Thermal and electrical switching studies on Ge20Se80-xBix (1 <= x <= 13) ternary chalcogenide glassy system

Alternating Differential Scanning Calorimetric (ADSC) and electrical switching studies have been undertaken on Ge20Se80-xBix glasses (1 <= x <= 13), to understand the effect of topological thresholds on thermal properties and electrical switching behavior. It is found that the compositional dependence of glass transition temperature (Tg), crystallization temperature (T-c1) and thermal stability (AT) of Ge20Se80-xBix glasses show anomalies at a composition x= 5, the rigidity percolation/stiffness threshold of the system. Further, unusual variations are also observed in different thermal properties, such as T-g, T-c1, Delta T, Delta C-p and Delta H-NR, at the composition x= 10, which indicates the occurrence of chemical threshold in these glasses at this composition. Electrical switching studies indicate that Ge20Se8o_RBig glasses with 5 11 exhibit threshold switching behavior and those with x = 12 and 13 show memory switching. A sharp decrease has been noticed in the switching voltages with bismuth concentration, which is due to the more metallic nature of bismuth and the presence of Bi+ ions. Further, a saturation is seen in the decrease in V-T around x = 6, which is related to bismuth phase percolation at higher concentrations of Bi. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electric and magnetic polarizabilities of hexagonal Ln(2)CuTiO(6)(Ln = Y, Dy, Ho, Er, and Yb)

We investigated the rare-earth transition-metal oxide series, Ln(2)CuTiO(6) (Ln = Y, Dy, Ho, Er, and Yb), crystallizing in the hexagonal structure with noncentrosymmetric P6(3)cm space group for possible occurrences of multiferroic properties. Our results show that while these compounds, except Ln = Y, exhibit a low-temperature antiferromagnetic transition due to the ordering of the rare-earth moments, the expected ferroelectric transition is frustrated by the large size difference between Cu and Ti at the B site. Interestingly, this leads these compounds to attain a rare and unique combination of desirable paraelectric properties with high dielectric constants, low losses, and weak temperature and frequency dependencies. First-principles calculations establish these exceptional properties result from a combination of two effects. A significant difference in the MO5 polyhedral sizes for M = Cu and M = Ti suppress the expected cooperative tilt pattern of these polyhedra, required for the ferroelectric transition, leading to relatively large values of the dielectric constant for every compound investigated in this series. Additionally, it is shown that the majority contribution to the dielectric constant arises from intermediate-frequency polar vibrational modes, making it relatively stable against any temperature variation. Changes in the temperature stability of the dielectric constant among different members of this series are shown to arise from changes in relative contributions from soft polar modes.

Disorder-driven electronic localization and phase separation in superconducting Fe1+yTe0.5Se0.5 single crystals

We have investigated the influence of Fe excess on the electrical transport and magnetism of Fe1+yTe0.5Se0.5 (y=0.04 and 0.09) single crystals. Both compositions exhibit resistively determined superconducting transitions (T-c) with an onset temperature of about 15 K. From the width of the superconducting transition and the magnitude of the lower critical field H-c1, it is inferred that excess of Fe suppresses superconductivity. The linear and nonlinear responses of the ac susceptibility show that the superconducting state for these compositions is inhomogeneous. A possible origin of this phase separation is a magnetic coupling between Fe excess occupying interstitial sites in the chalcogen planes and those in the Fe-square lattice. The temperature derivative of the resistivity d(rho)/d(T) in the temperature range T-c < T < T-a with T-a being the temperature of a magnetic anomaly, changes from positive to negative with increasing Fe. A log 1/T divergence of the resistivity above T-c in the sample with higher amount of Fe suggests a disorder-driven electronic localization.

Weber-Fechner type nonlinear behavior in zigzag edge graphene nanoribbons

Using a continuum Dirac theory, we study the density and spin response of zigzag edge-terminated graphene ribbons subjected to edge potentials and Zeeman fields. Our analytical calculations of the density and spin responses of the closed system (fixed particle number) to the static edge fields, show a highly nonlinear Weber-Fechner type behavior where the response depends logarithmically on the edge potential. The dependence of the response on the size of the system (e.g., width of a nanoribbon) is also uncovered. Zigzag edge graphene nanoribbons, therefore, provide a realization of response of organs such as the eye and ear that obey Weber-Fechner law. We validate our analytical results with tight-binding calculations. These results are crucial in understanding important effects of electron-electron interactions in graphene nanoribbons such as edge magnetism, etc., and also suggest possibilities for device applications of graphene nanoribbons.

Silver- and Gold-Related Deep Levels in Gallium Arsenide

Characterization of silver- and gold-related defects in gallium arsenide is carried out. These impurities were introduced during the thermal diffusion process and the related defects are characterized by deep-level transient spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The silver-related center in GaAs shows a 0.238 eV photoluminescence line corresponding to no-phonon transition, whereas its thermal ionization energy is found to be 0.426 eV. The thermal activation energy of the gold-related center in GaAs is 0.395 eV, but there is no corresponding luminescence signal.

Electron hopping i eui-xsrxfeO3 and ndi-xsrxcOO3

Mössbauer and electrical resistivity measurements on Eu1–xSrxFeO3(0.0 < x[less-than-or-eq] 0.4) show the presence of a time-averaged electron configuration of Fe in these solids at T > TN. Variable range hopping arising from Anderson localization seems to occur at T < TN indicating that the electron hopping time in this regime is likely to be greater than 10–7 s. Mössbauer studies on Nd1–xSrxCoO3 show that in the Anderson localization regime, the hopping time is greater than 10–7 s in this system as well.

A Comparative Study of the Effect of Metallic Au and ReO3 Nanoparticles on the Performance of Silicon Solar Cells

The influence of gold (similar to 35 nm diameter) as well as ReO3 (similar to 17 nm diameter) nanoparticles placed atop silicon photovoltaic devices on absorption and photocurrent generation has been investigated. The nanoparticles improve the power transmission into the semiconductor and consequently, the photocurrent response at wavelengths corresponding to plasmon absorption. An increase in short circuit current up to 4.5% under simulated solar irradiation was observed with the ReO3 nanoparticles, while the gold nanoparticles showed enhancements up to 6.5%. The increase in photocurrent is observed at wavelengths corresponding to the maxima in the surface plasmon resonance absorption spectra. (C) 2010 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Effect of coordinated ions on structure and flexiblity of parallel G-quandruplexes: a molecular dynamics study

Single tract guanine residues can associate to form stable parallel quadruplex structures in the presence of certain cations. Nanosecond scale molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on fully solvated fibre model of parallel d(G7) quadruplex structures with Na+ or K+ ions coordinated in the cavity formed by the 06 atoms of the guanine bases. The AMBER 4.1 force field and Particle Mesh Ewald technique for electrostatic interactions have been used in all simulations. These quadruplex structures are stable during the simulation, with the middle four base tetrads showing root mean square deviation values between 0.5 to 0.8 A from the initial structure as well the high resolution crystal structure. Even in the absence of any coordinated ion in the initial structure, the G-quadruplex structure remains intact throughout the simulation. During the 1.1 ns MD simulation, one Na+ counter ion from the solvent as well as several water molecules enter the central cavity to occupy the empty coordination sites within the parallel quadruplex and help stabilize the structure. Hydrogen bonding pattern depends on the nature of the coordinated ion, with the G-tetrad undergoing local structural variation to accommodate cations of different sizes. In the absence of any coordinated ion, due to strong mutual repulsion, 06 atoms within G-tetrad are forced farther apart from each other, which leads to a considerably different hydrogen bonding scheme within the G-tetrads and very favourable interaction energy between the guanine bases constituting a G-tetrad. However, a coordinated ion between G-tetrads provides extra stacking energy for the G-tetrads and makes the quadruplex structure more rigid. Na+ ions, within the quadruplex cavity, are more mobile than coordinated K+ ions. A number of hydrogen bonded water molecules are observed within the grooves of all quadruplex structures

Chemical Shift of the X-Ray K-Absorption Edge of Cu in Some of Its Compounds, Complexes and Superconductors

Chemical shifts, ΔE, of the X-ray K-absorption edge in several compounds, complexes of copper including its superconducting oxides possessing formal oxidation states +1 and +2 have been measured. It has been shown that the chemical shift is primarily governed by the effective ionic charge on the absorbing ion and the nature of the atoms in the first coordination shell around the absorbing ion. The relation between the chemical shift, ΔE , and the effective charge q on the absorbing ion is found to be ΔE=Aq+Bq2+Cq3+Dq4 (A, B, C and D are constants). The effects of electronegativity, atomic number, oxidation state, crystal structure, the valence d-orbital electrons, etc. on the X-ray absorption chemical shift have been discussed. ©1990 The Physical Society of Japan

Calorimetry In Vapor Absorption And Binary Mixture Vapor Compression Refrigeration And Heatpump Systems

The use of binary fluid systems in thermally driven vapour absorption and mechanically driven vapour compression refrigeration and heatpump cycles has provided an impetus for obtaining experimental date on caloric properties of such fluid mixtures. However, direct measurements of these properties are somewhat scarce in spite of the calorimetric techniques described in the literature being quite adequate. Most of the design data are derived through calculations using theoretical models and vapour-liquid equilibrium data. This article addresses the choice of working fluids and the current status on the data availability vis-a-vis engineering applications. Particular emphasis is on organic working fluid pairs.

dc reactive magnetron sputtering of titanium‐structural and optical characterization of TiO2 films

This paper deals with the reactive sputtering of titanium in an argon and oxygen mixture. The variation in cathode potential as a function of oxygen partial pressure has been explained in terms of cathode poisoning effects. The titania films deposited during this process have been studied for their structural and optical characteristics. The effect of substrate temperature (from 25 to 400 °C) and annealing (from 250 to 700 °C) on the packing density, refractive index, extinction coefficient, and crystallinity has been investigated. The refractive index varied from 2.24 to 2.46 and extinction coefficient from 2.6 × 10-3 to 10.4× 10-3 at 500 nm as the substrate temperature increased from 25 to 400 °C. The refractive index increased from 2.19 to 2.35 and extinction coefficient changed from 3.2× 10-3 to 11.6 × 10-3 at 500 nm as the annealing temperature was increased from 250 to 700 °C. Anatase and rutile phases have been observed in the films deposited at 400 °C substrate temperature and annealed at 300 °C. The changes in the optical constants at higher substrate temperature have been attributed to an increase in packing density, oxygen content, and crystallinity of the films.

Effect of Substrate and Annealing Temperatures on Mechanical Properties of Ti-rich NiTi Films

The effect of substrate and annealing temperatures on mechanical properties of Ti-rich NiTi films deposited on Si (100) substrates by DC magnetron sputtering was studied by nanoindentation. NiTi films were deposited at two substrate temperatures viz. 300 and 400 degrees C. NiTi films deposited at 300 degrees C were annealed for 4 h at four different temperatures, i.e. 300, 400, 500 and 600 degrees C whereas films deposited at 400 degrees C were annealed for 4 h at three different temperatures, i.e. 400, 500 and 600 degrees C. The elastic modulus and hardness of the films were found to be the same in the as-deposited as well as annealed conditions for both substrate temperatures. For a given substrate temperature, the hardness and elastic modulus were found to remain unchanged as long as the films were amorphous. However, both elastic modulus and hardness showed an increase with increasing annealing temperature as the films become crystalline. The results were explained on the basis of the change in microstructure of the film with change in annealing temperature.