Intermediate amorphous layer

Overall, these experimental results confirm that diamond crystallites are not located directly on the substrate surface but on an intermediate amorphous layer. Nucleation of diamond occurs readily on the... 

Figure 7.7 shows TEM and HRTEM images, partly together with the corresponding SAD patterns, of PLD ZnO films grown on Si(lll) substrates [49], Note that the lateral SAD image of the film on Si(lll) was taken from many columns as indicated in Fig. 7.7a. The ZnO columns on Si(lll) (and also on Si(100), see [49]) show no preferential azimuthal in-plane orientation relating to the Si substrate. Figure 7.7b shows a HRTEM lattice image with intermediate amorphous SiO layer of 2-4 nm thickness and an additional interdiffusion...

The interfacial layer of molecules on a growing crystal surface is considered by most to be intermediate in structure between fully crystalline and amorphous layers. Impurity... 

The process of formation of intermediate phases at interdiffusion is accompanied by a competition between stable and metastable phases. Solid-state amorphizing reactions (SSAR) present a classical example, when at the initial stage a metastable amorphous layer is formed and grows rather than the stable intermetaUides [1-3]. It is clear that the search for possible ways to estabhsh control over phase competition is highly essential for technological processes. Another problem related to phase competition refers to the order of phases formed in thin films and multi-layers [4, 5],... 

The fabrication of sohd lubricants such as diamondhke carbon (Ref 24) and molybdenum disulfide (Ref 25, 26) has also been studied. Diamondhke carbon coating exhibits very high hardness and sohd lubricant behavior because of its graphite and amorphous carbon contents. Tb fadhtate good DLC adhesion on TL-6A1-4V, an intermediate bond layer of SiC is required (Ref 24). Unlubricated shding wear tests in air of DLC/SiC/Ti-6Al-4V against a WC-Co pin showed a gradual reduction in coefficient of ftiction (down to 0.15) with increased load (Fig. 9) (Ref 24). 

It seems to be a reasonable assumption to associate these regions with the transition from the crystallites to the amorphous layers as one cause for the existence of an intermediate zone is easily seen. Just consider the number... 

The films are epitaxial in the sense that the lattice constant is intermediate between those of copper and nickel. As indicated above, that modulated strain is probably responsible for the increased hardness. Other authors (5) have tried to explain similar effects by stating that the layers were specifically oriented. Our example (6) demonstrates that these considerations must be reexamined since it was possible to achieve the effect in a crystalline multilayer deposited on an amorphous nickel-phosphorus underlayer. It appears that layer thickness is the important parameter here. 

Most commonly, zeolites are found in series of sedimentary rocks which contain pyroclastic material and are formed during the devitrification of this material. If the rocks are silica-rich, the zeolite species formed seems dependent upon the bulk composition and burial depth or temperature of formation (Hay, 1966). They are most frequently accompanied by silica in an amorphous or cryptocrystalline form (opal, chalcedony). Analcite and all other compositional intermediates up to the silica-rich clinoptilolite are found in this association. The most comifton clay mineral in such tuffs is montmorillonite. Zeolites are sometimes found with glauconite (Brown, et al . 1969) or celadonite (Hay, 1966 Iijima, 1970 Read and Eisenbacher, 1974) in pelitic layers or acidic eruptive rocks... 

Amorphous microporous silica membranes as discussed here, consist of a macroporous a-alumina support (pore diameter -100 nm) with a mesoporous y-alumina intermediate layer (Kelvin radius of 2.5 nm) and a microporous silica top layer (pore diameter -4 A) [1,2],... 

ZnO can be advantageously used as TCO layer in various kinds of thin film silicon solar cells, either as back or as front contact, or even as an intermediate reflector between the amorphous and the microcrystalline p-i-n junctions, within the micromorph tandem solar cell [58] (see also Chap. 8). Figure 6.48 illustrates the various possibilities for using a ZnO layer within a thin film silicon solar cell. In the present paragraph, we will comment about the use of CVD ZnO both as front contact (or window layer) and also as back contact (or part of the back reflector). 

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