%at. Cu-90%at. Si, deposited with a moderate evaporation rate (10 and 0.9 Å/s for Si and Cu respectively) delivers 2642.37 mAh g(-1) as the first discharge capacity with 76% Coulombic efficiency. 99% of its initial capacity is retained after 20 cycles. The electron conductive pathway and high mechanical tolerance induced by Cu atoms, the low electrical resistivity of the film due to Cu3Si particles, and the homogeneously distributed nano-sized/amorphous particles in the composite thin film could explain this outstanding electrochemical performance of the anode.

Pulsed-laser deposition and growth studies of Bi3Fe5O12 thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lux, Robert; Heinrich, Andreas; Leitenmeier, Stephan; Koerner, Timo; Herbort, Michael; Stritzker, Bernd

2006-01-01

Magneto-optical garnets are attractive because of their high Faraday rotation and low optical loss in the near infrared. Therefore their use is generally in nonreciprocal devices, i.e., as optical isolators in optical communication. In this paper we present data concerning the deposition of Bi 3 Fe 5 O 12 (BIG) thin films on (100) and (111) Gd 3 Ga 5 O 12 substrates using pulsed-laser deposition. Laser-induced processes on the surface of the oxide target used for ablation were analyzed and numerous films were deposited. We found the BIG film quality to be strongly affected by oxygen pressure, laser energy density, and the Bi/Fe film ratio, whereas temperature had a minor influence. We also investigated the BIG-film deposition using a target pressed from metallic Bi and Fe powders and found information on the growth behavior of BIG. We report on details of the film deposition and film properties determined by environmental scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. In addition, we determined the Faraday rotation of the films

Low-dose effects in the sputtering of evaporated films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florio, A.R.O.; Alonso, E.V.; Baragiola, R.A.; Ferron, J.

1983-01-01

We report measurements of the dose dependence of the sputtering of evaporated films by 30 keV ions under UHV. An initial (sub-monolayer) enhanced sputtering is attributed to the removal of weakly bound atoms; this enhancement does not depend on the incidence angle of the projectile. (author)

Magneto-optics of nanoscale Bi:YIG films.

Science.gov (United States)

Berzhansky, Vladimir; Mikhailova, Tatyana; Shaposhnikov, Alexander; Prokopov, Anatoly; Karavainikov, Andrey; Kotov, Viacheslav; Balabanov, Dmitry; Burkov, Vladimir

2013-09-10

Magnetic circular dichroism in the spectral region from 270 to 850 nm and Faraday rotation at the wavelength of 655 nm in ultrathin (1.5-92.8 nm) films prepared by reactive ion beam sputtering of target of nominal composition Bi2.8Y0.2Fe5O12 were studied. The observed effects of the "blue shift," inversion of the signs and change in the intensity of magneto-optical transitions, are discussed. It is demonstrated that all studied nanoscale films reveal magnetic properties-and their composition depends on the method of substrate surface pretreatment.

Low-Temperature Bonding of Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 Thermoelectric Material with Cu Electrodes Using a Thin-Film In Interlayer

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yan-Cheng; Yang, Chung-Lin; Huang, Jing-Yi; Jain, Chao-Chi; Hwang, Jen-Dong; Chu, Hsu-Shen; Chen, Sheng-Chi; Chuang, Tung-Han

2016-09-01

A Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 thermoelectric material electroplated with a Ni barrier layer and a Ag reaction layer was bonded with a Ag-coated Cu electrode at low temperatures of 448 K (175 °C) to 523 K (250 °C) using a 4- μm-thick In interlayer under an external pressure of 3 MPa. During the bonding process, the In thin film reacted with the Ag layer to form a double layer of Ag3In and Ag2In intermetallic compounds. No reaction occurred at the Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3/Ni interface, which resulted in low bonding strengths of about 3.2 MPa. The adhesion of the Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3/Ni interface was improved by precoating a 1- μm Sn film on the surface of the thermoelectric element and preheating it at 523 K (250 °C) for 3 minutes. In this case, the bonding strengths increased to a range of 9.1 to 11.5 MPa after bonding at 473 K (200 °C) for 5 to 60 minutes, and the shear-tested specimens fractured with cleavage characteristics in the interior of the thermoelectric material. The bonding at 448 K (175 °C) led to shear strengths ranging from 7.1 to 8.5 MPa for various bonding times between 5 and 60 minutes, which were further increased to the values of 10.4 to 11.7 MPa by increasing the bonding pressure to 9.8 MPa. The shear strengths of Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3/Cu joints bonded with the optimized conditions of the modified solid-liquid interdiffusion bonding process changed only slightly after long-term exposure at 473 K (200 °C) for 1000 hours.

Investigation of evaporation characteristics of polonium and its lighter homologues selenium and tellurium from liquid Pb-Bi-eutecticum

CERN Document Server

Neuhausen, J; Eichler, B

2004-01-01

The evaporation behaviour of polonium and its lighter homologues selenium and tellurium dissolved in liquid Pb-Bi-eutecticum (LBE) has been studied at various temperatures in the range from 482 K up to 1330 K under Ar/H2 and Ar/H2O-atmospheres using γ-ray spectroscopy. Polonium release in the temperature range of interest for technical applications is slow. Within short term (1h) experiments measurable amounts of polonium are evaporated only at temperatures above 973 K. Long term experiments reveal that a slow evaporation of polonium occurs at temperatures around 873 K resulting in a fractional polonium loss of the melt around 1% per day. Evaporation rates of selenium and tellurium are smaller than those of polonium. The presence of H2O does not enhance the evaporation within the error limits of our experiments. The thermodynamics and possible reaction pathways involved in polonium release from LBE are discussed.

Acoustic phonon dynamics in thin-films of the topological insulator Bi2Se3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glinka, Yuri D.; Babakiray, Sercan; Johnson, Trent A.; Holcomb, Mikel B.; Lederman, David

2015-01-01

Transient reflectivity traces measured for nanometer-sized films (6–40 nm) of the topological insulator Bi 2 Se 3 revealed GHz-range oscillations driven within the relaxation of hot carriers photoexcited with ultrashort (∼100 fs) laser pulses of 1.51 eV photon energy. These oscillations have been suggested to result from acoustic phonon dynamics, including coherent longitudinal acoustic phonons in the form of standing acoustic waves. An increase of oscillation frequency from ∼35 to ∼70 GHz with decreasing film thickness from 40 to 15 nm was attributed to the interplay between two different regimes employing traveling-acoustic-waves for films thicker than 40 nm and the film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAWR) modes for films thinner than 40 nm. The amplitude of oscillations decays rapidly for films below 15 nm thick when the indirect intersurface coupling in Bi 2 Se 3 films switches the FBAWR regime to that of the Lamb wave excitation. The frequency range of coherent longitudinal acoustic phonons is in good agreement with elastic properties of Bi 2 Se 3

Analytical Solutions of Heat Transfer and Film Thickness with Slip Condition Effect in Thin-Film Evaporation for Two-Phase Flow in Microchannel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Jassim Shkarah

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Physical and mathematical model has been developed to predict the two-phase flow and heat transfer in a microchannel with evaporative heat transfer. Sample solutions to the model were obtained for both analytical analysis and numerical analysis. It is assumed that the capillary pressure is neglected (Morris, 2003. Results are provided for liquid film thickness, total heat flux, and evaporating heat flux distribution. In addition to the sample calculations that were used to illustrate the transport characteristics, computations based on the current model were performed to generate results for comparisons with the analytical results of Wang et al. (2008 and Wayner Jr. et al. (1976. The calculated results from the current model match closely with those of analytical results of Wang et al. (2008 and Wayner Jr. et al. (1976. This work will lead to a better understanding of heat transfer and fluid flow occurring in the evaporating film region and develop an analytical equation for evaporating liquid film thickness.

Investigations of the mechanical properties of bi-layer and trilayer fiber reinforced composites

Science.gov (United States)

Jayakrishna, K.; Balasubramani, K.; Sultan, M. T. H.; Karthikeyan, S.

2016-10-01

Natural fibers are renewable raw materials with an environmental-friendly properties and they are recyclable. The mechanical properties of bi-layer and tri-layer thermoset polymer composites have been analyzed. The bi-layer composite consists of basalt and jute mats, while the tri-layer composite consists of basalt fiber, jute fiber and glass fiber mats. In both cases, the epoxy resin was used as the matrix and PTFE as a filler in the composites. The developed trilayer natural fiber composite can be used in various industrial applications such as automobile parts, construction and manufacturing. Furthermore, it also can be adopted in aircraft interior decoration and designed body parts. Flexural, impact, tensile, compression, shear and hardness tests, together with density measurement, were conducted to study the mechanical properties of both bi-layer and tri-layer composites. From the comparison, the tri-layer composite was found to perform in a better way in all tests.

Ni-YSZ cermet substrate supported thin SDC and YSZ+SDC bi-layer SOFCs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, X.; Robertson, M.; Deces-Petit, C.; Xie, Y.; Hui, R.; Yick, S.; Styles, E.; Roller, J.; Kesler, O.; Qu, W.; Jankovic, J.; Tang, Z.; Perednis, D.; Maric, R.; Ghosh, D. [National Research Council of Canada, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Inst. for Fuel Cell Innovation

2005-07-01

One of the disadvantages of a ceria-based electrolyte is that it becomes a mixed conductor at anode conditions, which causes cell voltage loss and fuel efficiency loss due to internal shorting. Chemical and mechanical stability is another concern for long-term service. To lower manufacturing costs, efforts have been made to bring proven semiconductor manufacturing technology to Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). This study employed Tape casting of cermet substrates, Screen-printing of functional layers and Co-firing of cell components (TSC) to fabricate nickel (Ni)-cermet supported cells with mainly ceria-based thin electrolytes. Ni-Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) cermet supported cell with Samaria Doped Ceria (SDC) single layer electrolytes and YSZ+SDC bi-layer electrolytes were successfully developed for low-temperature performance characterization. The elemental distribution at the cell interface was mapped and the electrochemical performance of the cells was recorded. Many high-Zr-content micro-islands were found on the thin SDC surface. The influence of co-firing temperature and thin-film preparation methods on the Zr-islands' appearance was also investigated. Using in-situ sintered cathodes, high performance of the SDC cells was obtained. It was concluded that the bi-layer cells did show higher Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) values, with 1180 mW/cm{sup 2} at 650 degrees C, as well as good performance at 700-800 degrees C, with near OCV value. However, their performance was much lower than those of the SDC cells at low operating temperature. Zr-micro-islands formation on the SDC electrolyte was observed and investigated. 6 refs., 5 tabs., 7 figs.

Characterization of lysozyme films produced by matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Purice, Andreea; Schou, Jørgen; Kingshott, Peter

2007-01-01

Thin lysozyme films of thickness up to more than 100 nm have been produced in a dry environment by MAPLE (matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation) from a water ice matrix. Analysis of the films demonstrates that a significant part of the lysozyme molecules is transferred to the substrate without...

Impacts of zinc layer and pouring method on interface performance for Al-22Si/ZL104 bi-metal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun-feng Zhao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Bi-metal material consisting of spray-formed Al-22Si and ZL104 is a suitable candidate for applications in internal combustion engines. This research investigated the effects of surface treatment and appropriate gating system on the microstructures and mechanical properties in evaluating the optimal strategy for producing high quality bi-metal materials. The bi-metal materials were prepared using ZL104 gravity casting by different pouring types around the spray-formed Al-22Si with varied surface treatments. The wettability between Al-22Si and ZL104 was significantly improved when Zn coating was used to remove the natural oxide layer. This research also obtained the improved interfacial microstructures and interfacial bonding strength for materials when applying the appropriate pouring method. The hardness profiles of Al-22Si/ZL104 bi-metal were consistent with the observed microstructures. The average tensile strength of the bi-metal material with zinc coating is ~42.3 MPa, which is much higher than that with oxide film at ~10 MPa. The process presented is a promising and effective approach for developing materials in the automotive industry.

Local variation in Bi crystal sites of epitaxial GaAsBi studied by photoelectron spectroscopy and first-principles calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laukkanen, P., E-mail: pekka.laukkanen@utu.fi [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland); Punkkinen, M.P.J., E-mail: marko.punkkinen@utu.fi [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland); Lahti, A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland); Puustinen, J. [Optoelectronics Research Centre, Tampere University of Technology, FI-33101 Tampere (Finland); Tuominen, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland); Hilska, J. [Optoelectronics Research Centre, Tampere University of Technology, FI-33101 Tampere (Finland); Mäkelä, J.; Dahl, J.; Yasir, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland); Kuzmin, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland); Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 194021, Russian Federation (Russian Federation); Osiecki, J.R.; Schulte, K. [The MAX IV laboratory, P. O. Box 118, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund (Sweden); Guina, M. [Optoelectronics Research Centre, Tampere University of Technology, FI-33101 Tampere (Finland); Kokko, K. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland)

2017-02-28

Highlights: • XPS is used to study bulk-like properties of GaAsBi crystals. • Surface effects are removed from XPS signal by an epitaxial AlAs cap film. • Local variation of Bi composition is found. • The result is consistent with photoluminescence and theoretical results. • Ga vacancies and Bi crystallites are suggested to be dominating defects. - Abstract: Epitaxial Bi-containing III–V crystals (III-V{sub 1-x}Bi{sub x}) have attracted increasing interest due to their potential in infrared applications. Atomic-scale characterization and engineering of bulk-like III-V{sub 1-x}Bi{sub x} properties (e.g., Bi incorporation and defect formation) are challenging but relevant to develop applications. Toward that target, we report here that the traditional surface-science measurement of photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) is a potential, non-destructive method to be combined in the studies of bulk-like properties, when surface effects are properly removed. We have investigated epitaxial GaAs{sub 1-x}Bi{sub x} films, capped by epitaxial AlAs layers, with high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy. The Bi5d core-level spectra of GaAs{sub 1-x}Bi{sub x} together with ab-initio calculations give direct evidence of variation of Bi bonding environment in the lattice sites. The result agrees with photoluminescence (PL) measurement which shows that the studied GaAs{sub 1-x}Bi{sub x} films include local areas with higher Bi content, which contribute to PL but do not readily appear in x-ray diffraction (XRD). The measured and calculated Bi core-level shifts show also that Ga vacancies and Bi clusters are dominant defects.

Interaction of submonolayer Bi films with the Si(100) surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goryachko, A.M.; Melnik, P.V.; Nakhodkin, M.G.

1999-01-01

Scanning tunneling microscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy were used to investigate interaction of submonolayer Bi films with the Si(100)-2x1 surface. Ultra small Bi amounts (≤ 0.15ML) do not form ordered structures, if deposited at room temperature. Annealing at 400 degree C causes Bi to coalesce into small islands of the densely packed 2x1 phase. Simultaneously, vacancy clusters are produced in the substrate, which remain after desorption of Bi at 600 degree C. In contrast, room temperature deposition and thermal desorption of larger Bi amounts (≥ 0.25 ML) produces vacancies grouped into lines. Further annealing of such a substrate in the temperature range of 600 degree C ≤ T ≤ 750 degree C causes the phase transition between the Si(100)-2xn and Si(100)-c(4x4)

Preparation and characterization of co-evaporated Cu{sub 2}ZnGeSe{sub 4} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uday Bhaskar, P.; Suresh Babu, G.; Kishore Kumar, Y.B.; Sundara Raja, V., E-mail: sundararajav@rediffmail.com

2013-05-01

Cu{sub 2}ZnGeSe{sub 4} (CZGSe), a member of Cu{sub 2}–II–IV–VI{sub 4} family, is a promising material for solar cell absorber layer in thin film heterojunction solar cells like Cu{sub 2}ZnSnS{sub 4} and Cu{sub 2}ZnSnSe{sub 4} which have been explored in recent years as alternate to CuInGaSe{sub 2} solar cells. The effect of substrate temperature (523 K–723 K) on the growth of CZGSe films is investigated by studying their structural, morphological and optical properties. Raman spectroscopy studies have been done to identify the phases in addition to X-ray diffraction studies. CZGSe films deposited at different substrate temperatures and annealed at 723 K in selenium atmosphere are Cu-rich and Ge-poor and contained secondary phases Cu{sub (2−x)}Se and ZnSe. CZGSe films obtained by reducing the starting Cu mass by 10% were found to be single phase with stannite structure, the lattice parameters being a = 0.563 nm, c = 1.101 nm. The direct optical band gap of CZGSe films is found to be 1.63 eV which is close to ideal band gap of 1.50 eV for the highest photovoltaic conversion efficiency. The films are found to be p-type. - Highlights: • Synthesis of Cu{sub 2}ZnGeSe{sub 4} films for solar cell absorber layer • Effect of substrate temperature on the growth of co-evaporated Cu{sub 2}ZnGeSe{sub 4} films • X-ray diffraction, Raman and morphological studies of Cu{sub 2}ZnGeSe{sub 4} thin films.

Effects of annealing on evaporated SnS thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samsudi Sakrani; Bakar Ismail

1994-01-01

The effects of annealing of evaporated tin sulphide thin films (SnS) are described. The films were initially deposited onto glass substrate, followed by annealing in an encapsulated carbon block under the running argon gas at 310 degree Celsius. Short time annealing of the films results in a slight change of the compositions to a mix SnS/SnS sub 2 compound, and the tendency of increasing SnS sub 2 formation was observed on the films annealed for longer periods up to 20 hours. X-ray results showed the transformation of SnS peaks (040) and (080) to predominantly SnS sub 2 peaks - (001), (100), (101), and (110). The associated absorption coefficients measured on the films were found to be greater than 10 sup 5 cm sup -1, with indication of higher photon energy leading to the formation of SnS sub 2 compound

Effects of annealing on evaporated SnS thin films

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