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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 1,009 records · Page 56
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Pyroelectric response of lead zirconate titanate thin films on silicon: Effect of thermal stresses

Ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate [Pb(Zr{sub x}Ti{sub 1-x}O){sub 3}, (PZT x:1-x)] has received considerable interest for applications related to uncooled infrared devices due to its large pyroelectric figures of merit near room temperature, and the fact that such devices are inherently ac coupled, allowing for simplified image post processing. For ferroelectric films made by industry-standard deposition techniques, stresses develop in the PZT layer upon cooling from the processing/growth temperature due to thermal mismatch between the film and the substrate. In this study, we use a non-linear thermodynamic model to investigate the pyroelectric properties of polycrystalline PZT thin films for five different compositions (PZT 40:60, PZT 30:70, PZT 20:80, PZT 10:90, PZT 0:100) on silicon as a function of processing temperature (25–800 °C). It is shown that the in-plane thermal stresses in PZT thin films alter the out-of-plane polarization and the ferroelectric phase transformation temperature, with profound effect on the pyroelectric properties. PZT 30:70 is found to have the largest pyroelectric coefficient (0.042 μC cm{sup −2} °C{sup −1}, comparable to bulk values) at a growth temperature of 550 °C; typical to what is currently used for many deposition processes. Our results indicate that it is possible to optimize the pyroelectric response of PZT thin films by adjusting the Ti composition and the processing temperature, thereby, enabling the tailoring of material properties for optimization relative to a specific deposition process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Modelling of heating and photoexcitation of single-crystal silicon under multipulse irradiation by a nanosecond laser at 1.06 μm

We report a theoretical study of heating and photoexcitation of single-crystal silicon by nanosecond laser radiation at a wavelength of 1.06 μm. The proposed physicomathematical model of heating takes into account the complex nonlinear dynamics of the interband absorption coefficient of silicon and the contribution of the radial heat removal to the cooling of silicon between pulses under multipulse irradiation, which allows one to obtain a satisfactory agreement between theoretical predictions of silicon melting thresholds at different nanosecond pulse durations and experimental data (both under single-pulse and multipulse irradiation). It is found that under irradiation by nanosecond pulses at a wavelength of 1.06 μm, the dynamic Burshtein – Moss effect can play an important role in processes of photoexcitation and heating. It is shown that with the regimes typical for laser multipulse microprocessing of silicon (the laser spot diameter is less than 100 μm, and the repetition rate of pulses is about 100 kHz), the radial heat removal cannot be neglected in the analysis of heat accumulation processes. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

All-optical lithography process for contacting nanometer precision donor devices

In this article, we describe an all-optical lithography process that can make electrical contact to nanometer-precision donor devices fabricated in silicon using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). This is accomplished by implementing a cleaning procedure in the STM that allows the integration of metal alignment marks and ion-implanted contacts at the wafer level. Low-temperature transport measurements of a patterned device establish the viability of the process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Robust Solar Receivers Using MAX Phase Materials

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number 35928. The objective of the proposed effort was to develop and optimize additive manufacturing technologies for low-cost fabrication of high-temperature receivers using MAX phase-based materials (Ti 3 SiC 2 and Ti 3 AlC 2 ). MAX phase materials are a group of ternary metal carbides and nitrides where M stands for an early transition metal element, A is a group 13–16 element, and X is C and/or N. In Phase 1, the binder jetting additive manufacturing process was used to synthesize and characterize the Ti 3 SiC 2 MAX phase material. The typical process involved first producing a TiC preform using binder jetting followed by infiltration of the preform with silicon melt to form Ti 3 SiC 2 in situ. The reaction-infiltrated samples showed formation of MAX phase in the sample core; however, the surface showed cracking. Various process conditions—cooling rates, hold times, Si proportion, etc.—were varied to minimize the surface cracking. The fabricated MAX phase core was characterized by microstructure analysis and evaluations of mechanical properties such as hardness and thermal shock. In Phase 2, the focus included fabrication of Ti 3 SiC 2 MAX phase materials by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and synthesis of Ti 3 AlC 2 MAX phase materials by the Al melt infiltration process. It is expected that Al infiltration will not cause sample cracking, since Al does not expand during solidification. In addition, other processing approaches were investigated to fabricate the MAX phase materials, such as SPS with a graphite bedding approach for producing short-length Ti 3 AlC 2 MAX phase tubes for demonstration of prototypical Concentrating Solar Power receiver tubes. Fabricated samples underwent thermo-mechanical testing to validate the materials for the solar receiver application at temperatures >1000°C. In Phase 3, the effort focused on the development and optimization of the Ti-Al-C MAX phase composite material using the Al melt infiltration approach. We started with optimization of precursor powders and making preform structures by either pressing them in a die or using the binder jetting additive manufacturing process followed by Al melt infiltration. In addition, we investigated the formation of preform structures by cold isostatic pressing followed by Al melt infiltration for making Ti-Al-C MAX phase composite. Thermo-mechanical characterizations, such as creep, strength, and thermal shock, were conducted to establish the structures’ performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Origin of the visible emission of black silicon microstructures

Silicon, the mainstay semiconductor in microelectronics, is considered unsuitable for optoelectronic applications due to its indirect electronic band gap that limits its efficiency as light emitter. Here, we univocally determine at the nanoscale the origin of visible emission in microstructured black silicon by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and imaging. We demonstrate the formation of amorphous silicon oxide microstructures with a white emission. The white emission is composed by four features peaking at 1.98 eV, 2.24 eV, 2.77 eV, and 3.05 eV. The origin of such emissions is related to SiO{sub x} intrinsic point defects and to the sulfur doping due to the laser processing. Similar results go in the direction of developing optoelectronic devices suitable for silicon-based circuitry.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigations on the effect of current density on SiO/Si composite electrodes

An oxide layer on the surface of silicon particles is inevitable and is necessary for their application as anode materials for lithium ion batteries with high capacity and durability. However, a thick surficial oxide layer could significantly reduce the capacity of a Si anode. Here, Si nanoparticles with a thick surficial oxide layer of ~20 nm (Si@SiO x ) were fabricated through thermal oxidation and investigated electrochemically. The results revealed that very low current density is needed to activate Si@SiO x anodes during the first formation cycle. Once activated, the Si@SiO x anode can deliver reversible capacity as high as ~1000 mAh/g with low current density. Then, the Si@SiO x can be cycled at higher current densities of >700 mAh/g. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) shows that the lower current density results in lower charge-transfer resistance of the Si@SiO x anode, suggesting a higher degree of lithiation of the surficial oxide layer during low-current activation. EIS analysis also reveals that the lithiation of the surficial oxide is irreversible. We believe that the surface silicon oxide layer is lithiated and forms lithium silicate during the initial activation process. Lithium silicate has high conductivity and allows the lithiation/delithiation of Si core under the oxide layer during following charge and discharge.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of Doping on the Properties of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Irradiated with Femtosecond Laser Pulses

A comparative analysis of the effect of femtosecond laser irradiation on the structure and conductivity of undoped and boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) is performed. It is demonstrated that the process of nanocrystal formation in the amorphous matrix under femtosecond laser irradiation is initiated at lower laser energy densities in undoped a-Si: H samples. The differences in conductivity between undoped and doped a-Si: H samples vanish almost completely after irradiation with an energy density of 150–160 mJ/cm{sup 2}.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reflection grating fabrication for the Rockets for Extended-source X-ray Spectroscopy

Abstract The Rockets for Extended-source X-ray Spectroscopy (tREXS) grating spectrograph uses modules of reflection gratings to collect spectroscopic data from extended astronomical sources of soft X-rays. Two blazed master gratings were produced on silicon substrates with electron-beam lithography (EBL) and complementary nanofabrication processes that include KOH etching. Substrate-conformal imprint lithography (SCIL) was then used to create 191 replicas of the two grating masters for use in the flight instrument. Diffraction efficiency was measured for several replica gratings, which achieve a peak of$$ \varvec{>} $$ > 70% absolute efficiency near 0.22 keV and an average of$$ \varvec{\approx } $$ ≈ 50% absolute efficiency across the measured band, from 0.18 – 0.8 keV. Here we detail the nanofabrication of the grating masters, including the EBL parameters and tREXS-specific fabrication considerations, and the SCIL replication process used to generate the final instrument gratings. A discussion of grating characterization and areas for future improvement is also presented.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2019

Laser Weldability of AlSi{sub 10}Mg Alloy Produced by Selective Laser Melting: Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior

Selective laser melting (SLM) allows 3D complex parts to be produced with integrated functionalities but does not permit to realize large dimension parts, as the building chamber volume of commercial SLM systems is limited. Therefore, the possibility of joining SLM-built parts by welding appears as extremely valuable. In this work, laser weldability of SLMed AlSi{sub 10}Mg parts has been investigated. The cooling rates induced by the welding process are lower than the ones of SLM; therefore, typical eutectic silicon network of SLM-built parts appears broken in both the melted zone and part of the heat-affected zone, as confirmed by calorimetric measurement. This microstructural evolution caused a local decrease of hardness from 132 HV to 73 HV and a reduction of ductility caused by porosity formation in the weld bead. Moreover, the thermal treatment, performed at 320°C, can limit the gap of tensile response among welded bead and base SLM material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Background studies for the MINER Coherent Neutrino Scattering reactor experiment

The proposed Mitchell Institute Neutrino Experiment at Reactor (MINER) experiment at the Nuclear Science Center at Texas A&M University will search for coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering within close proximity (about 2 m) of a 1 MW TRIGA nuclear reactor core using low threshold, cryogenic germanium and silicon detectors. Given the Standard Model cross section of the scattering process and the proposed experimental proximity to the reactor, as many as 5–20 events/kg/day are expected. In this work, we discuss the status of preliminary measurements to characterize the main backgrounds for the proposed experiment. Both in situ measurements at the experimental site and simulations using the MCNP and GEANT4 codes are described. A strategy for monitoring backgrounds during data taking is briefly discussed.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Wide Dynamic Range, 10 kHz Framing Detector for 4D-STEM

Hybrid pixel array detectors (PADs) have expanded the fidelity, frame rate and dynamic range for diffractive imaging in electron microscopes. With their high detective quantum efficiencies (DQE), the noise performance limited is by counting statistics. Consequently, improving the precision and quality of high-speed images requires increasing the linear dynamic range and the maximum usable beam current. Here we describe a new prototype hybrid PAD, our next-generation electron microscope pixel array detector (NG-EMPAD) that expands both the framing speed and dynamic range of our earlier EMPAD design. Like the EMPAD, electrons are detected directly in a 500 μm thick silicon sensor bonded pixel-by-pixel to a custom signal processing integrated circuit (IC). Each pixel in the IC integrates charge carriers produced by the high-energy incident electrons. Here, in-pixel circuitry uses a combination of techniques to extend the dynamic range, including adaptive gain switching and the quantitative excess charge dumping similar to the EMPAD. In-pixel buffering of signals during readout allows acquiring a new image while reading out the previously collected image, yielding an image collection duty cycle of nearly 100%.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Nanostructured Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells Based on Amorphous Carbon

Amorphous carbon (a-C) has the potential to provide properties important to solar photovoltaics that are comparable to those of silicon-based materials with further advantages such as low cost, solution processing, air stability, and higher thermal resistance. We employ accurate computational approaches to explore and understand active layers based on bulk heterojunctions containing a-C. Our results show that interfaces with a-C and other carbon nanostructures could enable successful electron and hole extraction as well as reduced sources for carrier recombination. Ab initio molecular dynamics and density functional theory calculations are carried out for a large statistical set of interfaces between a-C structures of different densities and either carbon nanotubes or fullerenes. Here, we show that the energy alignment at such interfaces can be widely tuned as a function of a-C density, doping chemistry, or nanostructure size to obtain type-II heterostructures and that the optical properties of such interfaces would be highly favorable for sunlight harvesting.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Direct-bonded diamond membranes for heterogeneous quantum and electronic technologies

Diamond has superlative material properties for a broad range of quantum and electronic technologies. However, heteroepitaxial growth of single crystal diamond remains limited, impeding integration and evolution of diamond-based technologies. Here, we directly bond single-crystal diamond membranes to a wide variety of materials including silicon, fused silica, sapphire, thermal oxide, and lithium niobate. Our bonding process combines customized membrane synthesis, transfer, and dry surface functionalization, allowing for minimal contamination while providing pathways for near unity yield and scalability. We generate bonded crystalline membranes with thickness as low as 10 nm, sub-nm interfacial regions, and nanometer-scale thickness variability over 200 by 200 μm 2 areas. We measure spin coherence times T 2 for nitrogen vacancy centers in 150 nm-thick bonded membranes of up to 623 ± 21 μs, suitable for advanced quantum applications. We demonstrate multiple methods for integrating high quality factor nanophotonic cavities with the diamond heterostructures, highlighting the platform versatility in quantum photonic applications. Furthermore, we show that our ultra-thin diamond membranes are compatible with total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, which enables interfacing coherent diamond quantum sensors with living cells while rejecting unwanted background luminescence. The processes demonstrated herein provide a full toolkit to synthesize heterogeneous diamond-based hybrid systems for quantum and electronic technologies.

color center↗
DOE OSTI2017

Observation of Third-order Nonlinearities in Graphene Oxide Film at Telecommunication Wavelengths

All-optical switches have been considered as a promising solution to overcome the fundamental speed limit of the current electronic switches. However, the lack of a suitable third-order nonlinear material greatly hinders the development of this technology. Here in this paper we report the observation of ultrahigh third-order nonlinearity about 0.45 cm 2 /GW in graphene oxide thin films at the telecommunication wavelength region, which is four orders of magnitude higher than that of single crystalline silicon. Besides, graphene oxide is water soluble and thus easy to process due to the existence of oxygen containing groups. These unique properties can potentially significantly advance the performance of alloptical switches.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Novel Dual-Step Nucleation Pathway in Crystalline Solids under Neutron Irradiation

Innovations in nanostructuring of inorganic crystalline solids are often limited by prerequisite critical nucleation energy and solute supersaturation for formation of a phase. This research provides direct evidence supporting the viability of an unconventional irradiation-induced nanostructuring process, via transmission electron microscopy, that circumvents these preconditions. Using polymorphic silicon carbide (SiC) as a prototype, a surprising two-step nucleation route is demonstrated through which nanoscale distribution of the second phase is achieved by reaction of solutes with neutron irradiation-induced precursors. In the first step, nanoscale α–SiC precipitates in a β–SiC matrix unexpectedly nucleate heterogeneously at structural defects. This occurs at significantly lower temperatures compared with the usual β→α transition temperature. Subsequently, α–SiC precipitate acts as a surrogate template for its structural and compositional transition into a fission product precipitate, palladium silicide. These discoveries provide a modern view of irradiation engineering in polymorphic ceramics for advanced applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Plant-based CO 2 drawdown and storage as SiC

Since the 1950's the Earth's natural carbon cycle has not sufficiently sequestrated excess atmospheric CO 2 contributed by human activities. CO 2 levels rose above 400 ppm in 2013 and are forecasted to exceed 500 ppm by 2070, a level last experienced during the Paleogene period 25–65 MYA. While humanity benefits from the extraction and combustion of carbon from Earth's crust, we have overlooked the impact on global climate change. Here, we present a strategy to mine atmospheric carbon to mitigate CO 2 emissions and create economically lucrative green products. We employ an artificial carbon cycle where agricultural plants capture CO 2 and the carbon is transformed into silicon carbide (SiC), a valuable commercial material. By carefully quantifying the process we show that 14% of plant-sequestered carbon is stored as SiC and estimate the scale needed for this process to have a global impact.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

An Artificial Retina Processor for Track Reconstruction at the LHC Crossing Rate

The goal of the INFN-RETINA R&D project is to develop and implement a computational methodology that allows to reconstruct events with a large number (> 100) of charged-particle tracks in pixel and silicon strip detectors at 40 MHz, thus matching the requirements for processing LHC events at the full bunch-crossing frequency. Our approach relies on a parallel pattern-recognition algorithm, dubbed artificial retina, inspired by the early stages of image processing by the brain. In order to demonstrate that a track-processing system based on this algorithm is feasible, we built a sizable prototype of a tracking processor tuned to 3 000 patterns, based on already existing readout boards equipped with Altera Stratix III FPGAs. The detailed geometry and charged-particle activity of a large tracking detector currently in operation are used to assess its performances. We report on the test results with such a prototype.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Preliminary hyperspectral neutron radiography of binder jet 3D printed and melt infiltrated Si–SiC

The preliminary results of hyperspectral neutron radiography of Si–SiC made with binder jet additive manufacturing, subsequent carbon addition, and silicon melt infiltration are presented. The samples were measured in the processing states before and after the melt infiltration to determine if neutrons would help characterize the microstructure to better understand the melt infiltration process. Theoretical Bragg edges were calculated for comparison with the radiographic results. The changes in the Bragg edges from pre- to post-infiltrated reaction-bonded SiC were evident, that could be used to address the differences in microstructures. In conclusion, the preliminary results presented in this study demonstrated that neutron Bragg-edge imaging is possible with Si–SiC reaction-bonded ceramics and can help determine the microstructure of melt infiltrated samples.

SiC↗