Selective Area Growth and Characterization of GaN Nanorods Fabricated by Adjusting the Hydrogen Flow Rate and Growth Temperature with Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

CaN nanorods are successfully fabricated by adjusting the flow rate ratio of hydrogen （H2）/nitrogen （N2） and growth temperature of the selective area growth （SAG） method with metal organic chemical vapor deposition （MOCVD）. The SAG template is obtained by nanospherical-lens photolithography. It is found that increasing the flow rate of 1-12 will change the CaN crystal shape from pyramid to vertical rod, while increasing the growth temperature will reduce the diameters of GaN rods to nanometer scale. Finally the CaN nanorods with smooth lateral surface and relatively good quality are obtained under the condition that the H2：N2 ratio is 1：1 and the growth temperature is 1030℃. The good crystal quality and orientation of GaN nanorods are confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The cathodoluminescence spectrum suggests that the crystal and optical quality is also improved with increasing the temperature.

Aluminium-based moderate temperature filler metals for vacuum brazing of 6061 aluminium alloy

Four kinds of aluminum based moderate temperature filler metals used for vacuum brazing of 6061 aluminum alloy were prepared by rapid solidification-isothermal rolling.The effects of alloy elements content on the melting characteristics of filler metals was studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry(DSC).The microstructures of the filler metals and brazed joints were observed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS).The results show that with the increase of Cu content into the filler metals,the liquid phase temperature gradually is decreased.Microstructure characterzation of the brazed joints shows the eutectic structure of(α+β)and(α+θ)decrease gradually,θ-CuAl_(2)(Ni)gradually increases and transforms from small fishbone shapes to block shapes.Peak shear strength of 83 MPa for the 6061 aluminum joint with Al-9.5Si-10Cu-2Ni-0.5Mg was achieved after brazing at 575℃for 2 min.

Effect of mixed rare earth and Sr on microstructure and brazability of Al-20Cu-5Si-2Ni filler metal

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of adding tiny amount of mixed rare earth （ La, Ce） and Sr to Al-20Cu-SSi-2Ni filler metal, by analyzing the microstructure, wettability and mechanical properties of brazed joints. The results show that with the addition of mixed rare earth （La, Ce ） into Al-2OCu-SSi-2Ni alloy, the α-Al solid solution as well as CuAl2 （ Ni） intermetallic compound phase significantly reduced, while more Al-Si eutectic phase and AI-Si-Cu ternary eutectic phase were produced. And as mixed rare earth （La, Ce ） added in, the wettability of Al-2OCu-SSi-2Ni filler metal decreased, while the shear strength of the brazed joints increased. The addition of Minor Sr modificated Al-2OCu-SSi-2Ni filler metal, further reduced the CuAl2 （ Ni ） intermetallic compound phase, which was partially replaced Al-Si-Cu ternary eutectic phase. As a result, the tensile strength as well as the wettability of the filler metal was improved.

Experimental and analytical investigation on metal damage suffered from simulated lightning currents

The damage of two typical metal materials, Al alloy 3003 and steel alloy Q235 B, subjected to four representative lightning current components are investigated by laboratory and analytical studies to provide fundamental data for lightning protection. The four lightning components simulating the natural lightning consist of the first return stroke, the continuing current of interval stroke, the long continuing current, and the subsequent stroke, with amplitudes 200 k A, 8 k A,400 A, and 100 k A, respectively. The damage depth and area suffered from different lightning components are measured by the ultrasonic scanning system. And the temperature rise is measured by the thermal imaging camera. The results show that, for both Al 3003 and steel Q235 B, the first return stroke component results in the largest damage area with damage depth0.02 mm uttermost. The long continuing current component leads to the deepest damage depth of 3.3 mm for Al 3003 and much higher temperature rise than other components. The correlation analysis between damage results and lightning parameters indicates that the damage depth has a positive correlation with charge transfer. The damage area is mainly determined by the current amplitude and the temperature rise increases linearly with the charge transfer larger.

General Trends in Electronic Structure, Stability, Chemical Bonding and Mechanical Properties of Ultrahigh Temperature Ceramics TMB_2(TM=transition metal)

The electronic structure, stability, chemical bonding and mechanical properties of 3d, 4d and 5d transition metal diboride TMB2 were investigated using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. All the primary chemical bonds, i.e., metallic, ionic and covalent have contributions to the bonding of TMB2. The number of valence electrons of transition metals or the valence electron concentration(VEC) of TMB2 has strong effects on the lattice parameters, stability and mechanical properties of TMB2. Both lattice constants a and c decrease with VEC, but c decreases faster than a, which is attributed to the enhanced TM de B p(sp2) bonding. Bulk modulus B of TMB2 increases continuously with VEC due to the enhanced TM de B p(sp2) and TM dd bonding. Shear modulus G increases with VEC,reaching a maximum at VEC=3.33, and then decreases with further increase of VEC. YB2 and Mn B2 have low Young’s modulus and are predicted to have good thermal shock resistance. According to Pugh’s criterion(G/B < 0.571), Mn B2, Mo B2 and WB2are predicted as ductile or damage tolerant ultrahigh temperature ceramics(UHTCs).

Automated estimation of stellar fundamental parameters from low resolution spectra: the PLS method

PLS （Partial Least Squares regression） is introduced into an automatic estimation of fundamental stellar spectral parameters. It extracts the most correlative spectral component to the parameters （Teff, log g and [Fe/H]）, and sets up a linear regression function from spectra to the corresponding parameters. Considering the properties of stellar spectra and the PLS algorithm, we present a piecewise PLS regression method for estimation of stellar parameters, which is composed of one PLS model for Teff, and seven PLS models for log g and [Fe/H] estimation. Its performance is investigated by large experiments on flux calibrated spectra and continuum normalized spectra at different signal-to-noise ratios （SNRs） and resolutions. The results show that the piecewise PLS method is robust for spectra at the medium resolution of 0.23 nm. For low resolution 0.5 nm and 1 nm spectra, it achieves competitive results at higher SNR. Experiments using ELODIE spectra of 0.23 nm resolution illustrate that our piecewise PLS models trained with MILES spectra are efficient for O ～ G stars： for flux calibrated spectra, the systematic offsets are 3.8%, 0.14 dex, and -0.09 dex for Teff, log g and [Fe/H], with error scatters of 5.2%, 0.44 dex and 0.38 dex, respectively; for continuum normalized spectra, the systematic offsets are 3.8%, 0.12dex, and -0.13 dex for Teff, log g and [Fe/H], with error scatters of 5.2%, 0.49 dex and 0.41 dex, respectively. The PLS method is rapid, easy to use and does not rely as strongly on the tightness of a parameter grid of templates to reach high precision as Artificial Neural Networks or minimum distance methods do.

Wide gap active brazing of ceramic-to-metal-joints for high temperature applications

Applications like solid oxide fuel cells and sensors increasingly demand the possibility to braze ceramics to metals with a good resistance to high temperatures and oxidative atmospheres. Commonly used silver based active filler metals cannot fulfill these requirements, if application temperatures higher than 600℃ occur. Au and Pd based active fillers are too expensive for many fields of use. As one possible solution nickel based active fillers were developed. Due to the high brazing temperatures and the low ductility of nickel based filler metals, the modification of standard nickel based filler metals were necessary to meet the requirements of above mentioned applications. To reduce thermally induced stresses wide brazing gaps and the addition of A1203 and WC particles to the filler metal were applied. In this study, the microstructure of the brazed joints and the thermo-chemical reactions between filler metal, active elements and WC particles were analyzed to understand the mechanism of the so called wide gap active brazing process. With regard to the behavior in typical application oxidation and thermal cycle tests were conducted as well as tensile tests.

Temperature and metal composition dependence of lateral photovoltaic effect in Al-Alq_3/SiO_2/Si structures

A series of Al=-（Alq3）l-x granular films is prepared on Si wafer with native oxide layer using co-evaporation technique. Large lateral photovoltaic effect （LPE） is observed, with an optimal LPV sensitivity of 75 mV/mm in x=0.35 sample. The dependence of LPE on temperature and A1 composition is investigated, and the possible mechanism is discussed.

Characterization of positive bias temperature instability of NMOSFET with high-k/metal gate last process

Positive bias temperature instability（PBTI） characteristics and degradation mechanisms of NMOSFET with high-k/metal gate last process have been systematically investigated. The time evolution of threshold voltage shift during PBTI stress still follows a power law. However, the exponent n decreases from 0.26 to 0.16 linearly as the gate stress voltage increases from 0.6 to 1.2 V. There is no interface state generation during stress because of the negligible sub-threshold swing change. Moreover, the activation energy is 0.1 e V, which implies that electrons directly tunnel into high-k bulk and are trapped by pre-existing traps resulting into PBTI degradation. During recovery the threshold voltage shift is linear in lgt, and a mathematical model is proposed to express threshold voltage shift.

Critical Shear Offset of Fracture in a Zr-based Metallic Glass

The nanoscale shear band operation process of Zr_（55）Pd_（10）Cu_（20）Ni_5Al_（10） metallic glass（MG）was reined in by constant force during well-designed loading-holding-unloading cyclic microcompression test.Through the test,it is revealed that the whole shear banding process involves three stages：shear band initiation,shear sliding and shear band arrest.Based on the energy balance principle,the size-affected speed of shear sliding is interpreted.The energy originated from the shear sliding leads to heat-up of the shear plane;therefore,the temperature in shear band increases with the size of shear offset caused by the energy accumulation during shear sliding.Taking the glass transition temperature as the critical temperature of fracture for the Zr-based MG,the critical shear offset is predicted to be approximately 190μm,fully in line with the experimental observation.This directly proved that the fracture of the MG is caused by the temperature rise during shear sliding.