Calibration of High-Resolution X-Ray Tomography With Atomic Force Microscopy

For two-dimensional x-ray imaging of thin films, the technique of scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) has achieved images with feature sizes as small as 40 nm in recent years. However, calibration of three-dimensional tomographic images that are produced with STXM data at this scale has not yet been described in the scientific literature, and the calibration procedure has novel problems that have not been encountered by x-ray tomography carried out at a larger scale. In x-ray microtomography, for example, one always has the option of using optical imaging on a section of the object to verify the x-ray projection measurements; with STXM, on the other hand, the sample features are too small to be resolved by light at optical wavelengths. This fact implies that one must rely on procedures with higher resolution, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), for the calibration. Such procedures, however, generally depend on a highly destructive sectioning of the sample, and are difficult to interpret because they give surface information rather than depth information. In this article, a procedure for calibration is described that overcomes these limitations and achieves a calibration of an STXM tomography image with an AFM image and a scanning electron microscopy image of the same object.A Ge star-shaped pattern was imaged at a synchrotron with a scanning transmission x-ray microscope. Nineteen high-resolution projection images of 200 × 200 pixels were tomographically reconstructed into a three-dimensional image. Features in two-dimensional images as small as 40 nm and features as small as 80 nm in the three-dimensional reconstruction were resolved. Transverse length scales based on atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray transmission and tomographic reconstruction agreed to within 10 nm. Toward the center of the sample, the pattern thickness calculated from projection images was (51 ± 15) nm vs (80 ± 52) nm for tomographic reconstruction, where the uncertainties are evaluated at the level of two standard deviations.     

新型闪光X射线二极管绝缘结构设计

小型脉冲X射线系统用于流体动力学实验和武器物理规律、常规武器设计等的研究,为研制较高性能的便携紧凑型闪光X射线二极管,介绍了冷阴极X射线二极管的工作原理;阐述了二极管绝缘结构设计原则;采用数字模拟计算辅助设计设计了一种新型的紧凑型轴向绝缘结构的X射线二极管并给出了设计参数。计算结果表明:二极管的工作场强低于真空闪络场强;所有三相点的工作场强均满足绝缘要求。通过模拟计算结果改进了结构设计以利于在狭小空间进行闪光照相。     

基于随机扰动梯度近似的图像复原与重构算法

为了复原缺乏先验知识的降质图像以及探索层析X射线图像重构的新途径,借鉴Spall 和Cristion的随机扰动近似(SPSA)方法,将其扩展到高阶和多元的情形,进而提出了一种新的随机扰动梯度近似算法.此算法无须先验知识或后验概率,具有良好的稳定收敛性.对比实验表明,将此算法用于图像的复原和重构可获得良好的效果,而且性能稳定.     

基于Modelica技术的Dante谱仪解谱建模仿真

针对ICF实验数据量大、多学科、多项目的特点,提出了采用Modelica多领域建模与仿真语言进行ICF实验数据处理的建模思路,以使模型的标准统一,可读性强,同时利于ICF实验的知识积累,并进行了软X光谱仪基函数解谱方法的Modelica建模仿真。仿真结果符合实际情况,对构建基于Modelica的ICF实验数据处理系统具有重要意义。     

Dual-Additive-Driven Morphology Optimization for Solvent-Annealing-Free All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells

All-small-molecule organic solar cells (ASM-OSCs), which consist of small-molecule donors and acceptors, have recently been studied extensively to eliminate the batch-to-batch variation from polymer-based donor or acceptor. On the other hand, the control of their active layer morphology is more challenging due to the similar chemical structure and miscibility of small-molecule donor and small-molecule accepter. Hence, this study develops a dual-additive-driven morphology optimization method for ASM-OSCs based on BTR-Cl:Y6. One solid additive – 1,4-diiodobenzene (DIB) and one liquid additive – diiodomethane (DIM) are selected, making use of their distinct interaction mechanisms with Y6 and BTR-Cl. It is found that DIB can form a eutectic phase with Y6, which can increase the intermolecular interactions and modulate the acceptor phase separation, while the simultaneous volatilization of DIM suppresses the over-aggregation of BTR-Cl during the film casting process. As a result of the synergistic morphology tuning, the optimized device delivers a power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 15.2%, among the highest PCE reported to date for binary ASM-OSCs without solvent annealing treatment. This work demonstrates the potential of morphology tuning via the incorporation of dual additives into ASM-OSCs, enabling them to achieve comparable efficiencies to those of conventional polymer/small-molecule based OSCs.     

Statistical analysis and recovery behaviors of dislocations in cold-rolled and annealed reactor pressure vessel steels

The statistical analysis and recovery behavior of dislocations in cold-rolled and annealed reactor pressure vessel steels with a thickness reduction of 50 % were investigated by using x-ray diffraction and electron backscattered diffraction analysis in this study. A new modified Kubin & Mortensen's method was proposed to evaluate the geometrically necessary dislocation density, and this method could effectively improve the accuracy of geometrically necessary dislocation evaluation by eliminating the effect of step size and measurement noises. Comparison analysis between modified Williamson-Hall and modified Kubin & Mortensen's methods was also performed in this study, which shows different recovery behavior of dislocations. The electron backscattered diffraction results show that geometrically necessary dislocation density remained unchangeable after annealing treatment below and at 550 °C, and it occurred to decrease above 550 °C due to the occurrence of recrystallization. However, dislocations started to migrate and annihilate at 340 °C according to x-ray diffraction results. A possible explanation is a difference in the effect of pairwise dislocation annihilation on statistically stored dislocations and geometrically necessary dislocations.     

Advanced 3D and 4D microstructure study of single granule formation for pharmaceutical powders using synchrotron x-ray imaging

Monitoring the microstructure of the granule in the wet granulation process could play a decisive role in obtaining high-quality granules. Due to the complex, fast and opaque nature of wet granulation, it cannot be captured by conventional methods. In this study, synchrotron x-ray imaging was employed for the first time to investigate the internal real-time pore evolution during the granule formation process, based on the single droplet impact method. It was found that granules from coarser and more homogenous powders experienced a higher rate of pore evolution during nucleation with a more uniform pore distribution. Dynamic wetting studies showed the granule formation mechanisms, the crater mechanism was found for most binary mixtures with 50 wt. % excipients. According to the physical tests, the granules with lower porosity and finer pores exhibited higher hardness and a slower dissolution rate.