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Now showing 1 - 10 of 14
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    Tungsten as a chemically-stable electrode material on Ga-containing piezoelectric substrates langasite and catangasite for high-temperature saw devices
    (Basel : MDPI, 2016) Rane, Gayatri K.; Seifert, Marietta; Menzel, Siegfried; Gemming, Thomas; Eckert, Jürgen
    Thin films of tungsten on piezoelectric substrates La3Ga5SiO14 (LGS) and Ca3TaGa3Si2O14 (CTGS) have been investigated as a potential new electrode material for interdigital transducers for surface acoustic wave-based sensor devices operating at high temperatures up to 800 °C under vacuum conditions. Although LGS is considered to be suitable for high-temperature applications, it undergoes chemical and structural transformation upon vacuum annealing due to diffusion of gallium and oxygen. This can alter the device properties depending on the electrode nature, the annealing temperature, and the duration of the application. Our studies present evidence for the chemical stability of W on these substrates against the diffusion of Ga/O from the substrate into the film, even upon annealing up to 800 °C under vacuum conditions using Auger electron spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, along with local studies using transmission electron microscopy. Additionally, the use of CTGS as a more stable substrate for such applications is indicated.
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    Evaluation of surface cleaning procedures for CTGS substrates for SAW technology with XPS
    (Basel : MDPI, 2017) Brachmann, Erik; Seifert, Marietta; Oswald, Steffen; Menzel, Siegfried B.; Gemming, Thomas
    A highly efficient and reproducible cleaning procedure of piezoelectric substrates is essential in surface acoustic waves (SAW) technology to fabricate high-quality SAW devices, especially for new applications such SAW sensors wherein new materials for piezoelectric substrates and interdigital transducers are used. Therefore, the development and critical evaluation of cleaning procedures for each material system that is under consideration becomes crucial. Contaminants like particles or the presence of organic/inorganic material on the substrate can dramatically influence and alter the properties of the thin film substrate composite, such as wettability, film adhesion, film texture, and so on. In this article, focus is given to different cleaning processes like SC-1 and SC-2, UV-ozone treatment, as well as cleaning by first-contact polymer Opticlean, which are applied for removal of contaminants from the piezoelectric substrate Ca 3 TaGa 3 Si 2 O 14 . By means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the presence of the most critical contaminants such as carbon, sodium, and iron removed through different cleaning procedures were studied and significant differences were observed between the outcomes of these procedures. Based on these results, a two-step cleaning process, combining SC-1 at a reduced temperature at 30 ∘ C instead of 80 ∘ C and a subsequent UV-ozone cleaning directly prior to deposition of the metallization, is suggested to achieve the lowest residual contamination level.
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    Surface effects and challenges for application of piezoelectric langasite substrates in surface acoustic wave devices caused by high temperature annealing under high vacuum
    (Basel : MDPI, 2015) Seifert, Marietta; Rane, Gayatri K.; Kirbus, Benjamin; Menzel, Siegfried B.; Gemming, Thomas
    Substrate materials that are high-temperature stable are essential for sensor devices which are applied at high temperatures. Although langasite is suggested as such a material, severe O and Ga diffusion into an O-affine deposited film was observed during annealing at high temperatures under vacuum conditions, leading to a damage of the metallization as well as a change of the properties of the substrate and finally to a failure of the device. Therefore, annealing of bare LGS (La 3 Ga 5 SiO 14 ) substrates at 800 ∘ C under high vacuum conditions is performed to analyze whether this pretreatment improves the suitability and stability of this material for high temperature applications in vacuum. To reveal the influence of the pretreatment on the subsequently deposited metallization, RuAl thin films are used as they are known to oxidize on LGS at high temperatures. A local study of the pretreated and metallized substrates using transmission electron microscopy reveals strong modification of the substrate surface. Micro cracks are visible. The composition of the substrate is strongly altered at those regions. Severe challenges for the application of LGS substrates under high-temperature vacuum conditions arise from these substrate damages, revealing that the pretreatment does not improve the applicability.
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    Capability study of Ti, Cr, W, Ta and Pt as seed layers for electrodeposited platinum films on γ-Al2O3 for high temperature and harsh environment applications
    (Basel : MDPI, 2017) Seifert, Marietta; Brachmann, Erik; Rane, Gayatri K.; Menzel, Siegfried B.; Gemming, Thomas
    High temperature surface acoustic wave sensors based on radio frequency identification technology require adequate antennas of high efficiency and thermal stability for the signal transmission. Platinum is well known and frequently used as a material of choice for high temperature and harsh environment applications because of the high melting point and its chemical stability. Therefore, one way to realize high temperature stable antennas is the combination of a Pt metallization on an Al 2 O 3 substrate. As a cost-effective technique, the Pt film is deposited via electrochemical deposition. For this growth procedure, a pre-deposited metallization on the Al 2 O 3 layer is required. This paper analyzes the influence of various seed layers (Ta, Ti, W, Cr, Pt) on the morphology, stability and electrical properties of the electrochemically-grown Pt thick film after heat treatments up to 1000 ∘ C in air. We find an oxidation of all adhesion layers except for Pt, for which the best electrical properties were measured. Although significant areas of the films delaminate from the substrate, individual anchor structures retain a stable connection between the Pt layer and the rough Al 2 O 3 substrate.
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    Production of porous β-Type Ti–40Nb alloy for biomedical applications: Comparison of selective laser melting and hot pressing
    (Basel : MDPI, 2013) Zhuravleva, Ksenia; Bönisch, Matthias; Prashanth, Konda Gokuldoss; Hempel, Ute; Helth, Arne; Gemming, Thomas; Calin, Mariana; Scudino, Sergio; Schultz, Ludwig; Eckert, Jürgen; Gebert, Annett
    We used selective laser melting (SLM) and hot pressing of mechanically-alloyed β-type Ti–40Nb powder to fabricate macroporous bulk specimens (solid cylinders). The total porosity, compressive strength, and compressive elastic modulus of the SLM-fabricated material were determined as 17% ± 1%, 968 ± 8 MPa, and 33 ± 2 GPa, respectively. The alloy’s elastic modulus is comparable to that of healthy cancellous bone. The comparable results for the hot-pressed material were 3% ± 2%, 1400 ± 19 MPa, and 77 ± 3 GPa. This difference in mechanical properties results from different porosity and phase composition of the two alloys. Both SLM-fabricated and hot-pressed cylinders demonstrated good in vitro biocompatibility. The presented results suggest that the SLM-fabricated alloy may be preferable to the hot-pressed alloy for biomedical applications, such as the manufacture of load-bearing metallic components for total joint replacements.
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    Stress and Microstructure Evolution in Mo Thin Films without or with Cover Layers during Thermal-Cycling
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Park, Eunmi; Seifert, Marietta; Rane, Gayatri K.; Menzel, Siegfried B.; Gemming, Thomas; Nielsch, Kornelius
    The intrinsic stress behavior and microstructure evolution of Molybdenum thin films were investigated to evaluate their applicability as a metallization in high temperature microelectronic devices. For this purpose, 100 nm thick Mo films were sputter-deposited without or with an AlN or SiO2 cover layer on thermally oxidized Si substrates. The samples were subjected to thermal cycling up to 900 °C in ultrahigh vacuum; meanwhile, the in-situ stress behavior was monitored by a laser based Multi-beam Optical Sensor (MOS) system. After preannealing at 900 °C for 24 h, the uncovered films showed a high residual stress at room temperature and a plastic behavior at high temperatures, while the covered Mo films showed an almost entirely elastic deformation during the thermal cycling between room temperature and 900 °C with hardly any plastic deformation, and a constant stress value during isothermal annealing without a notable creep. Furthermore, after thermal cycling, the Mo films without as well as with a cover layer showed low electrical resistivity (≤10 μΩ·cm).
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    Twinned growth behaviour of two-dimensional materials
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Zhang, Tao; Jiang, Bei; Xu, Zhen; Mendes, Rafael G.; Xiao, Yao; Chen, Linfeng; Fang, Liwen; Gemming, Thomas; Chen, Shengli; Rümmeli, Mark H.; Fu, Lei
    Twinned growth behaviour in the rapidly emerging area of two-dimensional nanomaterials still remains unexplored although it could be exploited to fabricate heterostructure and superlattice materials. Here we demonstrate how one can utilize the twinned growth relationship between two two-dimensional materials to construct vertically stacked heterostructures. As a demonstration, we achieve 100% overlap of the two transition metal dichalcogenide layers constituting a ReS2/WS2 vertical heterostructure. Moreover, the crystal size of the stacked structure is an order of magnitude larger than previous reports. Such twinned transition metal dichalcogenides vertical heterostructures exhibit great potential for use in optical, electronic and catalytic applications. The simplicity of the twinned growth can be utilized to expand the fabrication of other heterostructures or two-dimensional material superlattice and this strategy can be considered as an enabling technology for research in the emerging field of two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures.
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    Progress and challenges in using sustainable carbon anodes in rechargeable metal-ion batteries
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2021) Soltani, Niloofar; Bahrami, Amin; Giebeler, Lars; Gemming, Thomas; Mikhailova, Daria
    Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are one of the most promising alternatives to effectively bypass fossil fuels. However, long-term energy application of LIBs could be restricted in the future due to the increased production cost of LIB arising from the shortage and inaccessibility of Li in the Earth's crust. Na or K have been considered as substitutes for Li but in spite of their natural abundance, they suffer from low gravimetric/volumetric energy density. An alternative to increase the efficiency of sodium-ion battery (SIBs) and potassium-ion battery (KIBs) is to focus on finding the high‐performing negative electrode, the anode. The large volume changes of alloying and conversion type anodes for KIBs and SIBs make hard carbons to a better option on this regard than usual graphitic carbons, but a key obstacle is the reliance on unsustainable sources. Thus, biomass-derived carbon could offer a promising alternative, and it has indeed been in the focus of much recent work. This review highlights the recent advances in using carbon extracted from various biomass sources in rechargeable Li-, Na-, and K-ion batteries. Maximizing the energy and power densities as well as the lifetime of carbon anodes require an exploration of the right balance between carbon structures, pore morphology, chemical composition and alkali metal-ion storage. Thus, in this review, first, we take stock of key challenges and opportunities to extract carbon from various plants structural components and identify the extracted carbon structure compared to graphite-like structure. Then, we provide an overview on morphological and structural modification of the extracted carbons. Finally, we show how the physicochemical properties, structural alignment and morphological variation of the biomass-derived carbon can affect the storage mechanism and electrochemical performance. The extensive overview of this topic provided here is expected to stimulate further work on environmentally friendly battery design and towards the optimization of the battery performance. Electrode materials in alkali-metal-ion batteries that are based on biomass-derived carbon may allow not only a technical breakthrough, but also an ethically and socially acceptable product.
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    High-performance electronics and optoelectronics of monolayer tungsten diselenide full film from pre-seeding strategy
    (Weinheim : Wiley, 2021) Zhang, Shu; Pang, Jinbo; Cheng, Qilin; Yang, Feng; Chen, Yu; Liu, Yu; Li, Yufen; Gemming, Thomas; Liu, Xiaoyan; Ibarlucea, Bergoi; Yang, Jiali; Liu, Hong; Zhou, Weijia; Cuniberti, Gianaurelio; Rümmeli, Mark H.
    Tungsten diselenide (WSe2) possesses extraordinary electronic properties for applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and emerging exciton physics. The synthesis of monolayer WSe2 film is of topmost for device arrays and integrated circuits. The monolayer WSe2 film has yet been reported by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach, and the nucleation mechanism remains unclear. Here, we report a pre-seeding strategy for finely regulating the nuclei density at an early stage and achieving a fully covered film after chemical vapor deposition growth. The underlying mechanism is heterogeneous nucleation from the pre-seeding tungsten oxide nanoparticles. At first, we optimized the precursor concentration for pre-seeding. Besides, we confirmed the superiority of the pre-seeding method, compared with three types of substrate pretreatments, including nontreatment, sonication in an organic solvent, and oxygen plasma. Eventually, the high-quality synthetic WSe2 monolayer film exhibits excellent device performance in field-effect transistors and photodetectors. We extracted thermodynamic activation energy from the nucleation and growth data. Our results may shed light on the wafer-scale production of homogeneous monolayer films of WSe2, other 2D materials, and their van der Waals heterostructures.
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    Signal enhancement in cantilever magnetometry based on a co-resonantly coupled sensor
    (Frankfurt, M. : Beilstein-Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften, 2016) Körner, Julia; Reiche, Christopher F.; Gemming, Thomas; Büchner, Bernd; Gerlach, Gerald; Mühl, Thomas
    Cantilever magnetometry is a measurement technique used to study magnetic nanoparticles. With decreasing sample size, the signal strength is significantly reduced, requiring advances of the technique. Ultrathin and slender cantilevers can address this challenge but lead to increased complexity of detection. We present an approach based on the co-resonant coupling of a micro- and a nanometer-sized cantilever. Via matching of the resonance frequencies of the two subsystems we induce a strong interplay between the oscillations of the two cantilevers, allowing for a detection of interactions between the sensitive nanocantilever and external influences in the amplitude response curve of the microcantilever. In our magnetometry experiment we used an iron-filled carbon nanotube acting simultaneously as nanocantilever and magnetic sample. Measurements revealed an enhancement of the commonly used frequency shift signal by five orders of magnitude compared to conventional cantilever magnetometry experiments with similar nanomagnets. With this experiment we do not only demonstrate the functionality of our sensor design but also its potential for very sensitive magnetometry measurements while maintaining a facile oscillation detection with a conventional microcantilever setup.