Glasses can be formed by many routes. In some cases, distinct polyamorphic forms are found. The normal mode of glass formation is cooling of a viscous liquid. Liquid behavior during cooling is classified between "strong" and "fragile," and the three canonical characteristics of relaxing liquids are correlated through the fragility. Strong liquids become fragile liquids on compression. In some cases, such conversions occur during cooling by a weak first-order transition. This behavior can be related to the polymorphism in a glass state through a recent simple modification of the van der Waals model for tetrahedrally bonded liquids. The sudden loss of some liquid degrees of freedom through such first-order transitions is suggestive of the polyamorphic transition between native and denatured hydrated proteins, which can be interpreted as single-chain glass-forming polymers plasticized by water and cross-linked by hydrogen bonds. The onset of a sharp change in d dT( is the Debye-Waller factor and T is temperature) in proteins, which is controversially indentified with the glass transition in liquids, is shown to be general for glass formers and observable in computer simulations of strong and fragile ionic liquids, where it proves to be close to the experimental glass transition temperature. The latter may originate in strong anharmonicity in modes ("bosons"), which permits the system to access multiple minima of its configuration space. These modes, the Kauzmann temperature T(K), and the fragility of the liquid, may thus be connected.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/267/5206/1924.full.pdf

Formation of glasses from liquids and biopolymers.

The MN+1AXN phases: A new class of solids

▪ Abstract Soft lithography, a set of techniques for microfabrication, is based on printing and molding using elastomeric stamps with the patterns of interest in bas-relief. As a technique for fabricating microstructures for biological applications, soft lithography overcomes many of the shortcomings of photolithography. In particular, soft lithography offers the ability to control the molecular structure of surfaces and to pattern the complex molecules relevant to biology, to fabricate channel structures appropriate for microfluidics, and to pattern and manipulate cells. For the relatively large feature sizes used in biology (≥50 μm), production of prototype patterns and structures is convenient, inexpensive, and rapid. Self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiolates on gold are particularly easy to pattern by soft lithography, and they provide exquisite control over surface biochemistry.

/pdf/soft-lithography-in-biology-and-biochemistry-1qiku7qz44.pdf

Soft Lithography in Biology and Biochemistry

This article presents an overview of the essential aspects in the fabrication of silicon and some silicon/germanium nanostructures by metal-assisted chemical etching. First, the basic process and mechanism of metal-assisted chemical etching is introduced. Then, the various influences of the noble metal, the etchant, temperature, illumination, and intrinsic properties of the silicon substrate (e.g., orientation, doping type, doping level) are presented. The anisotropic and the isotropic etching behaviors of silicon under various conditions are presented. Template-based metal-assisted chemical etching methods are introduced, including templates based on nanosphere lithography, anodic aluminum oxide masks, interference lithography, and block-copolymer masks. The metal-assisted chemical etching of other semiconductors is also introduced. A brief introduction to the application of Si nanostructures obtained by metal-assisted chemical etching is given, demonstrating the promising potential applications of metal-assisted chemical etching. Finally, some open questions in the understanding of metal-assisted chemical etching are compiled.

/pdf/metal-assisted-chemical-etching-of-silicon-a-review-2djk1xh2iu.pdf

Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching of Silicon: A Review

The present invention provides stretchable, and optionally printable, semiconductors and electronic circuits capable of providing good performance when stretched, compressed, flexed or otherwise deformed. Stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits of the present invention preferred for some applications are flexible, in addition to being stretchable, and thus are capable of significant elongation, flexing, bending or other deformation along one or more axes. Further, stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits of the present invention may be adapted to a wide range of device configurations to provide fully flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/311/5758/208.full.pdf

Stretchable form of single crystal silicon for high performance electronics on rubber substrates

We have studied the incorporation of heavily supersaturated C into Si using solid‐phase epitaxy (SPE) of implanted amorphous layers. The strain in the Si1−xCx/Si heterostructures was measured using rocking curve x‐ray diffraction. The microstructure and defect introduction were examined using ion channeling and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The fraction of C located on substitutional lattice sites in the Si was monitored using Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy and ion channeling at resonance energies. Carbon‐depth profiles were monitored by secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The metastable solubility limit for the incorporation of C into Si by SPE was found to be 3.0–7.0×1020 atoms/cm3, which is over three orders of magnitude above the equilibrium solubility at the Si melting point. This limit was determined by the ability to regrow without the introduction of microtwins and stacking faults along {111} planes. We postulate the local bond deformation resulting from the atomic size ...

Carbon incorporation into si at high concentrations by ion implantation and solid phase epitaxy

Ion Beam Analysis: Fundamentals and Applications

Ion-beam mixing of metal-semiconductor eutectic systems

Etude par spectroscopie de recul avant pour le systeme miscible polystyrene+poly(dimethyl-2,6 phenyleneoxyde-1,4)

Fast mutual diffusion in polymer blends

Hall effect and sheet resistivity measurements are commonly used to evaluate ion implanted layers. We describe the general principles, sources of error, and factors influencing the measurements. Implantation conditions, sample preparation and measurement technique used for van der Pauw geometry are discussed. Considerations important in annealing, layer removal and measurement temperature are also presented.

James W. Mayer

Papers

Carbon incorporation into si at high concentrations by ion implantation and solid phase epitaxy

Ion Beam Analysis: Fundamentals and Applications

Ion-beam mixing of metal-semiconductor eutectic systems

Fast mutual diffusion in polymer blends

Technique used in Hall effect analysis of ion implanted Si and Ge