On-Chip Micro Temperature Controllers Based on Freestanding Thermoelectric Nano Films for Low-Power Electronics

Multidimensional integration and multifunctional com-ponent assembly have been greatly explored in recent years to extend Moore’s Law of modern microelectronics.However,this inevitably exac-erbates the inhomogeneity of temperature distribution in microsystems,making precise temperature control for electronic components extremely challenging.Herein,we report an on-chip micro temperature controller including a pair of thermoelectric legs with a total area of 50×50μm^(2),which are fabricated from dense and flat freestanding Bi2Te3-based ther-moelectric nano films deposited on a newly developed nano graphene oxide membrane substrate.Its tunable equivalent thermal resistance is controlled by electrical currents to achieve energy-efficient temperature control for low-power electronics.A large cooling temperature difference of 44.5 K at 380 K is achieved with a power consumption of only 445μW,resulting in an ultrahigh temperature control capability over 100 K mW^(-1).Moreover,an ultra-fast cooling rate exceeding 2000 K s^(-1) and excellent reliability of up to 1 million cycles are observed.Our proposed on-chip temperature controller is expected to enable further miniaturization and multifunctional integration on a single chip for microelectronics.

Micro–Nano Water Film Enabled High‑Performance Interfacial Solar Evaporation

Interfacial solar evaporation holds great promise to address the freshwater shortage.However,most interfacial solar evaporators are always filled with water throughout the evaporation process,thus bringing unavoidable heat loss.Herein,we propose a novel interfacial evaporation structure based on the micro–nano water film,which demonstrates significantly improved evaporation performance,as experimentally verified by polypyrrole-and polydopamine-coated polydimethylsiloxane sponge.The 2D evaporator based on the as-prepared sponge realizes an enhanced evaporation rate of 2.18 kg m^(−2)h^(−1)under 1 sun by fine-tuning the interfacial micro–nano water film.Then,a homemade device with an enhanced condensation function is engineered for outdoor clean water production.Throughout a continuous test for 40 days,this device demonstrates a high water production rate(WPR)of 15.9–19.4 kg kW^(−1)h^(−1)m^(−2).Based on the outdoor outcomes,we further establish a multi-objective model to assess the global WPR.It is predicted that a 1 m^(2)device can produce at most 7.8 kg of clean water per day,which could meet the daily drinking water needs of 3 people.Finally,this technology could greatly alleviate the current water and energy crisis through further large-scale applications.

Effect of Hydrogen Dilution on Growth of Silicon Nanocrystals Embedded in Silicon Nitride Thin Film by Plasma-Enhanced CVD

An investigation was conducted into the effect of hydrogen dilution on the microstructure and optical properties of silicon nanograins embedded in silicon nitride （Si/SiNx） thin film deposited by the helicon wave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition technique. With Ar-diluted SiH4 and N2 as the reactant gas sources in the fabrication of thin film, the film was formed at a high deposition rate. There was a high density of defect at the amorphous silicon （a-Si）/SiNx interface and a relative low optical gap in the film. An addition of hydrogen into the reactant gas reduced the film deposition rate sharply. The silicon nanograins in the SiNx matrix were in a crystalline state, and the density of defects at the silicon nanocrystals （nc-Si）/SiNx interface decreased significantly and the optical gap of the films widened. These results suggested that hydrogen activated by the plasma could not only eliminate in the defects between the interface of silicon nanograins and SiNx matrix, but also helped the nanograins transform from the amorphous into crystalline state. By changing the hydrogen dilution ratio in the reactant gas sources, a tunable band gap from 1.87 eV to 3.32 eV was obtained in the Si/SiNx film.

Preparation and characterization of barium strontium titanate/silicon nanoporous pillar array composite thin films by a sol-gel method

Barium strontium titanate （Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3, BST）/silicon nanoporous pillar array （Si-NPA） thin films were prepared by a spin-coating/annealing technique based on Si-NPA with micro/nano-structure. Both the isomer conversion of acetylacetone and the network structure combined by enol and Ti-alkoxide facilitate the formation of the BST sol and the subsequent crystallization. Before the perovskite BST begins to form, the intermediate phase （Ba, Sr）Ti2OsCO3 is found. The boundary between BST and Si-NPA is of clarity and little interface diffusion, disclosing that Si-NPA is an ideal template substrate in the preparation of multifunctional composite films.

Characterization of doped hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon films prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition

The B- and P-doped hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon films （nc-Si：H） are prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition （PECVD）. The microstructures of doped nc-Si＇H films are carefully and systematically characterized by using high resolution electron microscopy （HREM）, Raman scattering, x-ray diffraction （XRD）, Auger electron spectroscopy （AES）, and resonant nucleus reaction （RNR）. The results show that as the doping concentration of PH3 increases, the average grain size （d） tends to decrease and the crystalline volume percentage （Xc） increases simultaneously. For the B-doped samples, as the doping concentration of B2H6 increases, no obvious change in the value of d is observed, but the value of Xc is found to decrease. This is especially apparent in the case of heavy B2H6 doped samples, where the films change from nanocrystalline to amorphous.

Boron-Silicon Thin Film Formation Using a Slim Vertical Chemical Vapor Deposition Reactor

A boron-silicon film was formed from boron trichloride gas and dichlorosilane gas at about 900℃in ambient hydrogen at atmospheric pressure utilizing a slim vertical cold wall chemical vapor deposition reactor designed for the Minimal Fab system. The gas flow rates were 80, 20 and 0.1 - 20 sccm for the hydrogen, dichlorosilane and boron trichloride gases, respectively. The gas transport condition in the reactor was shown to quickly become stable when evaluated by quartz crystal microbalances at the inlet and outlet. The boron-silicon thin film was formed by achieving the various boron concentrations of 0.16% - 80%, the depth profile of which was flat. By observing the cross-sectional TEM image, the obtained film was dense. The boron trichloride gas is expected to be useful for the quick fabrication of various materials containing boron at significantly low and high concentrations.

Stimulated Raman Scattering in Nanorod Silicon Carbide Films

When the film is excited by a very low excitation energy, thespontaneous Raman scattering emerges. The intensity of Ramanscattering is proportional to the Excitation power below thethreshold excitation. When the excited power reaches the Excitationthreshold, the intensity of Stokes light strongly increases.Meanwhile an anti- Stokes light at 495 nm and multiple order butsmall Stokes peaks occur. The intensity of Stokes light is muchlarger than that of anti-Stokes.

Amorphous-Nanocrystalline Transition in Silicon Thin Films Obtained by Argon Diluted Silane PECVD

The Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) method is widely used compared to other methods to deposit hydrogenated silicon Si:H. In this work, a systematic variation of deposition parameters was done to study the sensitivities and the effects of these parameters on the intrinsic layer material properties. Samples were deposited with 13.56 MHZ PECVD through decomposition of silane diluted with argon. Undoped samples depositions were made in this experiment in order to obtain the transition from the amorphous to nanocrystalline phase materials. The substrate temperature was fixed at 200oC. The influence of depositions parameters on the optical proprieties of the thin films was studied by UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy. The structural evolution was also studied by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The structural evolution studies show that beyond 200 W radio frequency power value, we observed an amorphous-nanocrystalline transition, with an increase in crystalline fraction by increasing RF power and working pressure. The deposition rates are found in the range 6 - 10 /s. A correlation between structural and optical properties has been found and discussed.

New Numerical Method to Calculate the True Optical Absorption of Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films

The enhanced optical absorption measured by Constant Photocurrent Method (CPM) of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin films is due mainly to bulk and/or surface light scattering effects. A new numerical method is presented to calculate both true optical absorption and scattering coefficient from CPM absorption spectra of nanotextured nano-crystalline silicon films. Bulk and surface light scattering contributions can be unified through the correlation obtained between the scattering coefficient and surface roughness obtained using our method.

<i>Ab Initio</i>Molecular Orbital Calculation for Optical and Electronic Properties Evaluation of Small and Medium Size Silicon Nano-Clusters Found in Silicon Rich Oxide Films

In systems in atomic and nano scales such as clusters or agglomerates constituted of particles from a few to less than one hundred of atoms, quantum confinement effects are very important. Their optical and electronic properties are often dependent on the size of the systems and the way in which the atoms in these clusters are bonded. Generally, these nano-structures display optical and electronic properties significantly different of those found in corresponding bulk materials. Silicon agglomerates found in Silicon Rich Oxide (SRO) films have optical properties, which have reported as depended directly on nano-crystal size. Furthermore, the room temperature photoluminescence (PL) of Silicon Rich Oxides (SRO) has repeatedly generated a huge interest due to their possible applications in optoelectronic devices. However, a plausible emission mechanism has not yet widespread acceptance of the scientific community. In this research, we employed the Density Functional Theory with a functional B3LYP and a basis set 6 - 31G* to calculate the optical and electronic properties of small (six to ten silicon atoms) and medium size clusters of silicon (constituted of eleven to fourteen silicon atoms). With the theoretical calculation of the structural and optical properties of silicon clusters, it is possible to evaluate the contribution of silicon agglomerates in the luminescent emission mechanism experimentally found in thin SRO films.

Evaluation on residual stresses of silicon-doped CVD diamond films using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy

The effect of silicon doping on the residual stress of CVD diamond films is examined using both X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Raman spectroscopy measurements. The examined Si-doped diamond films are deposited on WC-Co substrates in a home-made bias-enhanced HFCVD apparatus. Ethyl silicate (Si(OC2H5)4) is dissolved in acetone to obtain various Si/C mole ratio ranging from 0.1% to 1.4% in the reaction gas. Characterizations with SEM and XRD indicate increasing silicon concentration may result in grain size decreasing and diamond [110] texture becoming dominant. The residual stress values of as-deposited Si-doped diamond films are evaluated by both sin2ψ method, which measures the (220) diamond Bragg diffraction peaks using XRD, with ψ-values ranging from 0° to 45°, and Raman spectroscopy, which detects the diamond Raman peak shift from the natural diamond line at 1332 cm-1. The residual stress evolution on the silicon doping level estimated from the above two methods presents rather good agreements, exhibiting that all deposited Si-doped diamond films present compressive stress and the sample with Si/C mole ratio of 0.1% possesses the largest residual stress of ~1.75 GPa (Raman) or ~2.3 GPa (XRD). As the silicon doping level is up further, the residual stress reduces to a relative stable value around 1.3 GPa.

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering on Self-assembled Nano Silver Film Prepared by Electrolysis Method

We demonstrate surface enhanced Raman scattering （SERS） detection of self-assembled nano silver film using a low-cost electrolysis strategy at a proper voltage and silver nitrate concentration in electrolyte. The concentration dependence of SERS from crystal violet （CV） molecules adsorbed to silver film was systematically studied. Importantly, the SERS surface enhancement factor of such nano silver film was 603, which was measured by a portable Raman spectrometer. The minimum concentration of detectable CV molecules can be as low as 10^-11 mol/L. The nano silver film prepared by this electrolysis method is an active, stable, cost-effective, and reusable SERS substrate.

Large Scale Homogeneous Growth Mechanics of Microcrystalline Silicon Films on Rough Surface

Large scale homogenous growth of microcrystalline silicon （μ.c-Si：H） on cheap substrates by inductively coupled plasma （ICP） of Ar diluted Sill4 has been studied. From XRD and Raman spectrum, we find that substrates can greatly affect the crystalline orientation, and the μc-Si：H films are comprised of small particles. Thickness detection by surface profilometry shows that the thin μc-Si：H films are homogenous in large scale. Distributions of both ion density and electron temperature are found to be uniform in the vicinity of substrate by means of diagnosis of Langmuir probe. Based on these experimental results, it can be proposed that rough surfaces play important roles in the crystalline network formation and Ar can affect the reaction process and improve the characteristics of μc-Si：H films. Also, ICP reactor can deposit the thin film in large scale.

Dependence of R-G Currenton Bulk Traps Characteristics and Silicon Film Structure in SOI Gated-Diode

The dependence of the Recombination- Generation( R- G) current on the bulk trap characteristics and sili- con film structure in SOI lateral p+ p- n+ diode has been analyzed num erically by using the simulation tool,DESSIS- ISE.By varying the bulk trap characteristics such as the trap density and energy level spectrum systematically,the dependence of the R- G current on both of them has been dem onstrated in details.Moreover,the silicon film doping concentration and thickness are changed to make silicon body varies from the fully- depletion m ode into the partial- ly- depletion one.The influence of the transfer of silicon body characteristics on the R- G currenthas also been care- fully examined.A better understanding is obtained of the behavior of bulk trap R- G current in the SOI lateral gat- ed- diode.

POB改性Nano–SiO_(2)/PTFE复合材料的摩擦转移特性研究

为了研究填充聚苯酯(POB)对Nano–SiO_(2)改性聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)复合材料转移膜演化及摩擦性能的影响,采用冷压成型、热烧结的工艺方法制备Nano–SiO_(2)/POB–PTFE和Nano–SiO_(2)/PTFE两种复合材料;采用间歇称重法和原位观察法,在LSR–2M型往复摩擦磨损试验机上进行干摩擦试验;利用AXIO Imager.A2m光学显微镜、QUANTA FEG 450热场发射扫描电镜和MicroXAM–800非接触式3维表面轮廓仪分别表征转移膜的表面形貌、微观结构和3维形貌,从微观角度分析摩擦转移机理。试验结果表明,Nano–SiO_(2)/PTFE复合材料的转移膜在对偶表面上形貌变化较快,不断重复“生成–脱落”过程,并伴随严重磨损,且没有形成较完整的转移膜。此外,生成的转移膜分层明显,且脱落痕迹显著,并有大量米粒状的磨屑附在对偶面上,导致反光性较差。而用POB填充Nano–SiO_(2)/PTFE复合材料不仅增强了转移膜在对偶表面上的黏附力,还促进了均匀、连续转移膜的更好形成,对偶表面反光性好;并且,Nano–SiO_(2)/POB–PTFE复合材料的磨损率较Nano–SiO_(2)/PTFE复合材料降低了两个数量级。POB有强黏附性,而Nano–SiO_(2)在摩擦过程中易嵌入对偶面形成机械互锁,故这两种填料共同改性PTFE可形成协同减磨效应,从而有效促进复合材料转移膜的均匀生成及稳固黏附,并大幅降低磨损率。本文的研究结论对斯特林发动机活塞环干摩擦密封材料的研制有良好的指导意义,有利于碟式太阳能热发电系统高性能密封件的研发。

Effects of acetic acid on microstructure and electrochemical properties of nano cerium oxide films coated on AA7020-T6 aluminum alloy

Nano cerium oxide films were applied on AA7020-T6 aluminum alloy and the effects of acetic acid concentration on the microstructure and electrochemical properties of the coated samples were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, and potentiodynamic polarization methods. It has been found that by increasing the acetic acid/CeCl3·7H2O molar ratio, high uniform and crack-free films with well-developed grains were obtained and grain sizes of the films decreased. Elimination of cracks and decreasing grain size of the nano cerium oxide films caused corrosion resistance to increase.

Polymer grafting modification of the surface of nano silicon dioxide

Based on the composite modification technology of the surface of nano Silicondioxide by non-soap emulsion polymerization, it is verified that there are polymer grafted on thesurface of nano silicon dioxide. The modification mechanism and the bonding status on the surface ofnano silicon dioxide after modification were suggested via the results of the infrared spectrum,transmission electronic microscope photograph and X-ray photoelectron spectrum. The hydroxyl formedby hydrolyzing of silane coupling agent reacts with hydroxyl on the surface of nano silicon dioxideto form Si-O-Si bonds by losing water molecules and hence the double bonds are introduced onto thesurface of nano silicon dioxide. The surface of nano silicon dioxide is grafted with polymer throughfree radical polymerization between the double bonds on the surface of nano silicon dioxide andstyrene under the action of initiating agent. The dispersibility of nano silicon dioxide and thecontrollability of surface modification of nano silicon dioxide can be greatly improved by themodification process.

Nanoporous SiO_x coated amorphous silicon anode material with robust mechanical behavior for high-performance rechargeable Li-ion batteries

Silicon is a promising anode material for rechargeable Li-ion battery (LIB) due to its high energy density and relatively low operating voltage. However, silicon based electrodes suffer from rapid capacity degradation during electrochemical cycling. The capacity decay is predominantly caused by (i) cracking due to large volume variations during lithium insertion/extraction and (ii) surface degradation due to excessive solid electrolyte interface (SEI) formation. In this work, we demonstrate that coating of a-Si thin film with a Li-active, nanoporous SiOx layer can result in exceptional electrochemical performance in Li-ion battery. The SiOx layer provides improved cracking resistance to the thin film and prevent the active material loss due to excessive SEI formation, benefiting the electrode cycling stability. Half-cell experiments using this anode material show an initial reversible capacity of 2173 mAh g^-1 with an excellent coulombic efficiency of 90.9%. Furthermore, the electrode shows remarkable capacity retention of ~97% after 100 cycles at C/2 charging rate. The proposed anode architecture is free from Liinactive binders and conductive additives and provides mechanical stability during the charge/discharge process.

Rain Erosion Behavior of Silicon Dioxide Films Prepared on Sapphire

Silicon dioxide （SiO2） films were prepared on sapphire （α-Al2O3） by radio frequency magnetron reactive sputtering in order to increase both transmission and rain erosion resistant performance of infrared domes of sapphire. Composition and structure of SiO2 films were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）, respectively. The transmittance of uncoated and coated sapphire was measured using a Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spectrometer. Rain erosion tests of the uncoated and coated sapphire were performed at 211 m/s impact velocity with an exposure time ranging from 1 to 8 min on a whirling arm rig. Results show that the deposited films can greatly increase the transmission of sapphire in mid-wave IR. After rain erosion test, decreases in normalized transmission were less than 1% for designed SiO2 films and the SiO2 coating was strongly bonded to the sapphire substrate. In addition, sapphires coated with SiO2 films had a higher transmittance than uncoated ones after rain erosion.

Preparation of Nano Silver/Silk Fibroin Composite Films

In this study, the outstanding biocompatibility of silk fibroin （SF） and the highly efficient anti-bacterial effect of nano silver （NS） were utilized to prepare SF/NS composite film with anti- bacterial property. The structure and property of the film were characterized. The results showed that the structure of SF in the film was mainly silk I. SF in the film was almost insoluble in water. The tensile strength of film with NS was significantly lower than that of films without NS. When the addition of NS was within the range of 0%-0.6%, the elongation at break had no significant difference. The antibacterial rate of the film on staphylococcus aurens and escherichia coil increased with the amount of NS. The minimum amount of NS in the fdm was O. 1% and the maximum amount was 0.5%.