Conducting properties of In2O3:Sn thin films at low temperatures

Electrical conductivity, Hall effect and magnetoresistance of In₂O₃:Sn thin films deposited on a glass substrates at different temperatures and oxygen pressures, have been investigated in the temperature range 4.2–300 K. The observed temperature dependences of resistivity for films deposited at 230 °C as well as at nominally room temperatures were typical for metallic transport of electrons except temperature dependence of resistivity of the In₂O₃:Sn film deposited in the oxygen deficient atmosphere. The electrical measurements were accompanied by AFM and SEM studies of structural properties, as well as by XPS analysis. It is established that changes of morphology and crystallinity of ITO films modify the low-temperature behavior of resistivity, which still remains typical for metallic transport. This is not the case for the oxygen deficient ITO layer. XPS analysis shows that grown in situ oxygen deficient ITO films have enhanced DOS between the Fermi level and the valence band edge. The extra localized states behave as acceptors leading to a compensation of n-type ITO. That can explain lower n-type conductivity in this material crossing over to a Mott-type hopping at low temperatures. Results for the low temperature measurements of stoichiometric ITO layers indicate that they do not show any trace of metal-to-insulator transition even at 4.2 K. We conclude that, although ITO is considered as a highly doped wide-band gap semiconductor, its low-temperature properties are very different from those of conventional highly doped semiconductors.     

Study of anti-clockwise bipolar resistive switching in Ag/NiO/ITO heterojunction assembly

The anti-clockwise bipolar resistive switching in Ag/NiO/ITO (Indium–Tin–Oxide) heterojunctional thin film assembly is investigated. A sequential voltage sweep in 0 → V _max → 0 → ?V _min → 0 order shows intrinsic hysteresis behaviour and resistive switching in current density (J)–voltage (V) measurements at room temperature. Switching is induced by possible rupture and recovery of the conducting filaments in NiO layer mediated by oxygen ion migration and interfacial effects at NiO/ITO junction. In the high-resistance OFF-state space charge limited current passes through the filamentary path created by oxygen ion vacancies. In OFF-state, the resistive switching behaviour is attributed to trapping and detrapping processes in shallow trap states mostly consisting of oxygen vacancies. The slope of Log I vs Log V plots, in shallow trap region of space charge limited conduction is ~2 (I ∝ V ²) followed by trap-filled and trap-free conduction. In the low-resistance ON-state, the observed electrical features are governed by the ohmic conduction.     

Nanostructural,magnetic and electrical properties of Ag doped Mn-ferrite nanoparticles

Nano-crystalline MnFe_2−xAg_xO₄ (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.6) samples with average grain size of 4–7 nm were synthesized by a simple method based on decomposition of metal nitrates in presence of citric acid. The samples were characterized by different structural, magnetic and electrical measurements. Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data confirmed cubic spinel structure of the samples. Results show that Ag doping decreases the crystallite size, magnetization and coercivity of nanoparticles. By increasing the Ag content in the samples the saturation magnetization shows interesting temperature dependent behavior. It was realized that magnetization of smaller particles show higher sensitivity to temperature variations than larger particles. DC electrical resistivity measurements in the temperature range of 300–650 K show that the resistivity first increases and then decreases by increasing the Ag content in the samples. Curie temperature (T_c) and polaron activation energy in ferromagnetic and paramagnetic regions were estimated by using resistivity curves.     

Multiferroic and resistive switching behaviors in BiFe0.95Cr0.05O3 thin films deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates

Multiferroic and resistive switching properties of single-phase polycrystalline perovskite BiFe_0.95Cr_0.05O₃ (BFCO) thin films grown on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering were investigated. The BFCO film shows ferroelectric and magnetic properties simultaneously at room temperature, and also exhibits a good piezoelectric property with remanent effective piezoelectric coefficient d _33,f ～55±4 pm/V. An obviously resistive switching behavior was observed in the BFCO thin film at room temperature, which was discussed by the filamentary conduction mechanism associated with the redistribution of oxygen vacancies.     

New mineralogical phases identified by Mössbauer measurements in Morasko meteorite

The 0.9FeTiO₃–0.1Fe₂O₃ solid solution was prepared by solid state reaction with FeTiO₃ and α-Fe₂O₃ powders, and studied by x-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The crystalline structure was found to be single phase rhombohedral structure with lattice constant a?=?5.089 Å and c?=?14.051 Å. Mössbauer spectra of 0.9FeTiO₃–0.1Fe₂O₃ solid solution were taken at various temperatures ranging from 4.5 to 300 K. The anomalous absorption curves at low temperature are observed. Mössbauer spectra at 4.5 K was fitted to four six-line hyperfine pattern with magnetic hyperfine fields H _hf?=?504, 424, 115, and 58 kOe, respectively. At 40 K the spectrum shows the mixture of ferromagnetic six-line pattern and paramagnetic two-line and above 50 K it show asymmetry two-line patterns. The fitted curves at room temperature are obtained by superimposing two doublets corresponding to Fe^2?+ and Fe^3?+. The isomer shift δ and quadrupole splitting ΔE _Q of sample are 0.92 and 0.69 mm/s for Fe^2?+ and 0.14 and ??0.29 mm/s for Fe^3?+, respectively. Corresponding relative absorption subspectral areas are 89.2% for Fe^2?+ and 10.8% for Fe^3?+. Magnetization measurements indicate ferromagnetic behaviour with 92 Oe coercivity value at 50 K but at 300 K it show no hysteresis loop.     

Studies on highly resistive ZnO thin films grown by DC-discharge-assisted pulsed laser deposition

It was found that by changing the substrate temperature from room temperature to ～850 °C, ZnO thin films with widely varying resistivity values could be grown on sapphire substrates using DC-discharge-assisted pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in oxygen ambient. The resistivity of the film grown at room temperature was too high to measure using our existing setup. However, as the growth temperature was increased from 550 °C to 750 °C, the resistivity first decreased slowly from ～14.0 to 4.4 Ω?m and then dropped suddenly to get saturated at ～2.0×10^?3 Ω?m as the growth temperature was further increased. In contrast to these, when there was no DC-discharge, the variation of resistivity for ZnO thin films grown by PLD was marginal up to the substrate temperature of ～850 °C. The reason for these observations was found to be the combined effects of reduction in donor defect densities like oxygen vacancies and zinc interstitials, introduction of acceptor type defects like interstitial oxygen and zinc vacancies, and the resultant poor carrier mobility at lower growth temperatures. At higher growth temperatures (800 °C and above), the appearance of oxygen vacancies and increase in mobility due to better crystalline quality were found to be responsible for reducing the resistivity. The PL of these films had significant emission in the green and red regions of the spectrum due to the aforesaid defect related transitions. Such highly resistive and luminescent films might be suited for applications such as resistive RAM, UV-photo detector, TFT, piezoelectric, transparent phosphor, and broadband LED applications.     

Focused ion beam fabrication and magneto-electrical transport properties of La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 nanobridge

La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃ particle films with an average particle size of ~150 nm were grown on single-crystal silicon substrate using pulsed electron deposition technique and then focused ion beam was introduced to fabricate nanobridge in size of 300 × 900 nm on the particle film. The magneto-transport properties of both samples were studied. For the film, there is only one resistance peak at 182 K in temperature-dependent resistance (R–T) curves, which is far lower than ferromagnetic–paramagnetic transition temperature (T _C) of 250 K. When compared to the film, double peaks were observed in both R–T curves and magnetoresistance dependent on temperature (MR–T) curves of the nanobridge, one peak is at 186 K, which is very close to metal–insulator transition temperature (T _P) of film, the other one is at 250 K, which is close to the T _C of film, and these two peaks caused separately by grain and grain boundary (GB), which demonstrated that the electrical transport behavior of grain was separated from that of GB.     

Conducting boron-doped single-crystal diamond films for high pressure research

Epitaxial boron-doped diamond films were grown by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition for application as heating elements in high pressure diamond anvil cell devices. To a mixture of hydrogen, methane and oxygen, diborane concentrations of 240–1200 parts per million were added to prepare five diamond thin-film samples. Surface morphology has been observed to change depending on the amount of diborane added to the feed gas mixture. Single-crystal diamond film with a lowest room temperature resistivity of 18 mΩ cm was fabricated and temperature variation of resistivity was studied to a low temperature of 12 K. The observed minima in resistivity values with temperature for these samples have been attributed to a change in conduction mechanism from band conduction to hopping conduction. We also present a novel fabrication methodology for monocrystalline electrically conducting channels in diamond and present preliminary heating data with a boron-doped designer diamond anvil to 620 K at ambient pressure.     

Electrical and thermoelectric properties of nanoporous carbon

This paper reports on a study of the temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity, Hall coefficient, and thermopower of nanoporous carbon prepared from polycrystalline carbides (α-SiC, TiC, Mo₂C) and 6H-SiC single crystals in the temperature range 1.5–300 K. The structural units responsible for the character of charge transport in these materials are carbon nanoclusters measuring ～10–30 Å. The conductivity in all the samples studied was found to be p type with a high carrier concentration (n_h ～ 10²⁰ cm^?3). The behavior of the transport coefficients at low temperatures is discussed.     

Superconductivity in Ti-doped iron-arsenide compound Sr<Subscript>4</Subscript>Cr<Subscript>0.8</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>1.2</Subscript>O<Subscript>6</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>2</Subscript>As<Subscript>2</Subscript>

Superconductivity was achieved in Ti-doped iron-arsenide compound Sr₄Cr_0.8Ti_1.2O₆Fe₂As₂ (abbreviated as Cr-FeAs-42622). The X-ray diffraction measurement shows that this material has a layered structure with the space group of P4/nmm, and with the lattice constants a = b = 3.9003 Å and c = 15.8376 Å. Clear diamagnetic signals in ac susceptibility data and zero-resistance in resistivity data were detected at about 6 K, confirming the occurrence of bulk superconductivity. Meanwhile we observed a superconducting transition in the resistive data with the onset transition temperature at 29.2 K, which may be induced by the nonuniform distribution of the Cr/Ti content in the FeAs-42622 phase.     

Electrical characterization of porous La-doped BaSnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> using impedance spectroscopy

A few compositions in the system Ba_1???x La _x SnO₃ (x?=?0.00, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.10) have been synthesized via the solid state ceramic route. The synthesized powders have been characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transformation infrared, thermogravimetrical analysis, and differential thermal analysis techniques. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern of the samples confirms the formation of a single-phase solid solution only up to 0.50?≤?x. It was found that all the samples have a cubic crystal structure. The electrical properties of La-modified BaSnO₃ were studied using ac impedance spectroscopy technique over a wide range of temperatures (50–650 °C) in the frequency range of 10 Hz–13 MHz. The complex impedance plots above 300 °C show that total impedance is due to the contributions of grain and grain boundaries. The resistance of these contributions has been determined. Variation of these resistances with temperature shows the presence of two different regions with different slopes. The nature of the variation of conductivity of the grain and grain boundaries is different in different regions. Based on the value of activation energy, it is proposed that conduction via hopping of doubly ionized oxygen vacancies (V_O ^??) is taking place in the temperature region of 300–450 °C, whereas in the temperature region of 450–650 °C, it is due to proton, i.e., OH^? ions, hopping.     

Localization in the metallic regime of granular Cu—SiO2 films

The temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity of sputterd Cu—SiO₂ films measured in the range 4–300 K show minima which depend on the composition. A linear temperature dependence of ? is observed above the minimum, and an appropriate log T dependence is found below. The latter is attributed to electron localization. The magnetoresistance is found to be negative and the Hall constant shows no appreciable temperature dependence.     

Robust doped BaCeO<Subscript>3-δ</Subscript> electrolyte for IT-SOFCs

Single phase polycrystalline BaZr_0.3Ce_0.5Y_0.1Yb_0.1O_{3 - δ} electrolyte material was prepared by solid state reaction route. Rietveld analysis of the XRD data confirms the tetragonal symmetry in the I4/mcm space group with unit cell parameters of a = b = 6.0567(3) Å and c = 8.5831(5) Å. The addition of ZnO as a sintering additive was found to reduce the sintering temperature and enhance both overall sinterability and grain growth. Sintering temperature was reduced by 200–300 °C, and a very high relative density of about 98% was achieved at 1400 °C. Impedance spectroscopy in humidified 5% H₂/Ar atmosphere shows that the protonic conductivity at 600 °C was 8.60 × 10^?3 S cm^?1. Thermal analysis performed in pure CO₂ atmosphere shows very good chemical stability up to 1200 °C. Good biaxial flexure strength of 100–200 MPa was reported which makes this material a promising electrolyte material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs).     

On electron transport in ZrB<Subscript>12</Subscript>, ZrB<Subscript>2</Subscript>, and MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript> in normal state

We report on measurements of the temperature dependence of resistivity, ρ(T), for single-crystal samples of ZrB₁₂, ZrB₂, and polycrystalline samples of MgB₂. It is shown that the cluster compound ZrB₁₂ behaves as a simple metal in the normal state, with a typical Bloch-Grüneisen ρ(T) dependence. However, the resistive Debye temperature, T_R=300 K, is three times smaller than T_D obtained from specific heat data. We observe the T² term in ρ(T) of all these borides, which could be interpreted as an indication of strong electron-electron interaction.     

Mössbauer spectroscopical investigation of the exchange biased Fe/MnF2 interface

Two different Fe/MnF₂ samples have been prepared by e-beam evaporation on MgO(001) substrates. The Fe layer in the samples includes a 10 Å thick ⁵⁷Fe probe layer either at the Fe/MnF₂ interface (interface sample) or 35 Å away from the interface (center sample). The samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) and SQUID magnetometry. ⁵⁷Fe CEMS has been employed to study the depth dependent hyperfine interactions in Fe/MnF₂ as a function of temperature between 18 K to 300 K. The hyperfine field B _hf has been obtained for the interfacial and off-interfacial ⁵⁷Fe layers. At the interface, besides B _hf of bcc-Fe, the presence of a component with a distribution P(B _hf ) is observed. The latter is assigned to interfacial ⁵⁷Fe atoms, indicating some (～15%, equivalent to ～1 Fe atomic layer) intermixing at the Fe/MnF₂ interface and a decrease of the average hf > by 21%. The influence of the interface disappears as the ⁵⁷Fe probe layer is placed away from the interface. The temperature dependence of the average hf > of the interface has been measured. The Fe spins, at remanence, are found to lie in the film plane.     

Physical properties of double perovskite compounds ALaVMoO6 (A=Ca, Sr, Ba)—a possible half-metallic antiferromagnetic system

Double perovskite compounds ALaVMoO₆ (A=Ca, Sr, Ba) have been synthesized and their electrical and magnetic properties have been investigated. Magnetization measurements have indicated the possible antiferromagnetic transitions at 120 and 130 K for A=Ca and Sr samples, respectively. Electrical resistivity ρ for this system shows metallic temperature dependence from 300 to 20 K, though the sample with A=Ca shows weak semiconducting behavior in the low temperature region (<70 K). Considering the magnetic and electrical properties and assuming the V³⁺S=1 and Mo⁴⁺S=1 valence and spin states, the samples with A=Ca and Sr can be promising candidates for half-metallic antiferromagnets.     

The Kondo temperature of gold

Precise measurements of the low temperature electrical resistivity were obtained for 7 samples of highly dilute AuFe alloys. The effective Fe concentrations ranged between 0.006 and 0.2 ppm. At these low concentrations no impurity-impurity effects could be detected and the data were in good agreement with the Hamann theory. Values of the impurity spin S and the Kondo temperature T_K were determined from the Hamann equation to be (0.15±0.01) and (1.5±0.1) K respectively.     

Mössbauer and X-ray study of the Fe 65 Ni 35 invar alloy obtained by mechanical alloying

Fe₆₅Ni₃₅ samples were prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) with milling times of 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11 h, using a ball mass to powder mass ratio of 20:1 and at 280 rpm. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectrometry. The X-ray diffraction pattern showed the coexistence of one body centered cubic (BCC) and two face centered cubic (FCC1 and FCC2) structural phases. The lattice parameters of these phases did not change significantly with the milling time (2.866 Å, 3.597 Å and 3.538 Å, respectively). After 10 h of milling, the X-ray diffraction pattern showed clearly the coexistence of these three phases. Hence, Mössbauer spectrometry measurements at low temperatures from 20 to 300 K of this sample were also carried out. The Mössbauer spectra were fitted using a model with three components: the first one is a hyperfine magnetic field distributions at high fields, related to the BCC phase; the second one is a hyperfine magnetic field distribution involving low hyperfine fields related to a FCC phase rich in Ni, and the third one is a singlet related to a FCC phase rich in Fe, with paramagnetic behavior. As proposed by some authors, the last phase is related with the antitaenite phase.     

吸气溅射Mo1-xSix薄膜的超导性能

对于四个Mo_1-xSi_x薄膜样品进行了超导转变温度、临界温度附近的临界磁场以及在4.2K下的临界电流的测试,并且测量了室温(300K)及低温(8K)下的电阻率,结果显示四个样品具有非晶的特征,其中Mo₇₈Si₂₂薄膜样品有较好的非晶特性。 关键词：     

Estimation of Saturation Exponent from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Logs in Low Permeability Reservoirs

The resistivity experimental measurements of 36 core samples, which were drilled from low permeability reservoirs of southwest China, illustrate that the saturation exponents are not agminate, but vary from 1.627 to 3.48; this leads to a challenge for water saturation estimation in low permeability formations. Based on the analysis of resistivity experiments, laboratory nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements for all 36 core samples, and mercury injection measurements for 20 of them, it was observed that the saturation exponent is proportional to the proportion of small pore components and inversely proportional to the logarithmic mean of NMR T ₂ spectrum (T _2lm). For rocks with high proportion of small pore components and low T _2lm, there will be high saturation exponents, and vice versa. The proportion of small pore components is characterized by three different kinds of irreducible water saturations, which are estimated by defining 30, 40 and 50 ms as T ₂ cutoffs separately. By integrating these three different kinds of irreducible water saturations and using T _2lm, a technique of calculating the saturation exponent from NMR logs is proposed and the corresponding model is established. The credibility of this technique is confirmed by comparing the predicted saturation exponents with the results from the core analysis. For more than 85 % of core samples, the absolute errors between the predicted saturation exponents from NMR logs and the experimental results are lower than 0.25. Once this technique is extended to field application, the accuracy of water saturation estimation in low permeability reservoirs will be improved significantly.