Impure boundary

If tlie level(s) associated witli tlie defect are deep, tliey become electron-hole recombination centres. The result is a (sometimes dramatic) reduction in carrier lifetimes. Such an effect is often associated witli tlie presence of transition metal impurities or certain extended defects in tlie material. For example, substitutional Au is used to make fast switches in Si. Many point defects have deep levels in tlie gap, such as vacancies or transition metals. In addition, complexes, precipitates and extended defects are often associated witli recombination centres. The presence of grain boundaries, dislocation tangles and metallic precipitates in poly-Si photovoltaic devices are major factors which reduce tlieir efficiency. 

In order to obtain appreciable conductivities, semiconductors must be doped witli small amounts of selected impurities. It is possible to switch tire doping type from n to p type, or vice versa, eitlier during tire growtli of a crystal or by tire selective introduction of impurities after tire growtli. The boundary region between tire p type and n type regions is... 

A laser pulse strikes the surface of a specimen (a), removing material from the first layer, A. The mass spectrometer records the formation of A+ ions (b). As the laser pulses ablate more material, eventually layer B is reached, at which stage A ions begin to decrease in abundance and ions appear instead. The process is repeated when the B/C boundary is reached so that B+ ions disappear from the spectrum and C+ ions appear instead. This method is useful for depth profiling through a specimen, very little of which is needed. In (c), less power is used and the laser beam is directed at different spots across a specimen. Where there is no surface contamination, only B ions appear, but, where there is surface impurity, ions A from the impurity also appear in the spectrum (d). 

The commercial sintered spinel and M-type ferrites have a porosity of 2—15 vol % and a grain size in the range of 1—10 ]lni. In addition, these materials usually contain up to about 1 wt % of a second phase, eg, CaO + Si02 on grain boundaries, originating from impurities or sinter aids. 

Processing variables that affect the properties of the thermal CVD material include the precursor vapors being used, substrate temperature, precursor vapor temperature gradient above substrate, gas flow pattern and velocity, gas composition and pressure, vapor saturation above substrate, diffusion rate through the boundary layer, substrate material, and impurities in the gases. Eor PECVD, plasma uniformity, plasma properties such as ion and electron temperature and densities, and concurrent energetic particle bombardment during deposition are also important. 

The sputtering process is frequendy used in both the processing (e.g., ion etching) and characterization of materials. Many materials develop nonuniformities, such as cones and ridges, under ion bombardment. Polycrystalline materials, in particular, have grains and grain boundaries that can sputter at different rates. Impurities can also influence the formation of surface topography. ... 

One of the original applications of AES, and still one of the most important, is the analysis of grain boundaries in metals and ceramics. Very small amounts of impurity or dopant elements in the bulk material can migrate under appropriate temperature conditions to the boundaries of the grain structure and accumulate there. In that way the concentration of minor elements at the grain boundaries can become... 

Application of AES to zirconia ceramics has been reported by Moser et al. [2.146]. Elemental maps of Al and Si demonstrate the grain boundary segregation of small impurities of silica and alumina in these ceramics. 

This kind of microstructure also influences other kinds of conductors, especially those with positive (PTC) or negative (NTC) temperature coefficients of resistivity. For instance, PTC materials (Kulwicki 1981) have to be impurity-doped polycrystalline ferroelectrics, usually barium titanate (single crystals do not work) and depend on a ferroelectric-to-paraelectric transition in the dopant-rich grain boundaries, which lead to enormous increases in resistivity. Such a ceramic can be used to prevent temperature excursions (surges) in electronic devices. 

As we learn from Sims s reviews, many other improvements have been made to superalloys and to their exploitation in recent decades. Solid-solution strengthening, grain-boundary strengthening with carbides and other precipitates, and especially the institution, some twenty years ago, of clean processing which allows the many unwanted impurities to be avoided (Benz 1999) have all improved the alloys to the point where (McLean 1996) the best superalloys now operate successfully at a Kelvin temperature which is as much as 85% of the melting temperature this shows that the prospect of significant further improvement is slight. 

To further characterize the event it is first necessary to identify critical features of the initial configuration that will strongly influence the process. For powder compacts, the most obvious features are the morphological characteristics of the powders, their microstructures, and the porosity of the compact. For solid density samples, the grain structure, grain boundaries, defect level, impurities, and inclusions are critical features. 

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