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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 1,117 records · Page 62
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Carrier transport in layered semiconductor (p-GaSe)-ferroelectric (KNO{sub 3}) composite nanostructures

The current-voltage characteristics and frequency dependences of the impedance of composite nanostructures fabricated on the basis of layered anisotropic semiconductor p-GaSe and ferroelectric KNO{sub 3} are studied. Multilayer nanostructures were obtained by introducing nanoscale pyramidal ferroelectric inclusions into a layered GaSe matrix. Hysteresis phenomena in current-voltage characteristics and abrupt changes in the conductance and capacitance in frequency dependences of the impedance are detected. These phenomena are associated with the collective effect of electric polarization switching in nanoscale 3D ferroelectric inclusions in the layered matrix, features of its local deformation, and polytype phase transitions in this matrix. X-ray, atomic-force microscopy, and impedance studies in a low (B < 400 mT) magnetic field show that the electrical characteristics of nanostructures are associated with the Maxwell-Wagner effect in nanostructures, the formation of quantum wells in GaSe during deformation of crystals in the region of nanoscale inclusion localization, and carrier tunneling in the structures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

A novel approach to characterizing the surface topography of niobium superconducting radio frequency (SRF) accelerator cavities

As superconducting niobium radio-frequency (SRF) cavities approach fundamental material limits, there is increased interest in understanding the details of topographical influences on realized performance limitations. Micro- and nano-roughness are implicated in both direct geometrical field enhancements as well as complications of the composition of the 50 nm surface layer in which the super-currents typically flow. Interior surface chemical treatments such as buffered chemical polishing (BCP) and electropolishing (EP) used to remove mechanical damage leave surface topography, including pits and protrusions of varying sharpness. These may promote RF magnetic field entry, locally quenching superconductivity, so as to degrade cavity performance. A more incisive analysis of surface topography than the widely used average roughness is needed. In this study, a power spectral density (PSD) approach based on Fourier analysis of surface topography data acquired by both stylus profilometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM) is introduced to distinguish the scale-dependent smoothing effects, resulting in a novel qualitative and quantitative description of Nb surface topography. The topographical evolution of the Nb surface as a function of different steps of well-controlled EP is discussed. This study will greatly help to identify optimum EP parameter sets for controlled and reproducible surface levelling of Nb for cavity production.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Synthesis of multiferroic Er-Fe-O thin films by atomic layer and chemical vapor deposition

R-Fe-O (R = rare earth) compounds have recently attracted high interest as potential new multiferroic materials. Here, we report a method based on the solid-state reaction between Er{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Fe layers, respectively grown by atomic layer deposition and chemical vapor deposition, to synthesize Er-Fe-O thin films. The reaction is induced by thermal annealing and evolution of the formed phases is followed by in situ grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. Dominant ErFeO{sub 3} and ErFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} phases develop following subsequent thermal annealing processes at 850 °C in air and N{sub 2}. Structural, chemical, and morphological characterization of the layers are conducted through X-ray diffraction and reflectivity, time-of-flight secondary ion-mass spectrometry, and atomic force microscopy. Magnetic properties are evaluated by magnetic force microscopy, conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer, being consistent with the presence of the phases identified by X-ray diffraction. Our results constitute a first step toward the use of cost-effective chemical methods for the synthesis of this class of multiferroic thin films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Serrated flow behaviors of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass by nanoindentation

Instrumented nanoindentation tests were used to investigate the mechanical properties of Zr{sub 52.5}Cu{sub 17.9}Ni{sub 14.6}Al{sub 10}Ti{sub 5} bulk metallic glass. The corresponding loading strain rates were ranged from 0.002 s{sup −1}, 0.02 s{sup −1} to 0.2 s{sup −1}. Plastic flow of this material exhibited remarkable serrations at low strain rates and increasingly became weakening until disappearance with increasing indentation strain rate, implying strong rate sensitivity. A significant pile-up around the indents was observed through atomic force microscopy, which suggested a highly localized plastic deformation. Mechanism governing the deformation was tentatively discussed in terms of the increasing process of free volume with a negligible temperature rise under low strain rate, which well explained the declining trend of elastic modulus and hardness with an increase of indentation depth.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thickness and growth-condition dependence of in-situ mobility and carrier density of epitaxial thin-film Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}

Bismuth selenide Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} was grown by molecular beam epitaxy, while carrier density and mobility were measured directly in situ as a function of film thickness. Carrier density shows high interface n-doping (1.5 × 10{sup 13 }cm{sup −2}) at the onset of film conduction and bulk dopant density of ∼5 × 10{sup 11 }cm{sup −2} per quintuple-layer unit, roughly independent of growth temperature profile. Mobility depends more strongly on the growth temperature and is related to the crystalline quality of the samples quantified by ex-situ atomic force microscopy measurements. These results indicate that Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} as prepared by widely employed parameters is n-doped before exposure to atmosphere, the doping is largely interfacial in origin, and dopants are not the limiting disorder in present Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2017

Modification of the Langmuir–Schaefer method for fabrication of ordered protein films

A modification of the Langmuir–Schaefer method for the fabrication of high-quality protein films on a solid substrate was proposed and applied to lysozyme. The procedure relies on the use of a pre-prepared protein solution, the parameters of which correspond to crystallization conditions. A lysozyme Langmuir monolayer was shown to be formed with the involvement of complexes, namely, dimers and octamers of protein molecules that are present in such protein solutions. These complexes apparently retain the structure after spreading a protein solution onto an aqueous subphase in a Langmuir trough. The thickness of the film after the transfer of the monolayer, which was formed by the proposed procedure, onto a solid substrate corresponds to the diameter of the octamer and this film is dense, continuous, and uniform, as was demonstrated by several methods: X-ray reflectivity, total external reflection X-ray standing wave, and atomic force microscopy. A layer of chloride ions that formed under the Langmuir monolayer was found at the air–protein film interface. This fact confirms an important role of the precipitating agent (chloride ions) in all steps of the formation of lysozyme films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Modifications of Textured Silicon Surface Morphology and Its Effect on Poly-Si/SiO x Contact Passivation for Silicon Solar Cells

High-efficiency crystalline silicon (c -Si) solar cells require textured surfaces for efficient light trapping. However, passivation of a textured pyramidal surface to reduce carrier recombination is challenging due to the presence of sharp tips, edges, and valleys. Using electrical and surface microscopies combined with lifetime measurements, we report on the effect of HF:HNO3 etching on the pyramidal textured Si surface morphology, and on poly-Si/SiOx contact performance. Preferential rounding of either the valleys between pyramids, or the pyramid tips is obtained depending on the HF:HNO3 solution temperature. Both these morphologies make the pyramid shape irregular, with the pyramid faces no longer being predominantly a Si(111) surface. Our atomic force microscopy measurements further show that the nanoscale roughness over the pyramid face also reduces after HF:HNO3 etching. Thus, etching affects the microscopic pyramidal shape, the dominant crystallographic orientation, and the nanoscale roughness of the surface. We speculate that these three surface effects result in the improvement of surface passivation via poly-Si/SiOx contacts. However, this improved passivation is accompanied by increased reflectance of the HF:HNO3-etched textured surface. Finally, our electron-beam-induced current measurements reveal thickness nonuniformities in the thermally grown SiOx layer on the HF:HNO3-etched textured Si surface: SiO x is thicker near the pyramid tips, edges, and faces as compared with near the valleys between pyramids. This nonuniformity in the SiOx layer may explain the poorer passivation obtained on a KOH-textured and HF:HNO3-etched textured surface as compared with a planar surface.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Anthraquinones quinizarin and danthron unwind negatively supercoiled DNA and lengthen linear DNA

Highlights: • Anthraquinones quinizarin and danthron unwind negatively supercoiled DNA. • Anthraquinones quinizarin and danthron lengthen linear DNA. • Anthraquinones quinizarin and danthron possess middle binding affinity to DNA. • Anthraquinones quinizarin and danthron interact with DNA by intercalating mode. - Abstract: The intercalating drugs possess a planar aromatic chromophore unit by which they insert between DNA bases causing the distortion of classical B-DNA form. The planar tricyclic structure of anthraquinones belongs to the group of chromophore units and enables anthraquinones to bind to DNA by intercalating mode. The interactions of simple derivatives of anthraquinone, quinizarin (1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone) and danthron (1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone), with negatively supercoiled and linear DNA were investigated using a combination of the electrophoretic methods, fluorescence spectrophotometry and single molecule technique an atomic force microscopy. The detection of the topological change of negatively supercoiled plasmid DNA, unwinding of negatively supercoiled DNA, corresponding to appearance of DNA topoisomers with the low superhelicity and an increase of the contour length of linear DNA in the presence of quinizarin and danthron indicate the binding of both anthraquinones to DNA by intercalating mode.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Structural, magnetic and electrical properties of ferromagnetic/ferroelectric multilayers

The La{sub 0.75}Sr{sub 0.25}MnO{sub 3} (LSMO)/Ba{sub 0.7}Sr{sub 0.3}TiO{sub 3} (BSTO) superlattices and bilayers, where LSMO is ferromagnetic and BSTO is ferroelectric, were grown by dc sputtering. X-ray diffraction indicates that the samples present a textured growth with the c axis perpendicular to the substrate. Magnetization measurements show a decrease of the sample's magnetization for decreasing ferromagnetic thickness. This effect could be related to the presence of biaxial strain and a magnetic dead layer in the samples. Conductive atomic force microscopy indicates that the samples present a total covering of the ferromagnetic layer for a ferroelectric thickness higher than four unit cells. Transport tunneling of the carriers seems to be the preferred conduction mechanism through the ferroelectric layer. These are promising results for the development of multiferroic tunnel junctions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Raman and AFM study of gamma irradiated plastic bottle sheets

In this investigation, the effects of gamma irradiation on the structural properties of plastic bottle sheet are studied. The Plastic sheets were exposed with 1.25MeV {sup 60}Co gamma rays source at various dose levels within the range from 0-670 kGy. The induced modifications were followed by micro-Raman and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The Raman spectrum shows the decrease in Raman intensity and formation of unsaturated bonds with an increase in the gamma dose. AFM image displays rough surface morphology after irradiation. The detailed Raman analysis of plastic bottle sheets is presented here, and the results are correlated with the AFM observations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Reliability of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors on low dislocation density bulk GaN substrate: Implications of surface step edges

To enable gaining insight into degradation mechanisms of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors, devices grown on a low-dislocation-density bulk-GaN substrate were studied. Gate leakage current and electroluminescence (EL) monitoring revealed a progressive appearance of EL spots during off-state stress which signify the generation of gate current leakage paths. Atomic force microscopy evidenced the formation of semiconductor surface pits at the failure location, which corresponds to the interaction region of the gate contact edge and the edges of surface steps.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Nanorelief of the natural cleavage surface of triglycine sulphate crystals with substitutional and interstitial impurities

Ferroelectric triglycine sulphate crystals (TGS) with substitutional (LADTGS+ADP, DTGS) and interstitial (Cr) impurities have been studied by atomic-force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence. The nanorelief parameters of the mirror cleavage TGS(010) surface have been measured with a high accuracy. A correlation between the crystal defect density in the bulk and the cleavage surface nanorelief is revealed at the submicrometer level.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Real-time x-ray studies of indium island growth kinetics

The authors have investigated the early stages of indium island formation and growth by vapor phase deposition on room temperature sapphire using real-time grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS), followed by ex-situ atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results are consistent with the formation and coalescence of hemispherical islands, as described by Family and Meakin. Monte Carlo simulations of systems of coalescing islands were used to supplement and quantify the results of GISAXS, and a good agreement is seen between the data and the simulations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2013

Formation of a ZnO{sub 2} layer on the surface of single crystal ZnO substrates with oxygen atoms by hydrogen peroxide treatment

Formation of a ZnO{sub 2} layer by H{sub 2}O{sub 2} treatment for single crystal ZnO (0001) substrates was studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks of ZnO{sub 2} with a pyrite structure were observed in XRD 2{theta}-{omega} scan patterns of the O-face of single crystal ZnO (0001) substrates with H{sub 2}O{sub 2} treatment, but these peaks were not observed in patterns of the Zn-face of ZnO (0001) substrates with H{sub 2}O{sub 2} treatment. XRD {omega} scan patterns of the ZnO (0002) plane of the O-face of single crystal ZnO (0001) substrates were broadened at the tail of the pattern by H{sub 2}O{sub 2} treatment, but such broadening was not observed in that plane of the Zn-face. Grain structure of ZnO{sub 2} layers was clearly observed in atomic force microscopy (AFM) images for the O-face of ZnO (0001) substrates with H{sub 2}O{sub 2} treatment. Spectra of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of the O-face of ZnO (0001) substrates with H{sub 2}O{sub 2} treatment showed a definite peak shift of the O 1s peak. It is thought that a pyrite structure of ZnO{sub 2} is easily formed around an O atom of the O-face of ZnO (0001) substrates. Results of XRD measurements, the AFM image, and XPS measurement of the H{sub 2}O{sub 2}-treated single crystal ZnO (1010) substrate that has oxygen atoms on the surface appeared to be the same as those of the O-face of ZnO (0001) substrates.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2010

Evolution of pyramid morphology during InAs(001) homoepitaxy

Growth of InAs(001) homoepitaxial layer has been carried out especially at the bistable region, where the coexistence of both In-stabilized (4x2) and As-stabilized (2x4) surface reconstruction are found to be predominant. The observation of pyramid morphology in this bistable region is reported here. Atomic force microscopy studies have been performed on such pyramids. The heights of the observed pyramids vary from 12 to 26 nm with their bases from 3.6x1.2 to 18x6.3 {mu}m{sup 2}. Formation of such pyramids in the bistable region is attributed to the unique anomalous As-desorption observed during the surface reconstruction.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2010

Size-dependent Strain in Epitaxial (001) Gadolinium-doped Ceria Nanoislands

We report size-dependent strain in epitaxial gadolinium doped ceria nanoislands, which was determined by synchrotron x-ray diffraction. Reciprocal space sections of symmetric, (004) and asymmetric, (224) reflections are approximated by a model assuming size-dependent strain of the islands using real-space size distribution obtained by atomic force microscopy. We show that the islands smaller than 40 nm are subjected to a high level of lateral tensile strain and normal compression. The lateral to normal strain ratio determined from the reciprocal map analysis suggests that lateral tension is the primary stress generator, possibly due to oxygen vacancy ordering on the island-substrate interface.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2011

Structure and Optical properties of RF-Sputtered Mn-ZnO Nanocrystalline Thin Films

Zn{sub 0.95}Mn{sub 0.05}O thin films were deposited on quartz substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering using ceramic target in pure oxygen gas environment.. The X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies reveal the nanocrysttalline nature of the films. The average grain size of the film is found to increase with increase in process gas pressure. The optical transmission spectra show the films to be highly transparent (80-95%).The direct energy band gap of film decreases from 3.04-2.92 eV with the increase in working gas pressure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Size, effect of flexible proof mass on the mechanical behavior of micron-scale cantilevers for energy harvesting appications.

Mechanical behavior of micron-scale cantilevers with a distributed, flexible proof mass is investigated to understand proof mass size effects on the performance of microelectromechanical system energy harvesters. Single-crystal silicon beams with proof masses of various lengths were fabricated using focused ion beam milling and tested using atomic force microscopy. Comparison of three different modeling results with measured data reveals that a 'two-beam' method has the most accurate predictive capability in terms of both resonant frequency and strain. Accurate strain prediction is essential because energy harvested scales with strain squared and maximum strain will be a design limit in fatigue.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗