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Single crystalline BaMnSb2 is considered as a 3D Weyl semimetal with the 2D electronic structure containing Dirac cones from the Sb sheet. We report experimental investigation of low-temperature cleaved BaMnSb2 surfaces using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction. By natural cleavage, we find two terminations: one is Ba (above the orthorhombically distorted Sb sheet) and another Sb2 (at the surface of the Sb/Mn/Sb sandwich layer). Both terminations show the 2 × 1 surface reconstructions, with drastically different morphologies and electronic properties, however. The reconstructed structures, defect types and nature of the electronic structures of the two terminations are extensively studied. The quasiparticle interference (QPI) analysis is conducted at the energy range between −2 V and 2 V, although no interesting states are observed near the Fermi level, the surface-projected electronic band structures strongly depend on the surface termination above 1.6 V. The existence of defects can greatly modify the local density of states to create electronic phase separations on the surface in the order of tens of nm scale. Our observation on the atomic structures of the terminations and the corresponding electronic structures provides critical information towards an understanding of topological properties of BaMnSb2.

We report the electrical properties of Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN heterojunction field effect transistor (HFET) structures with a Ga2O3 passivation layer grown by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). In this study, three different thicknesses of β-Ga2O3 dielectric layers were grown on Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN structures leading to metal-oxide-semiconductor-HFET or MOSHFET structures. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed the (2¯01) orientation peaks of β-Ga2O3 in the device structure. The van der Pauw and Hall measurements yield the electron density of ~ 4 × 1018 cm−3 and mobility of ~770 cm2V−1s−1 in the 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel at room temperature. Capacitance–voltage (C-V) measurement for the on-state 2DEG density for the MOSHFET structure was found to be of the order of ~1.5 × 1013 cm−2. The thickness of the Ga2O3 layer was inversely related to the threshold voltage and the on-state capacitance. The interface charge density between the oxide and Al0.3Ga0.7N barrier layer was found to be of the order of ~1012 cm2eV−1. A significant reduction in leakage current from ~10−4 A/cm2 for HFET to ~10−6 A/cm2 for MOSHFET was observed well beyond pinch-off in the off-stage at -20 V applied gate voltage. The annealing at 900° C of the MOSHFET structures revealed that the Ga2O3 layer was thermally stable at high temperatures resulting in insignificant threshold voltage shifts for annealed samples with respect to as-deposited (unannealed) structures. Our results show that the MOCVD-gown Ga2O3 dielectric layers can be a strong candidate for stable high-power devices.

This work reports yarn pull-out studies of commercially available Kevlar® KM2+ individual yarns coated with metallic layers (copper, aluminum, aluminum nitride and silver) via a directed vapor deposition process. The uncoated control and metal-coated Kevlar® yarns are hand-woven into fabric swatches for quasi-static pull-out experiments. To perform these experiments, a yarn pull-out fixture is custom-designed and fabricated to apply transverse pre-tension to the fabric. Three levels of transverse pre-tensions are studied at 100 N, 200 N, and 400 N. The results showed that both peak pull-out force and energy absorption during the pull-out process increase with increase in transverse pre-tension. All the metal-coated groups showed an approximately 200% increase in peak pull-out force and a 20% reduction in tenacity compared to uncoated control. Furthermore, all the metal-coated groups showed an increase in energy absorption, with aluminum-coated yarns showing the highest increase of 230% compared to control. These results suggest enhanced frictional interactions during yarn pull-out in metal-coated yarns compared to uncoated control as evidenced by the surface roughness profile of individual fibers and inter-yarn frictional calculations.

We employ the planar Hall effect to sensitively probe the in-plane magnetization of a ferromagnetic thin film using a nearly perpendicular applied field. We establish that a significant change in coercivity occurs upon exposure to a wide variety of ligands, regardless of whether the film is capped with a diamagnetic overlayer or not. In the overlayer case, we believe that the change is due to a modified magnetic response of the diamagnetic capping metal. The size of the shift varies with ligand hardness, alkane chain length, magnetic sensor layer material, nonmagnetic overlayer material, and the thickness of each metal layer. The effect continues to be observable for thicknesses of at least 100 nm of Au deposited on 30 nm of Co. Au overlayers are shown to be more sensitive than Cu and Ag, both of which display shifts statistically indistinguishable from zero. Moreover, Au surfaces exposed to 1-dodecylthiol exhibit a larger effect than the same surface exposed to ethanol, the ligand with the greatest ligand strength examined. We demonstrate that the source of the effect is not magnetic contamination.

We have developed the ability to grow Shewanella putrifaciens and induce the production of flagella and, intermittently, pili. We have constructed partially conductive samples to enable KFM measurements of the potential of nanoscale wire-like objects and, finally, we have developed and published in the peer reviewed literature, a new measurement technique to determine the dielectric constant of thin layers in a non-contact, low force manner suitable for use on biological materials.

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