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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.

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At least 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Stress-induced VO{sub 2} films with M2 monoclinic phase stable at room temperature grown by inductively coupled plasma-assisted reactive sputtering

We report on growth of VO{sub 2} films with M2 monoclinic phase stable at room temperature under atmospheric pressure. The films were grown on quartz glass and Si substrates by using an inductively coupled plasma-assisted reactive sputtering method. XRD-sin{sup 2}{Psi} measurements revealed that the films with M2 phase are under compressive stress in contrast to tensile stress of films with M1 phase. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed characteristic crystal grain aspects with formation of periodical twin structure of M2 phase. Structural phase transition from M2 to tetragonal phases, accompanied by a resistance change, was confirmed to occur as the temperature rises. Growth of VO{sub 2} films composed of M2 phase crystalline is of strong interest for clarifying nature of Mott transition of strongly correlated materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Radio frequency-power and the ring-mode to red-mode transition in an inductively coupled plasma

The optical output of an alkali-metal inductively coupled plasma (alkali-ICP) plays an important role in both atomic magnetometers and atomic clocks, producing these devices' atomic signals through optical pumping. Unfortunately, though the alkali-ICP's optical pumping efficiency grows exponentially with temperature, at relatively high temperatures ({approx}140 deg. C) the discharge transitions from ''ring mode'' to ''red mode'', which is a spectral change in the plasma's output that corresponds broadly to a transition from ''good emission'' for optical pumping to ''poor emission.'' Recently, evidence has accumulated pointing to radiation trapping as the mechanism driving the ring-mode to red-mode transition, suggesting that the phenomenon is primarily linked to the alkali vapor's temperature. However, observations of the transition made in the 1960 s, demonstrating that the ICP temperature associated with the transition depended on rf-power, would appear to cast doubt on this mechanism. Here, we carefully investigate the influence of rf-power on the ring-mode to red-mode transition, finding that rf-power only affects the transition through discharge heating. Thus, the present work shows that the primary effect of rf-power on the ring-mode to red-mode transition can be understood in terms of the radiation trapping mechanism.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Non-inductive current start-up assisted by energetic electrons in Q-shu University experiment with steady-state spherical tokamak

After intensive discharge cleaning of the chamber wall, non-inductive current start-up experiments have been successfully performed in QUEST in moderate vertical fields of about 1.0-1.5 mT with positive n-index. Simultaneously, with increasing plasma current, an asymmetric toroidal flow of energetic electrons was observed and direct measurements of current driven by this asymmetric flow were taken with a newly developed Langmuir probe technique. A numerical study of the energetic electron orbits indicates that the total current is enough to play a dominant role in the formation of a closed flux surface in QUEST.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Influence of heat and particle fluxes nonlocality on spatial distribution of plasma density in two-chamber inductively coupled plasma sources

This study presents 2D simulations of the two-chamber inductively coupled plasma source where power is supplied in the small discharge chamber and extends by electron thermal conductivity mechanism to the big diffusion chamber. Depending on pressure, two main scenarios of plasma density and its spatial distribution behavior were identified. One case is characterized by the localization of plasma in the small driver chamber where power is deposed. Another case describes when the diffusion chamber becomes the main source of plasma with maximum of the electron density. The differences in spatial distribution are caused by local or non-local behavior of electron energy transport in the discharge volume due to different characteristic scale of heat transfer with electronic conductivity.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Global model of a gridded-ion thruster powered by a radiofrequency inductive coil

A global (volume-averaged) model of a gridded-ion thruster is proposed. The neutral propellant (xenon gas) is injected into the thruster chamber at a fixed rate and a plasma is generated by circulating a radiofrequency current in an inductive coil. The ions generated in this plasma are accelerated out of the thruster by a pair of DC biased grids. The neutralization downstream is not treated. Xenon atoms also flow out of the thruster across the grids. The model, based on particle and energy balance equations, solves for four global variables in the thruster chamber: the plasma density, the electron temperature, the neutral gas (atom) density, and the neutral gas temperature. The important quantities to evaluate the thruster efficiency and performances are calculated from these variables and from the voltage across the grids. It is found that the mass utilization efficiency rapidly decreases with the gas flow rate. However, the radiofrequency power transfer efficiency increases significantly with the injected gas flow rate. Therefore, there is a compromise to be found between these two quantities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

The effects of neutral gas heating on H mode transition and maintenance currents in a 13.56 MHz planar coil inductively coupled plasma reactor

The H mode transition and maintenance currents in a 13.56 MHz laboratory 6 turn planar coil inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactor are simulated for low pressure argon discharge range of 0.02-0.3 mbar with neutral gas heating and at ambient temperature. An experimentally fitted 3D power evolution plot for 0.02 mbar argon pressure is also shown to visualize the effects of hysteresis in the system. Comparisons between simulation and experimental measurements show good agreement in the pressure range of 0.02-0.3 mbar for transition currents and 0.02-0.1 mbar for maintenance currents only when neutral gas heating is considered. This suggests that neutral gas heating plays a non-negligible role in determining the mode transition points of a rf ICP system.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Investigation of magnetic-pole-enhanced inductively coupled nitrogen-argon plasmas

This article presented the features of the mixed mode and H mode in magnetic pole enhanced, inductively coupled Ar-N{sub 2} plasmas using RF-compensated Langmuir probe measurements. To fully characterize plasma parameters and electron energy probability functions (EEPFs), the gas pressure and argon content were varied. It was observed that with increasing the nitrogen content and gas pressure, the critical RF power to sustain H mode increases; this increase was more prominent for pure nitrogen discharge at higher pressure. The electron number density (n{sub e}) shows increasing trend with increasing RF power, while at higher gas pressures, the electron number density decreases at fixed RF power. Mostly, the EEPFs show a Maxwellian distribution even at low RF power (for higher argon content in the discharge) and at moderate RF power (for higher or pure nitrogen content in the discharge) for pressures of 15-60 mTorr. With increasing the nitrogen content in the mixture, the low energy part of the EEPF is more Druyvesteyn with a distorted high energy tail at low RF power. At fixed RF power, the slope of EEPF changes sharply with increasing pressure. It was observed that in hybrid mode, the EEPF at higher gas pressure (75 mTorr) in a pure nitrogen discharge shows a flat hole near the average electron energy of 3 eV and changes to Maxwellian distribution in H mode. The skin depth versus RF power shows that the skin depth is smaller than the critical dimension of the chamber, regardless of the gas type and the gas pressure.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Optical emission diagnostics with electric probe measurements of inductively coupled Ar/O{sub 2}/Ar-O{sub 2} plasmas

Physical properties of low-pressure inductively coupled argon, oxygen, and Ar-O{sub 2} mixture plasmas are investigated using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) combined with an rf-compensated Langmuir probe measurement. In each gas discharge, the electron density and the electron temperature were obtained by using the probe. The electron temperature was also obtained by OES models and compared with that measured by the probe. The electron temperature was observed to decrease with increasing power and pressure and also observed to decrease with increasing Ar content. Argon metastable densities were calculated based on an optical transition model. In Ar-O{sub 2} discharges, the dissociation fraction of O{sub 2} molecules was estimated using optical emission actinometry. The dissociation fraction was observed to increase with increasing power and Ar content.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Growth of controllable ZnO film by atomic layer deposition technique via inductively coupled plasma treatment

An inductively coupled plasma technique (ICP), namely, remote-plasma treatment was introduced to ionize the water molecules as the precursor for the deposition of ZnO film via the atomic layer deposition processes. Compared with the H{sub 2}O gas as the precursor for the ALD growth, the ionized water molecules can provide a lesser energy to uniformly stabilize oxidization processes, resulting in a better film quality with a higher resistivity owing to less formation of intrinsic defects at a lower growth temperature. The relationship between resistivity and formation mechanisms have been discussed and investigated through analyses of atomic force microscopy, photonluminescence, and absorption spectra, respectively. Findings indicate that the steric hindrance of the ligands plays an important rule for the ALD-ZnO film sample with the ICP treatment while the limited number of bonding sites will be dominant for the ALD-ZnO film without the ICP treatment owing to decreasing of the reactive sites via the ligand-exchange reaction during the dissociation process. Finally, the enhanced aspect-ratio into the anodic aluminum oxide with the better improved uniform coating of ZnO layer after the ICP treatment was demonstrated, providing an important information for a promising application in electronics based on ZnO ALD films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Development of vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy system for wide measurement range of number density using a dual-tube inductively coupled plasma light source

A vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy system for a wide measurement range of atomic number densities is developed. Dual-tube inductively coupled plasma was used as a light source. The probe beam profile was optimized for the target number density range by changing the mass flow rate of the inner and outer tubes. This system was verified using cold xenon gas. As a result, the measurement number density range was extended from the conventional two orders to five orders of magnitude.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2013

Abrupt transitions in species number densities and plasma parameters in a CH{sub 3}F/O{sub 2} inductively coupled plasma

Measured relative densities as a function of O{sub 2} addition in a CH{sub 3}F/O{sub 2} inductively coupled plasma changed abruptly for H, O, and particularly F atoms (factor of 4) at 48% O{sub 2}. A corresponding transition was observed in electron density, effective electron temperature, and gas temperature, as well as in C, CF, and CH optical emission. These abrupt transitions were attributed to the reactor wall reactivity, changing from a polymer-coated surface to a polymer-free surface and vice-versa, as the O{sub 2} content in the feed gas crossed 48%.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Spatial measurements of electron energy distribution and plasma parameters in a weakly magnetized inductive discharge

Spatial characteristics of plasma parameters such as electron temperature, plasma density, plasma potential, and electron energy distribution (EED) were studied in inductively coupled plasma with an axial dc magnetic field. With dc magnetic field, the measured EEDs in the total electron energy scale are spatially coincided except cutting of the low electron energy part indicating the conserved non-local electron kinetics in an axial direction, even though the dc magnetic field is applied. Spatial distributions of the plasma densities at axial positions have almost same trends with various magnetic field strengths. We also discuss the reduction of the ambipolar potential along the axial direction as the applied magnetic field increased.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Diagnostics of a negative hydrogen ion source based on a planar-coil inductively-driven discharge

Recent activity on a volume-production negative-hydrogen-ion source with the design of a matrix of small-radius discharges inductively driven by a planar coil is reported. A single discharge of the matrix has been studied by employing probe-and laser-photodetachment diagnostics. The measurements have been carried out in the first - small-size - chamber of a two-chamber discharge vessel, with rf power introduced by a planar coil positioned on its front wall. The measured profiles of the negative ion density show strong axial dependence, with two maxima located at the positions corresponding to the maxima of the dc potential, where the maxima of the electron density are also located. The first maximum is in the vicinity of the rf power input and the second one is close to the interface between the two chambers of the discharge vessel.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Quantitative determination of mass-resolved ion densities in H{sub 2}-Ar inductively coupled radio frequency plasmas

Inductively coupled H{sub 2}-Ar plasmas are characterized by an energy-dispersive mass spectrometer (plasma monitor), a retarding field analyzer, optical emission spectroscopy, and a Langmuir probe. A procedure is presented that allows determining quantitatively the absolute ion densities of Ar{sup +}, H{sup +}, H{sub 2}{sup +}, H{sub 3}{sup +}, and ArH{sup +} from the plasma monitor raw signals. The calibration procedure considers the energy and mass-dependent transmission of the plasma monitor. It is shown that an additional diagnostic like a Langmuir probe or a retarding field analyzer is necessary to derive absolute fluxes with the plasma monitor. The conversion from fluxes into densities is based on a sheath and density profile model. Measurements were conducted for a total gas pressure of 1.0 Pa. For pure H{sub 2} plasmas, the dominant ion is H{sub 3}{sup +}. For mixed H{sub 2}-Ar plasmas, the ArH{sup +} molecular ion is the most dominant ion species in a wide parameter range. The electron density, n{sub e}, is around 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 16} m{sup -3} and the electron temperature, T{sub e}, decreases from 5 to 3 eV with increasing Ar content. The dissociation degree was measured by actinometry. It is around 1.7% nearly independent on Ar content. The gas temperature, estimated by the rotational distribution of the Q-branch lines of the H{sub 2} Fulcher-{alpha} diagonal band (v Prime =v Double-Prime =2) is estimated to (540 {+-} 50) K.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

On anomalous temporal evolution of gas pressure in inductively coupled plasma

The temporal measurement of gas pressure in inductive coupled plasma revealed that there is an interesting anomalous evolution of gas pressure in the early stage of plasma ignition and extinction: a sudden gas pressure change and its relaxation of which time scales are about a few seconds and a few tens of second, respectively, were observed after plasma ignition and extinction. This phenomenon can be understood as a combined result between the neutral heating effect induced by plasma and the pressure relaxation effect for new gas temperature. The temporal measurement of gas temperature by laser Rayleigh scattering and the time dependant calculations for the neutral heating and pressure relaxation are in good agreement with our experimental results. This result and physics behind are expected to provide a new operational perspective of the recent plasma processes of which time is very short, such as a plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition/etching, a soft etch for disposal of residual by-products on wafer, and light oxidation process in semiconductor manufacturing.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Non-invasive in situ plasma monitoring of reactive gases using the floating harmonic method for inductively coupled plasma etching application

The floating harmonic method was developed for in situ plasma diagnostics of allowing real time measurement of electron temperature (T{sub e}) and ion flux (J{sub ion}) without contamination of the probe from surface modification by reactive species. In this study, this novel non-invasive diagnostic system was studied to characterize inductively coupled plasma of reactive gases monitoring T{sub e} and J{sub ion} for investigating the optimum plasma etching conditions and controlling of the real-time plasma surface reaction in the range of 200-900 W source power, 10-100 W bias power, and 3-15 mTorr chamber pressure, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

A quantum description of radiation damping and the free induction signal in magnetic resonance

We apply the methods of cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED), to obtain a microscopic and fully quantum-mechanical picture of radiation damping in magnetic resonance, and the nascent formation of the free induction signal. Numerical solution of the Tavis-Cummings model - i.e., multiple spins 1/2 coupled to a lossless single-mode cavity - shows in fine detail the transfer of Zeeman energy, via spin coherence, to excite the cavity - represented here by a quantized LC resonator. The case of a single spin is also solved analytically. Although the motion of the Bloch vector is non-classical, we nonetheless show that the quantum mechanical Rabi nutation frequency (as enhanced by cavity coupling and stimulated emission) gives realistic estimates of macroscopic signal strength and the radiation damping constant in nuclear magnetic resonance. We also show how to introduce dissipation: cavity losses by means of a master equation, and relaxation by the phenomenological method of Bloch. The failure to obtain the full Bloch equations (unless semi-classical conditions are imposed on the cavity) is discussed in light of similar issues arising in CQED (and in earlier work in magnetic resonance as well), as are certain problems relative to quantization of the electromagnetic near-field.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

The effect of ultrafast laser wavelength on ablation properties and implications on sample introduction in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

We investigated the role of femtosecond (fs) laser wavelength on laser ablation (LA) and its relation to laser generated aerosol counts and particle distribution, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) signal intensity, detection limits, and elemental fractionation. Four different NIST standard reference materials (610, 613, 615, and 616) were ablated using 400 nm and 800 nm fs laser pulses to study the effect of wavelength on laser ablation rate, accuracy, precision, and fractionation. Our results show that the detection limits are lower for 400 nm laser excitation than 800 nm laser excitation at lower laser energies but approximately equal at higher energies. Ablation threshold was also found to be lower for 400 nm than 800 nm laser excitation. Particle size distributions are very similar for 400 nm and 800 nm wavelengths; however, they differ significantly in counts at similar laser fluence levels. This study concludes that 400 nm LA is more beneficial for sample introduction in ICP-MS, particularly when lower laser energies are to be used for ablation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗