High-quality platelet single crystals of Tl₂Ba₂CuO₆±δ (Tl-2201) have been grown using a novel time-varying encapsulation scheme, minimizing the thallium oxide loss that has plagued other attempts and reducing cation substitution. This encapsulation scheme allows the melt to be decanted from the crystals, a step previously impossible, and the remaining cation substitution is homogenized via a high-temperature anneal. Oxygen annealing schemes were developed to produce sharp superconducting transitions from 5 to 85 K without damaging the crystals. The crystals' high homogeneity and high degree of crystalline perfection are further evidenced by narrow rocking curves; the crystals are comparable to YSZ-grown YBa₂Cu₃O₆₊δ by both metrics. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) ascertained the crystals' composition to be Tl₁.₉₂₀₍₂₎Ba₁.₉₆₍₂₎Cu₁.₀₈₀₍₂₎O₆₊δ; X-ray diffraction found the composition of a Tc = 75 K crystal to be Tl₁.₉₁₄₍₁₄₎Ba₂Cu₁.₀₈₆₍₁₄₎O₆.₀₇₍₅₎, in excellent agreement. X-ray refinement of the crystal structure found the crystals orthorhombic at most dopings, and their structure to be in general agreement with previous powder data. Cation-substituted Tl-2201 can be orthorhombic, orthorhombic crystals can be prepared, and these superconduct, all new results. X-ray diffraction also found evidence of an as yet unidentified commensurate superlattice modulation. The Tl-2201 crystals' electronic structure were studied by X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopies (XAS/XES). The Zhang-Rice singlet band gains less intensity on overdoping than expected, suggesting a breakdown of the Zhang-Rice singlet approximation, and one thallium oxide band does not disperse as expected. The spectra correspond very closely with LDA band structure calculations, and do not exhibit the upper Hubbard bands arising from strong correlations seen in other cuprates. The spectra are noteworthy for their unprecedented (in the high-Tc cuprates) simplicity. The startling degree to which the electronic structure can be explained bodes well for future research in the cuprates. The overdoped cuprates, and Tl-2201 in particular, may offer a unique opportunity for understanding in an otherwise highly confusing family of materials.

The effect of initial microstructures of an 0.05 wt.% C low carbon steel, acicular ferrite (AF), Bainite (B), polygonal ferrite (PF), fine polygonal ferrite (FPF), and a microstructure produced by direct strip casting (DSC) (termed SC), on the deformation and recrystallization behaviour of cold rolled low carbon (LC) steel, was investigated. The initially prepared samples with the initial microstructures were cold rolled to 50, 70 and 90% reductions, then annealed isothermally in the temperature range 580 ??? 680 oC. The microstructures and textures produced by deformation and annealing were studied by optical microscopy, XRD, TEM, SEM and EBSD. The initial microstructures were characterized mainly by optical microscopy and EBSD. Using EBSD, the ferrite grain size of the AF, B and SC samples was considerably larger than that found by optical microscopy with a large fraction of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) observed within prior austenite grains. All samples exhibited a very weak texture close to random. After cold rolling, the microstructures of AF and SC contained shear bands with PF and FPF generating deformation bands. For AF and SC, the pearlite phase was more extensively elongated in rolling direction compared with PF and FPF. After 90% cold rolling reduction, PF, FPF and SC consist mainly of the texture component and AF and B . It was found that FPF recrystallized most rapidly followed by B, PF and AF with SC recrystallizing orders of magnitude more slowly due to the solution drag caused by its uniformly distributed higher Mn content. Very strong (???-fibre) texture was generated in cold rolled PF followed by FPF, with AF, SC and B generating very weak textures. The texture evolution during annealing 90% reduction PF was examined in further detail. The behaviour of nucleation and grain growth provides strong evidence of orientated nucleation as the dominant factor for CRA texture development in this material.

The ability to generate three dimensional (3D) microstructures in solids is of great importance in understanding their true nature, as it eliminates speculation about the spatial distribution of features associated with conventional two dimensional (2D) imaging techniques. There are several recently-developed 3D techniques for determining the spatial distribution of microstructural features, each with a given resolution. There is considerable interest in the development of a specific serial sectioning methodology, termed 3D electron backscatter diffraction (3D-EBSD), which combines a focused ion beam (FIB) with EBSD interfaced to a field emission gun scanning electron microscope. Here, FIB is used as a serial sectioning device for cutting parallel slices of single- and multi-phase materials with a site-specific accuracy of up to 50 nm. Each consecutive slice is mapped by EBSD and the complete dataset combined using advanced computer algorithms to generate a volume of a material whereby the true crystallographic features can be analyzed at submicron resolution. The aims of the thesis was to develop 3D-EBSD into a powerful materials analysis tool and use it to resolve several issues concerning the nature of the deformed state and the nucleation and the growth behaviour of recrystallizing grains. The study commenced with an investigation into the effect of material type (restricted to face centred cubic AI, Cu and Au metallic crystals), FIB milling conditions and EBSD software variables on the quality of EBSD patterns generated on ion-milled surfaces of these materials. The effect of material type on EBSD pattern quality following FIB milling was found to be significant with relatively poor quality EBSD patterns obtained for metals of low atomic number. It was demonstrated, particularly for the high atomic number metals, that moderate FIB milling currents (~1-5nA) generated good quality EBSD maps from a given ion-milled surface. This preliminary work was necessary for balancing the time required for serial sectioning during 3D-EBSD and the generation of sufficient quality EBSD maps from each ion-milled surface. The outcomes of this investigation were applied to two major 3D-EBSD investigations on the microstructural and crystallographic characteristics of: (i) deformation features generated in a cold rolled interstitial free (IF) steel, with particular emphasis on the formation of microbands; and (ii) recrystallization of a cold rolled nickel alloy containing coarse (>1 ??m) silica particles, with particular attention given to the generation of particle deformation zones and their influence on nucleation and growth of recrystallizing grains including particle stimulated nucleation (PSN), twin formation during PSN and the growth behaviour of various types of grain boundary into the deformation microstructure. The foregoing 3D-EBSD studies were significant as they revealed various microstructural and crystallographic features not usually clearly evident in conventional 2D micrographs obtained by either EBSD or optical metallography. For example, the technique demonstrated that microbands in cold rolled IF steel consist of irregular curved surfaces that reconcile findings that microbands straight and aligned parallel to slip planes when viewed in normal direction-rolling direction sections but are wavy in transverse direction-rolling direction sections. Three slip planes were found within the angular range of the curved surface of the microband, which indicates that multiple slip planes are operative during deformation. The work also showed the influence of particle diameter on the misorientations generated within particle deformation zones and clearly showed that particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) occurred at particles greater than 1.5-2 ??m. It was observed that PSN in the nickel sample also generates contiguous grains separated by both coherent and incoherent twin boundaries and, on further growth of these grains into the matrix, the coherent boundary dominates and remains parallel to the primary growth direction of the grains.

Thin-film solar cells on glass substrates are likely to have a bright future due to the potentially low costs and the short energy payback times. Polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si, grain size &gt 1 pm) has the advantage of being non-toxic, abundant, and long-term stable. Glass as a substrate, however, limits the processing temperatures to ~600??C for longer process steps. Films with large grain size can be achieved by solid phase crystallisation (SPC), and especially by solid phase epitaxy (SPE) on seed layers, using amorphous silicon deposited at low temperatures as a precursor film. With SPC and SPE, the amorphous silicon film is typically crystallised at ~600??C over hours. During this anneal at atmospheric pressure -depending on the properties of the amorphous silicon film- ambient gas can percolate the film and can negatively affect the crystallisation. In this work, a high-vacuum anneal chamber was designed and built to allow the in-situ crystallisation of amorphous silicon films deposited on glass in a PECVD cluster tool. An important aspect of the design was the comfortable and safe operation of the vacuum anneal chamber to enable unattended operation. This was realised by means of a state-of-the-art, programmable temperature controller and a control circuit design that incorporates various safety interlocks. The chamber interior was optimised such that a temperature uniformity of 2-3K across the sample area was achieved. The chamber was calibrated and tested, and SPC and SPE samples were successfully crystallised. In initial SPC crystallisation experiments with solar cell structures, after post-deposition treatments, a 1 -sun open-circuit voltage of 465 mV was obtained, similar to furnace-annealed samples. In initial experiments with SPE solar cell structures, difficulties regarding the characterisation of the unmetallised solar cells with the quasi-steady-state open-circuit voltage method (QSSVOC) were encountered after post-deposition hydrogen treatment. A possible explanation for these difficulties is the contact formation with the metal probes. Furthermore, limiting factors of the QSSVOC method for the characterisation of unmetallised cells with high contact resistance values were investigated and, additionally, the accuracyof the QSSVOC setup was improved in the low light intensity range.

Zugl.: Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2007.

Thesis (M.Sc.-Res.)--University of Wollongong, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Texas State University--San Marcos, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-51). Also available on microfilm.

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-93). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 272-284). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.