Influence of proton irradiation on the photoluminescence spectra of zinc oxide modified by ZrO2 and ZrO2·Y2O3 nanopowders

ZnO powder photoluminescence spectra at 360-660 nm modified and unmodified by ZrO₂, ZrO₂Y₂O₃ nanopowders before and after 100 keV proton irradiation were investigated. It was found that introduction of nanoparticles led to ultraviolet band intensity decrease and to visual spectrum band intensity increase. Extinction of intensity occurs under the effect of protons in both bands of luminescence. Decomposition of spectra into elementary defects and analysis of their area change during modification and irradiation were carried out.     

Modification in structural and optical properties of ZnO, CeO2 doped Al2O3-PbO-B2O3 glasses

The structural and optical analysis of glasses is carried out by XRD, FTIR, density and UV visible spectroscopic measurement techniques. XRD results have confirmed the glassy nature of the samples. The FTIR spectral analysis reveals that with the combined presence of ZnO and CeO₂ contents in Al₂O₃-PbO-B₂O₃ glasses, more BO₃ groups are transformed into BO₄. The optical analysis reveals that optical band gap energy decreases more for CeO₂-ZnO-Al₂O₃-PbO-B₂O₃ glasses (from 2.28 to 1.84 eV). The presence of CeO₂ and ZnO in the glass samples causes more compaction of the borate network due to the formation of more BO₄ groups and the presence of ZnO₄ groups, which results an increase in density, refractive index and decrease of molar volume.     

Fabrication of ZnO/Al2O3 core-shell nanostructures and crystalline Al2O3 nanotube

We have demonstrated the crystalline ZnO-Al₂O₃ core-shell nanowire structure by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at a temperature 100 °C. The core-shell structure could have potential applications in the fabrication of ZnO field effect transistor. After dissolving the ZnO core, shape defined, rigid and robust crystalline Al₂O₃ shelled nanostructures have been fabricated. Nanowire ZnO nanostructures have been replicated by alumina shell. This is one of the most effective techniques for producing core-shell or shell/hollowed nanostructures of any desired objects. The Al₂O₃ shelled nanostructures could have potential applications as space confined nanoreactors, drug delivery, nanofluidic channels and optical transmitting.     

The structure and optical characters of the ZnO film grown on GaAs/Al2O3 substrate

In this paper ZnO films are grown on GaAs/Al₂O₃ substrates at different temperature by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The GaAs/Al₂O₃ substrates are formed by depositing GaAs layer (∼35 nm) on the Al₂O₃ substrate. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) demonstrate that most of the Ga and As atoms form Ga-As bond and the GaAs layer does not present any orientation. The characters of the ZnO films grown on GaAs/Al₂O₃ substrates are investigated by XRD, photoluminescence (PL), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman scattering. Compared with ZnO film grown on Al₂O₃ substrate, ZnO film prepared by our fabrication scheme has good crystal and optical quality. Meanwhile its grain size becomes bigger according to the AFM image. Raman analysis indicates that the intrinsic defects and the in-plane tensile stress are obviously reduced in ZnO/GaAs/Al₂O₃ samples.     

Mesoporous (ZrO2-TiO2)/Al2O3 ternary carriers as hydrodesulfurization catalysts support

Ternary systems at various compositions were synthesized by coprecipitating Zr and Ti (to get a ZrO₂-TiO₂ 40-60 mol%) chlorides in aqueous basic media (provided by urea thermal decomposition) over an alumina substrate. Materials characterization included N₂ physisorption, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, high-resolution electron microscopy and Raman and UV-vis spectroscopies. High interaction among components was clearly evidenced by various techniques. Textural properties of ternary oxides could be tuned depending on composition of formulations. Mixed oxides with 10 or 20 mol% of ZrO₂-TiO₂ (at 40-60% mol, in turn) had the most suitable combination of textural properties (surface area, average pore diameter and pore volume) for the intended application (support of catalyst for hydrodesulfurization de oil-derived middle distillates). The suitability of those ternary supports was demonstrated in the dibenzothiophene hydrodesulfurization where the corresponding supported MoS₂ catalysts (at 2.8 atom Mo nm⁻²) were much more active (on a per mass of catalyst basis) than when impregnated over either alumina or zirconia-titania oxides.     

Ultra-broad near-infrared emission of Bi-doped SiO2 Al2O3 GeO2 optical fibers

Bi-doped SiO 2 –Al 2 O 3 –GeO 2 fiber preforms are prepared by modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) and solution doping process. The characteristic spectra of the preforms and fibers are experimentally investigated, and a distinct difference in emission between the two is observed. Under 808-nm excitation, an ultra-broad near-infrared (NIR) emission with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 495 nm is observed in the Bi-doped fiber. This observation, to our knowledge, is the first in this field. The NIR emission consists of two bands, which may be ascribed to the Bi 0 and Bi + species, respectively. This Bi-doped fiber is promising for broadband optical amplification and widely tunable laser.     

Influence of the transparency of tunnel barriers in Nb/Al2O3/Al/Al2O3/Nb junctions on transport properties

The transparency of the tunnel barriers in double-barrier junctions influences the critical current density and the form of the current–voltage characteristics (IVC). Moreover, the barrier asymmetry is an important parameter, which has to be controlled in the technological process. We have performed a systematic study of the influence of the barrier transparency on critical current, I_C, and normal resistance, R_N, by preparing SIS and SINIS junctions under identical technological conditions and comparing their transport properties. We have fabricated Nb/Al₂O₃/Nb and Nb/Al₂O₃/Al/Al₂O₃/Nb devices with different current densities using a conventional fabrication process, varying pressure and oxidation time. The thickness of the Al middle electrode in all Nb/Al₂O₃/Al/Al₂O₃/Nb junctions was 6 nm. Patterning of the multilayers was done using conventional photolithography and the selective niobium etching process. The current density of SIS junctions was changed in the range from 0.5 to 10 kA/cm². At the same conditions the current density of SINIS devices revealed 1–100 A/cm² with non-hysteretic IVC and characteristic voltages, I_CR_N, of up to 200 μV. By comparing the experimental and theoretical temperature dependence of the I_CR_N product we estimated the barrier transparency and its asymmetry. The comparison shows a good agreement of experimental data with the theoretical model of tunneling through double-barrier structures in the dirty limit and provides the effective barrier transparency parameter γ_eff≈300. A theoretical framework is developed to study the influence of the barrier asymmetry on the current–phase relationship and it is proposed to determine the asymmetry parameter by measuring the critical current suppression as function of applied microwave power. The theoretical approach to determine the non-stationary properties of double-barrier junctions in the adiabatic regime is formulated and the results of calculations of the I–V characteristics are given in relevant limits. The existence and the magnitude of a current deficit are predicted as function of the barrier asymmetry.     

Electronic structure of Al2O3 from electron energy loss spectroscopy

The electronic structure of Al₂O₃ has been studied by electron energy loss spectroscopy (ELS), and an energy level model of both filled and empty states has been constructed from the ELS and available optical data. For the high temperature pyrolytic α-polycrystalline Al₂O₃ films, the transitions are assumed to originate at the two principal peaks in the valence band density of states and the O(2s) core state, and to terminate on two peaks within the conduction band density of states. We also report energy loss spectra due to excitations out of the deeper Al(2p), Al(2s), Al(1s), and O(1s) core levels. The excitations originating at the Al(2p), Al(2s), and Al(1s) core levels terminate on levels in the conduction band and on an exciton lying about 1 eV below the conduction-band edge.     

Electronic properties of thin films of laser-ablated Al2O3

Laser ablation coupled to mass quadrupole spectrometry (LAMQS) has been used to prepare thin films of aluminum oxide deposited on Si substrates starting from commercial Al₂O₃ polycrystalline targets. X-ray photoemission (XPS) and reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy (REELS) have allowed the investigation of the electronic properties of the produced films. In particular, it was found that the Al/O atomic ratio assumes a value very near to 0.7 (stoichiometric ratio) only for films deposited normally with respect to the target surface, while films grown at larger deposition angles are more rich in oxygen content.The composition, the mass density, the optical energy gap, the complex dielectric function and refraction index of the films have been calculated and compared with the results obtained from our starting target material and with the literature. The morphology of the deposited samples has been analyzed by the AFM technique.     

Chemical quenching of positronium in Fe2O3/Al2O3 catalysts

Fe₂O₃/Al₂O₃ catalysts were prepared by solid state reaction method using α-Fe₂O₃ and γ-Al₂O₃ nano powders. The microstructure and surface properties of the catalyst were studied using positron lifetime and coincidence Doppler broadening annihilation radiation measurements. The positron lifetime spectrum shows four components. The two long lifetimes τ₃ and τ₄ are attributed to positronium annihilation in two types of pores distributed inside Al₂O₃ grain and between the grains, respectively. With increasing Fe₂O₃ content from 3 wt% to 40 wt%, the lifetime τ₃ keeps nearly unchanged, while the longest lifetime τ₄ shows decrease from 96 ns to 64 ns. Its intensity decreases drastically from 24% to less than 8%. The Doppler broadening S parameter shows also a continuous decrease. Further analysis of the Doppler broadening spectra reveals a decrease in the p-Ps intensity with increasing Fe₂O₃ content, which rules out the possibility of spin-conversion of positronium. Therefore the decrease of τ₄ is most probably due to the chemical quenching reaction of positronium with Fe ions on the surface of the large pores.     

Al2O3增强的Co2-C98/Al2O3/Si异质结的光伏效应

随着能源危机的加剧,太阳能电池作为开发和利用太阳能的一种普遍形式, 日益受到世界各国的重视.随着太阳能电池向着高效率、薄膜化、无毒性和原材料丰富的方向发展, 单纯的硅系太阳能电池已经无法达到这样的要求,因此新的材料和工艺的开发利用迫在眉睫. 本文研究了碳材料在硅异质节上实现光伏效应的改善及其可能在太阳能电池上的应用. 采用脉冲激光沉积方法制备的Co₂-C₉₈/Al₂O₃/Si异质结构在标准日光照射 (AM1.5, 100 mW/cm²)条件下,可获得0.447 V的开路电压和18.75 mA/cm²的电流密度, 转换效率可达3.27%.通过电容电压特性和暗条件下的电输运性能测量, 证明了氧化铝层的引入不但对单晶硅的表面起到了物理钝化作用,减小了反向漏电流, 使异质结界面缺陷、界面能级和复合中心减少,还起到了场效应钝化作用, 增加了异质结界面的势垒高度,增加了开路电压,使异质结的光伏效应显著增强.     

A study of valency changes of vanadium ions in Al2O3 by γ irradiation

The effect of γ irradiation at 300 K on the concentrations of vanadium ions V³⁺, V⁴⁺ and V²⁺ in Al₂O₃ has been studied quantitatively, using three techniques: optical absorption (V³⁺), low temperature thermal conductivity measurements (V⁴⁺) and EPR (V²⁺). Several single crystals of Al₂O₃ doped with vanadium in a large range of concentration $\text{(2.8 × 10}{}^{18}\text{? 1.3 × 10}{}^{20}\text{at.}\text{cm}{}^3\text{)}$ have been measured. The evolution of the respective concentrations by γ irradiation as a function of the total vanadium content C is quite different in the two regions $\text{C< 1.2 × 10}{}^{19}\text{at.}\text{cm}{}^3$ and C larger than this value. A consistent analysis of the results has nevertheless been achieved, leading to the determination of the absolute concentrations of the three ions in the as-received and γ irradiated states for all samples with $\text{C<4.2 × 10}{}^{19}\text{at.}\text{cm}{}^3$ (room temperature annealing is observed above this value). The concentrations of V⁴⁺ and V²⁺ ions are always small, but V⁴⁺ ions are more stable: they are present in the as-received state at a level of 1% of the total concentration and a maximum value of $\text{/}\text{?}\text{2.3 × 10}{}^{18}\text{at.}\text{cm}{}^3$ is observed in the γ irradiated state; on the other hand there are less than 4.7 × 10¹⁵V²⁺ ions per cm³ in the as-received state and the maximum value is only $\text{4.2 × 10}{}^{17}\text{at.}\text{cm}{}^3$. Charge transfer between V ions only is not sufficient to explain the experimental results and other defects must be involved in the γ irradiation effect.     

Characteristics of sandwich-structured Al2O3/HfO2/Al2O3 gate dielectric films on ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator substrates

Sandwich-structure Al₂O₃/HfO₂/Al₂O₃ gate dielectric films were grown on ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates by vacuum electron beam evaporation (EB-PVD) method. AFM and TEM observations showed that the films remained amorphous even after post-annealing treatment at 950 °C with smooth surface and clean silicon interface. EDX- and XPS-analysis results revealed no silicate or silicide at the silicon interface. The equivalent oxide thickness was 3 nm and the dielectric constant was around 7.2, as determined by electrical measurements. A fixed charge density of 3 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻² and a leakage current of 5 × 10⁻⁷A/cm² at 2 V gate bias were achieved for Au/gate stack /Si/SiO₂/Si/Au MIS capacitors. Post-annealing treatment was found to effectively reduce trap density, but increase in annealing temperature did not made any significant difference in the electrical performance.     

Size-dependent magnetic properties of FeGaB/Al2O3 multilayer micro-islands

Recently, micrometer-size patterned magnetic materials have been widely used in MEMS devices. However, the self-demagnetizing action is significantly influencing the performance of the magnetic materials in many MEMS devices. Here, we report an experimental study on the magnetic properties of the patterned micro-scale FeGaB/Al₂O₃ multilayers. Ferromagnetic hysteresis loop, ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), permeability and domain behavior have been demonstrated by complementary techniques. Magnetic annealing was used to enhance the performance of magnetic multilayers. The comparisons among micro-islands with different sizes in the range of $200\mathrm{\mu }\text{m}～500\mathrm{\mu }\text{m}$ as well as full film show a marked influence of size-effect, the exchange coupling effect, and the different domain structures inside the islands.     

空位缺陷和相变对冲击压缩下蓝宝石光学性质的影响

为了探究冲击压缩下蓝宝石光学性质的变化行为,本文采用第一性原理方法,在180 GPa的压力范围内计算了蓝宝石理想晶体和含空位点缺陷晶体的光学性质.吸收光谱数据表明,仅考虑压力和温度因素不能解释冲击消光实验的结果,而冲击诱导的氧离子空位点缺陷应该是导致该结果的一个重要原因.波长在532 nm处的折射率数据表明:1)蓝宝石的两个高压结构相变将导致其折射率明显上升;在Corundum和Rh_2O_3相区,其折射率将随冲击压力增大而降低;在CalrO_3相区,压力小于172 GPa时,其折射率随冲击压力增大而缓慢地降低,但172 GPa以上时折射率却随冲击压力增大而逐渐增大;2)空位点缺陷对折射率随冲击压力的变化规律有明显的影响.本文结果不仅有助于增强用空位点缺陷的物理机理来解释蓝宝石冲击透明性损伤现象的可靠性,而且对未来进一步的实验研究以及发展新型窗口材料有重要的参考作用.     

Microwave-assisted synthesis of CuO/ZnO and CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 precursors using urea hydrolysis

Binary CuO/ZnO and ternary CuO/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalysts have been rapidly synthesized in a multimode microwave oven by the homogeneous precipitation of aurichalcite and hydrotalcite-like precursors using urea hydrolysis. For purposes of comparison, the same catalysts were prepared under conventional heating. The corresponding metal nitrates were mixed with various amounts of urea to yield different urea/(ΣM⁺) molar ratios. The precipitation proceeded stepwise, copper being the first metal to be hydrolyzed. It was found that the higher the urea content, the higher the alkalinization of the solution, an effect which favored the precipitation of Zn (II) (the most pH dependent metal), and in turn, the synthesis of aurichalcite and hydrotalcite-like precursors.Microwave-synthesized catalysts presented similar characteristics to those obtained under conventional heating, but in considerably reduced aging times. Microwave radiation proved to be more efficient than conventional heating under harsh conditions of precipitation, i.e., lower molar ratios of urea with respect to the metal cations in the solution.     

Farinfrared absorption in Al2O3 and MgO

Far-infrared absorption measurements performed in Al₂O₃ and MgO between 300 and 1 500 K with a Fourier scanning interferometer are reported. A temperature analysis of results based on a phonon self-energy model allows to assign the absorption in this region to 2- and 3-phonon difference processes. The contributions of these processes are separated and discussed. In Al₂O₃, the frequency dependence of the absorption is also analyzed. A good overall agreement between theory and experiment is evidenced.     

Characterization of ZrO2-promoted Cu/ZnO/nano-Al2O3 methanol steam reforming catalysts

Three Cu/ZnO/ZrO₂/Al₂O₃ methanol reforming catalysts were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The catalysts which contained ZrO₂ from a monoclinic nanoparticle ZrO₂ precursor exhibit both a higher activity toward the methanol steam reforming reaction and a lower CO production rate compared to catalysts composed of an XRD-amorphous ZrO₂ produced by impregnation using a Zr(NO₃)₂ precursor. The presence of a monoclinic phase appears to result in an increased charge transfer between the Zr and Cu species, as evidenced by a relatively electron-rich ZrO₂ phase and a partially oxidized Cu species on reduced catalysts. This electron deficient Cu species is more reactive toward the methanol reforming reaction and partially suppresses CO formation through the reverse water gas shift or methanol decomposition reactions.     

Influence of long-term aqueous exposure on surface properties of plasma sprayed oxides Al2O3, TiO2 and their mixture Al2O3-13TiO2

The surface properties of plasma sprayed Al₂O₃- and TiO₂-based coating materials were characterized in order to investigate the influence of surface strain and phase inhomogenity. The materials were water exposed up to 8 months. The bulk crystallographic structure, dissolution behaviour, effective charge (zeta potential, isoelectric point), surface compositions and oxidation states were determined. In addition, the properties of the aging solutions, such as conductivity, supernatant pH (point of zero charge), and redox potential, were monitored during aging.It was shown that the materials were stable under aging conditions, but that considerable surface rearrangements, such as dissolution-reprecipitation and surface site redistributions may occur. However, overall only minor changes in surface properties results from this restructuring process.