Preparation of Cu2O nanowires by thermal oxidation-plasma reduction method

Facial synthesis of cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) nanowires by directly heating copper substrates is difficult; however, in this study, it was successfully done by thermal oxidation followed by a plasma reduction process. The preparation of CuO nanowires with an average diameter of 76.2?nm supported on the surface of copper substrate was conducted first in air at 500?°C for 3?hrs, and then the CuO nanowires were reduced into Cu₂O in 15?min using either radio frequency (RF) N₂ plasma or microwave (MW) N₂ plasma. The characteristics of CuO and Cu₂O nanowires were analyzed using XRD, FE-SEM, and TEM. The results showed that Cu₂O nanowires can be successfully reduced from CuO nanowires by a simple, promising, and fast nitrogen plasma process. Moreover, in RF plasma, narrower and longer Cu₂O nanowires can be produced as compared to MW plasma, because energetic N-containing species can reduce the nanowires at a relatively lower temperature.     

Antiproton cloud compression in the ALPHA apparatus at CERN

We have observed a new mechanism for compression of a non-neutral plasma, where antiprotons embedded in an electron plasma are compressed by a rotating wall drive at a frequency close to the sum of the axial bounce and rotation frequencies. The radius of the antiproton cloud is reduced by up to a factor of 20 and the smallest radius measured is ～ 0.2 mm. When the rotating wall drive is applied to either a pure electron or pure antiproton plasma, no compression is observed in the frequency range of interest. The frequency range over which compression is evident is compared to the sum of the antiproton bounce frequency and the system’s rotation frequency. It is suggested that bounce resonant transport is a likely explanation for the compression of antiproton clouds in this regime.     

Abatement of thermal noise due to internal damping in 2D oscillators with rapidly rotating test masses

Mechanical oscillators can be sensitive to very small forces. Low frequency effects are up-converted to higher frequency by rotating the oscillator. We show that for 2-dimensional oscillators rotating at frequency much higher than the signal the thermal noise force due to internal losses and competing with it is abated as the square root of the rotation frequency. We also show that rotation at frequency much higher than the natural one is possible if the oscillator has 2 degrees of freedom, and describe how this property applies also to torsion balances. In addition, in the 2D oscillator the signal is up-converted above resonance without being attenuated as in the 1D case, thus relaxing requirements on the read out. This work indicates that proof masses weakly coupled in 2D and rapidly rotating can play a major role in very small force physics experiments.     

Relatively low temperature synthesis of graphene by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

We present a simple, low-cost and high-effective method for synthesizing high-quality, large-area graphene using radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) on SiO₂/Si substrate covered with Ni thin film at relatively low temperatures (650 °C). During deposition, the trace amount of carbon (CH₄ gas flow rate of 2 sccm) is introduced into PECVD chamber and the deposition time is only 30 s, in which the carbon atoms diffuse into the Ni film and then segregate on its surface, forming single-layer or few-layer graphene. After deposition, Ni is removed by wet etching, and the obtained single continuous graphene film can easily be transferred to other substrates. This investigation provides a large-area, low temperature and low-cost synthesis method for graphene as a practical electronic material.     

Rotational stabilization of resistive wall modes by the shear alfvén resonance

It is found that resistive wall modes with a toroidal number n = 1 in tokamaks can be stabilized by plasma rotation at a low Mach number, with the rotation frequency being lower than the ion bounce frequency but larger than the ion and electron precession drift frequencies. The stabilization is the result of the shear-Alfvén resonance, since the thermal resonance effect is negligible in this rotation frequency range. This indicates that tokamaks can operate at normalized pressure values beyond the no-wall stability limit even for low values of plasma rotation, such as those expected in fusion reactor scale devices.     

Diagnostics of Low-Pressure Oxygen RF Plasmas and the Mechanism for Polymer Etching: A Comparison of Reactive Sputter Etching and Magnetron Sputter Etching

We have compared low-pressure oxygen RF plasmas and the etching of photoresist in a reactive sputter etch reactor and in a magnetron etch reactor using Langmuir probe, optical emission actinometry, and mass spectrometry measurements. The Langmuir probe data allow the determination of the plasma ion density and electron temperature, and thus the ion flux onto the substrate. The optical data yield information on the presence of O atoms and O2+ ions. Stable reactant and product species are monitored with a mass spectrometer. The main difference between the two reactors is that in magnetron sputter etching (MSE), the ion flux to the substrate is about an order of magnitude higher, under comparable plasma conditions, than in reactive sputter etching (RSE). This accounts for the higher etch rate in MSE. However, the etch yield per ion is higher in RSE because of the higher ion energy. Etch rates correlate neither with the ion flux to the substrate nor with the density of O atoms in the plasma, but change in parallel with the consumption of reactant gas. We conclude that in etching a polymer in a low-pressure oxygen plasma, the main neutral reactant species are O2 molecules, and an important role of the ions is to remove reaction products from the substrate surface.     

Structure and phonon spectrum of a submonolayer Ni film on the surface of Cu(100)

The equilibrium atomic structure and the phonon spectra of a submonolayer (θ = 0.5 monolayer) Ni film deposited on the surface of Cu(100) are calculated using the potentials obtained by the embedded atom method. We consider atomic relaxation, the vibrational state density distribution on Ni and substrate atoms, and polarization of vibrational modes. Variation of the phonon spectrum upon segregation of Cu atoms on the film surface is considered. It is shown that mixing of vibrations of Ni adatoms with vibrations of substrate atoms occurs in the entire frequency range, leading to a frequency shift of the vibrational modes of the substrate and to the occurrence of new vibrational states atypical of a clean surface. The Cu(100)–c(2 × 2)–Ni structure is dynamically stabler when placed in the subsurface layer of the substrate.     

Results of vacuum cleaning techniques on the performance of LiFfield-threshold ion sources on extraction applied-B ion diodes at 1-10TW

Uncontrolled plasma formation on electrode surfaces limits performance in a wide variety of pulsed power devices such as electron and ion diodes, transmission lines, radio frequency (RF) cavities, and microwave devices. Surface and bulk contaminants on the electrodes in vacuum dominate the composition of these plasmas, formed through processes such as stimulated and thermal desorption followed by ionization. We are applying RF discharge cleaning, anode heating, cathode cooling, and substrate surface coatings to the control of the effects of these plasmas in the particular case of applied-B ion diodes on the SABRE (1 TW) and PBFA-X (30 TW) accelerators. Evidence shows that our LiF ion source provides a 200-700 A/cm² lithium beam for 10-20 ns which is then replaced by a contaminant beam of protons and carbon. Other ion sources show similar behavior. Our electrode surface and substrate cleaning techniques reduce beam contamination, anode and cathode plasma formation, delay impedance collapse, and increase lithium energy, power, and production efficiency. Theoretical and simulation models of electron-stimulated and thermal-contaminant desorption leading to anode plasma formation show agreement with many features from experiment. Decrease of the diode electron loss by changing the shape and magnitude of the insulating magnetic field profiles increases the lithium output and changes the diode response to cleaning. We also show that the LiF films are permeable, allowing substrate contaminants to affect diode behavior. Substrate coatings of Ta and Au underneath the LiF film allow some measure of control of substrate contaminants, and provide direct evidence for thermal desorption. We have increased lithium current density by a factor of four and lithium energy by a factor of five through a combination of in situ surface and substrate cleaning, substrate coatings, and field profile modifications     

Influence of reaction gas flows on the properties of SiGe:H thin film prepared by plasma assisted reactive thermal chemical vapour deposition

A new preparing technology, very high frequency plasma assisted reactive thermal chemical vapour deposition （VHFPA-RTCVD）, is introduced to prepare SiGe：H thin films on substrate kept at a lower temperature. In the previous work, reactive thermal chemical vapour deposition （I~TCVD） technology was successfully used to prepare SiGe：H thin films, but the temperature of the substrate needed to exceed 400℃. In this work, very high frequency plasma method is used to assist RTCVD technology in reducing the temperature of substrate by largely enhancing the temperature of reacting gases on the surface of the substrate. The growth rate, structural properties, surface morphology, photo- conductivity and dark-conductivity of SiGe：H thin films prepared by this new technology are investigated for films with different germanium concentrations, and the experimental results are discussed.     

Fluid simulation of the pulsed bias effect on inductively coupled nitrogen discharges for low-voltage plasma immersion ion implantation

Planar radio frequency inductively coupled plasmas(ICP) are employed for low-voltage ion implantation processes,with capacitive pulse biasing of the substrate for modulation of the ion energy. In this work, a two-dimensional(2D) selfconsistent fluid model has been employed to investigate the influence of the pulsed bias power on the nitrogen plasmas for various bias voltages and pulse frequencies. The results indicate that the plasma density as well as the inductive power density increase significantly when the bias voltage varies from 0 V to-4000 V, due to the heating of the capacitive field caused by the bias power. The N+fraction increases rapidly to a maximum at the beginning of the power-on time, and then it decreases and reaches the steady state at the end of the glow period. Moreover, it increases with the bias voltage during the power-on time, whereas the N_2~+ fraction exhibits a reverse behavior. When the pulse frequency increases to 25 kHz and40 kHz, the plasma steady state cannot be obtained, and a rapid decrease of the ion density at the substrate surface at the beginning of the glow period is observed.     

Buffer-gas-assisted polarization spectroscopy of 6Li

We report on the demonstration of Doppler-free polarization spectroscopy of the D2 line of (6)Li atoms. Counterintuitively, the presence of an Ar buffer gas, in a certain pressure range, causes a drastic enhancement of the polarization rotation signal. The observed dependence of the signal amplitude on the Ar buffer pressure and the pump laser power is reproduced by calculations based on simple rate equations. We performed stable laser frequency locking using a dispersion signal obtained by polarization spectroscopy for laser cooling of (6)Li atoms.     

Nonlinear dynamics of radio frequency plasma processing reactorspowered by multifrequency sources

The source frequency has a strong influence on plasma characteristics in RF discharges. Multiple sources at widely different frequencies are often simultaneously used to separately optimize the magnitude and energy of ion fluxes to the substrate. In doing so, the sources are relatively independent of each other. These sources can, however, nonlinearly interact if the frequencies are sufficiently close. The resulting plasma and electrical characteristics can then be significantly different from those due to the sum of the individual sources. In this paper, a plasma equipment model is used to investigate the interaction of multiple frequency sources in capacitively and inductively coupled RF excited plasmas. In capacitively coupled systems, we confirmed that the plasma density increases with increasing frequency but also found that the magnitude of the DC bias and DC sheath voltage decreases. To produce a capacitively coupled discharge having a high plasma density with a large DC bias, we combined low and high frequency sources. The plasma density did increase using the dual frequency system as compared to the single low frequency source. The sources, however, nonlinearly interacted at the grounded wall sheath, thereby shifting both the plasma potential and DC bias. In inductively coupled plasmas (ICP), the frequency of the capacitive substrate bias does not have a significant effect on electron temperature and density. The DC bias and DC sheath voltage at the substrate were, however, found to strongly depend on source frequency. By using additional RF sources at alternate locations in ICP reactors, it was found that the DC bias at the substrate was varied without significantly changing other plasma parameters, such as the substrate sheath potential     

室内MIMO可见光通信的接收特性

建立了一种基于MIMO的室内二次反射可见光通信的信道模型。通过模型仿真,从不同位置处接收面上探测器的不同间距、不同面积以及接收面横向、纵向旋转方面,分析了室内MIMO可见光通信的接收特性。仿真结果表明,在满足信号可恢复的条件下,接收面探测器间距d的变化对光信号接收的影响很小,不同接收位置的接收信噪比(SNR)也呈现不同的分布。另外,接收面横向旋转不会影响光信号接收,而纵向旋转具有一定的限制范围。     

利用原子干涉仪的相位调制进行绝对转动测量

提出一种基于原子干涉仪的相位调制进行绝对转动测量的方法.以π/2-π-π/2构型的空间型原子干涉仪为例,通过对拉曼激光进行相位调制,然后在动量谱空间测量转动对原子速度谱的调制周期,获得原子干涉仪相对惯性空间的绝对转动.文章对于采用该法进行角速度测量的测量范围以及对相位调制频率的要求进行了分析,对于散粒噪声限下的转动测量灵敏度及其影响因素进行了仿真. 关键词： 原子干涉仪 原子陀螺 相位调制 绝对转动测量     

射频磁控反应溅射制备的Ag2O薄膜的椭圆偏振光谱研究

Ag₂O薄膜在新型超高存储密度光盘和磁光盘方面具有潜在的应用前景.利用射频磁控反应溅射技术, 通过调节衬底温度在沉积气压为0.2 Pa、氧氩比为2:3的条件下制备了一系列Ag₂O 薄膜.利用通用振子模型(包括1个Tauc-Lorentz振子和2个Lorentz 振子)拟合了薄膜的椭圆偏振光谱.在1.5-3.5 eV能量区间,薄膜的折射率在2.2-2.7之间, 消光系数在0.3-0.9之间. 在3.5-4.5 eV能量区间,薄膜呈现了明显的反常色散,揭示Ag₂O薄膜的等离子体振荡频率在 3.5-4.5 eV之间. 随着衬底温度的升高,薄膜的光学吸收边总体上发生了红移, 该红移归结于薄膜晶格微观应变随衬底温度的升高而增大. Ag₂O薄膜的光学常数表现出典型的介质材料特性.     

Tomographic analysis of the central magnetohydrodynamic oscillations on the HT-7 tokamak

Multi-channel soft x-ray (SX) detectors are applied to generate images of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) oscillation on the HT-7 tokamak, and the data from SX cameras are analysed by using the Fourier--Bessel harmonic reconstruction method and the singular value decomposition. The image reconstruction of SX emissivity is obtained on the assumption of plasma rigid rotation. One of the important phenomena in the HT-7 discharge is the transition from the sawtooth oscillations to the MHD oscillations when the plasma density grows higher. The MHD structure observed in the SX tomography is featured as follows: the magnetic surface of MHD structure is made up of the crescent-shaped ``hot core' and the circular ``cold bubble'. The structure of the magnetic surface is relatively stable. It rotates in the direction of the electron diamagnetic drift at a frequency being the oscillation frequency of the MHD oscillations.     

Dynamical motion of adatoms and their neighbours at the Ni(111) surface

We have calculated mean square displacements and one atom spectral densities for the adatoms H, O, S, Ni, and their neighbours on a Ni(111) surface. The adatoms are isolated on the substrate. They lie at a site of three-fold symmetry. The upward shift in frequency of the adatom's normal mode of vibration perpendicular to the surface (a shift from the value on an infinitely massive substrate) has been calculated. A simple analytical formula is obtained by means of which the shift can be estimated for any adatom —surface combination.     

Surface passivation in n-type silicon and its application in silicon drift detector

Based on the surface passivation of n-type silicon in a silicon drift detector(SDD), we propose a new passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2 passivation stacks. Since the SiO2 formed by the nitric-acid-oxidation-of-silicon(NAOS)method has good compactness and simple process, the first layer film is formed by the NAOS method. The Al2O3 film is also introduced into the passivation stacks owing to exceptional advantages such as good interface characteristic and simple process. In addition, for requirements of thickness and deposition temperature, the third layer of the SiO2 film is deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD). The deposition of the SiO2 film by PECVD is a low-temperature process and has a high deposition rate, which causes little damage to the device and makes the SiO2 film very suitable for serving as the third passivation layer. The passivation approach of stacks can saturate dangling bonds at the interface between stacks and the silicon substrate, and provide positive charge to optimize the field passivation of the n-type substrate.The passivation method ultimately achieves a good combination of chemical and field passivations. Experimental results show that with the passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2, the final minority carrier lifetime reaches 5223 μs at injection of 5×10¹⁵ cm^-3. When it is applied to the passivation of SDD, the leakage current is reduced to the order of nA.     

Synthesis of ZnAl2O4/α-Al2O3 complex substrates and growth of GaN films

With the solid phase reaction between pulsed-laser-deposited (PLD) ZnOfilm and α-Al2O3 substrate, ZnAl2O4/α-Al2O3 complex substrates were synthesized. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra show that as the reaction proceeds, ZnAl2O4 changes from the initial (111)-oriented single crystal to poly-crystal, and then to inadequate (111) orientation. Corresponding scanning electron microscope (SEM)images indicate that the surface morphology of ZnAl2O4 transforms from uniform islands to stick structures, and then to bulgy-line structures. In addition, XRDspectra present that ZnAl2O4 prepared at low temperature is unstable at the environment of higher temperature. On the as-obtained ZnAl2O4/α-Al2O3 substrates, GaN films were grown without any nitride buffer using light-radiation heating low-pressure MOCVD (LRH-LP-MOCVD). XRD spectra indicate that GaN film on this kind of complex substrate changes from c-axis single crystal to poly-crystal as ZnAl2O4 layer is thickened. For the single crystal GaN, its full width at half maximum (FWHM) of X-ray rocking curve is 0.4°. Results indicate that islands on thin ZnAl2O4 layer can promote nucleation at initial stage of GaN growth, which leadsto the (0001)-oriented GaN film.     

Oxidation process of Mg films by using high-concentration ozone for magnetic tunnel junctions

Ozone oxidization process of metal Mg film for the barrier formation in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) is investigated. Ozone exposure method is expected to oxidize ultra-thin metal films more mildly than with the plasma oxidization method, since the energy level of atomic oxygen is ∼2 eV lower in the ozone method than in the plasma method. The main results were as follows: (1) In the case of ozone oxidation, the diffusion coefficient of oxygen in the insulator is much smaller than that in plasma oxidation. (2) Mg–O film thickness, which is formed by reaction immediately on the metal Mg surface, is thicker as compared with the Al case. (3) In the ozone oxidation method of metal films with the thickness of more than the film thickness formed by reaction, the oxidation is spontaneously stopped at the interface to the bottom Co–Fe. As a result, we succeeded in inducing a TMR ratio of 25% at room temperature in MTJs with Mg(1.3 nm)–O barrier with wider exposure range than in the plasma case.