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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Amorphous FeCoSiB for exchange bias coupled and decoupled magnetoelectric multilayer systems: Real-structure and magnetic properties

The effect of field annealing for exchanged biased multilayer films is studied with respect to the resultant structural and magnetic film properties. The presented multilayer stacks comprise repeating sequences of Ta/Cu/(1 1 1) textured antiferromagnetic Mn₇₀Ir₃₀ /amorphous ferromagnetic Fe₇₀.₂Co₇.₈Si₂B₁₀. Within the ferromagnetic layers crystalline filaments are observed. An additional Ta layer between the antiferromagnet and ferromagnet is used in order to investigate and separate the influence of the common Mn₇₀Ir₃₀/Fe₇₀.₂Co₇.₈Si₁₂B₁₀ interface on the occurring filaments and structural changes. In situ and ex situ transmission electron microscopy is used for a comprehensive structure characterization of multilayer stacks for selected temperature stages. Up to 250 °C, the multilayers are structurally unaltered and preserve the as-deposited condition. A deliberate increase to 350 °C exhibits different crystallization processes for the films, depending on the presence of crystal nuclei within the amorphous ferromagnetic layer. The influence of volume-to-surface ratio of the multilayer stacks to the crystallization process is emphasized by the comparison of in situ and ex situ investigations as the respective specimen thickness is changed. Complementary magnetic studies reveal a defined exchange bias obtained at the first annealing step and a decrease of total anisotropy field with partial crystallization after the subsequent annealing at 350 °C.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Characterization of amorphous multilayered ZnO-SnO{sub 2} heterostructure thin films and their field effect electronic properties

Multilayered ZnO-SnO{sub 2} heterostructure thin films were produced using pulsed laser ablation of pie-shaped ZnO-SnO{sub 2} oxides target, and their structural and field effect electronic transport properties were investigated as a function of the thickness of the ZnO and SnO{sub 2} layers. The films have an amorphous multilayered heterostructure composed of the periodic stacking of the ZnO and SnO{sub 2} layers. The field effect electronic properties of amorphous multilayered ZnO-SnO{sub 2} heterostructure thin film transistors (TFTs) are highly dependent on the thickness of the ZnO and SnO{sub 2} layers. The highest electron mobility of 37 cm{sup 2}/V s, a low subthreshold swing of a 0.19 V/decade, a threshold voltage of 0.13 V, and a high drain current on-to-off ratio of ∼10{sup 10} obtained for the amorphous multilayered ZnO(1.5 nm)-SnO{sub 2}(1.5 nm) heterostructure TFTs. These results are presumed to be due to the unique electronic structure of an amorphous multilayered ZnO-SnO{sub 2} heterostructure film consisting of ZnO, SnO{sub 2}, and ZnO-SnO{sub 2} interface layers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhanced piezoelectric response in the artificial ferroelectric polymer multilayers

An actuator with a high piezoelectric response, the ferroelectric polymer multilayer actuator, is described. The ferroelectric polymer multilayers consisting of alternative ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) copolymer and relaxor poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofloroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)) terpolymer with different periodicities and fixed total thickness are prepared by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Both X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic measurements indicate that the structure of the multilayer with thin alternating layer is similar to that of the ferroelectric copolymer. Compared with that of the copolymer, it is found that the piezoelectric coefficient of the multilayer could be improved by 57%. We attributed the enhanced piezoelectric response of the multilayers to the internal electric fields that arises from the electrostatic couplings between different layers.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Tracing the 4000 year history of organic thin films: From monolayers on liquids to multilayers on solids

The recorded history of organic monolayer and multilayer thin films spans approximately 4000 years. Fatty-acid-based monolayers were deposited on water by the ancients for applications ranging from fortune telling in King Hammurabi's time (∼1800 BC, Mesopotamia) to stilling choppy waters for sailors and divers as reported by the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder in ∼78 AD, and then much later (1774) by the peripatetic American statesman and natural philosopher Benjamin Franklin, to Japanese “floating-ink” art (suminagashi) developed ∼1000 years ago. The modern science of organic monolayers began in the late-1800s/early-1900s with experiments by Lord Rayleigh and the important development by Agnes Pockels, followed two decades later by Irving Langmuir, of the tools and technology to measure the surface tension of liquids, the surface pressure of organic monolayers deposited on water, interfacial properties, molecular conformation of the organic layers, and phase transitions which occur upon compressing the monolayers. In 1935, Katherine Blodgett published a landmark paper showing that multilayers can be synthesized on solid substrates, with controlled thickness and composition, using an apparatus now known as the Langmuir-Blodgett (L-B) trough. A disadvantage of LB films for some applications is that they form weak physisorbed bonds to the substrate. In 1946, Bigelow, Pickett, and Zisman demonstrated, in another seminal paper, the growth of organic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) via spontaneous adsorption from solution, rather than from the water/air interface, onto SiO{sub 2} and metal substrates. SAMs are close-packed two-dimensional organic crystals which exhibit strong covalent bonding to the substrate. The first multicomponent adsorbed monolayers and multilayer SAMs were produced in the early 1980s. Langmuir monolayers, L-B multilayers, and self-assembled mono- and multilayers have found an extraordinarily broad range of applications including controlled wetting, adhesion, electrochemistry, biocompatibility, molecular recognition, biosensing, cell biology, non-linear optics, molecular electronics, solar cells, read/write/erase memory, and magnetism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Rigorous numerical study of strong microwave photon-magnon coupling in all-dielectric magnetic multilayers

We demonstrate theoretically a ∼350-fold local enhancement of the intensity of the in-plane microwave magnetic field in multilayered structures made from a magneto-insulating yttrium iron garnet (YIG) layer sandwiched between two non-magnetic layers with a high dielectric constant matching that of YIG. The enhancement is predicted for the excitation regime when the microwave magnetic field is induced inside the multilayer by the transducer of a stripline Broadband Ferromagnetic Resonance (BFMR) setup. By means of a rigorous numerical solution of the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation consistently with the Maxwell's equations, we investigate the magnetisation dynamics in the multilayer. We reveal a strong photon-magnon coupling, which manifests itself as anti-crossing of the ferromagnetic resonance magnon mode supported by the YIG layer and the electromagnetic resonance mode supported by the whole multilayered structure. The frequency of the magnon mode depends on the external static magnetic field, which in our case is applied tangentially to the multilayer in the direction perpendicular to the microwave magnetic field induced by the stripline of the BFMR setup. The frequency of the electromagnetic mode is independent of the static magnetic field. Consequently, the predicted photon-magnon coupling is sensitive to the applied magnetic field and thus can be used in magnetically tuneable metamaterials based on simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability achievable thanks to the YIG layer. We also suggest that the predicted photon-magnon coupling may find applications in microwave quantum information systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Magnetisation reversal in anisotropy graded Co/Pd multilayers

We demonstrate high precision controllability of the magnetization reversal nucleation process in [Co/Pd]{sub 8} multilayer films consisting of two sets of bilayers with high and low perpendicular anisotropy, respectively. The anisotropy of the entire film is set by the degree of Co/Pd interfacial mixing during deposition which provides fine control of the anisotropy of an individual bilayer in the multilayer stack. The relative number of each type of bilayer is used to select the magnetisation reversal behavior such that changing one bilayer changes the properties of the entire multilayer through anisotropy averaging. A simple extension to the sputtering protocol would provide multilayer films with fully graded anisotropy, while maintaining a constant saturation magnetization opening new possibilities for the creation of highly engineered multilayer structures for spin torque devices and future magnetic recording media.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Stress induced enhanced polarization in multilayer BiFeO{sub 3}/BaTiO{sub 3} structure with improved energy storage properties

Present work reports the fabrication of a multilayer (5-layer) structure of BiFeO{sub 3}(BFO)/BaTiO{sub 3}(BTO) using spin-coating technique. The crystallographic structure, surface morphology and ferroelectric behavior of multilayer structure in metal-ferroelectric-metal capacitor have been studied. Le-Bail refinement of X-ray diffraction data revealed the formation of polycrystalline pure perovskite phase with induced stress. The values of remnant (P{sub r}) and saturation polarization (P{sub s}) for BFO/BTO multilayer structure are found to be 38.14 μC/cm{sup 2} and 71.54 μC/cm{sup 2} respectively, which are much higher than the corresponding values reported for bare BFO thin film. A large value of dielectric constant of 187 has been obtained for multilayer structure with a low leakage current density of 1.09 × 10{sup −7} A/cm{sup 2} at applied bias of 10 V. The BFO/BTO multilayer structure favors the enhanced energy storage capacity as compared to bare BFO thin film with improved values of energy-density and charge-discharge efficiency as 121 mJ/cm{sup 3} and 59% respectively, suggesting futuristic energy storage applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Study of interface correlation in W/C multilayer structure by specular and non-specular grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity measurements

W/C/W tri-layer thin film samples have been deposited on c-Si substrates in a home-built Ion Beam Sputtering system at 1.5 × 10{sup −3} Torr Ar working pressure and 10 mA grid current. The tri-layer samples have been deposited at different Ar{sup +} ion energies between 0.6 and 1.2 keV for W layer deposition and the samples have been characterized by specular and non-specular grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity (GIXR) measurements. By analyzing the GIXR spectra, various interface parameters have been obtained for both W-on-C and C-on-W interfaces and optimum Ar{sup +} ion energy for obtaining interfaces with low imperfections has been found. Subsequently, multilayer W/C samples with 5-layer, 7-layer, 9-layer, and 13-layer have been deposited at this optimum Ar{sup +} ion energy. By fitting the specular and diffused GIXR data of the multilayer samples with the parameters of each interface as fitting variables, different interface parameters, viz., interface width, in-plane correlation length, interface roughness, and interface diffusion have been estimated for each interface and their variation across the depth of the multilayers have been obtained. The information would be useful in realizing W/C multilayers for soft X-ray mirror application in the <100 Å wavelength regime. The applicability of the “restart of the growth at the interface” model in the case of these ion beam sputter deposited W/C multilayers has also been investigated in the course of this study.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Elastic properties of suspended multilayer WSe{sub 2}

We report the experimental determination of the elastic properties of suspended multilayer WSe{sub 2}, a promising two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting material combined with high optical quality. The suspended WSe{sub 2} membranes have been fabricated by mechanical exfoliation of bulk WSe{sub 2} and transfer of the exfoliated multilayer WSe{sub 2} flakes onto SiO{sub 2}/Si substrates pre-patterned with hole arrays. Then, indentation experiments have been performed on these membranes with an atomic force microscope. The results show that the 2D elastic modulus of the multilayer WSe{sub 2} membranes increases linearly while the prestress decreases linearly as the number of layers increases. The interlayer interaction in WSe{sub 2} has been observed to be strong enough to prevent the interlayer sliding during the indentation experiments. The Young's modulus of multilayer WSe{sub 2} (167.3 ± 6.7 GPa) is statistically independent of the thickness of the membranes, whose value is about two thirds of other most investigated 2D semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, namely, MoS{sub 2} and WS{sub 2}. Moreover, the multilayer WSe{sub 2} can endure ∼12.4 GPa stress and ∼7.3% strain without fracture or mechanical degradation. The 2D WSe{sub 2} can be an attractive semiconducting material for application in flexible optoelectronic devices and nano-electromechanical systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Beam profile and coherence properties of synchrotron beams after reflection on modified multilayer mirrors

Multilayer mirrors present an attractive alternative for reflective hard X-ray monochromators due to their increased bandwidth compared with crystal-based systems. An issue remains the strong modulations in the reflected beam profile, i.e. an irregular stripe pattern. This is a major problem for micro-imaging applications, where multilayer-based monochromators are frequently employed to deliver higher photon flux density. A subject of particular interest is how to overcome beam profile modifications, namely the stripe patterns, induced by the reflection on a multilayer. For multilayer coatings in general it is known that the substrate and its surface quality significantly influence the performance of such kind of mirrors as the coating reproduces to a certain degree roughness and shape of the substrate. Our studies have shown that modified coatings can significantly change the impact of the multilayer reflection on the beam profile. We will present recent results as well as a critical review.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Exploring interface morphology of a deeply buried layer in periodic multilayer

Long-term durability of a thin film device is strongly correlated with the nature of interface structure associated between different constituent layers. Synthetic periodic multilayer structures are primarily employed as artificial X-ray Bragg reflectors in many applications, and their reflection efficiency is predominantly dictated by the nature of the buried interfaces between the different layers. Herein, we demonstrate the applicability of the combined analysis approach of the X-ray reflectivity and grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence measurements for the reliable and precise determination of a buried interface structure inside periodic X-ray multilayer structures. X-ray standing wave field (XSW) generated under Bragg reflection condition is used to probe the different constituent layers of the W- B{sub 4}C multilayer structure at 10 keV and 12 keV incident X-ray energies. Our results show that the XSW assisted fluorescence measurements are markedly sensitive to the location and interface morphology of a buried layer structure inside a periodic multilayer structure. The cross sectional transmission electron microscopy results obtained on the W-B{sub 4}C multilayer structure provide a deeper look on the overall reliability and accuracy of the XSW method. The method described here would also be applicable for nondestructive characterization of a wide range of thin film based semiconductor and optical devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Complexion dictated thermal resistance with interface density in reactive metal multilayers

Multilayers composed of aluminum (A1) and platinum (Pt) exhibit a non-monotonic trend in thermal resistance with bilayer thickness as measured by time domain thermoreflectance. The thermal resistance initially increases with reduced bilayer thickness only to reach a maximum and then decrease with further shrinking of the multilayer period. These observations are attributed to the evolving impact of an intermixed amorphous complexion approximately 10 nm in thickness, which forms at each boundary between Al- and Pt-rich layers. Scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy find that the elemental composition of the complexion varies based on bilayer periodicity as does the fraction of the multilayer composed of this interlayer. These variations in complexion mitigate boundary scattering within the multilayers as shown by electronic transport calculations employing density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's functions on amorphous structures obtained via finite temperature molecular dynamics. The lessening of boundary scattering reduces the total resistance to thermal transport leading to the observed non-monotonic trend thereby highlighting the central role of complexion on thermal transport within reactive metal multilayers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Near-field heat transfer between graphene/hBN multilayers

We study the radiative heat transfer between multilayer structures made by a periodic repetition of a graphene sheet and a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) slab. Surface plasmons in a monolayer graphene can couple with a hyperbolic phonon polaritons in a single hBN lm to form hybrid polaritons that can assist photon tunneling. For periodic multilayer graphene/hBN structures, the stacked metallic/dielectric array can give rise to a further e ective hyperbolic behavior, in addition to the intrinsic natural hyperbolic behavior of hBN. The e ective hyperbolicity can enable more hyperbolic polaritons that enhance the photon tunneling and hence the near- eld heat transfer. However, the hybrid polaritons on the surface, i.e. surface plasmon-phonon polaritons, dominate the near- eld heat transfer between multilayer structures when the topmost layer is graphene. The e ective hyperbolic regions can be well predicted by the e ective medium theory (EMT), thought EMT fails to capture the hybrid surface polaritons and results in a heat transfer rate much lower compared to the exact calculation. The chemical potential of the graphene sheets can be tuned through electrical gating and results in an additional modulation of the heat transfer. We found that the near- eld heat transfer between multilayer structure does not increase monotonously with the number of layer in the stack, which provides a way to control the heat transfer rate by the number of graphene layers in the multilayer structure. The results may bene t the applications of near- eld energy harvesting and radiative cooling based on hybrid polaritons in two-dimensional materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Recycling of multilayer plastic packaging materials by solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation

Many plastic packaging materials manufactured today are composites made of distinct polymer layers (i.e., multilayer films). Billions of pounds of these multilayer films are produced annually, but manufacturing inefficiencies result in large, corresponding postindustrial waste streams. Although relatively clean (as opposed to municipal wastes) and of near-constant composition, no commercially practiced technologies exist to fully deconstruct postindustrial multilayer film wastes into pure, recyclable polymers. Here, we demonstrate a unique strategy we call solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) to deconstruct multilayer films into their constituent resins using a series of solvent washes that are guided by thermodynamic calculations of polymer solubility. We show that the STRAP process is able to separate three representative polymers (polyethylene, ethylene vinyl alcohol, and polyethylene terephthalate) from a commercially available multilayer film with nearly 100% material efficiency, affording recyclable resins that are cost-competitive with the corresponding virgin materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Fabrication-conscious neural network based inverse design of single-material variable-index multilayer films

Multilayer films with continuously varying indices for each layer have attracted great deal of attention due to their superior optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. However, difficulties in fabrication have limited their application and study in scientific literature compared to multilayer films with fixed index layers. In this work we propose a neural network based inverse design technique enabled by a differentiable analytical solver for realistic design and fabrication of single material variable-index multilayer films. This approach generates multilayer films with excellent performance under ideal conditions. We furthermore address the issue of how to translate these ideal designs into practical useful devices which will naturally suffer from growth imperfections. By integrating simulated systematic and random errors just as a deposition tool would into the optimization process, we demonstrated that the same neural network that produced the ideal device can be retrained to produce designs compensating for systematic deposition errors. Furthermore, the proposed approach corrects for systematic errors even in the presence of random fabrication imperfections. The results outlined in this paper provide a practical and experimentally viable approach for the design of single material multilayer film stacks for an extremely wide variety of practical applications with high performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Indentation-derived elastic modulus of multilayer thin films: Effect of unloading induced plasticity

Nanoindentation is useful for evaluating the mechanical properties, such as elastic modulus, of multilayer thin film materials. A fundamental assumption in the derivation of the elastic modulus from nanoindentation is that the unloading process is purely elastic. In this work, the validity of elastic assumption as it applies to multilayer thin films is studied using the finite element method. The elastic modulus and hardness from the model system are compared to experimental results to show validity of the model. Plastic strain is shown to increase in the multilayer system during the unloading process. Additionally, the indentation-derived modulus of a monolayer material shows no dependence on unloading plasticity while the modulus of the multilayer system is dependent on unloading-induced plasticity. Lastly, the cyclic behavior of the multilayer thin film is studied in relation to the influence of unloading-induced plasticity. Furthermore, it is found that several cycles are required to minimize unloading-induced plasticity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

X-ray Multilayers for Next-Generation Astrophysics Missions

In this work, we proposed to demonstrate the feasibility of high-reflectivity multilayer coatings that will enable next-generation astrophysics missions in the x-ray region (2 – 7 nm wavelengths) where currently high-performance coatings largely do not exist. This paucity is due to multilayer interfacial effects that severely reduce the coating reflectance; our approach was based on understanding these interfacial effects and on tailored process modifications to control and minimize them. The experimental validation of our approach was made difficult by our multilayer deposition tool being down for a large portion of the project. The required repairs used significant amount of funding and time, which forced to reduce the scope of the project. Our experimental study focused on Cr/C multilayers and their optimization using N2 reactive sputtering. We showed that the highest reflectance was achieved when depositing the multilayers with 35% N2, and with a larger Cr thickness ratio than what was initially predicted by simulations. This result consists of a 13% relative increase in reflectivity compared to our previous work. It will benefit upcoming NASA proposals and LLNL’s leadership in this area, as well as topics highly relevant to LLNL/DOE’s priority areas, such as x-ray laser science and semiconductor manufacturing. This work will be further investigated as part of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Exploratory Research (ER) project starting in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1989

Design of a normal incidence multilayer imaging X-ray microscope

Normal incidence multilayer Cassegrain X-ray telescopes were flown on the Stanford/MSFC Rocket X-ray Spectroheliograph. These instruments produced high spatial resolution images of the sun and conclusively demonstrated that doubly reflecting multilayer X-ray optical systems are feasible. The images indicated that aplanatic imaging soft X-ray/EUV microscopes should be achievable using multilayer optics technology. A doubly reflecting normal incidence multilayer imaging X-ray microscope based on the Schwarzschild configuration has been designed. The design of the microscope and the results of the optical system ray trace analysis are discussed. High resolution aplanatic imaging X-ray microscopes using normal incidence multilayer X-ray mirrors should have many important applications in advanced X-ray astronomical instrumentation, X-ray lithography, biological, biomedical, metallurgical, and laser fusion research.

Shealy, David L.↗