High-temperature AlN interlayer for crack-free AlGaN growth on GaN

This paper presents a study of the transformation of high-temperature AlN (HT-AlN) interlayer (IL) and its effect on the strain relaxation of Al0.25Ga0.75N/HT-AlN/GaN. The HT-AlN IL capped with Al0.25Ga0.75N transforms into AlGaN IL in which the Al composition increases with the HT-AlN IL thickness while the total Ga content keeps nearly constant. During the HT-AlN IL growth on GaN, the tensile stress is relieved through the formation of V trenches. The filling up of the V trenches by the subsequent Al0.25Ga0.75N growth is identified as the Ga source for the IL transformation, whose effect is very different from a direct growth of HT-AlGaN IL. The a-type dislocations generated during the advancement of V trenches and their filling up propagate into the Al0.25Ga0.75N overlayer. The a-type dislocation density increases dramatically with the IL thickness, which greatly enhances the strain relaxation of Al0.25Ga0.75N. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Growth of crack-free GaN films on Si(111) substrate by using Al-rich AlN buffer layer

GaN epilayers were grown on Si(111) substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. By using the Al-rich AlN buffer which contains Al beyond stoichiometry, crack-free GaN epilayers with 1 mum thickness were obtained. Through x-ray diffraction (XRD) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy analyses, it was found that a lot of Al atoms have diffused into the under part of the GaN epilayer from the Al-rich AlN buffer, which results in the formation of an AlxGa1-xN layer at least with 300 nm thickness in the 1 mum thick GaN epilayer. The Al fraction x was estimated by XRD to be about 2.5%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth analysis was also applied to investigate the stoichiometry in the Al-rich buffer before GaN growth. It is suggested that the underlayer AlxGa1-xN originated from Al diffusion probably provides a compressive stress to the upper part of the GaN epilayer, which counterbalances a part of tensile stress in the GaN epilayer during cooling down and consequently reduces the cracks of the film effectively. The method using the Al diffusion effect to form a thick AlGaN layer is really feasible to achieve the crack-free GaN films and obtain a high crystal quality simultaneously. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Growth of crack-free AlGaN film on thin AlN interlayer by MOCVD

We have studied the effect of low-temperature-deposited (LT) and high-temperature-deposited (FIT) AlN interlayer with various thickness on AlGaN film grown on GaN using c-plane sapphire as substrate. All the Al0.25Ga0.75N films thicker than 1 mum with LT-AlN interlayer or with HT-AlN interlayer were free of cracks, however, their surfaces were different: the Al0.25Ga0.75N films with LT-AlN interlayer showed smooth surface, while those with HT-AlN interlayer exhibit rough surface morphology. The results of X-ray double crystal diffraction and Rutherford backscattering showed that all of the AlGaN films were under compressive strain in the parallel direction. The compressive strain resulted from the effect of interlayer-induced stress relieving and the thermal mismatch for the samples with LT-AlN interlayer, and it was due to the thermal mismatch between AlGaN and the underlying layers for those with HT-AlN interlayer. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ge composition saturation behavior during low-temperature Si1-xGex growth by disilane and solid Ge molecular beam epitaxy

Ge composition dependence on the Ge cell temperature has been studied during the growth of Si1-xGex by disilane and solid Ge molecular beam epitaxy at a substrate temperature of 500 degrees C. It is found that the composition x increases and then saturates when the Ge cell temperature increases, which is different from the composition-dependent behavior in growth at high temperature as well as in growth by molecular beam epitaxy using disilane and germane. The enhanced hydrogen desorption from a Ge site alone cannot account for this abnormal composition-variation behavior. We attribute this behavior to the increase of rate constant of H desorption on a Si site when the Ge cell temperature increases.

MOCVD growth of high quality crack-free GaN on Si(III) substrates

High quality crack free GaN epilayers were grown on Si(111) substrates. Low temperature AlN interlayer grown under low V/III ratio was used to effectively eliminate the formation of micro-cracks. It is found that tensile stress in the GaN epilayer decreases as the N/Al ratio decreases used for AlN interlayer growth. The high optical and structural qualities of the GaN/Si samples were characterized by RBS, PL and XRD measurements. The RT-PL FWHM of the band edge emission is only 39.5meV The XRD FWHM of the GaN/Si sample is 8.2arcmin, which is among the best values ever reported.

Weak epitaxy growth and phase behavior of planar phthalocyanines on p-sexiphenyl monolayer film

We systematically investigated the weak epitaxy growth (WEG) behavior of a series of planar phthalocyanine compounds (MPc), i.e., metal-free phthalocyanine (H2PC), nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc), copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc), iron phthalocyanine (FePc); cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc), grown on a p-sexiphenyl (p-6P) monolayer film by selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Two types of epitaxial relations, named as incommensurate epitaxy and commensurate epitaxy, were identified between phthalocyanine compounds and the substrate of the p-6P film.

Flexural fatigue behavior of injection-molded composites based on poly(phenylene ether ketone)

Flexural fatigue tests were conducted on injection-molded short fiber composites, carbon fiber/poly(phenylene ether ketone) (PEK-C) and glass fiber/PEK-C (with addition of polyphenylene sulfide for improving adhesion between matrix and fibers), using four-point bending at stress ratio of 0.1. The fatigue behavior of these materials was presented. By comparing the S-N curves and analyzing the fracture surfaces of the two materials, the similarity and difference of the failure mechanisms in the two materials were discussed. It is shown that the flexural fatigue failure of the studied materials is governed by their respective tensile properties. The matrix yielding is main failure mechanism at high stress, while at lower stress the fatigue properties appear fiber and interface dominated. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Residual properties of an injection-molded poly(phenylene ether ketone) carbon composite during flexural fatigue

The present work investigates the effects of cyclic fatigue loading on the residual properties of an injection-molded composite, carbon-fiber-reinforced poly(phenylene ether ketone) (CF/PEK-C), and damage development in this material under fatigue lending. Test specimens, which had been conditioned to various preselected fatigue damage stages, were measured for their residual properties. The results indicated that cyclic fatigue loading alters the constitutive behavior of the injection-molded composite, especially in the non-linear portion of the stress/strain curve. The residual strength decreases with increase in the number of fatigue cycles as a consequence of the accumulation of fatigue damage, which is dominated by the growth of microcracks. While the residual modulus increases slightly with cyclic fatigue loading, this is probably due to the oriented hardening resulting from creep deformation which is induced during cyclic loading. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.

Failure of SiC particulate-reinforced metal matrix composites induced by laser thermal shock

Thermal failure of SiC particulate-reinforced 6061 aluminum alloy composites induced by both laser thermal shock and mechanical load has been investigated. The specimens with a single-edge notch were mechanically polished to 0.25 mm in thickness. The notched-tip region of the specimen is subjected to laser beam rapid heating. In the test, a pulsed Nd:glass laser beam is used with duration 1.0 ms or 250 mu s, intensity 15 or 70 kW/cm(2), and spot size 5.0 mm in diameter. Threshold intensity was tested and fracture behavior was studied. The crack-tip process zone development and the microcrack formation were macroscopically and microscopically observed. It was found that in these materials, the initial crack occurred in the notched-tip region, wherein the initial crack was induced by either void nucleation, growth, and subsequent coalescence of the matrix materials or separation of the SiC particulate-matrix interface. It was further found that the process of the crack propagation occurred by the fracture of the SiC particulates.

Influence of stochastic mesoscopic structure on macroscopic mechanical behavior of brittle material

A newly developed numerical code, MFPA(2D) (Material Failure Process Analysis), is applied to study the influence of stochastic mesoscopic structure on macroscopic mechanical behavior of rock-like materials. A set of uniaxial compression tests has been numerically studied with numerical specimens containing pre-existing crack-like flaw. The numerical results reveal the influence of random mesoscopic structure on failure process of brittle material, which indicates that the variation of failure mode is strongly sensitive to the local disorder feature of the specimen. And the patterns of the crack evolution in the specimens are very different from each other due to the random mesoscopic structure in material. The results give a good explanation for various kinds of fracture modes and peak strength variation observed in laboratory studies with specimens made from the same rock block being statistically homogenous in macro scale. In addition, the evolution of crack is more complicated in heterogeneous cases than in homogeneous cases.

Instability Of Crack Propagation In Brittle Bulk Metallic Glass

The instability of the crack tip in brittle Mg-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) is studied. The formation of various fractographic surfaces of the BMG is associated with the instability of the fluid meniscus, which is due to viscous fluid matter being present on the fracture process zone. Depending on the values of the wavelength of the initial perturbation of the fluid meniscus and the local stress intensity factor, different fracture surface profiles, i.e. a dimple-like structure, a periodic corrugation pattern and a pure mirror zone are formed. The fractographic evolution is significantly affected by the applied stress. A decreased fracture Surface roughness is observed under a low applied stress. An increased fracture surface roughness, which has frequently been reported by other researchers, is also observed in the present studies under a high applied stress. Unique fractographic features are attributed to the non-linear hyperelastic stiffening for less softening) mechanism. (C) 2008 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Novel Mechanical Behavior Of Zno Nanorods

A novel stress-strain relation with two stages of linear elastic deformation is observed in [0 0 0 1]-oriented ZnO nanorods under uniaxial tensile loading. This phenomenon results from a phase transformation from wurtzite (WZ, P6(3)mc space group) to a body-centered tetragonal structure with four-atom rings (denoted as BCT-4) belonging to the P4(2)/mnm space group. The analysis here focuses on the effects of nanorod size and temperature on the phase transformation and the associated mechanical behavior. It is found that as size is increased from 19.5 to 45.5 angstrom, the critical stress for nucleation of the transformation decreases by 25% from 21.90 to 16.50 GPa and the elastic moduli of the WZ- and BCT-4-structured nanorods decrease by 24% (from 299.49 to 227.51 GPa) and 38% (from 269.29 to 166.86 GPa), respectively. A significant temperature effect is also observed, with the critical stress for transformation initiation decreasing 87.8% from 17.89 to 2.19 GPa as temperature increases from 300 to 1500 K. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermal fatigue on pistons induced by shaped high power laser. Part I: Experimental study of transient temperature field and temperature oscillation

Thermal fatigue behavior is one of the foremost considerations in the design and operation of diesel engines. It is found that thermal fatigue is closely related to the temperature field and temperature fluctuation in the structure. In this paper, spatially shaped high power laser was introduced to simulate thermal loadings on the piston. The incident Gaussian beam was transformed into concentric multi-circular beam of specific intensity distribution with the help of diffractive optical element (DOE), and the transient temperature fields in the piston similar to those under working conditions could be achieved by setting up appropriate loading cycles. Simulation tests for typical thermal loading conditions, i.e., thermal high cycle fatigue (HCF) and thermal shock (or thermal low cycle fatigue, LCF) were carried out. Several important parameters that affect the transient temperature fields and/or temperature oscillations, including controlling mode, intensity distribution of shaped laser, laser power, temporal profile of laser pulse, heating time and cooling time in one thermal cycle, etc., were investigated and discussed. The results show that as a novel method, the shaped high power laser can simulate thermal loadings on pistons efficiently, and it is helpful in the study of thermal fatigue behavior in pistons. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crack propagation in the power-law nonlinear viscoelastic material

An analysis on crack creep propagation problem of power-law nonlinear viscoelastic materials is presented. The creep incompressilility assumption is used. To simulate fracture behavior of craze region, it is assumed that in the fracture process zone near the crack tip, the cohesive stress sigma(f) acts upon the crack surfaces and resists crack opening. Through a perturbation method, i. e., by superposing the Mode-I applied force onto a referential uniform stress state, which has a trivial solution and gives no effect on the solution of the original problem, the nonlinear viscoelastic problem is reduced to linear problem. For weak nonlinear materials, for which the power-law index n similar or equal to 1, the expressions of stress and crack surface displacement are derived. Then, the fracture process zone local energy criterion is proposed and based on which the formulas of cracking incubation time t

Torsional impact response of a penny-shaped interface crack in bonded materials with a graded material interlayer

In this paper, the dynamic response of a penny-shaped interface crack in bonded dissimilar homogeneous half-spaces is studied. It is assumed that the two materials are bonded together with such a inhomogeneous interlayer that makes the elastic modulus in the direction perpendicular to the crack surface is continuous throughout the space. The crack surfaces art assumed to be subjected to torsional impact loading. Laplace and Hankel integral transforms are applied combining with a dislocation density,function to reduce the mixed boundary value problem into a singular integral equation with a generalized Cauchy kernel in Laplace domain. By solving the singular integral equation numerically, and using a numerical Laplace inversion technique, the dynamic stress intensity factors art obtained. The influences of material properties and interlayer thickness on the dynamic stress intensity factor are investigated.