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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15

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DOE OSTI2015

Magnetoresistance of galfenol-based magnetic tunnel junction

The manipulation of ferromagnetic layer magnetization via electrical pulse is driving an intense research due to the important applications that this result will have on memory devices and sensors. In this study we realized a magnetotunnel junction in which one layer is made of Galfenol (Fe{sub 1-x}Ga{sub x}) which possesses one of the highest magnetostrictive coefficient known. The multilayer stack has been grown by molecular beam epitaxy and e-beam evaporation. Optical lithography and physical etching have been combined to obtain 20x20 micron sized pillars. The obtained structures show tunneling conductivity across the junction and a tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect of up to 11.5% in amplitude.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2019

Terahertz conductivity of the magnetic Weyl semimetal Mn 3 Sn films

Mn 3 Sn is a noncollinear antiferromagnet which displays a large anomalous Hall effect at room temperature. It is believed that the principal contribution to its anomalous Hall conductivity comes from the Berry curvature. Moreover, dc transport and photoemission experiments have confirmed that Mn 3 Sn may be an example of a time-reversal symmetry breaking Weyl semimetal. Due to a small, but finite moment in the room temperature inverse triangular spin structure, which allows control of the Hall current with the external field, this material has garnered much interest for next generation memory devices and terahertz spintronics applications. In this work, we report a terahertz range study of randomly oriented Mn 3 Sn thin films as a function of temperature. At low frequencies, we found that the optical conductivity can be well described by a single Drude oscillator. The plasma frequency is strongly suppressed in a temperature dependent fashion as one enters the 260 K helical phase. This may be associated with partial gapping of the Fermi surfaces, which comes from breaking translational symmetry along the c-axis. Finally, the scattering rate shows a quadratic temperature dependence below 200 K, highlighting the possible important role of interactions in this compound.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Impact of vacancy clusters on characteristic resistance change of nonstoichiometric strontium titanate nano-film

In practical applications to bipolar resistance switching (BRS) memory devices with enhanced performance and high-scalability, oxide materials are commonly fabricated to highly nonstoichiometric and nanometer scale films. In this study, we fabricated ultrathin strontium titanate film, which shows two types of BRS behavior. By using micro-beam X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, the changes of core-level spectra depending on the resistance states are spatially resolved. Experimental and calculated results demonstrated that the fundamental switching mechanism in the two types of BRS is originated from the migration of anion and cation vacancies and the formation of insulating vacancy clusters near vicinity of the interface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2015

Structural transformations in Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} under high pressure and temperature

The structural transformations occurring in Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} films heated at temperature up to 400 °C, and under hydrostatic pressure up to 12 GPa, have been investigated through in-situ X ray diffraction measurements. The adopted experimental conditions are close to those experienced by the phase change material during the SET (crystallization)/RESET (amorphization) processes in a nonvolatile memory device. The compression enhances the thermal stability of the amorphous phase, which remains stable up to 180 °C at 8 GPa and to 230 °C at 12 GPa. The structure of the crystalline phases is also modified, with the formation of a CsCl-type structure instead of rock-salt and of a GeS-type structure at the temperature at which usually the trigonal stable phase is formed. Overall, the stability of the stable phase appears to be more affected by the compression. We argue that the presence of weak bonds associated to the van der Waals gaps is a determining factor for the observed reduced stability.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2014

Low power ovonic threshold switching characteristics of thin GeTe{sub 6} films using conductive atomic force microscopy

Minimizing the dimensions of the electrode could directly impact the energy-efficient threshold switching and programming characteristics of phase change memory devices. A ∼12–15 nm AFM probe-tip was employed as one of the electrodes for a systematic study of threshold switching of as-deposited amorphous GeTe{sub 6} thin films. This configuration enables low power threshold switching with an extremely low steady state current in the on state of 6–8 nA. Analysis of over 48 different probe locations on the sample reveals a stable Ovonic threshold switching behavior at threshold voltage, V{sub TH} of 2.4 ± 0.5 V and the off state was retained below a holding voltage, V{sub H} of 0.6 ± 0.1 V. All these probe locations exhibit repeatable on-off transitions for more than 175 pulses at each location. Furthermore, by utilizing longer biasing voltages while scanning, a plausible nano-scale control over the phase change behavior from as-deposited amorphous to crystalline phase was studied.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2025

Characterization of fluorite-structured ferroelectrics using transmission electron microscopy: Techniques, challenges, and recent advances

Fluorite-structured ferroelectrics, such as hafnium oxide and its alloyed variants, are key candidates for next-generation memory devices. Yet, fundamental questions about switching mechanisms, domain dynamics, and phase evolution remain open. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) provides unique capabilities to address these challenges by simultaneously resolving the positions of anions and cations, chemical variations, and structural transformations. Recent advances—including in situ heating, electron beam-induced switching, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and differential phase contrast imaging—have revealed critical insights into phase transitions, potential switching pathways, and oxygen vacancy behavior. However, experimental barriers such as TEM sample-preparation-induced artifacts, high coercive fields, and imaging constraints persist, especially for polycrystalline films. By offering a focused overview of current TEM developments in fluorite ferroelectrics, this work outlines how TEM contributes to understanding key phenomena and proposes a roadmap for future studies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2015

Electroresistance and field effect studies on manganite based heterostructure

Electronic properties of manganites are significantly important for various spintronic applications such as microelectronics, magnetic data storage, communication technologies, and memory devices. Influence of applied electric field on the room temperature charge transport in ZnO/La{sub 0.7}Sr{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3}/SrNb{sub 0.002}Ti{sub 0.998}O{sub 3} (SNTO) heterostructure has been investigated using field effect studies. Large negative and positive electroresistance has been observed in heterostructure under various possible circuit geometries. Field effect studies have been carried out using three different circuit geometries, namely: (i) ZnO as a control electrode (E{sub LZ}), (ii) SNTO as a control electrode (E{sub LS}), and (iii) shorted ZnO and SNTO as control electrodes (E{sub LZS}). For this, channel electric field (E{sub CH}) dependent variation in channel resistance (R{sub C}) (of manganite channel) and I-V (across manganite channel) under various control fields (E{sub C}) have been studied. Variation in barrier height (Φ{sub B}) with control field (E{sub C}) for different geometries has been discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2014

Effects of ZrO{sub 2} doping on HfO{sub 2} resistive switching memory characteristics

A resistive switching (RS) random access memory device with ZrO{sub 2}-doped HfO{sub 2} exhibits better RS performance than that with pure HfO{sub 2}. In particular, I{sub res}, V{sub res}, and V{sub set} are reduced by approximately 58%, 38%, and 39%, respectively, when HfO{sub 2} is doped with ZrO{sub 2} (9 at. %). In addition, the ZrO{sub 2} doping in HfO{sub 2} makes the distribution of most parameters steeper. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis reveals that the deposited zirconium-doped hafnium oxide (HZO) (9 at. %) is polycrystalline. Elemental mapping results by scanning TEM–energy dispersive spectroscopy also prove that ZrO{sub 2} is uniformly distributed in the HZO (9 at. %) film. The possible mechanism for the improvement in the RS characteristics is also suggested on the basis of the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results and filamentary RS mechanism. These results suggest that the ZrO{sub 2} doping into HfO{sub 2} likely not only will reduce power consumption but also will improve cyclic endurance by controlling the nonstoichiometric phase.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2014

Nanoscale thermal transport. II. 2003–2012

A diverse spectrum of technology drivers such as improved thermal barriers, higher efficiency thermoelectric energy conversion, phase-change memory, heat-assisted magnetic recording, thermal management of nanoscale electronics, and nanoparticles for thermal medical therapies are motivating studies of the applied physics of thermal transport at the nanoscale. This review emphasizes developments in experiment, theory, and computation in the past ten years and summarizes the present status of the field. Interfaces become increasingly important on small length scales. Research during the past decade has extended studies of interfaces between simple metals and inorganic crystals to interfaces with molecular materials and liquids with systematic control of interface chemistry and physics. At separations on the order of ∼1 nm, the science of radiative transport through nanoscale gaps overlaps with thermal conduction by the coupling of electronic and vibrational excitations across weakly bonded or rough interfaces between materials. Major advances in the physics of phonons include first principles calculation of the phonon lifetimes of simple crystals and application of the predicted scattering rates in parameter-free calculations of the thermal conductivity. Progress in the control of thermal transport at the nanoscale is critical to continued advances in the density of information that can be stored in phase change memory devices and new generations of magnetic storage that will use highly localized heat sources to reduce the coercivity of magnetic media. Ultralow thermal conductivity—thermal conductivity below the conventionally predicted minimum thermal conductivity—has been observed in nanolaminates and disordered crystals with strong anisotropy. Advances in metrology by time-domain thermoreflectance have made measurements of the thermal conductivity of a thin layer with micron-scale spatial resolution relatively routine. Scanning thermal microscopy and thermal analysis using proximal probes has achieved spatial resolution of 10 nm, temperature precision of 50 mK, sensitivity to heat flows of 10 pW, and the capability for thermal analysis of sub-femtogram samples.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2015

BEOL compatible high tunnel magneto resistance perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions using a sacrificial Mg layer as CoFeB free layer cap

Perpendicularly magnetized MgO-based tunnel junctions are envisaged for future generation spin-torque transfer magnetoresistive random access memory devices. Achieving a high tunnel magneto resistance and preserving it together with the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy during BEOL CMOS processing are key challenges to overcome. The industry standard technique to deposit the CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB tunnel junctions is physical vapor deposition. In this letter, we report on the use of an ultrathin Mg layer as free layer cap to protect the CoFeB free layer from sputtering induced damage during the Ta electrode deposition. When Ta is deposited directly on CoFeB, a fraction of the surface of the CoFeB is sputtered even when Ta is deposited with very low deposition rates. When depositing a thin Mg layer prior to Ta deposition, the sputtering of CoFeB is prevented. The ultra-thin Mg layer is sputtered completely after Ta deposition. Therefore, the Mg acts as a sacrificial layer that protects the CoFeB from sputter-induced damage during the Ta deposition. The Ta-capped CoFeB free layer using the sacrificial Mg interlayer has significantly better electrical and magnetic properties than the equivalent stack without protective layer. We demonstrate a tunnel magneto resistance increase up to 30% in bottom pinned magnetic tunnel junctions and tunnel magneto resistance values of 160% at resistance area product of 5 Ω.μm{sup 2}. Moreover, the free layer maintains perpendicular magnetic anisotropy after 400 °C annealing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2012

From spin induced ferroelectricity to dipolar glasses: Spinel chromites and mixed delafossites

Magnetoelectric multiferroics showing coupling between polarization and magnetic order are attracting much attention. For instance, they could be used in memory devices. Metal-transition oxides are provided several examples of inorganic magnetoelectric multiferroics. In the present short review, spinel and delafossite chromites are described. For the former, an electric polarization is evidenced in the ferrimagnetic state for ACr{sub 2}O{sub 4} polycrystalline samples (A=Ni, Fe, Co). The presence of a Jahn-Teller cation such as Ni{sup 2+} at the A site is shown to yield larger polarization values. In the delafossites, substitution by V{sup 3+} at the Cr or Fe site in CuCrO{sub 2} (CuFeO{sub 2}) suppresses the complex antiferromagnetic structure at the benefit of a spin glass state. The presence of cation disorder, probed by transmission electron microscopy, favors relaxor-like ferroelectricity. The results on the ferroelectricity of ferrimagnets and insulating spin glasses demonstrate that, in this research field, transition-metal oxides are worth to be studied. - Graphical abstract: Electric polarization as a function of temperature is measured up to T{sub C} in three chromite ferrimagnetic spinels. Largest values are reached for spinels with Jahn-Teller cations at the A site (Ni or Fe). Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Electric polarization is evidenced in the ferrimagnetic state of the chromite spinels. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Jahn-Teller cations at the A site of these spinels lead to larger polarization values. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Vanadium substituted at the Cr (or Fe) site of delafossites changes the antiferromagnetic state to spin glass. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Electric polarization is not the result of magnetic ordering but magnetic disordering in Cr or Fe delafossites. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Relaxor-type ferroelectricity or spin induced ferroelectricity can be observed in the delafossites.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

NASA NTRS1975

Displays, memories, and signal processing: A compilation

Articles on electronics systems and techniques were presented. The first section is on displays and other electro-optical systems; the second section is devoted to signal processing. The third section presented several new memory devices for digital equipment, including articles on holographic memories. The latest patent information available is also given.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2017

Proton Irradiation of the 16GB Intel Optane SSD

The purpose of this test is to assess the single event effects (SEE) and radiation susceptibility of the Intel Optane Memory device (SSD) containing the 3D Xpoint phase change memory (PCM) technology. This test is supported by the NASA Electronics Parts and Packaging Program (NEPP).

Single-Event Effects (SEE)↗

NASA NTRS1981

Semiconductor-ferroelectric nonvolatile memory using anomalous high photovoltages in ferroelectric ceramics

A small ferroelectric ceramic element is used with an insulating gate transistor and two diodes as an electrically addressed, nonvolatile memory device which is read out nondestructively. The device uses the anomalous photovoltaic effect in ferroelectric ceramics, an effect in which the polarity and magnitude of photovoltages depend on the direction and magnitude of remanent polarization. Experimental results give memory characteristics. The device could be programmed with pulses as short as 200 ns. There is long-time retention of stored data.

Brody, P. S.↗

DOE OSTI2013

Efficient Heterogeneous Execution on Large Multicore and Accelerator Platforms: Case Study Using a Block Tridiagonal Solver

The algorithmic and implementation principles are explored in gainfully exploiting GPU accelerators in conjunction with multicore processors on high-end systems with large numbers of compute nodes, and evaluated in an implementation of a scalable block tridiagonal solver. The accelerator of each compute node is exploited in combination with multicore processors of that node in performing block-level linear algebra operations in the overall, distributed solver algorithm. Optimizations incorporated include: (1) an efficient memory mapping and synchronization interface to minimize data movement, (2) multi-process sharing of the accelerator within a node to obtain balanced load with multicore processors, and (3) an automatic memory management system to efficiently utilize accelerator memory when sub-matrices spill over the limits of device memory. Results are reported from our novel implementation that uses MAGMA and CUBLAS accelerator software systems simultaneously with ACML for multithreaded execution on processors. Overall, using 940 nVidia Tesla X2090 accelerators and 15,040 cores, the best heterogeneous execution delivers a 10.9-fold reduction in run time relative to an already efficient parallel multicore-only baseline implementation that is highly optimized with intra-node and inter-node concurrency and computation-communication overlap. Detailed quantitative results are presented to explain all critical runtime components contributing to hybrid performance.

Park, Alfred J↗

NASA NTRS1987

CCD Memory

CCD memory device yields over 6.4 x 10 to the eighth power levels of information on single chip. Charge-coupled device (CCD) demonstrated to operate as either read-only-memory (ROM) or photon-programmable memory with capacity of 640,000 bits, with each bit capable of being weighted to more than 1,000 discrete analog levels. Larger memory capacities now possible using proposed approach in conjunction with CCD's now being fabricated, which yield over 4 x 10 to the ninth power discrete levels of information on single chip.

Janesick, James R.↗

DOE OSTI2013

Fabrication of vertically aligned ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride mesoscale rod arrays

Here, we have fabricated vertically aligned ferroelectric PVDF mesoscale rod arrays comprising and phases using a 200 nm diameter anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) as the porous template. We could synthesize the ferroelectric phase in mesoscale rod forms by combining the well-established recipe for crystallizing the phase using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) at low temperature and template-guided infiltration processing for the rods using AAO. We also measured the dimensions of the PVDF rods by scanning electron microscopy and identified the polymorph phases by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The length of the rods varied from 3.82 m to 1.09 m and the diameter from 232 nm to 287 nm when the volume ratio between DMSO and acetone changed from 5 : 5 to 10 : 0. We obtained well-defined piezoresponse hysteresis loops for all rods with remnant piezoresponse ranging from 2.12 pm/V to 5.04 pm/V and coercive voltage ranging from 2.29 V to 2.71 V using piezoresponse force microscopy. These results serve as a processing platform for flexible electronic devices that need high capacitance and piezoelectric functionalities such as flexible memory devices or body energy harvesting devices for intelligent systems. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 3842-3848, 2013

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2016

Magnetism in curved geometries

Extending planar two-dimensional structures into the three-dimensional space has become a general trend in multiple disciplines, including electronics, photonics, plasmonics and magnetics. This approach provides means to modify conventional or to launch novel functionalities by tailoring the geometry of an object, e.g. its local curvature. In a generic electronic system, curvature results in the appearance of scalar and vector geometric potentials inducing anisotropic and chiral effects. In the specific case of magnetism, even in the simplest case of a curved anisotropic Heisenberg magnet, the curvilinear geometry manifests two exchange-driven interactions, namely effective anisotropy and antisymmetric exchange, i.e. Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya-like interaction. As a consequence, a family of novel curvature-driven effects emerges, which includes magnetochiral effects and topologically induced magnetization patterning, resulting in theoretically predicted unlimited domain wall velocities, chirality symmetry breaking and Cherenkov-like effects for magnons. The broad range of altered physical properties makes these curved architectures appealing in view of fundamental research on e.g. skyrmionic systems, magnonic crystals or exotic spin configurations. In addition to these rich physics, the application potential of three-dimensionally shaped objects is currently being explored as magnetic field sensorics for magnetofluidic applications, spin-wave filters, advanced magneto-encephalography devices for diagnosis of epilepsy or for energy-efficient racetrack memory devices. Finally, these recent developments ranging from theoretical predictions over fabrication of three-dimensionally curved magnetic thin films, hollow cylinders or wires, to their characterization using integral means as well as the development of advanced tomography approaches are in the focus of this review.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗