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NASA NTRS1994

Effects of Plasma Hydrogenation on Trapping Properties of Dislocations in Heteroepitaxial InP/GaAs

In previous work, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of a post-growth hydrogen plasma treatment for passivating the electrical activity of dislocations in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown InP on GaAs substrates by a more than two order of magnitude reduction in deep level concentration and an improvement in reverse bias leakage current by a factor of approx. 20. These results make plasma hydrogenation an extremely promising technique for achieving high efficiency large area and light weight heteroepitaxial InP solar cells for space applications. In this work we investigate the carrier trapping process by dislocations in heteroepitaxial InP/GaAs and the role of hydrogen passivation on this process. It is shown that the charge trapping kinetics of dislocations after hydrogen passivation are significantly altered, approaching point defect-like behavior consistent with a transformation from a high concentration of dislocation-related defect bands within the InP bandgap to a low concentration of individual deep levels after hydrogen passivation. It is further shown that the "apparent" activation energies of dislocation related deep levels, before and after passivation, reduce by approx. 70 meV as DLTS fill pulse times are increased from 1 usec. to 1 msec. A model is proposed which explains these effects based on a reduction of Coulombic interaction between individual core sites along the dislocation cores by hydrogen incorporation. Knowledge of the trapping properties in these specific structures is important to develop optimum, low loss heteroepitaxial InP cells.

Ringel, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The tensile and fatigue deformation structures in a single crystal Ni-base superalloy

Dislocation structures produced in Rene N4 crystals of various orientations deformed in tension and low cycle fatigue (LCF) at 760 and 980 degrees C were examined in order to elucidate the observed differences in stress-strain behavior. Specimens tensile tested at 760 degrees C displayed significant crystallographic orientation dependences in mechanical response but comparable inhomogeneous dislocation structures. LCF specimens of various orientations had comparable cyclic stress-strain curves and generally similar somewhat more homogeneous dislocation structures. Tensile specimens at the higher temperature had comparable mechanical response and corresponding similar quite homogeneous dislocation structures with gamma' faulting; and LCF specimens had orientation-dependent mechanical response but comparable homogeneous loose dislocation networks.

Gabb, T. P.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Ductility enhancement from interface dislocation sources in a directionally solidified beta + gamma + gamma-prime Ni-Fe-Al composite alloy

A directionally solidified beta + gamma + gamma-prime Ni-Fe-Al in situ composite alloy of composition Ni50Fe30Al20 has been used to investigate the effect of a plastically soft second phase on the mechanical behavior of a B2 ordered intermetallic alloy. This material exhibits extensive plasticity during compressive deformation at room temperature and fails in shear with extensive gamma + gamma-prime lamellar or rod pullout. The material also exhibits about 10 percent tensile elongation to fracture at room temperature, with final fracture that includes substantial necking of the gamma + gamma-prime lamellae or rods. Observation of slip lines and dislocation substructures discloses that the normally brittle beta matrix undergoes extensive plasticity in order to deform compatibly with the more ductile gamma phase. The plasticity of the beta matrix is accomplished by the generation of glissile dislocations into the beta matrix from the beta/gamma interface region and is enhanced because of a favorable beta-gamma orientation relationship for slip transfer. Ductility enhancement from interface-generated mobile dislocations generated from beta-gamma interfaces is compared to that observed in film-coated beta-NiAl single crystals and FeAl polycrystals.

Larsen, M.↗

NASA NTRS1972

High-temperature creep of polycrystalline chromium.

Chromium prepared by the iodide process was consolidated into 100-g buttons by arc melting and fabricated to sheet by rolling. Test specimens machined from the wrought sheet were annealed in palladium-purified hydrogen, followed by a purification anneal, in order to produce stable grain structures for testing. Observations of surface slip lines and dislocation substructures suggest that a diffusion-controlled, dislocation-climb mechanism is operative in the creep of chromium over the temperature range investigated.

Stephens, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1981

EBIC/TEM investigations of defects in solar silicon ribbon materials

Transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the defect structure of edge defined film growth (EFG) material, web dentritic ribbons (WEB), and ribbon to ribbon recrystallized material (RTR). The most common defects in all these materials are coherent first order twin boundaries. These coherent twins can be very thin, a few atomic layers. Bundles of the twins which contain odd numbers of twins will in optical images appear as a seemingly single first twin boundary. First-order coherent twin boundaries are not electrically active, except at locations where they contain intrinsic (grain boundary) dislocations. These dislocations take up small deviations from the ideal twin relation and play the same role in twin boundaries as conventional and play the some role in twin boundaries as conventional edge and screw dislocations in small angle tilt and twist boundaries.

Ast, D. G.↗

NASA NTRS1997

First Single-Crystal Mullite Fibers

Ceramic-matrix composites strengthened by suitable fiber additions are being developed for high-temperature use, particularly for aerospace applications. New oxide-based fibers, such as mullite, are particularly desirable because of their resistance to high-temperature oxidative environments. Mullite is a candidate material in both fiber and matrix form. The primary objective of this work was to determine the growth characteristics of single-crystal mullite fibers produced by the laser-heated floating zone method. Directionally solidified fibers with nominal mullite compositions of 3Al2O3 2SiO2 were grown by the laser-heated floating zone method at the NASA Lewis Research Center. SEM analysis revealed that the single-crystal fibers grown in this study were strongly faceted and that the facets act as critical flaws, limiting fiber strength. The average fiber tensile strength is 1.15 GPa at room temperature. The mullite fibers exhibit superior strength retention (80 percent of their room temperature tensile strength at 1450 C). Examined by transmission electron microscopy, these mullite single crystals are free of dislocations, low-angle boundaries, and voids. In addition, they show a high degree of oxygen vacancy ordering. High-resolution digital images from an optical microscope furnish evidence of the formation of a liquid-liquid miscibility gap during crystal growth. These images represent the first experimental evidence of liquid immiscibility for these compositions and temperatures. Continuing investigation with controlled seeding of mullite single crystals is planned.

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NASA NTRS2009

Lattice-Matched Semiconductor Layers on Single Crystalline Sapphire Substrate

SiGe is an important semiconductor alloy for high-speed field effect transistors (FETs), high-temperature thermoelectric devices, photovoltaic solar cells, and photon detectors. The growth of SiGe layer is difficult because SiGe alloys have different lattice constants from those of the common Si wafers, which leads to a high density of defects, including dislocations, micro-twins, cracks, and delaminations. This innovation utilizes newly developed rhombohedral epitaxy of cubic semiconductors on trigonal substrates in order to solve the lattice mismatch problem of SiGe by using trigonal single crystals like sapphire (Al2O3) as substrate to give a unique growth-orientation to the SiGe layer, which is automatically controlled at the interface upon sapphire (0001). This technology is different from previous silicon on insulator (SOI) or SGOI (SiGe on insulator) technologies that use amorphous SiO2 as the growth plane. A cubic semiconductor crystal is a special case of a rhombohedron with the inter-planar angle, alpha = 90 deg. With a mathematical transformation, all rhombohedrons can be described by trigonal crystal lattice structures. Therefore, all cubic lattice constants and crystal planes (hkl) s can be transformed into those of trigonal crystal parameters. These unique alignments enable a new opportunity of perfect lattice matching conditions, which can eliminate misfit dislocations. Previously, these atomic alignments were thought to be impossible or very difficult. With the invention of a new x-ray diffraction measurement method here, growth of cubic semiconductors on trigonal crystals became possible. This epitaxy and lattice-matching condition can be applied not only to SiGe (111)/sapphire (0001) substrate relations, but also to other crystal structures and other materials, including similar crystal structures which have pointgroup rotational symmetries by 120 because the cubic (111) direction has 120 rotational symmetry. The use of slightly miscut (less than plus or minus 10 deg.) sapphire (0001) substrate can be used to improve epitaxial relationships better by providing attractive atomic steps in the epitaxial process.

Choi, Sang↗

NASA NTRS1986

High temperature dispersion strengthening of NiAl

A potential high temperature strengthening mechanism for alloys based on the intermetallic compound NiAl was investigated. This study forms part of an overall program at NASA Lewis Research Center for exploring the potential of alloys based on NiAl for high temperature applications. An alloy containing 2.26 at% Nb and produced by hot extrusion of blended powders was examined in detail using optical and electron microscopy. Interdiffusion between the blended Nb and NiAl powders results in the formation of intermediate phases. A fine dispersion of precipitates of a hexagonal, ordered NiAlNb phases in a matrix of NiAl can be produced and this results in strengthening of the alloy by interfering with dislocation motion at high temperature. These precipitates are, however, found to coarsen during the high temperature (1300 K) deformation at slow strain rates and this may impose some limitatioins on the use of this strengthening mechanism.

Sherman, M.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The effect of hydrogen on deformation substructure, flow and fracture in a nickel-base single crystal superalloy

The room temperature flow and fracture of a nickel-base single crystal gamma/gamma-/prime superalloy in the presence and absence of hydrogen is explored. The procedure of hydrogen-charging employed in this study provides a very high and uniform hydrogen concentration of the order of 5000 at.-ppm in the material. It is shown that the most compelling hydrogen-induced changes in deformation behavior are enhanced dislocation accumulation in the gamma matrix and extensive cross-slip of super-dislocations. The explanation of these changes is proposed. Both effects contribute to the increase of flow stress and the notable work hardening that occurs prior to fracture. Hydrogen enhanced strain localization in the gamma matrix leads to the dramatic loss of ductility and premature cracking, which manifests as failure macroscopically parallel to the 100-plane-oriented faces of gamma-prime precipitates. On the microscale, cracking, while limited to the gamma matrix, occurs parallel to multiple 111-plane-oriented slip systems.

Dollar, M.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Quantum chemical calculations of interatomic potentials for computer simulation of solids

A comprehensive mathematical model by which the collective behavior of a very large number of atoms within a metal or alloy can accurately be simulated was developed. Work was done in order to predict and modify the strength of materials to suit our technological needs. The method developed is useful in studying atomic interactions related to dislocation motion and crack extension.

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NASA NTRS1979

Material science and solid state physics studies with positive muon spin precession

The hyperfine field on the muon, B sub hf, at interstitial sites in dilute Fe(Al) alloys was measured for four different concentrations of Al and as a function of temperature by the muon spin rotation method. The magnitude of B sub hf, which is negative, decreases at rates ranging from 0.09 + or - 0.03% per at.% Al at 200 K to an asymptotic limit of 0.35 + or - far above 440 K. This behavior shows that sites near the Al impurity are weakly repulsive to the muon, with an interaction potential of 13 + or - 3 meV. In order to fit the temperature dependence of the hyperfine field, it is necessary to hypothesize the existence of a small concentration of unidentified defects, possibly dislocations, which are attractive to the muon. Although the Al impurity acts as a non-magnetic hole in the Fe lattice, the observed decrease in B sub hf is only 35% of the decrease in the bulk magnetization. It is concluded that B sub hf is determined mainly by the enhanced screening of conduction electrons in Fe and Fe(Al). Since the influence of the Al impurity on the neighboring Fe monents is very small, most of the change in B sub hf is therefore attributed to the increase in conduction electron polarization of the Al impurity.

Stronach, C. E.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Thermal viscoplastic buckling during the growth of silicon ribbon

This paper is an analysis of the conditions to be satisfied in order to avoid buckling during the growth of a silicon ribbon that is being slowly pulled from the melt. A viscoplastic constitutive equation with a dislocation density effect is used to model the material behavior. The critical thicknesses and the corresponding deflection shapes are calculated by the finite element method for the cantilever boundary conditions. The value of the parameter which controls the speed of the lateral deflection is computed by using Galerkin's method. It is demonstrated that, due to the effect of viscoplasticity, some deflection shapes increase in magnitude with time and other shapes damp out.

Tsai, C. T.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Minority-carrier lifetime analysis of silicon epitaxy and bulk crystals with nonuniformly distributed defects

Existing analyses of the pulsed response of an MOS capacitor for minority-carrier lifetime determination result in a lifetime value averaged over most of the depletion region width. In this report, an analysis of MOS C-t data is presented that enables minority-carrier generation lifetime to be plotted as a function of depletion region depth. The technique is shown to be useful for samples with bulk or buried interfacial layer defects that have defect-free surfaces. Data are presented for intrinsically gettered bulk crystals and extrinsically gettered Si(2-pct Ge) epitaxial layers with misfit dislocations. In addition, for samples that do have uniform lifetimes, the measurement time required for determining carrier lifetime has been reduced by more than an order of magnitude.

Radzimski, Zbignew↗

NASA NTRS1976

Web-dendritic ribbon growth

A web furnace was constructed for pulling dendritic-web samples. The effect of changes in the furnace thermal geometry on the growth of dendritic-web was studied. Several attempts were made to grow primitive dendrites for use as the dendritic seed crystals for web growth and to determine the optimum twin spacing in the dendritic seed crystal for web growth. Mathematical models and computer programs were used to determine the thermal geometries in the susceptor, crucible melt, meniscus, and web. Several geometries were determined for particular furnace geometries and growth conditions. The information obtained was used in conjunction with results from the experimental growth investigations in order to achieve proper conditions for sustained pulling of two dendrite web ribbons. In addition, the facilities for obtaining the following data were constructed: twin spacing, dislocation density, web geometry, resistivity, majority charge carrier type, and minority carrier lifetime.

Hilborn, R. B., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Orientation and Morphology Effects in Rapid Silicon Sheet Solidification

Radial growth anisotropies and equilibrium forms of point nucleated, dislocation free silicon sheets spreading horizontally on the free surface of a silicon melt were measured for (100), (110), (111), and (112) sheet planes. The growth process was recorded. Qualitative Wulff surface free energy polar plots were deduced from the equilibrium shapes for each sheet plane. Predicted geometries for the tip shape of unidirectional, dislocation free, horizontally grown sheets growing in various directions within the planes were analyzed. Polycrystalline sheets and dendrite propagation were analyzed. For dendrites, growth rates on the order of 2.5 m/min and growth rate anisotropies of 25 are measured.

Ciszek, T. F.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Potential productivity benefits of float-zone versus Czochralski crystal growth

Efficient mass production of single-crystal silicon is necessary for the efficient silicon solar arrays needed in the coming decade. However, it is anticipated that there will be difficulty growing such volumes of crystals using conventional Czochralski (Cz) methods. While the productivity of single crystals might increase with a crystal diameter increase, there are two obstacles to the mass production of large diameter Czochralski crystals, the long production cycle due to slow growth rate and the high heat requirements of the furnaces. Also counterproductive would be the large resistivity gradient along the growth direction of the crystals due to impurity concentration. Comparison between Float zone (FZ) and Cz crystal growth on the basis of a crystal 150 mm in diameter is on an order of two to four times in favor of the FZ method. This advantage results from high growth rates and steady-state growth while maintaining a dislocation-free condition and impurity segregation.

Abe, T.↗

NASA NTRS1982

The structure of 110 tilt boundaries in large area solar silicon

The models of Hornstra and their connection to the repeating group description of grain boundaries (7-10) are discussed. A model for the Sigma = 27 boundary containing a zig-zag arrangement of dislocations is constructed and it is shown that zig-zag models can account for the contrast features observed in high resolution transmission electron micrographs of second and third order twin boundaries in silicon. The boundaries discussed are symmetric with a 110 tilt axis and a (110) boundary plane in the median lattice (the median plane). The median lattice is identical in structure and halfway in orientation between the crystal lattices either side of the boundary.

Ast, D. G.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Development of high-efficiency solar cells on silicon web

Work was performed to improve web base material with a goal of obtaining solar cell efficiencies in excess of 18% (AM1). Efforts in this program are directed toward identifying carrier loss mechanisms in web silicon, eliminating or reducing these mechanisms, designing a high efficiency cell structure with the aid of numerical models, and fabricating high efficiency web solar cells. Fabrication techniques must preserve or enhance carrier lifetime in the bulk of the cell and minimize recombination of carriers at the external surfaces. Three completed cells were viewed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in order to investigate further the relation between structural defects and electrical performance of web cells. Consistent with past TEM examinations, the cell with the highest efficiency (15.0%) had no dislocations but did have 11 twin planes.

Meier, D. L.↗