Formation of ST12 phase Ge nanoparticles in ZnO thin films

In this work, we focus on the Ge nanoparticles (Ge-np) embedded ZnO multilayered thin films. Effects of reactive and nonreactive growth of ZnO layers on the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) induced formation of Ge-np have been specifically investigated. The samples were deposited by sequential r.f. and d.c. sputtering of ZnO and Ge thin film layers, respectively on Si substrates. As-prepared thin film samples have been exposed to an ex-situ RTA at 600 °C for 60 s under forming gas atmosphere. Structural characterizations have been performed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman scattering, Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques. It has been realized that reactive or nonreactive growth of ZnO layers significantly influences the morphology of the ZnO: Ge samples, most prominently the crystal structure of Ge-np. XRD and Raman analysis have revealed that while reactive growth results in a mixture of diamond cubic (DC) and simple tetragonal (ST12) Ge-np, nonreactive growth leads to the formation of only DC Ge-np upon RTA process. Formation of ST12 Ge-np has been discussed based on structural differences due to reactive and nonreactive growth of ZnO embedding layer.     

高纯半绝缘SiC电阻率影响因素

采用物理气相传输(PVT)法进行高纯半绝缘SiC晶体生长,利用高温真空解吸附以及在系统中通入HCl和H2的方法,有效降低了系统中N、B和Al等杂质的背景浓度。使用二次离子质谱(SIMS)对晶体中杂质浓度测试,N、B和Al浓度分别小于1×1016、1×1015和2×1014 cm-3。对加工得到的晶片进行测试,全片的电阻率均在1×1010Ω·cm以上,微管密度小于0.02 cm-2,(004)衍射面的X射线摇摆曲线半高宽为34″。结果表明,该方法可以有效降低SiC晶体中N、B和Al等杂质浓度,提升SiC晶片的电阻率。使用该方法成功制备了4英寸(1英寸=2.54 cm)高纯半绝缘4H-SiC晶体。     

Properties of reacto-thermitically sintered stainless steel

Abstract

Reacto-thermitic sintering (RTS) is a novel process capable of producing near net shape powder metallurgical stainless steel components with negligible interconnected porosity at sintering temperatures of 1150°C. It utilises chemical reactions between oxides present on the surface of conventional stainless steel powders and small quantities of reactive additives to produce a transient liquid phase. This liquid can be frozen during cooling to consolidate the component without slumping. Previous work by the authors has studied the fundamental mechanisms underpinning the evolution of this liquid phase and its subsequent behaviour in eliminating porosity. The present paper investigates the effect of varying the quantity of reactive additive on the dimensional stability, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance of stainless steel specimens produced by RTS in the light of this work.     

Signal noise perturbation on automotive mixed-mode semiconductor device generated by graded substrate defect

The semiconductor technologies evolution allows greatly reducing noise impact on products and many structures have been created to reduce its effect. However, this paper presents the apparition of a noise issue during the production of a mixed-mode device dedicated to automotive applications. The research investigations concerned the fact that failure was not detected at test level but at customer level; therefore, it was determinant to understand the root cause of this failure mode to drive corrective actions in order to secure customer. The challenge was to analyse noise in Failure Analysis (FA) without fault spatial localization results. Indeed, Light Emission Microscopy (EMMI) and Thermal Laser Stimulation (ex: Soft Defect Localization – SDL) were unable to provide any defective area in the product. The lack of failing device identification led us to combine electrical and design analyses in order to define hypothesis on the failure origin. It was then possible to drive physical investigations through different approaches, using physical cross-section, Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) and Scanning Capacitance Microscopy (SCM) techniques. Finally, the obtained complementary results will be discussed and an explanation of the failure mechanism will be presented as the root cause issue, allowing defining the defective step in production process.     

Limitation of Na-H codoping in achieving device-quality p-type ZnO

Na-H in-situ codoping in single crystalline ZnO films was carried out by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that Na-H codoping dramatically enhances the formation of substitutional Na (Na_Zn) in ZnO lattice due to the unchanged Fermi level. The annealing temperature needed to kick out H, however, is very high, which would concurrently result in a notable decrease of Na concentration to its solution limit in ZnO, namely, in the range of 10¹⁷ cm⁻³. Our results suggest that Na-H codoping method has a limited effect on enhancing the p-type conductivity of ZnO.     

Interaction of energetic clusters (Au3, Au400 and C60) with organic material and adsorbed gold nanoparticles

Using molecular dynamics simulations (MD), this contribution compares the interaction of three energetic clusters (Au₃, Au₄₀₀ and C₆₀) with a hybrid surface of crystalline polyethylene (PE) covered by a layer of gold nanoparticles. This model system mimics the situation encountered in metal-assisted secondary ion mass spectrometry. The chosen impact points are representative of the PE surface, the metal particles and the frontier between the metal and the polymer. The simulations show the differences between the impact over the Au nanoparticle and the polymer surface, in terms of projectile penetration, crater formation and sputtering yield of PE and gold species. For C₆₀ and Au₃ projectiles, a simple correlation is found between the quantity of energy deposited in the top polymeric layers and the quantity of sputtered polymer material, including all the impact points. The results obtained with Au₄₀₀ do not fit on this line, indicating that other physical parameters are prevalent. The mechanistic view of the interaction provided by the MD helps explain the differences. In short, while C₆₀ and Au₃ quickly break apart, creating energetic recoils and severing many bonds in the surface, Au₄₀₀, with the largest total momentum by far (∼10 times larger than the others) and the lowest energy per atom (25 eV), tends to act and implant in the solid as a single entity, pushing the polymeric material downwards and breaking few bonds in the surface.     

Highly sensitive molecular detection with swift heavy ions

Various imaging techniques using microbeam have been applied in biology. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is one of the prominent tools for biological imaging; SIMS can provide data on molecular distribution in biological samples smaller than 1 μm. However, conventional SIMS has only low sensitivity for molecular ions; therefore there is a need for beams of more sensitive primary ions. Plasma desorption mass spectrometry (PDMS) is a method using high energy fission fragments from excitation of a ²⁵²Cf source, and it allows ionization of large molecules (typically up to 20 kDa) due to the dense electronic excitation. Although PDMS is not in use today because of the development of soft ionization methods, ionization induced by high energy ion collision still remains the only method which combines high spatial resolution and sensitive detection of large molecules. In this work, the secondary ion yield of amino acid and phospholipid was measured for 6 MeV Cu⁴⁺. The yields were compared to bismuth cluster ions, which achieve relatively high yield. It was confirmed that the swift heavy ion has a couple of hundred times higher yield for large molecules than bismuth cluster ions.     

Adhesion Promotion by Silanes: A Study of their Interfacial Chemistry in a Model Polystyrene Coating by XPS and SIMS

Adhesion of a polystyrene coating to solvent cleaned steel is increased two-fold by addition of 0.5% wt/wt of aminosilane (A1120). A study has been carried out on the coating-substrate interfacial chemistry to gain an understanding of the mechanism of adhesion promotion. It is shown that in peel experiments the coating fails adhesively between the polystyrene and an adsorbed layer of aminosilane on the steel surface. The improvement in adhesion results from displacement by the silane of the 1.4 nm thick layer of residual carbonaceous contamination on the steel surface. It is proposed that this leads to a stronger substrate-coating interaction either through improved intermolecular contact between the segregated silane and the polymer or through secondary bonding between the amine groups of the silane and the polarisable aromatic rings of the polystyrene.     

Interphase Formation and the Characterisation of Polymer/Ceramic Adhesion

The adhesion of photocured resins to ceramic substrates has been investigated using a variety of surface analytical techniques. Work has been aimed at establishing the physical and chemical interactions between resin and substrate in the interphase region and the effect of environmental exposure on these Analysis was aided by use of specially-designed, in-situ fracture facilities attached by an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer. Specific attention was focused on identification of localised regions of varying chemical composition in adhesive and adherend by imaging spectroscopies (imaging XPS and ToF SIMS imaging) and the study of the significance of such heterogeneities on adhesion and subsequent failure mechanisms.     

Low-temperature atomic layer deposition of Al2O3 thin coatings for corrosion protection of steel: Surface and electrochemical analysis

ToF-SIMS, XPS, voltammetry and EIS investigation of the anti-corrosion properties of thin (10, 50 and 100 nm) alumina coatings grown by atomic layer deposition at 160 °C on steel is reported. Surface analysis shows a thickness-independent Al₂O₃ stoichiometry of the coating and trace contamination by the growth precursors. The buried coating/alloy interface has iron oxide formed in ambient air and/or resulting from the growth of spurious traces in the initial stages of deposition. Electrochemical analysis yields an exponential decay of the coating porosity over four orders of magnitude with increasing thickness, achieved by sealing of the more defective first deposited 10 nm.