Collecting verbal autopsies: improving and streamlining data collection processes using electronic tablets.

Science.gov (United States)

Flaxman, Abraham D; Stewart, Andrea; Joseph, Jonathan C; Alam, Nurul; Alam, Sayed Saidul; Chowdhury, Hafizur; Mooney, Meghan D; Rampatige, Rasika; Remolador, Hazel; Sanvictores, Diozele; Serina, Peter T; Streatfield, Peter Kim; Tallo, Veronica; Murray, Christopher J L; Hernandez, Bernardo; Lopez, Alan D; Riley, Ian Douglas

2018-02-01

There is increasing interest in using verbal autopsy to produce nationally representative population-level estimates of causes of death. However, the burden of processing a large quantity of surveys collected with paper and pencil has been a barrier to scaling up verbal autopsy surveillance. Direct electronic data capture has been used in other large-scale surveys and can be used in verbal autopsy as well, to reduce time and cost of going from collected data to actionable information. We collected verbal autopsy interviews using paper and pencil and using electronic tablets at two sites, and measured the cost and time required to process the surveys for analysis. From these cost and time data, we extrapolated costs associated with conducting large-scale surveillance with verbal autopsy. We found that the median time between data collection and data entry for surveys collected on paper and pencil was approximately 3 months. For surveys collected on electronic tablets, this was less than 2 days. For small-scale surveys, we found that the upfront costs of purchasing electronic tablets was the primary cost and resulted in a higher total cost. For large-scale surveys, the costs associated with data entry exceeded the cost of the tablets, so electronic data capture provides both a quicker and cheaper method of data collection. As countries increase verbal autopsy surveillance, it is important to consider the best way to design sustainable systems for data collection. Electronic data capture has the potential to greatly reduce the time and costs associated with data collection. For long-term, large-scale surveillance required by national vital statistical systems, electronic data capture reduces costs and allows data to be available sooner.

Electronic collective modes and instabilities on semiconductor surfaces. I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muramatsu, A.; Hanke, W.

1984-01-01

A Green's-function theory of electronic collective modes is presented which leads to a practical scheme for a microscopic determination of surface elementary excitations in conducting as well as nonconducting solids. Particular emphasis is placed on semiconductor surfaces where the jellium approximation is not valid, due to the importance of density fluctuations on a microscopic scale (reflected in the local-field effects). Starting from the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the two-particle Green's function of the surface system, an equation of motion for the electron-hole pair is obtained. Its solutions determine the energy spectra, lifetimes, and amplitudes of the surface elementary excitations, i.e., surface plasmons, excitons, polaritons, and magnons. Exchange and correlation effects are taken into account through the random-phase and time-dependent Hartree-Fock (screened electron-hole attraction) approximations. The formalism is applied to the study of electronic (charge- and spin-density) instabilities at covalent semiconductor surfaces. Quantitative calculations for an eight-layer Si(111) slab display an instability of the ideal paramagnetic surface with respect to spin-density waves with wavelength nearly corresponding to (2 x 1) and (7 x 7) superstructures

The electron-electron instability in a spherical plasma structure with an intermediate double layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lapuerta, V.; Ahedo, E.

2003-01-01

A linear dynamic model of a spherical plasma structure with an intermediate double layer is analyzed in the high-frequency range. The two ion populations tend to stay frozen in their stationary response and this prevents the displacement of the double layer. Different electron modes dominate the plasma dynamics in each quasineutral region. The electrostatic potential and the electron current are the magnitudes most perturbed. The structure develops a reactive electron-electron instability, which is made up of a countable family of eigenmodes. Space-charge effects must be included in the quasineutral regions to determine the eigenmode carrying the maximum growth rate. Except for very small Debye lengths, the fundamental eigenmode governs the instability. The growth rate for the higher harmonics approaches that of an infinite plasma. The instability modes develop mainly on the plasma at the high-potential side of the double layer. The influence of the parameters defining the stationary solution on the instability growth rate is investigated, and the parametric regions of stability are found. The comparison with a couple of experiments on plasma contactors is satisfactory

Electron and Hole Transport Layers: Their Use in Inverted Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandro Lattante

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells (BHJ PSCs are very promising organic-based devices for low-cost solar energy conversion, compatible with roll-to-roll or general printing methods for mass production. Nevertheless, to date, many issues should still be addressed, one of these being the poor stability in ambient conditions. One elegant way to overcome such an issue is the so-called “inverted” BHJ PSC, a device geometry in which the charge collection is reverted in comparison with the standard geometry device, i.e., the electrons are collected by the bottom electrode and the holes by the top electrode (in contact with air. This reverted geometry allows one to use a high work function top metal electrode, like silver or gold (thus avoiding its fast oxidation and degradation, and eliminates the need of a polymeric hole transport layer, typically of an acidic nature, on top of the transparent metal oxide bottom electrode. Moreover, this geometry is fully compatible with standard roll-to-roll manufacturing in air and is less demanding for a good post-production encapsulation process. To date, the external power conversion efficiencies of the inverted devices are generally comparable to their standard analogues, once both the electron transport layer and the hole transport layer are fully optimized for the particular device. Here, the most recent results on this particular optimization process will be reviewed, and a general outlook regarding the inverted BHJ PSC will be depicted.

Role of electron-electron scattering on spin transport in single layer graphene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahniman Ghosh

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In this work, the effect of electron-electron scattering on spin transport in single layer graphene is studied using semi-classical Monte Carlo simulation. The D’yakonov-P’erel mechanism is considered for spin relaxation. It is found that electron-electron scattering causes spin relaxation length to decrease by 35% at 300 K. The reason for this decrease in spin relaxation length is that the ensemble spin is modified upon an e-e collision and also e-e scattering rate is greater than phonon scattering rate at room temperature, which causes change in spin relaxation profile due to electron-electron scattering.

Equilibrium and stability properties of relativistic electron rings and E-layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uhm, H.

1976-01-01

Equilibrium and stability properties of magnetically confined partially-neutralized thin electron ring and E-layer are investigated using the Vlasov-Maxwell equations. The analysis is carried out within the context of the assumption that the minor dimensions (a,b) of the system are much less than the collisionless skin depth (c/antiω/sub p/). The equilibrium configuration of the E-layer is assumed to be an infinitely long, azimuthally symmetric hollow electron beam which is aligned parallel to a uniform axial magnetic field. On the other hand, the electron ring is located at the midplane of an externally imposed mirror field which acts to confine the ring both axially and radially. The equilibrium properties of the E-layer and electron ring are obtained self-consistently for several choices of equilibrium electron distribution function. The negative-mass instability analysis is carried out for the relativistic E-layer equilibrium in which all of the electrons have the same transverse energy and a spread in canonical angular momentum, assuming a fixed ion background. The ion resonance instability properties are investigated for a relativistic nonneutral E-layer aligned parallel to a uniform magnetic field and located between two ground coaxial cylindrical conductors. The stability properties of a nonrelativistic electron ring is investigated within the framework of the linearized Vlasov-Poisson equations. The dispersion relation is obtained for the self-consistent electron distribution function in which all electrons have the same value of energy an the same value of canonical angular momentum. The positive ions in the electron ring are assumed to form an immobile partially neutralizing background. The stability criteria as well as the instability growth rates are derived and discussed including the effect of geometrical configuration of the system. Equilibrium space-charge effects play a significant role in stability behavior

Investigation of electronic quality of electrodeposited cadmium sulphide layers from thiourea precursor for use in large area electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ojo, A.A., E-mail: chartell2006@yahoo.com; Dharmadasa, I.M.

2016-09-01

CdS layers used in thin film solar cells and other electronic devices are usually grown by wet chemical methods using CdCl{sub 2} as the Cadmium source and either Na{sub 2}S{sub 2}O{sub 3}, NH{sub 4}S{sub 2}O{sub 3} or NH{sub 2}CSNH{sub 2} as Sulphur sources. Obviously, one of the sulphur precursors should produce more suitable CdS layers required to give the highest performing devices. This can only be achieved by comprehensive experimental work on growth and characterisation of CdS layers from the above mentioned sulphur sources. This paper presents the results observed on CdS layers grown by electrodepositing using two electrode configuration and thiourea as the sulphur precursor. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, optical absorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell methods have been used to characterise the material properties. In order to test and study the electronic device quality of the layers, ohmic and rectifying contacts were fabricated on the electroplated layers. Schottky barriers, formed on the layers were also compared with previously reported work on Chemical Bath Deposited CBD-CdS layers and bulk single crystals of CdS. Comparatively, Schottky diodes fabricated on electroplated CdS layers using two-electrode system and thiourea precursor exhibit excellent electronic properties suitable for electronic devices such as thin film solar panels and large area display devices. - Highlights: • Precipitate-free electrodeposition of CdS is achievable using Thiourea precursor. • Electrodeposition of CdS using 2-electrode configuration. • The electrodeposited CdS shows excellent electronic properties. • Exploration of the effect of heat treatment temperature and heat treatment duration.

Cyclotron resonance study of the two-dimensional electron layers and double layers in tilted magnetic fields

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Goncharuk, Natalya; Smrčka, Ludvík; Kučera, Jan

2004-01-01

Roč. 22, - (2004), s. 590-593 ISSN 1386-9477. [International Conference on Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Systems /15./. Nara, 14.07.2003-18.07.2003] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA202/01/0754 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1010914 Keywords : single layer * double layer * two-dimensional electron system * cyclotron resonance Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.898, year: 2004

Wearable electronics formed on intermediate layer on textiles

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2017-07-27

One manner of producing more desirable clothing with electronic capabilities is to manufacture electronics, such as the charging wires or devices themselves, directly onto the textile materials. Textile materials generally do not support the manufacturing of electronic devices, in part because the surface of the textile is too rough for electronic devices or the processes used to manufacturing electronic devices. An intermediate layer (204) may be placed on the textile material (202) to reduce the roughness of the surface of the textile material and provide other beneficial characteristics for the placement of electronic devices (206) directly on the textile material.

Optoelectronic devices, low temperature preparation methods, and improved electron transport layers

KAUST Repository

Eita, Mohamed S.; El, Labban Abdulrahman; Usman, Anwar; Beaujuge, Pierre; Mohammed, Omar F.

2016-01-01

An optoelectronic device such as a photovoltaic device which has at least one layer, such as an electron transport layer, which comprises a plurality of alternating, oppositely charged layers including metal oxide layers. The metal oxide can be zinc

Layered Black Phosphorus: Strongly Anisotropic Magnetic, Electronic, and Electron-Transfer Properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Sofer, Zdeněk; Sedmidubský, David; Huber, Štěpán; Luxa, Jan; Bouša, Daniel; Boothroyd, Chris; Pumera, Martin

2016-03-01

Layered elemental materials, such as black phosphorus, exhibit unique properties originating from their highly anisotropic layered structure. The results presented herein demonstrate an anomalous anisotropy for the electrical, magnetic, and electrochemical properties of black phosphorus. It is shown that heterogeneous electron transfer from black phosphorus to outer- and inner-sphere molecular probes is highly anisotropic. The electron-transfer rates differ at the basal and edge planes. These unusual properties were interpreted by means of calculations, manifesting the metallic character of the edge planes as compared to the semiconducting properties of the basal plane. This indicates that black phosphorus belongs to a group of materials known as topological insulators. Consequently, these effects render the magnetic properties highly anisotropic, as both diamagnetic and paramagnetic behavior can be observed depending on the orientation in the magnetic field. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Electron beam deposition system causing little damage to organic layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamada, Minoru [Research Center for Solar Energy Chemistry, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531 (Japan); Business Incubation Department, Hitachi Zosen Corporation, 2-11 Funamachi 2-Chome, Taisho-ku, Osaka 551-0022 (Japan); Matsumura, Michio, E-mail: matsu@chem.es.osaka-u.ac.jp [Research Center for Solar Energy Chemistry, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531 (Japan); Maeda, Yasuhiro [Business Incubation Department, Hitachi Zosen Corporation, 2-11 Funamachi 2-Chome, Taisho-ku, Osaka 551-0022 (Japan)

2011-07-29

Conditions for deposition of an aluminum (Al) layer on an organic light-emitting layer with an electron beam (EB) deposition system were optimized with respect to deposition rate and damage to organic layers. The damage to the organic layers was found to be mostly caused by X-rays emitted from a target bombarded with accelerated electrons. In order to decrease the X-ray intensity while maintaining a high deposition rate, we used an EB source which emits high-density EB at low acceleration voltage. In addition, we inserted a heat reflector and a sintered-carbon liner between the Al target and copper crucible to improve heat insulation. As a result, the voltage needed for the deposition of Al electrodes at a rate of about 8 nm/s was lowered from normal voltages of 2.0 kV or higher to as low as 1.5 kV. To reduce the number of electrons hitting the substrate, we set pole pieces near the target and an electron trap in the chamber. The devices on which Al electrodes were deposited with the EB system showed almost the same properties as those of devices on which the Al electrodes were deposited by a resistive-heating method.

Electronic structure and superconductivity of multi-layered organic charge transfer salts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeschke, Harald O.; Altmeyer, Michaela; Guterding, Daniel; Valenti, Roser [Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt (Germany)

2015-07-01

We examine the electronic properties of polymorphs of (BEDT-TTF){sub 2}Ag(CF{sub 3}){sub 4}(TCE) (1,1,2-trichloroethane) within density functional theory (DFT). While a phase with low superconducting transition temperature T{sub c}=2.6 K exhibits a κ packing motif, two high T{sub c} phases are layered structures consisting of α{sup '} and κ packed layers. We determine the electronic structures and discuss the influence of the insulating α{sup '} layer on the conducting κ layer. In the κ-α{sub 1}{sup '} dual-layered compound, we find that the stripes of high and low charge in the α{sup '} layer correspond to a stripe pattern of hopping parameters in the κ layer. Based on the different underlying Hamiltonians, we study the superconducting properties and try to explain the differences in T{sub c}.

Enhanced Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Nanostructure Graphene Electron Transfer Layer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chih-Hung Hsu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The utilization of nanostructure graphene thin films as electron transfer layer in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs was demonstrated. The effect of a nanostructure graphene thin film in DSSC structure was examined. The nanostructure graphene thin films provides a great electron transfer channel for the photogenerated electrons from TiO2 to indium tin oxide (ITO glass. Obvious improvements in short-circuit current density of the DSSCs were observed by using the graphene electron transport layer modified photoelectrode. The graphene electron transport layer reduces effectively the back reaction in the interface between the ITO transparent conductive film and the electrolyte in the DSSC.

Vertical electron transport in van der Waals heterostructures with graphene layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryzhii, V.; Otsuji, T.; Ryzhii, M.; Aleshkin, V. Ya.; Dubinov, A. A.; Mitin, V.; Shur, M. S.

2015-01-01

We propose and analyze an analytical model for the self-consistent description of the vertical electron transport in van der Waals graphene-layer (GL) heterostructures with the GLs separated by the barriers layers. The top and bottom GLs serve as the structure emitter and collector. The vertical electron transport in such structures is associated with the propagation of the electrons thermionically emitted from GLs above the inter-GL barriers. The model under consideration describes the processes of the electron thermionic emission from and the electron capture to GLs. It accounts for the nonuniformity of the self-consistent electric field governed by the Poisson equation which accounts for the variation of the electron population in GLs. The model takes also under consideration the cooling of electrons in the emitter layer due to the Peltier effect. We find the spatial distributions of the electric field and potential with the high-electric-field domain near the emitter GL in the GL heterostructures with different numbers of GLs. Using the obtained spatial distributions of the electric field, we calculate the current-voltage characteristics. We demonstrate that the Peltier cooling of the two-dimensional electron gas in the emitter GL can strongly affect the current-voltage characteristics resulting in their saturation. The obtained results can be important for the optimization of the hot-electron bolometric terahertz detectors and different devices based on GL heterostructures

Single-layer MoS2 electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lembke, Dominik; Bertolazzi, Simone; Kis, Andras

2015-01-20

CONSPECTUS: Atomic crystals of two-dimensional materials consisting of single sheets extracted from layered materials are gaining increasing attention. The most well-known material from this group is graphene, a single layer of graphite that can be extracted from the bulk material or grown on a suitable substrate. Its discovery has given rise to intense research effort culminating in the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov. Graphene however represents only the proverbial tip of the iceberg, and increasing attention of researchers is now turning towards the veritable zoo of so-called "other 2D materials". They have properties complementary to graphene, which in its pristine form lacks a bandgap: MoS2, for example, is a semiconductor, while NbSe2 is a superconductor. They could hold the key to important practical applications and new scientific discoveries in the two-dimensional limit. This family of materials has been studied since the 1960s, but most of the research focused on their tribological applications: MoS2 is best known today as a high-performance dry lubricant for ultrahigh-vacuum applications and in car engines. The realization that single layers of MoS2 and related materials could also be used in functional electronic devices where they could offer advantages compared with silicon or graphene created a renewed interest in these materials. MoS2 is currently gaining the most attention because the material is easily available in the form of a mineral, molybdenite, but other 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors are expected to have qualitatively similar properties. In this Account, we describe recent progress in the area of single-layer MoS2-based devices for electronic circuits. We will start with MoS2 transistors, which showed for the first time that devices based on MoS2 and related TMDs could have electrical properties on the same level as other, more established semiconducting materials. This

Energy and angular distribution of electrons after transmission of thick layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kreyling, H.

1975-01-01

In this work, the behaviour of electrons going through material-layers is studied. For a layer-thickness where the theories of multiple-scattering are no longer valid, a Monte-Carlo-method is presented for the calculation of energy distributions as a function of scattering-angle. Plastic-scintillator-material (NE 102 A produced by Nuclear Enterprises Ltd.) was bombarded by electrons with energies between 0.5 and 2.0 MeV and the energy-distributions of the electrons, scatterd in the layer, were measured as a function of the scattering-angle. With the aid of the Monte-Carlo-method developed in this paper, energy distributions were calculated as a function of scattering-angle for the two absorber materials aluminium (single-element material) and NE 102 A (chemical compound of C, N, H, O). (orig./WL) [de

New real space correlated-basis-functions approach for the electron correlations of the semiconductor inversion layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng Weiguo; Wang Hongwei; Wu Xiang

1989-12-01

Based on the real space Correlated-Basis-Functions theory and the collective oscillation behaviour of the electron gas with effective Coulomb interaction, the many body wave function is obtained for the quasi-two-dimensional electron system in the semiconductor inversion layer. The pair-correlation function and the correlation energy of the system have been calculated by the integro-differential method in this paper. The comparison with the other previous theoretical results is also made. The new theoretical approach and its numerical results show that the pair-correlation functions are definitely positive and satisfy the normalization condition. (author). 10 refs, 2 figs

Technology scan for electronic toll collection.

Science.gov (United States)

2008-06-01

The purpose of this project was to identify and assess available technologies and methodologies for electronic toll collection (ETC) and to develop recommendations for the best way(s) to implement toll collection in the Louisville metropolitan area. ...

Low Energy Scanned Electron-Beam Dose Distribution in Thin Layers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McLaughlin, W. L.; Hjortenberg, P. E.; Pedersen, Walther Batsberg

1975-01-01

Thin radiochromic dye film dosimeters, calibrated by means of calorimetry, make possible the determination of absorbed-dose distributions due to low-energy scanned electron beam penetrations in moderately thin coatings and laminar media. For electrons of a few hundred keV, calibrated dosimeters...... of about 30–60 μm thickness may be used in stacks or interleaved between layers of materials of interest and supply a sufficient number of experimental data points throughout the depth of penetration of electrons to provide a depth-dose curve. Depth doses may be resolved in various polymer layers...... on different backings (wood, aluminum, and iron) for scanned electron beams (Emax = 400 keV) having a broad energy spectrum and diffuse incidence, such as those used in radiation curing of coatings, textiles, plastics, etc. Theoretical calculations of such distributions of energy depositions are relatively...

23 CFR 950.5 - Requirement to use electronic toll collection technology.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... shall use an electronic toll collection system as the method for collecting tolls from vehicle operators... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Requirement to use electronic toll collection technology... TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS ELECTRONIC TOLL COLLECTION § 950.5 Requirement to use electronic toll collection...

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes/diamond double-layered structure for improved field electron emission stability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, L., E-mail: qiaoqin.yang@mail.usask.ca; Yang, Q.; Zhang, C.; Li, Y.S.

2013-12-31

A double-layered nanostructure consisting of a layer of vertically aligned Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) and a layer of diamond beneath has been synthesized on silicon substrate by Hot Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition. The synthesis was achieved by first depositing a layer of diamond on silicon and then depositing a top layer of vertically aligned CNTs by applying a negative bias on the substrate holder. The growth of CNTs was catalyzed by a thin layer of spin-coated iron nitride. The surface morphology and structure of the CNTs/diamond double-layered structure were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope, Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrum, and Raman Spectroscopy. Their field electron emission (FEE) properties were measured by KEITHLEY 237 high voltage measurement unit, showing much higher FEE current stability than single layered CNTs. - Highlights: • A new double-layered nanostructure consisting of a layer of vertically aligned CNTs and a layer of diamond beneath has been synthesized by hot filament chemical vapor deposition. • This double-layered structure exhibits superior field electron emission stability. • The improvement of emission stability is due to the combination of the unique properties of diamond and CNTs.

A solution-processed binary cathode interfacial layer facilitates electron extraction for inverted polymer solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xinyuan; Li, Zhiqi; Liu, Chunyu; Guo, Jiaxin; Shen, Liang; Guo, Wenbin

2018-03-15

The charge transfer and separation are significantly affected by the electron properties of the interface between the electron-donor layer and the carrier-transporting layer in polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this study, we investigate the electron extraction mechanism of PSCs with a low temperature solution-processed ZnO/PEI as electron transport layer. The incorporation of PEI layer can decrease the work function of ZnO and reduce interfacial barrier, which facilitates electron extraction and suppresses bimolecular recombination, leading to a significant performance enhancement. Furthermore, PEI layer can induce phase separation and passivite inorganic surface trap states as well as shift the interfacial energy offset between metal oxide and organic materials. This work offers a simple and effective way to improve the charge transporting property of organic photovoltaic devices. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inter-layer Cooper pairing of two-dimensional electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inoue, Masahiro; Takemori, Tadashi; Yoshizaki, Ryozo; Sakudo, Tunetaro; Ohtaka, Kazuo

1987-01-01

The authors point out the possibility that the high transition temperatures of the recently discovered oxide superconductors are dominantly caused by the inter-layer Cooper pairing of two-dimensional electrons that are coupled through the exchange of three-dimensional phonons. (author)

Particle dynamics and current-free double layers in an expanding, collisionless, two-electron-population plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hairapetian, G.; Stenzel, R.L.

1991-01-01

The expansion of a two-electron-population, collisionless plasma into vacuum is investigated experimentally. Detailed in situ measurements of plasma density, plasma potential, electric field, and particle distribution functions are performed. At the source, the electron population consists of a high-density, cold (kT e congruent 4 eV) Maxwellian, and a sparse, energetic ( (1)/(2) mv 2 e congruent 80 eV) tail. During the expansion of plasma, space-charge effects self-consistently produce an ambipolar electric field whose amplitude is controlled by the energy of tail electrons. The ambipolar electric field accelerates a small number (∼1%) of ions to streaming energies which exceed and scale linearly with the energy of tail electrons. As the expansion proceeds, the energetic tail electrons electrostatically trap the colder Maxwellian electrons and prevent them from reaching the expansion front. A potential double layer develops at the position of the cold electron front. Upstream of the double layer both electron populations exist; but downstream, only the tail electrons do. Hence, the expansion front is dominated by retarded tail electrons. Initially, the double layer propagates away from the source with a speed approximately equal to the ion sound speed in the cold electron population. The propagation speed is independent of the tail electron energy. At later times, the propagating double layer slows down and eventually stagnates. The final position and amplitude of the double layer are controlled by the relative densities of the two electron populations in the source. The steady-state double layer persists till the end of the discharge (Δt congruent 1 msec), much longer than the ion transit time through the device (t congruent 150 μsec)

A layer-by-layer ZnO nanoparticle-PbS quantum dot self-assembly platform for ultrafast interfacial electron injection

KAUST Repository

Eita, Mohamed Samir

2014-08-28

Absorbent layers of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are now used as material platforms for low-cost, high-performance solar cells. The semiconductor metal oxide nanoparticles as an acceptor layer have become an integral part of the next generation solar cell. To achieve sufficient electron transfer and subsequently high conversion efficiency in these solar cells, however, energy-level alignment and interfacial contact between the donor and the acceptor units are needed. Here, the layer-by-layer (LbL) technique is used to assemble ZnO nanoparticles (NPs), providing adequate PbS QD uptake to achieve greater interfacial contact compared with traditional sputtering methods. Electron injection at the PbS QD and ZnO NP interface is investigated using broadband transient absorption spectroscopy with 120 femtosecond temporal resolution. The results indicate that electron injection from photoexcited PbS QDs to ZnO NPs occurs on a time scale of a few hundred femtoseconds. This observation is supported by the interfacial electronic-energy alignment between the donor and acceptor moieties. Finally, due to the combination of large interfacial contact and ultrafast electron injection, this proposed platform of assembled thin films holds promise for a variety of solar cell architectures and other settings that principally rely on interfacial contact, such as photocatalysis. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Electronic self-organization in layered transition metal dichalcogenides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ritschel, Tobias

2015-10-30

The interplay between different self-organized electronically ordered states and their relation to unconventional electronic properties like superconductivity constitutes one of the most exciting challenges of modern condensed matter physics. In the present thesis this issue is thoroughly investigated for the prototypical layered material 1T-TaS{sub 2} both experimentally and theoretically. At first the static charge density wave order in 1T-TaS{sub 2} is investigated as a function of pressure and temperature by means of X-ray diffraction. These data indeed reveal that the superconductivity in this material coexists with an inhomogeneous charge density wave on a macroscopic scale in real space. This result is fundamentally different from a previously proposed separation of superconducting and insulating regions in real space. Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction data uncover the important role of interlayer correlations in 1T-TaS{sub 2}. Based on the detailed insights into the charge density wave structure obtained by the X-ray diffraction experiments, density functional theory models are deduced in order to describe the electronic structure of 1T-TaS{sub 2} in the second part of this thesis. As opposed to most previous studies, these calculations take the three-dimensional character of the charge density wave into account. Indeed the electronic structure calculations uncover complex orbital textures, which are interwoven with the charge density wave order and cause dramatic differences in the electronic structure depending on the alignment of the orbitals between neighboring layers. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that these orbital-mediated effects provide a route to drive semiconductor-to-metal transitions with technologically pertinent gaps and on ultrafast timescales. These results are particularly relevant for the ongoing development of novel, miniaturized and ultrafast devices based on layered transition metal dichalcogenides. The discovery of orbital textures

Electronic structure, transport, and collective effects in molecular layered systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Torsten Hahn

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The great potential of organic heterostructures for organic device applications is exemplified by the targeted engineering of the electronic properties of phthalocyanine-based systems. The transport properties of two different phthalocyanine systems, a pure copper phthalocyanine (CoPc and a flourinated copper phthalocyanine–manganese phthalocyanine (F16CoPc/MnPc heterostructure, are investigated by means of density functional theory (DFT and the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF approach. Furthermore, a master-equation-based approach is used to include electronic correlations beyond the mean-field-type approximation of DFT. We describe the essential theoretical tools to obtain the parameters needed for the master equation from DFT results. Finally, an interacting molecular monolayer is considered within a master-equation approach.

The inversion layer of electric fields and electron phase-space-hole structure during two-dimensional collisionless magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Lijen; Lefebvre, Bertrand; Torbert, Roy B.; Daughton, William S.

2011-01-01

Based on two-dimensional fully kinetic simulations that resolve the electron diffusion layer in undriven collisionless magnetic reconnection with zero guide field, this paper reports the existence and evolution of an inversion layer of bipolar electric fields, its corresponding phase-space structure (an electron-hole layer), and the implication to collisionless dissipation. The inversion electric field layer is embedded in the layer of bipolar Hall electric field and extends throughout the entire length of the electron diffusion layer. The electron phase-space hole structure spontaneously arises during the explosive growth phase when there exist significant inflows into the reconnection layer, and electrons perform meandering orbits across the layer while being cyclotron-turned toward the outflow directions. The cyclotron turning of meandering electrons by the magnetic field normal to the reconnection layer is shown to be a primary factor limiting the current density in the region where the reconnection electric field is balanced by the gradient (along the current sheet normal) of the off-diagonal electron pressure-tensor.

Counting graphene layers with very slow electrons

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Frank, Luděk; Mikmeková, Eliška; Müllerová, Ilona; Lejeune, M.

2015-01-01

Roč. 106, 09 JAN (2015), 013117:1-5 ISSN 0003-6951 R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) TE01020118; GA MŠk(CZ) LO1212 Institutional support: RVO:68081731 Keywords : graphene * ultralow energy STEM * counting graphene layers * clean ing of graphene * 2D crystals Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering Impact factor: 3.142, year: 2015

Dimensional crossover of electron weak localization in ZnO/TiO{sub x} stacked layers grown by atomic layer deposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saha, D., E-mail: sahaphys@gmail.com, E-mail: pmisra@rrcat.gov.in; Misra, P., E-mail: sahaphys@gmail.com, E-mail: pmisra@rrcat.gov.in; Joshi, M. P.; Kukreja, L. M. [Laser Materials Processing Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013 (India); Bhartiya, S. [Laser Materials Development & Devices Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013 (India); Gupta, M. [UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Indore 452 017 (India)

2016-01-25

We report on the dimensional crossover of electron weak localization in ZnO/TiO{sub x} stacked layers having well-defined and spatially-localized Ti dopant profiles along film thickness. These films were grown by in situ incorporation of sub-monolayer TiO{sub x} on the growing ZnO film surface and subsequent overgrowth of thin conducting ZnO spacer layer using atomic layer deposition. Film thickness was varied in the range of ∼6–65 nm by vertically stacking different numbers (n = 1–7) of ZnO/TiO{sub x} layers of nearly identical dopant-profiles. The evolution of zero-field sheet resistance (R{sub ◻}) versus temperature with decreasing film thickness showed a metal to insulator transition. On the metallic side of the metal-insulator transition, R{sub ◻}(T) and magnetoresistance data were found to be well corroborated with the theoretical framework of electron weak localization in the diffusive transport regime. The temperature dependence of both R{sub ◻} and inelastic scattering length provided strong evidence for a smooth crossover from 2D to 3D weak localization behaviour. Results of this study provide deeper insight into the electron transport in low-dimensional n-type ZnO/TiO{sub x} stacked layers which have potential applications in the field of transparent oxide electronics.

Optoelectronic devices, low temperature preparation methods, and improved electron transport layers

KAUST Repository

Eita, Mohamed S.

2016-08-04

An optoelectronic device such as a photovoltaic device which has at least one layer, such as an electron transport layer, which comprises a plurality of alternating, oppositely charged layers including metal oxide layers. The metal oxide can be zinc oxide. The plurality of layers can be prepared by layer-by-layer processing in which alternating layers are built up step-by-step due to electrostatic attraction. The efficiency of the device can be increased by this processing method compared to a comparable method like sputtering. The number of layers can be controlled to improve device efficiency. Aqueous solutions can be used which is environmentally friendly. Annealing can be avoided. A quantum dot layer can be used next to the metal oxide layer to form a quantum dot heterojunction solar device.

Layer-dependent electronic properties of phosphorene-like materials and phosphorene-based van der Waals heterostructures.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Y C; Chen, X; Wang, C; Peng, L; Qian, Q; Wang, S F

2017-06-29

Black phosphorus is a layered semiconducting allotrope of phosphorus with high carrier mobility. Its monolayer form, phosphorene, is an extremely fashionable two-dimensional material which has promising potential in transistors, optoelectronics and electronics. However, phosphorene-like analogues, especially phosphorene-based heterostructures and their layer-controlled electronic properties, are rarely systematically investigated. In this paper, the layer-dependent structural and electronic properties of phosphorene-like materials, i.e., mono- and few-layer MXs (M = Sn, Ge; X = S, Se), are first studied via first-principles calculations, and then the band edge position of these MXs as well as mono- and few-layer phosphorene are aligned. It is revealed that van der Waals heterostructures with a Moiré superstructure formed by mutual coupling among MXs and among MXs and few-layer phosphorene are able to show type-I or type-II characteristics and a I-II or II-I transition can be induced by adjusting the number of layers. Our work is expected to yield a new family of phosphorene-based semiconductor heterostructures with tunable electronic properties through altering the number of layers of the composite.

Interlayer electron-hole pair multiplication by hot carriers in atomic layer semiconductor heterostructures

Science.gov (United States)

Barati, Fatemeh; Grossnickle, Max; Su, Shanshan; Lake, Roger; Aji, Vivek; Gabor, Nathaniel

Two-dimensional heterostructures composed of atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides provide the opportunity to design novel devices for the study of electron-hole pair multiplication. We report on highly efficient multiplication of interlayer electron-hole pairs at the interface of a tungsten diselenide / molybdenum diselenide heterostructure. Electronic transport measurements of the interlayer current-voltage characteristics indicate that layer-indirect electron-hole pairs are generated by hot electron impact excitation. Our findings, which demonstrate an efficient energy relaxation pathway that competes with electron thermalization losses, make 2D semiconductor heterostructures viable for a new class of hot-carrier energy harvesting devices that exploit layer-indirect electron-hole excitations. SHINES, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Atomic layer deposition in nanostructured photovoltaics: tuning optical, electronic and surface properties

Science.gov (United States)

Palmstrom, Axel F.; Santra, Pralay K.; Bent, Stacey F.

2015-07-01

Nanostructured materials offer key advantages for third-generation photovoltaics, such as the ability to achieve high optical absorption together with enhanced charge carrier collection using low cost components. However, the extensive interfacial areas in nanostructured photovoltaic devices can cause high recombination rates and a high density of surface electronic states. In this feature article, we provide a brief review of some nanostructured photovoltaic technologies including dye-sensitized, quantum dot sensitized and colloidal quantum dot solar cells. We then introduce the technique of atomic layer deposition (ALD), which is a vapor phase deposition method using a sequence of self-limiting surface reaction steps to grow thin, uniform and conformal films. We discuss how ALD has established itself as a promising tool for addressing different aspects of nanostructured photovoltaics. Examples include the use of ALD to synthesize absorber materials for both quantum dot and plasmonic solar cells, to grow barrier layers for dye and quantum dot sensitized solar cells, and to infiltrate coatings into colloidal quantum dot solar cell to improve charge carrier mobilities as well as stability. We also provide an example of monolayer surface modification in which adsorbed ligand molecules on quantum dots are used to tune the band structure of colloidal quantum dot solar cells for improved charge collection. Finally, we comment on the present challenges and future outlook of the use of ALD for nanostructured photovoltaics.

Electronic THz-spectrometer for plasmonic enhanced deep subwavelength layer detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berrier, A.; Schaafsma, M.C.; Gómez Rivas, J.; Schäfer-Eberwein, H.; Haring Bolivar, P.; Tripodi, L.; Matters-Kammerer, M.K.

2015-01-01

We demonstrate the operation of a miniaturized all-electronic CMOS based THz spectrometer with performances comparable to that of a THz-TDS spectrometer in the frequency range 20 to 220 GHz. The use of this all-electronic THz spectrometer for detection of a thin TiO2 layer and a B. subtilis bacteria

Reciprocal carrier collection in organic photovoltaics

KAUST Repository

Renshaw, C. Kyle

2011-07-18

Buffer layers between the acceptor and cathode can perform several functions in organic photovoltaic devices, such as providing exciton blocking, protection of active layers against damage from cathode deposition, and optical spacing to maximize the electric field in the active device region. Here, we study electron collection by replacing the common buffer layer, bathocuproine, with a series of six, substituted tris(β-diketonato)Ru(III) analogues in the structure: indium-tin-oxide/copper phthalocyanine/C60/buffer/Ag. These buffer layers enable collection of photogenerated electrons by transporting holes from the cathode to the C60/buffer interface, followed by recombination with photogenerated electrons in the acceptor. We use a model for free-polaron and polaron-pair dynamics to describe device operation and the observed inflection in the current-voltage characteristics. The device characteristics are understood in terms of hole transfer from the highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels of several Ru-complexes to the acceptor. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Reciprocal carrier collection in organic photovoltaics

KAUST Repository

Renshaw, C. Kyle; Schlenker, Cody W.; Thompson, Mark E.; Forrest, Stephen R.

2011-01-01

Buffer layers between the acceptor and cathode can perform several functions in organic photovoltaic devices, such as providing exciton blocking, protection of active layers against damage from cathode deposition, and optical spacing to maximize the electric field in the active device region. Here, we study electron collection by replacing the common buffer layer, bathocuproine, with a series of six, substituted tris(β-diketonato)Ru(III) analogues in the structure: indium-tin-oxide/copper phthalocyanine/C60/buffer/Ag. These buffer layers enable collection of photogenerated electrons by transporting holes from the cathode to the C60/buffer interface, followed by recombination with photogenerated electrons in the acceptor. We use a model for free-polaron and polaron-pair dynamics to describe device operation and the observed inflection in the current-voltage characteristics. The device characteristics are understood in terms of hole transfer from the highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels of several Ru-complexes to the acceptor. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Ion-acoustic double-layers in a magnetized plasma with nonthermal electrons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rios, L. A. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas and Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Sistemas Complexos, Rua Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Galvão, R. M. O. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas and Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Sistemas Complexos, Rua Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-900 São Paulo (Brazil)

2013-11-15

In the present work we investigate the existence of obliquely propagating ion-acoustic double layers in magnetized two-electron plasmas. The fluid model is used to describe the ion dynamics, and the hot electron population is modeled via a κ distribution function, which has been proved to be appropriate for modeling non-Maxwellian plasmas. A quasineutral condition is assumed to investigate these nonlinear structures, which leads to the formation of double-layers propagating with slow ion-acoustic velocity. The problem is investigated numerically, and the influence of parameters such as nonthermality is discussed.

High Efficiency Inverted Organic Solar Cells with a Neutral Fulleropyrrolidine Electron Collecting Interlayer

KAUST Repository

Xu, Weidong

2016-05-20

A novel fulleropyrrolidine derivative, named as FPNOH, was designed, synthesized and utilized as an efficient electron-collecting (EC) layer for inverted organic solar cells (i-OSCs). The grafted diethanolamino-polar moieties can not only trigger its function as an EC interlayer, but also induce orthogonal solubility that guarantees subsequent multi-layer processing without interfacial mixing. A higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) value of 8.34% was achieved for i-OSC devices with ITO/FPNOH EC electrode, compared to that of the sol-gel ZnO based reference devices with an optimized PCE value of 7.92%. High efficiency exceeding 7.7% was still achieved even for the devices with a relatively thick PFNOH film (16.9 nm). It is worthwhile to mention that this kind of material exhibits less thickness dependent performance, in contrast to widely utilized p-type conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) as well as the non-conjugated polyelectrolytes (NCPEs). Further investigation on illuminating intensity dependent parameters revealed the role of FPNOH in reducing interfacial traps-induced recombination at ITO/active layer interface.

High Efficiency Inverted Organic Solar Cells with a Neutral Fulleropyrrolidine Electron Collecting Interlayer

KAUST Repository

Xu, Weidong; Yan, Congfei; Kan, Zhipeng; Wang, Yang; Lai, Wen-Yong; Huang, Wei

2016-01-01

A novel fulleropyrrolidine derivative, named as FPNOH, was designed, synthesized and utilized as an efficient electron-collecting (EC) layer for inverted organic solar cells (i-OSCs). The grafted diethanolamino-polar moieties can not only trigger its function as an EC interlayer, but also induce orthogonal solubility that guarantees subsequent multi-layer processing without interfacial mixing. A higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) value of 8.34% was achieved for i-OSC devices with ITO/FPNOH EC electrode, compared to that of the sol-gel ZnO based reference devices with an optimized PCE value of 7.92%. High efficiency exceeding 7.7% was still achieved even for the devices with a relatively thick PFNOH film (16.9 nm). It is worthwhile to mention that this kind of material exhibits less thickness dependent performance, in contrast to widely utilized p-type conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) as well as the non-conjugated polyelectrolytes (NCPEs). Further investigation on illuminating intensity dependent parameters revealed the role of FPNOH in reducing interfacial traps-induced recombination at ITO/active layer interface.

Effects of buried high-Z layers on fast electron propagation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Xiaohu; Zhuo, Hongbin; Ma, Yanyun; Shao, Fuqiu; Xu, Han; Yin Yan; Borghesi, M.

2014-01-01

The transport through high density plasmas of relativistic electron beams generated by ultra-intense laser-plasma interaction has potential applications in laser-driven ion acceleration and in the fast igniter scheme for inertial confinement fusion. By extending a prior model [A.R. Bell, J.R. Davies, S.M. Guerin, Phys. Rev. E 58, 2471 (1998)], the magnetic field generated during the transport of a fast electron beam driven by an ultra-intense laser in a solid target is derived analytically and applied to estimate the effect of such field on fast electron propagation through a buried high-Z layer in a lower-Z target. It is found that the effect gets weaker with the increase of the depth of the buried layer, the divergence of the fast electrons, and the laser intensity, indicating that magnetic field effects on the fast electron divergence as measured from K a X-ray emission may need to be considered for moderate laser intensities. On the basis of the calculations, some considerations are made on how one can mitigate the effect of the magnetic field generated at the interface. (authors)

Growth of ZnO layers for transparent and flexible electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mofor, A.C.; Bakin, A.S.; Postels, B.; Suleiman, M.; Elshaer, A.; Waag, A.

2008-01-01

We have deposited and characterised ZnO on flexible and transparent plastic polymer. We employed a specially designed vapour phase growth system with elemental sources for zinc and oxygen and deposited thin ZnO films at temperatures below 400 deg. C. Basic photoluminescence characterisation confirms ZnO. Ohmic contacts were fabricated on these layers and the layers exhibit significantly high electron concentration with carrier mobility μ of up to 10.78 cm 2 V -1 s -1 . Furthermore, we show how these layers can be processed with conventional device processing techniques

Growth of ZnO layers for transparent and flexible electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mofor, A.C.; Bakin, A.S.; Postels, B.; Suleiman, M.; Elshaer, A.; Waag, A. [Institute of Semiconductor Technology, Technical University Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Str. 66, D-38106 Braunschweig (Germany)

2008-02-15

We have deposited and characterised ZnO on flexible and transparent plastic polymer. We employed a specially designed vapour phase growth system with elemental sources for zinc and oxygen and deposited thin ZnO films at temperatures below 400 deg. C. Basic photoluminescence characterisation confirms ZnO. Ohmic contacts were fabricated on these layers and the layers exhibit significantly high electron concentration with carrier mobility {mu} of up to 10.78 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1}. Furthermore, we show how these layers can be processed with conventional device processing techniques.

Proposed suitable electron reflector layer materials for thin-film CuIn1-xGaxSe2 solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Sharbati, Samaneh; Gharibshahian, Iman; Orouji, Ali A.

2018-01-01

This paper investigates the electrical properties of electron reflector layer to survey materials as an electron reflector (ER) for chalcopyrite CuInGaSe solar cells. The purpose is optimizing the conduction-band and valence-band offsets at ER layer/CIGS junction that can effectively reduce the electron recombination near the back contact. In this work, an initial device model based on an experimental solar cell is established, then the properties of a solar cell with electron reflector layer are physically analyzed. The electron reflector layer numerically applied to baseline model of thin-film CIGS cell fabricated by ZSW (efficiency = 20.3%). The improvement of efficiency is achievable by electron reflector layer materials with Eg > 1.3 eV and -0.3 AsS4 as well as CuIn1-xGaxSe (x > 0.5) are efficient electron reflector layer materials, so the potential improvement in efficiency obtained relative gain of 5%.

High-efficiency green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with double-emission layer and thick N-doped electron transport layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nobuki, Shunichiro, E-mail: shunichiro.nobuki.nb@hitachi.com [Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., 7-1-1 Omika-cho, Hitachi-city, Ibaraki 319-1292 (Japan); Wakana, Hironori; Ishihara, Shingo [Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., 7-1-1 Omika-cho, Hitachi-city, Ibaraki 319-1292 (Japan); Mikami, Akiyoshi [Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, 7-1 Ohgigaoka, Nonoichimachi, Ishikawa 921-8501 (Japan)

2014-03-03

We have developed green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with high external quantum efficiency of 59.7% and power efficiency of 243 lm/W at 2.73 V at 0.053 mA/cm{sup 2}. A double emission layer and a thick n-doped electron transport layer were adopted to improve the exciton recombination factor. A high refractive index hemispherical lens was attached to a high refractive index substrate for extracting light trapped inside the substrate and the multiple-layers of OLEDs to air. Additionally, we analyzed an energy loss mechanism to clarify room for the improvement of our OLEDs including the charge balance factor. - Highlights: • We developed high efficiency green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (OLED). • Our OLED had external quantum efficiency of 59.7% and power efficiency of 243 lm/W. • A double emission layer and thick n-doped electron transport layer were adopted. • High refractive index media (hemispherical lens and substrate) were also used. • We analyzed an energy loss mechanism to clarify the charge balance factor of our OLED.

Enhanced long-distance transport of periodic electron beams in an advanced double layer cone-channel target

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanling Ji

2018-02-01

Full Text Available An enhanced long-distance transport of periodic electron beams in an advanced double layer cone-channel target is investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The target consists of a cone attached to a double-layer hollow channel with a near-critical-density inner layer. The periodic electron beams are generated by the combination of ponderomotive force and longitudinal laser electric field. Then a stable electron propagation is achieved in the double-layer channel over a much longer distance without evident divergency, compared with a normal cone-channel target. Detailed simulations show that the much better long-distance collimation and guidance of energetic electrons is attributed to the much stronger electromagnetic fields at the inner wall surfaces. Furthermore, a continuous electron acceleration is obtained by the more intense laser electric fields and extended electron acceleration length in the channel. Our investigation shows that by employing this advanced target, both the forward-going electron energy flux in the channel and the energy coupling efficiency from laser to electrons are about threefold increased in comparison with the normal case.

Enhanced long-distance transport of periodic electron beams in an advanced double layer cone-channel target

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Yanling; Duan, Tao; Zhou, Weimin; Li, Boyuan; Wu, Fengjuan; Zhang, Zhimeng; Ye, Bin; Wang, Rong; Wu, Chunrong; Tang, Yongjian

2018-02-01

An enhanced long-distance transport of periodic electron beams in an advanced double layer cone-channel target is investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The target consists of a cone attached to a double-layer hollow channel with a near-critical-density inner layer. The periodic electron beams are generated by the combination of ponderomotive force and longitudinal laser electric field. Then a stable electron propagation is achieved in the double-layer channel over a much longer distance without evident divergency, compared with a normal cone-channel target. Detailed simulations show that the much better long-distance collimation and guidance of energetic electrons is attributed to the much stronger electromagnetic fields at the inner wall surfaces. Furthermore, a continuous electron acceleration is obtained by the more intense laser electric fields and extended electron acceleration length in the channel. Our investigation shows that by employing this advanced target, both the forward-going electron energy flux in the channel and the energy coupling efficiency from laser to electrons are about threefold increased in comparison with the normal case.

Electron Beam Mediated Simple Synthetic Route to Preparing Layered Zinc Hydroxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bae, Hyo Sun; Jung, Hyun

2012-01-01

We have developed a novel and eco-friendly synthetic route for the preparation of a two-dimensional layered zinc hydroxide with intercalated nitrate anions. The layered zinc hydroxide nitrate, called 'zinc basic salt', was, in general, successfully synthesized, using an electron beam irradiation technique. The 2-propanol solutions containing hydrated zinc nitrate were directly irradiated with an electron-beam at room temperature, under atmospheric conditions, without stabilizers or base molecules. Under electron beam irradiation, the reactive OH· radicals were generated by radiolysis of water molecules in precursor metal salts. After further radiolytic processes, the hydroxyl anions might be formed by the reaction of solvated electrons and the OH· radical. Finally, the Zn 5 (OH) 8 (NO 3 ) 2 ·2H 2 O was precipitated by the reaction of zinc cation and hydroxyl anions. Structure and morphology of obtained compounds were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The chemical components of the products were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and elemental analysis (EA). The thermal behavior of products was studied by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA)

ZnO nanostructures as electron extraction layers for hybrid perovskite thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolaidou, Katerina; Sarang, Som; Tung, Vincent; Lu, Jennifer; Ghosh, Sayantani

Optimum interaction between light harvesting media and electron transport layers is critical for the efficient operation of photovoltaic devices. In this work, ZnO layers of different morphologies are implemented as electron extraction and transport layers for hybrid perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 thin films. These include nanowires, nanoparticles, and single crystalline film. Charge transfer at the ZnO/perovskite interface is investigated and compared through ultra-fast characterization techniques, including temperature and power dependent spectroscopy, and time-resolved photoluminescence. The nanowires cause an enhancement in perovskite emission, which may be attributed to increased scattering and grain boundary formation. However, the ZnO layers with decreasing surface roughness exhibit better electron extraction, as inferred from photoluminescence quenching, reduction in the number of bound excitons, and reduced exciton lifetime in CH3NH3PbI3 samples. This systematic study is expected to provide an understanding of the fundamental processes occurring at the ZnO-CH3NH3PbI3 interface and ultimately, provide guidelines for the ideal configuration of ZnO-based hybrid Perovskite devices. This research was supported by National Aeronautics and Space administration (NASA) Grant No: NNX15AQ01A.

Characterization of Li-rich layered oxides by using transmission electron microscope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hu Zhao

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Lithium-rich layered oxides (LrLOs deliver extremely high specific capacities and are considered to be promising candidates for electric vehicle and smart grid applications. However, the application of LrLOs needs further understanding of the structural complexity and dynamic evolution of monoclinic and rhombohedral phases, in order to overcome the issues including voltage decay, poor rate capability, initial irreversible capacity loss and etc. The development of aberration correction for the transmission electron microscope and concurrent progress in electron spectroscopy, have fueled rapid progress in the understanding of the mechanism of such issues. New techniques based on the transmission electron microscope are first surveyed, and the applications of these techniques for the study of the structure, migration of transition metal, and the activation of oxygen of LrLOs are then explored in detail, with a particular focus on the mechanism of voltage decay. Keywords: Lithium-ion battery, Transmission electron microscope, Lithium-rich layered oxide, Cathode material

Thin-layer electrochemistry of ferrocenylbenzene derivatives: Intramolecular electronic communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Michael C.P.; Li Yunchao; Merbouh, Nabyl; Yu, Hua-Zhong

2008-01-01

Three arylferrocene derivatives, ferrocenylbenzene (MFcB), 1,3-diferrocenylbenzene (DFcB), and 1,3,5-triferrocenylbenzene (TFcB), were prepared and their redox properties systematically explored by thin-layer cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential-pulse voltammetry (DPV). In contrast to conventional CV measurements that produced only a single pair of redox waves for all three compounds, the thin-layer technique discriminated between the multistep electron-transfer processes of DFcB and TFcB. In particular, two and three pairs of symmetric peaks were observed, respectively, when CV curves were recorded at a graphite electrode coated with a DFcB-containing and a TFcB-containing thin film of nitrobenzene and immersed in aqueous sodium perchlorate solution. These results demonstrate that the ferrocenyl moieties attached to the meta-positions of a benzene ring communicate electronically with each other, as a result of their distinct face-to-face orientations

A Strategy to Enhance the Efficiency of Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells by Decreasing Electron Recombination with Polyoxometalate/TiO2 as the Electronic Interface Layer.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Li; Chen, Weilin; Li, Jianping; Wang, Jiabo; Wang, Enbo

2017-07-21

Electron recombination occurring at the TiO 2 /quantum dot sensitizer/electrolyte interface is the key reason for hindering further efficiency improvements to quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Polyoxometalate (POM) can act as an electron-transfer medium to decrease electron recombination in a photoelectric device owing to its excellent oxidation/reduction properties and thermostability. A POM/TiO 2 electronic interface layer prepared by a simple layer-by-layer self-assembly method was added between fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and mesoporous TiO 2 in the photoanode of QDSCs, and the effect on the photovoltaic performance was systematically investigated. Photovoltaic experimental results and the electron transmission mechanism show that the POM/TiO 2 electronic interface layer in the QDSCs can clearly suppress electron recombination, increase the electron lifetime, and result in smoother electron transmission. In summary, the best conversion efficiency of QDSCs with POM/TiO 2 electronic interface layers increases to 8.02 %, which is an improvement of 25.1 % compared with QDSCs without POM/TiO 2 . This work first builds an electron-transfer bridge between FTO and the quantum dot sensitizer and paves the way for further improved efficiency of QDSCs. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Generalized expressions for variations in critical frequencies, electron densities and altitudes of the ionospheric layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Njau, E.C.

1990-12-01

We develop generalized mathematical expressions for time and space variations of peak electron densities of the ionospheric D, E, F1 and F2 layers as well as corresponding variations in the altitudes of the electron density peaks in each of these layers. On the basis of the Chapman characteristics of the E and F1 layers and other techniques, a generalized expression is developed for the electron density height profile of each of the four ionospheric layers. Consequently a generalized mathematical expression is developed for the entire electron density height profile of the whole ionosphere as a function of time, latitude and longitude. The latter mathematical expression may be used to compute or predict ionospheric parameters associated with ratio and satellite communications. Finally we show that some well documented equations on ionospheric parameters are simplified (or approximated) versions of some of our mathematical expressions. (author). 29 refs

Tail state-assisted charge injection and recombination at the electron-collecting interface of P3HT:PCBM bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, He [Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Shah, Manas [Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Ganesan, Venkat [Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Chabinyc, Michael L. [Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States); Loo, Yueh-Lin [Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

2012-12-15

The systematic insertion of thin films of P3HT and PCBM at the electron- and hole-collecting interfaces, respectively, in bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells results in different extents of reduction in device characteristics, with the insertion of P3HT at the electron-collecting interface being less disruptive to the output currents compared to the insertion of PCBM at the hole-collecting interface. This asymmetry is attributed to differences in the tail state-assisted charge injection and recombination at the active layer-electrode interfaces. P3HT exhibits a higher density of tail states compared to PCBM; holes in these tail states can thus easily recombine with electrons at the electron-collection interface during device operation. This process is subsequently compensated by the injection of holes from the cathode into these tail states, which collectively enables net current flow through the polymer solar cell. The study presented herein thus provides a plausible explanation for why preferential segregation of P3HT to the cathode interface is inconsequential to device characteristics in P3HT:PCBM bulk-heterojunction solar cells. (Copyright copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Electronic structure and electron-phonon coupling in layered copper oxide superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pickett, W.E.; Cohen, R.E.; Krakauer, H.

1991-01-01

Experimental data on the layered Cu-O superconductors seem more and more to reflect normal Fermi-liquid behavior and substantial correspondence with band structure predictions. Recent self-consistent, microscopic band theoretic calculations of the electronic structure, lattice instabilities, phonon frequencies, and electron-phonon coupling characteristics and strength for La 2 CuO 4 and YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 are reviewed. A dominant feature of the coupling is a novel Madelung-like contribution which would be screened out in high density of states superconductors but survives in cuprates because of weak screening. Local density functional theory correctly predicts the instability of (La, Ba) 2 CuO 4 to both the low-temperature orthorhombic phase (below room temperature) and the lower-temperature tetragonal phase (below 50 K). (orig.)

Electron injection mechanisms of green organic light-emitting devices fabricated utilizing a double electron injection layer consisting of cesium carbonate and fullerene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, J.S.; Choo, D.C.; Kim, T.W.; Jin, Y.Y.; Seo, J.H.; Kim, Y.K.

2010-01-01

Electron injection mechanisms of the luminance efficiency of green organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) fabricated utilizing a cesium carbonate (Cs 2 CO 3 )/fullerene (C 60 ) heterostructure acting as an electron injection layer (EIL) were investigated. Current density-voltage and luminance-voltage measurements showed that the current densities and the luminances of the OLEDs with a Cs 2 CO 3 or Cs 2 CO 3 /C 60 EIL were higher than that of the OLEDs with a Liq EIL. The luminance efficiency of the OLEDs with a Cs 2 CO 3 EIL was almost three times higher than that of the OLEDs with a Liq EIL. Because the electron injection efficiency of the Cs 2 CO 3 layer in OLEDs was different from that of the C 60 layer, the luminance efficiency of the OLEDs with a double EIL consisting of a Cs 2 CO 3 layer and a C 60 layer was smaller than that of the OLEDs with a Cs 2 CO 3 EIL. The electron injection mechanisms of OLEDs with a Cs 2 CO 3 and C 60 double EIL are described on the basis of the experimental results.

Lead Halide Perovskites as Charge Generation Layers for Electron Mobility Measurement in Organic Semiconductors.

Science.gov (United States)

Love, John A; Feuerstein, Markus; Wolff, Christian M; Facchetti, Antonio; Neher, Dieter

2017-12-06

Hybrid lead halide perovskites are introduced as charge generation layers (CGLs) for the accurate determination of electron mobilities in thin organic semiconductors. Such hybrid perovskites have become a widely studied photovoltaic material in their own right, for their high efficiencies, ease of processing from solution, strong absorption, and efficient photogeneration of charge. Time-of-flight (ToF) measurements on bilayer samples consisting of the perovskite CGL and an organic semiconductor layer of different thickness are shown to be determined by the carrier motion through the organic material, consistent with the much higher charge carrier mobility in the perovskite. Together with the efficient photon-to-electron conversion in the perovskite, this high mobility imbalance enables electron-only mobility measurement on relatively thin application-relevant organic films, which would not be possible with traditional ToF measurements. This architecture enables electron-selective mobility measurements in single components as well as bulk-heterojunction films as demonstrated in the prototypical polymer/fullerene blends. To further demonstrate the potential of this approach, electron mobilities were measured as a function of electric field and temperature in an only 127 nm thick layer of a prototypical electron-transporting perylene diimide-based polymer, and found to be consistent with an exponential trap distribution of ca. 60 meV. Our study furthermore highlights the importance of high mobility charge transporting layers when designing perovskite solar cells.

The effect of root surface conditioning on smear layer removal in periodontal regeneration (a scanning electron microscopic study)

Science.gov (United States)

Fidyawati, D.; Soeroso, Y.; Masulili, S. L. C.

2017-08-01

The role of root surface conditioning treatment on smear layer removal of human teeth is affected by periodontitis in periodontal regeneration. The objective of this study is to analyze the smear layer on root surface conditioned with 2.1% minocycline HCl ointment (Periocline), and 24% EDTA gel (Prefgel). A total of 10 human teeth indicated for extraction due to chronic periodontitis were collected and root planed. The teeth were sectioned in thirds of the cervical area, providing 30 samples that were divided into three groups - minocycline ointment treatment, 24% EDTA gel treatment, and saline as a control. The samples were examined by scanning electron microscope. No significant differences in levels of smear layer were observed between the minocycline group and the EDTA group (p=0.759). However, there were significant differences in the level of smear layer after root surface treatment in the minocycline and EDTA groups, compared with the control group (p=0.00). There was a relationship between root surface conditioning treatment and smear layer levels following root planing.

Dissolution of Monocrystalline Silicon Nanomembranes and Their Use as Encapsulation Layers and Electrical Interfaces in Water-Soluble Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yoon Kyeung; Yu, Ki Jun; Song, Enming; Barati Farimani, Amir; Vitale, Flavia; Xie, Zhaoqian; Yoon, Younghee; Kim, Yerim; Richardson, Andrew; Luan, Haiwen; Wu, Yixin; Xie, Xu; Lucas, Timothy H; Crawford, Kaitlyn; Mei, Yongfeng; Feng, Xue; Huang, Yonggang; Litt, Brian; Aluru, Narayana R; Yin, Lan; Rogers, John A

2017-12-26

The chemistry that governs the dissolution of device-grade, monocrystalline silicon nanomembranes into benign end products by hydrolysis serves as the foundation for fully eco/biodegradable classes of high-performance electronics. This paper examines these processes in aqueous solutions with chemical compositions relevant to groundwater and biofluids. The results show that the presence of Si(OH) 4 and proteins in these solutions can slow the rates of dissolution and that ion-specific effects associated with Ca 2+ can significantly increase these rates. This information allows for effective use of silicon nanomembranes not only as active layers in eco/biodegradable electronics but also as water barriers capable of providing perfect encapsulation until their disappearance by dissolution. The time scales for this encapsulation can be controlled by introduction of dopants into the Si and by addition of oxide layers on the exposed surfaces.The former possibility also allows the doped silicon to serve as an electrical interface for measuring biopotentials, as demonstrated in fully bioresorbable platforms for in vivo neural recordings. This collection of findings is important for further engineering development of water-soluble classes of silicon electronics.

Theoretical investigation of electronic and magnetic properties of HoRh layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Masrour, R., E-mail: rachidmasrour@hotmail.com [Laboratory of Materials, Processes, Environment and Quality, Cady Ayyed University, National School of Applied Sciences, Sidi Bouzid, Safi (Morocco); LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco); Hlil, E.K. [Institut Néel, CNRS et Université Joseph Fourier, BP 166, F-38042 Grenoble cedex 9 (France); Hamedoun, M. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Benyoussef, A. [LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco); Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Rabat (Morocco); Mounkachi, O. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Bahmad, L. [LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco); El Moussaoui, H. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco)

2013-10-15

Self-consistent ab initio calculations, based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) approach and using Full potential Linear Augmented Plane Wave (FLAPW) method, are performed to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the HoRh layers. Polarized spin and spin–orbit coupling are included in calculations within the framework of the antiferromagnetic state between two sites of Ho. Magnetic moment considered to lie along (001) axes are computed. The data obtained from the ab initio calculations are then used as input for the high temperature series expansions (HTSEs) calculations to compute other magnetic parameters. The exchange integrals between the magnetic atoms in the same sites are given by using mean field theory. The HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility of HoRh layers spin-S through the Ising model for HoRh layers, are studied to tenth order series in β=1/k{sub B}T. The critical exponent γ associated with the magnetic susceptibility is deduced for two models. - Highlights: • Ab initio calculations is using to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the HoRh layers. • Obtained data from ab initio calculations are used as input for the HTSEs. • The Néel temperature is obtained for HoRh layers.

Theoretical investigation of electronic and magnetic properties of HoRh layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masrour, R.; Hlil, E.K.; Hamedoun, M.; Benyoussef, A.; Mounkachi, O.; Bahmad, L.; El Moussaoui, H.

2013-01-01

Self-consistent ab initio calculations, based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) approach and using Full potential Linear Augmented Plane Wave (FLAPW) method, are performed to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the HoRh layers. Polarized spin and spin–orbit coupling are included in calculations within the framework of the antiferromagnetic state between two sites of Ho. Magnetic moment considered to lie along (001) axes are computed. The data obtained from the ab initio calculations are then used as input for the high temperature series expansions (HTSEs) calculations to compute other magnetic parameters. The exchange integrals between the magnetic atoms in the same sites are given by using mean field theory. The HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility of HoRh layers spin-S through the Ising model for HoRh layers, are studied to tenth order series in β=1/k B T. The critical exponent γ associated with the magnetic susceptibility is deduced for two models. - Highlights: • Ab initio calculations is using to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the HoRh layers. • Obtained data from ab initio calculations are used as input for the HTSEs. • The Néel temperature is obtained for HoRh layers

The growth and electronic structure of azobenzene-based functional molecules on layered crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iwicki, J; Ludwig, E; Buck, J; Kalläne, M; Kipp, L; Rossnagel, K; Köhler, F; Herges, R

2012-01-01

In situ ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy is used to study the growth of ultrathin films of azobenzene-based functional molecules (azobenzene, Disperse Orange 3 and a triazatriangulenium platform with an attached functional azo-group) on the layered metal TiTe 2 and on the layered semiconductor HfS 2 at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Effects of intermolecular interactions, of the substrate electronic structure, and of the thermal energy of the sublimated molecules on the growth process and on the adsorbate electronic structure are identified and discussed. A weak adsorbate-substrate interaction is particularly observed for the layered semiconducting substrate, holding the promise of efficient molecular photoswitching.

Preionization electron density measurement by collecting electric charge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giordano, G.; Letardi, T.

1988-01-01

A method using electron collection for preionization-electron number density measurements is presented. A cathode-potential drop model is used to describe the measurement principle. There is good agreement between the model and the experimental result

Observation of electron biteout regions below sporadic E layers at polar latitudes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. A. Lehmacher

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The descent of a narrow sporadic E layer near 95 km altitude over Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska was observed with electron probes on two consecutive sounding rockets and with incoherent scatter radar during a 2 h period near magnetic midnight. A series of four trimethyl aluminum chemical releases demonstrated that the Es layer remained just slightly above the zonal wind node, which was slowly descending due to propagating long-period gravity waves. The location of the layer is consistent with the equilibrium position due to combined action of the wind shear and electric fields. Although the horizontal electric field could not be measured directly, we estimate that it was ~ 2 mV m−1 southward, consistent with modeling the vertical ion drift, and compatible with extremely quiet conditions. Both electron probes observed deep biteout regions just below the Es enhancements, which also descended with the sporadic layers. We discuss several possibilities for the cause of these depletions; one possibility is the presence of negatively charged, nanometer-sized mesospheric smoke particles. Such particles have recently been detected in the upper mesosphere, but not yet in immediate connection with sporadic E. Our observations of electron depletions suggest a new process associated with sporadic E.

Intrinsic electron traps in atomic-layer deposited HfO{sub 2} insulators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cerbu, F.; Madia, O.; Afanas' ev, V. V.; Houssa, M.; Stesmans, A. [Laboratory of Semiconductor Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leuven, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Andreev, D. V. [Laboratory of Semiconductor Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leuven, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Bauman Moscow State Technical University—Kaluga Branch, 248000 Kaluga, Moscow obl. (Russian Federation); Fadida, S.; Eizenberg, M. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa (Israel); Breuil, L. [imec, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Lisoni, J. G. [imec, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia (Chile); Kittl, J. A. [Laboratory of Semiconductor Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leuven, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Advanced Logic Lab, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc., Austin, 78754 Texas (United States); Strand, J.; Shluger, A. L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom)

2016-05-30

Analysis of photodepopulation of electron traps in HfO{sub 2} films grown by atomic layer deposition is shown to provide the trap energy distribution across the entire oxide bandgap. The presence is revealed of two kinds of deep electron traps energetically distributed at around E{sub t} ≈ 2.0 eV and E{sub t} ≈ 3.0 eV below the oxide conduction band. Comparison of the trapped electron energy distributions in HfO{sub 2} layers prepared using different precursors or subjected to thermal treatment suggests that these centers are intrinsic in origin. However, the common assumption that these would implicate O vacancies cannot explain the charging behavior of HfO{sub 2}, suggesting that alternative defect models should be considered.

Wide-gap layered oxychalcogenide semiconductors: Materials, electronic structures and optoelectronic properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ueda, Kazushige; Hiramatsu, Hidenori; Hirano, Masahiro; Kamiya, Toshio; Hosono, Hideo

2006-01-01

Applying the concept of materials design for transparent conductive oxides to layered oxychalcogenides, several p-type and n-type layered oxychalcogenides were proposed as wide-gap semiconductors and their basic optical and electrical properties were examined. The layered oxychalcogenides are composed of ionic oxide layers and covalent chalcogenide layers, which bring wide-gap and conductive properties to these materials, respectively. The electronic structures of the materials were examined by normal/inverse photoemission spectroscopy and energy band calculations. The results of the examinations suggested that these materials possess unique features more than simple wide-gap semiconductors. Namely, the layered oxychalcogenides are considered to be extremely thin quantum wells composed of the oxide and chalcogenide layers or 2D chalcogenide crystals/molecules embedded in an oxide matrix. Observation of step-like absorption edges, large band gap energy and large exciton binding energy demonstrated these features originating from 2D density of states and quantum size effects in these layered materials

Metal-Insulator-Metal Single Electron Transistors with Tunnel Barriers Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Golnaz Karbasian

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Single electron transistors are nanoscale electron devices that require thin, high-quality tunnel barriers to operate and have potential applications in sensing, metrology and beyond-CMOS computing schemes. Given that atomic layer deposition is used to form CMOS gate stacks with low trap densities and excellent thickness control, it is well-suited as a technique to form a variety of tunnel barriers. This work is a review of our recent research on atomic layer deposition and post-fabrication treatments to fabricate metallic single electron transistors with a variety of metals and dielectrics.

Electronic structure and the properties of phosphorene and few-layer black phosphorus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukuoka, Shuhei; Taen, Toshihiro; Osada, Toshihito

2015-01-01

A single atomic layer of black phosphorus, phosphorene, was experimentally realized in 2014. It has a puckered honeycomb lattice structure and a semiconducting electronic structure. In the first part of this paper, we use a simple LCAO model, and qualitatively discuss the electronic structure of phosphorene systems under electric and magnetic fields, especially noting their midgap edge states. The next part is devoted to the review of the progress in research on phosphorene over the past one year since its realization in 2014. Phosphorene has been a typical material to study the semiconductor physics in atomic layers. (author)

Quality assurance and data collection -- Electronic Data Transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomczak, L.M.; Lohner, W.G.; Ray, E.C.; Salesky, J.A.; Spitz, H.B.

1993-05-01

The Radiological Environmental Monitoring (REM) group at the Fernald Environmental Management Project is involved in an Electronic Data Transfer practice that will result in the improved quality assurance of collected data. This practice focuses on electronic data transfer from the recording instrument to reduce the manpower normally required for manual data entry and improve the quality of the data transferred. The application of this practice can enhance any data collection program where instruments with electronic memories and a signal output are utilized. Organizations employing this practice can strengthen the quality and efficiency of their data collection program. The use of these practices can assist in complying with Quality Assurance requirements under ASME NQA-1, RCRA, CERCLA, and DOE Order activities. Data from Pylon AB-5 instrumentation is typically configured to print data to a tape. The REM group has developed a process to electronically transfer stored data. The data are sent from the Pylon AB-5 field instrument to a HewlettPackard portable hand computer, model HP95LX. Data are recorded and stored on a 128 K-byte RAN card and later transferred to a PC database as an electronic file for analysis. The advantage of this system is twofold: (1) Data entry errors are eliminated and (2) considerable data collection and entry time is eliminated. Checks can then be conducted for data validity between recorded intervals due to light leaks etc. and the detection of outliers. This paper will discuss the interface and connector components that allow this transfer of data from the Pylon to the PC to take place and the process to perform that activity

Redesigning a collection system for "small" consumer electronics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Melissen, Franciscus

2006-01-01

This paper establishes that the collection system within the recycling scheme for consumer electronics in the Netherlands has not been entirely successful in convincing consumers to hand in their used appliances by means of dedicated collection routes. Particularly regarding small appliances,

Building an electronic resource collection a practical guide

CERN Document Server

Lee, Stuart D

2004-01-01

This practical book guides information professionals step-by-step through building and managing an electronic resource collection. It outlines the range of electronic products currently available in abstracting and indexing, bibliographic, and other services and then describes how to effectively select, evaluate and purchase them.

Collective accelerator for electron colliders

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Briggs, R.J.

1985-05-13

A recent concept for collective acceleration and focusing of a high energy electron bunch is discussed, in the context of its possible applicability to large linear colliders in the TeV range. The scheme can be considered to be a member of the general class of two-beam accelerators, where a high current, low voltage beam produces the acceleration fields for a trailing high energy bunch.

Collective accelerator for electron colliders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briggs, R.J.

1985-01-01

A recent concept for collective acceleration and focusing of a high energy electron bunch is discussed, in the context of its possible applicability to large linear colliders in the TeV range. The scheme can be considered to be a member of the general class of two-beam accelerators, where a high current, low voltage beam produces the acceleration fields for a trailing high energy bunch

Developing and managing electronic collections the essentials

CERN Document Server

Johnson, Peggy

2014-01-01

The complex issues associated with developing and managing electronic collections deserve special treatment, and library collection authority Peggy Johnson rises to the challenge with a book sure to become a benchmark for excellence. Providing comprehensive coverage of key issues and decision points, she offers advice on best practices for developing and managing these important resources for libraries of all types and sizes.

Thermal modeling of multi-shape heating sources on n-layer electronic board

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monier-Vinard Eric

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The present work completes the toolbox of analytical solutions that deal with resolving steady-state temperatures of a multi-layered structure heated by one or many heat sources. The problematic of heating sources having non-rectangular shapes is addressed to enlarge the capability of analytical approaches. Moreover, various heating sources could be located on the external surfaces of the sandwiched layers as well as embedded at interface of its constitutive layers. To demonstrate its relevance, the updated analytical solution has been compared with numerical simulations on the case of a multi-layered electronic board submitted to a set of heating source configurations. The comparison shows a high agreement between analytical and numerical calculations to predict the centroid and average temperatures. The promoted analytical approach establishes a kit of practical expressions, easy to implement, which would be cumulated, using superposition principle, to help electronic designers to early detect component or board temperatures beyond manufacturer limit. The ability to eliminate bad concept candidates with a minimum of set-up, relevant assumptions and low computation time can be easily achieved.

Study in electron microscopy of the formation of the hybrid layer using adhesive systems One Coat and Experimental (EXL 759), at the Facultad de Odontologia of the Universidad de Costa Rica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santamaria Guzman, S. Marcela; Guevara Lopez, Rodrigo

2012-01-01

The formation of the hybrid layer is observed in dental pieces in vitro, utilizing conventional adhesives systems and of self etching with different times of acid etching, by applying of electron microscopy. Samples of dental pieces are prepared utilizing conventional adhesive systems as Single Bond 2 of 3M, One Coat of Coltene and the adhesive self etching Experimental (EXL 759) of 3M. Samples of dental pieces collected have been molars recently extracted and later stored in jars with water. Samples prepared with the adhesive systems are observed in the electron microscope to obtain images of the hybrid layers formed. The hybrid layers formed are compared observing the photographs of the images obtained in the electron microscope. The adhesive system that has allowed the formation of a hybrid layer more convenient is determined. The time of acid etching is determined and has interfered in the formation of a hybrid layer more stable [es

Transport of energetic electrons in a magnetically expanding helicon double layer plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Kazunori; Charles, Christine; Boswell, Rod; Cox, Wes; Hatakeyama, Rikizo

2009-01-01

Peripheral magnetic field lines extending from the plasma source into the diffusion chamber are found to separate two regions of Maxwellian electron energy probability functions: the central, ion-beam containing region with an electron temperature of 5 eV, and region near the chamber walls with electrons at 3 eV. Along the peripheral field lines a bi-Maxwellian population with a hot tail at 9 eV is shown to both originate from electrons in the source traveling downstream across the double layer and correspond to a local maximum in ion and electron densities.

Measurements and simulations of seeded electron microbunches with collective effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Hacker

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Measurements of the longitudinal phase-space distributions of electron bunches seeded with an external laser were done in order to study the impact of collective effects on seeded microbunches in free-electron lasers. When the collective effects of Coulomb forces in a drift space and coherent synchrotron radiation in a chicane are considered, velocity bunching of a seeded microbunch appears to be a viable alternative to compression with a magnetic chicane under high-gain harmonic generation seeding conditions. Measurements of these effects on seeded electron microbunches were performed with a rf deflecting structure and a dipole magnet which streak out the electron bunch for single-shot images of the longitudinal phase-space distribution. Particle tracking simulations in 3D predicted the compression dynamics of the seeded microbunches with collective effects.

Sputter Deposited TiOx Thin-Films as Electron Transport Layers in Organic Solar Cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mirsafaei, Mina; Bomholt Jensen, Pia; Lakhotiya, Harish

transparency and favorable energy-level alignment with many commonly used electron-acceptor materials. There are several methods available for fabricating compact TiOx thin-films for use in organic solar cells, including sol-gel solution processing, spray pyrolysis and atomic-layer deposition; however...... of around 7%, by incorporating sputter deposited TiOx thin-films as electron-transport and exciton-blocking layers. In the work, we report on the effect of different TiOx deposition temperatures and thicknesses on the organic-solar-cell device performance. Besides optical characterization, AFM and XRD...... analyses are performed to characterize the morphology and crystal structure of the films, and external quantum efficiency measurements are employed to shed further light on the device performance. Our study presents a novel method for implementation of TiOx thin-films as electron-transport layer in organic...

Automated data collection in single particle electron microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Yong Zi; Cheng, Anchi; Potter, Clinton S.; Carragher, Bridget

2016-01-01

Automated data collection is an integral part of modern workflows in single particle electron microscopy (EM) research. This review surveys the software packages available for automated single particle EM data collection. The degree of automation at each stage of data collection is evaluated, and the capabilities of the software packages are described. Finally, future trends in automation are discussed. PMID:26671944

Buffer layers and articles for electronic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Paranthaman, Mariappan P.; Aytug, Tolga; Christen, David K.; Feenstra, Roeland; Goyal, Amit

2004-07-20

Materials for depositing buffer layers on biaxially textured and untextured metallic and metal oxide substrates for use in the manufacture of superconducting and other electronic articles comprise RMnO.sub.3, R.sub.1-x A.sub.x MnO.sub.3, and combinations thereof; wherein R includes an element selected from the group consisting of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Y, and A includes an element selected from the group consisting of Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and Ra.

Formation of presheath and current-free double layer in a two-electron-temperature plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Kunihiro; Miyawaki, Fujio

1992-02-01

Development of the steady-state potential in a two-temperature-electron plasma in contact with the wall is investigated analytically. It is shown that if the hot- to cold electron temperature ratio is greater than ten, the potential drop in the presheath, which is allowed to have either a small value characterized by the cold electrons or a large value by the hot electrons, discontinuously changes at a critical value for the hot- to total electron density ratio. It is also found that the monotonically decreasing potential structure which consists of the first presheath, a current-free double layer, the second presheath, and the sheath can be steadily formed in a lower range of the hot- to total electron density ratio around the critical value. The current-free double layer is set up due to existence of the two electron species and cold ions generated by ionization so as to connect two presheath potentials at different levels. (author)

Electron tunneling in tantalum surface layers on niobium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruggiero, S.T.; Track, E.K.; Prober, D.E.; Arnold, G.B.; DeWeert, M.J.

1986-01-01

We have performed electron tunneling measurements on tantalum surface layers on niobium. The tunnel junctions comprise 2000-A-circle Nb base electrodes with 10--100-A-circle in situ--deposited Ta overlayers, an oxide barrier, and Ag, Pb, or Pb-Bi alloy counterelectrodes. The base electrodes were prepared by ion-beam sputter deposition. The characteristics of these junctions have been studied as a function of Ta-layer thickness. These include the critical current, bound-state energy, phonon structure, and oxide barrier shape. We have compared our results for the product I/sub c/R versus tantalum-layer thickness with an extended version of the Gallagher theory which accounts for both the finite mean free path in the Ta overlayers and suppression of the I/sub c/R product due to strong-coupling effects. Excellent fits to the data yield a value of the intrinsic scattering probability for electrons at the Ta/Nb interface of r 2 = 0.01. This is consistent with the value expected from simple scattering off the potential step created by the difference between the Fermi energies of Ta and Nb. We have found a universal empirical correlation in average barrier height phi-bar and width s in the form phi-bar = 6 eV/(s-10 A-circle) for measured junctions which holds both for our data and results for available data in the literature for oxide-barrier junctions. The latter are composed of a wide variety of base and counterelectrode materials. These results are discussed in the general context of oxide growth and compared with results for artificial tunnel barriers

Effect of Vavilov–Cherenkov radiation cone transformation upon entry of a relativistic electron into a substance layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kishchin, I. A.; Kubankin, A. S., E-mail: kubankin@bsu.edu.ru; Nikulicheva, T. B.; Al-Omari; Sotnikov, A. V.; Starovoitov, A. S. [Belgorod National Research University (Russian Federation)

2016-12-15

Transformation of the Vavilov–Cherenkov radiation cone under grazing interaction of a relativistic electron with a layer of substance is theoretically studied. It is shown that this effect can occur when the electron enters the substance layer.

Tailoring of polarization in electron blocking layer for electron confinement and hole injection in ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Yu-Hsuan; Pilkuhn, Manfred H.; Fu, Yi-Keng; Chu, Mu-Tao; Huang, Shyh-Jer; Su, Yan-Kuin; Wang, Kang L.

2014-01-01

The influence of the AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) with graded aluminum composition on electron confinement and hole injection in AlGaN-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are investigated. The light output power of LED with graded AlGaN EBL was markedly improved, comparing to LED with conventional EBL. In experimental results, a high increment of 86.7% can be obtained in light output power. Simulation analysis shows that via proper modification of the barrier profile from the last barrier of the active region to EBL, not only the elimination of electron overflow to p-type layer can be achieved but also the hole injection into the active region can be enhanced, compared to a conventional LED structure. The dominant factor to the performance improvement is shown to be the modulation of polarization field by the graded Al composition in EBL

Tailoring of polarization in electron blocking layer for electron confinement and hole injection in ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Yu-Hsuan; Pilkuhn, Manfred H. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Microelectronics and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Fu, Yi-Keng; Chu, Mu-Tao [Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 31040, Taiwan (China); Huang, Shyh-Jer, E-mail: yksu@mail.ncku.edu.tw, E-mail: totaljer48@gmail.com [Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Microelectronics and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States); Su, Yan-Kuin, E-mail: yksu@mail.ncku.edu.tw, E-mail: totaljer48@gmail.com [Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Microelectronics and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Department of Electronic Engineering, Kun-Shan University, Tainan 71003, Taiwan (China); Wang, Kang L. [Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States)

2014-03-21

The influence of the AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) with graded aluminum composition on electron confinement and hole injection in AlGaN-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are investigated. The light output power of LED with graded AlGaN EBL was markedly improved, comparing to LED with conventional EBL. In experimental results, a high increment of 86.7% can be obtained in light output power. Simulation analysis shows that via proper modification of the barrier profile from the last barrier of the active region to EBL, not only the elimination of electron overflow to p-type layer can be achieved but also the hole injection into the active region can be enhanced, compared to a conventional LED structure. The dominant factor to the performance improvement is shown to be the modulation of polarization field by the graded Al composition in EBL.

Nonlinear electron acoustic structures generated on the high-potential side of a double layer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Pottelette

2009-04-01

Full Text Available High-time resolution measurements of the electron distribution function performed in the auroral upward current region reveals a large asymmetry between the low- and high-potential sides of a double-layer. The latter side is characterized by a large enhancement of a locally trapped electron population which corresponds to a significant part (~up to 30% of the total electron density. As compared to the background hot electron population, this trapped component has a very cold temperature in the direction parallel to the static magnetic field. Accordingly, the differential drift between the trapped and background hot electron populations generates high frequency electron acoustic waves in a direction quasi-parallel to the magnetic field. The density of the trapped electron population can be deduced from the frequency where the electron acoustic spectrum maximizes. In the auroral midcavity region, the electron acoustic waves may be modulated by an additional turbulence generated in the ion acoustic range thanks to the presence of a pre-accelerated ion beam located on the high-potential side of the double layer. Electron holes characterized by bipolar pulses in the electric field are sometimes detected in correlation with these electron acoustic wave packets.

Wave propagation through an electron cyclotron resonance layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westerhof, E.

1997-01-01

The propagation of a wave beam through an electron cyclotron resonance layer is analysed in two-dimensional slab geometry in order to assess the deviation from cold plasma propagation due to resonant, warm plasma changes in wave dispersion. For quasi-perpendicular propagation, N ' 'parallel to'' ≅ v t /c, an O-mode beam is shown to exhibit a strong wiggle in the trajectory of the centre of the beam when passing through the fundamental electron cyclotron resonance. The effects are largest for low temperatures and close to perpendicular propagation. Predictions from standard dielectric wave energy fluxes are inconsistent with the trajectory of the beam. Qualitatively identical results are obtained for the X-mode second harmonic. In contrast, the X-mode at the fundamental resonance shows significant deviations form cold plasma propagation only for strongly oblique propagation and/or high temperatures. On the basis of the obtained results a practical suggestion is made for ray tracing near electron cyclotron resonance. (Author)

Top layer's thickness dependence on total electron-yield X-ray standing-wave

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ejima, Takeo; Yamazaki, Atsushi; Banse, Takanori; Hatano, Tadashi

2005-01-01

A Mo single-layer film with a stepwise thickness distribution was fabricated on the same Mo/Si reflection multilayer film. Total electron-yield X-ray standing-wave (TEY-XSW) spectra of the aperiodic multilayer were measured with reflection spectra. The peak positions of the standing waves in the TEY-XSW spectra changed as the film thickness of the top Mo-layer increased

Nanometer-resolution electron microscopy through micrometers-thick water layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jonge, Niels de, E-mail: niels.de.jonge@vanderbilt.edu [Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Nashville, TN 37232-0615 (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6064 (United States); Poirier-Demers, Nicolas; Demers, Hendrix [Universite de Sherbrooke, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1 (Canada); Peckys, Diana B. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6064 (United States); University of Tennessee, Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Knoxville, TN 37996-1605 (United States); Drouin, Dominique [Universite de Sherbrooke, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1 (Canada)

2010-08-15

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) was used to image gold nanoparticles on top of and below saline water layers of several micrometers thickness. The smallest gold nanoparticles studied had diameters of 1.4 nm and were visible for a liquid thickness of up to 3.3 {mu}m. The imaging of gold nanoparticles below several micrometers of liquid was limited by broadening of the electron probe caused by scattering of the electron beam in the liquid. The experimental data corresponded to analytical models of the resolution and of the electron probe broadening as function of the liquid thickness. The results were also compared with Monte Carlo simulations of the STEM imaging on modeled specimens of similar geometry and composition as used for the experiments. Applications of STEM imaging in liquid can be found in cell biology, e.g., to study tagged proteins in whole eukaryotic cells in liquid and in materials science to study the interaction of solid:liquid interfaces at the nanoscale.

Few-layer molybdenum disulfide transistors and circuits for high-speed flexible electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Rui; Jiang, Shan; Chen, Yu; Liu, Yuan; Weiss, Nathan; Cheng, Hung-Chieh; Wu, Hao; Huang, Yu; Duan, Xiangfeng

2014-10-08

Two-dimensional layered materials, such as molybdenum disulfide, are emerging as an exciting material system for future electronics due to their unique electronic properties and atomically thin geometry. Here we report a systematic investigation of MoS2 transistors with optimized contact and device geometry, to achieve self-aligned devices with performance including an intrinsic gain over 30, an intrinsic cut-off frequency fT up to 42 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency fMAX up to 50 GHz, exceeding the reported values for MoS2 transistors to date (fT~0.9 GHz, fMAX~1 GHz). Our results show that logic inverters or radio frequency amplifiers can be formed by integrating multiple MoS2 transistors on quartz or flexible substrates with voltage gain in the gigahertz regime. This study demonstrates the potential of two-dimensional layered semiconductors for high-speed flexible electronics.

Few-layer molybdenum disulfide transistors and circuits for high-speed flexible electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Rui; Jiang, Shan; Chen, Yu; Liu, Yuan; Weiss, Nathan; Cheng, Hung-Chieh; Wu, Hao; Huang, Yu; Duan, Xiangfeng

2014-01-01

Two-dimensional layered materials, such as molybdenum disulfide, are emerging as an exciting material system for future electronics due to their unique electronic properties and atomically thin geometry. Here we report a systematic investigation of MoS2 transistors with optimized contact and device geometry, to achieve self-aligned devices with performance including an intrinsic gain over 30, an intrinsic cut-off frequency fT up to 42 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency fMAX up to 50 GHz, exceeding the reported values for MoS2 transistors to date (fT ~ 0.9 GHz, fMAX ~ 1 GHz). Our results show that logic inverters or radio frequency amplifiers can be formed by integrating multiple MoS2 transistors on quartz or flexible substrates with voltage gain in the gigahertz regime. This study demonstrates the potential of two-dimensional layered semiconductors for high-speed flexible electronics. PMID:25295573

Mechanism for the formation of sporadic-E layers in the high-latitude ionosphere

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vlasov, M.N.; Mishin, E.V.; Telegin, V.A.

1980-09-01

A model of the collective interaction of precipitating electrons and the ionospheric plasma is used to explain the formation of short-duration sporadic-E layers in the high-latitude ionosphere. The changes produced in electron density by this collective interaction mechanism are considered.

Ion collection efficiency of ionization chambers in electron beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, S.; Cecatti, E.R.

1984-01-01

When ionization chambers are used in pulsed radiation beams the high-density of ions produced per pulse permits ion recombination, demanding the use of a correction factor. An experimental technique using the charge collected at two different voltages permits the calculation of the ion collection efficiency. The ion collection efficiency of some common ionization chambers in pulsed electron beams were studied as a function of electron energy, dose rate and depth. Accelerators with magnetic scanning system, in which the instantaneous dose rate is much greater than the average dose rate, present a smaller collection efficiency than accelerators with scattering foil. The results lead to the introduction of a correction factor for ion recombination that is the reciprocal of the ion collection efficiency. It is also suggested a simple technique to connect an external variable DC power supply in a Baldwin Farmer dosemeter. (Author) [pt

Electron Beam Evaporated TiO2 Layer for High Efficiency Planar Perovskite Solar Cells on Flexible Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrates

KAUST Repository

Qiu, Weiming; Paetzold, Ulrich W; Gehlhaar, Robert; Smirnov, Vladimir; Boyen, Hans-Gerd; Tait, Jeffrey Gerhart; Conings, Bert; Zhang, Weimin; Nielsen, Christian; McCulloch, Iain; Froyen, Ludo; Heremans, Paul; Cheyns, David

2015-01-01

The TiO2 layer made by electron beam (e-beam) induced evaporation is demonstrated as electron transport layer (ETL) in high efficiency planar junction perovskite solar cells. The temperature of the substrate and the thickness of the TiO2 layer can

Silicon passivation study under low energy electron irradiation conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cluzel, R.

2010-01-01

Backside illuminated thinned CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) imaging system is a technology developed to increase the signal to noise ratio and the sensibility of such sensors. This configuration is adapted to the electrons detection from the energy range of [1 - 12 keV]. The impinging electron creates by multiplication several hundreds of secondary electrons close to the surface. A P ++ highly-doped passivation layer of the rear face is required to reduce the secondary electron surface recombination rate. Thanks to the potential barrier induced by the P ++ layer, the passivation layer increases the collected charges number and so the sensor collection gain. The goal of this study is to develop some experimental methods in order to determine the effect of six different passivation processes on the collection gain. Beforehand, the energy profile deposited by an incident electron is studied with the combination of Monte-Carlo simulations and some analytical calculations. The final collection gain model shows that the mirror effect from the passivation layer is a key factor at high energies whereas the passivation layer has to be as thin as possible at low energies. A first experimental setup which consists in irradiating P ++ /N large diodes allows to study the passivation process impacts on the surface recombinations. Thanks to a second setup based on a single event upset directly on thinned CMOS sensor, passivation techniques are discriminated in term of mirror effect and the implied spreading charges. The doping atoms activation laser annealing is turn out to be a multiplication gain inhomogeneity source impacting directly the matrix uniformity. (author)

Electron liquid in collection description III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arponen, J.; Pajanne, E.

1978-05-01

A new, computationally effective, formulation for the problem of a charged impurity in an interacting electron gas is given. The approach is based on the previously introduced formalism in which the collective excitations of the electron system are represented by interacting bosons. This enables one to include in a logical way the most important terms of the electron-electron interaction beyond the rand--om phase approximation (RPA). The numerical application to positron annihilation shows that the added non-RPA terms remove from the annihilation rate lambda and the correlation energy E the divergences, which have troubled the earlier theories. The rate lambda and the energy E are both continuous functions of the electron density and approach their correct limiting values for low densities. The numerical valves of lambda at physical densities correspond closely to the measured positron lifetimes in metals. A very noteworthy characteristic of the present theory is that the sum rule for the displaced charge is fulfilled typically to the accuracy of 1 %. Numerical results are also given for the positron kinetic energy, the various components of the positron correlation energy, the pair-correlation function, the electrostatic potential as well as the positron momentum probability distribution at various electron densities. (author)

A double-layer based model of ion confinement in electron cyclotron resonance ion source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mascali, D., E-mail: davidmascali@lns.infn.it; Neri, L.; Celona, L.; Castro, G.; Gammino, S.; Ciavola, G. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, via S. Sofia 62, 95123 Catania (Italy); Torrisi, G. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, via S. Sofia 62, 95123 Catania (Italy); Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, delle Infrastrutture e dell’Energia Sostenibile, Via Graziella, I-89100 Reggio Calabria (Italy); Sorbello, G. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, via S. Sofia 62, 95123 Catania (Italy); Università degli Studi di Catania, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica Elettronica ed Informatica, Viale Andrea Doria 6, 95125 Catania (Italy)

2014-02-15

The paper proposes a new model of ion confinement in ECRIS, which can be easily generalized to any magnetic configuration characterized by closed magnetic surfaces. Traditionally, ion confinement in B-min configurations is ascribed to a negative potential dip due to superhot electrons, adiabatically confined by the magneto-static field. However, kinetic simulations including RF heating affected by cavity modes structures indicate that high energy electrons populate just a thin slab overlapping the ECR layer, while their density drops down of more than one order of magnitude outside. Ions, instead, diffuse across the electron layer due to their high collisionality. This is the proper physical condition to establish a double-layer (DL) configuration which self-consistently originates a potential barrier; this “barrier” confines the ions inside the plasma core surrounded by the ECR surface. The paper will describe a simplified ion confinement model based on plasma density non-homogeneity and DL formation.

Characteristic electron energy loss spectra in SiC buried layers formed by C+ implantation into crystalline silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan Hui; Chen Guanghua; Kwok, R.W.M.

1998-01-01

SiC buried layers were synthesized by a metal vapor vacuum arc ion source, with C + ions implanted into crystalline Si substrates. According to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the characteristic electron energy loss spectra of the SiC buried layers were studied. It was found that the characteristic electron energy loss spectra depend on the profiles of the carbon content, and correlate well with the order of the buried layers

Electron mobility in few-layer MoxW1-xS2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chandrasekar, Hareesh; Nath, Digbijoy N

2015-01-01

Heterostructures of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials are increasingly being explored for electronics in order to potentially extend conventional transistor scaling and to exploit new device designs and architectures. Alloys form a key underpinning of any heterostructure device technology and therefore an understanding of their electronic properties is essential. In this paper, we study the intrinsic electron mobility in few-layer Mo x W 1−x S 2 as limited by various scattering mechanisms. The room temperature, energy-dependent scattering times corresponding to polar longitudinal optical (LO) phonon, alloy and background impurity scattering mechanisms are estimated based on the Born approximation to Fermi’s golden rule. The contribution of individual scattering rates is analyzed as a function of 2D electron density as well as of alloy composition in Mo x W 1−x S 2 . While impurity scattering limits the mobility for low carrier densities (<2–4×10 12 cm −2 ), LO polar phonon scattering is the dominant mechanism for high electron densities. Alloy scattering is found to play a non-negligible role for 0.5 < x < 0.7 in Mo x W 1−x S 2 . The LO phonon-limited and impurity-limited mobilities show opposing trends with respect to alloy mole fractions. The understanding of electron mobility in Mo x W 1−x S 2 presented here is expected to enable the design and realization of heterostructures and devices based on alloys of MoS 2 and WS 2 . (paper)

Theoretical investigation of electronic and magnetic properties of MnAu layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Masrour, R., E-mail: rachidmasrour@hotmail.com [Laboratory of Materials, Processes, Environment and Quality, Cady Ayyed University, National School of Applied Sciences, BP 63, 46000, Sidi Bouzid, Safi (Morocco); LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco); Hlil, E.K. [Institut Neel, CNRS et Universite Joseph Fourier, BP 166, F-38042 Grenoble cedex 9 (France); Hamedoun, M. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Benyoussef, A. [LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco); Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Rabat (Morocco); Mounkachi, O. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Bahmad, L. [LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco)

2013-01-15

Self-consistent ab initio calculations, based on the density functional theory (DFT) approach and using the full potential linear augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method, are performed to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the MnAu layers. Polarized spin and spin-orbit coupling are included in calculations within the framework of the antiferromagnetic state between two adjacent Mn layers. Magnetic moment considered to lie along a axes are computed. The data obtained from the ab initio calculations are then used as input for the high temperature series expansions (HTSEs) calculation to compute other magnetic parameters. The exchange integrals between the magnetic atoms in the same layer and between the magnetic atoms in the bilayers adjacent are given by using mean field theory. The HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility of MnAu antiferromagnetic spin-S through two model: Ising and XY layers consisting of l=2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and bulk ({infinity}) interacting layers, are studied to sixth order series in {beta}=1/k{sub B}T obtained for free-surface boundary conditions. The effects of finite size on critical-point behavior are studied by extrapolation of the high-temperature series. The Neel temperature T{sub N}(l) as a function of the number of l spin layers is obtained by HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility series by using the Pade approximant method and by MFT theory. The critical exponent {gamma} associated with the magnetic susceptibility is deduced. T{sub N}(l) for the l-layers are estimated from the divergence of the staggered susceptibility with an exponent for Ising model of {gamma}(1)=2.96, and for XY model of {gamma}(2)=2.82, which is consistent with the basic assumptions of scaling laws. Our estimates for the shift exponent of the Neel temperature for the two models are obtained. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer ab initio calculations is using to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the MnAu layers. Black

Theoretical investigation of electronic and magnetic properties of MnAu layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masrour, R.; Hlil, E.K.; Hamedoun, M.; Benyoussef, A.; Mounkachi, O.; Bahmad, L.

2013-01-01

Self-consistent ab initio calculations, based on the density functional theory (DFT) approach and using the full potential linear augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method, are performed to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the MnAu layers. Polarized spin and spin–orbit coupling are included in calculations within the framework of the antiferromagnetic state between two adjacent Mn layers. Magnetic moment considered to lie along a axes are computed. The data obtained from the ab initio calculations are then used as input for the high temperature series expansions (HTSEs) calculation to compute other magnetic parameters. The exchange integrals between the magnetic atoms in the same layer and between the magnetic atoms in the bilayers adjacent are given by using mean field theory. The HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility of MnAu antiferromagnetic spin-S through two model: Ising and XY layers consisting of l=2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and bulk (∞) interacting layers, are studied to sixth order series in β=1/k B T obtained for free-surface boundary conditions. The effects of finite size on critical-point behavior are studied by extrapolation of the high-temperature series. The Néel temperature T N (l) as a function of the number of l spin layers is obtained by HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility series by using the Padé approximant method and by MFT theory. The critical exponent γ associated with the magnetic susceptibility is deduced. T N (l) for the l-layers are estimated from the divergence of the staggered susceptibility with an exponent for Ising model of γ(1)=2.96, and for XY model of γ(2)=2.82, which is consistent with the basic assumptions of scaling laws. Our estimates for the shift exponent of the Néel temperature for the two models are obtained. - Highlights: ► ab initio calculations is using to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the MnAu layers. ► Obtained data from ab initio calculations are used as input for the HTSEs

Magnetooptic effects and Auger electron spectroscopy of two-layer NiFe-Dy and Fe-Dy films with nonuniform layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehdel'man, I.S.; Markov, V.V.; Khudyakov, A.E.; Ivantsov, R.D.; Bondarenko, G.V.; Ovchinnikov, S.G.; Kesler, V.G.; Parshin, A.S.; Ronzhin, I.P.

2001-01-01

Magneto-optical effects (magnetic circular dichroism and meridional Kerr effect) and element distribution with layer thickness in two-layer NiFe-Dy and Fe-Dy films, prepared by thermal sputtering of component in ultrahigh vacuum, are investigated. It is shown, that Dy in a two-layer film in the temperature range of 80-300 K makes constant contributions to both effects investigated which are approximately equal to the values of the effects observed in an isolated Dy film only at temperatures below the temperature T c of Dy transition into a ferromagnetic state (T c ∼ 100 K for the films under study). This behaviour of magneto-optical effects is assumed to be due to the influence of a NiFe layer spin system on magnetic state of a Dy layer, this influence is enhanced by the deep penetration of Ni and Fe ions into Dy layer as it follows from the data obtained using Auger electron spectroscopy [ru

Lifetime enhanced phosphorescent organic light emitting diode using an electron scavenger layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hong, Seokhwan; Kim, Ji Whan; Lee, Sangyeob, E-mail: sy96.lee@samsung.com [Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., 130 Samsung-ro, Suwon, Gyeonggi 443-803 (Korea, Republic of)

2015-07-27

We demonstrate a method to improve lifetime of a phosphorescent organic light emitting diode (OLED) using an electron scavenger layer (ESL) in a hole transporting layer (HTL) of the device. We use a bis(1-(phenyl)isoquinoline)iridium(III)acetylacetonate [Ir(piq){sub 2}(acac)] doped HTL to stimulate radiative decay, preventing thermal degradation in HTL. The ESL effectively prevented non-radiative decay of leakage electron in HTL by converting non-radiative decay to radiative decay via a phosphorescent red emitter, Ir(piq){sub 2}(acac). The lifetime of device (t{sub 95}: time after 5% decrease of luminance) has been increased from 75 h to 120 h by using the ESL in a phosphorescent green-emitting OLED.

Interpretation of electron beam induced charging of oxide layers in a transistor studied using electron holography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ubaldi, F; Pozzi, G; Kasama, Takeshi

2010-01-01

Off-axis electron holography has been used to characterize a linear array of transistors, which was prepared for examination in cross-sectional geometry in the transmission electron microscope using focused ion beam milling. In reconstructed phase images, regions of silicon oxide that are located...... into account the mean inner potential of the specimen and the perturbed vacuum reference wave. The simulations suggest that the oxide layers contain a uniform volume density of positive charge and that the elliptical contours result from the combined effect of the electrostatic potential in the specimen...

A layer-by-layer ZnO nanoparticle-PbS quantum dot self-assembly platform for ultrafast interfacial electron injection

KAUST Repository

Eita, Mohamed Samir; Usman, Anwar; El-Ballouli, AlA'A O.; Alarousu, Erkki Antero; Bakr, Osman; Mohammed, Omar F.

2014-01-01

solar cell. To achieve sufficient electron transfer and subsequently high conversion efficiency in these solar cells, however, energy-level alignment and interfacial contact between the donor and the acceptor units are needed. Here, the layer-by

SiNx layers on nanostructured Si solar cells: Effective for optical absorption and carrier collection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Yunae; Kim, Eunah; Gwon, Minji; Kim, Dong-Wook; Park, Hyeong-Ho; Kim, Joondong

2015-01-01

We compared nanopatterned Si solar cells with and without SiN x layers. The SiN x layer coating significantly improved the internal quantum efficiency of the nanopatterned cells at long wavelengths as well as short wavelengths, whereas the surface passivation helped carrier collection of flat cells mainly at short wavelengths. The surface nanostructured array enhanced the optical absorption and also concentrated incoming light near the surface in broad wavelength range. Resulting high density of the photo-excited carriers near the surface could lead to significant recombination loss and the SiN x layer played a crucial role in the improved carrier collection of the nanostructured solar cells

Blocking layer modeling for temperature analysis of electron transfer ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this article, we simulate thermal effects on the electron transfer rate from three quantum dots CdSe, CdS and CdTe to three metal oxides TiO2, SnO2 and ZnO2 in the presence of four blocking layers ZnS, ZnO, TiO2 and Al2O3, in a porous quantum dot sensitized solar cell (QDSSC) structure, using Marcus theory.

Diverse and tunable electronic structures of single-layer metal phosphorus trichalcogenides for photocatalytic water splitting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Jian; Li, Xi-Bo; Wang, Da; Liu, Li-Min; Lau, Woon-Ming; Peng, Ping

2014-01-01

The family of bulk metal phosphorus trichalcogenides (APX 3 , A = M II , M 0.5 I M 0.5 III ; X = S, Se; M I , M II , and M III represent Group-I, Group-II, and Group-III metals, respectively) has attracted great attentions because such materials not only own magnetic and ferroelectric properties, but also exhibit excellent properties in hydrogen storage and lithium battery because of the layered structures. Many layered materials have been exfoliated into two-dimensional (2D) materials, and they show distinct electronic properties compared with their bulks. Here we present a systematical study of single-layer metal phosphorus trichalcogenides by density functional theory calculations. The results show that the single layer metal phosphorus trichalcogenides have very low formation energies, which indicates that the exfoliation of single layer APX 3 should not be difficult. The family of single layer metal phosphorus trichalcogenides exhibits a large range of band gaps from 1.77 to 3.94 eV, and the electronic structures are greatly affected by the metal or the chalcogenide atoms. The calculated band edges of metal phosphorus trichalcogenides further reveal that single-layer ZnPSe 3 , CdPSe 3 , Ag 0.5 Sc 0.5 PSe 3 , and Ag 0.5 In 0.5 PX 3 (X = S and Se) have both suitable band gaps for visible-light driving and sufficient over-potentials for water splitting. More fascinatingly, single-layer Ag 0.5 Sc 0.5 PSe 3 is a direct band gap semiconductor, and the calculated optical absorption further convinces that such materials own outstanding properties for light absorption. Such results demonstrate that the single layer metal phosphorus trichalcogenides own high stability, versatile electronic properties, and high optical absorption, thus such materials have great chances to be high efficient photocatalysts for water-splitting

Electron-temperature-gradient-induced instability in tokamak scrape-off layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berk, H.L.; Ryutov, D.D.; Tsidulko, Y.A.; Xu, X.Q.

1992-08-01

An electron temperature instability driven by the Kunkel-Guillory sheath impedance, has been applied to the scrape-off layer of tokamaks. The formalism has been generalized to more fully account for parallel wavelength dynamics, to differentiate between electromagnetic and electrostatic perturbations and to account for particle recycling effects. It is conjectured that this conducting wall instability leads to edge fluctuations in tokamaks that produce scrape-off widths of many ion Larmor radii ≅10. The predicted instability characteristics correlate somewhat with DIII-D edge fluctuation data, and the scrape-off layer width in the DIII-D experiment agrees with theoretical estimates that can be derived from mixing lenght theory

Adsorption and electronic properties of pentacene on thin dielectric decoupling layers.

Science.gov (United States)

Koslowski, Sebastian; Rosenblatt, Daniel; Kabakchiev, Alexander; Kuhnke, Klaus; Kern, Klaus; Schlickum, Uta

2017-01-01

With the increasing use of thin dielectric decoupling layers to study the electronic properties of organic molecules on metal surfaces, comparative studies are needed in order to generalize findings and formulate practical rules. In this paper we study the adsorption and electronic properties of pentacene deposited onto h-BN/Rh(111) and compare them with those of pentacene deposited onto KCl on various metal surfaces. When deposited onto KCl, the HOMO and LUMO energies of the pentacene molecules scale with the work functions of the combined KCl/metal surface. The magnitude of the variation between the respective KCl/metal systems indicates the degree of interaction of the frontier orbitals with the underlying metal. The results confirm that the so-called IDIS model developed by Willenbockel et al. applies not only to molecular layers on bare metal surfaces, but also to individual molecules on thin electronically decoupling layers. Depositing pentacene onto h-BN/Rh(111) results in significantly different adsorption characteristics, due to the topographic corrugation of the surface as well as the lateral electric fields it presents. These properties are reflected in the divergence from the aforementioned trend for the orbital energies of pentacene deposited onto h-BN/Rh(111), as well as in the different adsorption geometry. Thus, the highly desirable capacity of h-BN to trap molecules comes at the price of enhanced metal-molecule interaction, which decreases the HOMO-LUMO gap of the molecules. In spite of the enhanced interaction, the molecular orbitals are evident in scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) and their shapes can be resolved by spectroscopic mapping.

Atto-second control of collective electron motion in plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borot, Antonin; Malvache, Arnaud; Chen, Xiaowei; Jullien, Aurelie; Lopez-Martens, Rodrigo; Geindre, Jean-Paul; Audebert, Patrick; Mourou, Gerard; Quere, Fabien

2012-01-01

Today, light fields of controlled and measured waveform can be used to guide electron motion in atoms and molecules with atto-second precision. Here, we demonstrate atto-second control of collective electron motion in plasmas driven by extreme intensity (approximate to 10 18 W cm -2 ) light fields. Controlled few-cycle near-infrared waves are tightly focused at the interface between vacuum and a solid-density plasma, where they launch and guide sub-cycle motion of electrons from the plasma with characteristic energies in the multi-kilo-electron-volt range-two orders of magnitude more than has been achieved so far in atoms and molecules. The basic spectroscopy of the coherent extreme ultraviolet radiation emerging from the light-plasma interaction allows us to probe this collective motion of charge with sub-200 as resolution. This is an important step towards atto-second control of charge dynamics in laser-driven plasma experiments. (authors)

Quantitative Collection and Enzymatic Activity of Glucose Oxidase Nanotubes Fabricated by Templated Layer-by-Layer Assembly.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shouwei; Demoustier-Champagne, Sophie; Jonas, Alain M

2015-08-10

We report on the fabrication of enzyme nanotubes in nanoporous polycarbonate membranes via the layer-by-layer (LbL) alternate assembly of polyethylenimine (PEI) and glucose oxidase (GOX), followed by dissolution of the sacrificial template in CH2Cl2, collection, and final dispersion in water. An adjuvant-assisted filtration methodology is exploited to extract quantitatively the nanotubes without loss of activity and morphology. Different water-soluble CH2Cl2-insoluble adjuvants are tested for maximal enzyme activity and nanotube stability; whereas NaCl disrupts the tubes by screening electrostatic interactions, the high osmotic pressure created by fructose also contributes to loosening the nanotubular structures. These issues are solved when using neutral, high molar mass dextran. The enzymatic activity of intact free nanotubes in water is then quantitatively compared to membrane-embedded nanotubes, showing that the liberated nanotubes have a higher catalytic activity in proportion to their larger exposed surface. Our study thus discloses a robust and general methodology for the fabrication and quantitative collection of enzymatic nanotubes and shows that LbL assembly provides access to efficient enzyme carriers for use as catalytic swarming agents.

Detector and Front-end electronics for ALICE and STAR silicon strip layers

CERN Document Server

Arnold, L; Coffin, J P; Guillaume, G; Higueret, S; Jundt, F; Kühn, C E; Lutz, Jean Robert; Suire, C; Tarchini, A; Berst, D; Blondé, J P; Clauss, G; Colledani, C; Deptuch, G; Dulinski, W; Hu, Y; Hébrard, L; Kucewicz, W; Boucham, A; Bouvier, S; Ravel, O; Retière, F

1998-01-01

Detector modules consisting of Silicon Strip Detector (SSD) and Front End Electronics (FEE) assembly have been designed in order to provide the two outer layers of the ALICE Inner Tracker System (ITS) [1] as well as the outer layer of the STAR Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) [2]. Several prototypes have beenproduced and tested in the SPS and PS beam at CERN to validate the final design. Double-sided, AC-coupled SSD detectors provided by two different manufacturers and also a pair of single-sided SSD have been asssociated to new low-power CMOS ALICE128C ASIC chips in a new detector module assembly. The same detectors have also been associated to current Viking electronics for reference purpose. These prototype detector modules are described and some first results are presented.

77 FR 56847 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Electronic...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-14

... Number 0910-0645)--Revision The SRP (formerly referred to as the MedWatch\\Plus\\ Portal and Rational Questionnaire) and the ESG are the Agency's electronic systems for collecting, submitting, and processing... ESG, approved under OMB control number 0910-0645. III. The FDA Safety Reporting Portal Rational...

Electron Beam Evaporated TiO2 Layer for High Efficiency Planar Perovskite Solar Cells on Flexible Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrates

KAUST Repository

Qiu, Weiming

2015-09-30

The TiO2 layer made by electron beam (e-beam) induced evaporation is demonstrated as electron transport layer (ETL) in high efficiency planar junction perovskite solar cells. The temperature of the substrate and the thickness of the TiO2 layer can be easily controlled with this e-beam induced evaporation method, which enables the usage of different types of substrates. Here, Perovskite solar cells based on CH3NH3PbI3-xClx achieve power conversion efficiencies of 14.6% on glass and 13.5% on flexible plastic substrates. The relationship between the TiO2 layer thickness and the perovskite morphology is studied with scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Our results indicate that pinholes in thin TiO2 layer lead to pinholes in the perovskite layer. By optimizing the TiO2 thickness, perovskite layers with substantially increased surface coverage and reduced pinhole areas are fabricated, increasing overall device performance.

Numerical simulation of electronic properties of coupled quantum dots on wetting layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Betcke, M M; Voss, H

2008-01-01

Self-assembled quantum dots are grown on wetting layers and frequently in an array-like assembly of many similar but not exactly equal dots. Nevertheless, most simulations disregard these structural conditions and restrict themselves to simulating a pure single quantum dot. For reasons of numerical efficiency we advocate the effective one-band Hamiltonian with energy- and position-dependent effective mass approximation and a finite height hard-wall 3D confinement potential for computation of the energy levels of the electrons in the conduction band. Within this model we investigate the geometrical effects mentioned above on the electronic structure of a pyramidal InAs quantum dot embedded in a GaAs matrix. We find that the presence of a wetting layer may affect the electronic structure noticeably. Furthermore, we establish that, in spite of the large bandgap of the InAs/GaAs heterostructure, if the dots in a vertically aligned array are sufficiently close stacked there is considerable interaction between their eigenfunctions. Moreover, the eigenfunctions of such an array are quite sensitive to certain structural perturbations

Improved efficiency of NiOx-based p-i-n perovskite solar cells by using PTEG-1 as electron transport layer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groeneveld, Bart G. H. M.; Najafi, Mehrdad; Steensma, Bauke; Adjokatse, Sampson; Fang, Hong-Hua; Jahani, Fatemeh; Qiu, Li; ten Brink, Gert H.; Hummelen, Jan C.; Loi, Maria Antonietta

We present efficient p-i-n type perovskite solar cells using NiOx as the hole transport layer and a fulleropyrrolidine with a triethylene glycol monoethyl ether side chain (PTEG-1) as electron transport layer. This electron transport layer leads to higher power conversion efficiencies compared to

Local Electronic Structure of a Single-Layer Porphyrin-Containing Covalent Organic Framework

KAUST Repository

Chen, Chen; Joshi, Trinity; Li, Huifang; Chavez, Anton D.; Pedramrazi, Zahra; Liu, Pei-Nian; Li, Hong; Dichtel, William R.; Bredas, Jean-Luc; Crommie, Michael F.

2017-01-01

We have characterized the local electronic structure of a porphyrin-containing single-layer covalent organic framework (COF) exhibiting a square lattice. The COF monolayer was obtained by the deposition of 2,5-dimethoxybenzene-1,4-dicarboxaldehyde

Development of a double-layered ceramic filter for aerosol filtration at high-temperatures: the filter collection efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

de Freitas, Normanda L; Gonçalves, José A S; Innocentini, Murilo D M; Coury, José R

2006-08-25

The performance of double-layered ceramic filters for aerosol filtration at high temperatures was evaluated in this work. The filtering structure was composed of two layers: a thin granular membrane deposited on a reticulate ceramic support of high porosity. The goal was to minimize the high pressure drop inherent of granular structures, without decreasing their high collection efficiency for small particles. The reticulate support was developed using the technique of ceramic replication of polyurethane foam substrates of 45 and 75 pores per inch (ppi). The filtering membrane was prepared by depositing a thin layer of granular alumina-clay paste on one face of the support. Filters had their permeability and fractional collection efficiency analyzed for filtration of an airborne suspension of phosphatic rock in temperatures ranging from ambient to 700 degrees C. Results revealed that collection efficiency decreased with gas temperature and was enhanced with filtration time. Also, the support layer influenced the collection efficiency: the 75 ppi support was more effective than the 45 ppi. Particle collection efficiency dropped considerably for particles below 2 microm in diameter. The maximum collection occurred for particle diameters of approximately 3 microm, and decreased again for diameters between 4 and 8 microm. Such trend was successfully represented by the proposed correlation, which is based on the classical mechanisms acting on particle collection. Inertial impaction seems to be the predominant collection mechanism, with particle bouncing/re-entrainment acting as detachment mechanisms.

Layer-dependent anisotropic electronic structure of freestanding quasi-two-dimensional Mo S 2

KAUST Repository

Hong, Jinhua

2016-02-29

The anisotropy of the electronic transition is a well-known characteristic of low-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides, but their layer-thickness dependence has not been properly investigated experimentally until now. Yet, it not only determines the optical properties of these low-dimensional materials, but also holds the key in revealing the underlying character of the electronic states involved. Here we used both angle-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy and spectral analysis of angle-integrated spectra to study the evolution of the anisotropic electronic transition involving the low-energy valence electrons in the freestanding MoS2 layers with different thicknesses. We are able to demonstrate that the well-known direct gap at 1.8 eV is only excited by the in-plane polarized field while the out-of-plane polarized optical gap is 2.4 ± 0.2 eV in monolayer MoS2. This contrasts with the much smaller anisotropic response found for the indirect gap in the few-layer MoS2 systems. In addition, we determined that the joint density of states associated with the indirect gap transition in the multilayer systems and the corresponding indirect transition in the monolayer case has a characteristic three-dimensional-like character. We attribute this to the soft-edge behavior of the confining potential and it is an important factor when considering the dynamical screening of the electric field at the relevant excitation energies. Our result provides a logical explanation for the large sensitivity of the indirect transition to thickness variation compared with that for the direct transition, in terms of quantum confinement effect.

Layer-dependent anisotropic electronic structure of freestanding quasi-two-dimensional Mo S 2

KAUST Repository

Hong, Jinhua; Li, Kun; Jin, Chuanhong; Zhang, Xixiang; Zhang, Ze; Yuan, Jun

2016-01-01

The anisotropy of the electronic transition is a well-known characteristic of low-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides, but their layer-thickness dependence has not been properly investigated experimentally until now. Yet, it not only determines the optical properties of these low-dimensional materials, but also holds the key in revealing the underlying character of the electronic states involved. Here we used both angle-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy and spectral analysis of angle-integrated spectra to study the evolution of the anisotropic electronic transition involving the low-energy valence electrons in the freestanding MoS2 layers with different thicknesses. We are able to demonstrate that the well-known direct gap at 1.8 eV is only excited by the in-plane polarized field while the out-of-plane polarized optical gap is 2.4 ± 0.2 eV in monolayer MoS2. This contrasts with the much smaller anisotropic response found for the indirect gap in the few-layer MoS2 systems. In addition, we determined that the joint density of states associated with the indirect gap transition in the multilayer systems and the corresponding indirect transition in the monolayer case has a characteristic three-dimensional-like character. We attribute this to the soft-edge behavior of the confining potential and it is an important factor when considering the dynamical screening of the electric field at the relevant excitation energies. Our result provides a logical explanation for the large sensitivity of the indirect transition to thickness variation compared with that for the direct transition, in terms of quantum confinement effect.

Optimization of the electron collection efficiency of a large area MCP-PMT for the JUNO experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Lin; Tian, Jinshou; Liu, Chunliang; Wang, Yifang; Zhao, Tianchi; Liu, Hulin; Wei, Yonglin; Sai, Xiaofeng; Chen, Ping; Wang, Xing; Lu, Yu; Hui, Dandan; Guo, Lehui; Liu, Shulin; Qian, Sen; Xia, Jingkai; Yan, Baojun; Zhu, Na; Sun, Jianning; Si, Shuguang

2016-01-01

A novel large-area (20-inch) photomultiplier tube based on microchannel plate (MCP-PMTs) is proposed for the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) experiment. Its photoelectron collection efficiency C e is limited by the MCP open area fraction (A open ). This efficiency is studied as a function of the angular (θ), energy (E) distributions of electrons in the input charge cloud and the potential difference (U) between the PMT photocathode and the MCP input surface, considering secondary electron emission from the MCP input electrode. In CST Studio Suite, Finite Integral Technique and Monte Carlo method are combined to investigate the dependence of C e on θ, E and U. Results predict that C e can exceed A open , and are applied to optimize the structure and operational parameters of the 20-inch MCP-PMT prototype. C e of the optimized MCP-PMT is expected to reach 81.2%. Finally, the reduction of the penetration depth of the MCP input electrode layer and the deposition of a high secondary electron yield material on the MCP are proposed to further optimize C e .

Performance Analysis of GaN Capping Layer Thickness on GaN/AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, N; Periasamy, C; Chaturvedi, N

2018-07-01

In this paper, we present an investigation of the impact of GaN capping layer and AlGaN layer thickness on the two-dimensional (2D)-electron mobility and the carrier concentration which was formed close to the AlGaN/GaN buffer layer for Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN and GaN/Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures deposited on sapphire substrates. The results of our analysis clearly indicate that expanding the GaN capping layer thickness from 1 nm to 100 nm prompts an increment in the electron concentration at hetero interface. As consequence of which drain current was additionally increments with GaN cap layer thicknesses, and eventually saturates at approximately 1.85 A/mm for capping layer thickness greater than 40 nm. Interestingly, for the same structure, the 2D-electron mobility, decrease monotonically with GaN capping layer thickness, and saturate at approximately 830 cm2/Vs for capping layer thickness greater than 50 nm. A device with a GaN cap layer didn't exhibit gate leakage current. Furthermore, it was observed that the carrier concentration was first decrease 1.03 × 1019/cm3 to 6.65 × 1018/cm3 with AlGaN Layer thickness from 5 to 10 nm and after that it increases with the AlGaN layer thickness from 10 to 30 nm. The same trend was followed for electric field distributions. Electron mobility decreases monotonically with AlGaN layer thickness. Highest electron mobility 1354 cm2/Vs were recorded for the AlGaN layer thickness of 5 nm. Results obtained are in good agreement with published experimental data.

Complex (Nonstandard) Six-Layer Polytypes of Lizardite Revealed from Oblique-Texture Electron Diffraction Patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhukhlistov, A.P.; Zinchuk, N.N.; Kotel'nikov, D.D.

2004-01-01

Association of simple (1T and 3R) and two complex (nonstandard) orthogonal polytypes of the serpentine mineral lizardite from the Catoca kimberlite pipe (West Africa) association is revealed from oblique-texture electron diffraction patterns. A six-layer polytype with an ordered superposition of equally oriented layers (notation 3 2 3 2 3 4 3 4 3 6 3 6 or ++ - -00) belonging to the structural group A and a three-layer (336 or I,I,II) or a six-layer (336366 or I,I,II,I,II,II) polytype with alternating oppositely oriented layers and semi-disordered structure are identified using polytype analysis

Effect of low dose electron beam irradiation on the alteration layer formed during nuclear glass leaching

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mougnaud, S., E-mail: sarah.mougnaud@gmail.com [CEA Marcoule, DEN, DTCD, SECM, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex (France); Tribet, M. [CEA Marcoule, DEN, DTCD, SECM, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex (France); Renault, J.-P. [NIMBE, CNRS, CEA, Université Paris Saclay, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex (France); Jollivet, P. [CEA Marcoule, DEN, DTCD, SECM, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex (France); Panczer, G. [Institut Lumière Matière, UMR 5306, Université Lyon 1-CNRS, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex (France); Charpentier, T. [NIMBE, CNRS, CEA, Université Paris Saclay, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex (France); Jégou, C. [CEA Marcoule, DEN, DTCD, SECM, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex (France)

2016-12-15

This investigation concerns borosilicate glass leaching mechanisms and the evolution of alteration layer under electron beam irradiation. A simple glass doped with rare earth elements was selected in order to access mechanistic and structural information and better evaluate the effects of irradiation. It was fully leached in initially pure water at 90 °C and at high glass surface area to solution volume ratio (S/V = 20 000 m{sup −1}) in static conditions. Under these conditions, the system quickly reaches the residual alteration rate regime. A small particle size fraction (2–5 μm) was sampled in order to obtain a fairly homogeneous altered material enabling the use of bulk characterization methods. External irradiations with 10 MeV electrons up to a dose of 10 MGy were performed either before or after leaching, to investigate respectively the effect of initial glass irradiation on its alteration behavior and the irradiation stability of the alteration layer. Glass dissolution rate was analyzed by regular leachate samplings and the alteration layer structure was characterized by Raman, luminescence (continuous or time-resolved), and {sup 29}Si MAS NMR and EPR spectroscopy. It was shown that the small initial glass evolutions under irradiation did not induce any modification of the leaching kinetic nor of the structure of the alteration layer. The alteration process seemed to “smooth over” the created defects. Otherwise, the alteration layer and initial glass appeared to have different behaviors under irradiation. No Eu{sup 3+} reduction was detected in the alteration layer after irradiation and the defect creation efficiency was much lower than for initial glass. This can possibly be explained by the protective role of pore water contained in the altered material (∼20%). Moreover, a slight depolymerization of the silicon network of the altered glass under irradiation with electrons was evidenced, whereas in the initial glass it typically

Adsorption and electronic properties of pentacene on thin dielectric decoupling layers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastian Koslowski

2017-07-01

Full Text Available With the increasing use of thin dielectric decoupling layers to study the electronic properties of organic molecules on metal surfaces, comparative studies are needed in order to generalize findings and formulate practical rules. In this paper we study the adsorption and electronic properties of pentacene deposited onto h-BN/Rh(111 and compare them with those of pentacene deposited onto KCl on various metal surfaces. When deposited onto KCl, the HOMO and LUMO energies of the pentacene molecules scale with the work functions of the combined KCl/metal surface. The magnitude of the variation between the respective KCl/metal systems indicates the degree of interaction of the frontier orbitals with the underlying metal. The results confirm that the so-called IDIS model developed by Willenbockel et al. applies not only to molecular layers on bare metal surfaces, but also to individual molecules on thin electronically decoupling layers. Depositing pentacene onto h-BN/Rh(111 results in significantly different adsorption characteristics, due to the topographic corrugation of the surface as well as the lateral electric fields it presents. These properties are reflected in the divergence from the aforementioned trend for the orbital energies of pentacene deposited onto h-BN/Rh(111, as well as in the different adsorption geometry. Thus, the highly desirable capacity of h-BN to trap molecules comes at the price of enhanced metal–molecule interaction, which decreases the HOMO–LUMO gap of the molecules. In spite of the enhanced interaction, the molecular orbitals are evident in scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS and their shapes can be resolved by spectroscopic mapping.

Wetting layer effect on impurity-related electronic properties of different (In,Ga)N QD-shapes

Science.gov (United States)

El Ghazi, Haddou; Jorio, Anouar; Zorkani, Izeddine; Feddi, El Mustapha; El Mouchtachi, Ahmed

2018-05-01

In this paper, we have investigated the electronic properties of (In,Ga)N/GaN coupled wetting layer-quantum dot system using the numerical approach. The finite element method code is used to solve the Schrödinger equation, in the presence of the impurity. In our model, parallelepiped-shape, circular and square based-pyramidal and their wetting layers embedded in GaN matrix were considered. Based on the single band parabolic and the effective mass approximations, the envelop function and its corresponding energy eigenvalue are obtained assuming a finite potential barrier. Our results reveal that: (1) the wetting layer has a great influence on the electronic properties especially for a small quantum dot and acts in the opposite sense of the geometrical confinement, (2) a wetting layer-dependent critical QD-size is obtained limiting two different behaviors and (3) its effect is strongly-dependent on the quantum dot-shape.

The collective acceleration mechanism of solar cosmic rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gershtein, S.S.

1978-01-01

The collective acceleration mechanism of protons and nuclei in solar flares, which lies in the fact that nuclei are trapped by electron bunches moving along the opened lines of force of the decreasing magnetic field of solar sports, is discussed. The proposed mechanism explains in a natural way the electron and nucleus energy ratio observed during flares. Electron acceleration in the current layers up to energies of the order of a MeV is discussed as a mechanism of electron pulsed injection. The collective acceleration mechanism can be realized at a comparatively small density of accelerated electrons nsub(e) approximately equal to 10 2 10 4 cm -3

Multifunctional Inverse Opal-Like TiO2 Electron Transport Layer for Efficient Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xiao; Yang, Shuang; Zheng, Yi Chu; Chen, Ying; Hou, Yu; Yang, Xiao Hua; Yang, Hua Gui

2015-09-01

A novel multifunctional inverse opal-like TiO 2 electron transport layer (IOT-ETL) is designed to replace the traditional compact layer and mesoporous scaffold layer in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Improved light harvesting efficiency and charge transporting performance in IOT-ETL based PSCs yield high power conversion efficiency of 13.11%.

Electron microscopy analyses and electrical properties of the layered Bi2WO6 phase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taoufyq, A.; Ait Ahsaine, H.; Patout, L.; Benlhachemi, A.; Ezahri, M.

2013-01-01

The bismuth tungstate Bi 2 WO 6 was synthesized using a classical coprecipitation method followed by a calcination process at different temperatures. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) analyses. The Rietveld analysis and electron diffraction clearly confirmed the Pca2 1 non centrosymmetric space group previously proposed for this phase. The layers Bi 2 O 2 2+ and WO 4 2− have been directly evidenced from the HRTEM images. The electrical properties of Bi 2 WO 6 compacted pellets systems were determined from electrical impedance spectrometry (EIS) and direct current (DC) analyses, under air and argon, between 350 and 700 °C. The direct current analyses showed that the conduction observed from EIS analyses was mainly ionic in this temperature range, with a small electronic contribution. Electrical change above the transition temperature of 660 °C is observed under air and argon atmospheres. The strong conductivity increase observed under argon is interpreted in terms of formation of additional oxygen vacancies coupled with electron conduction. - Graphical abstract: High resolution transmission electron microscopy: inverse fast Fourier transform giving the layered structure of the Bi 2 WO 6 phase, with a representation of the cell dimensions (b and c vectors). The Bi 2 O 2 2+ and WO 4 2− sandwiches are visible in the IFFT image. - Highlights: • Using transmission electron microscopy, we visualize the layered structure of Bi 2 WO 6 . • Electrical analyses under argon gas show some increase in conductivity. • The phase transition at 660 °C is evidenced from electrical modification

Scanning electron microscopy characterisation of carbon deposited layers in Tore Supra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delchambre, E.; Brosset, C.; Reichle, R.; Devynck, P.; Guirlet, R.; Tsitrone, E.; Saikali, W.; Dominici, C.; Charai, A.

2003-01-01

For long discharges in Tore-Supra, an infra-red safety system has been installed to survey surface temperature of the target plates located below the toroidal pump limiter. A shift in temperature is attributed to the growth of a carbon layer at the surface of the neutralizer and has been estimated to a temperature increase of 400 Celsius degrees between virgin and layered surfaces. For temperature safety analysis, target plates have been cleaned and carbon layers were sampled for scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) study. SEM micrographs have allowed to measure the deposited layer thickness and to study the specific fractal and stratified structure. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis has permitted to distinguish carbon layers corresponding to boronization and then to deduce an average growth rate of about 20 nm/s. The growth rate is not constant and is likely to depend on plasma operation parameters. These analyses completed by time of flight secondary ions mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) have shown a beneficial effect of the boronization on metallic contamination of the plasma, confirming the in situ optical spectroscopic measurements. These analyses have also shown an increase of hydrogen storage in carbon layer due to boronization. Although the measurements performed on deposited layer are very local, the results reflect the history of the 2002 campaign. (A.C.)

Novel Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Graphene Nanoflakes in a Boron Nitride Layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Yungang; Wang, Zhiguo; Yang, Ping; Gao, Fei

2012-04-05

Novel electronic and magnetic properties of various-sized graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) embedded in a boron nitride (BN) layer are studied using ab initio methods. The feasibility of synthesizing hybrid GNF-BN structure, a desirable quantum dot structure, is explored. In this structure, photoexcited electrons and holes occupy the same spatial region - the GNF region - which offers an effective way to generate a GNF-based light-emitting device and adjust its emitted optical properties by controlling the size and array of GNF in the BN layer. Based on the important magnetism properties of embedded GNF, we propose a specific configuration to obtain a large spin. Together with the high stability of spin alignment, the proposed configuration can be exploited for spintronic devices.

O3 Layers via Spray Pyrolysis at Low Temperatures and Their Application in High Electron Mobility Transistors

KAUST Repository

Isakov, Ivan

2017-04-06

The growth mechanism of indium oxide (InO) layers processed via spray pyrolysis of an aqueous precursor solution in the temperature range of 100-300 °C and the impact on their electron transporting properties are studied. Analysis of the droplet impingement sites on the substrate\\'s surface as a function of its temperature reveals that Leidenfrost effect dominated boiling plays a crucial role in the growth of smooth, continuous, and highly crystalline InO layers via a vapor phase-like process. By careful optimization of the precursor formulation, deposition conditions, and choice of substrate, this effect is exploited and ultrathin and exceptionally smooth layers of InO are grown over large area substrates at temperatures as low as 252 °C. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated using these optimized InO layers exhibit superior electron transport characteristics with the electron mobility reaching up to 40 cm V s, a value amongst the highest reported to date for solution-processed InO TFTs. The present work contributes enormously to the basic understanding of spray pyrolysis and highlights its tremendous potential for large-volume manufacturing of high-performance metal oxide thin-film transistor electronics.

O3 Layers via Spray Pyrolysis at Low Temperatures and Their Application in High Electron Mobility Transistors

KAUST Repository

Isakov, Ivan; Faber, Hendrik; Grell, Max; Wyatt-Moon, Gwenhivir; Pliatsikas, Nikos; Kehagias, Thomas; Dimitrakopulos, George P.; Patsalas, Panos P.; Li, Ruipeng; Anthopoulos, Thomas D.

2017-01-01

The growth mechanism of indium oxide (InO) layers processed via spray pyrolysis of an aqueous precursor solution in the temperature range of 100-300 °C and the impact on their electron transporting properties are studied. Analysis of the droplet impingement sites on the substrate's surface as a function of its temperature reveals that Leidenfrost effect dominated boiling plays a crucial role in the growth of smooth, continuous, and highly crystalline InO layers via a vapor phase-like process. By careful optimization of the precursor formulation, deposition conditions, and choice of substrate, this effect is exploited and ultrathin and exceptionally smooth layers of InO are grown over large area substrates at temperatures as low as 252 °C. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated using these optimized InO layers exhibit superior electron transport characteristics with the electron mobility reaching up to 40 cm V s, a value amongst the highest reported to date for solution-processed InO TFTs. The present work contributes enormously to the basic understanding of spray pyrolysis and highlights its tremendous potential for large-volume manufacturing of high-performance metal oxide thin-film transistor electronics.

Electron spectroscopy of the interface carbon layer formation on the cleavage surfaces of the layered semiconductor In4Se3 crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galiy, P.V.; Musyanovych, A.V.; Nenchuk, T.M.

2005-01-01

The results of the quantitative X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) of the interface carbon layer formation on the cleavage surfaces of the layered semiconductor In 4 Se 3 crystals are presented. The carbon coating formation occurs as the result of interaction of the air and residual gases atmosphere in ultra high vacuum (UHV) Auger spectrometer chamber with atomic clean interlayer cleavage surfaces of the crystals. The kinetics and peculiarities of interfacial carbon layer formation on the cleavage surfaces of the crystals, elemental and phase composition of the interface have been studied by quantitative XPS, AES and mass-spectroscopy

Sodium bromide electron-extraction layers for polymer bulk-heterojunction solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Zhi; Qu, Bo; Xiao, Lixin; Chen, Zhijian; Zhang, Lipei; Gong, Qihuang

2014-01-01

Inexpensive and non-toxic sodium bromide (NaBr) was introduced into polymer solar cells (PSCs) as the cathode buffer layer (CBL) and the electron extraction characteristics of the NaBr CBL were investigated in detail. The PSCs based on NaBr CBL with different thicknesses (i.e., 0 nm, 0.5 nm, 1 nm, and 1.5 nm) were prepared and studied. The optimal thickness of NaBr was 1 nm according to the photovoltaic data of PSCs. The open-circuit voltage (V oc ), short-circuit current density (J sc ), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSC with 1 nm NaBr were evaluated to be 0.58 V, 7.36 mA/cm 2 , 0.63, and 2.70%, respectively, which were comparable to those of the reference device with the commonly used LiF. The optimized photovoltaic performance of PSC with 1 nm NaBr was ascribed to the improved electron transport and extraction capability of 1 nm NaBr in PSCs. In addition, the NaBr CBL could prevent the diffusion of oxygen and water vapor into the active layer and prolong the lifetime of the devices to some extent. Therefore, NaBr layer could be considered as a promising non-toxic CBL for PSCs in future

Electron-Hole Asymmetry of Spin Injection and Transport in Single-Layer Graphene

OpenAIRE

Han, Wei; Wang, W. H.; Pi, K.; McCreary, K. M.; Bao, W.; Li, Yan; Miao, F.; Lau, C. N.; Kawakami, R. K.

2009-01-01

Spin-dependent properties of single-layer graphene (SLG) have been studied by non-local spin valve measurements at room temperature. Gate voltage dependence shows that the non-local magnetoresistance (MR) is proportional to the conductivity of the SLG, which is the predicted behavior for transparent ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic contacts. While the electron and hole bands in SLG are symmetric, gate voltage and bias dependence of the non-local MR reveal an electron-hole asymmetry in which the non-...

Electrons in the boundary layers near the dayside magnetopause

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hall, D.S.; Chaloner, C.P.; Bryant, D.A.; Lepine, D.R.; Tritakis, V.P.

1990-10-01

Entry of heated solar-wind plasma into the magnetosphere is examined using electron distributions. In particular, the angular structure of the electron distributions is studied within the transition region separating the magnetosheath from the inner magnetosphere. The measurements suggest that electrons in the outer part of the transition region originate in the magnetosheath, whilst the population closer to the Earth consists of electrons from the magnetosphere combined with an energized magnetosheath component. This energized component contains ''counterstreaming'' electrons, which are confined to directions closely parallel and anti-parallel to the magnetic field direction. The possibilities, that the energization of the counterstreaming electrons is cumulatively gained from either waves, electric fields perpendicular to the magnetic field, or quasi-Fermi acceleration, are discussed. It is not possible to identify the topology of the magnetic fields of the outer part of the region, but there is strong evidence that the inner part is on closed magnetic field lines, which map to the dayside auroral zone. The outer part of the transition region is a plasma depletion/magnetic-field compression layer. The structure of the transition region is similar to that surrounding flux transfer events, which leads to the deduction that the plasma and field signatures of flux transfer events may be the result of displacement of the transition region earthwards. Cases where the displacement is such that the field maximum of the depletion/compression region is encountered, may well explain ''crater'' flux transfer event signatures. (author)

Group-III nitride based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with barrier/spacer layer

Science.gov (United States)

Chavarkar, Prashant; Smorchkova, Ioulia P.; Keller, Stacia; Mishra, Umesh; Walukiewicz, Wladyslaw; Wu, Yifeng

2005-02-01

A Group III nitride based high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) is disclosed that provides improved high frequency performance. One embodiment of the HEMT comprises a GaN buffer layer, with an Al.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y N (y=1 or y 1) layer on the GaN buffer layer. An Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x N (0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.0.5) barrier layer on to the Al.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y N layer, opposite the GaN buffer layer, Al.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y N layer having a higher Al concentration than that of the Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x N barrier layer. A preferred Al.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y N layer has y=1 or y.about.1 and a preferred Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x N barrier layer has 0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.0.5. A 2DEG forms at the interface between the GaN buffer layer and the Al.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y N layer. Respective source, drain and gate contacts are formed on the Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x N barrier layer. The HEMT can also comprising a substrate adjacent to the buffer layer, opposite the Al.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y N layer and a nucleation layer between the Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x N buffer layer and the substrate.

Enhanced brightness of organic light-emitting diodes based on Mg:Ag cathode using alkali metal chlorides as an electron injection layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zou Ye; Deng Zhenbo; Xu Denghui; Lü Zhaoyue; Yin Yuehong; Du Hailiang; Chen Zheng; Wang Yongsheng

2012-01-01

Different thicknesses of cesium chloride (CsCl) and various alkali metal chlorides were inserted into organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) as electron injection layers (EILs). The basic structure of OLED is indium tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-napthyl-phenyl)-1.1′-biphenyl-4.4′-diamine (NPB)/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq 3 )/Mg:Ag/Ag. The electroluminescent (EL) performance curves show that both the brightness and efficiency of the OLEDs can be obviously enhanced by using a thin alkali metal chloride layer as an EIL. The electron injection barrier height between the Alq 3 layer and Mg:Ag cathode is reduced by inserting a thin alkali metal chloride as an EIL, which results in enhanced electron injection and electron current. Therefore, a better balance of hole and electron currents at the emissive interface is achieved and consequently the brightness and efficiency of OLEDs are improved. - Highlights: ► Alkaline metal chlorides were used as electron injection layers in organic light-emitting diodes based on Mg:Ag cathode. ► Brightness and efficiency of OLEDs with alkaline metal chlorides as electron injection layers were all greatly enhanced. ► The Improved OLED performance was attributed to the possible interfacial chemical reaction. ► Electron-only devices are fabricated to demonstrate the electron injection enhancement.

Structure of electron collection electrode in dye-sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagida, Masatoshi; Numata, Youhei; Yoshimatsu, Keiichi; Ochiai, Masayuki; Naito, Hiroyoshi; Han, Liyuan

2013-01-01

As part of the effort to control electron transport in the TiO 2 films of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), the structure of the electron collection electrode on the films has been investigated. Here, we report the comparison between a sandwich-type dye-sensitized solar cell (SW-DSC), in which the TiO 2 film is sandwiched between a TCO glass front electron collection electrode and a sputtered Ti back charge collection electrode, and a normal DSC (N-DSC), which has no back electrode. In N-DSCs, electrons in TiO 2 that are far from the front electrode have to diffuse for a long distance (ca. 10 μm), and therefore, the photocurrent cannot rapidly respond to light with a modulation frequency >100 Hz. In SW-DSCs, the photocurrent response was enhanced at frequencies between 10 and 500 Hz because electrons in TiO 2 can be extracted by both front and back electrodes, which can be also explained by an electron diffusion model. Calculations based on the electron diffusion model suggested that a high short-circuit photocurrent could be maintained in SW-DSCs even when the electron diffusion length in the TiO 2 film was shortened.

Electronic properties of moire superlattice bands in layered two dimensional materials

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Jeil

2014-03-01

When atomically thin two-dimensional materials are layered they often form incommensurate non-crystalline structures that exhibit long period moiré patterns when examined by scanning probes. In this talk, I will present a theoretical method which can be used to derive an effective Hamiltonian for these twisted van der Waals heterostructures using input from ab initio calculations performed on short-period crystalline structures. I will argue that the effective Hamiltonian can quantitatively describe the electronic properties of these layered systems for arbitrary twist angle and lattice constants. Applying this method to the important cases of graphene on graphene and graphene on hexagonal-boron nitride, I will present a series of experimentally observable quantities that can be extracted from their electronic structure, including their density of states and local density of states as a function of twist angle, and compare with available experiments. Work done in collaboration with Allan MacDonald, Shaffique Adam, Arnaud Raoux, Zhenhua Qiao, and Ashley DaSilva; and supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship NRF-NRFF2012-01.

Device characteristics of organic light-emitting diodes based on electronic structure of the Ba-doped Alq3 layer.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Jong Tae; Kim, Kyung Nam; Yeom, Geun Young

2009-12-01

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a Ba-doped tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum(III) (Alq3) layer were fabricated to reduce the barrier height for electron injection and to improve the electron conductivity. In the OLED consisting of glass/ITO/4,4',4"-tris[2-naphthylphenyl-1-phenylamino]triphenylamine (2-TNATA, 30 nm)/4,4'-bis[N-(1-napthyl)-N-phenyl-amino]-biphenyl (NPB, 18 nm)/Alq3 (42 nm)/Ba-doped Alq3 (20 nm, x%: x = 0, 10, 25, and 50)/Al (100 nm), the device with the Alq3 layer doped with 10% Ba showed the highest light out-coupling characteristic. However, as the Ba dopant concentration was increased from 25% to 50%, this device characteristic was largely reduced. The characteristics of these devices were interpreted on the basis of the chemical reaction between Ba and Alq3 and the electron injection property by analyzing the electronic structure of the Ba-doped Alq3 layer. At a low Ba doping of 10%, mainly the Alq3 radical anion species was formed. In addition, the barrier height for electron injection in this layer was decreased to 0.6 eV, when compared to the pristine Alq3 layer. At a high Ba doping of 50%, the Alq3 molecules were severely decomposed. When the Ba dopant concentration was changed, the light-emitting characteristics of the devices were well coincided with the formation mechanism of Alq3 radical anion and Alq3 decomposition species.

Analysis of Boundary Layer Meteorological Data Collected at the White Sands Missile Range

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

O'Brien, Sean; Tofsted, David; Yarbrough, Jimmy; Elliott, D. S; Quintis, David

2007-01-01

... Sands Missile Range (WSMR). Our primary motivation for collecting these measurements is to refine the accuracy of outer and inner scale effects models for optical, thermal, and absolute humidity turbulence for the desert boundary layer...

Fabrication of carbon layer coated FE-nanoparticles using an electron beam irradiation

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyun Bin; Jeun, Joon Pyo; Kang, Phil Hyun; Oh, Seung-Hwan

2016-01-01

A novel synthesis of carbon encapsulated Fe nanoparticles was developed in this study. Fe chloride (III) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) were used as precursors. The crosslinking of PAN molecules and the nucleation of Fe nanoparticles were controlled by the electron beam irradiation dose. Stabilization and carbonization processes were carried out using a vacuum furnace at 275 °C and 1000 °C, respectively. Micro structures were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fe nanoparticles were formed with diameters of 100 nm, and the Fe nanoparticles were encapsulated by carbon layers. As the electron beam irradiation dose increased, it was observed that the particle sizes decreased.

Simulation of electronic circuit sensitivity towards humidity using electrochemical data on water layer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joshy, Salil; Verdingovas, Vadimas; Jellesen, Morten Stendahl

2015-01-01

Climatic conditions like temperature and humidity have direct influence on the operation of electronic circuits. The effects of temperature on the operation of electronic circuits have been widely investigated, while the effect of humidity and solder flux residues are not well understood including...... the effect on circuit and PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) layout design. This paper elucidates a methodology for analyzing the sensitivity of an electronic circuit based on parasitic circuit analysis using data on electrical property of the water layer formed under humid as well as contaminated...

Improved efficiency of NiOx-based p-i-n perovskite solar cells by using PTEG-1 as electron transport layer

Science.gov (United States)

Groeneveld, Bart G. H. M.; Najafi, Mehrdad; Steensma, Bauke; Adjokatse, Sampson; Fang, Hong-Hua; Jahani, Fatemeh; Qiu, Li; ten Brink, Gert H.; Hummelen, Jan C.; Loi, Maria Antonietta

2017-07-01

We present efficient p-i-n type perovskite solar cells using NiOx as the hole transport layer and a fulleropyrrolidine with a triethylene glycol monoethyl ether side chain (PTEG-1) as electron transport layer. This electron transport layer leads to higher power conversion efficiencies compared to perovskite solar cells with PCBM (phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester). The improved performance of PTEG-1 devices is attributed to the reduced trap-assisted recombination and improved charge extraction in these solar cells, as determined by light intensity dependence and photoluminescence measurements. Through optimization of the hole and electron transport layers, the power conversion efficiency of the NiOx/perovskite/PTEG-1 solar cells was increased up to 16.1%.

Interfacial engineering of electron transport layer using Caesium Iodide for efficient and stable organic solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Upama, Mushfika Baishakhi; Elumalai, Naveen Kumar; Mahmud, Md Arafat; Wright, Matthew; Wang, Dian; Xu, Cheng; Haque, Faiazul; Chan, Kah Howe; Uddin, Ashraf

2017-09-01

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) have gained immense research interest in the recent years predominantly due to low-cost, solution process-ability, and facile device fabrication. However, achieving high stability without compromising the power conversion efficiency (PCE) serves to be an important trade-off for commercialization. In line with this, we demonstrate the significance of incorporating a CsI/ZnO bilayer as electron transport layer (ETL) in the bulk heterojunction PSCs employing low band gap polymer (PTB7) and fullerene (PC71BM) as the photo-active layer. The devices with CsI/ZnO interlayer exhibited substantial enhancement of 800% and 12% in PCE when compared to the devices with pristine CsI and pristine ZnO as ETL, respectively. Furthermore, the UV and UV-ozone induced degradation studies revealed that the devices incorporating CsI/ZnO bilayer possess excellent decomposition stability (∼23% higher) over the devices with pristine ZnO counterparts. The incorporation of CsI between ITO and ZnO was found to favorably modify the energy-level alignment at the interface, contributing to the charge collection efficiency as well as protecting the adjacent light absorbing polymer layers from degradation. The mechanism behind the improvement in PCE and stability is analyzed using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and dark I-V characteristics.

Signatures of collective electron dynamics in the angular distributions of electrons ejected during ultrashort laser pulse interactions with C+

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lysaght, M A; Hutchinson, S; Van der Hart, H W

2009-01-01

We use the time-dependent R-matrix approach to investigate an ultrashort pump-probe scheme to observe collective electron dynamics in C + driven by the repulsion of two equivalent p electrons. By studying the two-dimensional momentum distributions of the ejected electron as a function of the time-delay between an ultrashort pump pulse and an ionizing ultrashort probe pulse it is possible to track the collective dynamics inside the C + ion in the time domain.

Optimization of the electron collection efficiency of a large area MCP-PMT for the JUNO experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Lin, E-mail: chenlin@opt.cn [State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics, Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (XIOPM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xi’an 710119 (China); Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049 (China); Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Tian, Jinshou [Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049 (China); Liu, Chunliang [Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Wang, Yifang; Zhao, Tianchi [Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of CAS, Beijing 100049 (China); Liu, Hulin; Wei, Yonglin; Sai, Xiaofeng [Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049 (China); Chen, Ping [State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics, Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (XIOPM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xi’an 710119 (China); Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049 (China); Wang, Xing; Lu, Yu [Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049 (China); Hui, Dandan; Guo, Lehui [State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics, Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (XIOPM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xi’an 710119 (China); Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049 (China); Liu, Shulin; Qian, Sen; Xia, Jingkai; Yan, Baojun; Zhu, Na [Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of CAS, Beijing 100049 (China); Sun, Jianning; Si, Shuguang [North Night Vision Technology (NNVT) CO., LTD, Nanjing 210110 (China); and others

2016-08-11

A novel large-area (20-inch) photomultiplier tube based on microchannel plate (MCP-PMTs) is proposed for the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) experiment. Its photoelectron collection efficiency C{sub e} is limited by the MCP open area fraction (A{sub open}). This efficiency is studied as a function of the angular (θ), energy (E) distributions of electrons in the input charge cloud and the potential difference (U) between the PMT photocathode and the MCP input surface, considering secondary electron emission from the MCP input electrode. In CST Studio Suite, Finite Integral Technique and Monte Carlo method are combined to investigate the dependence of C{sub e} on θ, E and U. Results predict that C{sub e} can exceed A{sub open}, and are applied to optimize the structure and operational parameters of the 20-inch MCP-PMT prototype. C{sub e} of the optimized MCP-PMT is expected to reach 81.2%. Finally, the reduction of the penetration depth of the MCP input electrode layer and the deposition of a high secondary electron yield material on the MCP are proposed to further optimize C{sub e}.

Silicon-ion-implanted PMMA with nanostructured ultrathin layers for plastic electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Hadjichristov, G. B.; Ivanov, Tz E.; Marinov, Y. G.

2014-12-01

Being of interest for plastic electronics, ion-beam produced nanostructure, namely silicon ion (Si+) implanted polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) with ultrathin nanostructured dielectric (NSD) top layer and nanocomposite (NC) buried layer, is examined by electric measurements. In the proposed field-effect organic nanomaterial structure produced within the PMMA network by ion implantation with low energy (50 keV) Si+ at the fluence of 3.2 × 1016 cm-2 the gate NSD is ion-nanotracks-modified low-conductive surface layer, and the channel NC consists of carbon nanoclusters. In the studied ion-modified PMMA field-effect configuration, the gate NSD and the buried NC are formed as planar layers both with a thickness of about 80 nm. The NC channel of nano-clustered amorphous carbon (that is an organic semiconductor) provides a huge increase in the electrical conduction of the material in the subsurface region, but also modulates the electric field distribution in the drift region. The field effect via the gate NSD is analyzed. The most important performance parameters, such as the charge carrier field-effect mobility and amplification of this particular type of PMMA- based transconductance device with NC n-type channel and gate NSD top layer, are determined.

Effect of Lanthanum-Strontium Cathode Current-Collecting Layer on the Performance of Anode Supported Type Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sun-Young; Ji, Ho-Il; Kim, Hae-Ryoung; Yoon, Kyung Joong; Son, Ji-Won; Lee, Hae-Weon; Lee, Jong-Ho

2013-07-01

We applied screen-printed (La,Sr)CoO3 as a current-collecting layer of planar type unit-cell for lower temperature operation of SOFCs. In this study the effects of the cathode current-collecting layer on the performance of unit cell and symmetric half cell were investigated via AC and DC polarization experiments. According to our investigation, appropriately controlled current collecting layer was very effective to enhance the unit cell performance by reducing not only the ohmic resistance but also the polarization losses of SOFC cathode.

Nanoparticle mediated electron transfer across organic layers: from current understanding to applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gooding, J. Justin; Alam, Muhammad Tanzirul; Barfidokht, Abbas; Carter, Lachlan, E-mail: justin.gooding@unsw.edu.au [School of Chemistry and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney (Australia)

2014-03-15

In the last few years electrode-organic layer-nanoparticle constructs have attracted considerable research interest for systems where in the absence of the nanoparticles the electrode is passivated. This is because it has been observed that if the organic layer is a good self-assembled monolayer that passivates the electrode, the presence of the nanoparticles 'switches on' faradaic electrochemistry and because electron transfer between the electrode and the nanoparticles is apparently independent of the thickness of the organic layer. This review 1) outlines the full extent of the experimental observations regarding this phenomenon, 2) discusses a recent theoretical description to explain the observations that have just been supported with experimental evidences and 3) provides an overview of the application of these systems in sensing and photovoltaic. (author)

Two-dimensional collective electron magnetotransport, oscillations, and chaos in a semiconductor superlattice.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonilla, L L; Carretero, M; Segura, A

2017-12-01

When quantized, traces of classically chaotic single-particle systems include eigenvalue statistics and scars in eigenfuntions. Since 2001, many theoretical and experimental works have argued that classically chaotic single-electron dynamics influences and controls collective electron transport. For transport in semiconductor superlattices under tilted magnetic and electric fields, these theories rely on a reduction to a one-dimensional self-consistent drift model. A two-dimensional theory based on self-consistent Boltzmann transport does not support that single-electron chaos influences collective transport. This theory agrees with existing experimental evidence of current self-oscillations, predicts spontaneous collective chaos via a period doubling scenario, and could be tested unambiguously by measuring the electric potential inside the superlattice under a tilted magnetic field.

Two-dimensional collective electron magnetotransport, oscillations, and chaos in a semiconductor superlattice

Science.gov (United States)

Bonilla, L. L.; Carretero, M.; Segura, A.

2017-12-01

When quantized, traces of classically chaotic single-particle systems include eigenvalue statistics and scars in eigenfuntions. Since 2001, many theoretical and experimental works have argued that classically chaotic single-electron dynamics influences and controls collective electron transport. For transport in semiconductor superlattices under tilted magnetic and electric fields, these theories rely on a reduction to a one-dimensional self-consistent drift model. A two-dimensional theory based on self-consistent Boltzmann transport does not support that single-electron chaos influences collective transport. This theory agrees with existing experimental evidence of current self-oscillations, predicts spontaneous collective chaos via a period doubling scenario, and could be tested unambiguously by measuring the electric potential inside the superlattice under a tilted magnetic field.

Organic photovoltaic devices with a single layer geometry (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Kolesov, Vladimir A.; Fuentes-Hernandez, Canek; Aizawa, Naoya; Larrain, Felipe A.; Chou, Wen-Fang; Perrotta, Alberto; Graham, Samuel; Kippelen, Bernard

2016-09-01

Organic photovoltaics (OPV) can lead to a low cost and short energy payback time alternative to existing photovoltaic technologies. However, to fulfill this promise, power conversion efficiencies must be improved and simultaneously the architecture of the devices and their processing steps need to be further simplified. In the most efficient devices to date, the functions of photocurrent generation, and hole/electron collection are achieved in different layers adding complexity to the device fabrication. In this talk, we present a novel approach that yields devices in which all these functions are combined in a single layer. Specifically, we report on bulk heterojunction devices in which amine-containing polymers are first mixed in the solution together with the donor and acceptor materials that form the active layer. A single-layer coating yields a self-forming bottom electron-collection layer comprised of the amine-containing polymer (e.g. PEIE). Hole-collection is achieved by subsequent immersion of this single layer in a solution of a polyoxometalate (e.g. phosphomolybdic acid (PMA)) leading to an electrically p-doped region formed by the diffusion of the dopant molecules into the bulk. The depth of this doped region can be controlled with values up to tens of nm by varying the immersion time. Devices with a single 500 nm-thick active layer of P3HT:ICBA processed using this method yield power conversion efficiency (PCE) values of 4.8 ± 0.3% at 1 sun and demonstrate a performance level superior to that of benchmark three-layer devices with separate layers of PEIE/P3HT:ICBA/MoOx (4.1 ± 0.4%). Devices remain stable after shelf lifetime experiments carried-out at 60 °C over 280 h.

Hole and electron extraction layers based on graphene oxide derivatives for high-performance bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jun; Xue, Yuhua; Gao, Yunxiang; Yu, Dingshan; Durstock, Michael; Dai, Liming

2012-05-02

By charge neutralization of carboxylic acid groups in graphene oxide (GO) with Cs(2)CO(3) to afford Cesium-neutralized GO (GO-Cs), GO derivatives with appropriate modification are used as both hole- and electron-extraction layers for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. The normal and inverted devices based on GO hole- and GO-Cs electron-extraction layers both outperform the corresponding standard BHJ solar cells. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Characterization of light element impurities in ultrathin silicon-on-insulator layers by luminescence activation using electron irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakagawa-Toyota, Satoko; Tajima, Michio; Hirose, Kazuyuki; Ohshima, Takeshi; Itoh, Hisayoshi

2009-01-01

We analyzed light element impurities in ultrathin top Si layers of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers by luminescence activation using electron irradiation. Photoluminescence (PL) analysis under ultraviolet (UV) light excitation was performed on various commercial SOI wafers after the irradiation. We detected the C-line related to a complex of interstitial carbon and oxygen impurities and the G-line related to a complex of interstitial and substitutional carbon impurities in the top Si layer with a thickness down to 62 nm after electron irradiation. We showed that there were differences in the impurity concentration depending on the wafer fabrication methods and also that there were variations in these concentrations in the respective wafers. Xenon ion implantation was used to activate top Si layers selectively so that we could confirm that the PL signal under the UV light excitation comes not from substrates but from top Si layers. The present method is a very promising tool to evaluate the light element impurities in top Si layers. (author)

Ion-acoustic supersolitons and double layers in plasmas with nonthermal electrons

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, D.-N.; Zhang, J.; Yang, Y.; Duan, W.-S.

2017-08-01

Supersoliton (SS) can be mainly featured in two ways, namely, by focusing on subsidiary maxima on its electric field or by meeting the requirement that the appropriate Sagdeev pseudopotential (SP) has three local extrema between the equilibrium conditions and its amplitude. In this paper, by using the SP method, double layers and ion-acoustic SSs are studied in a plasma with Maxwellian cold electrons, nonthermal hot electrons, and fluid ions. The existence of the SS regime in parameter space is obtained in a methodical fashion. The existence domains for positive solitary waves are also presented. It is found that there is no SSs at the acoustic speed.

nBn Infrared Detector Containing Graded Absorption Layer

Science.gov (United States)

Gunapala, Sarath D.; Ting, David Z.; Hill, Cory J.; Bandara, Sumith V.

2009-01-01

It has been proposed to modify the basic structure of an nBn infrared photodetector so that a plain electron-donor- type (n-type) semiconductor contact layer would be replaced by a graded n-type III V alloy semiconductor layer (i.e., ternary or quarternary) with appropriate doping gradient. The abbreviation nBn refers to one aspect of the unmodified basic device structure: There is an electron-barrier ("B" ) layer between two n-type ("n" ) layers, as shown in the upper part of the figure. One of the n-type layers is the aforementioned photon-absorption layer; the other n-type layer, denoted the contact layer, collects the photocurrent. The basic unmodified device structure utilizes minority-charge-carrier conduction, such that, for reasons too complex to explain within the space available for this article, the dark current at a given temperature can be orders of magnitude lower (and, consequently, signal-to-noise ratios can be greater) than in infrared detectors of other types. Thus, to obtain a given level of performance, less cooling (and, consequently, less cooling equipment and less cooling power) is needed. [In principle, one could obtain the same advantages by means of a structure that would be called pBp because it would include a barrier layer between two electron-acceptor- type (p-type) layers.] The proposed modifications could make it practical to utilize nBn photodetectors in conjunction with readily available, compact thermoelectric coolers in diverse infrared- imaging applications that could include planetary exploration, industrial quality control, monitoring pollution, firefighting, law enforcement, and medical diagnosis.

ITO electrode/photoactive layer interface engineering for efficient inverted polymer solar cells based on P3HT and PCBM using a solution-processed titanium chelate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Wenqing; Zheng Hua; Tan Zhan'ao; Qian Deping; Li Liangjie; Xu Qi; Li Shusheng; Li Yongfang

2012-01-01

We report efficient inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) using alcohol-soluble titanium (diisopropoxide) bis (2,4-pentanedionate) (TIPD) as an electron selective layer between the indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and the photoactive layer. The thermally annealed TIPD layer is highly transparent in the visible range and shows effective electron collection ability. By optimizing the electron-collecting layer, the photoactive layer and the hole-collecting layer, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the inverted device with the structure ITO/TIPD/P3HT : PCBM/MoO 3 /Ag reaches 4.10% under the illumination of AM1.5G, 100 mW cm -2 , which is among the highest values for inverted PSCs based on P3HT : PCBM. The PCE of the inverted device is improved in comparison with the conventional device (3.77%) under the same experimental conditions. (paper)

AA stacking, tribological and electronic properties of double-layer graphene with krypton spacer.

Science.gov (United States)

Popov, Andrey M; Lebedeva, Irina V; Knizhnik, Andrey A; Lozovik, Yurii E; Potapkin, Boris V; Poklonski, Nikolai A; Siahlo, Andrei I; Vyrko, Sergey A

2013-10-21

Structural, energetic, and tribological characteristics of double-layer graphene with commensurate and incommensurate krypton spacers of nearly monolayer coverage are studied within the van der Waals-corrected density functional theory. It is shown that when the spacer is in the commensurate phase, the graphene layers have the AA stacking. For this phase, the barriers to relative in-plane translational and rotational motion and the shear mode frequency of the graphene layers are calculated. For the incommensurate phase, both of the barriers are found to be negligibly small. A considerable change of tunneling conductance between the graphene layers separated by the commensurate krypton spacer at their relative subangstrom displacement is revealed by the use of the Bardeen method. The possibility of nanoelectromechanical systems based on the studied tribological and electronic properties of the considered heterostructures is discussed.

Plasma and energetic electron flux variations in the Mercury 1 C event: Evidence for a magnetospheric boundary layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christon, S.P.

1989-01-01

Near the outbound magnetopause crossing during the first encounter of Mariner 10 with the planet Mercury on March 29, 1974, large intensity, ∼ 6 s quasi-periodic variations in the intensity-time profile of the charged particle experiment's electron counting rate appeared as a series of peaks and valleys. The peaks have previously been interpreted as quasi-periodic burst sequences of mildly relativistic electrons, caused in one case by episodic ∼ 6-s magnetotail substorm reconnection events and in another case by multiple encounters with a substorm energized electron population drifting around Mercury with an ∼ 6 s drift period. In this paper, the authors offer a new and fundamentally different interpretation of the Mariner 10 energetic electron, plasma electron, and magnetic field data near the outbound magnetopause at Mercury 1. They show that magnetosheath-like boundary layer plasma was observed up to ∼ 360 km planetward of the dawn magnetopause crossing as sensed by the magnetometer. They show that observations of substorm enhanced > 35 keV electron flux (that previously interpreted as > 175 keV electrons) associated with the hot tenuous plasma sheet population were interleaved with ∼ 6 s period observations of a cold dense boundary layer plasma associated with a much lower > 35 keV electron flux. They argue that the ∼ 6 s temporal signature is due to variation of the thickness and/or position of the boundary layer plasma population. This explanation of the ∼ 6-s variations, based upon the analysis of the coincident responses of the magnetic field experiment and two independent charged particle instruments (at their highest temporal resolutions), finds a direct analogue in observations of Earth's magnetospheric boundary layer, although the time scales are significantly shorter at Mercury

Hole and electron extraction layers based on graphene oxide derivatives for high-performance bulk heterojunction solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Jun; Gao, Yunxiang; Yu, Dingshan; Dai, Liming [Center of Advanced Science and Engineering for Carbon, Department of Macromolecular, Science and Engineering, Case School of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (United States); Xue, Yuhua [Center of Advanced Science and Engineering for Carbon, Department of Macromolecular, Science and Engineering, Case School of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (United States); Institute of Advanced Materials for Nano-Bio Applications, School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical College, Zhejiang 325027 (China); Durstock, Michael [Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, RXBP, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433 (United States)

2012-05-02

By charge neutralization of carboxylic acid groups in graphene oxide (GO) with Cs{sub 2}CO{sub 3} to afford Cesium-neutralized GO (GO-Cs), GO derivatives with appropriate modification are used as both hole- and electron-extraction layers for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. The normal and inverted devices based on GO hole- and GO-Cs electron-extraction layers both outperform the corresponding standard BHJ solar cells. (Copyright copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Transmission electron microscopy characterization of Zircaloy-4 and ZIRLO™ oxide layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabory, Benoit de; Motta, Arthur T.; Wang, Ke

2015-01-01

Waterside corrosion of zirconium alloy nuclear fuel cladding varies markedly from one alloy to another. In addition, for a given alloy, the corrosion rate evolves during the corrosion process, most notably when the oxide loses its stability at the oxide transition. In an effort to understand the mechanism resulting in the variations of corrosion rate observed at the oxide transition, oxide layers formed on Zircaloy-4 and ZIRLO™ in high temperature water autoclave environments, and archived before and after the transition, are characterized using transmission electron microscopy. The study characterizes and compares the oxide morphology in both alloys at different times during the corrosion process, in an effort to understand the oxide growth mechanism for these alloys. Results show that the oxide is mainly composed of monoclinic ZrO 2 , with a preponderance of columnar oxide grains which extend to the oxide/metal interface. The oxide formed right after the transition has occurred, exhibits a 150 nm-wide layer of small equiaxed grains with high tetragonal oxide fraction. This layer has a similar morphology and structure as the first oxide layer formed (observed near the oxide/water interface). A study of the oxygen-rich region near the oxide/metal interface reveals a complex structure of different phases at different stages of corrosion. The interface exhibits an intermediate layer, identified as ZrO, a discontinuous layer of “blocky” Zr 3 O grains embedded in the ZrO layer, and a suboxide layer corresponding to an oxygen saturated solid solution in the metal matrix side. The thickness of this interfacial layer decreased markedly at the transition. Hydrides are also observed in that region, with a definite orientation relationship with the matrix. The observations of the oxide/metal interface are qualitatively similar for the two alloys but quantitatively different. The incorporation of intermetallic precipitates into the oxide layer is also studied, and

Electron density and plasma waves in mid-latitude sporadic-E layer observed during the SEEK-2 campaign

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Wakabayashi

2005-10-01

Full Text Available The SEEK-2 campaign was carried out over Kyushu Island in Japan on 3 August 2002, by using the two sounding rockets of S310-31 and S310-32. This campaign was planned to elucidate generation mechanisms of Quasi-Periodic Echoes (QPEs associated with mid-latitude sporadic-E (Es layers. Electron number densities were successfully measured in the Es layers by using the impedance probe on board two rockets. The plasma waves in the VLF and ELF ranges were also observed on board the S310-32 rocket. Results of electron density measurement showed that there were one or two major peaks in the Es layers along the rockets' trajectories near the altitude of about 10km. There were some smaller peaks associated with the main Es layers in the altitude range from 90 to 120 km. These density peaks were distributed in a very large extent during the SEEK-2 campaign. The Es layer structure is also measured by using the Fixed Bias Probe (FBP, which has a high spatial resolution of several meters (the impedance probe has an altitude resolution of about 400 m. The comparison with the total electron content (TEC measured by the Dual Band Beacon revealed that the Es layer was also modulated in the horizontal direction with the scale size of 30–40 km. It was shown that the QP echoes observed by the ground-based coherent radar come from the major density peak of the Es layer. The plasma wave instrument detected the enhancement of VLF and ELF plasma waves associated with the operation of the TMA release, and also with the passage of the Es layers. Keywords. Ionosphere (Ionospheric irregularities; Midlatitude ionosphere; Plasma temeperature and density

The effects of electron and hole transport layer with the electrode work function on perovskite solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Quanrong; Li, Yiqi; Chen, Lian; Wang, Shenggao; Wang, Geming; Sheng, Yonglong; Shao, Guosheng

2016-09-01

The effects of electron and hole transport layer with the electrode work function on perovskite solar cells with the interface defects were simulated by using analysis of microelectronic and photonic structures-one-dimensional (AMPS-1D) software. The simulation results suggest that TiO2 electron transport layer provides best device performance with conversion efficiency of 25.9% compared with ZnO and CdS. The threshold value of back electrode work function for Spiro-OMeTAD, NiO, CuI and Cu2O hole transport layer are calculated to be 4.9, 4.8, 4.7 and 4.9 eV, respectively, to reach the highest conversion efficiency. The mechanisms of device physics with various electron and hole transport materials are discussed in details. The device performance deteriorates gradually as the increased density of interface defects located at ETM/absorber or absorber/HTM. This research results can provide helpful guidance for materials and metal electrode choice for perovskite solar cells.

Planar heterojunction perovskite solar cell based on CdS electron transport layer

KAUST Repository

Abulikemu, Mutalifu

2017-07-02

We report on planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells employing a metal chalcogenide (CdS) electron transport layer with power conversion efficiency up to 10.8%. The CdS layer was deposited via solution-process chemical bath deposition at low-temperature (60°C). Pinhole-free and uniform thin films were obtained with good structural, optical and morphological properties. An optimal layer thickness of 60nm yielded an improved open-circuit voltage and fill factor compared to the standard TiO2-based solar cells. Devices showed a higher reproducibility of the results compared to TiO2-based ones. We also tested the effect of annealing temperature on the CdS film and the effect of CdCl2 treatment followed by high temperature annealing (410°C) that is expected to passivate the surface, thus eliminating eventual trap-states inducing recombination.

Planar heterojunction perovskite solar cell based on CdS electron transport layer

KAUST Repository

Abulikemu, Mutalifu; Barbe, Jeremy; El Labban, Abdulrahman; Eid, Jessica; Del Gobbo, Silvano

2017-01-01

We report on planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells employing a metal chalcogenide (CdS) electron transport layer with power conversion efficiency up to 10.8%. The CdS layer was deposited via solution-process chemical bath deposition at low-temperature (60°C). Pinhole-free and uniform thin films were obtained with good structural, optical and morphological properties. An optimal layer thickness of 60nm yielded an improved open-circuit voltage and fill factor compared to the standard TiO2-based solar cells. Devices showed a higher reproducibility of the results compared to TiO2-based ones. We also tested the effect of annealing temperature on the CdS film and the effect of CdCl2 treatment followed by high temperature annealing (410°C) that is expected to passivate the surface, thus eliminating eventual trap-states inducing recombination.

Atomic layer deposition of dielectrics for carbon-based electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, J., E-mail: jiyoung.kim@utdallas.edu; Jandhyala, S.

2013-11-01

Carbon based nanomaterials like nanotubes and graphene have emerged as future generation electronic materials for device applications because of their interesting properties such as high-mobility and ability to carry high-current densities compared to conventional semiconductor materials like silicon. Therefore, there is a need to develop techniques to integrate robust gate dielectrics with high-quality interfaces for these materials in order to attain maximum performance. To date, a variety of methods including physical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition (ALD), physical assembly among others have been employed in order to integrate dielectrics for carbon nanotube and graphene based field-effect transistors. Owing to the difficulty in wetting pristine surfaces of nanotubes and graphene, most of the ALD methods require a seeding technique involving non-covalent functionalization of their surfaces in order to nucleate dielectric growth while maintaining their intrinsic properties. A comprehensive review regarding the various dielectric integration schemes for emerging devices and their limitations with respect to ALD based methods along with a future outlook is provided. - Highlights: • We introduce various dielectric integration schemes for carbon-based devices. • Physical vapor deposition methods tend to degrade device performance. • Atomic layer deposition on pristine surfaces of graphene and nanotube is difficult. • We review different seeding techniques for atomic layer deposition of dielectrics. • Compare the performance of graphene top-gate devices with different dielectrics.

Atomic layer deposition of dielectrics for carbon-based electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, J.; Jandhyala, S.

2013-01-01

Carbon based nanomaterials like nanotubes and graphene have emerged as future generation electronic materials for device applications because of their interesting properties such as high-mobility and ability to carry high-current densities compared to conventional semiconductor materials like silicon. Therefore, there is a need to develop techniques to integrate robust gate dielectrics with high-quality interfaces for these materials in order to attain maximum performance. To date, a variety of methods including physical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition (ALD), physical assembly among others have been employed in order to integrate dielectrics for carbon nanotube and graphene based field-effect transistors. Owing to the difficulty in wetting pristine surfaces of nanotubes and graphene, most of the ALD methods require a seeding technique involving non-covalent functionalization of their surfaces in order to nucleate dielectric growth while maintaining their intrinsic properties. A comprehensive review regarding the various dielectric integration schemes for emerging devices and their limitations with respect to ALD based methods along with a future outlook is provided. - Highlights: • We introduce various dielectric integration schemes for carbon-based devices. • Physical vapor deposition methods tend to degrade device performance. • Atomic layer deposition on pristine surfaces of graphene and nanotube is difficult. • We review different seeding techniques for atomic layer deposition of dielectrics. • Compare the performance of graphene top-gate devices with different dielectrics

Fullerene-Based Electron Transport Layers for Semi-Transparent MAPbBr3 Perovskite Films in Planar Perovskite Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lung-Chien Chen

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In this study, four kinds of structures—[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM, PCBM/fullerene (C60, C60/bathocuproine (BCP, and PCBM/C60/BCP—were used as electron transport layers, and the structure, and optical and electronic behaviors of MAPbBr3 perovskite layers after annealing treatments were observed. The experimental results indicate that PCBM/C60 bi-layer structure is acceptable for MAPbBr3 planar perovskite solar cells due to electron step transporting. Low-temperature annealing is suitable for smooth and large grain MAPbBr3 films. The semi-transparent yellow C60/PCBM/MAPbBr3/PEDOT:PSS/ITO glass-structure solar cells exhibit the best performance with a power conversion efficiency of 4.19%. The solar cells are revealed to be suitable for application in building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV systems.

On the gyro resonance electron-whistler interaction in transition layers of near-earth plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erokhin, N.S.; Zol'nikova, N.N.; Mikhajlovskaya, L.A.

1996-01-01

Gyro resonance interaction of electrons with low amplitude triggered whistler in the transition layers of the ionospheric and magnetospheric plasma that correspond to the blurred jumps of the magnetic field and plasma concentration was studied

Strengthening effect of nano-scaled precipitates in Ta alloying layer induced by high current pulsed electron beam

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang, Guangze; Luo, Dian; Fan, Guohua [School of Material Science & Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Ma, Xinxin, E-mail: maxin@hit.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Wang, Liqin [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China)

2017-05-01

Highlights: • Ta alloying layer are fabricated by magnetron sputtering and high current pulsed electron beam. • Nano-scaled TaC precipitates forms within the δ-Fe grain after tempering treatment. • The mean diameter of TaC particles is about 5–8 nm. • The hardness of alloying layer increased by over 50% after formation of nano-scaled TaC particle. - Abstract: In this study, the combination of magnetron sputtering and high current pulsed electron beam are used for surface alloying treatment of Ta film on high speed steel. And the Ta alloying layer is about 6 μm. After tempering treatment, TaC phase forms in Ta alloying layer when the treated temperature is over 823 K. Through the TEM and HRTEM observation, a large amount of nano-scaled precipitates (mean diameter 5–8 nm) form within the δ-Fe grain in Ta alloying layer after tempering treatment and these nano-scaled precipitates are confirmed as TaC particles, which contribute to the strengthening effect of the surface alloying layer. The hardness of tempered alloying layer can reach to 18.1 GPa when the treated temperature is 823 K which increase by 50% comparing with the untreated steel sample before surface alloying treatment.

Structural, optical and compositional stability of MoS2 multi-layer flakes under high dose electron beam irradiation

Science.gov (United States)

Rotunno, E.; Fabbri, F.; Cinquanta, E.; Kaplan, D.; Longo, M.; Lazzarini, L.; Molle, A.; Swaminathan, V.; Salviati, G.

2016-06-01

MoS2 multi-layer flakes, exfoliated from geological molybdenite, have been exposed to high dose electron irradiation showing clear evidence of crystal lattice and stoichiometry modifications. A massive surface sulfur depletion is induced together with the consequent formation of molybdenum nanoislands. It is found that a nanometric amorphous carbon layer, unwillingly deposited during the transmission electron microscope experiments, prevents the formation of the nanoislands. In the absence of the carbon layer, the formation of molybdenum grains proceeds both on the top and bottom surfaces of the flake. If carbon is present on both the surfaces then the formation of Mo grains is completely prevented.

Investigation of Electronic and Opto-Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional (2D) Layers of Copper Indium Selenide Field Effect Transistors

Science.gov (United States)

Patil, Prasanna Dnyaneshwar

Investigations performed in order to understand the electronic and optoelectronic properties of field effect transistors based on few layers of 2D Copper Indium Selenide (CuIn7Se11) are reported. In general, field effect transistors (FETs), electric double layer field effect transistors (EDL-FETs), and photodetectors are crucial part of several electronics based applications such as tele-communication, bio-sensing, and opto-electronic industry. After the discovery of graphene, several 2D semiconductor materials like TMDs (MoS2, WS2, and MoSe2 etc.), group III-VI materials (InSe, GaSe, and SnS2 etc.) are being studied rigorously in order to develop them as components in next generation FETs. Traditionally, thin films of ternary system of Copper Indium Selenide have been extensively studied and used in optoelectronics industry as photoactive component in solar cells. Thus, it is expected that atomically thin 2D layered structure of Copper Indium Selenide can have optical properties that could potentially be more advantageous than its thin film counterpart and could find use for developing next generation nano devices with utility in opto/nano electronics. Field effect transistors were fabricated using few-layers of CuIn7Se11 flakes, which were mechanically exfoliated from bulk crystals grown using chemical vapor transport technique. Our FET transport characterization measurements indicate n-type behavior with electron field effect mobility microFE ≈ 36 cm2 V-1 s-1 at room temperature when Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is used as a back gate. We found that in such back gated field effect transistor an on/off ratio of 104 and a subthreshold swing ≈ 1 V/dec can be obtained. Our investigations further indicate that Electronic performance of these materials can be increased significantly when gated from top using an ionic liquid electrolyte [1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIM-PF6)]. We found that electron field effect mobility microFE can be increased from

Structural and electronic properties of the transition layer at the SiO2/4H-SiC interface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenbo Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Using first-principles methods, we generate an amorphous SiO2/4H-SiC interface with a transition layer. Based this interface model, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of the interfacial transition layer. The calculated Si 2p core-level shifts for this interface are comparable to the experimental data, indicating that various SiCxOy species should be present in this interface transition layer. The analysis of the electronic structures reveals that the tetrahedral SiCxOy structures cannot introduce any of the defect states at the interface. Interestingly, our transition layer also includes a C-C=C trimer and SiO5 configurations, which lead to the generation of interface states. The accurate positions of Kohn-Sham energy levels associated with these defects are further calculated within the hybrid functional scheme. The Kohn-Sham energy levels of the carbon trimer and SiO5 configurations are located near the conduction and valence band of bulk 4H-SiC, respectively. The result indicates that the carbon trimer occurred in the transition layer may be a possible origin of near interface traps. These findings provide novel insight into the structural and electronic properties of the realistic SiO2/SiC interface.

The influence of residents' behaviour on waste electrical and electronic equipment collection effectiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Nowakowski, Piotr

2016-11-01

Government agencies have implemented regulations to reduce the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment to protect the environment and encourage recycling. The effectiveness of systems through which waste electrical and electronic equipment is collected and recycled depends on (a) the development and operation of new programmes to process this material and (b) on information dissemination programmes aimed at manufacturers, retail sellers, and the consuming public. This study analyses these two elements. The main focus is to better understand household residents' behaviour in regards to the proper methods of handling waste electrical and electronic equipment and possible storage of the obsolete equipment that brings disturbances with collection of the waste equipment. The study explores these issues depending on size of municipality and the household residents' knowledge about legal methods of post-consumer management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Poland, where the collection rate of that type of waste is about 40% of the total mass of waste electrical and electronic equipment appearing in the market.The research was informed by various sources of information, including non-government organisations, Inspectorate of Environmental Protection and Central Statistics Office in Poland, questionnaires, and interviews with the household residents. The questionnaires were distributed to daytime and vocational students from different universities and the customers of an electronic equipment superstore. The results show that a resident's behaviour in regards to the handling of obsolete waste electrical and electronic equipment can significantly reduce the collection rate, especially when the waste is discarded improperly - mixed with municipal waste or sold in scrapyards. It is possible to identify points that are necessary to be improved to achieve a higher collection rate. © The Author(s) 2016.

A Concept for Measuring Electron Distribution Functions Using Collective Thomson Scattering

Science.gov (United States)

Milder, A. L.; Froula, D. H.

2017-10-01

A.B. Langdon proposed that stable non-Maxwellian distribution functions are realized in coronal inertial confinement fusion plasmas via inverse bremsstrahlung heating. For Zvosc2 Zvosc2 vth2 > 1 , vth2 > 1 , the inverse bremsstrahlung heating rate is sufficiently fast to compete with electron-electron collisions. This process preferentially heats the subthermal electrons leading to super-Gaussian distribution functions. A method to identify the super-Gaussian order of the distribution functions in these plasmas using collective Thomson scattering will be proposed. By measuring the collective Thomson spectra over a range of angles the density, temperature and super-Gaussian order can be determined. This is accomplished by fitting non-Maxwellian distribution data with a super-Gaussian model; in order to match the density and electron temperature to within 10%, the super-Gaussian order must be varied. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944.

Many-electron effect in the Si K-LL resonant Auger-electron spectroscopy spectra of the Si delta layer in GaAs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohno, Masahide

2006-01-01

The Si K-LL resonant Auger-electron spectroscopy (RAES) spectra of silicon delta dopped layers in GaAs with very thin capping layers show both normal Auger decay and resonant Auger decay, when the core-level electron is excited to the conduction band. The resonant Auger peak kinetic energy (KE) shows no dispersion with photon energy, except when excited by the highest energy photons [M.D. Jackson, J.M.C. Thornton, D. Lewis, A. Robinson, M. Fahy, A. Aviary, P. Weightman, Phys. Rev. B71 (2005) 075313]. The RAES spectra are analyzed using a many-body theory. The presence of resonant Auger decay and no dispersion of resonant Auger peak KE with photon energy is explained in terms of the relaxation of a metastable excited core-hole state to a stable one on the time scale of core-hole decay. The excited electron in the conduction band either delocalizes rapidly leaving the ionized Si to decay by a normal Auger decay or drops to a state localized in the Si delta layer before the core-hole decays so that the RAES spectrum has both normal Auger decay and resonant Auger decay. As a result of the relaxation, the resonant Auger peak KE does not show any dispersion with photon energy. The variations with photon energy of the normal or resonant Auger peak intensity, KE, and width are explained in a consistent manner by a many-body theory

Structure and Electronic Properties of In Situ Synthesized Single-Layer MoS2 on a Gold Surface

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Signe Grønborg; Füchtbauer, Henrik Gøbel; Tuxen, Anders Kyrme

2014-01-01

When transition metal sulfides such as MoS2 are present in the single-layer form, the electronic properties change in fundamental ways, enabling them to be used, e.g., in two-dimensional semiconductor electronics, optoelectronics, and light harvesting. The change is related to a subtle modification...... with scanning tunneling microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization of two-dimensional single-layer islands of MoS2 synthesized directly on a gold single crystal substrate. Thanks to a periodic modulation of the atom stacking induced by the lattice mismatch, we observe a structural buckling...

Subnanometer Ga2O3 tunnelling layer by atomic layer deposition to achieve 1.1 V open-circuit potential in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandiran, Aravind Kumar; Tetreault, Nicolas; Humphry-Baker, Robin; Kessler, Florian; Baranoff, Etienne; Yi, Chenyi; Nazeeruddin, Mohammad Khaja; Grätzel, Michael

2012-08-08

Herein, we present the first use of a gallium oxide tunnelling layer to significantly reduce electron recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC). The subnanometer coating is achieved using atomic layer deposition (ALD) and leading to a new DSC record open-circuit potential of 1.1 V with state-of-the-art organic D-π-A sensitizer and cobalt redox mediator. After ALD of only a few angstroms of Ga(2)O(3), the electron back reaction is reduced by more than an order of magnitude, while charge collection efficiency and fill factor are increased by 30% and 15%, respectively. The photogenerated exciton separation processes of electron injection into the TiO(2) conduction band and the hole injection into the electrolyte are characterized in detail.

Layer- and lateral-resolved magnetization studies using photoemission electron microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei, D.H.; Hsu, Y.J.; Lin, C.-C.; Lai, C.-H.; Ou, J.Y.; Wu, J.C.

2004-01-01

The magnetic circular dichroism in X-ray absorption is employed to study the element-specific magnetization in a TbFe/Co bilayer system and patterned Ni 80 Fe 20 film. Taking advantage of the energy tunability as well as the penetration power of synchrotron radiation, the magnetization directions of Co and Fe deposited in different layers were examined as a function of Co film thickness. For patterned films, the photoemission electron microscope reveals a clear correlation between the magnetic configurations and geometries of the patterns

Photoluminescence-based quality control for thin film absorber layers of photovoltaic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Repins, Ingrid L.; Kuciauskas, Darius

2015-07-07

A time-resolved photoluminescence-based system providing quality control during manufacture of thin film absorber layers for photovoltaic devices. The system includes a laser generating excitation beams and an optical fiber with an end used both for directing each excitation beam onto a thin film absorber layer and for collecting photoluminescence from the absorber layer. The system includes a processor determining a quality control parameter such as minority carrier lifetime of the thin film absorber layer based on the collected photoluminescence. In some implementations, the laser is a low power, pulsed diode laser having photon energy at least great enough to excite electron hole pairs in the thin film absorber layer. The scattered light may be filterable from the collected photoluminescence, and the system may include a dichroic beam splitter and a filter that transmit the photoluminescence and remove scattered laser light prior to delivery to a photodetector and a digital oscilloscope.

Polymer Solar Cells with Efficiency >10% Enabled via a Facile Solution-Processed Al-Doped ZnO Electron Transporting Layer

KAUST Repository

Jagadamma, Lethy Krishnan

2015-04-22

A facile and low-temperature (125 °C) solution-processed Al-doped ZnO (AZO) buffer layer functioning very effectively as electron accepting/hole blocking layer for a wide range of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction systems, yielding power conversion efficiency in excess of 10% (8%) on glass (plastic) substrates is described. The ammonia-treatment of the aqueous AZO nanoparticle solution produces compact, crystalline, and smooth thin films, which retain the aluminum doping, and eliminates/reduces the native defects by nitrogen incorporation, making them good electron transporters and energetically matched with the fullerene acceptor. It is demonstrated that highly efficient solar cells can be achieved without the need for additional surface chemical modifications of the buffer layer, which is a common requirement for many metal oxide buffer layers to yield efficient solar cells. Also highly efficient solar cells are achieved with thick AZO films (>50 nm), highlighting the suitability of this material for roll-to-roll coating. Preliminary results on the applicability of AZO as electron injection layer in F8BT-based polymer light emitting diode are also presented. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Graphene–cyclodextrin–cytochrome c layered assembly with improved electron transfer rate and high supramolecular recognition capability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, Cheng-Bin; Guo, Cong-Cong; Jiang, Dan; Tang, Qian, E-mail: qiantang@swu.edu.cn; Liu, Chang-Hua; Ma, Xue-Bing

2014-06-01

This study aimed to develop a new graphene-based layered assembly, named graphene–cyclodextrin–cytochrome c with improved electron transfer rate. This assembly has combined high conductivity of graphene nanosheets (GNs), selectively binding properties and electronegativity of cyclodextrins (CDs), as well as electropositivity of cytochrome c (Cyt c). This assembly can also mimic the confined environments of the intermembrane space of mitochondria. A β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) functionalized GN (GN–CD) assembly was initially prepared by a simple wet-chemical strategy, i.e., in situ thermal reduction of graphene oxide with hydrazine hydrate in the presence of β-CD. Cyt c was then intercalated to the GN–CD assembly to form a layered self-assembled structure, GN–CD–Cyt c, through electrostatic interaction. Compared with GNs and GN–CD, GN–CD–Cyt c assembly displayed improved electron transfer rate and high supramolecular recognition capability toward six probe molecules. - Highlights: • A new tertiary layered assembly named GN–CD–Cyt c was prepared. • Compared with GNs and GN–CD, GN–CD–Cyt c shows improved electron transfer rate. • GN–CD–Cyt c displays high supramolecular recognition capability.

Synthesis of ultrathin polymer insulating layers by initiated chemical vapour deposition for low-power soft electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, Hanul; Seong, Hyejeong; Shin, Woo Cheol; Park, Won-Tae; Kim, Mincheol; Lee, Seungwon; Bong, Jae Hoon; Noh, Yong-Young; Cho, Byung Jin; Yoo, Seunghyup; Im, Sung Gap

2015-06-01

Insulating layers based on oxides and nitrides provide high capacitance, low leakage, high breakdown field and resistance to electrical stresses when used in electronic devices based on rigid substrates. However, their typically high process temperatures and brittleness make it difficult to achieve similar performance in flexible or organic electronics. Here, we show that poly(1,3,5-trimethyl-1,3,5-trivinyl cyclotrisiloxane) (pV3D3) prepared via a one-step, solvent-free technique called initiated chemical vapour deposition (iCVD) is a versatile polymeric insulating layer that meets a wide range of requirements for next-generation electronic devices. Highly uniform and pure ultrathin films of pV3D3 with excellent insulating properties, a large energy gap (>8 eV), tunnelling-limited leakage characteristics and resistance to a tensile strain of up to 4% are demonstrated. The low process temperature, surface-growth character, and solvent-free nature of the iCVD process enable pV3D3 to be grown conformally on plastic substrates to yield flexible field-effect transistors as well as on a variety of channel layers, including organics, oxides, and graphene.

Graphene–cyclodextrin–cytochrome c layered assembly with improved electron transfer rate and high supramolecular recognition capability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong, Cheng-Bin; Guo, Cong-Cong; Jiang, Dan; Tang, Qian; Liu, Chang-Hua; Ma, Xue-Bing

2014-01-01

This study aimed to develop a new graphene-based layered assembly, named graphene–cyclodextrin–cytochrome c with improved electron transfer rate. This assembly has combined high conductivity of graphene nanosheets (GNs), selectively binding properties and electronegativity of cyclodextrins (CDs), as well as electropositivity of cytochrome c (Cyt c). This assembly can also mimic the confined environments of the intermembrane space of mitochondria. A β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) functionalized GN (GN–CD) assembly was initially prepared by a simple wet-chemical strategy, i.e., in situ thermal reduction of graphene oxide with hydrazine hydrate in the presence of β-CD. Cyt c was then intercalated to the GN–CD assembly to form a layered self-assembled structure, GN–CD–Cyt c, through electrostatic interaction. Compared with GNs and GN–CD, GN–CD–Cyt c assembly displayed improved electron transfer rate and high supramolecular recognition capability toward six probe molecules. - Highlights: • A new tertiary layered assembly named GN–CD–Cyt c was prepared. • Compared with GNs and GN–CD, GN–CD–Cyt c shows improved electron transfer rate. • GN–CD–Cyt c displays high supramolecular recognition capability

Plasmonically sensitized metal-oxide electron extraction layers for organic solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Trost, S; Becker, T; Zilberberg, K; Behrendt, A; Polywka, A; Heiderhoff, R; Görrn, P; Riedl, T

2015-01-16

ZnO and TiOx are commonly used as electron extraction layers (EELs) in organic solar cells (OSCs). A general phenomenon of OSCs incorporating these metal-oxides is the requirement to illuminate the devices with UV light in order to improve device characteristics. This may cause severe problems if UV to VIS down-conversion is applied or if the UV spectral range (λ work, silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are used to plasmonically sensitize metal-oxide based EELs in the vicinity (1-20 nm) of the metal-oxide/organic interface. We evidence that plasmonically sensitized metal-oxide layers facilitate electron extraction and afford well-behaved highly efficient OSCs, even without the typical requirement of UV exposure. It is shown that in the plasmonically sensitized metal-oxides the illumination with visible light lowers the WF due to desorption of previously ionosorbed oxygen, in analogy to the process found in neat metal oxides upon UV exposure, only. As underlying mechanism the transfer of hot holes from the metal to the oxide upon illumination with hν < Eg is verified. The general applicability of this concept to most common metal-oxides (e.g. TiOx and ZnO) in combination with different photoactive organic materials is demonstrated.

Ultrasonically spray coated silver layers from designed precursor inks for flexible electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Marchal, W.; Vandevenne, G.; D'Haen, J.; Almeida, A. Calmont de Andrade; Durand Sola, M. A., Jr.; van den Ham, E. J.; Drijkoningen, J.; Elen, K.; Deferme, W.; Van Bael, M. K.; Hardy, A.

2017-05-01

Integration of electronic circuit components onto flexible materials such as plastic foils, paper and textiles is a key challenge for the development of future smart applications. Therefore, conductive metal features need to be deposited on temperature sensitive substrates in a fast and straightforward way. The feasibility of these emerging (nano-) electronic technologies depends on the availability of well-designed deposition techniques and on novel functional metal inks. As ultrasonic spray coating (USSC) is one of the most promising techniques to meet the above requirements, innovative metal organic decomposition (MOD) inks are designed to deposit silver features on plastic foils. Various amine ligands were screened and their influence on the ink stability and the characteristics of the resulting metal depositions were evaluated to determine the optimal formulation. Eventually, silver layers with excellent performance in terms of conductivity (15% bulk silver conductivity), stability, morphology and adhesion could be obtained, while operating in a very low temperature window of 70 °C-120 °C. Moreover, the optimal deposition conditions were determined via an in-depth analysis of the ultrasonically sprayed silver layers. Applying these tailored MOD inks, the USSC technique enabled smooth, semi-transparent silver layers with a tunable thickness on large areas without time-consuming additional sintering steps after deposition. Therefore, this novel combination of nanoparticle-free Ag-inks and the USSC process holds promise for high throughput deposition of highly conductive silver features on heat sensitive substrates and even 3D objects.

Stability, structural and electronic properties of benzene molecule adsorbed on free standing Au layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Katoch, Neha, E-mail: nehakatoch2@gmail.com; Kapoor, Pooja; Sharma, Munish; Ahluwalia, P. K. [Physics Department, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India 171005 (India); Kumar, Ashok [Center for Physical Sciences, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India, 151001 (India)

2016-05-23

We report stability and electronic properties of benzene molecule adsorbed on the Au atomic layer within the framework of density function theory (DFT). Horizontal configuration of benzene on the top site of Au monolayer prefers energetically over other studied configurations. On the adsorption of benzene, the ballistic conductance of Au monolayer is found to decrease from 4G{sub 0} to 2G{sub 0} suggesting its applications for the fabrications of organic sensor devices based on the Au atomic layers.

Probing collective oscillation of d-orbital electrons at the nanoscale

Science.gov (United States)

Dhall, Rohan; Vigil-Fowler, Derek; Houston Dycus, J.; Kirste, Ronny; Mita, Seiji; Sitar, Zlatko; Collazo, Ramon; LeBeau, James M.

2018-02-01

Here, we demonstrate that high energy electrons can be used to explore the collective oscillation of s, p, and d orbital electrons at the nanometer length scale. Using epitaxial AlGaN/AlN quantum wells as a test system, we observe the emergence of additional features in the loss spectrum with the increasing Ga content. A comparison of the observed spectra with ab-initio theory reveals that the origin of these spectral features lies in excitations of 3d-electrons contributed by Ga. We find that these modes differ in energy from the valence electron plasmons in Al1-xGaxN due to the different polarizabilities of the d electrons. Finally, we study the dependence of observed spectral features on the Ga content, lending insights into the origin of these spectral features, and their coupling with electron-hole excitations.

Electron scattering and collective excitations in nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goutte, D.

1989-01-01

Nuclear collective degrees of freedom are investigated through the study of the radial dependance of their wave function. Inelastic electron scattering is shown to be the appropriate tool to extract such a detailed information. Some recent results on spherical as well as deformed nuclei are discussed and the most recent extensions to the mean field approach are compared to these data in order to clarify the present status of our understanding of the dynamical properties of complex nuclei

Spin-dependent electron-phonon coupling in the valence band of single-layer WS₂

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hinsche, Nicki Frank; Ngankeu, Arlette S.; Guilloy, Kevin

2017-01-01

The absence of inversion symmetry leads to a strong spin-orbit splitting of the upper valence band of semiconducting single-layer transition-metal dichalchogenides such as MoS2 or WS2. This permits a direct comparison of the electron-phonon coupling strength in states that only differ by their spin....... Here, the electron-phonon coupling in the valence band maximum of single-layer WS2 is studied by first-principles calculations and angle-resolved photoemission. The coupling strength is found to be drastically different for the two spin-split branches, with calculated values of λK=0.0021 and 0.......40 for the upper and lower spin-split valence band of the freestanding layer, respectively. This difference is somewhat reduced when including scattering processes involving the Au(111) substrate present in the experiment but it remains significant, in good agreement with the experimental results....

The electron edge of the low latitude boundary layer during accelerated flow events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gosling, J.T.; Thomsen, M.F.; Bame, S.J.; Onsager, T.G.; Russel, C.T.

1990-01-01

Magnetosheath plasma entering the Earth's magnetosphere to populate the low latitude boundary layer, LLBL, is often accelerated to speeds considerably greater than are observed in the adjacent magnetosheath. Measurements made during such accelerated flow events reveal separate electron and ion edges to the LLBL, with the electron edge being found earthward of the ion edge. Plasma electron velocity distributions observed at the earthward edge of the LLBL are often highly structured, exhibiting large asymmetries parallel and antiparallel, as well as perpendicular, to the local magnetic field. These features can consistently be interpreted as time-of-flight effects on recently reconnected field lines, and thus are strong evidence in support of the reconnection interpretation of accelerated plasma flow events

Spatial Atmospheric Pressure Atomic Layer Deposition of Tin Oxide as an Impermeable Electron Extraction Layer for Perovskite Solar Cells with Enhanced Thermal Stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffmann, Lukas; Brinkmann, Kai O; Malerczyk, Jessica; Rogalla, Detlef; Becker, Tim; Theirich, Detlef; Shutsko, Ivan; Görrn, Patrick; Riedl, Thomas

2018-02-14

Despite the notable success of hybrid halide perovskite-based solar cells, their long-term stability is still a key-issue. Aside from optimizing the photoactive perovskite, the cell design states a powerful lever to improve stability under various stress conditions. Dedicated electrically conductive diffusion barriers inside the cell stack, that counteract the ingress of moisture and prevent the migration of corrosive halogen species, can substantially improve ambient and thermal stability. Although atomic layer deposition (ALD) is excellently suited to prepare such functional layers, ALD suffers from the requirement of vacuum and only allows for a very limited throughput. Here, we demonstrate for the first time spatial ALD-grown SnO x at atmospheric pressure as impermeable electron extraction layers for perovskite solar cells. We achieve optical transmittance and electrical conductivity similar to those in SnO x grown by conventional vacuum-based ALD. A low deposition temperature of 80 °C and a high substrate speed of 2.4 m min -1 yield SnO x layers with a low water vapor transmission rate of ∼10 -4 gm -2 day -1 (at 60 °C/60% RH). Thereby, in perovskite solar cells, dense hybrid Al:ZnO/SnO x electron extraction layers are created that are the key for stable cell characteristics beyond 1000 h in ambient air and over 3000 h at 60 °C. Most notably, our work of introducing spatial ALD at atmospheric pressure paves the way to the future roll-to-roll manufacturing of stable perovskite solar cells.

Low frequency solitons and double layers in a magnetized plasma with two temperature electrons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rufai, O. R. [Department of Physics, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535 (South Africa); Bharuthram, R. [Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), University of the Western Cape, Bellville (South Africa); Singh, S. V. [Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, New Panvel (W), Navi Mumbai-410218 (India); School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban (South Africa); Lakhina, G. S. [Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, New Panvel (W), Navi Mumbai-410218 (India)

2012-12-15

Finite amplitude non-linear ion-acoustic solitary waves and double layers are studied in a magnetized plasma with cold ions fluid and two distinct groups of Boltzmann electrons, using the Sagdeev pseudo-potential technique. The conditions under which the solitary waves and double layers can exist are found both analytically and numerically. We have shown the existence of negative potential solitary waves and double layers for subsonic Mach numbers, whereas in the unmagnetized plasma they can only in the supersonic Mach number regime. For the plasma parameters in the auroral region, the electric field amplitude of the solitary structures comes out to be 49 mV/m which is in agreement of the Viking observations in this region.

Low frequency solitons and double layers in a magnetized plasma with two temperature electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rufai, O. R.; Bharuthram, R.; Singh, S. V.; Lakhina, G. S.

2012-01-01

Finite amplitude non-linear ion-acoustic solitary waves and double layers are studied in a magnetized plasma with cold ions fluid and two distinct groups of Boltzmann electrons, using the Sagdeev pseudo-potential technique. The conditions under which the solitary waves and double layers can exist are found both analytically and numerically. We have shown the existence of negative potential solitary waves and double layers for subsonic Mach numbers, whereas in the unmagnetized plasma they can only in the supersonic Mach number regime. For the plasma parameters in the auroral region, the electric field amplitude of the solitary structures comes out to be 49 mV/m which is in agreement of the Viking observations in this region.

Formation of double layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leung, P.; Wong, A.Y.; Quon, B.H.

1981-01-01

Experiments on both stationary and propagating double layers and a related analytical model are described. Stationary double layers were produced in a multiple plasma device, in which an electron drift current was present. An investigation of the plasma parameters for the stable double layer condition is described. The particle distribution in the stable double layer establishes a potential profile, which creates electron and ion beams that excite plasma instabilities. The measured characteristics of the instabilities are consistent with the existence of the double layer. Propagating double layers are formed when the initial electron drift current is large. Ths slopes of the transition region increase as they propagate. A physical model for the formation of a double layer in the experimental device is described. This model explains the formation of the low potential region on the basis of the space charge. This space charge is created by the electron drift current. The model also accounts for the role of ions in double layer formation and explains the formation of moving double layers. (Auth.)

Auger electron spectroscopy study on interaction between aluminum thin layers and uranium substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Wei; Liu Kezhao; Yang Jiangrong; Xiao Hong; Jiang Chunli; Lu Lei

2005-01-01

Aluminum thin layers on uranium were prepared by sputter deposition at room temperature in ultra high vacuum analysis chamber. Interaction between U and Al, and growth mode were investigated by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). It is shown that Al thin film growth follows the volmer-weber (VW) mode. At room temperature, Al and U interact with each other, resulting in interdiffusion action and formation of U-Al alloys at U/Al interface. Annealing promotes interaction and interdiffusion between U and Al, and UAl x maybe formed at interface. (authors)

CHARGE-TRANSFER BETWEEN LAYERS IN MISFIT LAYER COMPOUNDS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

WIEGERS, GA

1995-01-01

Electron donation from MX double layers to TX(2) sandwiches, the interlayer bonding and the localization of conduction electrons in misfit layer compounds (MX)(p)(TX(2))(n) (M=Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, rare earth metals; T=Ti, V, Cr, Nb, Ta; X=S, Se; 1.08

Atomic-Layer-Deposited Transparent Electrodes for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demaurex, Benedicte; Seif, Johannes P.; Smit, Sjoerd; Macco, Bart; Kessels, W. M.; Geissbuhler, Jonas; De Wolf, Stefaan; Ballif, Christophe

2014-01-01

We examine damage-free transparent-electrode deposition to fabricate high-efficiency amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells. Such solar cells usually feature sputtered transparent electrodes, the deposition of which may damage the layers underneath. Using atomic layer deposition, we insert thin protective films between the amorphous silicon layers and sputtered contacts and investigate their effect on device operation. We find that a 20-nm-thick protective layer suffices to preserve, unchanged, the amorphous silicon layers beneath. Insertion of such protective atomic-layer-deposited layers yields slightly higher internal voltages at low carrier injection levels. However, we identify the presence of a silicon oxide layer, formed during processing, between the amorphous silicon and the atomic-layer-deposited transparent electrode that acts as a barrier, impeding hole and electron collection

Electron microscopy analyses and electrical properties of the layered Bi{sub 2}WO{sub 6} phase

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taoufyq, A. [Institut Matériaux Microélectronique et Nanosciences de Provence, IM2NP, UMR CNRS 7334, Université du Sud Toulon-Var, BP 20132, 83957, La Garde Cedex (France); Laboratoire Matériaux et Environnement LME, Faculté des Sciences, Université Ibn Zohr, BP 8106, Cité Dakhla, Agadir, Maroc (Morocco); Département d‘Études des Réacteurs, Laboratoire Dosimétrie Capteurs Instrumentation, CEA Cadarache (France); Société CESIGMA—Signals and Systems, 1576 Chemin de La Planquette, F 83 130 LA GARDE (France); Ait Ahsaine, H. [Laboratoire Matériaux et Environnement LME, Faculté des Sciences, Université Ibn Zohr, BP 8106, Cité Dakhla, Agadir, Maroc (Morocco); Patout, L. [Institut Matériaux Microélectronique et Nanosciences de Provence, IM2NP, UMR CNRS 7334, Université du Sud Toulon-Var, BP 20132, 83957, La Garde Cedex (France); Benlhachemi, A.; Ezahri, M. [Laboratoire Matériaux et Environnement LME, Faculté des Sciences, Université Ibn Zohr, BP 8106, Cité Dakhla, Agadir, Maroc (Morocco); and others

2013-07-15

The bismuth tungstate Bi{sub 2}WO{sub 6} was synthesized using a classical coprecipitation method followed by a calcination process at different temperatures. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) analyses. The Rietveld analysis and electron diffraction clearly confirmed the Pca2{sub 1} non centrosymmetric space group previously proposed for this phase. The layers Bi{sub 2}O{sub 2}{sup 2+} and WO{sub 4}{sup 2−} have been directly evidenced from the HRTEM images. The electrical properties of Bi{sub 2}WO{sub 6} compacted pellets systems were determined from electrical impedance spectrometry (EIS) and direct current (DC) analyses, under air and argon, between 350 and 700 °C. The direct current analyses showed that the conduction observed from EIS analyses was mainly ionic in this temperature range, with a small electronic contribution. Electrical change above the transition temperature of 660 °C is observed under air and argon atmospheres. The strong conductivity increase observed under argon is interpreted in terms of formation of additional oxygen vacancies coupled with electron conduction. - Graphical abstract: High resolution transmission electron microscopy: inverse fast Fourier transform giving the layered structure of the Bi{sub 2}WO{sub 6} phase, with a representation of the cell dimensions (b and c vectors). The Bi{sub 2}O{sub 2}{sup 2+} and WO{sub 4}{sup 2−} sandwiches are visible in the IFFT image. - Highlights: • Using transmission electron microscopy, we visualize the layered structure of Bi{sub 2}WO{sub 6}. • Electrical analyses under argon gas show some increase in conductivity. • The phase transition at 660 °C is evidenced from electrical modification.

Growth and electronic structure of single-layered transition metal dichalcogenides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dendzik, Maciej

2016-01-01

only a weak interaction between SL MoS2 and graphene, which leads to a quasi-freestanding band structure, but also to the coexistence of multiple rotational domains. Measurements of SL WS2 on Ag(111), on the other hand, reveals formation of interesting in-gap states which make WS2 metallic. Low...... different from graphene’s. For example, semiconducting TMDCs undergo an indirectdirect band gap transition when thinned to a single layer (SL); this results in greatly enhanced photoluminescence, making those materials attractive for applications in optoelectronics. Furthermore, metallic TMDCs can host......-quality SL TMDCs. We demonstrate the synthesis of SL MoS2, WS2 and TaS2 on Au(111), Ag(111) and graphene on SiC. The morphology and crystal structure of the synthesized materials is characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). The electronic structure of SL...

Observation Of Electron-beam-induced Phase Evolution Mimicking The Effect Of Charge-discharge Cycle In Li-rich Layered Cathode Materials Used For Li-ion Batteries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Ping; Yan, Pengfei; Romero, Eric; Spoerke, Erik D.; Zhang, Jiguang; Wang, Chong M.

2015-02-24

Capacity loss, and voltage fade upon electrochemical charge-discharge cycling observed in lithium-rich layered cathode oxides (Li[LixMnyTM1-x-y]O2 , TM = Ni, Co or Fe) have recently been identified to be correlated to the gradual phase transformation, featuring the formation of a surface reconstructed layer (SRL) that evolves from a thin (<2 nm), defect spinel layer upon the first charge, to a relatively thick (~5 nm), spinel or rock-salt layer upon continuous charge-discharge cycling. Here we report observations of a SRL and structural evolution of the SRL on the Li[Li0.2Ni0.2Mn0.6]O2 (LMR) particles, which are identical to those reported due to the charge-discharge cycle but are a result of electron-beam irradiation during scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging. Sensitivity of the lithium-rich layered oxides to high-energy electrons leads to the formation of thin, defect spinel layer on surfaces of the particles when exposed to a 200 kV electron beam for as little as 30 seconds under normal high-resolution STEM imaging conditions. Further electron irradiation produces a thicker layer of the spinel phase, ultimately producing a rock-salt layer at a higher electron exposure. Atomic-scale chemical mapping by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in STEM indicates the electron-beam-induced SRL formation on LMR is accomplished by migration of the transition metal ions to the Li sites without breaking down the lattice. This study provides an insight for understanding the mechanism of forming the SRL and also possibly a mean to study structural evolution in the Li-rich layered oxides without involving the electrochemistry.

Optimising waste from electric and electronic equipment collection systems: a comparison of approaches in European countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Friege, Henning; Oberdörfer, Michael; Günther, Marko

2015-03-01

The first European waste from electric and electronic equipment directive obliged the Member States to collect 4 kg of used devices per inhabitant and year. The target of the amended directive focuses on the ratio between the amount of waste from electric and electronic equipment collected and the mass of electric and electronic devices put on the market in the three foregoing years. The minimum collection target is 45% starting in 2016, being increased to 65% in 2019 or alternatively 85% of waste from electric and electronic equipment generated. Being aware of the new target, the question arises how Member States with 'best practice' organise their collection systems and how they enforce the parties in this playing field. Therefore the waste from electric and electronic equipment schemes of Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and the Flemish region of Belgium were investigated focusing on the categories IT and telecommunications equipment, consumer equipment like audio systems and discharge lamps containing hazardous substances, e.g. mercury. The systems for waste from electric and electronic equipment collection in these countries vary considerably. Recycling yards turned out to be the backbone of waste from electric and electronic equipment collection in most countries studied. For discharge lamps, take-back by retailers seems to be more important. Sampling points like special containers in shopping centres, lidded waste bins and complementary return of used devices in all retail shops for electric equipment may serve as supplements. High transparency of collection and recycling efforts can encourage ambition among the concerned parties. Though the results from the study cannot be transferred in a simplistic manner, they serve as an indication for best practice methods for waste from electric and electronic equipment collection. © The Author(s) 2015.

Role of the electron blocking layer in the graded-index separate confinement heterostructure nitride laser diodes

Science.gov (United States)

Bojarska, Agata; Goss, Jakub; Stanczyk, Szymon; Makarowa, Irina; Schiavon, Dario; Czernecki, Robert; Suski, Tadeusz; Perlin, Piotr

2018-04-01

In this work, we investigate the role of the electron blocking layer (EBL) in laser diodes based on a graded index separate confinement heterostructure. We compare two sets of devices with very different EBL aluminum composition (3% and 12%) and design (graded and superlattice). The results of electro-optical characterization of these laser diodes reveal surprisingly modest role of electron blocking layer composition in determination of the threshold current and the differential efficiency values. However, EBL structure influences the operating voltage, which is decreased for devices with lower EBL and superlattice EBL. We observe also the differences in the thermal stability of devices - characteristic temperature is lower for lasers with 3% Al in EBL.

Subnanometer Ga 2 O 3 Tunnelling Layer by Atomic Layer Deposition to Achieve 1.1 V Open-Circuit Potential in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Chandiran, Aravind Kumar

2012-08-08

Herein, we present the first use of a gallium oxide tunnelling layer to significantly reduce electron recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC). The subnanometer coating is achieved using atomic layer deposition (ALD) and leading to a new DSC record open-circuit potential of 1.1 V with state-of-the-art organic D-π-A sensitizer and cobalt redox mediator. After ALD of only a few angstroms of Ga 2O 3, the electron back reaction is reduced by more than an order of magnitude, while charge collection efficiency and fill factor are increased by 30% and 15%, respectively. The photogenerated exciton separation processes of electron injection into the TiO 2 conduction band and the hole injection into the electrolyte are characterized in detail. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Analysis of borophosphosilicate glass layers on silicon wafers by X-ray emission from photon and electron excitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elgersma, O.; Borstrok, J.J.M.

1989-01-01

Phosphorus and oxygen concentrations in the homogeneous layer of borosilicate glass (BPSG) deposited on Si-integrated circuits are determined by X-ray fluorescence from photon excitation. The X-ray emission from electron excitation in an open X-ray tube instrument yields a sufficiently precise determination of the boron content. The thickness of the layer can be derived from silicon Kα-fluorescence. A calibration model is proposed for photon as well as for electron excitation. The experimentally determined parameters in this model well agree with those derived from fundamental parameters for X-ray absorption and emission. The chemical surrounding of silicon affects strongly the peak profile of the silicon Kβ-emission. This enables to distinguish emission from the silicon atoms in the wafer and from the silicon atoms in the silicon oxide complexes of the BPSG-layer. (author)

Three-dimensional rotation electron diffraction: software RED for automated data collection and data processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Wei; Sun, Junliang; Su, Jie; Hovmöller, Sven; Zou, Xiaodong

2013-12-01

Implementation of a computer program package for automated collection and processing of rotation electron diffraction (RED) data is described. The software package contains two computer programs: RED data collection and RED data processing. The RED data collection program controls the transmission electron microscope and the camera. Electron beam tilts at a fine step (0.05-0.20°) are combined with goniometer tilts at a coarse step (2.0-3.0°) around a common tilt axis, which allows a fine relative tilt to be achieved between the electron beam and the crystal in a large tilt range. An electron diffraction (ED) frame is collected at each combination of beam tilt and goniometer tilt. The RED data processing program processes three-dimensional ED data generated by the RED data collection program or by other approaches. It includes shift correction of the ED frames, peak hunting for diffraction spots in individual ED frames and identification of these diffraction spots as reflections in three dimensions. Unit-cell parameters are determined from the positions of reflections in three-dimensional reciprocal space. All reflections are indexed, and finally a list with hkl indices and intensities is output. The data processing program also includes a visualizer to view and analyse three-dimensional reciprocal lattices reconstructed from the ED frames. Details of the implementation are described. Data collection and data processing with the software RED are demonstrated using a calcined zeolite sample, silicalite-1. The structure of the calcined silicalite-1, with 72 unique atoms, could be solved from the RED data by routine direct methods.

Control of electronic properties of 2D carbides (MXenes) by manipulating their transition metal layers

KAUST Repository

Anasori, Babak

2016-02-24

In this study, a transition from metallic to semiconducting-like behavior has been demonstrated in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides by replacing titanium with molybdenum in the outer transition metal (M) layers of M3C2 and M4C3 MXenes. The MXene structure consists of n + 1 layers of near-close packed M layers with C or N occupying the octahedral site between them in an [MX]nM arrangement. Recently, two new families of ordered 2D double transition metal carbides MXenes were discovered, M′2M′′C2 and M′2M′′2C3 – where M′ and M′′ are two different early transition metals, such as Mo, Cr, Ta, Nb, V, and Ti. The M′ atoms only occupy the outer layers and the M′′ atoms fill the middle layers. In other words, M′ atomic layers sandwich the middle M′′–C layers. Using X-ray atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis on Mo2TiC2 and Mo2Ti2C3 MXenes, we present the first quantitative analysis of structures of these novel materials and experimentally confirm that Mo atoms are in the outer layers of the [MC]nM structures. The electronic properties of these Mo-containing MXenes are compared with their Ti3C2 counterparts, and are found to be no longer metallic-like conductors; instead the resistance increases mildly with decreasing temperatures. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that OH terminated Mo–Ti MXenes are semiconductors with narrow band gaps. Measurements of the temperature dependencies of conductivities and magnetoresistances have confirmed that Mo2TiC2Tx exhibits semiconductor-like transport behavior, while Ti3C2Tx is a metal. This finding opens new avenues for the control of the electronic and optical applications of MXenes and for exploring new applications, in which semiconducting properties are required.

Microparticle injection effects on microwave transmission through an overly dense plasma layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gillman, Eric D., E-mail: eric.gillman@nrl.navy.mil; Amatucci, W. E. [Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Williams, Jeremiah [Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio 45501 (United States); Compton, C. S. [Sotera Defense Solutions, Herndon, Virginia 20171 (United States)

2015-04-15

Microparticles injected into a plasma have been shown to deplete the free electron population as electrons are collected through the process of microparticles charging to the plasma floating potential. However, these charged microparticles can also act to scatter electromagnetic signals. These experiments investigate microwave penetration through a previously impenetrable overly dense plasma layer as microparticles are injected and the physical phenomena associated with the competing processes that occur due to electron depletion and microwave scattering. The timescales for when each of these competing processes dominates is analyzed in detail. It was found that while both processes play a significant and dominant role at different times, ultimately, transmission through this impenetrable plasma layer can be significantly increased with microparticle injection.

Shellac Films as a Natural Dielectric Layer for Enhanced Electron Transport in Polymer Field-Effect Transistors.

Science.gov (United States)

Baek, Seung Woon; Ha, Jong-Woon; Yoon, Minho; Hwang, Do-Hoon; Lee, Jiyoul

2018-06-06

Shellac, a natural polymer resin obtained from the secretions of lac bugs, was evaluated as a dielectric layer in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) on the basis of donor (D)-acceptor (A)-type conjugated semiconducting copolymers. The measured dielectric constant and breakdown field of the shellac layer were ∼3.4 and 3.0 MV/cm, respectively, comparable with those of a poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) film, a commonly used dielectric material. Bottom-gate/top-contact OFETs were fabricated with shellac or PVP as the dielectric layer and one of three different D-A-type semiconducting copolymers as the active layer: poly(cyclopentadithiophene- alt-benzothiadiazole) with p-type characteristics, poly(naphthalene-bis(dicarboximide)- alt-bithiophene) [P(NDI2OD-T2)] with n-type characteristics, and poly(dithienyl-diketopyrrolopyrrole- alt-thienothiophene) [P(DPP2T-TT)] with ambipolar characteristics. The electrical characteristics of the fabricated OFETs were then measured. For all active layers, OFETs with a shellac film as the dielectric layer exhibited a better mobility than those with PVP. For example, the mobility of the OFET with a shellac dielectric and n-type P(NDI2OD-T2) active layer was approximately 2 orders of magnitude greater than that of the corresponding OFET with a PVP insulating layer. When P(DPP2T-TT) served as the active layer, the OFET with shellac as the dielectric exhibited ambipolar characteristics, whereas the corresponding OFET with the PVP dielectric operated only in hole-accumulation mode. The total density of states was analyzed using technology computer-aided design simulations. The results revealed that compared with the OFETs with PVP as the dielectric, the OFETs with shellac as the dielectric had a lower trap-site density at the polymer semiconductor/dielectric interface and much fewer acceptor-like trap sites acting as electron traps. These results demonstrate that shellac is a suitable dielectric material for D-A-type semiconducting

High-rate deposition of SI absorber layers by electron beam evaporation and first electron beam crystallization tests

OpenAIRE

Saager, Stefan; Ben Yaala, Marwa; Heinß, Jens-Peter; Temmler, Dietmar; Pfefferling, Bert; Metzner, Christoph

2014-01-01

In earlier electron beam physical vapor deposition tests (EB-PVD), using a conventional copper crucible (A), high Si deposition rates at relatively high EB power together with a contamination level of 1016 cm-3 are demonstrated. To improve the rate vs. EB power relation as well as the Si layer purity, two alternative high rate EBPVD methods are investigated and reported here - a contact-less crucible setup (B) and a crucible-free setup (C).In these experiments comparable deposition rates of ~...

Anomalous magnetotransport of a surface electron layer above liquid helium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grigor'ev, V.N.; Kovdrya, Yu.Z.; Nikolaenko, V.A.; Kirichek, O.I.; Shcherbachenko, R.I.

1991-01-01

The magnetoconductivity σ xx of a surface electron layer above liquid helium has been measured at temperatures between 0.5-1.6 K, for concentrations up to about 4x10 8 cm -2 , in magnetic fields up to 25 kOe. As was observed, σ xx first decreases with lowering temperature, then has a minimum and at T xy , the earlier ascertained anomalous behaviour of the magnetoresistance ρ xx taken into consideration. The calculated dependence of ρ xx on T is in satisfactory agreement with the anomalous dependence ρ xx (T) found earlier by experiment

Advanced metal lift-off process using electron-beam flood exposure of single-layer photoresist

Science.gov (United States)

Minter, Jason P.; Ross, Matthew F.; Livesay, William R.; Wong, Selmer S.; Narcy, Mark E.; Marlowe, Trey

1999-06-01

In the manufacture of many types of integrated circuit and thin film devices, it is desirable to use a lift-of process for the metallization step to avoid manufacturing problems encountered when creating metal interconnect structures using plasma etch. These problems include both metal adhesion and plasma etch difficulties. Key to the success of the lift-off process is the creation of a retrograde or undercut profile in the photoresists before the metal deposition step. Until now, lift-off processing has relied on costly multi-layer photoresists schemes, image reversal, and non-repeatable photoresist processes to obtain the desired lift-off profiles in patterned photoresist. This paper present a simple, repeatable process for creating robust, user-defined lift-off profiles in single layer photoresist using a non-thermal electron beam flood exposure. For this investigation, lift-off profiles created using electron beam flood exposure of many popular photoresists were evaluated. Results of lift-off profiles created in positive tone AZ7209 and ip3250 are presented here.

Phonon and electron temperature and non-Fourier heat transport in thin layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlomagno, I.; Cimmelli, V.A. [Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Economics, University of Basilicata, Campus Macchia Romana, Viale dell' Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza (Italy); Sellitto, A. [Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano (Italy)

2017-04-15

We present a thermodynamic model of heat conductor which allows for different temperatures of phonons and electrons. This model is applied to calculate the steady-state radial temperature profile in a circular thin layer. The compatibility of the obtained temperature profiles with the second law of thermodynamics is investigated in view of the requirement of positive entropy production and of a nonlocal constitutive equation for the entropy flux.

Polymer solar cells with efficiency >10% enabled via a facile solution-processed Al-doped ZnO electron transporting layer

KAUST Repository

Jagadamma, Lethy Krishnan; Al-Senani, Mohammed; Amassian, Aram

2015-01-01

The present work details a facile and low-temperature (125C) solution-processed Al-doped ZnO (AZO) buffer layer functioning very effectively as electron accepting/hole blocking layer for a wide range of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction systems

The thermodynamic spin magnetization of strongly correlated 2d electrons in a silicon inversion layer

OpenAIRE

Prus, O.; Yaish, Y.; Reznikov, M.; Sivan, U.; Pudalov, V.

2002-01-01

A novel method invented to measure the minute thermodynamic spin magnetization of dilute two dimensional fermions is applied to electrons in a silicon inversion layer. Interplay between the ferromagnetic interaction and disorder enhances the low temperature susceptibility up to 7.5 folds compared with the Pauli susceptibility of non-interacting electrons. The magnetization peaks in the vicinity of the density where transition to strong localization takes place. At the same density, the suscep...

Energy- and temperature dependences of secondary electron emission of CsI- and CsBr layers doped with Cd

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galij, P.V.; Tsal', N.A.

1983-01-01

The energy and temperature dependences of the secondary electron emission coefficient (SEEC) of CsI-Cd-, CsBr-Cd-, CsI-CsBr layers have been studied. The effect of bivalent cadmium impurity on the SEEC value is investigated. It is shown that implantation of small amounts of Cd 2+ impurity into the lattice of the initial monocrystals might increase the SEEC values of the layers. Temperature dependences (TD) of SEEC are measured and the possibility of comparing experimental results with the Dekker formula is analyzed. A conclusion is drawn that the Dekker model well describes the TD of SEEC of doped layers at temperatures T < or approximately 100 deg C. At elevated temperatures., along with secondary electron scattering on phonons, one should take into account their scattering on vacancies

Tuning the two-dimensional electron liquid at oxide interfaces by buffer-layer-engineered redox reactions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Yunzhong; Green, Robert J.; Sutarto, Ronny

2017-01-01

Polar discontinuities and redox reactions provide alternative paths to create two-dimensional electron liquids (2DELs) at oxide interfaces. Herein, we report high mobility 2DELs at interfaces involving SrTiO3 (STO) achieved using polar La7/8Sr1/8MnO3 (LSMO) buffer layers to manipulate both...... polarities and redox reactions from disordered overlayers grown at room temperature. Using resonant x-ray reflectometry experiments, we quantify redox reactions from oxide overlayers on STO as well as polarity induced electronic reconstruction at epitaxial LSMO/STO interfaces. The analysis reveals how...... these effects can be combined in a STO/LSMO/disordered film trilayer system to yield high mobility modulation doped 2DELs, where the buffer layer undergoes a partial transformation from perovskite to brownmillerite structure. This uncovered interplay between polar discontinuities and redox reactions via buffer...

Role of electron back action on photons in hybridizing double-layer graphene plasmons with localized photons

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Danhong; Iurov, Andrii; Gumbs, Godfrey

2018-05-01

In this paper, we deal with the electromagnetic coupling between an incident surface-plasmon-polariton wave and relativistic electrons in two graphene layers. Our previous investigation was limited to single-layer graphene (Iurov et al 2017 Phys. Rev. B 96 081408). However, the present work, is both an expanded and extended version of this previous Phys. Rev. B paper after having included very detailed theoretical formalisms and extensive comparisons of results from either one or two graphene layers embedded in a dielectric medium. The additional retarded Coulomb interaction between two graphene layers will compete with the coupling between the single graphene layer and the surface of a conductor. Consequently, some distinctive features, such as triply-hybridized absorption peaks and a new acoustic-like graphene plasmon mode within the anticrossing region, have been found for the double-layer graphene system. Physically, our theory is self-consistent, in comparison with a commonly adopted perturbative theory, for studying hybrid light-plasmon modes and the electron back action on photons. Instead of usual radiation or grating-deflection field coupling, a surface-plasmon-polariton localized field coupling is introduced with completely different dispersion relations for radiative (small wave numbers) and evanescent (large wave numbers) field modes. Technically, the exactly calculated effective scattering matrix for this theory can be employed to construct an effective-medium theory in order to improve the accuracy of the well-known finite-difference time-domain method for solving Maxwell’s equations numerically. Practically, the predicted triply-hybridized absorption peaks can excite polaritons only, giving rise to a possible polariton-condensation based laser.

Electron transfer through solid-electrolyte-interphase layers formed on Si anodes of Li-ion batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benitez, L.; Cristancho, D.; Seminario, J.M.; Martinez de la Hoz, J.M.; Balbuena, P.B.

2014-01-01

Solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) films are formed on the electrode surfaces due to aggregation of products of reduction or oxidation of the electrolyte. These films may grow to thicknesses in the order of 50-100 nm and contain a variety of organic and inorganic products but their structure is not well defined. Although in some cases the films exert a passivating role, this is not always the case, and these phenomena are particularly more complex on Silicon anodes due to swelling and cracking of the electrode during lithiation and delithiation. Since the driving force for SEI growth is electron transfer, it is important to understand how electron transfer may keep occurring through the heterogeneous film once the bare electron surface is covered. Here we introduce a novel approach for studying electron transfer through model films and show preliminary results for the analysis of electron transfer through model composite interfacial systems integrated by electrode/SEI layer/electrolyte. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are used to identify deposition of SEI components, and a density functional theory/Green's function approach is utilized for characterizing electron transfer. Three degrees of lithiation are modeled for the electrodes, the SEI film is composed by LiF or Li 2 O, and the ethylene carbonate reduction is studied. An applied potential is used as driving force for the leakage current, which is evaluated as a function of the applied potential. Comparative analyses are done for LiF and Li 2 O model SEI layers

Influence of the number of layers on ultrathin CsSnI3 perovskite: from electronic structure to carrier mobility

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Biao; Long, Mengqiu; Cai, Meng-Qiu; Yang, Junliang

2018-03-01

Inorganic halide perovskites have attracted great attention in recent years as promising materials for optoelectronic devices, with ultrathin inorganic halide perovskites showing excellent properties and great potential applications. Herein, the intrinsic electronic and optical properties of ultrathin cesium tin tri-iodide (CsSnI3) perovskite with a varying number of layers are explored using first-principles calculations. The results reveal that ultrathin CsSnI3 is a direct band gap semiconductor, and the band gap continues to increase to 1.83 eV from 1.28 eV as the number of layers is reduced to one layer from the bulk. By decreasing the number of layers, the effective mass of ultrathin CsSnI3 increases, and the optical absorption intensity along the x and y directions shows that the linear dichroism becomes stronger and stronger. Furthermore, the carrier mobilities (µ) can be predicted, and they show obvious in-plane anisotropy. The µ of the electrons is higher than that of the holes, and the electron mobility along the y direction is higher than that along the x direction. The layer thickness does not distinctly influence the µ. The difference in the atomic orbital distribution has the nature of obvious anisotropy in ultrathin CsSnI3. This work suggests that ultrathin inorganic perovskite could be a potential candidate for future nano-optoelectronic devices.

Amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide as electron transport layer in organic photodetectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arora, H.; Malinowski, P. E.; Chasin, A.; Cheyns, D.; Steudel, S.; Schols, S.; Heremans, P.

2015-01-01

Amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) is demonstrated as an electron transport layer (ETL) in a high-performance organic photodetector (OPD). Dark current in the range of 10 nA/cm 2 at a bias voltage of −2 V and a high photoresponse in the visible spectrum were obtained in inverted OPDs with poly(3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester active layer. The best results were obtained for the optimum a-IGZO thickness of 7.5 nm with specific detectivity of 3 × 10 12 Jones at the wavelength of 550 nm. The performance of the best OPD devices using a-IGZO was shown to be comparable to state-of-the-art devices based on TiO x as ETL, with higher rectification achieved in reverse bias. Yield and reproducibility were also enhanced with a-IGZO, facilitating fabrication of large area OPDs. Furthermore, easier integration with IGZO-based readout backplanes can be envisioned, where the channel material can be used as photodiode buffer layer after additional treatment

Amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide as electron transport layer in organic photodetectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arora, H. [IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Phelma–Grenoble INP, 3 Parvis Louis Néel, 38016 Grenoble Cedex 01 (France); Malinowski, P. E., E-mail: pawel.malinowski@imec.be; Chasin, A.; Cheyns, D.; Steudel, S.; Schols, S. [IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Heremans, P. [IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); ESAT, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)

2015-04-06

Amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) is demonstrated as an electron transport layer (ETL) in a high-performance organic photodetector (OPD). Dark current in the range of 10 nA/cm{sup 2} at a bias voltage of −2 V and a high photoresponse in the visible spectrum were obtained in inverted OPDs with poly(3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C{sub 61}-butyric acid methyl ester active layer. The best results were obtained for the optimum a-IGZO thickness of 7.5 nm with specific detectivity of 3 × 10{sup 12} Jones at the wavelength of 550 nm. The performance of the best OPD devices using a-IGZO was shown to be comparable to state-of-the-art devices based on TiO{sub x} as ETL, with higher rectification achieved in reverse bias. Yield and reproducibility were also enhanced with a-IGZO, facilitating fabrication of large area OPDs. Furthermore, easier integration with IGZO-based readout backplanes can be envisioned, where the channel material can be used as photodiode buffer layer after additional treatment.

An electronic specimen collection protocol schema (eSCPS). Document architecture for specimen management and the exchange of specimen collection protocols between biobanking information systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Eminaga, O; Semjonow, A; Oezguer, E; Herden, J; Akbarov, I; Tok, A; Engelmann, U; Wille, S

2014-01-01

The integrity of collection protocols in biobanking is essential for a high-quality sample preparation process. However, there is not currently a well-defined universal method for integrating collection protocols in the biobanking information system (BIMS). Therefore, an electronic schema of the collection protocol that is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) is required to maintain the integrity and enable the exchange of collection protocols. The development and implementation of an electronic specimen collection protocol schema (eSCPS) was performed at two institutions (Muenster and Cologne) in three stages. First, we analyzed the infrastructure that was already established at both the biorepository and the hospital information systems of these institutions and determined the requirements for the sufficient preparation of specimens and documentation. Second, we designed an eSCPS according to these requirements. Finally, a prospective study was conducted to implement and evaluate the novel schema in the current BIMS. We designed an eSCPS that provides all of the relevant information about collection protocols. Ten electronic collection protocols were generated using the supplementary Protocol Editor tool, and these protocols were successfully implemented in the existing BIMS. Moreover, an electronic list of collection protocols for the current studies being performed at each institution was included, new collection protocols were added, and the existing protocols were redesigned to be modifiable. The documentation time was significantly reduced after implementing the eSCPS (5 ± 2 min vs. 7 ± 3 min; p = 0.0002). The eSCPS improves the integrity and facilitates the exchange of specimen collection protocols in the existing open-source BIMS.

The intriguing electronic and optical properties modulation of hydrogen and fluorine codecorated silicene layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Qun; Tan, Chunjian; Meng, Ruishen; Jiang, Junke; Liang, Qiuhua; Sun, Xiang; Yang, Daoguo; Chen, Xianping

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The HSiF bilayer is very stable due to the high binding energy even larger than the ones of bilayer graphene. • The HSiF bilayer exhibits a moderate direct band gap of 0.296 eV much lower than that of HSiF monolayer. • All the HSiF layers have a direct band gap nature, irrespective of stacking pattern, thickness and external electric fields, which is an advantage over MoS 2 layers. Besides, it is advantageous to the application of HSiF layers in the field of optical devices. • The external electric field can effectively tune the band gaps of HSiF layers. Especially, even a semiconductor–metal transition occurs. • After the formation of HSiF bilayer, the complete electron-hole separation enhances the photocatalytic efficiency of HSiF bilayer and it exhibits a significantly improved visible light adsorption peak. - Abstract: First-principles calculations based on density-functional theory reveal some superior physical properties of hydrogen and fluorine co-decorated silicene (HSiF) monolayer and bilayer. Our simulated results reveal that the HSiF monolayer is a large direct band gap semiconductor greatly differing from the gapless semi-metallic silicene. There exists strong interlayer coupling in HSiF bilayer, leading to the good stabilities of HSiF bilayer even beyond bilayer graphene. The proposed HSiF bilayer exhibits a moderate direct band gap of 0.296 eV which is much lower than that of HSiF monolayer. Encouragingly, HSiF layers all have a direct band gap nature, irrespective of stacking pattern, thickness and external electric fields, which is an advantage over MoS 2 layers. Furthermore, an out-of-plane electric field has an evident impact on the band structures of the HSiF monolayer and bilayer. Especially, the band gap of HSiF bilayer can be effectively tuned by external electric field, even a semiconductor–metal transition occurs. More importantly, the HSiF bilayer exhibits a significant improved visible light adsorption peak with

Atomic layer deposition on polymer fibers and fabrics for multifunctional and electronic textiles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brozena, Alexandra H.; Oldham, Christopher J.; Parsons, Gregory N., E-mail: gnp@ncsu.edu [Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7905 (United States)

2016-01-15

Textile materials, including woven cotton, polymer knit fabrics, and synthetic nonwoven fiber mats, are being explored as low-cost, flexible, and light-weight platforms for wearable electronic sensing, communication, energy generation, and storage. The natural porosity and high surface area in textiles is also useful for new applications in environmental protection, chemical decontamination, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing, catalytic support, tissue regeneration, and others. These applications raise opportunities for new chemistries, chemical processes, biological coupling, and nanodevice systems that can readily combine with textile manufacturing to create new “multifunctional” fabrics. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has a unique ability to form highly uniform and conformal thin films at low processing temperature on nonuniform high aspect ratio surfaces. Recent research shows how ALD can coat, modify, and otherwise improve polymer fibers and textiles by incorporating new materials for viable electronic and other multifunctional capabilities. This article provides a current overview of the understanding of ALD coating and modification of textiles, including current capabilities and outstanding problems, with the goal of providing a starting point for further research and advances in this field. After a brief introduction to textile materials and current textile treatment methods, the authors discuss unique properties of ALD-coated textiles, followed by a review of recent electronic and multifunctional textiles that use ALD coatings either as direct functional components or as critical nucleation layers for active materials integration. The article concludes with possible future directions for ALD on textiles, including the challenges in materials, manufacturing, and manufacturing integration that must be overcome for ALD to reach its full potential in electronic and other emerging multifunctional textile systems.

Secondary electron emission influenced by oxidation on the aluminum surface: the roles of the chemisorbed oxygen and the oxide layer

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jiangtao; Hoekstra, Bart; Wang, Zhen-Bin; Qiu, Jie; Pu, Yi-Kang

2018-04-01

A relationship between the apparent secondary electron yield ({γ }{{se}}) and the oxygen coverage/oxide layer thickness on an aluminum cathode is obtained in an experiment under a controlled environment. The apparent secondary electron yield ({γ }{{se}}) is deduced from the breakdown voltage between two parallel plate electrodes in a 360 mTorr argon environment using a simple Townsend breakdown model with the assumption that the variation of the apparent secondary electron yield is dominated by the variation of the argon ion induced processes. The oxygen coverage/oxide layer thickness on the aluminum cathode is measured by a semi in situ x-ray photoemission spectroscopy equipment which is directly attached to the discharge chamber. It is found that three phases exist: (1) in the monomonolayer regime, as the oxygen coverage increases from 0 to 0.3, {γ }{{se}} decreases by nearly 40 % , (2) as the oxygen coverage increases from 0.3 to 1, {γ }{{se}} keeps nearly constant, (3) as the oxide layer thickness increases from about 0.3 nm to about 1.1 nm, {γ }{{se}} increases by 150 % . We propose that, in the submonolayer regime, the chemisorbed oxygen on the aluminum surface causes the decrease of {γ }{{se}} by creating a local potential barrier, which reduces the Auger neutralization rate and the energy gained by the Auger electrons. In the multilayer regime, as the oxide layer grows in thickness, there are three proposed mechanisms which cause the increase of {γ }{{se}}: (1) the work function decreases; (2) resonance neutralization and Auger de-excitation may exist. This is served as another channel for secondary electron production; (3) the kinetic energy of Auger electrons is increased on average, leading to a higher probability for electrons to overcome the surface potential barrier.

Redesigning a collection system for 'small' consumer electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melissen, Frans W.

2006-01-01

This paper establishes that the collection system within the recycling scheme for consumer electronics in the Netherlands has not been entirely successful in convincing consumers to hand in their used appliances by means of dedicated collection routes. Particularly regarding small appliances, consumers are persisting in their habit of discarding their appliances by means of the refuse bag/bin for regular household waste. Therefore, the current collection system has been unable to direct consumer behavior in the desired direction. Consequently, the layout of the current system is reviewed and redesigned in order to tackle this problem. This design effort applies the Triad model (behavioral model) in the analysis stage and the Morphological Chart method (design tool) in the synthesis stage, and results in a concrete proposal for a new system. Finally, the applicability of this design approach beyond the specific circumstances of the case study presented in this paper is discussed. This case represents only one example of the broader, worldwide challenge to design appropriate collection systems to direct consumer behavior in desired directions. It is argued that the approach presented in this paper could be a valuable contribution to research dealing with this challenge

Electronic structure and lattice dynamics at the interface of single layer FeSe and SrTiO3

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Towfiq; Balatsky, Alexander; Zhu, Jian-Xin

Recent discovery of high-temperature superconductivity with the superconducting energy gap opening at temperatures close to or above the liquid nitrogen boiling point in the single-layer FeSe grown on SrTiO3 has attracted significant interest. It suggests that the interface effects can be utilized to enhance the superconductivity. It has been shown recently that the coupling between the electrons in FeSe and vibrational modes at the interface play an important role. Here we report on a detailed study of electronic structure and lattice dynamics in the single-layer FeSe/SrTiO3 interface by using the state-of-art electronic structure method within the density functional theory. The nature of the vibrational modes at the interface and their coupling to the electronic degrees of freedom are analyzed. In addition, the effect of hole and electron doping in SrTiO3 on the electron-mode coupling strength is also considered. This work was carried out under the auspices of the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. DOE at LANL under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396, and was supported by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Enhancing carrier injection in the active region of a 280nm emission wavelength LED using graded hole and electron blocking layers

KAUST Repository

Janjua, Bilal; Ng, Tien Khee; Alyamani, Ahmed Y.; El-Desouki, Munir M.; Ooi, Boon S.

2014-01-01

A theoretical investigation of AlGaN UV-LED with band engineering of hole and electron blocking layers (HBL and EBL, respectively) was conducted with an aim to improve injection efficiency and reduce efficiency droop in the UV LEDs. The analysis is based on energy band diagrams, carrier distribution and recombination rates (Shockley-Reed-Hall, Auger, and radiative recombination rates) in the quantum well, under equilibrium and forward bias conditions. Electron blocking layer is based on AlaGa1-aN / Al b → cGa1-b → 1-cN / AldGa 1-dN, where a < d < b < c. A graded layer sandwiched between large bandgap AlGaN materials was found to be effective in simultaneously blocking electrons and providing polarization field enhanced carrier injection. The graded interlayer reduces polarization induced band bending and mitigates the related drawback of impediment of holes injection. Similarly on the n-side, the Alx → yGa1-x → 1-yN / AlzGa 1-zN (x < z < y) barrier acts as a hole blocking layer. The reduced carrier leakage and enhanced carrier density in the active region results in significant improvement in radiative recombination rate compared to a structure with the conventional rectangular EBL layers. The improvement in device performance comes from meticulously designing the hole and electron blocking layers to increase carrier injection efficiency. The quantum well based UV-LED was designed to emit at 280nm, which is an effective wavelength for water disinfection application.

Enhancing carrier injection in the active region of a 280nm emission wavelength LED using graded hole and electron blocking layers

KAUST Repository

Janjua, Bilal

2014-02-27

A theoretical investigation of AlGaN UV-LED with band engineering of hole and electron blocking layers (HBL and EBL, respectively) was conducted with an aim to improve injection efficiency and reduce efficiency droop in the UV LEDs. The analysis is based on energy band diagrams, carrier distribution and recombination rates (Shockley-Reed-Hall, Auger, and radiative recombination rates) in the quantum well, under equilibrium and forward bias conditions. Electron blocking layer is based on AlaGa1-aN / Al b → cGa1-b → 1-cN / AldGa 1-dN, where a < d < b < c. A graded layer sandwiched between large bandgap AlGaN materials was found to be effective in simultaneously blocking electrons and providing polarization field enhanced carrier injection. The graded interlayer reduces polarization induced band bending and mitigates the related drawback of impediment of holes injection. Similarly on the n-side, the Alx → yGa1-x → 1-yN / AlzGa 1-zN (x < z < y) barrier acts as a hole blocking layer. The reduced carrier leakage and enhanced carrier density in the active region results in significant improvement in radiative recombination rate compared to a structure with the conventional rectangular EBL layers. The improvement in device performance comes from meticulously designing the hole and electron blocking layers to increase carrier injection efficiency. The quantum well based UV-LED was designed to emit at 280nm, which is an effective wavelength for water disinfection application.

Many-body correlation effects in the spatially separated electron and hole layers in the coupled quantum wells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Babichenko, V.S. [RRC Kurchatov Institute, Kurchatov Sq., 1, 123182 Moscow (Russian Federation); Polishchuk, I.Ya., E-mail: iyppolishchuk@gmail.com [RRC Kurchatov Institute, Kurchatov Sq., 1, 123182 Moscow (Russian Federation); Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700, 9, Institutskii per., Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region (Russian Federation)

2014-11-15

The many-body correlation effects in the spatially separated electron and hole layers in the coupled quantum wells are investigated. A special case of the many-component electron–hole system is considered. It is shown that if the hole mass is much greater than the electron mass, the negative correlation energy is mainly determined by the holes. The ground state of the system is found to be the 2D electron–hole liquid with the energy smaller than the exciton phase. It is shown that the system decays into the spatially separated neutral electron–hole drops if the initially created charge density in the layers is smaller than the certain critical value n{sub eq}.

Misfit Strain in Superlattices Controlling the Electron-Lattice Interaction via Micro strain in Active Layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poccia, N.; Ricci, A.; Bianconi, N.

2010-01-01

High-temperature superconductivity (HTS) emerges in quite different electronic materials: cuprates, diborides, and iron-pnictide superconductors. Looking for unity in the diversity we find in all these materials a common lattice architecture: they are practical realizations of heterostructures at atomic limit made of superlattices of metallic active layers intercalated by spacers as predicted in 1993 by one of us. The multilayer architecture is the key feature for the presence of electronic topological transitions where the Fermi surface of one of the subbands changes dimensionality. The superlattice misfit strain η between the active and spacer layers is shown to be a key variable to drive the system to the highest critical temperature Tc that occurs at a particular point of the 3D phase diagram Tc(θ, η) where d is the charge transfer or doping. The plots of Tc as a function of misfit strain at constant charge transfer in cuprates show a first-order quantum critical phase transition where an itinerant striped magnetic phase competes with superconductivity in the proximity of a structural phase transition, that is, associated with an electronic topological transition. The shape resonances in these multi gap superconductors is associated with the maximum Tc.

Monolayer field effect transistor as a probe of electronic defects in organic semiconducting layers at organic/inorganic hetero-junction interface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Byoungnam

2016-01-01

The origin of a large negative threshold voltage observed in monolayer (ML) field effect transistors (FETs) is explored using in-situ electrical measurements through confining the thickness of an active layer to the accumulation layer thickness. Using ML pentacene FETs combined with gated multiple-terminal devices and atomic force microscopy, the effect of electronic and structural evolution of a ML pentacene film on the threshold voltage in an FET, proportional to the density of deep traps, was probed, revealing that a large negative threshold voltage found in ML FETs results from the pentacene/SiO_2 and pentacene/metal interfaces. More importantly, the origin of the threshold voltage difference between ML and thick FETs is addressed through a model in which the effective charge transport layer is transitioned from the pentacene layer interfacing with the SiO_2 gate dielectric to the upper layers with pentacene thickness increasing evidenced by pentacene coverage dependent threshold voltage measurements. - Highlights: • The origin of a large negative threshold voltage in accumulation layer is revealed. • Electronic localized states at the nanometer scale are separately probed from the bulk. • The second monolayer becomes the effective charge transport layer governing threshold voltage.

Engineering of electronic properties of single layer graphene by swift heavy ion irradiation

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sunil; Kumar, Ashish; Tripathi, Ambuj; Tyagi, Chetna; Avasthi, D. K.

2018-04-01

In this work, swift heavy ion irradiation induced effects on the electrical properties of single layer graphene are reported. The modulation in minimum conductivity point in graphene with in-situ electrical measurement during ion irradiation was studied. It is found that the resistance of graphene layer decreases at lower fluences up to 3 × 1011 ions/cm2, which is accompanied by the five-fold increase in electron and hole mobilities. The ion irradiation induced increase in electron and hole mobilities at lower fluence up to 1 × 1011 ions/cm2 is verified by separate Hall measurements on another irradiated graphene sample at the selected fluence. In contrast to the adverse effects of irradiation on the electrical properties of materials, we have found improvement in electrical mobility after irradiation. The increment in mobility is explained by considering the defect annealing in graphene after irradiation at a lower fluence regime. The modification in carrier density after irradiation is also observed. Based on findings of the present work, we suggest ion beam irradiation as a useful tool for tuning of the electrical properties of graphene.

In-situ potential mapping of space charge layer in GaN nanowires under electrical field by off-axis electron holography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao Chen

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In situ potential mapping of space charge (SC layer in a single GaN nanowire (NW contacted to the Au metal electrode has been conducted using off-axis electron holography in order to study the space distribution of SC layer under electric biases. Based on the phase image reconstructed from the complex hologram the electrostatic potential at the SC layer was clearly revealed; the SC width was estimated to be about 76 nm under zero bias condition. In order to study dynamic interrelation between the SC layer and bias conditions, the variation of the electrostatic potential due to change of the SC widths respond to the different bias conditions have also been examined. The measured SC layers are found to vary between 68 nm and 91 nm, which correspond to the saturated SC layers at the GaN-Au contact under the forward and reverse bias conditions, respectively. By plotting the square widths of the SC layer against the applied voltages, donor density of GaN NWs was derived to be about 4.3*106 cm−3. Our experiments demonstrate that in-situ electron holography under electric field can be a useful method to investigate SC layers and donor density in single NW and other heterostructures.

Highly efficient tandem OLED based on C{sub 60}/rubrene: MoO{sub 3} as charge generation layer and LiF/Al as electron injection layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Yang [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384 (China); Key Laboratory of Display Materials and Photoelectric Devices, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300384 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Materials and Devices, Tianjin 300384 (China); College of Science, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384 (China); Wu, Xiaoming, E-mail: wxm@tjut.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384 (China); Key Laboratory of Display Materials and Photoelectric Devices, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300384 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Materials and Devices, Tianjin 300384 (China); Xiao, Zhihui; Gao, Jian; Zhang, Juan; Rui, Hongsong; Lin, Xin; Zhang, Nan; Hua, Yulin [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384 (China); Key Laboratory of Display Materials and Photoelectric Devices, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300384 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Materials and Devices, Tianjin 300384 (China); Yin, Shougen, E-mail: sgyin@tjut.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384 (China); Key Laboratory of Display Materials and Photoelectric Devices, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300384 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Materials and Devices, Tianjin 300384 (China)

2017-08-15

Highlights: • Highly efficient blue fluorescent tandem OLEDs are fabricated. • The optimal tandem OLED consists of C{sub 60}/rubrene: MoO{sub 3} as a CGL and LiF/Al as an EIL. • Current efficiency and power efficiency of optimal tandem OLED is markedly enhanced. • The turn-on and driving voltages of optimal tandem OLED is obviously reduced. - Abstract: Tandem organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have received much attention in solid-state lighting due to their high current efficiency, long lifetime and excellent stability. The highly efficient blue fluorescent tandem OLEDs based on the charge generation layer (CGL) of C{sub 60}/rubrene: MoO{sub 3} and the electron injection layer (EIL) of LiF/Al were fabricated. The ultra-thin Al layer in EIL was introduced to further increase electron injection from CGL to the emission unit. We found that the maximal current efficiency and power efficiency of optimal tandem device can reach to 43.1 cd/A and 15.1 lm/W, respectively, which are approximately 2.8 and 1.9 times compared with those of single-emissive-unit device. Moreover, compared with the traditional tandem device, the driving voltage of the optimal device is reduced by 6 V, and the turn-on voltage is reduced by 2.4 V. We analyzed the mechanism and characterization of these tandem devices. The effective charge separation and transport of C{sub 60}/rubrene: MoO{sub 3}, and excellent electron injection ability of ultra-thin Al layer are the main factors for the remarkable enhancement in both current efficiency and power efficiency of tandem OLEDs.

Phase-coherent electron transport in (Zn, Al)Ox thin films grown by atomic layer deposition

Science.gov (United States)

Saha, D.; Misra, P.; Ajimsha, R. S.; Joshi, M. P.; Kukreja, L. M.

2014-11-01

A clear signature of disorder induced quantum-interference phenomena leading to phase-coherent electron transport was observed in (Zn, Al)Ox thin films grown by atomic layer deposition. The degree of static-disorder was tuned by varying the Al concentration through periodic incorporation of Al2O3 sub-monolayer in ZnO. All the films showed small negative magnetoresistance due to magnetic field suppressed weak-localization effect. The temperature dependence of phase-coherence length ( l φ ∝ T - 3 / 4 ), as extracted from the magnetoresistance measurements, indicated electron-electron scattering as the dominant dephasing mechanism. The persistence of quantum-interference at relatively higher temperatures up to 200 K is promising for the realization of ZnO based phase-coherent electron transport devices.

Current status of AlInN layers lattice-matched to GaN for photonics and electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butte, R; Carlin, J-F; Feltin, E; Gonschorek, M; Nicolay, S; Christmann, G; Simeonov, D; Castiglia, A; Dorsaz, J; Buehlmann, H J; Christopoulos, S; Hoegersthal, G Baldassarri Hoeger von; Grundy, A J D; Mosca, M; Pinquier, C; Py, M A; Demangeot, F; Frandon, J; Lagoudakis, P G; Baumberg, J J; Grandjean, N

2007-01-01

We report on the current properties of Al 1-x In x N (x ∼ 0.18) layers lattice-matched (LM) to GaN and their specific use to realize nearly strain-free structures for photonic and electronic applications. Following a literature survey of the general properties of AlInN layers, structural and optical properties of thin state-of-the-art AlInN layers LM to GaN are described showing that despite improved structural properties these layers are still characterized by a typical background donor concentration of (1-5) x 10 18 cm -3 and a large Stokes shift (∼800 meV) between luminescence and absorption edge. The use of these AlInN layers LM to GaN is then exemplified through the properties of GaN/AlInN multiple quantum wells (QWs) suitable for near-infrared intersubband applications. A built-in electric field of 3.64 MV cm -1 solely due to spontaneous polarization is deduced from photoluminescence measurements carried out on strain-free single QW heterostructures, a value in good agreement with that deduced from theoretical calculation. Other potentialities regarding optoelectronics are demonstrated through the successful realization of crack-free highly reflective AlInN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors (R > 99%) and high quality factor microcavities (Q > 2800) likely to be of high interest for short wavelength vertical light emitting devices and fundamental studies on the strong coupling regime between excitons and cavity photons. In this respect, room temperature (RT) lasing of a LM AlInN/GaN vertical cavity surface emitting laser under optical pumping is reported. A description of the selective lateral oxidation of AlInN layers for current confinement in nitride-based light emitting devices and the selective chemical etching of oxidized AlInN layers is also given. Finally, the characterization of LM AlInN/GaN heterojunctions will reveal the potential of such a system for the fabrication of high electron mobility transistors through the report of a high two

Blue and white phosphorescent organic light emitting diode performance improvement by confining electrons and holes inside double emitting layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsai, Yu-Sheng; Hong, Lin-Ann; Juang, Fuh-Shyang; Chen, Cheng-Yin

2014-09-15

In this research, complex emitting layers (EML) were fabricated using TCTA doping hole-transport material in the front half of a bipolar 26DCzPPy as well as PPT doping electron-transport material in the back half of 26DCzPPy. Blue dopant FIrpic was also mixed inside the complex emitting layer to produce a highly efficient blue phosphorescent organic light emitting diode (OLED). The hole and electron injection and carrier recombination rate were effectively increased. The fabricated complex emitting layers exhibited current efficiency of 42 cd/A and power efficiency of 30 lm/W when the luminance was 1000 cd/m{sup 2}, driving voltage was 4.4 V, and current density was 2.4 mA/cm{sup 2}. A white OLED component was then manufactured by doping red dopant [Os(bpftz){sub 2}(PPh{sub 2}Me){sub 2}] (Os) in proper locations. When the Os dopant was doped in between the complex emitting layers, excitons were effectively confined within, increasing the recombination rate and therefore reducing the color shift. The resulting Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates shifted from 4 to 10 V is (Δx=−0.04, Δy=+0.01). The component had a current efficiency of 35.7 cd/A, a power efficiency of 24 lm/W, driving voltage of 4.6 V and a CIE{sub x,y} of (0.31,0.35) at a luminance of 1000 cd/m{sup 2}, with a maximum luminance of 15,600 cd/m{sup 2} at 10 V. Attaching an outcoupling enhancement film was applied to increase the luminance efficiency to 30 lm/W. - Highlights: • Used the complex double emitting layers. • Respectively doped hole and electron transport material in the bipolar host. • Electrons and holes are effectively confined within EMLs to produce excitons.

Blue and white phosphorescent organic light emitting diode performance improvement by confining electrons and holes inside double emitting layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsai, Yu-Sheng; Hong, Lin-Ann; Juang, Fuh-Shyang; Chen, Cheng-Yin

2014-01-01

In this research, complex emitting layers (EML) were fabricated using TCTA doping hole-transport material in the front half of a bipolar 26DCzPPy as well as PPT doping electron-transport material in the back half of 26DCzPPy. Blue dopant FIrpic was also mixed inside the complex emitting layer to produce a highly efficient blue phosphorescent organic light emitting diode (OLED). The hole and electron injection and carrier recombination rate were effectively increased. The fabricated complex emitting layers exhibited current efficiency of 42 cd/A and power efficiency of 30 lm/W when the luminance was 1000 cd/m 2 , driving voltage was 4.4 V, and current density was 2.4 mA/cm 2 . A white OLED component was then manufactured by doping red dopant [Os(bpftz) 2 (PPh 2 Me) 2 ] (Os) in proper locations. When the Os dopant was doped in between the complex emitting layers, excitons were effectively confined within, increasing the recombination rate and therefore reducing the color shift. The resulting Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates shifted from 4 to 10 V is (Δx=−0.04, Δy=+0.01). The component had a current efficiency of 35.7 cd/A, a power efficiency of 24 lm/W, driving voltage of 4.6 V and a CIE x,y of (0.31,0.35) at a luminance of 1000 cd/m 2 , with a maximum luminance of 15,600 cd/m 2 at 10 V. Attaching an outcoupling enhancement film was applied to increase the luminance efficiency to 30 lm/W. - Highlights: • Used the complex double emitting layers. • Respectively doped hole and electron transport material in the bipolar host. • Electrons and holes are effectively confined within EMLs to produce excitons

Peculiarities of interaction of the p{sub z}-, π- electrons and the σ{sub p}-holes at the top 1–6 layers of HOPG

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dementjev, A.P., E-mail: demcarbon@yandex.ru; Ivanov, K.E.

2017-03-31

Graphical abstract: The formation of π-bands and σ{sub p}- holes as result of the p{sub z} → π transitions in 2–6 graphene layers HOPG. The valence band spectrum taken from Murday et al. (1981). - Abstract: The present work continues the analysis of results of Dementjev et al. (2015) in order to identify the interlayer interactions of the π-bands. Analysis of the N(E) C KVV Auger spectra of highly-ordered pyro-graphite showed the absence of the electron exchange between the π-bands in 1–6 layers. Since the π-bands are formed by the p{sub z} → π transitions, one can suggest that the π-band occupation at each graphene layer is formed by the p{sub z}-electrons of this layer. Since the p{sub z} electrons belong to the σ{sub p}-bands, the p{sub z} → π transitions in the σ{sub p}-bands in each of 2–6 graphene layers result in formation of holes H, whose concentration is equal to the concentration of electrons in the π-bands [H{sub i}] ≡ [π{sub i}]. This shows the origin of the ambipolar conductivity in graphene. The absence of the electronic interaction between the π-bands allows a suggestion that the interaction between top six graphene layers is due to the van der Waals electrostatic attractive forces. These forces promote the p{sub z} → π transitions in each of the 2–6 graphene layers and depend on the number of graphene layers above. The N(E) C KVV Auger spectra allow identification of number (1–6) of graphene layers and the π-band occupation at each of the layer. For the first time a specification of the van der Waals forces in HOPG was done.

Enhanced efficiency and air-stability of NiOX-based perovskite solar cells via PCBM electron transport layer modification with Triton X-100.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kisu; Ryu, Jaehoon; Yu, Haejun; Yun, Juyoung; Lee, Jungsup; Jang, Jyongsik

2017-11-02

We modified phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) for use as a stable, efficient electron transport layer (ETL) in inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). PCBM containing a surfactant Triton X-100 acts as the ETL and NiO X nanocrystals act as a hole transport layer (HTL). Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images showed that surfactant-modified PCBM (s-PCBM) forms a high-quality, uniform, and dense ETL on the rough perovskite layer. This layer effectively blocks holes and reduces interfacial recombination. Steady-state photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analyses confirmed that Triton X-100 improved the electron extraction performance of PCBM. When the s-PCBM ETL was used, the average power conversion efficiency increased from 10.76% to 15.68%. This improvement was primarily caused by the increases in the open-circuit voltage and fill factor. s-PCBM-based PSCs also showed good air-stability, retaining 83.8% of their initial performance after 800 h under ambient conditions.

Electronic and magnetic structures of GdS layers investigated by first principle and series expansions calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masrour, R.; Hlil, E.K.; Hamedoun, M.; Benyoussef, A.

2014-01-01

Self-consistent ab initio calculations, based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) approach and using Full Potential Linear Augmented Plane Wave (FLAPW) method within GGA+U approximation, are performed to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the GdS layers. Polarized spin and spin–orbit coupling are included in calculations within the framework of the antiferromagnetic state between two adjacent Gd layers. Magnetic moment considered to lie along (001) axes are computed. Obtained data from ab initio calculations are used as input for the High Temperature Series Expansions (HTSEs) calculations to compute other magnetic parameters. Using the Heisenberg model, the exchange interactions between the magnetic atoms Gd–Gd in the same layer and between the magnetic atoms in the adjacent bilayers are estimated. This estimate is obtained using the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic energies computed by abinitio calculations for GdS layers. The High Temperature Series Expansions (HTSEs) of the magnetic susceptibility of GdS with antiferromagnetic moment (m Gd ) is given up to sixth order series versus of (J 11 (Gd–Gd)/k B T). The Néel temperature T N is obtained by mean field theory and by HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility series using the Padé approximant method. The critical exponent γ associated with the magnetic susceptibility is calculated for GdS layers. - Highlights: • Electronic and magnetic properties of GdS are investigated using the ab initio calculations. • Obtained data from abinitio calculations are used as input for HTSEs to compute other magnetic parameters. • Néel temperature and critical exponent are deduced using HTSE method

Inverted Organic Solar Cells with Low-Temperature Al-Doped-ZnO Electron Transport Layer Processed from Aqueous Solution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qianni Zhang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The aqueous-based Zn-ammine complex solutions represent one of the most promising routes to obtain the ZnO electron transport layer (ETL at a low temperature in inverted organic solar cells (OSCs. However, to dope the ZnO film processed from the Zn-ammine complex solutions is difficult since the introduction of metal ions into the Zn-ammine complex is a nontrivial process as ammonium hydroxide tends to precipitate metal salts due to acid-base neutralization reactions. In this paper, we investigate the inverted OSCs with Al-doped-ZnO ETL made by immersion of metallic Al into the Zn-ammine precursor solution. The effects of ZnO layer with different immersion time of Al on film properties and solar cell performance have been studied. The results show that, with the Al-doped-ZnO ETL, an improvement of the device performance could be obtained compared with the device with the un-doped ZnO ETL. The improved device performance is attributed to the enhancement of charge carrier mobility leading to a decreased charge carrier recombination and improved charge collection efficiency. The fabricated thin film transistors with the same ZnO or AZO films confirm the improved electrical characteristics of the Al doped ZnO film.

Single layers and multilayers of GaN and AlN in square-octagon structure: Stability, electronic properties, and functionalization

Science.gov (United States)

Gürbüz, E.; Cahangirov, S.; Durgun, E.; Ciraci, S.

2017-11-01

Further to planar single-layer hexagonal structures, GaN and AlN can also form free-standing, single-layer structures constructed from squares and octagons. We performed an extensive analysis of dynamical and thermal stability of these structures in terms of ab initio finite-temperature molecular dynamics and phonon calculations together with the analysis of Raman and infrared active modes. These single-layer square-octagon structures of GaN and AlN display directional mechanical properties and have wide, indirect fundamental band gaps, which are smaller than their hexagonal counterparts. These density functional theory band gaps, however, increase and become wider upon correction. Under uniaxial and biaxial tensile strain, the fundamental band gaps decrease and can be closed. The electronic and magnetic properties of these single-layer structures can be modified by adsorption of various adatoms, or by creating neutral cation-anion vacancies. The single-layer structures attain magnetic moment by selected adatoms and neutral vacancies. In particular, localized gap states are strongly dependent on the type of vacancy. The energetics, binding, and resulting electronic structure of bilayer, trilayer, and three-dimensional (3D) layered structures constructed by stacking the single layers are affected by vertical chemical bonds between adjacent layers. In addition to van der Waals interaction, these weak vertical bonds induce buckling in planar geometry and enhance their binding, leading to the formation of stable 3D layered structures. In this respect, these multilayers are intermediate between van der Waals solids and wurtzite crystals, offering a wide range of tunability.

Characteristics of the magnetospheric boundary layer and magnetopause layer as observed by Imp 6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eastman, T.E.; Hones, E.W. Jr.

1979-01-01

Imp 6 observations of the low-latitude magnetospheric boundary layer indicate that the plasma within it is supplied primarily by direct entry of magnetosheath plasma across the magnetopause layer. We define the magnetopause layer as the current layer (separating the magnetosheath from the boundary layer) through which the magnetic field shifts in direction. High temporal resolution (3-s average) data reveal that in a majority of Imp 6 magnetopause crossing, no distinct changes in electron density or energry spectra are observed at the magne opause layer. In all Imp 6 crossings, some magnetosheathlike plasma is observed earthward of the magnetopause layer, implying the existence of a boundary layer. Boundary layer electron energy spectra are often virtually indistinguishable from the adjacent magnetosheath spectra. Low-latitude boundary layer bulk plasma flow as observed by Imp 6 almost always has an antisunward component and often has a significant cross-field component. The boundary layer thickness is highly variable and is generally much larger than the magnetopause layer thickness. Energetic electron pitch angle distributions indicate that the low-latitude boundary layers is normally on closed field lines. We conclude that diffusive as well as nondiffusive processes probably contribute to the entry of magnetosheath plasma into the boundary layer

The intriguing electronic and optical properties modulation of hydrogen and fluorine codecorated silicene layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Qun; Tan, Chunjian [Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, 541004 Guilin (China); Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology & Systems, Education Ministry of China, Chongqing University and College of Opto-Electronic Engineering, Chongqing University, 400044 Chongqing (China); Meng, Ruishen; Jiang, Junke; Liang, Qiuhua; Sun, Xiang [Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology & Systems, Education Ministry of China, Chongqing University and College of Opto-Electronic Engineering, Chongqing University, 400044 Chongqing (China); Yang, Daoguo [Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, 541004 Guilin (China); Chen, Xianping, E-mail: xianpingchen@cqu.edu.cn [Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, 541004 Guilin (China); Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology & Systems, Education Ministry of China, Chongqing University and College of Opto-Electronic Engineering, Chongqing University, 400044 Chongqing (China)

2017-03-15

Highlights: • The HSiF bilayer is very stable due to the high binding energy even larger than the ones of bilayer graphene. • The HSiF bilayer exhibits a moderate direct band gap of 0.296 eV much lower than that of HSiF monolayer. • All the HSiF layers have a direct band gap nature, irrespective of stacking pattern, thickness and external electric fields, which is an advantage over MoS{sub 2} layers. Besides, it is advantageous to the application of HSiF layers in the field of optical devices. • The external electric field can effectively tune the band gaps of HSiF layers. Especially, even a semiconductor–metal transition occurs. • After the formation of HSiF bilayer, the complete electron-hole separation enhances the photocatalytic efficiency of HSiF bilayer and it exhibits a significantly improved visible light adsorption peak. - Abstract: First-principles calculations based on density-functional theory reveal some superior physical properties of hydrogen and fluorine co-decorated silicene (HSiF) monolayer and bilayer. Our simulated results reveal that the HSiF monolayer is a large direct band gap semiconductor greatly differing from the gapless semi-metallic silicene. There exists strong interlayer coupling in HSiF bilayer, leading to the good stabilities of HSiF bilayer even beyond bilayer graphene. The proposed HSiF bilayer exhibits a moderate direct band gap of 0.296 eV which is much lower than that of HSiF monolayer. Encouragingly, HSiF layers all have a direct band gap nature, irrespective of stacking pattern, thickness and external electric fields, which is an advantage over MoS{sub 2} layers. Furthermore, an out-of-plane electric field has an evident impact on the band structures of the HSiF monolayer and bilayer. Especially, the band gap of HSiF bilayer can be effectively tuned by external electric field, even a semiconductor–metal transition occurs. More importantly, the HSiF bilayer exhibits a significant improved visible light adsorption

One-Dimensional Electron Transport Layers for Perovskite Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ujwal K. Thakur

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The electron diffusion length (Ln is smaller than the hole diffusion length (Lp in many halide perovskite semiconductors meaning that the use of ordered one-dimensional (1D structures such as nanowires (NWs and nanotubes (NTs as electron transport layers (ETLs is a promising method of achieving high performance halide perovskite solar cells (HPSCs. ETLs consisting of oriented and aligned NWs and NTs offer the potential not merely for improved directional charge transport but also for the enhanced absorption of incoming light and thermodynamically efficient management of photogenerated carrier populations. The ordered architecture of NW/NT arrays affords superior infiltration of a deposited material making them ideal for use in HPSCs. Photoconversion efficiencies (PCEs as high as 18% have been demonstrated for HPSCs using 1D ETLs. Despite the advantages of 1D ETLs, there are still challenges that need to be overcome to achieve even higher PCEs, such as better methods to eliminate or passivate surface traps, improved understanding of the hetero-interface and optimization of the morphology (i.e., length, diameter, and spacing of NWs/NTs. This review introduces the general considerations of ETLs for HPSCs, deposition techniques used, and the current research and challenges in the field of 1D ETLs for perovskite solar cells.

One-Dimensional Electron Transport Layers for Perovskite Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Thakur, Ujwal K.; Kisslinger, Ryan; Shankar, Karthik

2017-01-01

The electron diffusion length (Ln) is smaller than the hole diffusion length (Lp) in many halide perovskite semiconductors meaning that the use of ordered one-dimensional (1D) structures such as nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) as electron transport layers (ETLs) is a promising method of achieving high performance halide perovskite solar cells (HPSCs). ETLs consisting of oriented and aligned NWs and NTs offer the potential not merely for improved directional charge transport but also for the enhanced absorption of incoming light and thermodynamically efficient management of photogenerated carrier populations. The ordered architecture of NW/NT arrays affords superior infiltration of a deposited material making them ideal for use in HPSCs. Photoconversion efficiencies (PCEs) as high as 18% have been demonstrated for HPSCs using 1D ETLs. Despite the advantages of 1D ETLs, there are still challenges that need to be overcome to achieve even higher PCEs, such as better methods to eliminate or passivate surface traps, improved understanding of the hetero-interface and optimization of the morphology (i.e., length, diameter, and spacing of NWs/NTs). This review introduces the general considerations of ETLs for HPSCs, deposition techniques used, and the current research and challenges in the field of 1D ETLs for perovskite solar cells. PMID:28468280

Monolayer field effect transistor as a probe of electronic defects in organic semiconducting layers at organic/inorganic hetero-junction interface

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Byoungnam, E-mail: metalpbn@hongik.ac.kr

2016-01-01

The origin of a large negative threshold voltage observed in monolayer (ML) field effect transistors (FETs) is explored using in-situ electrical measurements through confining the thickness of an active layer to the accumulation layer thickness. Using ML pentacene FETs combined with gated multiple-terminal devices and atomic force microscopy, the effect of electronic and structural evolution of a ML pentacene film on the threshold voltage in an FET, proportional to the density of deep traps, was probed, revealing that a large negative threshold voltage found in ML FETs results from the pentacene/SiO{sub 2} and pentacene/metal interfaces. More importantly, the origin of the threshold voltage difference between ML and thick FETs is addressed through a model in which the effective charge transport layer is transitioned from the pentacene layer interfacing with the SiO{sub 2} gate dielectric to the upper layers with pentacene thickness increasing evidenced by pentacene coverage dependent threshold voltage measurements. - Highlights: • The origin of a large negative threshold voltage in accumulation layer is revealed. • Electronic localized states at the nanometer scale are separately probed from the bulk. • The second monolayer becomes the effective charge transport layer governing threshold voltage.

Optical properties of single-layer, double-layer, and bulk MoS2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Molina-Sanchez, Alejandro; Wirtz, Ludger [University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg); Hummer, Kerstin [University of Vienna, Vienna (Austria)

2013-07-01

The rise of graphene has brought attention also to other layered materials that can complement graphene or that can be an alternative in applications as transistors. Single-layer MoS{sub 2} has shown interesting electronic and optical properties such as as high electron mobility at room temperature and an optical bandgap of 1.8 eV. This makes the material suitable for transistors or optoelectronic devices. We present a theoretical study of the optical absorption and photoluminescence spectra of single-layer, double-layer and bulk MoS{sub 2}. The excitonic states have been calculated in the framework of the Bethe-Salpeter equation, taking into account the electron-hole interaction via the screened Coulomb potential. In addition to the step-function like behaviour that is typical for the joint-density of states of 2D materials with parabolic band dispersion, we find a bound excitonic peak that is dominating the luminescence spectra. The peak is split due to spin-orbit coupling for the single-layer and split due to layer-layer interaction for few-layer and bulk MoS{sub 2}. We discuss the changes of the optical bandgap and of the exciton binding energy with the number of layers, comparing our results with the reported experimental data.

Electron density and currents of AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors with thin GaN/AlN buffer layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bairamis, A.; Zervos, Ch.; Georgakilas, A., E-mail: alexandr@physics.uoc.gr [Microelectronics Research Group, IESL, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), P.O. Box 1385, GR-71110 Heraklion, Crete (Greece); Department of Physics, University of Crete, P.O. Box 2208, GR-71003 Heraklion, Crete (Greece); Adikimenakis, A.; Kostopoulos, A.; Kayambaki, M.; Tsagaraki, K.; Konstantinidis, G. [Microelectronics Research Group, IESL, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), P.O. Box 1385, GR-71110 Heraklion, Crete (Greece)

2014-09-15

AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures with thin GaN/AlN buffer layer have been analyzed theoretically and experimentally, and the effects of the AlN barrier and GaN buffer layer thicknesses on two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density and transport properties have been evaluated. HEMT structures consisting of [300 nm GaN/ 200 nm AlN] buffer layer on sapphire were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and exhibited a remarkable agreement with the theoretical calculations, suggesting a negligible influence of the crystalline defects that increase near the heteroepitaxial interface. The 2DEG density varied from 6.8 × 10{sup 12} to 2.1 × 10{sup 13} cm{sup −2} as the AlN barrier thickness increased from 2.2 to 4.5 nm, while a 4.5 nm AlN barrier would result to 3.1 × 10{sup 13} cm{sup −2} on a GaN buffer layer. The 3.0 nm AlN barrier structure exhibited the highest 2DEG mobility of 900 cm{sup 2}/Vs for a density of 1.3 × 10{sup 13} cm{sup −2}. The results were also confirmed by the performance of 1 μm gate-length transistors. The scaling of AlN barrier thickness from 1.5 nm to 4.5 nm could modify the drain-source saturation current, for zero gate-source voltage, from zero (normally off condition) to 0.63 A/mm. The maximum drain-source current was 1.1 A/mm for AlN barrier thickness of 3.0 nm and 3.7 nm, and the maximum extrinsic transconductance was 320 mS/mm for 3.0 nm AlN barrier.

Electron density and currents of AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors with thin GaN/AlN buffer layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bairamis, A.; Zervos, Ch.; Georgakilas, A.; Adikimenakis, A.; Kostopoulos, A.; Kayambaki, M.; Tsagaraki, K.; Konstantinidis, G.

2014-01-01

AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures with thin GaN/AlN buffer layer have been analyzed theoretically and experimentally, and the effects of the AlN barrier and GaN buffer layer thicknesses on two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density and transport properties have been evaluated. HEMT structures consisting of [300 nm GaN/ 200 nm AlN] buffer layer on sapphire were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and exhibited a remarkable agreement with the theoretical calculations, suggesting a negligible influence of the crystalline defects that increase near the heteroepitaxial interface. The 2DEG density varied from 6.8 × 10 12 to 2.1 × 10 13 cm −2 as the AlN barrier thickness increased from 2.2 to 4.5 nm, while a 4.5 nm AlN barrier would result to 3.1 × 10 13 cm −2 on a GaN buffer layer. The 3.0 nm AlN barrier structure exhibited the highest 2DEG mobility of 900 cm 2 /Vs for a density of 1.3 × 10 13 cm −2 . The results were also confirmed by the performance of 1 μm gate-length transistors. The scaling of AlN barrier thickness from 1.5 nm to 4.5 nm could modify the drain-source saturation current, for zero gate-source voltage, from zero (normally off condition) to 0.63 A/mm. The maximum drain-source current was 1.1 A/mm for AlN barrier thickness of 3.0 nm and 3.7 nm, and the maximum extrinsic transconductance was 320 mS/mm for 3.0 nm AlN barrier.

Larval fish collected from sound-scattering layers in an offshore tropical area.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro, M S; Bonecker, A C T

2017-12-01

The composition of the larval fish assemblage in the sound-scattering layer of the continental shelf waters off the coast of south-eastern Brazil (12 and 22° S), a research project that is part of the Brazilian programme Avaliação do Potencial Sustentável de Recursos Vivos na Zona Econômica Exclusiva (REVIZEE), is described. Samples were collected during daylight hours and at dusk at five oceanographic stations in the winter of 1999 using an Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT). The oceanographic stations were chosen based on the detection of plankton layers by acoustic observation. A total of 2192 larval fish were identified, comprising 52 families and 62 species. Maurolicus stehmanni (Sternoptychidae) was the most abundant species found within the study area, comprising 18·5% of all identified larvae, followed by Psilotris celsus (Gobiidae) at 10·9%. © 2017 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Semiconducting Polymer Photodetectors with Electron and Hole Blocking Layers: High Detectivity in the Near-Infrared

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiong Gong

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Sensing from the ultraviolet-visible to the infrared is critical for a variety of industrial and scientific applications. Photodetectors with broad spectral response, from 300 nm to 1,100 nm, were fabricated using a narrow-band gap semiconducting polymer blended with a fullerene derivative. By using both an electron-blocking layer and a hole-blocking layer, the polymer photodetectors, operating at room temperature, exhibited calculated detectivities greater than 1013 cm Hz1/2/W over entire spectral range with linear dynamic range approximately 130 dB. The performance is comparable to or even better than Si photodetectors.

Three-input gate logic circuits on chemically assembled single-electron transistors with organic and inorganic hybrid passivation layers.

Science.gov (United States)

Majima, Yutaka; Hackenberger, Guillaume; Azuma, Yasuo; Kano, Shinya; Matsuzaki, Kosuke; Susaki, Tomofumi; Sakamoto, Masanori; Teranishi, Toshiharu

2017-01-01

Single-electron transistors (SETs) are sub-10-nm scale electronic devices based on conductive Coulomb islands sandwiched between double-barrier tunneling barriers. Chemically assembled SETs with alkanethiol-protected Au nanoparticles show highly stable Coulomb diamonds and two-input logic operations. The combination of bottom-up and top-down processes used to form the passivation layer is vital for realizing multi-gate chemically assembled SET circuits, as this combination enables us to connect conventional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies via planar processes. Here, three-input gate exclusive-OR (XOR) logic operations are demonstrated in passivated chemically assembled SETs. The passivation layer is a hybrid bilayer of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and pulsed laser deposited (PLD) aluminum oxide (AlO[Formula: see text]), and top-gate electrodes were prepared on the hybrid passivation layers. Top and two-side-gated SETs showed clear Coulomb oscillation and diamonds for each of the three available gates, and three-input gate XOR logic operation was clearly demonstrated. These results show the potential of chemically assembled SETs to work as logic devices with multi-gate inputs using organic and inorganic hybrid passivation layers.

Low-Cost and Green Fabrication of Polymer Electronic Devices by Push-Coating of the Polymer Active Layers.

Science.gov (United States)

Vohra, Varun; Mróz, Wojciech; Inaba, Shusei; Porzio, William; Giovanella, Umberto; Galeotti, Francesco

2017-08-02

Because of both its easy processability and compatibility with roll-to-roll processes, polymer electronics is considered to be the most promising technology for the future generation of low-cost electronic devices such as light-emitting diodes and solar cells. However, the state-of-the-art deposition technique for polymer electronics (spin-coating) generates a high volume of chlorinated solution wastes during the active layer fabrication. Here, we demonstrate that devices with similar or higher performances can be manufactured using the push-coating technique in which a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) layer is simply laid over a very small amount of solution (less than 1μL/covered cm 2 ), which is then left for drying. Using mm thick PDMS provides a means to control the solvent diffusion kinetics (sorption/retention) and removes the necessity for additional applied pressure to generate the desired active layer thickness. Unlike spin-coating, push-coating is a slow drying process that induces a higher degree of crystallinity in the polymer thin film without the necessity for a post-annealing step. The polymer light-emitting diodes and solar cells prepared by push-coating exhibit slightly higher performances with respect to the reference spin-coated devices, whereas at the same time reduce the amounts of active layer materials and chlorinated solvents by 50 and 20 times, respectively. These increased performances can be correlated to the higher polymer crystallinities obtained without applying a post-annealing treatment. As push-coating is a roll-to-roll compatible method, the results presented here open the path to low-cost and eco-friendly fabrication of a wide range of emerging devices based on conjugated polymer materials.

On the over-collection of electrons by high voltage probes in space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooke, D.L.; Katz, I.; Jongeward, G.; Mandell, M.

1988-01-01

It has been two decades since Parker and Murphy proposed a theory to place a rigorous upper bound on the current to an electron collecting probe in space, due to the influence of the geomagnetic field. Any greater current is then thought to involve some form of anomalous cross field transport to explain over-collection. Over-collection is commonly observed and is usually explained by invoking turbulence as a source of collisions. Although the turbulence hypothesis has some theoretical basis, no compelling kinetic theory or model has been put forth. Another possible explanation for over-collection is the ionization of the neutral gas within the charge sheath. Recently, in support of the SPEAR I rocket experiment, the three dimensional code POLAR has been used to model electron collection in a low earth orbit plasma. SPEAR I was a sounding rocket experiment that exposed to the space plasma, a pair of 10cm spherical probes biased to 44kV positive. The POLAR runs included single sphere, two sphere, and two sphere plus rocket modes. The single sphere model did not predict collection in excess of the Parker-Murphy limit. Models of two sphere collection, and of the entire experiment do however show that increased collection is possible as a result of asymetries introduced by geometry and a negative rocket body potential. These models were in close agreement with the experiment. In addition to the symmetry factor, sheath ionization is reviewed. A discussion of the role and kinetic nature of collisionless turbulence is presented

Interfacial Energy Alignment at the ITO/Ultra-Thin Electron Selective Dielectric Layer Interface and Its Effect on the Efficiency of Bulk-Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Itoh, Eiji; Goto, Yoshinori; Saka, Yusuke; Fukuda, Katsutoshi

2016-04-01

We have investigated the photovoltaic properties of an inverted bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cell in a device with an indium-tin-oxide (ITO)/electron selective layer (ESL)/P3HT:PCBM active layer/MoOx/Ag multilayered structure. The insertion of only single layer of poly(diallyl-dimethyl-ammonium chloride) (PDDA) cationic polymer film (or poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) polymeric interfacial dipole layer) and titanium oxide nanosheet (TN) films as an ESL effectively improved cell performance. Abnormal S-shaped curves were observed in the inverted BHJ cells owing to the contact resistance across the ITO/active layer interface and the ITO/PDDA/TN/active layer interface. The series resistance across the ITO/ESL interface in the inverted BHJ cell was successfully reduced using an interfacial layer with a positively charged surface potential with respect to ITO base electrode. The positive dipole in PEI and the electronic charge phenomena at the electrophoretic deposited TN (ED-TN) films on ITO contributed to the reduction of the contact resistance at the electrode interface. The surface potential measurement revealed that the energy alignment by the transfer of electronic charges from the ED-TN to the base electrodes. The insertion of the ESL with a large positive surface potential reduced the potential barrier for the electron injection at ITO/TN interface and it improved the photovoltaic properties of the inverted cell with an ITO/TN/active layer/MoOx/Ag structure.

X-ray and scanning electron microscopic investigation of porous silicon and silicon epitaxial layers grown on porous silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wierzchowski, W.; Pawlowska, M.; Nossarzewska-Orlowska, E.; Brzozowski, A.; Wieteska, K.; Graeff, W.

1998-01-01

The 1 to 5 μm thick layers of porous silicon and epitaxial layers grown on porous silicon were studied by means of X-ray diffraction methods, realised with a wide use of synchrotron source and scanning microscopy. The results of x-ray investigation pointed the difference of lateral periodicity between the porous layer and the substrate. It was also found that the deposition of epitaxial layer considerably reduced the coherence of porous fragments. A number of interface phenomena was also observed in section and plane wave topographs. The scanning electron microscopic investigation of cleavage faces enabled direct evaluation of porous layer thickness and revealed some details of their morphology. The scanning observation of etched surfaces of epitaxial layers deposited on porous silicon revealed dislocations and other defects not reasonable in the X-ray topographs. (author)

Probing collective oscillation of d -orbital electrons at the nanoscale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dhall, Rohan [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA; Vigil-Fowler, Derek [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA; Houston Dycus, J. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA; Kirste, Ronny [Adroit Materials, Inc., Cary, North Carolina 27518, USA; Mita, Seiji [Adroit Materials, Inc., Cary, North Carolina 27518, USA; Sitar, Zlatko [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA; Collazo, Ramon [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA; LeBeau, James M. [Adroit Materials, Inc., Cary, North Carolina 27518, USA

2018-02-05

Here, we demonstrate that high energy electrons can be used to explore the collective oscillation of s, p, and d orbital electrons at the nanometer length scale. Using epitaxial AlGaN/AlN quantum wells as a test system, we observe the emergence of additional features in the loss spectrum with the increasing Ga content. A comparison of the observed spectra with ab-initio theory reveals that the origin of these spectral features lies in excitations of 3d-electrons contributed by Ga. We find that these modes differ in energy from the valence electron plasmons in Al1-xGaxN due to the different polarizabilities of the d electrons. Finally, we study the dependence of observed spectral features on the Ga content, lending insights into the origin of these spectral features, and their coupling with electron-hole excitations.

Effect of Mg doping in ZnO buffer layer on ZnO thin film devices for electronic applications

Science.gov (United States)

Giri, Pushpa; Chakrabarti, P.

2016-05-01

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films have been grown on p-silicon (Si) substrate using magnesium doped ZnO (Mg: ZnO) buffer layer by radio-frequency (RF) sputtering method. In this paper, we have optimized the concentration of Mg (0-5 atomic percent (at. %)) ZnO buffer layer to examine its effect on ZnO thin film based devices for electronic and optoelectronic applications. The crystalline nature, morphology and topography of the surface of the thin film have been characterized. The optical as well as electrical properties of the active ZnO film can be tailored by varying the concentration of Mg in the buffer layer. The crystallite size in the active ZnO thin film was found to increase with the Mg concentration in the buffer layer in the range of 0-3 at. % and subsequently decrease with increasing Mg atom concentration in the ZnO. The same was verified by the surface morphology and topography studies carried out with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic electron microscopy (AFM) respectively. The reflectance in the visible region was measured to be less than 80% and found to decrease with increase in Mg concentration from 0 to 3 at. % in the buffer region. The optical bandgap was initially found to increase from 3.02 eV to 3.74 eV by increasing the Mg content from 0 to 3 at. % but subsequently decreases and drops down to 3.43 eV for a concentration of 5 at. %. The study of an Au:Pd/ZnO Schottky diode reveals that for optimum doping of the buffer layer the device exhibits superior rectifying behavior. The barrier height, ideality factor, rectification ratio, reverse saturation current and series resistance of the Schottky diode were extracted from the measured current voltage (I-V) characteristics.

Low-temperature, solution-processed aluminum-doped zinc oxide as electron transport layer for stable efficient polymer solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu, Qianqian [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101 (China); Bao, Xichang, E-mail: baoxc@qibebt.ac.cn [Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101 (China); Yu, Jianhua [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Zhu, Dangqiang [Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101 (China); Zhang, Qian [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Gu, Chuantao [Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101 (China); Dong, Hongzhou [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Yang, Renqiang [Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101 (China); Dong, Lifeng, E-mail: DongLifeng@qust.edu.cn [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Department of Physics, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN 55104 (United States)

2016-04-30

A simple low-temperature solution-processed zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminum-doped ZnO (AZO) were synthesized and investigated as an electron transport layer (ETL) for inverted polymer solar cells. A solar cell with a blend of poly(4,8-bis-alkyloxy-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′] dithiophene-alt-alkylcarbonyl-thieno [3,4-b] thiophene) and (6,6)-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester as an active layer and AZO as ETL demonstrates a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.36% under the illumination of AM 1.5G, 100 mW/cm{sup 2}. Compared to the cells with ZnO ETL (PCE of 6.85%), the PCE is improved by 7.45% with the introduction of an AZO layer. The improved PCE is ascribed to the enhanced short circuit current density, which results from the electron transport property of the AZO layer. Moreover, AZO is a more stable interfacial layer than ZnO. The PCE of the solar cells with AZO as ETL retain 85% of their original value after storage for 120 days, superior to the 39% of cells with ZnO ETL. The results above indicate that a simple low-temperature solution-processed AZO film is an efficient and economical ETL for high-performance inverted polymer solar cells. Due to its environmental friendliness, good electrical properties, and simple preparation approach, AZO has the potential to be applied in high-performance, large-scale industrialization of solar cells and other electronic devices. - Highlights: • ZnO and AZO were synthesized by a simple low-temperature solution-processed method. • AZO films show high transmittance and conductivity. • The photovoltaic performance can be improved with AZO as ETL. • AZO-based devices demonstrate excellent stability, with 85% retained after 120 days.

Electronic and magnetic structures of GdS layers investigated by first principle and series expansions calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Masrour, R., E-mail: rachidmasrour@hotmail.com [Laboratory of Materials, Processes, Environment and Quality, Cady Ayyed University, National School of Applied Sciences, 63 46000 Safi (Morocco); LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco); Hlil, E.K. [Institut Néel, CNRS et Université Joseph Fourier, BP 166, F-38042 Grenoble cedex 9 (France); Hamedoun, M. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Benyoussef, A. [LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculty of Science, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat (Morocco); Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Rabat (Morocco)

2014-04-01

Self-consistent ab initio calculations, based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) approach and using Full Potential Linear Augmented Plane Wave (FLAPW) method within GGA+U approximation, are performed to investigate both electronic and magnetic properties of the GdS layers. Polarized spin and spin–orbit coupling are included in calculations within the framework of the antiferromagnetic state between two adjacent Gd layers. Magnetic moment considered to lie along (001) axes are computed. Obtained data from ab initio calculations are used as input for the High Temperature Series Expansions (HTSEs) calculations to compute other magnetic parameters. Using the Heisenberg model, the exchange interactions between the magnetic atoms Gd–Gd in the same layer and between the magnetic atoms in the adjacent bilayers are estimated. This estimate is obtained using the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic energies computed by abinitio calculations for GdS layers. The High Temperature Series Expansions (HTSEs) of the magnetic susceptibility of GdS with antiferromagnetic moment (m{sub Gd}) is given up to sixth order series versus of (J{sub 11}(Gd–Gd)/k{sub B}T). The Néel temperature T{sub N} is obtained by mean field theory and by HTSEs of the magnetic susceptibility series using the Padé approximant method. The critical exponent γ associated with the magnetic susceptibility is calculated for GdS layers. - Highlights: • Electronic and magnetic properties of GdS are investigated using the ab initio calculations. • Obtained data from abinitio calculations are used as input for HTSEs to compute other magnetic parameters. • Néel temperature and critical exponent are deduced using HTSE method.

Mapping the layer count of few-layer hexagonal boron nitride at high lateral spatial resolutions

Science.gov (United States)

Mohsin, Ali; Cross, Nicholas G.; Liu, Lei; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Duscher, Gerd; Gu, Gong

2018-01-01

Layer count control and uniformity of two dimensional (2D) layered materials are critical to the investigation of their properties and to their electronic device applications, but methods to map 2D material layer count at nanometer-level lateral spatial resolutions have been lacking. Here, we demonstrate a method based on two complementary techniques widely available in transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) to map the layer count of multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) films. The mass-thickness contrast in high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) imaging in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) mode allows for thickness determination in atomically clean regions with high spatial resolution (sub-nanometer), but is limited by surface contamination. To complement, another technique based on the boron K ionization edge in the electron energy loss spectroscopy spectrum (EELS) of h-BN is developed to quantify the layer count so that surface contamination does not cause an overestimate, albeit at a lower spatial resolution (nanometers). The two techniques agree remarkably well in atomically clean regions with discrepancies within  ±1 layer. For the first time, the layer count uniformity on the scale of nanometers is quantified for a 2D material. The methodology is applicable to layer count mapping of other 2D layered materials, paving the way toward the synthesis of multilayer 2D materials with homogeneous layer count.

A simple and cost-effective method for fabrication of integrated electronic-microfluidic devices using a laser-patterned PDMS layer

KAUST Repository

Li, Ming

2011-12-03

We report a simple and cost-effective method for fabricating integrated electronic-microfluidic devices with multilayer configurations. A CO 2 laser plotter was employed to directly write patterns on a transferred polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer, which served as both a bonding and a working layer. The integration of electronics in microfluidic devices was achieved by an alignment bonding of top and bottom electrode-patterned substrates fabricated with conventional lithography, sputtering and lift-off techniques. Processes of the developed fabrication method were illustrated. Major issues associated with this method as PDMS surface treatment and characterization, thickness-control of the transferred PDMS layer, and laser parameters optimization were discussed, along with the examination and testing of bonding with two representative materials (glass and silicon). The capability of this method was further demonstrated by fabricating a microfluidic chip with sputter-coated electrodes on the top and bottom substrates. The device functioning as a microparticle focusing and trapping chip was experimentally verified. It is confirmed that the proposed method has many advantages, including simple and fast fabrication process, low cost, easy integration of electronics, strong bonding strength, chemical and biological compatibility, etc. © Springer-Verlag 2011.

A Medipix quantum area detector allows rotation electron diffraction data collection from submicrometre three-dimensional protein crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nederlof, Igor; Genderen, Eric van; Li, Yao-Wang; Abrahams, Jan Pieter

2013-01-01

An ultrasensitive Medipix2 detector allowed the collection of rotation electron-diffraction data from single three-dimensional protein nanocrystals for the first time. The data could be analysed using the standard X-ray crystallography programs MOSFLM and SCALA. When protein crystals are submicrometre-sized, X-ray radiation damage precludes conventional diffraction data collection. For crystals that are of the order of 100 nm in size, at best only single-shot diffraction patterns can be collected and rotation data collection has not been possible, irrespective of the diffraction technique used. Here, it is shown that at a very low electron dose (at most 0.1 e − Å −2 ), a Medipix2 quantum area detector is sufficiently sensitive to allow the collection of a 30-frame rotation series of 200 keV electron-diffraction data from a single ∼100 nm thick protein crystal. A highly parallel 200 keV electron beam (λ = 0.025 Å) allowed observation of the curvature of the Ewald sphere at low resolution, indicating a combined mosaic spread/beam divergence of at most 0.4°. This result shows that volumes of crystal with low mosaicity can be pinpointed in electron diffraction. It is also shown that strategies and data-analysis software (MOSFLM and SCALA) from X-ray protein crystallography can be used in principle for analysing electron-diffraction data from three-dimensional nanocrystals of proteins

Effect of thermal annealing treatment with titanium chelate on buffer layer in inverted polymer solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Zhiyong [College of Science, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866 (China); Wang, Ning, E-mail: ning_wang@outlook.com [School of Electrical and Electronic and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University 639798 (Singapore); Fu, Yan, E-mail: 1060945062@qq.com [College of Science, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866 (China)

2016-12-15

Highlights: • The TIPD layer as electron extraction layer and instead of Ca or LiF. • Impact of the work function of TIPD layer by thermal annealing treatment. • Importance of TIPD layer as electron extraction layer for work function and potential barrier. - Abstract: The solution processable electron extraction layer (EEL) is crucial for polymer solar cells (PSCs). Here, we investigated titanium (diisopropoxide) bis(2,4-pentanedionate) (TIPD) as an EEL and fabricated inverted PSCs with a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and indene-C60 bisadduct (ICBA) acting as the photoactive layer, with a structure of ITO/TIPD/P3HT:ICBA/MoO{sub 3}/Ag. After thermal annealing treatment at 150 °C for 15 min, the PSC performances increased from 3.85% to 6.84% and they achieve stable power conversion efficiency (PCE), with a similar PCE compared with TiO{sub 2} as an EEL by the vacuum evaporated method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) confirmed that the TIPD decomposed and formed the Ti=O bond, and the energy level of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital and the highest occupied molecular orbital increased. The space charge limited current (SCLC) measurements further confirmed the improvement in electron collection and the transport ability using TIPD as the EEL and thermal annealing.

Investigation of the stability of polysilicon layers in SOI-structures under irradiation by electrons and hard magnetic field influence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khoverko Yu. N.

2010-10-01

Full Text Available The properties of recrystallized polysilicon on insulator layers of p-type conductive SOI-structures with different carrier concentration irradiated with high-energy electrons flow about 1017 сm–2 in temperature range 4,2—300 К and high magnetic fields were investigated. It was found that heavily doped laser recrystallized polysilicon on insulator layers show its radiation resistance under irradiation with high-energy electrons and magnetoresistance of such material remains quite low in magnetic field about 14 T does not exceed 1—2%. Such qulity can be applied in designing of microelectronic sensors of mechanical values operable in hard conditions of exploitation.

N-type polymers as electron extraction layers in hybrid perovskite solar cells with improved ambient stability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shao, S.; Chen, Z.; Fang, H. -H.; ten Brink, G. H.; Bartesaghi, D.; Adjokatse, S.; Koster, L. J. A.; Kooi, B. J.; Facchetti, A.; Loi, M. A.

2016-01-01

We studied three n-type polymers of the naphthalenediimide-bithiophene family as electron extraction layers (EELs) in hybrid perovskite solar cells. The recombination mechanism in these devices is found to be heavily influenced by the EEL transport properties. The maximum efficiency of the devices

Carbon doped GaN buffer layer using propane for high electron mobility transistor applications: Growth and device results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, X.; Nilsson, D.; Danielsson, Ö.; Pedersen, H.; Janzén, E.; Forsberg, U. [Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping 58183 (Sweden); Bergsten, J.; Rorsman, N. [Microwave Electronics Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg 41296 (Sweden)

2015-12-28

The creation of a semi insulating (SI) buffer layer in AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) devices is crucial for preventing a current path beneath the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). In this investigation, we evaluate the use of a gaseous carbon gas precursor, propane, for creating a SI GaN buffer layer in a HEMT structure. The carbon doped profile, using propane gas, is a two stepped profile with a high carbon doping (1.5 × 10{sup 18 }cm{sup −3}) epitaxial layer closest to the substrate and a lower doped layer (3 × 10{sup 16 }cm{sup −3}) closest to the 2DEG channel. Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry measurement shows a uniform incorporation versus depth, and no memory effect from carbon doping can be seen. The high carbon doping (1.5 × 10{sup 18 }cm{sup −3}) does not influence the surface morphology, and a roughness root-mean-square value of 0.43 nm is obtained from Atomic Force Microscopy. High resolution X-ray diffraction measurements show very sharp peaks and no structural degradation can be seen related to the heavy carbon doped layer. HEMTs are fabricated and show an extremely low drain induced barrier lowering value of 0.1 mV/V, demonstrating an excellent buffer isolation. The carbon doped GaN buffer layer using propane gas is compared to samples using carbon from the trimethylgallium molecule, showing equally low leakage currents, demonstrating the capability of growing highly resistive buffer layers using a gaseous carbon source.

Collective electronic excitations in C60 crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, X.; Ulloa, S.E.

1994-01-01

We present a theoretical study of the electronic excitations in fullerene crystals by calculating the density-density correlation function in a fully nonlocal linear response theory. Our results indicate that the collective features associates with the π→π * transitions show strong anisotropic properties, with peaks changing by as much as 0.7 eV in different directions. Meanwhile, the calculated mode dispersion exhibits rather weak wave-number dependence along a given direction, in general agreement with experimental results. The oscillator strength also shows anisotropic behavior, with significant weight redistribution for different directions. We also analyze this system in terms of a classical point-dipole array model, and show that this simple model approximates well the quantum results

Low resistivity ZnO-GO electron transport layer based CH3NH3PbI3 solar cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Imran Ahmed

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Perovskite based solar cells have demonstrated impressive performances. Controlled environment synthesis and expensive hole transport material impede their potential commercialization. We report ambient air synthesis of hole transport layer free devices using ZnO-GO as electron selective contacts. Solar cells fabricated with hole transport layer free architecture under ambient air conditions with ZnO as electron selective contact achieved an efficiency of 3.02%. We have demonstrated that by incorporating GO in ZnO matrix, low resistivity electron selective contacts, critical to improve the performance, can be achieved. We could achieve max efficiency of 4.52% with our completed devices for ZnO: GO composite. Impedance spectroscopy confirmed the decrease in series resistance and an increase in recombination resistance with inclusion of GO in ZnO matrix. Effect of temperature on completed devices was investigated by recording impedance spectra at 40 and 60 oC, providing indirect evidence of the performance of solar cells at elevated temperatures.

Hybrid Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Consisting of Double Titania Layers for Harvesting Light with Wide Range of Wavelengths

Science.gov (United States)

Sadamasu, Kengo; Inoue, Takafumi; Ogomi, Yuhei; Pandey, Shyam S.; Hayase, Shuzi

2011-02-01

We report a hybrid dye-sensitized solar cell consisting of double titania layers (top and bottom layers) stained with two dyes. A top layer fabricated on a glass was mechanically pressed with a bottom layer fabricated on a glass cloth. The glass cloth acts as a supporter of a porous titania layer as well as a holder of electrolyte. The incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) curve had two peaks corresponding to those of the two dyes, which demonstrates that electrons are collected from both the top and bottom layers.

Effect of cooler electrons on a compressive ion acoustic solitary wave in a warm ion plasma — Forbidden regions, double layers, and supersolitons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, S. S.; Sekar Iyengar, A. N.

2014-01-01

It is observed that the presence of a minority component of cooler electrons in a three component plasma plays a deterministic role in the evolution of solitary waves, double layers, or the newly discovered structures called supersolitons. The inclusion of the cooler component of electrons in a single electron plasma produces sharp increase in nonlinearity in spite of a decrease in the overall energy of the system. The effect maximizes at certain critical value of the number density of the cooler component (typically 15%–20%) giving rise to a hump in the amplitude variation profile. For larger amplitudes, the hump leads to a forbidden region in the ambient cooler electron concentration which dissociates the overall existence domain of solitary wave solutions in two distinct parameter regime. It is observed that an inclusion of the cooler component of electrons as low as < 1% affects the plasma system significantly resulting in compressive double layers. The solution is further affected by the cold to hot electron temperature ratio. In an adequately hotter bulk plasma (i.e., moderately low cold to hot electron temperature ratio), the parameter domain of compressive double layers is bounded by a sharp discontinuity in the corresponding amplitude variation profile which may lead to supersolitons

Effect of cooler electrons on a compressive ion acoustic solitary wave in a warm ion plasma — Forbidden regions, double layers, and supersolitons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghosh, S. S., E-mail: sukti@iigs.iigm.res.in [Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, New Panvel, Navi Mumbai 410218 (India); Sekar Iyengar, A. N. [Plasma Physics Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata 700064 (India)

2014-08-15

It is observed that the presence of a minority component of cooler electrons in a three component plasma plays a deterministic role in the evolution of solitary waves, double layers, or the newly discovered structures called supersolitons. The inclusion of the cooler component of electrons in a single electron plasma produces sharp increase in nonlinearity in spite of a decrease in the overall energy of the system. The effect maximizes at certain critical value of the number density of the cooler component (typically 15%–20%) giving rise to a hump in the amplitude variation profile. For larger amplitudes, the hump leads to a forbidden region in the ambient cooler electron concentration which dissociates the overall existence domain of solitary wave solutions in two distinct parameter regime. It is observed that an inclusion of the cooler component of electrons as low as < 1% affects the plasma system significantly resulting in compressive double layers. The solution is further affected by the cold to hot electron temperature ratio. In an adequately hotter bulk plasma (i.e., moderately low cold to hot electron temperature ratio), the parameter domain of compressive double layers is bounded by a sharp discontinuity in the corresponding amplitude variation profile which may lead to supersolitons.

Influence of Weak Base Addition to Hole-Collecting Buffer Layers in Polymer:Fullerene Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jooyeok Seo

2017-02-01

Full Text Available We report the effect of weak base addition to acidic polymer hole-collecting layers in normal-type polymer:fullerene solar cells. Varying amounts of the weak base aniline (AN were added to solutions of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:poly(styrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS. The acidity of the aniline-added PEDOT:PSS solutions gradually decreased from pH = 1.74 (AN = 0 mol% to pH = 4.24 (AN = 1.8 mol %. The electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS-AN films did not change much with the pH value, while the ratio of conductivity between out-of-plane and in-plane directions was dependent on the pH of solutions. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE was obtained at pH = 2.52, even though all devices with the PEDOT:PSS-AN layers exhibited better PCE than those with the pristine PEDOT:PSS layers. Atomic force microscopy investigation revealed that the size of PEDOT:PSS domains became smaller as the pH increased. The stability test for 100 h illumination under one sun condition disclosed that the PCE decay was relatively slower for the devices with the PEDOT:PSS-AN layers than for those with pristine PEDOT:PSS layers.

Investigation of organic light-emitting diodes with novel organic electron injection layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Sunae; Sethuraman, Kunjithapatham; An, Jongdeok; Im, Chan [Konkuk University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Hwang, Boseon [Jinwoong Industrial Co. Ltd., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2012-03-15

1-(diphenyl-phosphinoyl)-4-(2,2-diphenyl-vinyl)-benzene (DpDvB) and 4-(diphenyl-phosphinoyl)-4'-(2,2-diphenyl-vinyl)-biphenyl (DpDvBp) have been prepared and used as efficient electron injection layers (EILs) between aluminum cathode and tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum organic light emitting diodes (OLED). The performances of devices with different thicknesses of DpDvB and DpDvBp were investigated. Experimental results show that the turn-on voltage of the devices was decreased and the luminance of the devices was enhanced with increasing thickness of the EILs. Power efficiencies of 1.07 lm/W and 0.97 lm/W were obtained by inserting a 3-nm-thick EIL of DpDvB and a 5 nm thick EIL of DpDvBp, respectively. These efficiencies are comparable to that of the device using LiF as an EIL. The results prove that DpDvB and DpDvBp layers are also suitable for efficient EILs in OLEDs.

Assessment of doses caused by electrons in thin layers of tissue-equivalent materials, using MCNP.

Science.gov (United States)

Heide, Bernd

2013-10-01

Absorbed doses caused by electron irradiation were calculated with Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code (MCNP) for thin layers of tissue-equivalent materials. The layers were so thin that the calculation of energy deposition was on the border of the scope of MCNP. Therefore, in this article application of three different methods of calculation of energy deposition is discussed. This was done by means of two scenarios: in the first one, electrons were emitted from the centre of a sphere of water and also recorded in that sphere; and in the second, an irradiation with the PTB Secondary Standard BSS2 was modelled, where electrons were emitted from an (90)Sr/(90)Y area source and recorded inside a cuboid phantom made of tissue-equivalent material. The speed and accuracy of the different methods were of interest. While a significant difference in accuracy was visible for one method in the first scenario, the difference in accuracy of the three methods was insignificant for the second one. Considerable differences in speed were found for both scenarios. In order to demonstrate the need for calculating the dose in thin small zones, a third scenario was constructed and simulated as well. The third scenario was nearly equal to the second one, but a pike of lead was assumed to be inside the phantom in addition. A dose enhancement (caused by the pike of lead) of ∼113 % was recorded for a thin hollow cylinder at a depth of 0.007 cm, which the basal-skin layer is referred to in particular. Dose enhancements between 68 and 88 % were found for a slab with a radius of 0.09 cm for all depths. All dose enhancements were hardly noticeable for a slab with a cross-sectional area of 1 cm(2), which is usually applied to operational radiation protection.

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.

The Effect of Post-Baking Temperature and Thickness of ZnO Electron Transport Layers for Efficient Planar Heterojunction Organometal-Trihalide Perovskite Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kun-Mu Lee

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Solution-processed zinc oxide (ZnO-based planar heterojunction perovskite photovoltaic device is reported in this study. The photovoltaic device benefits from the ZnO film as a high-conductivity and high-transparent electron transport layer. The optimal electron transport layer thickness and post-baking temperature for ZnO are systematically studied by scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Optimized perovskite solar cells (PSCs show an open-circuit voltage, a short-circuit current density, and a fill factor of 1.04 V, 18.71 mA/cm2, and 70.2%, respectively. The highest power conversion efficiency of 13.66% was obtained when the device was prepared with a ZnO electron transport layer with a thickness of ~20 nm and when post-baking at 180 °C for 30 min. Finally, the stability of the highest performance ZnO-based PSCs without encapsulation was investigated in detail.

Enhanced Carrier Collection from CdS Passivated Grains in Solution-Processed Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, Melanie; Keller, Debora; Haass, Stefan G; Gretener, Christina; Bissig, Benjamin; Fuchs, Peter; La Mattina, Fabio; Erni, Rolf; Romanyuk, Yaroslav E; Tiwari, Ayodhya N

2015-06-10

Solution processing of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe)-kesterite solar cells is attractive because of easy manufacturing using readily available metal salts. The solution-processed CZTSSe absorbers, however, often suffer from poor morphology with a bilayer structure, exhibiting a dense top crust and a porous bottom layer, albeit yielding efficiencies of over 10%. To understand whether the cell performance is limited by this porous layer, a systematic compositional study using (scanning) transmission electron microscopy ((S)TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of the dimethyl sulfoxide processed CZTSSe absorbers is presented. TEM investigation revealed a thin layer of CdS that is formed around the small CZTSSe grains in the porous bottom layer during the chemical bath deposition step. This CdS passivation is found to be beneficial for the cell performance as it increases the carrier collection and facilitates the electron transport. Electron-beam-induced current measurements reveal an enhanced carrier collection for this buried region as compared to reference cells with evaporated CdS.

Layered composites of PEDOT/PSS/nanoparticles and PEDOT/PSS/phthalocyanines as electron mediators for sensors and biosensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Celia García-Hernández

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The sensing properties of electrodes chemically modified with PEDOT/PSS towards catechol and hydroquinone sensing have been successfully improved by combining layers of PEDOT/PSS with layers of a secondary electrocatalytic material such as gold nanoparticles (PEDOT/PSS/AuNPs, copper phthalocyanine (PEDOT/PSS/CuPc or lutetium bisphthalocyanine (PEDOT/PSS/LuPc2. Layered composites exhibit synergistic effects that strongly enhance the electrocatalytic activity as indicated by the increase in intensity and the shift of the redox peaks to lower potentials. A remarkable improvement has been achieved using PEDOT/PSS/LuPc2, which exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of catechol. The kinetic studies demonstrated diffusion-controlled processes at the electrode surfaces. The kinetic parameters such as Tafel slopes and charge transfer coefficient (α confirm the improved electrocatalytic activity of the layered electron mediators. The peak currents increased linearly with concentration of catechol and hydroquinone over the range of 1.5 × 10−4 to 4.0 × 10−6 mol·L−1 with a limit of detection on the scale of μmol·L−1. The layered composite hybrid systems were also found to be excellent electron mediators in biosensors containing tyrosinase and laccase, and they combine the recognition and biocatalytic properties of biomolecules with the unique catalytic features of composite materials. The observed increase in the intensity of the responses allowed detection limits of 1 × 10−7 mol·L−1 to be attained.

PARTICLE-IN-CELL SIMULATION OF A STRONG DOUBLE LAYER IN A NONRELATIVISTIC PLASMA FLOW: ELECTRON ACCELERATION TO ULTRARELATIVISTIC SPEEDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dieckmann, Mark E.; Bret, Antoine

2009-01-01

Two charge- and current-neutral plasma beams are modeled with a one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. The beams are uniform and unbounded. The relative speed between both beams is 0.4c. One beam is composed of electrons and protons, and the other of protons and negatively charged oxygen (dust). All species have the temperature 9.1 keV. A Buneman instability develops between the electrons of the first beam and the protons of the second beam. The wave traps the electrons, which form plasmons. The plasmons couple energy into the ion acoustic waves, which trap the protons of the second beam. A structure similar to a proton phase-space hole develops, which grows through its interaction with the oxygen and the heated electrons into a rarefaction pulse. This pulse drives a double layer, which accelerates a beam of electrons to about 50 MeV, which is comparable to the proton kinetic energy. The proton distribution eventually evolves into an electrostatic shock. Beams of charged particles moving at such speeds may occur in the foreshock of supernova remnant (SNR) shocks. This double layer is thus potentially relevant for the electron acceleration (injection) into the diffusive shock acceleration by SNR shocks.

Resistivity scaling due to electron surface scattering in thin metal layers

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Tianji; Gall, Daniel

2018-04-01

The effect of electron surface scattering on the thickness-dependent electrical resistivity ρ of thin metal layers is investigated using nonequilibrium Green's function density functional transport simulations. Cu(001) thin films with thickness d =1 -2 nm are used as a model system, employing a random one-monolayer-high surface roughness and frozen phonons to cause surface and bulk scattering, respectively. The zero-temperature resistivity increases from 9.7 ±1.0 μ Ω cm at d =1.99 nm to 18.7 ±2.6 μ Ω cm at d =0.9 0 nm, contradicting the asymptotic T =0 prediction from the classical Fuchs-Sondheimer model. At T =9 00 K, ρ =5.8 ±0.1 μ Ω cm for bulk Cu and ρ =13.4 ±1.1 and 22.5 ±2.4 μ Ω cm for layers with d =1.99 and 0.90 nm, respectively, indicating an approximately additive phonon contribution which, however, is smaller than for bulk Cu or atomically smooth layers. The overall data indicate that the resistivity contribution from surface scattering is temperature-independent and proportional to 1 /d , suggesting that it can be described using a surface-scattering mean-free path λs for 2D transport which is channel-independent and proportional to d . Data fitting indicates λs=4 ×d for the particular simulated Cu(001) surfaces with a one-monolayer-high surface roughness. The 1 /d dependence deviates considerably from previous 1 /d2 predictions from quantum models, indicating that the small-roughness approximation in these models is not applicable to very thin (<2 nm) layers, where the surface roughness is a considerable fraction of d .

Atomic-scale observation of structural and electronic orders in the layered compound α-RuCl3

Science.gov (United States)

Ziatdinov, M.; Banerjee, A.; Maksov, A.; Berlijn, T.; Zhou, W.; Cao, H. B.; Yan, J.-Q.; Bridges, C. A.; Mandrus, D. G.; Nagler, S. E.; Baddorf, A. P.; Kalinin, S. V.

2016-12-01

A pseudospin-1/2 Mott phase on a honeycomb lattice is proposed to host the celebrated two-dimensional Kitaev model which has an elusive quantum spin liquid ground state, and fascinating physics relevant to the development of future templates towards topological quantum bits. Here we report a comprehensive, atomically resolved real-space study by scanning transmission electron and scanning tunnelling microscopies on a novel layered material displaying Kitaev physics, α-RuCl3. Our local crystallography analysis reveals considerable variations in the geometry of the ligand sublattice in thin films of α-RuCl3 that opens a way to realization of a spatially inhomogeneous magnetic ground state at the nanometre length scale. Using scanning tunnelling techniques, we observe the electronic energy gap of ~0.25 eV and intra-unit cell symmetry breaking of charge distribution in individual α-RuCl3 surface layer. The corresponding charge-ordered pattern has a fine structure associated with two different types of charge disproportionation at Cl-terminated surface.

Graphene-cyclodextrin-cytochrome c layered assembly with improved electron transfer rate and high supramolecular recognition capability.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Cheng-Bin; Guo, Cong-Cong; Jiang, Dan; Tang, Qian; Liu, Chang-Hua; Ma, Xue-Bing

2014-06-01

This study aimed to develop a new graphene-based layered assembly, named graphene-cyclodextrin-cytochrome c with improved electron transfer rate. This assembly has combined high conductivity of graphene nanosheets (GNs), selectively binding properties and electronegativity of cyclodextrins (CDs), as well as electropositivity of cytochrome c (Cyt c). This assembly can also mimic the confined environments of the intermembrane space of mitochondria. A β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) functionalized GN (GN-CD) assembly was initially prepared by a simple wet-chemical strategy, i.e., in situ thermal reduction of graphene oxide with hydrazine hydrate in the presence of β-CD. Cyt c was then intercalated to the GN-CD assembly to form a layered self-assembled structure, GN-CD-Cyt c, through electrostatic interaction. Compared with GNs and GN-CD, GN-CD-Cyt c assembly displayed improved electron transfer rate and high supramolecular recognition capability toward six probe molecules. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study in electron microscopy the formation of the hybrid layer using adhesive systems One Coat and Single Bond Universal, at the Facultad de Medicina of the Universidad de Costa Rica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parra Barillas, Adriana; Montoya, Michael

2013-01-01

The formation of the hybrid layer is observed in dental pieces in vitro, using systems of conventional adhesives (Single Bond 2 of 3M and One Coat of Coltene), with different times of acid etching, through the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM). The images of the hybrid layer obtained from samples prepared with adhesive systems are analyzed by AFM. Samples collected have been of dental pieces (molars and premolars) recently extracted and later placed in water. The pieces used have provided more surface to be observed under the microscope, greater accessibility to the be cut for its study, and to the great pieces have facilitated their placement on the Isomet low speed saw. The differences are evaluated between hybrid layers according the adhesive system used and the mode of application of the images obtained in the atomic force microscope. The adhesive system that has allowed the formation of a hybrid layer more appropriate between the adhesive system One Coat and the adhesive system Single Bond Universal is determined. The time of acid etching as variable of procedure is determined and has interfered with the formation of a hybrid layer more stable. The images evaluated that were provided by the atomic force microscope and compared with the images of electron microscopy of other studies, have determined that the AFM is without providing detailed information, as well as the appropriate images to evaluate the hybrid layer of the adhesive systems Single Bond 2 and One Coat of Coltene, or the different times of acid etching. Therefore, for this type of study, the image of choice must be of an electron microscope [es

Phase inversion and frequency doubling of reflection high-energy electron diffraction intensity oscillations in the layer-by-layer growth of complex oxides

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Zhangwen; Guo, Wei; Ji, Dianxiang; Zhang, Tianwei; Gu, Chenyi; Tang, Chao; Gu, Zhengbin; Nie*, Yuefeng; Pan, Xiaoqing

In situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and its intensity oscillations are extremely important for the growth of epitaxial thin films with atomic precision. The RHEED intensity oscillations of complex oxides are, however, rather complicated and a general model is still lacking. Here, we report the unusual phase inversion and frequency doubling of RHEED intensity oscillations observed in the layer-by-layer growth of SrTiO3 using oxide molecular beam epitaxy. In contacts to the common understanding that the maximum(minimum) intensity occurs at SrO(TiO2) termination, respectively, we found that both maximum or minimum intensities can occur at SrO, TiO2, or even incomplete terminations depending on the incident angle of the electron beam, which raises a fundamental question if one can rely on the RHEED intensity oscillations to precisely control the growth of thin films. A general model including surface roughness and termination dependent mean inner potential qualitatively explains the observed phenomena, and provides the answer to the question how to prepare atomically and chemically precise surface/interfaces using RHEED oscillations for complex oxides. We thank National Basic Research Program of China (No. 11574135, 2015CB654901) and the National Thousand-Young-Talents Program.

A Medipix quantum area detector allows rotation electron diffraction data collection from submicrometre three-dimensional protein crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nederlof, Igor; Genderen, Eric van; Li, Yao-Wang; Abrahams, Jan Pieter, E-mail: abrahams@chem.leidenuniv.nl [Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden (Netherlands)

2013-07-01

An ultrasensitive Medipix2 detector allowed the collection of rotation electron-diffraction data from single three-dimensional protein nanocrystals for the first time. The data could be analysed using the standard X-ray crystallography programs MOSFLM and SCALA. When protein crystals are submicrometre-sized, X-ray radiation damage precludes conventional diffraction data collection. For crystals that are of the order of 100 nm in size, at best only single-shot diffraction patterns can be collected and rotation data collection has not been possible, irrespective of the diffraction technique used. Here, it is shown that at a very low electron dose (at most 0.1 e{sup −} Å{sup −2}), a Medipix2 quantum area detector is sufficiently sensitive to allow the collection of a 30-frame rotation series of 200 keV electron-diffraction data from a single ∼100 nm thick protein crystal. A highly parallel 200 keV electron beam (λ = 0.025 Å) allowed observation of the curvature of the Ewald sphere at low resolution, indicating a combined mosaic spread/beam divergence of at most 0.4°. This result shows that volumes of crystal with low mosaicity can be pinpointed in electron diffraction. It is also shown that strategies and data-analysis software (MOSFLM and SCALA) from X-ray protein crystallography can be used in principle for analysing electron-diffraction data from three-dimensional nanocrystals of proteins.

Electrochemical studies of biocatalytic anode of sulfonated graphene/ferritin/glucose oxidase layer-by-layer biocomposite films for mediated electron transfer.

Science.gov (United States)

Inamuddin; Haque, Sufia Ul; Naushad, Mu

2016-06-01

In this study, a bioanode was developed by using layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly of sulfonated graphene (SG)/ferritin (Frt)/glucose oxidase (GOx). The SG/Frt biocomposite was used as an electron transfer elevator and mediator, respectively. Glucose oxidase (GOx) from Aspergillus niger was applied as a glucose oxidation biocatalyst. The electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose using GOx modified electrode increases with an increase in the concentration of glucose in the range of 10-50mM. The electrochemical measurements of the electrode was carried out by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) at different scan rates (20-100mVs(-1)) in 30mM of glucose solution prepared in 0.3M potassium ferrocyanide (K4Fe(CN)6) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). A saturation current density of 50±2mAcm(-2) at a scan rate of 100mVs(-1) for the oxidation of 30Mm glucose is achieved. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modification of Structure and Tribological Properties of the Surface Layer of Metal-Ceramic Composite under Electron Irradiation in the Plasmas of Inert Gases

Science.gov (United States)

Ovcharenko, V. E.; Ivanov, K. V.; Mohovikov, A. A.; Yu, B.; Xu, Yu; Zhong, L.

2018-01-01

Metal-ceramic composites are the main materials for high-load parts in tribomechanical systems. Modern approaches to extend the operation life of tribomechanical systems are based on increasing the strength and tribological properties of the surface layer having 100 to 200 microns in depth. The essential improvement of the properties occurs when high dispersed structure is formed in the surface layer using high-energy processing. As a result of the dispersed structure formation the more uniform distribution of elastic stresses takes place under mechanical or thermal action, the energy of stress concentrators emergence significantly increases and the probability of internal defects formation reduces. The promising method to form the dispersed structure in the surface layer is pulse electron irradiation in the plasmas of inert gases combining electron irradiation and ion bombardment in one process. The present work reports upon the effect of pulse electron irradiation in plasmas of different inert gases with different atomic mass and ionization energy on the structure and tribological properties of the surface layer of TiC/(Ni-Cr) metal-ceramic composite with the volume ratio of the component being 50:50. It is experimentally shown that high-dispersed heterophase structure with a fraction of nanosized particles is formed during the irradiation. Electron microscopy study reveals that refining of the initial coarse TiC particles occurs via their dissolution in the molten metal binder followed by the precipitation of secondary fine particles in the interparticle layers of the binder. The depth of modified layer and the fraction of nanosized particles increase when the atomic number of the plasma gas increases and ionization energy decreases. The wear resistance of metal-ceramic composite improves in accordance to the formation of nanocrystalline structure in the surface layer.

Electron-stimulated desorption of cesium atoms from cesium layers adsorbed on gold-covered tungsten

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ageev, V N; Kuznetsov, Yu A; Potekhina, N D, E-mail: kuznets@ms.ioffe.r [A F Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 194021, St Petersburg (Russian Federation)

2010-03-03

The electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) yields and energy distributions (ED) for neutral cesium atoms have been measured from cesium layers adsorbed on a gold-covered tungsten surface as a function of electron energy, gold film thickness, cesium coverage and substrate temperature. The measurements have been carried out using a time-of-flight method and surface ionization detector in the temperature range 160-300 K. A measurable ESD yield for Cs atoms is observed only after deposition of more than one monolayer of gold and cesium on a tungsten surface at a temperature T = 300 K, which is accompanied by the formation of a CsAu semiconductor film covered with a cesium atom monolayer. The Cs atom ESD yield as a function of incident electron energy has a resonant character and consists of two peaks, the appearance of which depends on both electron energy and substrate temperature. The first peak has an appearance threshold at an electron energy of 57 eV and a substrate temperature of 300 K that is due to Au 5p{sub 3/2} core level excitation in the substrate. The second peak appears at an electron energy of 24 eV and a substrate temperature of 160 K. It is associated with a Cs 5s core level excitation in the Cs adsorbed layer. The Au 5p{sub 3/2} level excitation corresponds to a single broad peak in the ED with a maximum at a kinetic energy of 0.45 eV at a substrate temperature T = 300 K, which is split into two peaks with maxima at kinetic energies of 0.36 and 0.45 eV at a substrate temperature of 160 K, associated with different Cs atom ESD channels. The Cs 5s level excitation leads to an ED for Cs atoms with a maximum at a kinetic energy of approx 0.57 eV which exists only at T < 240 K and low Cs concentrations. The mechanisms for all the Cs atom ESD channels are proposed and compared with the Na atom ESD channels in the Na-Au-W system.

Electron mobility in the inversion layers of fully depleted SOI films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zaitseva, E. G., E-mail: ZaytsevaElza@yandex.ru; Naumova, O. V.; Fomin, B. I. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch (Russian Federation)

2017-04-15

The dependences of the electron mobility μ{sub eff} in the inversion layers of fully depleted double–gate silicon-on-insulator (SOI) metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) transistors on the density N{sub e} of induced charge carriers and temperature T are investigated at different states of the SOI film (inversion–accumulation) from the side of one of the gates. It is shown that at a high density of induced charge carriers of N{sub e} > 6 × 10{sup 12} cm{sup –2} the μeff(T) dependences allow the components of mobility μ{sub eff} that are related to scattering at surface phonons and from the film/insulator surface roughness to be distinguished. The μ{sub eff}(N{sub e}) dependences can be approximated by the power functions μ{sub eff}(N{sub e}) ∝ N{sub e}{sup −n}. The exponents n in the dependences and the dominant mechanisms of scattering of electrons induced near the interface between the SOI film and buried oxide are determined for different N{sub e} ranges and film states from the surface side.

Local deposition of high-purity Pt nanostructures by combining electron beam induced deposition and atomic layer deposition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mackus, A.J.M.; Mulders, J.J.L.; Sanden, van de M.C.M.; Kessels, W.M.M.

2010-01-01

An approach for direct-write fabrication of high-purity platinum nanostructures has been developed by combining nanoscale lateral patterning by electron beam induced deposition (EBID) with area-selective deposition of high quality material by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Because virtually pure,

Layer-dependent band alignment and work function of few-layer phosphorene.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Yongqing; Zhang, Gang; Zhang, Yong-Wei

2014-10-20

Using first-principles calculations, we study the electronic properties of few-layer phosphorene focusing on layer-dependent behavior of band gap, work function band alignment and carrier effective mass. It is found that few-layer phosphorene shows a robust direct band gap character, and its band gap decreases with the number of layers following a power law. The work function decreases rapidly from monolayer (5.16 eV) to trilayer (4.56 eV), and then slowly upon further increasing the layer number. Compared to monolayer phosphorene, there is a drastic decrease of hole effective mass along the ridge (zigzag) direction for bilayer phosphorene, indicating a strong interlayer coupling and screening effect. Our study suggests that 1). Few-layer phosphorene with a layer-dependent band gap and a robust direct band gap character is promising for efficient solar energy harvest. 2). Few-layer phosphorene outperforms monolayer counterpart in terms of a lighter carrier effective mass, a higher carrier density and a weaker scattering due to enhanced screening. 3). The layer-dependent band edges and work functions of few-layer phosphorene allow for modification of Schottky barrier with enhanced carrier injection efficiency. It is expected that few-layer phosphorene will present abundant opportunities for a plethora of new electronic applications.

Effects of dust polarity and nonextensive electrons on the dust-ion acoustic solitons and double layers in earth atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Ghobakhloo, Marzieh; Zomorrodian, Mohammad Ebrahim; Javidan, Kurosh

2018-05-01

Propagation of dustion acoustic solitary waves (DIASWs) and double layers is discussed in earth atmosphere, using the Sagdeev potential method. The best model for distribution function of electrons in earth atmosphere is found by fitting available data on different distribution functions. The nonextensive function with parameter q = 0.58 provides the best fit on observations. Thus we analyze the propagation of localized waves in an unmagnetized plasma containing nonextensive electrons, inertial ions, and negatively/positively charged stationary dust. It is found that both compressive and rarefactive solitons as well as double layers exist depending on the sign (and the value) of dust polarity. Characters of propagated waves are described using the presented model.

Picosecond kinetics of the electron-hole layers formation in wide-bandgap II-VI type-II heterostructures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Filatov, E.V.; Zaitsev, S.V.; Tartakovskii, I.I.; Maksimov, A.A. [Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432 Chernogolovka, Moscow region (Russian Federation); Yakovlev, D.R. [A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 194021 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Experimentelle Physik II, Technische Universitaet Dortmund (Germany); Waag, A. [Institute of Semiconductor Technology, Braunschweig Technical University, 38106 Braunschweig (Germany)

2010-06-15

Considerable slowdown of luminescence kinetics of the direct optical transition was discovered in ZnSe/BeTe type-II heterostructures under high levels of optical pumping. The effect is attributed to forming of a potential barrier for holes in the ZnSe layer due to band bending at high densities of spatially separated carriers. That results in a longer time of the photoexcited holes energy relaxation to their ground state in the BeTe layer. The decrease of overlapping of electron and hole wavefunctions in the ZnSe layer in thick ZnSe/BeTe structures at high levels of optical excitation reveals an additional important effect, that leads to sufficient retardation of radiative recombination time for photoexcited carriers (copyright 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Electron-hole pairing and anomalous properties of layered high-Tc compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Efetov, K.B.

1991-01-01

Band-structure pictures for layered high-T c materials available in the literature show that, besides the dispersive broad band responsible for metallic properties, there are at least two additional bands having minima and maxima near the Fermi surface. These additional bands belong to different planes (for example, CuO planes and BiO planes in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 ) or to planes and chains (in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 ). Provided the Coulomb repulsion is not very weak, pairing of electrons and holes belonging to these additional bands in different planes or planes and chains is possible. It is shown that, if this possibility is realized, a transition in the additional bands into a state of an excitonic dielectric occurs. The spin of an electron-hole pair can be both 0 and 1. Due to the fact that the electron and the hole of the pair belong to different planes, there are no charge- or spin-density waves. This excitonic insulator can serve as a polarizing substance and give a strong attraction between electrons of the metallic band even if the bare interaction is repulsive. It is also shown that some interesting gapless excitations exist. Provided there are impurities in the system that scatter from plane to plane, these excitations are coupled to the electrons of the metallic band. This effective interaction can be described in terms of an effective mode P(ω) with ImP(ω)∼-sgnω. As a result, one can obtain such properties of the normal state as a linear dependence of the resistivity on temperature, linear dependence of the density of states on energy, constant background in the Raman-scattering intensity, large nuclear relaxation rate, etc., which are very well known from experiments

Sausage and Kink EMHD Instabilities and Fast Electron transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, A.; Jain, N.; Kaw, P.; Sengupta, S.

2005-01-01

In the fast ignition concept of laser fusion it is desirable that the hot electron beam generated at the critical layer by the ignitor laser pulse propagates an adequate distance and deposits its energy to the compressed target core in a sufficiently localized region for the creation of hot spot. The mechanisms responsible for energy deposition can be due to (i) the classical coulomb collision cross section and (ii) collective interaction of the beam plasma system. The present work demonstrates a possible electromagnetic turbulence aided collective mechanism of stopping of the energetic electron flow in plasma. (Author)

Measurement of collective dynamical mass of Dirac fermions in graphene.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Hosang; Forsythe, Carlos; Wang, Lei; Tombros, Nikolaos; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Hone, James; Kim, Philip; Ham, Donhee

2014-08-01

Individual electrons in graphene behave as massless quasiparticles. Unexpectedly, it is inferred from plasmonic investigations that electrons in graphene must exhibit a non-zero mass when collectively excited. The inertial acceleration of the electron collective mass is essential to explain the behaviour of plasmons in this material, and may be directly measured by accelerating it with a time-varying voltage and quantifying the phase delay of the resulting current. This voltage-current phase relation would manifest as a kinetic inductance, representing the reluctance of the collective mass to accelerate. However, at optical (infrared) frequencies, phase measurements of current are generally difficult, and, at microwave frequencies, the inertial phase delay has been buried under electron scattering. Therefore, to date, the collective mass in graphene has defied unequivocal measurement. Here, we directly and precisely measure the kinetic inductance, and therefore the collective mass, by combining device engineering that reduces electron scattering and sensitive microwave phase measurements. Specifically, the encapsulation of graphene between hexagonal boron nitride layers, one-dimensional edge contacts and a proximate top gate configured as microwave ground together enable the inertial phase delay to be resolved from the electron scattering. Beside its fundamental importance, the kinetic inductance is found to be orders of magnitude larger than the magnetic inductance, which may be utilized to miniaturize radiofrequency integrated circuits. Moreover, its bias dependency heralds a solid-state voltage-controlled inductor to complement the prevalent voltage-controlled capacitor.

Mesoscopic Oxide Double Layer as Electron Specific Contact for Highly Efficient and UV Stable Perovskite Photovoltaics.

Science.gov (United States)

Tavakoli, Mohammad Mahdi; Giordano, Fabrizio; Zakeeruddin, Shaik Mohammed; Grätzel, Michael

2018-04-11

The solar to electric power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has recently reached 22.7%, exceeding that of competing thin film photovoltaics and the market leader polycrystalline silicon. Further augmentation of the PCE toward the Shockley-Queisser limit of 33.5% warrants suppression of radiationless carrier recombination by judicious engineering of the interface between the light harvesting perovskite and the charge carrier extraction layers. Here, we introduce a mesoscopic oxide double layer as electron selective contact consisting of a scaffold of TiO 2 nanoparticles covered by a thin film of SnO 2 , either in amorphous (a-SnO 2 ), crystalline (c-SnO 2 ), or nanocrystalline (quantum dot) form (SnO 2 -NC). We find that the band gap of a-SnO 2 is larger than that of the crystalline (tetragonal) polymorph leading to a corresponding lift in its conduction band edge energy which aligns it perfectly with the conduction band edge of both the triple cation perovskite and the TiO 2 scaffold. This enables very fast electron extraction from the light perovskite, suppressing the notorious hysteresis in the current-voltage ( J-V) curves and retarding nonradiative charge carrier recombination. As a result, we gain a remarkable 170 mV in open circuit photovoltage ( V oc ) by replacing the crystalline SnO 2 by an amorphous phase. Because of the quantum size effect, the band gap of our SnO 2 -NC particles is larger than that of bulk SnO 2 causing their conduction band edge to shift also to a higher energy thereby increasing the V oc . However, for SnO 2 -NC there remains a barrier for electron injection into the TiO 2 scaffold decreasing the fill factor of the device and lowering the PCE. Introducing the a-SnO 2 coated mp-TiO 2 scaffold as electron extraction layer not only increases the V oc and PEC of the solar cells but also render them resistant to UV light which forebodes well for outdoor deployment of these new PSC architectures.

Dose-effect curves for electron-beam irradiation of some collection microbial strains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferdes, O.; Dumitru, E.; Catargiu, L.; Ferdes, M.; Minea, R.; Oproiu, C.; Niculescu, A.

1994-01-01

There were electron-beam irradiated some microbial strains of B.subtilis ICA I-60 both in germination and in sporulated forms. The irradiation were performed at the IPTRD's electron accelerator at 6 MeV, and in the dose range between 0.1-5.0 kGy, at different dose-rate varying from 50 Gy/minute to 100 Gy/minute. The dosimetry was carried out by a PTW medical dosemeter. There were established the dose-effect relationships and curves, the inactivation dose (factor) and the optimum domain for electron-beam mutagenesis. There were obtained some mutant strains with 2-3.5 higher biosynthesis potential, which are in the IFC's collection. (Author)

Fabrication of nanopores in multi-layered silicon-based membranes using focused electron beam induced etching with XeF_2 gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liebes-Peer, Yael; Bandalo, Vedran; Sökmen, Ünsal; Tornow, Marc; Ashkenasy, Nurit

2016-01-01

The emergent technology of using nanopores for stochastic sensing of biomolecules introduces a demand for the development of simple fabrication methodologies of nanopores in solid state membranes. This process becomes particularly challenging when membranes of composite layer architecture are involved. To overcome this challenge we have employed a focused electron beam induced chemical etching process. We present here the fabrication of nanopores in silicon-on-insulator based membranes in a single step process. In this process, chemical etching of the membrane materials by XeF_2 gas is locally accelerated by an electron beam, resulting in local etching, with a top membrane oxide layer preventing delocalized etching of the silicon underneath. Nanopores with a funnel or conical, 3-dimensional (3D) shape can be fabricated, depending on the duration of exposure to XeF_2, and their diameter is dominated by the time of exposure to the electron beam. The demonstrated ability to form high-aspect ratio nanopores in comparably thick, multi-layered silicon based membranes allows for an easy integration into current silicon process technology and hence is attractive for implementation in biosensing lab-on-chip fabrication technologies. (author)

The behavior of plasma with an arbitrary degree of degeneracy of electron gas in the conductive layer

Science.gov (United States)

Latyshev, A. V.; Gordeeva, N. M.

2017-09-01

We obtain an analytic solution of the boundary problem for the behavior (fluctuations) of an electron plasma with an arbitrary degree of degeneracy of the electron gas in the conductive layer in an external electric field. We use the kinetic Vlasov-Boltzmann equation with the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook collision integral and the Maxwell equation for the electric field. We use the mirror boundary conditions for the reflections of electrons from the layer boundary. The boundary problem reduces to a one-dimensional problem with a single velocity. For this, we use the method of consecutive approximations, linearization of the equations with respect to the absolute distribution of the Fermi-Dirac electrons, and the conservation law for the number of particles. Separation of variables then helps reduce the problem equations to a characteristic system of equations. In the space of generalized functions, we find the eigensolutions of the initial system, which correspond to the continuous spectrum (Van Kampen mode). Solving the dispersion equation, we then find the eigensolutions corresponding to the adjoint and discrete spectra (Drude and Debye modes). We then construct the general solution of the boundary problem by decomposing it into the eigensolutions. The coefficients of the decomposition are given by the boundary conditions. This allows obtaining the decompositions of the distribution function and the electric field in explicit form.

Analysis of the Electrical Properties of an Electron Injection Layer in Alq3-Based Organic Light Emitting Diodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Soonkon; Choi, Pyungho; Kim, Sangsub; Park, Hyoungsun; Baek, Dohyun; Kim, Sangsoo; Choi, Byoungdeog

2016-05-01

We investigated the carrier transfer and luminescence characteristics of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) with structure ITO/HAT-CN/NPB/Alq3/Al, ITO/HAT-CN/NPB/Alq3/Liq/Al, and ITO/HAT-CN/NPB/Alq3/LiF/A. The performance of the OLED device is improved by inserting an electron injection layer (EIL), which induces lowering of the electron injection barrier. We also investigated the electrical transport behaviors of p-Si/Alq3/Al, p-Si/Alq3/Liq/Al, and p-Si/Alq3/LiF/Al Schottky diodes, by using current-voltage (L-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characterization methods. The parameters of diode quality factor n and barrier height φ(b) were dependent on the interlayer materials between Alq3 and Al. The barrier heights φ(b) were 0.59, 0.49, and 0.45 eV, respectively, and the diode quality factors n were 1.34, 1.31, and 1.30, respectively, obtained from the I-V characteristics. The built in potentials V(bi) were 0.41, 0.42, and 0.42 eV, respectively, obtained from the C-V characteristics. In this experiment, Liq and LiF thin film layers improved the carrier transport behaviors by increasing electron injection from Al to Alq3, and the LiF schottky diode showed better I-V performance than the Liq schottky diode. We confirmed that a Liq or LiF thin film inter-layer governs electron and hole transport at the Al/Alq3 interface, and has an important role in determining the electrical properties of OLED devices.

Electronic structure investigation of atomic layer deposition ruthenium(oxide) thin films using photoemission spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Schaefer, Michael; Schlaf, Rudy

2015-08-01

Analyzing and manipulating the electronic band line-up of interfaces in novel micro- and nanoelectronic devices is important to achieve further advancement in this field. Such band alignment modifications can be achieved by introducing thin conformal interfacial dipole layers. Atomic layer deposition (ALD), enabling angstrom-precise control over thin film thickness, is an ideal technique for this challenge. Ruthenium (Ru0) and its oxide (RuO2) have gained interest in the past decade as interfacial dipole layers because of their favorable properties like metal-equivalent work functions, conductivity, etc. In this study, initial results of the electronic structure investigation of ALD Ru0 and RuO2 films via photoemission spectroscopy are presented. These experiments give insight into the band alignment, growth behavior, surface structure termination, and dipole formation. The experiments were performed in an integrated vacuum system attached to a home-built, stop-flow type ALD reactor without exposing the samples to the ambient in between deposition and analysis. Bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)ruthenium(II) was used as precursor and oxygen as reactant. The analysis chamber was outfitted with X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (LIXPS, XPS). The determined growth modes are consistent with a strong growth inhibition situation with a maximum average growth rate of 0.21 Å/cycle for RuO2 and 0.04 Å/cycle for Ru.0 An interface dipole of up to -0.93 eV was observed, supporting the assumption of a strongly physisorbed interface. A separate experiment where the surface of a RuO film was sputtered suggests that the surface is terminated by an intermediate, stable, non-stoichiometric RuO2/OH compound whose surface is saturated with hydroxyl groups.

Ab initio electronic band structure study of III-VI layered semiconductors

Science.gov (United States)

Olguín, Daniel; Rubio-Ponce, Alberto; Cantarero, Andrés

2013-08-01

We present a total energy study of the electronic properties of the rhombohedral γ-InSe, hexagonal ɛ-GaSe, and monoclinic GaTe layered compounds. The calculations have been done using the full potential linear augmented plane wave method, including spin-orbit interaction. The calculated valence bands of the three compounds compare well with angle resolved photoemission measurements and a discussion of the small discrepancies found has been given. The present calculations are also compared with recent and previous band structure calculations available in the literature for the three compounds. Finally, in order to improve the calculated band gap value we have used the recently proposed modified Becke-Johnson correction for the exchange-correlation potential.

The thin layer technique and its application to electron microscopy; La technique des couches minces et son application a la microscopie electronique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ranc, G. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1957-10-15

This work deals with the technique of thin layers obtained by evaporation under vacuum, in the thickness range extending from a few monoatomic layers to several hundred angstroms. The great theoretical and practical interest of these layers has, it is well known, given rise to many investigations from Faraday onwards. Within the necessarily restricted limits of this study, we shall approach the problem more particularly from the point of view of: - their production; - their use in electron microscopy. A critical appraisal is made, in the light of present-day knowledge, based on our personal experience and on an extensive bibliography which we have collected on the subject. (author) [French] Le present travail concerne la technique des couches minces obtenues par evaporation sous vide, dans le domaine d'epaisseur qui s'etend de quelques couches monoatomiques a plusieurs centaines d'angstroms. L'interet theorique et pratique considerable de ces couches a suscite, comme on sait, de nombreux travaux depuis Faraday. Dans le cadre necessairement restreint de cette these, nous aborderons plus particulierement le point de vue de: - leur obtention; - leur utilisation en microscopie electronique. Il s'agit d'une mise au point critique, a la lumiere des connaissances actuelles, appuyee sur notre experience personnelle et sur une importante bibliographie, qu'il nous a ete donne de reunir a ce sujet. (auteur)

The thin layer technique and its application to electron microscopy; La technique des couches minces et son application a la microscopie electronique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ranc, G [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1957-10-15

This work deals with the technique of thin layers obtained by evaporation under vacuum, in the thickness range extending from a few monoatomic layers to several hundred angstroms. The great theoretical and practical interest of these layers has, it is well known, given rise to many investigations from Faraday onwards. Within the necessarily restricted limits of this study, we shall approach the problem more particularly from the point of view of: - their production; - their use in electron microscopy. A critical appraisal is made, in the light of present-day knowledge, based on our personal experience and on an extensive bibliography which we have collected on the subject. (author) [French] Le present travail concerne la technique des couches minces obtenues par evaporation sous vide, dans le domaine d'epaisseur qui s'etend de quelques couches monoatomiques a plusieurs centaines d'angstroms. L'interet theorique et pratique considerable de ces couches a suscite, comme on sait, de nombreux travaux depuis Faraday. Dans le cadre necessairement restreint de cette these, nous aborderons plus particulierement le point de vue de: - leur obtention; - leur utilisation en microscopie electronique. Il s'agit d'une mise au point critique, a la lumiere des connaissances actuelles, appuyee sur notre experience personnelle et sur une importante bibliographie, qu'il nous a ete donne de reunir a ce sujet. (auteur)

Motion of the plasma critical layer during relativistic-electron laser interaction with immobile and comoving ion plasma for ion acceleration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahai, Aakash A.

2014-01-01

We analyze the motion of the plasma critical layer by two different processes in the relativistic-electron laser-plasma interaction regime (a 0 >1). The differences are highlighted when the critical layer ions are stationary in contrast to when they move with it. Controlling the speed of the plasma critical layer in this regime is essential for creating low-β traveling acceleration structures of sufficient laser-excited potential for laser ion accelerators. In Relativistically Induced Transparency Acceleration (RITA) scheme, the heavy plasma-ions are fixed and only trace-density light-ions are accelerated. The relativistic critical layer and the acceleration structure move longitudinally forward by laser inducing transparency through apparent relativistic increase in electron mass. In the Radiation Pressure Acceleration (RPA) scheme, the whole plasma is longitudinally pushed forward under the action of the laser radiation pressure, possible only when plasma ions co-propagate with the laser front. In RPA, the acceleration structure velocity critically depends upon plasma-ion mass in addition to the laser intensity and plasma density. In RITA, mass of the heavy immobile plasma-ions does not affect the speed of the critical layer. Inertia of the bared immobile ions in RITA excites the charge separation potential, whereas RPA is not possible when ions are stationary

Raman and electronic transport characterization of few- and single-layer-thick α-RuCl3

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Boyi; Henriksen, Erik

The layered magnetic semiconductor α-RuCl3, having a honeycomb lattice of spin-1/2 moments, has been identified as a potential candidate material to realize the Kitaev quantum spin liquid. In particular, bulk RuCl3 crystals have been studied and found to be on the cusp of manifesting QSL behavior. As the QSL is primarily a two-dimensional phenomenon, and since the layers of RuCl3 are weakly coupled, we propose to create and study a 2D spin-1/2 honeycomb system by isolating single sheets. Here we report the exfoliation of RuCl3 down to few- and single-layer-thick samples, which we characterize by Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy at room temperature. We will also report our progress on measurements of basic electronic transport properties in the 2D RuCl3 system by controlling the chemical potential via gating in a field-effect configuration.

Improved organic light-emitting device with tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium inserted between hole-injection layer and hole-transporting layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Divayana, Y [School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore (Singapore); Sun, X W [School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore (Singapore); Chen, B J [School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore (Singapore); Sarma, K R [Aerospace Electronic Systems, Honeywell, 21111 N 19th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85027 (United States)

2007-01-07

A layer of tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium (Alq{sub 3}), which is normally used as an electron-transporting and emissive layer, was incorporated between the hole-transporting layer and the hole-injection layer to balance the electron-hole injection. The Alq{sub 3} layer performed to block the hole current which is a majority carrier in a typical organic light-emitting device. An increase in current efficiency by almost 30%, from 3.1 to 4.0 cd A{sup -1}, with a minimum voltage shift was achieved with a 2 nm Alq{sub 3} layer as a hole-blocking layer. A reduction in HTL thickness was observed to reduce the efficiency due to electron leakage to the HIL, whereby an inefficient exciplex emission was observed.

Operation voltage behavior of organic light emitting diodes with polymeric buffer layers doped by weak electron acceptor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeon, Hyeon Soo; Cho, Sang Hee [Department of Information Display and Advanced Display Research Center, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701 (Korea, Republic of); Seo, Jaewon; Park, Yongsup [Department of Physics, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701 (Korea, Republic of); Suh, Min Chul, E-mail: mcsuh@khu.ac.kr [Department of Information Display and Advanced Display Research Center, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701 (Korea, Republic of)

2013-11-01

We present polymeric buffer materials based on poly[2,7-(9,9-dioctyl-fluorene)-co-(1,4-phenylene -((4-sec-butylphenyl)imino)-1,4-phenylene)] (TFB) for highly efficient solution processed organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Doped TFB with 9,10-dicyanoanthracene, a weak electron acceptor results in significant improvement of current flow and driving voltage. Maximum current- and power-efficiency value of 12.6 cd/A and 18.1 lm/W are demonstrated from phosphorescent red OLEDs with this doped polymeric anode buffer system. - Highlights: • Polymeric buffer materials for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). • Method to control hole conductivity of polymeric buffer layer in OLED device. • Enhanced current density of buffer layers upon 9,10-dicyanoanthracene (DCA) doping. • Comparison of OLED devices having polymeric buffer layer with or without DCA. • Effect on operating voltage by doping DCA in the buffer layer.

Van der Waals stacks of few-layer h-AlN with graphene: an ab initio study of structural, interaction and electronic properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dos Santos, Renato B; Mota, F de Brito; Rivelino, R; Kakanakova-Georgieva, A; Gueorguiev, G K

2016-01-01

Graphite-like hexagonal AlN (h-AlN) multilayers have been experimentally manifested and theoretically modeled. The development of any functional electronics applications of h-AlN would most certainly require its integration with other layered materials, particularly graphene. Here, by employing vdW-corrected density functional theory calculations, we investigate structure, interaction energy, and electronic properties of van der Waals stacking sequences of few-layer h-AlN with graphene. We find that the presence of a template such as graphene induces enough interlayer charge separation in h-AlN, favoring a graphite-like stacking formation. We also find that the interface dipole, calculated per unit cell of the stacks, tends to increase with the number of stacked layers of h-AlN and graphene. (paper)

InGaN stress compensation layers in InGaN/GaN blue LEDs with step graded electron injectors

Science.gov (United States)

Sheremet, V.; Gheshlaghi, N.; Sözen, M.; Elçi, M.; Sheremet, N.; Aydınlı, A.; Altuntaş, I.; Ding, K.; Avrutin, V.; Özgür, Ü.; Morkoç, H.

2018-04-01

We investigate the effect of InGaN stress compensation layer on the properties of light emitting diodes based on InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures with step-graded electron injectors. Insertion of an InGaN stress compensation layer between n-GaN and the step graded electron injector provides, among others, strain reduction in the MQW region and as a result improves epitaxial quality that can be observed by 15-fold decrease of V-pit density. We observed more uniform distribution of In between quantum wells in MQW region from results of electro- and photoluminescence measurement. These structural improvements lead to increasing of radiant intensity by a factor of 1.7-2.0 and enhancement of LED efficiency by 40%.

Layered tin dioxide microrods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duan Junhong; Huang Hongbo; Gong Jiangfeng; Zhao Xiaoning; Cheng Guangxu; Yang Shaoguang

2007-01-01

Single-crystalline layered SnO 2 microrods were synthesized by a simple tin-water reaction at 900 deg. C. The structural and optical properties of the sample were characterized by x-ray powder diffraction, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. High resolution transmission electron microscopy studies and selected area electron diffraction patterns revealed that the layered SnO 2 microrods are single crystalline and their growth direction is along [1 1 0]. The growth mechanism of the microrods was proposed based on SEM, TEM characterization and thermodynamic analysis. It is deduced that the layered microrods grow by the stacking of SnO 2 sheets with a (1 1 0) surface in a vapour-liquid-solid process. Three emission peaks at 523, 569 and 626 nm were detected in room-temperature PL measurements

Large improvement of electron extraction from CdSe quantum dots into a TiO2 thin layer by N3 dye coabsorption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mora-Sero, Ivan; Dittrich, Thomas; Susha, Andrei S.; Rogach, Andrey L.; Bisquert, Juan

2008-01-01

Extraction of electrons and holes photogenerated in CdSe quantum dots (QD) of 2.3 nm diameter, is monitored by Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy. The extraction of electrons into a thin TiO 2 layer increases five-fold by absorption of N3 dye molecules on top of the QD layer. This process is facilitated by efficient hole extraction from the valence band of the QDs to the ground state of the N3 dye. Our results represent a direct measurement of charge separation in the N3/QD/TiO 2 system

Atomic-layer deposited Nb2O5 as transparent passivating electron contact for c-Si solar cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Macco, Bart; Black, Lachlan E.; Melskens, Jimmy; van de Loo, Bas W.H.; Berghuis, Willem Jan H.; Verheijen, Marcel A.; Kessels, Wilhelmus M.M.

2018-01-01

Passivating contacts based on metal oxides have proven to enable high energy conversion efficiencies for crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells at low processing complexity. In this work, the potential of atomic-layer deposited (ALD) Nb2O5 as novel electron-selective passivating contact is explored

Evaluation of chemical and/or mechanical treatments of the smear layer as revealed by scanning electron microscopy - a blind comparative study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LUZ Maria Aparecida Alves de Cerqueira

2000-01-01

Full Text Available A blind comparative study of chemical and/or mechanical treatments of the smear layer, according to scanning electron microscopy images, was carried out. The effect of the treatments was analyzed on the smear layer of mesio-occlusodistal cavity walls prepared in vitro in human third molars. The agents used were air/water spray, 37% phosphoric acid, 5% tannic acid, biologic detergent, 0.5% sodium hypochlorite, and enamel hatchet alone or in association with the previous agents. Electron micrographs were evaluated by three professionals according to the degree of visualization of underlying dentin or enamel. Phosphoric acid received the highest scores due to the complete removal of the smear layer. However, statistical analyses revealed diverse performances of non or slightly demineralizing agents, according to the cavity walls in dentin, while there was equivalent effect on the enamel of gingival walls.

Towards molecular doping effect on the electronic properties of two-dimensional layered materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arramel; Wang, Q.; Zheng, Y.; Zhang, W.; Wee, A. T. S.

2016-01-01

In recent advancements of an atomically-thick, flat, and flexible two-dimensional (2D) material has attracted tremendous interest. Graphene and 2D layered semiconductors such as transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) pave the way on the exploration of their unique layer-number dependent electronic and optical properties. The latter have a promising future on the microelectronics due to their sizeable bandgaps, i.e., the crossover from indirect-direct bandgap transition occurs as the thickness of TMDs is decreased to a monolayer. In this work, we systematically investigated the optimum growth parameter of chemical vapor deposition of MoS2 and WSe2, respectively. It turns out that the temperature and the duration growth plays role to produce a large area of TMDs monolayers. Our studies suggest that a well-controlled high quality of TMDs could serves as template and interlayer in the TMD-organic heterointerfaces. Thus it is potentially an attractive approach towards a wide-ranging application in optoelectronics, nanoelectronics and energy-harvesting applications. (paper)

Vibrational excitations in molecular layers probed by ballistic electron microscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kajen, Rasanayagam Sivasayan; Chandrasekhar, Natarajan [Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, 117602 (Singapore); Feng Xinliang; Muellen, Klaus [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Polymerforschung, Postfach 3148, D-55021 Mainz (Germany); Su Haibin, E-mail: n-chandra@imre.a-star.edu.sg, E-mail: muellen@mpip-mainz.mpg.de, E-mail: hbsu@ntu.edu.sg [Division of Materials Science, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 (Singapore)

2011-10-28

We demonstrate the information on molecular vibrational modes via the second derivative (d{sup 2}I{sub B}/dV{sup 2}) of the ballistic electron emission spectroscopy (BEES) current. The proposed method does not create huge fields as in the case of conventional derivative spectroscopy and maintains a zero bias across the device. BEES studies carried out on three different types of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecular layers show that the d{sup 2}I{sub B}/dV{sup 2} spectra consist of uniformly spaced peaks corresponding to vibronic excitations. The peak spacing is found to be identical for molecules within the same PAH family though the BEES onset voltage varies for different molecules. In addition, injection into a particular orbital appears to correspond to a specific vibrational mode as the manifestation of the symmetry principle.

High-resolution electron microscopy study of Ni81Fe19 film with Co33Cr67 buffer layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Q.Y.; Wang, Z.M.; Shen, F.; Du, Y.W.; Zhang, Z.

2003-01-01

The anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in permalloy Ni 81 Fe 19 film deposited on a 1.2 nm Co 33 Cr 67 buffer layer was significantly enhanced. The high-resolution electron microscopy was used to study the microstructure of Ni 81 Fe 19 film with and without Co 33 Cr 67 buffer layer. It was found that Co 33 Cr 67 buffer layer can induce good (1 1 1) texture, while without Co 33 Cr 67 buffer layer, Ni 81 Fe 19 film show randomly oriented grain structure. The Δρ/ρ enhancement is attributed to the decrease in the resistivity ρ of the Ni 81 Fe 19 film due to the formation of the large (1 1 1) textured grains in Ni 81 Fe 19 film with Co 33 Cr 67 buffer layer. However, the surface roughness of substrate may limit the (1 1 1) textured grain size and induce additional grain boundaries in Ni 81 Fe 19 film with Co 33 Cr 67 buffer layer, limit the enhancement of the AMR effect

Inverted organic solar cells with solvothermal synthesized vanadium-doped TiO2 thin films as efficient electron transport layer

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Mehdi Ahmadi; Sajjad Rashidi Dafeh; Samaneh Ghazanfarpour; Mohammad Khanzadeh

2017-01-01

We investigated the effects of using different thicknesses of pure and vanadium-doped thin films of TiO2 as the electron transport layer in the inverted configuration of organic photovoltaic cells based on poly (3-hexylthiophene) P3HT:[6-6] phenyl-(6) butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM).1％ vanadium-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized via the solvothermal method.Crystalline structure,morphology,and optical properties of pure and vanadium-doped TiO2 thin films were studied by different techniques such as x-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy,transmittance electron microscopy,and UV-visible transmission spectrum.The doctor blade method which is compatible with roll-2-roll printing was used for deposition of pure and vanadium-doped TiO2 thin films with thicknesses of 30 nm and 60 nm.The final results revealed that the best thickness of TiO2 thin films for our fabricated cells was 30 nm.The cell with vanadium-doped TiO2 thin film showed slightly higher power conversion efficiency and great Jsc of 10.7 mA/cm2 compared with its pure counterpart.In the cells using 60 nm pure and vanadium-doped TiO2 layers,the cell using the doped layer showed much higher efficiency.It is remarkable that the extemal quantum efficiency of vanadium-doped TiO2 thin film was better in all wavelengths.

Correlation of electronic and magnetic properties of thin polymer layers with cobalt nanoparticles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kharchenko, A.; Lukashevich, M.; Popok, Vladimir

2013-01-01

Nanoparticles (NPs) of cobalt are synthesized in shallow layers of polyimide using 40 keV implantation of Co+ ions with a few different fluences at various ion current densities. Nucleation of individual NPs at low fluencies and their percolation at high fluencies are crucial processes governing...... of the magnetoresistance on the applied magnetic field allows to suggest spin-dependent domain wall scattering affecting the electron transport. The samples implanted with low fluencies demonstrate superparamagnetic behavior down to very low blocking temperatures. While for high fluence (1.25x1017 cm-2) the transition...

Comparison of the layer structure of vapor phase and leached SRL glass by use of AEM [analytical electron microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biwer, B.M.; Bates, J.K.; Abrajano, T.A. Jr.; Bradley, J.P.

1989-01-01

Test samples of 131 type glass that have been reacted for extended time periods in water vapor atmospheres of different relative humidities and in static leaching solution have been examined to characterize the reaction products. Analytical electron microscopy (AEM) was used to characterize the leached samples, and a complicated layer structure was revealed, consisting of phases that precipitate from solution and also form within the residual glass layer. The precipitated phases include birnes-site, saponite, and an iron species, while the intralayer phases include the U-Ti containing phase brannerite distributed within a matrix consisting of bands of an Fe rich montmorillonite clay. Comparison is made between samples leached at 40 degrees C for 4 years with those leached at 90 degrees C for 3-1/2 years. The samples reacted in water vapor were examined with scanning electron microscopy and show increasing reaction as both the relative humidity and time of reaction increases. These samples also contain a layered structure with reaction products on the glass surface. 15 refs., 5 figs

Optimization of an Electron Transport Layer to Enhance the Power Conversion Efficiency of Flexible Inverted Organic Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Kang Hyuck

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The photovoltaic (PV performance of flexible inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs with an active layer consisting of a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene and [6, 6]-phenyl C61-butlyric acid methyl ester was investigated by varying the thicknesses of ZnO seed layers and introducing ZnO nanorods (NRs. A ZnO seed layer or ZnO NRs grown on the seed layer were used as an electron transport layer and pathway to optimize PV performance. ZnO seed layers were deposited using spin coating at 3,000 rpm for 30 s onto indium tin oxide (ITO-coated polyethersulphone (PES substrates. The ZnO NRs were grown using an aqueous solution method at a low temperature (90°C. The optimized device with ZnO NRs exhibited a threefold increase in PV performance compared with that of a device consisting of a ZnO seed layer without ZnO NRs. Flexible IOSCs fabricated using ZnO NRs with improved PV performance may pave the way for the development of PV devices with larger interface areas for effective exciton dissociation and continuous carrier transport paths.

Amorphous Tin Oxide as a Low-Temperature-Processed Electron-Transport Layer for Organic and Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Barbe, Jeremy; Tietze, Max Lutz; Neophytou, Marios; Banavoth, Murali; Alarousu, Erkki; El Labban, Abdulrahman; Abulikemu, Mutalifu; Yue, Wan; Mohammed, Omar F.; McCulloch, Iain; Amassian, Aram; Del Gobbo, Silvano

2017-01-01

Chemical bath deposition (CBD) of tin oxide (SnO) thin films as an electron-transport layer (ETL) in a planar-heterojunction n-i-p organohalide lead perovskite and organic bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells is reported. The amorphous SnO (a

Phase-coherent electron transport in (Zn, Al)O{sub x} thin films grown by atomic layer deposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saha, D., E-mail: sahaphys@gmail.com, E-mail: pmisra@rrcat.gov.in; Misra, P., E-mail: sahaphys@gmail.com, E-mail: pmisra@rrcat.gov.in; Ajimsha, R. S.; Joshi, M. P.; Kukreja, L. M. [Laser Materials Processing Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013 (India)

2014-11-24

A clear signature of disorder induced quantum-interference phenomena leading to phase-coherent electron transport was observed in (Zn, Al)O{sub x} thin films grown by atomic layer deposition. The degree of static-disorder was tuned by varying the Al concentration through periodic incorporation of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} sub-monolayer in ZnO. All the films showed small negative magnetoresistance due to magnetic field suppressed weak-localization effect. The temperature dependence of phase-coherence length (l{sub φ}∝T{sup −3/4}), as extracted from the magnetoresistance measurements, indicated electron-electron scattering as the dominant dephasing mechanism. The persistence of quantum-interference at relatively higher temperatures up to 200 K is promising for the realization of ZnO based phase-coherent electron transport devices.

Electronic Libraries and the Future:Implications for Academic Libraries with East Asian Collections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhijia Shen、Susan Anthes

2000-04-01

Full Text Available

頁次：4-17

Academic libraries are stepping into uncharted territories with the advent of electronic books (ebooks and electronic libraries. This article provides an overview of the current status of both electronic books and libraries, including a description of a beta test of a new service netLibrary(tm at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Possible implications of new technology for various aspects of academic librarianship in the areas of acquisition, collection development, preservation, reference, circulation, interlibrary loan, and cataloging are discussed. Particular reference is given to East Asian collections. Benefits as well as liabilities are discussed. The authors raise issues regarding the potential of the new technology, and speculate on possible trends and areas for future research for academic librarians.

Charge-collection efficiency of GaAs field effect transistors fabricated with a low temperature grown buffer layer: dependence on charge deposition profile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McMorrow, D.; Knudson, A.R.; Melinger, J.S.; Buchner, S.

1999-01-01

The results presented here reveal a surprising dependence of the charge-collection efficiency of LT GaAs FETs (field effect transistors) on the depth profile of the deposited charge. Investigation of the temporal dependence of the signal amplitude, carrier density contours, and potential contours reveals different mechanisms for charge collection arising from carriers deposited above and below the LT GaAs buffer layer, respectively. In particular, carriers deposited below the LT GaAs buffer layer dissipate slowly and give rise to a persistent charge collection that is associated with a bipolar-like gain process. These results may be of significance in understanding the occurrence of single-event upsets from protons, neutrons, and large-angle, glancing heavy-ion strikes. (authors)

Electronic structure investigation of atomic layer deposition ruthenium(oxide) thin films using photoemission spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schaefer, Michael, E-mail: mvschaefer@mail.usf.edu, E-mail: schlaf@mail.usf.edu [Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620 (United States); Schlaf, Rudy, E-mail: mvschaefer@mail.usf.edu, E-mail: schlaf@mail.usf.edu [Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620 (United States)

2015-08-14

Analyzing and manipulating the electronic band line-up of interfaces in novel micro- and nanoelectronic devices is important to achieve further advancement in this field. Such band alignment modifications can be achieved by introducing thin conformal interfacial dipole layers. Atomic layer deposition (ALD), enabling angstrom-precise control over thin film thickness, is an ideal technique for this challenge. Ruthenium (Ru{sup 0}) and its oxide (RuO{sub 2}) have gained interest in the past decade as interfacial dipole layers because of their favorable properties like metal-equivalent work functions, conductivity, etc. In this study, initial results of the electronic structure investigation of ALD Ru{sup 0} and RuO{sub 2} films via photoemission spectroscopy are presented. These experiments give insight into the band alignment, growth behavior, surface structure termination, and dipole formation. The experiments were performed in an integrated vacuum system attached to a home-built, stop-flow type ALD reactor without exposing the samples to the ambient in between deposition and analysis. Bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)ruthenium(II) was used as precursor and oxygen as reactant. The analysis chamber was outfitted with X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (LIXPS, XPS). The determined growth modes are consistent with a strong growth inhibition situation with a maximum average growth rate of 0.21 Å/cycle for RuO{sub 2} and 0.04 Å/cycle for Ru.{sup 0} An interface dipole of up to −0.93 eV was observed, supporting the assumption of a strongly physisorbed interface. A separate experiment where the surface of a RuO film was sputtered suggests that the surface is terminated by an intermediate, stable, non-stoichiometric RuO{sub 2}/OH compound whose surface is saturated with hydroxyl groups.

Electronic structure investigation of atomic layer deposition ruthenium(oxide) thin films using photoemission spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaefer, Michael; Schlaf, Rudy

2015-01-01

Analyzing and manipulating the electronic band line-up of interfaces in novel micro- and nanoelectronic devices is important to achieve further advancement in this field. Such band alignment modifications can be achieved by introducing thin conformal interfacial dipole layers. Atomic layer deposition (ALD), enabling angstrom-precise control over thin film thickness, is an ideal technique for this challenge. Ruthenium (Ru 0 ) and its oxide (RuO 2 ) have gained interest in the past decade as interfacial dipole layers because of their favorable properties like metal-equivalent work functions, conductivity, etc. In this study, initial results of the electronic structure investigation of ALD Ru 0 and RuO 2 films via photoemission spectroscopy are presented. These experiments give insight into the band alignment, growth behavior, surface structure termination, and dipole formation. The experiments were performed in an integrated vacuum system attached to a home-built, stop-flow type ALD reactor without exposing the samples to the ambient in between deposition and analysis. Bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)ruthenium(II) was used as precursor and oxygen as reactant. The analysis chamber was outfitted with X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (LIXPS, XPS). The determined growth modes are consistent with a strong growth inhibition situation with a maximum average growth rate of 0.21 Å/cycle for RuO 2 and 0.04 Å/cycle for Ru. 0 An interface dipole of up to −0.93 eV was observed, supporting the assumption of a strongly physisorbed interface. A separate experiment where the surface of a RuO film was sputtered suggests that the surface is terminated by an intermediate, stable, non-stoichiometric RuO 2 /OH compound whose surface is saturated with hydroxyl groups

Quantum Electronic Matter in Two Dimensions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eisenstein, James [California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

2015-01-27

Most often, the electrical properties of a material are described as either "conducting" or "insulating". Copper, everyone knows, is a good conductor. It is the foundation of the electrical infrastructure of the nation. Glass, on the other hand, is an excellent insulator. But do these two words describe all the possibilities? The answer is emphatically no, and the basic subject of the research funded by this grant is aimed at fleshing out a more complete description of the electrical properties of materials. Many people are aware that there are also special materials called superconductors. A superconductor (e.g. aluminum when cooled to very low temperatures) is like a regular conductor except that it conducts electricity with no energy loss at all. Ordinary metals get hot when current flows through them; witness the toaster in your kitchen. In a superconductor something very special is going on: The electrons in the metal don't behave individually as they do in an ordinary conductor. Instead they act collectively. It is this collective aspect that makes superconductors so interesting to physicists. So now we have metals, insulators and superconductors. Is there anything else? We now know the answer is yes. In this research we examine special conducting materials, ones in which the mobile electrons are confined to move on a plane surface (as opposed to motion in all three directions). Examples of such "2D" materials include electrons confined to the interface between two otherwise insulating materials (as in the so-called "semiconductor heterostructures" used here) and the single atomic layer of carbon atoms now known as "graphene". Materials like these are not just museum curiosities; each of the billions of transistors in every smart-phone has a 2D electron system in it. In the work supported by this grant, the focus is on both collective conducting states in semiconductor heterostructures and on the conducting properties of graphene and its few-layer

Accurate identification of layer number for few-layer WS2 and WSe2 via spectroscopic study.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yuanzheng; Li, Xinshu; Yu, Tong; Yang, Guochun; Chen, Heyu; Zhang, Cen; Feng, Qiushi; Ma, Jiangang; Liu, Weizhen; Xu, Haiyang; Liu, Yichun; Liu, Xinfeng

2018-03-23

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with a typical layered structure are highly sensitive to their layer number in optical and electronic properties. Seeking a simple and effective method for layer number identification is very important to low-dimensional TMD samples. Herein, a rapid and accurate layer number identification of few-layer WS 2 and WSe 2 is proposed via locking their photoluminescence (PL) peak-positions. As the layer number of WS 2 /WSe 2 increases, it is found that indirect transition emission is more thickness-sensitive than direct transition emission, and the PL peak-position differences between the indirect and direct transitions can be regarded as fingerprints to identify their layer number. Theoretical calculation confirms that the notable thickness-sensitivity of indirect transition derives from the variations of electron density of states of W atom d-orbitals and chalcogen atom p-orbitals. Besides, the PL peak-position differences between the indirect and direct transitions are almost independent of different insulating substrates. This work not only proposes a new method for layer number identification via PL studies, but also provides a valuable insight into the thickness-dependent optical and electronic properties of W-based TMDs.

Double Relativistic Electron Accelerating Mirror

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saltanat Sadykova

2013-02-01

Full Text Available In the present paper, the possibility of generation of thin dense relativistic electron layers is shown using the analytical and numerical modeling of laser pulse interaction with ultra-thin layers. It was shown that the maximum electron energy can be gained by optimal tuning between the target width, intensity and laser pulse duration. The optimal parameters were obtained from a self-consistent system of Maxwell equations and the equation of motion of electron layer. For thin relativistic electron layers, the gaining of maximum electron energies requires a second additional overdense plasma layer, thus cutting the laser radiation off the plasma screen at the instant of gaining the maximum energy (DREAM-schema.

Layered-metal-hydroxide nanosheet arrays with controlled nanostructures to assist direct electronic communication at biointerfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

An, Zhe; Lu, Shan; Zhao, Liwei; He, Jing

2011-10-18

In this work, ordered vertical arrays of layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets have been developed to achieve electron transfer (eT) at biointerfaces in electrochemical devices. It is found that tailoring the gap size of LDH nanosheet arrays could significantly promote the eT rate. This research has successfully extended nanomaterials for efficient modifications of electrode surfaces from nanoparticles, nanowires, nanorods, and nanotubes to nanosheets. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Efficiency enhancement of tandem organic light-emitting devices by a combined charge generation layer and organic n-type bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene-doped electron transport layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Jin Taek; Kim, Dae Hun; Koh, Eun Im; Kim, Tae Whan

2014-11-03

While the operating voltage of the tandem organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with both an organic p-type 1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatriphenylene hexacarbonitrile charge generation layer and a bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene (BEDT-TTF)-doped 1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimiazole-2-yl)benzene (TPBi) electron transport layer (ETL) was 1.3 V lower than that of the tandem OLEDs with a BEDT-TTF-undoped TPBi ETL. Luminance efficiency of the tandem OLEDs with a BEDT-TTF-doped TPBi ETL was 3.6 cd/A higher than that of the typical OLEDs. The increase in the luminance efficiency and the decrease in the operating voltage of the tandem OLEDs were attributed to improved electron injection due to the insertion of the BEDT-TTF-doped TPBi ETL. - Highlights: • Tandem organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) were fabricated. • OLED fabricated with an n-type bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene. • Operating voltage of the tandem OLED was decreased from 19.8 to 18.5 V. • Luminance efficiency of the tandem OLED was increased from 31.8 to 35.4 cd/A. • Enhancement of the luminance efficiency in the tandem OLED was achieved.

Efficiency enhancement of tandem organic light-emitting devices by a combined charge generation layer and organic n-type bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene-doped electron transport layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Jin Taek; Kim, Dae Hun; Koh, Eun Im; Kim, Tae Whan

2014-01-01

While the operating voltage of the tandem organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with both an organic p-type 1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatriphenylene hexacarbonitrile charge generation layer and a bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene (BEDT-TTF)-doped 1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimiazole-2-yl)benzene (TPBi) electron transport layer (ETL) was 1.3 V lower than that of the tandem OLEDs with a BEDT-TTF-undoped TPBi ETL. Luminance efficiency of the tandem OLEDs with a BEDT-TTF-doped TPBi ETL was 3.6 cd/A higher than that of the typical OLEDs. The increase in the luminance efficiency and the decrease in the operating voltage of the tandem OLEDs were attributed to improved electron injection due to the insertion of the BEDT-TTF-doped TPBi ETL. - Highlights: • Tandem organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) were fabricated. • OLED fabricated with an n-type bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene. • Operating voltage of the tandem OLED was decreased from 19.8 to 18.5 V. • Luminance efficiency of the tandem OLED was increased from 31.8 to 35.4 cd/A. • Enhancement of the luminance efficiency in the tandem OLED was achieved

Formation of electrostatic double-layers and electron-holes in a low pressure mercury plasma column

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petraconi, G; Maciel, Homero S

2003-01-01

Experimental studies of the formation of electrostatic double layers (DLs) and electron-holes (e-holes) are reported. The measurements were performed in the positive column of a mercury arc discharge operating in the low-pressure range of (2.0-14.0) x 10 -2 Pa with current density in the range of (3.0-8.0) x 10 3 A m -2 . Stable and unstable modes of the discharge were identified as the current was gradually increased, keeping constant the vapour pressure. The discharge remains stable until a critical current from which a slight increase of the current leads to an unstable regime characterized by high discharge impedance and strong oscillations. This mode ceased after a DL was formed in the plasma column. To induce the DL formation and to transport it smoothly along the discharge column, a low intensity B-field (7-10) x 10 -3 T produced by a movable single coil was used. The B-field locally increases the electron current density and makes the DL form at the centre of the magnetic constriction where it remained at rest. Electrostatic potential structures compatible with ordinary DLs and multiple-layers could be formed in the plasma column by dealing with the combined effects of the operational parameters of the discharge. It is noticeable that a pure e-hole, which is a symmetric triple-layer having a bell shape potential profile, could easily be formed by means of this experimental technique. A partial kinetic description, based on the space charge structure derived from an experimental e-hole, is presented in order to infer the charged particle populations that could contribute to the space charge of the e-hole. Evidence is shown that strong e-hole formation might be driven by an ion beam, therefore it could not be formed in isolation since its formation requires a nearby ion accelerating potential structure. Probe measurements of the plasma properties, at various radial positions of the stable positive column, are also presented. In the stable mode, prior to

Low noise electronics for experiments at LHC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manfredi, P.F.

1984-01-01

The need of reducing the collection times of solid state detectors will lead to thin layers, 150 to 200 μm thickness. Consequently, the charge made available by minimum ionizing particles will be rather small, between 1.2 x 10 4 and 1.6 x 10 4 electrons for unity muliplicity. Front-end electronics with adequately low noise must be designed to detect such small amounts of charge and the problem looks to be harder if the short times available to process the signals are accounted for. (orig.)

Experiments on ion acoustic typed double layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, C.; Cho, M.H.; Intrator, T.; Hershkowitz, N.

1984-01-01

The formation of small amplitude double layers with potential drops the order of the electron temperature, was examined experimentally by pulsing a grid and thereby changing the electron drift across the target chamber of a triple plasma device. The rarefactive part of a long wavelength, low frequency ion wave grew in amplitude due to the presence of slowly drifting electrons. The corresponding current limitation led to the formation of the double layers. Depending on the plasma conditions, the asymmetric double layers either transform into a weak monotonic layer, a propagating shock, or a series of rarefactive solitary pulses. The rarefactive pulses propagate with Mach number less than one and resemble solitary plasma holes with density cavities in both the electron and the ion density profiles

Layer-by-Layer Self-Assembled Ferrite Multilayer Nanofilms for Microwave Absorption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiwoong Heo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate a simple method for fabricating multilayer thin films containing ferrite (Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles, using layer-by-layer (LbL self-assembly. These films have microwave absorbing properties for possible radar absorbing and stealth applications. To demonstrate incorporation of inorganic ferrite nanoparticles into an electrostatic-interaction-based LbL self-assembly, we fabricated two types of films: (1 a blended three-component LbL film consisting of a sequential poly(acrylic acid/oleic acid-ferrite blend layer and a poly(allylamine hydrochloride layer and (2 a tetralayer LbL film consisting of sequential poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride, poly(sodium-4-sulfonate, bPEI-ferrite, and poly(sodium-4-sulfonate layers. We compared surface morphologies, thicknesses, and packing density of the two types of ferrite multilayer film. Ferrite nanoparticles (Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 were prepared via a coprecipitation method from an aqueous precursor solution. The structure and composition of the ferrite nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction patterns of ferrite nanoparticles indicated a cubic spinel structure, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed their composition. Thickness growth and surface morphology were measured using a profilometer, atomic force microscope, and scanning electron microscope.

Amorphous oxide alloys as interfacial layers with broadly tunable electronic structures for organic photovoltaic cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Nanjia; Kim, Myung-Gil; Loser, Stephen; Smith, Jeremy; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Guo, Xugang; Song, Charles; Jin, Hosub; Chen, Zhihua; Yoon, Seok Min; Freeman, Arthur J; Chang, Robert P H; Facchetti, Antonio; Marks, Tobin J

2015-06-30

In diverse classes of organic optoelectronic devices, controlling charge injection, extraction, and blocking across organic semiconductor-inorganic electrode interfaces is crucial for enhancing quantum efficiency and output voltage. To this end, the strategy of inserting engineered interfacial layers (IFLs) between electrical contacts and organic semiconductors has significantly advanced organic light-emitting diode and organic thin film transistor performance. For organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, an electronically flexible IFL design strategy to incrementally tune energy level matching between the inorganic electrode system and the organic photoactive components without varying the surface chemistry would permit OPV cells to adapt to ever-changing generations of photoactive materials. Here we report the implementation of chemically/environmentally robust, low-temperature solution-processed amorphous transparent semiconducting oxide alloys, In-Ga-O and Ga-Zn-Sn-O, as IFLs for inverted OPVs. Continuous variation of the IFL compositions tunes the conduction band minima over a broad range, affording optimized OPV power conversion efficiencies for multiple classes of organic active layer materials and establishing clear correlations between IFL/photoactive layer energetics and device performance.

Diurnal patterns of salivary cortisol and DHEA using a novel collection device: electronic monitoring confirms accurate recording of collection time using this device.

Science.gov (United States)

Laudenslager, Mark L; Calderone, Jacqueline; Philips, Sam; Natvig, Crystal; Carlson, Nichole E

2013-09-01

The accurate indication of saliva collection time is important for defining the diurnal decline in salivary cortisol as well as characterizing the cortisol awakening response. We tested a convenient and novel collection device for collecting saliva on strips of filter paper in a specially constructed booklet for determination of both cortisol and DHEA. In the present study, 31 healthy adults (mean age 43.5 years) collected saliva samples four times a day on three consecutive days using filter paper collection devices (Saliva Procurement and Integrated Testing (SPIT) booklet) which were maintained during the collection period in a large plastic bottle with an electronic monitoring cap. Subjects were asked to collect saliva samples at awakening, 30 min after awakening, before lunch and 600 min after awakening. The time of awakening and the time of collection before lunch were allowed to vary by each subjects' schedule. A reliable relationship was observed between the time recorded by the subject directly on the booklet and the time recorded by electronic collection device (n=286 observations; r(2)=0.98). However, subjects did not consistently collect the saliva samples at the two specific times requested, 30 and 600 min after awakening. Both cortisol and DHEA revealed diurnal declines. In spite of variance in collection times at 30 min and 600 min after awakening, the slope of the diurnal decline in both salivary cortisol and DHEA was similar when we compared collection tolerances of ±7.5 and ±15 min for each steroid. These unique collection booklets proved to be a reliable method for recording collection times by subjects as well as for estimating diurnal salivary cortisol and DHEA patterns. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

COLLISIONLESS ELECTRON–ION SHOCKS IN RELATIVISTIC UNMAGNETIZED JET–AMBIENT INTERACTIONS: NON-THERMAL ELECTRON INJECTION BY DOUBLE LAYER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ardaneh, Kazem; Cai, Dongsheng; Nishikawa, Ken-Ichi

2016-01-01

The course of non-thermal electron ejection in relativistic unmagnetized electron–ion shocks is investigated by performing self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations. The shocks are excited through the injection of a relativistic jet into ambient plasma, leading to two distinct shocks (referred to as the trailing shock and leading shock) and a contact discontinuity. The Weibel-like instabilities heat the electrons up to approximately half of the ion kinetic energy. The double layers formed in the trailing and leading edges then accelerate the electrons up to the ion kinetic energy. The electron distribution function in the leading edge shows a clear, non-thermal power-law tail which contains ∼1% of electrons and ∼8% of the electron energy. Its power-law index is −2.6. The acceleration efficiency is ∼23% by number and ∼50% by energy, and the power-law index is −1.8 for the electron distribution function in the trailing edge. The effect of the dimensionality is examined by comparing the results of three-dimensional simulations with those of two-dimensional simulations. The comparison demonstrates that electron acceleration is more efficient in two dimensions.

Fabrication Processes to Generate Concentration Gradients in Polymer Solar Cell Active Layers

Science.gov (United States)

Inaba, Shusei; Vohra, Varun

2017-01-01

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are considered as one of the most promising low-cost alternatives for renewable energy production with devices now reaching power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) above the milestone value of 10%. These enhanced performances were achieved by developing new electron-donor (ED) and electron-acceptor (EA) materials as well as finding the adequate morphologies in either bulk heterojunction or sequentially deposited active layers. In particular, producing adequate vertical concentration gradients with higher concentrations of ED and EA close to the anode and cathode, respectively, results in an improved charge collection and consequently higher photovoltaic parameters such as the fill factor. In this review, we relate processes to generate active layers with ED–EA vertical concentration gradients. After summarizing the formation of such concentration gradients in single layer active layers through processes such as annealing or additives, we will verify that sequential deposition of multilayered active layers can be an efficient approach to remarkably increase the fill factor and PCE of PSCs. In fact, applying this challenging approach to fabricate inverted architecture PSCs has the potential to generate low-cost, high efficiency and stable devices, which may revolutionize worldwide energy demand and/or help develop next generation devices such as semi-transparent photovoltaic windows. PMID:28772878

Electron Emission from Ultra-Large Area MOS Electron Emitters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Lasse Bjørchmar; Nielsen, Gunver; Vendelbo, Søren Bastholm

2009-01-01

Ultralarge metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices with an active oxide area of 1 cm2 have been fabricated for use as electron emitters. The MOS structures consist of a Si substrate, a SiO2 tunnel barrier (~5 nm), a Ti wetting layer (3–10 Å), and a Au top layer (5–60 nm). Electron emission from...... layer is varied from 3 to 10 Å which changes the emission efficiency by more than one order of magnitude. The apparent mean free path of ~5 eV electrons in Au is found to be 52 Å. Deposition of Cs on the Au film increased the electron emission efficiency to 4.3% at 4 V by lowering the work function....... Electron emission under high pressures (up to 2 bars) of Ar was observed. ©2009 American Vacuum Society...

Resource conservation approached with an appropriate collection and upgrade-remanufacturing for used electronic products.

Science.gov (United States)

Zlamparet, Gabriel I; Tan, Quanyin; Stevels, A B; Li, Jinhui

2018-03-01

This comparative research represents an example for a better conservation of resources by reducing the amount of waste (kg) and providing it more value under the umbrella of remanufacturing. The three discussed cases will expose three issues already addressed separately in the literature. The generation of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) interacts with the environmental depletion. In this article, we gave the examples of addressed issues under the concept of remanufacturing. Online collection opportunity eliminating classical collection, a business to business (B2B) implementation for remanufactured servers and medical devices. The material reuse (recycling), component sustainability, reuse (part harvesting), product reuse (after repair/remanufacturing) indicates the recovery potential using remanufacturing tool for a better conservation of resources adding more value to the products. Our findings can provide an overview of new system organization for the general collection, market potential and the technological advantages using remanufacturing instead of recycling of WEEE or used electrical and electronic equipment. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Monitoring layer-by-layer assembly of polyelectrolyte multi-layers using high-order cladding mode in long-period fiber gratings

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Tian, F.; Kaňka, Jiří; Li, X.; Du, H.

-, č. 196 (2014), s. 475-479 ISSN 0925-4005 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LH11038 Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : Layer-by-layer assembly * Polyelectrolyte * Cladding mode Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering Impact factor: 4.097, year: 2014

Atomic layer deposition of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} for single electron transistors utilizing Pt oxidation and reduction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McConnell, Michael S., E-mail: mmcconn5@nd.edu; Schneider, Louisa C.; Karbasian, Golnaz; Rouvimov, Sergei; Orlov, Alexei O.; Snider, Gregory L. [Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 275 Fitzpatrick Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 (United States)

2016-01-15

This work describes the fabrication of single electron transistors using electron beam lithography and atomic layer deposition to form nanoscale tunnel transparent junctions of alumina (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) on platinum nanowires using either water or ozone as the oxygen precursor and trimethylaluminum as the aluminum precursor. Using room temperature, low frequency conductance measurements between the source and drain, it was found that devices fabricated using water had higher conductance than devices fabricated with ozone. Subsequent annealing caused both water- and ozone-based devices to increase in conductance by more than 2 orders of magnitude. Furthermore, comparison of devices at low temperatures (∼4 K) showed that annealed devices displayed much closer to the ideal behavior (i.e., constant differential conductance) outside of the Coulomb blockade region and that untreated devices showed nonlinear behavior outside of the Coulomb blockade region (i.e., an increase in differential conductance with source-drain voltage bias). Transmission electron microscopy cross-sectional images showed that annealing did not significantly change device geometry, but energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy showed an unusually large amount of oxygen in the bottom platinum layer. This suggests that the atomic layer deposition process results in the formation of a thin platinum surface oxide, which either decomposes or is reduced during the anneal step, resulting in a tunnel barrier without the in-series native oxide contribution. Furthermore, the difference between ozone- and water-based devices suggests that ozone promotes atomic layer deposition nucleation by oxidizing the surface but that water relies on physisorption of the precursors. To test this theory, devices were exposed to forming gas at room temperature, which also reduces platinum oxide, and a decrease in resistance was observed, as expected.

Atomic-scale observation of structural and electronic orders in the layered compound ?-RuCl3

OpenAIRE

Ziatdinov, M.; Banerjee, A.; Maksov, A.; Berlijn, T.; Zhou, W.; Cao, H. B.; Yan, J.-Q.; Bridges, C. A.; Mandrus, D. G.; Nagler, S. E.; Baddorf, A. P.; Kalinin, S. V.

2016-01-01

A pseudospin-1/2 Mott phase on a honeycomb lattice is proposed to host the celebrated two-dimensional Kitaev model which has an elusive quantum spin liquid ground state, and fascinating physics relevant to the development of future templates towards topological quantum bits. Here we report a comprehensive, atomically resolved real-space study by scanning transmission electron and scanning tunnelling microscopies on a novel layered material displaying Kitaev physics, ?-RuCl3. Our local crystal...

Post-ion beam induced degradation of copper layers in transmission electron microscopy specimens

Science.gov (United States)

Seidel, F.; Richard, O.; Bender, H.; Vandervorst, W.

2015-11-01

Copper containing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens frequently show corrosion after focused ion beam (FIB) preparation. This paper reveals that the corrosion product is a Cu-S phase growing over the specimen surface. The layer is identified by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and lattice spacing indexing of power spectra patterns. The corrosion process is further studied by TEM on cone-shaped specimens, which are intentionally stored after FIB preparation with S flakes for short time. Furthermore, a protective method against corrosion is developed by varying the time in the FIB vacuum and the duration of a subsequent plasma cleaning.

Two-Dimensional Electron Gas at SrTiO3-Based Oxide Heterostructures via Atomic Layer Deposition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sang Woon Lee

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG at an oxide interface has been attracting considerable attention for physics research and nanoelectronic applications. Early studies reported the formation of 2DEG at semiconductor interfaces (e.g., AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with interesting electrical properties such as high electron mobility. Besides 2DEG formation at semiconductor junctions, 2DEG was realized at the interface of an oxide heterostructure such as the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO heterojunction. The origin of 2DEG was attributed to the well-known “polar catastrophe” mechanism in oxide heterostructures, which consist of an epitaxial LAO layer on a single crystalline STO substrate among proposed mechanisms. Recently, it was reported that the creation of 2DEG was achieved using the atomic layer deposition (ALD technique, which opens new functionality of ALD in emerging nanoelectronics. This review is focused on the origin of 2DEG at oxide heterostructures using the ALD process. In particular, it addresses the origin of 2DEG at oxide interfaces based on an alternative mechanism (i.e., oxygen vacancies.

Inductive crystal field control in layered metal oxides with correlated electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balachandran, P. V.; Cammarata, A.; Rondinelli, J. M.; Nelson-Cheeseman, B. B.; Bhattacharya, A.

2014-01-01

We show that the NiO 6 crystal field energies can be tailored indirectly via heterovalent A cation ordering in layered (La,A)NiO 4 Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) oxides, where A = Sr, Ca, or Ba, using density functional calculations. We leverage as a driving force the electrostatic interactions between charged [LaO] 1+ and neutral [AO] 0 planes to inductively tune the Ni–O bond distortions, without intentional doping or epitaxial strain, altering the correlated d-orbital energies. We use this strategy to design cation ordered LaCaNiO 4 and LaBaNiO 4 with distortions favoring enhanced Ni e g orbital polarization, and find local electronic structure signatures analogous to those in RP La-cuprates, i.e., parent phases of the high-temperature superconducting oxides

Electrical response of electron selective atomic layer deposited TiO2‑x heterocontacts on crystalline silicon substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Ahiboz, Doğuşcan; Nasser, Hisham; Aygün, Ezgi; Bek, Alpan; Turan, Raşit

2018-04-01

Integration of oxygen deficient sub-stoichiometric titanium dioxide (TiO2‑x) thin films as the electron transporting-hole blocking layer in solar cell designs are expected to reduce fabrication costs by eliminating high temperature processes while maintaining high conversion efficiencies. In this paper, we conducted a study to reveal the electrical properties of TiO2‑x thin films grown on crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Effect of ALD substrate temperature, post deposition annealing, and doping type of the c-Si substrate on the interface states and TiO2‑x bulk properties were extracted by performing admittance (C-V, G-V) and current-voltage (J-V) measurements. Moreover, the asymmetry in C-V and J-V measurements between the p-n type and n-n TiO2‑x-c-Si heterojunction types were examined and the electron transport selectivity of TiO2‑x was revealed.

The effect of van der Waal's gap expansions on the surface electronic structure of layered topological insulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eremeev, S V; Vergniory, M G; Chulkov, E V; Menshchikova, T V; Shaposhnikov, A A

2012-01-01

On the basis of relativistic ab initio calculations, we show that an expansion of van der Waal's (vdW) spacings in layered topological insulators caused by intercalation of deposited atoms, leads to the simultaneous emergence of parabolic and M-shaped two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) bands as well as Rashba-splitting of the former states. The expansion of vdW spacings and the emergence of the 2DEG states localized in the (sub)surface region are also accompanied by a relocation of the topological surface state to the lower quintuple layers, that can explain the absence of inter-band scattering found experimentally. (paper)

Comparative study of InGaP/GaAs high electron mobility transistors with upper and lower delta-doped supplied layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsai, Jung-Hui; Ye, Sheng-Shiun; Guo, Der-Feng; Lour, Wen-Shiung

2012-01-01

Influence corresponding to the position of δ-doped supplied layer on InGaP/GaAs high electron mobility transistors is comparatively studied by two-dimensional simulation analysis. The simulated results exhibit that the device with lower δ-doped supplied layer shows a higher gate potential barrier height, a higher saturation output current, a larger magnitude of negative threshold voltage, and broader gate voltage swing, as compared to the device with upper δ-doped supplied layer. Nevertheless, it has smaller transconductance and inferior high-frequency characteristics in the device with lower δ-doped supplied layer. Furthermore, a knee effect in current-voltage curves is observed at low drain-to-source voltage in the two devices, which is investigated in this article.

Silica nanoparticles for the layer-by-layer assembly of fully electro-active cytochrome c multilayers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feifel Sven C

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background For bioanalytical systems sensitivity and biomolecule activity are critical issues. The immobilization of proteins into multilayer systems by the layer-by-layer deposition has become one of the favorite methods with this respect. Moreover, the combination of nanoparticles with biomolecules on electrodes is a matter of particular interest since several examples with high activities and direct electron transfer have been found. Our study describes the investigation on silica nanoparticles and the redox protein cytochrome c for the construction of electro-active multilayer architectures, and the electron transfer within such systems. The novelty of this work is the construction of such artificial architectures with a non-conducting building block. Furthermore a detailed study of the size influence of silica nanoparticles is performed with regard to formation and electrochemical behavior of these systems. Results We report on interprotein electron transfer (IET reaction cascades of cytochrome c (cyt c immobilized by the use of modified silica nanoparticles (SiNPs to act as an artificial matrix. The layer-by-layer deposition technique has been used for the formation of silica particles/cytochrome c multilayer assemblies on electrodes. The silica particles are characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR, Zeta-potential and transmission electron microscopy (TEM. The modified particles have been studied with respect to act as an artificial network for cytochrome c and to allow efficient interprotein electron transfer reactions. We demonstrate that it is possible to form electro-active assemblies with these non-conducting particles. The electrochemical response is increasing linearly with the number of layers deposited, reaching a cyt c surface concentration of about 80 pmol/cm2 with a 5 layer architecture. The interprotein electron transfer through the layer system and the

Enhanced Charge Collection with Passivation Layers in Perovskite Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yong Hui; Luo, Jingshan; Son, Min-Kyu; Gao, Peng; Cho, Kyung Taek; Seo, Jiyoun; Zakeeruddin, Shaik M; Grätzel, Michael; Nazeeruddin, Mohammad Khaja

2016-05-01

The Al2 O3 passivation layer is beneficial for mesoporous TiO2 -based perovskite solar cells when it is deposited selectively on the compact TiO2 surface. Such a passivation layer suppressing surface recombination can be formed by thermal decomposition of the perovskite layer during post-annealing. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Secondary mineralization in carious lesions of human dentin. Electron-probe, electron microscope, and electron diffraction studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ogiwara, H [Tokyo Dental Coll. (Japan)

1975-02-01

Dentinal carious lesions having a remineralized surface layer were studied by means electron-probe microanalysis, electron microscopy, electron diffraction. As the results of electron-probe study, F, Mg, and Na were found to be distributed mainly in the remineralized surface layer and S in the decalcified region where decreases in Ca, P, and Mg concentration were usually observed. The decrease in Mg concentration always started earlier than that of Ca and P concentration. Electron microscope and electron diffraction studies revealed that apatic crystals in the remineralized surface layer were much larger than those in the intact dentin. Although they were less conspicuous, crystals in the decalcified region also were larger than those in the intact region. Dentinal tubules, occluded by many crystals, were frequently seen during the observations. Crystals in the tubules varied in morphology, showing granular, needle, rhomboid, and tabular shapes. By means of electron diffraction, the granular- or needle-shaped crystals were identified as apatite and the rhomboid-shaped crystals as whitlockite. Some of the tabular-shaped crystals appeared to be cotacalcium phosphate.

Effect of an Interfacial Layer on Electron Tunneling through Atomically Thin Al2O3 Tunnel Barriers.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilt, Jamie; Sakidja, Ridwan; Goul, Ryan; Wu, Judy Z

2017-10-25

Electron tunneling through high-quality, atomically thin dielectric films can provide a critical enabling technology for future microelectronics, bringing enhanced quantum coherent transport, fast speed, small size, and high energy efficiency. A fundamental challenge is in controlling the interface between the dielectric and device electrodes. An interfacial layer (IL) will contain defects and introduce defects in the dielectric film grown atop, preventing electron tunneling through the formation of shorts. In this work, we present the first systematic investigation of the IL in Al 2 O 3 dielectric films of 1-6 Å's in thickness on an Al electrode. We integrated several advanced approaches: molecular dynamics to simulate IL formation, in situ high vacuum sputtering atomic layer deposition (ALD) to synthesize Al 2 O 3 on Al films, and in situ ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling spectroscopy to probe the electron tunneling through the Al 2 O 3 . The IL had a profound effect on electron tunneling. We observed a reduced tunnel barrier height and soft-type dielectric breakdown which indicate that defects are present in both the IL and in the Al 2 O 3 . The IL forms primarily due to exposure of the Al to trace O 2 and/or H 2 O during the pre-ALD heating step of fabrication. As the IL was systematically reduced, by controlling the pre-ALD sample heating, we observed an increase of the ALD Al 2 O 3 barrier height from 0.9 to 1.5 eV along with a transition from soft to hard dielectric breakdown. This work represents a key step toward the realization of high-quality, atomically thin dielectrics with electron tunneling for the next generation of microelectronics.

Diamagnetic boundary layers: a kinetic theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemaire, J.; Burlaga, L.F.

1976-01-01

A kinetic theory for boundary layers associated with MHD tangential 'discontinuities' in a collisionless magnetized plasma such as those observed in the solar wind is presented. The theory consists of finding self-consistent solutions of Vlasov's equation and Maxwell's equation for stationary, one-dimensional boundary layers separating two Maxwellian plasma states. Layers in which the current is carried by electrons are found to have a thickness of the order of a few electron gyroradii, but the drift speed of the current-carrying electrons is found to exceed the Alfven speed, and accordingly such layers are not stable. Several types of layers, in which the current is carried by protons are discussed; in particular, cases in which the magnetic field intensity and/or direction changed across the layer were considered. In every case, the thickness was of the order of a few proton gyroradii and the field changed smoothly , although the characteristics depended somewhat on the boundary conditions. The drift speed was always less than the Alfven speed, consistent with stability of such structures. The results are consistent with the observations of boundary layers in the solar wind near 1 AU. (Auth.)

Measuring the Capacity and Transaction Time of Cash and Electronic Toll Collection Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rudy Hermawan Karsaman

2014-07-01

Full Text Available A long queue can occur at tollgates due to the amount of transaction time required to perform ticket payment and toll fee collection. This problem can be addressed by the use of an electronic toll collection (ETC system. A case study conducted on the Jakarta Intra Urban, Cikupa-Merak, and Cawang Pluit Toll Roads suggests that the queueing at the tollgates when modelled followed a Poisson distribution. The average cash transaction time was approximately 5 to 6 seconds, while the ETC transaction time was only 4 seconds. Furthermore, the capacity of the cash system gate was 550 to 620 vehicles/hour (which is above the minimum service standard of 450 vehicles/hour,whereas the electronic gate capacity was 770 to 870 vehicles/hour. This study demonstrates that the ETC system is more effective than the cash system in terms of reducing the number of queueing vehicles.

Effective electron collection in highly (110)-oriented ZnO porous nanosheet framework photoanode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Xiangyan; Tian Zhipeng; Yu Tao; Tian Hanmin; Zhang Jiyuan; Yuan Shikui; Zhang Xiaobo; Li Zhaosheng; Zou Zhigang

2010-01-01

A highly (110)-oriented ZnO porous nanosheet framework is designed as the photoanode in photoelectrochemical systems, by virtue of its anisotropic electronic properties. It can be facilely prepared in large scale via a hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses show that the orientation index of the (110) diffraction plane is 3.54, indicating the films possess (110) preferred orientation. Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) images exhibit that most of the nanosheets stand nearly perpendicularly on the substrate. The {002} lattice planes work just like conducting wires and induce the electrons to transport to the substrate. Chronoamperometry measurement demonstrates an effective electron collection. When the nanostructured photoanode is introduced to dye-sensitized solar cells, a conversion efficiency of 3.7% is obtained. The photoanode also has potential application in the other photoelectrochemical systems, such as photocatalytical splitting of water.

Analysis of reaction between c+a and -c+a dislocations in GaN layer grown on 4-inch Si(111) substrate with AlGaN/AlN strained layer superlattice by transmission electron microscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sugawara, Yoshihiro; Ishikawa, Yukari, E-mail: yukari@jfcc.or.jp [Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Atsuta, Nagoya, 456-8587 (Japan); Watanabe, Arata [Research Center for Nano Devices and Advanced Materials, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, 466-8555 (Japan); Miyoshi, Makoto; Egawa, Takashi [Research Center for Nano Devices and Advanced Materials, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, 466-8555 (Japan); Innovation Center for Multi-Business of Nitride Semiconductors, Nagoya Institute of Technoloy, Nagoya, 466-8555 (Japan)

2016-04-15

The behavior of dislocations in a GaN layer grown on a 4-inch Si(111) substrate with an AlGaN/AlN strained layer superlattice using horizontal metal-organic chemical vapor deposition was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Cross-sectional observation indicated that a drastic decrease in the dislocation density occurred in the GaN layer. The reaction of a dislocation (b=1/3[-211-3]) and anothor dislocation (b =1/3[-2113]) to form one dislocation (b =2/3[-2110]) in the GaN layer was clarified by plan-view observation using weak-beam dark-field and large-angle convergent-beam diffraction methods.

Selected methods of electron-and ion-diagnostics in tokamak scrape-off-layer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sadowski Marek J.

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This invited paper considers reasons why exact measurements of fast electron and ion losses in tokamaks, and particularly i n a scrape-off-layer and near a divertor region, are necessary in order to master nuclear fusion energy production. Attention is also paid to direct measurements of escaping fusion products from D-D and D-T reactions, and in particular of fast alphas which might be used for plasma heating. The second part describes the generation of so-called runaway and ripple-born electrons which might induce high energy losses and cause severe damages of internal walls in fusion facilities. Advantages and disadvantages of different diagnostic methods applied for studies of such fast electrons are discussed. Particular attention is paid to development of a direct measuring technique based on the Cherenkov effect which might be induced by fast electrons in appropriate radiators. There are presented various versions of Cherenkov-type probes which have been developed by the NCBJ team and applied in different tokamak experiments. The third part is devoted to direct measurements of fast ions (including those produced by the nuclear fusion reactions which can escape from a high-temperature plasma region. Investigation of fast fusion-produced protons from tokamak discharges is reported. New ion probes, which were developed by the NCBJ team, are also presented. For the first time there is given a detailed description of an ion pinhole camera, which enables irradiation of several nuclear track detectors during a single tokamak discharge, and a miniature Thomson-type mass-spectrometer, which can be used for ion measurements at plasma borders.

Electron-transporting layer doped with cesium azide for high-performance phosphorescent and tandem white organic light-emitting devices

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yaoyao; Chen, Xingming; Jin, Yu; Wu, Zhijun; Yu, Ye; Lin, Wenyan; Yang, Huishan

2017-07-01

Cesium azide was employed as an effective n-dopant in the electron-transporting layer (ETL) of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) owing to its low deposition temperature and high ambient stability. By doping cesium azide onto 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline, a green phosphorescent OLED having best efficiencies of 66.25 cd A-1, 81.22 lm W-1 and 18.82% was realized. Moreover, the efficiency roll-off from 1000 cd m-2 to 10 000 cd m-2 is only 12.9%, which is comparable with or even lower than that of devices utilizing the co-host system. Physical mechanisms for the improvement of device performance were studied in depth by analyzing the current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics of the electron-only devices. In particular, by comparing the J-V characteristics of the electron-only devices instead of applying the complicated ultraviolet photoelectron spectrometer measurements, we deduced the decrease in barrier height for electron injection at the ETL/cathode contact. Finally, an efficient tandem white OLED utilizing the n-doped layer in the charge generation unit (CGU) was constructed. As far as we know, this is the first report on the application of this CGU for fabricating tandem white OLEDs. The emissions of the tandem device are all in the warm white region from 1213 cd m-2 to 10870 cd m-2, as is beneficial to the lighting application.

Electron-transporting layer doped with cesium azide for high-performance phosphorescent and tandem white organic light-emitting devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Yaoyao; Chen, Xingming; Jin, Yu; Wu, Zhijun; Yu, Ye; Lin, Wenyan; Yang, Huishan

2017-01-01

Cesium azide was employed as an effective n-dopant in the electron-transporting layer (ETL) of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) owing to its low deposition temperature and high ambient stability. By doping cesium azide onto 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline, a green phosphorescent OLED having best efficiencies of 66.25 cd A −1 , 81.22 lm W −1 and 18.82% was realized. Moreover, the efficiency roll-off from 1000 cd m −2 to 10 000 cd m −2 is only 12.9%, which is comparable with or even lower than that of devices utilizing the co-host system. Physical mechanisms for the improvement of device performance were studied in depth by analyzing the current density–voltage ( J – V ) characteristics of the electron-only devices. In particular, by comparing the J – V characteristics of the electron-only devices instead of applying the complicated ultraviolet photoelectron spectrometer measurements, we deduced the decrease in barrier height for electron injection at the ETL/cathode contact. Finally, an efficient tandem white OLED utilizing the n-doped layer in the charge generation unit (CGU) was constructed. As far as we know, this is the first report on the application of this CGU for fabricating tandem white OLEDs. The emissions of the tandem device are all in the warm white region from 1213 cd m −2 to 10870 cd m −2 , as is beneficial to the lighting application. (paper)

Enhanced electron-lattice coupling under uniaxial stress in layered double hydroxides intercalated with samarium complexes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Ta-Ryeong

2004-01-01

We have applied uniaxial stress to samarium complexes by intercalating them into the gallery of a layered material and by using a diamond-anvil cell at 28 K. Although uniaxial stress reduces symmetry and removes degeneracy, the overall number of photoluminescence (PL) peaks evidently decreased with the application of uniaxial stress. This contradictory observation is explained by an increased electron-lattice coupling strength under uniaxial stress. This behavior is also confirmed by time-resolved PL data.

Single-layer 1T‧-MoS2 under electron irradiation from ab initio molecular dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Pizzochero, Michele; Yazyev, Oleg V.

2018-04-01

Irradiation with high-energy particles has recently emerged as an effective tool for tailoring the properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. In order to carry out an atomically-precise manipulation of the lattice, a detailed understanding of the beam-induced events occurring at the atomic scale is necessary. Here, we investigate the response of 1T' -MoS2 to the electron irradiation by ab initio molecular dynamics means. Our simulations suggest that an electron beam with energy smaller than 75 keV does not result in any knock-on damage. The displacement threshold energies are different for the two nonequivalent sulfur atoms in 1T' -MoS2 and strongly depend on whether the top or bottom chalcogen layer is considered. As a result, a careful tuning of the beam energy can promote the formation of ordered defects in the sample. We further discuss the effect of the electron irradiation in the neighborhood of a defective site, the mobility of the sulfur vacancies created and their tendency to aggregate. Overall, our work provides useful guidelines for the imaging and the defect engineering of 1T' -MoS2 using electron microscopy.

One- and zero-dimensional electron systems over liquid helium (Review article)

CERN Document Server

Kovdrya, Y Z

2003-01-01

Experimental and theoretical investigations of one-dimensional and zero-dimensional electron systems near the liquid helium surface are surveyed. The properties of electron states over the plane surface of liquid helium including thin layers of helium are considered. The methods of realization of one- and zero-dimensional electron systems are discussed, and the results of experimental and theoretical investigations of their properties are given. The experiments with localization processes in a quasi-one-dimensional electron systems on liquid helium are described. The collective effects in one-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional electron systems are considered, and the point of possible application of low-dimensional electron systems on liquid helium in electron devices and quantum computers is discussed.

Investigation of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor structures on 200-mm silicon (111) substrates employing different buffer layer configurations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, H-P; Perozek, J; Rosario, L D; Bayram, C

2016-11-21

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures are grown on 200-mm diameter Si(111) substrates by using three different buffer layer configurations: (a) Thick-GaN/3 × {Al x Ga 1-x N}/AlN, (b) Thin-GaN/3 × {Al x Ga 1-x N}/AlN, and (c) Thin-GaN/AlN, so as to have crack-free and low-bow (GaN HEMT structures. The effects of buffer layer stacks (i.e. thickness and content) on defectivity, stress, and two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) mobility and 2DEG concentration are reported. It is shown that 2DEG characteristics are heavily affected by the employed buffer layers between AlGaN/GaN HEMT structures and Si(111) substrates. Particularly, we report that in-plane stress in the GaN layer affects the 2DEG mobility and 2DEG carrier concentration significantly. Buffer layer engineering is shown to be essential for achieving high 2DEG mobility (>1800 cm 2 /V∙s) and 2DEG carrier concentration (>1.0 × 10 13  cm -2 ) on Si(111) substrates.

Improved electron injection into Alq{sub 3} based devices using a thin Erq{sub 3} injection layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shakya, P; Desai, P; Gillin, W P [Department of Physics, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS (United Kingdom); Curry, R J [Advanced Technology Institute, School of Electronics and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH (United Kingdom)

2008-04-21

The role of a thin erbium(III) tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Erq{sub 3}) interface layer on the electron injection into aluminium(III) tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq{sub 3}) based organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) has been investigated. It has been shown that the use of a 40 A interface layer can increase the efficiency of a simple Alq{sub 3} OLED with an Al cathode to a level comparable with other, well established, high-efficiency cathodes such as LiF/Al. We also show that, despite the bulk HOMO and LUMO positions for Erq{sub 3} being little different from those for Alq{sub 3}, the presence of an interfacial layer makes the devices turn-on voltage almost independent of the cathode metal. This is explained by there being a vacuum level shift for Erq{sub 3} which is dependent on the work function of the cathode metal.

Increased luminance of MEH-PPV and PFO based PLEDs by using salmon DNA as an electron blocking layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madhwal, Devinder; Rait, S.S.; Verma, A.; Kumar, Amit; Bhatnagar, P.K.; Mathur, P.C.; Onoda, M.

2010-01-01

The effect of salmon DNA-CTMA as an electron blocking layer (EBL) has been examined on the performance of MEH-PPV and PFO-based light emitting diodes. Though the turn-on voltage increases with incorporation of EBL, a significant increase in luminance and luminous efficiency for both the devices is observed. The EBL improves the device performance by blocking electrons at the EBL-polymer interface, thereby increasing the recombination probability of electrons and holes. The luminance of the MEH-PPV based Bio-LED increases to 100 cd/m 2 from 30 cd/m 2 while a corresponding increase for the PFO based LED is to 160 cd/m 2 from 80 cd/m 2 with and without EBL, respectively.

Low resistivity ZnO-GO electron transport layer based CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}PbI{sub 3} solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmed, Muhammad Imran, E-mail: imranrahbar@scme.nust.edu.pk, E-mail: amirhabib@scme.nust.edu.pk; Hussain, Zakir; Mujahid, Mohammad; Khan, Ahmed Nawaz [School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, 44000 (Pakistan); Javaid, Syed Saad [College of Aeronautical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, 44000 (Pakistan); Habib, Amir, E-mail: imranrahbar@scme.nust.edu.pk, E-mail: amirhabib@scme.nust.edu.pk [School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, 44000 (Pakistan); The Department of Physics, College of Sciences, University of Hafar Al Batin, P.O. Box 1803, Hafar Al Batin 31991 Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia)

2016-06-15

Perovskite based solar cells have demonstrated impressive performances. Controlled environment synthesis and expensive hole transport material impede their potential commercialization. We report ambient air synthesis of hole transport layer free devices using ZnO-GO as electron selective contacts. Solar cells fabricated with hole transport layer free architecture under ambient air conditions with ZnO as electron selective contact achieved an efficiency of 3.02%. We have demonstrated that by incorporating GO in ZnO matrix, low resistivity electron selective contacts, critical to improve the performance, can be achieved. We could achieve max efficiency of 4.52% with our completed devices for ZnO: GO composite. Impedance spectroscopy confirmed the decrease in series resistance and an increase in recombination resistance with inclusion of GO in ZnO matrix. Effect of temperature on completed devices was investigated by recording impedance spectra at 40 and 60 {sup o}C, providing indirect evidence of the performance of solar cells at elevated temperatures.

Bi-layer structure of counterstreaming energetic electron fluxes: a diagnostic tool of the acceleration mechanism in the Earth's magnetotail

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. V. Sarafopoulos

2010-02-01

Full Text Available For the first time we identify a bi-layer structure of energetic electron fluxes in the Earth's magnetotail and establish (using datasets mainly obtained by the Geotail Energetic Particles and Ion Composition (EPIC/ICS instrument that it actually provides strong evidence for a purely spatial structure. Each bi-layer event is composed of two distinct layers with counterstreaming energetic electron fluxes, parallel and antiparallel to the local ambient magnetic field lines; in particular, the tailward directed fluxes always occur in a region adjacent to the lobes. Adopting the X-line as a standard reconnection model, we determine the occurrence of bi-layer events relatively to the neutral point, in the substorm frame; four (out of the shown seven events are observed earthward and three tailward, a result implying that four events probably occurred with the substorm's local recovery phase. We discuss the bi-layer events in terms of the X-line model; they add more constraints for any candidate electron acceleration mechanism. It should be stressed that until this time, none proposed electron acceleration mechanism has discussed or predicted these layered structures with all their properties. Then we discuss the bi-layer events in terms of the much promising "akis model", as introduced by Sarafopoulos (2008. The akis magnetic field topology is embedded in a thinned plasma sheet and is potentially causing charge separation. We assume that as the R_c curvature radius of the magnetic field line tends to become equal to the ion gyroradius r_g, then the ions become non-adiabatic. At the limit R_c=r_g the demagnetization process is also under way and the frozen-in magnetic field condition is violated by strong wave turbulence; hence, the ion particles in this geometry are stochastically scattered. In addition, ion diffusion probably takes place across the magnetic field, since an

Electron collection enhancement arising from neutral gas jets on a charged vehicle in the ionosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilchrist, B.E.; Banks, P.M.; Neubert, T.; Williamson, P.R.; Myers, N.B.; Raitt, W.J.; Sasaki, Susumu

1990-01-01

Observations of current collection enhancements due to cold nitrogen gas control jet emissions from a highly charged, isolated rocket payload in the ionosphere have been made during the cooperative high altitude rocket gun experiment (CHARGE) 2 using an electrically tethered mother/daughter payload system. The current collection enhancement was observed on a platform (daughter payload) located 100 to 400 m away from the main payload firing an energetic electron beam (mother payload). The authors interpret these results in terms of an electrical discharge forming in close proximity to the daughter vehicle during the short periods of gas emission. The results indicate that it is possible to enhance the electron current collection capability of positively charged vehicles by means of deliberate neutral gas releases into an otherwise undisturbed space plasma. The results are also compared with recent laboratory observations of hollow cathode plasma contactors operating in the ignited mode

Wave function of an electron infinitely moving in the field of a one-dimensional layered structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khachatrian, A.Zh.; Andreasyan, A.G.; Mgerian, G.G.; Badalyan, V.D.

2003-01-01

A method for finding the wave function of an electron infinitely moving in the field of an arbitrary layered structure bordered on both sides with two different semi infinite media is proposed. It is shown that this problem in the general form can be reduced to the solution of some system of linear finite-difference equations. The proposed approach is discussed in detail for the case of a periodic structure

Inductive crystal field control in layered metal oxides with correlated electrons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balachandran, P. V.; Cammarata, A.; Rondinelli, J. M., E-mail: jrondinelli@nortwestern.edu [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 (United States); Nelson-Cheeseman, B. B. [School of Engineering, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota 55105 (United States); Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Bhattacharya, A. [Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)

2014-07-01

We show that the NiO{sub 6} crystal field energies can be tailored indirectly via heterovalent A cation ordering in layered (La,A)NiO{sub 4} Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) oxides, where A = Sr, Ca, or Ba, using density functional calculations. We leverage as a driving force the electrostatic interactions between charged [LaO]{sup 1+} and neutral [AO]{sup 0} planes to inductively tune the Ni–O bond distortions, without intentional doping or epitaxial strain, altering the correlated d-orbital energies. We use this strategy to design cation ordered LaCaNiO{sub 4} and LaBaNiO{sub 4} with distortions favoring enhanced Ni e{sub g} orbital polarization, and find local electronic structure signatures analogous to those in RP La-cuprates, i.e., parent phases of the high-temperature superconducting oxides.

Ion-beam synthesis of Ge{sub x}Si{sub 1-x} strained layers for high speed electronic device applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elliman, R.G.; Jiang, H.; Wong, W.C.; Kringhoj, P. [Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia)

1996-12-31

It is shown that Ge{sub x}S{sub 1-x} strained layers can be fabricated by Ge implantation and solid-phase epitaxy and that the use of these layers can improve the performance of electronic devices. Several materials science issues are addressed, including the effect of Ge on solid-phase-epitaxy, the effect of oxidation on the implanted Ge distribution, and the effect of Ge on the oxidation rate of Si. The process is demonstrated for metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors (MOSFETs). 6 refs., 5 figs.