Effect of Implantation Time of Cupper Nitride onto ITO Thin Films: Structural, Morphological, Electrical, and Optical Properties

Copper nitride (Cu3N) thin films have been implanted onto an electron beam evaporated films of indium tin oxide (ITO) from Cu metal target using reactive dc Magnetron Sputtering (dcMS) technique in a nitrogen/argon atmosphere at room temperature. The implantation parameter was kept constant excepting the implantation time. The effect of implantation time upon microstructural, morphological, electrical, and optical properties have been studied. The elemental composition of the as-deposited and Cu3N implanted has been studied by using the EDXS technique, and the spectrum shows peaks belonging to In, Sn, O, Cu, and N. A zinc blend structure was observed for all the investigated films with no sign of impurities. The optical direct energy bandgap E_g^opt is found to decreases from 3.49 eV to 2.62 eV with increasing the implantation time of Cu3N. The refractive index n is increased with increasing the exposure time of implantation. The refractive index has abnormal behavior in the infrared region due to the strong absorption in this region that appears in transmission spectra. The electrical resistivity decreases from 1908.22 .cm to 165.24 .cm with increasing the duration time of implantation

Establishing and characterizing a permanent magnet system for the prototype of NIS's Kibble balance

The Kibble balance experiment is used to redefine the kilogram as a unit of mass based on the Planck constant. To demonstrate and understand the basic principle of the Kibble balance, the National Institute of Standards (NIS)-Egypt has constructed a prototype Kibble balance that can measure gram-level masses with 0.01% relative uncertainty. Through the construction of this prototype, the challenges can be studied and addressed to overcome the weaknesses of NIS’s prototype. This study presents the design and construction of the prototype Kibble balance. It also focuses on the design and performance of the magnetic system, which is a crucial element of the Kibble balance. Analytical modeling and finite element analysis were used to evaluate and improve the magnet system. Several other aspects were also discussed, including the yoke’s material and enhancing the magnetic profile within the air gap of the magnet system. Over a vertical distance of 30 mm inside the air gap, the magnetic flux density was found to be 0.3 T, and the uniformity was found to be 8 x 10 -5

Structure, sintering and crystallization kinetics of alkaline-earth aluminosilicate glass-ceramic sealants for solid oxide fuel cells

A series of alkaline-earth aluminosilicate based glasses modified with Cr2O3 and BaO were appraised in the primary crystallization field of diopside, with respect to their suitability as sealants for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) increased while flow properties improved with addition of BaO in the glasses. Density measurements and infra-red spectroscopy have been used in order to shed some light on the structure of glasses. Sintering and crystallization behavior of the glasses has been investigated using hot-stage microscopy (HSM) and differential thermal analysis (DTA), respectively. The microstructure, and properties of the glass-ceramics (GCs) were investigated under non-isothermal heat treatment conditions (800ºC and 850ºC; 1 h). Rietveld-R.I.R. technique has been employed to quantify the amount of crystalline and amorphous content in the GCs