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Single-crystal neutron and X-ray diffraction study of garnet-type solid-state electrolyte Li6La3ZrTaO12: An in situ temperature-dependence investigation (2.5 ≤ T ≤ 873 K)
2021, Redhammer, Günther J., Meven, Martin, Ganschow, Steffen, Tippelt, Gerold, Rettenwander, Daniel
Large single crystals of garnet-type Li6La3ZrTaO12 (LLZTO) were grown by the Czochralski method and analysed using neutron diffraction between 2.5 and 873 K in order to fully characterize the Li atom distribution, and possible Li ion mobility in this class of potential candidates for solid-state electrolyte battery material. LLZTO retains its cubic symmetry (space group Ia 3 d) over the complete temperature range. When compared to other sites, the octahedral sites behave as the most rigid unit and show the smallest increase in atomic displacement parameters and bond length. The La and Li sites show similar thermal expansion in their bond lengths with temperature, and the anisotropic and equivalent atomic displacement parameters exhibit a distinctly larger increase at temperatures above 400 K. Detailed inspection of nuclear densities at the Li1 site reveal a small but significant displacement from the 24d position to the typical 96h position, which cannot, however, be resolved from the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The site occupation of LiI ions on Li1 and Li2 sites remains constant, so there is no change in site occupation with temperature. © 2021 International Union of Crystallography. All rights reserved.
Growth of crystalline phase change materials by physical deposition methods
2017, Boschker, Jos E., Calarco, Raffaella
Phase change materials are a technologically important materials class and are used for data storage in rewritable DVDs and in phase change random access memory. Furthermore, new applications for phase change materials are emerging. Phase change materials with a high structural quality, such as offered by epitaxial films, are needed in order to study the fundamental properties of phase change materials and to improve our understanding of this materials class. Here, we review the progress made in the growth of crystalline phase change materials by physical methods, such as molecular beam epitaxy, sputtering, and pulsed laser deposition. First, we discuss the difference and similarities between these physical deposition methods and the crystal structures of Ge2Sb2Te5, the prototype phase change material. Next, we focus on the growth of epitiaxial GST films on (0 0 1)- and (1 1 1)-oriented substrates, leading to the conclusion that (1 1 1)-oriented substrates are preferred for the growth of phase change materials. Finally, the growth of GeTe/Sb2Te3 superlattices on amorphous and single crystalline substrates is discussed.
Modeling of GERDA Phase II data
2020, Agostini, Matteo, Bakalyarov, Alexander M., Balata, Marco, Barabanov, Igor, Baudis, Laura, Bauer, Christian, Bellotti, Enrico, Belogurov, Sergej, Bettini, Alessandro, Bezrukov, Leonid, Borowicz, Dariusz, Stukov, Danila, Vanhoefer, Laura, Vasenko, Andrey A., Veresnikova, Anna, Vignoli, Chiara, von Sturm, Katharina, Wester, Thomas, Wiesinger, Christoph, Wojcik, Marcin, Yanovich, Evgeny, Zatschler, Birgit, Zhitnikov, Igor, Zhukov, Sergey V., Zinatulina, Daniya, Zschocke, Andreas, Zsigmond, Anna J., Zuber, Kai, Zuzel, Grzegorz, Bossio, Elisabetta, Bothe, Vikas, Brudanin, Victor, Brugnera, Riccardo, Caldwell, Allen, Cattadori, Carla, Chernogorov, Andrey, Comellato, Tommaso, D'Andrea, Valerio, Demidova, Elena V., Di Marco, Natalia, Domula, Alexander, Doroshkevich, Evgenyi, Egorov, Viacheslav, Fischer, Felix, Fomina, Maria, Gangapshev, Albert, Garfagnini, Alberto, Gooch, Chris, Grabmayr, Peter, Gurentsov, Valery, Gusev, Konstantin, Hakenmüller, Janina, Hemmer, Sabine, Hiller, Roman, Hofmann, Werner, Hult, Mikael, Inzhechik, Lev V., Janicskó Csáthy, Jozsef, Jochum, Josef, Junker, Matthias, Kazalov, Vladimir, Kermaïdic, Yoann, Kihm, Thomas, Kirpichnikov, Igor V., Klimenko, Alexander, Kneißl, Raphael, Knöpfle, Karl T., Kochetov, Oleg, Kornoukhov, Vasily N., Krause, Patrick, Kuzminov, Valery V., Laubenstein, Matthias, Lazzaro, Andrea, Lindner, Manfred, Lippi, I., Lubashevskiy, Alexey, Lubsandorzhiev, Bayarto, Lutter, Guillaume, Macolino, Carla, Majorovits, Bela, Maneschg, Werner, Miloradovic, Michael, Mingazheva, Rizalina, Misiaszek, Marcin, Moseev, Pavel, Nemchenok, Igor, Panas, Krysztof, Pandola, Luciano, Pelczar, Krysztof, Pertoldi, Luigi, Piseri, Paolo, Pullia, Alberto, Ransom, Chloe, Riboldi, Stefano, Rumyantseva, Nadezda, Sada, Cinzia, Salamida, Francesco, Schönert, Stefan, Schreiner, Jochen, Schütt, Mario, Schütz, Ann-Katrin, Schulz, Oliver, Schwarz, Mario, Schwingenheuer, Bernhard, Selivanenko, Oleg, Shevchik, Egor, Shirchenko, Mark, Simgen, Hardy, Smolnikov, Anatoly
The GERmanium Detector Array (Gerda) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay of 76Ge. The technological challenge of Gerda is to operate in a “background-free” regime in the region of interest (ROI) after analysis cuts for the full 100 kg·yr target exposure of the experiment. A careful modeling and decomposition of the full-range energy spectrum is essential to predict the shape and composition of events in the ROI around Qββ for the 0νββ search, to extract a precise measurement of the half-life of the double-beta decay mode with neutrinos (2νββ) and in order to identify the location of residual impurities. The latter will permit future experiments to build strategies in order to further lower the background and achieve even better sensitivities. In this article the background decomposition prior to analysis cuts is presented for Gerda Phase II. The background model fit yields a flat spectrum in the ROI with a background index (BI) of 16.04+0.78−0.85⋅10−3 cts/(keV·kg·yr) for the enriched BEGe data set and 14.68+0.47−0.52⋅10−3 cts/(keV·kg·yr) for the enriched coaxial data set. These values are similar to the one of Phase I despite a much larger number of detectors and hence radioactive hardware components.
The spin-flip scattering effect in the spin transport in silicon doped with bismuth
2017, Ezhevskii, A.A., Detochenko, A.P., Soukhorukov, A.V., Guseinov, D.V., Kudrin, A.V., Abrosimov, N.V., Riemann, H.
Spin transport of conduction electrons in silicon samples doped with bismuth in the 1.1•1013 - 7.7•1015 cm-3 concentration range was studied by the Hall effect measurements. The dependence of the Hall voltage magnitude on the magnetic field is the sum of the normal and spin Hall effects. The electrons are partially polarized by an external magnetic field and are scattered by the bismuth spin-orbit potential. Spin-flip scattering results in the additional electromotive force which compensates the normal Hall effect in strong magnetic fields.
Czochralski growth of mixed cubic sesquioxide crystals in the ternary system Lu2O3-Sc2O3-Y2O3
2021, Kränkel, Christian, Uvarova, Anastasia, Haurat, Émile, Hülshoff, Lena, Brützam, Mario, Guguschev, Christo, Kalusniaka, Sascha, Klimm, Detlef
Cubic rare-earth sesquioxide crystals are strongly demanded host materials for high power lasers, but due to their high melting points investigations on their thermodynamics and the growth of large-size crystals of high optical quality remain a challenge. Detailed thermal investigations of the ternary system Lu2O3-Sc2O3-Y2O3 revealing a large range of compositions with melting temperatures below 2200°C and a minimum of 2053°C for the composition (Sc0.45Y0.55)2O3 are presented. These reduced temperatures enable for the first time the growth of high optical quality mixed sesquioxide crystals with disordered structure by the conventional Czochralski method from iridium crucibles. An (Er0.07Sc0.50Y0.43)2O3 crystal is successfully grown and characterized with respect to its crystallographic properties as well as its composition, thermal conductivity and optical absorption in the 1μm range. © 2021 International Union of Crystallography. All rights reserved.
High-temperature annealing of AlN films grown on 4H-SiC
2020, Brunner, F., Cancellara, L., Hagedorn, S., Albrecht, M., Weyers, M.
The effect of high-temperature annealing (HTA) at 1700 °C on AlN films grown on 4H-SiC substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy has been studied. It is shown that the structural quality of the AlN layers improves significantly after HTA similar to what has been demonstrated for AlN grown on sapphire. Dislocation densities reduce by one order of magnitude resulting in 8 × 108 cm-2 for a-type and 1 × 108 cm-2 for c-type dislocations. The high-temperature treatment removes pits from the surface by dissolving nanotubes and dislocations in the material. XRD measurements prove that the residual strain in AlN/4H-SiC is further relaxed after annealing. AlN films grown at higher temperature resulting in a lower as-grown defect density show only a marginal reduction in dislocation density after annealing. Secondary ion mass spectrometry investigation of impurity concentrations reveals an increase of Si after HTA probably due to in-diffusion from the SiC substrate. However, C concentration reduces considerably with HTA that points to an efficient carbon removal process (i.e., CO formation). © 2020 Author(s).
The natural critical current density limit for Li7La3Zr2O12 garnets
2020, Flatscher, Florian, Philipp, Martin, Ganschow, Steffen, Wilkening, H. Martin R., Rettenwander, Daniel
Ceramic batteries equipped with Li-metal anodes are expected to double the energy density of conventional Li-ion batteries. Besides high energy densities, also high power is needed when batteries have to be developed for electric vehicles. Practically speaking, so-called critical current densities (CCD) higher than 3 mA cm-2 are needed to realize such systems. As yet, this value has, however, not been achieved for garnet-type Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) being one of the most promising ceramic electrolytes. Most likely, CCD values are influenced by the area specific resistance (ASR) governing ionic transport across the Li|electrolyte interface. Here, single crystals of LLZO with adjusted ASR are used to quantify this relationship in a systematic manner. It turned out that CCD values exponentially decrease with increasing ASR. The highest obtained CCD value was as high as 280 µA cm-2. This value should be regarded as the room-temperature limit for LLZO when no external pressure is applied. Concluding, for polycrystalline samples either stack pressure or a significant increase of the interfacial area is needed to reach current densities equal or higher than the above-mentioned target value. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Revealing all states of dewetting of a thin gold layer on a silicon surface by nanosecond laser conditioning
2021, Ernst, Owen C., Uebel, David, Kayser, Stefan, Lange, Felix, Teubner, Thomas, Boeck, Torsten
Dewetting is a ubiquitous phenomenon which can be applied to the laser synthesis of nanoparticles. A classical spinodal dewetting process takes place in four successive states, which differ from each other in their morphology. In this study all states are revealed by interaction of pulsed nanosecond UV laser light with thin gold layers with thicknesses between 1 nm and 10 nm on (100) silicon wafers. The specific morphologies of the dewetting states are discussed with particular emphasis on the state boundaries. The main parameter determining which state is formed is not the duration for which the gold remains liquid, but rather the input energy provided by the laser. This shows that each state transition has a separate measurable activation energy. The temperature during the nanosecond pulses and the duration during which the gold remains liquid was determined by simulation using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software package. Using these calculations, an accurate local temperature profile and its development over time was simulated. An analytical study of the morphologies and formed structures was performed using Minkowski measures. With aid of this tool, the laser induced structures were compared with thermally annealed samples, with perfectly ordered structures and with perfectly random structures. The results show that both, structures of the laser induced and the annealed samples, strongly resemble the perfectly ordered structures. This reveals a close relationship between these structures and suggests that the phenomenon under investigation is indeed a spinodal dewetting generated by an internal material wave function. The purposeful generation of these structures and the elucidation of the underlying mechanism of dewetting by short pulse lasers may assist the realisation of various technical elements such as nanowires in science and industry. © 2020
Charge carrier density, mobility, and Seebeck coefficient of melt-grown bulk ZnGa2O4 single crystals
2020, Boy, Johannes, Handwerg, Martin, Mitdank, Rüdiger, Galazka, Zbigniew, Fischer, Saskia F.
The temperature dependence of the charge carrier density, mobility, and Seebeck coefficient of melt-grown, bulk ZnGa2O4 single crystals was measured between 10 K and 310 K. The electrical conductivity at room temperature is about σ = 286 S/cm due to a high electron concentration of n = 3.26 × 1019 cm−3 caused by unintentional doping. The mobility at room temperature is μ = 55 cm2/V s, whereas the scattering on ionized impurities limits the mobility to μ = 62 cm2/Vs for temperatures lower than 180 K. The Seebeck coefficient relative to aluminum at room temperature is SZnGa2O4−Al = (−125 ± 2) μV/K and shows a temperature dependence as expected for degenerate semiconductors. At low temperatures, around 60 K, we observed the maximum Seebeck coefficient due to the phonon drag effect. © 2020 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Investigating the electrochemical stability of Li7La3Zr2O12 solid electrolytes using field stress experiments
2021, Smetaczek, Stefan, Pycha, Eva, Ring, Joseph, Siebenhofer, Matthäus, Ganschow, Steffen, Berendts, Stefan, Nenning, Andreas, Kubicek, Markus, Rettenwander, Daniel, Limbeck, Andreas, Fleig, Jürgen
Cubic Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) garnets are among the most promising solid electrolytes for solid-state batteries with the potential to exceed conventional battery concepts in terms of energy density and safety. The electrochemical stability of LLZO is crucial for its application, however, controversial reports in the literature show that it is still an unsettled matter. Here, we investigate the electrochemical stability of LLZO single crystals by applying electric field stress via macro- and microscopic ionically blocking Au electrodes in ambient air. Induced material changes are subsequently probed using various locally resolved analysis techniques, including microelectrode electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and microfocus X-ray diffraction (XRD). Our experiments indicate that LLZO decomposes at 4.1–4.3 V vs. Li+/Li, leading to the formation of Li-poor phases like La2Zr2O7 beneath the positively polarized electrode. The reaction is still on-going even after several days of polarization, indicating that no blocking interfacial layer is formed. The decomposition can be observed at elevated as well as room temperature and suggests that LLZO is truly not compatible with high voltage cathode materials.