Femtosecond-laser nanofabrication onto silicon surface with near-field localization generated by plasmon polaritons in gold nanoparticles with oblique irradiation

Nanohole fabrication process with gold nanoparticles irradiated by femtosecond laser at different incident angles is investigated. Nanoparticles with diameter of 200 nm and laser irradiation with center wavelength of 800 nm are used in the present study. The analysis of the electromagnetic field distribution in the near-field zone of the particle is made by simulations based on finite-differential time domain (FDTD) method. It is shown that when gold nanoparticle is irradiated by laser pulse surface plasmon excitation can be induced, and associated with it, high-intensity near field is produced in a limited area around the particle. It is found that the change of the irradiation conditions by means of irradiation from various incident directions gives a possibility of laser nanoprocessing with tunable characteristics. Our results show that enhanced optical intensity is able to be induced on the substrate surface regardless of incident direction of the laser due to the image charge interaction with the substrate. Furthermore, the use of p-polarized laser irradiation at a certain angle gives a minimum of the spatial dimensions of the enhanced zone on the substrate which is about two times smaller than that obtained at normal incidence.     

石墨烯/柔性基底复合结构双向界面切应力传递问题的理论研究

界面力学性能是影响石墨烯/柔性基底复合结构整体力学性能的关键因素,因此对该结构界面切应力传递机理的研究十分必要.考虑了石墨烯和基底泊松效应的影响,本文提出了二维非线性剪滞模型.对于基底泊松比相比石墨烯较大的情况,利用该模型理论研究了受单轴拉伸石墨烯/柔性基底结构的双向界面切应力传递问题.在弹性粘结阶段,导出了石墨烯双向正应变和双向界面切应力的半解析表达式,分析了不同位置处石墨烯正应变和界面切应力的分布规律.导出了石墨烯/柔性基底结构发生界面滑移的临界应变,结果表明该临界应变低于利用经典一维非线性剪滞模型得到的滑移临界应变,并且明显受到石墨烯宽度尺寸以及基底泊松比大小的影响.基于二维非线性剪滞模型建立有限元模型(FEM),研究了界面滑移阶段石墨烯双向正应变和双向界面切应力的分布规律.与一维非线性剪滞模型的结果对比表明,当石墨烯宽度较大时,二维模型和一维模型对石墨烯正应变、界面切应力以及滑移临界应变的计算结果均存在较大差别,但石墨烯宽度很小时,二维模型可近似被一维模型代替.最后,通过与拉曼实验结果的对比,验证了二维非线性剪滞模型的可靠性,并得到了石墨烯/聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)基底结构的界面刚度(100 TPa/m)和界面剪切强度(0.295 MPa).     

Critical role of laser wavelength on carbon films grown by PLD of graphite

The structure of thin films deposited by pulsed laser ablation (PLD) is strongly dependent on experimental conditions, like laser wavelength and fluence, substrate temperature and pressure. Depending on these parameters we obtained various kinds of carbon materials varying from dense, mainly tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C), to less compact vertically oriented graphene nano-particles. Thin carbon films were grown by PLD on n-Si 〈100〉 substrates, at temperatures ranging from RT to 800°C, from a rotating graphite target operating in vacuum. The laser ablation of the graphite target was performed by a UV pulsed ArF excimer laser (λ=193 nm) and a pulsed Nd:YAG laser, operating in the near IR (λ=1064 nm). The film structure and texturing, characterised by X-ray diffraction analysis, performed at grazing incidence (GI-XRD), and the film density, evaluated by X-ray reflectivity measurements, are strongly affected both by laser wavelength and fluence and by substrate temperature. Micro-Raman and GI-XRD analysis established the progressive formation of aromatic clusters and cluster condensation into vertically oriented nano-sized graphene structures as a direct function of increasing laser wavelength and deposition temperature. The film density, negatively affected by substrate temperature and laser wavelength and fluence, in turn, results in a porous bulk configuration and a high macroscopic surface roughness as shown by SEM characterisation. These structural property modifications induce a relevant variation also on the emission properties of carbon nano-structures, as evidenced by field emission measurements. This work is dedicated to our friend Giorgio who passed away 20th August.     

Influence of AlN Buffer Thickness on GaN Grown on Si(111) by Gas Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy with Ammonia

Hexagonal GaN is grown on a Si(111) substrate with AlN as a buffer layer by gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) with ammonia. The thickness of AlN buffer is changed from 9 to 72nm. When the thickness of AlN buffer is 36nm, the surface morphology and crystal quality of GaN is optimal. The in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) reveals that the transition to a two-dimensional growth mode of AlN is the key to the quality of GaN. However, the thickness of AlN buffer is not so critical to the residual in-plane tensile stress in GaN grown on Si(111) by GSMBE for AlN thickness between 9 to 72nm.     

Atomistic level studies on the tensile behavior of GaN nanotubes under uniaxial tension

Molecular dynamics method with the Stillinger-Weber (SW) potential has been employed to study the responses of GaN nanotubes (GaNNTs) to a uniaxial tensile load along the axial direction. It has been revealed that GaNNTs exhibits a completely different tensile behavior at different temperatures, i.e. ductility at higher deformation temperatures and brittleness at lower temperatures, leading to a brittle to ductile transition (BDT). Both the BDT temperature and the critical stress increases with increasing thickness of GaNNTs, and the critical stress at higher temperature are lower than those at lower temperature. These results on the tensile behaviors of GaNNTs in an atomic level will provide a good reference to its promising applications.     

Pulsed laser deposition of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>: diagnostic of the plume and characterization of nanostructured deposits

Promising applications of TiO₂ nanostructures include the development of optical devices, sensors, photocatalysts and self-cleaning coatings. In view of their importance, research on the synthesis of nanosized TiO₂ is a particularly active field. In this work we report on the investigation of the effect of laser irradiation wavelength (Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 532, 355 and 266 nm), the temperature of the substrate and the atmosphere of deposition (vacuum, Ar and O₂) that are suitable for obtaining nanostructured deposits from TiO₂ sintered targets. The ablation plume emission is characterized with spectral and temporal resolution by optical emission spectroscopy (OES), while the surface morphology and chemical states of the material deposited on a Si (100) substrate are examined by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Deposits with nanostructured morphology with grain size down to 40 nm and keeping the stoichiometry of the targets were obtained at high temperature, while the highest concentration of particulates was observed at the longest laser wavelength of 532 nm on a substrate heated up to 650°C. In situ characterization of the ablation plume, carried out by OES, indicated the presence of emissions assigned to Ti I, Ti II and O I.     

Strain relaxation of CdTe films growing on lattice-mismatched substrates

We have deposited CdTe films by laser-assisted epitaxy approach and investigated the influence of substrate and film thickness on the film properties. Grown on Si(001), GaAs(001), and quartz substrates; the CdTe films exhibit preferential orientation along the cubic CdTe(111) direction. When the films are thin (<500 nm), a blueshift of the band gap and splitting of valence bands were observed. These results are attributed to the existence of residual strains induced by mismatch of the film lattice constant with that of the substrate, and by their difference in thermal expansion coefficients. The bulk band-gap energy of 1.5 eV was achieved on the surface of thick CdTe films grown on Si(001) substrate, indicating that strain was almost completely relaxed in this case. Our results demonstrate that by a proper selection of substrate and film thickness it is possible to grow film semiconductors with band gap approaching those of bulk crystals.     

拉伸应变对Bi2223/Ag带材Ic不均匀性的影响

研究了Bi2223/Ag带材的Ic和n值沿带长方向的不均匀性在拉伸应变下的变化。结果表明,Ic和n值的大小并不是逐点一一对应的;当应变小于不可逆拉伸应变时,Ic随应变增加缓慢下降,n值随应变增加缓慢下降并有小幅震荡;Ic的均匀度随应变增加基本上没有变化,n值的均匀度随应变增加变好并有小幅振荡,而且变化范围很小。     

Growth of High Quality Strained-Si on Ultra-Thin SiGe-on-Insulator Substrate

Ultra-thin and near-fully relaxed SiCe substrate is fabricated using a modified Ce condensation technique, and then a 25-nm-thiek biaxially tensile strained-Si with a low rms roughness is epitaxially deposited on a SiGe- on-Insulator （SGOI） substrate by ultra high vacuum chemical vapor deposition （UHVCVD）. High-Resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscope （HR-XTEM） observations reveal that the strained-Si/SiGe layer is dislocation-free and the atoms at the interface are well aligned. Furthermore, secondary ion mass spectrometry （SIMS） results show a sharp interface between layers and a uniform distribution of Ge in the SiCe layer. One percent in-plane tensile strain in the strained-Si layer is confirmed by ultraviolet （UV） Raman spectra, and the stress maintained even after a 30-s rapid thermal annealing （RTA） process at 1000℃. According to those results, devices based on strained-Si are expected to have a better performance than the conventional ones.     

On the dependence of surface undulation on film thickness

This paper investigates the dependence of surface undulation on a film thickness considerably greater than the critical value of a thin film system. It considers that surface tension and residual stress are the main cause of surface undulation. The study found that there is a critical undulation wavelength that minimizes the free energy of a thin film system, that this critical wavelength depends on the film thickness, and the effect of undulation amplitude is insignificant. The research also found that the surface undulation has a negligible influence on the residual stresses in the thin film system.     

Fabrication and annealing analysis of three-dimensional photonic crystals

Three-dimensional face-centered-cubic (fcc) photonic crystals (PhCs) are fabricated on quartz substrate using vertical deposition technique, and followed by annealing in a temperature range of 200-700 °C. The monodispersed SiO₂ microspheres with a diameter of 220 nm in colloidal solution are synthesized using tetraethylorthosilicate as a precursor material. The as grown opal structure exhibits a strong photonic band gap (PBG) around 450 nm in the transmission spectrum. We find that the position of PBG peak in the spectrum is relevant to incident angle of light. Moreover, it is very sensitive to annealing temperature. It quickly shifts to short wavelength direction with annealing temperature increasing. The effect results from the decrease in refraction index due to the moisture evaporation in silica microspheres.     

Spatial coherence measurements from two L-shape arrays in Shallow Water

In the Shallow Water’ 06 experiment, two L-shape arrays (ARRAY52 and ARRAY32) were deployed. The vertical line array (VLA) components of both ARRAY52 and ARRAY32 were exactly perpendicular to the direction of sound propagation. The horizontal line array (HLA) component of ARRAY52 was exactly perpendicular to the direction of sound propagation. The HLA component of ARRAY32 was exactly parallel to the direction of sound propagation. This configuration offered an opportunity to simultaneously analyze the three dimensional (3-D) spatial coherences: vertical, transverse horizontal and longitudinal horizontal. When the source and the receivers were below the thermocline, both the vertical and longitudinal horizontal coherence lengths in units of wavelength increased with increasing range and frequency. When the source was within the thermocline, the transverse horizontal coherence length in units of wavelength decreased with frequency and exhibited weak range dependence. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

The influence of wavelength in extinction measurements and beam steering in laser-induced incandescence measurements in sooting flames

The accuracy of laser-induced incandescence (LII) measurements is significantly influenced by the calibration process and the laser profile degradation due to beam steering. Additionally, the wavelength used for extinction measurements, needed for LII calibration, is critical and should be kept as high as possible in order to avoid light absorption by molecular species in the flame. The influence of beam steering on the LII measurement was studied in turbulent sooting C₂H₄/air flames at different pressures. While inhomogeneities in the laser profile become smoothed out in time-averaged measurements, especially at higher pressure, the corresponding single-shot beam profiles reveal an increasing effect of beam steering. In the current configuration it was observed that the resulting local laser fluence remains within certain limits (30% to 200%) of the original value. A sufficiently high incident laser fluence can thus prevent the local fluence from dropping below the LII threshold value of approximately 0.3 J/cm² at the cost of increased soot surface vaporization. A spatial resolution in the dimension of the sheet thickness of below 1 mm cannot be guaranteed at increased pressure of 9 bars due to beam steering. A feasibility study in a combustor at technical conditions demonstrates the influence of both effects beam steering and choice of calibration wavelength and led to the conclusion that, however, a shot-to-shot calibration of LII with simultaneously measured extinction can be realized.     

Adhesion of giant unilamellar vesicles on double-end grafted DNA carpets

We have recently shown that the bio-mimetic adhesion of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles on carpets of lambda-phage DNAs, grafted by one end to the substrate, leads to DNA scraping and stapling. As the lipid adhesion patch is built, outward forces stretch the DNA, while adhesion patch formation staples the chains into frozen conformations, trapped between the GUV membrane and the substrate. Analysis of the scraped and stapled DNA conformations provides a wealth of information about the membrane/polymer interactions at play during the formation of a bio-adhesive contact zone. In this paper we report new phenomena revealed by scraping and stapling phenomena associated with the bio-mimetic adhesion of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles on carpets of lambda-phage DNAs that were grafted to the substrate by both ends. In particular, the peculiar shapes of stapled DNA observed in this case, suggest that the membrane exerces not only outward radial forces during patch formation, but is is also able to confine the DNA molecules in the orthoradial direction.     

The effect of silicon substrate on thickness of SiO2 thin film analysed by spectral reflectometry and interferometry

Techniques of spectral reflectometry and interferometry are used for measuring small changes in thickness of SiO₂ thin film grown by thermal oxidation on different silicon substrates. A slightly dispersive Michelson interferometer with one of its mirrors replaced by a thin-film structure is used to measure the reflectance and interferometric phase of the thin-film structure at the same time. The experimental data are used to determine precisely the thickness of the SiO₂ thin film on silicon wafers of two crystallographic orientations and different dopant concentrations. We confirmed very good agreement between the experimental data and theory and revealed that the thin-film thickness, which varies with the type of silicon substrate, depends linearly on the wavelength at which minimum in the spectral reflectance occurs. Similar behaviour was revealed for the interferometric phase.     

Microstructural and domain effects in epitaxial CoFe2O4 films on MgO with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) epitaxial thin films of various thicknesses were grown on MgO substrates using the pulsed electron-beam deposition technique. The films have excellent in-plane coherence with the substrate, exhibit layer-by-layer growth and have well-defined thickness fringes in x-ray diffraction measurements. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements indicate that misfit dislocations form in thicker films and the critical thickness for the dislocation formation is estimated. Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CFO due to epitaxial in-plane tensile strain from the substrate was found. A stripe-like domain structure in the demagnetized state is demonstrated using magnetic force microscopy (MFM), in agreement with previous predictions. Coercivity increased in thicker films, which is explained by domain wall pinning due to misfit dislocations at the CFO/MgO interface.     

Nonlinear Deformation Processes and Damage Modes of Super Carbon Nanotubes with Armchair-Armchair Topology

The tensile deformations and fractures of super carbon nanotubes （SCNTs） with armchair-armchair topology are investigated by using the atomic-scale finite element method. SCNTs generated from carbon nanotubes （CNTs） with different characteristic aspect ratios are found to have different nonlinear behaviours under uniaxial tensions. Specifically, an SCNT wi~h higher aspect ratio has three distinct stages： rotation, stretch and rupture, while an SCNT with lower aspect ratio has only two stages. This information may compensate for previous work and enrich our knowledge about Y-branched CNTs and SCNTs.     

Co/C and W/Si multilayers deposited by ion-beam sputtering for the soft X-ray range

We deposited Co/C multilayer mirrors for a wavelength of 4.77 nm and W/Si multilayer mirrors for a wavelength of 1.77 nm by use of ion-beam sputtering. The small-angle diffraction spectrum was used to analyze the structure of the multilayers. With a combination of the experimental diffraction spectra and Apeles’ theory for calculation of the interfacial roughnesses of the multilayers, the interfacial roughnesses of Co/C and W/Si are 0.80 nm and 0.60 nm, respectively, which are lower than that of the substrate. The reflectivity of the Co/C multilayer is measured to be about 20% and that of the W/Si multilayer about 1% at the grazing incidence angle of about 12°. Received: 30 May 2000 / Accepted: 1 August 2000 / Published online: 11 February 2002     

Investigation of bulk laser damage in KDP crystal as a function of laser irradiation direction, polarization, and wavelength

Bulk laser-induced damage in KDP crystal was measured using a single-shot 1-ns pulse Nd:YAG laser in a transverse and longitudinal single mode. It is found that the damage threshold of KDP single crystal depends on the laser irradiation direction, polarization direction and laser wavelength. The damage threshold in the direction of c axis is about two times higher than that of in the a(b) axis at 0.532 and 1.064 μm wavelength. This result is consistent with the mechanical strength tests for various directions of KDP crystal. Received: 19 February 1999 / Revised version: 3 September 1999 / Published online: 27 January 2000     

Laser induced decohesion of coatings: probing by laser ultrasonics

The aim of the present study is to investigate a conventional laser-ultrasonics technique for the determination of intrinsic properties of oxide coatings and their adhesion strength on a metallic substrate. The good agreement between experiments and computations in an epicenter configuration allows determining the longitudinal wave velocity as well as the Young's modulus of the oxide coatings versus the porosity. For a critical value of the laser energy, a breakdown at the coating-substrate interface is generated by the laser irradiation. The critical tensile stress field developed at the coating/substrate interface, which leads to the interfacial fracture, can be easily calculated. The value of the practical adhesion which is defined is found to be in accordance with those obtained by classic contact techniques (tensile adhesion test, indentation, bending test). Finally, this work demonstrates that this quantitative, contactless test fits well to simultaneously characterise the oxide coatings and evaluate the coating-substrate adhesion.