HfS2 is the novel transition metal dichalcogenide, which has not been experimentally investigated as the material for electron devices. As per the theoretical calculations, HfS2 has the potential for well-balanced mobility (1,800 cm2/V·s) and bandgap (1.2 eV) and hence it can be a good candidate for realizing low-power devices. In this paper, the fundamental properties of few-layer HfS2 flakes were experimentally evaluated. Micromechanical exfoliation using scotch tape extracted atomically thin HfS2 flakes with varying colour contrasts associated with the number of layers and resonant Raman peaks. We demonstrated the I-V characteristics of the back-gated few-layer (3.8 nm) HfS2 transistor with the robust current saturation. The on/off ratio was more than 104 and the maximum drain current of 0.2 μA/μm was observed. Moreover, using the electric double-layer gate structure with LiClO4:PEO electrolyte, the drain current of the HfS2 transistor significantly increased to 0.75 mA/μm and the mobility was estimated to be 45 cm2/V·s at least. This improved current seemed to indicate superior intrinsic properties of HfS2. These results provides the basic information for the experimental researches of electron devices based on HfS2.

The collisional equipartition rate between the parallel and perpendicular velocity components is calculated for a weakly correlated electron plasma that is immersed in a uniform magnetic field. Here, parallel and perpendicular refer to the direction of the magnetic field. The rate depends on the parameter κ̄=(b̄/rc)/, where rc=(T/m)1/2/Ωc is the cyclotron radius and b̄=2e2/T is twice the distance of closest approach. For a strongly magnetized plasma (i.e., κ̄≫1), the equipartition rate is exponentially small (ν∼exp[−5(3πκ̄)2/5/6]). For a weakly magnetized plasma (i.e., κ̄≪1), the rate is the same as for an unmagnetized plasma except that rc/b̄ replaces λD/b̄ in the Coulomb logarithm. (It is assumed here that rc<λD; for rc>λD, the plasma is effectively unmagnetized.) This paper contains a numerical treatment that spans the intermediate regime κ̄∼1, and connects onto asymptotic results in the two limits κ̄≪1 and κ̄≫1. Also, an improved asymptotic expression for the rate in the high-field limit is derived. The present theoretical results are in good agreement with recent measurements of the equipartition rate over eight decades in κ̄ and four decades in the scaled rate ν/nv̄b̄2, where n is the electron density and v̄=(2T/m)1/2.

Dust particles in plasmas are often confined near the boundary between the plasma bulk and the sheath where the gravitation is balanced by electrostatic force. To keep dust particles from running away horizontally, an electrostatic potential is usually applied to the electrode surrounding these dusty plasmas and, under appropriate conditions, we have finite two-dimensional lattices of dust particles. Modeling the interaction between dust particles as the isotropic Yukawa interaction, structures of finite two-dimensional Yukawa systems at low temperatures have been analyzed both by numerical simulations and variational methods. The effect of the correlation energy between dust particles is shown to play an important role in the formation of the one-body distribution in these systems.

Sintering, structural correlations and mechanical behavior of nanophase silica glasses are investigated using large-scale, parallel molecular-dynamics simulations. During the sintering process, the pore sizes and distribution change without any discernible change in the pore morphology. The height and position of the first sharp diffraction peak in the neutron static structure factor shows significant differences in the nanophase glasses relative to the bulk silica glass. The effect of densification on mechanical properties is also examined. [S0031-9007(99)09108-5]

Thermodynamic quantities of a two-dimensional Yukawa system, a model for various systems including single-layered dust particles observed in dusty plasmas, are obtained and expressed by simple interpolation formulas. In the domain of weak coupling, the analytical method based on the cluster expansion is applied and, in the domain of intermediate and strong coupling, numerical simulations are performed. Due to reduced dimensionality, the treatment based on the mean field fails at the short range and exact behavior of the binary correlation is to be taken into account even in the case of weak coupling.