Structural, optical and electrical characteristics of transparent bismuth vanadate films deposited on indium tin oxide coated glass substrates

Bismuth vanadate (BVO) thin films were fabricated on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates using pulsed laser ablation technique and investigated their structural, optical and electrical properties. The use of the indium tin oxide coated glass substrate resulted in reducing the leakage current characteristics of crystalline BVO thin films. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed the monophasic nature of the post annealed (500 A degrees C/1 h) films. The atomic force microscopy indicated the homogeneous distribution of crystallites in the as-deposited films. The as-deposited and the post annealed films were almost 90% transparent (380-900 nm) as confirmed by optical transmission studies. Dielectric constant of around 52 was attained accompanied by the low dielectric loss of 0.002 at 10 kHz for post annealed films. The leakage current of the post annealed BVO films on ITO coated glass substrates measured at room temperature was 8.1 x 10(-8) A at an applied electric field of 33 kV/cm, which was lower than that of the films with platinum and SrRuO3 as the bottom electrodes.

Boundary-layer heights over the monsoon trough region during active and break phases

The thermodynamic structure and the heights of the boundary layer over the monsoon trough region of the Indian southwest monsoon are presented for the active and break phases of the monsoon. Results indicate significant and consistent variation in boundary-layer heights between the active and break phases.

Effect of interface friction on the mechanics of indentation of a finite layer resting on a rigid substrate

Copper strips of 2.5 mm thickness resting on stainless steel anvils were normally indented by wedges under nominal plane strain conditions. Inflections in the hardness-penetration characteristics were identified. Inflections separate stages where each stage has typical mechanics of deformation. These are arrived at by studying the distortion of 0.125 mm spaced grids inscribed on the deformation plane of the strip. The sensitivity of hardness and deformation mechanics to wedge angle and the interfacial friction between strip and anvil were investigated within the framework of existing slip line field models of indentation of semi-infinite and finite blocks.

Experimental investigation of three-layer electromagnetically coupled circular microstrip antennas

The broadband behaviour of a three-layer electromagnetically coupled circular microstrip antenna is investigated experimentally. The effects of interlayer spacings and the thickness of the parasitic layers on the impedance bandwidth, 3 dB beamwidth and pattern shape, are studied. Experiments show that this structure can provide a frequency bandwidth as high as 20% with a low crosspolarisation level and a moderately high gain.

A study on boundary-layer transition induced by free-stream turbulence

Boundary-layer transition at different free-stream turbulence levels has been investigated using the particle-image velocimetry technique. The measurements show organized positive and negative fluctuations of the streamwise fluctuating velocity component, which resemble the forward and backward jet-like structures reported in the direct numerical simulation of bypass transition. These fluctuations are associated with unsteady streaky structures. Large inclined high shear-layer regions are also observed and the organized negative fluctuations are found to appear consistently with these inclined shear layers, along with highly inflectional instantaneous streamwise velocity profiles. These inflectional velocity profiles are similar to those in the ribbon-induced boundary-layer transition. An oscillating-inclined shear layer appears to be the turbulent spot-precursor. The measurements also enabled to compare the actual turbulent spot in bypass transition with the simulated one. A proper orthogonal decomposition analysis of the fluctuating velocity field is carried out. The dominant flow structures of the organized positive and negative fluctuations are captured by the first few eigenfunction modes carrying most of the fluctuating energy. The similarity in the dominant eigenfunctions at different Reynolds numbers suggests that the flow prevails its structural identity even in intermittent flows. This analysis also indicates the possibility of the existence of a spatio-temporal symmetry associated with a travelling wave in the flow.

Overwintering ecology of northern field layer plants : snow and photosynthesis in Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.

Winter is a significant period for the seasonality of northern plants, but is often overlooked when studying the interactions of plants and their environment. This study focuses on the effects of overwintering conditions, including warm winter periods, snow, and snowmelt on boreal and sub-Arctic field layer plants. Wintertime photosynthesis and related physiological factors of evergreen dwarf shrubs, particularly of Vaccinium vitis-idaea, are emphasised. The work combines experiments both in the field and in growth chambers with measurements in natural field conditions. Evergreen dwarf shrubs are predominantly covered by snow in the winter. The protective snow cover provides favourable conditions for photosynthesis, especially during the spring before snowmelt. The results of this study indicate that photosynthesis occurs under the snow in V. vitis-idaea. The light response of photosynthesis determined in field conditions during the period of snow cover shows that positive net CO2 exchange is possible under the snow in the prevailing light and temperature. Photosynthetic capacity increases readily during warm periods in winter and the plants are thus able to replenish carbohydrate reserves lost through respiration. Exposure to low temperatures in combination with high light following early snowmelt can set back photosynthesis as sustained photoprotective measures are activated and photodamage begins to build up. Freezing may further decrease the photosynthetic capacity. The small-scale distribution of many field layer plants, including V. vitis-idaea and other dwarf shrubs, correlates with the snow distribution in a forest. The results of this study indicate that there are species-specific differences in the snow depth affinity of the field and ground layer species. Events and processes taking place in winter can have a profound effect on the overall performance of plants and on the interactions between plants and their environment. Understanding the processes involved in the overwintering of plants is increasingly important as the wintertime climate in the north is predicted to change in the future.

Impurity diffusion in bismuth single-crystals

Measurements of impurity diffusion of 86Rb, 90Sr, 133Ba, and 137Cs in single crystal Bi were carried out. Diffusion samples were prepared from single crystal Bi by ion implantation. About 1012-1013 ions were implanted, resulting in surface activities approx =104 cpm. After implantation, specimens were annealed for specified times at 220-265 deg C, and tracer penetration profiles were determined by an electrolytic method. A typical penetration profile for 137Cs in Bi showed a linear relationship for log C vs x in with Fick's law for volume diffusion. Laws of grain boundary diffusion were not obeyed and the order of magnitude of the penetration distances was much less than on a grain boundary mechanism. Results were interpreted in terms of a modified Fischer analysis using a kinetic trapping term. Effective half lengths for trapping at a twin boundary were determined for each impurity.

Boundary layer swirling flow through a conical hydrocyclone

The paper deals with the flow and heat-transfer problem of a steady axisymmetric laminar incompressible boundary layer swirling flow of a fluid through a conical hydrocyclone. The implicit finitedifference scheme is used to solve the partial differential equations governing the flow. The effect of swirl is found to be more pronounced on the longitudinal skin friction than on the tangential skin friction and heat transfer. The skin friction and heat transfer increase with swirl or with longitudinal distance. Swirl also gives rise to velocity overshoot in the longitudinal velocity profiles and the magnitude of the velocity overshoot increases as the swirl parameter increases. The results are found to be in good agreement with those of the local nonsimilarity and momentum integral methods but they differ appreciably from those of the local similarity method except for the longitudinal skin friction which is fairly in good agreement with that of the local similarity method.Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Strömung und dem Wärmeübergang in einem konischen Zyklon unter der Voraussetzung stationärer, achsensymmetrischer, laminarer, inkompressibler Grenzschichtströmung. Ein implizites Differenzenverfahren wird benutzt, um die partiellen Differentialgleichungen zu lösen. Der Einfluß des Dralls ist besonders ausgeprägt auf die longitudinale Komponente der Oberflächenreibung, weniger dagegen bei der tangentialen Komponente und beim Wärmeübergang. Die Oberflächenreibung und der Wärmeübergang nehmen zu mit dem Drall, sowie mit dem longitudinalen Abstand. Der Drall erzeugt ein Überschießen der Geschwindigkeit in der longitudinalen Abstand. Der Drall erzeugt ein Überschießen der Geschwindigkeit in der Längsrichtung. Die Größe des Überschusses nimmt mit wachsendem Drallparameter zu. Die Resultate stimmen gut mit den Ergebnissen der Theorie der lokalen Nichtähnlichkeit und der Impulsintegralmethode überein. Dagegen weichen sie mit Ausnahme der longitudinalen Komponente der Oberflächenreibung beträchtlich von den Resultaten der Theorie der lokalen Ähnlichkeit ab.

Selective-Area Atomic Layer Deposition

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a method to deposit thin films from gaseous precursors to the substrate layer-by-layer so that the film thickness can be tailored with atomic layer accuracy. Film tailoring is even further emphasized with selective-area ALD which enables the film growth to be controlled also on the substrate surface. Selective-area ALD allows the decrease of a process steps in preparing thin film devices. This can be of a great technological importance when the ALD films become into wider use in different applications. Selective-area ALD can be achieved by passivation or activation of a surface. In this work ALD growth was prevented by octadecyltrimethoxysilane, octadecyltrichlorosilane and 1-dodecanethiol SAMs, and by PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) and PVP (poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) polymer films. SAMs were prepared from vapor phase and by microcontact printing, and polymer films were spin coated. Microcontact printing created patterned SAMs at once. The SAMs prepared from vapor phase and the polymer mask layers were patterned by UV lithography or lift-off process so that after preparation of a continuous mask layer selected areas of them were removed. On these areas the ALD film was deposited selectively. SAMs and polymer films prevented the growth in several ALD processes such as iridium, ruthenium, platinum, TiO2 and polyimide so that the ALD films did grow only on areas without SAM or polymer mask layer. PMMA and PVP films also protected the surface against Al2O3 and ZrO2 growth. Activation of the surface for ALD of ruthenium was achieved by preparing a RuOX layer by microcontact printing. At low temperatures the RuCp2-O2 process nucleated only on this oxidative activation layer but not on bare silicon.

Atmospheric boundary-layer across Hadley and Ferrel cells over the Indian Ocean

A Southern Ocean Pilot cruise covering the latitudes from 10 degrees N to 56 degrees S in the open Indian Ocean was carried out during January February 2004. Surface and upper air data collected during this cruise are reported here. It is shown that the broad features of the atmosphere, in particular that of temperature, follow the tropical and mid-latitude weather expected during January February in this region. However, the atmospheric boundary-layer shows large variations, both in its height and structure between tropics and high latitudes. Strong influence of the surface heat flux on boundary layer structure is clearly seen. Humidity field reveals several local maxima and minima, suggesting a laminated atmosphere with air from different sources moving almost unmixed in adjacent layers.

On the possibility of an alpha-sq omega-type dynamo in a thin layer inside the sun

If the solar dynamo operates in a thin layer of 10,000-km thickness at the interface between the convection zone and the radiative core, using the facts that the dynamo should have a period of 22 years and a half-wavelength of 40 deg in the theta-direction, it is possible to impose restrictions on the values which various dynamo parameters are allowed to have. It is pointed out that the dynamo should be of alpha-sq omega nature, and kinematical calculations are presented for free dynamo waves and for dynamos in thin rectangular slabs with appropriate boundary conditions. An alpha-sq omega dynamo is expected to produce a significant poloidal field which does not leak to the solar surface. It is found that the turbulent diffusity eta and alpha-coefficient are restricted to values within about a factor of 10, the median values being eta of about 10 to the 10th sq cm/sec and alpha of about 10 cm/sec. On the basis of mixing length theory, it is pointed out that such values imply a reasonable turbulent velocity of the order 30 m/s, but rather small turbulent length scales like 300 km.

Occurrence of maximum Tc at an optimal carrier concentration in superconducting bismuth and thallium cuprates

The superconducting transition temperatures in Bi2Ca1−xLnxSr2Cu2O8+δ, TlCa1−xLnxSr2Cu2O6+δ, and Tl0.8Ca1−xLnxBa2Cu23O6+δ (Ln=Y or rare earth) vary with composition and show a maximum at a specific value of x or δ. This observation suggests that an optimal carrier concentration is required to attain maximum Tc in such cuprates which seem to be two‐band systems