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I 4 ¯ -carbon was first proposed by Zhang et al., this paper will report regarding this phase of carbon. The present paper reports the structural and elastic properties of the three-dimensional carbon allotrope I 4 ¯ -carbon using first-principles density functional theory. The related enthalpy, elastic constants, and phonon spectra confirm that the newly-predicted I 4 ¯ -carbon is thermodynamically, mechanically, and dynamically stable. The calculated mechanical properties indicate that I 4 ¯ -carbon has a larger bulk modulus (393 GPa), shear modulus (421 GPa), Young's modulus (931 GPa), and hardness (55.5 GPa), all of which are all slightly larger than those of c-BN. The present results indicate that I 4 ¯ -carbon is a superhard material and an indirect-band-gap semiconductor. Moreover, I 4 ¯ -carbon shows a smaller elastic anisotropy in its linear bulk modulus, shear anisotropic factors, universal anisotropic index, and Young's modulus.

We presented an innovative fabrication technique for the self-assembly of GaAs islands on Si substrates by droplet epitaxy. The islands show highly tunable density (from 107 to some 109 islands/ cm 2) and size (from 75 to 250 nm), and small size dispersion (below 10%). The islands, made by single relaxed crystals with lattice parameters close to the GaAs bulk, show well defined shapes, with a high aspect ratio. The low thermal budget required for the island self-assembly, together with the high scalability of the process, make these islands good candidates for local artificial substrates or local strain sources with the required lattice parameters, band alignment, and crystalline quality as now required for the implementation of high quality devices on Si. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.

International audience; alpha-quartz-type Si1−xGexO2 solid solutions (x=0.06, 0.11, and 0.24) and pure SiO2 were investigated by Raman spectroscopy. Coupled and decoupled vibrational modes were identified at room temperature as a function of composition. Tetrahedral tilting librational modes involved in the displacive alphabeta-quartz phase transition are decoupled. The wave number of the coupled A1 mode located at 464 cm−1 for pure alpha-quartz was found to vary quite linearly with germanium content. Raman spectra were recorded up to 1473 K. Substitution of germanium in the quartz lattice clearly improves the thermal stability of the alpha phase. The alphabeta-quartz phase transition temperature increases from 846±1 K for x=0 to about 1300±50 K for x=0.24. At the same time, the dynamic disorder observed in quartz well below the transition is reduced in the solid solutions.

This is preliminary study on a phenomenon that happens during crystal growth of GaAs in a vertical gradient freeze (VGF) device. Here unwanted polycrystals nucleate at the chamber wall and move into the interior of the crystal. This happens within an undercooled region in the vicinity of the triple point, where the liquid-solid interface meets the chamber wall. The size and shape of that region is modelled by the Gibbs-Thomson law, which will be rederived in this paper. Hereafter we identify the crucial parameter, whose proper adjustment may minimize the undercooled region. Finally we give a simple estimate to calculate and evaluate the energy barrier for homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation of a solid nucleus in the undercooled melt