Crystal structure | EPFL Graph Search

In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of the ordered arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from the intrinsic nature of the constituent particles to form symmetric patterns that repeat along the principal directions of three-dimensional space in matter. The smallest group of particles in the material that constitutes this repeating pattern is the unit cell of the structure. The unit cell completely reflects the symmetry and structure of the entire crystal, which is built up by repetitive translation of the unit cell along its principal axes. The translation vectors define the nodes of the Bravais lattice. The lengths of the principal axes, or edges, of the unit cell and the angles between them are the lattice constants, also called lattice parameters or cell parameters. The symmetry properties of the crystal are described by the concept of space groups. All possible symmetri

Simulations d'une structure cristalline incommensurable à caractère désordonné

Eric Germaneau

Incommensurate crystal structures do not display three-dimensional periodicity. Discovered in the 1960's, a mathematical model has been established in 1974 only. Incommensurate structures belong to the big family of aperiodic structures. The modulation of incommensurate structures manifests itself as satellite reflections around the main peaks on X-rays diffractograms. Short range order correlations in crystals lead to diffuse scattering between Bragg peaks in the diffraction pattern. The computing power available today allows for very time consuming simulations of the incommensurate or disordered crystal structures. Simulations based on Monte-Carlo and the molecular dynamic techniques have been performed. The former is based on stochastic algorithms, whereas the latter is deterministic. This PhD thesis strove to combine these two methods, using a four-isomermodel, in order to study the incommensurate, disordered polymorph of p-azoxydiphenetol (PAP), which crystallises below 356 K. One of the main features of the PAP molecule is its dative bond. A Monte-Carlo program, using true empirical potentials, has been developed in order to explain the behaviour of PAP. This code (6000 lines), written in C, uses the GSL and OpenMP libraries. Using numerical and experimental tools, this thesis provides explanations for the origin, from an atomic point of view, of the incommensurate and disordered behaviour of PAP. Calculations have been performed on the clusters of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Simulated diffraction patterns have been compared to experimental data, collected before and during this study. Moreover, a set of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements has been carried out during this work, the results of which have been analysed based on Arrhenius's law. For a better understanding of the role played by the dative bond, and the relation between the complexity of the molecule and the structure, DFT and ab initio calculations have been performed. This work has successfully woven the results from different experimental and numerical techniques into a comprehensive model for this very complex system indeed.

EPFL2008

Interface Investigations on Titanium Nitride Bilayer Systems

Dominik Anwar Jaeger

Nanocomposite coatings composed of two phases with atomically sharp phase boundaries, show interesting mechanical properties. These properties are often originating from their high interface to volume ratio. Composites of nanocrystalline titanium nitride (TiN) grains surrounded by a one to two monolayer thick interlayer of silicon nitride (Si3N4) show an enhanced nanohardness. The central theme of this thesis is concernedwith the interfacial properties of two-dimensional bilayer systems, which are used as model systems to describe the interfaces occurring in nanocomposite coatings. The systems under investigation are TiN interfaces in contact with silicon (Si), silicon nitride (Si3N4) and aluminum nitride (AlN). The primary tool used to analyze the interfaces of bilayer systems is X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) with emphasis put on the shake-up feature of the Ti 2p photoelectron line. Shake-ups in TiN are observed as an additional peak on the lower binding energy side of the energy lines of the Ti 2p orbitals. Shake-ups are strongly influenced by valence electrons and electron density distributions. This makes them a powerful tool to probe the chemical and electronic structure of TiN interfaces. The aim of this study is to utilize the shake-up energy and its intensity to gain insight into interfacial structures and correlate their changes to interfacial polarization and macroscopic mechanical properties. Single crystalline (sc-) and oxygen-free TiN as well as oxygen-free bilayer systems were deposited by unbalanced magnetron sputtering and analyzed by Angle Resolved (AR-)XPS. Bilayer samples were deposited and their quality was controlled using X-ray diffraction (crystallinity), Rutherford back scattering (elemental composition), and atomic force microscopy (roughness). All XPS samples were fabricated, transfered and analyzed whilst maintaining ultra high vacuum. A precise and self-consistent XPS data processing method was developed to evaluate Ti 2p spectra. This method accounts for the correct photoelectron line shape, background subtraction and photoelectron peak area intensity. Binding energy, shake-up energy and intensity ratios of shake-ups taken frompristine TiN surfaces are precisely determined, and the influence of oxygen on the information content in peak positions and intensities was investigated. The shake-up energy and intensity of bulk sc-TiN and its origin of the shake-up are discussed. An analytical description for the XPS signal ratio of bilayer systems is derived to separate the interfacial signals from the bulk information. The results obtained by this analytical description are strongly influenced by the interface thickness that has been found to be proportional to the overlayer thickness. The revealed interface properties show a correlation between the shake-up intensity and the interface morphology, oxygen content, overlayer material and overlayer thickness. AR-XPS and X-ray Photoelectron Diffraction (XPD) results were used to interpret the crystalline structure of the different TiN/AlN and TiN/Si3N4 bilayer systems. AlN shows XPD patterns indicating a crystalline growth of AlN on sc-TiN. The electrically insulating AlN overlayer creates a charge accumulation at the TiN interface, which results in an enhanced shake-up intensity. XPD patterns of Si3N4 systems revealed a crystalline growth of Si3N4 in the first 0.6nm. The intensity of the diffraction patterns reduces with increasing Si3N4 overlayer thickness due to a change in the growth behavior from crystalline to amorphous structures. Si3N4 films show, in comparison to AlN, reduced interface charging and hence a lower shakeup intensity. The crystalline growth of Si3N4 in the initial stages is hindered in systems where a bias voltage is applied to the substrate during the deposition process. In contrast to the unbiased systems, which have crystalline interfacial structures, the biased systems no longer show XPD patterns due to a loss of crystallinity. Additionally the shake-up intensity of biased systems is thickness-independent, which is in contrast to unbiased systems. The difference in the shake-up intensity of biased and unbiased Si3N4 is explained by a different band gap of the Si3N4 structure in the first two monolayers. This thesis shows that the increase in the shake-up intensity is correlated to intrinsic and extrinsic interface charging. The obtained results, in combination with theoretical structure models from literature, show that in one to two monolayer thick interlayers a build-up of interface polarization is unlikely. The observed nanohardness enhancement in TiN/Si3N4 systems is explained with already known hardness effects.

EPFL2012

Spatial and Morphological Control of Cyanine Dye Thin Films

Nicolas Alexandre Serge Leclaire

Cyanine dyes are organic semiconductor compounds with light absorption and emission properties useful for emerging technologies such as solar cells and light-emitting devices. The characteristics of these materials in the solid state depend on their organization of the constituting building blocks. This thesis focuses on controlling the morphology of cyanine dye thin films at different length scales and clarifying the resulting properties. When microstructures present features whose size matches visible light wavelengths, new properties may arise from light-matter interactions. Here the properties resulting from the light-matter interactions of cyanine droplet films cast from solution are studied. Based on experimental evidence, it is shown that dye droplet ensembles scatter light with different efficiencies and wavelength ranges depending on their dimensions. FDTD simulations are used to show that this effect results fromscattering enhancement at the absorption edge of the dye where the refractive index varies considerably. Simulations also provide a better understanding of individual dropletsâ interaction with light. While earlier work had hypothesized that the observed scattering phenomenon were due to crystalline clusters within the droplets, this work highlights the contribution of the dye filmmorphology. Cyanines also form single crystals whose fabrication induces molecular-scale order in the material. Previous work demonstrated that thin single crystals could be grown by solvent vapor annealing of dye droplets. Here it is shown that in uncontrolled conditions, cyanine single crystals destabilize to formdendritic crystals. In-situ microscopy observations highlight the solute reservoir role of the droplet distribution surrounding a growing crystal; when the distance between droplets and the crystal front is large, the solute supply is diffusion-limited. Moreover variations in local pressure equilibrium between the droplets and crystal front lead to advection fluxes which perturb the crystal growth. These observations help design configurations to either prevent crystal destabilization or take advantage of the dendritic growth in a controlled manner. In addition, the patterning of crystals on a substrate is relevant for their application in devices. A practical challenge is to induce single crystal growth at specific locations. Here, surfaces patterned with SAMs of hydrophilic and hydrophobic thiols are used to create dye droplet arrays from which crystals can be grown. This method is shown to yield local crystallization of the dye and to prevent crystal destabilization through better control of the droplet distribution. By varying the dye solution concentration, partial control over crystal density is achieved, however it proved difficult to control the number of nuclei per droplet. A more controlled evaporation and solvent vapor annealing system might be necessary to master the nucleation process. Finally the structure and optical properties of cyanine single crystals are addressed. The crystal structure was determined by X-ray diffraction. Structural aspects are shown to lead to excitonic couplings, which are evidenced by orientation-dependent spectroscopic measurements of single crystals. Although further investigation of the absorption band structure is necessary, the results are promising for photovoltaic devices as they might improve exciton transport compared to amorphous layers.

EPFL2018