Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, we have studied the properties of SrTiO3 thin films which have been deposited on Si/Ti/Pt substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The as-deposited films were annealed at temperature of 700 °C in oxygen environment for 1 h. The surface morphology, crystalline phase and chemical composition of the films were characterized by AFM, XRD and XPS techniques, respectively. The XRD data show that phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline structure happens and also the lattice constant enhances during annealing process. This enhancement can be related to oxygen vacancies in thin films. The XPS data show partial lack of titanium atoms on the surface. The AFM analysis... 

In this research, effects of two-step sintering parameters, such as first and second step sintering temperatures (T1 and T2, respectively) and soaking time in the second step, on microstructure and electrical properties of ZnO varistors have been studied. In addition, slow rate of grain growth in the second step of sintering has also been investigated. Near fully dense (higher than 99%) and sub-micron grain size (1-0.75 μm) ZnO varistors have been fabricated by different two-step sintering cycles. Decreasing T1 and T2 result in longer necessary time in the second step to reach near full density with smaller final grain size. The superior electrical properties of varistors (VB: 2050-1022 V/mm... 

We have investigated the effect of Tb substitution for Y in both YBa 2Cu3O7-δ and the more stabilized YSr 2Cu2.7Mo0.3O7-δ systems. Adding Mo has been shown to stabilize the Tb-doped systems. The samples of Y1-xTbxBa2Cu3O7-δ with x=0.0, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.5, 0.55, and 0.6, and of Y 1-xTbxSr2Cu2.7Mo0.3O 7-δ with x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 have been prepared by the standard solid-state reaction technique. The superconducting transition occurs only with x=0-0.5 for the Ba-based samples, and with x=0-0.8 for the Sr-based samples. The structural parameter identification and phase determination of the samples have been carried out by the Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffraction... 

Nowadays, thin films have many applications in every field. So, in order to improve the performance of thin film devices, it is necessary to characterize their mechanical as well as electrical properties. In this research work we focus on the development of a model for the analysis of the mechanical and electrical properties of silver nanoparticles deposited on silicon substrates. The model consists of inter-particle diffusion modeling and finite element analysis. In this study, through the simulation of the sintering process, it is shown that how the geometry, density, and electrical resistance of the thin film layer are changed with sintering conditions. The model is also used to... 

Abstract H2-rich water as a green antioxidant was applied for deoxygenation of graphene oxide (GO) suspensions. The ability of H2-rich water for deoxygenation of GO sheets was found comparable to the ability of hydrazine (as a standard and powerful reductant), using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In fact, the O/C ratio of GO sheets could be reduced from 0.51 to 0.21 and 0.16 by H2-rich water and hydrazine, respectively. More importantly, while C-N bond formation is one of the side effects of GO reduction by hydrazine, no chemical C-N bond was found on the H2-water-reduced GO (rGO) sheets. This also resulted in a better restoration of the graphitic structure of the H2-water-rGO, as... 

In this study, SnO 2-based varistors were prepared from mechanically activated nanocrystalline powders. Nanocrystalline powders were derived by subjecting the initial powders to intensive high-energy activation with different times and ball to powder ratio. The effect of activation parameters on the powder properties and sintering temperature, as well as microstructural, micro-electrical and macro-electrical properties of the final specimens was evaluated. Varistors derived from high-energy mechanical activation exhibit a higher density (98.3% relative density) and more refined microstructure upon sintering at 1,300 °C in comparison varistors prepared from conventional powders. Breakdown... 

In this study, a thermal method was used to synthesize spinel NiCo2O4 and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)@NiCo2O4 with an average size 50 nm and 20 nm, respectively. Addition of CNTs into NiCo2O4 noticeably increases the active surface area compared to pure spinel NiCo2O4. SEM analyses showed that the morphologies are spherical in both pure and composite samples. Uniform CNTs@NiCo2O4 nanoparticles exhibit high specific capacitance of 210 F g−1 at 2 A g−1 and a good retention capacity of 92.70% after 2500 cycles, which shows a considerable improvement compared to NiCo2O4. Additionally, an exceptional rate capability of about 73.2% was obtained at 50 A g−1. Such remarkable electrochemical performance... 

In this research, fine-grained SnO2-based varistors with a simple microstructure and the mean grain size of 0.8 µm were obtained by the microwave sintering method. The breakdown electric field measured for these varistors was 12 kV/cm that is 3 times higher than the conventional-sintered varistors. The high nonlinear coefficient (60) and low leakage current density (9 µA/cm2) were achieved in fine-grained SnO2 varistors. The fine-grained SnO2 varistors appropriately clamped pulse current surges and the calculated value of the clamping voltage ratio of these varistors was 2. The excellent electrical properties and protective effect of fine-grained SnO2 varistors showed that these varistors... 

This paper describes a solution-based technique for fabrication of varistor grade composite nanopowders. The method consists of coating major varistor dopants on the surface of the ZnO nanoparticles. As a result, a homogenous mixture of dopants and ZnO nanoparticles will be achieved. TEM results indicated that a composite layer of dopants with the average particle size of 9 nm on the surface of ZnO nanoparticles has been successfully prepared. Sintering of the coated powders was performed in temperatures as low as 850 °C and final specimens with average particle size of 900 nm and density of 98.5% were achieved. In comparison to conventional mixing, varistors prepared from coated nanopowders... 

We report optical and electrical properties of Cu-Ni nanoparticles in hydrogenated amorphous carbon (Cu-Ni NPs @ a-C:H) with different surface morphology. Ni NPs with layer thicknesses of 5, 10 and 15 nm over Cu NPs @ a-C:H were prepared by co-deposition of RF-sputtering and RF-Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (RF-PECVD) from acetylene gas and Cu and Ni targets. A nonmetal-metal transition was observed as the thickness of Ni over layer increases. The surface morphology of the sample was described by a two dimensional (2D) Gaussian self-affine fractal, except the sample with 10 nm thickness of Ni over layer, which is in the nonmetal-metal transition region. X-ray diffraction profile... 

Effect of sandblasting of the copper electrode structures before deposition of gold thin film for micro electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system has been studied experimentally. The comparison has been performed on the unmodified copper electrodes and the sandblasted electrodes before deposition of gold layer, using structural analysis while their performance in EIT system has been measured and analyzed. The results of scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy show that the sandblasting of the electrodes results in the deposition of gold film with smaller grain size and uniformly, comparing to the unmodified structure. The measurement of impedance shows that the... 

In this study, design and operation of a cylindrical capacitive sensor based on the dielectric and reactance capacitance changes of the gap medium is reported. The proposed system was used to determine the electrical properties of different water liquids as a result of the capacitance variations. For capacitance measurement, the cylindrical gap can be filled up by water liquids under study, the electrical characteristics of different water liquids, mixture of ethanol and water, mixture of methanol and water, mixture of petroleum and water and other liquid mixtures were studied. In this research a big difference about 16200 nF was noticed in the measured capacitance of the corresponding... 

Thermal stability of Ag layer on Ti coated Si substrate for different thicknesses of the Ag layer have been studied. To do this, after sputter-deposition of a 10 nm Ti buffer layer on the Si(1 0 0) substrate, an Ag layer with different thicknesses (150-5 nm) was sputtered on the buffer layer. Post annealing process of the samples was performed in an N 2 ambient at a flow rate of 200 ml/min in a temperature range from 500 to 700 °C for 30 min. The electrical property of the heat-treated multilayer with the different thicknesses of Ag layer was examined by four-point-probe sheet resistance measurement at the room temperature. Phase formation and crystallographic orientation of the silver... 

When a tensor-valued function σ(x) is continuous in regions ∑0 and ∑1, but has a finite jump across the interface Γ01 between ∑0 and ∑1, then Γ01 is referred to as singular surface relative to the field σ (x). In this paper, it is intended to give a general treatment of three-dimensional static and free vibration analysis of bodies composed of multi-phase elastic and/or piezoelectric bodies with electro-mechanical singular surfaces. The geometry of the medium, boundary conditions, and the geometry of the singular surfaces may be arbitrary. The displacement field and the electric potential in each region are expressed in terms of functions composed of 3-D series and special 3-D functions. The... 

We have studied the electrical and magnetic properties of RuGd 2-xCexSr2Cu2O10-δ (Ru-1222) with content of Ce = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, prepared by the standard solid-state reaction technique. To determine how the magnetic and superconducting properties of this layered cuprate system can be affected by Ce substitution, the resistivity and magnetoresistivity have been measured at various temperatures. Resistivity curves reveal the presence of four regions for various contents of x. In high temperatures, system is paramagnetic. Magnetic transition from paramagnetic state to antiferromagnetic state occurs at 140 K for x = 0, which varies very slowly with increasing Ce substitution for Gd....