Monitoring charged particle and ion emissions from a laser printer

While the emission rate of ultrafine particles has been measured and quantified, there is very little information on the emission rates of ions and charged particles from laser printers. This paper describes a methodology that can be adopted for measuring the surface charge density on printed paper and the ion and charged particle emissions during operation of a high-emitting laser printer and shows how emission rates of ultrafine particles, ions and charged particles may be quantified using a controlled experiment within a closed chamber.

UV Photodissociation Action Spectroscopy of Haloanilinium Ions in a Linear Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer

UV-vis photodissociation action spectroscopy is becoming increasingly prevalent because of advances in, and commercial availability of, ion trapping technologies and tunable laser sources. This study outlines in detail an instrumental arrangement, combining a commercial ion-trap mass spectrometer and tunable nanosecond pulsed laser source, for performing fully automated photodissociation action spectroscopy on gas-phase ions. The components of the instrumentation are outlined, including the optical and electronic interfacing, in addition to the control software for automating the experiment and performing online analysis of the spectra. To demonstrate the utility of this ensemble, the photodissociation action spectra of 4-chloroanilinium, 4-bromoanilinium, and 4-iodoanilinium cations are presented and discussed. Multiple photoproducts are detected in each case and the photoproduct yields are followed as a function of laser wavelength. It is shown that the wavelength-dependent partitioning of the halide loss, H loss, and NH3 loss channels can be broadly rationalized in terms of the relative carbon-halide bond dissociation energies and processes of energy redistribution. The photodissociation action spectrum of (phenyl)Ag-2 (+) is compared with a literature spectrum as a further benchmark.

Ion beam processing of oriented CuO films deposited on (100) YSZ by laser ablation

A systematic study of Ar ion implantation in cupric oxide films has been reported. Oriented CuO films were deposited by pulsed excimer laser ablation technique on (1 0 0) YSZ substrates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed the highly oriented nature of the deposited CuO films. The films were subjected to ion bombardment for studies of damage formation, Implantations were carried out using 100 keV Arf over a dose range between 5 x 10(12) and 5 x 10(15) ions/cm(2). The as-deposited and ion beam processed samples were characterized by XRD technique and resistance versus temperature (R-T) measurements. The activation energies for electrical conduction were found from In [R] versus 1/T curves. Defects play an important role in the conduction mechanism in the implanted samples. The conductivity of the film increases, and the corresponding activation energy decreases with respect to the dose value.

Reactive Pulsed Laser Deposition of titanium nitride thin film: Optimization of process parameters using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Reactive Pulsed Laser Deposition is a single step process wherein the ablated elemental metal reacts with a low pressure ambient gas to form a compound. We report here a Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry based analytical methodology to conduct minimum number of experiments to arrive at optimal process parameters to obtain high quality TiN thin film. Quality of these films was confirmed by electron microscopic analysis. This methodology can be extended for optimization of other process parameters and materials. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Formation of amorphous xenon nanoclusters and microstructure evolution in pulsed laser deposited Ti(62.5)Si(37.5) thin films during Xe ion irradiation

As deposited amorphous and crystallized thin films of Ti 37.5% Si alloy deposited by pulsed laser ablation technique were irradiated with 100 keV Xe(+) ion beam to an ion fluence of about 10(16) ions-cm(-2). Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the implanted Xe formed amorphous nanosized clusters in both cases. The Xe ion-irradiation favors nucleation of a fcc-Ti(Si) phase in amorphous films. However, in crystalline films, irradiation leads to dissolution of the Ti(5)Si(3) intermetallic phase. In both cases, Xe irradiation leads to the evolution of similar microstructures. Our results point to the pivotal role of nucleation in the evolution of the microstructure under the condition of ion implantation.

Formation of amorphous xenon nanoclusters and microstructure evolution in pulsed laser deposited Ti62.5Si37.5 thin films during Xe ion irradiation

As deposited amorphous and crystallized thin films of Ti 37.5% Si alloy deposited by pulsed laser ablation technique were irradiated with 100 keV Xe+ ion beam to an ion fluence of about 1016 ions-cm−2. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the implanted Xe formed amorphous nanosized clusters in both cases. The Xe ion-irradiation favors nucleation of a fcc-Ti(Si) phase in amorphous films. However, in crystalline films, irradiation leads to dissolution of the Ti5Si3 intermetallic phase. In both cases, Xe irradiation leads to the evolution of similar microstructures. Our results point to the pivotal role of nucleation in the evolution of the microstructure under the condition of ion implantation.

A Study of Nanostructures of Thin Films in B–C–N System Produced by Pulsed Laser Deposition and Nitrogen Ion-Beam-Assisted Pulsed Laser Deposition

We report the synthesis of thin films of B–C–N and C–N deposited by N+ ion-beam-assisted pulsed laser deposition (IBPLD) technique on glass substrates at different temperatures. We compare these films with the thin films of boron carbide synthesized by pulsed laser deposition without the assistance of ion-beam. Electron diffraction experiments in the transmission electron microscope shows that the vapor quenched regions of all films deposited at room temperature are amorphous. In addition, shown for the first time is the evidence of laser melting and subsequent rapid solidification of B4C melt in the form of micrometer- and submicrometer-size round particulates on the respective films. It is possible to amorphize B4C melt droplets of submicrometer sizes. Solidification morphologies of micrometer-size droplets show dispersion of nanocrystallites of B4C in amorphous matrix within the droplets. We were unable to synthesize cubic carbon nitride using the current technique. However, the formation of nanocrystalline turbostratic carbo- and boron carbo-nitrides were possible by IBPLD on substrate at elevated temperature and not at room temperature. Turbostraticity relaxes the lattice spacings locally in the nanometric hexagonal graphite in C–N film deposited at 600 °C leading to large broadening of diffraction rings.

Device Fabrication of insoluble donor-acceptor-donor structured molecule by pulsed laser deposition- A comparative study using different laser source

Many of the conducting polymers though having good material property are not solution processable. Hence an alternate method of fabrication of film by pulsed laser deposition, was explored in this work. PDTCPA, a donor-acceptor-donor type of polymer having absorption from 900 nm to 300 nm was deposited by both UV and IR laser to understand the effect of deposition parameters on the film quality. It was observed that the laser ablation of PDTCPA doesn't alter its chemical structure hence retaining the chemical integrity of the polymer. Microscopic studies of the ablated film shows that the IR laser ablated films were particulate in nature while UV laser ablated films are deposited as smooth continuous layer. The morphology of the film influences its electrical characteristics as current-voltage characteristic of these films shows that films deposited by UV laser are p rectifying while those by IR laser are more of resistor in nature.