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Understanding the nucleation and growth of polycrystalline thin films is a long-standing goal. Polycrystalline films have many grains with different orientations that affect thin-film properties. Numerous studies have been done to determine these grain size and their preferred crystallographic orientation as well as stress in films. However most past studies have either employed an ex-situ methodology or only monitor the development of macroscopic stress in real-time. There has never been any research done on the simultaneous determination of crystallographic texture, grain size, and microscopic stress in polycrystalline thin films. In this study, we simultaneously monitored the generation and temporal evolution of texture, grain size, and internal stress in cathodic arc evaporated Al0.50Ti0.50N thin films using a bespoke deposition apparatus designed for use with 2-dimensional synchrotron x-ray diffraction technique. The influence of the substrate temperature is investigated in terms of the emergence and development of texture, grain size and stress evolution. A dynamic evolution of the crystallographic texture is observed as the overall film thickness varies. We clearly resolved two regime of films growth based on stress evolution. Beyond a threshold grain size (~ 14 nm), the stress scales inversely to the average grain sizes, and as the film thickness increases, immediate compressive stress relaxation was seen. An extensive ex-situ evaluation of thin films using electron microscopies and electron diffraction was performed to support the in-situ x-ray diffraction results.

Effective climate mitigation strategies in cities rely on understanding and mapping urban carbon footprints. One significant source of carbon is a product of lifestyle choices and travel behaviors of urban residents. Although previous research addressed consumption- and home-related footprints, activity-based footprints of urban dwellers have garnered less attention. This study relies on deidentified human trajectory data from 5 million devices to examine the activity-based carbon footprint in Harris County, Texas. Our analysis of the heterogeneity of footprints based on places visited and distance traveled reveals significant inequality: 10% of users account for 88% of visitation-based footprints and 71% of distance-traveled footprints. We also identify the influence of income on activity-based carbon footprint gap of users related to their travel behavior and lifestyle choices, with high-income users having larger footprints due to lifestyle choices, while low- to medium-income users' footprints are due to limited access. Our findings underscore the need for urban design adjustments to reduce carbon-intensive behaviors and to improve facility distribution. Our conclusions highlight the importance of addressing urban design parameters that shape carbon-intensive lifestyle choices and facility distribution, decisions which have implications for developing interventions to reduce carbon footprints caused by human activities., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

The residual stress plays a vital role in determination of the device performance that uses thin films coating and thus the accurate determination of stress and its optimization with process parameters is an ongoing research work for many decades. In line with this, the microscopic origin of the stress at the atomic scale and its development during the thin film deposition is a matter of major scientific interests. The development of stress is a complex phenomenon and has a complex dependence to process parameters, film microstructure and its morphology. In this work, by utilizing a custom-designed cathodic arc deposition system and synchrotron radiation based 2D x-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, we determine the real-time evolution of stress, crystallite sizes and their preferential orientations of Aluminum-Titanium-Nitride (AlxTi1-xN) films with varied Al-content (x=0.0, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.67) on Si-100 substrate. The energies of incoming ions and hence stress in the films is tuned by applying different direct current substrate bias (Vs = floating potential, -20, -40, -60, -80, and -100 V). The instantaneous stress is evaluated by the well-known d vs. sin2{\psi} technique, while crystallite sizes are determined by analyzing line profiles of x-ray diffractograms. The evolution of stress and crystallite sizes are modelled with multiple numerical models from which kinetic parameters associated with the thin film depositions are extracted. The ex-situ microstructure characterizations of AlxTi1-xN coatings are carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The formation of ex-situ microstructure of the films is discussed considering the results obtained from in-situ XRD data. Finally, we demonstrate that the method utilized here is a powerful approach towards estimation of the fracture toughness of thin film coatings.

Urban flooding disrupts traffic networks, affecting the mobility and disrupting access of residents. Since flooding events are predicted to increase due to climate change, and given the criticality of traffic networks, understanding the flood-caused disruption of traffic networks is critical to improve emergency planning and city resilience. Leveraging high-resolution traffic network data from a major flood event and advanced high-order network analysis, this study reveals characteristics of the anatomy of perturbed traffic networks. First, the findings show network-wide persistent increased travel times could last for weeks after flood water has receded, even after modest flood failure. During disaster event period, modest flooding of 1.3% road segments caused 8% temporal expansion of the entire traffic network. The results also show distant trips would experience a greater percentage increase in travel time. Also, the extent of increase in travel time does not decay with distance from inundated areas, suggesting that the spatial reach of flood impacts extends beyond flooded areas. Departing from the existing literature, which primarily informs about physical vulnerability in road networks to floods, the findings of this study provide important novel understanding of floods impacts on the functioning of traffic networks in terms of travel time and traffic network geometry. The persistent travel time increase in the entire network can translate to significant social and economic impacts in terms of user costs, additional CO2 emissions, and lost productivity. Due to the importance of traffic networks functioning for the operation of cities, the results have significance implications for city managers, transportation planners, and emergency managers to deal with the impacts of urban flooding., Comment: 14 Pages, 7 figures

Rock-salt type niobium nitride ($\delta$-NbN) is a well-known superconductor having superconducting transition temperature (Tc) $\approx$ 18\,K and a large superconducting gap $\approx$3\,meV. The Tc of $\delta$-NbN thin film exhibits a large scattering irrespective of the growth conditions and lattice parameter. In this work, we investigate the atomic origin of suppression of Tc in $\delta$-NbN thin film by employing combined methods of experiments and ab-initio simulations. Sputtered $\delta$-NbN thin films with different disorder were analyzed through electrical resistivity and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. A strong correlation between the superconductivity and the atomic distortion induced electronic reconstruction was observed. The theoretical analysis revealed that under N-rich growth conditions, atomic and molecular N-interstitial defects assisted by cation vacancies form spontaneously and are responsible for the suppression of Tc in $\delta$-NbN by smearing its electronic densities of states around Fermi level., Comment: 5 Pages, 4 figures

Using machine learning (ML) approach, we unearthed a new III-V semiconducting material having an optimal bandgap for high efficient photovoltaics with the chemical composition of Gallium-Boron-Phosphide(GaBP$_2$, space group: Pna2$_1$). ML predictions are further validated by state of the art ab-initio density functional theory (DFT) simulations. The stoichiometric Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE) bandgap of GaBP$_2$ is noted to 1.65 eV, a close ideal value (1.4-1.5 eV) to reach the theoretical Queisser-Shockley limit. The calculated electron mobility is similar to that of silicon. Unlike perovskites, the newly discovered material is thermally, dynamically and mechanically stable. Above all the chemical composition of GaBP$_2$ are non-toxic and relatively earth-abundant, making it a new generation of PV material. Using ML, we show that with a minimal set of features the bandgap of III-III-V and II-IV-V semiconductor can be predicted up to an RMSE of less than 0.4 eV. We presented a set of scaling laws, which can be used to estimate the bandgap of new III-III-V and II-IV-V semiconductor, with three different crystal phases, within an RMSE of approx. 0.5 eV.

Finding the "ideal" catalyst is a matter of great interest in the communities of chemists and material scientists, partly because of its wide spectrum of industrial applications. Information regarding a physical parameter termed "adsorption energy", which dictates the degrees of adhesion of an adsorbate on a substrate is a primary requirement in selecting the catalyst for catalytic reactions. Both experiments and \textit{in-silico} modelling are extensively being used in estimating the adsorption energies, both of which are \textit{Edisonian} approach and demands plenty of resources and are time consuming. In this report, by employing a data centric approach almost instantly we predict the adsorption energies of atomic and molecular gases on the surfaces of many transition metals (TMs). With less than 10 sets of simple atomic features, our predictions of the adsorption energies are within a root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) of less than 0.4 eV with the quantum many-body perturbation theory estimates, a computationally expensive with good experimental agreement. Further, we minimized the RMSE up to 0.11 eV by using the precomputed adsorption energies obtained with conventional exchange and correlation (XC) functional as one component of the feature vector. Based on our results, we developed a set of scaling laws between the adsorption energies computed with many-body perturbation theory and conventional DFT XC-functionals., Comment: 6 pages, 4 Figure

We study the native charge compensation effect in Mg doped GaN nanorods (NRs), grown by Plasma Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy (PAMBE), using Raman, photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies (XPS). The XPS valence band analysis shows that upon Mg incorporation the E$_F$-E$_{VBM}$ reduces, suggesting the compensation of the native n-type character of GaN NRs. Raman spectroscopic studies on these samples reveal that the line shape of longitudinal phonon plasmon (LPP) coupled mode is sensitive to Mg concentration and hence to background n-type carrier density. We estimate a two order of native charge compensation in GaN NRs upon Mg-doping with a concentration of 10$^{19}$-10$^{20}$ atoms cm$^{-3}$. Room temperature (RT) PL measurements and our previous electronic structure calculations are used to identify the atomistic origin of this compensation effect., Comment: 5 pages, 5 Figure

We determine atomic and electronic structure, formation energy, stability and magnetic properties of native point defects, such as Gallium (Ga) and Nitrogen (N) vacancies in bulk and at non-polar (10$\overline{1}$0) surface of wurtzite Gallium Nitride (\textit w-GaN) using, first-principles calculations based on Density Functional Theory (DFT). Under both Ga-rich and N-rich conditions, formation energy of N-vacancies is significantly lower than that of Ga-vacancies in bulk and at (10$\overline{1}$0) surface. Experimental evidence of the presence of N-vacancies was noted from electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements which further correlated with the high electrical conductivity observed in GaN nanowall network. We find that the Fermi level pins at 0.35 $\pm$0.02 eV below Ga derived surface state. Presence of atomic steps in the nanostructure due to formation of N-vacancies at the (10$\overline{1}$0) surface makes its electronic structure metallic. Clustering of N-vacancies and Ga-Ga metallic bond formation near these vacancies, is seen to be another source of electrical conductivity of faceted GaN nanostructure that is observed experimentally.

We discuss the microstructural origin of enhanced radial growth in magnesium (Mg) doped gallium nitride (GaN) nanorods (NRs) using electron microscopy and \textit{first-principles} Density Functional Theory calculations. Experimentally, we find the Mg incorporation increases surface coverage of the grown samples and the height of NRs decreases as a consequence of an increase radial growth rate. We also observed the coalescence of NRs becomes prominent and the critical height of coalescence decreases with the increase in Mg concentration. From \textit{first-principles} calculations, we find the surface free energy of Mg doped surface reduces with increasing Mg concentration in the samples. The calculations further suggests a reduction in the diffusion barrier of Ga adatoms along [11$\overline{2}$0] on the side wall surface of the NRs, possibly the primary reason for the observed enhancement in the radial growth.

We uncover the origin of blue luminescence (BL) peak in Mg doped GaN thin film using a combination of experimental X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES), first-principles calculations based on density functional theory and full multiple scattering theoretical analysis of various possible defect complexes and their XANES signatures. We demonstrate that a defect complex composed of Mg substituted at Ga site (MgGa) and Mg at interstitial site (Mgi) is primarily responsible for the observed BL by Donor-Acceptor Pair transition (DAP) associated with a deep donor state in the gap. It correlates with a higher (lower) oxidation state of N (Ga) in heavily Mg doped GaN than in its pristine structure, evident in our experiments as well as calculations. Physical and chemical mechanisms identified here point out a route to achieving efficient p-type GaN.

We address the mechanism of early stages of growth and shape transition of the unique nanowall network (NwN) nanostructure of GaN by experimentally monitoring its controlled growth using PA-MBE and complementing it by \textit{first-principles} calculations. Using electron microscopy, we observe the formation of tetrahedron shaped (3 faced pyramid) islands at early stages of growth, which later grows anisotropically along their edges of the (20$\overline{2}$1) facets, to form the wall like structure. The mechanism of this crystal growth is discussed in light of surface free energies of the different surfaces, adsorption energy and diffusion barrier of Ga ad-atoms on the (20$\overline{2}$1) facets. By \textit{first-principles} calculations, we find that the diffusion barrier of ad-atoms decreases with decreasing width of facets, and is responsible for the anisotropic growth and formation of the nanowall network. This study suggest that formation of NwN is a archetype example of structure dependent attachment kinetic (SDAK) instability induced shape transition in thin film growth.

We demonstrate that GaN formed in a Nanowall Network (NwN) morphology can overcome fundamental limitations in optoelectronic devices, and enable high light extraction and effective Mg incorporation for efficient p-GaN. We report the growth of Mg doped GaN Nanowall network (NwN) by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) that is characterized by Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). We record a photo-luminescence enhancement ($ \approx $3.2 times) in lightly doped GaN as compared to that of undoped NwN. Two distinct (and broad) blue luminescence peaks appears at 2.95 and 2.7 eV for the heavily doped GaN (Mg $>10^{20}$ atoms $cm^{-3}$), of which the 2.95 eV peak is sensitive to annealing is observed. XPS and SIMS measurements estimate the incorporated Mg concentration to be $10^{20}$ atoms $cm^{-3}$ in GaN NwN morphology, while retaining its band edge emission at $\approx$ 3.4 eV. A higher Mg accumulation towards the GaN/Al$_2$O$_3$ interface as compared to the surface was observed from SIMS measurements.