Distinct behavior of electronic structure under uniaxial strain in BaFe_(2)As_(2)

We report a study of the electronic structure of BaFe_(2)As_(2) under uniaxial strains using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and transport measurements. Two electron bands at the MY point, with an energy splitting of 50 meV in the strain-free sample, shift downward and merge into each other under a large uniaxial strain, while three hole bands at theГ point shift downward together. However, we also observed an enhancement of the resistance anisotropy under uniaxial strains by electrical transport measurements, implying that the applied strains strengthen the electronic nematic order in BaFe_(2)As_(2). These observations suggest that the splitting of these two electron bands at the MY point is not caused by the nematic order in BaFe_(2)As_(2).

Experimental Study on Uniaxial and Multiaxial Strain CyclicCharacteristics and Ratcheting of 316L Stainless Steel

An experimental study was carried out on the strain cyclic characteristics and ratcheting of 316L stainless steel subjected to uniaxial and multiaxial cyclic loading. The strain cyclic characteristics were researched under the strain-controlled uniaxial tension-compression and multiaxial circular paths of loading. The ratcheting tests were conducted for the stress-controlled uniaxial tensioncompression and multiaxial circular, rhombic and linear paths of loading with different mean stresses, stress amplitudes and histories. The experiment results show that 316L stainless steel features the cyclic hardening, and its strain cyclic characteristics depend on the strain amplitude and its history apparently. The ratcheting of 316L stainless steel depends greatly on the values of mean stress, stress amplitude and their histories. In the meantime, the shape of load path and its history also apparently influence the ratcheting.

Uniaxial strain-modulated electronic structures of CdX(X-S,Se,Te)from first-principles calculations:A comparison between bulk and nanowires

sing first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we systematically study the structural deformation and electronic properties of wurtzite CdX（X = S, Se, Te） bulk and nanowires（NWs） under uniaxial [0001] strain. Due to the intrinsic shrinking strain induced by surface contraction, large NWs with {10ˉ10} facets have heavy hole（HH）-like valence band maximum（VBM） states, while NWs with {11ˉ20} facets have crystal hole（CH）-like VBM states. The external uniaxial strain induces an HH–CH band crossing at a critical strain for both bulk and NWs, resulting in nonlinear variations in band gap and hole effective mass at VBM. Unlike the bulk phase, the critical strain of NWs highly depends on the character of the VBM state in the unstrained case, which is closely related to the size and facet of NWs. The critical strain of bulk is at compressive range, while the critical strain of NWs with HH-like and CH-like VBM appears at compressive and tensile strain, respectively. Due to the HH–CH band crossing, the charge distribution of the VBM state in NWs can also be tuned by the external uniaxial strain. Despite the complication of the VBM state, the electron effective mass at conduction band minimum（CBM） of NWs shows a linear relation with the CBM–HH energy difference, the same as the bulk material.

Combined Effect of Uniaxial Strain and Magnetic Field on the Exciton States in Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

The exciton states of semiconducting carbon nanotubes are calculated by a tight-binding model supplemented by Coulomb interactions under the combined effect of uniaxial strain and magnetic field. It is found that the excitation energies and absorption spectra of zigzag tubes（11,0） and（10,0） show opposite trends with the strain under the action of the magnetic field. For the（11,0） tube, the excitation energy decreases with the increasing uniaxial strain, with a splitting appearing in the absorption spectra. For the（10,0） tube, the variation trend firstly increases and then decreases, with a reversal point appearing in the absorption spectra. More interesting,at the reversal point the intensity of optical absorption is the largest because of the degeneracy of the two bands nearest to the Fermi Level, which is expected to be observed in the future experiment. The similar variation trend is also exhibited in the binding energy for the two kinds of semiconducting tubes.

Tunning the Band Gap of 1T’-WTe2 by Uniaxial Strain

The QSH edge channels can be used to connect dissipationless nanoelectronic devices, when the topological edge states and the bulk states have the perfectly spaced. But the monolayer 1T’-WTe2 bulk state is metallic nature, with edge channel lengths around 100 nm, which hinders its further study. By simulating the different terminational edge states, using the GGA-1/2 method to calculate, we found a stable terminational edge state. And under strain engineering, fixed the a-axis, the band gap gradually increases with the b-axis tensile. When the tensile to 2.9%, the band gap increases to 245 meV. It greatly improves the application of 1T’-WTe2. During the phase transition of the material from half-metal to insulator, the topology of edge states remains unchanged, showing strong robustness. Thus introducing strain can make 1T’-WTe2 a suitable material for fundamental research or topological electronic devices.

Stress effect on lattice thermal conductivity of anode material NiNB_(2)O_(6)for lithium-ion batteries

The thermal transport properties of NiNB_(2)O_(6)as anode material for lithium-ion battery and the effect of strain were studied by machine learning interatomic potential combined with Boltzmann transport equation.The results show that the lattice thermal conductivity of NiNB_(2)O_(6)along the three crystal directions[100],[010],and[001]are 0.947 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1),0.727 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1),and 0.465 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1),respectively,indicating the anisotropy of the lattice thermal conductivity of NiNB_(2)O_(6).This anisotropy of the lattice thermal conductivity stems from the significant difference of phonon group velocities in different crystal directions of NiNB_(2)O_(6).When the tensile strain is applied along the[001]crystal direction,the lattice thermal conductivity in all three directions decreases.However,when the compressive strain is applied,the lattice thermal conductivity in the[100]and[010]crystal directions is increased,while the lattice thermal conductivity in the[001]crystal direction is abnormally reduced due to the significant inhibition of compressive strain on the group velocity.These indicate that the anisotropy of thermal conductivity of NiNB_(2)O_(6)can be enhanced by the compressive strain,and reduced by the tensile strain.

Combined grain size, strain rate and loading condition effects on mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline Cu under high strain rates

Molecular dynamics simulations of nanocrystalline Cu with average grain sizes of 3.1 nm, 6.2 nm, 12.4 nm and 18.6 nm under uniaxial strain and stress tension at strain rates of 10^8 s^-1, 10^9 S^-1 and 10^10 s^-1 are performed to study the combined grain size, strain rate and loading condition effects on mechanical properties. It is found that the strength of nanocrystalline Cu increases as grain size increases regardless of loading condition. Both the strength and ductility of nanocrystalline Cu increase with strain rate except that there is no monotonic relation between the strength and strain rate for specimens under uni- axial strain loading. Moreover, the strength and ductility of specimens under uniaxial strain loading are lower than those under uniaxial stress loading. The nucleation of voids at grain boundaries and their subsequent growth characterize the failure of specimens under uniaxial strain loading, while grain boundary sliding and necking dominate the failure of specimens under uniaxial stress loading. The rate dependent strength is mainly caused by the dynamic wave effect that limits dislocation motion, while combined twinning and slipping mechanism makes the material more ductile at higher strain rates.

Analysis of tensile strain enhancement in Ge nano-belts on an insulator surrounded by dielectrics

Ge nano-belts with large tensile strain are considered as one of the promising materials for high carrier mobility metal- oxide-semiconductor transistors and efficient photonic devices. In this paper, we design the Ge nano-belts on an insulator surrounded by Si3N4 or SiO？ for improving their tensile strain and simulate the strain profiles by using the finite difference time domain （FDTD） method. The width and thickness parameters of Ge nano-belts on an insulator, which have great effects on the strain profile, are optimized. A large uniaxial tensile strain of 1.16% in 50-nm width and 12-nm thickness Ge nano-belts with the sidewalls protected by Si3N4 is achieved after thermal treatments, which would significantly tailor the band gap structures of Ge-nanobelts to realize the high performance devices.

Strain-modulated anisotropic Andreev reflection in a graphene-based superconducting junction

We investigate the Andreev reflection across a uniaxial strained graphene-based superconducting junction.Compared with pristine graphene-based superconducting junction,three opposite properties are found.Firstly,in the regime of the interband conversion of electron–hole,the Andreev retro-reflection happens.Secondly,in the regime of the intraband conversion of electron–hole,the specular Andreev reflection happens.Thirdly,the perfect Andreev reflection,electron–hole conversion with unit efficiency,happens at a nonzero incident angle of electron.These three exotic properties arise from the strain-induced anisotropic band structure of graphene,which breaks up the original relation between the direction of velocity of particle and the direction of the corresponding wavevector.Our finding gives an insight into the understanding of Andreev reflection and provides an alternative method to modulate the Andreev reflection.

Strain effect on graphene nanoribbon carrier statistic in the presence of non-parabolic band structure

The effect of tensile uniaxial strain on the non-parabolic electronic band structure of armchair graphene nanoribbon（AGNR） is investigated.In addition,the density of states and the carrier statistic based on the tight-binding Hamiltonian are modeled analytically.It is found that the property of AGNR in the non-parabolic band region is varied by the strain.The tunable energy band gap in AGNR upon strain at the minimum energy is described for each of n-AGNR families in the non-parabolic approximation.The behavior of AGNR in the presence of strain is attributed to the breakable AGNR electronic band structure,which varies the physical properties from its normality.The linear relation between the energy gap and the electrical properties is featured to further explain the characteristic of the deformed AGNR upon strain.

Towards efficient strain engineering of 2D materials:A four-points bending approach for compressive strain

Strain engineering,as a powerful strategy to tune the optical and electrical properties of two-dimensional(2D)materials by deforming their crystal lattice,has attracted significant interest in recent years.2D materials can sustain ultra-high strains,even up to 10%,due to the lack of dangling bonds on their surface,making them ideal brittle solids.This remarkable mechanical resilience,together with a strong strain-tunable band structure,endows 2D materials with a broad optical and electrical response upon strain.However,strain engineering based on 2D materials is restricted by their nanoscale and strain quantification troubles.In this study,we have modified a homebuilt three-points bending apparatus to transform it into a four-points bending apparatus that allows for the application of both compressive and tensile strains on 2D materials.This approach allows for the efficient and reproducible construction of a strain system and minimizes the buckling effect caused by the van der Waals interaction by adamantane encapsulation strategy.Our results demonstrate the feasibility of introducing compressive strain on 2D materials and the potential for tuning their optical and physical properties through this approach.

Effect of uniaxial strain on the structural, electronic and elastic properties of orthorhombic BiMnO_3

We study the elastic constants and electronic properties of orthorhombic Bi Mn O3 under uniaxial strain along the c-axis using the first-principles method. It is found that, beyond the range –0.025 〈ε〈 0.055, the predicted stiffness constants c ij cannot demand the Born stability criteria and the compliance constant s44 shows abrupt changes, which accompany phase transition. In addition, the results for magnetism moments and polycrystalline properties are also reported. Additionally, under compressive strain, a band gap transition from the indirect to the direct occurs within0：019 〈ε〈0：018. Furthermore, the response of the band gap of orthorhombic BiMnO3 to uniaxial strain is studied.

Impacts of additive uniaxial strain on hole mobility in bulk Si and strained-Si p-MOSFETs

Hole mobility changes under uniaxial and combinational stress in different directions are characterized and analyzed by applying additive mechanical uniaxial stress to bulk Si and SiGe-virtual-substrate-induced strained- Si（s-Si）p-MOSFETs（metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors）along 110 and 100 channel directions. In bulk Si,a mobility enhancement peak is found under uniaxial compressive strain in the low vertical field.The combination of 100 direction uniaxial tensile strain and substrate-induced biaxial tensile strain provides a higher mobility relative to the 110 direction,opposite to the situation in bulk Si.But the combinational strain experiences a gain loss at high field,which means that uniaxial compressive strain may still be a better choice.The mobility enhancement of SiGe-induced strained p-MOSFETs along the 110 direction under additive uniaxial tension is explained by the competition between biaxial and shear stress.

Impact of [110]/(001) uniaxial stress on valence band structure and hole effective mass of silicon

The valence band structure and hole effective mass of silicon under a uniaxial stress in （001） surface along the [110] direction were detailedly investigated in the framework of the k. p theory. The results demonstrated that the splitting energy between the top band and the second band for tmiaxial compressive stress is bigger than that of the tensile one at the same stress magnitude, and of all common used crystallographic direction, such as [110], [001], [110] and [100], the effective mass for the top band along [110] crystallographic direction is lower under uniaxial compressive stress compared with other stresses and crystallographic directions configurations. In view of suppressing the scattering and reducing the effective mass, the [110] crystallographic direction is most favorable to be used as transport direction of the charge carrier to enhancement mobility when a uniaxial compressive stress along [110] direction is applied. The obtained results can provide a theory reference for the design and the selective of optimum stress and crystallorgraphic direction configuration ofuniaxial strained silicon devices.