Surface morphology control of strained InAs/GaAs(331)A films: From nanowires to island-pit pairs

We have studied the effect of molecular beam epitaxy growth conditions on the surface morphology of strained InAs/GaAs(331)A films. Our results reveal that InAs nanowires aligned along the [1 (1) over bar0] direction are formed under As-rich conditions, which is explained by the effect of anisotropic buffer layer surface roughing. Under In-rich conditions, however, the surface morphology of the InAs layers is characterized by a feature of island-pit pairs. In this case, cooperative nucleation of islands and pits can lower the activation barrier for domain growth. These results suggest that the surface morphology of strained InAs layers is highly controllable. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Surface morphology evolution of strained InAs/GaAs(331)a films

Surface morphology evolution of strained InAs/GaAs(331)A films was systematically investigated in this paper. Under As-rich conditions, InAs elongated islands aligned along [1 (1) over bar0] are formed at a substrate temperature of 510 degrees C. We explained it as a result of the anisotropic diffusion of adatoms. Under In-rich conditions, striking change has occurred with respect to the surface morphology of the InAs layers. Instead of anisotropic InAs elongated islands, unique island-pit pairs randomly distributed on the whole surface were observed. Using cooperative nucleation mechanisms proposed by Jesson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1330 (1996)], we interpret the resulting surface morphology evolution.

Improving Nucleation in the Fabrication of High-Quality 3D Macro-Porous Copper Film through The Surface-Modification of A Polystyrene Colloid-Assembled Template

A new approach is developed to the fabrication of high-quality three-dimensional macro-porous copper films. A highly-ordered macroporous copper film is successfully produced on a polystyrene sphere (PS) template that has been modified by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). It is shown that this procedure can change a hydrophobic surface of PS template into a hydrophilic surface. The present study is devoted to the influence of the electrolyte solution transport on the nucleation process. It is demonstrated that the permeability of the electrolyte solution in the nanochannels of the PS template plays an important role in the chemical electrodeposition of high-quality macroporous copper film. The permeability is drastically enhanced in our experiment through the surface modi. cation of the PS templates. The method could be used to homogeneously produce a large number of nucleations on a substrate, which is a key factor for the fabrication of the high-quality macroporous copper film.

Mechanism of nucleation and precipitation in Li containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys

Investigations on the aging hardening behavior of four Al-Li-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys were carried out using differential scanning calorimetry, transmission electron microscopy and hardness measurement. It is shown that the addition of Li inhibits the formation of Zn-rich G.P. zones in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys. The dominant aging hardening precipitates is delta'(Al3Li) phase. Coarse T ((AlZn)(49)Mg-32) phase, instead of MgZn2, precipitates primarily on grain boundaries, and provides little strengthening. The multi-stop aging involving plastic deformation introduces in the matrix a high concentration of structural defects. These defects play different role on the nucleation of Zn-rich G.P. zones in different alloys. For the Li free alloy, structural defects act as vacancy sinks and tend to suppress the homogeneous precipitation of G.P. zones, while for the Li containing alloys, these defects promote the heterogeneous nucleation of G.P. zones and metastable MgZn2. A significant aging hardening effect is attained in deformed Li containing alloys due to the extra precipitation of fine MgZn2 in the matrix combined with deformation hardening.

Dislocation Propagation versus Dislocation Nucleation - Authors' Response

No abstract.

The effect of nucleation time on the growth of a microvoid in a viscoelastic material

In this paper, discussions are focused on the growth of a nucleated void in a viscoelastic material. The in situ tensile tests of specimens made of high-density polyethylene, filled with spherical glass beads (HDPE/GB) are carried out under SEM. The experimental result indicates that the microvoid nucleation is induced by the partially interfacial debonding of particles. By means of the Laplace transform and the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method, a new analytical expression of the void strain at different nucleation times is derived. It can be seen that the strain of the nucleated void depends not only on the remote strain history, but also on the nucleation time. This expression is also illustrated by numerical examples, and is found to be of great usefulness in the study of damage evolution in viscoelastic materials.

Atomistic simulations of crack nucleation and intergranular fracture in bulk nanocrystalline nickel

We report large scale molecular dynamics simulations of dynamic cyclic uniaxial tensile deformation of pure, fully dense nanocrystalline Ni, to reveal the crack initiation, and consequently intergranular fracture is the result of coalescence of nanovoids by breaking atomic bonds at grain boundaries and triple junctions. The results indicate that the brittle fracture behavior accounts for the transition from plastic deformation governed by dislocation to one that is grain-boundary dominant when the grain size reduces to the nanoscale. The grain-boundary mediated plasticity is also manifested by the new grain formation and growth induced by stress-assisted grain-boundary diffusion observed in this work. This work illustrates that grain-boundary decohesion is one of the fundamental deformation mechanisms in nanocrystalline Ni.

A unified model for dislocation nucleation, dislocation emission and dislocation free zone

In this paper, a unified model for dislocation nucleation, emission and dislocation free zone is proposed based on the Peierls framework. Three regions are identified ahead of the crack tip. The emitted dislocations, located away from the crack tip in the form of an inverse pileup, define the plastic zone. Between that zone and the cohesive zone immediately ahead of the crack tip, there is a dislocation free zone. With the stress field and the dislocation density field in the cohesive zone and plastic zone being, respectively, expressed in the first and second Chebyshev polynomial series, and the opening and slip displacements in trigonometric series, a set of nonlinear algebraic equations can be obtained and solved with the Newton-Raphson Method. The results of calculations for pure shearing and combined tension and shear loading after dislocation emission are given in detail. An approximate treatment of the dynamic effects of the dislocation emission is also developed in this paper, and the calculation results are in good agreement with those of molecular dynamics simulations.

Dislocation nucleation and emission from crack-tip

The problems of dislocation nucleation and emission from a crack tip are analysed based on Peierls model. The concept adopted here is essentially the same as that proposed by Rice. A slight modification is introduced here to identify the pure linear elastic response of material. A set of new governing equations is developed, which is different from that used by Beltz and Rice. The stress field and the dislocation density field can be expressed as the first and second Chebyshev polynomial series respectively. Then the opening and slip displacements can be expanded as the trigonometric series. The Newton-Raphson Method is used to solve a set of nonlinear algebraic equations. The new governing equations allow us to extend the analyses to the case of dislocation emission. The calculation results for pure shearing, pure tension and combined tension and shear loading are given in detail.

Embryo-damage induced nucleation of microcracks in an aluminum-alloy under impact loading

The nucleation of microdamage under dynamic loading was investigated through planar impact experiments accomplished with a light gas gun. The microscopic observation of recovered and sectioned specimens showed that microcracks were nucleated only by cracking of brittle particles inside material. However, for comparison the in situ static tensile tests on the same material conducted with a scanning electron microscope showed that the microcracks were nucleated by many forms those were fracture of ductile matrix, debonding particles from matrix and cracking of brittle particles. The quantitative metallographic observations of the specimens subjected to impact loading showed that most of the cracked particles were situated on grain boundaries of the aluminium matrix. These facts suggested the concept of critical size and incubation time of submicroscopic cavities in the dynamic case and the mechanism of embryo-damage induced nucleation by fracture of brittle particles in the aluminium alloy under impact loading was proposed.

Study on fatigue crack nucleation of electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel

The mechanism of fatigue crack nucleation for nanocrystalline (nc) nickel was experimentally investigated in this paper. The samples of electrodeposited ne nickel were loaded cyclically by using a three point bending instrument at first. Then, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to scanning the sample surface after fatigue testing. The results indicated that, after fatigue testing, there are vortex-like cells with an average size of 108nm appeared along the crack on nc nickel sample. And, the roughness of sample surface increased with the maximum stress at the surface.

Dynamic phase-mapping of domain nucleation on MgO : LiNbO3 crystal by digital holographic interferometry

The quantitative phase-mapping of the domain nucleation in MgO:LiNbO3 crystals is presented by using the digital holographic interferometry. An unexpected peak phase at the beginning of the domain nucleation is observed and it is lowered as the spreading of the domain nucleus. The existence of the nucleus changes the moving speed of the domain wall by pinning it for 3s. Such in-situ quantitative analysis of the domain nucleation process is a key to optimizing domain structure fabrication.

Wavelength dependence of light-induced domain nucleation in MgO-doped congruent LiNbO3 crystal

Within the wavelength range from 351 to 799 nm, the different reductions of nucleation field induced by the focused continuous laser irradiation are achieved in the 5 mol % MgO-doped congruent LiNbO3 crystals. The reduction proportion increases exponentially with decreasing irradiation wavelength and decreases exponentially with increasing irradiation wavelength. At one given wavelength, the reduction proportion increases exponentially with increasing irradiation intensity. An assumption is proposed that the reduction of nucleation field is directly related to the defect structure of crystal lattice generated by the complex coaction of incident irradiation field and external electric field. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.