Current neutralization and plasma polarization for intense ion beams propagating through magnetized background plasmas in a two-dimensional slab approximation

A two-dimensional electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell （PIC） simulation model is proposed to study the propagation of intense, ion beams with beaIn width wb small compared to the electron skin depth c/wpe through background plaslnas in tile presence of external applied magnetic fields. The effcctive eleetron gyrora,dius wge is found to be an important parameter for ion beam transport in the presence of magnetic fields,In the bealn regions, the background plasmas respond differently to the ion beanl of width wb〈wge and wb 〉 wge for the given magnetic field and beaan encrgy, For the case of beam width wb 〈 wge with relative weak external magnetic fiehts, the rotalion effects of plasma electrons a,re found to be signifieant and contributes to the signitica,nt enilaneeinent of the self electric and seif-magnetic fields. While for the ease of beam width wb 〉 wge with relative strong external magnetic fields, the rotation effects of plasma cleetrons are strongly inhibited and a, well neutraliza, tion of ion beam current can be found. Finally, the influences of diftiuent beam widths. beam energies and magnetic fields on the neutralization of ion bc, anl eurrellt are summarized for the eases of wb 〈 wge〈 c/wpe,wge 〈wb〈c/wbp and wb〈c/wpe〈wge.     

Finding a Probe for Extracting Information on the Momentum Dependent-Interaction in Heavy Ion Collisions

The effect of momentum-dependent interaction on the kinetic energy spectrum of the neutron-proton ratio （ （n/p）gas）b（ Ek ） for 64Zn ＋64Zn is studied. It is found that （ （n/p）gas）b（ Ek ） sensitively depends on the momentumdependent interaction and weakly on the in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross section and symmetry potential. Therefore （ （n/p）gas）b（ Ek ） is a possible probe for extracting information on the momentum-dependent interaction in heavy ion collisions.     

Low temperature formation of multi-layered structures of ferromagnetic silicide Fe3Si and Ge

Low-temperature (<300 °C) molecular beam epitaxy of Fe₃Si/Ge was investigated. By optimizing growth conditions, Fe₃Si layers with a flat interface and good crystallinity were epitaxially grown on Ge(1 1 1) substrates. In addition, double heteroepitaxial growth of Fe₃Si/Ge on high quality Fe₃Si/Ge substrates was investigated. Reflective high-energy electron diffraction measurements suggested Fe₃Si and Ge layers were epitaxially grown on Fe₃Si/Ge substrates. However, transmission electron microscopy measurements indicated stacking faults formed in the intermediate Ge and top Fe₃Si layers. Improved crystallinity of the intermediate Ge layer is essential to realize high quality [Fe₃Si/Ge]₂ multi-layered structures.     

Ion beam sputtering - the effect of incident ion energy on atomic mixing in subsurface layers

Secondary ion mass spectrometric methods were used to study the effect of incident ion energy on atomic mixing in subsurface layers. A Ta₂O₅ film containing a 50 A ^3lP-rich layer 230 A below the surface was depth profiled for phosphorus using normal incidence 160 primary particles of various energies (1.75 to 18.5 keV). A pronounced energy effect was observed in the widths of 31^P profiles generated by >4 keV ¹⁶O. For 18.5 keV ¹⁶O, the observed profile contained two distinct components-the 31^P-rich layer and the 31^P recoil distribution. This later condition, prevails when the peak of the incident ion damage distribution occurs at a depth which equal or exceeds the distance from the surface to the 31^P-rich layer. The desirable primary ion beam energy for characterizing the true elemental distribution is dictated by the shape and location of the layer to be profited. In most instances, a low energy beam is preferred.     

Ion sound wave excitation in a plasma under a Langmuir turbulence regime

Ion sound wave excitation in a warm non-relativistic (W_b ≤ 400 eV) electron beam unmagnetized plasma system is studied experimentally. The spectrum of these waves shows two peaks at frequencies of 70 and 230 kHz respectively. The origin of these waves is connected with modulational instability and cavity collapse. We show that the energy of bulk accelerated electrons can explain the measured value of kr_De for high-frequency sound waves. The energy of ion sound waves is not high enough to have an influence on the Langmuir turbulence dynamics.     

Ion beam mixing of Al/Fe binary systems

Ion beam mixing of Al layers on Fe and Fe layers on Al are studied by irradiation with 200 keV Xe⁺-ions at room temperature as a function of the thickness of the top layer and of the ion fluence from 5×10¹⁵ to 7.5×10¹⁶ions/cm². Deconvolution procedures are needed to separate the influence of the ion sputter profiling by AES from the ion beam induced mixing effects. Auger electron spectroscopy data reveal that the mixing induced diffusivity ought to be considered as a function of concentration. The diffusion coefficients are evaluated by the Boltzmann-Matano method. A strong dependence of the diffusion coefficients and also the mixing efficiencies from the ion dose, the depth of the interface and the nuclear energy deposition were observed. Results are discussed in terms of the diffusional and collisional mixing as well as chemical affinity of both Fe and Al.     

Ion sputtering rates of W-, Ti- and Cr-carbides studied at different Ar ion incidence angles

To study the ion sputtering rates of W-, Ti- and Cr-carbides, trilayer structures comprising C-graphite (59 nm)/WC (50 nm)/W (38 nm), C-graphite (56 nm)/TiC (40 nm)/Ti (34 nm) and C-graphite (46 nm)/C₃C₂ (60 nm)/Cr (69 nm) with a tolerance ±2% were sputter deposited onto smooth silicon substrates. Their precise structural and compositional characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the WC and Cr₃C₂ layers were amorphous, while the TiC layer had a polycrystalline structure. The ion sputtering rates of all three carbides, amorphous carbon and polycrystalline Cr, Ti and W layers were determined by means of Auger electron spectroscopy depth profiling as a function of the angle of incidence of two symmetrically inclined 1 keV Ar⁺ ion beams in the range between 22° and 82°. The sputtering rates were calculated from the known thicknesses of the layers and the sputtering times necessary to remove the individual layers. It was found that the sputtering rates of carbides, C-graphite and metals were strongly angle dependent. For the carbides in the range between 36° and 62° the highest ion sputtering rate was found for Cr₃C₂ and the lowest for TiC, while the values of the sputtering rates for WC were intermediate. The normalized sputtering yields calculated from the experimentally obtained data for all three carbides followed the trend of theoretical results obtained by calculation of the transport of ions in solids by the SRIM code. The sputtering yields are also presented in terms of atoms/ion. Our experimental data for two ion incidence angles of 22° and 49° and reported values of other authors for C-graphite and metals are mainly inside the estimated error of about ±20%. The influence of the ion-induced surface topography on the measured sputtering yields was estimated from the atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements at the intermediate points of the corresponding layers on the crater walls formed during depth profiling.     

Ion beam induced atomic transport in bilayer systems

Atomic transport in ion beam mixed Co/Pt and Pd/Au bilayer systems have been studied from the shifts of maker layers in Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. Thin layers (1 nm) of marker (Pd for Co/Pt and Ni for Pd/Au) were embedded as markers at each interfaces. 80 keV Ar⁺ was used to irradiate the marker samples at the temperature range between 90 and 600 K. The Co/Pt system shows isotropic atomic transport (J_Co/J_Pt∼1.1) at low temperatures and anisotropic atomic transport (J_Co/J_Pt∼5.0) at high temperatures. Meanwhile, the Pd/Au system shows near isotropic atomic transport (J_Pd/J_Au∼1.2) at all temperatures examined. These results were discussed in terms of the activation energies for the normal impurity diffusion, cohesive energy difference, and the vacancy migration energy. Atomic transport in thermal spike regime is closely related with the activation energy for normal impurity diffusion. In radiation enhanced diffusion regime, the cohesive energy and/or the vacancy migration energy plays a dominant role for the atomic transport.     

Transmission Electron Microscopy Study of Polymorphism in Barium Gallate BaGa2O4

Polymorphism in barium gallate BaGa₂O₄ was studied using electron diffraction and high resolution electron microscopy. Three modifications of BaGa₂O₄ with structures closely related to the high-temperature α-form were observed. The phase transitions from γ-BaGa₂O₄ (a _γ = 18.6143(2) Å = 2<formula><radical><radicand>3</radicand></radical></formula>a _α, c _γ = 8.6544(1) Å = c _α, S.G. P6₃) to β-BaGa₂O₄ (a _β = 2a _α, c _β = c _α S.G. P6₃) and to the new δ-polymorph having a monoclinic structure (a _δ = c _α, b _δ = 2a _α + b _α, c _δ = 2b _α and β ≈ 92°, S.G. P2₁/c) were induced by electron beam irradiation. High resolution electron microscopy (HREM) observations allow to establish the close similarity between the structures of δ-BaGa₂O₄ and β-SrGa₂O₄. The γ→β and β→δ transitions involve a rearrangement of oxygen atoms in the BaO layers together with a tilting distortion of the tetrahedral framework. The microstructure of the δ-phase is characterised by the presence of numerous translation and orientation domains.     

Effects of laser pulse wavelength and laser fluence on the characteristics of silver nanoparticle generated by laser ablation

Electrically pumped ultraviolet random lasing was achieved in metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diodes based on ZnO films at room temperature. The ZnO films were grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Two different kinds of insulator layers, SiO _x (0<x≤2) and AlO _x (0<x≤1.5) were deposited by electron beam evaporation. X-ray diffraction experiments found these oxide layers were amorphous (or microcrystals), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the Si and Al were fully oxidized. Compared with devices using SiO _x as the insulator layer, diodes with evaporated AlO _x layers showed a lower working threshold forward current (～20 mA to ～26 mA) and higher emission intensity. Periodic features indicating formation of closed-loop paths were deduced by the power Fourier transform of electroluminescence spectra. The cavity length of both devices increased as forward currents increased, while a larger cavity length was always obtained in the AlO _x -involved device under the same working current. The improved performance was attributed to larger hole amount in AlO _x layers. These results revealed that evaporated AlO _x can serve as good electron blocking and hole supplying layers for hetero-structures.     

Ion induced secondary electron emission from single crystal surfaces

Yields of ion impact induced electrons from very pure Ni(110) and Ni(111) surfaces have been measured. In several tilt planes the angle of incidence of a 5 keV H⁺, H⁺₂ or H⁺₃ ion beam is varied from perpendicular to grazing incidence. Below = 75° the yield increases as sec but shows characteristic depressions when the beam is incident along crystallographically low indexed lattice directions. This is explained by kinetic electron emission with respect to the projectile transparency of the crystal lattice.     

Simplified electrostatic model for the thermodynamic excess potentials of binary strong electrolyte solutions with size-dissimilar ions

Modern theories of electrolyte solutions are physically accurate but difficult to apply for real-life systems; a need therefore exists to theoretically derive simplified and practically useful mathematical expressions for thermodynamic excess functions. This can be done by incorporating ion-size dissimilarity into the classical Debye-Hückel model [Physik Z. 24, 185 (1923)], under conditions at which non-electrostatic contributions are negligible. If the contact distance between the central (β) ion and a cloud (α) ion is a for counter-ions and b for co-ions, two basic cases exist, b < a and b > a. In both, a ‘smaller-ion shell’ (SiS) at the edge of the ionic cloud, bordered by the spherical surfaces of radius b and a, admits only the smaller α ions [Thomlinson and Outhwaite, Mol. Phys. 47, 1113 (1982)]. In the b < a case, the SiS contributes an ionic repulsion effect and the overall extra-electrostatic potential energy, Ψ _{b < a} (κ) ? κ, reciprocal screening length–exhibits a minimum. For b > a, the SiS contributes an ‘extra ionic attraction’ and the overall extra-electrostatic energy, Ψ _{b > a} (κ) declines monotonically with increasing κ. The entire Ψ contribution, Ψ_±, is a linear combination of the Ψs of the two counter β ions. The effectiveness of Ψ_± is demonstrated for real-life electrolyte systems, based on experimental mean ionic activity coefficients and their concentration dependencies. Fitting theory with experiment generates ion-size parameters that represent realistic interionic collision distances in solution, unlike parallel parameters based on other simplified theories.     

Ion synthesis of silver nanoparticles in viscous-fluid epoxy resin

A method is described for the ion synthesis of silver nanoparticles in epoxy resin that is in a viscousfluid state (viscosity 30 Pa s) during irradiation. The viscous-fluid or glassy polymer is implanted by 30-keV silver ions at a current density of 4 μA/cm² in the ion beam in the dose range 2.2 × 10¹⁶–7.5 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm². The epoxy layers thus synthesized contain silver nanoparticles, which are studied by transmission electron microscopy and optical absorption spectroscopy. The use of the viscous-fluid state increases the diffusion coefficient of the implanted impurity, which stimulates the nucleation and growth of nanoparticles at low implantation doses and allows a high factor of filling of the polymer with the metal to be achieved.     

Ion beam smoothing of indium-containing III-V compound semiconductors

2 has been used for smoothing of rough InAs, InP, and InSb surfaces, prepared by argon ion beam etching (IBE). The evolution of the surface roughness and morphology has been studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) as a function of the N₂ RIBE process parameters (ion beam energy, ion beam angle of incidence, and ion dose). A drastic improvement of the surface roughness has been observed for ion beam angles near normal incidence and larger than 70° with increasing ion doses. By using this technique, the initial root-mean-square (rms) roughness of, e.g., InSb of about 40 nm could be decreased to about 1 nm. Received: 20 March 1998/Accepted: 24 March 1998     

Speed and shape of large-amplitude solitary waves in ion-beam plasma system

Large-amplitude solitary waves are investigated in ion-beam plasma system. The Sagdeev’s pseudopotential is determined in terms of the ion speedu. It is found that there exists a critical value ofu ₀, the value ofu at (u′)² = 0, beyond which the solitary waves cease to exist. The critical value also depends on σ (the ion temperature) or σ_b (the ion beam temperature). One of the author (PC) is grateful to UGC, India for the financial support under SAP(No F.510/8/DRS/2004(SAP-1)).     

Ion beam etching of high resolution structures in Ta2O5 for grating-assisted directional coupler applications

An investigation on thin Ta₂O₅ films patterning using argon ion beam etching (IBE) is presented. The etch rates are characterised by varying the angle of incidence of the beam onto the substrate. Ta₂O₅ gratings with a period of 2.2 μm (1.1 μm linewidth) and 0.25 μm thickness are fabricated using an angle of incidence of 0°. The resulting Ta₂O₅ grating cross sectional profiles are analysed using AFM and SEM imaging. A fabrication method is thus demonstrated which could be used to implement wavelength selective gratings in applications such as grating-assisted directional couplers (GADCs).     

Ion beam induced luminescence studies of LiAlO2 using negative ions

Lithium aluminate (LiAlO₂) is the candidate material for solid tritium breeder applied in the developing fusion reactors. The research of its defect behavior under ion irradiation was proceeded in the negative ions induced luminescence setup of the GIC4117 Tandem accelerator in Beijing Normal University. The ion beam induced luminescence (IBIL) measurement was performed by 20 keV H⁻ ions at room temperature. The luminescence spectra showed seven emission bands: the 4.55 eV may due to a self-trapped exciton (STE), the 4.06 eV and the 1.72 eV may due to impurity or intrinsic defect, the 3.54 eV due to F center, the 3.20 eV due to F⁺ center, the 2.93 eV due to F₂ center, the 2.30 eV due to F-center aggregates (F_n center), respectively. The intensity evolutions of each band with fluence were presented and the corresponding mechanisms were discussed.     

Ion implantation into amorphous Si layers to form carrier‐selective contacts for Si solar cells

This paper reports our findings on the boron and phosphorus doping of very thin amorphous silicon layers by low energy ion implantation. These doped layers are implemented into a so‐called tunnel oxide passivated contact structure for Si solar cells. They act as carrier‐selective contacts and, thereby, lead to a significant reduction of the cell's recombination current. In this paper we address the influence of ion energy and ion dose in conjunction with the obligatory high‐temperature anneal needed for the realization of the passivation quality of the carrier‐selective contacts. The good results on the phosphorus‐doped (implied V_oc = 725 mV) and boron‐doped passivated contacts (iV_oc = 694 mV) open a promising route to a simplified interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell featuring passivated contacts. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Potential double layers in double plasma device

Results of the investigation on the formation of double layers in double plasma device are presented. By appropriate modifications in the biasing conditions, we have been able to obtain both weak (eΔφ<10KT _e ) and strong double layers (eΔφ>10kT _e ) in the device. Unlike previous experiments, we have not been limited to potential jumps equal to ionisation potential of the neutral gas. A detailed investigation has been carried out to find out why earlier experiments in similar devices were limited to only weak double layers. We have also investigated the phenomenon of the so-called psuedo-double layers and have shown that they are potential jumps over the thickness of the order of Debye length and precede plasma expanding with velocity many times the ion-acoustic velocity. They do not represent metastable states of the plasma as suggested by earlier investigators.     

Fabrication of Step-and-Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) templates using XeF<Subscript>2</Subscript> enhanced focused ion-beam etching

The fabrication of Step-and-Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) templates with line widths of 50 nm is described in this work. The structures have been patterned using a Ga⁺ focused ion beam (FIB) in a quartz template. FIB milling is generally accompanied with re-deposition effects, which represent a hindrance to densely patterned nanostructures required in most NIL applications. To reduce these re-deposition effects, in this research, xenon difluoride (XeF₂) enhanced FIB etching was applied that also increases the material removal rates in comparison to pure kinetic ion sputtering. To optimise the process when using XeF₂ gas the following ion scanning parameters have been examined: ion dose, beam current, dwell time and beam overlap (step size). It has been found that the assisting gases at very low doses do not bring significant etching enhancements whilst the sputtering rates have increased at high doses. Using the XeF₂ gas-assisted etching, FIB structuring has been used to fabricate <100 nm structures onto quartz S-FIL templates. The presence of XeF₂ considerably enhances the etching rate of quartz without any significant negative effects on the spatial resolution of the FIB lithographic process and reduces the template processing time.