Search results for "engineering"
showing 10 items of 44231 documents
Half-Heusler superlattices as model systems for nanostructured thermoelectrics
2015
The efficiency of thermoelectric materials is directly related to the dimensionless figure of merit , therefore, one of the means to improve ZT is to reduce the thermal conductivity. Our research focuses on half-Heusler superlattices (SLs) and the relationship between the SL period and the thermal conductivity. The cross-plane thermal conductivity of DC-sputtered TiNiSn/HfNiSn SLs was measured by the 3 method at room temperature and a clear reduction of was achieved for all SL periods, in particular for periods smaller than 20 nm. Moreover, the thermal conductivities of TiNiSn and HfNiSn single films display reduced values compared to the literature data for bulk materials. Furthermore, we …
Electronic structure and magnetic order in Cu Zn(1−)O: A study GGA and GGA + U
2019
Abstract Based on density functional theory within GGA formalism, first-principles calculations were performed in order to study the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of Cu-doped ZnO compound with dopant concentrations x = 0.028, 0.042, 0.056, and 0.125. It was found that CuxZn(1−x)O is ferromagnetic for both the closest and farthest impurity distances, but it is more stable energetically for the closest one. For all concentrations we obtained nearly half − metallic behavior. The calculations show that two substitutional Cu atoms introduce a magnetic moment of about 2.0 μB for all dopant concentrations. The results indicate that the magnetic ground state originates from the st…
Hole localization in thermoelectric half-Heusler (Zr0.5Hf0.5)Co(Sb1−xSn ) thin films
2019
Abstract The (Ti, Zr, Hf)Co(Sb 1 − x Snx) material class has recently come into focus as an attractive p-type high-temperature thermoelectric material. This study experimentally demonstrates that homogeneous, highly textured (Zr0.5Hf0.5)Co(Sb 1 − x Snx) thin films can be grown on single crystalline MgO. By varying the sputter power, samples with both positive and negative Seebeck coefficient can be grown. The underlying reason for the sign change is the segregation of Sn nano-inclusions, which lower the effective doping of the half-Heusler matrix. Similarly the Hall constant also switches sign at low temperatures, which is modeled assuming semi-metal behavior and low temperature hole locali…
Half-Heusler materials as model systems for phase-separated thermoelectrics
2015
Semiconducting half-Heusler compounds based on NiSn and CoSb have attracted attention because of their good performance as thermoelectric materials. Nanostructuring of the materials was experimentally established through phase separation in (T1−x′Tx″)T(M1−yMy′) alloys when mixing different transition metals (T, T′, T″) or main group elements (M, M′). The electric transport properties of such alloys depend not only on their micro- or nanostructure but also on the atomic-scale electronic structure. In the present work, the influence of the band structure and density of states on the electronic transport and thermoelectric properties is investigated in detail for the constituents of phase-sepa…
High-pressure study of the infrared active modes in wurtzite and rocksalt ZnO
2011
International audience; We present a high-pressure study of ZnO carried out in the mid- to far-infrared frequency domain with the aim of characterizing the optic modes of wurtzite and rocksalt ZnO. We obtained the pressure coefficients of the E1(TO), E1(LO), A1(TO), and A1(LO) modes of the low-pressure wurtzite phase and compare them with previous Raman measurements. The optical modes of the high-pressure rocksalt phase are infrared active, so we were able to determine their wave numbers and pressure dependencies. In the wurtzite phase, high pressure induces a slight decrease in both longitudinal and transverse effective charges. The decrease is more pronounced in the rocksalt phase.
Acoustic vibrations of monoclinic zirconia nanocrystals
2011
International audience; Polarized low-frequency Raman spectra originating from confined acoustic vibrations are reported for monoclinic ZrO2 nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution synthesized from a continuous supercritical water process. The monoclinic lattice structure is taken into account for the interpretation of the spectra by comparing with isotropic and anisotropic continuum elasticity calculations for monodomain nanocrystals. The various mechanisms leading to the broadening of the Raman peaks are discussed. We demonstrate that an accurate determination of the size distribution of the nanoparticles is possible using the Raman peak due to the fundamental breathing vibration wh…
Quasi-antiferromagnetic multilayer stacks with 90 degree coupling mediated by thin Fe oxide spacers
2019
We fabricated quasiantiferromagnetic (quasi-AFM) layers with alternating antiparallel magnetization in the neighboring domains via 90° magnetic coupling through an Fe-O layer. We investigated the magnetic properties and the relationship between the magnetic domain size and the 90° magnetic coupling via experiments and calculations. Two types of samples with a Ru buffer and a (Ni80Fe20)Cr40 buffer were prepared, and we found that with the NiFeCr buffer, the sample has a flatter Fe-O layer, leading to stronger 90° magnetic coupling and a smaller domain size compared with the Ru buffer sample. This trend is well explained by the bilinear and biquadratic coupling coefficients, A12 and B12, in L…
Magnetization reversal of the domain structure in the anti-perovskite nitride Co3FeN investigated by high-resolution X-ray microscopy
2016
We performed X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) photoemission electron microscopy imaging to reveal the magnetic domain structure of anti-perovskite nitride Co3FeN exhibiting a negative spin polarization. In square and disc patterns, we systematically and quantitatively determined the statistics of the stable states as a function of geometry. By direct imaging during the application of a magnetic field, we revealed the magnetic reversal process in a spatially resolved manner. We compared the hysteresis on the continuous area and the square patterns from the magnetic field-dependent XMCD ratio, which can be explained as resulting from the effect of the shape anisotropy, present in nano…
Ptychographic imaging and micromagnetic modeling of thermal melting of nanoscale magnetic domains in antidot lattices
2020
CA extern Antidot lattices are potential candidates to act as bit patterned media for data storage as they are able to trap nanoscale magnetic domains between two adjacent holes. Here, we demonstrate the combination of micromagnetic modeling and x-ray microscopy. Detailed simulation of these systems can only be achieved by micromagnetic modeling that takes thermal effects into account. For this purpose, a Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch approach is used here. The calculated melting of magnetic domains within the antidot lattice is reproduced experimentally by x-ray microscopy. Furthermore, we compare conventional scanning transmission x-ray microscopy with resolution enhanced ptychography. Hence, we …
Impact of Annealing Temperature on Tunneling Magnetoresistance Multilayer Stacks
2020
The effect of annealing temperatures on the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) has been investigated for annealing between 190 and 370°C. The TMR shows a maximum value of 215% at an annealing temperature of 330°C. A strong sensitivity of the TMR and the exchange bias of the pinned ferromagnetic layers on the annealing temperature are observed. Depending on sensor application requirements, the MTJ can be optimized either for stability and pinning strength or for a high TMR signal by choosing the appropriate annealing temperature. The switching mechanism of the ferromagnetic layers in the MTJ and the influence of the annealing on the layer properties,…