Rheo-processing of an alloy specifically designed for semi-solid metal processing on the Al-Mg-Si system

Semi-solid metal (SSM) processing is a promising technology for forming alloys and composites to near-net shaped products. Alloys currently used for SSM processing are mainly conventional aluminium cast alloys. This is an obstacle to the realisation of full potential of SSM processing, since these alloys were originally designed for liquid state processing and not for semi-solid state processing. Therefore, there is a significant need for designing new alloys specifically for semi-solid state processing to fulfil its potential. In this study, thermodynamic calculations have been carried out to design alloys based on the Al-Mg-Si system for SSM processing via the ‘Rheo-route’. The suitability of a selected alloy composition has been assessed in terms of the criteria considered by the thermodynamic design process, mechanical properties and heat treatability. The newly designed alloy showed good processability with rheo-processing in terms of good control of solid fraction during processing and a reasonably large processing window. The mechanical property variation was very small and the alloy showed good potential for age hardening by T5 temper heat treatment after rheo-processing

Evidence for ion irradiation induced dissociation and reconstruction of Si-H bonds in hydrogen-implanted silicon

We observe that H-related chemical bonds formed in H-implanted Si will evolve under subsequent ion irradiation. During ion irradiation hydrogen is inclined to dissociate from simple H-related defect complexes (i.e., VHx and IHx), diffuse, and attach to vacancy-type defects resulting in new platelet formation, which facilitate surface blistering after annealing, a process completely inhibited in the absence of ion irradiation. The understanding of our results provides insight into the structure and stability of hydrogen-related defects in silicon. © 2008 American Institute of Physics

Novel ZnO nanorod films by chemical solution deposition for planar device applications

: Smooth and continuous ZnO films consisting of densely packed ZnO nanorods (NRs) were synthesized using hydro-thermo-chemical solution deposition method which can be used for electronic device fabrication. These devices would have the novelty of high performance benefiting from the unique properties of the nanomaterials and can be fabricated on these films using conventional low cost planar process, as they have very smooth surfaces. Photoluminescence measurements showed that the nanorod films have much stronger band-to-band emissions than those from discrete ZnO NRs, hence have the potential for the development of ZnO light emission diodes and lasers etc. The nanorod films have been used to fabricate large area planar surface acoustic wave devices by conventional photolithography and demonstrated two well-defined resonant peaks and their potential for large area device applications. The chemical solution deposition method is a simple, reproducible, scalable and economic method. These nanorod films are suitable for large scale production and synthesis on cost-effective substrates promising for various fields such as sensing systems, renewable energy and optoelectronic applications

Effect of substrate growth temperatures on H diffusion in hydrogenated Si/Si homoepitaxial structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We have investigated hydrogen diffusion in hydrogenated 〈100〉 Si/Si homoepitaxial structures, which were grown by molecular beam epitaxy at various temperatures. The substrate growth temperature can significantly affect the H diffusion behavior, with higher growth temperatures resulting in deeper H diffusion. For the Si/Si structure grown at the highest temperature of 800°C, H trapping occurs at the epitaxial Si/Si substrate interface, which results in the formation of (100) oriented microcracks at the interface. The mechanism of H trapping and the potential application of these findings for the development of a method of transferring ultrathin Si layers are discussed. © 2006 American Institute of Physics

Vertically aligned smooth ZnO nanorod films for planar device applications

The growth of smooth and continuous zinc oxide (ZnO) films, consisting of densely packed vertical ZnO nanorods with (002) crystal orientation on silicon substrates has been achieved in this work by a chemical solution method. These ZnO thin films have much stronger photoluminescence emission than those from discrete ZnO nanorods under identical conditions. Large area surface acoustic wave devices were fabricated on these films using conventional photolithography, and exhibited two well-defined resonant modes of the Sezawa wave and its harmonic mode

H-induced platelet and crack formation in hydrogenated epitaxial Si/Si <inf>0.98</inf>B <inf>0.02</inf>/Si structures

An approach to transfer a high-quality Si layer for the fabrication of silicon-on-insulator wafers has been proposed based on the investigation of platelet and crack formation in hydrogenated epitaxial Si Si0.98 B0.02 Si structures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. H-related defect formation during hydrogenation was found to be very sensitive to the thickness of the buried Si0.98 B0.02 layer. For hydrogenated Si containing a 130 nm thick Si0.98 B0.02 layer, no platelets or cracking were observed in the B-doped region. Upon reducing the thickness of the buried Si0.98 B0.02 layer to 3 nm, localized continuous cracking was observed along the interface between the Si and the B-doped layers. In the latter case, the strains at the interface are believed to facilitate the (100)-oriented platelet formation and (100)-oriented crack propagation. © 2006 American Institute of Physics

Effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Oenococcus oeni, and Lactobacillus brevis on Composition of Bog Bilberry Juice

This study investigated the impact of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, Oenococcus oeni Viniflora((R)) Oenos and Lactobacillus brevis CICC 6239 on bog bilberry juice with a considerably low pH and rich in anthocyanins content. Moreover, the effects of the strains on the composition of phenolic compounds, amino acids, ammonium ion, biogenic amines, reduced sugars, organic acids, and color parameters of the juice were studied. All three bacteria consumed sugars and amino acids but exhibited different growth patterns. Lactic acid was detected only in L. acidophilus inoculated juice. The content of the phenolic compounds, especially anthocyanins, decreased in juice after inoculation. The CIELa*b* analysis indicated that the juice inoculated with L. acidophilus and O. oeni showed a decrease on a* and b* (less red and yellow) but an increase on L (more lightness), whereas the color attributes of L. brevis inoculated juice did not significantly change. Based on this study, L. brevis showed the most optimal performance in the juice due to its better adaptability and fewer effects on the appearance of juice. This study provided a useful reference on the metabolism of lactic acid bacteria in low pH juice and the evolution of primary and secondary nutrients in juice after inoculated with lactic acid bacteria

Strain induced exciton fine-structure splitting and shift in bent ZnO microwires

Lattice strain is a useful and economic way to tune the device performance and is commonly present in nanostructures. Here, we investigated for the first time the exciton spectra evolution in bent ZnO microwires along the radial direction via high spatial/energy resolution cathodeluminescence spectroscopy at 5.5 K. Our experiments show that the exciton peak splits into multi fine peaks towards the compressive part while retains one peak in the tensile part and the emission peak displays a continuous blue-shift from tensile to compressive edges. In combination with first-principles calculations, we show that the observed NBE emission splitting is due to the valence band splitting and the absence of peak splitting in the tensile part maybe due to the highly localized holes in the A band and the carrier density distribution across the microwire. Our studies may pave the way to design nanophotonic and electronic devices using bent ZnO nanowires

T-Analyst: a program for efficient analysis of protein conformational changes by torsion angles

T-Analyst is a user-friendly computer program for analyzing trajectories from molecular modeling. Instead of using Cartesian coordinates for protein conformational analysis, T-Analyst is based on internal bond-angle-torsion coordinates in which internal torsion angle movements, such as side-chain rotations, can be easily detected. The program computes entropy and automatically detects and corrects angle periodicity to produce accurate rotameric states of dihedrals. It also clusters multiple conformations and detects dihedral rotations that contribute hinge-like motions. Correlated motions between selected dihedrals can also be observed from the correlation map. T-Analyst focuses on showing changes in protein flexibility between different states and selecting representative protein conformations for molecular docking studies. The program is provided with instructions and full source code in Perl