无电镀沉积于硅衬底上铜纳米晶的场发射性能

采用无电镀沉积技术在经过机械抛光的单晶硅衬底上沉积了铜纳米晶.利用X射线衍射数据,估算出所沉积铜纳米晶的平均粒径大约为40nm.对120s无电镀沉积样品的场发射测试表明,该样品的开启场强为～5.5V/μm,在场强达到9.26V/μm时的场发射电流密度可达到62.5μA/cm2.对相应的沉积过程和场发射机理进行了分析.结果表明,无电镀沉积技术有可能成为制备具有较好场发射性能的金属/硅冷阴极的一种可供选择的方法.     

铜掺杂类金刚石纳米点阵列的制备及场发射性能研究

利用磁过滤等离子体结合氧化铝模板(AA0)技术在室温下制备了具有优异场发射性能的铜掺杂类金刚石(DLC)纳米点阵列.微观分析表明,铜掺杂类金刚石纳米点阵列分布均匀,密度高达109cm-2;利用X射线光电子能谱对制备的铜掺杂类金刚石纳米点阵列进行结构分析,测得铜的掺杂量为3.6;且sp3键含量高达60;;通过对铜掺杂类金刚石纳米点阵列的场发射性能测试,试验结果表明,铜掺杂类金刚石纳米点阵列开启电场和阈值电场分别为0.08V/μm,0.42V/μm,并且在电场值为0.67V/μm时,发射电流密度高达95mA/cm2,场发射性能明显优于无掺杂类金刚石纳米点阵列.     

纳米非晶碳薄膜的制备及其场致电子发射特性

采用微波等离子体增强化学气相沉积(MPECVD)法,在涂有FeCl3的硅衬底上制备出了纳米非晶碳薄膜.通 过SEM、XRD和拉曼光谱分析了薄膜材料的形貌和结构.并研究了薄膜材料的场发射特性.结果表明:薄膜的开启电场仅为0.39 V/μm;当电场强度为1.85 V/μm时,电流密度高达3.06 mA/cm2;且场发射点均匀、密集、稳定.迭代法计算表明薄膜材料的功函数为3.1 eV,发射点密度约为1.7×105个/cm2.这些均表明该薄膜是一种性能优良的场发射阴极材料.     

不锈钢衬底的抛光处理对碳纳米管薄膜场发射性能的影响

在抛光的和未抛光的不锈钢衬底上,利用微波等离子体化学气相沉积(MPCVD)方法从甲烷和氢气的混合气体中沉积碳纳米管薄膜,并对其场发射性能进行了研究.实验发现,不锈钢衬底的机械抛光能降低碳纳米管膜的开启场强,增大它的发射电流密度.在同一场强7.5 V/μm下,衬底未抛光样品的电流密度为2.9 mA/cm2,而衬底抛光样品的电流密度达到5.5 mA/cm2.低开启场强和大发射电流密度意味着β增大,说明机械抛光能使碳纳米管膜的β增大.     

缓冲层ZnPc对有机电致发光器件特性的影响

本文研究了酞菁锌(ZnPc)薄膜的表面形貌及ZnPc薄膜作为缓冲层对有机电致发光器件(OLEDs)光电特性的影响.对比两组样品的AFM图像,ZnPc薄膜相比于ITO薄膜,其表面的岛面积较大,薄膜表面更连续平整,基本上覆盖了ITO膜表面针孔,减少了表面的缺陷.另外,ZnPc薄膜的岛分布均匀有序.使用ZnPc作为缓冲层的器件性能明显好于未使用ZnPc修饰的器件,在7.42V的驱动电压下的最大发光亮度达到1.428kcd/m2,在4.3V电压驱动下时,最大光功率效率为1.411m/W;而未使用缓冲层的器件在8V的驱动电压下达到最大发光亮度达到1.212kcd/m2,在5.5V电压驱动下时,最大光功率效率为0.931m/W.     

纳米石墨和纳米碳管薄膜在低电场下的稳定场发射

采用微波等离子体化学气相沉积法(MPECVD)制备出了纳米石墨和纳米碳管混合薄膜材料.通过扫描电镜(SEM)和拉曼光谱(Raman)对薄膜材料的结构和形貌进行了分析.研究了薄膜材料的场发射性能.场发射结果显示:其开启电场为0.7 V/μm1,在较低电场下(3.7 V/μm1)即可获得5.2 mA/cm2的电流密度,此电场下发射点密度可达1.6×107 cm-2,发射点均匀,亮度稳定.迭代法计算结果表明制备的纳米石墨和纳米碳管混合薄膜材料的功函数仅为3.2 eV.这些表明该薄膜材料为优良的场发射冷阴极材料.     

单晶TiO2纳米线束阵列的水热合成及场发射性能研究

采用水热合成技术,以钛酸丁酯、盐酸和去离子水作为前驱物,在透明导电玻璃(FTO)衬底上合成了垂直于衬底牛长的二氧化钛(TiO2)纳米线束阵列.纳米线束呈四方柱状结构,宽度100～200nm,长度约3μm.HRTEM表明每根纳米线束实际上是由20～40根直径约为4～6 nm的细小纳米线聚集在一起而形成的.系统研究了盐酸浓度对纳米线生长的影响,分析了盐酸在晶体生长中的作用.研究了TiO2纳米线束阵列的场致电子发射特性,其场发射开启电场为5.7 V/ μm(对应电流密度10μA/ cm2),阈值电场为9.5 V/ μm,同时表现出较好的场发射稳定性.低的合成温度和好的场发射性能表明TiO2纳米线束阵列在场发射冷阴极器件上具有良好的应用前景.     

氧化锌纳米棒的制备及其光电性能的研究

以硝酸锌Zn(NO3)2·6H2O和六次甲基四胺(HMT)为原料,通过水热法制备出氧化锌纳米棒,研究了反应时间和冷却时间对产物形貌和尺寸的影响.采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)、光致发光谱(PL)、紫外-可见光谱、红外光谱(FT-IR)表征产物的结构和性能.结果表明,反应时间为6 h和急速冷却至室温条件下合成样品为六方纤锌矿氧化锌纳米棒,平均直径为300 nm;样品具有良好的结晶质量和发光性能,样品在200～400nm有较强的紫外吸收性能;FT-IR图谱表明产物在430 cm-1左右出现了Zn-O特征吸收峰,并有所红移;样品的开启场强为2.2 V/μm,场增强因子为2550,当场强为4.75 V/μm时,电流密度可以达到0.7 mA/cm2,是一种性能优良的冷阴极电子发射源.     

4H-SiC同质外延生长及Ti/4H-SiC肖特基二极管

利用台阶控制外延生长技术在偏晶向Si-面衬底上进行了4H-SiC的同质外延生长研究,衬底温度为1500℃,在厚度为32μm、载流子浓度为2～5×1015cm-3的外延材料上制备出了反向阻塞电压大于1kV的Ti/4H-SiC肖特基二极管,二极管的正向与反向电流的整流比(定义偏压为±1V时的电流比值)在室温下超过107,在265℃的温度下超过102,在20～265℃的温度范围内,利用电流电压测量研究了二极管的电学特性,室温下二极管的理想因子和势垒高度分别为1.33和0.905eV,开态电流密度在2.0V的偏压下达到150A/cm2,比开态电阻(Ron)为7.9mΩ·cm2,与温度的关系遵守Ron～T2.0规律.     

平栅型双层膜的场致发射性能研究

通过在平栅型基板上,分别溅射氧化铋薄膜和氧化锡薄膜,形成阴极场发射阵列,并在阴极和栅极之间加载脉冲电流,使阴栅级之间的薄膜形成裂缝,并进行场致发射性能测试,测试结果表明,平栅型双层膜发射器件的开启电压随阳极电压增加而降低.在阳压为3000 V,隔离子高度为500 μm时,平栅型双层膜场发射器件的开启电压为110 V,在栅压为110 V时的发射效率为1;左右,随着栅压的增大,发射效率逐渐减小.该双层膜阴极具有均匀的发射性能、良好的栅控能力以及场发射特性.     

Science for the small and the tall,the young and the old

Public engagement becomes increasingly important for scientists. One reason is the demand of the taxpayer to know what her or his money is being spent on, and why. The other one is that in a world that increasingly relies on technology, student engagement even at a very young age becomes a target to assure the needed supply of well-educated and especially motivated scientists for the decades to come. And it falls on the older generation of current researchers to leave the comfort of their lab once in a while, to awaken the interest for science among the population. Many people may know that there is a ‘liquid crystal’ in their mobile (cell) phone display, but when prompted, no one really knows what that liquid crystal actually is, let alone how the display they use many times every day, actually works in principle. It is part of our job to change this. In this contribution Valentina Domenici and Ingo Dierking would like to report on two recent Science Festival events in which they took part, one held in Genoa, Italy, and the other in Manchester, UK.     

On the role of the porous shell of the solid core of the earth in the anomalous heat and mass flow to the mantle

The model of the pressure-induced first-order phase transition of a metal melt to the metallicglass state considers a thermodynamically nonequilibrium porous near-surface shell of the solid core of the Earth, which contacts cyclonic vortices in the liquid core. Anomalous flows of heat and light-material mass to the mantle from the solid core at these contact points are calculated. These anomalous flows are shown to be comparable with the observed ones under the assumption of a rapid increase in the melt viscosity at pressures of 1–10 Mbar, which is characteristic of a solid core. In this case, the porous layer permeability may be very low.     

On the inhomogeneity of the transition surface layer of the solid core of the earth

Different geophysical data and conclusions of theoretical models, which can give information about the behavior of the solid and liquid cores of the Earth as well as about the existence of a transition layer as a temperature-hysteresis region at a relatively weak first-order phase transition, are compared. It is concluded that liquid inclusions inevitably exist in this region; these inclusions are involved (due to the complex convective processes occurring in the liquid core) in the transport of light materials from some areas of the solid-core surface. The porosity and permeability of the transition layer determine the seismic acoustic inhomogeneities in these areas, which contact the convective flows in the liquid core. In particular, this explains the well-known ??east-west?? effect. Obviously, the model of the crystalline core is not the only possible alternative for a model of a core with a metallic glasslike structure.     

On the dependence of the surface tension at the crystal-melt interface on the impurity concentration

The stationary task of impurity diffusion in a melt has been solved within a two-dimensional crystallization model in a second-order approximation with respect to the amplitude of deviation from a smooth crystallization front. The dependence of the surface tension Γ at the interface on the impurity concentration C is taken into account in the form Γ = Γ₀ + ζ _d C, where Γ₀ and ζ _d are constants. The variational method is used to obtain the condition for the transition from a smooth crystallization front to a cellular one. It is shown that calculated cell sizes are in agreement with the experimental data in the literature only when the parameter ζ _d ≠ 0. For binary systems with distribution coefficients k < 1 and k > 1, ζ _d should be positive and negative, respectively.

     

A new example for the applicability of the relationship between the particle size and the kinetic of the crystal growth

Experiments have been made with PbCrO₄ precipitating system in a batch type tank. In the experiments the speeds of stirring and the residence times were changed. The particle size distribution of precipitates formed has been determined. The rate determining mechanism of the crystal growth were evaluated by two different methods (NIELSEN method and method elaborated in our institute). The two methods used have indicated the same informations about the rate determining processes. It also has been stated that the coagulation does not disturb the selection of the suitable growing mechanism.     

On the entropy difference between the vitreous and the crystalline state

The paper deals with the entropy difference between frozen-in phases and their equilibrium counterparts. First, the nature of data compiled in thermochemical data collections are briefly reviewed, comprising data for non-equilibrium phases. Then, experimental evidence from earlier literature is compiled showing that the conventional entropy of a frozen-in phase at zero Kelvin assumes a non-zero residual value S(0). Based on calorimetric data from multiple sources, the same evidence is elaborated for diopside glass, yielding S_glass(0) = 24.8 ± 3 J/(mol K), a value reproducing a result publishes earlier. The zero Kelvin enthalpy of this glass is H_glass(0) = 81±8 kJ/mol. For S_glass(0), a structural interpretation in terms of silicate chain mixing is proposed, yielding a lower threshold for S_glass(0). From the point of view of statistical mechanics, non-zero residual entropies of frozen-in phases can be derived from ensemble averages, however, not from time averages.     

On the slope of the growing pyramids

By means of some theoretical models the present work shows that pyramids of different slopes can grow on a crystal face at constant supersaturation due to the interaction between steps, arising from close spaced screw dislocations. Pairs of adjacent screw dislocations of opposite sign, as well as other groups of closely spaced screw dislocations, can operate as more active sources of growing steps than the single screw dislocations. Both independent and dependent step propagation velocities have been considered in the present discussion.     

On the Influence of the Crystallization Conditions on the Microstructure of the Directionally Solidified Eutectic of the LiF – LiYF4 System

This paper particularly deals with the transitions in degree and type of ordering of a given microstructure. As a model system the eutectic of the LiF – LiYF₄ system was used for studies of transitions from ‘anomal’ microtextures with non-cooperative production of seeds of both phases to the fibrous microtexture. It was shown that even if the matrix phase LiYF₄ contains a relative high volume ratio (36%) of LiF it is possible to create highly ordered fibrous microtextures with pronounced hexagonal ordering of particular LiF fibres. It was also shown that methods of image processing could be used for sensitive evaluation of small changes in degree of ordering of the microstructure. These procedures make possible a deeper understanding of the influence of the solidification conditions on the microstructure of the directionally solidified eutectic and creates possibilities for optimalisation of the technological process.