Characterisation of sol-gel prepared (HfO2)x(SiO2)1-x (x=0.1, 0.2 and 0.4) by 1H, 13C, 17 O and 29Si MAS NMR, FTIR and TGA

The HfO2-SiO2 system is attracting interest as a possible new dielectric material in semiconductor devices. Knowledge of the location of hafnium within the silica network and the effect hafnium has on the structure will be central to the successful use of this material system in this application. Here, sol-gel techniques have been used to manufacture (HfO2)x(SiO2)1-x samples (x=0.1, 0.2 and 0.4, each heat treated at 250, 500 and 750 degrees C) and these have been characterised by magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR (1H, 13C, 17 O, 29Si), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis. 29Si MAS NMR showed that increasing the hafnia content decreases the connectivity of the silicate network, i.e. increases the range of differently connected SiO4 (Qn) units with more having increased numbers of non-bridging oxygens (i.e. lower n). FTIR and 17 O MAS NMR showed unequivocally that the x=0.4 sample phase-separated at higher temperatures, while in the x=0.1 sample the hafnium was homogeneously mixed into the SiO2 phase without any phase separation.     

A 3D Shape Measurement Technique that Makes Use of a Printed Line Pattern

The in-house validation of finite element models for bird strike events is currently carried out by means of experimental tests on flat plates. High displacement speeds in these experiments require a low exposure time of the high-speed camera (up to 1/50,000 s). In order to acquire images of sufficient quality, a special, high-intensity light source has to be used, which does not always turn out to be possible. Therefore, the regions with high displacement speeds often result in blurry images. In such cases, a printed line pattern to estimate the shape of the plate during the test, offers major advantages over a speckle pattern in terms of the reconstruction and optimization of the blurry regions. In this article, a stereo vision technique is presented that was developed to reconstructs 3D shape maps using images of impacted plates with printed line patterns. It is shown that two cameras are necessary to calculate accurate shape maps in case of large deflections. The resulting shapes can be used for the validation of numerical simulations.     

Mechanism for CuPt-type ordering in mixed III–V epitaxial layers

A model is proposed to rationalize the occurence of CuPt-type ordering in mixed III–V epitaxial layers grown on (001) substrates. It is invoked that 2× surface reconstruction occuring on group V terminated (001) surfaces produces dilated and compressed regions in sub-surface layers. The presence of these regions biases the occupation of certain sites during the growth of a layer consisting of atoms differing in their tetrahedral radii. By assuming that the reconstruction always occurs at the growing surface, it is possible to explain the evolution of CuPt-type ordering in epitaxial layers. Also, based on the model, experimental observations pertaining to the influence of growth conditions, surface misorientation and steps on ordering can be rationalized.     

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On the free‐edge effect in piezoelectric laminated plates

The present paper considers the effect of electromechanical coupling on the interlaminar stresses and the electric field strengths at free edges of laminated plates with piezoelectric material properties. The results of coupled and uncoupled piezoelectric analyses performed by use of the finite element method are compared. Exemplarily, a symmetric cross‐ply and a symmetric angle‐ply laminate are investigated under uniaxial tension and without any electrical loading. It is shown that the interlaminar stresses at the free edge are significantly higher in the coupled case for the symmetric cross‐ply laminate, whereas the coupling effect for the symmetric angle‐ply laminate is of minor significance. In addition, the occurrence of electric field strengths with singular character is revealed. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)