Density control of ZnO nanowires grown using Au-PMMA nanoparticles and their growth behavior.

Au nanoparticles stabilized by poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were used as a catalyst to grow vertically aligned ZnO nanowires (NWs). The density of ZnO NWs with very uniform diameter was controlled by changing the concentration of Au-PMMA nanoparticles (NPs). The density was in direct proportion to the concentration of Au-PMMA NPs. Furthermore, the growth process of ZnO NWs using Au-PMMA NPs was systematically investigated through comparison with that using Au thin film as a catalyst. Au-PMMA NPs induced polyhedral-shaped bases of ZnO NWs separated from each other, while Au thin film formed a continuous network of bases of ZnO NWs. This approach provides a facile and cost-effective catalyst density control method, allowing us to grow high-quality vertically aligned ZnO NWs suitable for many viable applications.

Numerical Simulation of the Flow Field and Concentration Distribution in the Bulk Growth of Silicon Carbide Crystals

The physical vapor transport (PVT) method is being widely used to grow large-size single SiC crystals. The growth process is associated with heat and mass transport in the growth chamber, chemical reactions among multiple species as well as phase change at the crystal/gas interface. The current paper aims at studying and verifying the transport mechanism and growth kinetics model by demonstrating the flow field and species concentration distribution in the growth system. We have developed a coupled model, which takes into account the mass transport and growth kinetics. Numerical simulation is carried out by employing an in-house developed software based on finite volume method. The results calculated are in good agreement with the experimental observation.

Effects of Baffle Design on Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Ammonothermal Growth System of Nitrides

Efforts have been made in growing bulk single crystals of GaN front supercritical fluids using the ammonothermal method, which utilizes ammonia as fluid rather than water as in the hydrothermal process. Different mineralizers such as amide or azide and temperatures in the range of 200-600degreesC have been used to increase the solubility. The pressure is from 1 to 4 kbar. Modeling of the ammonothermal growth process has been used to identify factors which may affect the temperature distribution, fluid flow and nutrient transport. The GaN charge is considered as a porous media bed and the flow in the charge is simulated using the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model. The resulting governing equations are solved using the finite volume method. The effects of baffle design and opening on flow pattern and temperature distribution in an autoclave are analyzed. Two cases are considered with baffle openings of 15% and 20% in cross-sectional area, respectively.

Influence of convections on dopant segregation in floating-zone crystal-growth system

The steady and axisymmetric crystal growth process of floating zone model was studied numerically to concern with the influence of convection and phase change on effective segregation. An iteration method of numerical simulation considering both thermocapillary and buoyancy effects for GaAs crystal growth gave the effective segregation coefficient, which was compared with the space experiment of GaAs on board the Chinese recoverable satellite. The calculated segregation coefficient of a two-dimensional model was found to be smaller than the one suggested by space experiment with the simplified assumption of an one-dimensional model.

Influence of low-gravity level on crystal-growth in floating-zone

The influence of low gravity level on crystal growth in the floating zone, which involves thermocapillary convection, phase change convection, thermal and solutal diffusion, is investigated numerically by a finite element method for the silicon crystal growth process. The velocity, temperature, concentration fields and phase change interfaces depending on heating temperature and growth rates are analyzed. The influence of low gravity level on the concentration is studied especially. The results show that the non-uniformities of concentration are about 10(-3) for growth rate nu(p) = 5.12 x 10(-8) m/s, 10(-2) for nu(p) = 5.12 x 10(-7) m/s and relatively larger for larger growth rate in the gravity level g = 0-9.8 m/s2. The thermocapillary effect is strong in comparison with the Bridgman system, and the level of low gravity is relatively insensitive for lower growth rates.

Fatigue crack-growth rate in ferrite martensite dual-phase steel

An empirical study is made on the fatigue crack growth rate in ferrite-martensite dual-phase (FMDP) steel. Particular attention is given to the effect of ferrite content in the range of 24.2% to 41.5% where good fatigue resistance was found at 33.8%. Variations in ferrite content did not affect the crack growth rate when plotted against the effective stress intensity factor range  which was assumed to follow a linear relation with the crack tip stress intensity factor range ΔK. A high  corresponds to uniformly distributed small size ferrite and martensite. No other appreciable correlation could be ralated to the microstructure morphology of the FMDP steel. The closure stress intensity factor , however, is affected by the ferrite content with  reaching a maximum value of 0.7. In general, crack growth followed the interphase between the martensite and ferrite.

Dividing the fatigue crack growth process into Stage I and II where the former would be highly sensitive to changes in ΔK and the latter would increase with ΔK depending on the  ratio. The same data when correlated with the strain energy density factor range ΔS showed negligible dependence on mean stress or R ratio for Stage I crack growth. A parameter α involving the ratio of ultimate stress to yield stress, percent reduction of area and R is introduced for Stage II crack growth so that the  data for different R would collapse onto a single curve with a narrow scatter band when plotted against αΔS.

Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer and Kinetics in the Bulk Growth of Silicon Carbide

The growth process of 2-inch silicon carbide (SiC) single crystals by the physical vapor transport method (or modified Lely method) has been modeled and simulated. The comprehensive process model incorporates the calculations of radio frequency (RF) induction heating, heat and mass transfer and growth kinetics. The transport equations for electromagnetic field, heat transfer, and species transport are solved using a finite volume-based numerical scheme called MASTRAPP (Multizone Adaptive Scheme for Transport and Phase Change Process). Temperature distribution for a 2-inch growth system is calculated, and the effects of induction heating frequency and current on the temperature distribution and growth rate are investigated. The predicted results have been compared with the experimental data.

3D Finite Volume Scheme for Czochralski Crystal Growth

A general three-dimensional model is developed for simulation of the growth process of silicon single crystals by Czochralski technique. The numerical scheme is based on the curvilinear non-orthogonal finite volume discretization. Numerical solutions show that the flow and temperature fields in the melt are asymmetric and unsteady for 8’’ silicon growth. The effects of rotation of crystal on the flow structure are studied. The rotation of crystal forms the Ekman layer in which the temperature gradient along solid/melt surface is small.

3D Finite Volume Scheme for Czochralski Single Crystal Growth

Czochralski (Cz) technique, which is used for growing single crystals, has dominated the production of single crystals for electronic applications. The Cz growth process involves multiple phases, moving interface and three-dimensional behavior. Much has been done to study these phenomena by means of numerical methods as well as experimental observations. A three-dimensional curvilinear finite volume based algorithm has been developed to model the Cz process. A body-fitted transformation based approach is adopted in conjunction with a multizone adaptive grid generation (MAGG) technique to accurately handle the three-dimensional problems of phase-change in irregular geometries with free and moving surfaces. The multizone adaptive model is used to perform a three-dimensional simulation of the Cz growth of silicon single crystals.Since the phase change interface are irregular in shape and they move in response to the solution, accurate treatment of these interfaces is important from numerical accuracy point of view. The multizone adaptive grid generation (MAGG) is the appropriate scheme for this purpose. Another challenge encountered is the moving and periodic boundary conditions, which is essential to the numerical solution of the governing equations. Special treatments are implemented to impose the periodic boundary condition in a particular direction and to determine the internal boundary position and shape varying with the combination of ambient physicochemical transport process and interfacial dynamics. As indicated above that the applications and processes characterized by multi-phase, moving interfaces and irregular shape render the associated physical phenomena three-dimensional and unsteady. Therefore a generalized 3D model rather than a 2D simulation, in which the governing equations are solved in a general non-orthogonal coordinate system, is constructed to describe and capture the features of the growth process. All this has been implemented and validated by using it to model the low pressure Cz growth of silicon. Accuracy of this scheme is demonstrated by agreement of simulation data with available experimental data. Using the quasi-steady state approximation, it is shown that the flow and temperature fields in the melt under certain operating conditions become asymmetric and unsteady even in the absence of extrinsic sources of asymmetry. Asymmetry in the flow and temperature fields, caused by high shear initiated phenomena, affects the interface shape in the azimuthal direction thus results in the thermal stress distribution in the vicinity, which has serious implications from crystal quality point of view.

Numerical Simulation of the Flow Field and Concentration Distribution in the Bulk Growth of Silicon Carbide Crystals

The physical vapor transport (PVT) method is being widely used to grow large-size single SiC crystals. The growth process is associated with heat and mass transport in the growth chamber, chemical reactions among multiple species as well as phase change at the crystal/gas interface. The current paper aims at studying and verifying the transport mechanism and growth kinetics model by demonstrating the flow field and species concentration distribution in the growth system. We have developed a coupled model, which takes into account the mass transport and growth kinetics. Numerical simulation is carried out by employing an in-house developed software based on finite volume method. The results calculated are in good agreement with the experimental observation.

Crystal growth and optical properties of Gd1.99-xYxCe.0.01SiO5 single crystals

Gd1.99-xYxCe0.01SiO5 (Ce:GYSO) crystals (x = 0, 0.0995, 0.199) have been grown by the Czochralski (Cz) method. Crystal structure and the distribution coefficients of Ce have been determined for all three crystals. Spectroscopic measurements indicate that optical transmittance and luminescence intensity of Gd1.99-xYxCe0.01SiO5 (x = 0.0995, 0.199) crystals are Substantially higher than those of Ce:Gd2SiO5 (Ce:GSO), especially at x = 0.0995, which makes them good candidate materials for scintillation applications. The particularly important result is that the alloyed Ce:GYSO crystals can be grown easily by the Cz method and, unlike Ce:GSO, they do not undergo cleavage during the growth process or subsequent mechanical treatment. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Edge-defined, film-fed growth (EFG) technique for the preparation of alpha-Al2O3 : C crystal with highly sensitive thermoluminescence response

In this work, alpha-Al2O3:C, a highly sensitive thermoluminescence dosimetry crystal, was grown by the EFG method in which a graphite heating unit and shield acted as the carbon source during the growth process. The optical, luminescent properties and dosimetric characteristics of the crystal were investigated. The as-grown crystal shows a single glow peak at 536 K, which is associated with Cr3+ ions. After annealing in H-2 at 1673 K for 80 h, the crystal shows a single glow peak at 460 K and a blue emission band at 415 nm. The thermoluminescent response of the annealed crystal shows linear-sublinear-saturation characteristics in the dose range from 5 x 10(-6) to 100 Gy.

Seeded infiltration and growth of bulk YBCO nano-composites

The seeded infiltration and growth (SIG) technique offers near-net shape processing of bulk superconductors with significant improvement in reduced Y2BaCuO5 (Y-211) inclusion size, reduced shrinkage, reduced porosity and improved current density compared to samples fabricated by top seeded melt growth (TSMG). Y2Ba4CuMOy phases where M=Nb, Mo, W, Ta, etc., have been shown to form nano-scale inclusions in the YBa2Cu3Oy (Y-123) phase matrix and to contribute to enhanced magnetic flux pinning in these materials. In this paper, we describe the introduction of Y2Ba 4CuWOy nano-scale inclusions into bulk superconductors processed by the seeded infiltration growth process. Critical current density, Jc, in excess of 105 A/cm2 at 77 K in self-field is observed for samples containing Y2Ba 4CuWOy. © 2011 IEEE.

Entrepreneurial innovation problems associated with the dynamic growth of university spin-outs in China: A capabilities perspective

This research aims to develop a capabilities-based conceptual framework in order to study the stage-specific innovation problems associated with the dynamic growth process of university spin-outs (hereafter referred to as USOs) in China. Based on the existing literature, pilot cases and five critical cases, this study attempts to explore the interconnections between the entrepreneurial innovation problems and the configuration of innovative capabilities (that acquire, mobilise and re-configure the key resources) throughout the lifecycle of a firm in four growth phases. This paper aims to contribute to the literature in a holistic manner by providing a theoretical discussion of USOs' development through adding evidence from a rapid growth emerging economy. To date, studies that have investigated the development of USOs in China recognised the heterogeneity of USOs in terms of capabilities still remain sparse. Addressing this research gap will be of great interest to entrepreneurs, policy makers and venture investors. © Copyright 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The phase of iron catalyst nanoparticles during carbon nanotube growth

We study the Fe-catalyzed chemical vapor deposition of carbon nanotubes by complementary in situ grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction, in situ X-ray reflectivity, and environmental transmission electron microscopy. We find that typical oxide supported Fe catalyst films form widely varying mixtures of bcc and fcc phased Fe nanoparticles upon reduction, which we ascribe to variations in minor commonly present carbon contamination levels. Depending on the as-formed phase composition, different growth modes occur upon hydrocarbon exposure: For γ-rich Fe nanoparticle distributions, metallic Fe is the active catalyst phase, implying that carbide formation is not a prerequisite for nanotube growth. For α-rich catalyst mixtures, Fe3C formation more readily occurs and constitutes part of the nanotube growth process. We propose that this behavior can be rationalized in terms of kinetically accessible pathways, which we discuss in the context of the bulk iron-carbon phase diagram with the inclusion of phase equilibrium lines for metastable Fe3C. Our results indicate that kinetic effects dominate the complex catalyst phase evolution during realistic CNT growth recipes. © 2012 American Chemical Society.