SiC epitaxial layers grown by chemical vapour deposition and the fabrication of Schottky barrier diodes

This paper presents the results of unintentionally doped 4H-SiC epilayers grown on n-type Si-faced 4H-SiC substrates with 8° off-axis toward the [1120] direction by low pressure horizontal hot-wall chemical vapour deposition. Growth temperature and pressure are 1580 ℃ and 10^4 Pa, respectively. Good surface morphology of the sample is observed using atomic force microscopy （AFM） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） and x-ray diffraction （XRD） are used to characterize epitaxial layer thickness and the structural quality of the films respectively. The carrier concentration in the unintentional 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layer is about 6.4×10^14 cm^-3 obtained by C-V measurements. Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） are fabricated on the epitaxial wafer in order to verify the quality of the wafer and to obtain information about the correlation between background impurity and electrical properties of the devices. Ni and Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes with very good performances were obtained and their ideality factors are 1.10 and 1.05 respectively.

Different xylogenesis responses to atmospheric water demand contribute to species coexistence in a mixed pine–oak forest

Seasonal patterns of wood formation(xylogenesis)remain understudied in mixed pine-oak forests despite their contribution to tree coexistence through temporal niche complementarity.Xylogenesis was assessed in three pine species(Pinus cembroides,Pinus leiophylla,Pinus engelmannii)and one oak(Quercus grisea)coexisting in a semi-arid Mexican forest.The main xylogenesis phases(production of cambium cells,radial enlargement,cell-wall thickening and maturation)were related to climate data considering 5-15-day temporal windows.In pines,cambium activity maximized from mid-March to April as temperature and evaporation increased,whereas cell radial enlargement peaked from April to May and was constrained by high evaporation and low precipitation.Cell-wall thickening peaked from June to July and in August-September as maximum temperature and vapour pressure deficit(VPD)increased.Maturation of earlywood and latewood tracheids occurred in May-June and June-July,enhanced by high minimum temperatures and VPD in P.engelmannii and P.leiophylla.In oak,cambial onset started in March,constrained by high minimum temperatures,and vessel radial enlargement and radial increment maximized in April as temperatures and evaporation increased,whereas early wood vessels matured from May to June as VPD increased.Overall,15-day wet conditions enhanced cell radial enlargement in P.leiophylla and P.engelmannii,whereas early-summer high 15-day temperature and VPD drove cell-wall thickening in P.cembroides.Warm night conditions and high evaporation rates during spring and summer enhanced growth.An earlier growth peak in oak and a higher responsiveness to spring-summer water demand in pines contributed to their coexistence.

Study on reaction mechanism of YBa_2Cu_3O_(7-x) film by TFA-MOD process

This paper systematically investigates the intermediate phases of YBa2Cu3O7-x （YBCO） film prepared by metalorganic deposition method using trifluoroacetates （TFA-MOD）. According to x-ray diffraction and Raman analyses, the precursor film decomposed in a mixture of BaF2, Y203 and CuO after the pyrolysis process. Then these inter- mediate phases converted into tetragonal YBa2Cu3O6.5 at about 725 ℃. The influence of water vapour pressure on the YBa2Cu3O7-x film growth on LaAlO3 single-crystal substrates was also studied. The films prepared at low water vapour pressures （40-140 hPa） showed poor electrical performance due to the a-axis grain structure and impurity phases. However, the films prepared at 190hPa exhibited the highest critical temperature of 90 K and the highest Jc of 3.8 MA/cm2, which was attributed to the formation of a purer YBCO phase and stronger biaxial texture.

GaN晶体的生长及其低维材料的制备

Wurtzite strcture gallium nitride, GaN,a direct bandgap semiconductor (3.4 eV at room temperature),is an ideal material for fabrication of blue/green light emit ti ng diodes, laser diodes,and high power integrated circuits.Recent progress in th in film crystal technique has realized the output of blue semiconductor lasers w i th a lifetime of over 10000 hours under continuous wave operation at room tempe r ature.So far GaN and its ternary indium and aluminum alloys are grown almost uni v ersally on foreign substrates with varying lattice mismatches.The mismatch undou btedly results in a significant dislocation density in the grown films.Hence it is necessary to grow single crystal GaN to be used as substrates for improvement of laser diodes.On the other hand,low dimensional GaN materials such as nanocry stalline powder,nanocrystal assembled bulk(nanophase) and nano wires are very u seful in both fundamental mesoscopic research and future development of GaN nano devices.Here we report our main recent progresses on the crystal growth of GaN a nd the preparation of its low dimensional materials.

Regulation of the water status in three co-occurring phreatophytes at the southern fringe of the Taklamakan Desert

Aims We investigated the regulation of the water status in three predominant perennial C3 phreatophytes(Alhagi sparsifolia,Populus euphratica,Tamarix ramosissima)at typical sites of their occurrence at the southern fringe of the hyperarid Taklamakan Desert(north-west China).Methods In the foreland of the river oasis of Qira(Cele),we determined meteorological variables,plant biomass production,plant water potentials(WL)and the water flux through the plants.We calculated the hydraulic conductance on the flow path from the soil to the leaves(kSL)and tested the effects of kSL,WL and the leaf-to-air difference in the partial pressure of water vapour(Dw)on stomatal regulation using regression analyses.Important Findings Despite high values of plant water potential at the point of turgor loss,all plants sustained WL at levels that were high enough to maintain transpiration throughout the growing season.In A.sparsifolia,stomatal resistance(rs;related to leaf area or leaf mass)was most closely correlated with kSL;whereas in P.euphratica,~70%of the variation in rs was explained by Dw.In T.ramosissima,leaf area-related rs was significantly correlated with WL and kSL.The regulation mechanisms are in accordance with the growth patterns and the occurrence of the species in relation to their distance to the ground water.

Modeling of coal swelling induced by water vapor adsorption

Gas adsorption-induced coal swelling is a well- know phenomenon. Coal swelling or shrinkage by adsorption or desorption of water vapor has not been well understood but has significant implications on gas drainage process for underground coal mining and for primary and enhanced combed methane production. Decreased matrix moisture content leads to coal shrinkage and thus the change of cleat porosity and permeability under reservoir conditions. Unlike gas adsorption in coal which usually forms a single layer of adsorbed molecules, water vapor adsorption in the coal micropores forms multilayer of adsorbed molecules. In this work, a model has been developed to describe the coal swelling strain with respect to the amount of moisture intake by the coal matrix. The model extended an energy balance approach for gas adsorption-induced coal swelling to water vapor adsorption-induced coal swelling, assuming that only the first layer of adsorbed molecules of the multilayer adsorption changes the surface energy, which thus causes coal to swell. The model is applied to describe the experimental swelling strain data measured on an Aus- tralian coal. The results show good agreement between the model and the experimental data.