Electrical characterization and comparison of CIGS solar cells made with different structures and fabrication techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garris, Rebekah L.; Johnston, Steven; Li, Jian V.

In a previous study, we reported on Cu(In,Ga)Se2-based (CIGS) solar cell samples collected from different research laboratories and industrial companies with the purpose of understanding the range of CIGS materials that can lead to high-quality and high-efficiency solar panels. Here, we report on electrical measurements of those same samples. Electron-beam induced current and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) gave insights about the collection probability and the lifetime of carriers generated in each absorber. Capacitance and drive-level capacitance profiling revealed nonuniformity in carrier-density profiles. Admittance spectroscopy revealed small activation energies (= 0.03 eV) indicative of the inversion strength, larger activation energies (> 0.1more » eV) reflective of thermal activation of absorber conductivity and a deeper defect level. Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) probed deep hole-trapping defects and showed that all samples in this study had a majority-carrier defect with activation energy between 0.3 eV and 0.9 eV. Optical-DLTS revealed deep electron-trapping defects in several of the CIGS samples. This work focused on revealing similarities and differences between high-quality CIGS solar cells made with various structures and fabrication techniques.« less

Anatomic Basis for Penis Transplantation: Cadaveric Microdissection of Penile Structures.

PubMed

Tiftikcioglu, Yigit Ozer; Erenoglu, Cagil Meric; Lineaweaver, William C; Bilge, Okan; Celik, Servet; Ozek, Cuneyt

2016-06-01

We present a cadaveric dissection study to investigate the anatomic feasibility of penile transplantation. Seventeen male cadavers were dissected to reveal detailed anatomy of the dorsal neurovascular structures including dorsal arteries, superficial and deep dorsal veins, and dorsal nerves of the penis. Dorsal artery diameters showed a significant decrease from proximal to distal shaft. Dominance was observed in one side. Deep dorsal vein showed a straight course and less decrease in diameter compared to artery. Dorsal nerves showed proximal branching pattern. In a possible penile transplantation, level of harvest should be determined according to the patient and the defect, where a transgender patient will receive a total allograft and a male patient with a proximal penile defect will receive a partial shaft allograft. We designed an algorithm for different levels of penile defect and described the technique for harvest of partial and total penile transplants.

The correlation between radiative surface defect states and high color rendering index from ZnO nanotubes

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Combined surface, structural and opto-electrical investigations are drawn from the chemically fashioned ZnO nanotubes and its heterostructure with p-GaN film. A strong correlation has been found between the formation of radiative surface defect states in the nanotubes and the pure cool white light possessing averaged eight color rendering index value of 96 with appropriate color temperature. Highly important deep-red color index value has been realized > 95 which has the capability to render and reproduce natural and vivid colors accurately. Diverse types of deep defect states and their relative contribution to the corresponding wavelengths in the broad emission band is suggested. PMID:21878100

Defect states and charge transport in quantum dot solids

DOE PAGES

Brawand, Nicholas P.; Goldey, Matthew B.; Vörös, Márton; ...

2017-01-16

Defects at the surface of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) give rise to electronic states within the gap, which are detrimental to charge transport properties of QD devices. We investigated charge transport in silicon quantum dots with deep and shallow defect levels, using ab initio calculations and constrained density functional theory. We found that shallow defects may be more detrimental to charge transport than deep ones, with associated transfer rates differing by up to 5 orders of magnitude for the small dots (1-2 nm) considered here. Hence, our results indicate that the common assumption, that the ability of defects to trapmore » charges is determined by their position in the energy gap of the QD, is too simplistic, and our findings call for a reassessment of the role played by shallow defects in QD devices. Altogether, our results highlight the key importance of taking into account the atomistic structural properties of QD surfaces when investigating transport properties.« less

Defects in mercury-cadmium telluride heteroepitaxial structures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on silicon substrates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mynbaev, K. D., E-mail: mynkad@mail.ioffe.ru; Zablotsky, S. V.; Shilyaev, A. V.

Defects in mercury-cadmium-telluride heteroepitaxial structures (with 0.3 to 0.4 molar fraction of cadmium telluride) grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on silicon substrates are studied. The low-temperature photoluminescence method reveals that there are comparatively deep levels with energies of 50 to 60 meV and shallower levels with energies of 20 to 30 meV in the band gap. Analysis of the temperature dependence of the minority carrier lifetime demonstrates that this lifetime is controlled by energy levels with an energy of ∼30 meV. The possible relationship between energy states and crystal-structure defects is discussed.

Characterization of deep level defects and thermally stimulated depolarization phenomena in La-doped TlInS{sub 2} layered semiconductor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Seyidov, MirHasan Yu., E-mail: smirhasan@gyte.edu.tr; Suleymanov, Rauf A.; Mikailzade, Faik A.

2015-06-14

Lanthanum-doped high quality TlInS{sub 2} (TlInS{sub 2}:La) ferroelectric-semiconductor was characterized by photo-induced current transient spectroscopy (PICTS). Different impurity centers are resolved and identified. Analyses of the experimental data were performed in order to determine the characteristic parameters of the extrinsic and intrinsic defects. The energies and capturing cross section of deep traps were obtained by using the heating rate method. The observed changes in the Thermally Stimulated Depolarization Currents (TSDC) near the phase transition points in TlInS{sub 2}:La ferroelectric-semiconductor are interpreted as a result of self-polarization of the crystal due to the internal electric field caused by charged defects. Themore » TSDC spectra show the depolarization peaks, which are attributed to defects of dipolar origin. These peaks provide important information on the defect structure and localized energy states in TlInS{sub 2}:La. Thermal treatments of TlInS{sub 2}:La under an external electric field, which was applied at different temperatures, allowed us to identify a peak in TSDC which was originated from La-dopant. It was established that deep energy level trap BTE43, which are active at low temperature (T ≤ 156 K) and have activation energy 0.29 eV and the capture cross section 2.2 × 10{sup −14} cm{sup 2}, corresponds to the La dopant. According to the PICTS results, the deep level trap center B5 is activated in the temperature region of incommensurate (IC) phases of TlInS{sub 2}:La, having the giant static dielectric constant due to the structural disorders. From the PICTS simulation results for B5, native deep level trap having an activation energy of 0.3 eV and the capture cross section of 1.8 × 10{sup −16} cm{sup 2} were established. A substantial amount of residual space charges is trapped by the deep level localized energy states of B5 in IC-phase. While the external electric field is applied, permanent dipoles, which are originated from the charged B5 deep level defects, are aligned in the direction of the applied electric field and the equilibrium polarization can be reached in a relatively short time. When the polarization field is maintained, while cooling the temperature of sample to a sufficiently low degrees, the relaxation times of the aligned dipoles drastically increases. Practically, frozen internal electric field or electrets states remain inside the TlInS{sub 2}:La when the applied bias field is switched off. The influence of deep level defects on TSDC spectra of TlInS{sub 2}:La has been revealed for the first time.« less

First-principles study of structural, electronic, and optical properties of surface defects in GaAs(001) - β2(2x4)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bacuyag, Dhonny; Escaño, Mary Clare Sison; David, Melanie; Tani, Masahiko

2018-06-01

We performed first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the role of point defects in the structural, electronic, and optical properties of the GaAs(001)- β2(2x4). In terms of structural properties, AsGa is the most stable defect structure, consistent with experiments. With respect to the electronic structure, band structures revealed the existence of sub-band and midgap states for all defects. The induced sub-bands and midgap states originated from the redistributions of charges towards these defects and neighboring atoms. The presence of these point defects introduced deep energy levels characteristic of EB3 (0.97 eV), EL4 (0.52 eV), and EL2 (0.82 eV) for AsGa, GaAs, GaV, respectively. The optical properties are found to be strongly related to these induced gap states. The calculated onset values in the absorption spectra, corresponding to the energy gaps, confirmed the absorption below the known bulk band gap of 1.43 eV. These support the possible two-step photoabsorption mediated by midgap states as observed in experiments.

Effect of inversion layer at iron pyrite surface on photovoltaic device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uchiyama, Shunsuke; Ishikawa, Yasuaki; Uraoka, Yukiharu

2018-03-01

Iron pyrite has great potential as a thin-film solar cell material because it has high optical absorption, low cost, and is earth-abundant. However, previously reported iron pyrite solar cells showed poor photovoltaic characteristics. Here, we have numerically simulated its photovoltaic characteristics and band structures by utilizing a two-dimensional (2D) device simulator, ATLAS, to evaluate the effects of an inversion layer at the surface and a high density of deep donor defect states in the bulk. We found that previous device structures did not consider the inversion layer at the surface region of iron pyrite, which made it difficult to obtain the conversion efficiency. Therefore, we remodeled the device structure and suggested that removing the inversion layer and reducing the density of deep donor defect states would lead to a high conversion efficiency of iron pyrite solar cells.

Effect of deep centers on the radiative characteristics of epitaxial structures in the Ga-As-P system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ermakov, O.P.

1986-08-01

This paper studies the radiative characteristics of structures not doped with nitrogen based on AgP and GaAs /SUB 1-y/ P /SUB y/ in a wide range of compositions, containing stoichiometry and radiation defects. The structures studied were obtained by the methods of liquid-phase and gas-phase epitaxy. Zn was used as the acceptor impurity in obtaining the p-n structures. The radiation defects were introduced by irradiation with a beam of fast 2.5-MeV electrons and the radiative characteristics were studied with the help of the method of electroluminescence (EL).

Application of positron annihilation lifetime technique to the study of deep level transients in semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, A. H.; Shan, Y. Y.; Fung, S.; Beling, C. D.

2002-03-01

Unlike its conventional applications in lattice defect characterization, positron annihilation lifetime technique was applied to study temperature-dependent deep level transients in semiconductors. Defect levels in the band gap can be determined as they are determined by conventional deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) studies. The promising advantage of this application of positron annihilation over the conventional DLTS is that it could further extract extra microstructure information of deep-level defects, such as whether a deep level defect is vacancy related or not. A demonstration of EL2 defect level transient study in GaAs was shown and the EL2 level of 0.82±0.02 eV was obtained by a standard Arrhenius analysis, similar to that in conventional DLTS studies.

Defects and annealing studies in 1-Me electron irradiated (AlGa)As-GaAs solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, S. S.; Wang, W. L.; Loo, R. Y.; Rahilly, W. P.

1982-01-01

The deep-level defects and recombination mechanisms in the one-MeV electron irradiated (AlGa)As-GaAs solar cells under various irradiation and annealing conditions are discussed. Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and capacitance-voltage (CV) techniques were used to determine the defect and recombination parameters such as energy levels and defect density, carrier capture cross sections and lifetimes for both electron and hole traps as well as hole diffusion lengths in these electron irradiated GaAs solar cells. GaAs solar cells used in this study were prepared by the infinite solution melt liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) technique at Hughes Research Lab., with (Al0.9Ga0.1)-As window layer, Be-diffused p-GaAs layer on Sn-doped n-GaAs or undoped n-GaAs active layer grown on n(+)-GaAs substrate. Mesa structure with area of 5.86x1000 sq cm was fabricated. Three different irradiation and annealing experiments were performed on these solar cells.

Defect study in ZnO related structures—A multi-spectroscopic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ling, C. C.; Cheung, C. K.; Gu, Q. L.; Dai, X. M.; Xu, S. J.; Zhu, C. Y.; Luo, J. M.; Zhu, C. Y.; Tam, K. H.; Djurišić, A. B.; Beling, C. D.; Fung, S.; Lu, L. W.; Brauer, G.; Anwand, W.; Skorupa, W.; Ong, H. C.

2008-10-01

ZnO has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years because of its potential applications for fabricating optoelectronic devices. Using a multi-spectroscopic approach including positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS), deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), we have studied the two observed phenomena from ZnO related structures. They namely included the H 2O 2 pre-treatment induced ohmic to rectifying contact conversion on Au/ n-ZnO contact and the p-type doping by nitrogen ion implantation. The aim of the studies was to offering comprehensive views as to how the defects influenced the structures electrical and optical properties of the structures. It was also shown that PAS measurement using the monoenergetic positron beam could offer valuable information of vacancy type defects in the vertical ZnO nanorod array structure.

Exceptional gettering response of epitaxially grown kerfless silicon

DOE PAGES

Powell, D. M.; Markevich, V. P.; Hofstetter, J.; ...

2016-02-08

The bulk minority-carrier lifetime in p- and n-type kerfless epitaxial (epi) crystalline silicon wafers is shown to increase >500 during phosphorus gettering. We employ kinetic defect simulations and microstructural characterization techniques to elucidate the root cause of this exceptional gettering response. Simulations and deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) indicate that a high concentra- tion of point defects (likely Pt) is “locked in” during fast (60 C/min) cooling during epi wafer growth. The fine dispersion of moderately fast-diffusing recombination-active point defects limits as-grown lifetime but can also be removed during gettering, confirmed by DLTS measurements. Synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy indicates metal agglomeratesmore » at structural defects, yet the structural defect density is sufficiently low to enable high lifetimes. Consequently, after phosphorus diffusion gettering, epi silicon exhibits a higher lifetime than materials with similar bulk impurity contents but higher densities of structural defects, including multicrystalline ingot and ribbon silicon materials. As a result, device simulations suggest a solar-cell efficiency potential of this material >23%.« less

Origin of dislocation luminescence centers and their reorganization in p-type silicon crystal subjected to plastic deformation and high temperature annealing.

PubMed

Pavlyk, Bohdan; Kushlyk, Markiyan; Slobodzyan, Dmytro

2017-12-01

Changes of the defect structure of silicon p-type crystal surface layer under the influence of plastic deformation and high temperature annealing in oxygen atmosphere were investigated by deep-level capacitance-modulation spectroscopy (DLCMS) and IR spectroscopy of molecules and atom vibrational levels. Special role of dislocations in the surface layer of silicon during the formation of its energy spectrum and rebuilding the defective structure was established. It is shown that the concentration of linear defects (N ≥ 10 4  cm -2 ) enriches surface layer with electrically active complexes (dislocation-oxygen, dislocation-vacancy, and dislocation-interstitial atoms of silicon) which are an effective radiative recombination centers.

Electronic characterization of defects in narrow gap semiconductors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, James D.

1993-01-01

The study of point defects in semiconductors has a long and honorable history. In particular, the detailed understanding of shallow defects in common semiconductors traces back to the classic work of Kohn and Luttinger. However, the study of defects in narrow gap semiconductors represents a much less clear story. Here, both shallow defects (caused by long range potentials) and deep defects (from short range potentials) are far from being completely understood. In this study, all results are calculational and our focus is on the chemical trend of deep levels in narrow gap semiconductors. We study substitutional (including antisite), interstitial and ideal vacancy defects. For substitutional and interstitial impurities, the efects of relaxation are included. For materials like Hg(1-x)Cd(x)Te, we study how the deep levels vary with x, of particular interest is what substitutional and interstitial atoms yield energy levels in the gap i.e. actually produce deep ionized levels. Also, since the main technique utilized is Green's functions, we include some summary of that method.

Electron paramagnetic resonance of deep boron in silicon carbide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranov, P. G.; Mokhov, E. N.

1996-04-01

In this article we report the first EPR observation of deep boron centres in silicon carbide. A direct identification of the boron atom involved in the defect centre, considered as deep boron, has been established by the presence of a hyperfine interaction with 0268-1242/11/4/005/img1 and 0268-1242/11/4/005/img2 nuclei in isotope-enriched 6H-SiC:B crystals. Deep boron centres were shown from EPR spectra to have axial symmetry along the hexagonal axis. A correspondence between the EPR spectra and the luminescence, ODMR and DLTS spectra of deep boron centres has been indicated. The structural model for a deep boron centre as a boron - vacancy pair is presented and the evidence for bistable behaviour of deep boron centres is discussed.

The fine structure of electron irradiation induced EL2-like defects in n-GaAs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tunhuma, S. M.; Auret, F. D.; Legodi, M. J.

2016-04-14

Defects induced by electron irradiation in n-GaAs have been studied using deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace DLTS (L-DLTS). The E{sub 0.83} (EL2) is the only defect observed prior to irradiation. Ru/n-GaAs Schottky diodes were irradiated with high energy electrons from a Sr-90 radionuclide up to a fluence of 2.45 × 10{sup 13} cm{sup −2}. The prominent electron irradiation induced defects, E{sub 0.04}, E{sub 0.14}, E{sub 0.38}, and E{sub 0.63}, were observed together with the metastable E{sub 0.17}. Using L-DLTS, we observed the fine structure of a broad base EL2-like defect peak. This was found to be made up of the E{submore » 0.75}, E{sub 0.83}, and E{sub 0.85} defects. Our study reveals that high energy electron irradiation increases the concentration of the E{sub 0.83} defect and introduces a family of defects with electronic properties similar to those of the EL2.« less

Impacts of Carrier Transport and Deep Level Defects on Delayed Cathodoluminescence in Droop-Mitigating InGaN/GaN LEDs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Zhibo; Singh, Akshay; Chesin, Jordan

Prevalent droop mitigation strategies in InGaN-based LEDs require structural and/or compositional changes in the active region but are accompanied by a detrimental reduction in external quantum efficiency (EQE) due to increased Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. Understanding the optoelectronic impacts of structural modifications in InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QW) remains critical for emerging high-power LEDs. In this work, we use a combination of electron microscopy tools along with standard electrical characterization to investigate a wide range of low-droop InGaN/GaN QW designs. We find that chip-scale EQE is uncorrelated with extended well-width fluctuations observed in scanning transmission electron microscopy. Further, we observe delayed cathodoluminescence (CL)more » response from designs in which calculated band profiles suggest facile carrier escape from individual QWs. Samples with the slowest CL responses also exhibit the lowest EQEs and highest QW defect densities in deep level optical spectroscopy. We propose a model in which the electron beam (i) passivates deep level defect states and (ii) drives charge carrier accumulation and subsequent reduction of the built-in field across the multi-QW active region, resulting in delayed radiative recombination. Finally, we correlate CL rise dynamics with capacitance-voltage measurements and show that certain early-time components of the CL dynamics reflect the open circuit carrier population within one or more QWs.« less

Investigation of hydrogen interaction with defects in zirconia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melikhova, O.; Kuriplach, J.; Čížek, J.; Procházka, I.; Brauer, G.; Anwand, W.

2010-04-01

Defect studies of a ZrO2 + 9 mol. % Y2O3 single crystal were performed in this work using a high resolution positron lifetime spectroscopy combined with slow positron implantation spectroscopy. In order to elucidate the nature of positron trapping sites observed experimentally, the structural relaxations of several types of vacancy-like defects in zirconia were performed and positron characteristics for them were calculated. Relaxed atomic configurations of studied defects were obtained by means of ab initio pseudopotential method within the supercell approach. Theoretical calculations indicated that neither oxygen vacancies nor their neutral complexes with substitute yttrium atoms are capable of positron trapping. On the other hand, zirconium vacancies are deep positron traps and are most probably responsible for the saturated positron trapping observed in yttria stabilized zirconia single crystals. However, the calculated positron lifetime for zirconium vacancy is apparently longer than the experimental value corresponding to a single-component spectrum measured for the cubic ZrO2 + 9 mol. % Y2O3 single crystal. It was demonstrated that this effect can be explained by hydrogen trapped in zirconium vacancies. On the basis of structure relaxations, we found that zirconium vacancy - hydrogen complexes represent deep positron traps with the calculated lifetime close to the experimental one. In zirconium vacancy - hydrogen complexes the hydrogen atom forms an O-H bond with one of the nearest neighbour oxygen atoms. The calculated bond length is close to 1 Å.

A role for the deep orange and carnation eye color genes in lysosomal delivery in Drosophila.

PubMed

Sevrioukov, E A; He, J P; Moghrabi, N; Sunio, A; Krämer, H

1999-10-01

Deep orange and carnation are two of the classic eye color genes in Drosophila. Here, we demonstrate that Deep orange is part of a protein complex that localizes to endosomal compartments. A second component of this complex is Carnation, a homolog of Sec1p-like regulators of membrane fusion. Because complete loss of deep orange function is lethal, the role of this complex in intracellular trafficking was analyzed in deep orange mutant clones. Retinal cells devoid of deep orange function completely lacked pigmentation and exhibited exaggerated multivesicular structures. Furthermore, a defect in endocytic trafficking was visualized in developing photoreceptor cells. These results provide direct evidence that eye color mutations of the granule group also disrupt vesicular trafficking to lysosomes.

Admittance spectroscopy or deep level transient spectroscopy: A contrasting juxtaposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bollmann, Joachim; Venter, Andre

2018-04-01

A comprehensive understanding of defects in semiconductors remains of primary importance. In this paper the effectiveness of two of the most commonly used semiconductor defect spectroscopy techniques, viz. deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and admittance spectroscopy (AS) are reviewed. The analysis of defects present in commercially available SiC diodes shows that admittance spectroscopy allows the identification of deep traps with reduced measurement effort compared to deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS). Besides the N-donor, well-studied intrinsic defects were detected in these diodes. Determination of their activation energy and defect density, using the two techniques, confirm that the sensitivity of AS is comparable to that of DLTS while, due to its well defined peak shape, the spectroscopic resolution is superior. Additionally, admittance spectroscopy can analyze faster emission processes which make the study of shallow defects more practical and even that of shallow dopant levels, possible. A comparative summary for the relevant spectroscopic features of the two capacitance methods are presented.

Correlation between structural and opto-electronic characteristics of crystalline Si microhole arrays for photonic light management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sontheimer, Tobias, E-mail: tobias.sontheimer@helmholtz-berlin.de; Schnegg, Alexander; Lips, Klaus

2013-11-07

By employing electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and optical measurements, we systematically correlate the structural and optical properties with the deep-level defect characteristics of various tailored periodic Si microhole arrays, which are manufactured in an easily scalable and versatile process on nanoimprinted sol-gel coated glass. While tapered microhole arrays in a structured base layer are characterized by partly nanocrystalline features, poor electronic quality with a defect concentration of 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3} and a high optical sub-band gap absorption, planar polycrystalline Si layers perforated with periodic arrays of tapered microholes are composed of a compact crystalline structure and amore » defect concentration in the low 10{sup 16} cm{sup −3} regime. The low defect concentration is equivalent to the one in planar state-of-the-art solid phase crystallized Si films and correlates with a low optical sub-band gap absorption. By complementing the experimental characterization with 3-dimensional finite element simulations, we provide the basis for a computer-aided approach for the low-cost fabrication of novel high-quality structures on large areas featuring tailored opto-electronic properties.« less

Thermodynamic Stability and Defect Chemistry of Bismuth-Based Lead-Free Double Perovskites.

PubMed

Xiao, Zewen; Meng, Weiwei; Wang, Jianbo; Yan, Yanfa

2016-09-22

Bismuth- or antimony-based lead-free double perovskites represented by Cs 2 AgBiBr 6 have recently been considered promising alternatives to the emerging lead-based perovskites for solar cell applications. These new perovskites belong to the Fm3‾ m space group and consist of two types of octahedra alternating in a rock-salt face-centered cubic structure. We show, by density functional theory calculations, that the stable chemical potential region for pure Cs 2 AgBiBr 6 is narrow. Ag vacancies are a shallow accepters and can easily form, leading to intrinsic p-type conductivity. Bi vacancies and Ag Bi antisites are deep acceptors and should be the dominant defects under the Br-rich growth conditions. Our results suggest that the growth of Cs 2 AgBiBr 6 under Br-poor/Bi-rich conditions is preferred for suppressing the formation of the deep defects, which is beneficial for maximizing the photovoltaic performance. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Colloidal thallium halide nanocrystals with reasonable luminescence, carrier mobility and diffusion length.

PubMed

Mir, Wasim J; Warankar, Avinash; Acharya, Ashutosh; Das, Shyamashis; Mandal, Pankaj; Nag, Angshuman

2017-06-01

Colloidal lead halide based perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have been recently established as an interesting class of defect-tolerant NCs with potential for superior optoelectronic applications. The electronic band structure of thallium halides (TlX, where X = Br and I) show a strong resemblance to lead halide perovskites, where both Pb 2+ and Tl + exhibit a 6s 2 inert pair of electrons and strong spin-orbit coupling. Although the crystal structure of TlX is not perovskite, the similarities of its electronic structure with lead halide perovskites motivated us to prepare colloidal TlX NCs. These TlX NCs exhibit a wide bandgap (>2.5 eV or <500 nm) and the potential to exhibit a reduced density of deep defect states. Optical pump terahertz (THz) probe spectroscopy with excitation fluence in the range of 0.85-5.86 × 10 13 photons per cm 2 on NC films shows that the TlBr NCs possess high effective carrier mobility (∼220 to 329 cm 2 V -1 s -1 ), long diffusion length (∼0.77 to 0.98 μm), and reasonably high photoluminescence efficiency (∼10%). This combination of properties is remarkable compared to other wide-bandgap (>2.5 eV) semiconductor NCs, which suggests a reduction in the deep-defect states in the TlX NCs. Furthermore, the ultrafast carrier dynamics and temperature-dependent reversible structural phase transition together with its influence on the optical properties of the TlX NCs are studied.

EL2 and related defects in GaAs - Challenges and pitfalls. [microdefect introducing a deep donor level

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gatos, H. C.; Lagowski, J.

1985-01-01

The incorporation process of nonequilibrium vacancies in melt-grown GaAs is strongly complicated by deviations from stoichiometry and the presence of two sublattices. Many of the microdefects originating in these vacancies and their interactions introduce energy levels (shallow and deep) within the energy gap. The direct identification of the chemical or structural signature of these defects and its direct correlation to their electronic behavior is not generally possible. It is necessary, therefore, to rely on indirect methods and phenomenological models and deal with the associated pitfalls. EL2, a microdefect introducing a deep donor level, has been in the limelight in recent years because it is believed to be responsible for the semi-insulating behavior of undoped GaAs. Although much progress has been made towards understanding its origin and nature, some relevant questions remain unanswered. An attempt is made to assess the present status of understanding of EL2 in the light of most recent results.

Defect free C-axis oriented zinc oxide (ZnO) films grown at room temperature using RF magnetron sputtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunj, Saurabh; Sreenivas, K.

2016-05-01

Radio frequency Magnetron sputtering technique was employed to fabricate ZnO thin films on quartz substrate at room temperature. The effect of varying oxygen to argon (O2/Ar) gas ratio on the structural and photoluminescence properties of the film is analyzed.X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra reveals the formation of hexagonal wurtzite structured ZnO thin films with preferred orientation along (002) plane. Photoluminescence (PL) characterization reveals the preparation of highly crystalline films exhibiting intense Ultraviolet (UV) emission with negligible amount of defects as indicated by the absence of Deep Level Emission (DLE) in the PL spectra.

Defect free C-axis oriented zinc oxide (ZnO) films grown at room temperature using RF magnetron sputtering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kunj, Saurabh, E-mail: saurabhkunj22@gmail.com; Sreenivas, K.

2016-05-23

Radio frequency Magnetron sputtering technique was employed to fabricate ZnO thin films on quartz substrate at room temperature. The effect of varying oxygen to argon (O{sub 2}/Ar) gas ratio on the structural and photoluminescence properties of the film is analyzed.X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra reveals the formation of hexagonal wurtzite structured ZnO thin films with preferred orientation along (002) plane. Photoluminescence (PL) characterization reveals the preparation of highly crystalline films exhibiting intense Ultraviolet (UV) emission with negligible amount of defects as indicated by the absence of Deep Level Emission (DLE) in the PL spectra.

Post-traumatic orbital reconstruction: anatomical landmarks and the concept of the deep orbit.

PubMed

Evans, B T; Webb, A A C

2007-04-01

Dissection deep within the orbit is a cause for concern to surgeons because of the perceived risks of injuring critical structures such as the contents of the superior orbital fissure and the optic nerve. Although "safe distances" (those distances within which it is considered safe to dissect within the orbit) have been described, these are of limited value if the orbit is severely disrupted or is congenitally shallow. In addition, traumatic defects in the orbital floor, in particular, often extend beyond these distances. Reliable landmarks based on the relations between anatomical structures within the orbit, rather than absolute distances, are described that permit safe dissection within the orbit. We present the concept of the deep orbit and describe its relevance to repair of injuries.

Fabric defect detection based on visual saliency using deep feature and low-rank recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhoufeng; Wang, Baorui; Li, Chunlei; Li, Bicao; Dong, Yan

2018-04-01

Fabric defect detection plays an important role in improving the quality of fabric product. In this paper, a novel fabric defect detection method based on visual saliency using deep feature and low-rank recovery was proposed. First, unsupervised training is carried out by the initial network parameters based on MNIST large datasets. The supervised fine-tuning of fabric image library based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) is implemented, and then more accurate deep neural network model is generated. Second, the fabric images are uniformly divided into the image block with the same size, then we extract their multi-layer deep features using the trained deep network. Thereafter, all the extracted features are concentrated into a feature matrix. Third, low-rank matrix recovery is adopted to divide the feature matrix into the low-rank matrix which indicates the background and the sparse matrix which indicates the salient defect. In the end, the iterative optimal threshold segmentation algorithm is utilized to segment the saliency maps generated by the sparse matrix to locate the fabric defect area. Experimental results demonstrate that the feature extracted by CNN is more suitable for characterizing the fabric texture than the traditional LBP, HOG and other hand-crafted features extraction method, and the proposed method can accurately detect the defect regions of various fabric defects, even for the image with complex texture.

Towards precise defect control in layered oxide structures by using oxide molecular beam epitaxy

PubMed Central

Baiutti, Federico; Christiani, Georg

2014-01-01

Summary In this paper we present the atomic-layer-by-layer oxide molecular beam epitaxy (ALL-oxide MBE) which has been recently installed in the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research and we report on its present status, providing some examples that demonstrate its successful application in the synthesis of different layered oxides, with particular reference to superconducting La2CuO4 and insulator-to-metal La2− xSrxNiO4. We briefly review the ALL-oxide MBE technique and its unique capabilities in the deposition of atomically smooth single-crystal thin films of various complex oxides, artificial compounds and heterostructures, introducing our goal of pursuing a deep investigation of such systems with particular emphasis on structural defects, with the aim of tailoring their functional properties by precise defects control. PMID:24995148

Origin of reduced efficiency in high Ga concentration Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, S.-H.; Huang, B.; Deng, H.; Contreras, M. A.; Noufi, R.; Chen, S.; Wang, L. W.

2014-03-01

CuInSe2 (CIS) is one of the most attractive thin-film materials for solar cells. It is well know that alloying Ga into CIS forming Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) alloy is crucial to achieve the high efficiency, but adding too much Ga will lead to a decline of the solar cell efficiency. The exact origin of this puzzling phenomenon is currently still under debate. Using first-principles method, we have systemically studied the structural and electronic properties of CIGS alloys. Our phase diagram calculations suggest that increasing growth temperature may not be a critical factor in enhancing the cell performance of CIGS under equilibrium growth condition. On the other hand, our defect calculations identify that high concentration of antisite defects MCu(M =In, Ga) rather than anion defects are the key deep-trap centers in CIGS. The more the Ga concentration in CIGS, the more harmful the deep-trap is. Self-compensation in CIGS, which forms 2VCu + MCudefect complexes, is found to be beneficial to quench the deep-trap levels induced by MCu in CIGS, especially at low Ga concentration. Unfortunately, the density of isolated MCu is quite high and cannot be largely converted into 2VCu + MCu complexes under thermal equilibrium condition. Thus, nonequilibrium growth conditions or low growth temperature that can suppress the formation of the deep-trap centers MCu may be necessary for improving the efficiency of CIGS solar cells with high Ga concentrations.

Point defects in ZnO: an approach from first principles

PubMed Central

Oba, Fumiyasu; Choi, Minseok; Togo, Atsushi; Tanaka, Isao

2011-01-01

Recent first-principles studies of point defects in ZnO are reviewed with a focus on native defects. Key properties of defects, such as formation energies, donor and acceptor levels, optical transition energies, migration energies and atomic and electronic structure, have been evaluated using various approaches including the local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) to DFT, LDA+U/GGA+U, hybrid Hartree–Fock density functionals, sX and GW approximation. Results significantly depend on the approximation to exchange correlation, the simulation models for defects and the post-processes to correct shortcomings of the approximation and models. The choice of a proper approach is, therefore, crucial for reliable theoretical predictions. First-principles studies have provided an insight into the energetics and atomic and electronic structures of native point defects and impurities and defect-induced properties of ZnO. Native defects that are relevant to the n-type conductivity and the non-stoichiometry toward the O-deficient side in reduced ZnO have been debated. It is suggested that the O vacancy is responsible for the non-stoichiometry because of its low formation energy under O-poor chemical potential conditions. However, the O vacancy is a very deep donor and cannot be a major source of carrier electrons. The Zn interstitial and anti-site are shallow donors, but these defects are unlikely to form at a high concentration in n-type ZnO under thermal equilibrium. Therefore, the n-type conductivity is attributed to other sources such as residual impurities including H impurities with several atomic configurations, a metastable shallow donor state of the O vacancy, and defect complexes involving the Zn interstitial. Among the native acceptor-type defects, the Zn vacancy is dominant. It is a deep acceptor and cannot produce a high concentration of holes. The O interstitial and anti-site are high in formation energy and/or are electrically inactive and, hence, are unlikely to play essential roles in electrical properties. Overall defect energetics suggests a preference for the native donor-type defects over acceptor-type defects in ZnO. The O vacancy, Zn interstitial and Zn anti-site have very low formation energies when the Fermi level is low. Therefore, these defects are expected to be sources of a strong hole compensation in p-type ZnO. For the n-type doping, the compensation of carrier electrons by the native acceptor-type defects can be mostly suppressed when O-poor chemical potential conditions, i.e. low O partial pressure conditions, are chosen during crystal growth and/or doping. PMID:27877390

The self-healing of defects induced by the hydriding phase transformation in palladium nanoparticles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ulvestad, A.; Yau, A.

Nanosizing can dramatically alter material properties by enhancing surface thermodynamic contributions, shortening diffusion lengths, and increasing the number of catalytically active sites per unit volume. These mechanisms have been used to explain the improved properties of catalysts, battery materials, plasmonic materials, etc. Here we show that Pd nanoparticles also have the ability to self-heal defects in their crystal structures. Using Bragg coherent diffractive imaging, we image dislocations nucleated deep in a Pd nanoparticle during the forward hydriding phase transformation that heal during the reverse transformation, despite the region surrounding the dislocations remaining in the hydrogen-poor phase. We show that defectivemore » Pd nanoparticles exhibit sloped isotherms, indicating that defects act as additional barriers to the phase transformation. Our results resolve the formation and healing of structural defects during phase transformations at the single nanoparticle level and offer an additional perspective as to how and why nanoparticles differ from their bulk counterparts.« less

Influence of deep defects on device performance of thin-film polycrystalline silicon solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fehr, M.; Simon, P.; Sontheimer, T.; Leendertz, C.; Gorka, B.; Schnegg, A.; Rech, B.; Lips, K.

2012-09-01

Employing quantitative electron-paramagnetic resonance analysis and numerical simulations, we investigate the performance of thin-film polycrystalline silicon solar cells as a function of defect density. We find that the open-circuit voltage is correlated to the density of defects, which we assign to coordination defects at grain boundaries and in dislocation cores. Numerical device simulations confirm the observed correlation and indicate that the device performance is limited by deep defects in the absorber bulk. Analyzing the defect density as a function of grain size indicates a high concentration of intra-grain defects. For large grains (>2 μm), we find that intra-grain defects dominate over grain boundary defects and limit the solar cell performance.

Structure and vibrational properties of the dominant O-H center in β-Ga2O3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiser, Philip; Stavola, Michael; Fowler, W. Beall; Qin, Ying; Pearton, Stephen

2018-06-01

Hydrogen has a strong influence on the electrical properties of transparent conducting oxides where it can give rise to shallow donors and can passivate deep compensating defects. We have carried out infrared absorption experiments on H- and D-doped β-Ga2O3 that involve temperature- and polarization-dependent effects as well as relative H- and D-concentrations to probe the defect structures that hydrogen can form. The results of analysis of these data, coupled with detailed theoretical calculations, show that the dominant O-H vibrational line observed at 3437 cm-1 for hydrogenated Ga2O3 is due to a relaxed VGa-2H center.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kozlovski, V. V.; Lebedev, A. A.; Bogdanova, E. V.

The model of conductivity compensation in SiC under irradiation with high-energy electrons is presented. The following processes are considered to cause a decrease in the free carrier concentration: (i) formation of deep traps by intrinsic point defects, Frenkel pairs produced by irradiation; (ii) 'deactivation' of the dopant via formation of neutral complexes including a dopant atom and a radiation-induced point defect; and (iii) formation of deep compensating traps via generation of charged complexes constituted by a dopant atom and a radiation-induced point defect. To determine the compensation mechanism, dose dependences of the deep compensation of moderately doped SiC (CVD) undermore » electron irradiation have been experimentally studied. It is demonstrated that, in contrast to n-FZ-Si, moderately doped SiC (CVD) exhibits linear dependences (with a strongly nonlinear dependence observed for Si). Therefore, the conductivity compensation in silicon carbide under electron irradiation occurs due to deep traps formed by primary radiation defects (vacancies and interstitial atoms) in the silicon and carbon sublattices. It is known that the compensation in silicon is due to the formation of secondary radiation defects that include a dopant atom. It is shown that, in contrast to n-SiC (CVD), primary defects in only the carbon sublattice of moderately doped p-SiC (CVD) cannot account for the compensation process. In p-SiC, either primary defects in the silicon sublattice or defects in both sublattices are responsible for the conductivity compensation.« less

Donor defects and small polarons on the TiO2(110) surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moses, P. G.; Janotti, A.; Franchini, C.; Kresse, G.; Van de Walle, C. G.

2016-05-01

The role of defects in the chemical activity of the rutile TiO2(110) surface remains a rich topic of research, despite the rutile (110) being one of the most studied surfaces of transition-metal oxides. Here, we present results from hybrid functional calculations that reconcile apparently disparate views on the impact of donor defects, such as oxygen vacancies and hydrogen impurities, on the electronic structure of the (110) rutile surface. We find that the bridging oxygen vacancy and adsorbed or substitutional hydrogen are actually shallow donors, which do not induce gap states. The excess electrons from these donor centers tend to localize in the form of small polarons, which are the factual cause of the deep states ˜1 eV below the conduction band, often observed in photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Our results offer a new framework for understanding the surface electronic structure of TiO2 and related oxides.

Progression of Local Glaucomatous Damage Near Fixation as Seen with Adaptive Optics Imaging.

PubMed

Hood, Donald C; Lee, Dongwon; Jarukasetphon, Ravivarn; Nunez, Jason; Mavrommatis, Maria A; Rosen, Richard B; Ritch, Robert; Dubra, Alfredo; Chui, Toco Y P

2017-07-01

Deep glaucomatous defects near fixation were followed over time with an adaptive optics-scanning light ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO) to better understand the progression of these defects and to explore the use of AO-SLO in detecting them. Six eyes of 5 patients were imaged with an AO-SLO from 2 to 4 times for a range of 14.6 to 33.6 months. All eyes had open-angle glaucoma with deep defects in the superior visual field (VF) near fixation as defined by 10-2 VFs with 5 or more points less than -15 dB; two of the eyes had deep defects in the inferior VF as well. AO-SLO images were obtained around the temporal edge of the disc. In 4 of the 6 eyes, the edge of the inferior-temporal disc region of the retinal nerve fiber (RNF) defect seen on AO-SLO moved closer to fixation within 10.6 to 14.7 months. In 4 eyes, RNF bundles in the affected region appeared to lose contrast and/or disappear. Progressive changes in RNF bundles associated with deep defects on 10-2 VFs can be seen within about 1 year with AO-SLO imaging. These changes are well below the spatial resolution of the 10-2 VF. On the other hand, subtle thinning of regions with RNF bundles is not easy to see with current AO-SLO technology, and may be better followed with OCT. AO-SLO imaging may be useful in clinical trials designed to see very small changes in deep defects.

Investigation of intrinsic and extrinsic defects effective role on producing intense red emission in ZnO:Eu nanostructures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Najafi, Mehrdad, E-mail: najafi@shahroodut.ac.ir; Haratizadeh, Hamid

2015-05-15

Highlights: • Effective role of defects on producing red emission at indirect excitation. • V{sub Zn} and V{sub O} defects have important role on energy transfer. • Mg related defects and Zn{sub i} defects were responsible for blue emission. • Extrinsic and intrinsic defects mediated energy transfer to sensitize Eu{sup 3+} ions. • Decrease of red emission because of diminishing in oxygen vacancy. - Abstract: Europium doped ZnO nanorads and nanosheets were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Effects of Mg doping, morphology and annealing in oxygen ambient on structural and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD),more » particle size analysis (PSA), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), differential thermo gravimetry (DTG), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). This study recommends that both of intrinsic and extrinsic defects facilitate energy transfer (ET) from the ZnO host to Eu{sup 3+} ions and consequently have efficient role on producing intense red emission at indirect excitation. The results also showed that annealing process improved the crystal structure of ZnO nanosheets due to decrease of surface defects; however decreased ET and red emission because of diminishing in oxygen vacancy. In addition in ZnO nanorods sample with more surface area in comparison with ZnO nanosheets sample deep level emissions are enhanced.« less

Characterization of irradiation induced deep and shallow impurities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Treberspurg, Wolfgang; Bergauer, Thomas; Dragicevic, Marko; Krammer, Manfred; Valentan, Manfred

2013-12-01

Silicon Detectors close to the interaction point of the High Luminosity Large Hardron Collider (HL-LHC) have to withstand a harsh irradiation environment. In order to evaluate the behaviour of shallow and deep defects, induced by neutron irradiation, spreading resistance resistivity measurements and capacitance voltage measurements have been performed. These measurements, deliver information about the profile of shallow impurities after irradiation as well as indications of deep defects in the Space Charge Region (SCR) and the Electrical Neutral Bulk (ENB). By considering the theoretical background of the measurement both kinds of defects can be investigated independently from each other.

Growth control and design principles of self-assembled quantum dot multiple layer structures for photodetector applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asano, Tetsuya

Self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs) formed by lattice-mismatch strain-driven epitaxy are currently the most advanced nanostructure-based platform for high performance optoelectronic applications such as lasers and photodetectors. While the QD lasers have realized the best performance in terms of threshold current and temperature stability, the performance of QD photodetectors (QDIPs) has not surpassed that of quantum well (QW) photodetectors. This is because the requirement of maximal photon absorption for photodetectors poses the challenge of forming an appropriately-doped large number of uniform multiple SAQD (MQD) layers with acceptable structural defect (dislocation etc.) density. This dissertation addresses this challenge and, through a combination of innovative approach to control of defects in MQD growth and judicious placement of SAQDs in a resonant cavity, shows that SAQD based quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) can be made competitive with their quantum well counterparts. Specifically, the following major elements were accomplished: (i) the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of dislocation-free and uniform InAs/InAlGaAs/GaAs MQD strained structures up to 20-period, (ii) temperature-dependent photo- and dark-current based analysis of the electron density distribution inside the MQD structures for various doping schemes, (iii) deep level transient spectroscopy based identification of growth procedure dependent deleterious deep traps in SAQD structures and their reduction, and (iv) the use of an appropriately designed resonant cavity (RC) and judicious placement of the SAQD layers for maximal enhancement of photon absorption to realize over an order of magnitude enhancement in QDIP detectivity. The lattermost demonstration indicates that implementation of the growth approach and resonant cavity strategy developed here while utilizing the currently demonstrated MIR and LWIR QDIPs with detectivities > 10 10 cmHz1/2/W at ˜ 77 K will enable RC-QDIP with detectivites > 1011 cmHz1/2/W that become competitive with other photodetector technologies in the mid IR (3 -- 5 mum) and long wavelength IR (8 -- 12 mum) ranges with the added advantage of materials stability and normal incidence sensitivity. Extended defect-free and size-uniform MQD structures of shallow InAs on GaAs (001) SAQDs capped with In0.15Ga0.85As strain relief layers and separated by GaAs spacer layer were grown up to 20 periods employing a judicious combination of MBE and migration enhanced epitaxy (MEE) techniques and examined by detailed transmission electron microscopy studies to reveal the absence of detectable extended defects (dislocation density < ˜ 107 /cm2). Photoluminescence studies revealed high optical quality. As our focus was on mid-infrared detectors, the MQD structures were grown in n (GaAs) -- i (MQD) -- n (GaAs) structures providing electron occupancy in at least the quantum confined ground energy states of the SAQDs and thus photodetection based upon transitions to electron excited states. Bias and temperature-dependent dark and photocurrent measurements were carried out for a variety of doping profiles and the electron density spatial distribution was determined from the resulting band bending profiles. It is revealed that almost no free electrons are present in the middle SAQD layers in the 10-period and 20-period n--i--n QDIP structures, indicating the existence of a high density (˜1015/cm3) of negative charges which can be attributed to electrons trapped in deep levels. To examine the nature of these deep traps, samples suitable for deep level transient spectroscopy measurement were synthesized and examined. These studies, carried out for the first time for SAQDs, revealed that the deep traps are dominantly present in the GaAs overgrowth layers grown at 500°C by MBE. For structures involving GaAs overgrowths using MEE at temperatures as low as 350°C, the deep trap density in the GaAs overgrowth layer was found to be significantly reduced by factor of ˜ 20. Thus, employing MEE growth for GaAs spacer layers in n--i(20-period MQD)-- n QDIP structures, electrons could be provided to all the SAQDs owing to the significantly reduced deep trap density. Finally, for enhancement of the incident photon absorption, we designed and fabricated asymmetric Fabry-Perot resonant cavity-enhanced QDIPs. For effective enhancement, SAQDs with a narrow photoresponse in the 3 -- 5 mum infrared regime were realized utilizing [(AlAs)1(GaAs)4]4 short-period superlattices as the confining barrier layers. Incorporating such SAQDs in RC-QDIPs, we successfully demonstrated ˜ 10 times enhancement of the QDIP detectivity. As stated above, this makes RC-QDIPs containing QDIPs with the currently demonstrated detectivities of ˜ 1010 cmHz 1/2/W at ˜ 77 K competitive with other IR photodetector technologies.

Thermal degradation of InP in open tube processing: deep-level photoluminescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, S.; Srivastava, A. K.; Arora, B. M.

1990-09-01

Thermal processing of InP at temperatures above 500 °C is indispensable in the growth and device fabrication of InGaAsP alloy semiconductors for optoelectronic and microwave applications. Incongruous loss of P at these temperatures creates native defects and their complexes. The presence of such defects modifies the electrical and optical properties of the material resulting in poor device performance. In addition, native defects play a significant role in dopant diffusion which is a topic of current interest. We have measured deep-level photoluminescence (PL) on undoped InP after heat treatments at 500 and 550 °C in an open-tube processing system in different protective environments of powder InP, and Sn-InP melt together with an InP cover. In this paper we shall present the PL results which have bearing on the question of defects. We find that (1) the Sn-InP melt provides better protection in preserving the overall luminescence in InP; (2) the deep-level PL related to defects has at least two components in the virgin samples, viz., MnIn, and band C, which is a native defect complex related to VP; (3) a new defect appears in samples heated in a P-deficient environment; and (4) the enhancement in the deep-level luminescence intensity after heat treatment can be attributed to the excess defect concentrations existing under nonequilibrium conditions of an open-tube processing environment.

Deep-Ultraviolet Luminescence of Rocksalt-Structured Mg x Zn1-x O (x > 0.5) Films on MgO Substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaneko, Kentaro; Tsumura, Keiichi; Ishii, Kyohei; Onuma, Takayoshi; Honda, Tohru; Fujita, Shizuo

2018-04-01

Rocksalt-structured Mg x Zn1-x O films with Mg composition x of 0.47, 0.57, and 0.64 were grown on (100)-oriented MgO substrates using mist chemical vapor deposition. Cathodoluminescence measurements showed deep ultraviolet (DUV) emission peaking at 4.88 eV (254 nm), 5.15 eV (241 nm), and 5.21 eV (238 nm), respectively, at 12 K. The peak energies were lower than the band gap energies by ca. 1 eV, suggesting that the deep ultraviolet (DUV) emission may be recognized as near band edge luminescence but is associated with impurities, defects, or band fluctuations. The use of carbon-free precursors in the growth is suggested to eliminate carbon impurities and to improve the optical properties of Mg x Zn1-x O.

Suppress carrier recombination by introducing defects. The case of Si solar cell

DOE PAGES

Liu, Yuanyue; Stradins, Paul; Deng, Huixiong; ...

2016-01-11

Deep level defects are usually harmful to solar cells. Here we show that incorporation of selected deep level defects in the carrier-collecting region, however, can be utilized to improve the efficiency of optoelectronic devices. The designed defects can help the transport of the majority carriers by creating defect levels that is resonant with the band edge state, and/or reduce the concentration of minority carriers through Coulomb repulsion, thus suppressing the recombination at the carrier-collecting region. The selection process is demonstrated by using Si solar cell as an example. In conclusion, our work enriches the understanding and utilization of the semiconductormore » defects.« less

Relative stability of deep- versus shallow-side bone levels in angular proximal infrabony defects.

PubMed

Heins, P; Hartigan, M; Low, S; Chace, R

1989-01-01

The relative changes with time, in the position of the coronal margin of the mesial and distal bone of proximal, angular infrabony defects, were investigated. Tracings of the radiographs of 51 mandibular posterior sites, treated by flap curettage, with a mean post-surgical duration of 11.8 years, were measured using a digitizer pad. The group consisting of shallow-side sites (N = 51), exhibited no significant change in the bone height with time; however, there was a significant decrease in bone height in the deep-side group (N = 51). The mean area of proximal bone decreased significantly with time. The defects were divided into early (N = 25) and advanced (N = 26) angular groups, and then into deep- and shallow-side subgroups. In the early defect group, there was a significant decrease in the mean bone height of the deep-side subgroup. There were no differences in the changes of mean bone level of the remaining 3 subgroups with time. There was no correlation between changes in bone levels of adjacent mesial and distal sides of angular defects with time (r = 0.27). There was no difference between the deep- and shallow-side groups in the number of sites which gained, lost or evidenced no change in bone height. In the study population, the bone height of 73% of the deep-side, and 84% of the shallow-side sites was either unchanged or in a more coronal position.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Low-frequency nondestructive analysis of cracks in multilayer structures using a scanning magnetic microscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamo, M.; Nappi, C.; Sarnelli, E.

2010-09-01

The use of a scanning magnetic microscope (SMM) with a high temperature superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) for quantitative measurements in eddy current nondestructive analysis (NDA) is presented. The SQUID has been used to detect the weak magnetic field variations around a small defect, close to a structural part generating an intensive magnetic field. The experimental data for a deep crack close to a rivet in a multilayer conducting plate have been taken in a RF-shielded environment and discussed in the light of the theoretical predictions. The results show that eddy current NDA can distinguish subsurface crack signals from wider structural signals, with defects located 10 mm below the surface. Moreover, in order to visualize the structure of the probing current when a circular induction coil is used, the simulation of eddy currents in a thick unflawed conducting plate has been carried out.

Hydrogen passivation of N(+)-P and P(+)-N heteroepitaxial InP solar cell structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chatterjee, Basab; Davis, William C.; Ringel, Steve A.; Hoffman, Richard, Jr.

1996-01-01

Dislocations and related point defect complexes caused by lattice mismatch currently limit the performance of heteroepitaxial InP cells by introducing shunting paths across the active junction and by the formation of deep traps within the base region. We have previously demonstrated that plasma hydrogenation is an effective and stable means to passivate the electrical activity of such defects in specially designed heteroepitaxial InP test structures to probe hydrogen passivation at typical base depths within a cell structure. In this work, we present our results on the hydrogen passivation of actual heteroepitaxial n-p and p-n InP cell structures grown on GaAs substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). We have found that a 2 hour exposure to a 13.56 MHz hydrogen plasma at 275 C reduces the deep level concentration in the base regions of both n(+)-p and p(+)-n heteroepitaxial InP cell structures from as-grown values of 5-7 x 10(exp 14) cm(exp -3), down to 3-5 x 10(exp 12) cm(exp -3). All dopants were successfully reactivated by a 400 C, 5 minute anneal with no detectable activation of deep levels. One to five analysis indicated a subsequent approximately 100 fold decrease in reverse leakage current at -1 volt reverse bias, and an improved built in voltage for the p(+)-n structures. In addition to being passivated, dislocations are also shown to participate in secondary interactions during hydrogenation. We find that the presence of dislocations enhances hydrogen diffusion into the cell structure, and lowers the apparent dissociation energy of Zn-H complexes from 1.19 eV for homoepitaxial Zn-doped InP to 1.12 eV for heteroepitaxial Zn-doped InP. This is explained by additional hydrogen trapping at dislocations subsequent to the reactivation of Zn dopants after hydrogenation.

Hydrogen Passivation of N(+)P and P(+)N Heteroepitaxial InP Solar Cell Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chatterjee, B.; Davis, W. C.; Ringel, S. A.; Hoffman, R., Jr.

1995-01-01

Dislocations and related point defect complexes caused by lattice mismatch currently limit the performance of heteroepitaxial InP cells by introducing shunting paths across the active junction and by the formation of deep traps within the base region. We have previously demonstrated that plasma hydrogenation is an effective and stable means to passivate the electrical activity of such defects in specially designed heteroepitaxial InP test structures to probe hydrogen passivation at typical base depths within a cell structure. In this work, we present our results on the hydrogen passivation of actual heteroepitaxial n(+)p and p(+)n InP cell structures grown on GaAs substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). We have found that a 2 hour exposure to a 13.56 MHz hydrogen plasma at 275 C reduces the deep level concentration in the base regions of both n(+)p and p(+)n heteroepitaxial InP cell structures from as-grown values of 5 - 7 x 10(exp 14)/cc, down to 3 - 5 x 10(exp 12)/cc. All dopants were successfully reactivated by a 400 C, 5 minute anneal With no detectable activation of deep levels. I-V analysis indicated a subsequent approx. 100 fold decrease In reverse leakage current at -1 volt reverse bias, and an improved built in voltage for the p(+)n structures. ln addition to being passivated,dislocations are also shown to participate in secondary interactions during hydrogenation. We find that the presence of dislocations enhances hydrogen diffusion into the cell structure, and lowers the apparent dissociation energy of Zn-H complexes from 1.19 eV for homoepitaxial Zn-doped InP to 1.12 eV for heteroepitaxial Zn-doped InP. This is explained by additional hydrogen trapping at dislocations subsequent to the reactivation of Zn dopants after hydrogenation.

Deep level defects in semiconductors. Final technical report 1 Jul 78-30 Jun 80

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sundaram, S.; Sharma, R.R.

1980-07-01

Using Racah's irreducible tensor operator formalism, a generalized and more refined treatment of the d-electron matrices for transition metal defects in crystals has been given. The resulting Coulomb and exchange interaction matrices have been used to calculate the electronic structures of GaAs:(2+)Cr(2+) and GaAs:Cr(3+) and interpret the optical data on MgF2:Co(2+) and MgF2:Mn(2+). The significance of the new theory is explained. From the photoluminescence and optical absorption data, the crystal field parameters have been derived.

Influence of defect dimensions on periodontal wound healing/regeneration in intrabony defects following implantation of a bovine bone biomaterial and provisions for guided tissue regeneration: an experimental study in the dog.

PubMed

Stavropoulos, Andreas; Wikesjö, Ulf M E

2010-06-01

To evaluate the influence of defect dimensions on periodontal wound healing/regeneration in intrabony defects following implantation of a deproteinized bovine bone/collagen matrix under provisions for guided tissue regeneration. Contra-lateral one-wall intrabony [6 x 6 mm (wide/deep) versus 4 x 4 mm (narrow/shallow)] periodontal defects were surgically created at the edentulated mesial aspect of the mandibular first molars in three Labradors, i.e., three defects in each category. The defects were implanted with the bovine bone/collagen matrix and covered with a collagen membrane. Histologic/histometric analysis followed an 18-month healing interval. New cementum encompassed the entire intrabony component in both wide/deep (5.6 +/- 0.5 mm) and narrow/shallow (4.2 +/- 0.1 mm) defects; bone formation amounted to 5.6 +/- 0.6 and 4.0 +/- 0.8 mm, respectively. Mineralized bone encompassed 57.5%versus 65% and the bone biomaterial 11.6%versus 13.1% of the defect space. A periodontal ligament with a width and composition similar to that of the resident periodontal ligament encompassing the entire aspect of the defects was observed. Root resorption/ankylosis was rare. Both wide/deep and narrow/shallow intrabony defects showed a substantial potential for periodontal regeneration in this pre-clinical model. The contribution of the bovine bone/collagen matrix and guided tissue regeneration to this regenerative potential is not clear.

Defect-Reduction Mechanism for Improving Radiative Efficiency in InGaN/GaN Light-Emitting Diodes using InGaN Underlayers

DOE PAGES

Armstrong, Andrew M.; Bryant, Benjamin N.; Crawford, Mary H.; ...

2015-04-01

The influence of a dilute In xGa 1-xN (x~0.03) underlayer (UL) grown below a single In 0.16Ga 0.84N quantum well (SQW), within a light-emitting diode(LED), on the radiative efficiency and deep level defect properties was studied using differential carrier lifetime (DCL) measurements and deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS). DCL measurements found that inclusion of the UL significantly improved LED radiative efficiency. At low current densities, the non-radiative recombination rate of the LED with an UL was found to be 3.9 times lower than theLED without an UL, while the radiative recombination rates were nearly identical. This, then, suggests that themore » improved radiative efficiency resulted from reduced non-radiative defect concentration within the SQW. DLOS measurement found the same type of defects in the InGaN SQWs with and without ULs. However, lighted capacitance-voltage measurements of the LEDs revealed a 3.4 times reduction in a SQW-related near-mid-gap defect state for the LED with an UL. Furthermore, quantitative agreement in the reduction of both the non-radiative recombination rate (3.9×) and deep level density (3.4×) upon insertion of an UL corroborates deep level defect reduction as the mechanism for improved LED efficiency.« less

Integrated piezoelectric actuators in deep drawing tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neugebauer, R.; Mainda, P.; Drossel, W.-G.; Kerschner, M.; Wolf, K.

2011-04-01

The production of car body panels are defective in succession of process fluctuations. Thus the produced car body panel can be precise or damaged. To reduce the error rate, an intelligent deep drawing tool was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in cooperation with Audi and Volkswagen. Mechatronic components in a closed-loop control is the main differentiating factor between an intelligent and a conventional deep drawing tool. In correlation with sensors for process monitoring, the intelligent tool consists of piezoelectric actuators to actuate the deep drawing process. By enabling the usage of sensors and actuators at the die, the forming tool transform to a smart structure. The interface between sensors and actuators will be realized with a closed-loop control. The content of this research will present the experimental results with the piezoelectric actuator. For the analysis a production-oriented forming tool with all automotive requirements were used. The disposed actuators are monolithic multilayer actuators of the piezo injector system. In order to achieve required force, the actuators are combined in a cluster. The cluster is redundant and economical. In addition to the detailed assembly structures, this research will highlight intensive analysis with the intelligent deep drawing tool.

Origin of subgap states in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Körner, Wolfgang; Urban, Daniel F.; Elsässer, Christian

2013-10-01

We present a density functional theory analysis of stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric, crystalline and amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (c-IGZO, a-IGZO), which connects the recently experimentally discovered electronic subgap states to structural features of a-IGZO. In particular, we show that undercoordinated oxygen atoms create electronic defect levels in the lower half of the band gap up to about 1.5 eV above the valence band edge. As a second class of fundamental defects that appear in a-IGZO, we identify mainly pairs of metal atoms which are not separated by oxygen atoms in between. These defects cause electronic defect levels in the upper part of the band gap. Furthermore, we show that hydrogen doping can suppress the deep levels due to undercoordinated oxygen atoms while those of metal defects just undergo a shift within the band gap. Altogether our results provide an explanation for the experimentally observed effect that hydrogen doping increases the transparency and improves the conductivity of a-IGZO.

Electrochemical Characterization of InP and GaAs Based Structures for Space Solar Cell Applications.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Faur, Maria; Faur, Mircea; Jenkins, Philip P.; Goradia, Manju; Wilt, David M.

1994-01-01

In this paper the emphasis is on accurate majority carrier concentration EC-V profiling of structures based on Indium Phosphide and Gallium Arsenide, using a newly developed electrolyte based on Hydrogen Flouride, Acetic Acid, Phosphoric Acid, 1-phenyl-2-propanamine and Ammonia Diflouride. Some preliminary data on the use of this electrolyte for determining the energy distribution of surface and deep states of these structures, applicable to fabrication process optimization and radiation induced defects studies of solar cells, are also provided.

Donor defects and small polarons on the TiO{sub 2}(110) surface

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moses, P. G.; Janotti, A., E-mail: janotti@udel.edu; Van de Walle, C. G.

2016-05-14

The role of defects in the chemical activity of the rutile TiO{sub 2}(110) surface remains a rich topic of research, despite the rutile (110) being one of the most studied surfaces of transition-metal oxides. Here, we present results from hybrid functional calculations that reconcile apparently disparate views on the impact of donor defects, such as oxygen vacancies and hydrogen impurities, on the electronic structure of the (110) rutile surface. We find that the bridging oxygen vacancy and adsorbed or substitutional hydrogen are actually shallow donors, which do not induce gap states. The excess electrons from these donor centers tend tomore » localize in the form of small polarons, which are the factual cause of the deep states ∼1 eV below the conduction band, often observed in photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Our results offer a new framework for understanding the surface electronic structure of TiO{sub 2} and related oxides.« less

Detection of deep-level defects and reduced carrier concentration in Mg-ion-implanted GaN before high-temperature annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akazawa, Masamichi; Yokota, Naoshige; Uetake, Kei

2018-02-01

We report experimental results for the detection of deep-level defects in GaN after Mg ion implantation before high-temperature annealing. The n-type GaN samples were grown on GaN free-standing substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. Mg ions were implanted at 50 keV with a small dosage of 1.5×1011 cm-2, which did not change the conduction type of the n-GaN. By depositing Al2O3 and a Ni/Au electrode onto the implanted n-GaN, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) diodes were fabricated and tested. The measured capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics showed a particular behavior with a plateau region and a region with an anomalously steep slope. Fitting to the experimental C-V curves by simulation showed the existence of deep-level defects and a reduction of the carrier concentration near the GaN surface. By annealing at 800oC, the density of the deep-level defects was reduced and the carrier concentration partially recovered.

Defect and field-enhancement characterization through electron-beam-induced current analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umezawa, Hitoshi; Gima, Hiroki; Driche, Khaled; Kato, Yukako; Yoshitake, Tsuyoshi; Mokuno, Yoshiaki; Gheeraert, Etienne

2017-05-01

To investigate the effects of defects and field enhancement in diamond power devices, a biased Schottky barrier diode was characterized by electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) analysis. The nonuniform distribution of the electrical field was revealed by bright spots on the laterally expanded depletion layer of the EBIC intensity map when the applied electrical field exceeded 0.95 MV/cm. The nonuniformity is partly due to a structural effect: the roughness at the edge of the Schottky electrode, induced by lithography and lift-off processes. A second family of spots was shown to increase the leakage current of the device. The time constant associated with this second spot family was 0.98 ms, which is three orders of magnitude shorter than that for defects previously characterized by deep-level transient spectroscopy.

Electrically Active Defects In Solar Cells Based On Amorphous Silicon/Crystalline Silicon Heterojunction After Irradiation By Heavy Xe Ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmatha, Ladislav; Mikolášek, Miroslav; Stuchlíková, L'ubica; Kósa, Arpád; Žiška, Milan; Hrubčín, Ladislav; Skuratov, Vladimir A.

2015-11-01

The contribution is focused on the diagnostics of structures with a heterojunction between amorphous and crystalline silicon prepared by HIT (Heterojunction with an Intrinsic Thin layer) technology. The samples were irradiated by Xe ions with energy 167 MeV and doses from 5 × 108 cm-2 to 5 × 1010 cm-2. Radiation defects induced in the bulk of Si and at the hydrogenated amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon (a-Si:H/c-Si) interface were identified by Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS). Radiation induced A-centre traps, boron vacancy traps and different types of divacancies with a high value of activation energy were observed. With an increased fluence of heavy ions the nature and density of the radiation induced defects was changed.

A hybrid density functional study of silicon and phosphorus doped hexagonal boron nitride monolayer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mapasha, R. E.; Igumbor, E.; Chetty, N.

2016-10-01

We present a hybrid density functional study of silicon (Si) and phosphorus (P) doped hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). The local geometry, electronic structure and thermodynamic stability of Si B , Si N , P B and P N are examined using hybrid Heyd-Scuseria- Ernzerhof (HSE) functional. The defect induced buckling and the local bond distances around the defect are sensitive to charge state modulation q = -2, -1, 0, +1 and +2. The +1 charge state is found to be the most energetically stable state and significantly reduces the buckling. Based on the charge state thermodynamic transition levels, we noted that the Si N , Si N and P B defects are too deep to be ionized, and can alter the optical properties of h-BN material.

Controlled Synthesis of Ultralong Carbon Nanotubes with Perfect Structures and Extraordinary Properties.

PubMed

Zhang, Rufan; Zhang, Yingying; Wei, Fei

2017-02-21

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have drawn intensive research interest in the past 25 years due to their excellent properties and wide applications. Ultralong CNTs refers to the horizontally aligned CNT arrays which are usually grown on flat substrates, parallel with each other with large intertube distances. They usually have perfect structures, excellent properties, and lengths up to centimeters, even decimeters. Ultralong CNTs are promising candidates as building blocks for transparent displays, nanoelectronics, superstrong tethers, aeronautics and aerospace materials, etc. The controlled synthesis of ultralong CNTs with perfect structures is the key to fully exploit the extraordinary properties of CNTs. CNTs are typical one-dimensional single-crystal nanomaterials. It has always been a great challenge how to grow macroscale single-crystals with no defects. Thus, the synthesis of ultralong CNTs with no defect is of significant importance from both fundamental and industrial aspects. In this Account, we focus on our progress on the controlled synthesis of ultralong CNTs with perfect structures and excellent properties. A deep understanding of the CNT growth mechanism is the first step for the controlled synthesis of ultralong CNTs with high quality. We first introduce the growth mechanism for ultralong CNTs and the main factor affecting their structures. We then discuss the strategies to control the defects in the as-grown ultralong CNTs. With these approaches, ultralong high-quality CNTs with different structures can be obtained. By completely eliminating the factors which may induce defects in the CNT walls, ultralong CNTs with perfect structures can be obtained. Their chiral indices keep unchanged for several centimeters long along the axial direction of the CNTs. The defect-free structures render the ultralong CNTs with excellent electrical, mechanical and thermal properties. The as-grown ultralong CNTs exhibit superhigh mechanical strength (>100 GPa) and their breaking strain (>17.5%) reach the theoretical limits. They also show excellent electrical and thermal properties. In addition, centimeters long CNTs showed macroscale interwall superlubricious properties due to their defect-free structures. Ultralong, defect-free CNTs with controlled structures are highly desirable for many high-end applications. We hope that this Account will shed light on the controlled synthesis of ultralong CNTs with perfect structures and excellent properties. Moreover, the growth mechanism and controlled synthesis of ultralong CNTs with perfect structures also offers a good model for other one-dimensional nanomaterials.

Reconstruction of infected abdominal wall defects using latissimus dorsi free flap.

PubMed

Kim, Sang Wha; Han, Sang Chul; Hwang, Kyu Tae; Ahn, Byung Kyu; Kim, Jeong Tae; Kim, Youn Hwan

2013-12-01

Infected abdominal defects are a challenge to surgeons. In this study, we describe 10 cases in which the latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap was used for successful reconstruction of abdominal wall defects severely infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Retrospective review of 10 patients with abdominal wall defects that were reconstructed using the latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap between 2002 and 2010. All patients had abdominal defects with hernias, combined with MRSA infections. The sizes of the flaps ranged from 120 to 364 cm(2) . The deep inferior epigastric artery was the recipient vessel in nine patients and the internal mammary vessels were used for one patient. There were no complications relating to the flaps, although there were other minor complications including wound dehiscence, haematoma and fluid correction. After reconstruction, there were no signs of infection during follow-up periods, and the patients were satisfied with the final results. Reconstruction using the latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap, including muscle fascia structures, is a potential treatment option for severely infected large abdominal wall defects. © 2012 The Authors. ANZ Journal of Surgery © 2012 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Impact of Materials Defects on Engine Structures Integrity (L’Impact des Defauts des Materiaux sur l’Integrite des Structures des Moteurs)

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-04-01

years have been a continuous inspiration to me. AGARD-R-769, NATO-AGARD, 1988. I thank them for allowing me to assist them in their learning endeavors...ceramics. These ceramic filters have been very effective in improving VIM ingot quality in r.cnt years. Eddy Current Might be applicable to deep ...appropriately defined material behavior. In general. all these sample can become prohibitively large. elements: fractography of failed test pieces

Project: Micromachined High-Frequency Circuits For Sub-mm-wave Sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Papapolymerou, Ioannis John

2004-01-01

A novel micromachined resonator at 45 GHz based on a defect in a periodic electromagnetic bandgap structure (EBG) and a two-pole Tchebysbev filter with 1.4% 0.15 dB equiripple bandwidth and 2.3 dB loss employing this resonator are presented in this letter. The periodic bandgap structure is realized on a 400 micron thick high-resistivity silicon wafer using deep reactive ion etching techniques. The resonator and filter can be accessed via coplanar waveguide feeds.

Deep level defects in dilute GaAsBi alloys grown under intense UV illumination

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mooney, P. M.; Tarun, Marianne; Beaton, D. A.

2016-07-21

Dilute GaAs1-xBix alloys exhibiting narrow band edge photoluminescence (PL) were recently grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with the growth surface illuminated by intense UV radiation. To investigate whether the improved optical quality of these films results from a reduction in the concentration of deep level defects, p+/n and n+/p junction diodes were fabricated on both the illuminated and dark areas of several samples. Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements show that the illuminated and dark areas of both the n- and p-type GaAs1-xBix epi-layers have similar concentrations of near mid-gap electron and hole traps, in the 1015 cm-3 range.more » Thus the improved PL spectra cannot be explained by a reduction in non-radiative recombination at deep level defects. We note that carrier freeze-out above 35 K is significantly reduced in the illuminated areas of the p-type GaAs1-xBix layers compared to the dark areas, allowing the first DLTS measurements of defect energy levels close to the valence band edge. These defect levels may account for differences in the PL spectra from the illuminated and dark areas of un-doped layers with a similar Bi fraction.« less

Electronic characterization of defects in narrow gap semiconductors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, James D.

1994-01-01

We use a Green's function technique to calculate the position of deep defects in narrow gap semiconductors. We consider substitutional (including antisite), vacancy, and interstitial (self and foreign) deep defects. We also use perturbation theory to look at the effect of nonparabolic bands on shallow defect energies and find nonparabolicity can increase the binding by 10 percent or so. We consider mercury cadmium telluride (MCT), mercury zinc telluride (MZT), and mercury zinc selenide (MZS). For substitutional and interstitial defects we look at the situation with and without relaxation. For substitutional impurities in MCT, MZT, and MZS, we consider x (the concentration of Cd or Zn) in the range 0.1 less than x less than 0.3 and also consider appropriate x so E(sub g) = 0.1 eV for each of the three compounds. We consider several cation site s-like deep levels and anion site p-like levels. For E(sub g) = 0.1 eV, we also consider the effects of relaxation. Similar comments apply to the interstitial deep levels whereas no relaxation is considered for the ideal vacancy model. Relaxation effects can be greater for the interstitial than the substitutional cases. Specific results are given in figures and tables and comparison to experiment is made in a limited number of cases. We find, for example, that I, Se, S, Rn, and N are possible cation site, s-like deep levels in MCT and Zn and Mg are for anion site, p-like levels (both levels for substitutional cases). The corresponding cation and anion site levels for interstitial deep defects are (Au, Ag, Hg, Cd, Cu, Zn) and (N, Ar, O, F). For the substitutional cases we have some examples of relaxation moving the levels into the band gap, whereas for the interstitial case we have examples where relaxation moves it out of the band gap. Future work involves calculating the effects of charge state interaction and seeing the effect of relaxation on vacancy levels.

Defects with Deep Levels in GaAs Induced by Plastic Deformation and Electron Irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haga, Toru; Suezawa, Masashi; Sumino, Koji

1988-10-01

Defects with deep electronic energy levels induced by plastic deformation at 450°C or electron irradiation at room temperature in boat-grown GaAs crystals are investigated by means of optical absorption. The optical absorption spectra associated with the induced defects are compared with that of grown-in defects EL2. Thermal stabilities of the defects are studied by tracing the changes in the absorption spectra due to isochronal annealing of the specimens. The defects induced by the above two procedures are identified not to be EL2, even though some part of the defects gives rise to absorption similar to that caused by EL2 in the spectral shape. The absorptions in both the deformed and the irradiated samples are mostly photo-unquenchable. Deformation-induced defects responsible for this absorption are found to be AsGa antisite-related defects which are less thermally stable than EL2. Irradiation-induced defects giving rise to this kind of absorption are far more unstable in comparison with the deformation-induced defects, and are mostly eliminated by annealing at temperatures lower than 300°C.

Polaronic and ionic conduction in NaMnO2: influence of native point defects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zhen; Peelaers, Hartwin; van de Walle, Chris G.

Layered NaMnO2 has promising applications as a cathode material for sodium ion batteries. We will discuss strategies to improve the electrical performance of NaMnO2, including how to optimize the conditions of synthesis and how impurity doping affects the performance. Using hybrid density functional theory, we explored the structural, electronic, and defect properties of bulk NaMnO2. It is antiferromagnetic in the ground state with a band gap of 3.75 eV. Small hole and electron polarons can form in the bulk either through self-trapping or adjacent to point defects. We find that both Na and Mn vacancies are shallow acceptors with the induced holes trapped as small polarons, while O vacancies are deep defect centers. Cation antisites, especially MnNa, are found to have low formation energies. As a result, we expect that MnNa exists in as-grown NaMnO2 in moderate concentrations, rather than forming only at a later stage of the charging process, at which point it causes undesirable structural phase transitions. Both electronic conduction, via polaron hopping, and ionic conduction, through VNa migration, are significantly affected by the presence of point defects. This work was supported by DOE.

Cell performance and defect behavior in proton-irradiated lithium-counterdoped n(+)p silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Stupica, J. W.; Swartz, C. K.; Goradia, C.

1986-01-01

Lithium-counterdoped n(+)p silicon solar cells were irradiated by 10-MeV protons, and their performance was determined as a function of fluence. It was found that the cell with the highest lithium concentration exhibited the higher radiation resistance. Deep-level transient spectroscopy studies of deep-level defects were used to identify two lithium-related defects. Defect energy levels obtained after the present 10-MeV irradiations were found to be markedly different than those observed after previous 1-MeV electron irradiations. However, the present DLTS data are consistent with previous suggestion by Weinberg et al. (1984) of a lithium-oxygen interaction which tends to inhibit formation of an interstitial boron-oxygen defect.

EL2 and related defects in GaAs - Challenges and pitfalls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gatos, H. C.; Lagowski, J.

1985-01-01

The incorporation process of nonequilibrium vacancies in melt-grown GaAs is strongly complicated by deviations from stoichiometry, and the presence of two sublattices. Many of the microdefects originating in these vacancies and their interactions introduce energy levels (shallow and deep) within the energy gap. The direct identification of the chemical or structural signature of these defects and its direct correlation to their electronic behavior is not generally possible. It is therefore necessary to rely on indirect methods and phenomenological models and be confronted with the associated pitfalls. EL2, a microdefect introducing a deep donor level, has been in the limelight in recent years because it is believed to be responsible for the semi-insulating behavior of undoped GaAs. Although much progress has been made towards understanding its origin and nature, some relevant questions remain unanswered. An attempt is made to assess the present status of understanding of EL2 in the light of the most recent results.

Deep levels in as-grown and electron-irradiated n-type GaN studied by deep level transient spectroscopy and minority carrier transient spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duc, Tran Thien; School of Engineering Physics, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, 1 Dai Co Viet Road, Hanoi; Pozina, Galia

2016-03-07

Development of high performance GaN-based devices is strongly dependent on the possibility to control and understand defects in material. Important information about deep level defects is obtained by deep level transient spectroscopy and minority carrier transient spectroscopy on as-grown and electron irradiated n-type bulk GaN with low threading dislocation density produced by halide vapor phase epitaxy. One hole trap labelled H1 (E{sub V} + 0.34 eV) has been detected on as-grown GaN sample. After 2 MeV electron irradiation, the concentration of H1 increases and at fluences higher than 5 × 10{sup 14 }cm{sup −2}, a second hole trap labelled H2 is observed. Simultaneously, the concentration of twomore » electron traps, labelled T1 (E{sub C} – 0.12 eV) and T2 (E{sub C} – 0.23 eV), increases. By studying the increase of the defect concentration versus electron irradiation fluence, the introduction rate of T1 and T2 using 2 MeV- electrons was determined to be 7 × 10{sup −3 }cm{sup −1} and 0.9 cm{sup −1}, respectively. Due to the low introduction rate of T1, it is suggested that the defect is associated with a complex. The high introduction rate of trap H1 and T2 suggests that the defects are associated with primary intrinsic defects or complexes. Some deep levels previously observed in irradiated GaN layers with higher threading dislocation densities are not detected in present investigation. It is therefore suggested that the absent traps may be related to primary defects segregated around dislocations.« less

Tutorial: Junction spectroscopy techniques and deep-level defects in semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peaker, A. R.; Markevich, V. P.; Coutinho, J.

2018-04-01

The term junction spectroscopy embraces a wide range of techniques used to explore the properties of semiconductor materials and semiconductor devices. In this tutorial review, we describe the most widely used junction spectroscopy approaches for characterizing deep-level defects in semiconductors and present some of the early work on which the principles of today's methodology are based. We outline ab-initio calculations of defect properties and give examples of how density functional theory in conjunction with formation energy and marker methods can be used to guide the interpretation of experimental results. We review recombination, generation, and trapping of charge carriers associated with defects. We consider thermally driven emission and capture and describe the techniques of Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS), high resolution Laplace DLTS, admittance spectroscopy, and scanning DLTS. For the study of minority carrier related processes and wide gap materials, we consider Minority Carrier Transient Spectroscopy (MCTS), Optical DLTS, and deep level optical transient spectroscopy together with some of their many variants. Capacitance, current, and conductance measurements enable carrier exchange processes associated with the defects to be detected. We explain how these methods are used in order to understand the behaviour of point defects and the determination of charge states and negative-U (Hubbard correlation energy) behaviour. We provide, or reference, examples from a wide range of materials including Si, SiGe, GaAs, GaP, GaN, InGaN, InAlN, and ZnO.

Clinical and Radiological Regeneration of Large and Deep Osteochondral Defects of the Knee by Bone Augmentation Combined With Matrix-Guided Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation.

PubMed

Zellner, Johannes; Grechenig, Stephan; Pfeifer, Christian G; Krutsch, Werner; Koch, Matthias; Welsch, Goetz; Scherl, Madeleine; Seitz, Johannes; Zeman, Florian; Nerlich, Michael; Angele, Peter

2017-11-01

Large osteochondral defects of the knee are a challenge for regenerative treatment. While matrix-guided autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT) represents a successful treatment for chondral defects, the treatment potential in combination with bone grafting by cancellous bone or bone block augmentation for large and deep osteochondral defects has not been evaluated. To evaluate 1- to 3-year clinical outcomes and radiological results on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after the treatment of large osteochondral defects of the knee with bone augmentation and MACT. Special emphasis is placed on different methods of bone grafting (cancellous bone grafting or bone block augmentation). Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Fifty-one patients were included. Five patients were lost to follow-up. This left 46 patients (mean age, 28.2 years) with a median follow-up time of 2 years. The 46 patients had 47 deep, large osteochondral defects of the knee joint (1 patient with bilateral defects; mean defect size, 6.7 cm 2 ). The origin of the osteochondral defects was osteochondritis dissecans (n = 34), osteonecrosis (n = 8), or subchondral cysts (n = 5). Depending on the depth, all defects were treated by cancellous bone grafting (defect depth ≤10 mm; n = 16) or bone block augmentation (defect depth >10 mm; n = 31) combined with MACT. Clinical outcomes were followed at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years and evaluated using the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score and Cincinnati score. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation was performed at 1 and 2 years, and the magnetic resonance observation of cartilage repair tissue (MOCART) score with additional specific subchondral bone parameters (bone regeneration, bone signal quality, osteophytes, sclerotic areas, and edema) was analyzed. The clinical outcome scores revealed a significant increase at follow-up (6 months to 3 years) compared with the preclinical results. The median IKDC score increased from 42.6 preoperatively to 75.3 at 1 year, 79.7 at 2 years, and 84.3 at 3 years. The median Cincinnati score significantly increased from 39.8 preoperatively to 72.0 at 1 year, 78.0 at 2 years, and 80.3 at 3 years. The MRI evaluation revealed a MOCART score of 82.6 at 1 year without a deterioration at the later follow-up time point. Especially, the subchondral bone analysis showed successful regeneration. All bone blocks and cancellous bone grafts were integrated in the bony defects, and no chondrocyte transplant failure could be detected throughout the follow-up. Large and deep osteochondral defects of the knee joint can be treated successfully with bone augmentation and MACT. The treatment of shallow bony defects with cancellous bone grafting and deep bony defects with bone block augmentation shows promising results.

Current Collapse Induced in AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors by Bias Stress

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-08-25

structure where the traps causing current collapse can be passivated by forming H-defect complexes. Hierro et al.7 have shown, for example, that deep...Lett. 75, 4016 ~1999!. 7 A. Hierro , S. A. Ringel, M. Hansen, J. S. Speck, U. K. Mishra, and S. P. DenBaars, Appl. Phys. Lett. 77, 1499 ~2000!. 8 S. J

The effects of lithium counterdoping on radiation damage and annealing in n(+)p silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Brandhorst, H. W., Jr.; Mehta, S.; Swartz, C. K.

1984-01-01

Boron-doped silicon n(+)p solar cells were counterdoped with lithium by ion implantation and the resultant n(+)p cells irradiated by 1 MeV electrons. Performance parameters were determined as a function of fluence and a deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) study was conducted. The lithium counterdoped cells exhibited significantly increased radiation resistance when compared to boron doped control cells. Isochronal annealing studies of cell performance indicate that significant annealing occurs at 100 C. Isochronal annealing of the deep level defects showed a correlation between a single defect at E sub v + 0.43 eV and the annealing behavior of short circuit current in the counterdoped cells. The annealing behavior was controlled by dissociation and recombination of this defect. The DLTS studies showed that counterdoping with lithium eliminated three deep level defects and resulted in three new defects. The increased radiation resistance of the counterdoped cells is due to the interaction of lithium with oxygen, single vacancies and divacancies. The lithium-oxygen interaction is the most effective in contributing to the increased radiation resistance.

Mitigating Structural Defects in Droop-Minimizing InGaN/GaN Quantum Well Heterostructures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Zhibo; Chesin, Jordan; Singh, Akshay

2016-12-01

Modern commercial InGaN/GaN blue LEDs continue to suffer from efficiency droop, a reduction in efficiency with increasing drive current. External quantum efficiency (EQE) typically peaks at low drive currents (< 10 A cm 2) and drops monotonically at higher current densities, falling to <85% of the peak EQE at a drive current of 100 A cm 2. Mitigating droop-related losses will yield tremendous gains in both luminous efficacy (lumens/W) and cost (lumens/$). Such improvements are critical for continued large-scale market penetration of LED technologies, particularly in high-power and high flux per unit area applications. However, device structures that reduce droopmore » typically require higher indium content and are accompanied by a corresponding degradation in material quality which negates the droop improvement via enhanced Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination. In this work, we use advanced characterization techniques to identify and classify structural defects in InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) heterostructures that share features with low-droop designs. Using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (C s-STEM), we find the presence of severe well width fluctuations (WWFs) in a number of low droop device architectures. However, the presence of WWFs does not correlate strongly with external quantum efficiency nor defect densities measured via deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS). Hence, performance losses in the heterostructures of interest are likely dominated by nanoscale point or interfacial defects rather than large-scale extended defects.« less

Iron and intrinsic deep level states in Ga2O3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ingebrigtsen, M. E.; Varley, J. B.; Kuznetsov, A. Yu.; Svensson, B. G.; Alfieri, G.; Mihaila, A.; Badstübner, U.; Vines, L.

2018-01-01

Using a combination of deep level transient spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, proton irradiation, and hybrid functional calculations, we identify two similar deep levels that are associated with Fe impurities and intrinsic defects in bulk crystals and molecular beam epitaxy and hydride vapor phase epitaxi-grown epilayers of β-Ga2O3. First, our results indicate that FeGa, and not an intrinsic defect, acts as the deep acceptor responsible for the often dominating E2 level at ˜0.78 eV below the conduction band minimum. Second, by provoking additional intrinsic defect generation via proton irradiation, we identified the emergence of a new level, labeled as E2*, having the ionization energy very close to that of E2, but exhibiting an order of magnitude larger capture cross section. Importantly, the properties of E2* are found to be consistent with its intrinsic origin. As such, contradictory opinions of a long standing literature debate on either extrinsic or intrinsic origin of the deep acceptor in question converge accounting for possible contributions from E2 and E2* in different experimental conditions.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Yanhong; Gao, Ping; Li, La

Pure Si{sub x}C{sub 1−x} (x > 0.5) and B-containing Si{sub x}C{sub 1−x} (x > 0.5) based resistive switching devices (RSD) with the structure of Ag/Si{sub x}C{sub 1−x}/p-Si were fabricated and their switching characteristics and mechanism were investigated systematically. Percolation mechanism through trapping/ de-trapping at defect states was suggested for the switching process. Through the introduction of B atoms into Si{sub x}C{sub 1−x}, the density of defect states was reduced, then, the SET and RESET voltages were also decreased. Based on the percolation theory, the dependence of SET/RESET voltage on the density of defect states was analyzed. These results supply a deep understanding for themore » SiC-based RSD, which have a potential application in extreme ambient conditions.« less

Identification of the primary compensating defect level responsible for determining blocking voltage of vertical GaN power diodes

DOE PAGES

King, M. P.; Kaplar, R. J.; Dickerson, J. R.; ...

2016-10-31

Electrical performance and characterization of deep levels in vertical GaN P-i-N diodes grown on low threading dislocation density (~10 4 –10 6 cm –2) bulk GaN substrates are investigated. The lightly doped n drift region of these devices is observed to be highly compensated by several prominent deep levels detected using deep level optical spectroscopy at E c-2.13, 2.92, and 3.2 eV. A combination of steady-state photocapacitance and lighted capacitance-voltage profiling indicates the concentrations of these deep levels to be N t = 3 × 10 12, 2 × 10 15, and 5 × 10 14 cm –3, respectively. Themore » E c-2.92 eV level is observed to be the primary compensating defect in as-grown n-type metal-organic chemical vapor deposition GaN, indicating this level acts as a limiting factor for achieving controllably low doping. The device blocking voltage should increase if compensating defects reduce the free carrier concentration of the n drift region. Understanding the incorporation of as-grown and native defects in thick n-GaN is essential for enabling large V BD in the next-generation wide-bandgap power semiconductor devices. Furthermore, controlling the as-grown defects induced by epitaxial growth conditions is critical to achieve blocking voltage capability above 5 kV.« less

Exploratory Development of Weld Quality Definition and Correlation with Fatigue Properties

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-04-01

006-Inch-Thick Lack-of-Penetration Defect in Specimen 6-4 ..... 135 51188 0. 030 to 0. 045-Inch- Deep Lack-of-Penetration Defect in Specimen P5-3 .. 135...PAW-UCX-3 (Figure 25) contained 0.011 inch undercut. Further increases in orifice gas flow resulted in the generation of C. 022-inch- deep undercut...oonsisted of a sh**M butt ont produced by a full-length par- tial-penetralloa (0. 060-Inch deep ) looking pass (Weld 4ED2-C-10) or a full-length

Role of defects in ferromagnetism in Zn1-xCoxO : A hybrid density-functional study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patterson, C. H.

2006-10-01

Experimental studies of Zn1-xCoxO as thin films or nanocrystals have found ferromagnetism and Curie temperatures above room temperature and that p - or n -type doping of Zn1-xCoxO can change its magnetic state. Bulk Zn1-xCoxO with a low defect density and x in the range used in experimental thin-film studies exhibits ferromagnetism only at very low temperatures. Therefore defects in thin-film samples or nanocrystals may play an important role in promoting magnetic interactions between Co ions in Zn1-xCoxO . The mechanism of exchange coupling induced by defect states is considered and compared to a model for ferromagnetism in dilute magnetic semiconductors [T. Dietl , Science 287, 1019 (2000)]. The electronic structures of Co substituted for Zn in ZnO, Zn, and O vacancies, substituted N, and interstitial Zn in ZnO were calculated using the B3LYP hybrid density functional in a supercell. The B3LYP functional predicts a band gap of 3.34eV for bulk ZnO, close to the experimental value of 3.47eV . Occupied minority-spin Co 3d levels are at the top of the valence band and unoccupied levels lie above the conduction-band minimum. Majority-spin Co 3d levels hybridize strongly with bulk ZnO states. The neutral O vacancy defect level is predicted to lie deep in the band gap, and interstitial Zn is predicted to be a deep donor. The Zn vacancy is a deep acceptor, and the acceptor level for substituted N is at midgap. The possibility that p - or n -type dopants promote exchange coupling of Co ions was investigated by computing the total energies of magnetic states of ZnO supercells containing two Co ions and an oxygen vacancy, substituted N, or interstitial Zn in various charge states. The neutral N defect and the singly positively charged O vacancy are the only defects which strongly promote ferromagnetic exchange coupling of Co ions at intermediate range. Total energy calculations on supercells containing two O vacancies and one Zn vacancy clearly show that pairs of singly positively charged O vacancies are unstable with respect to dissociation into neutral and doubly positively charged vacancies; the oxygen vacancy is a “negative U ” defect. This apparently precludes simple charged O vacancies as a mediator of ferromagnetism in Zn1-xCoxO .

Evolution of Defect Structures and Deep Subgap States during Annealing of Amorphous In-Ga-Zn Oxide for Thin-Film Transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Junjun; Suko, Ayaka; Shigesato, Yuzo; Okajima, Toshihiro; Inoue, Keiko; Hosomi, Hiroyuki

2018-01-01

We investigate the evolution behavior of defect structures and the subgap states in In-Ga-Zn oxide (IGZO) films with increasing postannealing temperature by means of extended x-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) measurements, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy, aiming to understand the relationship between defect structures and subgap states. EXAFS measurements reveal the varied oxygen coordination numbers around cations during postannealing and confirm two types of point defects, namely, excess oxygen around Ga atoms and oxygen deficiency around In and/or Zn atoms. PALS suggests the existence of cation-vacancy (VM )-related clusters with neutral or negative charge in both amorphous and polycrystalline IGZO films. CL spectra show a main emission band at approximately 1.85 eV for IGZO films, and a distinct shoulder located at about 2.15 eV for IGZO films postannealed above 600 °C . These two emission bands are assigned to a recombination between the electrons in the conduction band and/or in the shallow donor levels near the conduction band and the acceptors trapped above the valence-band maximum. The shallow donors are attributed to the oxygen deficiency, and the acceptors are thought to possibly arise from the excess oxygen or the VM-related clusters. These results open up an alternative route for understanding the device instability of amorphous IGZO-based thin-film transistors, especially the presence of the neutral or negatively charged VM-related clusters in amorphous IGZO films.

Effects of Ambient Temperature and Relative Humidity on Subsurface Defect Detection in Concrete Structures by Active Thermal Imaging.

PubMed

Tran, Quang Huy; Han, Dongyeob; Kang, Choonghyun; Haldar, Achintya; Huh, Jungwon

2017-07-26

Active thermal imaging is an effective nondestructive technique in the structural health monitoring field, especially for concrete structures not exposed directly to the sun. However, the impact of meteorological factors on the testing results is considerable and should be studied in detail. In this study, the impulse thermography technique with halogen lamps heat sources is used to detect defects in concrete structural components that are not exposed directly to sunlight and not significantly affected by the wind, such as interior bridge box-girders and buildings. To consider the effect of environment, ambient temperature and relative humidity, these factors are investigated in twelve cases of testing on a concrete slab in the laboratory, to minimize the influence of wind. The results showed that the absolute contrast between the defective and sound areas becomes more apparent with an increase of ambient temperature, and it increases at a faster rate with large and shallow delaminations than small and deep delaminations. In addition, the absolute contrast of delamination near the surface might be greater under a highly humid atmosphere. This study indicated that the results obtained from the active thermography technique will be more apparent if the inspection is conducted on a day with high ambient temperature and humidity.

First-principles investigation of CO adsorption on pristine, C-doped and N-vacancy defected hexagonal AlN nanosheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouyang, Tianhong; Qian, Zhao; Ahuja, Rajeev; Liu, Xiangfa

2018-05-01

The optimized atomic structures, energetics and electronic structures of toxic gas CO adsorption systems on pristine, C-doped and N-vacancy defected h-AlN nanosheets respectively have been investigated using Density functional theory (DFT-D2 method) to explore their potential gas detection or sensing capabilities. It is found that both the C-doping and the N-vacancy defect improve the CO adsorption energies of AlN nanosheet (from pure -3.847 eV to -5.192 eV and -4.959 eV). The absolute value of the system band gap change induced by adsorption of CO can be scaled up to 2.558 eV or 1.296 eV after C-doping or N-vacancy design respectively, which is evidently larger than the value of 0.350 eV for pristine material and will benefit the robustness of electronic signals in potential gas detection. Charge transfer mechanisms between CO and the AlN nanosheet have been presented by the Bader charge and differential charge density analysis to explore the deep origin of the underlying electronic structure changes. This theoretical study is proposed to predict and understand the CO adsorption properties of the pristine and defected h-AlN nanosheets and would help to guide experimentalists to develop better AlN-based two-dimensional materials for efficient gas detection or sensing applications in the future.

Colloidal thallium halide nanocrystals with reasonable luminescence, carrier mobility and diffusion length† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthesis and additional characterization of nanocrystals, characterization of nanocrystal films, temperature-dependent phase transition, coefficient of volume expansion, PL decay dynamics, tabulated best fit parameters, and methodology analysis of ultrafast optical pump THz probe (OPTP) spectroscopy. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc01219e Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Mir, Wasim J.; Warankar, Avinash; Acharya, Ashutosh; Das, Shyamashis

2017-01-01

Colloidal lead halide based perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have been recently established as an interesting class of defect-tolerant NCs with potential for superior optoelectronic applications. The electronic band structure of thallium halides (TlX, where X = Br and I) show a strong resemblance to lead halide perovskites, where both Pb2+ and Tl+ exhibit a 6s2 inert pair of electrons and strong spin–orbit coupling. Although the crystal structure of TlX is not perovskite, the similarities of its electronic structure with lead halide perovskites motivated us to prepare colloidal TlX NCs. These TlX NCs exhibit a wide bandgap (>2.5 eV or <500 nm) and the potential to exhibit a reduced density of deep defect states. Optical pump terahertz (THz) probe spectroscopy with excitation fluence in the range of 0.85–5.86 × 1013 photons per cm2 on NC films shows that the TlBr NCs possess high effective carrier mobility (∼220 to 329 cm2 V–1 s–1), long diffusion length (∼0.77 to 0.98 μm), and reasonably high photoluminescence efficiency (∼10%). This combination of properties is remarkable compared to other wide-bandgap (>2.5 eV) semiconductor NCs, which suggests a reduction in the deep-defect states in the TlX NCs. Furthermore, the ultrafast carrier dynamics and temperature-dependent reversible structural phase transition together with its influence on the optical properties of the TlX NCs are studied. PMID:28970882

Plasmonic based light manipulation and applications in AIGaN deep-UV devices (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Jun; Li, Jing; Kang, Junyong

2016-09-01

Recently, surface plasmon (SP)-exciton coupling has been wildly applied in nitride semiconductors in order to improve the spontaneous radiative recombination rate [1-3]. However, most works have been focused on the emission enhancement in InGaN-based blue or green light emitting diodes (LEDs). Practically, it is significantly important to improve the emission efficiency in deep-UV AlGaN-base quantum well (QW) structure due to its intrinsically low internal quantum efficiency (IQE) induced by the high defect density in its epitaxy layer [4]. But, the effective SP-exciton coupling with matched energy in deep-UV region is still a challenge issue due to the lack of appropriate metal structures and compatible fabrication techniques. In this work, the Al nanoparticles (NPs) were introduced by the nanosphere lithography (NSL) and deposition techniques into the AlGaN based MQWs with optimized size and structure. Due to the local surface plasmon (LSP) coupling with the excitons in QWs, emission enhancement in deep UV region has been achieved in the Al NPs decorated AlGaN MQWs structure with comparison to the bare MQWs. Theoretical calculations on the energy subbands of AlGaN QWs were further carried out to investigate the corresponding mechanisms, in which the hot carrier transition activated by SP-exciton coupling was believed to be mainly responsible for the enhancement. This work demonstrated a low cost, wafer scale fabrication process, which can be potentially employed to the practical SP-enhanced AlGaN-based deep UV LEDs with high IQEs.

Density functional theory study of atomic and electronic properties of defects in reduced anatase TiO2 nanocrystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morita, Kazuki; Yasuoka, Kenji

2018-03-01

Anatase TiO2 nanocrystals have received considerable attention owing to their promising applications in photocatalysis, photovoltaics, and fuel cells. Although experimental evidence has shown that the performance of nanocrystals can be significantly improved through reduction, the mechanistic basis of this enhancement remains unclear. To shed a light on the chemistry of reduced anatase TiO2 nanocrystals, density functional theory were used to investigate the properties of defects and excess electrons. We demonstrated that oxygen vacancies are stable both on the surface and at the sub-surface of the nanocrystal, while titanium interstitials prefer sub-surface sites. Different defect locations possessed different excess electron structures, which contributed to deep and shallow states in the band gap of the nanocrystals. Furthermore, valence band tailing was observed, resulting in band gap narrowing. The theoretical results presented here deepen our understanding, and show the potential of defects to considerably change the macroscopic properties of anatase TiO2 nanocrystals.

Zero-phonon line and fine structure of the yellow luminescence band in GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reshchikov, M. A.; McNamara, J. D.; Zhang, F.; Monavarian, M.; Usikov, A.; Helava, H.; Makarov, Yu.; Morkoç, H.

2016-07-01

The yellow luminescence band was studied in undoped and Si-doped GaN samples by steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence. At low temperature (18 K), the zero-phonon line (ZPL) for the yellow band is observed at 2.57 eV and attributed to electron transitions from a shallow donor to a deep-level defect. At higher temperatures, the ZPL at 2.59 eV emerges, which is attributed to electron transitions from the conduction band to the same defect. In addition to the ZPL, a set of phonon replicas is observed, which is caused by the emission of phonons with energies of 39.5 meV and 91.5 meV. The defect is called the YL1 center. The possible identity of the YL1 center is discussed. The results indicate that the same defect is responsible for the strong YL1 band in undoped and Si-doped GaN samples.

Magnesium acceptor in gallium nitride. II. Koopmans-tuned Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof hybrid functional calculations of its dual nature and optical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demchenko, D. O.; Diallo, I. C.; Reshchikov, M. A.

2018-05-01

The problem of magnesium acceptor in gallium nitride is that experimental photoluminescence measurements clearly reveal a shallow defect state, while most theoretical predictions favor a localized polaronic defect state. To resolve this contradiction, we calculate properties of magnesium acceptor using the Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE) hybrid functional, tuned to fulfill the generalized Koopmans condition. We test Koopmans tuning of HSE for defect calculations in GaN using two contrasting test cases: a deep state of gallium vacancy and a shallow state of magnesium acceptor. The obtained parametrization of HSE allows calculations of optical properties of acceptors using neutral defect-state eigenvalues, without relying on corrections due to charged defects in periodic supercells. Optical transitions and vibrational properties of M gGa defect are analyzed to bring the dual (shallow and deep) nature of this defect into accord with experimental photoluminescence measurements of the ultraviolet band in Mg-doped GaN samples.

Review—hexagonal boron nitride epilayers: Growth, optical properties and device applications

DOE PAGES

Jiang, H. X.; Lin, Jing Yu

2016-09-07

This paper provides a brief overview on recent advances made in authors’ laboratory in epitaxial growth and optical studies of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) epilayers and heterostructures. Photoluminescence spectroscopy has been employed to probe the optical properties of h-BN. It was observed that the near band edge emission of h-BN is unusually high and is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of high quality AlN epilayers. It was shown that the unique quasi-2D nature induced by the layered structure of h-BN results in high optical absorption and emission. The impurity related and near band-edge transitions in h-BNmore » epilayers were probed for materials synthesized under varying ammonia flow rates. Our results have identified that the most dominant impurities and deep level defects in h-BN epilayers are related to nitrogen vacancies. By growing h-BN under high ammonia flow rates, nitrogen vacancy related defects can be eliminated and epilayers exhibiting pure free exciton emission have been obtained. Deep UV and thermal neutron detectors based on h-BN epilayers were shown to possess unique features. Lastly, it is our belief that h-BN will lead to many potential applications from deep UV emitters and detectors, radiation detectors, to novel 2D photonic and electronic devices.« less

Review—hexagonal boron nitride epilayers: Growth, optical properties and device applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiang, H. X.; Lin, Jing Yu

This paper provides a brief overview on recent advances made in authors’ laboratory in epitaxial growth and optical studies of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) epilayers and heterostructures. Photoluminescence spectroscopy has been employed to probe the optical properties of h-BN. It was observed that the near band edge emission of h-BN is unusually high and is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of high quality AlN epilayers. It was shown that the unique quasi-2D nature induced by the layered structure of h-BN results in high optical absorption and emission. The impurity related and near band-edge transitions in h-BNmore » epilayers were probed for materials synthesized under varying ammonia flow rates. Our results have identified that the most dominant impurities and deep level defects in h-BN epilayers are related to nitrogen vacancies. By growing h-BN under high ammonia flow rates, nitrogen vacancy related defects can be eliminated and epilayers exhibiting pure free exciton emission have been obtained. Deep UV and thermal neutron detectors based on h-BN epilayers were shown to possess unique features. Lastly, it is our belief that h-BN will lead to many potential applications from deep UV emitters and detectors, radiation detectors, to novel 2D photonic and electronic devices.« less

deep-orange and carnation define distinct stages in late endosomal biogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Sriram, V; Krishnan, K S; Mayor, Satyajit

2003-05-12

Endosomal degradation is severely impaired in primary hemocytes from larvae of eye color mutants of Drosophila. Using high resolution imaging and immunofluorescence microscopy in these cells, products of eye color genes, deep-orange (dor) and carnation (car), are localized to large multivesicular Rab7-positive late endosomes containing Golgi-derived enzymes. These structures mature into small sized Dor-negative, Car-positive structures, which subsequently fuse to form tubular lysosomes. Defective endosomal degradation in mutant alleles of dor results from a failure of Golgi-derived vesicles to fuse with morphologically arrested Rab7-positive large sized endosomes, which are, however, normally acidified and mature with wild-type kinetics. This locates the site of Dor function to fusion of Golgi-derived vesicles with the large Rab7-positive endocytic compartments. In contrast, endosomal degradation is not considerably affected in car1 mutant; fusion of Golgi-derived vesicles and maturation of large sized endosomes is normal. However, removal of Dor from small sized Car-positive endosomes is slowed, and subsequent fusion with tubular lysosomes is abolished. Overexpression of Dor in car1 mutant aggravates this defect, implicating Car in the removal of Dor from endosomes. This suggests that, in addition to an independent role in fusion with tubular lysosomes, the Sec1p homologue, Car, regulates Dor function.

Defect related electrical and optical properties of AlN bulk crystals grown by physical vapor transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irmscher, Klaus

AlN crystallizes thermodynamically stable in the wurtzite structure and possesses a direct band gap of about 6 eV. It is the ideal substrate for the epitaxial growth of Al-rich AlxGa1-xN films that enable deep ultraviolet (UV) emitters. Appropriate AlN bulk crystals can be grown by physical vapor transport (PVT). Besides high structural perfection, such substrate crystals should be highly UV transparent and ideally, electrically conductive. It is well known that point defects like impurities and intrinsic defects may introduce electronic energy levels within the bandgap, which lead to additional optical absorption or electrical compensation. Among the impurities, which may be incorporated into the AlN crystals during PVT growth at well above 2000 ° C, oxygen, carbon, and silicon play the major role. Based on our own experimental data as well as on experimental and theoretical results reported in literature, we discuss energy levels, charge states and possible negative-U behavior of these impurities and of vacancy-type defects. In particular, we develop a model that explains the absorption behavior of the crystals in dependence on the Fermi level that can be controlled by the growth conditions, including intentional doping. Further, we pay attention on spectroscopic investigations giving direct evidence for the chemical nature and atomic arrangement of the involved point defects. As examples local vibrational mode (LVM) spectroscopy of carbon related defects and recent reports of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy are discussed.

Does a cemented cage improve revision THA for severe acetabular defects?

PubMed

Hansen, Erik; Shearer, David; Ries, Michael D

2011-02-01

Evidence suggests a growing incidence of revision total hip arthroplasty (THA) including a subset with large acetabular defects. Revision THA for severe acetabular bone loss is associated with a relatively high rate of mechanical failure. We questioned whether cementing a cage to the reconstructed acetabular defect and pelvis would improve the rate of mechanical failure for patients with Type 3 defects (Paprosky et al.) with and without pelvic discontinuity in comparison to historical controls. We retrospectively collected data on 33 patients who underwent 35 revision THAs using an acetabular reconstruction cage cemented to morselized allograft and either structural allograft or trabecular metal augmentation for Type 3 defects in the presence (n = 13) and absence (n = 22) of pelvic discontinuity at a mean followup of 59 months (range, 24-92 months). The primary outcome was mechanical failure, defined as revision of the acetabular reconstruction for aseptic loosening. Revision surgery for mechanical failure occurred in four of the 13 patients with pelvic discontinuity and two of the 22 patients without discontinuity. Radiographic loosening occurred in one patient with and one patient without pelvic discontinuity. Seven of the 35 revisions were subsequently revised for deep infection all in patients who were immunocompromised. Cementing the cage to the pelvis can offer an advantage for treating severe acetabular defects. Trabecular metal augmentation appears to provide better initial mechanical stability than a structural allograft, but successful allograft reconstruction may restore bone stock. Level IV, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Radiation tolerance of boron doped dendritic web silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rohatgi, A.

1980-01-01

The potential of dendritic web silicon for giving radiation hard solar cells is compared with the float zone silicon material. Solar cells with n(+)-p-P(+) structure and approximately 15% (AMl) efficiency were subjected to 1 MeV electron irradiation. Radiation tolerance of web cell efficiency was found to be at least as good as that of the float zone silicon cell. A study of the annealing behavior of radiation-induced defects via deep level transient spectroscopy revealed that E sub v + 0.31 eV defect, attributed to boron-oxygen-vacancy complex, is responsible for the reverse annealing of the irradiated cells in the temperature range of 150 to 350 C.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maughan, Annalise E.; Ganose, Alex M.; Bordelon, Mitchell M.

Vacancy-ordered double perovskites of the general formula, A2BX6, are a family of perovskite derivatives composed of a face-centered lattice of nearly isolated [BX6] units with A-site cations occupying the cuboctahedral voids. Despite the presence of isolated octahedral units, the close-packed iodide lattice provides significant electronic dispersion, such that Cs2SnI6 has recently been explored for applications in photovoltaic devices. To elucidate the structure-property relationships of these materials, we have synthesized the solid solution Cs2Sn1-xTexI6. However, even though tellurium substitution increases electronic dispersion via closer I-I contact distances, the substitution experimentally yields insulating behavior from a significant decrease in carrier concentration andmore » mobility. Density functional calculations of native defects in Cs2SnI6 reveal that iodine vacancies exhibit a low enthalpy of formation and the defect energy level is a shallow donor to the conduction band, rendering the material tolerant to these defect states. The increased covalency of Te-I bonding renders the formation of iodine vacancy states unfavorable, and is responsible for the reduction in conductivity upon Te substitution. Additionally, Cs2TeI6 is intolerant to the formation of these defects, as the defect level occurs deep within the band gap and thus localizes potential mobile charge carriers. In these vacancy-ordered double perovskites, the close-packed lattice of iodine provides significant electronic dispersion, while the interaction of the B- and X-site ions dictates the properties as they pertain to electronic structure and defect tolerance. This simplified perspective -- based on extensive experimental and theoretical analysis -- provides a platform from which to understand structure-property relationships in functional perovskite halides.« less

Hydrogen-enhanced clusterization of intrinsic defects and impurities in silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukashev, B. N.; Abdullin, Kh. A.; Gorelkinskii, Yu. V.; Tamendarov, M. F.; Tokmoldin, S. Zh

2001-01-01

Formation of intrinsic and impurity defect complexes in hydrogenated monocrystalline silicon is studied. Hydrogen was incorporated into samples by different ways: either by proton implantation at 80 and 300 K, or by annealing at 1250°C for 30-60 min in a sealed quartz ampoule containing ∼10 -3 ml of distilled water, or by treatment in hydrogen plasma. Radiation defects were incorporated either during the hydrogen implantation or by additional irradiation with protons or α-particles. The measurements were performed by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and infrared absorption (IR) methods. Essential differences of defect formation processes in hydrogenated samples as compared with reference samples were detected. The main reasons responsible for the differences are (i) hydrogen precipitation in a supersaturated solution during thermal treatment; (ii) interaction of hydrogen with defects and impurities and hydrogen-induced formation of defects; (iii) ability of hydrogen to play the role of accelerator of impurities precipitation. These factors result in the formation of vacancy-related, interstitial-related and impurity clusters which are observed only in the presence of hydrogen. The nature of the clusters and possible models of their structure are discussed.

Minority Carrier Electron Traps in CZTSSe Solar Cells Characterized by DLTS and DLOS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kheraj, V.; Lund, E. A.; Caruso, A. E.

2016-11-21

We report observations of minority carrier interactions with deep levels in 6-8% efficient Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 (CZTSSe) devices using conventional and minority deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS). Directly observing defect interactions with minority carriers is critical to understanding the recombination impact of deep levels. In devices with Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 nanoparticle ink absorber layers we identify a mid-gap state capturing and emitting minority electrons. It is 590+/-50 meV from the conduction band mobility edge, has a concentration near 1015/cm3, and has an apparent electron capture cross section ~10-14 cm2. We conclude that, while energetically positioned nearly-ideallymore » to be a recombination center, these defects instead act as electron traps because of a smaller hole cross-section. In CZTSe devices produced using coevaporation, we used minority carrier DLTS on traditional samples as well as ones with transparent Ohmic back contacts. These experiments demonstrate methods for unambiguously probing minority carrier/defect interactions in solar cells in order to establish direct links between defect energy level observations and minority carrier lifetimes. Furthermore, we demonstrate the use of steady-state device simulation to aid in the interpretation of DLTS results e.g. to put bounds on the complimentary carrier cross section even in the absence its direct measurement. This combined experimental and theoretical approach establishes rigorous bounds on the impact on carrier lifetime and Voc of defects observed with DLTS as opposed to, for example, assuming that all deep states act as strong recombination centers.« less

Fine structure of the red luminescence band in undoped GaN

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reshchikov, M. A., E-mail: mreshchi@vcu.edu; Usikov, A.; Saint-Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, 49 Kronverkskiy Ave., 197101 Saint Petersburg

2014-01-20

Many point defects in GaN responsible for broad photoluminescence (PL) bands remain unidentified. Their presence in thick GaN layers grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) detrimentally affects the material quality and may hinder the use of GaN in high-power electronic devices. One of the main PL bands in HVPE-grown GaN is the red luminescence (RL) band with a maximum at 1.8 eV. We observed the fine structure of this band with a zero-phonon line (ZPL) at 2.36 eV, which may help to identify the related defect. The shift of the ZPL with excitation intensity and the temperature-related transformation of the RLmore » band fine structure indicate that the RL band is caused by transitions from a shallow donor (at low temperature) or from the conduction band (above 50 K) to an unknown deep acceptor having an energy level 1.130 eV above the valence band.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fields, J. D.; Gedvilas, L.; Kiriluk, K.

Deep oxygen related defects form in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) as a consequence of thermal annealing, but their microscopic origins and formation mechanisms are not well understood. To gain insight to this behavior we intentionally drive-out hydrogen from nc-Si:H films by thermal annealing and monitor accompanying changes in the electronic and vibrational structure of the films with photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy. Hydrogen effusion (HE) data provide additional insight, because the annealing temperature range shown to induce a defect band, centered at {approx}0.7 eV in PL studies, and that corresponding to the onset of thermally activatedmore » hydrogen desorption from grain boundaries, coincide. This coincidence suggests a probable link between the two processes. The activation energy obtained from correlated annealing-PL experiments, of {approx}0.6 eV, for defect formation with thermal exposure, provides substantial insight regarding the mechanism.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

King, M. P.; Kaplar, R. J.; Dickerson, J. R.

Electrical performance and characterization of deep levels in vertical GaN P-i-N diodes grown on low threading dislocation density (~10 4 –10 6 cm –2) bulk GaN substrates are investigated. The lightly doped n drift region of these devices is observed to be highly compensated by several prominent deep levels detected using deep level optical spectroscopy at E c-2.13, 2.92, and 3.2 eV. A combination of steady-state photocapacitance and lighted capacitance-voltage profiling indicates the concentrations of these deep levels to be N t = 3 × 10 12, 2 × 10 15, and 5 × 10 14 cm –3, respectively. Themore » E c-2.92 eV level is observed to be the primary compensating defect in as-grown n-type metal-organic chemical vapor deposition GaN, indicating this level acts as a limiting factor for achieving controllably low doping. The device blocking voltage should increase if compensating defects reduce the free carrier concentration of the n drift region. Understanding the incorporation of as-grown and native defects in thick n-GaN is essential for enabling large V BD in the next-generation wide-bandgap power semiconductor devices. Furthermore, controlling the as-grown defects induced by epitaxial growth conditions is critical to achieve blocking voltage capability above 5 kV.« less

The Influence of High-Power Ion Beams and High-Intensity Short-Pulse Implantation of Ions on the Properties of Ceramic Silicon Carbide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kabyshev, A. V.; Konusov, F. V.; Pavlov, S. K.; Remnev, G. E.

2016-02-01

The paper is focused on the study of the structural, electrical and optical characteristics of the ceramic silicon carbide before and after irradiation in the regimes of the high-power ion beams (HPIB) and high-intensity short-pulse implantation (HISPI) of carbon ions. The dominant mechanism of transport of charge carriers, their type and the energy spectrum of localized states (LS) of defects determining the properties of SiC were established. Electrical and optical characteristics of ceramic before and after irradiation are determined by the biographical and radiation defects whose band gap (BG) energy levels have a continuous energetic distribution. A dominant p-type activation component of conduction with participation of shallow acceptor levels 0.05-0.16 eV is complemented by hopping mechanism of conduction involving the defects LS with a density of 1.2T017-2.4T018 eV-Am-3 distributed near the Fermi level.The effect of radiation defects with deep levels in the BG on properties change dominates after HISPI. A new material with the changed electronic structure and properties is formed in the near surface layer of SiC after the impact of the HPIB.

Hidden Oceans? Unraveling the Structure of Hydrous Defects in the Earth's Deep Interior.

PubMed

Grüninger, Helen; Armstrong, Katherine; Greim, Dominik; Boffa-Ballaran, Tiziana; Frost, Daniel J; Senker, Jürgen

2017-08-02

High-pressure silicates making up the main proportion of the earth's interior can incorporate a significant amount of water in the form of OH defects. Generally, they are charge balanced by removing low-valent cations such as Mg 2+ . By combining high-resolution multidimensional single- and double-quantum 1 H solid-state NMR spectroscopy with density functional theory calculations, we show that, for ringwoodite (γ-Mg 2 SiO 4 ), additionally, Si 4+ vacancies are formed, even at a water content as low as 0.1 wt %. They are charge balanced by either four protons or one Mg 2+ and two protons. Surprisingly, also a significant proportion of coupled Mg and Si vacancies are present. Furthermore, all defect types feature a pronounced orientational disorder of the OH groups, which results in a significant range of OH···O bond distributions. As such, we are able to present unique insight into the defect chemistry of ringwoodite's spinel structure, which not only accounts for a potentially large fraction of the earth's entire water budget, but will also control transport properties in the mantle. We expect that our results will even impact other hydrous spinel-type materials, helping to understand properties such as ion conduction and heterogeneous catalysis.

Electron emission from deep level defects EL2 and EL6 in semi-insulating GaAs observed by positron drift velocity transient measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsia, J. M.; Ling, C. C.; Beling, C. D.; Fung, S.

2002-09-01

A plus-or-minus100 V square wave applied to a Au/semi-insulating SI-GaAs interface was used to bring about electron emission from and capture into deep level defects in the region adjacent to the interface. The electric field transient resulting from deep level emission was studied by monitoring the positron drift velocity in the region. A deep level transient spectrum was obtained by computing the trap emission rate as a function of temperature and two peaks corresponding to EL2 (Ea=0.81plus-or-minus0.15 eV) and EL6 (Ea=0.30plus-or-minus0.12 eV) have been identified.

Non-Mutually Exclusive Deep Neural Network Classifier for Combined Modes of Bearing Fault Diagnosis.

PubMed

Duong, Bach Phi; Kim, Jong-Myon

2018-04-07

The simultaneous occurrence of various types of defects in bearings makes their diagnosis more challenging owing to the resultant complexity of the constituent parts of the acoustic emission (AE) signals. To address this issue, a new approach is proposed in this paper for the detection of multiple combined faults in bearings. The proposed methodology uses a deep neural network (DNN) architecture to effectively diagnose the combined defects. The DNN structure is based on the stacked denoising autoencoder non-mutually exclusive classifier (NMEC) method for combined modes. The NMEC-DNN is trained using data for a single fault and it classifies both single faults and multiple combined faults. The results of experiments conducted on AE data collected through an experimental test-bed demonstrate that the DNN achieves good classification performance with a maximum accuracy of 95%. The proposed method is compared with a multi-class classifier based on support vector machines (SVMs). The NMEC-DNN yields better diagnostic performance in comparison to the multi-class classifier based on SVM. The NMEC-DNN reduces the number of necessary data collections and improves the bearing fault diagnosis performance.

Radiation damage and defect behavior in ion-implanted, lithium counterdoped silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Mehta, S.; Swartz, C. K.

1984-01-01

Boron doped silicon n+p solar cells were counterdoped with lithium by ion implantation and the resuitant n+p cells irradiated by 1 MeV electrons. The function of fluence and a Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) was studied to correlate defect behavior with cell performance. It was found that the lithium counterdoped cells exhibited significantly increased radiation resistance when compared to boron doped control cells. It is concluded that the annealing behavior is controlled by dissociation and recombination of defects. The DLTS studies show that counterdoping with lithium eliminates at least three deep level defects and results in three new defects. It is speculated that the increased radiation resistance of the counterdoped cells is due primarily to the interaction of lithium with oxygen, single vacanies and divacancies and that the lithium-oxygen interaction is the most effective in contributing to the increased radiation resistance.

Radiation damage and defect behavior in ion-implanted, lithium counterdoped silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Mehta, S.; Swartz, C. K.

1984-01-01

Boron doped silicon n+p solar cells were counterdoped with lithium by ion implanation and the resultant n+p cells irradiated by 1 MeV electrons. The function of fluence and a Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) was studied to correlate defect behavior with cell performance. It was found that the lithium counterdoped cells exhibited significantly increased radiation resistance when compared to boron doped control cells. It is concluded that the annealing behavior is controlled by dissociation and recombination of defects. The DLTS studies show that counterdoping with lithium eliminates at least three deep level defects and results in three new defects. It is speculated that the increased radiation resistance of the counterdoped cells is due primarily to the interaction of lithium with oxygen, single vacancies and divacancies and that the lithium-oxygen interaction is the most effective in contributing to the increased radiation resistance.

Radiation damage and defect behavior in proton irradiated lithium-counterdoped n+p silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stupica, John; Goradia, Chandra; Swartz, Clifford K.; Weinberg, Irving

1987-01-01

Two lithium-counterdoped n+p silicon solar cells with different lithium concentrations were irradiated by 10-MeV protons. Cell performance was measured as a function of fluence, and it was found that the cell with the highest concentration of lithium had the highest radiation resistance. Deep level transient spectroscopy which showed two deep level defects that were lithium related. Relating the defect energy levels obtained from this study with those from earlier work using 1-MeV electron irradiation shows no correlation of the defect energy levels. There is one marked similarity: the absence of the boron-interstitial-oxygen-interstitial defect. This consistency strengthens the belief that lithium interacts with oxygen to prevent the formation of the boron interstitial-oxygen interstitial defect. The results indicate that, in general, addition of lithium in small amounts to the p-base of a boron doped silicon solar cell such that the base remains p-type, tends to increase the radiation resistance of the cell.

Functional Characterization of G12, a Gene Required for Mitotic Progression during Gastrulation in Zebrafish

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinsch, Sigrid; Conway, Gregory; Dalton, Bonnie P. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

In a differential RNA display screen we have isolated a zebrafish gene, G12, for which homologs can only be found in DNA databases for vertebrates, but not invertebrates. This suggests that this is a gene required specifically in vertebrates. G12 expression is upregulated at mid-blastula transition (MBT). Morpholino inactivation of this gene by injection into 1-cell embryos results in mitotic defects and apoptosis shortly after MBT. Nuclei in morpholino treated embryos also display segregation defects. We have characterized the localization of this gene as a GFP fusion in live and fixed embryos. Overexpression of G12-GFP is non-toxic. Animals retain GFP expression for at least 7 days with no developmental defects, Interestingly in these animals G12-GFP is never detectable in blood cells though blood is present. In the deep cells of early embryos, G 12GFP is localized to nuclei and cytoskeletal elements in interphase and to the centrosome and spindle apparatus during mitosis. In the EVL, G12-GFP shows additional localization to the cell periphery, especially in mitosis. In the yolk syncytium, G12-GFP again localizes to nuclei and strongly to cytoplasmic microtubules of migrating nuclei at the YSL margin. Morpholinc, injection specifically into the YSL after cellularization blocks epiboly and nuclei of the YSL show mitotic defects while deep cells show no mitotic defects and continue to divide. Rescue experiments in which morpholino and G12-GFP RNA are co-injected indicate partial rescue by the G12-GFP. The rescue is cell autonomous; that is, regions of the embryo with higher G12-GFP expression show fewer mitotic defects. Spot 14, the human bomolog of G12, has been shown to be amplified in aggressive breast tumors. This finding, along with our functional and morphological data suggest that G12 and spot 14 are vertebrate-specific and may function either as mitotic checkpoints or as structural components of the spindle apparatus.

Microstructure of the optic disc pit in open-angle glaucoma.

PubMed

Choi, Yun Jeong; Lee, Eun Ji; Kim, Bo Hyuk; Kim, Tae-Woo

2014-11-01

To investigate the structural and clinical characteristics of the optic disc pit (ODP) in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) via enhanced depth imaging (EDI) spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Prospective, observational case series. Seventy POAG eyes clinically diagnosed with an ODP via stereo disc photography. Optic discs were scanned using EDI SD-OCT. Serial horizontal and vertical B-scan images covering the optic discs were obtained from each eye. The structural characteristics of the ODP were investigated via 3-dimensional images constructed from the serial B-scans, focusing on the presence of alterations in the contour of the lamina cribrosa (LC) or prelaminar tissue (PLT), in conjunction with associated clinical characteristics. The structural characteristics of the ODP and associated clinical characteristics. In the EDI SD-OCT images, the ODP was viewed as an isolated alteration of the LC (n = 14, 20.0%) or PLT (n = 16, 22.9%) or an alteration of both the LC and PLT (n = 40, 57.1%). Alterations of the LC were located at the mid-periphery near the LC insertion (n = 17) or far periphery adjacent to the LC insertion (n = 37), and the depth of alteration was deep (n = 23), involving nearly full-thickness LC, or shallow (n = 31), with partially visible LC at the base. Fifty-four eyes (77.1%) exhibited parafoveal visual field (VF) defect within 10 degrees of fixation, and in 98.1% of these eyes (53/54) it was spatially associated with the location of ODP. The parafoveal VF defect was more prevalent in eyes with LC alteration than those without (83.3% vs. 56.2%, P = 0.023) and in eyes with deep LC defect than those with shallow defect (95.7% vs. 74.2%, P = 0.036). Disc hemorrhage (32.4% vs. 0.0%, P = 0.008) and peripapillary retinoschisis (18.9 vs. 0.0%, P = 0.055) were more strongly associated with LC alterations located at the far periphery than at the mid-periphery. Enhanced depth imaging SD-OCT facilitated visualization of the varied structure of the ODP, which presented as alteration of the LC or PLT or both. The clinical significance of differing characteristics of ODP microstructure remains to be determined. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Noise and degradation of amorphous silicon devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakker, J. P. R.

2003-10-01

Electrical noise measurements are reported on two devices of the disordered semiconductor hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). The material is applied in sandwich structures and in thin-film transistors (TFTs). In a sandwich configuration of an intrinsic layer and two thin doped layers, the observed 1/f resistance noise can be attributed to a distribution of energy levels in the system. Two candidates which eventually could explain the origin of the energy distribution are investigated: generation-recombination noise and long-range potential fluctuations. A simulation program was applied to fit the current-voltage characteristics and resolves the defect density, the energy position and width of the Gaussian distributions of deep defects. Generation-recombination (g-r) is calculated for a one-dimensional semiconductor device with traps, taking the transport of local fluctuations into account. Although the times characterizing capture and emission for deep defects are in the right (ms) range, the calculated noise intensity is five to six orders of magnitude below the measured noise level. Another noise source must cause the 1/f noise in a-Si:H. The alternative is provided by the theory of long-range potential fluctuations. The timescale of the fluctuations is again the capture or emission time for deep defects. When an electron is emitted or captured, the charge state of a deep defect fluctuates. As a result, the potential around that defect will fluctuate, being screened by the surrounding defects. Free electrons will instantaneously adjust to the local potential. The adjustment causes a resistance fluctuation, which is measured as a voltage fluctuation in presence of a constant current. The theory predicts the noise intensity accurately, without any adjustable parameters. Unlike the intensity, the spectral shape is fitted by adjustment of two parameters of the potential landscape. The complete temperature dependence of the noise spectra is consistently described by a Gaussian distribution of potential barriers, located 0.27 eV above the conduction band edge, with a halfwidth of 0.09 eV. A large number of experiments is explained by the theory of long-range potential fluctuations: the thickness dependence, the absence of an isotope effect and the analogous results for oppositely doped devices. From these experiments, it is concluded that a universal potential landscape exists in undoped a-Si:H. Further, the relation between degradation upon prolonged light-soaking and noise is studied. After degradation, the curvature of noise spectra is unaffected, while the intensity increases slightly. These observations are consistent with the theoretical predictions using the observed increase of the defect density. It seems that the potential landscape does not change significantly upon degradation. Noise measurements in the sub-threshold regime of a-Si:H TFTs turn out to yield diffusion noise. Diffusion of electrons through the one-dimensional channel is identified as the source of the noise. The drift mobility extracted from the combined noise and conduction data is below the value that characterizes the on-state. The number of free electrons as determined from combined noise and conduction measurements are in quantitative agreement with an alternative determination from conduction measurements only.

Effect of antimony on the deep-level traps in GaInNAsSb thin films

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Islam, Muhammad Monirul, E-mail: islam.monir.ke@u.tsukuba.ac.jp; Miyashita, Naoya; Ahsan, Nazmul

2014-09-15

Admittance spectroscopy has been performed to investigate the effect of antimony (Sb) on GaInNAs material in relation to the deep-level defects in this material. Two electron traps, E1 and E2 at an energy level 0.12 and 0.41 eV below the conduction band (E{sub C}), respectively, were found in undoped GaInNAs. Bias-voltage dependent admittance confirmed that E1 is an interface-type defect being spatially localized at the GaInNAs/GaAs interface, while E2 is a bulk-type defect located around mid-gap of GaInNAs layer. Introduction of Sb improved the material quality which was evident from the reduction of both the interface and bulk-type defects.

Comparison and Interpretation of Admittance Spectroscopy and Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy from Co-Evaporated and Solution-Deposited Cu2ZnSn(Sx, Se1-x)4 Solar Cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Caruso, A. E.; Lund, E. A.; Kosyak, V.

2016-11-21

Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 (CZTSe) is an earth-abundant semiconductor with potential for economical thin-film photovoltaic devices. Short minority carrier lifetimes contribute to low open circuit voltage and efficiency. Deep level defects that may contribute to lower minority carrier lifetimes in kesterites have been theoretically predicted, however very little experimental characterization of these deep defects exists. In this work we use admittance spectroscopy (AS) and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) to characterize devices built using CZTSSe absorber layers deposited via both coevaporation and solution processing. AS reveals a band of widely-distributed activation energies for traps or energy barriers for transport, especially in themore » solution deposited case. DLTS reveals signatures of deep majority and minority traps within both types of samples.« less

Defect engineering in 1D Ti-W oxide nanotube arrays and their correlated photoelectrochemical performance.

PubMed

Abdelhafiz, Ali A; Ganzoury, Mohamed A; Amer, Ahmad W; Faiad, Azza A; Khalifa, Ahmed M; AlQaradawi, Siham Y; El-Sayed, Mostafa A; Alamgir, Faisal M; Allam, Nageh K

2018-04-18

Understanding the nature of interfacial defects of materials is a critical undertaking for the design of high-performance hybrid electrodes for photocatalysis applications. Theoretical and computational endeavors to achieve this have touched boundaries far ahead of their experimental counterparts. However, to achieve any industrial benefit out of such studies, experimental validation needs to be systematically undertaken. In this sense, we present herein experimental insights into the synergistic relationship between the lattice position and oxidation state of tungsten ions inside a TiO2 lattice, and the respective nature of the created defect states. Consequently, a roadmap to tune the defect states in anodically-fabricated, ultrathin-walled W-doped TiO2 nanotubes is proposed. Annealing the nanotubes in different gas streams enabled the engineering of defects in such structures, as confirmed by XRD and XPS measurements. While annealing under hydrogen stream resulted in the formation of abundant Wn+ (n < 6) ions at the interstitial sites of the TiO2 lattice, oxygen- and air-annealing induced W6+ ions at substitutional sites. EIS and Mott-Schottky analyses indicated the formation of deep-natured trap states in the hydrogen-annealed samples, and predominantly shallow donating defect states in the oxygen- and air-annealed samples. Consequently, the photocatalytic performance of the latter was significantly higher than those of the hydrogen-annealed counterparts. Upon increasing the W content, photoelectrochemical performance deteriorated due to the formation of WO3 crystallites that hindered charge transfer through the photoanode, as evident from the structural and chemical characterization. To this end, this study validates the previous theoretical predictions on the detrimental effect of interstitial W ions. In addition, it sheds light on the importance of defect states and their nature for tuning the photoelectrochemical performance of the investigated materials.

Defect characterization of proton irradiated GaAs pn-junction diodes with layers of InAs quantum dots

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sato, Shin-ichiro, E-mail: sato.shinichiro@jaea.go.jp; Optoelectronics and Radiation Effects Branch, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375; Schmieder, Kenneth J.

2016-05-14

In order to expand the technology of III-V semiconductor devices with quantum structures to both terrestrial and space use, radiation induced defects as well as native defects generated in the quantum structures should be clarified. Electrically active defects in GaAs p{sup +}n diodes with embedded ten layers of InAs quantum dots (QDs) are investigated using Deep Level Transient Fourier Spectroscopy. Both majority carrier (electron) and minority carrier (hole) traps are characterized. In the devices of this study, GaP layers are embedded in between the QD layers to offset the compressive stress introduced during growth of InAs QDs. Devices are irradiatedmore » with high energy protons for three different fluences at room temperature in order to characterize radiation induced defects. Seven majority electron traps and one minority hole trap are found after proton irradiation. It is shown that four electron traps induced by proton irradiation increase in proportion to the fluence, whereas the EL2 trap, which appears before irradiation, is not affected by irradiation. These defects correspond to electron traps previously identified in GaAs. In addition, a 0.53 eV electron trap and a 0.14 eV hole trap are found in the QD layers before proton irradiation. It is shown that these native traps are also unaffected by irradiation. The nature of the 0.14 eV hole trap is thought to be Ga-vacancies in the GaP strain balancing layers.« less

Electronic characterization of defects in narrow gap semiconductors: Comparison of electronic energy levels and formation energies in mercury cadmium telluride, mercury zinc telluride, and mercury zinc selenide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, James D.; Li, Wei-Gang

1995-01-01

The project has evolved to that of using Green's functions to predict properties of deep defects in narrow gap materials. Deep defects are now defined as originating from short range potentials and are often located near the middle of the energy gap. They are important because they affect the lifetime of charge carriers and hence the switching time of transistors. We are now moving into the arena of predicting formation energies of deep defects. This will also allow us to make predictions about the relative concentrations of the defects that could be expected at a given temperature. The narrow gap materials mercury cadmium telluride (MCT), mercury zinc telluride (MZT), and mercury zinc selenide (MZS) are of interest to NASA because they have commercial value for infrared detecting materials, and because there is a good possibility that they can be grown better in a microgravity environment. The uniform growth of these crystals on earth is difficult because of convection (caused by solute depletion just ahead of the growing interface, and also due to thermal gradients). In general it is very difficult to grow crystals with both radial and axial homogeneity.

Effect of precursor solutions stirring on deep level defects concentration and spatial distribution in low temperature aqueous chemical synthesis of zinc oxide nanorods

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alnoor, Hatim, E-mail: hatim.alnoor@liu.se; Chey, Chan Oeurn; Pozina, Galia

Hexagonal c-axis oriented zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) with 120-300 nm diameters are synthesized via the low temperature aqueous chemical route at 80 °C on silver-coated glass substrates. The influence of varying the precursor solutions stirring durations on the concentration and spatial distributions of deep level defects in ZnO NRs is investigated. Room temperature micro-photoluminesnce (μ-PL) spectra were collected for all samples. Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra of the as-synthesized NRs reveal a significant change in the intensity ratio of the near band edge emission (NBE) to the deep-level emission (DLE) peaks with increasing stirring durations. This is attributed to the variation inmore » the concentration of the oxygen-deficiency with increasing stirring durations as suggested from the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Spatially resolved CL spectra taken along individual NRs revealed that stirring the precursor solutions for relatively short duration (1-3 h), which likely induced high super saturation under thermodynamic equilibrium during the synthesis process, is observed to favor the formation of point defects moving towards the tip of the NRs. In contrary, stirring for longer duration (5-15 h) will induce low super saturation favoring the formation of point defects located at the bottom of the NRs. These findings demonstrate that it is possible to control the concentration and spatial distribution of deep level defects in ZnO NRs by varying the stirring durations of the precursor solutions.« less

Electrical characterisation of deep level defects in Be-doped AlGaAs grown on (100) and (311)A GaAs substrates by MBE

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

The growth of high mobility two-dimensional hole gases (2DHGs) using GaAs-GaAlAs heterostructures has been the subject of many investigations. However, despite many efforts hole mobilities in Be-doped structures grown on (100) GaAs substrate remained considerably lower than those obtained by growing on (311)A oriented surface using silicon as p-type dopant. In this study we will report on the properties of hole traps in a set of p-type Be-doped Al0.29Ga0.71As samples grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (100) and (311)A GaAs substrates using deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) technique. In addition, the effect of the level of Be-doping concentration on the hole deep traps is investigated. It was observed that with increasing the Be-doping concentration from 1 × 1016 to 1 × 1017 cm-3 the number of detected electrically active defects decreases for samples grown on (311)A substrate, whereas, it increases for (100) orientated samples. The DLTS measurements also reveal that the activation energies of traps detected in (311)A are lower than those in (100). From these findings it is expected that mobilities of 2DHGs in Be-doped GaAs-GaAlAs devices grown on (311)A should be higher than those on (100). PMID:21711687

Identification of the spatial location of deep trap states in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures by surface photovoltage spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jana, Dipankar; Porwal, S.; Sharma, T. K.

2017-12-01

Spatial and spectral origin of deep level defects in molecular beam epitaxy grown AlGaN/GaN heterostructures are investigated by using surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) and pump-probe SPS techniques. A deep trap center ∼1 eV above the valence band is observed in SPS measurements which is correlated with the yellow luminescence feature in GaN. Capture of electrons and holes is resolved by performing temperature dependent SPS and pump-probe SPS measurements. It is found that the deep trap states are distributed throughout the sample while their dominance in SPS spectra depends on the density, occupation probability of deep trap states and the background electron density of GaN channel layer. Dynamics of deep trap states associated with GaN channel layer is investigated by performing frequency dependent photoluminescence (PL) and SPS measurements. A time constant of few millisecond is estimated for the deep defects which might limit the dynamic performance of AlGaN/GaN based devices.

Intrinsic charge trapping in amorphous oxide films: status and challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strand, Jack; Kaviani, Moloud; Gao, David; El-Sayed, Al-Moatasem; Afanas’ev, Valeri V.; Shluger, Alexander L.

2018-06-01

We review the current understanding of intrinsic electron and hole trapping in insulating amorphous oxide films on semiconductor and metal substrates. The experimental and theoretical evidences are provided for the existence of intrinsic deep electron and hole trap states stemming from the disorder of amorphous metal oxide networks. We start from presenting the results for amorphous (a) HfO2, chosen due to the availability of highest purity amorphous films, which is vital for studying their intrinsic electronic properties. Exhaustive photo-depopulation spectroscopy measurements and theoretical calculations using density functional theory shed light on the atomic nature of electronic gap states responsible for deep electron trapping observed in a-HfO2. We review theoretical methods used for creating models of amorphous structures and electronic structure calculations of amorphous oxides and outline some of the challenges in modeling defects in amorphous materials. We then discuss theoretical models of electron polarons and bi-polarons in a-HfO2 and demonstrate that these intrinsic states originate from low-coordinated ions and elongated metal-oxygen bonds in the amorphous oxide network. Similarly, holes can be captured at under-coordinated O sites. We then discuss electron and hole trapping in other amorphous oxides, such as a-SiO2, a-Al2O3, a-TiO2. We propose that the presence of low-coordinated ions in amorphous oxides with electron states of significant p and d character near the conduction band minimum can lead to electron trapping and that deep hole trapping should be common to all amorphous oxides. Finally, we demonstrate that bi-electron trapping in a-HfO2 and a-SiO2 weakens Hf(Si)–O bonds and significantly reduces barriers for forming Frenkel defects, neutral O vacancies and O2‑ ions in these materials. These results should be useful for better understanding of electronic properties and structural evolution of thin amorphous films under carrier injection conditions.

Propeller flap reconstruction of abdominal defects: review of the literature and case report.

PubMed

Scaglioni, Mario F; Giuseppe, Alberto Di; Chang, Edward I

2015-01-01

The abdominal wall is perfused anteriorly by the superior and deep epigastric vessels with a smaller contribution from the superficial system. The lateral abdominal wall is perfused predominantly from perforators arising from the intercostal vessels. Reconstruction of soft tissue defects involving the abdomen presents a difficult challenge for reconstructive surgeons. Pedicle perforator propeller flaps can be used to reconstruct defects of the abdomen, and here we present a thorough review of the literature as well as a case illustrating the perforasome propeller flap concept. A patient underwent resection for dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans resulting in a large defect of the epigastric soft tissue. A propeller flap was designed based on a perforator arising from the superior deep epigastric vessels and was rotated 90° into the defect allowing primary closure of the donor site. The patient healed uneventfully and was without recurrent disease 37 months following reconstruction. Perforator propeller flaps can be used successfully in reconstruction of abdominal defects and should be incorporated into the armamentarium of reconstructive microsurgeons already facile with perforator dissections. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Alternating phase-shifting masks: phase determination and impact of quartz defects--theoretical and experimental results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griesinger, Uwe A.; Dettmann, Wolfgang; Hennig, Mario; Heumann, Jan P.; Koehle, Roderick; Ludwig, Ralf; Verbeek, Martin; Zarrabian, Mardjan

2002-07-01

In optical lithography balancing the aerial image of an alternating phase shifting mask (alt. PSM) is a major challenge. For the exposure wavelengths (currently 248nm and 193nm) an optimum etching method is necessary to overcome imbalance effects. Defects play an important role in the imbalances of the aerial image. In this contribution defects will be discussed by using the methodology of global phase imbalance control also for local imbalances which are a result of quartz defects. The effective phase error can be determined with an AIMS-system by measuring the CD width between the images of deep- and shallow trenches at different focus settings. The AIMS results are analyzed in comparison to the simulated and lithographic print results of the alternating structures. For the analysis of local aerial image imbalances it is necessary to investigate the capability of detecting these phase defects with state of the art inspection systems. Alternating PSMs containing programmed defects were inspected with different algorithms to investigate the capture rate of special phase defects in dependence on the defect size. Besides inspection also repair of phase defects is an important task. In this contribution we show the effect of repair on the optical behavior of phase defects. Due to the limited accuracy of the repair tools the repaired area still shows a certain local phase error. This error can be caused either by residual quartz material or a substrate damage. The influence of such repair induced phase errors on the aerial image were investigated.

Electronic structure of oxygen-vacancy defects in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noh, Hyeon-Kyun; Chang, K. J.; Ryu, Byungki; Lee, Woo-Jin

2011-09-01

We perform first-principles density functional calculations to investigate the atomic and electronic properties of various O-vacancy (VO) defects in amorphous indium gallium zinc oxides (a-IGZO). The formation energies of VO have a tendency to increase with increasing number of neighboring Ga atoms, whereas they are generally low in the environment surrounded with In atoms. Thus, adding Ga atoms suppresses the formation of O-deficiency defects, which are considered as the origin of device instability in a-IGZO-based thin film transistors. The conduction band edge state is characterized by the In s orbital and insensitive to disorder, in good agreement with the experimental finding that increasing the In content enhances the carrier density and mobility. In a-IGZO, while most VO defects are deep donors, some of the defects act as shallow donors due to local environments different from those in crystalline oxides. As ionized O vacancies can capture electrons, it is suggested that these defects are responsible for positive shifts of the threshold voltage observed under positive gate bias stress. Under light illumination stress, VO defects can be ionized, becoming VO2+ defects due to the negative-U behavior. When electrons are captured by applying a negative bias voltage, ionized VO2+ defects return to the original neutral charge state. Through molecular dynamics simulations, we find that the initial neutral state is restored by annealing, in good agreement with experiments, although the annealing temperature depends on the local environment. Our calculations show that VO defects play an important role in the instability of a-IGZO-based devices.

Deep Retinal Layer Microvasculature Dropout detected by the Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Glaucoma

PubMed Central

Suh, Min Hee; Zangwill, Linda M.; Manalastas, Patricia Isabel C.; Belghith, Akram; Yarmohammadi, Adeleh; Medeiros, Felipe A.; Diniz-Filho, Alberto; Saunders, Luke J.; Weinreb, Robert N.

2016-01-01

Purpose To investigate factors associated with dropout of the deep retinal layer microvasculature within the β-zone parapapillary atrophy (βPPA) assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) in glaucomatous eyes. Design Cross-sectional study. Participants Seventy-one eyes from 71 primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients with βPPA enrolled in the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study. Methods βPPA deep layer microvasculature dropout was defined as a complete loss of the microvasculature located within deep retinal layer of the βPPA from OCT-A-derived optic nerve head vessel density maps by standardized qualitative assessment. Circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD) within the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) was also calculated using OCT-A. Choroidal thickness and presence of the focal lamina cribrosa (LC) defect were determined using swept-source OCT. Main Outcome Measures Presence of the βPPA deep layer microvasculature dropout. Parameters including age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, axial length, intraocular pressure, disc hemorrhage, cpVD, visual field (VF) mean deviation (MD), focal LC defect, βPPA area, and choroidal thickness were analyzed. Results βPPA deep layer microvasculature dropout was detected in 37 eyes (52.1%) of eyes with POAG. Eyes with dropouts had a higher prevalence of LC defect (70.3 vs. 32.4%), lower cpVD (52.7 vs. 58.8%), worse VF MD (-9.06 vs. -3.83dB), thinner total choroidal thickness (126.5 vs. 169.1/μm), longer axial length (24.7 vs. 24.0mm), larger βPPA (1.2 vs. 0.76mm2) and lower diastolic blood pressure (74.7 vs. 81.7mmHg) than those without dropouts (P< 0.05, respectively). In the multivariate logistic regression, higher prevalence of focal LC defect (odds ratio [OR], 6.27; P = 0.012), reduced cpVD (OR, 1.27; P = 0.002), worse VF MD (OR, 1.27; P = 0.001), thinner choroidal thickness (OR, 1.02; P = 0.014), and lower diastolic blood pressure (OR, 1.16; P = 0.003) were significantly associated with the dropout. Conclusions Certain systemic and ocular factors such as focal LC defect, more advanced disease status, reduced RNFL vessel density, thinner choroidal thickness, and lower diastolic blood pressure were factors associated with the βPPA deep layer microvasculature dropout in glaucomatous eyes. Longitudinal studies are required to elucidate the temporal relationship between βPPA deep layer dropout and these factors. PMID:27769587

Deep Retinal Layer Microvasculature Dropout Detected by the Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Glaucoma.

PubMed

Suh, Min Hee; Zangwill, Linda M; Manalastas, Patricia Isabel C; Belghith, Akram; Yarmohammadi, Adeleh; Medeiros, Felipe A; Diniz-Filho, Alberto; Saunders, Luke J; Weinreb, Robert N

2016-12-01

To investigate factors associated with dropout of the parapapillary deep retinal layer microvasculature assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in glaucomatous eyes. Cross-sectional study. Seventy-one eyes from 71 primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients with β-zone parapapillary atrophy (βPPA) enrolled in the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study. Parapapillary deep-layer microvasculature dropout was defined as a complete loss of the microvasculature located within the deep retinal layer of the βPPA from OCTA-derived optic nerve head vessel density maps by standardized qualitative assessment. Circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD) within the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) also was calculated using OCTA. Choroidal thickness and presence of focal lamina cribrosa (LC) defects were determined using swept-source optical coherence tomography. Presence of parapapillary deep-layer microvasculature dropout. Parameters including age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, axial length, intraocular pressure, disc hemorrhage, cpVD, visual field (VF) mean deviation (MD), focal LC defects βPPA area, and choroidal thickness were analyzed. Parapapillary deep-layer microvasculature dropout was detected in 37 POAG eyes (52.1%). Eyes with microvasculature dropout had a higher prevalence of LC defects (70.3% vs. 32.4%), lower cpVD (52.7% vs. 58.8%), worse VF MD (-9.06 dB vs. -3.83 dB), thinner total choroidal thickness (126.5 μm vs. 169.1 μm), longer axial length (24.7 mm vs. 24.0 mm), larger βPPA (1.2 mm 2 vs. 0.76 mm 2 ), and lower diastolic blood pressure (74.7 mmHg vs. 81.7 mmHg) than those without dropout (P < 0.05, respectively). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, higher prevalence of focal LC defects (odds ratio [OR], 6.27; P = 0.012), reduced cpVD (OR, 1.27; P = 0.002), worse VF MD (OR, 1.27; P = 0.001), thinner choroidal thickness (OR, 1.02; P = 0.014), and lower diastolic blood pressure (OR, 1.16; P = 0.003) were associated significantly with the dropout. Systemic and ocular factors including focal LC defects more advanced glaucoma, reduced RNFL vessel density, thinner choroidal thickness, and lower diastolic blood pressure were factors associated with the parapapillary deep-layer microvasculature dropout in glaucomatous eyes. Longitudinal studies are required to elucidate the temporal relationship between parapapillary deep-layer microvasculature dropout and systemic and ocular factors. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mechanism of unassisted ion transport across membrane bilayers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, M. A.; Pohorille, A.

1996-01-01

To establish how charged species move from water to the nonpolar membrane interior and to determine the energetic and structural effects accompanying this process, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of the transport of Na+ and Cl- across a lipid bilayer located between two water lamellae. The total length of molecular dynamics trajectories generated for each ion was 10 ns. Our simulations demonstrate that permeation of ions into the membrane is accompanied by the formation of deep, asymmetric thinning defects in the bilayer, whereby polar lipid head groups and water penetrate the nonpolar membrane interior. Once the ion crosses the midplane of the bilayer the deformation "switches sides"; the initial defect slowly relaxes, and a defect forms in the outgoing side of the bilayer. As a result, the ion remains well solvated during the process; the total number of oxygen atoms from water and lipid head groups in the first solvation shell remains constant. A similar membrane deformation is formed when the ion is instantaneously inserted into the interior of the bilayer. The formation of defects considerably lowers the free energy barrier to transfer of the ion across the bilayer and, consequently, increases the permeabilities of the membrane to ions, compared to the rigid, planar structure, by approximately 14 orders of magnitude. Our results have implications for drug delivery using liposomes and peptide insertion into membranes.

Influence of annealing atmosphere on formation of electrically-active defects in rutile TiO2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmermann, C.; Bonkerud, J.; Herklotz, F.; Sky, T. N.; Hupfer, A.; Monakhov, E.; Svensson, B. G.; Vines, L.

2018-04-01

Electronic states in the upper part of the bandgap of reduced and/or hydrogenated n-type rutile TiO2 single crystals have been studied by means of thermal admittance and deep-level transient spectroscopy measurements. The studies were performed at sample temperatures between 28 and 300 K. The results reveal limited charge carrier freeze-out even at 28 K and evidence the existence of dominant shallow donors with ionization energies below 25 meV. Interstitial atomic hydrogen is considered to be a major contributor to these shallow donors, substantiated by infrared absorption measurements. Three defect energy levels with positions of about 70 meV, 95 meV, and 120 meV below the conduction band edge occur in all the studied samples, irrespective of the sample production batch and the post-growth heat treatment used. The origin of these levels is discussed in terms of electron polarons, intrinsic point defects, and/or common residual impurities, where especially interstitial titanium atoms, oxygen vacancies, and complexes involving Al atoms appear as likely candidates. In contrast, no common deep-level defect, exhibiting a charge state transition in the 200-700 meV range below the conduction band edge, is found in different samples. This may possibly indicate a strong influence on deep-level defects by the post-growth heat treatments employed.

Deep level transient spectroscopic investigation of phosphorus-doped silicon by self-assembled molecular monolayers.

PubMed

Gao, Xuejiao; Guan, Bin; Mesli, Abdelmadjid; Chen, Kaixiang; Dan, Yaping

2018-01-09

It is known that self-assembled molecular monolayer doping technique has the advantages of forming ultra-shallow junctions and introducing minimal defects in semiconductors. In this paper, we report however the formation of carbon-related defects in the molecular monolayer-doped silicon as detected by deep-level transient spectroscopy and low-temperature Hall measurements. The molecular monolayer doping process is performed by modifying silicon substrate with phosphorus-containing molecules and annealing at high temperature. The subsequent rapid thermal annealing drives phosphorus dopants along with carbon contaminants into the silicon substrate, resulting in a dramatic decrease of sheet resistance for the intrinsic silicon substrate. Low-temperature Hall measurements and secondary ion mass spectrometry indicate that phosphorus is the only electrically active dopant after the molecular monolayer doping. However, during this process, at least 20% of the phosphorus dopants are electrically deactivated. The deep-level transient spectroscopy shows that carbon-related defects are responsible for such deactivation.

Defect-mediated resonance shift of silicon-on-insulator racetrack resonators.

PubMed

Ackert, J J; Doylend, J K; Logan, D F; Jessop, P E; Vafaei, R; Chrostowski, L; Knights, A P

2011-06-20

We present a study on the effects of inert ion implantation of Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) racetrack resonators. Selective ion implantation was used to create deep-level defects within a portion of the resonator. The resonant wavelength and round-trip loss were deduced for a range of sequential post-implantation annealing temperatures from 100 to 300 °C. As the devices were annealed there was a concomitant change in the resonance wavelength, consistent with an increase in refractive index following implantation and recovery toward the pre-implanted value. A total shift in resonance wavelength of ~2.9 nm was achieved, equivalent to a 0.02 increase in refractive index. The excess loss upon implantation increased to 301 dB/cm and was reduced to 35 dB/cm following thermal annealing. In addition to providing valuable data for those incorporating defects within resonant structures, we suggest that these results present a method for permanent tuning (or trimming) of ring resonator characteristics.

Measuring long-range carrier diffusion across multiple grains in polycrystalline semiconductors by photoluminescence imaging

PubMed Central

Alberi, K.; Fluegel, B.; Moutinho, H.; Dhere, R. G.; Li, J. V.; Mascarenhas, A.

2013-01-01

Thin-film polycrystalline semiconductors are currently at the forefront of inexpensive large-area solar cell and integrated circuit technologies because of their reduced processing and substrate selection constraints. Understanding the extent to which structural and electronic defects influence carrier transport in these materials is critical to controlling the optoelectronic properties, yet many measurement techniques are only capable of indirectly probing their effects. Here we apply a novel photoluminescence imaging technique to directly observe the low temperature diffusion of photocarriers through and across defect states in polycrystalline CdTe thin films. Our measurements show that an inhomogeneous distribution of localized defect states mediates long-range hole transport across multiple grain boundaries to locations exceeding 10 μm from the point of photogeneration. These results provide new insight into the key role deep trap states have in low temperature carrier transport in polycrystalline CdTe by revealing their propensity to act as networks for hopping conduction. PMID:24158163

Influence of oxygen vacancy on the electronic structure of CaCu3Ti4O12 and its deep-level vacancy trap states by first-principle calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, H. B.; Yang, C. P.; Huang, C.; Xu, L. F.; Shi, D. W.; Marchenkov, V. V.; Medvedeva, I. V.; Bärner, K.

2012-03-01

The electronic structure, formation energy, and transition energy levels of intrinsic defects have been studied using the density-functional method within the generalized gradient approximation for neutral and charged oxygen vacancy in CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO). It is found that oxygen vacancies with different charge states can be formed in CCTO under both oxygen-rich and poor conditions for nonequilibrium and higher-energy sintering processes; especially, a lower formation energy is obtained for poor oxygen environment. The charge transition level (0/1+) of the oxygen vacancy in CCTO is located at 0.53 eV below the conduction-band edge. The (1+/2+) transition occurs at 1.06 eV below the conduction-band edge. Oxygen vacancies of Vo1+ and Vo2+ are positive stable charge states in most gap regions and can act as a moderately deep donor for Vo1+ and a borderline deep for Vo2+, respectively. The polarization and dielectric constant are considerably enhanced by oxygen vacancy dipoles, due to the off-center Ti and Cu ions in CCTO.

Non-Mutually Exclusive Deep Neural Network Classifier for Combined Modes of Bearing Fault Diagnosis

PubMed Central

Kim, Jong-Myon

2018-01-01

The simultaneous occurrence of various types of defects in bearings makes their diagnosis more challenging owing to the resultant complexity of the constituent parts of the acoustic emission (AE) signals. To address this issue, a new approach is proposed in this paper for the detection of multiple combined faults in bearings. The proposed methodology uses a deep neural network (DNN) architecture to effectively diagnose the combined defects. The DNN structure is based on the stacked denoising autoencoder non-mutually exclusive classifier (NMEC) method for combined modes. The NMEC-DNN is trained using data for a single fault and it classifies both single faults and multiple combined faults. The results of experiments conducted on AE data collected through an experimental test-bed demonstrate that the DNN achieves good classification performance with a maximum accuracy of 95%. The proposed method is compared with a multi-class classifier based on support vector machines (SVMs). The NMEC-DNN yields better diagnostic performance in comparison to the multi-class classifier based on SVM. The NMEC-DNN reduces the number of necessary data collections and improves the bearing fault diagnosis performance. PMID:29642466

Positron deep level transient spectroscopy — a new application of positron annihilation to semiconductor physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beling, C. D.; Fung, S.; Au, H. L.; Ling, C. C.; Reddy, C. V.; Deng, A. H.; Panda, B. K.

1997-05-01

Recent positron mobility and lifetime measurements made on ac-biased metal on semi-insulating GaAs junctions, which have identified the native EL2 defect through a determination of the characteristic ionization energy of the donor level, are reviewed. It is shown that these measurements point towards a new spectroscopy, tentatively named positron-DLTS (deep level transient spectroscopy), that is the direct complement to conventional DLTS in that it monitors transients in the electric field of the depletion region rather than the inversely related depletion width, as deep levels undergo ionization. In this new spectroscopy, which may be applied to doped material by use of a suitable positron beam, electric field transients are monitored through the Doppler shift of the annihilation radiation resulting from the drift velocity of the positron in the depletion region. Two useful extensions of the new spectroscopy beyond conventional capacitance-DLTS are suggested. The first is that in some instances information on the microstructure of the defect causing the deep level may be inferred from the sensitivity of the positron to vacancy defects of negative and neutral charge states. The second is that the positron annihilation technique is intrinsically much faster than conventional DLTS with the capability of observing transients some 10 6 times faster, thus allowing deep levels (and even shallow levels) to be investigated without problems associated with carrier freeze-out.

A Unifying Perspective on Oxygen Vacancies in Wide Band Gap Oxides.

PubMed

Linderälv, Christopher; Lindman, Anders; Erhart, Paul

2018-01-04

Wide band gap oxides are versatile materials with numerous applications in research and technology. Many properties of these materials are intimately related to defects, with the most important defect being the oxygen vacancy. Here, using electronic structure calculations, we show that the charge transition level (CTL) and eigenstates associated with oxygen vacancies, which to a large extent determine their electronic properties, are confined to a rather narrow energy range, even while band gap and the electronic structure of the conduction band vary substantially. Vacancies are classified according to their character (deep versus shallow), which shows that the alignment of electronic eigenenergies and CTL can be understood in terms of the transition between cavity-like localized levels in the large band gap limit and strong coupling between conduction band and vacancy states for small to medium band gaps. We consider both conventional and hybrid functionals and demonstrate that the former yields results in very good agreement with the latter provided that band edge alignment is taken into account.

Large dielectric constant, high acceptor density, and deep electron traps in perovskite solar cell material CsGeI 3

DOE PAGES

Ming, Wenmei; Shi, Hongliang; Du, Mao-Hua

2016-01-01

Here we report that many metal halides that contain cations with the ns 2 electronic configuration have recently been discovered as high-performance optoelectronic materials. In particular, solar cells based on lead halide perovskites have shown great promise as evidenced by the rapid increase of the power conversion efficiency. In this paper, we show density functional theory calculations of electronic structure and dielectric and defect properties of CsGeI 3 (a lead-free halide perovskite material). The potential of CsGeI 3 as a solar cell material is assessed based on its intrinsic properties. We find anomalously large Born effective charges and a largemore » static dielectric constant dominated by lattice polarization, which should reduce carrier scattering, trapping, and recombination by screening charged defects and impurities. Defect calculations show that CsGeI 3 is a p-type semiconductor and its hole density can be modified by varying the chemical potentials of the constituent elements. Despite the reduction of long-range Coulomb attraction by strong screening, the iodine vacancy in CsGeI3 is found to be a deep electron trap due to the short-range potential, i.e., strong Ge–Ge covalent bonding, which should limit electron transport efficiency in p-type CsGeI 3. This is in contrast to the shallow iodine vacancies found in several Pb and Sn halide perovskites (e.g., CH 3NH 3PbI 3, CH 3NH 3SnI 3, and CsSnI 3). The low-hole-density CsGeI 3 may be a useful solar absorber material but the presence of the low-energy deep iodine vacancy may significantly reduce the open circuit voltage of the solar cell. Still, on the other hand, CsGeI 3 may be used as an efficient hole transport material in solar cells due to its small hole effective mass, the absence of low-energy deep hole traps, and the favorable band offset with solar absorber materials such as dye molecules and CH 3NH 3PbI 3.« less

Recent development in low-constraint fracture toughness testing for structural integrity assessment of pipelines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Jidong; Gianetto, James A.; Tyson, William R.

2018-03-01

Fracture toughness measurement is an integral part of structural integrity assessment of pipelines. Traditionally, a single-edge-notched bend (SE(B)) specimen with a deep crack is recommended in many existing pipeline structural integrity assessment procedures. Such a test provides high constraint and therefore conservative fracture toughness results. However, for girth welds in service, defects are usually subjected to primarily tensile loading where the constraint is usually much lower than in the three-point bend case. Moreover, there is increasing use of strain-based design of pipelines that allows applied strains above yield. Low-constraint toughness tests represent more realistic loading conditions for girth weld defects, and the corresponding increased toughness can minimize unnecessary conservatism in assessments. In this review, we present recent developments in low-constraint fracture toughness testing, specifically using single-edgenotched tension specimens, SENT or SE(T). We focus our review on the test procedure development and automation, round-robin test results and some common concerns such as the effect of crack tip, crack size monitoring techniques, and testing at low temperatures. Examples are also given of the integration of fracture toughness data from SE(T) tests into structural integrity assessment.

Defects and impurities induced structural and electronic changes in pyrite CoS2: first principles studies.

PubMed

Li, Shengwen; Zhang, Yanning; Niu, Xiaobin

2018-05-03

Cobalt pyrite (CoS2) and related materials are attracting much attention due to their potential use in renewable energy applications. In this work, first-principles studies were performed to investigate the effects of various neutral defects and ion dopants on the structural, energetic, magnetic and electronic properties of the bulk CoS2. Our theoretical results show that the concentrations of single cobalt (VCo) and sulfur (VS) vacancies in CoS2 samples can be high under S-rich and S-poor conditions, respectively. Although the single vacancies induce defect states near the gap edge, they are still half-metallic. We find that the substitution of one S with the O atom does not obviously change the structural, magnetic and electronic features near the Fermi level of the system. Most transition metal impurities (MnCo, FeCo, and MoCo) and Group IV and V anion impurities (CS, SiS, NS, PS, and AsS) create impurity states that are deep and/or near the gap edge. However, NiCo and Group VII elements (FS, ClS, and BrS) cause very localized gap states close to the Fermi level in the minority spin channel, which may modify their electrochemical performances. Our extensive calculations provide instructive information for the design and optimization of CoS2-related energy materials.

Electronic properties of defects in silicon and related materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitromara, Niki

Efforts in the current semiconductor industry are focused on the production of smaller, more efficient and inexpensive devices of higher packing density. As silicon is the dominant semiconductor implemented for the fabrication of the majority of semiconductor devices, perpetual research has focused on the improvement of its properties and the realisation of the most efficient structures. This thesis presents the electrical characterisation of two different diode structures that are important for the present and future generations of electronic devices.The first part of the thesis is focused on the electrical characterisation of Ultra-Shallow Junction (USJs) Si diodes. Both p+n and n+p USJ structures that contained different implants were examined. These were very highly doped and intended to simulate the situation where a doping well is formed after heavy doping in Si for the fabrication of transistors currently used in Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The implanted USJ diodes were provided by NXP, Belgium and contact deposition was performed before their electrical characterisation as part of this project. Subsequently the p+n and n+p USJ diodes were characterised by the use of Capacitance-Voltage (CV), Current-Voltage (IV), Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and high resolution Laplace DLTS (LDLTS). DLTS and LDLTS are very powerful spectroscopic techniques for the profiling of defects in the bandgap of a semiconductor as well as for the identification of the electrical signatures of these defects. Transient-Enhanced Diffusion (TED) related defects were detected in these diodes as the presence of mainly carbon-related interstitial complexes was observed. In addition, certain vacancy or vacancy-dopant related levels were also discerned.The second part of this thesis presents the electrical characterisation from Schottky p-diamond/p-Si and p-diamond/n-Si p-n diodes. These diodes were readily provided, grown by the Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) technique, for the electrical characterisation that was performed as part of this project. The purpose of characterising both Schottky and p-n diamond on Si diodes was to detect defects near the surface of the films and near the interface with Si and hence provide a comparison between defects present at the beginning and end of growth. More defects were found near the interface with Si and the majority of observed defects were related to extended defects while the presence of grain boundaries in polycrystalline diamond was discussed.

Impact of the silicon substrate resistivity and growth condition on the deep levels in Ni-Au/AlN/Si MIS Capacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chong; Simoen, Eddy; Zhao, Ming; Li, Wei

2017-10-01

Deep levels formed under different growth conditions of a 200 nm AlN buffer layer on B-doped Czochralski Si(111) substrates with different resistivity were investigated by deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) on metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors. Growth-temperature-dependent Al diffusion in the Si substrate was derived from the free carrier density obtained by capacitance-voltage measurement on samples grown on p- substrates. The DLTS spectra revealed a high concentration of point and extended defects in the p- and p+ silicon substrates, respectively. This indicated a difference in the electrically active defects in the silicon substrate close to the AlN/Si interface, depending on the B doping concentration.

Application of photonic crystal defects in constructing all-optical switches, optical delay lines and low-cross-talk waveguide intersections for ultrashort optical pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lan, Sheng; Sugimoto, Yoshimasa; Nishikawa, Satoshi; Ikeda, Naoki; Yang, Tao; Kanamoto, Kozyo; Ishikawa, Hiroshi; Asakawa, Kiyoshi

2002-07-01

We present a systematic study of coupled defects in photonic crystals (PCs) and explore their applications in constructing optical components and devices for ultrafast all-optical signal processing. First, we find that very deep band gaps can be generated in the impurity bands of coupled cavity waveguides (CCWs) by a small periodic modulation of defect modes. This phenomenon implies a high-efficiency all-optical switching mechanism. The switching mechanism can be easily extended from one-dimensional (1D) to two-dimensional and three-dimensional PC structures by utilizing the coupling of defect pairs which are generally present in PCs. Second, we suggest that CCWs with quasiflat and narrow impurity bands can be employed as efficient delay lines for ultrashort pulses. Criteria for designing such kind of CCWs have been derived from the analysis of defect coupling and the investigation of pulse transmission through various CCWs. It is found that the availability of quasiflat impurity bands depends not only on the intrinsic properties of the constituting defects but also on the detailed configuration of CCWs. In experiments, optical delay lines based on 1D monorail CCWs have been successfully fabricated and characterized. Finally, we have proposed a new mechanism for constructing waveguide intersections with broad bandwidth and low cross-talk.

The influence of thermal annealing on the characteristics of Au/Ni Schottky contacts on n-type 4 H-SiC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omotoso, E.; Auret, F. D.; Igumbor, E.; Tunhuma, S. M.; Danga, H. T.; Ngoepe, P. N. M.; Taleatu, B. A.; Meyer, W. E.

2018-05-01

The effects of isochronal annealing on the electrical, morphological and structural characteristics of Au/Ni/4 H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) have been studied. Current-voltage ( I- V), capacitance-voltage ( C- V), deep-level transient spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction measurements were employed to study the thermal effect on the characteristics of the SBDs. Prior to thermal annealing of Schottky contacts, the I- V measurements results confirmed the good rectification behaviour with ideality factor of 1.06, Schottky barrier height of 1.20 eV and series resistance of 7 Ω. The rectification properties after annealing was maintained up to an annealing temperature of 500 °C, but deviated slightly above 500 °C. The uncompensated ionized donor concentration decreased with annealing temperature, which could be attributed to out-diffusion of the 4 H-SiC into the Au/Ni contacts and decrease in bonding due to formation of nickel silicides. We observed the presence of four deep-level defects with energies 0.09, 0.11, 0.16 and 0.65 eV below the conduction band before and after the isochronal annealing up to 600 °C. The conclusion drawn was that annealing did not affect the number of deep-level defects present in Au/Ni/4 H-SiC contacts. The variations in electrical properties of the devices were attributed to the phase transformations and interfacial reactions that occurred after isochronal annealing.

Effects of Plasma Hydrogenation on Trapping Properties of Dislocations in Heteroepitaxial InP/GaAs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ringel, S. A.; Chatterjee, B.

1994-01-01

In previous work, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of a post-growth hydrogen plasma treatment for passivating the electrical activity of dislocations in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown InP on GaAs substrates by a more than two order of magnitude reduction in deep level concentration and an improvement in reverse bias leakage current by a factor of approx. 20. These results make plasma hydrogenation an extremely promising technique for achieving high efficiency large area and light weight heteroepitaxial InP solar cells for space applications. In this work we investigate the carrier trapping process by dislocations in heteroepitaxial InP/GaAs and the role of hydrogen passivation on this process. It is shown that the charge trapping kinetics of dislocations after hydrogen passivation are significantly altered, approaching point defect-like behavior consistent with a transformation from a high concentration of dislocation-related defect bands within the InP bandgap to a low concentration of individual deep levels after hydrogen passivation. It is further shown that the "apparent" activation energies of dislocation related deep levels, before and after passivation, reduce by approx. 70 meV as DLTS fill pulse times are increased from 1 usec. to 1 msec. A model is proposed which explains these effects based on a reduction of Coulombic interaction between individual core sites along the dislocation cores by hydrogen incorporation. Knowledge of the trapping properties in these specific structures is important to develop optimum, low loss heteroepitaxial InP cells.

Interconversion of intrinsic defects in SrTi O3(001 )

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, S. A.; Du, Y.; Zhu, Z.; Wang, J.; Wahila, M. J.; Piper, L. F. J.; Prakash, A.; Yue, J.; Jalan, B.; Spurgeon, S. R.; Kepaptsoglou, D. M.; Ramasse, Q. M.; Sushko, P. V.

2018-06-01

Photoemission features associated with states deep in the band gap of n -SrTi O3(001 ) are found to be ubiquitous in bulk crystals and epitaxial films. These features are present even when there is little signal near the Fermi level. Analysis reveals that these states are deep-level traps associated with defects. The commonly investigated defects—O vacancies, Sr vacancies, and aliovalent impurity cations on the Ti sites—cannot account for these features. Rather, ab initio modeling points to these states resulting from interstitial oxygen and its interaction with donor electrons.

Extradural myelomeningocele reconstruction using local turnover fascial flaps and midline linear skin closure.

PubMed

Patel, Kamlesh B; Taghinia, Amir H; Proctor, Mark R; Warf, Benjamin C; Greene, Arin K

2012-11-01

Myelomeningocele is the most common neural tube defect. Repair typically involves deep closure with regional muscle flaps (e.g. latissimus dorsi, gluteus maximus) and skin closure with rotation, bipedicle, or rhomboid flaps. We describe the reconstruction of large myelomeningocele defects using (1) local fascial turnover flaps with or without paraspinous muscle flaps for deep coverage of the dural repair followed by (2) linear, midline skin closure. Copyright © 2012 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Semiconductor color-center structure and excitation spectra: Equation-of-motion coupled-cluster description of vacancy and transition-metal defect photoluminescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lutz, Jesse J.; Duan, Xiaofeng F.; Burggraf, Larry W.

2018-03-01

Valence excitation spectra are computed for deep-center silicon-vacancy defects in 3C, 4H, and 6H silicon carbide (SiC), and comparisons are made with literature photoluminescence measurements. Optimizations of nuclear geometries surrounding the defect centers are performed within a Gaussian basis-set framework using many-body perturbation theory or density functional theory (DFT) methods, with computational expenses minimized by a QM/MM technique called SIMOMM. Vertical excitation energies are subsequently obtained by applying excitation-energy, electron-attached, and ionized equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (EOMCC) methods, where appropriate, as well as time-dependent (TD) DFT, to small models including only a few atoms adjacent to the defect center. We consider the relative quality of various EOMCC and TD-DFT methods for (i) energy-ordering potential ground states differing incrementally in charge and multiplicity, (ii) accurately reproducing experimentally measured photoluminescence peaks, and (iii) energy-ordering defects of different types occurring within a given polytype. The extensibility of this approach to transition-metal defects is also tested by applying it to silicon-substituted chromium defects in SiC and comparing with measurements. It is demonstrated that, when used in conjunction with SIMOMM-optimized geometries, EOMCC-based methods can provide a reliable prediction of the ground-state charge and multiplicity, while also giving a quantitative description of the photoluminescence spectra, accurate to within 0.1 eV of measurement for all cases considered.

Phases and interfaces from real space atomically resolved data: Physics-based deep data image analysis

DOE PAGES

Vasudevan, Rama K.; Ziatdinov, Maxim; Jesse, Stephen; ...

2016-08-12

Advances in electron and scanning probe microscopies have led to a wealth of atomically resolved structural and electronic data, often with ~1–10 pm precision. However, knowledge generation from such data requires the development of a physics-based robust framework to link the observed structures to macroscopic chemical and physical descriptors, including single phase regions, order parameter fields, interfaces, and structural and topological defects. Here, we develop an approach based on a synergy of sliding window Fourier transform to capture the local analog of traditional structure factors combined with blind linear unmixing of the resultant 4D data set. This deep data analysismore » is ideally matched to the underlying physics of the problem and allows reconstruction of the a priori unknown structure factors of individual components and their spatial localization. We demonstrate the principles of this approach using a synthetic data set and further apply it for extracting chemical and physically relevant information from electron and scanning tunneling microscopy data. Furthermore, this method promises to dramatically speed up crystallographic analysis in atomically resolved data, paving the road toward automatic local structure–property determinations in crystalline and quasi-ordered systems, as well as systems with competing structural and electronic order parameters.« less

DLTS analysis of radiation-induced defects in one-MeV electron irradiated germanium and Alsub0.17Gasub0.83As solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, S. B.; Choi, C. G.; Loo, R. Y.

1985-01-01

The radiation-induced deep-level defects in one-MeV electron-irradiated germanium and AlxGal-xAs solar cell materials using the deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and C-V techniques were investigated. Defect and recombination parameters such as defect density and energy levels, capture cross sections and lifetimes for both electron and hole traps were determined. The germanium and AlGaAs p/n junction cells were irradiated by one-MeV electrons. The DLTS, I-V, and C-V measurements were performed on these cells. The results are summarized as follows: (1) for the irradiated germanium samples, the dominant electron trap was due to the E sub - 0.24 eV level with density around 4x10 to the 14th power 1/cu cm, independent of electron fluence, its origin is attributed to the vacancy-donor complex defect formed during the electron irradiation; (2) in the one-MeV electron irradiated Al0.17Ga0.83 as sample, two dominant electron traps with energies of Ec-0.19 and -0.29 eV were observed, the density for both electron traps remained nearly constant, independent of electron fluence. It is shown that one-MeV electron irradiation creates very few or no new deep-level traps in both the germanium and AlxGa1-xAs cells, and are suitable for fabricating the radiation-hard high efficiency multijunction solar cells for space applications.

Small polarons and point defects in LaFeO3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zhen; Peelaers, Hartwin; van de Walle, Chris G.

The proton-conductive perovskite-type LaFeO3 is a promising negative-electrode material for Ni/metal-hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. It has a discharge capacity up to 530 mAhg-1 at 333 K, which is significantly higher than commercialized AB5-type alloys. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of this performance, we have investigated the structural and electronic properties of bulk LaFeO3, as well as the effect of point defects, using hybrid density functional methods. LaFeO3 is antiferromagnetic in the ground state with a band gap of 3.54 eV. Small hole and electron polarons can form through self- or point-defect-assisted trapping. We find that La vacancies and Sr substitutional on La sites are shallow acceptors with the induced holes trapped as small polarons, while O and Fe vacancies are deep defect centers. Hydrogen interstitials behave like shallow donors, with the donor electrons localized on nearby iron sites as electron polarons. With a large trapping energy, these polarons can act as electron or hole traps and affect the electrical performance of LaFeO3 as the negative electrode for Ni-MH batteries. We acknowledge DOE for financial support.

Gallium nitride heterostructures on 3D structured silicon.

PubMed

Fündling, Sönke; Sökmen, Unsal; Peiner, Erwin; Weimann, Thomas; Hinze, Peter; Jahn, Uwe; Trampert, Achim; Riechert, Henning; Bakin, Andrey; Wehmann, Hergo-Heinrich; Waag, Andreas

2008-10-08

We investigated GaN-based heterostructures grown on three-dimensionally patterned Si(111) substrates by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy, with the goal of fabricating well controlled high quality, defect reduced GaN-based nanoLEDs. The high aspect ratios of such pillars minimize the influence of the lattice mismatched substrate and improve the material quality. In contrast to other approaches, we employed deep etched silicon substrates to achieve a controlled pillar growth. For that a special low temperature inductively coupled plasma etching process has been developed. InGaN/GaN multi-quantum-well structures have been incorporated into the pillars. We found a pronounced dependence of the morphology of the GaN structures on the size and pitch of the pillars. Spatially resolved optical properties of the structures are analysed by cathodoluminescence.

Shallow halogen vacancies in halide optoelectronic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Hongliang; Du, Mao-Hua

2014-11-01

Halogen vacancies (VH ) are usually deep color centers (F centers) in halides and can act as major electron traps or recombination centers. The deep VH contributes to the typically poor carrier transport properties in halides. However, several halides have recently emerged as excellent optoelectronic materials, e.g., C H3N H3Pb I3 and TlBr. Both C H3N H3Pb I3 and TlBr have been found to have shallow VH , in contrast to commonly seen deep VH in halides. In this paper, several halide optoelectronic materials, i.e., C H3N H3Pb I3 , C H3N H3Sn I3 (photovoltaic materials), TlBr, and CsPbB r3 (gamma-ray detection materials) are studied to understand the material chemistry and structure that determine whether VH is a shallow or deep defect in a halide material. It is found that crystal structure and chemistry of n s2 ions both play important roles in creating shallow VH in halides such as C H3N H3Pb I3 , C H3N H3Sn I3 , and TlBr. The key to identifying halides with shallow VH is to find the right crystal structures and compounds that suppress cation orbital hybridization at VH , such as those with large cation-cation distances and low anion coordination numbers and those with crystal symmetry that prevents strong hybridization of cation dangling bond orbitals at VH . The results of this paper provide insight and guidance to identifying halides with shallow VH as good electronic and optoelectronic materials.

Response of Chondrocytes to Local Mechanical Injury in an Ex Vivo Model

PubMed Central

Lyman, Jeffrey R.; Chappell, Jonathan D.; Kelley, Scott S.; Lee, Greta M.

2012-01-01

Background: Our goal was to set up an ex vivo culture system to assess whether cartilage wounding (partial-thickness defects) can induce morphological changes in neighboring chondrocytes and whether these cells can translocate to the surface of the defect. Methods: Two-millimeter partial-depth defects were created in human osteochondral explants followed by culture for up to 4 weeks. Frozen sections of defects and defect-free regions were labeled using immunofluorescence for a plasma membrane protein, CD44, and actin with TRITC-phalloidin. Viable nuclei were detected with Hoechst 33342. Differential interference contrast (DIC), confocal, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to examine process extension. Results: Significant changes in cell morphology occurred in response to wounding in the superficial and deep cartilage zones. These included cell flattening, polarization of the actin cytoskeleton, extension of pseudopods projecting towards the edge of the defect, and interactions of these filopodia with collagen fibers. Cell density decreased progressively in the 300-µm zone adjacent to the defect to an average of approximately 25% to 35% after 3 weeks. Concomitant increases in cell density in the defect margin were observed. By contrast, minimal changes were seen in the middle cartilage zone. Conclusions: These novel observations strongly suggest active cartilage cell responses and movements in response to wounding. It is proposed that cartilage cells use contact guidance on fibrillated collagen to move into and populate defect areas in the superficial and deep zones. PMID:26069619

Charge transport model in solid-state avalanche amorphous selenium and defect suppression design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheuermann, James R.; Miranda, Yesenia; Liu, Hongyu; Zhao, Wei

2016-01-01

Avalanche amorphous selenium (a-Se) in a layer of High Gain Avalanche Rushing Photoconductor (HARP) is being investigated for its use in large area medical imagers. Avalanche multiplication of photogenerated charge requires electric fields greater than 70 V μm-1. For a-Se to withstand this high electric field, blocking layers are used to prevent the injection of charge carriers from the electrodes. Blocking layers must have a high injection barrier and deep trapping states to reduce the electric field at the interface. In the presence of a defect in the blocking layer, a distributed resistive layer (DRL) must be included into the structure to build up space charge and reduce the electric field in a-Se and the defect. A numerical charge transport model has been developed to optimize the properties of blocking layers used in various HARP structures. The model shows the incorporation of a DRL functionality into the p-layer can reduce dark current at a point defect by two orders of magnitude by reducing the field in a-Se to the avalanche threshold. Hole mobility in a DRL of ˜10-8 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 100 V μm-1 as demonstrated by the model can be achieved experimentally by varying the hole mobility of p-type organic or inorganic semiconductors through doping, e.g., using Poly(9-vinylcarbozole) doped with 1%-3% (by weight) of poly(3-hexylthiopene).

Unraveling energy conversion modeling in the intrinsic persistent upconverted luminescence of solids: a study of native point defects in antiferromagnetic Er2O3.

PubMed

Huang, Bolong

2016-05-11

We investigated the mechanism of the intrinsic persistent luminescence of Er2O3 in the A-type lattice based on first-principles calculations. We found that the native point defects were engaged in mutual subtle interactions in the form of chemical reactions between different charge states. The release of energy related to lattice distortion facilitates the conversion of energy for electrons to be transported between the valence band and the trap levels or even between the deep trap levels so as to generate persistent luminescence. The defect transitions that take place along the zero-phonon line release energy to enable optical transitions, with the exact amount of negative effective correlation energy determined by the lattice distortions. Our calculations on the thermodynamic transition levels confirm that both the visible and NIR experimentally observed intrinsic persistent luminescence (phosphor or afterglow) are related to the thermodynamic transition levels of oxygen-related defects, and the thermodynamic transition levels within different charge states for these defects are independent of the chemical potentials of the given species. Lattice distortion defects such as anion Frenkel (a-Fr) pair defects play an important role in transporting O-related defects between different lattice sites. To obtain red persistent luminescence that matches the biological therapeutic window, it is suggested to increase the electron transition levels between high-coordinated O vacancies and related metastable a-Fr defects; a close-packed core-shell structure is required to quench low-coordinated O-related defects so as to reduce the green band luminescence. We further established a conversed chain reaction (CCR) model to interpret the energy conversion process of persistent luminescence in terms of the inter-reactions of native point defects between different charge states. It is advantageous to use the study of defect levels combined with formation energies to suggest limits to doping energy and explain photostimulated luminescence in terms of native point defects.

Characterization of Deep and Shallow Levels in GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wessels, Bruce

1997-03-01

The role of native defects and impurities in compensating n-type GaN was investigated. From the observed dependence of carrier concentration on dopant partial pressure the compensating acceptor in n-type material is attributed to the triply charged gallium vacancy. This is consistent with recent calculations on defect stability using density functional theory. The interaction of hydrogen and point defects in GaN was also investigated using FTIR. The role of these defects in compensation will be discussed.

Analysis of Deep and Shallow Traps in Semi-Insulating CdZnTe

DOE PAGES

Kim, Kihyun; Yoon, Yongsu; James, Ralph B.

2018-03-13

Trap levels which are deep or shallow play an important role in the electrical and the optical properties of a semiconductor; thus, a trap level analysis is very important in most semiconductor devices. Deep-level defects in CdZnTe are essential in Fermi level pinning at the middle of the bandgap and are responsible for incomplete charge collection and polarization effects. However, a deep level analysis in semi-insulating CdZnTe (CZT) is very difficult. Theoretical capacitance calculation for a metal/insulator/CZT (MIS) device with deep-level defects exhibits inflection points when the donor/acceptor level crosses the Fermi level in the surface-charge layer (SCL). Three CZTmore » samples with different resistivities, 2 × 10 4 (n-type), 2 × 10 6 (p-type), and 2 × 10 10 (p-type) Ω·cm, were used in fabricating the MIS devices. These devices showed several peaks in their capacitance measurements due to upward/downward band bending that depend on the surface potential. In conclusion, theoretical and experimental capacitance measurements were in agreement, except in the fully compensated case.« less

Analysis of Deep and Shallow Traps in Semi-Insulating CdZnTe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Kihyun; Yoon, Yongsu; James, Ralph B.

Trap levels which are deep or shallow play an important role in the electrical and the optical properties of a semiconductor; thus, a trap level analysis is very important in most semiconductor devices. Deep-level defects in CdZnTe are essential in Fermi level pinning at the middle of the bandgap and are responsible for incomplete charge collection and polarization effects. However, a deep level analysis in semi-insulating CdZnTe (CZT) is very difficult. Theoretical capacitance calculation for a metal/insulator/CZT (MIS) device with deep-level defects exhibits inflection points when the donor/acceptor level crosses the Fermi level in the surface-charge layer (SCL). Three CZTmore » samples with different resistivities, 2 × 10 4 (n-type), 2 × 10 6 (p-type), and 2 × 10 10 (p-type) Ω·cm, were used in fabricating the MIS devices. These devices showed several peaks in their capacitance measurements due to upward/downward band bending that depend on the surface potential. In conclusion, theoretical and experimental capacitance measurements were in agreement, except in the fully compensated case.« less

Surface acceptor states in MBE-grown CdTe layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wichrowska, Karolina; Wosinski, Tadeusz; Tkaczyk, Zbigniew; Kolkovsky, Valery; Karczewski, Grzegorz

2018-04-01

A deep-level hole trap associated with surface defect states has been revealed with deep-level transient spectroscopy investigations of metal-semiconductor junctions fabricated on nitrogen doped p-type CdTe layers grown by the molecular-beam epitaxy technique. The trap displayed the hole-emission activation energy of 0.33 eV and the logarithmic capture kinetics indicating its relation to extended defect states at the metal-semiconductor interface. Strong electric-field-induced enhancement of the thermal emission rate of holes from the trap has been attributed to the phonon-assisted tunneling effect from defect states involving very large lattice relaxation around the defect and metastability of its occupied state. Passivation with ammonium sulfide of the CdTe surface, prior to metallization, results in a significant decrease in the trap density. It also results in a distinct reduction in the width of the surface-acceptor-state-induced hysteresis loops in the capacitance vs. voltage characteristics of the metal-semiconductor junctions.

Double-Pedicled Free Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator Flap for the Coverage of Thigh Soft-Tissue Defect.

PubMed

Bota, Olimpiu; Spindler, Nick; Sauber, Jeannine; Aydogan, Emrah; Langer, Stefan

2017-08-01

Soft-tissue defects caused by radiation injury are a challenging task for the reconstructive surgeon, due to the extent of the soft-tissue damage and the associated injuries of the local blood vessels and bone tissue. We present the application of the versatile deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap for the coverage of an extended lateral thigh soft-tissue defect after the surgical resection of an undifferentiated pleomorphic high-grade sarcoma, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and adjuvant chemo- and radiotherapy. A double-pedicled free DIEP flap (756 cm 2 ) was harvested and anastomosed to the transverse branch of the lateral femoral circumflex artery and a lateral branch of the popliteal artery (P1). The flap survived completely without serious complications, and the patient was able to walk with crutches 3 months postoperatively. This is the first case report of a free bipedicled DIEP flap for the coverage of a thigh defect in a male patient.

Double-Pedicled Free Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator Flap for the Coverage of Thigh Soft-Tissue Defect

PubMed Central

Spindler, Nick; Sauber, Jeannine; Aydogan, Emrah; Langer, Stefan

2017-01-01

Summary: Soft-tissue defects caused by radiation injury are a challenging task for the reconstructive surgeon, due to the extent of the soft-tissue damage and the associated injuries of the local blood vessels and bone tissue. We present the application of the versatile deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap for the coverage of an extended lateral thigh soft-tissue defect after the surgical resection of an undifferentiated pleomorphic high-grade sarcoma, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and adjuvant chemo- and radiotherapy. A double-pedicled free DIEP flap (756 cm2) was harvested and anastomosed to the transverse branch of the lateral femoral circumflex artery and a lateral branch of the popliteal artery (P1). The flap survived completely without serious complications, and the patient was able to walk with crutches 3 months postoperatively. This is the first case report of a free bipedicled DIEP flap for the coverage of a thigh defect in a male patient. PMID:28894652

Carrier removal and defect behavior in p-type InP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Swartz, C. K.; Drevinsky, P. J.

1992-01-01

A simple expression, obtained from the rate equation for defect production, was used to relate carrier removal to defect production and hole trapping rates in p-type InP after irradiation by 1-MeV electrons. Specific contributions to carrier removal from defect levels H3, H4, and H5 were determined from combined deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and measured carrier concentrations. An additional contribution was attributed to one or more defects not observed by the present DLTS measurements. The high trapping rate observed for H5 suggests that this defect, if present in relatively high concentration, could be dominant in p-type InP.

Long-term effect on tooth vitality of regenerative therapy in deep periodontal bony defects: a retrospective study.

PubMed

de Sanctis, Massimo; Goracci, Cecilia; Zucchelli, Giovanni

2013-01-01

Over the last few decades, many authors have investigated the effect of periodontal disease and treatment on pulpal status with controversial results. This study was conducted to verify whether periodontal disease in a deep intrabony defect and complex therapy, including aggressive root planing such as in periodontal regeneration, have an influence on tooth vitality. One hundred thirty-seven patients who fulfilled the requirements were included. The collected data did not support the need for "preventive" root canal treatment in severely compromised teeth that are planned to undergo periodontal regenerative surgery.

Hydrogen passivation of n+p and p+n heteroepitaxial InP solar cell structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chatterjee, B.; Ringel, S. A.; Hoffman, R., Jr.

1995-01-01

High-efficiency, heteroepitaxial (HE) InP solar cells, grown on GaAs, Si or Ge substrates, are desirable for their mechanically strong, light-weight and radiation-hard properties. However, dislocations, caused by lattice mismatch, currently limit the performance of the HE cells. This occurs through shunting paths across the active photovoltaic junction and by the formation of deep levels. In previous work we have demonstrated that plasma hydrogenation is an effective and stable means to passivate the electrical activity of dislocations in specially designed HE InP test structures. In this work, we present the first report of successful hydrogen passivation in actual InP cell structures grown on GaAs substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). We have found that a 2 hour exposure to a 13.56 MHz hydrogen plasma at 275 C reduces the deep level concentration in HE n+n InP cell structures from as-grown values of approximately 10(exp 15)/cm(exp -3), down to 1-2 x 10(exp 13)/cm(exp -3). The deep levels in the p-type base region of the cell structure match those of our earlier p-type test structures, which were attributed to dislocations or related point defect complexes. All dopants were successfully reactivated by a 400 C, 5 minute anneal with no detectable activation of deep levels. I-V analysis indicated a subsequent approximately 10 fold decrease in reverse leakage current at -1 volt reverse bias, and no change in the forward biased series resistance of the cell structure which indicates complete reactivation of the n+ emitter. Furthermore, electrochemical C-V profiling indicates greatly enhanced passivation depth, and hence hydrogen diffusion, for heteroepitaxial structures when compared with identically processed homoepitaxial n+p InP structures. An analysis of hydrogen diffusion in dislocated InP will be discussed, along with comparisons of passivation effectiveness for n+p versus p+n heteroepitaxial cell configurations. Preliminary hydrogen-passivated HE InP cell results will also be presented.

Optical modulation in silicon waveguides via charge state control of deep levels.

PubMed

Logan, D F; Jessop, P E; Knights, A P; Wojcik, G; Goebel, A

2009-10-12

The control of defect mediated optical absorption at a wavelength of 1550 nm via charge state manipulation is demonstrated using optical absorption measurements of indium doped Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) rib waveguides. These measurements introduce the potential for modulation of waveguide transmission by using the local depletion and injection of free-carriers to change deep-level occupancy. The extinction ratio and modulating speed are simulated for a proposed device structure. A 'normally-off' depletion modulator is described with an extinction coefficient limited to 5 dB/cm and switching speeds in excess of 1 GHz. For a carrier injection modulator a fourfold enhancement in extinction ratio is provided relative to free carrier absorption alone. This significant improvement in performance is achieved with negligible increase in driving power but slightly degraded switching speed.

Gate oxide thickness dependence of the leakage current mechanism in Ru/Ta2O5/SiON/Si structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ťapajna, M.; Paskaleva, A.; Atanassova, E.; Dobročka, E.; Hušeková, K.; Fröhlich, K.

2010-07-01

Leakage conduction mechanisms in Ru/Ta2O5/SiON/Si structures with rf-sputtered Ta2O5 with thicknesses ranging from 13.5 to 1.8 nm were systematically studied. Notable reaction at the Ru/Ta2O5 interface was revealed by capacitance-voltage measurements. Temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics suggest the bulk-limited conduction mechanism in all metal-oxide-semiconductor structures. Under gate injection, Poole-Frenkel emission was identified as a dominant mechanism for 13.5 nm thick Ta2O5. With an oxide thickness decreasing down to 3.5 nm, the conduction mechanism transforms to thermionic trap-assisted tunnelling through the triangular barrier. Under substrate injection, the dominant mechanism gradually changes with decreasing thickness from thermionic trap-assisted tunnelling to trap-assisted tunnelling through the triangular barrier; Poole-Frenkel emission was not observed at all. A 0.7 eV deep defect level distributed over Ta2O5 is assumed to be responsible for bulk-limited conduction mechanisms and is attributed to H-related defects or oxygen vacancies in Ta2O5.

Deep levels in as-grown and Si-implanted In(0.2)Ga(0.8)As-GaAs strained-layer superlattice optical guiding structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dhar, S.; Das, U.; Bhattacharya, P. K.

1986-01-01

Trap levels in about 2-micron In(0.2)Ga(0.8)As(94 A)/GaAs(25 A) strained-layer superlattices, suitable for optical waveguides, have been identified and characterized by deep-level transient spectroscopy and optical deep-level transient spectroscopy measurements. Several dominant electron and hole traps with concentrations of approximately 10 to the 14th/cu cm, and thermal ionization energies Delta-E(T) varying from 0.20 to 0.75 eV have been detected. Except for a 0.20-eV electron trap, which might be present in the In(0.2)Ga(0.8)As well regions, all the other traps have characteristics similar to those identified in molecular-beam epitaxial GaAs. Of these, a 0.42-eV hole trap is believed to originate from Cu impurities, and the others are probably related to native defects. Upon Si implantation and halogen lamp annealing, new deep centers are created. These are electron traps with Delta-E(T) = 0.81 eV and hole traps with Delta-E(T) = 0.46 eV. Traps occurring at room temperature may present limitations for optical devices.

Capacitance Techniques | Photovoltaic Research | NREL

Science.gov Websites

transient spectroscopy generated graph showing six defect levels; DLTS signal (Y-axis) versus Temperature (X -axis). DLTS characterizes defect levels to assist in identification of impurities and potential levels of interface states (or both) that often exist between the surfaces of dissimilar materials. Deep

Investigation of defect properties in Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 solar cells by deep-level transient spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerr, L. L.; Li, Sheng S.; Johnston, S. W.; Anderson, T. J.; Crisalle, O. D.; Kim, W. K.; Abushama, J.; Noufi, R. N.

2004-09-01

The performance of the chalcopyrite material Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) used as an absorber layer in thin-film photovoltaic devices is significantly affected by the presence of native defects. The deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) technique is used in this work to characterize the defect properties, yielding relevant information about the defect types, their capture cross-sections, and energy levels and densities in the CIGS cells. Three solar cells developed using different absorber growth technologies were analyzed using DLTS, capacitance-voltage ( C- V), and capacitance-temperature ( C- T) techniques. It was found that CIS cells grown at the University of Florida exhibits a middle-gap defect level that may relate to the cell's low fill factor and open-circuit voltage values observed. A high efficiency ( ηc>18%) CIGS cell produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was found to contain three minority-carrier (electron) traps and a 13% CIGS cell produced by the Energy Photovoltaics Inc. (EPV) exhibited one majority (hole) trap. The approach followed using the DLTS technique serves as a paradigm for revealing the presence of significant defect levels in absorber materials, and may be used to support the identification of remedial processing operations.

Comparison of gain degradation and deep level transient spectroscopy in pnp Si bipolar junction transistors irradiated with different ion species

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aguirre, B. A.; Bielejec, E.; Fleming, R. M.

Here, we studied the effect of light ion and heavy ion irradiations on pnp Si BJTs. A mismatch in DLTS deep peak amplitude for devices with same final gain but irradiated with different ion species was observed. Also, different ions cause different gain degradation when the DLTS spectra are matched. Pre-dosed ion-irradiated samples show that ion induced ionization does not account for the differences in DLTS peak height but isochronal annealing studies suggest that light ions produce more VP defects than heavy ions to compensate for the lack of clusters that heavy ions produce. The creation of defect clusters bymore » heavy ions is evident by the higher content of E4 and V* 2 defects compared to light ions.« less

Comparison of gain degradation and deep level transient spectroscopy in pnp Si bipolar junction transistors irradiated with different ion species

DOE PAGES

Aguirre, B. A.; Bielejec, E.; Fleming, R. M.; ...

2016-12-09

Here, we studied the effect of light ion and heavy ion irradiations on pnp Si BJTs. A mismatch in DLTS deep peak amplitude for devices with same final gain but irradiated with different ion species was observed. Also, different ions cause different gain degradation when the DLTS spectra are matched. Pre-dosed ion-irradiated samples show that ion induced ionization does not account for the differences in DLTS peak height but isochronal annealing studies suggest that light ions produce more VP defects than heavy ions to compensate for the lack of clusters that heavy ions produce. The creation of defect clusters bymore » heavy ions is evident by the higher content of E4 and V* 2 defects compared to light ions.« less

Study of Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of InAs/InAsSb Superlattices Using Multiple Characterization Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Xiaomeng

InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattices (T2SLs) can be considered as potential alternatives for conventional HgCdTe photodetectors due to improved uniformity, lower manufacturing costs with larger substrates, and possibly better device performance. This dissertation presents a comprehensive study on the structural, optical and electrical properties of InAs/InAsSb T2SLs grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The effects of different growth conditions on the structural quality were thoroughly investigated. Lattice-matched condition was successfully achieved and material of exceptional quality was demonstrated. After growth optimization had been achieved, structural defects could hardly be detected, so different characterization techniques, including etch-pit-density (EPD) measurements, cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and X-ray topography (XRT), were explored, in attempting to gain better knowledge of the sparsely distributed defects. EPD revealed the distribution of dislocation-associated pits across the wafer. Unfortunately, the lack of contrast in images obtained by CL imaging and XRT indicated their inability to provide any quantitative information about defect density in these InAs/InAsSb T2SLs. The nBn photodetectors based on mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) InAs/InAsSb T2SLs were fabricated. The significant difference in Ga composition in the barrier layer coupled with different dark current behavior, suggested the possibility of different types of band alignment between the barrier layers and the absorbers. A positive charge density of 1.8 x 1017/cm3 in the barrier of MWIR nBn photodetector, as determined by electron holography, confirmed the presence of a potential well in its valence band, thus identifying type-II alignment. In contrast, the LWIR nBn photodetector was shown to have type-I alignment because no sign of positive charge was detected in its barrier. Capacitance-voltage measurements were performed to investigate the temperature dependence of carrier densities in a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure based on MWIR InAs/InAsSb T2SLs, and a nBn structure based on LWIR InAs/InAsSb T2SLs. No carrier freeze-out was observed in either sample, indicating very shallow donor levels. The decrease in carrier density when temperature increased was attributed to the increased density of holes that had been thermally excited from localized states near the oxide/semiconductor interface in the MOS sample. No deep-level traps were revealed in deep-level transient spectroscopy temperature scans.

Anisotropic polaron localization and spontaneous symmetry breaking: Comparison of cation-site acceptors in GaN and ZnO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Y. Y.; Abtew, Tesfaye A.; Zhang, Peihong; Zhang, S. B.

2014-10-01

The behavior of cation substitutional hole doping in GaN and ZnO is investigated using hybrid density functional calculations. Our results reveal that Mg substitution for Ga (MgGa) in GaN can assume three different configurations. Two of the configurations are characterized by the formation of defect-bound small polaron (i.e., a large structural distortion accompanied by hole localization on one of the neighboring N atoms). The third one has a relatively small but significant distortion that is characterized by highly anisotropic polaron localization. In this third configuration, MgGa exhibits both effective-mass-like and noneffective-mass-like characters. In contrast, a similar defect in ZnO, LiZn, cannot sustain the anisotropic polaron in the hybrid functional calculation, but undergoes spontaneous breaking of a mirror symmetry through a mechanism driven by the hole localization. Finally, using NaZn in ZnO as an example, we show that the deep acceptor levels of the small-polaron defects could be made shallower by applying compressive strain to the material.

Effects of plasma hydrogenation on trapping properties of dislocations in heteroepitaxial InP/GaAs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ringel, S. A.; Chatterjee, B.

1994-01-01

In previous work, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of a post-growth hydrogen plasma treatment for passivating the electrical activity of dislocations in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown InP on GaAs substrates by a more than two order of magnitude reduction in deep level concentration and an improvement in reverse bias leakage current by a factor of approximately 20. These results make plasma hydrogenation an extremely promising technique for achieving high efficiency large area and light weight heteroepitaxial InP solar cells for space applications. In this work we investigate the carrier trapping process by dislocations in heteroepitaxial InP/GaAs and the role of hydrogen passivation on this process. It is shown that the charge trapping kinetics of dislocations after hydrogen passivation are significantly altered, approaching point defect-like behavior consistent with a transformation from a high concentration of dislocation-related defect bands within the InP bandgap to a low concentration of individual dislocation related deep levels, before and after passivation. It is further shown that the 'apparent' activation energies of dislocation related deep levels, before and after passivation, reduce by approximately 70 meV as DLTS fill pulse times are increased from 1 microsecond to 1 millisecond. A model is proposed which explains these effects based on a reduction of Coulombic interaction between individual core sites along the dislocation cores by hydrogen incorporation. Knowledge of the trapping properties in these specific structures is important to develop optimum, low loss heteroepitaxial InP cells.

Specimen preparation by ion beam slope cutting for characterization of ductile damage by scanning electron microscopy.

PubMed

Besserer, Hans-Bernward; Gerstein, Gregory; Maier, Hans Jürgen; Nürnberger, Florian

2016-04-01

To investigate ductile damage in parts made by cold sheet-bulk metal forming a suited specimen preparation is required to observe the microstructure and defects such as voids by electron microscopy. By means of ion beam slope cutting both a targeted material removal can be applied and mechanical or thermal influences during preparation avoided. In combination with scanning electron microscopy this method allows to examine voids in the submicron range and thus to analyze early stages of ductile damage. In addition, a relief structure is formed by the selectivity of the ion bombardment, which depends on grain orientation and microstructural defects. The formation of these relief structures is studied using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction and the use of this side effect to interpret the microstructural mechanisms of voids formation by plastic deformation is discussed. A comprehensive investigation of the suitability of ion beam milling to analyze ductile damage is given at the examples of a ferritic deep drawing steel and a dual phase steel. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Creation of deep blue light emitting nitrogen-vacancy center in nanosized diamond

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Himics, L., E-mail: himics.laszlo@wigner.mta.hu; Tóth, S.; Veres, M.

2014-03-03

This paper reports on the formation of complex defect centers related to the N3 center in nanosized diamond by employing plasma immersion and focused ion beam implantation methods. He{sup +} ion implantation into nanosized diamond “layer” was performed with the aim of creating carbon atom vacancies in the diamond structure, followed by the introduction of molecular N{sub 2}{sup +} ion and heat treatment in vacuum at 750 °C to initiate vacancy diffusion. To decrease the sp{sup 2} carbon content of nanosized diamond formed during the implantation processes, a further heat treatment at 450 °C in flowing air atmosphere was used. The modificationmore » of the bonding properties after each step of defect creation was monitored by Raman scattering measurements. The fluorescence measurements of implanted and annealed nanosized diamond showed the appearance of an intensive and narrow emission band with fine structures at 2.98 eV, 2.83 eV, and 2.71 eV photon energies.« less

Shallow halogen vacancies in halide optoelectronic materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shi, Hongliang; Du, Mao -Hua

2014-11-05

Halogen vacancies (V H) are usually deep color centers (F centers) in halides and can act as major electron traps or recombination centers. The deep V H contributes to the typically poor carrier transport properties in halides. However, several halides have recently emerged as excellent optoelectronic materials, e.g., CH 3NH 3PbI 3 and TlBr. Both CH 3NH 3PbI 3 and TlBr have been found to have shallow V H, in contrast to commonly seen deep V H in halides. In this paper, several halide optoelectronic materials, i.e., CH 3NH 3PbI 3, CH 3NH 3SnI 3 (photovoltaic materials), TlBr, and CsPbBrmore » 3, (gamma-ray detection materials) are studied to understand the material chemistry and structure that determine whether V H is a shallow or deep defect in a halide material. It is found that crystal structure and chemistry of ns 2 ions both play important roles in creating shallow V H in halides such as CH 3NH 3PbI 3, CH 3NH 3SnI 3, and TlBr. The key to identifying halides with shallow V H is to find the right crystal structures and compounds that suppress cation orbital hybridization at V H, such as those with long cation-cation distances and low anion coordination numbers, and those with crystal symmetry that prevents strong hybridization of cation dangling bond orbitals at V H. Furthermore, the results of this paper provide insight and guidance to identifying halides with shallow V H as good electronic and optoelectronic materials.« less

Defect properties of Sn- and Ge-doped ZnTe: suitability for intermediate-band solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flores, Mauricio A.

2018-01-01

We investigate the electronic structure and defect properties of Sn- and Ge- doped ZnTe by first-principles calculations within the DFT+GW formalism. We find that ({{{Sn}}}{{Zn}}) and ({{{Ge}}}{{Zn}}) introduce isolated energy levels deep in the band gap of ZnTe, derived from Sn-5s and Ge-4s states, respectively. Moreover, the incorporation of Sn and Ge on the Zn site is favored in p-type ZnTe, in both Zn-rich and Te-rich environments. The optical absorption spectra obtained by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation reveals that sub-bandgap absorptance is greatly enhanced due to the formation of the intermediate band. Our results suggest that Sn- and Ge-doped ZnTe would be a suitable material for the development of intermediate-band solar cells, which have the potential to achieve efficiencies beyond the single-junction limit.

Abnormal photothermal effect of laser radiation on highly defect oxide bronze nanoparticles under the sub-threshold excitation of absorption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulyaev, P.; Kotvanova, M.; Omelchenko, A.

2017-05-01

The mechanism of abnormal photo-thermal effect of laser radiation on nanoparticles of oxide bronzes has been proposed in this paper. The basic features of the observed effect are: a) sub-threshold absorption of laser radiation by the excitation of donor-like levels formed in the energy gap due to superficial defects of the oxide bronze nano-crystals; b) an interband radiationless transition of energy of excitation on deep triplet levels and c) consequent recombination occurring at the plasmon absorption. K or Na atoms thermally intercalated to the octahedral crystal structure of TiO2 in the wave SHS combustion generate acceptor levels in the gap. The prepared oxide bronzes of the non-stoichiometric composition NaxTiO2 and KxTiO2 were examined by high resolution TEM, and then grinded in a planetary mill with powerful dispersion energy density up to 4000 J/g. This made it possible to obtain nanoparticles about 50 nm with high surface defect density (1017-1019 cm-2 at a depth of 10 nm). High photo-thermal effect of laser radiation on the defect nanocrystals observed after its impregnation into cartilaginous tissue exceeds 7 times in comparison with the intact ones.

Study of Nanodispersed Iron Oxides Produced in Steel Drilling by Contracted Electric-Arc Air Plasma Torch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stefanov, P.; Galanov, D.; Vissokov, G.; Paneva, D.; Kunev, B.; Mitov, I.

2008-06-01

The optimal conditions on the plasma-forming gas flowrate, discharge current and voltage, distance between the plasma-torch nozzle and the metal plate surface for the process of penetration in and vaporization of steel plates by the contracted electric-arc air plasma torch accompanied by water quenching, were determined. The X-ray structural and phase studies as well as Mössbauer and electron microscope studies on the samples treated were performed. It was demonstrated that the vaporized elemental iron was oxidized by the oxygen present in the air plasma jet to form iron oxides (wüstite, magnetite, hematite), which, depending on their mass ratios, determined the color of the iron oxide pigments, namely, beginning from light yellow, through deep yellow, light brown, deep brown, violet, red-violet, to black. A high degree of dispersity of the iron oxides is thus produced, with an averaged diameter of the particles below 500 nm, and their defective crystal structure form the basis of their potential application as components of iron-containing catalysts and pigments.

Resistivity, carrier trapping, and polarization phenomenon in semiconductor radiation detection materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Mao-Hua; Biswas, Koushik; Singh, David J.

2012-10-01

In this paper, we report theoretical studies of native defects and dopants in a number of room-temperature semiconductor radiation detection materials, i.e., CdTe, TlBr, and Tl6SeI4. We address several important questions, such as what causes high resistivity in these materials, what explains good μτ product (carrier mobility-lifetime product) in soft-lattice ionic compounds that have high defect density, and how to obtain high resistivity and low carrier trapping simultaneously. Our main results are: (1) shallow donors rather than deep ones are responsible for high resistivity in high-quality detectorgrade CdTe; (2) large dielectric screening and the lack of deep levels from low-energy native defects may contribute to the good μτ products for both electrons and holes in TlBr; (3) the polarization phenomenon in Tl6SeI4 is expected to be much reduced compared to that in TlBr.

Detection and modeling of leakage current in AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

DOE PAGES

Moseley, Michael William; Allerman, Andrew A.; Crawford, Mary H.; ...

2015-03-01

Current-voltage (IV) characteristics of two AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with differing densities of open-core threading dislocations (nanopipes) are analyzed. A three-diode circuit is simulated to emulate the IV characteristics of the DUV-LEDs, but is only able to accurately model the lower leakage current, lower nanopipe density DUV-LED. It was found that current leakage through the nanopipes in these structures is rectifying, despite nanopipes being previously established as inherently n-type. Using defect-sensitive etching, the nanopipes are revealed to terminate within the p-type GaN capping layer of the DUV-LEDs. The circuit model is modified to account for another p-nmore » junction between the n-type nanopipes and the p-type GaN, and an excellent fit to the IV characteristics of the leaky DUV-LED is achieved.« less

Carbon-hydrogen defects with a neighboring oxygen atom in n-type Si

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gwozdz, K.; Stübner, R.; Kolkovsky, Vl.; Weber, J.

2017-07-01

We report on the electrical activation of neutral carbon-oxygen complexes in Si by wet-chemical etching at room temperature. Two deep levels, E65 and E75, are observed by deep level transient spectroscopy in n-type Czochralski Si. The activation enthalpies of E65 and E75 are obtained as EC-0.11 eV (E65) and EC-0.13 eV (E75). The electric field dependence of their emission rates relates both levels to single acceptor states. From the analysis of the depth profiles, we conclude that the levels belong to two different defects, which contain only one hydrogen atom. A configuration is proposed, where the CH1BC defect, with hydrogen in the bond-centered position between neighboring C and Si atoms, is disturbed by interstitial oxygen in the second nearest neighbor position to substitutional carbon. The significant reduction of the CH1BC concentration in samples with high oxygen concentrations limits the use of this defect for the determination of low concentrations of substitutional carbon in Si samples.

Deep sub-wavelength metrology for advanced defect classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Walle, P.; Kramer, E.; van der Donck, J. C. J.; Mulckhuyse, W.; Nijsten, L.; Bernal Arango, F. A.; de Jong, A.; van Zeijl, E.; Spruit, H. E. T.; van den Berg, J. H.; Nanda, G.; van Langen-Suurling, A. K.; Alkemade, P. F. A.; Pereira, S. F.; Maas, D. J.

2017-06-01

Particle defects are important contributors to yield loss in semi-conductor manufacturing. Particles need to be detected and characterized in order to determine and eliminate their root cause. We have conceived a process flow for advanced defect classification (ADC) that distinguishes three consecutive steps; detection, review and classification. For defect detection, TNO has developed the Rapid Nano (RN3) particle scanner, which illuminates the sample from nine azimuth angles. The RN3 is capable of detecting 42 nm Latex Sphere Equivalent (LSE) particles on XXX-flat Silicon wafers. For each sample, the lower detection limit (LDL) can be verified by an analysis of the speckle signal, which originates from the surface roughness of the substrate. In detection-mode (RN3.1), the signal from all illumination angles is added. In review-mode (RN3.9), the signals from all nine arms are recorded individually and analyzed in order to retrieve additional information on the shape and size of deep sub-wavelength defects. This paper presents experimental and modelling results on the extraction of shape information from the RN3.9 multi-azimuth signal such as aspect ratio, skewness, and orientation of test defects. Both modeling and experimental work confirm that the RN3.9 signal contains detailed defect shape information. After review by RN3.9, defects are coarsely classified, yielding a purified Defect-of-Interest (DoI) list for further analysis on slower metrology tools, such as SEM, AFM or HIM, that provide more detailed review data and further classification. Purifying the DoI list via optical metrology with RN3.9 will make inspection time on slower review tools more efficient.

Advances in the Use of Thermography to Inspect Composite Tanks for Liquid Fuel Propulsion Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lansing, Matthew D.; Russell, Samuel S.; Walker, James L.; Jones, Clyde S. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This viewgraph presentation gives an overview of advances in the use of thermography to inspect composite tanks for liquid fuel propulsion systems. Details are given on the thermographic inspection system, thermographic analysis method (includes scan and defect map, method of inspection, and inclusions, ply wrinkle, and delamination defects), graphite composite cryogenic feedline (including method, image map, and deep/shallow inclusions and resin rich area defects), and material degradation nondestructive evaluation.

Defect-Repairable Latent Feature Extraction of Driving Behavior via a Deep Sparse Autoencoder

PubMed Central

Taniguchi, Tadahiro; Takenaka, Kazuhito; Bando, Takashi

2018-01-01

Data representing driving behavior, as measured by various sensors installed in a vehicle, are collected as multi-dimensional sensor time-series data. These data often include redundant information, e.g., both the speed of wheels and the engine speed represent the velocity of the vehicle. Redundant information can be expected to complicate the data analysis, e.g., more factors need to be analyzed; even varying the levels of redundancy can influence the results of the analysis. We assume that the measured multi-dimensional sensor time-series data of driving behavior are generated from low-dimensional data shared by the many types of one-dimensional data of which multi-dimensional time-series data are composed. Meanwhile, sensor time-series data may be defective because of sensor failure. Therefore, another important function is to reduce the negative effect of defective data when extracting low-dimensional time-series data. This study proposes a defect-repairable feature extraction method based on a deep sparse autoencoder (DSAE) to extract low-dimensional time-series data. In the experiments, we show that DSAE provides high-performance latent feature extraction for driving behavior, even for defective sensor time-series data. In addition, we show that the negative effect of defects on the driving behavior segmentation task could be reduced using the latent features extracted by DSAE. PMID:29462931

Native defects in Tl 6SI 4: Density functional calculations

DOE PAGES

Shi, Hongliang; Du, Mao -Hua

2015-05-05

In this study, Tl 6SI 4 is a promising room-temperature semiconductor radiation detection material. Here, we report density functional calculations of native defects and dielectric properties of Tl 6SI 4. Formation energies and defect levels of native point defects and defect complexes are calculated. Donor-acceptor defect complexes are shown to be abundant in Tl 6SI 4. High resistivity can be obtained by Fermi level pinning by native donor and acceptor defects. Deep donors that are detrimental to electron transport are identified and methods to mitigate such problem are discussed. Furthermore, we show that mixed ionic-covalent character of Tl 6SI 4more » gives rise to enhanced Born effective charges and large static dielectric constant, which provides effective screening of charged defects and impurities.« less

Electronic Characterization of Defects in Narrow Gap Semiconductors-Comparison of Electronic Energy Levels and Formation Energies in Mercury Cadmium Telluride, Mercury Zinc Telluride, and Mercury Zinc Selenide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, James D.

1996-01-01

We have used a Green's function technique to calculate the energy levels and formation energy of deep defects in the narrow gap semiconductors mercury cadmium telluride (MCT), mercury zinc telluride (MZT) and mercury zinc selenide (MZS). The formation energy is calculated from the difference between the total energy with an impurity cluster and the total energy for the perfect crystal. Substitutional (including antisite), interstitial (self and foreign), and vacancy deep defects are considered. Relaxation effects are calculated (with molecular dynamics). By use of a pseudopotential, we generalize the ideal vacancy model so as to be able to consider relaxation for vacancies. Different charge states are considered and the charged state energy shift (as computed by a modified Haldane-Anderson model) can be twice that due to relaxation. Different charged states for vacancies were not calculated to have much effect on the formation energy. For all cases we find deep defects in the energy gap only for cation site s-like orbitals or anion site p-like orbitals, and for the substitutional case only the latter are appreciably effected by relaxation. For most cases for MCT, MZT, MZS, we consider x (the concentration of Cd or Zn) in the range appropriate for a band gap of 0.1 eV. For defect energy levels, the absolute accuracy of our results is limited, but the precision is good, and hence chemical trends are accurately predicted. For the same reason, defect formation energies are more accurately predicted than energy level position. We attempt, in Appendix B, to calculate vacancy formation energies using relatively simple chemical bonding ideas due to Harrison. However, these results are only marginally accurate for estimating vacancy binding energies. Appendix C lists all written reports and publications produced for the grant. We include abstracts and a complete paper that summarizes our work which is not yet available.

Initial stages of aggregation in aqueous solutions of ionic liquids: molecular dynamics studies.

PubMed

Bhargava, B L; Klein, Michael L

2009-07-16

Structures formed by 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide aqueous solutions with decyl, dodecyl, tetradecyl, and hexadecyl chains have been studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Spontaneous self-assembly of the amphiphilic cations to form quasi-spherical polydisperse aggregates has been observed in all of the systems, with the size and nature of the aggregates varying with chain length. In all systems, the cation alkyl tails are buried deep inside the aggregates with the polar imidazolium group exposed to exploit the favorable interactions with water. Aggregation numbers steadily increase with the chain length. The hexadecyl aggregates have the most ordered internal structure of the systems studied, and the alkyl chains in these cations show the least number of gauche defects.

The effect of millisecond flash lamp annealing on electrical and structural properties of ZnO:Al/Si structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lindberg, P. F.; Riise, H. N.; Vines, L.

2016-05-14

The effect of millisecond flash lamp annealing (FLA) on aluminum doped ZnO (AZO) films and their interface with Si have been studied. The AZO films were deposited by magnetron sputtering on Si (100) substrates. The electrical and structural properties of the film and AZO/Si structures were characterized by current–voltage, capacitance–voltage, and deep level transient spectroscopy measurements, X-ray diffraction, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The resistivity of the AZO film is reduced to a close to state-of-the-art value of 2 × 10{sup −4} Ω cm after FLA for 3 ms with an average energy density of 29 J/cm{sup 2}. In addition, most of the interfacial defects energymore » levels are simultaneously annealed out, except for one persisting shallow level, tentatively assigned to the vacancy-oxygen complex in Si, which was not affected by FLA. Subsequent to the FLA, the samples were treated in N{sub 2} or forming gas (FG) (N{sub 2}/H{sub 2}, 90/10%{sub mole}) ambient at 200–500 °C. The latter samples maintained the low resistivity achieved after the FLA, but not the former ones. The interfacial defect level persisting after the FLA is removed by the FG treatment, concurrently as another level emerges at ∼0.18 eV below the conduction band. The electrical data of the AZO films are discussed in term of point defects controlling the resistivity, and it is argued that the FLA promotes formation of electrically neutral clusters of Zink vacancies (V{sub Zn}'s) rather than passivating/compensating complexes between the Al donors and V{sub Zn}'s.« less

The effects of deep-level defects on the electrical properties of Cd0.9Zn0.1Te crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Pengfei; Nan, Ruihua; Jian, Zengyun

2017-06-01

The deep-level defects of CdZnTe (CZT) crystals grown by the modified vertical Bridgman (MVB) method act as trapping centers or recombination centers in the band gap, which have significant effects on its electrical properties. The resistivity and electron mobility-lifetime product of high resistivity Cd0.9Zn0.1Te wafer marked CZT1 and low resistivity Cd0.9Zn0.1Te wafer marked CZT2 were tested respectively. Their deep-level defects were identified by thermally stimulated current (TSC) spectroscopy and thermoelectric effect spectroscopy (TEES) respectively. Then the trap-related parameters were characterized by the simultaneous multiple peak analysis (SIMPA) method. The deep donor level ({E}{{DD}}) dominating dark current was calculated by the relationship between dark current and temperature. The Fermi-level was characterized by current-voltage measurements of temperature dependence. The width of the band gap was characterized by ultraviolet-visible-infrared transmittance spectroscopy. The results show the traps concentration and capture cross section of CZT1 are lower than CZT2, so its electron mobility-lifetime product is greater than CZT2. The Fermi-level of CZT1 is closer to the middle gap than CZT2. The degree of Fermi-level pinned by {E}{{DD}} of CZT1 is larger than CZT2. It can be concluded that the resistivity of CZT crystals increases as the degree of Fermi-level pinned near the middle gap by the deep donor level enlarges. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51502234) and the Scientific Research Plan Projects of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education of China (No. 15JS040).

Numerical-experimental investigation of load paths in DP800 dual phase steel during Nakajima test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergs, Thomas; Nick, Matthias; Feuerhack, Andreas; Trauth, Daniel; Klocke, Fritz

2018-05-01

Fuel efficiency requirements demand lightweight construction of vehicle body parts. The usage of advanced high strength steels permits a reduction of sheet thickness while still maintaining the overall strength required for crash safety. However, damage, internal defects (voids, inclusions, micro fractures), microstructural defects (varying grain size distribution, precipitates on grain boundaries, anisotropy) and surface defects (micro fractures, grooves) act as a concentration point for stress and consequently as an initiation point for failure both during deep drawing and in service. Considering damage evolution in the design of car body deep drawing processes allows for a further reduction in material usage and therefore body weight. Preliminary research has shown that a modification of load paths in forming processes can help mitigate the effects of damage on the material. This paper investigates the load paths in Nakajima tests of a DP800 dual phase steel to research damage in deep drawing processes. Investigation is done via a finite element model using experimentally validated material data for a DP800 dual phase steel. Numerical simulation allows for the investigation of load paths with respect to stress states, strain rates and temperature evolution, which cannot be easily observed in physical experiments. Stress triaxiality and the Lode parameter are used to describe the stress states. Their evolution during the Nakajima tests serves as an indicator for damage evolution. The large variety of sheet metal forming specific load paths in Nakajima tests allows a comprehensive evaluation of damage for deep drawing. The results of the numerical simulation conducted in this project and further physical experiments will later be used to calibrate a damage model for simulation of deep drawing processes.

7 CFR 51.2655 - Damage.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... defects shall be considered as damage: (a) Cracks within the stem cavity when deep or not well healed, or... healed crack one-sixteenth inch in width extending one-half the greatest circumference of the stem cavity; (b) Cracks outside of the stem cavity when deep or not well healed, or when the crack has weakened...

7 CFR 51.2655 - Damage.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... defects shall be considered as damage: (a) Cracks within the stem cavity when deep or not well healed, or... healed crack one-sixteenth inch in width extending one-half the greatest circumference of the stem cavity; (b) Cracks outside of the stem cavity when deep or not well healed, or when the crack has weakened...

7 CFR 51.784 - Classification of defects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Florida Grapefruit Definitions § 51.784 Classification of... discoloration permitted in the grade Very deep or very rough aggregating more than a circle 1/2 inch (12.7 mm) in diameter; deep or rough aggregating more than a circle 1 inch (25.4 mm) in diameter; slightly...

7 CFR 51.1837 - Classification of defects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Florida Tangerines Definitions § 51.1837 Classification of....1828.] Deep or rough aggregating more than a circle 1/4 inch (6.4 mm) in diameter; slightly rough with... slight depth aggregating more than a circle 11/8 inches (28.6 mm) in diameter Deep or rough aggregating...

Electrical characterization of deep levels created by bombarding nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC with alpha-particle irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omotoso, Ezekiel; Meyer, Walter E.; Auret, F. Danie; Paradzah, Alexander T.; Legodi, Matshisa J.

2016-03-01

Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace-DLTS were used to investigate the effect of alpha-particle irradiation on the electrical properties of nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC. The samples were bombarded with alpha-particles at room temperature (300 K) using an americium-241 (241Am) radionuclide source. DLTS revealed the presence of four deep levels in the as-grown samples, E0.09, E0.11, E0.16 and E0.65. After irradiation with a fluence of 4.1 × 1010 alpha-particles-cm-2, DLTS measurements indicated the presence of two new deep levels, E0.39 and E0.62 with energy levels, EC - 0.39 eV and EC - 0.62 eV, with an apparent capture cross sections of 2 × 10-16 and 2 × 10-14 cm2, respectively. Furthermore, irradiation with fluence of 8.9 × 1010 alpha-particles-cm-2 resulted in the disappearance of shallow defects due to a lowering of the Fermi level. These defects re-appeared after annealing at 300 °C for 20 min. Defects, E0.39 and E0.42 with close emission rates were attributed to silicon or carbon vacancy and could only be separated by using high resolution Laplace-DLTS. The DLTS peaks at EC - (0.55-0.70) eV (known as Z1/Z2) were attributed to an isolated carbon vacancy (VC).

Carrier providers or killers: The case of Cu defects in CdTe

DOE PAGES

Yang, Ji -Hui; Metzger, Wyatt K.; Wei, Su -Huai

2017-07-24

Defects play important roles in semiconductors for optoelectronic applications. Common intuition is that defects with shallow levels act as carrier providers and defects with deep levels are carrier killers. Here, taking the Cu defects in CdTe as an example, we show that relatively shallow defects can play both roles. Using first-principles calculation methods combined with thermodynamic simulations, we study the dialectic effects of Cu-related defects on hole density and lifetime in bulk CdTe. Because CuCd can form a relatively shallow acceptor, we find that increased Cu incorporation into CdTe indeed can help achieve high hole density; however, too much Cumore » can cause significant non-radiative recombination. We discuss strategies to balance the contradictory effects of Cu defects based on the calculated impact of Cd chemical potential, copper defect concentrations, and annealing temperature on lifetime and hole density. Lastly, these findings advance the understanding of the potential complex defect behaviors of relatively shallow defect states in semiconductors.« less

Carrier providers or killers: The case of Cu defects in CdTe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Ji -Hui; Metzger, Wyatt K.; Wei, Su -Huai

Defects play important roles in semiconductors for optoelectronic applications. Common intuition is that defects with shallow levels act as carrier providers and defects with deep levels are carrier killers. Here, taking the Cu defects in CdTe as an example, we show that relatively shallow defects can play both roles. Using first-principles calculation methods combined with thermodynamic simulations, we study the dialectic effects of Cu-related defects on hole density and lifetime in bulk CdTe. Because CuCd can form a relatively shallow acceptor, we find that increased Cu incorporation into CdTe indeed can help achieve high hole density; however, too much Cumore » can cause significant non-radiative recombination. We discuss strategies to balance the contradictory effects of Cu defects based on the calculated impact of Cd chemical potential, copper defect concentrations, and annealing temperature on lifetime and hole density. Lastly, these findings advance the understanding of the potential complex defect behaviors of relatively shallow defect states in semiconductors.« less

Evolution of AlGaN deep level defects as a function of alloying and compositional grading and resultant impact on electrical conductivity

DOE PAGES

Armstrong, Andrew M.; Allerman, Andrew A.

2017-07-24

AlGaN:Si epilayers with uniform Al compositions of 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% were grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy along with a compositionally graded, unintentionally doped (UID) AlGaN epilayer with the Al composition varying linearly between 80% and 100%. The resistivity of AlGaN:Si with a uniform composition increased significantly for the Al content of 80% and greater, whereas the graded UID-AlGaN film exhibited resistivity equivalent to 60% and 70% AlGaN:Si owing to polarization-induced doping. Deep level defect studies of both types of AlGaN epilayers were performed to determine why the electronic properties of uniform-composition AlGaN:Si degraded with increased Al content,more » while the electronic properties of graded UID-AlGaN did not. The deep level density of uniform-composition AlGaN:Si increased monotonically and significantly with the Al mole fraction. Conversely, graded-UID AlGaN had the lowest deep level density of all the epilayers despite containing the highest Al composition. These findings indicate that Si doping is an impetus for point defect incorporation in AlGaN that becomes stronger with the increasing Al content. However, the increase in deep level density with the Al content in uniform-composition AlGaN:Si was small compared to the increase in resistivity. This implies that the primary cause for increasing resistivity in AlGaN:Si with the increasing Al mole fraction is not compensation by deep levels but rather increasing activation energy for the Si dopant. As a result, the graded UID-AlGaN films maintained low resistivity because they do not rely on thermal ionization of Si dopants.« less

Evolution of AlGaN deep level defects as a function of alloying and compositional grading and resultant impact on electrical conductivity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Armstrong, Andrew M.; Allerman, Andrew A.

AlGaN:Si epilayers with uniform Al compositions of 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% were grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy along with a compositionally graded, unintentionally doped (UID) AlGaN epilayer with the Al composition varying linearly between 80% and 100%. The resistivity of AlGaN:Si with a uniform composition increased significantly for the Al content of 80% and greater, whereas the graded UID-AlGaN film exhibited resistivity equivalent to 60% and 70% AlGaN:Si owing to polarization-induced doping. Deep level defect studies of both types of AlGaN epilayers were performed to determine why the electronic properties of uniform-composition AlGaN:Si degraded with increased Al content,more » while the electronic properties of graded UID-AlGaN did not. The deep level density of uniform-composition AlGaN:Si increased monotonically and significantly with the Al mole fraction. Conversely, graded-UID AlGaN had the lowest deep level density of all the epilayers despite containing the highest Al composition. These findings indicate that Si doping is an impetus for point defect incorporation in AlGaN that becomes stronger with the increasing Al content. However, the increase in deep level density with the Al content in uniform-composition AlGaN:Si was small compared to the increase in resistivity. This implies that the primary cause for increasing resistivity in AlGaN:Si with the increasing Al mole fraction is not compensation by deep levels but rather increasing activation energy for the Si dopant. As a result, the graded UID-AlGaN films maintained low resistivity because they do not rely on thermal ionization of Si dopants.« less

Local coexistence of VO 2 phases revealed by deep data analysis

DOE PAGES

Strelcov, Evgheni; Ievlev, Anton; Tselev, Alexander; ...

2016-07-07

We report a synergistic approach of micro-Raman spectroscopic mapping and deep data analysis to study the distribution of crystallographic phases and ferroelastic domains in a defected Al-doped VO 2 microcrystal. Bayesian linear unmixing revealed an uneven distribution of the T phase, which is stabilized by the surface defects and uneven local doping that went undetectable by other classical analysis techniques such as PCA and SIMPLISMA. This work demonstrates the impact of information recovery via statistical analysis and full mapping in spectroscopic studies of vanadium dioxide systems, which is commonly substituted by averaging or single point-probing approaches, both of which suffermore » from information misinterpretation due to low resolving power.« less

Current oscillations in semi-insulating GaAs associated with field-enhanced capture of electrons by the major deep donor EL2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaminska, M.; Parsey, J. M.; Lagowski, J.; Gatos, H. C.

1982-01-01

Current oscillations thermally activated by the release of electrons from deep levels in undoped semiinsulating GaAs were observed for the first time. They were attributed to electric field-enhanced capture of electrons by the dominant deep donor EL2 (antisite AsGa defect). This enhanced capture is due to the configurational energy barrier of EL2, which is readily penetrated by hot electrons.

Cobalt related defect levels in silicon analyzed by temperature- and injection-dependent lifetime spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diez, S.; Rein, S.; Roth, T.; Glunz, S. W.

2007-02-01

Temperature- and injection-dependent lifetime spectroscopy (TIDLS) as a method to characterize point defects in silicon with several energy levels is demonstrated. An intentionally cobalt-contaminated p-type wafer was investigated by means of lifetime measurements performed at different temperatures up to 151°C. Two defect energy levels were required to model the lifetime curves on basis of the Shockley-Read-Hall statistics. The detailed analysis is based on the determination of the recently introduced defect parameter solution surface (DPSS) in order to extract the underlying defect parameters. A unique solution has been found for a deep defect level located in the upper band gap half with an energy depth of EC-Et=0.38±0.01eV, with a corresponding ratio of capture cross sections k =σn/σp=0.16 within the interval of uncertainty of 0.06-0.69. Additionally, a deep donor level in the lower band gap half known from the literature could be assigned to a second energy level within the DPSS analysis at Et-EV=0.41±0.02eV with a corresponding ratio of capture cross sections k =σn/σp=16±3. An investigation of the temperature dependence of the capture cross section for electrons suggests that the underlying recombination process of the defect in the lower band gap half is driven by a two stage cascade capture with an activation energy of ΔE =52±2meV. These results show that TIDLS in combination with DPSS analysis is a powerful method to characterize even multiple defect levels that are affecting carrier recombination lifetime in parallel.

Impact of patient-specific factors, irradiated left ventricular volume, and treatment set-up errors on the development of myocardial perfusion defects after radiation therapy for left-sided breast cancer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Evans, Elizabeth S.; Prosnitz, Robert G.; Yu Xiaoli

2006-11-15

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of patient-specific factors, left ventricle (LV) volume, and treatment set-up errors on the rate of perfusion defects 6 to 60 months post-radiation therapy (RT) in patients receiving tangential RT for left-sided breast cancer. Methods and Materials: Between 1998 and 2005, a total of 153 patients were enrolled onto an institutional review board-approved prospective study and had pre- and serial post-RT (6-60 months) cardiac perfusion scans to assess for perfusion defects. Of the patients, 108 had normal pre-RT perfusion scans and available follow-up data. The impact of patient-specific factors onmore » the rate of perfusion defects was assessed at various time points using univariate and multivariate analysis. The impact of set-up errors on the rate of perfusion defects was also analyzed using a one-tailed Fisher's Exact test. Results: Consistent with our prior results, the volume of LV in the RT field was the most significant predictor of perfusion defects on both univariate (p = 0.0005 to 0.0058) and multivariate analysis (p = 0.0026 to 0.0029). Body mass index (BMI) was the only significant patient-specific factor on both univariate (p = 0.0005 to 0.022) and multivariate analysis (p = 0.0091 to 0.05). In patients with very small volumes of LV in the planned RT fields, the rate of perfusion defects was significantly higher when the fields set-up 'too deep' (83% vs. 30%, p = 0.059). The frequency of deep set-up errors was significantly higher among patients with BMI {>=}25 kg/m{sup 2} compared with patients of normal weight (47% vs. 28%, p = 0.068). Conclusions: BMI {>=}25 kg/m{sup 2} may be a significant risk factor for cardiac toxicity after RT for left-sided breast cancer, possibly because of more frequent deep set-up errors resulting in the inclusion of additional heart in the RT fields. Further study is necessary to better understand the impact of patient-specific factors and set-up errors on the development of RT-induced perfusion defects.« less

Suppression of Defects and Deep Levels Using Isoelectronic Tungsten Substitution in Monolayer MoSe 2

DOE PAGES

Li, Xufan; Puretzky, Alexander A.; Sang, Xiahan; ...

2017-05-18

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the most promising, scalable synthetic techniques to enable large-area synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) for the realization of next generation optoelectronic devices. However, defects formed during the CVD growth process currently limit the quality and electronic properties of 2D TMDs. Effective synthesis and processing strategies to suppress defects and enhance the quality of 2D TMDs are urgently needed. In this work, isoelectrnic doping to produce stable alloy is presented as a new strategy to suppress defects and enhance photoluminescence (PL) in CVD-grown TMD monolayers. The random, isoelectronic substitution of Wmore » atoms for Mo atoms in CVD-grown monolayers of Mo 1-xW xSe 2 (02 monolayers. The resultant decrease in defect-medicated non-radiative recombination in the Mo 0.82W 0.18Se 2 monolayers yielded ~10 times more intense PL and extended the carrier lifetime by a factor of 3 compared to pristine CVD-grown MoSe 2 monolayers grown under similar conditions. Low temperatures (4 125 K) PL from defect-related localized states confirms theoretical predictions that isoelectronic W alloying should suppress deep levels in MoSe 2, showing that the defect levels in Mo 1-xW xSe 2 monolayers are higher in energy and quenched more quickly than in MoSe 2. Isoelectronic substitution therefore appears to be a promising synthetic method to control the heterogeneity of 2D TMDs to realize the scalable production of high performance optoelectronic and electronic devices.« less

Suppression of Defects and Deep Levels Using Isoelectronic Tungsten Substitution in Monolayer MoSe 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Xufan; Puretzky, Alexander A.; Sang, Xiahan

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the most promising, scalable synthetic techniques to enable large-area synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) for the realization of next generation optoelectronic devices. However, defects formed during the CVD growth process currently limit the quality and electronic properties of 2D TMDs. Effective synthesis and processing strategies to suppress defects and enhance the quality of 2D TMDs are urgently needed. In this work, isoelectrnic doping to produce stable alloy is presented as a new strategy to suppress defects and enhance photoluminescence (PL) in CVD-grown TMD monolayers. The random, isoelectronic substitution of Wmore » atoms for Mo atoms in CVD-grown monolayers of Mo 1-xW xSe 2 (02 monolayers. The resultant decrease in defect-medicated non-radiative recombination in the Mo 0.82W 0.18Se 2 monolayers yielded ~10 times more intense PL and extended the carrier lifetime by a factor of 3 compared to pristine CVD-grown MoSe 2 monolayers grown under similar conditions. Low temperatures (4 125 K) PL from defect-related localized states confirms theoretical predictions that isoelectronic W alloying should suppress deep levels in MoSe 2, showing that the defect levels in Mo 1-xW xSe 2 monolayers are higher in energy and quenched more quickly than in MoSe 2. Isoelectronic substitution therefore appears to be a promising synthetic method to control the heterogeneity of 2D TMDs to realize the scalable production of high performance optoelectronic and electronic devices.« less

Defect-Enabled Electrical Current Leakage in Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes

DOE PAGES

Moseley, Michael William; Allerman, Andrew A.; Crawford, Mary H.; ...

2015-04-13

The AlGaN materials system offers a tunable, ultra-wide bandgap that is exceptionally useful for high-power electronics and deep ultraviolet optoelectronics. Moseley et al. (pp. 723–726) investigate a structural defect known as an open-core threading dislocation or ''nanopipe'' that is particularly detrimental to devices that employ these materials. Furthermore, an AlGaN thin film was synthesized using metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. Electrical current leakage is detected at a discrete point using a conductive atomic-force microscope (CAFM). However, no physical feature or abnormality at this location was visible by an optical microscope. The AlGaN thin film was then etched in hot phosphoric acid, andmore » the same location that was previously analyzed was revisited with the CAFM. The point that previously exhibited electrical current leakage had been decorated with a 1.1 μm wide hexagonal pit, which identified the site of electrical current leakage as a nanopipe and allows these defects to be easily observed by optical microscopy. Moreover, with this nanopipe identification and quantification strategy, the authors were able to correlate decreasing ultraviolet light-emitting diode optical output power with increasing nanopipe density.« less

The effect of elevated die temperature on deformation of deep drawn round metal cup

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basril, M. A. M.; Hafsyam, Y. M.; Azuddin, M.; Choudhury, I. A.

2017-06-01

One of the major considerations in the current deep drawing practice is the product quality. In this research, the effect of heating temperature on the drawability of the round metal cup has been investigated. Firstly, round metal cups of aluminium and mild steel were drawn from the blank diameters of 60 mm, 65 mm and 70 mm. The experiment conducted at room temperature first, then at 50°C and 100°C. The elongation of the major and minor strains along the cup profile after the process is measured and analysed. On the other hand, the defects from the experiment output and ABAQUS/CAE simulation are compared. The result from experiment shows that the highest major elongation is 11.64 mm and it is happened to a deep drawn aluminium round cup with LDR of 1.69 at temperature of 100°C. On the other hand, for deep drawn mild steel round cup, shows highest major elongation of 12.44 mm for a cup with LDR of 1.56 at 100°C. Both of these statements indicates that the higher temperature could improve the formability of the deep drawn parts besides reducing the probability of the defect to be happened.

Deep feature representation with stacked sparse auto-encoder and convolutional neural network for hyperspectral imaging-based detection of cucumber defects

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

It is challenging to achieve rapid and accurate processing of large amounts of hyperspectral image data. This research was aimed to develop a novel classification method by employing deep feature representation with the stacked sparse auto-encoder (SSAE) and the SSAE combined with convolutional neur...

Defects, stoichiometry, and electronic transport in SrTiO{sub 3-δ} epilayers: A high pressure oxygen sputter deposition study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ambwani, P.; Xu, P.; Jeong, J. S.

SrTiO{sub 3} is not only of enduring interest due to its unique dielectric, structural, and lattice dynamical properties, but is also the archetypal perovskite oxide semiconductor and a foundational material in oxide heterostructures and electronics. This has naturally focused attention on growth, stoichiometry, and defects in SrTiO{sub 3}, one exciting recent development being such precisely stoichiometric defect-managed thin films that electron mobilities have finally exceeded bulk crystals. This has been achieved only by molecular beam epitaxy, however (and to a somewhat lesser extent pulsed laser deposition (PLD)), and numerous open questions remain. Here, we present a study of the stoichiometry,more » defects, and structure in SrTiO{sub 3} synthesized by a different method, high pressure oxygen sputtering, relating the results to electronic transport. We find that this form of sputter deposition is also capable of homoepitaxy of precisely stoichiometric SrTiO{sub 3}, but only provided that substrate and target preparation, temperature, pressure, and deposition rate are carefully controlled. Even under these conditions, oxygen-vacancy-doped heteroepitaxial SrTiO{sub 3} films are found to have carrier density, mobility, and conductivity significantly lower than bulk. While surface depletion plays a role, it is argued from particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) measurements of trace impurities in commercial sputtering targets that this is also due to deep acceptors such as Fe at 100's of parts-per-million levels. Comparisons of PIXE from SrTiO{sub 3} crystals and polycrystalline targets are shown to be of general interest, with clear implications for sputter and PLD deposition of this important material.« less

Defect physics in intermediate-band materials: Insights from an optimized hybrid functional

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Miaomiao; Zeng, Zhi; Frauenheim, Thomas; Deák, Peter

2017-10-01

Despite the efforts to implement the idea of a deep level impurity intermediate band (IB) into bulk solar cell materials, a breakthrough in efficiency increase has not yet been achieved. Taking Sn-doped CuGaS2 as an example, we investigate the problem here from the perspective of defect physics, considering all possible charge states of the dopant and its interaction with native defects. Using an optimized hybrid functional, we find that SnGa has not only a donor-type (+/0), but also an acceptor-type (0 /- ) charge transition level. We estimate the probability of the optical transition of an electron from/to the neutral defect to/from the conduction-band edge to be about equal, therefore, the lifetimes of the excited carriers are probably quite short, limiting the enhancement of the photocurrent. In addition, we find that doping with SnGa leads to the spontaneous formation of the intrinsic acceptor CuGa defects which passivate the donor SnGa and pin the Fermi level to a position (1.4 eV above the valence-band edge) where both defects are ionized. As a result, the possibility of absorption in the middle of the visible range gets lost. These two recombination and passivation mechanisms appear to be quite likely the case for other donors and other similar host materials as well, explaining some of the experimental bottlenecks with IB solar cells based on deep level impurities.

Skull Base Erosion Resulting From Primary Tumors of the Temporomandibular Joint and Skull Base Region: Our Classification and Reconstruction Experience.

PubMed

Chen, Min-Jie; Yang, Chi; Zheng, Ji-Si; Bai, Guo; Han, Zi-Xiang; Wang, Yi-Wen

2018-06-01

We sought to introduce our classification and reconstruction protocol for skull base erosions in the temporomandibular joint and skull base region. Patients with neoplasms in the temporomandibular joint and skull base region treated from January 2006 to March 2017 were reviewed. Skull base erosion was classified into 3 types according to the size of the defect. We included 33 patients, of whom 5 (15.2%) had type I defects (including 3 in whom free fat grafts were placed and 2 in whom deep temporal fascial fat flaps were placed). There were 8 patients (24.2%) with type II defects, all of whom received deep temporal fascial fat flaps. A total of 20 patients (60.6%) had type III defects, including 17 in whom autogenous bone grafts were placed, 1 in whom titanium mesh was placed, and 2 who received total alloplastic joints. The mean follow-up period was 50 months. All of the patients exhibited stable occlusion and good facial symmetry. No recurrence was noted. Our classification and reconstruction principles allowed reliable morpho-functional skull base reconstruction. Copyright © 2018 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Defect States in InP/InGaAs/InP Heterostructures by Current-Voltage Characteristics and Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy.

PubMed

Vu, Thi Kim Oanh; Lee, Kyoung Su; Lee, Sang Jun; Kim, Eun Kyu

2018-09-01

We studied defect states in In0.53Ga0.47As/InP heterojunctions with interface control by group V atoms during metalorganic chemical vapor (MOCVD) deposition. From deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements, two defects with activation energies of 0.28 eV (E1) and 0.15 eV (E2) below the conduction band edge, were observed. The defect density of E1 for In0.53Ga0.47As/InP heterojunctions with an addition of As and P atoms was about 1.5 times higher than that of the heterojunction added P atom only. From the temperature dependence of current- voltage characteristics, the thermal activation energies of In0.53Ga0.47As/InP of heterojunctions were estimated to be 0.27 and 0.25 eV, respectively. It appeared that the reverse light current for In0.53Ga0.47As/InP heterojunction added P atom increased only by illumination of a 940 nm-LED light source. These results imply that only the P addition at the interface can enhance the quality of InGaAs/InP heterojunction.

Behavior of Photocarriers in the Light-Induced Metastable State in the p-n Heterojunction of a Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cell with CBD-ZnS Buffer Layer.

PubMed

Lee, Woo-Jung; Yu, Hye-Jung; Wi, Jae-Hyung; Cho, Dae-Hyung; Han, Won Seok; Yoo, Jisu; Yi, Yeonjin; Song, Jung-Hoon; Chung, Yong-Duck

2016-08-31

We fabricated Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells with a chemical bath deposition (CBD)-ZnS buffer layer grown with varying ammonia concentrations in aqueous solution. The solar cell performance was degraded with increasing ammonia concentration, due to actively dissolved Zn atoms during CBD-ZnS precipitation. These formed interfacial defect states, such as hydroxide species in the CBD-ZnS film, and interstitial and antisite Zn defects at the p-n heterojunction. After light/UV soaking, the CIGS solar cell performance drastically improved, with a rise in fill factor. With the Zn-based buffer layer, the light soaking treatment containing blue photons induced a metastable state and enhanced the CIGS solar cell performance. To interpret this effect, we suggest a band structure model of the p-n heterojunction to explain the flow of photocarriers under white light at the initial state, and then after light/UV soaking. The determining factor is a p+ defect layer, containing an amount of deep acceptor traps, located near the CIGS surface. The p+ defect layer easily captures photoexcited electrons, and then when it becomes quasi-neutral, attracts photoexcited holes. This alters the barrier height and controls the photocurrent at the p-n junction, and fill factor values, determining the solar cell performance.

Hole defects in molecular beam epitaxially grown p-GaAs introduced by alpha irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodman, S. A.; Auret, F. D.; Meyer, W. E.

1994-01-01

Epitaxial aluminum Schottky barrier diodes on molecular beam epitaxially grown p-GaAs with a free carrier density of 2×1016 cm-3 were irradiated with alpha particles at room temperature using an americium-241 (Am-241) radio nuclide. For the first time, the radiation induced hole defects are characterized using conventional deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). The introduction rates and DLTS ``signatures'' of three prominent radiation induced defects Hα1, Hα4, and Hα5, situated 0.08, 0.20, and 0.30 eV above the valence band, respectively, are calculated and compared to those of similar defects introduced during electron irradiation.

Study of the effects of impurities on the properties of silicon solar cell

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sah, C. T.

1981-01-01

The effect of defects across the back-surface-field junction on the performance of high efficiency and thin solar cells, using a developed-perimeter device model for the three-dimensional defects is investigated. Significant degradation of open-circuit voltage can occur even if there are only a few defects distributed in the bulk of the solar cell. Two features in the thickness dependences of the fill factor and efficiency in impurity-doped back-surface-field solar cells are discovered in the exact numerical solution which are associated with the high injection level effect in the base and not predicted by the low-level analytical theory. What are believed to be the most accurate recombination parameters at the Ti center to date are also given and a theory is developed which is capable of distinguishing an acceptor-like deep level from a donor-like deep level using the measured values of the thermal emission and capture cross sections.

Point defect induced degradation of electrical properties of Ga2O3 by 10 MeV proton damage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polyakov, A. Y.; Smirnov, N. B.; Shchemerov, I. V.; Yakimov, E. B.; Yang, Jiancheng; Ren, F.; Yang, Gwangseok; Kim, Jihyun; Kuramata, A.; Pearton, S. J.

2018-01-01

Deep electron and hole traps in 10 MeV proton irradiated high-quality β-Ga2O3 films grown by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) on bulk β-Ga2O3 substrates were measured by deep level transient spectroscopy with electrical and optical injection, capacitance-voltage profiling in the dark and under monochromatic irradiation, and also electron beam induced current. Proton irradiation caused the diffusion length of charge carriers to decrease from 350-380 μm in unirradiated samples to 190 μm for a fluence of 1014 cm-2, and this was correlated with an increase in density of hole traps with optical ionization threshold energy near 2.3 eV. These defects most likely determine the recombination lifetime in HVPE β-Ga2O3 epilayers. Electron traps at Ec-0.75 eV and Ec-1.2 eV present in as-grown samples increase in the concentration after irradiation and suggest that these centers involve native point defects.

A new mucosal propeller flap (deep lingual artery axial propeller): the renaissance of lingual flaps.

PubMed

Cordova, Adriana; Toia, Francesca; D'Arpa, Salvatore; Giunta, Gabriele; Moschella, Francesco

2015-03-01

Lingual flaps provide ideal mucosal coverage for intraoral defects but traditionally require two surgical stages. The authors present an axial mucosal propeller flap for single-stage intraoral reconstruction. The flap includes the mucosa of the lateral side of the tongue, islanded on the deep lingual vessels. Between 2011 and 2013, 23 patients underwent intraoral mucosal reconstruction with a deep lingual artery axial propeller flap after cancer resection in the cheek (n = 16), floor of the mouth (n = 2), retromolar trigone (n = 2), hard palate (n = 2), and soft palate (n = 1). Mean defect size was 19.5 cm. Preoperative and postoperative intraoral function was evaluated with the Functional Intraoral Glasgow Scale. The authors always achieved one-stage reconstruction with primary donor-site closure. The only complications were an infection treated conservatively and a late oronasal fistula caused by radiotherapy. All patients resumed an oral diet after 1 week and none required surgical revision. Mean 12-month postoperative Functional Intraoral Glasgow Scale score was better than the preoperative score (13.5 versus 12.8). The deep lingual artery axial propeller flap combines the advantages of the traditional lingual flap (i.e., reliable axial vascularization and like-with-like reconstruction) with those of a propeller flap (i.e., one-stage transfer of like tissue and extreme mobility) and has wider indications than a conventional lingual flap. The technique is fast and has low morbidity and good functional results, and the authors recommend it as a first-choice technique to reconstruct moderate to large intraoral defects. Therapeutic, IV.

Automatic Detection of Welding Defects using Deep Neural Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hou, Wenhui; Wei, Ye; Guo, Jie; Jin, Yi; Zhu, Chang'an

2018-01-01

In this paper, we propose an automatic detection schema including three stages for weld defects in x-ray images. Firstly, the preprocessing procedure for the image is implemented to locate the weld region; Then a classification model which is trained and tested by the patches cropped from x-ray images is constructed based on deep neural network. And this model can learn the intrinsic feature of images without extra calculation; Finally, the sliding-window approach is utilized to detect the whole images based on the trained model. In order to evaluate the performance of the model, we carry out several experiments. The results demonstrate that the classification model we proposed is effective in the detection of welded joints quality.

Carrier Transport and Effective Barrier Height of Low Resistance Metal Contact to Highly Mg-Doped p-GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Youngjun; Kim, Hyunsoo

2011-08-01

The effective barrier height and carrier transport mechanism of low resistance Ag-based contact to highly Mg-doped p-GaN were investigated. The specific contact resistance obtained was as low as 7.0×10-4 Ω cm2. The electrical resistivity of p-GaN was found to increase depending on ˜T-1/4, indicating variable-range hopping (VRH) conduction through Mg-related deep-level defects. Based on the VRH conduction model, the effective barrier height for carrier transport could be measured as 0.12 eV, which is low enough to explain the formation of excellent ohmic contact. The deep-level defects were also found to induce surface Fermi pinning.

Photothermal coherence tomography for 3-D visualization and structural non-destructive imaging of a wood inlay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tavakolian, Pantea; Sfarra, Stefano; Gargiulo, Gianfranco; Sivagurunathan, Koneshwaran; Mandelis, Andreas

2018-06-01

The aim of this research is to investigate the suitability of truncated correlation photothermal coherence tomography (TC-PCT) for the non-destructive imaging of a replica of a real inlay to identify subsurface features that often are invisible areas of vulnerability and damage. Defects of inlays involve glue-rich areas, glue-starved areas, termite attack, insect damage, and laminar splitting. These defects have the potential to result in extensive damage to the art design layers of inlays. Therefore, there is a need for an imaging technique to visualize and determine the location of defects within the sample. The recently introduced TC-PCT modality proved capable of providing 3-D images of specimens with high axial resolution, deep subsurface depth profiling capability, and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, in this study the authors used TC-PCT to image a fabricated inlay sample with various natural and artificial defects in the middle and top layers. The inlay in question reproduces to scale a piece of art preserved in the "Mirror room" of the Castle Laffitte in France. It was built by a professional restorer following the ancient procedure named element by element. Planar TC-PCT images of the inlay were stacked coherently to provide 3-D visualization of areas with known defects in the sample. The experimental results demonstrated the identification of defects such as empty holes, a hole filled with stucco, subsurface delaminations and natural features such as a wood knot and wood grain in different layers of the sample. For this wooden sample that has a very low thermal diffusivity, a depth range of 2 mm was achieved.

Radiation damage annealing mechanisms and possible low temperature annealing in silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Swartz, C. K.

1980-01-01

Deep level transient spectroscopy and the Shockley-Read-Hall recombination theory are used to identify the defect responsible for reverse annealing in 2 ohm-cm n+/p silicon solar cells. This defect, with energy level at Ev + 0.30 eV, has been tentatively identified as a boron-oxygen-vacancy complex. It has been also determined by calculation that the removal of this defect could result in significant annealing at temperatures as low as 200 C for 2 ohm-cm and lower resistivity cells.

Fabrication of cerium-doped β-Ga2O3 epitaxial thin films and deep ultraviolet photodetectors.

PubMed

Li, Wenhao; Zhao, Xiaolong; Zhi, Yusong; Zhang, Xuhui; Chen, Zhengwei; Chu, Xulong; Yang, Hujiang; Wu, Zhenping; Tang, Weihua

2018-01-20

High-quality cerium-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 (Ga 2 O 3 :Ce) thin films could be achieved on (0001)α-Al 2 O 3 substrates using a pulsed-laser deposition method. The impact of dopant contents concentration on crystal structure, optical absorption, photoluminescence, and photoelectric properties has been intensively studied. X-ray diffraction analysis results have shown that Ga 2 O 3 :Ce films are highly (2¯01) oriented, and the lattice spacing of the (4¯02) planes is sensitive to the Ce doping level. The prepared Ga 2 O 3 :Ce films show a sharp absorption edge at about 250 nm, meaning a high transparency to deep ultraviolet (DUV) light. The photoluminescence results revealed that the emissions were in the violet-blue-green region, which are associated with the donor-acceptor transitions with the Ce 3+ and oxygen vacancies related defects. A simple DUV photodetector device with a metal-semiconductor-metal structure has also been fabricated based on Ga 2 O 3 :Ce thin film. A distinct DUV photoresponse was obtained, suggesting a potential application in DUV photodetector devices.

Stress-induced reversible and irreversible ferroelectric domain switching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zibin; Huang, Qianwei; Wang, Feifei; Ringer, Simon P.; Luo, Haosu; Liao, Xiaozhou

2018-04-01

Ferroelectric materials have been extensively explored for applications in electronic devices because of their ferroelectric/ferroelastic domain switching behaviour under electric bias or mechanical stress. Recent findings on applying mechanical loading to manipulate reversible logical signals in non-volatile ferroelectric memory devices make ferroelectric materials more attractive to scientists and engineers. However, the dynamical microscopic structural behaviour of ferroelectric domains under stress is not well understood, which limits the applications of ferroelectric/ferroelastic switching in memory devices. Here, the kinetics of reversible and irreversible ferroelectric domain switching induced by mechanical stress in relaxor-based ferroelectrics was explored. In-situ transmission electron microscopy investigation revealed that 90° ferroelastic and 180° ferroelectric domain switching can be induced by low and high mechanical stresses. The nucleation and growth of nanoscale domains overwhelm the defect-induced pinning effect on the stable micro-domain walls. This study provides deep insights for exploring the mechanical kinetics for ferroelectric/ferroelastic domains and a clear pathway to overcome the domain pinning effect of defects in ferroelectrics.

Tunable room-temperature single-photon emission at telecom wavelengths from sp 3 defects in carbon nanotubes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

He, Xiaowei; Hartmann, Nicolai F.; Ma, Xuedan

Generating quantum light emitters that operate at room temperature and at telecom wavelengths remains a significant materials challenge. To achieve this goal requires light sources that emit in the near-infrared wavelength region and that, ideally, are tunable to allow desired output wavelengths to be accessed in a controllable manner. Here, we show that exciton localization at covalently introduced aryl sp 3 defect sites in single-walled carbon nanotubes provides a route to room-temperature single-photon emission with ultrahigh single-photon purity (99%) and enhanced emission stability approaching the shot-noise limit. Moreover, we demonstrate that the inherent optical tunability of single-walled carbon nanotubes, presentmore » in their structural diversity, allows us to generate room-temperature single-photon emission spanning the entire telecom band. Furthermore, single-photon emission deep into the centre of the telecom C band (1.55 um) is achieved at the largest nanotube diameters we explore (0.936 nm).« less

Tunable room-temperature single-photon emission at telecom wavelengths from sp 3 defects in carbon nanotubes

DOE PAGES

He, Xiaowei; Hartmann, Nicolai F.; Ma, Xuedan; ...

2017-07-31

Generating quantum light emitters that operate at room temperature and at telecom wavelengths remains a significant materials challenge. To achieve this goal requires light sources that emit in the near-infrared wavelength region and that, ideally, are tunable to allow desired output wavelengths to be accessed in a controllable manner. Here, we show that exciton localization at covalently introduced aryl sp 3 defect sites in single-walled carbon nanotubes provides a route to room-temperature single-photon emission with ultrahigh single-photon purity (99%) and enhanced emission stability approaching the shot-noise limit. Moreover, we demonstrate that the inherent optical tunability of single-walled carbon nanotubes, presentmore » in their structural diversity, allows us to generate room-temperature single-photon emission spanning the entire telecom band. Furthermore, single-photon emission deep into the centre of the telecom C band (1.55 um) is achieved at the largest nanotube diameters we explore (0.936 nm).« less

Combined use of Doppler OCT and en face OCT functions for discrimination of an aneurysm in the lamina cribrosa from a disc hemorrhage.

PubMed

Holló, Gábor

2015-12-01

In addition to retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements, the recently introduced AngioVue optical coherence tomography (OCT) offers corresponding layer-by-layer Doppler OCT and en face OCT functions, for simultaneous evaluation of perfusion and structure of the optic nerve head. We investigated the clinical usefulness of combined use of Doppler and en face Fourier-domain OCT functions of the AngioVue Fourier-domain OCT for discrimination of a disc hemorrhage and a disc hemorrhage-like atypical vessel structure located deep in the lamina cribrosa. We present our findings with AngioVue OCT on a disc hemorrhage and a spatially related retinal nerve fiber layer bundle defect in a glaucomatous eye (case 1). Both alterations were detected on en face OCT images without any Doppler OCT signal. We also report on an aneurysm suggestive for a disc hemorrhage on clinical examination and disc photography in a treated ocular hypertensive eye (case 2). The aneurysm was within the lamina cribrosa tissue at the border of the cup and the neuroretinal rim. This vascular structure produced strong Doppler signals but no structurally detectable signs on the en face OCT images. Combined evaluation of corresponding Doppler OCT and en face OCT images enables ophthalmologists to easily separate true disc hemorrhages from disc hemorrhage-like deep vascular structures. This is of clinical significance in preventing unnecessary intensification of pressure-lowering treatment in glaucoma.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Danno, Katsunori; Kimoto, Tsunenobu

The authors have investigated deep levels in as-grown and electron-irradiated p-type 4H-SiC epilayers by deep level transient spectroscopy. In as-grown epilayers, the D center and four deep levels are observed. In p-type 4H-SiC, reactive ion etching followed by thermal treatment (at 1150 degree sign C) induces the HK0 (E{sub V}+0.79 eV) and HK2 (E{sub V}+0.84 eV) centers. By the electron irradiation, two deep levels at 0.98 eV (EP1) and 1.44 eV (EP2) are observed in all the samples irradiated at 116-400 keV, while two additional deep levels (EP3 and EP4) are observed only in the samples irradiated at 400 keV.more » After annealing at 950 degree sign C, these centers are annealed out, and the HK4 (E{sub V}+1.44 eV) concentration is increased. By the electron irradiation at more than 160 keV followed by annealing at 950 degree sign C, three deep levels are always observed at 0.30 eV (UK1), 0.58 eV (UK2), and 1.44 eV (HK4). These centers may be defect complexes including carbon displacement-related defects. All the centers except for the D center are reduced to below the detection limit (1-3x10{sup 11} cm{sup -3}) by annealing at 1550 degree sign C for 30 min.« less

Extensive comedonal and cystic acne in Patau syndrome.

PubMed

Torrelo, Antonio; Fernandez-Crehuet, Pablo; Del Prado, Elena; Martes, Pilar; Hernández-Martín, Angela; De Diego, Verónica; Carapeto, Francisco

2010-01-01

Patau syndrome is a chromosomal disorder associated with multiple malformations caused by inheritance of an extra chromosome (trisomy 13). Some skin defects have been reported in patients with Patau syndrome, such as scalp defects, glabellar stains, deep palmar creases, rocker-bottom feet, convex soles, hyperconvextity of the nails, and multiple hemangiomas. To our knowledge, widespread comedonal and cystic acne have not been previously reported in Patau syndrome.

Deep levels in osmium doped p-type GaAs grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iqbal, M. Zafar; Majid, A.; Dadgar, A.; Bimberg, D.

2005-06-01

Results of a preliminary study on deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) investigations of osmium (Os) impurity in p-type GaAs, introduced in situ during MOCVD crystal growth, are reported for the first time. Os is clearly shown to introduce two prominent deep levels in the lower half-bandgap of GaAs at energy positions Ev + 0.42 eV (OsA) and Ev + 0.72 eV (OsB). A minority-carrier emitting defect feature observed in the upper half-bandgap is shown to consist of a band of Os-related deep levels with a concentration significantly higher than that of the majority carrier emitting deep levels. Detailed data on the emission rate signatures and related parameters of the Os-related deep levels are reported.

Development and optimization of thermographic techniques for Non-Destructive Evaluation of multilayered structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavrilov, Dmitry J.

Quality control of modern materials is of the utmost importance in science and industry. Methods for nondestructive evaluation of material properties and the presence of defects are numerous. They differ in terms of their sensitivity and applicability in various conditions, and they provide different kinds of data such as the speed of sound in the material, its hardness, radiation absorption, etc. Based on measured characteristics an analyst makes a decision on the material studied. This work addresses a class of methods known as active thermographic analysis. Thermography analyzes the temperature of the surface of the sample under different external conditions. By keeping track of temperature changes at the surface caused by a deposition of heat on the sample one can determine its material properties such as theand processing the data captured it is possible to make decisions on parameters of this sample. Among the data which can be acquired are such important information as the location of internal defects (e.g., detachments, hollows, inclusions), thickness of the material layers, thermal parameters of the material and the location of internal defects (e.g., detachments, hollows, inclusions). The first part of this research investigates a method for analysis of layered composite materials using the approach based on interference of so called temperature waves. As demonstrated using the expressions derived, one can determine the thermal properties of the layers of the sample by applying a harmonically modulated heat flux to the surfaces and measuring the phase of the periodically changing surface temperature. This approach can be of use in the field of designing and analysis of composite thermal insulation coatings. In the second part of this work a method of analyzing objects of fine art was investigated, particularly - detection of subsurface defects. In the process of preserving art it is of primary importance to determine whether restoration is necessary. Moreover, this analysis should be done on a regular basis to prevent defects from increasing in size over time. Conventional methods, such as infrared photography and X-ray radiography may not be suitable for this application, because most of detachments are too deep for infrared to reach them, and too thin for providing enough contrast on X-ray images. This highlights the need for the development of methodsfor detection of hidden defects and structure of art pieces to detect the structure of art pieces and any hidden defects present. Thermography has strong potential as a tool for non-invasive analysis of works of art and only recently has it been actively promoted into this field. However, due to the general unpredictability of the structure of brushstrokes as well as the properties of paint, it is difficult to apply a physical model to the analysis of paintings. In addition, an improved method is proposed. This proposed method is mainly based on PCT, but it is capable of returning clear images of subsurface defects and the structure of the support. Unlike standard PCT images, the images acquired by this method do not exhibit visually similar features.

Toward sophisticated basal ganglia neuromodulation: Review on basal ganglia deep brain stimulation.

PubMed

Da Cunha, Claudio; Boschen, Suelen L; Gómez-A, Alexander; Ross, Erika K; Gibson, William S J; Min, Hoon-Ki; Lee, Kendall H; Blaha, Charles D

2015-11-01

This review presents state-of-the-art knowledge about the roles of the basal ganglia (BG) in action-selection, cognition, and motivation, and how this knowledge has been used to improve deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Such pathological conditions include Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Tourette syndrome, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The first section presents evidence supporting current hypotheses of how the cortico-BG circuitry works to select motor and emotional actions, and how defects in this circuitry can cause symptoms of the BG diseases. Emphasis is given to the role of striatal dopamine on motor performance, motivated behaviors and learning of procedural memories. Next, the use of cutting-edge electrochemical techniques in animal and human studies of BG functioning under normal and disease conditions is discussed. Finally, functional neuroimaging studies are reviewed; these works have shown the relationship between cortico-BG structures activated during DBS and improvement of disease symptoms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toward sophisiticated basal ganglia neuromodulation: review on basal gaglia deep brain stimulation

PubMed Central

Da Cunha, Claudio; Boschen, Suelen L.; Gómez-A, Alexander; Ross, Erika K.; Gibson, William S. J.; Min, Hoon-Ki; Lee, Kendall H.; Blaha, Charles D.

2015-01-01

This review presents state-of-the-art knowledge about the roles of the basal ganglia (BG) in action-selection, cognition, and motivation, and how this knowledge has been used to improve deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Such pathological conditions include Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Tourette syndrome, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The first section presents evidence supporting current hypotheses of how the cortico-BG circuitry works to select motor and emotional actions, and how defects in this circuitry can cause symptoms of the BG diseases. Emphasis is given to the role of striatal dopamine on motor performance, motivated behaviors and learning of procedural memories. Next, the use of cutting-edge electrochemical techniques in animal and human studies of BG functioning under normal and disease conditions is discussed. Finally, functional neuroimaging studies are reviewed; these works have shown the relationship between cortico-BG structures activated during DBS and improvement of disease symptoms. PMID:25684727

Isothermal relaxation current and microstructure changes of thermally aged polyester films impregnated by epoxy resin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Xiongwei; Sun, Potao; Peng, Qingjun; Sima, Wenxia

2018-01-01

In this study, to understand the effect of thermal aging on polymer films degradation, specimens of polyester films impregnated by epoxy resin with different thermal aging temperatures (80 and 130 °C) and aging times (500, 1600, 2400 and 3000 h) are prepared, then charge de-trapping properties of specimens are investigated via the isothermal relaxation current (IRC) measurement, the distributions of trap level and its corresponding density are obtained based on the modified IRC model. It is found that the deep trap density increases remarkably at the beginning of thermal aging (before 1600 h), but it decreases obviously as the aging degree increases. At elevated aging temperature and, in particular considering the presence of air gap between two-layer insulation, the peak densities of deep traps decrease more significant in the late period of aging. It can be concluded that it is the released energy from de-trapping process leads to the fast degradation of insulation. Moreover, after thermal aging, the microstructure changes of crystallinity and molecular structures are analyzed via the x-ray diffraction experiment and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The results indicate that the variation of the deep trap density is closely linked with the changes of microstructure, a larger interface of crystalline/amorphous phase, more defects and broken chains caused by thermal aging form higher deep trap density stored in the samples.

Hysteretic photochromic switching of Eu-Mg defects in GaN links the shallow transient and deep ground states of the Mg acceptor.

PubMed

Singh, A K; O'Donnell, K P; Edwards, P R; Lorenz, K; Kappers, M J; Boćkowski, M

2017-02-03

Although p-type activation of GaN by Mg underpins a mature commercial technology, the nature of the Mg acceptor in GaN is still controversial. Here, we use implanted Eu as a 'spectator ion' to probe the lattice location of Mg in doubly doped GaN(Mg):Eu. Photoluminescence spectroscopy of this material exemplifies hysteretic photochromic switching (HPS) between two configurations, Eu0 and Eu1(Mg), of the same Eu-Mg defect, with a hyperbolic time dependence on 'switchdown' from Eu0 to Eu1(Mg). The sample temperature and the incident light intensity at 355 nm tune the characteristic switching time over several orders of magnitude, from less than a second at 12.5 K, ~100 mW/cm 2 to (an estimated) several hours at 50 K, 1 mW/cm 2 . Linking the distinct Eu-Mg defect configurations with the shallow transient and deep ground states of the Mg acceptor in the Lany-Zunger model, we determine the energy barrier between the states to be 27.7(4) meV, in good agreement with the predictions of theory. The experimental results further suggest that at low temperatures holes in deep ground states are localized on N atoms axially bonded to Mg acceptors.

Optical signatures of deep level defects in Ga2O3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Hantian; Muralidharan, Shreyas; Pronin, Nicholas; Karim, Md Rezaul; White, Susan M.; Asel, Thaddeus; Foster, Geoffrey; Krishnamoorthy, Sriram; Rajan, Siddharth; Cao, Lei R.; Higashiwaki, Masataka; von Wenckstern, Holger; Grundmann, Marius; Zhao, Hongping; Look, David C.; Brillson, Leonard J.

2018-06-01

We used depth-resolved cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and surface photovoltage spectroscopy to measure the effects of near-surface plasma processing and neutron irradiation on native point defects in β-Ga2O3. The near-surface sensitivity and depth resolution of these optical techniques enabled us to identify spectral changes associated with removing or creating these defects, leading to identification of one oxygen vacancy-related and two gallium vacancy-related energy levels in the β-Ga2O3 bandgap. The combined near-surface detection and processing of Ga2O3 suggests an avenue for identifying the physical nature and reducing the density of native point defects in this and other semiconductors.

Damage Tolerance of Large Shell Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Minnetyan, L.; Chamis, C. C.

1999-01-01

Progressive damage and fracture of large shell structures is investigated. A computer model is used for the assessment of structural response, progressive fracture resistance, and defect/damage tolerance characteristics. Critical locations of a stiffened conical shell segment are identified. Defective and defect-free computer models are simulated to evaluate structural damage/defect tolerance. Safe pressurization levels are assessed for the retention of structural integrity at the presence of damage/ defects. Damage initiation, growth, accumulation, and propagation to fracture are included in the simulations. Damage propagation and burst pressures for defective and defect-free shells are compared to evaluate damage tolerance. Design implications with regard to defect and damage tolerance of a large steel pressure vessel are examined.

Electrical characterisation of defects in wide bandgap semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elsherif, Osama S.

Defects usually have a very large influence on the semiconductor material properties and hence on fabricated electronic devices. The nature and properties of defects in semiconducting materials can be investigated by applying electrical characterization techniques such as thermal admittance spectroscopy (TAS), deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and high resolution Laplace-DLTS measurements. This dissertation presents the electrical characterisation of two different wide bandgap semiconducting materials (polycrystalline diamond and GaN) which have both recently attracted a great deal of attention because of their potential applications in the fields of power electronics and optoelectronics. Raman spectroscopy, I-V and C-V measurements were carried out as supporting experiments for the above investigations. The first part of this work focuses on studying the effect of B concentration on the electronic states in polycrystalline diamond thin films grown on silicon by the hot filament chemical vapour deposition method. A combination of high-resolution LDLTS and direct-capture cross-section measurements was used to investigate whether the deep electronic states present in the layers originated from point or extended defects. There was good agreement between data on deep electronic levels obtained from DLTS and TAS experiments. A number of hole traps have been detected; the majority of these levels show an unusual dependence of the DLTS signal on the fill pulse duration which is interpreted as possibly the levels are part of extended defects within the grain boundaries. In contrast, a defect level found in a more highly doped film, with an activation energy of -0.37 eV, exhibited behaviour characteristic of an isolated point defect, which we attribute to B-related centres in the bulk diamond, away from the dislocations. The second part of this thesis presents electrical measurements carried out at temperatures up to 450 K in order to study the electronic states associated with Mg in Mg-doped GaN films grown on sapphire by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy, and to determine how these are affected by the threading dislocation density (TDD). Two different buffer layer schemes between the film and the sapphire substrate were used, giving rise to different TDDs in the GaN. Admittance spectroscopy of the films finds a single impurity-related acceptor level. It is observed in theses experiments that admittance spectroscopy detects no traps that can be attributed to extended defects, despite the fact that the dislocations are well-known to be active recombination centres. This unexpected finding is discussed in detail.

Electrical characterisation of defects in wide bandgap semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elsherif, Osama S.

Defects usually have a very large influence on the semiconductor material properties and hence on fabricated electronic devices. The nature and properties of defects in semiconducting materials can be investigated by applying electrical characterization techniques such as thermal admittance spectroscopy (TAS), deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and high resolution Laplace-DLTS measurements. This dissertation presents the electrical characterisation of two different wide bandgap semiconducting materials (polycrystalline diamond and GaN) which have both recently attracted a great deal of attention because of their potential applications in the fields of power electronics and optoelectronics. Raman spectroscopy, I-V and C-V measurements were carried out as supporting experiments for the above investigations.The first part of this work focuses on studying the effect of B concentration on the electronic states in polycrystalline diamond thin films grown on silicon by the hot filament chemical vapour deposition method. A combination of high-resolution LDLTS and direct-capture cross-section measurements was used to investigate whether the deep electronic states present in the layers originated from point or extended defects. There was good agreement between data on deep electronic levels obtained from DLTS and TAS experiments. A number of hole traps have been detected; the majority of these levels show an unusual dependence of the DLTS signal on the fill pulse duration which is interpreted as possibly the levels are part of extended defects within the grain boundaries. In contrast, a defect level found in a more highly doped film, with an activation energy of -0.37 eV, exhibited behaviour characteristic of an isolated point defect, which we attribute to B-related centres in the bulk diamond, away from the dislocations.The second part of this thesis presents electrical measurements carried out at temperatures up to 450 K in order to study the electronic states associated with Mg in Mg-doped GaN films grown on sapphire by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy, and to determine how these are affected by the threading dislocation density (TDD). Two different buffer layer schemes between the film and the sapphire substrate were used, giving rise to different TDDs in the GaN. Admittance spectroscopy of the films finds a single impurity-related acceptor level. It is observed in theses experiments that admittance spectroscopy detects no traps that can be attributed to extended defects, despite the fact that the dislocations are well-known to be active recombination centres. This unexpected finding is discussed in detail.

Electrically active defects in p-type silicon after alpha-particle irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danga, Helga T.; Auret, F. Danie; Tunhuma, Shandirai M.; Omotoso, Ezekiel; Igumbor, Emmanuel; Meyer, Walter E.

2018-04-01

In this work, we investigated the defects introduced when boron (B) doped silicon (Si) was irradiated by making use of a 5.4 MeV americium (Am) 241 foil radioactive source with a fluence rate of 7×106 cm-2 s-1 at room temperature. Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace-DLTS measurements were used to investigate the electronic properties of the introduced defects. After exposure at a fluence of 5.1×1010 cm-2, the energy levels of the hole traps measured were: H(0.10), H(0.16), H(0.33) and H(0.52) The defect level H(0.10) was tri-vacancy related. H(0.33) was identified as the interstitial carbon (Ci) related defect which was a result of radiation induced damage. H(0.52) was a B-related defect. Explicit deductions about the origin of H(0.16) have not yet been achieved.

Deep level defects in Ge-doped (010) β-Ga2O3 layers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farzana, Esmat; Ahmadi, Elaheh; Speck, James S.; Arehart, Aaron R.; Ringel, Steven A.

2018-04-01

Deep level defects were characterized in Ge-doped (010) β-Ga2O3 layers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) using deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS) and deep level transient (thermal) spectroscopy (DLTS) applied to Ni/β-Ga2O3:Ge (010) Schottky diodes that displayed Schottky barrier heights of 1.50 eV. DLOS revealed states at EC - 2.00 eV, EC - 3.25 eV, and EC - 4.37 eV with concentrations on the order of 1016 cm-3, and a lower concentration level at EC - 1.27 eV. In contrast to these states within the middle and lower parts of the bandgap probed by DLOS, DLTS measurements revealed much lower concentrations of states within the upper bandgap region at EC - 0.1 - 0.2 eV and EC - 0.98 eV. There was no evidence of the commonly observed trap state at ˜EC - 0.82 eV that has been reported to dominate the DLTS spectrum in substrate materials synthesized by melt-based growth methods such as edge defined film fed growth (EFG) and Czochralski methods [Zhang et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 108, 052105 (2016) and Irmscher et al., J. Appl. Phys. 110, 063720 (2011)]. This strong sensitivity of defect incorporation on crystal growth method and conditions is unsurprising, which for PAMBE-grown β-Ga2O3:Ge manifests as a relatively "clean" upper part of the bandgap. However, the states at ˜EC - 0.98 eV, EC - 2.00 eV, and EC - 4.37 eV are reminiscent of similar findings from these earlier results on EFG-grown materials, suggesting that possible common sources might also be present irrespective of growth method.

Dye penetrant indications caused by superficial surface defects in 2014 aluminum alloy welds.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hocker, R. G.; Wilson, K. R.

1971-01-01

Demonstration that dye penetrant indications on the heat-affected zone of 2014-T6 aluminum GMA weldments are frequently caused by superficial surface conditions and are less than 0.007 in. deep. The following methods are suggested for minimization of these surface defects: stabilization of the arc, application of dc ?GTA' welding procedures, reduction of the caustic etch time, and use of fine grain materials.

Effect of hydrogenation on the electrical and optical properties of CdZnTe substrates and HgCdTe epitaxial layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sitharaman, S.; Raman, R.; Durai, L.; Pal, Surendra; Gautam, Madhukar; Nagpal, Anjana; Kumar, Shiv; Chatterjee, S. N.; Gupta, S. C.

2005-12-01

In this paper, we report the experimental observations on the effect of plasma hydrogenation in passivating intrinsic point defects, shallow/deep levels and extended defects in low-resistivity undoped CdZnTe crystals. The optical absorption studies show transmittance improvement in the below gap absorption spectrum. Using variable temperature Hall measurement technique, the shallow defect level on which the penetrating hydrogen makes complex, has been identified. In 'compensated' n-type HgCdTe epitaxial layers, hydrogenation can improve the resistivity by two orders of magnitude.

Recombination activity of light-activated copper defects in p-type silicon studied by injection- and temperature-dependent lifetime spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inglese, Alessandro; Lindroos, Jeanette; Vahlman, Henri; Savin, Hele

2016-09-01

The presence of copper contamination is known to cause strong light-induced degradation (Cu-LID) in silicon. In this paper, we parametrize the recombination activity of light-activated copper defects in terms of Shockley—Read—Hall recombination statistics through injection- and temperature dependent lifetime spectroscopy (TDLS) performed on deliberately contaminated float zone silicon wafers. We obtain an accurate fit of the experimental data via two non-interacting energy levels, i.e., a deep recombination center featuring an energy level at Ec-Et=0.48 -0.62 eV with a moderate donor-like capture asymmetry ( k =1.7 -2.6 ) and an additional shallow energy state located at Ec-Et=0.1 -0.2 eV , which mostly affects the carrier lifetime only at high-injection conditions. Besides confirming these defect parameters, TDLS measurements also indicate a power-law temperature dependence of the capture cross sections associated with the deep energy state. Eventually, we compare these results with the available literature data, and we find that the formation of copper precipitates is the probable root cause behind Cu-LID.

A Generic Deep-Learning-Based Approach for Automated Surface Inspection.

PubMed

Ren, Ruoxu; Hung, Terence; Tan, Kay Chen

2018-03-01

Automated surface inspection (ASI) is a challenging task in industry, as collecting training dataset is usually costly and related methods are highly dataset-dependent. In this paper, a generic approach that requires small training data for ASI is proposed. First, this approach builds classifier on the features of image patches, where the features are transferred from a pretrained deep learning network. Next, pixel-wise prediction is obtained by convolving the trained classifier over input image. An experiment on three public and one industrial data set is carried out. The experiment involves two tasks: 1) image classification and 2) defect segmentation. The results of proposed algorithm are compared against several best benchmarks in literature. In the classification tasks, the proposed method improves accuracy by 0.66%-25.50%. In the segmentation tasks, the proposed method reduces error escape rates by 6.00%-19.00% in three defect types and improves accuracies by 2.29%-9.86% in all seven defect types. In addition, the proposed method achieves 0.0% error escape rate in the segmentation task of industrial data.

Structural defects and recombination behavior of excited carriers in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, J.; Du, H. W.; Li, Y.; Gao, M.; Wan, Y. Z.; Xu, F.; Ma, Z. Q.

2016-08-01

The carriers' behavior in neutral region (NTR) and space charged region (SCR) of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film based solar cells has been investigated by temperature dependent photoluminescence (PL-T), electroluminescence (EL-T) and current-voltage (IV-T) from 10 to 300 K. PL-T spectra show that three kinds of defects, namely VSe, InCu and (InCu+VCu), are localized within the band gap of NTR and SCR of CIGS layer, corresponding to the energy levels of EC-0.08, EC-0.20 and EC-0.25 eV, respectively. The InCu and (InCu+VCu) deep level defects are non-radiative recombination centers at room temperature. The IV-T and EL-T analysis reveals that the injection modes of electrons from ZnO conduction band into Cu(In,Ga)Se2 layer are tunneling, thermally-excited tunneling and thermionic emission under 10-40, 60-160, and 180-300 K, respectively. At 10-160 K, the electrons tunnel into (InCu+VCu) and Vse defect levels in band gap of SCR and the drifting is involved in the emission bands at 0.96 and 1.07 eV, which is the direct evidence for a tunneling assisted recombination. At 180-300 K, the electrons are directly injected into the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 conduction band, and the emission of 1.13 eV are ascribed to the transitions from the conduction band to the valence band.

Two-Dimensional Halide Perovskites: Tuning Electronic Activities of Defects

DOE PAGES

Liu, Yuanyue; Xiao, Hai; Goddard, William A.

2016-04-21

Two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites are emerging as promising candidates for nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. To realize their full potential, it is important to understand the role of those defects that can strongly impact material properties. In contrast to other popular 2D semiconductors (e.g., transition metal dichalcogenides MX 2) for which defects typically induce harmful traps, we show that the electronic activities of defects in 2D perovskites are significantly tunable. For example, even with a fixed lattice orientation one can change the synthesis conditions to convert a line defect (edge or grain boundary) from electron acceptor to inactive site without deep gapmore » states. Here, we show that this difference originates from the enhanced ionic bonding in these perovskites compared with MX 2. The donors tend to have high formation energies and the harmful defects are difficult to form at a low halide chemical potential. Thus, we unveil unique properties of defects in 2D perovskites and suggest practical routes to improve them.« less

Polar-Direct-Drive Defect Implosions at OMEGA inPreparation for Experiments at NIF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobble, J. A.; Schmitt, M. J.; Murphy, T. J.; Tregillis, I. L.; Wysocki, F. J.; Obrey, K. D.; Magelssen, G. R.; Glebov, V.; Bradley, P. A.; Hsu, S. C.; Krasheninnikova, N. V.; Batha, S. H.

2011-10-01

The Defect-Implosion (DIME) campaign involves compressing perturbed spherical capsules with polar direct drive (PDD). For direct-drive implosions at NIF, PDD will be used. We have done simulations and experiments at OMEGA to test our modeling capability for equatorial-plane defects in fusion capsules and for PDD at NIF. Since PDD is anisotropic, we show the results of 0th hydrodynamics of implosions and perturbation-driven features near stagnation. Later presentations discuss defect-induced mix and neutronics, and laser pointing for NIF experiments. Prototype OMEGA shots used 865- μm diameter CH shells filled with 5 atm of D2. Machined channels 30- μm wide and up to 9- μm deep formed the defects. This work has been performed under the auspices of the US DOE, contract number DE-AC52-06NA25396.

IR calibrations for water determination in olivine, r-GeO2, and SiO2 polymorphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, Sylvia-Monique; Koch-Müller, Monika; Reichart, Patrick; Rhede, Dieter; Thomas, Rainer; Wirth, Richard; Matsyuk, Stanislav

2009-10-01

Mineral-specific IR absorption coefficients were calculated for natural and synthetic olivine, SiO2 polymorphs, and GeO2 with specific isolated OH point defects using quantitative data from independent techniques such as proton-proton scattering, confocal Raman spectroscopy, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Moreover, we present a routine to detect OH traces in anisotropic minerals using Raman spectroscopy combined with the “Comparator Technique”. In case of olivine and the SiO2 system, it turns out that the magnitude of ɛ for one structure is independent of the type of OH point defect and therewith the peak position (quartz ɛ = 89,000 ± 15,000 text{l} text{mol}_{{text{H}_2}text{O}}^{-1} text{cm}^{-2}), but it varies as a function of structure (coesite ɛ = 214,000 ± 14,000 text{l} text{mol}_{{text{H}_2}text{O}}^{-1} text{cm}^{-2}; stishovite ɛ = 485,000 ± 109,000 text{l} text{mol}_{{text{H}_2}text{O}}^{-1} text{cm}^{-2}). Evaluation of data from this study confirms that not using mineral-specific IR calibrations for the OH quantification in nominally anhydrous minerals leads to inaccurate estimations of OH concentrations, which constitute the basis for modeling the Earth’s deep water cycle.

Point defects in CdTe xSe 1-x crystals grown from a Te-rich solution for applications in detecting radiation

DOE PAGES

Gul, R.; Roy, U. N.; Bolotnikov, A. E.; ...

2015-04-15

We investigated cadmium telluride selenide (CdTeSe) crystals, newly grown by the Traveling Heater Method (THM), for the presence and abundance of point defects. Deep Level Transient spectroscopy (I-DLTS) was used to determine the energies of the traps, their capture cross sections, and densities. The bias across the detectors was varied from (1–30) V. Four types of point defects were identified, ranging from 10 meV to 0.35 eV. Two dominant traps at energies of 0.18 eV and 0.14 eV were studied in depth. Cd vacancies are found at lower concentrations than other point defects present in the material.

Effect of gamma-ray irradiation on the device process-induced defects in 4H-SiC epilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyazaki, T.; Makino, T.; Takeyama, A.; Onoda, S.; Ohshima, T.; Tanaka, Y.; Kandori, M.; Yoshie, T.; Hijikata, Y.

2016-11-01

We investigated the gamma-ray irradiation effect on 4H-SiC device process-induced defects by photoluminescence (PL) imaging and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). We found that basal plane dislocations (BPDs) that were present before the irradiation were eliminated by gamma-ray irradiation of 1 MGy. The reduction mechanism of BPD was discussed in terms of BPD-threading edge dislocation (TED) transformation and shrinkage of stacking faults. In addition, the entire PL image was gradually darkened with increasing absorbed dose, which is presumably due to the point defects generated by gamma-ray irradiation. We obtained DLTS peaks that could be assigned to complex defects, termed RD series, and found that the peaks increased with absorbed dose.

Software for roof defects recognition on aerial photographs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yudin, D.; Naumov, A.; Dolzhenko, A.; Patrakova, E.

2018-05-01

The article presents information on software for roof defects recognition on aerial photographs, made with air drones. An areal image segmentation mechanism is described. It allows detecting roof defects – unsmoothness that causes water stagnation after rain. It is shown that HSV-transformation approach allows quick detection of stagnation areas, their size and perimeters, but is sensitive to shadows and changes of the roofing-types. Deep Fully Convolutional Network software solution eliminates this drawback. The tested data set consists of the roofing photos with defects and binary masks for them. FCN approach gave acceptable results of image segmentation in Dice metric average value. This software can be used in inspection automation of roof conditions in the production sector and housing and utilities infrastructure.

Treatment of Osteochondral Defects in the Rabbit's Knee Joint by Implantation of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Fibrin Clots

PubMed Central

Berninger, Markus T.; Wexel, Gabriele; Rummeny, Ernst J.; Imhoff, Andreas B.; Anton, Martina

2013-01-01

The treatment of osteochondral articular defects has been challenging physicians for many years. The better understanding of interactions of articular cartilage and subchondral bone in recent years led to increased attention to restoration of the entire osteochondral unit. In comparison to chondral lesions the regeneration of osteochondral defects is much more complex and a far greater surgical and therapeutic challenge. The damaged tissue does not only include the superficial cartilage layer but also the subchondral bone. For deep, osteochondral damage, as it occurs for example with osteochondrosis dissecans, the full thickness of the defect needs to be replaced to restore the joint surface 1. Eligible therapeutic procedures have to consider these two different tissues with their different intrinsic healing potential 2. In the last decades, several surgical treatment options have emerged and have already been clinically established 3-6. Autologous or allogeneic osteochondral transplants consist of articular cartilage and subchondral bone and allow the replacement of the entire osteochondral unit. The defects are filled with cylindrical osteochondral grafts that aim to provide a congruent hyaline cartilage covered surface 3,7,8. Disadvantages are the limited amount of available grafts, donor site morbidity (for autologous transplants) and the incongruence of the surface; thereby the application of this method is especially limited for large defects. New approaches in the field of tissue engineering opened up promising possibilities for regenerative osteochondral therapy. The implantation of autologous chondrocytes marked the first cell based biological approach for the treatment of full-thickness cartilage lesions and is now worldwide established with good clinical results even 10 to 20 years after implantation 9,10. However, to date, this technique is not suitable for the treatment of all types of lesions such as deep defects involving the subchondral bone 11. The sandwich-technique combines bone grafting with current approaches in Tissue Engineering 5,6. This combination seems to be able to overcome the limitations seen in osteochondral grafts alone. After autologous bone grafting to the subchondral defect area, a membrane seeded with autologous chondrocytes is sutured above and facilitates to match the topology of the graft with the injured site. Of course, the previous bone reconstruction needs additional surgical time and often even an additional surgery. Moreover, to date, long-term data is missing 12. Tissue Engineering without additional bone grafting aims to restore the complex structure and properties of native articular cartilage by chondrogenic and osteogenic potential of the transplanted cells. However, again, it is usually only the cartilage tissue that is more or less regenerated. Additional osteochondral damage needs a specific further treatment. In order to achieve a regeneration of the multilayered structure of osteochondral defects, three-dimensional tissue engineered products seeded with autologous/allogeneic cells might provide a good regeneration capacity 11. Beside autologous chondrocytes, mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) seem to be an attractive alternative for the development of a full-thickness cartilage tissue. In numerous preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, mesenchymal stem cells have displayed excellent tissue regeneration potential 13,14. The important advantage of mesenchymal stem cells especially for the treatment of osteochondral defects is that they have the capacity to differentiate in osteocytes as well as chondrocytes. Therefore, they potentially allow a multilayered regeneration of the defect. In recent years, several scaffolds with osteochondral regenerative potential have therefore been developed and evaluated with promising preliminary results 1,15-18. Furthermore, fibrin glue as a cell carrier became one of the preferred techniques in experimental cartilage repair and has already successfully been used in several animal studies 19-21 and even first human trials 22. The following protocol will demonstrate an experimental technique for isolating mesenchymal stem cells from a rabbit's bone marrow, for subsequent proliferation in cell culture and for preparing a standardized in vitro-model for fibrin-cell-clots. Finally, a technique for the implantation of pre-established fibrin-cell-clots into artificial osteochondral defects of the rabbit's knee joint will be described. PMID:23728213

Laser Engineered Net Shape (LENS) Technology for the Repair of Ni-Base Superalloy Turbine Components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Dejian; Lippold, John C.; Li, Jia; Rohklin, Stan R.; Vollbrecht, Justin; Grylls, Richard

2014-09-01

The capability of the laser engineered net shape (LENS) process was evaluated for the repair of casting defects and improperly machined holes in gas turbine engine components. Various repair geometries, including indentations, grooves, and through-holes, were used to simulate the actual repair of casting defects and holes in two materials: Alloy 718 and Waspaloy. The influence of LENS parameters, including laser energy density, laser scanning speed, and deposition pattern, on the repair of these defects and holes was studied. Laser surface remelting of the substrate prior to repair was used to remove machining defects and prevent heat-affected zone (HAZ) liquation cracking. Ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation techniques were used as a possible approach for detecting lack-of-fusion in repairs. Overall, Alloy 718 exhibited excellent repair weldability, with essentially no defects except for some minor porosity in repairs representative of deep through-holes and simulated large area casting defects. In contrast, cracking was initially observed during simulated repair of Waspaloy. Both solidification cracking and HAZ liquation cracking were observed in the repairs, especially under conditions of high heat input (high laser power and/or low scanning speed). For Waspaloy, the degree of cracking was significantly reduced and, in most cases, completely eliminated by the combination of low laser energy density and relatively high laser scanning speeds. It was found that through-hole repairs of Waspaloy made using a fine powder size exhibited excellent repair weldability and were crack-free relative to repairs using coarser powder. Simulated deep (7.4 mm) blind-hole repairs, representative of an actual Waspaloy combustor case, were successfully produced by the combination use of fine powder and relatively high laser scanning speeds.

Investigation of UFO defect on DUV CAR and BARC process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yet, Siew Ing; Ko, Bong Sang; Lee, Soo Man; May, Mike

2004-05-01

Photo process defect reduction is one of the most important factors to improve the process stability and yield in sub-0.18um DUV process. In this paper, a new approach to minimize the Deep-UV (DUV) Chemically Amplified Resist (CAR) and Bottom Anti-Reflective Coating (BARC) induced defect known as UFO (UnidentiFied Object) defect will be introduced. These defects have mild surface topography difference on BARC; it only exists on the wide exposed area where there is no photoresist pattern. In this test, Nikon KrF Stepper & Scanner and TEL Clean track were used. Investigation was carried out on the defect formulation on both Acetal and ESCAP type of photoresist while elemental analysis was done by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) & Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). Result indicated that both BARC and photoresist induce this UFO defect; total defect quantity is related with Post Exposure Bake (PEB) condition. Based on the elemental analysis and process-split test, we can conclude that this defect is caused by lack of acid amount and low diffusivity which is related to PAG (Photo Acid Generator) and TAG (Thermal Acid Generator) in KrF photoresist and BARC material. By optimizing photoresist bake condition, this UFO defect as well as other related defect such as Satellite defect could be eliminated.

A comparison of point defects in Cd1-xZnxTe1-ySey crystals grown by Bridgman and traveling heater methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gul, R.; Roy, U. N.; Camarda, G. S.; Hossain, A.; Yang, G.; Vanier, P.; Lordi, V.; Varley, J.; James, R. B.

2017-03-01

In this paper, the properties of point defects in Cd1-xZnxTe1-ySey (CZTS) radiation detectors are characterized using deep-level transient spectroscopy and compared between materials grown using two different methods, the Bridgman method and the traveling heater method. The nature of the traps was analyzed in terms of their capture cross-sections and trap concentrations, as well as their effects on the measured charge-carrier trapping and de-trapping times, and then compared for the two growth techniques. The results revealed that Se addition to CdZnTe can reduce the VCd- concentration. In Travelling Heater Method (THM) and Bridgman Method (BM) grown CZTS detectors, besides a few similarities in the shallow and medium energy traps, there were major differences in the deep traps. It was observed that the excess-Te and lower growth-temperature conditions in THM-grown CZTS led to a complete compensation of VCd- and two additional traps (attributed to Tei- and TeCd++ appearing at around Ev + 0.26 eV and Ec - 0.78 eV, respectively). The 1.1-eV deep trap related to large Te secondary phases was a dominant trap in the BM-grown CZTS crystals. In addition to i-DLTS data, the effects of point defects induced due to different processing techniques on the detector's resistivity, spectral response to gammas, and μτ product were determined.

Evaluation of Advanced Signal Processing Techniques to Improve Detection and Identification of Embedded Defects

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Clayton, Dwight A.; Santos-Villalobos, Hector J.; Baba, Justin S.

By the end of 1996, 109 Nuclear Power Plants were operating in the United States, producing 22% of the Nation’s electricity [1]. At present, more than two thirds of these power plants are more than 40 years old. The purpose of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is to develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the operating lifetimes of nuclear power plants (NPPs) beyond 60 years [2]. The most important safety structures in an NPP are constructed of concrete. The structures generallymore » do not allow for destructive evaluation and access is limited to one side of the concrete element. Therefore, there is a need for techniques and technologies that can assess the internal health of complex, reinforced concrete structures nondestructively. Previously, we documented the challenges associated with Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of thick, reinforced concrete sections and prioritized conceptual designs of specimens that could be fabricated to represent NPP concrete structures [3]. Consequently, a 7 feet tall, by 7 feet wide, by 3 feet and 4-inch-thick concrete specimen was constructed with 2.257-inch-and 1-inch-diameter rebar every 6 to 12 inches. In addition, defects were embedded the specimen to assess the performance of existing and future NDE techniques. The defects were designed to give a mix of realistic and controlled defects for assessment of the necessary measures needed to overcome the challenges with more heavily reinforced concrete structures. Information on the embedded defects is documented in [4]. We also documented the superiority of Frequency Banded Decomposition (FBD) Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) over conventional SAFT when probing defects under deep concrete cover. Improvements include seeing an intensity corresponding to a defect that is either not visible at all in regular, full frequency content SAFT, or an improvement in contrast over conventional SAFT reconstructed images. This report documents our efforts in four fronts: 1) Comparative study between traditional SAFT and FBD SAFT for concrete specimen with and without Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) damage, 2) improvement of our Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction (MBIR) for thick reinforced concrete [5], 3) development of a universal framework for sharing, reconstruction, and visualization of ultrasound NDE datasets, and 4) application of machine learning techniques for automated detection of ASR inside concrete. Our comparative study between FBD and traditional SAFT reconstruction images shows a clear difference between images of ASR and non-ASR specimens. In particular, the left first harmonic shows an increased contrast and sensitivity to ASR damage. For MBIR, we show the superiority of model-based techniques over delay and sum techniques such as SAFT. Improvements include elimination of artifacts caused by direct arrival signals, and increased contrast and Signal to Noise Ratio. For the universal framework, we document a format for data storage based on the HDF5 file format, and also propose a modular Graphic User Interface (GUI) for easy customization of data conversion, reconstruction, and visualization routines. Finally, two techniques for ASR automated detection are presented. The first technique is based on an analysis of the frequency content using Hilbert Transform Indicator (HTI) and the second technique employees Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques for training and classification of ultrasound data as ASR or non-ASR damaged classes. The ANN technique shows great potential with classification accuracy above 95%. These approaches are extensible to the detection of additional reinforced, thick concrete defects and damage.« less

Interfacial coupling and polarization of perovskite ABO3 heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Lijun; Wang, Zhen; Zhang, Bangmin; Yu, Liping; Chow, G. M.; Tao, Jing; Han, Myung-Geun; Guo, Hangwen; Chen, Lina; Plummer, E. W.; Zhang, Jiandi; Zhu, Yimei

2017-02-01

Interfaces with subtle difference in atomic and electronic structures in perovskite ABO3 heterostructures often yield intriguingly different properties, yet their exact roles remain elusive. In this article, we report an integrated study of unusual transport, magnetic, and structural properties of Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (PSMO) films and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) films of various thicknesses on SrTiO3 (STO) substrate. In particular, using atomically resolved imaging and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), we measured interface related local lattice distortion, BO6 octahedral rotation and cation-anion displacement induced polarization. In the very thin PSMO film, an unexpected interface-induced ferromagnetic polaronic insulator phase was observed during the cubic-to-tetragonal phase transition of the substrate STO, due to the enhanced electron-phonon interaction and atomic disorder in the film. On the other hand, for the very thin LSMO films we observed a remarkably deep polarization in non-ferroelectric STO substrate near the interface. Combining the experimental results with first principles calculations, we propose that the observed deep polarization is induced by an electric field originating from oxygen vacancies that extend beyond a dozen unit-cells from the interface, thus providing important evidence of the role of defects in the emergent interface properties of transition metal oxides.

Clinical Implications of In Vivo Lamina Cribrosa Imaging in Glaucoma.

PubMed

Kim, Yong Woo; Jeoung, Jin Wook; Kim, Young Kook; Park, Ki Ho

2017-09-01

The lamina cribrosa (LC) is a multilayered, collagenous, sieve-like structure at the deep optic nerve head, and is presumed to be the primary site of axonal injury. According to biomechanical theory, intraocular pressure-induced posterior deformation of the LC causes blockage of axonal transport and alters the ocular blood flow, so that the axons of the retinal ganglion cells lead to apoptosis, which results in glaucomatous optic disc change. Although most of the research on the LC to date has been limited to experimental animal or histologic studies, the recent advances in optical coherence tomography devices and image processing techniques have made possible the visualization of the LC structure in vivo. LC deformation in glaucoma typically has been evaluated in terms of its position from a structural reference plane (LC depth), entire curvature or shape, thickness, or localized structural change (focal LC defects or LC pore change). In this review, we highlight the methods of assessing LC deformation from in vivo optical coherence tomography scans, and we discuss the clinical implications of the recent investigations of the in vivo structure of LC in glaucoma.

Defects, optical absorption and electron mobility in indium and gallium nitrides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tansley, T. L.; Egan, R. J.

1993-04-01

We review the experimental evidence for the origin and location of the four native point defects in the wide gap semiconducting indium and gallium nitrides and compare then with experimental predictions. The donor triplets associated with nitrogen vacancies and the deep compensating centres ascribed to the antisite substitutional defects appear to have the greatest effect on macroscopic properties, apparently including the four luminescent bands in GaN. Calculated mobilities in InN and GaN depend principally on ionised impurity and polar-mode phonon scattering. We reconcile these results with experimental data and point out the consequences for improvements in material growth.

A fast complex domain-matching pursuit algorithm and its application to deep-water gas reservoir detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Jing; Huang, Handong; Li, Huijie; Miao, Yuxin; Wen, Junxiang; Zhou, Fei

2017-12-01

The main emphasis of exploration and development is shifting from simple structural reservoirs to complex reservoirs, which all have the characteristics of complex structure, thin reservoir thickness and large buried depth. Faced with these complex geological features, hydrocarbon detection technology is a direct indication of changes in hydrocarbon reservoirs and a good approach for delimiting the distribution of underground reservoirs. It is common to utilize the time-frequency (TF) features of seismic data in detecting hydrocarbon reservoirs. Therefore, we research the complex domain-matching pursuit (CDMP) method and propose some improvements. First is the introduction of a scale parameter, which corrects the defect that atomic waveforms only change with the frequency parameter. Its introduction not only decomposes seismic signal with high accuracy and high efficiency but also reduces iterations. We also integrate jumping search with ergodic search to improve computational efficiency while maintaining the reasonable accuracy. Then we combine the improved CDMP with the Wigner-Ville distribution to obtain a high-resolution TF spectrum. A one-dimensional modeling experiment has proved the validity of our method. Basing on the low-frequency domain reflection coefficient in fluid-saturated porous media, we finally get an approximation formula for the mobility attributes of reservoir fluid. This approximation formula is used as a hydrocarbon identification factor to predict deep-water gas-bearing sand of the M oil field in the South China Sea. The results are consistent with the actual well test results and our method can help inform the future exploration of deep-water gas reservoirs.

Point-Defect Nature of the Ultraviolet Absorption Band in AlN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alden, D.; Harris, J. S.; Bryan, Z.; Baker, J. N.; Reddy, P.; Mita, S.; Callsen, G.; Hoffmann, A.; Irving, D. L.; Collazo, R.; Sitar, Z.

2018-05-01

We present an approach where point defects and defect complexes are identified using power-dependent photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, impurity data from SIMS, and density-functional-theory (DFT)-based calculations accounting for the total charge balance in the crystal. Employing the capabilities of such an experimental computational approach, in this work, the ultraviolet-C absorption band at 4.7 eV, as well as the 2.7- and 3.9-eV luminescence bands in AlN single crystals grown via physical vapor transport (PVT) are studied in detail. Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy measurements demonstrate the relationship between the defect luminescent bands centered at 3.9 and 2.7 eV to the commonly observed absorption band centered at 4.7 eV. Accordingly, the thermodynamic transition energy for the absorption band at 4.7 eV and the luminescence band at 3.9 eV is estimated at 4.2 eV, in agreement with the thermodynamic transition energy for the CN- point defect. Finally, the 2.7-eV PL band is the result of a donor-acceptor pair transition between the VN and CN point defects since nitrogen vacancies are predicted to be present in the crystal in concentrations similar to carbon-employing charge-balance-constrained DFT calculations. Power-dependent photoluminescence measurements reveal the presence of the deep donor state with a thermodynamic transition energy of 5.0 eV, which we hypothesize to be nitrogen vacancies in agreement with predictions based on theory. The charge state, concentration, and type of impurities in the crystal are calculated considering a fixed amount of impurities and using a DFT-based defect solver, which considers their respective formation energies and the total charge balance in the crystal. The presented results show that nitrogen vacancies are the most likely candidate for the deep donor state involved in the donor-acceptor pair transition with peak emission at 2.7 eV for the conditions relevant to PVT growth.

Identification of dopant-induced point defects and their effect on the performance of CZT detectors (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gul, Rubi; Bolotnikov, Aleksey E.; Camarda, Giuseppe S.; Cui, Yonggang; Didic, Václav; Egarievwe, Stephen U.; Hossain, Anwar; Roy, Utpal N.; Yang, Ge; James, Ralph B.

2016-09-01

In our prior research we investigated room-temperature radiation detectors (CZT, CMT, CdMgTe, CTS, among other compound semiconductors) for point defects related to different dopants and impurities. In this talk we will report on our most recent research on newly grown CZT crystals doped with In, In+Al, In+Ni, and In+Sn. The main focus will be on the study of dopant-induced point defects using deep-level current transient spectroscopy (i-DLTS). In addition the performance, ? product, gamma-ray spectral response and internal electric field of the detectors were measured and correlated with the dopant-induced point defects and their concentrations. Characterization of the detectors was carried out using i-DLTS for the point defects, Pockels effect for the internal electric-field distribution, and γ-ray spectroscopy for the spectral properties.

Investigation of deep-level defects in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films by two-wavelength excitation photo-capacitance spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Xiaobo; Gupta, Amit; Sakurai, Takeaki; Yamada, Akimasa; Ishizuka, Shogo; Niki, Shigeru; Akimoto, Katsuhiro

2013-10-01

The properties of the defect level located 0.8 eV above the valence band in Cu(In1-x,Gax)Se2 thin films were investigated by a photo-capacitance method using a monochromatic probe light with an energy of 0.7 to 1.8 eV. In addition to the probe light, laser light with a wavelength of 1.55 μm, corresponding to 0.8 eV, was also used to study the saturation effect of the defect level at 0.8 eV. A suppression of electron-hole recombination due to saturation of the defect level was observed at room temperature while no saturation effect was observed at 140 K. The results suggest that the defect level at 0.8 eV acts as a recombination center at least at room temperature.

A review on single photon sources in silicon carbide.

PubMed

Lohrmann, A; Johnson, B C; McCallum, J C; Castelletto, S

2017-03-01

This paper summarizes key findings in single-photon generation from deep level defects in silicon carbide (SiC) and highlights the significance of these individually addressable centers for emerging quantum applications. Single photon emission from various defect centers in both bulk and nanostructured SiC are discussed as well as their formation and possible integration into optical and electrical devices. The related measurement protocols, the building blocks of quantum communication and computation network architectures in solid state systems, are also summarized. This includes experimental methodologies developed for spin control of different paramagnetic defects, including the measurement of spin coherence times. Well established doping, and micro- and nanofabrication procedures for SiC may allow the quantum properties of paramagnetic defects to be electrically and mechanically controlled efficiently. The integration of single defects into SiC devices is crucial for applications in quantum technologies and we will review progress in this direction.

First-principles study of intrinsic defects in formamidinium lead triiodide perovskite solar cell absorbers.

PubMed

Liu, Na; Yam, ChiYung

2018-03-07

As an alternative to methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI 3 ), formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI 3 ) perovskites have recently attracted significant attention because of their higher stability and smaller band gaps. Here, based on first-principles calculations, we investigate systematically the intrinsic defects in FAPbI 3 . While methylammonium (MA)-related defects MA I and I MA in MAPbI 3 have high formation energies, we found that formamidinium (FA)-related defects V FA , FA I and I FA in FAPbI 3 have much lower formation energies. Antisites FA I and I FA create deep levels in the band gap, and they can act as recombination centers and result in reduced carrier lifetimes and low open circuit voltages in FAPbI 3 -based photovoltaic devices. We further demonstrate that through cation mixing of MA and FA in perovskites the formation of these defects can be substantially suppressed.

Optoelectronic and Defect Properties in Earth Abundant Photovoltaic Materials: First-principle Calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Tingting

In this dissertation, a series of earth-abundant photovoltaic materials including lead halide perovskites, copper based compounds, and silicon are investigated via density functional theory (DFT). Firstly, we study the unique optoelectronic properties of perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbBr 3. First-principle calculations show that CH3NH3PbI 3 perovskite solar cells exhibit remarkable optoelectronic properties that account for the high open circuit voltage (Voc) and long electron-hole diffusion lengths. Our results reveal that for intrinsic doping, dominant point defects produce only shallow levels. Therefore lead halide perovskites are expected to exhibit intrinsic low non-radiative recombination rates. The conductivity of perovskites can be tuned from p-type to n-type by controlling the growth conditions. For extrinsic defects, the p-type perovskites can be achieved by doping group-IA, -IB, or -VIA elements, such as Na, K, Rb, Cu, and O at I-rich growth conditions. We further show that despite a large band gap of 2.2 eV, the dominant defects in CH3 NH3PbBr3 also create only shallow levels. The photovoltaic properties of CH3NH3PbBr3 - based perovskite absorbers can be tuned via defect engineering. Highly conductive p-type CH3NH3PbBr3 can be synthesized under Br-rich growth conditions. Such CH3NH3PbBr 3 may be potential low-cost hole transporting materials for lead halide perovskite solar cells. All these unique defect properties of perovskites are largely due to the strong Pb lone-pair s orbital and I p (Br p) orbital antibonding coupling and the high ionicity of CH3NH3PbX3 (X=I, Br). Secondly, we study the optoelectronic properties of Cu-V-VI earth abundant compounds. These low cost thin films may have the good electronic and optical properties. We have studied the structural, electronic and optical properties of Cu3-V-VI4 compounds. After testing four different crystal structures, enargite, wurtzite-PMCA, famatinite and zinc-blend-PMCA, we find that Cu3PS4 and Cu3PSe4 prefer energetically the enargite structure, whereas, other compounds favor the famatinite structure. Among the compounds and structures considered, enargite Cu3PSe4, and famatinite Cu3AsS4, are suitable for single junction solar cell applications due to bandgaps of 1.32 eV and 1.15 eV, respectively. Furthermore, CuSbS2 are also studied by density functional theory and HSE06 hybrid functional. The chalcostibite CuSbS2 has an indirect band gap of 1.85 eV, whereas the chalcogenide Cu3SbS4 has a direct band gap of 0.89 eV. We find that the large difference on band gaps is mainly attributed to the different Sb charge states. We further predict that the Sb charge states will affect the defect physics. Particularly, the Sb lone pair s orbitals in CuSbS 2 have strong influence on the formation energies of Sb-related defects. Lastly, we have studied the atomic structure and electronic properties of aluminum (Al)-related defect complexes in silicon. We find a unique stable complex configuration consisting of an Ali and an oxygen dimer, Ali-2Oi, which introduces deep levels in the band gap of Si. The formation energies of the Ali-2Oi complexes could be lower than that of individual Ali atoms under oxygen-rich conditions. The formation of Ali-2Oi complexes may explain the experimental observation that the coexistence of Al and O results in reduced carrier lifetime in Si wafers.

Damage of composite structures: Detection technique, dynamic response and residual strength

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lestari, Wahyu

2001-10-01

Reliable and accurate health monitoring techniques can prevent catastrophic failures of structures. Conventional damage detection methods are based on visual or localized experimental methods and very often require prior information concerning the vicinity of the damage or defect. The structure must also be readily accessible for inspections. The techniques are also labor intensive. In comparison to these methods, health-monitoring techniques that are based on the structural dynamic response offers unique information on failure of structures. However, systematic relations between the experimental data and the defect are not available and frequently, the number of vibration modes needed for an accurate identification of defects is much higher than the number of modes that can be readily identified in the experiment. These motivated us to develop an experimental data based detection method with systematic relationships between the experimentally identified information and the analytical or mathematical model representing the defective structures. The developed technique use changes in vibrational curvature modes and natural frequencies. To avoid misinterpretation of the identified information, we also need to understand the effects of defects on the structural dynamic response prior to developing health-monitoring techniques. In this thesis work we focus on two type of defects in composite structures, namely delamination and edge notch like defect. Effects of nonlinearity due to the presence of defect and due to the axial stretching are studied for beams with delamination. Once defects are detected in a structure, next concern is determining the effects of the defects on the strength of the structure and its residual stiffness under dynamic loading. In this thesis, energy release rate due to dynamic loading in a delaminated structure is studied, which will be a foundation toward determining the residual strength of the structure.

Multi-Sensor Data Integration Using Deep Learning for Characterization of Defects in Steel Elements †

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Nowadays, there is a strong demand for inspection systems integrating both high sensitivity under various testing conditions and advanced processing allowing automatic identification of the examined object state and detection of threats. This paper presents the possibility of utilization of a magnetic multi-sensor matrix transducer for characterization of defected areas in steel elements and a deep learning based algorithm for integration of data and final identification of the object state. The transducer allows sensing of a magnetic vector in a single location in different directions. Thus, it enables detecting and characterizing any material changes that affect magnetic properties regardless of their orientation in reference to the scanning direction. To assess the general application capability of the system, steel elements with rectangular-shaped artificial defects were used. First, a database was constructed considering numerical and measurements results. A finite element method was used to run a simulation process and provide transducer signal patterns for different defect arrangements. Next, the algorithm integrating responses of the transducer collected in a single position was applied, and a convolutional neural network was used for implementation of the material state evaluation model. Then, validation of the obtained model was carried out. In this paper, the procedure for updating the evaluated local state, referring to the neighboring area results, is presented. Finally, the results and future perspective are discussed. PMID:29351215

Polarization switching in undoped and La-doped TlInS2 ferroelectric-semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seyidov, MirHasan Yu.; Mikailzade, Faik A.; Suleymanov, Rauf A.; Aliyeva, Vafa B.; Mammadov, Tofig G.; Sharifov, Galib M.

2017-12-01

Dielectric hysteresis loops of pure and lanthanum doped TlInS2 ferroelectric-semiconductors were studied at the frequency 50 Hz for different temperatures below the Curie temperature (Tc). It has been revealed that, without any poling procedure, pure TlInS2 exhibits normal single hysteresis loops at T < Tc. After electric field-cooled treatment of TlInS2 the shape of hysteresis loops was strongly affected by corresponding charged deep level defects which were previously activated during the poling process. As a result, an additional defect polarization state from space charges accumulated on the intrinsic deep level defects has been revealed in pure TlInS2 at the temperatures below Tc. Besides, unusual multiple hysteresis loops were observed in La doped TlInS2 at T < Tc after application of different external perturbations (electric field, exposition and memory effect) to the sample. Measurements of the hysteresis loops in TlInS2:La revealed the slim single, double and even triple polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops. This intriguing phenomenon is attributed to the domain pinning by photo- and electrically active La-impurity centers. The temperature variation of double-hysteresis loop was also investigated. Due to the heat elimination of the random local defect polar moments, the double-hysteresis loops were transformed into a normal single hysteresis loops on increasing the temperature.

Irradiation-induced effects of proton irradiation on zirconium carbides with different stoichiometries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Y. Huang; B.R. Maier; T.R. Allen

2014-10-01

Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is being considered for utilization in deep burn TRISO fuel particles for hightemperature, gas-cooled reactors. Zirconium carbide has a cubic B1 type crystal structure along with a very high melting point (3420 ?C), exceptional hardness and good thermal and electrical conductivities. Understanding the ZrC irradiation response is crucial for establishing ZrC as an alternative component in TRISO fuel. Until now, very few studies on irradiation effects on ZrC have been released and fundamental aspects of defect evolution and kinetics are not well understood although some atomistic simulations and phenomenological studies have been performed. This work was carriedmore » out to understand the damage evolution in float-zone refined ZrC with different stoichiometries. Proton irradiations at 800 ?C up to doses of 3 dpa were performed on ZrCx (where x ranges from 0.9 to 1.2) to investigate the damage evolution. The irradiation-induced defects, such as density of dislocation loops, at different stoichiometries and doses which were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is presented and discussed.« less

Activation of an intense near band edge emission from ZnTe/ZnMgTe core/shell nanowires grown on silicon.

PubMed

Wojnar, P; Szymura, M; Zaleszczyk, W; Kłopotowski, L; Janik, E; Wiater, M; Baczewski, L T; Kret, S; Karczewski, G; Kossut, J; Wojtowicz, T

2013-09-13

The absence of luminescence in the near band edge energy region of Te-anion based semiconductor nanowires grown by gold catalyst assisted molecular beam epitaxy has strongly limited their applications in the field of photonics. In this paper, an enhancement of the near band edge emission intensity from ZnTe/ZnMgTe core/shell nanowires grown on Si substrates is reported. A special role of the use of Si substrates instead of GaAs substrates is emphasized, which results in an increase of the near band edge emission intensity by at least one order of magnitude accompanied by a simultaneous reduction of the defect related luminescence. A possible explanation of this effect relies on the presence of Ga-related deep level defects in structures grown on GaAs substrates, which are absent when Si substrates are used. Monochromatic mapping of the cathodoluminescence clearly confirms that the observed emission originates, indeed, from the ZnTe/ZnMgTe core/shell nanowires, whereas individual objects are studied by means of microphotoluminescence.

Electrical and structural characterizations of crystallized Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/GaN interfaces formed by in situ metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, X., E-mail: xliu@ece.ucsb.edu; Yeluri, R.; Kim, J.

2016-01-07

Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films were grown in situ by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition at 900 °C on GaN of both Ga- and N-face polarities. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films were crystalline and primarily γ-phase. The Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ga-GaN and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/N-GaN interfaces were both atomically sharp, and the latter further exhibited a biatomic step feature. The corresponding current-voltage (J-V) characteristics were measured on a metal-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}-semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAP) structure. The leakage current was very high when the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} thickness was comparable with the size of the crystalline defects, but was suppressedmore » to the order of 1 × 10{sup −8} A/cm{sup 2} with larger Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} thicknesses. The interface states densities (D{sub it}) were measured on the same MOSCAPs by using combined ultraviolet (UV)-assisted capacitance-voltage (C-V), constant capacitance deep level transient spectroscopy (CC-DLTS), and constant capacitance deep level optical spectroscopy (CC-DLOS) techniques. The average D{sub it} measured by CC-DLTS and CC-DLOS were 6.6 × 10{sup 12} and 8.8 × 10{sup 12} cm{sup −2} eV{sup −1} for Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ga-GaN and 8.6 × 10{sup 12} and 8.6 × 10{sup 12 }cm{sup −2} eV{sup −1} for Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/N-GaN, respectively. The possible origins of the positive (negative) polarization compensation charges in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Ga-GaN (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/N-GaN), including the filling of interface states and the existence of structure defects and impurities in the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} layer, were discussed in accordance with the experimental results and relevant studies in the literature.« less

Maxillary sinusitis and periapical abscess following periodontal therapy: a case report using three-dimensional evaluation.

PubMed

Huang, Chih-Hao; Brunsvold, Michael A

2006-01-01

Maxillary sinusitis may develop from the extension of periodontal disease. In this case, reconstructed three-dimensional images from multidetector spiral computed tomographs were helpful in evaluating periodontal bony defects and their relationship with the maxillary sinus. A 42-year-old woman in good general health presented with a chronic deep periodontal pocket on the palatal and interproximal aspects of tooth #14. Probing depths of the tooth ranged from 2 to 9 mm, and it exhibited a Class 1 mobility. Radiographs revealed a close relationship between the root apex and the maxillary sinus. The patient's periodontal diagnosis was localized severe chronic periodontitis. Treatment of the tooth consisted of cause-related therapy, surgical exploration, and bone grafting. A very deep circumferential bony defect at the palatal root of tooth #14 was noted during surgery. After the operation, the wound healed without incidence, but 10 days later, a maxillary sinusitis and periapical abscess developed. To control the infection, an evaluation of sinus and alveolus using computed tomographs was performed, systemic antibiotics were prescribed, and endodontic treatment was initiated. Two weeks after surgical treatment, the infection was relieved with the help of antibiotics and endodontic treatment. Bilateral bony communications between the maxillary sinus and periodontal bony defect of maxillary first molars were shown on three-dimensional computed tomographs. The digitally reconstructed images added valuable information for evaluating the periodontal defects. Three-dimensional images from spiral computed tomographs (CT) aided in evaluating and treating the close relationship between maxillary sinus disease and adjacent periodontal defects.

Study of defects in TlBr, InI as potential semiconductor radiation detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biswas, Koushik; Du, Mao-Hua

2011-03-01

Group III-halides such as TlBr and InI are receiving considerable attention for application in room temperature radiation detector devices. It is however, essential that these detector materials have favorable defect properties which enable good carrier transport when operating under an external bias voltage. We have studied the properties of native defects of InI and Tlbr and several important results emerge: (1) Schottky defects are the dominant low-energy defects in both materials that can potentially pin the Fermi level close to midgap, leading to high resistivity; (2) native defects in TlBr are benign in terms of electron trapping. However, anion-vacancy in InI induces a deep electron trap similar to the F -centers in alkali halides. This can reduce electron mobility-lifetime product in InI; (3) low diffusion barriers of vacancies and ionic conductivity could be responsible for the observed polarization phenomenon in both materials at room temperature. U.S. DOE Office of Nonproliferation Research and Development NA22.

Density Functional Theory Calculations of Activation Energies for Non-radiative Carrier Capture by Deep Defect Levels in Semiconductors.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Modine, Normand Arthur; Wright, Alan F.; Lee, Stephen R.

Carrier recombination due to defects can have a major impact on device performance. The rate of defect-induced carrier recombination is determined by both defect levels and carrier capture cross-sections. Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT) has been widely and successfully used to predict defect levels in semiconductors and insulators, but only recently has work begun to focus on using DFT to determine carrier capture cross-sections. Lang and Henry worked out the fundamental theory of carrier-capture cross-sections in the 1970s and showed that, in most cases, room temperature carrier-capture cross-sections differ between defects primarily due to differences in the carrier capture activationmore » energies. Here, we present an approach to using DFT to calculate carrier capture activation energies that does not depend on perturbation theory or an assumed configuration coordinate, and we demonstrate this approach for the -3/-2 level of the Ga vacancy in wurtzite GaN.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Yuanyue; Xiao, Hai; Goddard, William A.

Two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites are emerging as promising candidates for nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. To realize their full potential, it is important to understand the role of those defects that can strongly impact material properties. In contrast to other popular 2D semiconductors (e.g., transition metal dichalcogenides MX 2) for which defects typically induce harmful traps, we show that the electronic activities of defects in 2D perovskites are significantly tunable. For example, even with a fixed lattice orientation one can change the synthesis conditions to convert a line defect (edge or grain boundary) from electron acceptor to inactive site without deep gapmore » states. Here, we show that this difference originates from the enhanced ionic bonding in these perovskites compared with MX 2. The donors tend to have high formation energies and the harmful defects are difficult to form at a low halide chemical potential. Thus, we unveil unique properties of defects in 2D perovskites and suggest practical routes to improve them.« less

Morphological driven photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbas, Khaldoon N.; Bidin, Noriah

2017-02-01

Using a simple combination of pulse laser ablation in liquid and hydrothermal (PLAL-H) approaches, we control the morphology of ZnO nanostructures (ZNSs) to determine the feasibility of their photocatalytic efficacy. These ZNSs are deposited on Si (100) substrates and two different morphologies are achieved. In this synergistic approach, PLAL synthesized NSs are used as a nutrient solution with different pH for further hydrothermal treatment at 110 °C under varying growth time (5, 30 and 60 min). Surface morphology, structure, composition, and optical characteristics of the prepared ZNSs are determined using FESEM, XRD, FTIR and Photoluminescence (PL) and UV-vis absorption measurements. The morphology revealed remarkable transformation from nanorods (NRs)/nanoflowers (NFs) (at pH 7.6) to nanoparticles (NPs)-like (at pH 10.5) structure. XRD patterns showed better polycrystallinity for NPs with enlarged band gap than NR/NF-like structures. Both PL and UV-vis spectral analysis of ZNPs exhibited higher surface area and deep level defects density dependent morphology, where the nutrient pH and growth time variation are found to play a significant role towards structural evolution. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activities of, such ZNSs are evaluated via sunlight driven photo-degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye. The photocatalytic efficiency of ZNPs is demonstrated to be much superior (97.4%) than ZNRs/ZNFs-like morphology (86%). Such enhanced photocatalytic activities of as-synthesized ZNPs is attributed to the synergism of the improved surface area and defects density, which is useful for promoting the adsorption of the MB dye and suppressed surface recombination of photo-generated charge carriers.

Structural, electrical, and optical characterization of coalescent p-n GaN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kolkovsky, Vl.; Zytkiewicz, Z. R.; Sobanska, M.

2015-12-14

The electrical, structural, and optical properties of coalescent p-n GaN nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si (111) substrate are investigated. From photoluminescence measurements the full width at half maximum of bound exciton peaks AX and DA is found as 1.3 and 1.2 meV, respectively. These values are lower than those reported previously in the literature. The current-voltage characteristics show the rectification ratio of about 10{sup 2} and the leakage current of about 10{sup −4} A/cm{sup 2} at room temperature. We demonstrate that the thermionic mechanism is not dominant in these samples and spatial inhomogeneties and tunneling processes through amore » ∼2 nm thick SiN{sub x} layer between GaN and Si could be responsible for deviation from the ideal diode behavior. The free carrier concentration in GaN NWs determined by capacitance-voltage measurements is about 4 × 10{sup 15 }cm{sup −3}. Two deep levels (H190 and E250) are found in the structures. We attribute H190 to an extended defect located at the interface between the substrate and the SiN{sub x} interlayer or near the sidewalls at the bottom of the NWs, whereas E250 is tentatively assigned to a gallium-vacancy- or nitrogen interstitials-related defect.« less

Effects of defects in composite structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sendeckyj, G. P.

1983-01-01

The effect of defects in composite structures is addressed. Defects in laminates such as wrinkles, foreign particles, scratches and breaks are discussed. Effects of plygap plywaviness and machining defects are also studied.

Temperature-Dependent Photoluminescence Imaging and Characterization of a Multi-Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell Defect Area

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnston, S.; Yan, F.; Li, J.

2011-01-01

Photoluminescence (PL) imaging is used to detect areas in multi-crystalline silicon that appear dark in band-to-band imaging due to high recombination. Steady-state PL intensity can be correlated to effective minority-carrier lifetime, and its temperature dependence can provide additional lifetime-limiting defect information. An area of high defect density has been laser cut from a multi-crystalline silicon solar cell. Both band-to-band and defect-band PL imaging have been collected as a function of temperature from {approx}85 to 350 K. Band-to-band luminescence is collected by an InGaAs camera using a 1200-nm short-pass filter, while defect band luminescence is collected using a 1350-nm long passmore » filter. The defect band luminescence is characterized by cathodoluminescence. Small pieces from adjacent areas within the same wafer are measured by deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). DLTS detects a minority-carrier electron trap level with an activation energy of 0.45 eV on the sample that contained defects as seen by imaging.« less

Temperature-Dependent Photoluminescence Imaging and Characterization of a Multi-Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell Defect Area: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnston, S.; Yan, F.; Li, J.

2011-07-01

Photoluminescence (PL) imaging is used to detect areas in multi-crystalline silicon that appear dark in band-to-band imaging due to high recombination. Steady-state PL intensity can be correlated to effective minority-carrier lifetime, and its temperature dependence can provide additional lifetime-limiting defect information. An area of high defect density has been laser cut from a multi-crystalline silicon solar cell. Both band-to-band and defect-band PL imaging have been collected as a function of temperature from ~85 to 350 K. Band-to-band luminescence is collected by an InGaAs camera using a 1200-nm short-pass filter, while defect band luminescence is collected using a 1350-nm long passmore » filter. The defect band luminescence is characterized by cathodo-luminescence. Small pieces from adjacent areas within the same wafer are measured by deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). DLTS detects a minority-carrier electron trap level with an activation energy of 0.45 eV on the sample that contained defects as seen by imaging.« less

Metastable defect response in CZTSSe from admittance spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Koeper, Mark J.; Hages, Charles J.; Li, Jian V.; ...

2017-10-02

Admittance spectroscopy is a useful tool used to study defects in semiconductor materials. However, metastable defect responses in non-ideal semiconductors can greatly impact the measurement and therefore the interpretation of results. Here, admittance spectroscopy was performed on Cu2ZnSn(S,Se) 4 where metastable defect response is illustrated due to the trapping of injected carriers into a deep defect state. To investigate the metastable response, admittance measurements were performed under electrically and optically relaxed conditions in comparison to a device following a low level carrier-injection pretreatment. The relaxed measurement demonstrates a single capacitance signature while two capacitance signatures are observed for the devicemore » measured following carrier-injection. The deeper level signature, typically reported for kesterites, is activated by charge trapping following carrier injection. Both signatures are attributed to bulk level defects. The significant metastable response observed on kesterites due to charge trapping obscures accurate interpretation of defect levels from admittance spectroscopy and indicates that great care must be taken when performing and interpreting this measurement on non-ideal devices.« less

Structural evolution dynamics in fusion of sumanenes and corannulenes: defects formation and self-healing mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sorkin, Anastassia; Su, Haibin

2018-06-01

The fusion processes of structures consisting of various combinations between sumanene and corannulene, leading to the formation of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) under heating are simulated by density-functional-based tight-binding molecular dynamics. Distinct stages are unraveled in the course of GNR formation. Firstly, the carbon fragments coalescence into highly strained framework. Secondly, structural reconstruction invokes breaking most strained bonds to form a GNR structure containing numerous defects. Lastly, defects are remedied by the delicate ‘edge-facilitated self-healing’ process through two synergized edge-related effects: elevated mobility of defects and promoted structure reconstructions owing to the remarkable dynamics associated with edges. Importantly, detailed dynamics in the course of forming GNRs with defects and grain boundaries simulated in this work is valuable to provide better understanding at the atomistic scale of defect formation as well as self-healing in the context of the sp2 carbon network. In particular, edges play important roles in not only generating Stone–Wales (SW), 5-8-5 types of defects, 8-5-5-8 and pentagon–heptagon grain boundaries. In addition, our simulations predict the existence of one novel defect, coined as the Inverse SW defect, which is to be confirmed in future experimental studies. This study of dynamic structural evolution reveals that edges are prone to intrinsic and extrinsic modifications such as atomic-scale defects, structural distortions and inhomogeneity.

Extended defects and hydrogen interactions in ion implanted silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rangan, Sanjay

The structural and electrical properties of extended defects generated because of ion implantation and the interaction of hydrogen with these defects have been studied in this work. Two distinct themes have been studied, the first where defects are a detrimental and the second where they are useful. In the first scenario, transient enhanced diffusion of boron has been studied and correlated with defect evolution studies due to silicon and argon ion implants. Spreading resistance profiles (SRP) correlated with deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements, reveal that a low anneal temperatures (<650°C) defect dissolution and defect injection dominates, resulting in increased junction depths. At higher anneal temperatures, however, repair dominates over defect injection resulting in shallower junctions. Hydrogenation experiments shows that hydrogen enhances dopant activation and reduces TED at low anneal temperatures (<550°C). At anneal temperatures >550°C, the effect of hydrogen is lost, due to its out-diffusion. Moreover, due to catastrophic out-diffusion of hydrogen, additional damage is created resulting in deeper junctions in hydrogenated samples, compared to the non-hydrogenated ones. Comparing defect evolution due to Si and Ar ion implants at different anneal temperatures, while the type of defects is the same in the two cases, their (defect) dissolution occurs at lower anneal temperatures (˜850°C) for Si implants. Dissolution for Ar implants seems to occur at higher anneal temperatures. The difference has been attributed to the increased number of vacancies created by Ar to that of silicon implant. In second aspect, nano-cavity formation due to vacancy agglomeration has been studied by helium ion implantation and furnace anneal, where the effect of He dose, implant energy and anneal time have been processing parameters that have been varied. Cavities are formed only when the localized concentration of He is greater than 3 x 1020 cm-3. While at high implant doses, a continuous cavity layer is formed, at low implant doses a discontinuous layer is observed. The formation of cavities at low doses has been observed for the first time. Variation of anneal times reveal that cavities are initially facetted (for short anneal times) and tend to become spherical when annealed for along time (300min). Also presented is the recipe for formation of multiple cavity layers and the electrical and optical properties of these cavities. Electrically, these cavities are metastable, with two strong minority carrier peaks formed by multiple defect levels. Photoluminescence measurements reveal a strong 0.8eV photon peak.

Use of the pericranial flap in medial canthal reconstruction: another application for this versatile flap.

PubMed

Leatherbarrow, Brian; Watson, Adam; Wilcsek, Geoffrey

2006-01-01

To describe the use and outcomes of a versatile surgical technique in the reconstruction of deep soft tissue and bony defects of the medial canthus. A retrospective review of consecutive cases requiring reconstruction of medial canthal defects involving loss of periosteum or bone by a median forehead pericranial flap and full-thickness skin grafting in a tertiary referral hospital setting. Two techniques were used: an open technique, using a midline forehead incision; and an endoscopic technique, using 2 incisions behind the hairline. Twenty-one cases were identified: 19 open and 2 endoscopic. The average length of follow-up was 13 months (range, 6-50 months). Ten cases required additional oculoplastic procedures including local periosteal flaps and mucous membrane grafts. Two cases (10%) had complete flap failure; one of these was caused by infection. Five (24%) had partial (< 50%) skin graft necrosis. Two cases (10%) have required further surgery. Our experience shows the pericranial flap to be versatile, robust, and easy to manipulate, offering advantages over alternative techniques when used for the repair of deep medial canthal defects. It is a valuable reconstructive technique that can yield good cosmetic and functional results.

An investigation of impurity centers in semiconductors of variable composition. Part 1: General theory and some applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vonroos, O. H.

1982-01-01

A theory of deep point defects imbedded in otherwise perfect semiconductor crystals is developed with the aid of pseudopotentials. The dominant short-range forces engendered by the impurity are sufficiently weakened in all cases where the cancellation theorem of the pseudopotential formalism is operative. Thus, effective-mass-like equations exhibiting local effective potentials derived from nonlocal pseudopotentials are shown to be valid for a large class of defects. A two-band secular determinant for the energy eigenvalues of deep defects is also derived from the set of integral equations which corresponds to the set of differential equations of the effective-mass type. Subsequently, the theory in its simplest form, is applied to the system Al(x)Ga(1-x)As:Se. It is shown that the one-electron donor level of Se within the forbidden gap of Al(x)Ga(1-x)As as a function of the AlAs mole fraction x reaches its maximum of about 300 meV (as measured from the conduction band edge) at the cross-over from the direct to the indirect band-gap at x = 0.44 in agreement with experiments.

Effects of low temperature periodic annealing on the deep-level defects in 200 keV proton irradiated AlGaAs-GaAs solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, S. S.; Chiu, T. T.; Loo, R. Y.

1981-01-01

The GaAs solar cell has shown good potential for space applications. However, degradation in performance occurred when the cells were irradiated by high energy electrons and protons in the space environment. The considered investigation is concerned with the effect of periodic thermal annealing on the deep-level defects induced by the 200 keV protons in the AlGaAs-GaAs solar cells. Protons at a fluence of 10 to the 11th P/sq cm were used in the irradiation cycle, while annealing temperatures of 200 C (for 24 hours), 300 C (six hours), and 400 C (six hours) were employed. The most likely candidate for the E(c) -0.71 eV electron trap observed in the 200 keV proton irradiated samples may be due to GaAs antisite, while the observed E(v) +0.18 eV hole trap has been attributed to the gallium vacancy related defect. The obtained results show that periodic annealing in the considered case does not offer any advantages over the one time annealing process.

A correlation between the defect states and yellow luminescence in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jana, Dipankar; Sharma, T. K.

2017-07-01

AlGaN/GaN heterostructures are investigated by performing complementary spectroscopic measurements under novel experimental configurations. Distinct features related to the band edge of AlGaN and GaN layers are clearly observed in surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) spectra. A few more SPS features, which are associated with defects in GaN, are also identified by performing the pump-probe SPS measurements. SPS results are strongly corroborated by the complementary photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) measurements. A correlation between the defect assisted SPS features and yellow luminescence (YL) peak is established by performing pump-probe SPS and PLE measurements. It is found that CN-ON donor complex is responsible for the generation of YL peak in our sample. Further, the deep trap states are found to be present throughout the entire GaN epilayer. It is also noticed that the deep trap states lying at the GaN/Fe-GaN interface make a strong contribution to the YL feature. A phenomenological model is proposed to explain the intensity dependence of the YL feature and the corresponding SPS features in a pump-probe configuration, where a reasonable agreement between the numerical simulations and experimental results is achieved.

Use of Synthetic Osteochondral Implants to Treat Bilateral Shoulder Osteochondritis Dissecans in a Dog.

PubMed

Danielski, Alan; Farrell, Michael

2018-06-20

 An 8-month-old American Bulldog was presented for assessment of bilateral thoracic limb lameness. Computed tomographic imaging revealed large, deep osteochondritis dissecans lesions in both humeral heads.  The osteochondritis dissecans lesions were debrided and the exposed subchondral defects were prepared to receive synthetic grafts. Circular implants consisting of a surface layer of polycarbonate urethane and a deep layer of lattice-type titanium were implanted into the osteochondral defects to reconstruct the articular surface topography. Follow-up clinical examination 1.5, 3 and 9months postoperatively revealed a lack of signs of shoulder pain and resolution of thoracic limb lameness. Nine-month follow-up radiographs showed radiographic evidence of osteointegration of both implants.  Synthetic osteochondral implantation in the caudocentral aspect of the humeral head appeared technically feasible and effective in resolving lameness caused by humeral head osteochondritis dissecans. Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart.

Vapor transport deposition of antimony selenide thin film solar cells with 7.6% efficiency.

PubMed

Wen, Xixing; Chen, Chao; Lu, Shuaicheng; Li, Kanghua; Kondrotas, Rokas; Zhao, Yang; Chen, Wenhao; Gao, Liang; Wang, Chong; Zhang, Jun; Niu, Guangda; Tang, Jiang

2018-06-05

Antimony selenide is an emerging promising thin film photovoltaic material thanks to its binary composition, suitable bandgap, high absorption coefficient, inert grain boundaries and earth-abundant constituents. However, current devices produced from rapid thermal evaporation strategy suffer from low-quality film and unsatisfactory performance. Herein, we develop a vapor transport deposition technique to fabricate antimony selenide films, a technique that enables continuous and low-cost manufacturing of cadmium telluride solar cells. We improve the crystallinity of antimony selenide films and then successfully produce superstrate cadmium sulfide/antimony selenide solar cells with a certified power conversion efficiency of 7.6%, a net 2% improvement over previous 5.6% record of the same device configuration. We analyze the deep defects in antimony selenide solar cells, and find that the density of the dominant deep defects is reduced by one order of magnitude using vapor transport deposition process.

TiN/Al2O3/ZnO gate stack engineering for top-gate thin film transistors by combination of post oxidation and annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kato, Kimihiko; Matsui, Hiroaki; Tabata, Hitoshi; Takenaka, Mitsuru; Takagi, Shinichi

2018-04-01

Control of fabrication processes for a gate stack structure with a ZnO thin channel layer and an Al2O3 gate insulator has been examined for enhancing the performance of a top-gate ZnO thin film transistor (TFT). The Al2O3/ZnO interface and the ZnO layer are defective just after the Al2O3 layer formation by atomic layer deposition. Post treatments such as plasma oxidation, annealing after the Al2O3 deposition, and gate metal formation (PMA) are promising to improve the interfacial and channel layer qualities drastically. Post-plasma oxidation effectively reduces the interfacial defect density and eliminates Fermi level pinning at the Al2O3/ZnO interface, which is essential for improving the cut-off of the drain current of TFTs. A thermal effect of post-Al2O3 deposition annealing at 350 °C can improve the crystalline quality of the ZnO layer, enhancing the mobility. On the other hand, impacts of post-Al2O3 deposition annealing and PMA need to be optimized because the annealing can also accompany the increase in the shallow-level defect density and the resulting electron concentration, in addition to the reduction in the deep-level defect density. The development of the interfacial control technique has realized the excellent TFT performance with a large ON/OFF ratio, steep subthreshold characteristics, and high field-effect mobility.

Application of Ultrasonic Phased Array Technology to the Detection of Defect in Composite Stiffened-structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yuan-Qi; Zhan, Li-Hua

2016-05-01

Composite stiffened-structure consists of the skin and stringer has been widely used in aircraft fuselage and wings. The main purpose of the article is to detect the composite material reinforced structure accurately and explore the relationship between defect formation and structural elements or curing process. Based on ultrasonic phased array inspection technology, the regularity of defects in the manufacture of composite materials are obtained, the correlation model between actual defects and nondestructive testing are established. The article find that the forming quality of deltoid area in T-stiffened structure is obviously improved by pre-curing, the defects of hat-stiffened structure are affected by the mandrel. The results show that the ultrasonic phased array inspection technology can be an effectively way for the detection of composite stiffened-structures, which become an important means to control the defects of composite and improve the quality of the product.

Quenched-in defects in flashlamp-annealed silicon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borenstein, J. T.; Jones, J. T.; Corbett, J. W.; Oehrlein, G. S.; Kleinhenz, R. L.

1986-01-01

Deep levels introduced in boron-doped silicon by heat-pulse annealing with a tungsten-halogen flashlamp are investigated using deep-level transient spectroscopy. Two majority-carrier trapping levels in the band gap, at Ev + 0.32 eV and at Ev + 0.45 eV, are observed. These results are compared to those obtained by furnace-quenching and laser-annealing studies. Both the position in the gap and the annealing kinetics of the hole trap at Ev + 0.45 eV suggest that this center is due to an interstitial iron impurity in the lattice. The deep levels are not consistently observed in all flashlamp-annealed Si crystals utilized.

Ion beam evaluation of silicon carbide membrane structures intended for particle detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pallon, J.; Syväjärvi, M.; Wang, Q.; Yakimova, R.; Iakimov, T.; Elfman, M.; Kristiansson, P.; Nilsson, E. J. C.; Ros, L.

2016-03-01

Thin ion transmission detectors can be used as a part of a telescope detector for mass and energy identification but also as a pre-cell detector in a microbeam system for studies of biological effects from single ion hits on individual living cells. We investigated a structure of graphene on silicon carbide (SiC) with the purpose to explore a thin transmission detector with a very low noise level and having mechanical strength to act as a vacuum window. In order to reach very deep cavities in the SiC wafers for the preparation of the membrane in the detector, we have studied the Inductive Coupled Plasma technique to etch deep circular cavities in 325 μm prototype samples. By a special high temperature process the outermost layers of the etched SiC wafers were converted into a highly conductive graphitic layer. The produced cavities were characterized by electron microscopy, optical microscopy and proton energy loss measurements. The average membrane thickness was found to be less than 40 μm, however, with a slightly curved profile. Small spots representing much thinner membrane were also observed and might have an origin in crystal defects or impurities. Proton energy loss measurement (also called Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy, STIM) is a well suited technique for this thickness range. This work presents the first steps of fabricating a membrane structure of SiC and graphene which may be an attractive approach as a detector due to the combined properties of SiC and graphene in a monolithic materials structure.

Donors, Acceptors, and Traps in AlGaN and AlGaN/GaN Epitaxial Layers

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-07-31

the background. 3.3 Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS): acceptor-type defects Positrons injected into defect-free GaN are annihilated by electrons...electron concentration n, and the average Ga-vacancy VGa concentration deduced from positron annihilation spectroscopy . 0.09 3.47 3.46 - 3.45 •ŗ.47225...of this paper, are often investigated by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), and the usual analysis of DLTS data is based on the assumption that

The roles of buffer layer thickness on the properties of the ZnO epitaxial films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Kun; Huang, Shimin; Gu, Shulin; Zhu, Shunming; Ye, Jiandong; Xu, Zhonghua; Zheng, Youdou

2016-12-01

In this article, the authors have investigated the optimization of the buffer thickness for obtaining high-quality ZnO epi-films on sapphire substrates. The growth mechanism of the buffers with different thickness has been clearly revealed, including the initial nucleation and vertical growth, the subsequent lateral growth with small grain coalescence, and the final vertical growth along the existing larger grains. Overall, the quality of the buffer improves with increasing thickness except the deformed surface morphology. However, by a full-scale evaluation of the properties for the epi-layers, the quality of the epi-film is briefly determined by the surface morphology of the buffer, rather than the structural, optical, or electrical properties of it. The best quality epi-layer has been grown on the buffer with a smooth surface and well-coalescent grains. Meanwhile, due to the huge lattice mismatch between sapphire and ZnO, dislocations are inevitably formed during the growth of buffers. More importantly, as the film grows thicker, the dislocations may attracting other smaller dislocations and defects to reduce the total line energy and thus result in the formation of V-shape defects, which are connected with the bottom of the threading dislocations in the buffers. The V-defects appear as deep and large hexagonal pits from top view and they may act as electron traps which would affect the free carrier concentration of the epi-layers.

Development of Eddy Current Techniques for Detection of Deep Fatigue Cracks in Multi-Layer Airframe Components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wincheski, Russell A.

2008-01-01

Thick, multi-layer aluminum structure has been widely used in aircraft design in critical wing splice areas. The multi-layer structure generally consists of three or four aluminum layers with different geometry and varying thickness, which are held together with fasteners. The detection of cracks under fasteners with ultrasonic techniques in subsurface layers away from the skin is impeded primarily by interlayer bonds and faying sealant condition. Further, assessment of such sealant condition is extremely challenging in terms of complexity of structure, limited access, and inspection cost. Although Eddy current techniques can be applied on in-service aircraft from the exterior of the skin without knowing sealant condition, the current eddy current techniques are not able to detect defects with wanted sensitivity. In this work a series of low frequency eddy current probes have been designed, fabricated and tested for this application. A probe design incorporating a shielded magnetic field sensor concentrically located in the interior of a drive coil has been employed to enable a localized deep diffusion of the electromagnetic field into the part under test. Due to the required low frequency inspections, probes have been testing using a variety of magnetic field sensors (pickup coil, giant magneto-resistive, anisotropic magneto-resistive, and spin-dependent tunneling). The probe designs as well as capabilities based upon a target inspection for sub-layer cracking in an airframe wing spar joint is presented.

An AlGaN Core-Shell Tunnel Junction Nanowire Light-Emitting Diode Operating in the Ultraviolet-C Band.

PubMed

Sadaf, S M; Zhao, S; Wu, Y; Ra, Y-H; Liu, X; Vanka, S; Mi, Z

2017-02-08

To date, semiconductor light emitting diodes (LEDs) operating in the deep ultraviolet (UV) spectral range exhibit very low efficiency due to the presence of large densities of defects and extremely inefficient p-type conduction of conventional AlGaN quantum well heterostructures. We have demonstrated that such critical issues can be potentially addressed by using nearly defect-free AlGaN tunnel junction core-shell nanowire heterostructures. The core-shell nanowire arrays exhibit high photoluminescence efficiency (∼80%) in the UV-C band at room temperature. With the incorporation of an epitaxial Al tunnel junction, the p-(Al)GaN contact-free nanowire deep UV LEDs showed nearly one order of magnitude reduction in the device resistance, compared to the conventional nanowire p-i-n device. The unpackaged Al tunnel junction deep UV LEDs exhibit an output power >8 mW and a peak external quantum efficiency ∼0.4%, which are nearly one to two orders of magnitude higher than previously reported AlGaN nanowire devices. Detailed studies further suggest that the maximum achievable efficiency is limited by electron overflow and poor light extraction efficiency due to the TM polarized emission.

Crystal Engineering for Low Defect Density and High Efficiency Hybrid Chemical Vapor Deposition Grown Perovskite Solar Cells.

PubMed

Ng, Annie; Ren, Zhiwei; Shen, Qian; Cheung, Sin Hang; Gokkaya, Huseyin Cem; So, Shu Kong; Djurišić, Aleksandra B; Wan, Yangyang; Wu, Xiaojun; Surya, Charles

2016-12-07

Synthesis of high quality perovskite absorber is a key factor in determining the performance of the solar cells. We demonstrate that hybrid chemical vapor deposition (HCVD) growth technique can provide high level of versatility and repeatability to ensure the optimal conditions for the growth of the perovskite films as well as potential for batch processing. It is found that the growth ambient and degree of crystallization of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 (MAPI) have strong impact on the defect density of MAPI. We demonstrate that HCVD process with slow postdeposition cooling rate can significantly reduce the density of shallow and deep traps in the MAPI due to enhanced material crystallization, while a mixed O 2 /N 2 carrier gas is effective in passivating both shallow and deep traps. By careful control of the perovskite growth process, a champion device with power conversion efficiency of 17.6% is achieved. Our work complements the existing theoretical studies on different types of trap states in MAPI and fills the gap on the theoretical analysis of the interaction between deep levels and oxygen. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical predictions.

Deep-levels in gallium arsenide for device applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McManis, Joseph Edward

Defects in semiconductors have been studied for over 40 years as a diagnostic of the quality of crystal growth. In this thesis, we investigate GaAs deep-levels specifically intended for devices. This thesis summarizes our efforts to characterize the near-infrared photoluminescence from deep-levels, study optical transitions via absorption, and fabricate and characterize deep-level light-emitting diodes (LEDs). This thesis also describes the first tunnel diodes which explicitly make use of GaAs deep-levels. Photoluminescence measurements of GaAs deep-levels showed a broad peak around a wavelength extending from 1.0--1.7 mum, which includes important wavelengths for fiber-optic communications (1.3--1.55 mum). Transmission measurements show the new result that very little of the radiative emission is self-absorbed. We measured the deep-level photoluminescence at several temperatures. We are also the first to report the internal quantum efficiency associated with the deep-level transitions. We have fabricated LEDs that, utilize the optical transitions of GaAs deep-levels. The electroluminescence spectra showed a broad peak from 1.0--1.7 mum at low currents, but the spectrum exhibited a blue-shift as the current was increased. To improve device performance, we designed an AlGaAs layer into the structure of the LEDs. The AlGaAs barrier layer acts as a resistive barrier so that the holes in the p-GaAs layer are swept away from underneath the gold p-contact. The AlGaAs layer also reduces the blue-shift by acting as a potential barrier so that only higher-energy holes are injected. We found that the LEDs with AlGaAs were brighter at long wavelengths, which was a significant improvement. Photoluminescence measurements show that the spectral blue-shift is not due to sample heating. We have developed a new physical model to explain the blue-shift: it is caused by Coloumb charging of the deep-centers. We have achieved the first tunnel diodes with which specifically utilize deep-levels in low-temperature-grown (LTG) GaAs. Our devices show the largest ever peak current density in a GaAs tunnel diode at room temperature. Our devices also show significant room-temperature peak-to-valley current ratios. The shape of the current-voltage characteristic and the properties of the optical emission enable us to determine the peak and valley transport mechanisms.

A Comparison of Point Defects in Cd 1-xZn xTe 1-ySe y Crystals Grown by Bridgman and Traveling Heater Methods

DOE PAGES

Gul, R.; Roy, U. N.; Camarda, G. S.; ...

2017-03-28

In this study, the properties of point defects in Cd 1–xZn xTe 1–ySe y (CZTS) radiation detectors are characterized using deep-level transient spectroscopy and compared between materials grown using two different methods, the Bridgman method and the traveling heater method. The nature of the traps was analyzed in terms of their capture cross-sections and trap concentrations, as well as their effects on the measured charge-carrier trapping and de-trapping times, and then compared for the two growth techniques. The results revealed that Se addition to CdZnTe can reduce the V Cd – concentration. In Travelling Heater Method (THM) and Bridgman Methodmore » (BM) grown CZTS detectors, besides a few similarities in the shallow and medium energy traps, there were major differences in the deep traps. It was observed that the excess-Te and lower growth-temperature conditions in THM-grown CZTS led to a complete compensation of V Cd – and two additional traps (attributed to Te i – and Te Cd ++ appearing at around E v + 0.26 eV and E c – 0.78 eV, respectively). The 1.1-eV deep trap related to large Te secondary phases was a dominant trap in the BM-grown CZTS crystals. In addition to i-DLTS data, the effects of point defects induced due to different processing techniques on the detector's resistivity, spectral response to gammas, and μτ product were determined.« less

A Comparison of Point Defects in Cd 1-xZn xTe 1-ySe y Crystals Grown by Bridgman and Traveling Heater Methods

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gul, R.; Roy, U. N.; Camarda, G. S.

In this study, the properties of point defects in Cd 1–xZn xTe 1–ySe y (CZTS) radiation detectors are characterized using deep-level transient spectroscopy and compared between materials grown using two different methods, the Bridgman method and the traveling heater method. The nature of the traps was analyzed in terms of their capture cross-sections and trap concentrations, as well as their effects on the measured charge-carrier trapping and de-trapping times, and then compared for the two growth techniques. The results revealed that Se addition to CdZnTe can reduce the V Cd – concentration. In Travelling Heater Method (THM) and Bridgman Methodmore » (BM) grown CZTS detectors, besides a few similarities in the shallow and medium energy traps, there were major differences in the deep traps. It was observed that the excess-Te and lower growth-temperature conditions in THM-grown CZTS led to a complete compensation of V Cd – and two additional traps (attributed to Te i – and Te Cd ++ appearing at around E v + 0.26 eV and E c – 0.78 eV, respectively). The 1.1-eV deep trap related to large Te secondary phases was a dominant trap in the BM-grown CZTS crystals. In addition to i-DLTS data, the effects of point defects induced due to different processing techniques on the detector's resistivity, spectral response to gammas, and μτ product were determined.« less

DLTS analysis of amphoteric interface defects in high-TiO{sub 2} MOS structures prepared by sol-gel spin-coating

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kumar, Arvind; Mondal, Sandip; Rao, K. S. R. Koteswara, E-mail: ksrkrao@physics.iisc.ernet.in, E-mail: raoksrk@gmail.com

2015-11-15

High-κ TiO{sub 2} thin films have been fabricated from a facile, combined sol – gel spin – coating technique on p and n type silicon substrate. XRD and Raman studies headed the existence of anatase phase of TiO{sub 2} with a small grain size of 18 nm. The refractive index ‘n’ quantified from ellipsometry is 2.41. AFM studies suggest a high quality, pore free films with a fairly small surface roughness of 6 Å. The presence of Ti in its tetravalent state is confirmed by XPS analysis. The defect parameters observed at the interface of Si/TiO{sub 2} were studied bymore » capacitance – voltage (C – V) and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). The flat – band voltage (V{sub FB}) and the density of slow interface states estimated are – 0.9, – 0.44 V and 5.24×10{sup 10}, 1.03×10{sup 11} cm{sup −2}; for the NMOS and PMOS capacitors, respectively. The activation energies, interface state densities and capture cross – sections measured by DLTS are E{sub V} + 0.30, E{sub C} – 0.21 eV; 8.73×10{sup 11}, 6.41×10{sup 11} eV{sup −1} cm{sup −2} and 5.8×10{sup −23}, 8.11×10{sup −23} cm{sup 2} for the NMOS and PMOS structures, respectively. A low value of interface state density in both P- and N-MOS structures makes it a suitable alternate dielectric layer for CMOS applications. And also very low value of capture cross section for both the carriers due to the amphoteric nature of defect indicates that the traps are not aggressive recombination centers and possibly can not contribute to the device operation to a large extent.« less

Visualization and automatic detection of defect distribution in GaN atomic structure from sampling Moiré phase.

PubMed

Wang, Qinghua; Ri, Shien; Tsuda, Hiroshi; Kodera, Masako; Suguro, Kyoichi; Miyashita, Naoto

2017-09-19

Quantitative detection of defects in atomic structures is of great significance to evaluating product quality and exploring quality improvement process. In this study, a Fourier transform filtered sampling Moire technique was proposed to visualize and detect defects in atomic arrays in a large field of view. Defect distributions, defect numbers and defect densities could be visually and quantitatively determined from a single atomic structure image at low cost. The effectiveness of the proposed technique was verified from numerical simulations. As an application, the dislocation distributions in a GaN/AlGaN atomic structure in two directions were magnified and displayed in Moire phase maps, and defect locations and densities were detected automatically. The proposed technique is able to provide valuable references to material scientists and engineers by checking the effect of various treatments for defect reduction. © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Ultrafast carrier dynamics in band edge and broad deep defect emission ZnSe nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Othonos, Andreas; Lioudakis, Emmanouil; Philipose, U.; Ruda, Harry E.

2007-12-01

Ultrafast carrier dynamics of ZnSe nanowires grown under different growth conditions have been studied. Transient absorption measurements reveal the dependence of the competing effects of state filling and photoinduced absorption on the probed energy states. The relaxation of the photogenerated carriers occupying defect states in the stoichiometric and Se-rich samples are single exponentials with time constants of 3-4ps. State filling is the main contribution for probe energies below 1.85eV in the Zn-rich grown sample. This ultrafast carrier dynamics study provides an important insight into the role that intrinsic point defects play in the observed photoluminescence from ZnSe nanowires.

Effect of alpha-particle irradiation on the electrical properties of n-type Ge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roro, K. T.; Janse van Rensburg, P. J.; Auret, F. D.; Coelho, S.

2009-12-01

Deep-level transient spectroscopy was used to investigate the effect of alpha particle irradiation on the electrical properties of n-type Ge. The samples were irradiated with alpha particles at room temperature using an americium-241 (Am-241) radionuclide source. The main defects introduced were found to be electron traps with energy levels at EC-0.38, EC-0.21, EC-0.20, EC-0.15, and EC-0.10 eV, respectively. The main defects in alpha particle irradiation are similar to those introduced by MeV electron irradiation, where the main defect is the E-center. A quadratic increase in concentration as a function of dose is observed.

Relation between lung perfusion defects and intravascular clots in acute pulmonary thromboembolism: assessment with breath-hold SPECT-CT pulmonary angiography fusion images.

PubMed

Suga, Kazuyoshi; Yasuhiko, Kawakami; Iwanaga, Hideyuki; Tokuda, Osamu; Matsunaga, Naofumi

2008-09-01

The relation between lung perfusion defects and intravascular clots in acute pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) was comprehensively assessed on deep-inspiratory breath-hold (DIBrH) perfusion SPECT-computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) fusion images. Subjects were 34 acute PTE patients, who had successfully performed DIBrH perfusion SPECT using a dual-headed SPECT and a respiratory tracking system. Automated DIBrH SPECT-CTPA fusion images were used to assess the relation between lung perfusion defects and intravascular clots detected by CTPA. DIBrH SPECT visualized 175 lobar/segmental or subsegmental defects in 34 patients, and CTPA visualized 61 intravascular clots at variable locations in 30 (88%) patients, but no clots in four (12%) patients. In 30 patients with clots, the fusion images confirmed that 69 (41%) perfusion defects (20 segmental, 45 subsegmental and 4 lobar defects) of total 166 defects were located in lung territories without clots, although the remaining 97 (58%) defects were located in lung territories with clots. Perfusion defect was absent in lung territories with clots (one lobar branch and three segmental branches) in four (12%) of these patients. In four patients without clots, nine perfusion defects including four segmental ones were present. Because of unexpected dissociation between intravascular clots and lung perfusion defects, the present fusion images will be a useful adjunct to CTPA in the diagnosis of acute PTE.

A compensating point defect in carbon-doped GaN substrates studied with electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willoughby, W. R.; Zvanut, M. E.; Paudel, Subash; Iwinska, M.; Sochacki, T.; Bockowski, M.

2018-04-01

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was used to investigate a type of point defect present in 1019 cm-3 carbon-doped GaN substrates grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy. A broad, isotropic resonance at g ˜ 1.987 was observed at 3.5 K, and the EPR intensity increased with illumination at energies greater than 2.75 eV and decreased with photon energies greater than 0.95 eV. The latter is consistent with a deep level of 0.95 eV above the valence band maximum and implies that the associated defect likely participates in donor compensation. The ionization energy for this defect is close to the predicted value for the (-/0) transition level of CN and transition levels associated with Ga vacancies such as VGa and VGa-ON-2H.

Electrical characterisation of SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors and Si pseudo-HBTS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Barros, O.; Le Tron, B.; Woods, R. C.; Giroult-Matlakowski, G.; Vincent, G.; Brémond, G.

1996-08-01

This paper reports an electrical characterisation of the emitter-base junction of Si pseudo-HBTs and SiGe HBTs fabricated in a CMOS compatible single polysilicon self-aligned process. From the reverse characteristics it appears that the definition of the emitter-base junction by plasma etching induces peripheral defects that increase the base current of the transistors. Deep level transient spectroscopy measurements show a deep level in the case of SiGe base, whose spatial origin is not fully determinate up to now.

Model business intelligence system design of quality products by using data mining in R Bakery Company

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitriana, R.; Saragih, J.; Luthfiana, N.

2017-12-01

R Bakery company is a company that produces bread every day. Products that produced in that company have many different types of bread. Products are made in the form of sweet bread and wheat bread which have different tastes for every types of bread. During the making process, there were defects in the products which the defective product turns into reject product. Types of defects that are produced include burnt, sodden bread and shapeless bread. To find out the information about the defects that have been produced then by applying a designed model business intelligence system to create database and data warehouse. By using model business Intelligence system, it will generate useful information such as how many defect that produced by each of the bakery products. To make it easier to obtain such information, it can be done by using data mining method which data that we get is deep explored. The method of data mining is using k-means clustering method. The results of this intelligence business model system are cluster 1 with little amount of defect, cluster 2 with medium amount of defect and cluster 3 with high amount of defect. From OLAP Cube method can be seen that the defect generated during the 7 months period of 96,744 pieces.

Atelocollagen sponge and recombinant basic fibroblast growth factor combination therapy for resistant wounds with deep cavities.

PubMed

Nakanishi, Asako; Hakamada, Arata; Isoda, Ken-ichi; Mizutani, Hitoshi

2005-05-01

Recent advances in bioengineering have introduced materials that enhance wound healing. Even with such new tools, some deep ulcers surrounded by avascular tissues, including bone, tendon, and fascia, are resistant to various therapies and easily form deep cavities with loss of subcutaneous tissue. Atelocollagen sponges have been used as an artificial dermis to cover full-thickness skin defects. Topical recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor has been introduced as a growth factor to induce fibroblast proliferation in skin ulcers. We applied these materials in combination in two patients with deep resistant wounds: one with a cavity reaching the mediastinum through a divided sternum and one with deep necrotic wounds caused by electric burns. These wounds did not respond to the topical basic fibroblast growth factor alone. In contrast, the combination therapy closed the wounds rapidly without further surgical treatment. This combination therapy is a potent treatment for resistant wounds with deep cavities.

Tight-binding calculation studies of vacancy and adatom defects in graphene

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Wei; Lu, Wen-Cai; Zhang, Hong-Xing

2016-02-19

Computational studies of complex defects in graphene usually need to deal with a larger number of atoms than the current first-principles methods can handle. We show a recently developed three-center tight-binding potential for carbon is very efficient for large scale atomistic simulations and can accurately describe the structures and energies of various defects in graphene. Using the three-center tight-binding potential, we have systematically studied the stable structures and formation energies of vacancy and embedded-atom defects of various sizes up to 4 vacancies and 4 embedded atoms in graphene. In conclusion, our calculations reveal low-energy defect structures and provide a moremore » comprehensive understanding of the structures and stability of defects in graphene.« less

Functional mechanism of lung mosaic CT attenuation: assessment with deep-inspiration breath-hold perfusion SPECT-CT fusion imaging and non-breath-hold Technegas SPECT.

PubMed

Suga, K; Yasuhiko, K; Iwanaga, H; Tokuda, O; Matsunaga, N

2009-01-01

The functional mechanism of lung mosaic computed tomography attenuation (MCA) in pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) and obstructive airway disease (OAD) has not yet been fully clarified. To clarify the mechanism of MCA in these diseases by assessing the relationship between regional lung function and CT attenuation change at MCA sites with the use of automated deep-inspiratory breath-hold (DIBrH) perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-CT fusion images and non-breath-hold Technegas SPECT. Subjects were 42 PVD patients (31 pulmonary thromboembolism, four primary/two secondary pulmonary hypertension, and five Takayasu arteritis), 12 OAD patients (five acute asthma, four obliterative bronchiolitis, and three bronchiectasis), and 12 normal controls, all of whom had MCA on DIBrH CT. The relationship between regional lung function and CT attenuation change at the lung slices with MCA was assessed using DIBrH perfusion SPECT-CT fusion images and non-breath-hold Technegas SPECT. The severity of perfusion defects with or without MCA was quantified by regions-of-interest analysis. On DIBrH CT and perfusion SPECT, in contrast to no noticeable CT attenuation abnormality and fairly uniform perfusion in controls, 60 MCA and 274 perfusion defects in PVD patients, and 18 MCA and 61 defects in OAD patients were identified, with a total of 77 ventilation defects on Technegas SPECT in all patients. SPECT-CT correlation showed that, throughout the 78 MCA sites of all patients, lung perfusion was persistently decreased at low CT attenuation and preserved at intervening high CT attenuation, while lung ventilation was poorly correlated with CT attenuation change. The radioactivity ratios of reduced perfusion and the intervening preserved perfusion at the 78 perfusion defects with MCA were significantly lower than those at the remaining 257 defects without MCA (P<0.0001). Although further validation is required, our results indicate that heterogeneous pulmonary arterial perfusion may be a dominant mechanism of MCA in PVD and OAD.

Box 6: Nanoscale Defects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alves, Eduardo; Breese, Mark

Defects affect virtually all properties of crystalline materials, and their role is magnified in nanoscale structures. In this box we describe the different type of defects with particular emphasis on point and linear defects. Above zero Kelvin all real materials have a defect population within their structure, which affects either their crystalline, electronic or optical properties. It is common to attribute a negative connotation to the presence of defects. However, a perfect silicon crystal or any other defect-free semiconductor would have a limited functionality and might even be useless.

A novel dermal matrix generated from burned skin as a promising substitute for deep-degree burns therapy

PubMed Central

YU, GUANYING; YE, LAN; TAN, WEI; ZHU, XUGUO; LI, YAONAN; JIANG, DUYIN

2016-01-01

The extensive skin defects induced by severe burns are dangerous and can be fatal. Currently, the most common therapy is tangential excision to remove the necrotic or denatured areas of skin, followed by skin grafting. Xenogeneic dermal substitutes, such as porcine acellular dermal matrix (ADM), are typically used to cover the burn wounds, and may accelerate wound healing. It is assumed that burned skin that still maintains partial biological activity may be recycled to construct an autologous acellular dermal matrix, termed 'deep-degree burned dermal matrix (DDBDM)'. In theory, DDBDM may avoid the histoincompatibility issues associated with foreign or xenogeneic dermal matrices, and reduce therapy costs by making full use of discarded skin. In the present study, the collagens within prepared DDBDM were thickened, disorganized and partially fractured, however, they still maintained their reticular structure and tensile strength (P<0.01). Through microarray analysis of the cytokines present in ADM and DDBDM, it was determined that the DDBDM did not produce excessive levels of harmful burn toxins. Following 4 weeks of subcutaneous implantation, ADM and DDBDM were incompletely degraded and maintained good integrity. No significant inflammatory reaction or rejection were observed, which indicated that ADM and DDBDM have good histocompatibility. Therefore, DDBDM may be a useful material for the treatment of deep-degree burns. PMID:26846279

First-principles calculations of optical transitions at native defects and impurities in ZnO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyons, John L.; Varley, Joel B.; Janotti, Anderson; Van de Walle, Chris G.

2018-02-01

Optical spectroscopy is a powerful approach for detecting defects and impurities in ZnO, an important electronic material. However, knowledge of how common optical signals are linked with defects and impurities is still limited. The Cu-related green luminescence is among the best understood luminescence signals, but theoretical descriptions of Cu-related optical processes have not agreed with experiment. Regarding native defects, assigning observed lines to specific defects has proven very difficult. Using first-principles calculations, we calculate the properties of native defects and impurities in ZnO and their associated optical signals. Oxygen vacancies are predicted to give luminescence peaks lower than 1 eV; while related zinc dangling bonds can lead to luminescence near 2.4 eV. Zinc vacancies lead to luminescence peaks below 2 eV, as do the related oxygen dangling bonds. However, when complexed with hydrogen impurities, zinc vacancies can cause higher-energy transitions, up to 2.3 eV. We also find that the Cu-related green luminescence is related to a (+/0) deep donor transition level.

Quantum metrology with a single spin-3/2 defect in silicon carbide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soykal, Oney O.; Reinecke, Thomas L.

We show that implementations for quantum sensing with exceptional sensitivity and spatial resolution can be made using the novel features of semiconductor high half-spin multiplet defects with easy-to-implement optical detection protocols. To achieve this, we use the spin- 3 / 2 silicon monovacancy deep center in hexagonal silicon carbide based on our rigorous derivation of this defect's ground state and of its electronic and optical properties. For a single VSi- defect, we obtain magnetic field sensitivities capable of detecting individual nuclear magnetic moments. We also show that its zero-field splitting has an exceptional strain and temperature sensitivity within the technologically desirable near-infrared window of biological systems. Other point defects, i.e. 3d transition metal or rare-earth impurities in semiconductors, may also provide similar opportunities in quantum sensing due to their similar high spin (S >= 3 / 2) configurations. This work was supported in part by ONR and by the Office of Secretary of Defense, Quantum Science and Engineering Program.

The impact of defect scattering on the quasi-ballistic transport of nanoscale conductors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Esqueda, I. S., E-mail: isanchez@isi.edu; Fritze, M.; Cress, C. D.

2015-02-28

Using the Landauer approach for carrier transport, we analyze the impact of defects induced by ion irradiation on the transport properties of nanoscale conductors that operate in the quasi-ballistic regime. Degradation of conductance results from a reduction of carrier mean free path due to the introduction of defects in the conducting channel. We incorporate scattering mechanisms from radiation-induced defects into calculations of the transmission coefficient and present a technique for extracting modeling parameters from near-equilibrium transport measurements. These parameters are used to describe degradation in the transport properties of nanoscale devices using a formalism that is valid under quasi-ballistic operation.more » The analysis includes the effects of bandstructure and dimensionality on the impact of defect scattering and discusses transport properties of nanoscale devices from the diffusive to the ballistic limit. We compare calculations with recently published measurements of irradiated nanoscale devices such as single-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene, and deep-submicron Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors.« less

Effect of point defects on the electronic density states of SnC nanosheets: First-principles calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majidi, Soleyman; Achour, Amine; Rai, D. P.; Nayebi, Payman; Solaymani, Shahram; Beryani Nezafat, Negin; Elahi, Seyed Mohammad

In this work, we investigated the electronic and structural properties of various defects including single Sn and C vacancies, double vacancy of the Sn and C atoms, anti-sites, position exchange and the Stone-Wales (SW) defects in SnC nanosheets by using density-functional theory (DFT). We found that various vacancy defects in the SnC monolayer can change the electronic and structural properties. Our results show that the SnC is an indirect band gap compound, with the band gap of 2.10 eV. The system turns into metal for both structure of the single Sn and C vacancies. However, for the double vacancy contained Sn and C atoms, the structure remains semiconductor with the direct band gap of 0.37 eV at the G point. We also found that for anti-site defects, the structure remains semiconductor and for the exchange defect, the structure becomes indirect semiconductor with the K-G point and the band gap of 0.74 eV. Finally, the structure of SW defect remains semiconductor with the direct band gap at K point with band gap of 0.54 eV.

Alternative acceptance criteria of girth weld defects in cross country pipelines. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Denys, R.M.; Lefevre, T.

1997-06-01

The failure behaviour of defective girth welds in large diameter pipe lines was assessed using radiographic and mechanised ultrasonic inspection, small scale (tensile, hardness, Charpy and CTOD) and wide plate tests. The specimens were taken from girth welds in API 5LX70 pipe of 1219 mm (48 inches) in diameter by 8,0 mm (0,323 inch) and 13,3 mm (0,524 inch) wall. The test welds were made with the SMAW (8 welds) and GMAW (9 welds) welding processes. Upon completion of the non-destructive tests, 96 curved wide plate specimens were tested to destruction under tensile load. Testing was performed at low temperaturemore » (-50{degrees}C/-58{degrees}F). Defect type, defect position and size were determined from photographs of the fracture face and macro sections (defect characterisation and sizing). In total, 290 typical surface breaking and embedded defects in SMAW or GMAW girth welds have been evaluated. The vast majority of these defects were grossly out of tolerance with respect to current weld quality (workmanship) acceptance levels. To allow the defect tolerance to be determined, the failure strains and stresses were correlated with a defect length determined for an equivalent 3 mm (0, 118 inch) deep defect. This target depth was chosen to represent the average height of one weld pass. The results of this approach have been compared to wall thickness, current workmanship and the EPRG Tier 2 defect limit for planar defects. The defect lengths were derived for rectangular, parabolic and elliptical defect representations.« less

Characterization of electrically-active defects in ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with laser-based failure analysis techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, Mary A.; Tangyunyong, Paiboon; Cole, Edward I.

2016-01-14

Laser-based failure analysis techniques demonstrate the ability to quickly and non-intrusively screen deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for electrically-active defects. In particular, two laser-based techniques, light-induced voltage alteration and thermally-induced voltage alteration, generate applied voltage maps (AVMs) that provide information on electrically-active defect behavior including turn-on bias, density, and spatial location. Here, multiple commercial LEDs were examined and found to have dark defect signals in the AVM indicating a site of reduced resistance or leakage through the diode. The existence of the dark defect signals in the AVM correlates strongly with an increased forward-bias leakage current. This increased leakage ismore » not present in devices without AVM signals. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of a dark defect signal site revealed a dislocation cluster through the pn junction. The cluster included an open core dislocation. Even though LEDs with few dark AVM defect signals did not correlate strongly with power loss, direct association between increased open core dislocation densities and reduced LED device performance has been presented elsewhere [M. W. Moseley et al., J. Appl. Phys. 117, 095301 (2015)].« less

Characterization of electrically-active defects in ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with laser-based failure analysis techniques

DOE PAGES

Miller, Mary A.; Tangyunyong, Paiboon; Edward I. Cole, Jr.

2016-01-12

In this study, laser-based failure analysis techniques demonstrate the ability to quickly and non-intrusively screen deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes(LEDs) for electrically-active defects. In particular, two laser-based techniques, light-induced voltage alteration and thermally-induced voltage alteration, generate applied voltage maps (AVMs) that provide information on electrically-active defect behavior including turn-on bias, density, and spatial location. Here, multiple commercial LEDs were examined and found to have dark defect signals in the AVM indicating a site of reduced resistance or leakage through the diode. The existence of the dark defect signals in the AVM correlates strongly with an increased forward-bias leakage current. This increasedmore » leakage is not present in devices without AVM signals. Transmission electron microscopyanalysis of a dark defect signal site revealed a dislocation cluster through the pn junction. The cluster included an open core dislocation. Even though LEDs with few dark AVM defect signals did not correlate strongly with power loss, direct association between increased open core dislocation densities and reduced LED device performance has been presented elsewhere [M. W. Moseley et al., J. Appl. Phys. 117, 095301 (2015)].« less

Defect phase diagram for doping of Ga2O3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lany, Stephan

2018-04-01

For the case of n-type doping of β-Ga2O3 by group 14 dopants (C, Si, Ge, Sn), a defect phase diagram is constructed from defect equilibria calculated over a range of temperatures (T), O partial pressures (pO2), and dopant concentrations. The underlying defect levels and formation energies are determined from first-principles supercell calculations with GW bandgap corrections. Only Si is found to be a truly shallow donor, C is a deep DX-like (lattice relaxed donor) center, and Ge and Sn have defect levels close to the conduction band minimum. The thermodynamic modeling includes the effect of association of dopant-defect pairs and complexes, which causes the net doping to decline when exceeding a certain optimal dopant concentration. The optimal doping levels are surprisingly low, between about 0.01% and 1% of cation substitution, depending on the (T, pO2) conditions. Considering further the stability constraints due to sublimation of molecular Ga2O, specific predictions of optimized pO2 and Si dopant concentrations are given. The incomplete passivation of dopant-defect complexes in β-Ga2O3 suggests a design rule for metastable doping above the solubility limit.

Imaging the atomic structure and local chemistry of platelets in natural type Ia diamond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olivier, E. J.; Neethling, J. H.; Kroon, R. E.; Naidoo, S. R.; Allen, C. S.; Sawada, H.; van Aken, P. A.; Kirkland, A. I.

2018-03-01

In the past decades, many efforts have been devoted to characterizing {001} platelet defects in type Ia diamond. It is known that N is concentrated at the defect core. However, an accurate description of the atomic structure of the defect and the role that N plays in it is still unknown. Here, by using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy we have determined the atomic arrangement within platelet defects in a natural type Ia diamond and matched it to a prevalent theoretical model. The platelet has an anisotropic atomic structure with a zigzag ordering of defect pairs along the defect line. The electron energy-loss near-edge fine structure of both carbon K- and nitrogen K-edges obtained from the platelet core is consistent with a trigonal bonding arrangement at interstitial sites. The experimental observations support an interstitial aggregate mode of formation for platelet defects in natural diamond.

Imaging the atomic structure and local chemistry of platelets in natural type Ia diamond.

PubMed

Olivier, E J; Neethling, J H; Kroon, R E; Naidoo, S R; Allen, C S; Sawada, H; van Aken, P A; Kirkland, A I

2018-03-01

In the past decades, many efforts have been devoted to characterizing {001} platelet defects in type Ia diamond. It is known that N is concentrated at the defect core. However, an accurate description of the atomic structure of the defect and the role that N plays in it is still unknown. Here, by using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy we have determined the atomic arrangement within platelet defects in a natural type Ia diamond and matched it to a prevalent theoretical model. The platelet has an anisotropic atomic structure with a zigzag ordering of defect pairs along the defect line. The electron energy-loss near-edge fine structure of both carbon K- and nitrogen K-edges obtained from the platelet core is consistent with a trigonal bonding arrangement at interstitial sites. The experimental observations support an interstitial aggregate mode of formation for platelet defects in natural diamond.

78 FR 14553 - Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-06

...; deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism (DVT/PE); sickle cell disease (SCD); attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and Tourette syndrome. The Children's Health Act of 2000 required the... Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Human Development and Disabilities, and Blood Disorders--NEW...

Radiation damage annealing mechanisms and possible low temperature annealing in silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Swartz, C. K.

1980-01-01

The defect responsible for reverse annealing in 2 ohm/cm n(+)/p silicon solar cells was identified. This defect, with energy level at e sub v + 0.30 eV was tentatively identified as a boron oxygen-vacancy complex. Results indicate that its removal could result in significant annealing for 2 ohm/cm and lower resistivity cells at temperatures as low as 200 C. These results were obtained by use of an expression derived from the Shockley-Read-Hall recombination theory which relates measured diffusion length ratios to relative defect concentrations and electron capture cross sections. The relative defect concentrations and one of the required capture cross sections are obtained from Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy. Four additional capture cross sections are obtained using diffusion length data and data from temperature dependent lifetime studied. These calculated results are in reasonable agreement with experimental data.

The use of COD and plastic instability in crack propagation and arrest in shells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erdogan, F.; Ratwani, M.

1974-01-01

The initiation, growth, and possible arrest of fracture in cylindrical shells containing initial defects are dealt with. For those defects which may be approximated by a part-through semi-elliptic surface crack which is sufficiently shallow so that part of the net ligament in the plane of the crack is still elastic, the existing flat plate solution is modified to take into account the shell curvature effect as well as the effect of the thickness and the small scale plastic deformations. The problem of large defects is then considered under the assumptions that the defect may be approximated by a relatively deep meridional part-through surface crack and the net ligament through the shell wall is fully yielded. The results given are based on an 8th order bending theory of shallow shells using a conventional plastic strip model to account for the plastic deformations around the crack border.

OPTOELECTRONIC PROPERTIES AND THE GAP STATE DISTRIBUTION IN a-Si, Ge ALLOYS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aljishi, S.; Smith, Z. E.; Wagner, S.

In this article we review optical and electronic transport data measured in amorphous silicon-germanium alloys with the goal of identifying the density of states as a function of alloy composition. The results show that while alloying a-Si:H with germanium has little effect on the valence band tail, the conduction band tail density of states is increased dramatically. Defect distributions both above and below midgap are detected and identified with the dangling bond D+/° and D°/- states. The density of deep defects below midgap increases exponentially with germanium content. Above midgap, a large concentration of defects lying between 0.3 and 0.5 eV below the conduction band edge has a strong effect on transient electron transport.

Cell and defect behavior in lithium-counterdoped solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, I.; Mehta, S.; Swartz, C. K.

1984-01-01

Some n(+)/p cells in which lithium is introduced as a counterdopant, by ion-implantation, into the cell's boron-doped p-region were studied. To determine if the cells radiation resistance could be significantly improved by lithium counterdoping. Defect behavior was related to cell performance using deep level transient spectroscopy. Results indicate a significantly increased radiation resistance for the lithium counterdoped cells when compared to the boron doped 1 ohm-cm control cell. The increased radiation resistance of the lithium counterdoped cells is due to the complexing of lithium with divacancies and boron. It is speculated that complexing with oxygen and single vacancies also contributes to the increased radiation resistance. Counterdoping silicon with lithium results in a different set of defects.

Electronic and transformation properties of a metastable defect introduced in epitaxially grown boron-doped p-type Si by alpha particle irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mamor, M.; Auret, F. D.; Goodman, S. A.; Meyer, W. E.; Myburg, G.

1998-06-01

Titanium (Ti) Schottky barrier diodes on epitaxially grown boron-doped p-type Si films with a free carrier density of 6-8×1016cm-3 were irradiated with alpha particles at room temperature using an americium-241 (Am-241) radio nuclide. We report the electronic and transformation characteristics of an α-particle irradiation-induced defect Hα2 in epitaxially grown p-Si with metastable properties. The energy level and apparent capture cross section, as determined by deep-level transient spectroscopy, are Ev+0.43 eV and 1.4×10-15 cm2, respectively. This defect can be removed and re-introduced using a conventional bias-on/off cooling technique.

Copper interstitial recombination centers in Cu3N

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yee, Ye Sheng; Inoue, Hisashi; Hultqvist, Adam; Hanifi, David; Salleo, Alberto; Magyari-Köpe, Blanka; Nishi, Yoshio; Bent, Stacey F.; Clemens, Bruce M.

2018-06-01

We present a comprehensive study of the earth-abundant semiconductor Cu3N as a potential solar energy conversion material, using density functional theory and experimental methods. Density functional theory indicates that among the dominant intrinsic point defects, copper vacancies VCu have shallow defect levels while copper interstitials Cui behave as deep potential wells in the conduction band, which mediate Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. The existence of Cui defects has been experimentally verified using photothermal deflection spectroscopy. A Cu3N /ZnS heterojunction diode with good current-voltage rectification behavior has been demonstrated experimentally, but no photocurrent is generated under illumination. The absence of photocurrent can be explained by a large concentration of Cui recombination centers capturing electrons in p -type Cu3N .

Investigation of low leakage current radiation detectors on n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Khai V.; Chaudhuri, Sandeep K.; Mandal, Krishna C.

2014-09-01

The surface leakage current of high-resolution 4H-SiC epitaxial layer Schottky barrier detectors has been improved significantly after surface passivations of 4H-SiC epitaxial layers. Thin (nanometer range) layers of silicon dioxide (SiO2) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) were deposited on 4H-SiC epitaxial layers using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on 20 μm thick n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers followed by the fabrication of large area (~12 mm2) Schottky barrier radiation detectors. The fabricated detectors have been characterized through current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V), and alpha pulse height spectroscopy measurements; the results were compared with that of detectors fabricated without surface passivations. Improved energy resolution of ~ 0.4% for 5486 keV alpha particles was observed after passivation, and it was found that the performance of these detectors were limited by the presence of macroscopic and microscopic crystal defects affecting the charge transport properties adversely. Capacitance mode deep level transient studies (DLTS) revealed the presence of a titanium impurity related shallow level defects (Ec-0.19 eV), and two deep level defects identified as Z1/2 and Ci1 located at Ec-0.62 and ~ Ec-1.40 eV respectively.

Defect classification in sparsity-based structural health monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golato, Andrew; Ahmad, Fauzia; Santhanam, Sridhar; Amin, Moeness G.

2017-05-01

Guided waves have gained popularity in structural health monitoring (SHM) due to their ability to inspect large areas with little attenuation, while providing rich interactions with defects. For thin-walled structures, the propagating waves are Lamb waves, which are a complex but well understood type of guided waves. Recent works have cast the defect localization problem of Lamb wave based SHM within the sparse reconstruction framework. These methods make use of a linear model relating the measurements with the scene reflectivity under the assumption of point-like defects. However, most structural defects are not perfect points but tend to assume specific forms, such as surface cracks or internal cracks. Knowledge of the "type" of defects is useful in the assessment phase of SHM. In this paper, we present a dual purpose sparsity-based imaging scheme which, in addition to accurately localizing defects, properly classifies the defects present simultaneously. The proposed approach takes advantage of the bias exhibited by certain types of defects toward a specific Lamb wave mode. For example, some defects strongly interact with the anti-symmetric modes, while others strongly interact with the symmetric modes. We build model based dictionaries for the fundamental symmetric and anti-symmetric wave modes, which are then utilized in unison to properly localize and classify the defects present. Simulated data of surface and internal defects in a thin Aluminum plate are used to validate the proposed scheme.

Investigating the Defect Structures in Transparent Conducting Oxides Using X-ray and Neutron Scattering Techniques

PubMed Central

González, Gabriela B.

2012-01-01

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) materials are implemented into a wide variety of commercial devices because they possess a unique combination of high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity. Created during the processing of the TCOs, defects within the atomic-scale structure are responsible for their desirable optical and electrical properties. Therefore, studying the defect structure is essential to a better understanding of the behavior of transparent conductors. X-ray and neutron scattering techniques are powerful tools to investigate the atomic lattice structural defects in these materials. This review paper presents some of the current developments in the study of structural defects in n-type TCOs using x-ray diffraction (XRD), neutron diffraction, extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), pair distribution functions (PDFs), and x-ray fluorescence (XRF). PMID:28817010

Reverted glutathione S-transferase-like genes that influence flower color intensity of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) originated from excision of a transposable element

PubMed Central

Momose, Masaki; Itoh, Yoshio; Umemoto, Naoyuki; Nakayama, Masayoshi; Ozeki, Yoshihiro

2013-01-01

A glutathione S-transferase-like gene, DcGSTF2, is responsible for carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) flower color intensity. Two defective genes, DcGSTF2mu with a nonsense mutation and DcGSTF2-dTac1 containing a transposable element dTac1, have been characterized in detail in this report. dTac1 is an active element that produces reverted functional genes by excision of the element. A pale-pink cultivar ‘Daisy’ carries both defective genes, whereas a spontaneous deep-colored mutant ‘Daisy-VPR’ lost the element from DcGSTF2-dTac1. This finding confirmed that dTac1 is active and that the resulting reverted gene, DcGSTF2rev1, missing the element is responsible for this color change. Crosses between the pale-colored cultivar ‘06-LA’ and a deep-colored cultivar ‘Spectrum’ produced segregating progeny. Only the deep-colored progeny had DcGSTF2rev2 derived from the ‘Spectrum’ parent, whereas progeny with pale-colored flowers had defective forms from both parents, DcGSTF2mu and DcGSTF2-dTac1. Thus, DcGSTF2rev2 had functional activity and likely originated from excision of dTac1 since there was a footprint sequence at the vacated site of the dTac1 insertion. Characterizing the DcGSTF2 genes in several cultivars revealed that the two functional genes, DcGSTF2rev1 and DcGSTF2rev2, have been used for some time in carnation breeding with the latter in use for more than half a century. PMID:24399917

Reverted glutathione S-transferase-like genes that influence flower color intensity of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) originated from excision of a transposable element.

PubMed

Momose, Masaki; Itoh, Yoshio; Umemoto, Naoyuki; Nakayama, Masayoshi; Ozeki, Yoshihiro

2013-12-01

A glutathione S-transferase-like gene, DcGSTF2, is responsible for carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) flower color intensity. Two defective genes, DcGSTF2mu with a nonsense mutation and DcGSTF2-dTac1 containing a transposable element dTac1, have been characterized in detail in this report. dTac1 is an active element that produces reverted functional genes by excision of the element. A pale-pink cultivar 'Daisy' carries both defective genes, whereas a spontaneous deep-colored mutant 'Daisy-VPR' lost the element from DcGSTF2-dTac1. This finding confirmed that dTac1 is active and that the resulting reverted gene, DcGSTF2rev1, missing the element is responsible for this color change. Crosses between the pale-colored cultivar '06-LA' and a deep-colored cultivar 'Spectrum' produced segregating progeny. Only the deep-colored progeny had DcGSTF2rev2 derived from the 'Spectrum' parent, whereas progeny with pale-colored flowers had defective forms from both parents, DcGSTF2mu and DcGSTF2-dTac1. Thus, DcGSTF2rev2 had functional activity and likely originated from excision of dTac1 since there was a footprint sequence at the vacated site of the dTac1 insertion. Characterizing the DcGSTF2 genes in several cultivars revealed that the two functional genes, DcGSTF2rev1 and DcGSTF2rev2, have been used for some time in carnation breeding with the latter in use for more than half a century.

Structural defects and recombination behavior of excited carriers in Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} solar cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, J.; Du, H. W.; Li, Y.

2016-08-15

The carriers’ behavior in neutral region (NTR) and space charged region (SCR) of Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} thin film based solar cells has been investigated by temperature dependent photoluminescence (PL-T), electroluminescence (EL-T) and current-voltage (IV-T) from 10 to 300 K. PL-T spectra show that three kinds of defects, namely V{sub Se}, In{sub Cu} and (In{sub Cu}+V{sub Cu}), are localized within the band gap of NTR and SCR of CIGS layer, corresponding to the energy levels of E{sub C}-0.08, E{sub C}-0.20 and E{sub C}-0.25 eV, respectively. The In{sub Cu} and (In{sub Cu}+V{sub Cu}) deep level defects are non-radiative recombination centers at room temperature.more » The IV-T and EL-T analysis reveals that the injection modes of electrons from ZnO conduction band into Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} layer are tunneling, thermally-excited tunneling and thermionic emission under 10-40, 60-160, and 180-300 K, respectively. At 10-160 K, the electrons tunnel into (In{sub Cu}+V{sub Cu}) and V{sub se} defect levels in band gap of SCR and the drifting is involved in the emission bands at 0.96 and 1.07 eV, which is the direct evidence for a tunneling assisted recombination. At 180-300 K, the electrons are directly injected into the Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} conduction band, and the emission of 1.13 eV are ascribed to the transitions from the conduction band to the valence band.« less

Reconstruction of segmental bone defect of long bones after tumor resection by devitalized tumor-bearing bone.

PubMed

Qu, Huayi; Guo, Wei; Yang, Rongli; Li, Dasen; Tang, Shun; Yang, Yi; Dong, Sen; Zang, Jie

2015-09-24

The reconstruction of an intercalary bone defect after a tumor resection of a long bone remains a challenge to orthopedic surgeons. Though several methods have been adopted to enhance the union of long segmental allografts or retrieved segmental autografts to the host bones, still more progresses are required to achieve a better union rate. Several methods have been adopted to devitalize tumor bone for recycling usage, and the results varied. We describe our experiences of using devitalized tumor-bearing bones for the repairing of segmental defects after tumor resection. Twenty-seven eligible patients treated from February 2004 to May 2012 were included. The segmental tumor bone (mean length, 14 cm) was resected, and then devitalized in 20% sterile saline at 65 °C for 30 min after the tumor tissue was removed. The devitalized bone was implanted back into the defect by using nails or plates. Complete healing of 50 osteotomy ends was achieved at a median time of 11 months (interquartile range (IQR) 9-13 months). Major complications included bone nonunion in four bone junctions (7.4%), devitalized bone fracture in one patient (3.7%), deep infection in three patients (11.1%), and fixation failure in two patients (7.4%). The bone union rates at 1 and 2 years were 74.1 and 92.6%, respectively. The average functional score according to the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) 93 scoring system was 93 % (IQR 80-96.7%). Incubation in 20% sterile saline at 65 °C for 30 min is an effective method of devitalization of tumor-bearing bone. The retrieved bone graft may provide as a less expensive alternative for limb salvage. The structural bone and the preserved osteoinductivity of protein may improve bone union.

Modification of electron states in CdTe absorber due to a buffer layer in CdTe/CdS solar cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fedorenko, Y. G., E-mail: y.fedorenko@liverpool.ac.uk; Major, J. D.; Pressman, A.

2015-10-28

By application of the ac admittance spectroscopy method, the defect state energy distributions were determined in CdTe incorporated in thin film solar cell structures concluded on ZnO, ZnSe, and ZnS buffer layers. Together with the Mott-Schottky analysis, the results revealed a strong modification of the defect density of states and the concentration of the uncompensated acceptors as influenced by the choice of the buffer layer. In the solar cells formed on ZnSe and ZnS, the Fermi level and the energy position of the dominant deep trap levels were observed to shift closer to the midgap of CdTe, suggesting the mid-gapmore » states may act as recombination centers and impact the open-circuit voltage and the fill factor of the solar cells. For the deeper states, the broadening parameter was observed to increase, indicating fluctuations of the charge on a microscopic scale. Such changes can be attributed to the grain-boundary strain and the modification of the charge trapped at the grain-boundary interface states in polycrystalline CdTe.« less

Induced conductivity in sol-gel ZnO films by passivation or elimination of Zn vacancies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winarski, D. J.; Anwand, W.; Wagner, A.; Saadatkia, P.; Selim, F. A.; Allen, M.; Wenner, B.; Leedy, K.; Allen, J.; Tetlak, S.; Look, D. C.

2016-09-01

Undoped and Ga- and Al- doped ZnO films were synthesized using sol-gel and spin coating methods and characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical spectroscopy and Hall-effect measurements. SEM measurements reveal an average grain size of 20 nm and distinct individual layer structure. Measurable conductivity was not detected in the unprocessed films; however, annealing in hydrogen or zinc environment induced significant conductivity (˜10-2 Ω .cm) in most films. Positron annihilation spectroscopy measurements provided strong evidence that the significant enhancement in conductivity was due to hydrogen passivation of Zn vacancy related defects or elimination of Zn vacancies by Zn interstitials which suppress their role as deep acceptors. Hydrogen passivation of cation vacancies is shown to play an important role in tuning the electrical conductivity of ZnO, similar to its role in passivation of defects at the Si/SiO2 interface that has been essential for the successful development of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices. By comparison with hydrogen effect on other oxides, we suggest that hydrogen may play a universal role in oxides passivating cation vacancies and modifying their electronic properties.

Regulation of Compound Leaf Development by PHANTASTICA in Medicago truncatula1[C][W][OPEN

PubMed Central

Ge, Liangfa; Peng, Jianling; Berbel, Ana; Madueño, Francisco; Chen, Rujin

2014-01-01

Plant leaves, simple or compound, initiate as peg-like structures from the peripheral zone of the shoot apical meristem, which requires class I KNOTTED-LIKE HOMEOBOXI (KNOXI) transcription factors to maintain its activity. The MYB domain protein encoded by the ASYMMETRIC LEAVES1/ROUGH SHEATH2/PHANTASTICA (ARP) gene, together with other factors, excludes KNOXI gene expression from incipient leaf primordia to initiate leaves and specify leaf adaxial identity. However, the regulatory relationship between ARP and KNOXI is more complex in compound-leafed species. Here, we investigated the role of ARP and KNOXI genes in compound leaf development in Medicago truncatula. We show that the M. truncatula phantastica mutant exhibited severe compound leaf defects, including curling and deep serration of leaf margins, shortened petioles, increased rachises, petioles acquiring motor organ characteristics, and ectopic development of petiolules. On the other hand, the M. truncatula brevipedicellus mutant did not exhibit visible compound leaf defects. Our analyses show that the altered petiole development requires ectopic expression of ELONGATED PETIOLULE1, which encodes a lateral organ boundary domain protein, and that the distal margin serration requires the auxin efflux protein M. truncatula PIN-FORMED10 in the M. truncatula phantastica mutant. PMID:24218492

Perils of Neglecting Lattice Relaxation in the Pressure Dependence of Deep Luminescence Bands in Wide Gap Semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iota, V.; Weinstein, B. A.

1998-03-01

Deep defect states are often assumed to be insensitive to pressure because of their localized atomic-like character. In apparent conflict with this, experiments on widegap II-VI materials find that the pressure shifts of many 'midgap' photoluminescence (PL) bands associated with large-lattice-relaxation defects are more rapid than the shift of the bandgap(B. Weinstein, T. Ritter, et. al., Phys. Stat. Sol. (b) 198), 167 (1996). To study this, we measured the effects of pressure on the PL and PL-excitation (PLE) bands arising from the Zn-vacancy (V_Zn) and the P_Se deep acceptor centers in ZnSe. Using the observed pressure variation of the Stokes shifts and the established 1 atm. configuration coordinate (CC) models( D.Y. Jeon, H.P Gislason, G.D. Watkins, Phys. Rev. B 48), 7872 (1993), we were able to infer quantitative CC-diagrams at any pressure. Our results show that the pressure dependence of the lattice relaxation contributes a substantial fraction (several meV/kbar) to the overall shift of the PL-bands, and, hence, must be included. For the case of the V_Zn, simple calculations of the Jahn-Teller splitting using dangling-bond orbitals support this conclusion. figures

Band edge states, intrinsic defects, and dopants in monolayer HfS2 and SnS2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Haichang; Guo, Yuzheng; Robertson, John

2018-02-01

Although monolayer HfS2 and SnS2 do not have a direct bandgap like MoS2, they have much higher carrier mobilities. Their band offsets are favorable for use with WSe2 in tunnel field effect transistors. Here, we study the effective masses, intrinsic defects, and substitutional dopants of these dichalcogenides. We find that HfS2 has surprisingly small effective masses for a compound that might appear partly ionic. The S vacancy in HfS2 is found to be a shallow donor while that in SnS2 is a deep donor. Substitutional dopants at the S site are found to be shallow. This contrasts with MoS2 where donors and acceptors are not always shallow or with black phosphorus where dopants can reconstruct into deep non-doping configurations. It is pointed out that HfS2 is more favorable than MoS2 for semiconductor processing because it has the more convenient CVD precursors developed for growing HfO2.

Vibration of carbon nanotubes with defects: order reduction methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudson, Robert B.; Sinha, Alok

2018-03-01

Order reduction methods are widely used to reduce computational effort when calculating the impact of defects on the vibrational properties of nearly periodic structures in engineering applications, such as a gas-turbine bladed disc. However, despite obvious similarities these techniques have not yet been adapted for use in analysing atomic structures with inevitable defects. Two order reduction techniques, modal domain analysis and modified modal domain analysis, are successfully used in this paper to examine the changes in vibrational frequencies, mode shapes and mode localization caused by defects in carbon nanotubes. The defects considered are isotope defects and Stone-Wales defects, though the methods described can be extended to other defects.

Structural, electronic and photocatalytic properties of atomic defective BiI3 monolayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Huang; Ziyu, Hu; Xu, Gong; Xiaohong, Shao

2018-01-01

The structural, electronic and photocatalytic properties of five vacancy-containing 2D BiI3 monolayers are investigated by the first-principle calculations. The electronic structures show that the five structures are stable and have comparable binding energies to that of the pristine BiI3 monolayer, and the defects can tune the band gaps. Optical spectra indicate that the five structures retain high absorption capacity for visible light. The spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect is found to play an important role in the band edge of defective structures, and the VBi and VBi-I3 defective BiI3 monolayers can make absolute band edges straddle water redox potentials more easily.

Structural Stability and Defect Energetics of ZnO from Diffusion Quantum Monte Carlo

DOE PAGES

Santana Palacio, Juan A.; Krogel, Jaron T.; Kim, Jeongnim; ...

2015-04-28

We have applied the many-body ab-initio diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) method to study Zn and ZnO crystals under pressure, and the energetics of the oxygen vacancy, zinc interstitial and hydrogen impurities in ZnO. We show that DMC is an accurate and practical method that can be used to characterize multiple properties of materials that are challenging for density functional theory approximations. DMC agrees with experimental measurements to within 0.3 eV, including the band-gap of ZnO, the ionization potential of O and Zn, and the atomization energy of O2, ZnO dimer, and wurtzite ZnO. DMC predicts the oxygen vacancy asmore » a deep donor with a formation energy of 5.0(2) eV under O-rich conditions and thermodynamic transition levels located between 1.8 and 2.5 eV from the valence band maximum. Our DMC results indicate that the concentration of zinc interstitial and hydrogen impurities in ZnO should be low under n-type, and Zn- and H-rich conditions because these defects have formation energies above 1.4 eV under these conditions. Comparison of DMC and hybrid functionals shows that these DFT approximations can be parameterized to yield a general correct qualitative description of ZnO. However, the formation energy of defects in ZnO evaluated with DMC and hybrid functionals can differ by more than 0.5 eV.« less

Advanced design for lightweight structures: Review and prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braga, Daniel F. O.; Tavares, S. M. O.; da Silva, Lucas F. M.; Moreira, P. M. G. P.; de Castro, Paulo M. S. T.

2014-08-01

Current demand for fuel efficient aircraft has been pushing the aeronautical sector to develop ever more lightweight designs while keeping safe operation and required structural strength. Along with light-weighting, new structural design concepts have also been established in order to maintain the aircraft in service for longer periods of time, with high reliability levels. All these innovations and requirements have led to deeply optimized aeronautical structures contributing to more sustainable air transport. This article reviews the major design philosophies which have been employed in aircraft structures, including safe-life, fail-safe and damage tolerance taking into account their impact on the structural design. A brief historical review is performed in order to analyse what led to the development of each philosophy. Material properties are related to each of the design philosophies. Damage tolerant design has emerged as the main structural design philosophy in aeronautics, requiring deep knowledge on materials fatigue and corrosion strength, as well as potential failure modes and non-destructive inspection techniques, particularly minimum detectable defect and scan times. A discussion on the implementation of structural health monitoring and self-healing structures within the current panorama of structures designed according to the damage tolerant philosophy is presented. This discussion is aided by a review of research on these two subjects. These two concepts show potential for further improving safety and durability of aircraft structures.

BDA: A novel method for identifying defects in body-centered cubic crystals.

PubMed

Möller, Johannes J; Bitzek, Erik

2016-01-01

The accurate and fast identification of crystallographic defects plays a key role for the analysis of atomistic simulation output data. For face-centered cubic (fcc) metals, most existing structure analysis tools allow for the direct distinction of common defects, such as stacking faults or certain low-index surfaces. For body-centered cubic (bcc) metals, on the other hand, a robust way to identify such defects is currently not easily available. We therefore introduce a new method for analyzing atomistic configurations of bcc metals, the BCC Defect Analysis (BDA). It uses existing structure analysis algorithms and combines their results to uniquely distinguish between typical defects in bcc metals. In essence, the BDA method offers the following features:•Identification of typical defect structures in bcc metals.•Reduction of erroneously identified defects by iterative comparison to the defects in the atom's neighborhood.•Availability as ready-to-use Python script for the widespread visualization tool OVITO [http://ovito.org].

The relationship between grain boundary structure, defect mobility, and grain boundary sink efficiency

PubMed Central

Uberuaga, Blas Pedro; Vernon, Louis J.; Martinez, Enrique; Voter, Arthur F.

2015-01-01

Nanocrystalline materials have received great attention due to their potential for improved functionality and have been proposed for extreme environments where the interfaces are expected to promote radiation tolerance. However, the precise role of the interfaces in modifying defect behavior is unclear. Using long-time simulations methods, we determine the mobility of defects and defect clusters at grain boundaries in Cu. We find that mobilities vary significantly with boundary structure and cluster size, with larger clusters exhibiting reduced mobility, and that interface sink efficiency depends on the kinetics of defects within the interface via the in-boundary annihilation rate of defects. Thus, sink efficiency is a strong function of defect mobility, which depends on boundary structure, a property that evolves with time. Further, defect mobility at boundaries can be slower than in the bulk, which has general implications for the properties of polycrystalline materials. Finally, we correlate defect energetics with the volumes of atomic sites at the boundary. PMID:25766999

The relationship between grain boundary structure, defect mobility, and grain boundary sink efficiency

DOE PAGES

Uberuaga, Blas Pedro; Vernon, Louis J.; Martinez, Enrique; ...

2015-03-13

Nanocrystalline materials have received great attention due to their potential for improved functionality and have been proposed for extreme environments where the interfaces are expected to promote radiation tolerance. However, the precise role of the interfaces in modifying defect behavior is unclear. Using long-time simulations methods, we determine the mobility of defects and defect clusters at grain boundaries in Cu. We find that mobilities vary significantly with boundary structure and cluster size, with larger clusters exhibiting reduced mobility, and that interface sink efficiency depends on the kinetics of defects within the interface via the in-boundary annihilation rate of defects. Thus,more » sink efficiency is a strong function of defect mobility, which depends on boundary structure, a property that evolves with time. Further, defect mobility at boundaries can be slower than in the bulk, which has general implications for the properties of polycrystalline materials. Finally, we correlate defect energetics with the volumes of atomic sites at the boundary.« less

Simulation of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry from arbitrary atom structures.

PubMed

Zhang, S; Nordlund, K; Djurabekova, F; Zhang, Y; Velisa, G; Wang, T S

2016-10-01

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in a channeling direction (RBS/C) is a powerful tool for analysis of the fraction of atoms displaced from their lattice positions. However, it is in many cases not straightforward to analyze what is the actual defect structure underlying the RBS/C signal. To reveal insights of RBS/C signals from arbitrarily complex defective atomic structures, we develop here a method for simulating the RBS/C spectrum from a set of arbitrary read-in atom coordinates (obtained, e.g., from molecular dynamics simulations). We apply the developed method to simulate the RBS/C signals from Ni crystal structures containing randomly displaced atoms, Frenkel point defects, and extended defects, respectively. The RBS/C simulations show that, even for the same number of atoms in defects, the RBS/C signal is much stronger for the extended defects. Comparison with experimental results shows that the disorder profile obtained from RBS/C signals in ion-irradiated Ni is due to a small fraction of extended defects rather than a large number of individual random atoms.

Simulation of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry from arbitrary atom structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, S.; Nordlund, K.; Djurabekova, F.; Zhang, Y.; Velisa, G.; Wang, T. S.

2016-10-01

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in a channeling direction (RBS/C) is a powerful tool for analysis of the fraction of atoms displaced from their lattice positions. However, it is in many cases not straightforward to analyze what is the actual defect structure underlying the RBS/C signal. To reveal insights of RBS/C signals from arbitrarily complex defective atomic structures, we develop here a method for simulating the RBS/C spectrum from a set of arbitrary read-in atom coordinates (obtained, e.g., from molecular dynamics simulations). We apply the developed method to simulate the RBS/C signals from Ni crystal structures containing randomly displaced atoms, Frenkel point defects, and extended defects, respectively. The RBS/C simulations show that, even for the same number of atoms in defects, the RBS/C signal is much stronger for the extended defects. Comparison with experimental results shows that the disorder profile obtained from RBS/C signals in ion-irradiated Ni is due to a small fraction of extended defects rather than a large number of individual random atoms.

High Tolerance to Iron Contamination in Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poindexter, Jeremy R.; Hoye, Robert L. Z.; Nienhaus, Lea

The relationship between charge-carrier lifetime and the tolerance of lead halide perovskite (LHP) solar cells to intrinsic point defects has drawn much attention by helping to explain rapid improvements in device efficiencies. However, little is known about how charge-carrier lifetime and solar cell performance in LHPs are affected by extrinsic defects (i.e., impurities), including those that are common in manufacturing environments and known to introduce deep levels in other semiconductors. Here, we evaluate the tolerance of LHP solar cells to iron introduced via intentional contamination of the feedstock and examine the root causes of the resulting efficiency losses. We findmore » that comparable efficiency losses occur in LHPs at feedstock iron concentrations approximately 100 times higher than those in p-type silicon devices. Photoluminescence measurements correlate iron concentration with nonradiative recombination, which we attribute to the presence of deep-level iron interstitials, as calculated from first-principles, as well as iron-rich particles detected by synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy. At moderate contamination levels, we witness prominent recovery of device efficiencies to near-baseline values after biasing at 1.4 V for 60 s in the dark. We theorize that this temporary effect arises from improved charge-carrier collection enhanced by electric fields strengthened from ion migration toward interfaces. Lastly, our results demonstrate that extrinsic defect tolerance contributes to high efficiencies in LHP solar cells, which inspires further investigation into potential large-scale manufacturing cost savings as well as the degree of overlap between intrinsic and extrinsic defect tolerance in LHPs and 'perovskite-inspired' lead-free stable alternatives.« less

High Tolerance to Iron Contamination in Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells

DOE PAGES

Poindexter, Jeremy R.; Hoye, Robert L. Z.; Nienhaus, Lea; ...

2017-06-28

The relationship between charge-carrier lifetime and the tolerance of lead halide perovskite (LHP) solar cells to intrinsic point defects has drawn much attention by helping to explain rapid improvements in device efficiencies. However, little is known about how charge-carrier lifetime and solar cell performance in LHPs are affected by extrinsic defects (i.e., impurities), including those that are common in manufacturing environments and known to introduce deep levels in other semiconductors. Here, we evaluate the tolerance of LHP solar cells to iron introduced via intentional contamination of the feedstock and examine the root causes of the resulting efficiency losses. We findmore » that comparable efficiency losses occur in LHPs at feedstock iron concentrations approximately 100 times higher than those in p-type silicon devices. Photoluminescence measurements correlate iron concentration with nonradiative recombination, which we attribute to the presence of deep-level iron interstitials, as calculated from first-principles, as well as iron-rich particles detected by synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy. At moderate contamination levels, we witness prominent recovery of device efficiencies to near-baseline values after biasing at 1.4 V for 60 s in the dark. We theorize that this temporary effect arises from improved charge-carrier collection enhanced by electric fields strengthened from ion migration toward interfaces. Lastly, our results demonstrate that extrinsic defect tolerance contributes to high efficiencies in LHP solar cells, which inspires further investigation into potential large-scale manufacturing cost savings as well as the degree of overlap between intrinsic and extrinsic defect tolerance in LHPs and 'perovskite-inspired' lead-free stable alternatives.« less

A theoretical study of the stability of anionic defects in cubic ZrO 2 at extreme conditions

DOE PAGES

Samanta, Amit

2016-02-19

Using first principles density functional theory calculations, we present a study of the structure, mobility, and the thermodynamic stability of anionic defects in the high-temperature cubic phase of ZrO 2. Our results suggest that the local structure of an oxygen interstitial depends on the charge state and the cubic symmetry of the anionic sublattice is unstable at 0 K. In addition, the oxygen interstitials and the vacancies exhibit symmetry breaking transitions to low-energy structures with tetragonal distortion of the oxygen sublattice at 0 K. However, the vibrational entropy stabilizes the defect structures with cubic symmetry at 2600–2980 K. The formationmore » free energies of the anionic defects and Gibbs free energy changes associated with different defect reactions are calculated by including the vibrational free energy contributions and the effect of pressure on these defect structures. By analyzing the defect chemistry, we obtain the defect concentrations at finite temperature and pressure conditions using the zero temperature ab initio results as input and find that at low oxygen partial pressures, neutral oxygen vacancies are most dominant and at high oxygen partial pressures, doubly charged anionic defects are dominant. As a result, the relevance of the results to the thermal protective coating capabilities of zirconium-based ceramic composites is elucidated.« less

Protein Secondary Structure Prediction Using Deep Convolutional Neural Fields.

PubMed

Wang, Sheng; Peng, Jian; Ma, Jianzhu; Xu, Jinbo

2016-01-11

Protein secondary structure (SS) prediction is important for studying protein structure and function. When only the sequence (profile) information is used as input feature, currently the best predictors can obtain ~80% Q3 accuracy, which has not been improved in the past decade. Here we present DeepCNF (Deep Convolutional Neural Fields) for protein SS prediction. DeepCNF is a Deep Learning extension of Conditional Neural Fields (CNF), which is an integration of Conditional Random Fields (CRF) and shallow neural networks. DeepCNF can model not only complex sequence-structure relationship by a deep hierarchical architecture, but also interdependency between adjacent SS labels, so it is much more powerful than CNF. Experimental results show that DeepCNF can obtain ~84% Q3 accuracy, ~85% SOV score, and ~72% Q8 accuracy, respectively, on the CASP and CAMEO test proteins, greatly outperforming currently popular predictors. As a general framework, DeepCNF can be used to predict other protein structure properties such as contact number, disorder regions, and solvent accessibility.

Protein Secondary Structure Prediction Using Deep Convolutional Neural Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Sheng; Peng, Jian; Ma, Jianzhu; Xu, Jinbo

2016-01-01

Protein secondary structure (SS) prediction is important for studying protein structure and function. When only the sequence (profile) information is used as input feature, currently the best predictors can obtain ~80% Q3 accuracy, which has not been improved in the past decade. Here we present DeepCNF (Deep Convolutional Neural Fields) for protein SS prediction. DeepCNF is a Deep Learning extension of Conditional Neural Fields (CNF), which is an integration of Conditional Random Fields (CRF) and shallow neural networks. DeepCNF can model not only complex sequence-structure relationship by a deep hierarchical architecture, but also interdependency between adjacent SS labels, so it is much more powerful than CNF. Experimental results show that DeepCNF can obtain ~84% Q3 accuracy, ~85% SOV score, and ~72% Q8 accuracy, respectively, on the CASP and CAMEO test proteins, greatly outperforming currently popular predictors. As a general framework, DeepCNF can be used to predict other protein structure properties such as contact number, disorder regions, and solvent accessibility.

Approaching the ideal elastic strain limit in silicon nanowires

PubMed Central

Zhang, Hongti; Tersoff, Jerry; Xu, Shang; Chen, Huixin; Zhang, Qiaobao; Zhang, Kaili; Yang, Yong; Lee, Chun-Sing; Tu, King-Ning; Li, Ju; Lu, Yang

2016-01-01

Achieving high elasticity for silicon (Si) nanowires, one of the most important and versatile building blocks in nanoelectronics, would enable their application in flexible electronics and bio-nano interfaces. We show that vapor-liquid-solid–grown single-crystalline Si nanowires with diameters of ~100 nm can be repeatedly stretched above 10% elastic strain at room temperature, approaching the theoretical elastic limit of silicon (17 to 20%). A few samples even reached ~16% tensile strain, with estimated fracture stress up to ~20 GPa. The deformations were fully reversible and hysteresis-free under loading-unloading tests with varied strain rates, and the failures still occurred in brittle fracture, with no visible sign of plasticity. The ability to achieve this “deep ultra-strength” for Si nanowires can be attributed mainly to their pristine, defect-scarce, nanosized single-crystalline structure and atomically smooth surfaces. This result indicates that semiconductor nanowires could have ultra-large elasticity with tunable band structures for promising “elastic strain engineering” applications. PMID:27540586

The Role of the Substrate on Photophysical Properties of Highly Ordered 15R-SiC Thin Films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mourya, Satyendra; Jaiswal, Jyoti; Malik, Gaurav; Kumar, Brijesh; Chandra, Ramesh

2018-06-01

We report on the structural optimization and photophysical properties of in situ RF-sputtered single crystalline 15R-SiC thin films deposited on various substrates (ZrO2, MgO, SiC, and Si). The role of the substrates on the structural, electronic, and photodynamic behavior of the grown films have been demonstrated using x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. The appropriate bonding order and the presence of native oxide on the surface of the grown samples are confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement. A deep-blue PL emission has been observed corresponding to the Si-centered defects occurring in the native oxide. Deconvolution of the PL spectra manifested two decay mechanisms corresponding to the radiative recombination. The PL intensity and carrier lifetime were found to be substrate- dependent which may be ascribed to the variation in the trap-density of the films grown on different substrates.

Photoelectrochemical properties of highly mobilized Li-doped ZnO thin films.

PubMed

Shinde, S S; Bhosale, C H; Rajpure, K Y

2013-03-05

Li-doped ZnO thin films with preferred (002) orientation have been prepared by spray pyrolysis technique in aqueous medium on to the corning glass substrates. The effect of Li-doping on to the photoelectrochemical, structural, morphological, optical, luminescence, electrical and thermal properties has been investigated. XRD and Raman study indicates that the films have hexagonal crystal structure. The transmittance, reflectance, refractive index, extinction coefficient and bandgap have been analyzed by optical study. PL spectra consist of a near band edge and visible emission due to the electronic defects, which are related to deep level emissions, such as oxide antisite (OZn), interstitial zinc (Zni), interstitial oxygen (Oi) and zinc vacancy (VZn). The Li-doped ZnO films prepared for 1at% doping possesses the highest electron mobility of 102cm(2)/Vs and carrier concentration of 3.62×10(19)cm(-3). Finally, degradation of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene using Li-doped ZnO thin films has been reported. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Eu3+ doping on the structural, morphological and luminescence properties ZnO nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vinoditha, U.; Balakrishna, K. M.; Sarojini, B. K.; Narayana, B.; Kumara, K.

2018-05-01

Pure and Eu3+ ions (1, 3, 5 atomic wt%) doped ZnO nanostructures are synthesized by a surfactant assisted hydrothermal method. The effect of doping concentrations on structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures is studied. The XRD analysis shows good crystallinity and the phase purity of the ZnO nanostructures. A shift in the standard Zn-O stretching mode after Eu3+ doping is observed in the FTIR spectra. The images of FESEM demonstrate the morphological variations from hexagonal nanorods to nanoflowers on varying the dopant concentrations. Substitution of Eu3+ ions into Zn2+ sites is confirmed by EDX analysis. The dominance of particle shape over the UV-Visible absorption properties of the prepared samples is noticed. The photoluminescence (PL) emission of undoped and doped ZnO nanostructures show dominant near band edge emission (NBE) in the UV region and minor defect induced deep level emissions in the visible region.

Investigation of structural, morphological, luminescent and thermal properties of combusted aluminium-based iron oxide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shinde, S.S.; Rajpure, K.Y., E-mail: rajpure@yahoo.co

Nanocomposites of aluminium integrated hematite {alpha}-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} are synthesized by combustion route using aqueous solutions of AR grade ferric trichloride and aluminium nitrate as precursors. The influence of aluminium incorporation on to the morphology, XPS, photoluminescence and thermal properties has been investigated. The FESEM and AFM micrographs depict that the samples are compact and have homogeneously distributed grains of varying sizes ({approx}20-60 nm). Chemical composition and valence states of constituent elements in hematite are analyzed by XPS. In room temperature photoluminescence (PL) study, we observed strong violet emission around 436 nm without any deep-level emission and a small PLmore » FWHM indicating that the concentrations of defects are responsible for deep-level emissions. The specific heat and thermal conductivity study shows the phonon conduction behavior is dominant. We studied interparticle interactions using complex impedance spectroscopy. We report a new potential candidate for its possible applications in optoelectronics and magnetic devices. -- Graphical abstract: Frequency and temperature dependent interparticle interactions like grains, grain boundary effects using complex impedance spectroscopy of pure and 10 at% Al:Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} have been studied. Display Omitted« less

Ventricular myoarchitecture in tetralogy of Fallot.

PubMed Central

Sanchez-Quintana, D.; Anderson, R. H.; Ho, S. Y.

1996-01-01

BACKGROUND: Little attention has been paid to the architecture of the muscle fibres of the ventricular walls in congenitally malformed hearts. In this study the gross pattern of myocardial fibres in normal hearts was compared with that in cases of tetralogy of Fallot. METHODS AND RESULTS: After morphological examination nine specimens with tetralogy were dissected to study the ventricular myoarchitecture. Changes were found in the shape of the malformed ventricles. The ventricular walls were arranged in layers in all hearts. Superficial and deep layers were present in both ventricles, with the superficial layer showing a more oblique orientation in the specimens with tetralogy than in normal hearts. Modifications of muscle fibre that were related to the type of malformation were seen in the deep layer. A middle layer was present in the left ventricles of normal hearts and specimens with tetralogy: this showed a horizontal orientation in both groups. In contrast, a middle layer was found in the right ventricle only in specimens showing tetralogy. CONCLUSIONS: The malformed hearts showed modifications in ventricular shape, in the arrangement of muscle in the right ventricle, and in the overall myoarchitecture. These changes could well be the consequence of the same agent (or agents) that caused the structural defect. Images PMID:8868990

Birth Defects

MedlinePlus

... both. Some birth defects like cleft lip or neural tube defects are structural problems that can be ... during pregnancy is a key factor in causing neural tube defects. For most birth defects, the cause ...

Actinic imaging and evaluation of phase structures on EUV lithography masks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mochi, Iacopo; Goldberg, Kenneth; Huh, Sungmin

2010-09-28

The authors describe the implementation of a phase-retrieval algorithm to reconstruct phase and complex amplitude of structures on EUV lithography masks. Many native defects commonly found on EUV reticles are difficult to detect and review accurately because they have a strong phase component. Understanding the complex amplitude of mask features is essential for predictive modeling of defect printability and defect repair. Besides printing in a stepper, the most accurate way to characterize such defects is with actinic inspection, performed at the design, EUV wavelength. Phase defect and phase structures show a distinct through-focus behavior that enables qualitative evaluation of themore » object phase from two or more high-resolution intensity measurements. For the first time, phase of structures and defects on EUV masks were quantitatively reconstructed based on aerial image measurements, using a modified version of a phase-retrieval algorithm developed to test optical phase shifting reticles.« less

Characterization and manipulation of individual defects in insulating hexagonal boron nitride using scanning tunnelling microscopy.

PubMed

Wong, Dillon; Velasco, Jairo; Ju, Long; Lee, Juwon; Kahn, Salman; Tsai, Hsin-Zon; Germany, Chad; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Zettl, Alex; Wang, Feng; Crommie, Michael F

2015-11-01

Defects play a key role in determining the properties and technological applications of nanoscale materials and, because they tend to be highly localized, characterizing them at the single-defect level is of particular importance. Scanning tunnelling microscopy has long been used to image the electronic structure of individual point defects in conductors, semiconductors and ultrathin films, but such single-defect electronic characterization remains an elusive goal for intrinsic bulk insulators. Here, we show that individual native defects in an intrinsic bulk hexagonal boron nitride insulator can be characterized and manipulated using a scanning tunnelling microscope. This would typically be impossible due to the lack of a conducting drain path for electrical current. We overcome this problem by using a graphene/boron nitride heterostructure, which exploits the atomically thin nature of graphene to allow the visualization of defect phenomena in the underlying bulk boron nitride. We observe three different defect structures that we attribute to defects within the bulk insulating boron nitride. Using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy we obtain charge and energy-level information for these boron nitride defect structures. We also show that it is possible to manipulate the defects through voltage pulses applied to the scanning tunnelling microscope tip.

Talbot effect of the defective grating in deep Fresnel region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, Shuyun; Wang, Junhong; Zhang, Wei; Cui, Yuwei

2015-02-01

Talbot effect of the grating with different defect is studied theoretically and experimentally in this paper. The defects of grating include the loss of the diffraction unit, the dislocation of the diffraction unit and the modulation of the unit separation. The exact diffraction distributions of three kinds of defective gratings are obtained according to the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The calculation results show the image of the missing or dislocating unit appears at the Talbot distance (as mentioned in K. Patorski Prog. Opt., 27, 1989, pp.1-108). This is the so-called self-repair ability of grating imaging. In addition, some more phenomena are discovered. The loss or the dislocation of diffraction unit causes the diffraction distortion within a certain radial angle. The regular modulation of unit separation changes the original diffraction, but the new periodicity of the diffraction distribution rebuilds. The self-imaging of grating with smaller random modulation still keeps the partial self-repair ability, and yet this characteristic depends on the modulation degree of defective grating. These diffraction phenomena of the defective gratings are explained by use of the diffraction theory of grating. The practical experiment is also performed and the experimental results confirm the theoretic predictions.

Visualizing spatial correlation: structural and electronic orders in iron-based superconductors on atomic scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maksov, Artem; Ziatdinov, Maxim; Li, Li; Sefat, Athena; Maksymovych, Petro; Kalinin, Sergei

Crystalline matter on the nanoscale level often exhibits strongly inhomogeneous structural and electronic orders, which have a profound effect on macroscopic properties. This may be caused by subtle interplay between chemical disorder, strain, magnetic, and structural order parameters. We present a novel approach based on combination of high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S) and deep data style analysis for automatic separation, extraction, and correlation of structural and electronic behavior which might lead us to uncovering the underlying sources of inhomogeneity in in iron-based family of superconductors (FeSe, BaFe2As2) . We identify STS spectral features using physically robust Bayesian linear unmixing, and show their direct relevance to the fundamental physical properties of the system, including electronic states associated with individual defects and impurities. We collect structural data from individual unit cells on the crystalline lattice, and calculate both global and local indicators of spatial correlation with electronic features, demonstrating, for the first time, a direct quantifiable connection between observed structural order parameters extracted from the STM data and electronic order parameters identified within the STS data. This research was sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, US DOE.

Effect of thermal annealing on the photoluminescence of structures with InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells and a low-temperature GaAs layer δ-doped with Mn

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kalentyeva, I. L.; Vikhrova, O. V., E-mail: istery@rambler.ru; Danilov, Yu. A.

2016-11-15

The effects of isochronal thermal annealing (at 325–725°C) on the radiative properties of InGaAs/GaAs nanoheterostructures containing a low-temperature GaAs layer δ-doped with Mn grown by laser deposition are studied. A decrease in the photoluminescence intensity and increase in the ground transition energy are observed upon thermal impact for quantum wells located near the low-temperature GaAs layer. The distribution of Mn atoms in the initial and annealed structures is obtained by secondary-ion mass spectrometry. A qualitative model of the observed effects of thermal annealing on the radiative properties of the structures is discussed; this model takes into account two main processes:more » diffusion of point defects (primarily gallium vacancies) from the GaAs coating layer deep into the structure and Mn diffusion in both directions by the dissociation mechanism. Magnetization studies show that, as a result of thermal annealing, an increase in the proportion of the ferromagnetic phase at room temperature (presumably, MnAs clusters) in the low-temperature GaAs coating layer takes place.« less

Nanoscale interfacial defect shedding in a growing nematic droplet.

PubMed

Gurevich, Sebastian; Provatas, Nikolas; Rey, Alejandro

2017-08-01

Interfacial defect shedding is the most recent known mechanism for defect formation in a thermally driven isotropic-to-nematic phase transition. It manifests in nematic-isotropic interfaces going through an anchoring switch. Numerical computations in planar geometry established that a growing nematic droplet can undergo interfacial defect shedding, nucleating interfacial defect structures that shed into the bulk as +1/2 point defects. By extending the study of interfacial defect shedding in a growing nematic droplet to larger length and time scales, and to three dimensions, we unveil an oscillatory growth mode involving shape and anchoring transitions that results in a controllable regular distributions of point defects in planar geometry, and complex structures of disclination lines in three dimensions.

Defect phase diagram for doping of Ga 2O 3

DOE PAGES

Lany, Stephan

2018-04-01

For the case of n-type doping of β-Ga 2O 3 by group 14 dopants (C, Si, Ge, Sn), a defect phase diagram is constructed from defect equilibria calculated over a range of temperatures (T), O partial pressures (pO 2), and dopant concentrations. The underlying defect levels and formation energies are determined from first-principles supercell calculations with GW bandgap corrections. Only Si is found to be a truly shallow donor, C is a deep DX-like (lattice relaxed donor) center, and Ge and Sn have defect levels close to the conduction band minimum. The thermodynamic modeling includes the effect of association ofmore » dopant-defect pairs and complexes, which causes the net doping to decline when exceeding a certain optimal dopant concentration. The optimal doping levels are surprisingly low, between about 0.01% and 1% of cation substitution, depending on the (T, pO 2) conditions. Considering further the stability constraints due to sublimation of molecular Ga 2O, specific predictions of optimized pO 2 and Si dopant concentrations are given. To conclude, the incomplete passivation of dopant-defect complexes in β-Ga 2O 3 suggests a design rule for metastable doping above the solubility limit.« less

Defect phase diagram for doping of Ga 2O 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lany, Stephan

For the case of n-type doping of β-Ga 2O 3 by group 14 dopants (C, Si, Ge, Sn), a defect phase diagram is constructed from defect equilibria calculated over a range of temperatures (T), O partial pressures (pO 2), and dopant concentrations. The underlying defect levels and formation energies are determined from first-principles supercell calculations with GW bandgap corrections. Only Si is found to be a truly shallow donor, C is a deep DX-like (lattice relaxed donor) center, and Ge and Sn have defect levels close to the conduction band minimum. The thermodynamic modeling includes the effect of association ofmore » dopant-defect pairs and complexes, which causes the net doping to decline when exceeding a certain optimal dopant concentration. The optimal doping levels are surprisingly low, between about 0.01% and 1% of cation substitution, depending on the (T, pO 2) conditions. Considering further the stability constraints due to sublimation of molecular Ga 2O, specific predictions of optimized pO 2 and Si dopant concentrations are given. To conclude, the incomplete passivation of dopant-defect complexes in β-Ga 2O 3 suggests a design rule for metastable doping above the solubility limit.« less

Copper interstitial recombination centers in Cu 3 N

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yee, Ye Sheng; Inoue, Hisashi; Hultqvist, Adam

We present a comprehensive study of the earth-abundant semiconductor Cu 3N as a potential solar energy conversion material, using density functional theory and experimental methods. Density functional theory indicates that among the dominant intrinsic point defects, copper vacancies V Cu have shallow defect levels while copper interstitials Cu i behave as deep potential wells in the conduction band which mediate Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. The existence of Cu i defects has been experimentally verified using photothermal deflection spectroscopy. A Cu 3N/ZnS heterojunction diode with good current-voltage rectification behavior has been demonstrated experimentally, but no photocurrent is generated under illumination. Finally, the absencemore » of photocurrent can be explained by a large concentration of Cu i recombination centers capturing electrons in p-type Cu 3N.« less

Effect of electron injection on defect reactions in irradiated silicon containing boron, carbon, and oxygen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makarenko, L. F.; Lastovskii, S. B.; Yakushevich, H. S.; Moll, M.; Pintilie, I.

2018-04-01

Comparative studies employing Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy and C-V measurements have been performed on recombination-enhanced reactions between defects of interstitial type in boron doped silicon diodes irradiated with alpha-particles. It has been shown that self-interstitial related defects which are immobile even at room temperatures can be activated by very low forward currents at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Their activation is accompanied by the appearance of interstitial carbon atoms. It has been found that at rather high forward current densities which enhance BiOi complex disappearance, a retardation of Ci annealing takes place. Contrary to conventional thermal annealing of the interstitial boron-interstitial oxygen complex, the use of forward current injection helps to recover an essential part of charge carriers removed due to irradiation.

Copper interstitial recombination centers in Cu 3 N

DOE PAGES

Yee, Ye Sheng; Inoue, Hisashi; Hultqvist, Adam; ...

2018-06-04

We present a comprehensive study of the earth-abundant semiconductor Cu 3N as a potential solar energy conversion material, using density functional theory and experimental methods. Density functional theory indicates that among the dominant intrinsic point defects, copper vacancies V Cu have shallow defect levels while copper interstitials Cu i behave as deep potential wells in the conduction band which mediate Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. The existence of Cu i defects has been experimentally verified using photothermal deflection spectroscopy. A Cu 3N/ZnS heterojunction diode with good current-voltage rectification behavior has been demonstrated experimentally, but no photocurrent is generated under illumination. Finally, the absencemore » of photocurrent can be explained by a large concentration of Cu i recombination centers capturing electrons in p-type Cu 3N.« less

Analyzing the defect structure of CuO-doped PZT and KNN piezoelectrics from electron paramagnetic resonance.

PubMed

Jakes, Peter; Kungl, Hans; Schierholz, Roland; Eichel, Rüdiger-A

2014-09-01

The defect structure for copper-doped sodium potassium niobate (KNN) ferroelectrics has been analyzed with respect to its defect structure. In particular, the interplay between the mutually compensating dimeric (Cu(Nb)'''-V(O)··) and trimeric (V(O)··-Cu(Nb)'''-V(O)··)· defect complexes with 180° and non-180° domain walls has been analyzed and compared to the effects from (Cu'' - V(O)··)(x)× dipoles in CuO-doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT). Attempts are made to relate the rearrangement of defect complexes to macroscopic electromechanical properties.

Deep vs shallow nature of oxygen vacancies and consequent n -type carrier concentrations in transparent conducting oxides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buckeridge, J.; Catlow, C. R. A.; Farrow, M. R.; Logsdail, A. J.; Scanlon, D. O.; Keal, T. W.; Sherwood, P.; Woodley, S. M.; Sokol, A. A.; Walsh, A.

2018-05-01

The source of n -type conductivity in undoped transparent conducting oxides has been a topic of debate for several decades. The point defect of most interest in this respect is the oxygen vacancy, but there are many conflicting reports on the shallow versus deep nature of its related electronic states. Here, using a hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical embedded cluster approach, we have computed formation and ionization energies of oxygen vacancies in three representative transparent conducting oxides: In2O3 ,SnO2, and ZnO. We find that, in all three systems, oxygen vacancies form well-localized, compact donors. We demonstrate, however, that such compactness does not preclude the possibility of these states being shallow in nature, by considering the energetic balance between the vacancy binding electrons that are in localized orbitals or in effective-mass-like diffuse orbitals. Our results show that, thermodynamically, oxygen vacancies in bulk In2O3 introduce states above the conduction band minimum that contribute significantly to the observed conductivity properties of undoped samples. For ZnO and SnO2, the states are deep, and our calculated ionization energies agree well with thermochemical and optical experiments. Our computed equilibrium defect and carrier concentrations, however, demonstrate that these deep states may nevertheless lead to significant intrinsic n -type conductivity under reducing conditions at elevated temperatures. Our study indicates the importance of oxygen vacancies in relation to intrinsic carrier concentrations not only in In2O3 , but also in SnO2 and ZnO.

Self-passivation Rule and the Effect of Post-treatment in GBs of Solar Cell Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Chengyan; Chen, Shiyou; Xiang, Hongjun; Gong, Xingao

Grain boundaries (GBs) existing in polycrystalline semiconductors alloys inducing a great deal of deep defect levels are usually harmful to cells' photovoltaic performance. Experimental and theoretical investigations verified that these defect levels come from the GBs' dangling bonds. We find that, the defect levels in anion core of GB can be passivated by its cations, called by self-passivation. For instance, the post-treated by CdCl2, Cd can eliminate the defect levels by saturating Te dangling bonds in the grain boundary of CdTe. We verify that the idea of self-passivation rule can perfectly explain the benign GBs of CISe and CZTS by sodium treatment. The present work reveals a general mechanism about how dopants in GBs eliminate the defect states through passivating the dangling bonds in covalent polycrystalline semiconductors, and sheds light on how to passivate dangling bonds in GBs with alterative processes. National Science Foundation of China, international collaboration project of MOST, Pujiang plan, Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar), and Shanghai Rising-star program.

The effect of alpha-particle and proton irradiation on the electrical and defect properties of n-GaAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodman, S. A.; Auret, F. D.; Meyer, W. E.

1994-05-01

Radiation damage effects were studied in n-GaAs grown by organo-metallic vapour phase epitaxy (OMVPE) for a wide range of alpha-particle (2.0 MeV and 5.4 MeV) and proton (2.0 MeV) particle fluences, using an americium-241 (Am-241) radio-nuclide and a linear Van de Graaff accelerator as the particle sources. The samples were irradiated at 300 K, after fabricating palladium Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) on the 1.2 × 10 16 cm 3 Si-doped epitaxial layers. The irradiation-induced defects are characterized using conventional deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). A correlation is made between the change in SBD characteristics and the quantity and type of defects introduced during irradiation. It is shown that the two parameters most susceptible to this irradiation are the reverse leakage current of the SBDs and the free carrier density of the epilayer. The introduction rate and the "signatures" of the alpha-particle and proton irradiation-induced defects are calculated and compared to those of similar defects introduced during electron irradiation.

Electrical conductivity of In2O3 and Ga2O3 after low temperature ion irradiation; implications for instrinsic defect formation and charge neutrality level.

PubMed

Vines, L; Bhoodoo, C; von Wenckstern, H; Grundmann, M

2017-12-13

The evolution of sheet resistance of n-type In 2 O 3 and Ga 2 O 3 exposed to bombardment with MeV 12 C and 28 Si ions at 35 K is studied in situ. While the sheet resistance of Ga 2 O 3 increased by more than eight orders of magnitude as a result of ion irradiation, In 2 O 3 showed a more complex defect evolution and became more conductive when irradiated at the highest doses. Heating up to room temperature reduced the sheet resistivity somewhat, but Ga 2 O 3 remained highly resistive, while In 2 O 3 showed a lower resistance than as deposited samples. Thermal admittance spectroscopy and deep level transient spectroscopy did not reveal new defect levels for irradiation up to [Formula: see text] cm -2 . A model where larger defect complexes preferentially produce donor like defects in In 2 O 3 is proposed, and may reveal a microscopic view of a charge neutrality level within the conduction band, as previously proposed.

Electrical conductivity of In2O3 and Ga2O3 after low temperature ion irradiation; implications for instrinsic defect formation and charge neutrality level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vines, L.; Bhoodoo, C.; von Wenckstern, H.; Grundmann, M.

2018-01-01

The evolution of sheet resistance of n-type In2O3 and Ga2O3 exposed to bombardment with MeV 12C and 28Si ions at 35 K is studied in situ. While the sheet resistance of Ga2O3 increased by more than eight orders of magnitude as a result of ion irradiation, In2O3 showed a more complex defect evolution and became more conductive when irradiated at the highest doses. Heating up to room temperature reduced the sheet resistivity somewhat, but Ga2O3 remained highly resistive, while In2O3 showed a lower resistance than as deposited samples. Thermal admittance spectroscopy and deep level transient spectroscopy did not reveal new defect levels for irradiation up to 2 × 1012 cm-2. A model where larger defect complexes preferentially produce donor like defects in In2O3 is proposed, and may reveal a microscopic view of a charge neutrality level within the conduction band, as previously proposed.

Investigation of Defects Origin in p-Type Si for Solar Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gwóźdź, Katarzyna; Placzek-Popko, Ewa; Mikosza, Maciej; Zielony, Eunika; Pietruszka, Rafal; Kopalko, Krzysztof; Godlewski, Marek

2017-07-01

In order to improve the efficiency of a solar cell based on silicon, one must find a compromise between its price and crystalline quality. That is precisely why the knowledge of defects present in the material is of primary importance. This paper studies the defects in commercially available cheap Schottky titanium/gold silicon wafers. The electrical properties of the diodes were defined by using current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements. Low series resistance and ideality factor are proofs of the good quality of the sample. The concentration of the acceptors is in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications. Deep level transient spectroscopy measurements were used to identify the defects. Three hole traps were found with activation energies equal to 0.093 eV, 0.379 eV, and 0.535 eV. Comparing the values with the available literature, the defects were determined as connected to the presence of iron interstitials in the silicon. The quality of the silicon wafer seems good enough to use it as a substrate for the solar cell heterojunctions.

Density Functional Calculations of Native Defects in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 : Effects of Spin–Orbit Coupling and Self-Interaction Error

DOE PAGES

Du, Mao-Hua

2015-04-02

We know that native point defects play an important role in carrier transport properties of CH3NH3PbI3. However, the nature of many important defects remains controversial due partly to the conflicting results reported by recent density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In this Letter, we show that self-interaction error and the neglect of spin–orbit coupling (SOC) in many previous DFT calculations resulted in incorrect positions of valence and conduction band edges, although their difference, which is the band gap, is in good agreement with the experimental value. Moreover, this problem has led to incorrect predictions of defect-level positions. Hybrid density functional calculations,more » which partially correct the self-interaction error and include the SOC, show that, among native point defects (including vacancies, interstitials, and antisites), only the iodine vacancy and its complexes induce deep electron and hole trapping levels inside of the band gap, acting as nonradiative recombination centers.« less

Multiple-digit resurfacing using a thin latissimus dorsi perforator flap.

PubMed

Kim, Sang Wha; Lee, Ho Jun; Kim, Jeong Tae; Kim, Youn Hwan

2014-01-01

Traumatic digit defects of high complexity and with inadequate local tissue represent challenging surgical problems. Recently, perforator flaps have been proposed for reconstructing large defects of the hand because of their thinness and pliability and minimal donor site morbidity. Here, we illustrate the use of thin latissimus dorsi perforator flaps for resurfacing multiple defects of distal digits. We describe the cases of seven patients with large defects, including digits, circumferential defects and multiple-digit defects, who underwent reconstruction with thin latissimus dorsi perforator flaps between January 2008 and March 2012. Single-digit resurfacing procedures were excluded. The mean age was 56.3 years and the mean flap size was 160.4 cm(2). All the flaps survived completely. Two patients had minor complications including partial flap loss and scar contracture. The mean follow-up period was 11.7 months. The ideal flap for digit resurfacing should be thin and amenable to moulding, have a long pedicle for microanastomosis and have minimal donor site morbidity. Thin flaps can be harvested by excluding the deep adipose layer, and their high pliability enables resurfacing without multiple debulking procedures. The latissimus dorsi perforator flap may be the best flap for reconstructing complex defects of the digits, such as large, multiple-digit or circumferential defects, which require complete wrapping of volar and dorsal surfaces. Copyright © 2013 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrical and mechanical tuning of a silicon vacancy defect in SiC for quantum information technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soykal, Oney O.; Reinecke, Thomas L.

We develop coherent control via Stark effect over the optical transition energies of silicon monovacancy deep center in hexagonal silicon carbide. We show that this defect's unique asymmetry properties of its piezoelectric tensor and Kramer's degenerate high-spin ground/excited state configurations can be used to create new possibilities in quantum information technology ranging from photonic networks to quantum key distribution. We also give examples of its qubit implementations via precise electric field control. This work was supported in part by ONR and by the Office of Secretary of Defense, Quantum Science and Engineering Program.

Characterisation of Cs ion implanted GaN by DLTS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngoepe, P. N. M.; Meyer, W. E.; Auret, F. D.; Omotoso, E.; Hlatshwayo, T. T.; Diale, M.

2018-04-01

Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) was used to characterise Cs implanted GaN grown by hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE). This implantation was done at room temperature using energy of 360 keV to a fluence of 10-11 cm-2. A defect with activation energy of 0.19 eV below the conduction band and an apparent capture cross section of 1.1 × 10-15 cm2 was induced. This defect has previously been observed after rare earth element (Eu, Er and Pr) implantation. It has also been reported after electron, proton and He ion implantation.

Phosphorus ionization in silicon doped by self-assembled macromolecular monolayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Haigang; Li, Ke; Gao, Xuejiao; Dan, Yaping

2017-10-01

Individual dopant atoms can be potentially controlled at large scale by the self-assembly of macromolecular dopant carriers. However, low concentration phosphorus dopants often suffer from a low ionization rate due to defects and impurities introduced by the carrier molecules. In this work, we demonstrated a nitrogen-free macromolecule doping technique and investigated the phosphorus ionization process by low temperature Hall effect measurements. It was found that the phosphorus dopants diffused into the silicon bulk are in nearly full ionization. However, the electrons ionized from the phosphorus dopants are mostly trapped by deep level defects that are likely carbon interstitials.

Defect modes in a stacked structure of chiral photonic crystals.

PubMed

Chen, Jiun-Yeu; Chen, Lien-Wen

2005-06-01

An optical propagation simulation is carried out for the study of photonic defect modes in a stacked structure of cholesteric liquid crystal films with spatially varying pitch. The defects are introduced by a pitch jump and a phase jump in the cholesteric helix. The effect of a finite sample thickness on transmission of the defect mode and on the required polarization of incident light to create the defect mode is discussed. For normal and near-normal incidence of circularly polarized light with the same handedness as structure, the defect caused by a pitch jump results in discrete peaks within a forbidden band in the transmission. The particular spectrum is similar to the feature of a Fabry-Pérot interferometer. By introducing an additional phase jump, linear blueshifts of the defect modes in transmission spectra are correlated with an increase in the twist angle.

Band Structure Characteristics of Nacreous Composite Materials with Various Defects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, J.; Zhang, S.; Zhang, H. W.; Chen, B. S.

2016-06-01

Nacreous composite materials have excellent mechanical properties, such as high strength, high toughness, and wide phononic band gap. In order to research band structure characteristics of nacreous composite materials with various defects, supercell models with the Brick-and-Mortar microstructure are considered. An efficient multi-level substructure algorithm is employed to discuss the band structure. Furthermore, two common systems with point and line defects and varied material parameters are discussed. In addition, band structures concerning straight and deflected crack defects are calculated by changing the shear modulus of the mortar. Finally, the sensitivity of band structures to the random material distribution is presented by considering different volume ratios of the brick. The results reveal that the first band gap of a nacreous composite material is insensitive to defects under certain conditions. It will be of great value to the design and synthesis of new nacreous composite materials for better dynamic properties.

Elastic dependence of defect modes in one-dimensional photonic crystals with a cholesteric elastomer slab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avendanño, Carlos G.; Martínez, Daniel

2018-07-01

We studied the transmission spectra in a one-dimensional dielectric multilayer photonic structure containing a cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer layer as a defect. For circularly polarized incident electromagnetic waves, we analyzed the optical defect modes induced in the band gap spectrum as a function of the incident angle and the axial strain applied along the same axis as the periodic medium. The physical parameters of the structure were chosen in such a way the photonic band gap of the cholesteric elastomer lies inside that of the multilayer. We found that, in addition to the defect modes associated with the thickness of the defect layer and the anisotropy of the elastic polymer, two new defect modes appear at both band edges of the cholesteric structure, whose amplitudes and spectral positions can be elastically tuned. Particularly, we showed that, at normal incidence, the defect modes shift toward the long-wavelength region with the strain; whereas, for constant elongation, such defects move toward larger frequencies with the incidence angle.

Tracheal invasion by Thyroid nodule in Thyroidectomy

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-20

through the first tracheal ring. The tracheal defect was fixed with a strap muscle flap and surgery concluded uneventfully. Following deep extubation, an...air leak at the surgical site was noted. The patient was reintubated, the incision was re-opened and the tracheal flap was revised to prevent tracheal leaking.

Simulation of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry from arbitrary atom structures

DOE PAGES

Zhang, S.; Univ. of Helsinki; Nordlund, Kai; ...

2016-10-25

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in a channeling direction (RBS/C) is a powerful tool for analysis of the fraction of atoms displaced from their lattice positions. However, it is in many cases not straightforward to analyze what is the actual defect structure underlying the RBS/C signal. To reveal insights of RBS/C signals from arbitrarily complex defective atomic structures, we develop in this paper a method for simulating the RBS/C spectrum from a set of arbitrary read-in atom coordinates (obtained, e.g., from molecular dynamics simulations). We apply the developed method to simulate the RBS/C signals from Ni crystal structures containing randomly displaced atoms,more » Frenkel point defects, and extended defects, respectively. The RBS/C simulations show that, even for the same number of atoms in defects, the RBS/C signal is much stronger for the extended defects. Finally, comparison with experimental results shows that the disorder profile obtained from RBS/C signals in ion-irradiated Ni is due to a small fraction of extended defects rather than a large number of individual random atoms.« less

Atomistic simulation of defect formation and structure transitions in U-Mo alloys in swift heavy ion irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolotova, L. N.; Starikov, S. V.

2017-11-01

In irradiation of swift heavy ions, the defects formation frequently takes place in crystals. High energy transfer into the electronic subsystem and relaxations processes lead to the formation of structural defects and cause specific effects, such as the track formation. There is a large interest to understanding of the mechanisms of defects/tracks formation due to the heating of the electron subsystem. In this work, the atomistic simulation of defects formation and structure transitions in U-Mo alloys in irradiation of swift heavy ions has been carried out. We use the two-temperature atomistic model with explicit account of electron pressure and electron thermal conductivity. This two-temperature model describes ionic subsystem by means of molecular dynamics while the electron subsystem is considered in the continuum approach. The various mechanisms of structure changes in irradiation are examined. In particular, the simulation results indicate that the defects formation may be produced without melting and subsequent crystallization. Threshold stopping power of swift ions for the defects formation in irradiation in the various conditions are calculated.

Average structure and local configuration of excess oxygen in UO(2+x).

PubMed

Wang, Jianwei; Ewing, Rodney C; Becker, Udo

2014-03-19

Determination of the local configuration of interacting defects in a crystalline, periodic solid is problematic because defects typically do not have a long-range periodicity. Uranium dioxide, the primary fuel for fission reactors, exists in hyperstoichiometric form, UO(2+x). Those excess oxygen atoms occur as interstitial defects, and these defects are not random but rather partially ordered. The widely-accepted model to date, the Willis cluster based on neutron diffraction, cannot be reconciled with the first-principles molecular dynamics simulations present here. We demonstrate that the Willis cluster is a fair representation of the numerical ratio of different interstitial O atoms; however, the model does not represent the actual local configuration. The simulations show that the average structure of UO(2+x) involves a combination of defect structures including split di-interstitial, di-interstitial, mono-interstitial, and the Willis cluster, and the latter is a transition state that provides for the fast diffusion of the defect cluster. The results provide new insights in differentiating the average structure from the local configuration of defects in a solid and the transport properties of UO(2+x).

Study of point- and cluster-defects in radiation-damaged silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donegani, Elena M.; Fretwurst, Eckhart; Garutti, Erika; Klanner, Robert; Lindstroem, Gunnar; Pintilie, Ioana; Radu, Roxana; Schwandt, Joern

2018-08-01

Non-ionising energy loss of radiation produces point defects and defect clusters in silicon, which result in a significant degradation of sensor performance. In this contribution results from TSC (Thermally Stimulated Current) defect spectroscopy for silicon pad diodes irradiated by electrons to fluences of a few 1014 cm-2 and energies between 3.5 and 27 MeV for isochronal annealing between 80 and 280∘C, are presented. A method based on SRH (Shockley-Read-Hall) statistics is introduced, which assumes that the ionisation energy of the defects in a cluster depends on the fraction of occupied traps. The difference of ionisation energy of an isolated point defect and a fully occupied cluster, ΔEa, is extracted from the TSC data. For the VOi (vacancy-oxygen interstitial) defect ΔEa = 0 is found, which confirms that it is a point defect, and validates the method for point defects. For clusters made of deep acceptors the ΔEa values for different defects are determined after annealing at 80∘C as a function of electron energy, and for the irradiation with 15 MeV electrons as a function of annealing temperature. For the irradiation with 3.5 MeV electrons the value ΔEa = 0 is found, whereas for the electron energies of 6-27 MeV ΔEa > 0. This agrees with the expected threshold of about 5 MeV for cluster formation by electrons. The ΔEa values determined as a function of annealing temperature show that the annealing rate is different for different defects. A naive diffusion model is used to estimate the temperature dependencies of the diffusion of the defects in the clusters.

A new idea for broad band reflector and tunable multichannel filter of one dimensional symmetric photonic crystal with magnetized cold plasma defects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Asish; Singh, Prabal P.; Thapa, Khem B.

2018-05-01

The optical properties of one-dimensional periodic structure composed by SiO2 and dielectric (air) layers with asymmetric and symmetric forms studied. The transmittance for symmetric periodic defective structure analyzed by introducing one, two, three layers of magnetized cold plasma (MCP) in one-dimensional periodic structure. We found better result for symmetric defect of three layer of the MCP compare to the other defective structures. On the basis of our calculated results, we proposed a new idea for broadband reflector at lower frequency range as well as the multichannel filter at higher frequency range.

Study of defects and vacancies in structural properties of Mn, co-doped oxides: ZnO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Harish; Kaushik, A.; Alvi, P. A.; Dalela, B.; Dalela, S.

2018-05-01

The paper deals with the Structural properties on Mn, Co doped oxides ZnO samples using XRD, Positron Annihilation Lifetime (PAL) Spectra and Raman Spectra. The Mn, Co doped ZnO samples crystallize in a wurtzite structure without any impurity phases in XRD Spectra. The defect state of these samples has been investigated by using positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) spectroscopy technique in which all the relevant lifetime parameters are measured for all the spectra. The results are explained in the direction of doping concentration in these samples in terms of defects structure on Zn lattice site VZn and oxygen defects Vo.

Synthesis and study of electrolytic materials with a high-energy defect structure and a developed surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gryzunova, N. N.; Vikarchuk, A. A.; Tyur'kov, M. N.

2016-10-01

The defect structure of the electrolytic copper coatings formed upon mechanical activation of a cathode is described. These coatings are shown to have a fragmented structure containing disclination-type defects, namely, terminating dislocation, disclination and twin boundaries; partial disclinations, misorientation bands; and twin layers. They have both growth and deformation origins. The mechanisms of formation of the structural defects are discussed. It is experimentally proved that part of the elastic energy stored in the crystal volume during electrocrystallization can be converted into surface energy. As a result, catalytically active materials with a large developed surface can be synthesized.

Single and double acceptor-levels of a carbon-hydrogen defect in n-type silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stübner, R.; Scheffler, L.; Kolkovsky, Vl.; Weber, J.

2016-05-01

In the present study, we discuss the origin of two dominant deep levels (E42 and E262) observed in n-type Si, which is subjected to hydrogenation by wet chemical etching or a dc H-plasma treatment. Their activation enthalpies determined from Laplace deep level transient spectroscopy measurements are EC-0.06 eV (E42) and EC-0.51 eV (E262). The similar annealing behavior and identical depth profiles of E42 and E262 correlate them with two different charge states of the same defect. E262 is attributed to a single acceptor state due to the absence of the Poole-Frenkel effect and the lack of a capture barrier for electrons. The emission rate of E42 shows a characteristic enhancement with the electric field, which is consistent with the assignment to a double acceptor state. In samples with different carbon and hydrogen content, the depth profiles of E262 can be explained by a defect with one H-atom and one C-atom. From a comparison with earlier calculations [Andersen et al., Phys. Rev. B 66, 235205 (2002)], we attribute E42 to the double acceptor and E262 to the single acceptor state of the CH1AB configuration, where one H atom is directly bound to carbon in the anti-bonding position.

Single and double acceptor-levels of a carbon-hydrogen defect in n-type silicon

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stübner, R.; Scheffler, L.; Kolkovsky, Vl., E-mail: kolkov@ifpan.edu.pl

In the present study, we discuss the origin of two dominant deep levels (E42 and E262) observed in n-type Si, which is subjected to hydrogenation by wet chemical etching or a dc H-plasma treatment. Their activation enthalpies determined from Laplace deep level transient spectroscopy measurements are E{sub C}-0.06 eV (E42) and E{sub C}-0.51 eV (E262). The similar annealing behavior and identical depth profiles of E42 and E262 correlate them with two different charge states of the same defect. E262 is attributed to a single acceptor state due to the absence of the Poole-Frenkel effect and the lack of a capture barrier formore » electrons. The emission rate of E42 shows a characteristic enhancement with the electric field, which is consistent with the assignment to a double acceptor state. In samples with different carbon and hydrogen content, the depth profiles of E262 can be explained by a defect with one H-atom and one C-atom. From a comparison with earlier calculations [Andersen et al., Phys. Rev. B 66, 235205 (2002)], we attribute E42 to the double acceptor and E262 to the single acceptor state of the CH{sub 1AB} configuration, where one H atom is directly bound to carbon in the anti-bonding position.« less

Tuning of deep level emission in highly oriented electrodeposited ZnO nanorods by post growth annealing treatments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simimol, A.; Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Calicut 673601; Manikandanath, N. T.

Highly dense and c-axis oriented zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods with hexagonal wurtzite facets were deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass substrates by a simple and cost-effective electrodeposition method at low bath temperature (80 °C). The as-grown samples were then annealed at various temperatures (T{sub A} = 100–500 °C) in different environments (e.g., zinc, oxygen, air, and vacuum) to understand their photoluminescence (PL) behavior in the ultra-violet (UV) and the visible regions. The PL results revealed that the as-deposited ZnO nanorods consisted of oxygen vacancy (V{sub O}), zinc interstitial (Zn{sub i}), and oxygen interstitial (O{sub i}) defects and these can be reduced significantlymore » by annealing in different environments at optimal annealing temperatures. However, the intensity of deep level emission increased for T{sub A} greater than the optimized values for the respective environments due to the introduction of various defect centers. For example, for T{sub A} ≥ 450 °C in the oxygen and air environments, the density of O{sub i} defects increased, whereas, the green emission associated with V{sub O} is dominant in the vacuum annealed (T{sub A} = 500 °C) ZnO nanorods. The UV peak red shifted after the post-growth annealing treatments in all the environments and the vacuum annealed sample exhibited highest UV peak intensity. The observations from the PL data are supported by the micro-Raman spectroscopy. The present study gives new insight into the origin of different defects that exist in the electrodeposited ZnO nanorods and how these defects can be precisely controlled in order to get the desired emissions for the opto-electronic applications.« less

Enhanced perfusion defect clarity and inhomogeneity in smokers' lungs with deep-inspiratory breath-hold perfusion SPECT images.

PubMed

Suga, Kazuyoshi; Yasuhiko, Kawakami; Iwanaga, Hideyuki; Hayashi, Norio; Yamashita, Tomio; Matsunaga, Naofumi

2005-09-01

Deep-inspiratory breath-hold (DIBrH) Tc-99m-macroaggregated albumin (MAA) SPECT images were developed to accurately evaluate perfusion impairment in smokers' lungs. DIBrH SPECT was performed in 28 smokers with or without low attenuation areas (LAA) on CT images, using a triple-headed SPECT system and a laser light respiratory tracking device. DIBrH SPECT images were reconstructed from every 4 degrees projection of five adequate 360 degrees projection data sets with almost the same respiratory dimension at 20 sec DIBrH. Perfusion defect clarity was assessed by the lesion (defect)-to-contralateral normal lung count ratios (L/N ratios). Perfusion inhomogeneity was assessed by the coefficient of variation (CV) values of pixel counts and correlated with the diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide/alveolar volume (DLCO/VA) ratios. The results were compared with those on conventional images. Five DIBrH projection data sets with minimal dimension differences of 2.9+/-0.6 mm were obtained in all subjects. DIBrH images enhanced perfusion defects compared with conventional images, with significantly higher L/N ratios (P<0.0001), and detected a total of 109 (26.9%) additional detects (513 vs. 404), with excellent inter-observer agreement (kappa value of 0.816). CV values in the smokers' lungs on DIBrH images were also significantly higher compared with those on conventional images (0.31+/-0.10 vs. 0.19+/-0.06, P<0.0001). CV values in smokers on DIBrH images showed a significantly closer correlation with DLCO/VA ratios compared with conventional images (R = 0.872, P<0.0001 vs. R=0.499, P<0.01). By reducing adverse effect of respiratory motion, DIBrH SPECT images enhance perfusion defect clarity and inhomogeneity, and provide more accurate assessment of impaired perfusion in smokers' lungs compared with conventional images.

Structural defects in GaN revealed by Transmission Electron Microscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liliental-Weber, Zuzanna

This paper reviews the various types of structural defects observed by Transmission Electron Microscopy in GaN heteroepitaxial layers grown on foreign substrates and homoepitaxial layers grown on bulk GaN substrates. The structural perfection of these layers is compared to the platelet self-standing crystals grown by High Nitrogen Pressure Solution. Defects in undoped and Mg doped GaN are discussed. Lastly, some models explaining the formation of inversion domains in heavily Mg doped layers that are possible defects responsible for the difficulties of p-doping in GaN are also reviewed.

Structural defects in GaN revealed by Transmission Electron Microscopy

DOE PAGES

Liliental-Weber, Zuzanna

2014-09-08

This paper reviews the various types of structural defects observed by Transmission Electron Microscopy in GaN heteroepitaxial layers grown on foreign substrates and homoepitaxial layers grown on bulk GaN substrates. The structural perfection of these layers is compared to the platelet self-standing crystals grown by High Nitrogen Pressure Solution. Defects in undoped and Mg doped GaN are discussed. Lastly, some models explaining the formation of inversion domains in heavily Mg doped layers that are possible defects responsible for the difficulties of p-doping in GaN are also reviewed.

Topological defects in electric double layers of ionic liquids at carbon interfaces

DOE PAGES

Black, Jennifer M.; Okatan, Mahmut Baris; Feng, Guang; ...

2015-06-07

The structure and properties of the electrical double layer in ionic liquids is of interest in a wide range of areas including energy storage, catalysis, lubrication, and many more. Theories describing the electrical double layer for ionic liquids have been proposed, however a full molecular level description of the double layer is lacking. To date, studies have been predominantly focused on ion distributions normal to the surface, however the 3D nature of the electrical double layer in ionic liquids requires a full picture of the double layer structure not only normal to the surface, but also in plane. Here wemore » utilize 3D force mapping to probe the in plane structure of an ionic liquid at a graphite interface and report the direct observation of the structure and properties of topological defects. The observation of ion layering at structural defects such as step-edges, reinforced by molecular dynamics simulations, defines the spatial resolution of the method. Observation of defects allows for the establishment of the universality of ionic liquid behavior vs. separation from the carbon surface and to map internal defect structure. In conclusion, these studies offer a universal pathway for probing the internal structure of topological defects in soft condensed matter on the nanometer level in three dimensions.« less

Rectangular microstrip antenna with corrugation like defects at radiating edge: A new approach to reduce cross polarization radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pawar, U. A.; Mondal, D.; Nagaraju, A.; Chakraborty, S.; Singh, L. L. K.; Chattopadhyay, S.

2018-03-01

In this paper, single layer, simple and compact RMA, with corrugation like defects at the radiating edge, is studied thoroughly to reduce XP radiation from the patch. Unlike the earlier works reported on defected ground structure integrated patches and defect patch structures, in this work, corrugation like linear defects have been placed at the radiating edges of the patch to reduce cross polarisation radiation. Around 30-40 dB of CP-XP isolation is observed in H-plane with 7% impedance bandwidth and in E-plane also, more than 55 dB CP-XP isolation is found. The proposed structure is very simple to design and easy to fabricate.

Nondestructive optical testing of the materials surface structure based on liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomilin, M. G.; Stafeev, S. K.

2011-08-01

Thin layers of nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) may be used as recording media for visualizing structural and microrelief defects, distribution of low power physical fields and modifications of the surface. NLCs are more sensitive in comparison with cholesteric and smectic LCs having super molecular structures. The detecting properties of NLCs are based on local layers deformation, induced by surface fields and observed in polarizing microscope. The structural surface defects or physical field's distribution are dramatically change the distribution of surface tension. Surface defects recording becomes possible if NLC deformed structure is illuminated in transparent or reflective modes and observed in optical polarizing microscope and appearing image is compared with background structure. In this case one observes not the real defect but the local deformation in NLCs. The theory was developed to find out the real size of defects. The resolution of NLC layer is more than 2000 lines/mm. The fields of NLC application are solid crystals symmetry, minerals, metals, semiconductors, polymers and glasses structure inhomogeneities and optical coatings defects detecting. The efficiency of NLC method in biophotonics is illustrated by objective detecting cancer tissues character and visualizing the interaction traces of grippe viruses with antibodies. NLCs may detect solvent components structure in tea, wine and perfume giving unique information of their structure. It presents diagnostic information alternative to dyes and fluorescence methods. For the first time the structures of some juices and beverages are visualized to illustrate the unique possibilities of NLCs.

Quantification technology study on flaws in steam-filled pipelines based on image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Lina; Yuan, Peixin

2009-07-01

Starting from exploiting the applied detection system of gas transmission pipeline, a set of X-ray image processing methods and pipeline flaw quantificational evaluation methods are proposed. Defective and non-defective strings and rows in gray image were extracted and oscillogram was obtained. We can distinguish defects in contrast with two gray images division. According to the gray value of defects with different thicknesses, the gray level depth curve is founded. Through exponential and polynomial fitting way to obtain the attenuation mathematical model which the beam penetrates pipeline, thus attain flaw deep dimension. This paper tests on the PPR pipe in the production of simulated holes flaw and cracks flaw, 135KV used the X-ray source on the testing. Test results show that X-ray image processing method, which meet the needs of high efficient flaw detection and provide quality safeguard for thick oil recovery, can be used successfully in detecting corrosion of insulated pipe.

Quantification technology study on flaws in steam-filled pipelines based on image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Pei-xin; Cong, Jia-hui; Chen, Bo

2008-03-01

Starting from exploiting the applied detection system of gas transmission pipeline, a set of X-ray image processing methods and pipeline flaw quantificational evaluation methods are proposed. Defective and non-defective strings and rows in gray image were extracted and oscillogram was obtained. We can distinguish defects in contrast with two gray images division. According to the gray value of defects with different thicknesses, the gray level depth curve is founded. Through exponential and polynomial fitting way to obtain the attenuation mathematical model which the beam penetrates pipeline, thus attain flaw deep dimension. This paper tests on the PPR pipe in the production of simulated holes flaw and cracks flaw. The X-ray source tube voltage was selected as 130kv and valve current was 1.5mA.Test results show that X-ray image processing methods, which meet the needs of high efficient flaw detection and provide quality safeguard for thick oil recovery, can be used successfully in detecting corrosion of insulated pipe.

Photoluminescence transient study of surface defects in ZnO nanorods grown by chemical bath deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbagiovanni, E. G.; Strano, V.; Franzò, G.; Crupi, I.; Mirabella, S.

2015-03-01

Two deep level defects (2.25 and 2.03 eV) associated with oxygen vacancies (Vo) were identified in ZnO nanorods (NRs) grown by low cost chemical bath deposition. A transient behaviour in the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of the two Vo states was found to be sensitive to the ambient environment and to NR post-growth treatment. The largest transient was found in samples dried on a hot plate with a PL intensity decay time, in air only, of 23 and 80 s for the 2.25 and 2.03 eV peaks, respectively. Resistance measurements under UV exposure exhibited a transient behaviour in full agreement with the PL transient, indicating a clear role of atmospheric O2 on the surface defect states. A model for surface defect transient behaviour due to band bending with respect to the Fermi level is proposed. The results have implications for a variety of sensing and photovoltaic applications of ZnO NRs.

Pattern Inspection of EUV Masks Using DUV Light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Ted; Tejnil, Edita; Stivers, Alan R.

2002-12-01

Inspection of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography masks requires reflected light and this poses special challenges for inspection tool suppliers as well as for mask makers. Inspection must detect all the printable defects in the absorber pattern as well as printable process-related defects. Progress has been made under the NIST ATP project on "Intelligent Mask Inspection Systems for Next Generation Lithography" in assessing the factors that impact the inspection tool sensitivity. We report in this paper the inspection of EUV masks with programmed absorber defects using 257nm light. All the materials of interests for masks are highly absorptive to EUV light as compared to deep ultraviolet (DUV) light. Residues and contamination from mask fabrication process and handling are prone to be printable. Therefore, it is critical to understand their EUV printability and optical inspectability. Process related defects may include residual buffer layer such as oxide, organic contaminants and possible over-etch to the multilayer surface. Both simulation and experimental results will be presented in this paper.

Optimizing image-based patterned defect inspection through FDTD simulations at multiple ultraviolet wavelengths

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnes, Bryan M.; Zhou, Hui; Henn, Mark-Alexander; Sohn, Martin Y.; Silver, Richard M.

2017-06-01

The sizes of non-negligible defects in the patterning of a semiconductor device continue to decrease as the dimensions for these devices are reduced. These "killer defects" disrupt the performance of the device and must be adequately controlled during manufacturing, and new solutions are required to improve optics-based defect inspection. To this end, our group has reported [Barnes et al., Proc. SPIE 1014516 (2017)] our initial five-wavelength simulation study, evaluating the extensibility of defect inspection by reducing the inspection wavelength from a deep-ultraviolet wavelength to wavelengths in the vacuum ultraviolet and the extreme ultraviolet. In that study, a 47 nm wavelength yielded enhancements in the signal to noise (SNR) by a factor of five compared to longer wavelengths and in the differential intensities by as much as three orders-of-magnitude compared to 13 nm. This paper briefly reviews these recent findings and investigates the possible sources for these disparities between results at 13 nm and 47 nm wavelengths. Our in-house finite-difference time-domain code (FDTD) is tested in both two and three dimensions to determine how computational conditions contributed to the results. A modified geometry and materials stack is presented that offers a second viewpoint of defect detectability as functions of wavelength, polarization, and defect type. Reapplication of the initial SNR-based defect metric again yields no detection of a defect at λ = 13 nm, but additional image preprocessing now enables the computation of the SNR for λ = 13 nm simulated images and has led to a revised defect metric that allows comparisons at all five wavelengths.

Progressive Fracture of Fiber Composite Thin Shell Structures Under Internal Pressure and Axial Loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gotsis, Pascal K.; Chamis, Christos C.; Minnetyan, Levon

1996-01-01

Graphite/epoxy composite thin shell structures were simulated to investigate damage and fracture progression due to internal pressure and axial loading. Defective and defect-free structures (thin cylinders) were examined. The three different laminates examined had fiber orientations of (90/0/+/-0)(sub s), where 0 is 45, 60, and 75 deg. CODSTRAN, an integrated computer code that scales up constituent level properties to the structural level and accounts for all possible failure modes, was used to simulate composite degradation under loading. Damage initiation, growth, accumulation, and propagation to fracture were included in the simulation. Burst pressures for defective and defect-free shells were compared to evaluate damage tolerance. The results showed that damage initiation began with matrix failure whereas damage and/or fracture progression occurred as a result of additional matrix failure and fiber fracture. In both thin cylinder cases examined (defective and defect-free), the optimum layup configuration was (90/0/+/-60)(sub s) because it had the best damage tolerance with respect to the burst pressure.

Structural hierarchies define toughness and defect-tolerance despite simple and mechanically inferior brittle building blocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sen, Dipanjan; Buehler, Markus J.

2011-07-01

Mineralized biological materials such as bone, sea sponges or diatoms provide load-bearing and armor functions and universally feature structural hierarchies from nano to macro. Here we report a systematic investigation of the effect of hierarchical structures on toughness and defect-tolerance based on a single and mechanically inferior brittle base material, silica, using a bottom-up approach rooted in atomistic modeling. Our analysis reveals drastic changes in the material crack-propagation resistance (R-curve) solely due to the introduction of hierarchical structures that also result in a vastly increased toughness and defect-tolerance, enabling stable crack propagation over an extensive range of crack sizes. Over a range of up to four hierarchy levels, we find an exponential increase in the defect-tolerance approaching hundred micrometers without introducing additional mechanisms or materials. This presents a significant departure from the defect-tolerance of the base material, silica, which is brittle and highly sensitive even to extremely small nanometer-scale defects.

Decoupling the Effects of Mass Density and Hydrogen-, Oxygen-, and Aluminum-Based Defects on Optoelectronic Properties of Realistic Amorphous Alumina.

PubMed

Riffet, Vanessa; Vidal, Julien

2017-06-01

The search for functional materials is currently hindered by the difficulty to find significant correlation between constitutive properties of a material and its functional properties. In the case of amorphous materials, the diversity of local structures, chemical composition, impurities and mass densities makes such a connection difficult to be addressed. In this Letter, the relation between refractive index and composition has been investigated for amorphous AlO x materials, including nonstoichiometric AlO x , emphasizing the role of structural defects and the absence of effect of the band gap variation. It is found that the Newton-Drude (ND) relation predicts the refractive index from mass density with a rather high level of precision apart from some structures displaying structural defects. Our results show especially that O- and Al-based defects act as additive local disturbance in the vicinity of band gap, allowing us to decouple the mass density effects from defect effects (n = n[ND] + Δn defect ).

Effect of pressure-assisted thermal annealing on the optical properties of ZnO thin films.

PubMed

Berger, Danielle; Kubaski, Evaldo Toniolo; Sequinel, Thiago; da Silva, Renata Martins; Tebcherani, Sergio Mazurek; Varela, José Arana

2013-01-01

ZnO thin films were prepared by the polymeric precursor method. The films were deposited on silicon substrates using the spin-coating technique, and were annealed at 330 °C for 32 h under pressure-assisted thermal annealing and under ambient pressure. Their structural and optical properties were characterized, and the phases formed were identified by X-ray diffraction. No secondary phase was detected. The ZnO thin films were also characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, photoluminescence and ultraviolet emission intensity measurements. The effect of pressure on these thin films modifies the active defects that cause the recombination of deep level states located inside the band gap that emit yellow-green (575 nm) and orange (645 nm) photoluminescence. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Waltzing route toward double-helix formation in cholesteric shells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darmon, Alexandre; Benzaquen, Michael; Seč, David; Čopar, Simon; Dauchot, Olivier; Lopez-Leon, Teresa

2016-08-01

Liquid crystals, when confined to a spherical shell, offer fascinating possibilities for producing artificial mesoscopic atoms, which could then self-assemble into materials structured at a nanoscale, such as photonic crystals or metamaterials. The spherical curvature of the shell imposes topological constraints in the molecular ordering of the liquid crystal, resulting in the formation of defects. Controlling the number of defects, that is, the shell valency, and their positions, is a key success factor for the realization of those materials. Liquid crystals with helical cholesteric order offer a promising, yet unexplored way of controlling the shell defect configuration. In this paper, we study cholesteric shells with monovalent and bivalent defect configurations. By bringing together experiments and numerical simulations, we show that the defects appearing in these two configurations have a complex inner structure, as recently reported for simulated droplets. Bivalent shells possess two highly structured defects, which are composed of a number of smaller defect rings that pile up through the shell. Monovalent shells have a single radial defect, which is composed of two nonsingular defect lines that wind around each other in a double-helix structure. The stability of the bivalent configuration against the monovalent one is controlled by c = h/p, where h is the shell thickness and p the cholesteric helical pitch. By playing with the shell geometry, we can trigger the transition between the two configurations. This transition involves a fascinating waltz dynamics, where the two defects come closer while turning around each other.

A review of defects and disorder in multinary tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors [Defects and disorder in multinary tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors studied by experiment and theory

DOE PAGES

Baranowski, Lauryn L.; Zawadzki, Pawel; Lany, Stephan; ...

2016-11-10

Defects are critical to understanding the electronic properties of semiconducting compounds, for applications such as light-emitting diodes, transistors, photovoltaics, and thermoelectrics. In this review, we describe our work investigating defects in tetrahedrally bonded, multinary semiconductors, and discuss the place of our research within the context of publications by other groups. We applied experimental and theory techniques to understand point defects, structural disorder, and extended antisite defects in one semiconductor of interest for photovoltaic applications, Cu 2SnS 3. We contrast our findings on Cu 2SnS 3 with other chemically related Cu-Sn-S compounds, as well as structurally related compounds such as Cumore » 2ZnSnS 4 and Cu(In,Ga)Se 2. We find that evaluation of point defects alone is not sufficient to understand defect behavior in multinary tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors. In the case of Cu 2SnS 3 and Cu 2ZnSnS 4, structural disorder and entropy-driven cation clustering can result in nanoscale compositional inhomogeneities which detrimentally impact the electronic transport. Therefore, it is not sufficient to assess only the point defect behavior of new multinary tetrahedrally bonded compounds; effects such as structural disorder and extended antisite defects must also be considered. Altogether, this review provides a framework for evaluating tetrahedrally bonded semiconducting compounds with respect to their defect behavior for photovoltaic and other applications, and suggests new materials that may not be as prone to such imperfections.« less

A review of defects and disorder in multinary tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors [Defects and disorder in multinary tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors studied by experiment and theory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baranowski, Lauryn L.; Zawadzki, Pawel; Lany, Stephan

Defects are critical to understanding the electronic properties of semiconducting compounds, for applications such as light-emitting diodes, transistors, photovoltaics, and thermoelectrics. In this review, we describe our work investigating defects in tetrahedrally bonded, multinary semiconductors, and discuss the place of our research within the context of publications by other groups. We applied experimental and theory techniques to understand point defects, structural disorder, and extended antisite defects in one semiconductor of interest for photovoltaic applications, Cu 2SnS 3. We contrast our findings on Cu 2SnS 3 with other chemically related Cu-Sn-S compounds, as well as structurally related compounds such as Cumore » 2ZnSnS 4 and Cu(In,Ga)Se 2. We find that evaluation of point defects alone is not sufficient to understand defect behavior in multinary tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors. In the case of Cu 2SnS 3 and Cu 2ZnSnS 4, structural disorder and entropy-driven cation clustering can result in nanoscale compositional inhomogeneities which detrimentally impact the electronic transport. Therefore, it is not sufficient to assess only the point defect behavior of new multinary tetrahedrally bonded compounds; effects such as structural disorder and extended antisite defects must also be considered. Altogether, this review provides a framework for evaluating tetrahedrally bonded semiconducting compounds with respect to their defect behavior for photovoltaic and other applications, and suggests new materials that may not be as prone to such imperfections.« less

Anomalously deep polarization in SrTiO3 (001) interfaced with an epitaxial ultrathin manganite film

DOE PAGES

Wang, Zhen; Tao, Jing; Yu, Liping; ...

2016-10-17

Using atomically-resolved imaging and spectroscopy, we reveal a remarkably deep polarization in non-ferroelectric SrTiO 3 near its interface with an ultrathin nonmetallic film of La 2/3Sr 1/3MnO 3. Electron holography shows an electric field near the interface in SrTiO 3, yielding a surprising spontaneous polarization density of ~ 21 μC/cm 2. Combining the experimental results with first principles calculations, we propose that the observed deep polarization is induced by the electric field originating from oxygen vacancies that extend beyond a dozen unit-cells from the interface, thus providing important evidence of the role of defects in the emergent interface properties ofmore » transition metal oxides.« less

MR Anatomy of Deep Brain Nuclei with Special Reference to Specific Diseases and Deep Brain Stimulation Localization

PubMed Central

Telford, Ryan; Vattoth, Surjith

2014-01-01

Summary Diseases affecting the basal ganglia and deep brain structures vary widely in etiology and include metabolic, infectious, ischemic, and neurodegenerative conditions. Some neurologic diseases, such as Wernicke encephalopathy or pseudohypoparathyroidism, require specific treatments, which if unrecognized could lead to further complications. Other pathologies, such as hypertrophic olivary degeneration, if not properly diagnosed may be mistaken for a primary medullary neoplasm and create unnecessary concern. The deep brain structures are complex and can be difficult to distinguish on routine imaging. It is imperative that radiologists first understand the intrinsic anatomic relationships between the different basal ganglia nuclei and deep brain structures with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. It is important to understand the "normal" MR signal characteristics, locations, and appearances of these structures. This is essential to recognizing diseases affecting the basal ganglia and deep brain structures, especially since most of these diseases result in symmetrical, and therefore less noticeable, abnormalities. It is also crucial that neurosurgeons correctly identify the deep brain nuclei presurgically for positioning deep brain stimulator leads, the most important being the subthalamic nucleus for Parkinson syndromes and the thalamic ventral intermediate nucleus for essential tremor. Radiologists will be able to better assist clinicians in diagnosis and treatment once they are able to accurately localize specific deep brain structures. PMID:24571832

Phonon-assisted changes in charge states of deep level defects in germanium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markevich, A. V.; Litvinov, V. V.; Emtsev, V. V.; Markevich, V. P.; Peaker, A. R.

2006-04-01

Electronic processes associated with changes in the charge states of the vacancy-oxygen center (VO or A center) and vacancy-group-V-impurity atom (P, As, Sb or Bi) pairs (E centers) in irradiated germanium crystals have been studied using deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), high-resolution Laplace DLTS and Hall effect measurements. It is found that the electron emission and capture processes related to transitions between the doubly and the singly negatively charged states of the A center and the E centers in Ge are phonon-assisted, i.e., they are accompanied by significant vibrations and re-arrangements of atoms in the vicinity of the defects. Manifestations of the phonon involvements are: (i) temperature-dependent electron capture cross-sections which are well described in the frame of the multi-phonon-assisted capture model; (ii) large changes in entropy related to the ionization of the defects and, associated with these, temperature-dependent positions of energy levels; and (iii) electron emission via phonon-assisted tunneling upon the application of electric field. These effects have been considered in detail for the vacancy-oxygen and the vacancy-donor complexes. On the basis of a combined analysis of the electronic processes a configuration-coordinate diagram of the acceptor states of the A and E centers is plotted. It is found that changes in the entropy of ionization and the energy for electron emission for these traps follow the empirical Meyer-Neldel rule. A model based on multi-phonon-assisted carrier emission from defects is adapted for the explanation of the origin of this rule for the case of electronic processes in Ge.

Graphene materials having randomly distributed two-dimensional structural defects

DOEpatents

Kung, Harold H; Zhao, Xin; Hayner, Cary M; Kung, Mayfair C

2013-10-08

Graphene-based storage materials for high-power battery applications are provided. The storage materials are composed of vertical stacks of graphene sheets and have reduced resistance for Li ion transport. This reduced resistance is achieved by incorporating a random distribution of structural defects into the stacked graphene sheets, whereby the structural defects facilitate the diffusion of Li ions into the interior of the storage materials.

Graphene materials having randomly distributed two-dimensional structural defects

DOEpatents

Kung, Harold H.; Zhao, Xin; Hayner, Cary M.; Kung, Mayfair C.

2016-05-31

Graphene-based storage materials for high-power battery applications are provided. The storage materials are composed of vertical stacks of graphene sheets and have reduced resistance for Li ion transport. This reduced resistance is achieved by incorporating a random distribution of structural defects into the stacked graphene sheets, whereby the structural defects facilitate the diffusion of Li ions into the interior of the storage materials.

Resolution of Singularities Introduced by Hierarchical Structure in Deep Neural Networks.

PubMed

Nitta, Tohru

2017-10-01

We present a theoretical analysis of singular points of artificial deep neural networks, resulting in providing deep neural network models having no critical points introduced by a hierarchical structure. It is considered that such deep neural network models have good nature for gradient-based optimization. First, we show that there exist a large number of critical points introduced by a hierarchical structure in deep neural networks as straight lines, depending on the number of hidden layers and the number of hidden neurons. Second, we derive a sufficient condition for deep neural networks having no critical points introduced by a hierarchical structure, which can be applied to general deep neural networks. It is also shown that the existence of critical points introduced by a hierarchical structure is determined by the rank and the regularity of weight matrices for a specific class of deep neural networks. Finally, two kinds of implementation methods of the sufficient conditions to have no critical points are provided. One is a learning algorithm that can avoid critical points introduced by the hierarchical structure during learning (called avoidant learning algorithm). The other is a neural network that does not have some critical points introduced by the hierarchical structure as an inherent property (called avoidant neural network).

Defect formation energy in pyrochlore: the effect of crystal size

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jianwei; Ewing, Rodney C.; Becker, Udo

2014-09-01

Defect formation energies of point defects of two pyrochlores Gd2Ti2O7 and Gd2Zr2O7 as a function of crystal size were calculated. Density functional theory with plane-wave basis sets and the projector-augmented wave method were used in the calculations. The results show that the defect formation energies of the two pyrochlores diverge as the size decreases to the nanometer range. For Gd2Ti2O7 pyrochlore, the defect formation energy is higher at nanometers with respect to that of the bulk, while it is lower for Gd2Zr2O7. The lowest defect formation energy for Gd2Zr2O7 is found at 15-20 Å. The different behaviors of the defect formation energies as a function of crystal size are caused by different structural adjustments around the defects as the size decreases. For both pyrochlore compositions at large sizes, the defect structures are similar to those of the bulk. As the size decreases, for Gd2Ti2O7, additional structure distortions appear at the surfaces, which cause the defect formation energy to increase. For Gd2Zr2O7, additional oxygen Frenkel pair defects are introduced, which reduce the defect formation energy. As the size further decreases, increased structure distortions occur at the surfaces, which cause the defect formation energy to increase. Based on a hypothesis that correlates the energetics of defect formation and radiation response for complex oxides, the calculated results suggest that at nanometer range Gd2Ti2O7 pyrochlore is expected to have a lower radiation tolerance, and those of Gd2Zr2O7 pyrochlore to have a higher radiation tolerance. The highest radiation tolerance for Gd2Zr2O7 pyrochlore is expected to be found at ˜2 nanometers.

Modification of electronic structure, magnetic structure, and topological phase of bismuthene by point defects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadioglu, Yelda; Kilic, Sevket Berkay; Demirci, Salih; Aktürk, O. Üzengi; Aktürk, Ethem; Ciraci, Salim

2017-12-01

This paper reveals how the electronic structure, magnetic structure, and topological phase of two-dimensional (2D), single-layer structures of bismuth are modified by point defects. We first showed that a free-standing, single-layer, hexagonal structure of bismuth, named h-bismuthene, exhibits nontrivial band topology. We then investigated interactions between single foreign adatoms and bismuthene structures, which comprise stability, bonding, electronic structure, and magnetic structures. Localized states in diverse locations of the band gap and resonant states in band continua of bismuthene are induced upon the adsorption of different adatoms, which modify electronic and magnetic properties. Specific adatoms result in reconstruction around the adsorption site. Single vacancies and divacancies can form readily in bismuthene structures and remain stable at high temperatures. Through rebondings, Stone-Whales-type defects are constructed by divacancies, which transform into a large hole at high temperature. Like adsorbed adatoms, vacancies induce also localized gap states, which can be eliminated through rebondings in divacancies. We also showed that not only the optical and magnetic properties, but also the topological features of pristine h-bismuthene can be modified by point defects. The modification of the topological features depends on the energies of localized states and also on the strength of coupling between point defects.

Massive Interfacial Reconstruction at Misfit Dislocations in Metal/Oxide Interfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Choudhury, Samrat; Morgan, Dane; Uberuaga, Blas P.

Electronic structure calculations were performed to study the role of misfit dislocations on the structure and chemistry of a metal/oxide interface. We found that a chemical imbalance exists at the misfit dislocation which leads to dramatic changes in the point defect content at the interface – stabilizing the structure requires removing as much as 50% of the metal atoms and insertion of a large number of oxygen interstitials. The exact defect composition that stabilizes the interface is sensitive to the external oxygen partial pressure. We relate the preferred defect structure at the interface to a competition between chemical and strainmore » energies as defects are introduced.« less

Massive Interfacial Reconstruction at Misfit Dislocations in Metal/Oxide Interfaces

DOE PAGES

Choudhury, Samrat; Morgan, Dane; Uberuaga, Blas P.

2014-10-17

Electronic structure calculations were performed to study the role of misfit dislocations on the structure and chemistry of a metal/oxide interface. We found that a chemical imbalance exists at the misfit dislocation which leads to dramatic changes in the point defect content at the interface – stabilizing the structure requires removing as much as 50% of the metal atoms and insertion of a large number of oxygen interstitials. The exact defect composition that stabilizes the interface is sensitive to the external oxygen partial pressure. We relate the preferred defect structure at the interface to a competition between chemical and strainmore » energies as defects are introduced.« less

Role of Defects on Regioselectivity of Nano Pristine Graphene.

PubMed

Kudur Jayaprakash, Gururaj; Casillas, Norberto; Astudillo-Sánchez, Pablo D; Flores-Moreno, Roberto

2016-11-17

Here analytical Fukui functions based on density functional theory are applied to investigate the redox reactivity of pristine and defected graphene lattices. A carbon H-terminated graphene structure (with 96 carbon atoms) and a graphene defected surface with Stone-Wales rearrangement and double vacancy defects are used as models. Pristine sp 2 -hybridized, hexagonal arranged carbon atoms exhibit a symmetric reactivity. In contrast, common carbon atoms at reconstructed polygons in Stone-Wales and double vacancy graphene display large reactivity variations. The improved reactivity and the regioselectivity at defected graphene is correlated to structural changes that caused carbon-carbon bond length variations at defected zones.

7 CFR 1924.253 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... structural defect. (d) Structural defect. A defect in the dwelling or unit, installation or set-up of a unit... of the dwelling or unit or site such as faulty wiring, or failure of sewage disposal or water supply systems located on the property securing the loan caused by faulty materials or improper installation. (3...

A new automated spectral feature extraction method and its application in spectral classification and defective spectra recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ke; Guo, Ping; Luo, A.-Li

2017-03-01

Spectral feature extraction is a crucial procedure in automated spectral analysis. This procedure starts from the spectral data and produces informative and non-redundant features, facilitating the subsequent automated processing and analysis with machine-learning and data-mining techniques. In this paper, we present a new automated feature extraction method for astronomical spectra, with application in spectral classification and defective spectra recovery. The basic idea of our approach is to train a deep neural network to extract features of spectra with different levels of abstraction in different layers. The deep neural network is trained with a fast layer-wise learning algorithm in an analytical way without any iterative optimization procedure. We evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme on real-world spectral data. The results demonstrate that our method is superior regarding its comprehensive performance, and the computational cost is significantly lower than that for other methods. The proposed method can be regarded as a new valid alternative general-purpose feature extraction method for various tasks in spectral data analysis.

Defect-induced instability mechanisms of sputtered amorphous indium tin zinc oxide thin-film transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Jinhee; Rim, You Seung; Li, Chao; Wu, Jiechen; Goorsky, Mark; Streit, Dwight

2018-04-01

We report the device performance and stability of sputtered amorphous indium-tin-zinc-oxide (ITZO) thin-film transistors as a function of oxygen ratio [O2/(Ar + O2)] during growth. Increasing the oxygen ratio enhanced the incorporation of oxygen during ITZO film growth and reduced the concentration of deep-level defects associated with oxygen vacancies. Under illumination with no bias stress, device stability and persistent photocurrent were improved with increased oxygen ratio. Bias stress tests of the devices were also performed with and without illumination. While high oxygen ratio growth conditions resulted in decreased deep-level oxygen vacancies in the ITZO material, the same conditions resulted in degradation of the interfacial layer between the ITZO channel and dielectric due to the migration of energetic oxygen ions to the interface. Therefore, when bias stress was applied, increased carrier trap density at the interface led to a decrease in device stability that offsets any improvement in the material itself. In order to take advantage of the improved ITZO material growth at a high oxygen ratio, the interface-related problems must be solved.

Deep level transient spectroscopy signatures of majority traps in GaN p-n diodes grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy technique on GaN substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

PŁaczek-Popko, E.; Trzmiel, J.; Zielony, E.; Grzanka, S.; Czernecki, R.; Suski, T.

2009-12-01

In this study, we present the results of investigation on p-n GaN diodes by means of deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) within the temperature range of 77-350 K. Si-doped GaN layers were grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy technique (MOVPE) on the free-standing GaN substrates. Subsequently Mg-doped GaN layers were grown. To perform DLTS measurements Ni/Au contacts to p-type material and Ti/Au contacts to n-type material were processed. DLTS signal spectra revealed the presence of two majority traps of activation energies obtained from Arrhenius plots equal to E1=0.22 eV and E2=0.65 eV. In present work we show that the trap E1 is linked with the extended defects whereas the trap E2 is the point defect related. Its capture cross section is thermally activated with energy barrier for capture equal to 0.2 eV.

Electronic and structural properties of vacancies and hydrogen adsorbates on trilayer graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menezes, Marcos G.; Capaz, Rodrigo B.

2015-08-01

Using ab initio calculations, we study the electronic and structural properties of vacancies and hydrogen adsorbates on trilayer graphene. Those defects are found to share similar low-energy electronic features, since they both remove a pz electron from the honeycomb lattice and induce a defect level near the Fermi energy. However, a vacancy also leaves unpaired σ electrons on the lattice, which lead to important structural differences and also contribute to magnetism. We explore both ABA and ABC stackings and compare properties such as formation energies, magnetic moments, spin density and the local density of states (LDOS) of the defect levels. These properties show a strong sensitivity to the layer in which the defect is placed and smaller sensitivities to sublattice placing and stacking type. Finally, for the ABC trilayer, we also study how these states behave in the presence of an external field, which opens a tunable gap in the band structure of the non-defective system. The pz defect states show a strong hybridization with band states as the field increases, with reduction and eventually loss of magnetization, and a non-magnetic, midgap-like state is found when the defect is at the middle layer.

Electronic and Structural Properties of Vacancies and Hydrogen Adsorbates on Trilayer Graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menezes, Marcos; Capaz, Rodrigo

2015-03-01

Using ab initio calculations, we study the electronic and structural properties of vacancies and hydrogen adsorbates on trilayer graphene. Those defects are found to share similar low-energy electronic features, since they both remove a pz electron from the honeycomb lattice and induce a defect level near the Fermi energy. However, a vacancy also leaves unpaired σ electrons on the lattice, which lead to important structural differences and also contribute to magnetism. We explore both ABA and ABC stackings and compare properties such as formation energies, magnetic moments, spin density and the local density of states (LDOS) of the defect levels. These properties show a strong sensitivity to the layer in which the defect is placed and smaller sensitivities to sublattice placing and stacking type. Finally, for the ABC trilayer, we also study how these states behave in the presence of an external electrical field, which opens a tunable gap in the band structure of the non-defective system. The pz defect states show a strong hybridization with band states as the field increases, with reduction and eventually loss of magnetization, and a non-magnetic, midgap-like state is found when the defect is at the middle layer.

Defects in Arsenic Implanted p + -n- and n + -p- Structures Based on MBE Grown CdHgTe Films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izhnin, I. I.; Fitsych, E. I.; Voitsekhovskii, A. V.; Korotaev, A. G.; Mynbaev, K. D.; Varavin, V. S.; Dvoretsky, S. A.; Mikhailov, N. N.; Yakushev, M. V.; Bonchyk, A. Yu.; Savytskyy, H. V.; Świątek, Z.

2018-02-01

Complex studies of the defect structure of arsenic-implanted (with the energy of 190 keV) Cd x Hg 1-x Te ( x = 0.22) films grown by molecular-beam epitaxy are carried out. The investigations were performed using secondary-ion mass spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, optical reflection in the visible region of the spectrum, and electrical measurements. Radiation donor defects were studied in n +- p- and n +- n-structures obtained by implantation and formed on the basis of p-type and n-type materials, respectively, without activation annealing. It is shown that in the layer of the distribution of implanted ions, a layer of large extended defects with low density is formed in the near-surface region followed by a layer of smaller extended defects with larger density. A different character of accumulation of electrically active donor defects in the films with and without a protective graded-gap surface layer has been revealed. It is demonstrated that p +- n- structures are formed on the basis of n-type material upon activation of arsenic in the process of postimplantation thermal annealing with 100% activation of impurity and complete annihilation of radiation donor defects.

Abundant defects and defect clusters in kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 and Cu2ZnSnSe4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shiyou; Wang, Lin-Wang; Walsh, Aron; Gong, Xin-Gao; Wei, Su-Huai

2013-03-01

Cu2ZnSnS4 and Cu2ZnSnSe4 are drawing intensive attention as the light-absorber materials in thin-film solar cells. A large variety of intrinsic defects can be formed in these quaternary semiconductors, which have important influence on their optical and electrical properties, and hence their photovoltaic performance. We will present our first-principles calculation study on a series of intrinsic defects and defect clusters in Cu2ZnSnS4 and Cu2ZnSnSe4, and discuss: (i) strong phase-competition between the kesterites and the coexisting secondary compounds; (ii) the dominant CuZn antisites and Cu vacancies which determine the intrinsic p-type conductivity, and their dependence on the elemental ratios; (iii) the high population of charge-compensated defect clusters (like VCu + ZnCu and 2CuZn + SnZn) and their contribution to non-stoichiometry ; (iv) the deep-level defects which act as recombination centers. Based on the calculation, we will explain the experimental observation that Cu poor and Zn rich conditions give the highest solar cell efficiency, as well as suggesting an efficiency limitation in Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 cells with high S composition. Supported by NSF of China, JCAP: a U.S. DOE Energy Innovation Hub, Royal Society of U.K. and EPSRC, and U.S. DOE.

Surgical therapy of vulvar cancer: how to choose the correct reconstruction?

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Objective To create a comprehensive algorithmic approach to reconstruction after vulvar cancer ablative surgery, which includes both traditional and perforator flaps, evaluating anatomical subunits and shape of the defect. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 80 cases of reconstruction after vulvar cancer ablative surgery, performed between June 2006 and January 2016, transferring 101 flaps. We registered the possibility to achieve the complete wound closure, even in presence of very complex defects, and the postoperative complications. On the basis of these experience, analyzing the choices made and considering the complications, we developed an algorithm to help with the selection of the flap in vulvoperineal reconstruction after oncologic ablative surgery for vulvar cancer. Results We employed eight types of different flaps, including 54 traditional fasciocutaneous V-Y flaps, 23 rectus abdominis myocutaneous flaps, 11 anterolateral thigh flaps, three V-Y gracilis myocutaneous flaps, three free style perforators V-Y flaps from the inner thigh, two Limberg flaps, two lotus flaps, two deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flap, and one superficial circumflex iliac artery perforator flap. The structures most frequently involved in resection were vulva, perineum, mons pubis, groins, vagina, urethra and, more rarely, rectum, bladder, and lower abdominal wall. Conclusion The algorithm we implemented can be a useful tool to help flap selection. The key points in the decision-making process are: anatomical subunits to be covered, overall shape and symmetry of the defect and some patient features such as skin laxity or previous radiotherapy. Perforator flaps, when feasible, must be considered standard in vulvoperineal reconstruction, although in some cases traditional flaps remain the best choice. PMID:27550406

Amplified emission and modified spectral features in an opal hetero-structure mediated by passive defect mode localization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rout, Dipak; Kumar, Govind; Vijaya, R.

2018-01-01

A photonic crystal hetero-structure consisting of a passive planar defect of SiO2 thin film sandwiched between two identical opals grown by inward growing self-assembly method using Rhodamine-B dye-doped polystyrene microspheres is studied for the characteristics of dye emission. The optical properties and the defect mode characteristics of the hetero-structure are studied from the reflection and transmission measurements. Laser-induced fluorescence from the hetero-structure showed amplified and spectrally narrowed emission compared to the photonic crystal emphasizing the role of the defect mode and distributed feedback. The enhanced emission is also complemented by the reduction in fluorescence decay time in the case of the hetero-structure in comparison to the 3D photonic crystals.

Delamination Defect Detection Using Ultrasonic Guided Waves in Advanced Hybrid Structural Elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Fei; Qi, Kevin ``Xue''; Rose, Joseph L.; Weiland, Hasso

2010-02-01

Nondestructive testing for multilayered structures is challenging because of increased numbers of layers and plate thicknesses. In this paper, ultrasonic guided waves are applied to detect delamination defects inside a 23-layer Alcoa Advanced Hybrid Structural plate. A semi-analytical finite element (SAFE) method generates dispersion curves and wave structures in order to select appropriate wave structures to detect certain defects. One guided wave mode and frequency is chosen to achieve large in-plane displacements at regions of interest. The interactions of the selected mode with defects are simulated using finite element models. Experiments are conducted and compared with bulk wave measurements. It is shown that guided waves can detect deeply embedded damages inside thick multilayer fiber-metal laminates with suitable mode and frequency selection.

Photoinduced current transient spectroscopy of deep levels and transport mechanisms in iron-doped GaN thin films grown by low pressure-metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muret, P.; Pernot, J.; Azize, M.; Bougrioua, Z.

2007-09-01

Electrical transport and deep levels are investigated in GaN:Fe layers epitaxially grown on sapphire by low pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. Photoinduced current transient spectroscopy and current detected deep level spectroscopy are performed between 200 and 650 K on three Fe-doped samples and an undoped sample. A detailed study of the detected deep levels assigns dominant centers to a deep donor 1.39 eV below the conduction band edge EC and to a deep acceptor 0.75 eV above the valence band edge EV at low electric field. A strong Poole-Frenkel effect is evidenced for the donor. Schottky diodes characteristics and transport properties in the bulk GaN:Fe layer containing a homogenous concentration of 1019 Fe/cm3 are typical of a compensated semiconductor. They both indicate that the bulk Fermi level is located typically 1.4 eV below EC, in agreement with the neutrality equation and dominance of the deep donor concentration. This set of results demonstrates unambiguously that electrical transport in GaN:Fe is governed by both types, either donor or acceptor, of the iron impurity, either substitutional in gallium sites or associated with other defects.

Investigation of surface potentials in reduced graphene oxide flake by Kelvin probe force microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Negishi, Ryota; Takashima, Kai; Kobayashi, Yoshihiro

2018-06-01

The surface potential (SP) of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) flakes prepared by thermal treatments of GO under several conditions was analyzed by Kelvin probe force microscopy. The low-crystalline rGO flakes in which a significant amount of oxygen functional groups and structural defects remain have a much lower SP than mechanically exfoliated graphene free from oxygen and defects. On the other hand, the highly crystalline rGO flake after a thermal treatment for the efficient removal of oxygen functional groups and healing of structural defects except for domain boundary shows SP equivalent to that of the mechanically exfoliated graphene. These results indicate that the work function of rGO is sensitively modulated by oxygen functional groups and structural defects remaining after the thermal reduction process, but is not affected significantly by the domain boundary remaining after the healing of structural defects through the thermal treatment at high temperature.

Effects of Helium Ion Irradiation on Properties of Crystalline and Amorphous Multiphase Ceramic Coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yong; Hu, Liangbin; Qiu, Changjun; He, Bin; Wang, Zhongchang

2017-08-01

The Al2O3-TiO2 crystalline and amorphous multiphase ceramic coatings were prepared on a martensitic steel by laser in situ reaction technique and impose irradiation with 200 keV He ions at different doses. The helium ion irradiation goes 1.55 μm deep from the surface of coating, and the displacement per atom (dpa) for the Al2O3-TiO2 coating is 20.0. When the irradiation fluency is 5 × 1017 ions/cm2, defects are identified in crystalline areas and there form interfacial areas in the coating. These crystal defects tend to migrate and converge at the interfaces. Moreover, helium ion irradiation is found to exert no effect on surface chemical composition and phase constitution of the coatings, while surface mechanical properties for the coatings after irradiation differ from those before irradiation. Further nano-indentation experiments reveal that surface nano-hardness of the Al2O3-TiO2 multiphase coatings decreases as the helium ions irradiation flux increases. Such Al2O3-TiO2 crystalline and amorphous multiphase ceramic coatings exhibit the strongest resistance against helium ion irradiation which shall be applied as candidate structural materials for accelerator-driven sub-critical system to handle the nuclear waste under extreme conditions.

Influence of deep level intrinsic defects on the carrier transport in p-type Hg1- xCdxTe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoerstel, W.; Klimakow, A.; Kramer, R.

1990-04-01

The magnetic field dependence of the Hall effect in p-type Hg1- xCdxTe is analysed for determining the carrier densities and their mobilities in the mixed conduction range T = 70-250 K. A consistent description of the temperature dependence of the concentrations and mobilities of electrons and holes succeeds by taking into account energy-dependent momentum scattering times in the transport coefficients. Using this formalism, an energy level near 0.7 Eg above the valence band edge caused by intrinsic defects which were influenced by thermal treament is determined and discussed.

Fast ion conductivity in strained defect-fluorite structure created by ion tracks in Gd 2Ti 2O 7

DOE PAGES

Aidhy, Dilpuneet S.; Sachan, Ritesh; Zarkadoula, Eva; ...

2015-11-10

In this research, the structure and ion-conducting properties of the defect-fluorite ring structure formed around amorphous ion-tracks by swift heavy ion irradiation of Gd 2Ti 2O 7 pyrochlore are investigated. High angle annular dark field imaging complemented with ion-track molecular dynamics simulations show that the atoms in the ring structure are disordered, and have relatively larger cation-cation interspacing than in the bulk pyrochlore, illustrating the presence of tensile strain in the ring region. Density functional theory calculations show that the non-equilibrium defect-fluorite structure can be stabilized by tensile strain. The pyrochlore to defect-fluorite structure transformation in the ring region ismore » predicted to be induced by recrystallization during a melt-quench process and stabilized by tensile strain. Static pair-potential calculations show that planar tensile strain lowers oxygen vacancy migration barriers in pyrochlores, in agreement with recent studies on fluorite and perovskite materials. From these results, it is suggested that strain engineering could be simultaneously used to stabilize the defect-fluorite structure and gain control over its high ion-conducting properties.« less

Strain-induced structural defects and their effects on the electrochemical performances of silicon core/germanium shell nanowire heterostructures

DOE PAGES

Lin, Yung-Chen; Kim, Dongheun; Li, Zhen; ...

2016-12-14

Here we report on strain-induced structural defect formation in core Si nanowire of Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructure and influences of the structural defects on the electrochemical performances in lithium-ion battery anodes based on Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructures. The induced structural defects consisting of stacking faults and dislocations in the core Si nanowire were observed for the first time. The generation of stacking faults in Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructure is observed to prefer settling in either only Ge shell region or in both Ge shell and Si core regions and is associated with the increase of the shell volume fraction. Themore » relax of misfit strain in [112] oriented core/shell nanowire heterostructure leads to subsequent gliding of Shockley partial dislocations, preferentially forming the twins. The observation of cross-over defect formation is of great importance for the understanding of heteroepitaxy in radial heterostructures at nanoscale and building the three dimensional heterostructures for the various applications. In addition, the effect of the defect formation on nanomaterial’s functionality is investigated by electrochemical performance test. The Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructures enhance the gravimetric capacity of lithium ion battery anodes under fast charging/discharging rates compared to Si nanowires. However, the induced structural defects hamper lithiation of the Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructure.« less

Strain-induced structural defects and their effects on the electrochemical performances of silicon core/germanium shell nanowire heterostructures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lin, Yung-Chen; Kim, Dongheun; Li, Zhen

Here we report on strain-induced structural defect formation in core Si nanowire of Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructure and influences of the structural defects on the electrochemical performances in lithium-ion battery anodes based on Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructures. The induced structural defects consisting of stacking faults and dislocations in the core Si nanowire were observed for the first time. The generation of stacking faults in Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructure is observed to prefer settling in either only Ge shell region or in both Ge shell and Si core regions and is associated with the increase of the shell volume fraction. Themore » relax of misfit strain in [112] oriented core/shell nanowire heterostructure leads to subsequent gliding of Shockley partial dislocations, preferentially forming the twins. The observation of cross-over defect formation is of great importance for the understanding of heteroepitaxy in radial heterostructures at nanoscale and building the three dimensional heterostructures for the various applications. In addition, the effect of the defect formation on nanomaterial’s functionality is investigated by electrochemical performance test. The Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructures enhance the gravimetric capacity of lithium ion battery anodes under fast charging/discharging rates compared to Si nanowires. However, the induced structural defects hamper lithiation of the Si/Ge core/shell nanowire heterostructure.« less

First-principles investigation of the structural characteristics of LiMO2 cathode materials for lithium secondary batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Yongseon

2015-11-01

The structural features related to the defects of LiMO2 (M = Ni, Co, Mn) cathode materials for lithium secondary batteries were investigated by a simulation of phase diagrams based on first-principle calculations. Crystal models with various types of point defects were designed and dealt with as independent phases, which enabled an examination of the thermodynamic stability of the defects. A perfect phase without defects appeared to be the most stable for LiCoO2, whereas the formation of Li vacancies, O vacancies, and antisites between Li and Ni was thermodynamically unavoidable for LiNiO2. The introduction of both Co and Mn in LiNiO2 was effective in reducing the formation of point defects, but increasing the relative amount of Mn was undesirable because the antisite defect remained stable with Mn doping. The simulation showed good agreement with the experimental data and previous reports. Therefore, the method and the results of this study are expected to be useful for examining the synthesis, structure and related properties of layer-structured cathode materials.

Raman spectroscopic studies of defect structures and phase transition in hyper-stoichiometric UO(2+x).

PubMed

He, Heming; Shoesmith, David

2010-07-28

A method to determine the defect structures in hyper-stoichiometric UO(2+x) using a combination of XRD and Raman spectroscopy has been developed. A sequence of phase transitions, from cubic to tetragonal symmetry, occurs with increasing degree of non-stoichiometry. This sequence proceeds from a cubic phase through an intermediate t''-type tetragonal (axial ratio c/a = 1) phase to a final t-type tetragonal (c/a not = 1) phase. Four distinct structural defect regions can be identified in the stoichiometry range, UO(2) to U(3)O(7): (i) a random point defect structure (x (in UO(2+x)) < or = 0.05); (ii) a non-stoichiometry region (0.05 < or = x < or = 0.15) over which point defects are gradually eliminated and replaced by the Willis 2:2:2 cluster; (iii) a mixture of Willis and cuboctahedral clusters (0.15 < or = x < or = 0.23); (iv) the cuboctahedral cluster (x > or = 0.23). The geometry and steric arrangement of these defects is primarily determined by the concentration of the excess-oxygen interstitials.

Enhanced Sb 2Se 3 solar cell performance through theory-guided defect control: Enhanced Sb 2Se 3 solar cell performance

DOE PAGES

Liu, Xinsheng; Xiao, Xun; Yang, Ye; ...

2017-05-30

Defects present in the absorber layer largely dictate photovoltaic device performance. Recently, a binary photovoltaic material, Sb 2Se 3, has drawn much attention due to its low-cost and nontoxic constituents and rapid performance promotion. So far, however, the intrinsic defects of Sb 2Se 3 remain elusive. Here in this work, through a combined theoretical and experimental investigation, we revealed that shallow acceptors, SeSb antisites, are the dominant defects in Sb 2Se 3 produced in an Se-rich environment, where deep donors, SbSe and VSe, dominate in Sb 2Se 3 produced in an Se-poor environment. We further constructed a superstrate CdS/Sb 2Semore » 3 thin-film solar cell achieving 5.76% efficiency through in situ Se compensation during Sb 2Se 3 evaporation and through careful optimization of absorber layer thickness. In conclusion, the understanding of intrinsic defects in Sb 2Se 3 film and the demonstrated success of in situ Se compensation strategy pave the way for further efficiency improvement of this very promising photovoltaic technology.« less

[Evaluation of cartilage defects in the knee: validity of clinical, magnetic-resonance-imaging and radiological findings compared with arthroscopy].

PubMed

Spahn, G; Wittig, R; Kahl, E; Klinger, H M; Mückley, T; Hofmann, G O

2007-05-01

The study was aimed to evaluate the validity of clinical, radiological and MRI examination for cartilage defects of the knee compared with arthroscopic finding. Seven-hundred seventy-two patients who were suffering from knee pain over more than 3 months were evaluated clinical (grinding-sign) and with radiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and subsequent arthroscopy. The grinding sign had a sensitivity of 0.39. The association of a positive grinding test with high grade cartilage defects was significant (p<0.000). In 97.4% an intact chondral surface correlated with a normal radiological finding. Subchondral sclerosis, exophytes and a joint space narrowing was significantly associated with high grade cartilage defects (p<0.000). The accuracy of MRI was 59.5%. The MRI resulted in an overestimation in 36.6% and an underestimation in 3.9%. False-positive results were significant more often assessed in low-grade cartilage defects (p<0.000). Clinical signs, x-ray imaging and MRI correlate with arthroscopic findings in cases of deep cartilage lesions. In intact or low-grade degenerated cartilage often results an overestimating of these findings.

Thermo-electric analysis of the interconnection of the LHC main superconducting bus bars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Granieri, P. P.; Breschi, M.; Casali, M.; Bottura, L.; Siemko, A.

2013-01-01

Spurred by the question of the maximum allowable energy for the operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), we have progressed in the understanding of the thermo-electric behavior of the 13 kA superconducting bus bars interconnecting its main magnets. A deep insight of the underlying mechanisms is required to ensure the protection of the accelerator against undesired effects of resistive transitions. This is especially important in case of defective interconnections which can jeopardize the operation of the whole LHC. In this paper we present a numerical model of the interconnections between the main dipole and quadrupole magnets, validated against experimental tests of an interconnection sample with a purposely built-in defect. We consider defective interconnections featuring a lack of bonding among the superconducting cables and the copper stabilizer components, such as those that could be present in the machine. We evaluate the critical defect length limiting the maximum allowable current for powering the magnets. We determine the dependence of the critical defect length on different parameters as the heat transfer towards the cooling helium bath, the quality of manufacturing, the operating conditions and the protection system parameters, and discuss the relevant mechanisms.

Complex damage distribution behaviour in cobalt implanted rutile TiO2 (1 1 0) lattice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Shalik Ram; Padmanabhan, B.; Chanda, Anupama; Ojha, Sunil; Kanjilal, D.; Varma, Shikha

2017-11-01

The present work investigates the radiation damage, amorphization and structural modifications that are produced by ion-solid interactions in TiO2 crystals during 200 keV Cobalt ion implantation. RBS/C and GIXRD have been utilized to evaluate the damage in the host lattice as a function of ion fluence. Multiple scattering formalism has been applied to extract the depth dependent damage distributions in TiO2(1 1 0). The results have been compared with the MC simulations performed using SRIM-2013. RBS/C results delineate a buried amorphous layer at a low fluence. Surprisingly, ion induced dynamic activation produces a recovery in this damage at higher fluences. This improvement interestingly occurs only in deep regions (60-300 nm) where a systematic lowering in damage with fluence is observed. Formation of Co-Ti-O phases and generation of stress in TiO2 lattice can also be responsible for this improvement in deep regions. In contrast, surface region (0-60 nm) indicates a gradual increase in damage with fluence. Such a switch in the damage behavior creates a cross point in damage profiles at 60 nm. Surface region is a sink of vacancies whereas deep layers are interstitial rich. However, these regions are far separated from each other resulting in an intermediate (100-150 nm) region with a significant dip (valley) in damage which can be characterized by enhanced recombination of point defects. The damage profiles thus indicate a very complex behavior. MC simulations, however, present very different results. They depict a damage profile that extends to a depth of only 150 nm, which is only about half of the damage- width observed here via RBS/C. Moreover, MC simulations do not indicate presence of any valley like structure in the damage profile. The complex nature of damage distribution observed here via RBS/C may be related to the high ionic nature of the chemical bonds in the TiO2 lattice.

On correction of model of stabilization of distribution of concentration of radiation defects in a multilayer structure with account experiment data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pankratov, E. L.

2018-05-01

We introduce a model of redistribution of point radiation defects, their interaction between themselves and redistribution of their simplest complexes (divacancies and diinterstitials) in a multilayer structure. The model gives a possibility to describe qualitatively nonmonotonicity of distributions of concentrations of radiation defects on interfaces between layers of the multilayer structure. The nonmonotonicity was recently found experimentally. To take into account the nonmonotonicity we modify recently used in literature model for analysis of distribution of concentration of radiation defects. To analyze the model we used an approach of solution of boundary problems, which could be used without crosslinking of solutions on interfaces between layers of the considered multilayer structures.

Characterization of Thallium Bromide (TlBr) for Room Temperature Radiation Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Holland McTyeire

Thallium bromide (TlBr) has emerged as a remarkably well-suited material for room temperature radiation detection. The unique combination of high-Z elements, high density, suitable band gap, and excellent electrical transport properties present in TlBr have brought device performance up to par with CdZnTe (CZT), the current market-leading room temperature radiation detector material. TlBr research is at an earlier stage than that of CZT, giving hope that the material will see even further improvement in electronic properties. Improving a resistive semiconductor material requires knowledge of deep levels present in the material and the effects of these deep levels on transport properties. Very few deep level studies have been conducted on TlBr, and none with the depth required to generate useful growth suggestions. In this dissertation, deep levels in nominally undoped and doped TlBr samples are studied with electrical and optical methods. Photo-Induced Conductivity Transient Spectroscopy (PICTS) is used to discover many deep levels in TlBr electrically. These levels are compared to sub-band gap optical transitions originating from defects observed in emission spectra. The results of this research indicate that the origin of resistivity in TlBr is likely due to deep level defects pinning the Fermi level at least ˜0.7 eV from either the conduction or valence band edge. The effect of dopants and deep levels on transport in TlBr is assessed with microwave photoconductivity decay analysis. It is found that Pb-, Se-, and O-doping decreases carrier lifetime in TlBr, whereas C-doping does not. TlBr exhibits weak ionic conductivity at room temperature, which both negatively affects the leakage current of detectors and leads to device degradation over time. Researchers are actively looking for ways to reduce or eliminate the ionic conductivity, but are faced with an intriguing challenge of materials engineering: is it possible to mitigate the ionic conduction of TlBr without harming the excellent electronic transport properties? Doping TlBr in order to control the ionic conductivity has been proposed and shown to be effective in reducing dark ionic current, but the electronic effects of the dopants has not been previously studied in detail. In this dissertation, the electronic effects of dopants introduced for ionic reasons are evaluated.

Cartilage Regeneration in Full-Thickness Patellar Chondral Defects Treated with Particulated Juvenile Articular Allograft Cartilage: An MRI Analysis.

PubMed

Grawe, Brian; Burge, Alissa; Nguyen, Joseph; Strickland, Sabrina; Warren, Russell; Rodeo, Scott; Shubin Stein, Beth

2017-10-01

Background Full-thickness cartilage lesions of the patella represent a common source of pain and dysfunction. Previously reported surgical treatment options include marrow stimulation, cell-based treatments, and osteochondral transfer. Minced juvenile allograft cartilage is a novel treatment option that allows for a single stage approach for these lesions. Hypothesis Particulated juvenile allograft cartilage (PJAC) for the treatment of chondral defects of the patella would offer acceptable lesion fill rates, mature over time, and not be associated with any negative biologic effects on the surrounding tissue. Methods A retrospective chart review of prospectively collected data was conducted to identify consecutive patients who were treated with PJAC for a full thickness symptomatic cartilage lesion. Qualitative (fast spin echo) and quantitative (T2 mapping) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was undertaken at the 6-, 12-, and 24-month postoperative mark. Numerous patient, lesion, and graft specific factors were assessed against MRI scores and percent defect fill of the graft. Graft maturation over time was also assessed. Results Forty-five patients total were included in the study. Average age at the time of surgery was 26.5 years (range 13-45 years), average lesion size was 208 mm 2 (range 4-500 mm 2 ), and average donor age was 49.5 months (range 3-120 months). Sixty percent of the patients were female, while 93% of all patients underwent a concomitant procedure at the time of the index operation. Six-month MRI findings revealed that no patient-, graft-, or donor-specific factors correlated with MR scores, and 82% of the knees demonstrated good to excellent fill. Twelve-month MRI findings revealed that T2 relaxation times of deep graft demonstrated negative correlation with patient age ( P = 0.049) and donor age ( P = 0.006), the integration zone showed a negative correlation with donor age ( P = 0.026). In all, 85% of patients at 12 months displayed good to moderate fill of the graft. At 24 months, patient age demonstrated negative correlation with average T2 relaxation times of the deep and superficial graft ( P = 0.005; P = 0.0029) and positive correlation with the superficial zone of the adjacent cartilage ( P = 0.001). Donor age showed negative correlation with grayscale score ( P = 0.004) and T2 relaxation times at deep integration zone ( P = 0.018). T2 relaxation times of deep and superficial graft and integration zone improved over time ( P < 0.001) and between each time point. Conclusions Particulated juvenile allograft tissue appears to be an acceptable reconstructive option for full-thickness cartilage lesions of the patella, offering satisfactory tissue defect fill at 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery. Imaging of the repaired cartilage demonstrates progressive graft maturation over time.

Proton irradiation effects on deep level states in Mg-doped p-type GaN grown by ammonia-based molecular beam epitaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Z.; Arehart, A. R.; Kyle, E. C. H.; Chen, J.; Zhang, E. X.; Fleetwood, D. M.; Schrimpf, R. D.; Speck, J. S.; Ringel, S. A.

2015-01-01

The impact of proton irradiation on the deep level states throughout the Mg-doped p-type GaN bandgap is investigated using deep level transient and optical spectroscopies. Exposure to 1.8 MeV protons of 1 × 1013 cm-2 and 3 × 1013 cm-2 fluences not only introduces a trap with an EV + 1.02 eV activation energy but also brings monotonic increases in concentration for as-grown deep states at EV + 0.48 eV, EV + 2.42 eV, EV + 3.00 eV, and EV + 3.28 eV. The non-uniform sensitivities for individual states suggest different physical sources and/or defect generation mechanisms. Comparing with prior theoretical calculations reveals that several traps are consistent with associations to nitrogen vacancy, nitrogen interstitial, and gallium vacancy origins, and thus are likely generated through displacing nitrogen and gallium atoms from the crystal lattice in proton irradiation environment.

Transforming graphene nanoribbons into nanotubes by use of point defects.

PubMed

Sgouros, A; Sigalas, M M; Papagelis, K; Kalosakas, G

2014-03-26

Using molecular dynamics simulations with semi-empirical potentials, we demonstrate a method to fabricate carbon nanotubes (CNTs) from graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), by periodically inserting appropriate structural defects into the GNR crystal structure. We have found that various defect types initiate the bending of GNRs and eventually lead to the formation of CNTs. All kinds of carbon nanotubes (armchair, zigzag, chiral) can be produced with this method. The structural characteristics of the resulting CNTs, and the dependence on the different type and distribution of the defects, were examined. The smallest (largest) CNT obtained had a diameter of ∼ 5 Å (∼ 39 Å). Proper manipulation of ribbon edges controls the chirality of the CNTs formed. Finally, the effect of randomly distributed defects on the ability of GNRs to transform into CNTs is considered.

Toward superconducting critical current by design

DOE PAGES

Sadovskyy, Ivan A.; Jia, Ying; Leroux, Maxime; ...

2016-03-31

The interaction of vortex matter with defects in applied superconductors directly determines their current carrying capacity. Defects range from chemically grown nanostructures and crystalline imperfections to the layered structure of the material itself. The vortex-defect interactions are non-additive in general, leading to complex dynamic behavior that has proven difficult to capture in analytical models. With recent rapid progress in computational powers, a new paradigm has emerged that aims at simulation assisted design of defect structures with predictable ‘critical-current-by-design’: analogous to the materials genome concept of predicting stable materials structures of interest. We demonstrate the feasibility of this paradigm by combiningmore » large-scale time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau numerical simulations with experiments on commercial high temperature superconductor (HTS) containing well-controlled correlated defects.« less

Deep-level transient spectroscopy studies of Ni- and Zn-diffused vapor-phase-epitaxy n-GaAs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Partin, D. L.; Chen, J. W.; Milnes, A. G.; Vassamillet, L. F.

1979-01-01

The paper presents deep-level transient spectroscopy studies of Ni- and Zn-diffused vapor-phase epitaxy n-GaAs. Nickel diffused into VPE n-GaAs reduces the hole diffusion length L sub p from 4.3 to 1.1 microns. Deep-level transient spectroscopy was used to identify energy levels in Ni-diffused GaAs; the as-grown VPE GaAs contains traces of these levels and an electron trap. Ni diffusion reduces the concentration of this level by an amount that matches the increase in concentration of each of the two Ni-related levels. A technique for measuring minority-carrier capture cross sections was developed, which indicates that L sub p in Ni-diffused VPE n-GaAs is controlled by the E sub c - 0.39 eV defect level.

Photoionization of radiation-induced traps in quartz and alkali feldspars.

PubMed

Hütt, G; Jaek, I; Vasilchenko, V

2001-01-01

For the optimization of luminescence dating and dosimetry techniques on the basis of the optically stimulated luminescence, the stimulation spectra of quartz and alkali feldspars were measured in the spectral region of 250-1100 nm using optically stimulated afterglow. Optically stimulated luminescence in all studied spectral regions is induced by the same kind of deep traps, that produce thermoluminescence in the regions of palaeodosimetric peaks for both minerals. The mechanism for photoionization of deep traps was proposed as being due to delocalization of the excited state of the corresponding lattice defects. The excited state overlaps the zone states; i.e. is situated in the conduction band. Because of the high quantum yield of deep electron trap ionization in the UV spectral region, the present aim was to study the possibility of using UV-stimulation for palaeodose reconstruction.

Study on control of defect mode in hybrid mirror chirped porous silicon photonic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ying; Luo, Pei; Han, Yangyang; Cui, Xingning; He, Lei

2018-03-01

Based on the optical resonance principle and the tight-binding theory, a hybrid mirror chirped porous silicon photonic crystal is proposed. The control of the defect mode in hybrid mirror chirped porous silicon photonic crystal is studied. Through the numerical simulation, the control regulations of the defect modes resulted by the number of the periodical layers for the fundamental unit and the cascading number of the chirped structures are analyzed, and the split and the degeneration of the defect modes resulted by the change of the relative location between the mirror structures and the quasi-mirror structures are discussed. The simulation results show that the band gap would be broadened with the increase of the chirp quantity and the layer number of unilateral chirp. Adjusting the structural parameters of the hybrid mirror structure, the multimode characteristics will occur in the band gap. The more the cascading number of the chirped units, the more the number of the filtering channels will be. In addition, with the increase of the relative location between the mirror structures and the quasi-mirror structures, the degeneration of the defect modes will occur and can obtain high Q value. The structure can provide effective theoretical references for the design the multi-channel filters and high Q value sensors.

Quantitative Analysis of Defects in Silicon. [to predict energy conversion efficiency of silicon samples for solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Natesh, R.; Smith, J. M.; Qidwai, H. A.; Bruce, T.

1979-01-01

The evaluation and prediction of the conversion efficiency for a variety of silicon samples with differences in structural defects, such as grain boundaries, twin boundaries, precipitate particles, dislocations, etc. are discussed. Quantitative characterization of these structural defects, which were revealed by etching the surface of silicon samples, is performed by using an image analyzer. Due to different crystal growth and fabrication techniques the various types of silicon contain a variety of trace impurity elements and structural defects. The two most important criteria in evaluating the various silicon types for solar cell applications are cost and conversion efficiency.

Thermal stability of deep level defects induced by high energy proton irradiation in n-type GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Z.; Farzana, E.; Sun, W. Y.; Chen, J.; Zhang, E. X.; Fleetwood, D. M.; Schrimpf, R. D.; McSkimming, B.; Kyle, E. C. H.; Speck, J. S.; Arehart, A. R.; Ringel, S. A.

2015-10-01

The impact of annealing of proton irradiation-induced defects in n-type GaN devices has been systematically investigated using deep level transient and optical spectroscopies. Moderate temperature annealing (>200-250 °C) causes significant reduction in the concentration of nearly all irradiation-induced traps. While the decreased concentration of previously identified N and Ga vacancy related levels at EC - 0.13 eV, 0.16 eV, and 2.50 eV generally followed a first-order reaction model with activation energies matching theoretical values for NI and VGa diffusion, irradiation-induced traps at EC - 0.72 eV, 1.25 eV, and 3.28 eV all decrease in concentration in a gradual manner, suggesting a more complex reduction mechanism. Slight increases in concentration are observed for the N-vacancy related levels at EC - 0.20 eV and 0.25 eV, which may be due to the reconfiguration of other N-vacancy related defects. Finally, the observed reduction in concentrations of the states at EC - 1.25 and EC - 3.28 eV as a function of annealing temperature closely tracks the detailed recovery behavior of the background carrier concentration as a function of annealing temperature. As a result, it is suggested that these two levels are likely to be responsible for the underlying carrier compensation effect that causes the observation of carrier removal in proton-irradiated n-GaN.

Quantitative determination of anti-structured defects applied to alloys of a wide chemical range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jing; Chen, Zheng; Wang, Yongxin; Lu, Yanli

2016-11-01

Anti-structured defects bridge atom migration among heterogeneous sublattices facilitating diffusion but could also result in the collapse of ordered structure. Component distribution Ni75Al x V25-x alloys are investigated using a microscopic phase field model to illuminate relations between anti-structured defects and composition, precipitate order, precipitate type, and phase stability. The Ni75Al x V25-x alloys undergo single Ni3V (stage I), dual Ni3Al and Ni3V (stage II with Ni3V prior; and stage III with Ni3Al prior), and single Ni3Al (stage IV) with enhanced aluminum level. For Ni3V phase, anti-structured defects (VNi1, NiV, except VNi2) and substitution defects (AlNi1, AlNi2, AlV) exhibit a positive correlation to aluminum in stage I, the positive trend becomes to negative correlation or smooth during stage II. For Ni3Al phase, anti-structured defects (AlNi, NiAl) and substitution defects (VNi, VAl) have a positive correlation to aluminum in stage II, but NiAl goes down since stage III and lasts to stage IV. VNi and VAl fluctuate when Ni3Al precipitates prior, but go down drastically in stage IV. Precipitate type conversion of single Ni3V/dual (Ni3V+Ni3Al) affects Ni3V defects, while dual (Ni3V+Ni3Al)/single Ni3Al has little effect on Ni3Al defects. Precipitate order swap occurred in the dual phase region affects on Ni3Al defects but not on Ni3V. Project supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2016JQ5014), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. 3102014JCQ01024), the Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing (NWPU), China (Grant No. 114-QP-2014), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20136102120021), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51474716 and 51475378).

Influence of the local environment on Mn acceptors in GaAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Donghun; Gohlke, David; Benjamin, Anne; Gupta, Jay A.

2015-04-01

As transistors continue to shrink toward nanoscale dimensions, their characteristics are increasingly dependent on the statistical variations of impurities in the semiconductor material. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) can be used to not only study prototype devices with atomically precise placement of impurity atoms, but can also probe how the properties of these impurities depend on the local environment. Tunneling spectroscopy of Mn acceptors in GaAs indicates that surface-layer Mn act as a deep acceptor, with a hole binding energy that can be tuned by positioning charged defects nearby. Band bending induced by the tip or by these defects can also tune the ionization state of the acceptor complex, evident as a ring-like contrast in STM images. The interplay of these effects is explored over a wide range of defect distances, and understood using iterative simulations of tip-induced band bending.

Defect generation in amorphous-indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors by positive bias stress at elevated temperature

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Um, Jae Gwang; Mativenga, Mallory; Jang, Jin, E-mail: jjang@khu.ac.kr

2014-04-07

We report on the generation and characterization of a hump in the transfer characteristics of amorphous indium gallium zinc-oxide thin-film transistors by positive bias temperature stress. The hump depends strongly on the gate bias stress at 100 °C. Due to the hump, the positive shift of the transfer characteristic in deep depletion is always smaller that in accumulation. Since, the latter shift is twice the former, with very good correlation, we conclude that the effect is due to creation of a double acceptor, likely to be a cation vacancy. Our results indicate that these defects are located near the gate insulator/activemore » layer interface, rather than in the bulk. Migration of donor defects from the interface towards the bulk may also occur under PBST at 100 °C.« less

Effect of UV lamp irradiation during oxidation of Zr/Pt/Si structure on electrical properties of Pt/ZrO 2/Pt/Si structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bae, Joon Woo; Lim, Jae-Won; Mimura, Kouji; Uchikoshi, Masahito; Miyazaki, Takamichi; Isshiki, Minoru

2010-03-01

Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors were fabricated using ZrO 2 films and the effects of structural and native defects of the ZrO 2 films on the electrical and dielectric properties were investigated. For preparing ZrO 2 films, Zr films were deposited on Pt/Si substrates by ion beam deposition (IBD) system with/without substrate bias voltages and oxidized at 200 °C for 60 min under 0.1 MPa O 2 atmosphere with/without UV light irradiation ( λ = 193 nm, Deep UV lamp). The ZrO 2(˜12 nm) films on Pt(˜100 nm)/Si were characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), capacitance-voltage ( C- V) and current-voltage ( I- V) measurements were carried out on MIM structures. ZrO 2 films, fabricated by oxidizing the Zr film deposited with substrate bias voltage under UV light irradiation, show the highest capacitance (784 pF) and the lowest leakage current density. The active oxygen species formed by UV irradiation are considered to play an important role in the reduction of the leakage current density, because they can reduce the density of oxygen vacancies.

Subminiature eddy current transducers for studying metal- dielectric junctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dmitriev, S.; Katasonov, A.; Malikov, V.; Sagalakov, A.; Davydchenko, M.; Shevtsova, L.; Ishkov, A.

2016-11-01

Based on an eddy current transducer (ECT), a probe has been designed to research metal-dielectric structures. The measurement procedure allowing one to detect defects in laminate composites with a high accuracy is described. The transducer was tested on the layered structure consisting of paper and aluminum layers with a thickness of 100 μm each in which the model defect was placed. The dependences of the ECT signal on the defect in this structure are given.

Characterization of Local Carrier Dynamics in AlN and AlGaN Films using High Spatial- and Time-resolution Cathodoluminescence Spectroscopy

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-12

21/2012 Abstract: In order to assess the impacts of structural and point defects on the local carrier (exciton) recombination dynamics in...quantitatively understood as functions of structural / point defect and impurity concentrations (crystal imperfections). However, only few papers [5...NOTES 14. ABSTRACT In order to assess the impacts of structural and point defects on the local carrier (exciton) recombination dynamics in wide bandgap

Photoluminescence of Molecular Beam Epitaxy-Grown Mercury Cadmium Telluride: Comparison of HgCdTe/GaAs and HgCdTe/Si Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mynbaev, K. D.; Bazhenov, N. L.; Dvoretsky, S. A.; Mikhailov, N. N.; Varavin, V. S.; Marin, D. V.; Yakushev, M. V.

2018-05-01

Properties of HgCdTe films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs and Si substrates have been studied by performing variable-temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements. A substantial difference in defect structure between films grown on GaAs (013) and Si (013) substrates was revealed. HgCdTe/GaAs films were mostly free of defect-related energy levels within the bandgap, which was confirmed by PL and carrier lifetime measurements. By contrast, the properties of HgCdTe/Si films are affected by uncontrolled point defects. These could not be always associated with typical "intrinsic" HgCdTe defects, such as mercury vacancies, so consideration of other defects, possibly inherent in HgCdTe/Si structures, was required. The post-growth annealing was found to have a positive effect on the defect structure by reducing the full-widths at half-maximum of excitonic PL lines for both types of films and lowering the concentration of defects specific to HgCdTe/Si.

Electronic structure and STM images simulation of defects on hBN/ black-phosphorene heterostructures: A theoretical study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ospina, D. A.; Cisternas, E.; Duque, C. A.; Correa, J. D.

2018-03-01

By first principles calculations which include van der Waals interactions, we studied the electronic structure of hexagonal boron-nitride/black-phosphorene heterostructures (hBN/BP). In particular the role of several kind of defects on the electronic properties of black-phosphorene monolayer and hBN/BP heterostructure was analyzed. The defects under consideration were single and double vacancies, as well Stone-Wale type defects, all of them present in the phosphorene layer. In this way, we found that the electronic structure of the hBN/BP is modified according the type of defect that is introduced. As a remarkable feature, our results show occupied states at the Fermi Level introduced by a single vacancy in the energy gap of the hBN/BP heterostructure. Additionally, we performed simulations of scanning tunneling microscopy images. These simulations show that is possible to discriminate the kind of defect even when the black-phosphorene monolayer is part of the heterostructure hBN/BP. Our results may help to discriminate among several kind of defects during experimental characterization of these novel materials.

Analysis of Radiation Effects in Silicon using Kinetic Monte Carlo Methods

DOE PAGES

Hehr, Brian Douglas

2014-11-25

The transient degradation of semiconductor device performance under irradiation has long been an issue of concern. Neutron irradiation can instigate the formation of quasi-stable defect structures, thereby introducing new energy levels into the bandgap that alter carrier lifetimes and give rise to such phenomena as gain degradation in bipolar junction transistors. Normally, the initial defect formation phase is followed by a recovery phase in which defect-defect or defect-dopant interactions modify the characteristics of the damaged structure. A kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) code has been developed to model both thermal and carrier injection annealing of initial defect structures in semiconductor materials.more » The code is employed to investigate annealing in electron-irradiated, p-type silicon as well as the recovery of base current in silicon transistors bombarded with neutrons at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) “Blue Room” facility. Our results reveal that KMC calculations agree well with these experiments once adjustments are made, within the appropriate uncertainty bounds, to some of the sensitive defect parameters.« less

Defective angiogenesis delays thrombus resolution: a potential pathogenetic mechanism underlying chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension

PubMed Central

Panzenboeck, Adelheid; Winter, Max P; Schubert, Uwe; Voswinckel, Robert; Frey, Maria K; Jakowitsch, Johannes; Alimohammadi, Arman; Hobohm, Lukas; Mangold, Andreas; Bergmeister, Helga; Sibilia, Maria; Wagner, Erwin F; Mayer, Eckhard; Klepetko, Walter; Hoelzenbein, Thomas J; Preissner, Klaus T; Lang, Irene M

2015-01-01

Objective Restoration of patency is a natural target of vascular remodeling following venous thrombosis that involves vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells as well as leukocytes. Acute pulmonary emboli usually resolve within six months. However, in some instances, thrombi transform into fibrous vascular obstructions, resulting in occlusion of the deep veins, or in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). We proposed that dysregulated thrombus angiogenesis may contribute to thrombus persistence. Approach and Results Mice with an endothelial-cell-specific conditional deletion of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2/kinase insert domain protein receptor (VEGF-R2/Kdr) were utilized in a model of stagnant flow venous thrombosis closely resembling human deep vein thrombosis. Biochemical and functional analyses were performed on pulmonary endarterectomy specimens from patients with CTEPH, a human model of non-resolving venous thromboembolism. Endothelial cell-specific deletion of Kdr and subsequent ablation of thrombus vascularization delayed thrombus resolution. In accordance with these findings, organized human CTEPH thrombi were largely devoid of vascular structures. Several vessel-specific genes such as KDR, vascular endothelial cadherin and podoplanin were expressed at lower levels in white CTEPH thrombi than in organizing deep vein thrombi and organizing thrombi from aortic aneurysms. In addition, red CTEPH thrombi attenuated the angiogenic response induced by VEGF. Conclusions In the present work, we propose a mechanism of thrombus non-resolution demonstrating that endothelial cell-specific deletion of Kdr abates thrombus vessel formation, misguiding thrombus resolution. Medical conditions associated with the development of CTEPH may be compromising early thrombus angiogenesis. PMID:24526692

Extracting and identifying concrete structural defects in GPR images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Qiling; Jiao, Liangbao; Liu, Chuanxin; Cao, Xuehong; Huston, Dryver; Xia, Tian

2018-03-01

Traditionally most GPR data interpretations are performed manually. With the advancement of computing technologies, how to automate GPR data interpretation to achieve high efficiency and accuracy has become an active research subject. In this paper, analytical characterizations of major defects in concrete structures, including delamination, air void and moisture in GPR images, are performed. In the study, the image features of different defects are compared. Algorithms are developed for defect feature extraction and identification. For validations, both simulation results and field test data are utilized.

[Livedo racemosa generalisata. Clinical aspects and histopathology of obliterating arteriolopathy with CNS involvement].

PubMed

Marsch, W C; Muckelmann, R

1985-06-01

The histopathology of Sneddon's syndrome (livedo racemosa generalisata and cerebrovascular defects) is characterized by a thickened intima with subsequent narrowing of the lumen of ascending arterioles in the upper subcutaneous tissue and deep dermis. Ultrastructurally, migrating medial smooth muscle cells with plenty of intermediate filaments colonize the subendothelial intimal space ("intima proliferation").

Observation of 'hidden' planar defects in boron carbide nanowires and identification of their orientations.

PubMed

Guan, Zhe; Cao, Baobao; Yang, Yang; Jiang, Youfei; Li, Deyu; Xu, Terry T

2014-01-15

The physical properties of nanostructures strongly depend on their structures, and planar defects in particular could significantly affect the behavior of the nanowires. In this work, planar defects (twins or stacking faults) in boron carbide nanowires are extensively studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results show that these defects can easily be invisible, i.e., no presence of characteristic defect features like modulated contrast in high-resolution TEM images and streaks in diffraction patterns. The simplified reason of this invisibility is that the viewing direction during TEM examination is not parallel to the (001)-type planar defects. Due to the unique rhombohedral structure of boron carbide, planar defects are only distinctive when the viewing direction is along the axial or short diagonal directions ([100], [010], or 1¯10) within the (001) plane (in-zone condition). However, in most cases, these three characteristic directions are not parallel to the viewing direction when boron carbide nanowires are randomly dispersed on TEM grids. To identify fault orientations (transverse faults or axial faults) of those nanowires whose planar defects are not revealed by TEM, a new approach is developed based on the geometrical analysis between the projected preferred growth direction of a nanowire and specific diffraction spots from diffraction patterns recorded along the axial or short diagonal directions out of the (001) plane (off-zone condition). The approach greatly alleviates tedious TEM examination of the nanowire and helps to establish the reliable structure-property relations. Our study calls attention to researchers to be extremely careful when studying nanowires with potential planar defects by TEM. Understanding the true nature of planar defects is essential in tuning the properties of these nanostructures through manipulating their structures.

Pressure-induced structural modifications of rare-earth hafnate pyrochlore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, Katlyn M.; Rittman, Dylan R.; Heymach, Rachel A.; Tracy, Cameron L.; Turner, Madison L.; Fuentes, Antonio F.; Mao, Wendy L.; Ewing, Rodney C.

2017-06-01

Complex oxides with the pyrochlore (A2B2O7) and defect-fluorite ((A,B)4O7) structure-types undergo structural transformations under high-pressure. Rare-earth hafnates (A2Hf2O7) form the pyrochlore structure for A  =  La-Tb and the defect-fluorite structure for A  =  Dy-Lu. High-pressure transformations in A2Hf2O7 pyrochlore (A  =  Sm, Eu, Gd) and defect-fluorite (A  =  Dy, Y, Yb) were investigated up to ~50 GPa and characterized by in situ Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD). Raman spectra at ambient pressure revealed that all compositions, including the defect-fluorites, have some pyrochlore-type short-range order. In situ high-pressure synchrotron XRD showed that all of the rare earth hafnates investigated undergo a pressure-induced phase transition to a cotunnite-like (orthorhombic) structure that begins between 18 and 25 GPa. The phase transition to the cotunnite-like structure is not complete at 50 GPa, and upon release of pressure, the hafnates transform to defect-fluorite with an amorphous component. For all compositions, in situ Raman spectroscopy showed that disordering occurs gradually with increasing pressure. Pyrochlore-structured hafnates retain their short-range order to a higher pressure (30 GPa vs.  <10 GPa) than defect-fluorite-structured hafnates. Rare earth hafnates quenched from 50 GPa show Raman spectra consistent with weberite-type structures, as also reported for irradiated rare-earth stannates. The second-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state fit gives a bulk modulus of ~250 GPa for hafnates with the pyrochlore structure, and ~400 GPa for hafnates with the defect-fluorite structure. Dy2Hf2O7 is intermediate in its response, with some pyrochlore-type ordering, based on Raman spectroscopy and the equation of state, with a bulk modulus of ~300 GPa. As predicted based on the similar ionic radius of Zr4+ and Hf4+, rare-earth hafnates show similar behavior to that reported for rare earth zirconates at high pressure.

Pressure-induced structural modifications of rare-earth hafnate pyrochlore.

PubMed

Turner, Katlyn M; Rittman, Dylan R; Heymach, Rachel A; Tracy, Cameron L; Turner, Madison L; Fuentes, Antonio F; Mao, Wendy L; Ewing, Rodney C

2017-06-28

Complex oxides with the pyrochlore (A 2 B 2 O 7 ) and defect-fluorite ((A,B) 4 O 7 ) structure-types undergo structural transformations under high-pressure. Rare-earth hafnates (A 2 Hf 2 O 7 ) form the pyrochlore structure for A  =  La-Tb and the defect-fluorite structure for A  =  Dy-Lu. High-pressure transformations in A 2 Hf 2 O 7 pyrochlore (A  =  Sm, Eu, Gd) and defect-fluorite (A  =  Dy, Y, Yb) were investigated up to ~50 GPa and characterized by in situ Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD). Raman spectra at ambient pressure revealed that all compositions, including the defect-fluorites, have some pyrochlore-type short-range order. In situ high-pressure synchrotron XRD showed that all of the rare earth hafnates investigated undergo a pressure-induced phase transition to a cotunnite-like (orthorhombic) structure that begins between 18 and 25 GPa. The phase transition to the cotunnite-like structure is not complete at 50 GPa, and upon release of pressure, the hafnates transform to defect-fluorite with an amorphous component. For all compositions, in situ Raman spectroscopy showed that disordering occurs gradually with increasing pressure. Pyrochlore-structured hafnates retain their short-range order to a higher pressure (30 GPa vs.  <10 GPa) than defect-fluorite-structured hafnates. Rare earth hafnates quenched from 50 GPa show Raman spectra consistent with weberite-type structures, as also reported for irradiated rare-earth stannates. The second-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state fit gives a bulk modulus of ~250 GPa for hafnates with the pyrochlore structure, and ~400 GPa for hafnates with the defect-fluorite structure. Dy 2 Hf 2 O 7 is intermediate in its response, with some pyrochlore-type ordering, based on Raman spectroscopy and the equation of state, with a bulk modulus of ~300 GPa. As predicted based on the similar ionic radius of Zr 4+ and Hf 4+ , rare-earth hafnates show similar behavior to that reported for rare earth zirconates at high pressure.