双激光脉冲打靶形成Gd等离子体的极紫外光谱辐射

高端芯片制造所需要的极紫外光刻技术位于我国当前面临35项"卡脖子"关键核心技术之首.高转换效率的极紫外光源是极紫外光刻系统的重要组成部分.本文通过采用双激光脉冲打靶技术实现较强的6.7 nm极紫外光输出.首先,理论计算Gd¹⁸⁺—Gd²⁷⁺离子最外层4d壳层的4p-4d和4d-4f能级之间跃迁、以及Gd¹⁴⁺—Gd¹⁷⁺离子最外层4f壳层的4d-4f能级之间跃迁对波长为6.7 nm附近极紫外光的贡献.其后开展实验研究,结果表明,随着双脉冲之间延时的逐渐增加,波长为6.7 nm附近的极紫外光辐射强度呈现先减弱、后增加、之后再减弱的变化趋势,在双脉冲延时为100 ns处产生的极紫外光辐射最强.并且,在延时为100 ns处产生的光谱效率最高,相比于单脉冲激光产生的光谱效率提升了33%.此外,发现双激光脉冲打靶技术可以有效地减弱等离子体的自吸收效应,获得的6.7 nm附近极紫外光谱宽度均小于单激光脉冲打靶的情形,且在脉冲延时为30 ns时刻所产生的光谱宽度最窄,约为单独主脉冲产生极紫外光谱宽度的1/3.同时...     

Low-cost automated capillary electrophoresis instrument assembled from commercially available parts

A CE instrument that can be assembled from commercially available components with minimal construction effort is described. Except for the electronic control circuitry no specially made parts are required. It is based on a flexible design of microfluidic, electropneumatic, and electronic sections and different configurations can easily be implemented. Automated injection into the capillary is performed hydrodynamically by the application of a pressure for a controlled length of time. The performance of the device was tested with a contactless conductivity detector by separating different metal ions. In addition, nine metal cations related to the quality of honey were separated in 2.3 min and four honey samples were analysed quantitatively to demonstrate the applicability of the method.     

Growth and characterization of two-dimensional crystals for communication and energy applications

This review article covers the growth and characterization of two-dimensional (2D) crystals of transition metal chalcogenides, h-BN, graphene, etc. The chemical vapor transport method for bulk single crystal growth is discussed in detail. Top-down methods like mechanical and liquid exfoliation and bottom-up methods like chemical vapor deposition and molecular beam epitaxy for mono/few-layer growth are described. The optimal characterization techniques such as optical, atomic force, scanning electron, and Raman spectroscopy for identification of mono/few-layer(s) of the 2D crystals are discussed. In addition, a survey was done for the application of 2D crystals for both creation and deterministic transfer of single-photon sources and photovoltaic systems. Finally, the application of plasmonic nanoantenna was proposed for enhanced solar-to-electrical energy conversion and faster/brighter quantum communication devices.     

2-Isopropylbenzimidazole and 2-methylbenzimidazole as bulky proton sources: Stereoselective protonation and application to the synthesis of γ- and δ-lactones

2-Isopropylbenzimidazole and 2-methylbenzimidazole have been found to be effective bulky proton sources for stereoselective protonation of chiral enolate anions. 2-Isopropylbenzimidazole worked in the stereoselective protonation of the Birch reduction of chiral α,β-unsaturated imides. On the other hand, 2-methylbenzimidazole was found to be the best protonation reagent in the isomerization reaction of α,β-unsaturated imide into β,γ-unsaturated imide. The Birch reduction using 2-isopropylbenzimidazole realized a concise and stereoselective synthesis of δ-lactone 14, a sex pheromone of Macrocentrus grandii, while the isomerization reaction using 2-methylbenzimidazole was employed in the highly stereoselective synthesis of the γ-lactone intermediate in the synthesis of depsipeptide antibiotics. These bulky proton sources would be powerful tools to achieve a concise synthesis of natural products.     

Size‐Dependence of the Melting Temperature of Individual Au Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles have an immense importance in various fields, such as medicine, catalysis, and various technological applications. Nanoparticles exhibit a significant depression in melting point as their size goes below ≈10 nm. However, nanoparticles are frequently used in high temperature applications such as catalysis where temperatures often exceed several 100 degrees which makes it interesting to study not only the melting temperature depression, but also how the melting progresses through the particle. Using high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, the melting process of gold nanoparticles in the size range of 2–20 nm Au nanoparticles combined with molecular dynamics studies is investigated. A linear dependence of the melting temperature on the inverse particle size is confirmed; electron microscopy imaging reveals that the particles start melting at the surface and the liquid shell formed then rapidly expands to the particle core.     

Magnesium-Based Clusters as Building Blocks of Electrolytes in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Superhalogens, owing to their large electron affinity (EA, exceeding those of any halogen atom), play an essential role in physical chemistry as well as new material design. They have applications in hydrogen storage and lithium-ion batteries. Owing to the unique geometries and electronic features of magnesium-based clusters, their potential to form a new class of lithium salts has been investigated here theoretically. The idea is assessed by conducting ab initio computations on Li⁺/Mg_nF_2n+1-2mO_m⁻ compounds (n=2, 3; m=0-3) and analyzing their performance as potential Li-ion battery electrolytes. The Mg₃F₇⁻ cluster, with large electron binding energy (EA of 7.93 eV), has been proven to serve as a building block for lithium salts. It is shown that, apart from high electronic stability, the new superhalogen-based electrolytes exhibit a set of desirable properties, including a large band gap, high electrolyte stability window, easy mobility of the Li⁺, and favorable insensitivity to water.     

Automated chemical resonance generation and structure filtration for kinetic modeling

This work discusses efficient and automated methods for constructing a set of representative resonance structures for arbitrary chemical species, including radicals and biradicals, consisting of the elements H, C, O, N, and S. Determining the representative reactive structures of chemical species is crucial for identification of reactive sites and consequently applying the correct reaction templates to generate the set of important reactions during automated chemical kinetic model generation. We describe a fundamental set of resonance pathway types, accounting for simple resonating structures, as well as global approaches for polycyclic aromatic species. Automatically discovering potential localized structures along with filtration to identify the representative structures was shown to be robust and relatively fast. The algorithms discussed here were recently implemented in the Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG) software. The final structures proposed by this method were found to be in reasonable agreement with quantum chemical computation results of localized structure contributions to the resonance hybrid.     

Observation of field induced anomalous quantum criticality in Ce0.6Y0.4NiGe2 compound

We report the results of our investigation of magnetization and heat capacity on a series of compounds Ce${}_{1?x}$Y_xNiGe₂ ($x=0.1,0.2\text{ and }0.4$) under the influence of external magnetic field. Our studies of the thermodynamic quantity $?\mathrm{d}M/\mathrm{d}T$ on these compounds indicate that magnetic frustration persists in Ce_0.9Y_0.1NiGe₂, as also reported for the parent compound CeNiGe₂. The weak signature of this frustration is also noted in Ce_0.8Y_0.2NiGe₂, whereas, it is suppressed in Ce_0.6Y_0.4NiGe₂. Heat capacity studies on Ce_0.9Y_0.1NiGe₂ and Ce_0.8Y_0.2NiGe₂ indicate the presence of a new magnetic anomaly at high field which indicates that quantum criticality is absent in these compounds. However, for Ce_0.6Y_0.4NiGe₂ such an anomaly is not noted. For this later compound, the magnetic field (H) and temperature (T) dependence of heat capacity and magnetization obey $H/T$ scaling above critical fields. However, the obtained scaling critical parameter (δ) is 1.6, which is away from mean field value of 3. This deviation suggests the presence of unusual fluctuations and anomalous quantum criticality in these compounds. This unusual fluctuation may arise from disorderness induced by Y-substitution.