Issue 10 Volume 41 May 16, 2003

Over the past several decades, significant and steady progress has been made in the development of fusion energy and
its associated technology and in the understanding of the physics of high-temperature plasmas. While the demonstration of net
fusion energy (fusion energy production exceeding that required to heat and confine the plasma) remains a task for the next
millennia and while challenges remain, this progress has significantly increased confidence that the ultimate goal of societally
acceptable (e.g. cost, safety, environmental considerations including waste disposal) central power production can be
achieved. This progress has been shared by the two principal approaches to controlled thermonuclear fusion magnetic
confinement (MFE) and inertial confinement (ICF). ICF, the focus of this article, is complementary and symbiotic to MFE.
ICF invokes spherical implosion of the fuel to achieve high density, pressures, and temperatures, inertially confining the
plasma for times sufficiently long (t approx. 10(sup -10) sec) that approx. 30\% of the fuel undergoes thermonuclear fusion.
NTIS
Controlled Fusion; High Temperature Plasmas; Thermonuclear Power Generation
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SOLID-STATE PHYSICS
Includes condensed matter physics, crystallography, and superconductivity. For related information see also 33 Electronics and
Electrical Engineering; and 36 Lasers and Masers.
20030032263 NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH, USA
Defect Clustering and Nano-Phase Structure Characterization of Multi-Component Rare Earth Oxide Doped
Zirconia-Yttria Thermal Barrier Coatings
Zhu, Dongming; Chen, Yuan L.; Miller, Robert A.; [2003]; 13 pp.; In English; 27th Annual International Conference on
Advanced Ceramics and Composites, 26-31 Jan. 2003, Cocoa Beach, FL, USA; Original contains black and white illustrations
Contract(s)/Grant(s): WBS 22-714-04-05; Copyright; Avail: CASI; A03, Hardcopy
Advanced oxide thermal barrier coatings have been developed by incorporating multi-component rare earth oxide dopants
into zirconia-yttria to effectively promote the creation of the thermodynamically stable, immobile oxide defect clusters and/or
nano-scale phases within the coating systems. The presence of these nano-sized defect clusters has found to significantly
reduce the coating intrinsic thermal conductivity, improve sintering resistance, and maintain long-term high temperature
stability. In this paper, the defect clusters and nano-structured phases, which were created by the addition of multi-component
rare earth dopants to the plasma-sprayed and electron-beam physical vapor deposited thermal barrier coatings, were
characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The defect cluster size, distribution,
crystallographic and compositional information were investigated using high-resolution TEM lattice imaging, selected area
diffraction (SAD), electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis techniques.
The results showed that substantial defect clusters were formed in the advanced multi-component rare earth oxide doped
zirconia- yttria systems. The size of the oxide defect clusters and the cluster dopant segregation was typically ranging from
5 to 50 nm. These multi-component dopant induced defect clusters are an important factor for the coating long-term high
temperature stability and excellent performance.
Author
Clusters; Doped Crystals; Thermal Control Coatings; Yttrium Oxides; Zirconium Oxides; Crystal Defects; Nanostructure
(Characteristics)
20030032300 QSS Group, Inc., Greenbelt, MD, USA
Total Ionizing Dose Effects in MOS Oxides and Devices
Oldham, Timothy R.; McLean, F. B.; [2003]; 22 pp.; In English; Copyright; Avail: CASI; A03, Hardcopy
The development of military and space electronics technology has traditionally been heavily influenced by the
commercial semiconductor industry. The development of MOS technology, and particularly CMOS technology, as dominant
commercial technologies has occurred entirely within the lifetime of the NSREC. For this reason, it is not surprising that the
study of radiation interactions with MOS materials, devices and circuits has been a major theme of this conference for most
of its history. The basic radiation problem in a MOS transistor is illustrated. The application of an appropriate gate voltage
causes a conducting channel to form between the source and drain, so that current flows when the device is turned on. In Fig.
lb, the effect of ionizing radiation is illustrated. Radiation-induced trapped charge has built up in the gate oxide, which causes
a shift in the threshold voltage (that is, a change in the voltage which must be applied to turn the device on). If this shift is
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