2020, Seifert, M., Lattner, E., Menzel, S.B., Oswald, S., Gemming, T.

Ti-Al thin films with a thickness of 200 nm were prepared either by co-sputtering from elemental Ti and Al targets or as Ti/Al multilayers with 10 and 20 nm individual layer thickness on thermally oxidized Si substrates. Some of the films were covered with a 20-nm-thick SiO2 layer, which was used as an oxidation protection against the ambient atmosphere. The films were annealed at up to 800 °C in high vacuum for 10 h, and the phase formation as well as the film architecture was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, cross section, and transmission electron microscopy, as well as Auger electron and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results reveal that the co-sputtered films remained amorphous after annealing at 600 °C independent on the presence of the SiO2 cover layer. In contrast to this, the γ-TiAl phase was formed in the multilayer films at this temperature. After annealing at 800 °C, all films were degraded completely despite the presence of the cover layer. In addition, a strong chemical reaction between the Ti and SiO2 of the cover layer and the substrate took place, resulting in the formation of Ti silicide. In the multilayer samples, this reaction already started at 600 °C.

2020, Meylan, C.M., Orava, J., Greer, A.L.

We explore the glassy states achievable after a metallic glass is formed on liquid quenching. Samples of La55Al25Ni20 (at.%) metallic glass (rod and ribbon) are studied. The extent of structural relaxation at room temperature is characterized for this low-glass-transition temperature glass. Plastic deformation (uniaxial compression) rejuvenates the glass to states of higher enthalpy characteristic of glass formation at high cooling rate. Deformation increases the heterogeneity of the glass, widening the spectrum of relaxation times. The extent of rejuvenation in samples of low aspect ratio is compared with that under conditions of high constraint in notched samples. The deformation-induced rejuvenation is particularly susceptible to reduction on subsequent ageing. Fast-scanning calorimetry is useful in characterizing the dynamics of structural relaxation. The shadow glass transition is more evident on fast heating, and is observed in this glass for the first time. A new excess exothermic effect is observed before the glass transition.

2019, Kamashev, A.A., Garif'yanov, N.N., Validov, A.A., Schumann, J., Kataev, V., Büchner, B., Fominov, Y.V., Garifullin, I.A.

We report the superconducting properties of the Co2Cr1-xFexAly/Cu/Ni/Cu/Pb spin-valve structure the magnetic part of which comprises the Heusler alloy layer HA = Co2Cr1-xFexAly with a high degree of spin polarization (DSP) of the conduction band and a Ni layer of variable thickness. The separation between the superconducting transition curves measured for the parallel (α = 0°) and perpendicular (α = 90°) orientation of the magnetization of the HA and the Ni layers reaches up to 0.5 K (α is the angle between the magnetization of two ferromagnetic layers). For all studied samples the dependence of the superconducting transition temperature Tc on α demonstrates a deep minimum in the vicinity of the perpendicular configuration of the magnetizations. This suggests that the observed minimum and the corresponding full switching effect of the spin valve is caused by the long-range triplet component of the superconducting condensate in the multilayer. Such a large effect can be attributed to a half-metallic nature of the HA layer, which in the orthogonal configuration efficiently draws off the spin-polarized Cooper pairs from the space between the HA and Ni layers. Our results indicate a significant potential of the concept of a superconducting spin-valve multilayer comprising a half-metallic ferromagnet, recently proposed by A. Singh et al., Phys. Rev. X 2015, 5, 021019, in achieving large values of the switching effect.

2020, Deng, L., Gebert, A., Zhang, L., Chen, H.Y., Gu, D.D., Kühn, U., Zimmermann, M., Kosiba, K., Pauly, S.

Nearly fully dense, glassy Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5 bulk specimens were fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) and their behaviour during compressive loading, during wear testing and in a corrosive medium was investigated. Their performance was compared with as-cast material of the same composition. The additively manufactured samples exhibit a yield strength around 1700 MPa combined with a plastic strain of about 0.5% after yielding despite the residual porosity of 1.3%, which is distributed uniformly in the samples. The propagation of shear bands in the bulk metallic glass prepared by SLM was studied. The specific wear rate and the worn surfaces demonstrated that similar wear mechanisms are active in the SLM and the as-cast samples. Hence, manufacturing the glass in layers does not adversely affect the wear properties. The same holds for the corrosion tests, which were carried out in 0.01 M Na2SO4 and 0.1 M NaCl electrolyte. The anodic polarization curves of SLM samples and as-cast samples revealed a similar corrosion behaviour. However, the SLM samples have a slightly reduced susceptibility to pitting corrosion and exhibit an improved surface healing ability, which might be attributed to an improved homogeneity of the additively manufactured glass.

2018, Munshi, A. Mazid, Kim, Dong-Chul, Heimdal, Carl Philip, Heilmann, Martin, Christiansen, Silke H., Vullum, Per Erik, van Helvoort, Antonius T. J., Weman, Helge

Wide-bandgap group III-nitride semiconductors are of special interest for applications in ultraviolet light emitting diodes, photodetectors, and lasers. However, epitaxial growth of high-quality III-nitride semiconductors on conventional single-crystalline substrates is challenging due to the lattice mismatch and differences in the thermal expansion coefficients. Recently, it has been shown that graphene, a two-dimensional material, can be used as a substrate for growing high-quality III-V semiconductors via quasi-van der Waals epitaxy and overcome the named challenges. Here, we report selective area growth of AlGaN nanopyramids on hole mask patterned single-layer graphene using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The nanopyramid bases have a hexagonal shape with a very high nucleation yield. After subsequent AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN overgrowth on the six {10 (1) over bar1} semi-polar side facets of the nanopyramids, intense room-temperature cathodoluminescence emission is observed at 365 nm with whispering gallery-like modes. This work opens up a route for achieving III-nitride opto-electronic devices on graphene substrates in the ultraviolet region for future applications.

2019, Quispe-Dominguez, Roger, Naseem, Sajid, Leuteritz, Andreas, Kuehnert, Ines

This research work is based on the comparison of the mixing phenomena of magnesium-aluminum (MgAl) layered double hydroxides (LDHs) intercalated by dodecylbenzene sulfonate (MgAl-DBS) in poly(lactic acid) (PLA). Two mixing techniques were used to compare the dispersion of LDHs in PLA such as sonication-assisted masterbatch (SAM) melt mixing and direct melting (DM) methods. MgAl LDHs synthesized by the urea hydrolysis method and intercalated with DBS anions using anion exchange reaction and were used in different ratios in PLA (1.25, 2.5, and 5 wt%). MgAl LDHs and their anion intercalation were studied by the X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) method. Different properties of LDH/PLA composites were compared to analyze the effect of these mixing techniques. Dispersion and exfoliation of LDHs in PLA were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Influences on the rheological properties were evaluated by analyzing the complex viscosities (η*), storage modulus (G′) and loss modulus (G′′) by using a rheometer. The thermal properties, thermal stability and effect on crystallinity of composites made with the two mixing techniques were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) respectively. The mixing mechanism and amount of MgAl-DBS LDHs have a notable effect on the properties of PLA composites with sonication-assisted masterbatch melt mixing techniques giving better dispersion of LDHs in PLA composites as compared to direct melt mixing. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

2022, Strusch, T., Lenz, K., Meckenstock, R., Bali, R., Ehrler, J., Lindner, J., Fassbender, J., Farle, M., Potzger, K., Semisalova, A.

We present a study of spin pumping efficiency and determine the spin mixing conductance and spin diffusion length in thin bilayer films based on 3d transition metal alloy Fe60Al40. Due to its magnetostructural phase transition, Fe60Al40 can be utilized as a ferromagnetic (FM) or paramagnetic (PM) material at the same temperature depending on its structural order; thus a thin Fe60Al40 film can act as a spin source or a spin sink when interfaced with a paramagnet or a ferromagnet, respectively. Ferromagnetic resonance measurements were performed in a frequency range of 5-35 GHz on bilayer films composed of FM-Fe60Al40/Pd and PM-Fe60Al40/Ni80Fe20 (permalloy). The increase in damping with the thickness of the paramagnetic layer was interpreted as a result of spin pumping into the paramagnet. We determine the spin mixing conductance g P d ↑↓ = (3.8 ± 0.5) × 10 18 m - 2 at the FM-Fe60Al40/Pd interface and the spin diffusion length λ P d = 9.1 ± 2.0 nm in Pd. For the PM-Fe60Al40/permalloy interface, we find a spin mixing conductance g F e A l ↑↓ = (2.1 ± 0.2) × 10 18 m - 2 and a spin diffusion length λ F e A l = 11.9 ± 0.2 nm for PM-Fe60Al40. The demonstrated bi-functionality of the Fe60Al40 alloy in spin pumping structures may be promising for spintronic applications.

2018, Kamashev, A.A., Validov, A.A., Schumann, J., Kataev, V., Büchner, B., Fominov, Y.V., Garifullin, I.A.

We have studied superconducting properties of spin-valve thin-layer heterostructures CoOx/F1/Cu/F2/Cu/Pb in which the ferromagnetic F1 layer was made of Permalloy while for the F2 layer we have taken a specially prepared film of the Heusler alloy Co2Cr1-xFexAl with a small degree of spin polarization of the conduction band. The heterostructures demonstrate a significant superconducting spin-valve effect, i.e., a complete switching on and offof the superconducting current flowing through the system by manipulating the mutual orientations of the magnetization of the F1 and F2 layers. The magnitude of the effect is doubled in comparison with the previously studied analogous multilayers with the F2 layer made of the strong ferromagnet Fe. Theoretical analysis shows that a drastic enhancement of the switching effect is due to a smaller exchange field in the heterostructure coming from the Heusler film as compared to Fe. This enables to approach an almost ideal theoretical magnitude of the switching in the Heusler-based multilayer with a F2 layer thickness of ca. 1 nm. © 2018 Kamashev et al.