Exposure of defects in GaN by plasma etching

The effect of plasma exposure to n-type GaN surfaces has been examined. Etch pits are formed as a result of preferential sputtering at the sites of threading dislocations. Dark spots which are visible before plasma exposure can be attributed to screw dislocations, while those that emerge after plasma exposure are edge dislocations. The optimum condition for revealing defects clearly is derived, and has been adopted for the study of dislocations in a series of GaN epilayers grown under different conditions. A distinct trend in the dislocation density can be observed as the dopant concentration of the film varies. PACS 61.72.Ff; 68.37.Tj     

Laser cutting of thick ceramic tile

This paper details developments in the CO₂ laser cutting of thick ceramic tiles, that is thicknesses of 8.5 mm and 9.2 mm. These tiles were cut at a combination of different cutting speeds to determine the necessary cutting parameters for various tile geometries. Different cutting modes were used in conjunction with different cutting speeds to investigate cut quality after laser processing. The work also looked into the effects on cutting through using various shield gases. Multipass cutting and underwater cutting were performed to examine their effects on thermal load during processing.     

Degradation study in flexible substrate organic light-emitting diodes

Indium tin oxide (ITO) coated polycarbonate (PC) multilayer flexible substrates have been subjected to different cycles of bending. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results on bent ITO surfaces show that bending results in much rougher ITO surfaces. The Ca degradation test shows that the ITO cracks are perpendicular to the flexing direction and that barrier performance deteriorated after bending. When an organic light emitting device is fabricated on the bent substrate, electrical and optical performance decrease. This can be attributed to moisture and oxygen permeated through deteriorated substrate and barrier degraded polymer and oxidized cathode materials. However, optical microscopy observation found that the dark spots have less relationship with the size and position of the cracks on oxide film. Instead to a great extent, they are directly related to the ITO surface spikes. The results further prove that the dark spot is due to electrical stress generated by intense local current at sharp anode and cathode points, which degrade the polymer causing the formation of the dark center. PACS 78.66.Qn; 82.35.Cd; 62.60.Mk     

Velocity vector cone angle in turbulent flows

Use is made of computer simulated turbulent signals to calculate the rms of the velocity cone angle. The calculation compares favourably with X-probe data close to the axis of a circular jet. In this flow, the vector cone angle can exceed 90°, even on the axis. As a consequence, the rms values of the cone angle and of the lateral velocity fluctuation can be seriously underestimated with a 90° X-probe. Support for this is provided by measurements with a 120° X-probe.     

Computational study of pharmacophores: beta-lactams

The thermochemistry of bicyclic lactams (penams, penems, cephams, cephems), which are key pharmacophores in beta-lactam antibiotics, has been investigated by high-level ab initio methods. Particular attention has been paid to estimating magnitudes of amide resonance (ARE) and ring strain (RSE) in the four-member lactam ring because these quantities are difficult to measure and distinguish experimentally. The ring strain destabilization effect is greater than the stabilization arising from amide resonance. However, in cephemes the amide resonance stabilization slightly exceeds destabilization due to the beta-lactam ring strain.     

Resonant amplification of frustrated evanescent waves by single dielectric coating

Resonant amplification and enhancement of evanescent wave’s frustration across an optical barrier by using single dielectric coating is numerically demonstrated in this article. With further tuning of the thickness values of the second and the third medium (optical barrier) of the proposed stratified four-media configuration, it is shown that it may be possible to achieve unity transmittance at discrete, but closely spaced incident angles within the full range defined by the theoretical cut-off limit. The designed configuration may have other potential applications than lithography and waveguide design is one such example.