Interfaces substrate/vapour

The first term in Eq. (5.11) reflects the gain in the bulk energy while the second term accounts for the variation in the total free energy associated with the replacement of the substrate/amorphous and vapour/amorphous interfaces (dAi) by the substrate/crystal and vapour/crystal interfaces. The last term represents the increase in the total free energy due to the increase in the crystal/amorphous interface (dA2). Taking into account Eq. (5.11) and the expressions for dV, dAi and dA2 given above, dG/dN can be expressed as ... 

Yttrium is also used in other areas of metallurgy notably as a component of certain nickel-base and cobalt-base superalloys of the NiCrAlY and CoCrAlY type.(3) These alloys possess excellent corrosion and oxidation resistance, properties that have attracted the attention of the aero-engine industry where they are used as protective coatings on turbine blades. The alloys, when applied by vapour deposition, form an oxide coating that exhibits remarkable adhesion, a property attributed largely to the yttrium component acting to prevent the formation of voids at the oxide/substrate interface.(4)... 

The process is characterised by the electrofluorination of volatile organic substrates within the matrix of pores of a carbon anode immersed in molten KF 2HF as electrolyte (as in a mid-temperature fluorine generator cell), and depends on the phenomenon that the anodically charged porous carbon is not wetted by the electrolyte. The fluorination probably takes place at the three phase interface of organic vapour, solid carbon, and liquid electrolyte in close proximity to, or at the sites where fluorine is being evolved. 

The mechanical properties of materials involve various concepts such as hardness, shear and bulk modulus. The group III nitrides are now mostly used as fihns or layers grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on sapphire, GaAs or SiC. The lattice parameters of the substrate do not generally match those of the deposited layer, and therefore, stresses appear at the interface and in the layer and modify its physical properties. Hence, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of these properties. 

Spreading wetting is a process in which a drop of liquid spreads over a solid substrate (the liquid and solid being previously in equilibrium with the vapour). Here, the solid-vapour interface is replaced by two new interfaces (solid-liquid and liquid-vapour) of same area. 

The substrate also has a role to play in the evaporation of a droplet, with the evaporation rate of droplets being limited by the substrate s thermal properties this is especially the case for high evaporation rates. When a droplet is deposited onto a substrate, two extreme cases can occur. If the substrate is a perfect thermal insulator then the evaporation rate is altered by changes in the droplet-vapour interface area. However, if the substrate is a perfect thermal conductor then the evaporation rate is also affected by a second mechanism, namely the heat transfer between the substrate and the droplet. In this second situation, the evaporation rate is higher than that of a droplet sitting on a thermal insulator. 

In order to investigate molecules adsorbed at the solid-liquid interface roughened electrode surfaces or metal colloids in solution (sols) are prepared. For investigations of the solid-gas or solid-vapour interface several methods are available to produce metal island films on SERS-active substrates. 

In chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactive vapor precursors react to produce solid materials in the gas phase or at the solid-gas interface on the substrate surface at appropriate temperatures. Typical precursors used in the CVD process are metal hydrides, metal chlorides, and metal organic compounds. In the case that the precursor species are metal organic compounds, the process is called metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The precursor molecules are introduced into a reactor sometimes with a carrier gas and decompose by means of heat, irradiation of UV light, or electrical plasma formed in the gas. Thermal CVD is the most commonly used method. This technique has an advantage that refractory materials can be vapour-deposited at relatively low temperatures,... 

It is easy to see that adsorption energies are dependent on the curvature of the interface. Consider first adsorption on a planar interface. At low pressures, p, a sub-monolayer, gas-like, and eventually a two-dimensional liquid described by a Langmuir isotherm (or decorations thereof) forms. At higher pressures still (p/ps>0.35, where ps is the saturated vapour pressure) multilayer adsorption isotherms can occur depending on adsorbate, molecular size and adsorbate-substrate interactions. This regime is usually described by the theory of Brxmauer-Emmet-Teller (BET). In this domain, ln(p/pg) = 1/t, where t is the thickness of the film. 

The wetting angle is defined as the angle between solid/liquid and liquid/ vapour interfaces when a liquid drop is placed on a solid substrate, as shown in Figure 3.2. When we consider a force equilibrium in the direction parallel to the substrate. 

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