Short-Range and Medium-Range Order in Liquid Cu-Ni Alloy

The liquid structure of the Cu70Ni30 alloy has been investigated using a θ-θ high-temperature x-ray diffractometer.At all temperatures above its liquidus,a distinct pre-peak has been found around a scattering vector magnitude of 13.5nm^-1.The height of the pre-peak decreases gradually with increasing temperature but it clearly exists up to a temperature of 1400℃.This behaviour indicates that stable medium-range order atomic clusters exist in the melt.It is concluded that the short-range order atomic clusters of the liquid Cu70Ni30 alloy mainly consist of Cu atoms with centred Ni atoms.The appearance of the pre-peak in the structure factor of the liquid Cu70Ni30 alloy is caused by the interaction between centred Ni atoms locating in the neighbouring atomic clusters.     

Effect of Ni and vacancy concentration on initial formation of Cu precipitate in Fe–Cu–Ni ternary alloys by molecular dynamics simulation

In the present work, the effects of Ni atoms and vacancy concentrations(0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%) on the formation process of Cu solute clusters are investigated for Fe–1.24%Cu–0.62%Ni alloys by molecular dynamics(MD) simulations. The presence of Ni is beneficial to the nucleation of Cu precipitates and has little effect on coarsening rate in the later stage of aging. This result is caused by reducing the diffusion coefficient of Cu clusters and the dynamic migration of Ni atoms. Additionally, there are little effects of Ni on Cu precipitates as the vacancy concentration reaches up to 1.0%,thereby explaining the embrittlement for reactor pressure vessel(RPV) steel. As a result, the findings can hopefully provide the important information about the essential mechanism of Cu cluster formation and a better understanding of ageing phenomenon of RPV steel. Furthermore, these original results are analyzed with a simple model of Cu diffusion, which suggests that the same behavior could be observed in Cu-containing alloys.     

Static dipole polarizabilities of Scn （n ≤15） clusters

The static dipole polarizabilities of scandium clusters with up to 15 atoms are determined by using the numerically finite field method in the framework of density functional theory. The electronic effects on the polarizabilities are investigated for the scandium clusters. We examine a large highest occupied molecular orbital --- the lowest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO--LUMO) gap of a scandium cluster usually corresponds to a large dipole moment. The static polarizability per atom decreases slowly and exhibits local minimum with increasing cluster size. The polarizability anisotropy and the ratio of mean static polarizability to the HOMO--LUMO gap can also reflect the cluster stability. The polarizability of the scandium cluster is partially related to the HOMO--LUMO gap and is also dependent on geometrical characteristics. A strong correlation between the polarizability and ionization energy is observed.     

Mobility of large clusters on a semiconductor surface:Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation results

The mobility of clusters on a semiconductor surface for various values of cluster size is studied as a function of temperature by kinetic Monte Carlo method. The cluster resides on the surface of a square grid. Kinetic processes such as the diffusion of single particles on the surface, their attachment and detachment to/from clusters, diffusion of particles along cluster edges are considered. The clusters considered in this study consist of 150–6000 atoms per cluster on average.A statistical probability of motion to each direction is assigned to each particle where a particle with four nearest neighbors is assumed to be immobile. The mobility of a cluster is found from the root mean square displacement of the center of mass of the cluster as a function of time. It is found that the diffusion coefficient of clusters goes as D = A(T)Nαwhere N is the average number of particles in the cluster, A(T) is a temperature-dependent constant and α is a parameter with a value of about-0.64 α -0.75. The value of α is found to be independent of cluster sizes and temperature values(170–220 K)considered in this study. As the diffusion along the perimeter of the cluster becomes prohibitive, the exponent approaches a value of-0.5. The diffusion coefficient is found to change by one order of magnitude as a function of cluster size.     

Three-dimensional simulation on explosions of hydrogen atomic clusters irradiated by an intense femtosecond laser pulse

Using classic particle dynamics simulations, the interaction process between an intense femtosecond laser pulse and icosahedral hydrogen atomic clusters H_{13}, H_{55} and H_{147} has been studied. It is revealed that with increasing number of atoms in the cluster, the kinetic energy of ions generated in the Coulomb explosion of the ionized hydrogen clusters increases. The expansion process of the clusters after laser irradiation has also been examined, showing that the expansion scale decreases with increasing cluster size.     

STM study of selenium adsorption on Au(111) surface

Adsorption of chalcogen atoms on metal surfaces has attracted increasing interest for both the fundamental research and industrial applications. Here, we report a systematic study of selenium(Se) adsorption on Au(111) at varies substrate temperatures by scanning tunneling microscopy. At room temperature, small Se clusters are randomly dispersed on the surface. Increasing the temperature up to 200℃, a well-ordered lattice of Se molecules consisting of 8 Se atoms in ringlike structure is formed. Further increasing the temperature to 250℃ gives rise to the formation of Se monolayer with Au(111)-3~(1/2) ×3~(1/2) lattices superimposed with a quasi-hexagonal lattice. Desorption of Se atoms rather than the reaction between the Se atoms and the Au substrate occurs if further increasing the temperature. The ordered structures of selenium monolayers could serve as templates for self-assemblies and our findings in this work might provide insightful guild for the epitaxial growth of the two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides.     

Threshold resistance switching in silicon-rich SiO_x thin films

Si-rich SiO_x and amorphous Si clusters embedded in SiO_x films were prepared by the radio-frequency magnetron cosputtering method and high-temperature annealing treatment.The threshold resistance switching behavior was achieved from the memory mode by continuous bias sweeping in all films,which was caused by the formation of clusters due to the local overheating under a large electric field.Besides,the Ⅰ-Ⅴ characteristics of the threshold switching showed a dependence on the annealing temperature and the SiO_x thickness.In particular,formation and rupture of conduction paths is considered to be the switching mechanism for the 39 nm-SiO_x film,while for the 78 nm-SiO_x film,adjusting of the Schottky barrier height between insulator and semiconductor is more reasonable.This study demonstrates the importance of investigation of both switching modes in resistance random access memory.     

Atomistic Simulation of He Clustering and Defects Produced in Ni

Using the molecular dynamics method, the stability of small He-vacancy clusters is studied under the condition of the high He and low vacancy densities. The result shows that there is a competition between He atoms detrapped and self-interstitial atoms （SIAs） emitted during the clustering of He atoms. When the He number is above a critical value of 9, the SIA emission is predominant. The SIA emission can result in deep capture of He atoms since the binding energy of He to a He-vacancy cluster is increased with the number of SIAs created. The cluster thus grows up. In addition, more SIAs are created when the temperature is elevated. The average volume of a He atom is increased. The cluster expansion takes place at high temperature.     

Deposition mechanism of nano-structured single-layered C36 film on a diamond （100） crystal plane

The Brenner-LJ potential is adopted to describe the interaction between C36 clusters and diamond surface, and the deposition mechanism of multi-C36 clusters on the diamond surface is also studied by using the method of molecular dynamics simulation. The simulation results show that the competition effects of two interactions, i.e. the interaction between cluster and cluster and the interaction between cluster and crystal plane, are studied, and then the influence of these competition effects on C36 cluster deposition is analysed. The finding is that when an incident energy is appropriately chosen, C36 clusters can be chemically adsorbed and deposited steadily on the diamond surface in the form of single-layer, and in the deposition process the multi-C36 clusters present a phenomenon of energy transmission. The experimental result shows that at a temperature of 300K, in order to deposit C36 clusters into a steady nanostructured single-layered film, the optimal incident energy is between 10 and 18 eV, if the incident energy is larger than 18 eV, the C36 clusters will be deposited into an island nano-structured film.     

Structures and Electronic Properties of CuN （N≤13） Clusters

A systematic study on the structures and electronic properties of copper clusters has been performed using the density functional theory. In the calculation, there are many isomers near the ground state for small copper clusters. Our results show that the three-dimensional isomers of copper clusters start from Cu7 cluster and then show a tendency to form more compact structures. The results of the formation energy and the second derivative of binding energy with duster size show that besides N = 8, N =11 is also a magic number. Furthermore, it is the first time to find that the ground state of 11-atom clusters is a biplanar structure as same as the 13-atom cluster. The clear odd-even alternation as cluster size for the formation energy indicates the stability of electronic close shell existed in the range studied.     

低能Cu13团簇沉积薄膜的分子动力学模拟研究

利用分子动力学模拟方法对Cu₁₃团簇在Fe（001）表面上沉积薄膜进行了研究,分析了不同沉积条件对薄膜生长模式的影响,对比分析了不同沉积条件下表面粗糙度、缺陷分布和外延度等薄膜性质的差异。Cu₁₃团簇的初始沉积能量范围为0.1~10.0 eV/atom,沉积率为1.0 clusters/ps,衬底温度分别为300,700和1 000 K。模拟结果表明:团簇初始沉积能量主要影响薄膜生长模式,当初始沉积能量为7.5 eV/atom的Cu₁₃团簇沉积到温度为300 K的Fe（001）表面时,可形成表面光滑、内部缺陷少和较好外延度的高质量Cu薄膜。     

Size dependence of freezing temperature and structure instability in simulated Lennard-Jones clusters

Liquid Lennard-Jones clusters of 14 different sizes from N=55 to 923 particles were cooled down to find their temperature of liquid-solid transition and the internal structure of the solidified clusters. The decrease of the cluster temperature was attained by a gradual change of the system temperature in Monte Carlo simulations. The liquid-to-solid transition was found by analysis of the specific heat as well as by detection of the structural units of face-centred cubic, hexagonal close-packed and decahedral type. It was observed that near the detected transition temperature the solid-like cluster structure is not always stable and fluctuates between solid and liquid states. The fluctuations of the state were observed frequently for small clusters with N ≤147, where the temporary solid structure is created by a large part of internal atoms. Manual inspection of cluster structural data and the 10%N condition for minimal number of atoms as centres of solid-like units enable detection of stable cluster solidification at freezing temperature. It was found that the freezing temperature of all clusters, with the exception of N=55, decreases linearly with N^-1/3. The extrapolated freezing temperature of the bulk LJ system is 13% lower than the experimental value of argon. After freezing, the solid phase remains but some atoms close to the cluster surface are not firmly included into the structure and oscillate mainly between solid structure and disordered one.     

熔融Cu55团簇在铜块体中凝固过程的分子动力学模拟

应用基于嵌入原子势函数的分子动力学方法,模拟了嵌入在具有面心立方结构同质块体中的熔融Cu55团簇在不同急冷温度下微观结构的演变情况.通过计算熔融Cu55团簇的均方位移和原子平均能量随时间步的变化,并应用键对分析技术,分析了急冷温度对熔融Cu55团簇结构变化的影响.研究结果表明,由于受到块体结构的影响,在所研究的急冷温度范围内,熔融Cu55团簇在凝固过程中形成了以面心立方结构为主的微观结构.结晶过程是原子不断交换其位置的过程,团簇原子位置的重排敏感于温度的变化.随着急冷温度的升高,原子的扩散范围增大.在100,300和500 K三个较低的温度下有利于形成稳定的面心立方结构,但当急冷到100 K时,团簇中的原子在没有找到其最佳位置之前就已经完成晶化.在急冷到500 K时,团簇中的原子在块体中扩散充分,与块体中的原子形成理想的面心立方结构.在700,900和1100 K三个较高的温度上,局域结构表现为随时间步波动性变化.     

An investigation of the internal temperature dependence of Pd-Pt cluster beam deposition: A molecular dynamics study

We investigated the internal temperature dependence of the Pd_1−aPt_a cluster beam deposition in the present study via the molecular dynamics simulations of soft-landing. By analysis of the velocity distribution and diffusion coefficient of the bimetallic cluster, Pd atoms with better mobility improved the diffusibility of Pt atoms. The radial composition distribution showed that a Pt-core/Pd-shell structure of the cluster formed at high internal temperatures through migrations of the Pd atoms from inner to surface shells. In the soft-landing process, the diffusing and epitaxial behaviors of the deposited clusters mainly depended on the internal temperature because the incident energy of the cluster was very small. By depositing clusters at high internal temperatures, we obtained a thin film of good epitaxial growth as the energetic cluster impact. Furthermore, nonepitaxial configurations such as scattered nonepitaxial atoms, misoriented particles, and grain boundaries of (1 1 1) planes were produced in the growth of the cluster-assembled film. As the size of the incident cluster increased, the internal temperature of the cluster needed for better interfacial diffusion and contact epitaxy on the substrate also rose.     

用扫描隧道显微镜操纵Cu亚表面自间隙原子

在超高真空环境下使用扫描隧道显微镜研究了吸附有双甘氨肽分子的Cu(001)表面.在一定的 偏压条件下，针尖在该表面扫描后会形成纳米尺度的Cu团簇，这些团簇可以根据意愿排列成 字母或图形.团簇的高度同偏压、隧道电流以及时间等条件有密切关系.在室温下可以稳定存 在的团簇为制造纳米器件提供了技术上的可能性.实验结果表明，形成团簇的Cu原子不是来 自Cu衬底表面或是针尖.化学吸附在Cu表面的双甘氨肽分子，受到隧道电场的作用会在Cu表 面形成张应变场，Cu亚表面自间隙原子在张应变场作用下迁移到表面是形成团簇的原因. 关键词： 扫描隧道显微镜 纳米尺度Cu团簇 自间隙原子     

A gas cluster ion beam accelerator

An assembled CO₂ gas cluster ion beam system was assessed using a retarding field analyzer and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The CO₂ gas was expanded to form gas clusters at the input pressure of 1–5 bar through a quartz Laval nozzle. At 4 bar, it is confirmed that the clusters consisted of about 500 molecules. Also the dependence of the mean cluster size distribution on source temperature was examined. At the low fluence of ion beam, an isolated gas cluster ion impact on solid surfaces was investigated. CO₂ gas cluster ions were irradiated at the acceleration voltage of 40–60 kV on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Si with native oxide layers, and Cu film deposited on Si wafer. After very short exposure of cluster ions, induced hillocks with about 0.8–1 nm in height and 20 nm in width were outgrown from the impacted surfaces. After prolonged irradiation on Si and Cu/Si, humping was more developed and consequently the surface morphology seemed to be saturated because of gradual filling the gap between the hillocks.     

Quantitative evaluation about property of thin-film formation

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is gradually emphasized as one promising method for nanomaterial formation. Such growth mechanism has been mainly investigated on basis of experiment. Due to large cost of the equipment of experiment and low level of current measurement, the comprehension about authentic effect of formation condition on properties of nanomaterial is limited in qualitative manner. Three quantitative items: flatness of primary deposition, adhesion between cluster and substrate, and degree of epitaxial growth were proposed to evaluate the property of thin film. In this simulation, three different cluster sizes of 203, 653, 1563 atoms with different velocities (0, 10, 100, 1000, 3000 m/s) were deposited on a Cu(0 0 1) substrate whose temperatures were set between 300 and 1000 K. Within one velocity range, not only the speed of epitaxial growth and adhesion between thin film and substrate were enhanced, but also the degree of epitaxy increased and the shape of thin film became more flat with velocity increasing. Moreover, the epitaxial growth became well as the temperature of substrate was raised within a certain range, and the degree of epitaxy of small cluster was larger than larger cluster. The results indicated that the property of thin film could be controlled if the effect of situations of process was made clear.     

Ag-Cu双金属团簇中Ag原子偏析行为的 分子动力学研究

采用了恒温分子动力学方法系统模拟研究了不同尺寸不同组分的Ag-Cu双金属团簇的退火过程。分析低温退火结构可得团簇中Ag原子的偏析行为：在Ag原子所占比率较少时,Ag原子全部占据在团簇表面;随着Ag原子数的增多,直到Ag和Cu的比率接近时,绝大多数Ag原子仍占据在团簇表面;这与实验观测Ag-Cu混合团簇中Ag原子的偏析行为完全一致。通过细致研究Ag-Cu双金属团簇中Ag原子的偏析行为与团簇尺寸、组分和温度的关系发现：当Ag原子所占比重明显少于Cu原子时,在各不同尺寸下,Ag原子偏析温度点均高于熔点,即在熔点以上一定温度范围内仍会出现Ag原子的偏析现象;当Ag原子所占比重明显多于Cu原子时,在各不同尺寸下,体系偏析温度点均低于团簇熔点;对于较大尺寸团簇,在Ag原子所占比重接近于Cu原子时,体系偏析温度点与团簇熔点相同。     

Optical switching in a Ξ system: A comparative study on DROP and EIT

Liquid Lennard-Jones clusters with magic number of atoms N = 55, 147, 309, 561 and 923 were cooled down in Monte Carlo simulations until freezing. Structural properties of the clusters, including the radial dependence of atomic concentration/density and the local regular structure in arrangement of atoms, just before freezing were analysed. Existence of spherical layers in atomic density around the centre of mass of liquid LJ clusters was confirmed. Formation of layers is explained by central net forces acting on every cluster atom and leading to positioning an atom close to the cluster centre of mass. The strong layering in small clusters of N = 55 and 147 affects atomic diffusion in radial and tangential directions inside the cluster, leading to easier movement of atoms on the layer surface. Analysis of radial profiles of four types of structural units detected in liquid clusters reveals that icosahedral units are the most numerous and are located mainly near cluster surface of all clusters and also in the centre of small clusters.