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Using a Monte-Carlo model, we determine the sputtering yields for the upper atmosphere of Mars at three different epochs (the present, ~2.5 Gyr ago and ~3.5 Gyr ago).
We have developed a model for the sputtering processes from a volcanic atmosphere.
Thin film batteries employing sputtered LiCoPO4 cathode layers, LiPON electrolyte and Li anode films have been successfully fabricated and tested.
Sputter deposition of LiPON films directly onto high Li+ conductivity solid electrolyte plates has been investigated as a means to minimize the reactivity of the plates to metallic Li. The LiPON films were shown to effectively passivate the plates in contact with metallic Li, in contrast to unpassivated plates that reacted immediately in contact with Li metal.
A high conductivity, n-doped semiconductor film is produced from zinc, or Zn and Cd, and group VI elements selected from Se, S and Te in a reactive magnetron sputtering system having a chamber with one or two targets, a substrate holder, means for heating the substrate holder, and an electric field for ionizing gases in the chamber. Zinc or a compound of Zn and Cd is placed in the position of one of the two targets and doping material in the position of the other of the two targets. Zn and Cd may be placed in separate targets while a dopant is placed in the third target. Another possibility is to place an alloy of Zn and dopant, or Zn, Cd and dopant in one target, thus using only one target. A flow of the inert gas is ionized and directed toward said targets, while a flow of a reactant gas consisting of hydrides of the group VI elements is directed toward a substrate on the holder. The targets are biased to attract negatively ionized inert gas. The desired stochiometry for high conductivity is achieved by controlling the temperature of the substrate, and partial pressures of the gases, and the target power and total pressure of the gases in the chamber.
An ideal method of construction in space would utilize some form of the Universal Differentiator and Universal Constructor as described by Von Neumann (1). The Universal Differentiator is an idealized non ore specific extractive device which is capable of breaking any ore into its constituent elements, and the Universal Constructor can utilize these elements to build any device with controllability to the nanometer scale. During the Human Exploration Initiative program in the early 1990s a conceptual study was done (2) to understand whether such devices were feasible with near term technology for the utilization of space resources and energy. A candidate system was proposed which would utilize electronically enhanced sputtering as the differentiator. Highly ionized ions would be accelerated to a kinetic energy at which the interaction between them and the lattice elections in the ore would be at a maximum. Experiments have shown that the maximum disintegration of raw material occurs at an ion kinetic energy of about 5 MeV, regardless of the composition and structure of the raw material. Devices that could produce charged ion beams in this energy range in space were being tested in the early 1990s. At this energy, for example an ion in a beam of fluorine ions yields about 8 uranium ions from uranium fluoride, 1,400 hydrogen and oxygen atoms from ice, or 7,000 atoms from sulfur dioxide ice. The ions from the disintegrated ore would then be driven by an electrical field into a discriminator in the form of a mass spectrometer, where the magnetic field would divert the ions into collectors for future use or used directly in molecular beam construction techniques. The process would require 10-7 Torr vacuum which would be available in space or on the moon. If the process were used to make thin film silicon solar cells (ignoring any energy inefficiency for beam production), then energy break even for solar cells in space would occur after 14 days.
A method of producing a nanobasket and the applications or uses thereof. The method includes the steps of providing a substrate with at least one (1) pore having diameters of about one (1) nanometer to about ten (10) micrometers. Material is deposited by sputter-coating techniques along continuous edges of the pores to form a capped or partially capped nanotube or microtube structure, termed a nanobasket. Either a single material may be used to form nanobaskets over the pores or, alternately, a layered structure may be created wherein an initial material is deposited followed by one or more other materials to form nanobaskets over the pores.
In this contribution we report sput-tering measurements of anorthite, an analog material representative of the lunar highlands, by singly and multicharged ions representative of the solar wind. The ions investigated include protons, as well as singly and multicharged Ar ions (as proxies for the heavier solar wind constituents), in the charge state range +1 to +9, and had a fixed solar-wind-relevant impact velocity of approximately 310 km/s or 500 eV/ amu. The goal of the measurements was to determine the sputtering contribution of the heavy, multicharged minority solar wind constituents in comparison to that due to the dominant H+ fraction.
Performance of direct methanol fuel cells with sputter-deposited Pt-Ru anodes was investigated.
The volatile element Cl can be lost during the formation and evolution of planetary bodies, leading to fractionation of its two stable isotopes 35Cl and 37Cl. Chlorine isotope variations (reported as δ37Cl in parts per thousand (‰) relative to Standard Mean Ocean Chloride, SMOC) [1] are documented to exceed 80‰ [2] between different lunar rock samples and have been variably interpreted as the fingerprint of degassing during accretion, magma ocean, or volcanic portions of lunar history[3,4].The large intersample and intrasample variations observed by both bulk isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and in-situ secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) methods are difficult to interpret in part because of a paucity of bulk Cl isotope measurements (Figure 1).This lack of high-precision bulk data is due to the relative rarity of IRMS laboratories capable of making these high precision measurements on small samples of precious planetary materials such as those returned by human or robotic exploration. Here we present a new method for performing high precision δ37Cl measurements using the Cs-sputter negative ion source of an existing accelerator mass spectrometer. A brief description of the methods used for this work is followed by the results of our δ37Cl measurements and a discussion of the technique’s possible applications.
Many applications from advanced nuclear reactors to aerospace and automotive industries require materials to operate in extreme environments. In search of new materials that can operate in these extremes, the present work explores this space whereby: (1) guided by atomistic and thermodynamic calculations we utilize thin film combinatorial synthesis to rapidly explore mechanical and thermal properties in a broad range of refractory compositionally complex alloys, and (2) observe transformation induced plasticity via oscillations in the thin film nanoindentation load depth curves that are attributed to, (3) a stress-induced HCP-to-BCC phase transformation in the resulting nanogranular microstructure, which to our knowledge has not been observed before in this alloy system; and finally (4) scale to bulk materials to compare the thin film results.
Design, construction, assembly, and operation of ion source for solids
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Ferroelectric Al 1−x B x N thin films are grown on highly doped and plasma treated (100) n-type Si. We demonstrate ferroelectricity for x = < 0.01, 0.02, 0.06, 0.08, 0.13, and 0.17 where the n-type Si is both the substrate and bottom electrode. Polarization hysteresis reveals remanent polarization values between 130 and 140 μC/cm 2 and coercive field values as low as 4 MV/cm at 1 Hz with low leakage. The highest resistivity and most saturating hysteresis occurs with B contents between x = 0.06 and 0.13. We also demonstrate the impact of substrate plasma treatment time on Al 1−x B x N crystallinity and switching. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectra reveal an amorphous 3.5 nm SiN x layer at the Al 1−x B x N interface post-plasma treatment and deposition. The first ~ 5 nm of Al 1−x B x N is crystallographically defective. Using the n-type Si substrate, we demonstrate Al 1−x B x N thickness scaling to 25 nm via low-frequency hysteresis and CV. Serving as the bottom electrode and substrate, the n-type Si enables a streamlined growth process for Al 1−x B x N for a wide range of Al 1−x B x N compositions and layer thicknesses.