Conversion thin films

Stimulated by a variety of commercial applications in fields such as xerography, solar energy conversion, thin-film active devices, and so forth, international interest in this subject area has increased dramatically since these early reports. The absence of long-range order invalidates the use of simplifying concepts such as the Bloch theorem, the counterpart of which has proved elusive for disordered systems. After more than a decade of concentrated research, there remains no example of an amorphous solid for the energy band structure, and the mode of electronic transport is still a subject for continued controversy. 

The great interest in this material stems from its applications in solar-energy conversion, thin-film transistors, memory switches, and electrophotography (204). 

The speed of wetting has been measured by running a tape of material that is wetted either downward through the liquid-air interface, or upward through the interface. For a polyester tape and a glycerol-water mixture, a wetting speed of about 20 cm/sec and a dewetting speed of about 0.6 cm/sec has been reported [37]. Conversely, the time of rupture of thin films can be important (see Ref. 38). 

If a linear mbber is used as a feedstock for the mass process (85), the mbber becomes insoluble in the mixture of monomers and SAN polymer which is formed in the reactors, and discrete mbber particles are formed. This is referred to as phase inversion since the continuous phase shifts from mbber to SAN. Grafting of some of the SAN onto the mbber particles occurs as in the emulsion process. Typically, the mass-produced mbber particles are larger (0.5 to 5 llm) than those of emulsion-based ABS (0.1 to 1 llm) and contain much larger internal occlusions of SAN polymer. The reaction recipe can include polymerization initiators, chain-transfer agents, and other additives. Diluents are sometimes used to reduce the viscosity of the monomer and polymer mixture to faciUtate processing at high conversion. The product from the reactor system is devolatilized to remove the unreacted monomers and is then pelletized. Equipment used for devolatilization includes single- and twin-screw extmders, and flash and thin film evaporators. Unreacted monomers are recovered for recycle to the reactors to improve the process yield. 

The polymer can easily be recovered by simple vacuum filtration or centrifugation of the polymer slurry. This can be followed by direct conversion of the filter cake to dope by slurrying the filter cake in chilled solvent and then passing the slurry through a heat exchanger to form the spinning solution and a thin-film evaporator to remove residual monomer. 

Similar to IFP s Dimersol process, the Alphabutol process uses a Ziegler-Natta type soluble catalyst based on a titanium complex, with triethyl aluminum as a co-catalyst. This soluble catalyst system avoids the isomerization of 1-butene to 2-butene and thus eliminates the need for removing the isomers from the 1-butene. The process is composed of four sections reaction, co-catalyst injection, catalyst removal, and distillation. Reaction takes place at 50—55°C and 2.4—2.8 MPa (350—400 psig) for 5—6 h. The catalyst is continuously fed to the reactor ethylene conversion is about 80—85% per pass with a selectivity to 1-butene of 93%. The catalyst is removed by vaporizing Hquid withdrawn from the reactor in two steps classical exchanger and thin-film evaporator. The purity of the butene produced with this technology is 99.90%. IFP has Hcensed this technology in areas where there is no local supply of 1-butene from other sources, such as Saudi Arabia and the Far East. 

Laboratory thin-film cells that are fabricated using this cell stmcture demonstrate a conversion efficiency of slightly greater than 10% (12). Unfortunately, efforts to create a device that is stable for long periods have been unsuccessfiil and Htde effort to develop this material is underway. 

Small-area thin-film CdTe solar cells have been fabricated with sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies near 16%, comparable to crystalline siUcon solar cells in large-scale manufacturing. Large-area monolithic integrated CdTe modules have been fabricated with efficiencies of ca 10%, comparable to crystalline siUcon modules commercially available. 

Finishes for aluminum products can be both decorative and useful. Processes in use include anodic oxidation, chemical conversion coating, electrochemical graining, electroplating (qv), thin film deposition, porcelain enameling, and painting. Some alloys respond better than others to such treatments. 

Clear-bright and blue-bright chromium conversion colors are thin films (qv) and may be obtained from both Cr(III) and Cr(VI) conversion baths. The perceived colors are actually the result of interference phenomena. Iridescent yellows, browns, bron2es, oHve drabs, and blacks are only obtained from hexavalent conversion baths, and the colors are Hsted in the order of increasing film thickness. Generally, the thicker the film, the better the corrosion protection (see Eilmdepositiontechniques). 

The mechanical properties of ionomers can be appreciably altered by the manner in which the ionomer is prepared and treated prior to testing. Some of the factors that are influential are the degree of conversion (neutralization) from the acid form to the salt form, the nature of the thermal treatment or aging, the type of counterion that is introduced, the solvent that is used for preparation of thin films, and the presence and nature of any plasticizers or additives that may be present. In the scope of this chapter, it is not possible to provide a complete description of the influence of each of these variables on the wide variety of ionomers that are now commercially available or produced in the laboratory. Instead, one or more examples of the changes in properties that may be induced by each of the processing variables is presented and discussed. 

Conventional electronic devices are made on silicon wafers. The fabrication of a silicon MISFET starts with the diffusion (or implantation) of the source and drain, followed by the growing of the insulating layer, usually thermally grown silicon oxide, and ends with the deposition of the metal electrodes. In TFTs, the semiconductor is not a bulk material, but a thin film, so that the device presents an inverted architecture. It is built on an appropriate substrate and the deposition of the semiconductor constitutes the last step of the process. TFT structures can be divided into two families (Fig. 14-12). In coplanar devices, all layers are on the same side of the semiconductor. Conversely, in staggered structures gate and source-drain stand on opposing sides of the semiconductor layer. 

Conversely, in the summer, it would still have a high transparency for the visible, but a high reflectivity for the near infrared and a high emissivity for the far infrared. The present state of the art of thin-films deposition still falls short of this goal which may have to wait for the development of suitable photochromic coating materials. 

Figure 1 shows the effects of the volume of decalin on the conversion of decalin on 3.9 wt. % Pt/C (0.3g) (a), 1 wt. % Pt/AlaOa (1.0 g) (b) and 1.46 wt. % Pt/A1(0H)0 (1.0 g) (C) at 483 K. Under those conditions, 0.0117, 0.010 and 0.0146 g of Pt were contained in the systems with Pt/C, Pt/AlaOs and Pt/A1(0H)0, respectively. The conversion of decalin on Pt/C showed to be a maximum at 1 ml of decalin (Fig.l (a)). This point is generally accepted as the liquid film state under reactive distillation conditions, at which the catalyst was just wet but not suspended at all through the dehydrogenation and covered with a thin film of liquid substrate. If such reactive distillation conditions are attained, the dehydrogenation proceeds more efficiently than liquid- and gas-phases [1]. 

Darkowski and Cocivera [94] investigated trialkyl- or triarylphosphine tellurides, as low-valent tellurium sources, soluble in organic solvents. They reported the cathodic electrodeposition of thin film CdTe on titanium from a propylene carbonate solution of tri-n-butylphosphine telluride and Cd(II) salt, at about 100 °C. Amorphous, smooth gray films were obtained with thicknesses up to 5.4 p,m. The Te/Cd atomic ratio was seen to depend on applied potential and solution composition with values ranging between 0.63 and 1.1. Polycrystalline, cubic CdTe was obtained upon annealing at 400 C. The as-deposited films could be either p- or n-type, and heat treatment converts p to n (type conversion cf. Sect. 3.3.2). 

Gruszecki T, Holmstrdm B (1993) Preparation of thin films of polycrystaUine CdSe for solar energy conversion 1. A literature survey. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 31 227-234... 

Importantly, Licht [104], using the optimized polysulfide elecfrolyfes developed for CdX PEC (described in a preceding paragraph), was able fo demonsfrafe frue long-term stability for a polycrystalline pasted thin film Cd(Se,Te)/aqueous polysulfide system. In specific, complete stability was exhibited for an 8-month outdoors operation at 4.1% conversion efficiency. 

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