<title>Optical methods for the characterization of mechanical properties of thin silicon films</title>

Cermets are designed to optimize the mechanical properties of ceramics (hard and strong component) and metals (ductile and tough component) into one system. However, the processing of such systems is a problem in obtaining fully dense composite without deleterious reaction products. In the lightweight (2.65 g/cc) B4C-Al cermet, many of the processing problems have been circumvented. It is now possible to process fully dense B4C-Al cermet with tailored microstructures and achieve unique combination of mechanical properties (fracture strength of over 600 MPa and fracture toughness of 12 MPa-m1/2). In this paper, microstructure and fractography of B4C-Al cermets, tested under dynamic and static loading conditions, are described.The cermet is prepared by infiltration of Al at 1150°C into partially sintered B4C compact under vacuum to full density. Fracture surface replicas were prepared by using cellulose acetate and thin-film carbon deposition. Samples were observed with a Philips 3000 at 100 kV.

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Characterization of interfaces in CVD-coated nicalon fiber-reinforced SiC

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100154755 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 556-557

Author(s):

K.L. More ◽

R.A. Lowden

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Properties ◽

Fracture Toughness ◽

Chemical Vapor ◽

Chemical Vapor Infiltration ◽

Frictional Stress ◽

Fiber Reinforced ◽

Pull Out ◽

Carbon Coated ◽

Fiber Matrix

The mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced composites are directly related to the nature of the fiber-matrix bond. Fracture toughness is improved when debonding, crack deflection, and fiber pull-out occur which in turn depend on a weak interfacial bond. The interfacial characteristics of fiber-reinforced ceramics can be altered by applying thin coatings to the fibers prior to composite fabrication. In a previous study, Lowden and co-workers coated Nicalon fibers (Nippon Carbon Company) with silicon and carbon prior to chemical vapor infiltration with SiC and determined the influence of interfacial frictional stress on fracture phenomena. They found that the silicon-coated Nicalon fiber-reinforced SiC had low flexure strengths and brittle fracture whereas the composites containing carbon coated fibers exhibited improved strength and fracture toughness. In this study, coatings of boron or BN were applied to Nicalon fibers via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and the fibers were subsequently incorporated in a SiC matrix. The fiber-matrix interfaces were characterized using transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM). Mechanical properties were determined and compared to those obtained for uncoated Nicalon fiber-reinforced SiC.

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Lifetime Regime in the Electrically-Detected Transient Grating Method Applied to Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon Films

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-715-a20.2 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 715 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. Sanguino ◽

M. Niehus ◽

S. Koynov ◽

P. Brogueira ◽

R. Schwarz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carrier Transport ◽

Analytical Calculation ◽

Chemical Vapor ◽

Silicon Films ◽

Dielectric Relaxation Time ◽

Transient Grating ◽

Minority Carrier Diffusion Length ◽

Carrier Recombination ◽

Thin Silicon ◽

Good Agreement

AbstractThe minority-carrier diffusion length in thin silicon films can be extracted from the electrically-detected transient grating method, EDTG, by a simple ambipolar analysis only in the case of lifetime dominated carrier transport. If the dielectric relaxation time, τdiel, is larger than the photocarrier response time, τR, then unexpected negative transient signals can appear in the EDTG result. Thin silicon films deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) near the amorphous-to-microcrystalline transition, where τR varies over a large range, appeared to be ideal candidates to study the interplay between carrier recombination and dielectric response. By modifying the ambipolar description to allow for a time-dependent carrier grating build-up and decay we can obtain a good agreement between analytical calculation and experimental results.

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