Electron transport properties of some new 4-tert-butylcalix[4]arene derivatives in thin films

Temperature dependences of electric conductivity and thermoelectric power of some recently synthesized organic compounds, 4-tert-butylcalix[4]arene derivatives, are studied. Thin-film samples (d = 0.10–0.40 μm) spin-coated from chloroform solutions onto glass substrates were used. Organic films with reproducible electron transport properties can be obtained if, after deposition, they are submitted to a heat treatment within temperature range of 295–575 K.     

Evaluation of the content of TiO2 nanoparticles in the coatings of chewing gums

Titanium dioxide is a metal oxide used as a white pigment in many food categories, including confectionery. Due to differences in the mass fraction of nanoparticles contained in TiO₂, the estimated intakes of TiO₂ nanoparticles differ by a factor of 10 in the literature. To resolve this problem, a better estimation of the mass of nanoparticles present in food products is needed. In this study, we focused our efforts on chewing gum, which is one of the food products contributing most to the intake of TiO₂. The coatings of four kinds of chewing gum, where the presence of TiO₂ was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, were extracted in aqueous phases. The extracts were analysed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Raman spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to establish their chemical composition, crystallinity and size distribution. The coatings of the four chewing gums differ chemically from each other, and more specifically the amount of TiO₂ varies from one coating to another. TiO₂ particles constitute the entire coating of some chewing gums, whereas for others, TiO₂ particles are embedded in an organic matrix and/or mixed with minerals like calcium carbonate, talc, or magnesium silicate. We found 1.1 ± 0.3 to 17.3 ± 0.9 mg TiO₂ particles per piece of chewing gum, with a mean diameter of 135 ± 42 nm. TiO₂ nanoparticles account for 19 ± 4% of all particles, which represents a mass fraction of 4.2 ± 0.1% on average. The intake of nanoparticles is thus highly dependent on the kind of chewing gum, with an estimated range extending from 0.04 ± 0.01 to 0.81 ± 0.04 mg of nano-TiO₂ per piece of chewing gum. These data should serve to refine the exposure scenario.     

Decomposition of the polycyclic nitramine explosive, CL-20, by Fe(0)

CL-20 (2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane), C6H6N12O12, is an emerging energetic chemical that may replace RDX, but its degradation pathways are not well-known. In the present study, zerovalent iron was used to degrade CL-20 with the aim of determining its products and degradation pathways. In the absence of O2, CL-20 underwent a rapid decomposition with the concurrent formation of nitrite to ultimately produce nitrous oxide, ammonium, formate, glyoxal, and glycolate. LC/MS (ES-) showed the presence of several key products carrying important information on the initial reactions involved in the degradation of CL-20. For instance, a doubly denitrated intermediate of CL-20 was detected together with the mono- and dinitroso derivatives of the energetic chemical. Two other intermediates with [M-H]- at 392 and 376 Da, matching empirical formulas of C6H7N11O10 and C6H7N11O9, respectively, were detected. Using 15N-labeled CL-20, the two intermediates were tentatively identified as the denitrohydrogenated products of CL-20 and its mononitroso derivative, respectively. The present experimental findings suggest that CL-20 degraded via at least two initial routes: one involving denitration and the second involving sequential reduction of the N-NO2 to the corresponding nitroso (N-NO) derivatives prior to denitration and ring cleavage.     

A 56-nm CMOS 99-mm2 8-Gb Multi-Level NAND Flash Memory With 10-MB/s Program Throughput

A single 3.3-V only, 8-Gb NAND flash memory with the smallest chip to date, 98.8 mm², has been successfully developed. This is the world's first integrated semiconductor chip fabricated with 56-nm CMOS technologies. The effective cell size including the select transistors is 0.0075 mum² per bit, which is the smallest ever reported. To decrease the chip size, a very efficient floor plan with one-sided row decoder, one-sided page buffer, and one-sided pad is introduced. As a result, an excellent 70% cell area efficiency is realized. The program throughput is drastically improved to twice as large as previously reported and comparable to binary memories. The best ever 10-MB/s programming is realized by increasing the page size from 4kB to 8kB. In addition, noise cancellation circuits and the dual VDD-line scheme realize both a small die size and a fast programming. An external page copy achieves a fast 93-ms block copy, efficiently using a 1-MB block size     

The effects of sintering temperature on structural,electrical, and magnetic properties of MgFe1.92Bi0.08O4

Journal of Electroceramics - In this article, MgFe1.92Bi0.08O4 ceramics were prepared by the solid-state synthesis method followed by sintering at 1000, 1050, 1100, and 1150 °C. The...     

ZnS stacking order influence on the formation of Zn-poor and Zn-rich Cu2ZnSnS4 phase

This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) absorber films, prepared by a two-step electrodeposition of a ZnS (zinc sulfide) binary and a CZT (copper, zinc and tin) ternary precursors on Mo/Ti/Si substrates. The as-electrodeposited ZnS/CZT and CZT/ZnS stacks were thermally treated in a tubular furnace in sulfur environment at 550 °C. The role of the ZnS buffer layer is to provide a zinc and sulfur reservoir, needed to complete the formation of kesterite phase. X-ray diffraction and Raman analyses revealed the formation of the CZTS phase. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the films were studied using a scanning electron microscope. The bandgap values inferred from diffuse reflectance data, are discussed with respect to the stoichiometry which is considerably affected by the order of the stacks. Room-temperature photoluminescence of the CZT/ZnS sample showed a board PL band of 1.51 eV. It was found that the film with a ZnS layer on top is preferred for the formation of a Zn-rich single CZTS phase.

     

Electric and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic/piezoelectric bilayered composite

One of the most promising ways for the realization of multi-functional materials is the integration of oxides with different properties in artificial heterostructures. In this paper, a novel piezoelectric–ferromagnetic heterostructure consisting of 0.92Na_0.5Bi_0.5TiO₃–0.08BaTiO₃ (abbreviated as BNT–BT_0.08) and CoFe₂O₄ layers is fabricated on Si–Pt substrate, by sol–gel method coupled with spin-coating technique. The composite thin film shows only perovskite Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃-like rhombohedral phase and CoFe₂O₄ cubic phase. The thickness of CoFe₂O₄ and BNT–BT_0.08 layers is ~?280 and?~?400 nm, respectively. BNT–BT_0.08/CoFe₂O₄ heterostructure thin film shows a saturation magnetization of 0.11 emu/g at 5 K and 0.07 emu/g at 295 K, dielectric constant of 235 at 1 kHz and tunability of 70% at 1 kHz and an electric field E?=?110 kV/cm. The results reveal that the investigated hybrid piezoelectric/ferromagnetic structure shows piezoelectric behavior, good ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties. This bilayer composite can be used in miniature low-frequency magnetic sensor and piezoelectric sensor for biomedical domain.     

Pulsed laser deposition of YBCO thin films in a shadow mask configuration

We present an investigation on a modified pulsed laser deposition method (PLD) that employs plume geometric shadowing (Nd:YAG laser, 1.06 μm, 2.5 J/cm², YBCO target). A plane shadow mask and a newly proposed helical mask were used. The aim of our approach was to improve the film surface morphology. The study investigated the influence of the main geometrical parameters of the two configurations on the plume propagation and film morphology. Using the shadow plane mask method we deposited extremely smooth YBCO films with a roughness of 4–5 nm (RMS), which is an improvement of two orders of magnitude compared with standard PLD. The helical shadow mask allows deposition of films of the same roughness as in the plane mask case, but brings further improvement by eliminating the film thickness non-uniformity, typical for plane mask configuration. In both cases the deposition rate decreased up to 7–12 times compared with standard PLD.     

Insights into the optical,magnetic and dielectric properties of some novel polysulfone/NiFe2O4 composite materials

Novel polysulfone (PSU)/NiFe₂O₄ nanocomposites with good magneto‐dielectric properties were prepared in a simple and cost‐effective manner. Nickel ferrite nanoparticles exhibit a cubic spinel phase without any impurity phases according to X‐ray diffraction characterization. Transmission electron microscopy images of the nanoparticles showed a tetragonal particle shape with average particle size of 17–30 nm. The thermal stability of PSU proved to remain unaffected by nanoparticle concentration in the composite material. The emission spectra of the PSU/NiFe₂O₄ nanocomposites present a broad emission band located at 370 nm due to free exciton recombination. The composites exhibit hysteresis loops of a ferrimagnetic nature and good dielectric properties. Coercivity value measured at room temperature is 20.64 and 24.98 Oe and the squareness (M_r/M_s) is 0.290 and 0.225 for both polymer composite samples (4 and 24 vol% Ni ferrite). The formalism of the dielectric loss has been used to estimate the dipolar relaxations expressed by γ‐ and β‐relaxation processes. The presence of Ni ferrite nanoparticles in the PSU matrix increases the activation energy of secondary relaxations, which means a reduction of the molecular mobility in the nanocomposites as compared to PSU. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry