Rapid identification of areas of interest in thin film materials libraries by combining electrical, optical, X-ray diffraction, and mechanical high-throughput measurements: a case study for the system Ni-Al.

The efficient identification of compositional areas of interest in thin film materials systems fabricated by combinatorial deposition methods is essential in combinatorial materials science. We use a combination of compositional screening by EDX together with high-throughput measurements of electrical and optical properties of thin film libraries to determine efficiently the areas of interest in a materials system. Areas of interest are compositions which show distinctive properties. The crystallinity of the thus determined areas is identified by X-ray diffraction. Additionally, by using automated nanoindentation across the materials library, mechanical data of the thin films can be obtained which complements the identification of areas of interest. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by using a Ni-Al thin film library as a reference system. The obtained results promise that this approach can be used for the case of ternary and higher order systems.

New advanced operational regime on the W7-AS stellarator.

A promising new plasma operational regime on the Wendelstein stellarator W7-AS has been discovered. It is extant above a threshold density and characterized by flat density profiles, high energy and low impurity confinement times, and edge-localized radiation. Impurity accumulation is avoided. Quasistationary discharges with line-averaged densities n(e) to 4 x 10(20) m(-3), radiation levels to 90%, and partial plasma detachment at the divertor target plates can be simultaneously realized. Energy confinement is up to twice that of a standard scaling. At B(t) = 0.9 T, an average beta value of 3.1% is achieved. The high n(e) values allow demonstration of electron Bernstein wave heating using linear mode conversion.