Friction behavior of silicon in contact with titanium, nickel, silver and copper

Sliding friction experiments are conducted with the semiconductor silicon in contact with the metals titanium, nickel, copper, and silver. Sliding is on the (111) plane of single-crystal silicon in the 112 crystallographic direction both in dry and lubricated (mineral oil) sliding. The friction coefficient in dry sliding is controlled by adhesion and the surface chemical activity of the metal. The more active the metal the stronger the adhesion and the higher the friction. In lubricated sliding the lubricant absorbs to the surfaces and reduces the importance of metal chemical effects. In lubricated sliding, silicon ceases to behave in a brittle manner and undergoes plastic deformation under load

Effect of barrier height on friction behavior of the semiconductors silicon and gallium arsenide in contact with pure metals

Friction experiments were conducted for the semiconductors silicon and gallium arsenide in contact with pure metals. Polycrystalline titanium, tantalum, nickel, palladium, and platinum were made to contact a single crystal silicon (111) surface. Indium, nickel, copper, and silver were made to contact a single crystal gallium arsenide (100) surface. Sliding was conducted both in room air and in a vacuum of 10 to the minus 9th power torr. The friction of semiconductors in contact with metals depended on a Schottky barrier height formed at the metal semiconductor interface. Metals with a higher barrier height on semiconductors gave lower friction. The effect of the barrier height on friction behavior for argon sputtered cleaned surfaces in vacuum was more specific than that for the surfaces containing films in room air. With a silicon surface sliding on titanium, many silicon particles back transferred. In contrast, a large quantity of indium transferred to the gallium arsenide surface

High frequency polarization switching of a thin ferroelectric film

We consider both experimentally and analytically the transient oscillatory process that arises when a rapid change in voltage is applied to a $Ba_xSr_{1-x}TiO_3$ ferroelectric thin film deposited on an $Mg0$ substrate. High frequency ($\approx 10^{8} rad/s$) polarization oscillations are observed in the ferroelectric sample. These can be understood using a simple field-polarization model. In particular we obtain analytic expressions for the oscillation frequency and the decay time of the polarization fluctuation in terms of the material parameters. These estimations agree well with the experimental results

Electromagnetically induced transparency in inhomogeneously broadened Lambda-transition with multiple excited levels

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) has mainly been modelled for three-level systems. In particular, a considerable interest has been dedicated to the Lambda-configuration, with two ground states and one excited state. However, in the alkali-metal atoms, which are commonly used, hyperfine interaction in the excited state introduces several levels which simultaneously participate in the scattering process. When the Doppler broadening is comparable with the hyperfine splitting in the upper state, the three-level Lambda model does not reproduce the experimental results. Here we theoretically investigate the EIT in a hot vapor of alkali-metal atoms and demonstrate that it can be strongly reduced due to the presence of multiple excited levels. Given this model, we also show that a well-designed optical pumping enables to significantly recover the transparency

Estabilidad y funcionalidad de sellantes dentales en altas temperaturas ambientales

Los sellantes dentales son materiales que se emplean en estomatología para sellar las fosas y fisuras oclusales de los dientes y evitar la adherencia del estreptococus mutans agente que produce la caries dental. Estos materiales se suministran en dos partes que al mezclarse producen el endurecimiento de la resina. Sin embargo, estos productos presentan dificultades para su comercialización en los países tropicales, debido a que las altas temperaturas ambientales traen problemas en su manipulación y almacenamiento en lugares sin control de clima. En Cuba se desarrolló un sellante dental, CUBRIDEM, el cual cumple con las normativas internacionales y mantiene su estabilidad como mínimo por un año, entre 2 y 8 °C . El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido obtener una variante de CUBRIDEM más estable a mayores temperaturas y con tiempos de trabajo (TT) y de fraguado (TF) adecuados, cuando el producto se manipula en ambientes no climatizados. Se realizaron diseños experimentales factoriales 23 donde se estudió la influencia de la concentración de los componentes minoritarios: peróxido de benzoílo (PBO), N,N-dimetil p-toluidina (DMPT) y éter monometílico de la hidroquinona (MHQ), manteniendo invariable la composición de la mezcla monomérica Bis-GMA/Dimetacrilato de tetraetilenglicol: 1/1. El sellante, compuesto por un Diluyente que contiene 0.8 % de PBO y 0.05 % de MHQ y una Base con 0.8 % DMPT, manipulado a 30±2°C después de un almacenamiento por dos meses a la misma temperatura, permite obtener valores de TT y TF cercanos a los deseados. Por otra parte, el almacenamiento a 16±2°C y un contenido de 0,6 % de DMPT en la Base permiten lograr tiempos similares para almacenamientos más prolongados. Los resultados de las regresiones lineales sugieren que, para un almacenamiento a 16±2°C, contenidos de 0.7 %, tanto de PBO en Diluyente como de DMPT en Base, posibilitan alcanzar tiempos satisfactorios: TT=44 s y TF=113 s.Peer Reviewe

Ferroelectric Nanotubes

We report the independent invention of ferroelectric nanotubes from groups in several countries. Devices have been made with three different materials: lead zirconate-titanate PbZr1-xTixO3 (PZT); barium titanate BaTiO3; and strontium bismuth tantalate SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT). Several different deposition techniques have been used successfully, including misted CSD (chemical solution deposition) and pore wetting. Ferroelectric hysteresis and high optical nonlinearity have been demonstrated. The structures are analyzed via SEM, TEM, XRD, AFM (piezo-mode), and SHG. Applications to trenching in Si dynamic random access memories, ink-jet printers, and photonic devices are discussed. Ferroelectric filled pores as small as 20 nm in diameter have been studied

Size effects and depolarization field influence on the phase diagrams of cylindrical ferroelectric nanoparticles

Ferroelectric nanoparticles of different shape and their nanocomposites are actively studied in modern physics. Because of their applications in many fields of nanotechnology, the size effects and the possible disappearance of ferroelectricity at a critical particle volume attract a growing scientific interest. In this paper we study the size effects of the cylindrical nanoparticle phase diagrams allowing for effective surface tension and depolarization field influence. The Euler-Lagrange equations were solved by direct variational method. The approximate analytical expression for the paraelectric-ferroelectric transition temperature dependence on nanoparticle sizes, polarization gradient coefficient, extrapolation length, effective surface tension and electrostriction coefficient was derived. It was shown that the transition temperature could be higher than the one of the bulk material for nanorods and nanowires in contrast to nanodisks, where the decrease takes place. The critical sizes and volume of ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition are calculated. We proved that among all cylindrical shapes a nanobar reveals the minimal critical volume. We predicted the enhancement of ferroelectric properties in nanorods and nanowires. Obtained results explain the observed ferroelectricity enhancement in nanorods and could be very useful for elaboration of modern nanocomposites with perfect polar properties.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl