Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “FILMS”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Structural instability of the CoO 4 tetrahedral chain in SrCoO 3-δ thin films

Raman scattering experiments together with detailed lattice dynamic calculations are performed to elucidate crystallographic and electronic peculiarities of SrCoO 3-δ films. We observe that the 85 cm -1 phonon mode involving the rotation of a CoO 4 tetrahedron undergoes a hardening by 21 cm -1 when the temperature is decreased. In addition, new phonon modes appear at 651.5 and 697.6 cm -1 . The latter modes are attributed to the Jahn-Teller activated modes. Upon cooling from room temperature, all phonons exhibit an exponential-like increase of intensity with a characteristic energy of about 103–107 K. We attribute this phenomenon to an instability of the CoO 4 tetrahedral chain structure, which constitutes a key ingredient to understand the electronic and structural properties of the brownmillerite SrCoO 2.5 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Magnetism and electronic structure of YTiO{sub 3} thin films

High-quality (001)-oriented (pseudo-cubic notation) ferromagnetic YTiO{sub 3} thin films were epitaxially synthesized in a layer-by-layer way by pulsed laser deposition. Structural, magnetic, and electronic properties were characterized by reflection-high-energy-electron-diffraction, X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, and element-resolved resonant soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy. To reveal ferromagnetism of the constituent titanium ions, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy was carried out using four detection modes probing complementary spatial scale, which overcomes a challenge of probing ferromagnetic titanium with pure Ti{sup 3+}(3d{sup 1}). Our work provides a pathway to distinguish between the roles of titanium and A-site magnetic rare-earth cations in determining the magnetism in rare-earth titanates thin films and heterostructures.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electronic transition above room temperature in CaMn{sub 7}O{sub 12} films

We report on the electronic phase transition in CaMn{sub 7}O{sub 12} quadruple perovskite films synthesized by oxide molecular beam epitaxy on SrLaAlO{sub 4} and La{sub 0.3}Sr{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.65}Ta{sub 0.35}O{sub 3} substrates. We use x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy to confirm that the CaMn{sub 7}O{sub 12} phase has been realized. Temperature dependent resistivity measurements reveal a signature of a charge ordering phase transition at ≈425 K, consistent with bulk CaMn{sub 7}O{sub 12}. The transition temperature is found to be relatively invariant to changes in the cation stoichiometry. Density functional theory calculations reveal the changes in atomic and electronic structure induced by the charge ordering transition.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Soft x-ray ptychography studies of nanoscale magnetic and structural correlations in thin SmCo 5 films

High spatial resolution magnetic x-ray spectromicroscopy at x-ray photon energies near the cobalt L 3 resonance was applied to probe an amorphous 50 nm thin SmCo 5 film prepared by off-axis pulsed laser deposition onto an x-ray transparent 200 nm thin Si 3 N 4 membrane. Alternating gradient magnetometry shows a strong in-plane anisotropy and an only weak perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, which is confirmed by magnetic transmission soft x-ray microscopy images showing over a field of view of 10 μm a primarily stripe-like domain pattern but with local labyrinth-like domains. Soft x-ray ptychography in amplitude and phase contrast was used to identify and characterize local magnetic and structural features over a field of view of 1 μm with a spatial resolution of about 10 nm. There, the magnetic labyrinth domain patterns are accompanied by nanoscale structural inclusions that are primarily located in close proximity to the magnetic domain walls. In conclusion, our analysis suggests that these inclusions are nanocrystalline Sm 2 Co 17 phases with nominally in-plane magnetic anisotropy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Compact spherical neutron polarimeter using high-T{sub c} YBCO films

We describe a simple, compact device for spherical neutron polarimetry measurements at small neutron scattering angles. The device consists of a sample chamber with very low (<0.01 G) magnetic field flanked by regions within which the neutron polarization can be manipulated in a controlled manner. This allows any selected initial and final polarization direction of the neutrons to be obtained. We have constructed a prototype device using high-T{sub c} superconducting films and mu-metal to isolate regions with different magnetic fields and tested device performance in transmission geometry. Finite-element methods were used to simulate the device’s field profile and these have been verified by experiment using a small solenoid as a test sample. Measurements are reported using both monochromatic and polychromatic neutron sources. The results show that the device is capable of extracting sample information and distinguishing small angular variations of the sample magnetic field. As a more realistic test, we present results on the characterization of a 10 μm thick Permalloy film in zero magnetic field, as well as its response to an external magnetic field.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

The impact of ultra-thin titania interlayers on open circuit voltage and carrier lifetime in thin film solar cells

We study the effects of modifying indium tin oxide electrodes with ultrathin titania (TiO 2 ) layers grown via plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD). We find an optimal thickness of PE-ALD-grown titania by tracking performance, which initially increases, peaks, and eventually decreases with increasing TiO 2 thickness. We use scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) to measure both the local work function and its distribution as a function of TiO 2 thickness. We find that the variance in contact potential difference across the surface of the film is related to either the amorphous or anatase TiO 2 form. Finally, we use local SKPM recombination rate experiments, supported by bulk transient photovoltage and charge extraction measurements. Here, we show that the optimum TiO 2 thickness is the one for which the carrier lifetime is the longest and the charge carrier density is the highest, when the TiO 2 is amorphous, in agreement with the device measurements.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Cross-calibration of Fuji TR image plate and RAR 2492 x-ray film to determine the response of a DITABIS Super Micron image plate scanner

Fuji TR image plate is frequently used as a replacement detector medium for x-ray imaging and spectroscopy diagnostics at NIF, Omega, and Z facilities. However, the familiar Fuji BAS line of image plate scanners is no longer supported by the industry, and so a replacement scanning system is needed. While the General Electric Typhoon line of scanners could replace the Fuji systems, the shift away from photo stimulated luminescence units to 16-bit grayscale Tag Image File Format (TIFF) leaves a discontinuity when comparing data collected from both systems. For the purposes of quantitative spectroscopy, a known unit of intensity applied to the grayscale values of the TIFF is needed. The DITABIS Super Micron image plate scanning system was tested and shown to potentially rival the resolution and dynamic range of Kodak RAR 2492 x-ray film. However, the absolute sensitivity of the scanner is unknown. In this work, a methodology to cross calibrate Fuji TR image plate and the absolutely calibrated Kodak RAR 2492 x-ray film is presented. Details of the experimental configurations used are included. An energy dependent scale factor to convert Fuji TR IP scanned on a DITABIS Super Micron scanner from 16-bit grayscale TIFF to intensity units (i.e., photons per square micron) is discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electric-field-induced strain effects on the magnetization of a Pr 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 film

The electric-field control of magnetic properties of Pr 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 (PSMO) film on piezoelectric Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -PbTiO 3 (PMNT) substrate was investigated. The piezoelectric response of the PMNT substrate to the electric field produced strain that was coupled to the PSMO film. The in-plane compressive (tensile) strain increased (decreased) the magnetization. The change of magnetic moment was associated with the Mn ions. First principle simulations showed that the strain-induced electronic redistribution of the two e g orbitals (3d z 2 and 3d x 2 -y 2 ) of Mn ions was responsible for the change of magnetic moment. This work demonstrates that the magnetoelectric effect in manganite/piezoelectric hetero-structures originates from the change in eg orbital occupancy of Mn ions induced by strain rather than the interfacial effect.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cation and anion topotactic transformations in cobaltite thin films leading to Ruddlesden-Popper phases.

Topotactic transformations involve structural changes between related crystal structures due to a loss or gain of material while retaining a crystallographic relationship. The perovskite oxide La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 (LSCO) is an ideal system for investigating phase transformations due to its high oxygen vacancy conductivity, relatively low oxygen vacancy formation energy, and strong coupling of the magnetic and electronic properties to the oxygen stoichiometry. While the transition between cobaltite perovskite and brownmillerite (BM) phases has been widely reported, further reduction beyond the BM phase lacks systematic studies. In this paper, we study the evolution of the physical properties of LSCO thin films upon exposure to highly reducing environments. We observe the rarely reported crystalline Ruddlesden-Popper phase, which involves the loss of both oxygen anions and cobalt cations upon annealing where the cobalt is found as isolated Co ions or Co nanoparticles. First-principles calculations confirm that the concurrent loss of oxygen and cobalt ions is thermodynamically possible through an intermediary BM phase. The strong correlation of the magnetic and electronic properties to the crystal structure highlights the potential of utilizing ion migration as a basis for emerging applications such as neuromorphic computing.

Chiu, I-Ting↗
DOE OSTI2015

Interdiffusion in nanometric Fe/Ni multilayer films

[Fe (3.1 nm)/Ni (3.3 nm)]{sub 20} multilayer films were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering onto oxidized Si(100) substrates. The Fe and Ni layers were shown to both be face-centered cubic by x-ray diffraction. Interdiffusion of the Fe and Ni layers in the temperature range of 300–430 °C was studied by x-ray reflectivity. From the decay of the integral intensity of the superlattice peak, the activation energy and the pre-exponential term for the effective interdiffusion coefficient were determined as to 1.06 ± 0.07 eV and 5 × 10{sup −10} cm{sup 2}/s, respectively. The relevance of the measured interdiffusion coefficient to the laboratory timescale synthesis of L1{sub 0} ordered FeNi as a rare-earth free permanent magnet is discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Spatial atomic layer deposition on flexible porous substrates: ZnO on anodic aluminum oxide films and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} on Li ion battery electrodes

Spatial atomic layer deposition (S-ALD) was examined on flexible porous substrates utilizing a rotating cylinder reactor to perform the S-ALD. S-ALD was first explored on flexible polyethylene terephthalate polymer substrates to obtain S-ALD growth rates on flat surfaces. ZnO ALD with diethylzinc and ozone as the reactants at 50 °C was the model S-ALD system. ZnO S-ALD was then performed on nanoporous flexible anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) films. ZnO S-ALD in porous substrates depends on the pore diameter, pore aspect ratio, and reactant exposure time that define the gas transport. To evaluate these parameters, the Zn coverage profiles in the pores of the AAO films were measured using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). EDS measurements were conducted for different reaction conditions and AAO pore geometries. Substrate speeds and reactant pulse durations were defined by rotating cylinder rates of 10, 100, and 200 revolutions per minute (RPM). AAO pore diameters of 10, 25, 50, and 100 nm were utilized with a pore length of 25 μm. Uniform Zn coverage profiles were obtained at 10 RPM and pore diameters of 100 nm. The Zn coverage was less uniform at higher RPM values and smaller pore diameters. These results indicate that S-ALD into porous substrates is feasible under certain reaction conditions. S-ALD was then performed on porous Li ion battery electrodes to test S-ALD on a technologically important porous substrate. Li{sub 0.20}Mn{sub 0.54}Ni{sub 0.13}Co{sub 0.13}O{sub 2} electrodes on flexible metal foil were coated with Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} using 2–5 Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} ALD cycles. The Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} ALD was performed in the S-ALD reactor at a rotating cylinder rate of 10 RPM using trimethylaluminum and ozone as the reactants at 50 °C. The capacity of the electrodes was then tested versus number of charge–discharge cycles. These measurements revealed that the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} S-ALD coating on the electrodes enhanced the capacity stability. This S-ALD process could be extended to roll-to-roll operation for the commercialization of S-ALD for coating Li ion battery electrodes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗