Structure and morphology of Cu/Ni film grown by electrodeposition method: A study of neutron reflectivity and AFM

We present detailed study of structure and interface morphology of an electrodeposited Cu/Ni film using X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectivity, neutron reflectivity and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The crystalline structure of the film has been determined by X-ray diffraction, which suggest polycrystalline growth of the film. The depth profile of density in the sample has been obtained from specular X-ray and neutron reflectivity measurements. AFM image of the air-film interface shows that the surface is covered by globular islands of different sizes. The AFM height distribution of the surface clearly shows two peaks and the relief structure (islands) on the surface in the film, which can be treated as a quasi-two-level random rough surface structure. We have demonstrated that the detailed morphology of air-film interfaces, the quasi-two-level surface structure as well as morphology of the buried interfaces can be obtained from off-specular neutron reflectivity data. AFM and off-specular neutron reflectivity measurements also show that the morphologies of electrodeposited surface is distinctively different as compared to that of sputter-deposited surfaces in the sample.     

Simulation of viscous flows with undulatory boundaries: Part II. Coupling with other solvers for two-fluid computations

We extend the direct numerical simulation (DNS) capability developed in [D. Yang, L. Shen, Simulation of viscous flows with undulatory boundaries: Part I. Basic solver, J. Comput. Phys. (submitted for publication) ] to the simulation of two-fluid interaction with deformable interface. Two approaches are used to couple the DNS of one fluid with the simulation of another fluid. In the first, the DNS is coupled with a potential-flow based wave solver that uses a high-order spectral (HOS) method. This coupled method is applied to simulate the interaction of turbulent wind with surface waves, including single wave train and broadband wavefield. Validation with previous theoretical and experimental studies shows the accuracy and efficiency of this coupled DNS-HOS method for capturing the essential physics of wind–wave interaction. In the second approach, both of the fluids are simulated by the DNS and are coupled by an efficient iterative scheme, in which the continuity of velocity and the balance of stress are enforced at the interface. The performance of this coupled DNS–DNS method is demonstrated and validated by several test cases including: interfacial wave between two viscous fluids, water surface wave over highly viscous mud flow with interfacial wave, and interaction of two-phase vortex pairs with a deformable interface. Comparison with existing theoretical and numerical results confirms the accuracy of this coupled DNS–DNS method. Finally, this method is applied to study the interaction of air and water turbulence. The nonlinear development of interfacial wave by the excitation of the air and water turbulence, and the wave effect on the instantaneous and statistical characteristics of the turbulence are elucidated.     

质子与中子辐照对电荷耦合器件暗信号参数的影响及其效应分析

对科学级电荷耦合器件(charge-coupled device, CCD)进行了质子和中子辐照试验及退火试验, 应用蒙特卡洛方法计算了质子和中子在CCD中的能量沉积, 分析了器件的辐射损伤机理. 仿真计算了N⁺埋层内沉积的位移损伤剂量, 辐照与退火试验过程中主要考察暗信号的变化规律. 研究结果显示, 质子与中子辐照均会引发暗信号退化, 其退化的规律与位移损伤剂量变化一致; 退火后, 质子辐照所致CCD暗信号大幅度恢复, 其体暗信号增加量占总暗信号增加量的比例最多为22%; 中子辐照引发的暗信号增长主要为体暗信号. 质子和中子在N⁺埋层产生相同位移损伤剂量的情况下, 两者导致的体暗信号增长量相同, 质子与中子辐照产生的体缺陷对体暗信号增长的贡献是同质的.     

Capillary condensation in a fractal porous medium

Small-angle x-ray and neutron scattering are used to characterize the surface roughness and porosity of a natural rock which are described over three decades in length scales and over nine decades in scattered intensities by a surface fractal dimension D = 2.68+/-0.03. When this porous medium is exposed to a vapor of a contrast-matched water, neutron scattering reveals that surface roughness disappears at small scales, where a Porod behavior typical of smooth interfaces is observed instead. Water-sorption measurements confirm that such interface smoothing is due predominantly to the water condensing in the most strongly curved asperities rather than covering the surface with a wetting film of uniform thickness.     

Characterisation of Interfaces Between Liquid Tin and Alumina in the Presence of Titanium Alloy Additions

Neutron reflection spectroscopy has been used to characterise the composition of interfaces between liquid Sn-Ti alloys and Al₂O₃. The reflectivity profiles for both 1% and 3% Ti alloys are consistent with the presence of a layer approximately 2 nm thick at the liquid/solid interface, showing extensive segregation of Ti. The composition of this layer is not pure Ti but shows a greater Ti content than any known Ti oxide composition. In all interfaces exposed to liquid metals at elevated temperature (including pure Sn) there is a layer of thickness 20–100 nm on the alumina surface with slightly lower neutron scattering length density than pure alumina. This is interpreted as evidence for surface roughening of the Al₂O₃ surface during exposure to the liquid metal.     

Monte Carlo simulations of an amphiphilic polymer at a hydrophobic/hydrophilic interface

Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out for an off-lattice model of an amphiphilic polymer at a hydrophobic/hydrophilic interface. The model system consists of a polynorbornene backbone with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) grafts modelled atomistically at an idealized interface between hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions, which are represented by external potentials. Results are presented for the distribution of PEO chain ends, and the density of PEO segments perpendicular to the surface. The latter is used to provide predictions for neutron reflectivity profiles normal to the surface as a function of the lateral confinement of the PEO grafts. At low surface coverage the simulation results are found to be in good agreement with experimental neutron scattering results from similar polymers studied at the water/air interface.     

A new approach to sub-grid surface tension for LES of two-phase flows

In two-phase flow, the presence of inter-phasal surface – the interface – causes additional terms to appear in LES formulation. Those terms were ignored in contemporary works, for the lack of model and because the authors expected them to be of negligible influence. However, it has been recently shown by a priori DNS simulations that the negligibility assumption can be challenged. In the present work, a model for one of the sub-grid two-phase specific terms is proposed, using deconvolution of the velocity field and advection of the interface using that field. Using the model, the term can be included into LES. A brief presentation of the model is followed by numerical tests that assess the model’s performance by comparison with a priori DNS results.     

Characterization of biological thin films at the solid-liquid interface by x-ray reflectivity

We demonstrate that 18 keV x-rays can be used to study organic thin films at the solid-liquid interface by x-ray reflectivity. We establish that this is a powerful technique for investigating biological systems in a previously inaccessible manner. Our measurements enabled the density distribution of single phospholipid bilayer membranes in bulk water to be measured with unprecedented precision. Previously, characterization of biomimetic structures normal to a "buried" interface was a domain of neutron reflectivity.     

Massive scalar counterpart of gravitational waves in scalarized neutron star binaries

In analogy with spontaneous magnetization of ferromagnets below the Curie temperature, a neutron star (NS), with a compactness above a certain critical value, may undergo spontaneous scalarization and exhibit an interior nontrivial scalar configuration. Consequently, the exterior spacetime is changed, and an external scalar field appears, which subsequently triggers a scalarization of its companion. The dynamical interplay produces a gravitational scalar counterpart of tensor gravitational waves. In this paper, we resort to scalar–tensor theory and demonstrate that the gravitational scalar counterpart from a double neutron star (DNS) and a neutron star–white dwarf (NS-WD) system become massive. We report that (1) a gravitational scalar background field, arising from convergence of external scalar fields, plays the role of gravitational scalar counterpart in scalarized DNS binary, and the appearance of a mass-dimensional constant in a Higgs-like gravitational scalar potential is responsible for a massive gravitational scalar counterpart with a mass of the order of the Planck scale; (2) a dipolar gravitational scalar radiated field, resulting from differing binding energies of NS and WD, plays the role of a gravitational scalar counterpart in scalarized orbital shrinking NS-WDs, which oscillates around a local and scalar-energy-density-dependent minimum of the gravitational scalar potential and obtains a mass of the order of about \(10^{-21}\,{\text {eV/c}}^2\).     

Acoustic scattering by a three-dimensional elastic object near a rough surface

The ensemble-averaged field scattered by a smooth, bounded, elastic object near a penetrable surface with small-scale random roughness is formulated. The formulation consists of combining a perturbative solution for modeling propagation through the rough surface with a transition (T-) matrix solution for scattering by the object near a planar surface. All media bounding the rough surface are assumed to be fluids. By applying the results to a spherical steel shell buried within a rough sediment bottom, it is demonstrated that the ensemble-averaged "incoherent" intensity backscattered by buried objects illuminated with shallow-grazing-angle acoustic sources can be well enhanced at high frequencies over field predictions based on scattering models where all environmental surfaces are planar. However, this intensity must compete with the incoherent intensity scattered back from the interface itself, which can defeat detection attempts. The averaged "coherent" component of the field maintains the strong evanescent spectral decay exhibited by flat interface predictions of shallow-angle measurements but with small deviations. Nevertheless, bistatic calculations of the coherent field suggest useful strategies for improving long-range detection and identification of buried objects.     

Residual stresses in ceramic-to-metal joints: diffraction measurements and finite element method analysis

The residual stress (RS) field in ceramic–metal diffusion bonds has been studied by spatial-resolved neutron strain scanning. Strain profiles were directly determined by neutron diffraction along selected lines perpendicular to the bonding interface of cube-shaped Ni/Si₃N₄ specimens. Finite element method (FEM) calculations were carried out to simulate the joining process and residual strains have been obtained among the whole body of specimens. The simulations were validated by comparison with the experimental strain data obtained by neutron and (previous) X-ray diffraction along some particular line of the specimen. Finally, the RS field across the whole sample was obtained from the FEM-calculated strain field, showing that neutron strain scanning combined with FEM analysis is a very useful technique to study the RS map in silicon nitride–metal diffusion bonds at both sides of the joining interface. Maxima of the axial stress were found at the lateral surface and close to the joining interface, being tensile for both ceramic and nickel. On the other hand, the largest radial stress at the joining interface was found at the centre of the specimen on the ceramic side. From the point of view of FEM analysis, it is shown that in order to simulate the joining process of nickel and silicon nitride, nickel must be considered as a ductile material having strain hardening and Si₃N₄ must be considered as purely elastic material having a nearly temperature-independent elastic modulus.     

Nanoparticles for dewetting suppression of thin polymer films used in chemical sensors

Addition of fullerenes (C₆₀ or buckyballs) to a linear polymer has been found to eliminate dewetting when a thin (∼50 nm) film is exposed to solvent vapor. Based on neutron reflectivity measurements, it is found that the fullerenes form a coherent layer approximately 2 nm thick at the substrate – polymer film interface during the spin-coating process. The thickness and relative fullerene concentration (∼29 vol%) is not altered during solvent vapor annealing and it is thought this layer forms a solid-like buffer shielding the adverse van der Waals forces promoted by the underlying substrate. Several polymer films produced by spin- or spray-coating were tested on both silicon wafers and live surface acoustic wave sensors demonstrating fullerenes stabilize many different polymer types, prepared by different procedures and on various surfaces. Further, the fullerenes drastically improve sensor performance since dewetted films produce a sensor that is effectively inoperable.     

Nonlinear optical spectroscopy of suboxides at oxidized Si(111) interfaces

Native oxidation of the Si(111)(1 x 1)H surface causes the appearance and disappearance of second-harmonic generation (SHG) resonances related to specific bonding configurations of Si atoms at the interface. Resonances at 3.52 eV two-photon energy observed in p-polarized SHG spectra are indicative of a Si suboxide configuration present in a partially oxidized Si surface bilayer. Similar resonances are observed in spectra of thermally oxidized Si(111) and point to Si2+ suboxide states at the buried interface.     

Nonlinear acoustic techniques for landmine detection

Measurements of the top surface vibration of a buried (inert) VS 2.2 anti-tank plastic landmine reveal significant resonances in the frequency range between 80 and 650 Hz. Resonances from measurements of the normal component of the acoustically induced soil surface particle velocity (due to sufficient acoustic-to-seismic coupling) have been used in detection schemes. Since the interface between the top plate and the soil responds nonlinearly to pressure fluctuations, characteristics of landmines, the soil, and the interface are rich in nonlinear physics and allow for a method of buried landmine detection not previously exploited. Tuning curve experiments (revealing "softening" and a back-bone curve linear in particle velocity amplitude versus frequency) help characterize the nonlinear resonant behavior of the soil-landmine oscillator. The results appear to exhibit the characteristics of nonlinear mesoscopic elastic behavior, which is explored. When two primary waves f1 and f2 drive the soil over the mine near resonance, a rich spectrum of nonlinearly generated tones is measured with a geophone on the surface over the buried landmine in agreement with Donskoy [SPIE Proc. 3392, 221-217 (1998); 3710, 239-246 (1999)]. In profiling, particular nonlinear tonals can improve the contrast ratio compared to using either primary tone in the spectrum.     

Structure of polymer micelles close to the solid interface

Block copolymers are widely used in industry. For scientific interests their aqueous solutions offer a model system for the investigation of crystallisation as the macromolecules agglomerate for elevated concentrations into micelles, which crystallise when a critical volume fraction is reached. We report on grazing incidence small angle neutron scattering (GISANS) or near surface small angle neutron scattering (NS-SANS) as an experimental tool to investigate the micelle crystallisation close to interfaces with different chemical termination. We find that in general crystallization is suppressed at a repulsive surface and favoured at an attractive one. Furthermore we show that the crystallization close the interface can be controlled by the micelle stability, resulting from the different composition and length of the monomers. The effect of the interface is found more important for a high micelle stability, whereas for a low stability it is shadowed by adsorbed monomers.     

Grazing incidence polarized neutron scattering in reflection geometry from nanolayered spintronic systems

This review summarizes recent experimental investigations using neutron scattering on layered nanomagnetic systems (accentuating my contribution), which have applications in spintronics also. Polarized neutron investigations of such artificially structured materials are basically done to understand the interplay between structure and magnetism confined within the nanometer scale that can be additionally depth-resolved. Details of the identification of buried domains and their nature of lateral and vertical correlations within the systems are important. A particularly interesting aspect that has emerged over the years is the capability to measure polarized neutron scattering in directions parallel and perpendicular to the applied field direction (which is also the quantization axis for neutron polarizations). This was added with the capability of measuring in specular as well as in off-specular geometry. Distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA) theory for neutrons has proved to be a remarkable development in the quantitative analysis of the scattering data measured simultaneously for specular and off-specular modes within the same framework. In particular, the depth and lateral distribution of the ferromagnetic spins relative to the interface within interlayer-coupled or exchange-coupled system has been extensive. For example, twisted magnetization state at interlayer coupled interfaces or intricacies of symmetric and asymmetric magnetization reversals along with suppression of training effect in exchange coupled system was microscopically identified using neutron scattering only. The investigation on the distribution of magnetic species within dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor superlattices, with low angle neutron scattering, has played a crucial role both from practical and fundamental research points of view.     

Medium energy ion scattering investigation of methylthiolate-induced modification of the Au(111) surface

100 keV H⁺ scattering has been used to investigate the structure of the methylthiolate/Au(111) interface in the Au(111)(√3 × √3)R30° phase. Adsorption of the thiolate onto the clean Au(111) surface leads to a large drop in the scattered ion yield due to the lifting of the clean surface ‘herring-bone’ reconstruction, but the thiolate-covered surface shows an ion yield higher than that of an unreconstructed Au(111) surface, providing direct evidence of a significant number of Au atoms that are displaced from their bulk-terminated positions at the buried interface. Simulations for two different Au adatoms models at the interface, namely, the Au-adatom-monothiolate (AAM) and Au-adatom-dithiolate (AAD) models, show significant sensitivity to the exact values of interlayer spacings and atomic vibrational amplitudes, but the comparison with experimental results appears to favour the AAD model with 0.17 ML Au adatoms in bridging sites at the interface.     

Novel high-voltage power lateral MOSFET with adaptive buried electrodes

A new high-voltage and low-specific on-resistance (R on,sp ) adaptive buried electrode (ABE) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) power lateral MOSFET and its analytical model of the electric fields are proposed. The MOSFET features are that the electrodes are in the buried oxide (BOX) layer, the negative drain voltage V d is divided into many partial voltages and the output to the electrodes is in the buried oxide layer and the potentials on the electrodes change linearly from the drain to the source. Because the interface silicon layer potentials are lower than the neighboring electrode potentials, the electronic potential wells are formed above the electrode regions, and the hole potential wells are formed in the spacing of two neighbouring electrode regions. The interface hole concentration is much higher than the electron concentration through designing the buried layer electrode potentials. Based on the interface charge enhanced dielectric layer field theory, the electric field strength in the buried layer is enhanced. The vertical electric field E I and the breakdown voltage (BV) of ABE SOI are 545 V/μm and -587 V in the 50 μm long drift region and the 1 μm thick dielectric layer, and a low R on,sp is obtained. Furthermore, the structure also alleviates the self-heating effect (SHE). The analytical model matches the simulation results.     

Angular Anisotropy of the Fission Fragments in the Dinuclear System Mo del

A theoretical evaluation of the collective excitation spectra of nucleus at large deformations is possible within the framework of the dinuclear system (DNS) model, which treats the wave function of the fissioning nucleus as a superposition of a mononucleus configuration and two-cluster configurations in a dynamical way, permitting exchange of nucleons between clusters. In this work the method of calculation of the potential energy and the collective spectrum of fissioning nucleus at scission point is presented. Combining the DNS model calculations and the statistical model of fission we calculate the angular distribution of fission fragments for the neutron–induced fission of 239Pu.     

Modeling the Behavior of a MOS Transistor under Fast Neutron and Gamma Irradiation

A numerical model of trapping of the radiation-induced charge in the bulk and on the surface of the oxide layer of a MOS transistor has been developed. The model takes into account the generation of point defects under fast neutron irradiation. The volume and surface charges obtained by the numerical modeling have been used to calculate the drain—gate characteristic of the MOS transistor exposed to neutron irradiation in different doses and accompanying high-energy gamma-ray irradiation. To model the effect of neutron irradiation, different methods for estimating the rate of point defect generation in a two-component material (SiO2) have been developed. The simulated drain—gate characteristic is shown to agree well with the experimental data obtained at the concentration of hole traps and their capture cross sections lying within the published data for an unirradiated device after exposure to gamma rays from a 60Co gamma source and after irradiation with fast neutrons with an average energy of ∼1 MeV and accompanying gamma rays using a pool-type reactor.