Quantized conductance behavior of Pt metal nanoconstrictions under electrochemical potential control

We studied the quantized conductance behavior of mechanically fabricated Pt nanoconstrictions under electrochemical potential control in H₂SO₄, Na₂SO₄, and NaOH solutions. There was no clear feature in the conductance histogram, when the electrochemical potential of the nanoconstrictions was kept at the double layer or the under potential deposited hydrogen potential. At the hydrogen evolution potential, the conductance histograms showed clear features around 0.5 and 1 G₀ in the H₂SO₄ solution. In Na₂SO₄, and NaOH solutions, a 1 G₀ feature with a shoulder appeared in the histogram. The quantized conductance behavior of Pt nanoconstrictions could be controlled by the electrochemical potential and solution pH.     

Electric conductance of metal nanowires at mechanically controllable break junctions under electrochemical potential control

We have developed the mechanically controllable break junction setup with an electrochemical cell (EC-MCBJ) to measure the electric conductance of metal nanowires under electrochemical potential control. The electric conductance of Au nanowires was investigated in 0.1 M Na₂SO₄ solution using EC-MCBJ. The conductance of the Au nanowires was quantized in units of G₀ (=2e²/h), showing clear features in the conductance histogram. The atomic contact with a specific conductance value was kept for >5 s, indicating the relatively high stability of the present EC-MCBJ system.     

Fractional conductance quantization in metallic nanoconstrictions under electrochemical potential control

We study the electrical conductance of gold nanoconstrictions by controlling the electrochemical potential. At positive potentials, the conductance is quantized near integer multiples of G0(2e(2)/h) as shown by well-defined peaks in the conductance histogram. Below a certain potential, however, additional peaks near 0.5G(0) and 1. 5G(0) appear in the histogram. The fractional conductance steps are as stable and well defined as the integer steps. The experimental data are discussed in terms of electrochemical-potential-induced defect scattering and Fermi energy shift, but a complete theory of the phenomenon is yet to be developed.     

金属的原子间多体势模型及其拟合方法

在本文中,我们构造了金属Ta元素的Finnis-Sinclair型的嵌入原子势.并采用蒙特卡罗方法求解给出了此元素的多体势函数的参数.结果显示,本文拟合的参数能够较好的反映这种元素的结构特征和物理性质.     

Phonon transmission and thermal conductance in one-dimensional system with on-site potential disorder

The role of on-site potential disorder on phonon transmission and thermal conductance of one-dimensional system is investigated. We found that the on-site potential disorder can lead to the localization of phonons, and has great effect on the phonon transmission and thermal conductance of the system. As on-site potential disorder W increases, the transmission coefficients decrease, and approach zero at the band edges. Corresponding, the thermal conductance decreases drastically, and the curves for thermal conductance exhibit a series of steps and plateaus. Meanwhile, when the on-site potential disorder W is strong enough, the thermal conductance decreases dramatically with the increase of system size N. We also found that the efficiency of reducing thermal conductance by increasing the on-site potential disorder strength is much better than that by increasing the on-site potential?s amplitude.     

Current versus electrochemical potential in nanoconstrictions with small atom-lead coupling

The current intensity through a nanoconstriction with relatively small atom-lead coupling is calculated in terms of the corresponding electrochemical potential which is assumed to be non-negative and referred to a reference electrode, given a certain electrolyte. In addition, a discussion in relation to off-resonant conduction is done including the derivation of an expression for the number of off-resonant states.     

A potential-well based formulation to calculate the quantized conductance of a one-atom constriction

We show that the quantized conductance of a quasi-one-dimensional atomic electrical conductor is approximately proportional to the number of conducting channels (which become quantized modes), when this number is large enough, by deriving firstly Fermi velocity within a quantum-box based approach. The essential aspects related to the quantized conductance are discussed in terms of longitudinal conduction modes.     

Analysis of the sensitivity to the electrochemical potential of the width of a metallic nanoconstriction

In relation to a metallic nanowire in the presence of an electrochemical potential, the sensitivity to this potential of the nanowire width is evaluated by defining and calculating a suitable parameter that can be regarded as a normalized gradient, this gradient being the derivative of the above-mentioned width with respect to the electrochemical potential.     

The number of electronic states in metallic nanowires as a function of the electrochemical potential

We derive a mathematical expression for the number of electronic states in metallic nanowires within the electrochemical environment as a function of the electrochemical potential so that the variation of the above number with respect to this potential is discussed within an electron energy range from zero energy up to Fermi energy.     

Rapid fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces on copper substrates by electrochemical machining

Hierarchical micrometer-nanometer-scale binary rough structures were fabricated on copper substrates by electrochemical machining in a neutral NaCl electrolyte. The rough structures are composed of the micrometer scale potato-like structures and the nanometer scale cube-like structures. After modified by the fluoroalkylsilane, the copper surfaces reached superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 164.3° and a water tilting angle less than 9°. This method has a high processing efficiency which can take just 3 s to fabricate the roughness required by the superhydrophobic surface. The effect of the processing time on wettability of the copper surfaces was investigated in this paper. The possible mechanism of the formation of the hierarchical roughness was also proposed, and the wettability of the copper surfaces was discussed on the basis of the Cassie-Baxter theory.     

Viscosity dependence of electrochemical etching for gold tip fabrication

We suggest an electrochemical etching method with viscous etchant to enhance the sharpness of tip of scanning probe microscope. The viscosity of the etchant mixed with HCl solution and glycerol was used as a control parameter in addition to the voltage applied to the tip. In order to improve the sharpness of the tip, a nano-scale meniscus formed between the end of the tip and the liquid level was used. The shapes, aspect ratios, and radii of tips were measured depending on the concentration of the etchant. It was found that the tip etched with the mixed liquid with glycerol was sharper than the tip with the pure HCl solution. This can be explained by the fact that the meniscus formed by viscous liquid is maintained with a thinner diameter and causes final etching until the meniscus bridge is ruptured.     

Calculation of the electrical conductance in multi-atom nanoconstrictions — A new quantitative theory

A new theory for determining the quantized electron conductance through multi-atom nanowires is presented by introducing a transmission-probability function from the Fermi–Dirac distribution. By virtue of this formulation and by using an approximate relationship between the conductance and the electronic density of states, an expression for the number of off-resonant conduction states is derived. In addition, some aspects related to atom–lead coupling are discussed. Our results agree well with experimental data.     

Investigations into wetting and spreading behaviors of impacting metal droplet under ultrasonic vibration control

Ultrasonic-assisted metal droplet deposition (UAMDD) is currently considered a promising technology in droplet-based 3D printing due to its capability to change the wetting and spreading behaviors at the droplet-substrate interface. However, the involved contact dynamics during impacting droplet deposition, particularly the complex physical interaction and metallurgical reaction of induced wetting-spreading-solidification by the external energy, remain unclear to date, which hinders the quantitative prediction and regulation of the microstructures and bonding property of the UAMDD bumps. Here, the wettability of the impacting metal droplet ejected by a piezoelectric micro-jet device (PMJD) on non-wetting and wetting ultrasonic vibration substrates is studied, and the corresponding spreading diameter, contact angle, and bonding strength are also discussed. For the non-wetting substrate, the wettability of the droplet can be significantly increased due to the extrusion of the vibration substrate and the momentum transfer layer at the droplet-substrate interface. And the wettability of the droplet on a wetting substrate is increased at a lower vibration amplitude, which is driven by the momentum transfer layer and the capillary waves at the liquid–vapor interface. Moreover, the effects of the ultrasonic amplitude on the droplet spreading are studied under the resonant frequency of 18.2–18.4 kHz. Compared to deposit droplets on a static substrate, such UAMDD has 31% and 2.1% increments in the spreading diameters for the non-wetting and wetting systems, and the corresponding adhesion tangential forces are increased by 3.85 and 5.59 times.     

Kinetic and theoretical studies of metal ion adsorption in KDP solution

Metal ion adsorption in saturated aqueous potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution was analyzed using kinetic, equilibrium model and computational chemistry approaches. The isotherm constants (K_F and n) in the Freundlich model and the first order Lagergren kinetic model parameter k assist with a general understanding of the fundamental adsorption behavior of trivalent and divalent metal ions. The electrostatic force based on electrostatic potential distribution was found to be an essential feature for metal ion adsorption via a correlation between the ESP values of each metal ion and these experimental parameters.     

正常金属/绝缘层/s波超导隧道结中绝缘层对微分电导的影响

在正常金属／绝缘层／s波超导隧道结（NIS结）中，以方势垒描述绝缘层对准粒子输运的影 响，运用Bogoliubov_de Gennes（BdG）方程、Blonder_Tinkham_Klapwijk(BTK)理论，计算 了NIS隧道结中的准粒子输运系数和微分电导.研究表明,微分电导随绝缘层厚度的变化呈振 荡和衰减两种趋势，其振荡的周期和衰减的快慢均强烈地依赖于绝缘层的势垒值以及V=Δ ₀/e的偏压值，电导峰的高低及峰的位置与绝缘层厚度密切相关，显示了比δ势 描述更为丰富多彩的隧道谱. 关键词： NIS结 方势垒 微分电导     

Mechanical effects of polishing pad in copper electrochemical mechanical deposition for planarization

ECMD (electrochemical mechanical deposition) process consists of a traditional ECP (electrochemical plating) mechanism and a mechanical component. That is, this technique involves both electrochemical plating and mechanical sweeping of the material surface by the polishing pad. The mechanism of the ECMD process may be achieved through two mechanisms. The first mechanism may be the electrochemical plating on the surface where mechanical sweeping of polishing pad does not reach, and the second mechanism may be that the plating rate in the area that is mechanically swept may be reduced by the polishing pad. In this study, the effects of the mechanical component were investigated through various polishing pad types and hole ratios. In comparison to various polishing pad types using the manufactured the ECMD system, the plating rate and WIWNU (within wafer non-uniformity) using the experimental non-pore polishing pad were better than those of the experiments using other polishing pads.     

Electrochemical potential of intercalation phase: Li/V2O5 system

In the communication, the use of photoelectron spectroscopy in evaluating the electrochemical potentials for intercalation phase (Li/V₂O₅ system) is presented. Two contributions, i.e. Fermi level shift and formation of surface dipole, are the main factors in the change of battery voltage during the Li intercalation. It was found that the formation of surface dipole plays more important role in the decrease of the battery voltage due to the adsorption of Li on the surface.     

Mechanical and electrochemical characterization of vanadium nitride (VN) thin films

Vanadium nitride (V-N) thin films were grown using a reactive d.c. magnetron sputtering process, from a vanadium target (99.999%) in an Ar/N₂ gas mixture at different deposition bias voltage. Films were deposited onto silicon (1 0 0) and RUS-3 steel substrates at 400 °C. Structural, compositional, mechanical and electrochemical characterizations were performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), elastic forward analysis (EFA), nanoindentation, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and Tafel polarization curves, respectively. X-ray diffraction patterns show the presence of (1 1 1) and (2 0 0) crystallographic orientations associated to the V-N cubic phase. Nanoindentation measurements revealed that when the bias voltage increases from 0 V to −150 V the hardness and elastic modulus are increased from 11 GPa to 20 GPa and from 187 GPa to 221 GPa, respectively. EIS and Tafel curves showed that the corrosion rate of steel, coated with V-N single layer films deposited without bias voltage, diminishes 90% compared to the steel without this coating. On the other hand, when the V-N coating was deposited at the highest d.c. bias voltage (−150 V), the corrosion rate was greater than in the steel coated with zero-voltage (0 V) V-N films. This last result could be attributed to the formation of porosities produced by the ion bombardment during the deposition process.     

The effect of the ferromagnetic metal layer on tunnelling conductance and magnetoresistance in double magnetic planar junctions

Based on the free-electron approximation,we investigate the effect of the ferromagnetic metal layer on the tunnelling magnetoresistance(TMR) and tunnelling conductance(TC)in the double magnetic tunnel junctions(DMTJs) of the structure NM/FM/I(S)/NM/I(S)/FM/NM,where FM,NM and I(S) represent the ferromagnetic metal,nonmagetic metal and insulator(Semiconductor),respectively,The FM,I(S)and inner NM layers are of finite thickness,while the thickness of the outer NM layer is infinite.The calculated results show that,due to the spin-dependent interfacial potential barriers caused by electronic band mismatch between the various magnetic and nonmagnetic layers,the dependences of the TMR and TC on the thicknesses of the FM layers exhibit oscillations,and a much higher TMR can be obtained for suitable thicknesses of FM layers.     

金属/有机半导体界面偶极层的研究

利用金属/无机半导体界面模型对金属/有机半导体界面偶极层进行了数值研究.讨论了界面处金属/有机半导体原子间距与化学键密度对界面偶极能的影响;分析了界面层电场强度随化学键密度变化的原因;对界面偶极能与金属功函数之间的关系给出了合理的解释.