Showing papers in "Advances in Condensed Matter Physics in 2014"

Progress in ZnO Acceptor Doping: What Is the Best Strategy?

Abstract: This paper reviews the recent progress in acceptor doping of ZnO that has been achieved with a focus toward the optimum strategy. There are three main approaches for generating p-type ZnO: substitutional group IA elements on a zinc site, codoping of donors and acceptors, and substitution of group VA elements on an oxygen site. The relevant issues are whether there is sufficient incorporation of the appropriate dopant impurity species, does it reside on the appropriate lattice site, and lastly whether the acceptor ionization energy is sufficiently small to enable significant p-type conduction at room temperature. The potential of nitrogen doping and formation of the appropriate acceptor complexes is highlighted although theoretical calculations predict that nitrogen on an oxygen site is a deep acceptor. We show that an understanding of the growth and annealing steps to achieve the relevant acceptor defect complexes is crucial to meet requirements.

Hydrogen Production by Supercritical Water Gasification of Biomass with Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalyst

Abstract: Biomass gasification in supercritical water is a clean and efficient way to convert biomass to hydrogen-rich gaseous products. Appropriate catalyst can lower the reaction temperature to guarantee the technological and economic feasibility. This paper selects Ca(OH)2, Na2CO3, K2CO3, NaOH, KOH, LiOH, and ZnCl2 as typical homogeneous catalysts and three kinds of Raney-Ni, dolomite, and olivine as typical heterogeneous catalysts. The catalyst effects are investigated in the process of biomass gasification in supercritical water with the temperature of 400°C, pressure of MPa, and residence time of 20 min. The experimental results show that Raney-Ni has the best hydrogen selectivity and hydrogen yield. The mixture of NaOH with Raney-Ni was investigated in order to research the synergistic effect of different catalysts. The experimental results show that Raney-Ni and NaOH have a synergistic effect in the biomass gasification in supercritical water.

Electron Band Alignment at Interfaces of Semiconductors with Insulating Oxides: An Internal Photoemission Study

Abstract: Evolution of the electron energy band alignment at interfaces between different semiconductors and wide-gap oxide insulators is examined using the internal photoemission spectroscopy, which is based on observations of optically-induced electron (or hole) transitions across the semiconductor/insulator barrier. Interfaces of various semiconductors ranging from the conventional silicon to the high-mobility Ge-based (Ge, , ) and group (GaAs, , InAs, GaP, InP, GaSb, InSb) materials were studied revealing several general trends in the evolution of band offsets. It is found that in the oxides of metals with cation radii larger than ≈0.7 Å, the oxide valence band top remains nearly at the same energy (±0.2 eV) irrespective of the cation sort. Using this result, it becomes possible to predict the interface band alignment between oxides and semiconductors as well as between dissimilar insulating oxides on the basis of the oxide bandgap width which are also affected by crystallization. By contrast, oxides of light elements, for example, Be, Mg, Al, Si, and Sc exhibit significant shifts of the valence band top. General trends in band lineup variations caused by a change in the composition of semiconductor photoemission material are also revealed.

Structural and Magnetic Properties of Ni Doped

Abstract: Nickel (Ni) doped SnO2 powder samples were prepared using solid-state reaction with dopant concentrations in the range of 3 at.% to 15 at.%. The influence of Ni doping on structural, optical, and magnetic properties of the powder samples has been investigated. All the Ni doped powder samples exhibited tetragonal structure of SnO2. A decrease in optical band gap was observed with increase of Ni doping levels. The vibrating sample magnetometer measurements revealed that the Ni doped SnO2 powder samples were ferromagnetic at room temperature.

Persistent Photoconductivity in ZnO Nanowires in Different Atmospheres

Abstract: We investigated the photoconductivity of single ZnO nanowire device as a function of the surrounding atmosphere, considering the comparison between reduced pressure, inert gas environments, and air. We show that after UV excitation the photocurrent persists for hours, in particular in vacuum, nitrogen, and argon. In the presence of oxygen, the photodecay rate is initially fast but then becomes considerably slower, resulting in a long persisting photo-conductivity tail. Our proposed model explains the persistence of the photoconductivity (PPC) in terms of band bending at the surface of the nanowires, which is related to the trapping of electrons from the conduction band.

Is There a Metamaterial Route to High Temperature Superconductivity

Abstract: Superconducting properties of a material such as electron-electron interactions and the critical temperature of superconducting transition can be expressed via the effective dielectric response function ( ) of the material. Such a description is valid on the spatial scales below the superconducting coherence length (the size of the Cooper pair), which equals ∼100 nm in a typical BCS superconductor. Searching for natural materials exhibiting larger electron-electron interactions constitutes a traditional approach to high temperature superconductivity research. Here we point out that recently developed field of electromagnetic metamaterials deals with somewhat related task of dielectric response engineering on sub-100 nm scale. We argue that the metamaterial approach to dielectric response engineering may considerably increase the critical temperature of a composite superconductor-dielectric metamaterial.

Determination of the DC Electrical Conductivity of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Films and Graphene Layers from Noncontact Time-Domain Terahertz Measurements

Abstract: Measuring the DC conductivity of very thin films could be rather difficult because of the electrical contact issue. This DC conductivity can, however, be extracted from noncontact measurements at GHz and THz frequencies using elaborated conductivity models that nicely fit the experimental data. Here we employ this technique to study the DC conductivity of fragile nanometer-thick films of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and monolayer graphene. The THz response of the films is measured by THz time-domain spectroscopy. We show that the THz conductivity of the samples is well fitted by either Drude-Lorentz model or Drude-Smith model, giving information on the physics of electrical conductivity in these materials. This extraction procedure is validated by the good agreement between the so-obtained DC conductivity and the one measured with a classical 4-point probe in-line contact method.

In and Ga Codoped ZnO Film as a Front Electrode for Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract: Doped ZnO thin films have attracted much attention in the research community as front-contact transparent conducting electrodes in thin film silicon solar cells. The prerequisite in both low resistivity and high transmittance in visible and near-infrared region for hydrogenated microcrystalline or amorphous/microcrystalline tandem thin film silicon solar cells has promoted further improvements of this material. In this work, we propose the combination of major Ga and minor In impurities codoped in ZnO film (IGZO) to improve the film optoelectronic properties. A wide range of Ga and In contents in sputtering targets was explored to find optimum optical and electrical properties of deposited films. The results show that an appropriate combination of In and Ga atoms in ZnO material, followed by in-air thermal annealing process, can enhance the crystallization, conductivity, and transmittance of IGZO thin films, which can be well used as front-contact electrodes in thin film silicon solar cells.

Atomistic Simulation of Intrinsic Defects and Trivalent and Tetravalent Ion Doping in Hydroxyapatite

Abstract: Atomistic simulation techniques have been employed in order to investigate key issues related to intrinsic defects and a variety of dopants from trivalent and tetravalent ions. The most favorable intrinsic defect is determined to be a scheme involving calcium and hydroxyl vacancies. It is found that trivalent ions have an energetic preference for the Ca site, while tetravalent ions can enter P sites. Charge compensation is predicted to occur basically via three schemes. In general, the charge compensation via the formation of calcium vacancies is more favorable. Trivalent dopant ions are more stable than tetravalent dopants.

Laser-Induced Damage Initiation and Growth of Optical Materials

Abstract: The lifetime of optical components is determined by the combination of laser-induced damage initiation probability and damage propagation rate during subsequent laser shots. This paper reviews both theoretical and experimental investigations on laser-induced damage initiation and growth at the surface of optics. The damage mechanism is generally considered as thermal absorption and electron avalanche, which play dominant roles for the different laser pulse durations. The typical damage morphology in the surface of components observed in experiments is also closely related to the damage mechanism. The damage crater in thermal absorption process, which can be estimated by thermal diffusion model, is typical distortion, melting, and ablation debris often with an elevated rim caused by melted material flow and resolidification. However, damage initiated by electron avalanche is often accompanied by generation of plasma, crush, and fracture, which can be explained by thermal explosion model. Damage growth at rear surface of components is extremely severe which can be explained by several models, such as fireball growth, impact crater, brittle fracture, and electric field enhancement. All the physical effects are not independent but mutually coupling. Developing theoretical models of multiphysics coupling are an important trend for future theoretical research. Meanwhile, more attention should be paid to integrated analysis both in theory and experiment.

Defects Induced Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in ZnO Thin Films

Abstract: Polycrystalline ZnO thin films are prepared by the co-sputtering method under different oxygen partial pressures. Films deposited in pure argon gas exhibit ferromagnetism, whereas other films deposited under different oxygen partial pressures are diamagnetism. XPS results show the presence of Zn interstitial and oxygen vacancy in all of samples. Further analysis indicates that Zn interstitial may play an important role in triggering magnetic order on the undoped ZnO thin films by inducing an alteration of electronic configuration.

Influence of Codoping on the Optical Properties of ZnO Thin Films Synthesized on Glass Substrate by Chemical Bath Deposition Method

Abstract: Fe and K simultaneously doped ZnO thin films Zn0.99 K0.01 (Fe)x O (, 2, 3, and 4%) were synthesized by chemical bath deposition method. The XRD investigation reveals that all the doped ZnO thin films are in hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure without impurity phases. With increase in Fe concentration, the growth of thin films along c axis is evident from the XRD which indicates the increase in intensity along (002) direction. The same is visible from the surface morphology which shows the formation of hexagonal structure for higher Fe concentration. The topography shows gradual variation with Fe incorporation. The optical energy band gap obtained from the transmittance spectrum decreases from 3.42 to 3.06 eV with increase in Fe concentration indicating the red shift and this trend is consistent with the earlier experimental results. The UV emission is centered around 3.59 eV. The optical constants such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, and absorption coefficient which are essential for the optoelectronic applications were also determined.

Study on Macroscopic and Microscopic Mechanical Behavior of Magnetorheological Elastomers by Representative Volume Element Approach

Abstract: By using a representative volume element (RVE) approach, this paper investigates the effective mechanical properties of anisotropic magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) in which particles are aligned and form chain-like structure under magnetic field during curing. Firstly, a three-dimensional RVE in zero magnetic field is presented in ABAQUS/Standard to calculate the macroscopic mechanical properties of MREs. It is shown that the initial shear modulus of MREs increases by 56% with a 20% volume fraction of particles compared to that of pure rubber. Then by introducing the Maxwell stress tensor, a two-dimensional plane stress RVE for the MRE is developed in COMSOL Multiphysics to study its response under a magnetic field. The influences of magnetic field intensity, radius of particles, and distance between two adjacent particles on the macroscopic mechanical properties of MRE are also investigated. The results show that the shear modulus increases with the increase of the applied magnetic field intensity and the radius of particles and the decrease of the distance between two adjacent particles in a chain. The predicted numerical results are consistent with theoretical results from Mori-Tanaka model, double inclusion model, and dipole model.

Effect of concurrent ZnO addition and AlF3 reduction on the elastic properties of tellurite based glass system

Abstract: New ternary zinc oxyfluorotellurite (ZOFT) with the composition --, where ; ; , has been successfully prepared by the conventional rapid melt quenching technique. Density, molar volume, and glass transition temperature have been assessed for each ZOFT glass sample. The longitudinal and transverse ultrasonic waves propagated in each glass sample were measured using a MBS8020 ultrasonic data acquisition system at 5 MHz frequency and room temperature. The longitudinal modulus (), shear modulus (), Young’s modulus (), bulk modulus (), and Poisson’s ratio () are assessed from both velocity data and their respective density. The compositional dependence of the ultrasonic velocities and related parameters are discussed to understand the rigidity and compactness of the glass system studied.

Structural, Optical, and Compactness Characteristics of Nanocrystalline Synthesized through an Autoigniting Combustion Method

Abstract: Nanoparticles of calcium metaniobate compound are prepared by an autoigniting combustion technique and its structural, optical, and dielectric properties are investigated The X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform Raman, and infrared studies reveal that calcium metaniobate possesses phase pure orthorhombic columbite structure with space group of Pbcn The average particle size of the as-prepared nanoparticles obtained from both the Scherrer formula and transmission electron microscopy is ~37 nm The optical band gap calculated from Tauc's Plot is 325 eV Photoluminescence studies reveal that Calcium metaniobate can be used as an idealphotoluminarmaterial The powders are pelletised and sintered at an optimized temperature of in a short duration of two hours, yielding a high density The morphology of the sintered pellet is further examined using scanning electron microscopy The dielectric constant and loss factor values measured at 5 MHz for a well-sintered Calcium metaniobate pellet are found to be 276 and respectively, at room temperature

Effects of Absorber Emissivity on Thermal Performance of a Solar Cavity Receiver

Abstract: Solar cavity receiver is a key component to realize the light-heat conversion in tower-type solar power system. It usually has an aperture for concentrated sunlight coming in, and the heat loss is unavoidable because of this aperture. Generally, in order to improve the thermal efficiency, a layer of coating having high absorptivity for sunlight would be covered on the surface of the absorber tubes inside the cavity receiver. As a result, it is necessary to investigate the effects of the emissivity of absorber tubes on the thermal performance of the receiver. In the present work, the thermal performances of the receiver with different absorber emissivity were numerically simulated. The results showed that the thermal efficiency increases and the total heat loss decreases with increasing emissivity of absorber tubes. However, the thermal efficiency increases by only 1.6% when the emissivity of tubes varies from 0.2 to 0.8. Therefore, the change of absorber emissivity has slight effect on the thermal performance of the receiver. The reason for variation tendency of performance curves was also carefully analyzed. It was found that the temperature reduction of the cavity walls causes the decrease of the radiative heat loss and the convective heat loss.

First-Principles Study of the Structural Stability and Electronic and Elastic Properties of Helium in α-Zirconium

Abstract: First-principles calculations within density functional theory have been performed to investigate the behaviors of helium in α-zirconium. The most favorable interstitial site for He in -Zr is not an ordinary tetrahedral or octahedral site, but a basal octahedral site with a formation energy as low as 2.40 eV. The formation energy reduces to 1.25 eV in the presence of preexisting vacancies. The analysis on the density of states and the charge density has been carried out. In addition, the influences of He and small He-V complexes on the elastic properties have been studied. The He-V complexes have been found to greatly affect the elastic properties compared with He alone.

Laser-Induced Point Defects in Fused Silica Irradiated by UV Laser in Vacuum

Abstract: High-purity fused silica irradiated by third harmonic of the Nd:YAG laser in vacuum with different laser pulse parameters was studied experimentally. Laser-induced defects are investigated by UV spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectra and correlated to the structural modifications in the glass matrix through Raman spectroscopy. Results show that, for laser fluence below laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT), the absorbance and intensity of fluorescence bands increase with laser energies and/or number of laser pulses, which indicates that laser-induced defects are enhanced by laser energies and/or number of laser pulses in vacuum. The optical properties of these point defects were discussed in detail.

Investigations on Growth, Optical and Thermal Properties of Sulphamic Acid Single Crystals

Abstract: Single crystals of sulphamic acid of 11 × 7 × 3 mm3 dimension were successfully grown by slow evaporation technique. The crystal structure of grown crystals was confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The presence of functional groups in the crystal lattice has been qualitatively determined by FT-IR and FT-Raman analyses. Theoretical group factor analysis predicts the possible modes of vibrations. The optical transmission spectroscopy (UV-Vis) clearly evidences the suitability of this material for optical application. The thermal behaviour of the crystal was studied by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) studies. The nonlinear optical (NLO) characteristic of this material was explored by the second harmonic generation (SHG) conversion efficiency.

Surface Contaminant Control Technologies to Improve Laser Damage Resistance of Optics

Abstract: The large high-power solid lasers, such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of America and the Shenguang-III (SG-III) laser facility of China, can output over 2.1 MJ laser pulse for the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. Because of the enhancement of operating flux and the expansion of laser driver scale, the problem of contamination seriously influences their construction period and operation life. During irradiation by intense laser beams, the contaminants on the metallic surface of beam tubes can be transmitted to the optical surfaces and lead to damage of optical components. For the high-power solid-state laser facilities, contamination control focuses on the slab amplifiers, spatial filters, and final-optical assemblies. In this paper, an effective solution to control contaminations including the whole process of the laser driver is put forward to provide the safe operation of laser facilities, and the detailed technical methods of contamination control such as washing, cleanliness metrology, and cleanliness protecting are also introduced to reduce the probability of laser-induced damage of optics. The experimental results show that the cleanliness level of SG-III laser facility is much better to ensure that the laser facility can safely operate at high energy flux.

Synthetic Strategies and Applications of GaN Nanowires

Abstract: GaN is an important III-V semiconductor material with a direct band gap of 34 eV at 300 K The wide direct band gap makes GaN an attractive material for various applications GaN nanowires have demonstrated significant potential as fundamental building blocks for nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices and also offer substantial promise for integrated nanosystems In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review on the general synthetic strategies, characterizations, and applications of GaN nanowires We first summarize several growth techniques of GaN nanowires Subsequently, we discuss mechanisms involved to generate GaN nanowires from different synthetic schemes and conditions Then we review some characterization methods of GaN nanowires Finally, several kinds of main applications of GaN nanowires are discussed

Suppression of Brazier Effect in Multilayered Cylinders

Abstract: When a straight hollow tube having circular cross-section is bent uniformly into an arc, the cross-section tends to ovalize or flatten due to the in-plane stresses induced by bending; this ovalization phenomenon is called the Brazier effect. The present paper is aimed at theoretical formulation of the Brazier effect observed in multilayered cylinders, in which a set of thin hollow cylinders are stacked concentrically about the common axis. The results indicate that mechanical couplings between stacked cylinders are found to yield pronounced suppression of the cross-sectional ovalization. Numerical computations have been performed to measure the degree of suppression in a quantitative manner and to explore how it is affected by the variations in the bending curvature, the number of stacked cylinders, and the interlayer coupling strength.

Equivalent Circuit Analysis of Photovoltaic-Thermoelectric Hybrid Device with Different TE Module Structure

Abstract: Combining two different types of solar cells with different absorption bands into a hybrid cell is a very useful method to improve the utilization efficiency of solar energy. The experimental data of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and thermoelectric generators (TEG) was simulated by equivalent circuit method, and some parameters of DSSCs were obtained. Then, the equivalent circuit model with the obtained parameters was used to optimize the structure design of photovoltaic- (PV-) thermoelectric (TE) hybrid devices. The output power first increases to a maximum and then decreases by increasing the TE prism size, and a smaller spacing between p-type prism and n-type prism of a TE p-n junction causes a higher output power of TEG and hybrid device. When the spacing between TE prisms is 15 μm and the optimal base side length of TE prism is 40 μm, the maximum theoretical efficiency reaches 24.6% according to the equivalent circuit analysis. This work would give some enlightenment for the development of high-performance PV-TE hybrid devices.

Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to Methane on Pt/TiO2 Nanosheet Porous Film

Abstract: Anatase TiO2 nanosheet porous films were prepared by calcination of the orthorhombic titanic acid films at 400°C. They showed an excellent photocatalytic activity for CO2 photoreduction to methane, which should be related to their special porous structure and large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area. In order to further improve the photocatalytic activity, Pt nanoparticles were loaded uniformly with the average size of 3-4 nm on TiO2 porous films by the photoreduction method. It was found that the loading of Pt expanded the light absorption ability of the porous film and improved the transformation efficiency of CO2 to methane. The conversion yield of CO2 to methane on Pt/TiO2 film reached 20.51 ppm/h·cm2. The Pt/TiO2 nanosheet porous film was characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and ultraviolet-visible light diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS). Moreover, the transient photocurrent-time curves showed that the Pt/TiO2 nanosheet porous film exhibited higher photocurrent, indicating that the higher separation efficiency of the photogenerated charge carriers was achieved.

Composite Operator Method Analysis of the Underdoped Cuprates Puzzle

Abstract: The microscopical analysis of the unconventional and puzzling physics of the underdoped cuprates, as carried out lately by means of the composite operator method (COM) applied to the 2D Hubbard model, is reviewed and systematized. The 2D Hubbard model has been adopted as it has been considered the minimal model capable of describing the most peculiar features of cuprates held responsible for their anomalous behavior. COM is designed to endorse, since its foundation, the systematic emergence in any SCS of new elementary excitations described by composite operators obeying noncanonical algebras. In this case (underdoped cuprates—2D Hubbard model), the residual interactions—beyond a 2-pole approximation—between the new elementary electronic excitations, dictated by the strong local Coulomb repulsion and well described by the two Hubbard composite operators, have been treated within the noncrossing approximation. Given this recipe and exploiting the few unknowns to enforce the Pauli principle content in the solution, it is possible to qualitatively describe some of the anomalous features of high-Tc cuprate superconductors such as large versus small Fermi surface dichotomy, Fermi surface deconstruction (appearance of Fermi arcs), nodal versus antinodal physics, pseudogap(s), and kinks in the electronic dispersion. The resulting scenario envisages a smooth crossover between an ordinary weakly interacting metal sustaining weak, short-range antiferromagnetic correlations in the overdoped regime to an unconventional poor metal characterized by very strong, long-but-finite-range antiferromagnetic correlations leading to momentum-selective non-Fermi liquid features as well as to the opening of a pseudogap and to the striking differences between the nodal and the antinodal dynamics in the underdoped regime.

Diffusion-Controlled Growth of Oxygen Bubble Evolved from Nanorod-Array TiO2 Photoelectrode

Abstract: Nanorod-array structure gains its popularity in photoelectrode design for water splitting However, the structure’s effects on solid-liquid interface interaction and reaction product transportation still remain unsolved Gas bubble generally evolved from photoelectrodes, which provides a starting point for the problem-solving Based on this, investigations on the gas-evolving photoelectrode are carried out in this paper By experimental studies of wettability on the photoelectrode nanorod-array surface and oxygen bubble growth from anode, we analyzed the interaction affecting the gas-solid-liquid contact behaviors and product transportation mechanism, which is controlled by diffusion due to the concentration gradient of dissolved gases in the aqueous electrolyte and the microconvection caused by the bubble interface movement In the end, based on the bubble growth characteristics of in the experiment, a model describing the product transport mechanism was presented

Tin-Doped Indium Oxide-Titania Core-Shell Nanostructures for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract: Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) hold great promise in the pursuit of reliable and cheap renewable energy. In this work, tin-doped indium oxide (ITO)-TiO2 core-shell nanostructures are used as the photoanode for DSSCs. High-density, vertically aligned ITO nanowires are grown via a thermal evaporation method and TiO2 is coated on nanowire surfaces via TiCl4 treatment. It is found that high TiO2 annealing temperatures increase the crystallinity of TiO2 shell and suppress electron recombination in the core-shell nanostructures. High annealing temperatures also decrease dye loading. The highest efficiency of 3.39% is achieved at a TiO2 annealing temperature of 500°C. When HfO2 blocking layers are inserted between the core and shell of the nanowire, device efficiency is further increased to 5.83%, which is attributed to further suppression of electron recombination from ITO to the electrolyte. Open-circuit voltage decay (OCVD) measurements show that the electron lifetime increases by more than an order of magnitude upon HfO2 insertion. ITO-TiO2 core-shell nanostructures with HfO2 blocking layers are promising photoanodes for DSSCs.

Synthesis and Dielectric Studies of Monoclinic Nanosized Zirconia

Abstract: Zirconium dioxide is a prospective high-κ material that can replace silicon dioxide. Zirconium dioxide nanoparticle has been synthesized using sol-gel process at room temperature. The structural and morphological characterization of the nanoscaled zirconium dioxide is done using FTIR, SEM, X-ray diffraction, and TEM. The particle size of the synthesized ZrO2 is observed in the range of 50–80 nm with an average crystallite size of 2–10 nm. The results are compared with commercial coarse zirconia which showed a particle size in the range of 900 nm–2.13 µm and crystallite size of 5.3 nm–20 nm. It is expected that both nanoscaling and the high dielectric constant of ZrO2 would be useful in replacing the low-κ SiO2 dielectric with high-κ ZrO2 for CMOS fabrication technology. The synthesized ZrO2 is subjected to impedance analysis and it exhibited a dielectric constant of 25 to find its application in short channel devices like multiple gate FinFETS and as a suitable alternative for the conventional gate oxide dielectric SiO2 with dielectric value of 3.9, which cannot survive the challenge of an end of oxide thickness ≤ 1 nm.

Laser Cleaning Using Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser of Low Carbon Steel Alloys

Abstract: This paper represents the efforts to achieve the laser cleaning process of low carbon steel alloys AISI1005 and AISI1012 with 0.65 mm and 1 mm thickness, respectively. The cleaning experiments were performed with a Q-switched Nd:YAG nanosecond laser at wavelengths of 1064 nm and 532 nm. The parameters that have been selected for the present work are peak power which varies as 5, 15, 30, 40, and 50 MW and pulse repetition rate which varies from 1 to 6 Hz by 1 Hz increment. Effects of these parameters on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the two alloys have been realized. Also predicted results of analytical model regarding the depth were compared with the experimental results which show a good agreement between both.

Modeling the Mechanical Properties of Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes and Their Composites: Design at the Atomic Level

Abstract: This investigation focuses on the design of functionalization configuration at the atomic level to determine the influence of atomic structure on the mechanical properties of functionalized carbon nanotubes (F-CNTs) and their composites. Tension and compressive buckling behaviors of different configurations of CNTs functionalized by H atoms are studied by a molecular dynamics (MD) method. It is shown that H-atom functionalization reduces Young’s modulus of CNTs, but Young’s modulus is not sensitive to the functionalization configuration. The configuration does, however, affect the tensile strength and critical buckling stress of CNTs. Further, the stress-strain relations of composites reinforced by nonfunctionalized and various functionalized CNTs are analyzed.