Search

The transition from microcrystalline to nanocrystalline diamond films grown from Ar/H2/CH4 microwave plasmas has been investigated. Both the cross-section and plan-view micrographs of scanning electron microscopy reveal that the surface morphology, the grain size, and the growth mechanism of the diamond films depend strongly on the ratio of Ar to H2 in the reactant gases. Microcrystalline grain size and columnar growth have been observed from films produced from Ar/H2/CH4 microwave discharges with low concentrations of Ar in the reactant gases. By contrast, the films grown from Ar/H2/CH4 microwave plasmas with a high concentration of Ar in the reactant gases consist of phase pure nanocrystalline diamond, which has been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy reveal that the width of the diffraction peaks and the Raman bands of the as-grown films depends on the ratio of Ar to H2 in...

Nanocrystalline diamond thin films have been synthesized in an Ar–CH4 microwave discharge, without the addition of molecular hydrogen. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and electron energy loss spectroscopy characterizations show that the films consist of a pure crystalline diamond phase with very small grain sizes ranging from 3 to 20 nm. Atomic force microscopy analysis demonstrates that the surfaces of the nanocrystalline diamond films remain smooth independent of the film thicknesses. Furthermore, the reactant gas pressure, which strongly affects the concentration of C2 dimer in the Ar–CH4 plasma as well as the growth rate of the films, has been found to be a key parameter for the nanocrystalline diamond thin film depositions.

Nanocrystalline diamond films have been synthesized by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using N2/CH4 as the reactant gas without additional H2. The nanocrystalline diamond phase has been identified by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analyses. High resolution secondary ion mass spectroscopy has been employed to measure incorporated nitrogen concentrations up to 8×1020 atoms/cm3. Electron field emission measurements give an onset field as low as 3.2 V/μm. The effect of the incorporated nitrogen on the field emission characteristics of the nanocrystalline films is discussed.

LiB3O5 crystals were irradiated with MeV He+ ions of different fluences and energies. The refractive index profiles, nx, ny, and nz in LiB3O5 waveguides are given. The results show that: (1) the thickness of the ion irradiated waveguides can be estimated by the mean projected range of irradiated ions, and the refractive index changes in ion irradiated waveguides are mainly caused by nuclear collisions; (2) after annealing at 200 °C for 40 min., the height of the optical barrier in the LiB3O5 waveguide is decreased; (3) the attenuation measured is 0.87 dB/cm for m=0 in the LiB3O5 waveguide irradiated with 2.8 MeV He+ to 5×1016 ions/cm2; and (4) it is possible to make double waveguides in LiB3O5 by MeV He+ ion irradiation.

In the currently popular organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells, the slowness of the charge recombination processes is found to be a key factor for contributing to their high efficiencies and high open circuit voltages, but the underlying recombination mechanism remains unclear. In this work, we investigate the bimolecular recombination (BR) and the trap-assisted monomolecular recombination (MR) in meso-structured perovskite solar cells under steady state working condition, and try to reveal their roles on determining the device performance. Some interfacial effects such as the injection barriers at the selective contacts are examined as well. Based on the macroscopic device modeling, the recombination resistance-voltage (Rrec−V) and the current density-voltage (J–V) curves are calculated to characterize the recombination mechanism and describe the device performance, respectively. Through comparison with the impedance spectroscopy extracted Rrec data, it is found that under the typical BR reduct...

The high open circuit voltage is an attractive feature for the currently popular organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells. In this paper, by employing the macroscopic device model simulation, we investigate its origin for the planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells. Based on the calculated current density-voltage characteristics, it is revealed that compared to the excitonic solar cells, the fast thermal-activated exciton dissociation in the bulk due to the small exciton binding energy may improve the short circuit current and the fill factor, but its beneficial role on the open circuit voltage is marginal. The most significant contribution for the open circuit voltage comes from the reduced bimolecular recombination. In the perovskites, with the recombination prefactor many orders of magnitude smaller than that based on the Langevin's theory, the internal charge density level is significantly enhanced and the density gradient is removed, leading to the high quasi-Fermi level splitting and thus the small open circuit voltage loss. For the nonradiative recombination pathway due to the deep trap states, it may induce significant loss of open circuit voltage as the trap density is high, while for the moderately low density its effect on the open circuit voltage is small and negligible.

As a growing importance is placed on developing more efficient organic solar cells, understanding the behavior of free charge carriers at the metal/organic (M/O) interface is critical. One of the current challenges is understanding surface losses, essentially the loss of free charge carriers at the electrode/organic interface. In this paper, we use device model simulations to study such phenomena and we pay particular attention to the role of polaron pair (PP) M/O interfacial dissociation. The origin of surface losses is through the extraction of free charge carriers from the wrong electrodes, or direct surface recombination of PPs. Through simulation, we find that a high injection barrier leads to a large surface loss. In addition, surface loss increases with both the interfacial dissociation rate and PP diffusivity. Efficient interfacial dissociation can significantly enhance surface losses if the PP diffusivity is relatively large. Furthermore, current voltage characteristics reveal that surface losses...

The transition of the internal structure in microwave chemical-vapor-deposited carbon nanotubes is investigated using scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. By controlling the thickness of the iron catalyst layer, a sequence of carbon nanotube films was obtained with diameters ranging from a few nanometers to over 100nm. Experiments have established that by continuous reduction of the Fe layer thickness to 1nm, multiwall carbon nanotube films can be synthesized. It was also found that for an Fe thickness ⩾5nm, interlayers (i.e., bamboolike or periodically compartmentalized nanotubes) were formed, while for an iron thickness