Bottom-up assembly of metallic germanium.

Extending chip performance beyond current limits of miniaturisation requires new materials and functionalities that integrate well with the silicon platform. Germanium fits these requirements and has been proposed as a high-mobility channel material, a light emitting medium in silicon-integrated lasers, and a plasmonic conductor for bio-sensing. Common to these diverse applications is the need for homogeneous, high electron densities in three-dimensions (3D).

In situ synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction analysis on phase transformations in Ti-Al alloys processed by equal-channel angular pressing.

Mixtures of 47-Al and 53-Ti powders (atomic %) have been consolidated using back pressure equal-channel angular pressing starting with both raw and ball-milled powders. In situ synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction studies are presented with continuous Rietveld analysis obtained upon a heating ramp from 300 K to 1075 K performed after the consolidation process. Initial phase distributions contain all intermetallic compounds of this system except Al, with distribution maxima in the outer regions of the concentrations (alpha-Ti, TiAl(3)).