Behaviour of Self-Standing CVD Diamond Film with Different Dominant Crystalline Surfaces in Thermal-Iron Plate Polishing

Self-standing CVD diamond films with different dominant crystalline surfaces are polished by the thermal-iron plate polishing method. The influence of the dominant crystalline surfaces on polishing etfficiency is investigated by measuring the removal rate and final roughness. The smallest rms roughness of 0.14 μm is measured with smallest removal rate in the films with the initial （220） dominant crystalline surface. Activation energy for the polishing is analysed by the Arrhenius relation. It is found that the values are 170kJ/mol, 222kJ/mol and 214kJ/mol for the film with three different dominant crystalline surfaces. Based on these values, the polishing cause is regarded as the graphitization-controlling process. In the experiment, we find that transformation of the dominant crystalline surfaces from （111） to （220） always appears in the polishing process when we polish the （111） dominant surface.     

Development of a long life, 2 kHz repetition rate X-ray preionizer

A simple and rugged X-ray preionizer system has been developed that is capable of sustained operation at the 2 kHz level with a demonstrated lifetime of2.5× 10⁸ shots and a potential lifetime of >10⁹ shots. At the heart of the system is an advanced form of corona plasma cathode. Cathode wear is minimised by utilising adsorbates from the dielectric surface and not cathode material to form the surface discharge from which the electron beam is extracted. The preionizer chamber background pressure (which is directly proportional to the sticking rate of adsorbates) is found to be of crucial importance in maintaining good cathode emission at high repetition rates. The device emits a rectangular X-ray beam, 5 cm×40 cm, with an X-ray risetime of 20 ns, a FWHM of 60 ns, and a peak energy of 95 keV. Ionization levels of >10⁷ cm^–3 in 1 atm of Ne could be generated after the X-rays had passed through 2 mm of aluminium and 1 mm of steel. Good beam uniformity and reproducibility at 2 kHz were shown to be maintained with the aid of a segmented electrode charge collection chamber. The system should be especially suitable for preionizing lasers containing a strongly electron attaching gas mixture.     

Evolution of dislocations in perylene films with thickness and deposition rate

The growth of perylene films on an amorphous oxide bottom layer is investigated. The perylene films show clear spiral growth and formation of screw dislocations. As a function of deposition rate and film thickness the densities of screw dislocations, grains as well as the roughness and the lateral correlation length are determined from AFM images. The evolution of microstrain as calculated from an XRD peak profile analysis corresponds to the dislocation density. The simultaneous decrease of grain density and dislocation density with film thickness is explained by considering the overgrowth of grains due to loss of dislocations acting as growth spirals. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

     

The absence of physical-aging effects on the surface relaxations of rubbed polystyrene

Extensive experimental results are presented to reveal the relaxations of polystyrene surface deformed by rubbing with a velvet cloth. We found that surface topographic features, such as ditches and ridges created by rubbing, relax at temperatures at about 20^° C below the bulk glass transition temperature of the polystyrene for a molecular weight of 442 kg/mol, even though we estimate the Laplace Pressure driving the relaxation to be 1/500 of the yield limit. The relaxation is independent of the thermal history before the rubbing process, and post rubbing thermal history below 55^° C . In other words, physical-aging processes at 23^° C for up to 7 days and at 50^° C for 2 days, which would have drastic effects on the relaxations of bulk polymers, have little effects on the relaxations of rubbed surfaces. This is consistent with the mobility enhancement in the surface layer previously reported in the literature.     

Properties of ZnO thin films grown on Si substrates by photo-assisted MOCVD

ZnO thin films were grown on (1 0 0) p-Si substrates by Photo-assisted Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (PA-MOCVD) using diethylzinc (DEZn) and O₂ as source materials and tungsten-halogen lamp as a light source. The effects of tungsten-halogen lamp irradiation on the surface morphology, structural and optical properties of the deposited ZnO films have been investigated by means of atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) spectra measurements. Compared with the samples without irradiation, the several characteristics of ZnO films with irradiation are improved, including an improvement in the crystallinity of c-axis orientation, an increase in the grain size and an improvement in optical quality of ZnO films. These results indicated that light irradiation played an important role in the growth of ZnO films by PA-MOCVD.     

Superhydrophobic surfaces prepared from water glass and non-fluorinated alkylsilane on cotton substrates

Superhydrophobic surfaces have been successfully prepared by sol-gel method using water glass as starting material. Such surfaces were obtained first by dip-coating the silica hydrosols prepared via hydrolysis and condensation of water glass onto cotton substrates, then the surface of the silica coating was modified with a non-fluoro compound, hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS), to gain a thin film through self-assembly, superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle higher than 151° can be achieved. The morphology and surface roughness were characterized by SEM and AFM.     

The role of strain in controlling the surface morphology of AlxGa1−xN following in situ treatment with SiH4 and NH3

Treatment of GaN with SiH₄ and NH₃ increases the size of surface pits associated with threading dislocations, allowing them to be easily imaged by atomic force microscopy. Here, we assess the effect of a similar treatment on Al_xGa_1−xN surfaces for x ≤ 0.4. For relaxed Al_xGa_1−xN epilayers, an increase in the observed size and density of threading dislocation pits is observed. However, if the Al_xGa_1−xN is under tensile strain, the treatment results in the appearance of nanometre-scale surface hillocks. These hillocks may prevent observation of the dislocation pits. The hillocks are found to consist of crystalline Al_xGa_1−xN, and hence are suggested to be formed by strain driven etching or transformation of the surface by SiH₄ and NH₃.     

Wet-chemical passivation of atomically flat and structured silicon substrates for solar cell application

Special sequences of wet-chemical oxidation and etching steps were optimised with respect to the etching behaviour of differently oriented silicon to prepare very smooth silicon interfaces with excellent electronic properties on mono- and poly-crystalline substrates. Surface photovoltage (SPV) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations were utilised to develop wet-chemical smoothing procedures for atomically flat and structured surfaces, respectively. Hydrogen-termination as well as passivation by wet-chemical oxides were used to inhibit surface contamination and native oxidation during the technological processing. Compared to conventional pre-treatments, significantly lower micro-roughness and densities of surface states were achieved on mono-crystalline Si(100), on evenly distributed atomic steps, such as on vicinal Si(111), on silicon wafers with randomly distributed upside pyramids, and on poly-crystalline EFG (Edge-defined Film-fed-Growth) silicon substrates.The recombination loss at a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces prepared on c-Si substrates with randomly distributed upside pyramids was markedly reduced by an optimised wet-chemical smoothing procedure, as determined by PL measurements. For amorphous-crystalline hetero-junction solar cells (ZnO/a-Si:H(n)/c-Si(p)/Al) with textured c-Si substrates the smoothening procedure results in a significant increase of short circuit current I_sc, fill factor and efficiency η. The scatter in the cell parameters for measurements on different cells is much narrower, as compared to conventional pre-treatments, indicating more well-defined and reproducible surface conditions prior to a-Si:H emitter deposition and/or a higher stability of the c-Si surface against variations in the a-Si:H deposition conditions.     

Effects of carbonization and substrate temperature on the growth of 3C-SiC on Si(1 1 1) by SSMBE

The growth of 3C-SiC on Si(1 1 1) substrate was performed at different carbonization temperatures and substrate temperatures by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy (SSMBE). The properties of SiC film were analyzed with in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The best carbonization temperature of 810 °C was found to be optimal for the surface carbonization. The quality of SiC film grown on Si at substrate temperature of 1000 °C is best. The worse crystalline quality for the sample grown at higher temperature was attributed to the large mismatch of thermal expansion coefficient between SiC and Si which caused more dislocation when sample was cooled down to room temperature from higher substrate temperature. Furthermore, the larger size of single pit and the total area of the pits make the quality of SiC films grown at higher temperature worse. More Si atoms for the sample grown at lower temperature were responsible for the degradation of crystalline quality for the sample grown at lower temperature.     

Fabrication of PECVD-grown fluorinated hydrocarbon nanoparticles and circular nanoring arrays using nanosphere lithography

Nanosphere lithography (NSL) masks were created by spin-coating of polystyrene particles onto silicon surfaces. Fluorinated hydrocarbon films were coated on the nanosphere lithography masks using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to obtain ordered arrays of fluorinated hydrocarbon. Atomic force microscope images show hexagonally ordered nanodots of dimension 225 ± 11 nm with a height of 23 ± 4 nm. Every hexagon encloses a circular ring of diameter 540 ± 24 nm having a height and width of 13.5 ± 0.6 nm and 203 ± 16 nm, respectively. FTIR analysis shows two distinct zones of atomic bonding of CH_x and CF_x in the plasma coated ordered fluorinated hydrocarbon films.