Magnetic catalyst bodies

After a discussion about the importance of the size of the catalyst bodies with reactions in the liquid-phase with a suspended catalyst, the possibilities of magnetic separation are dealt with. Deficiencies of the usual ferromagnetic particles are the reactivity and the clustering of the particles. A procedure to produce more suitable magnetic particles is to deposit a nickel± iron precursor on a support and to obtain small metal particles by reduction. Subsequently the metal particles are encapsulated in layers of graphitic carbon by exposure to methane at 700°C. Exposure to methane at lower temperature leads to growth of carbon fibrils, which can be controlled by raising the temperature. The alumina support is dissolved in hydrochloric acid. The magnetic properties of nickel-iron alloys prevent clustering of the ferromagnetic particles

Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of tungsten oxide thin films using (tBuN)2(Me2N)2W and O2 plasma

The growth of tungsten oxide (WO3) thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) offers numerous merits including atomic-scale thickness control at low deposition temperatures. In this work, we have developed and characterized a new plasma-enhanced ALD process for WO3 thin films using the metalorganic precursor (tBuN)2(Me2N)2W and O2 plasma as co-reactant over a wide temperature range of 100 °C-400 °C. The influence of deposition temperature on the growth behaviour and film properties is investigated in detail. The WO3 ALD process developed in this work yields a relatively high growth per cycle (GPC) which varies from ~0.7 Å at 100 °C to ~0.45 Å at 400 °C, as-determined by in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) measurements revealed a mass density of 5.9 g/cm3 and near stoichiometric film composition (O/W = 2.9). Both RBS and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements confirmed no detectable C as well as N impurity incorporation. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD) measurements indicated that the films deposited at 400 °C were polycrystalline in nature

Theory of Luminescent Emission in Nanocrystal ZnS:Mn with an Extra Electron

We consider the effect of an extra electron injected into a doped quantum dot $ZnS:Mn^{2+}$. The Coulomb interaction and the exchange interaction between the extra electron and the states of the Mn ion will mix the wavefunctions, split the impurity energy levels, break the previous selection rules and change the transition probabilities. Using this model of an extra electron in the doped quantum dot, we calculated the energy and the wavefunctions, the luminescence probability and the transition lifetime and compare with the experiments. Our calculation shows that two orders of magnitudes of lifetime shortening can occur in the transition $^4T_1-^6A_1$ when an extra electron is present.Comment: 15 pages, 2 Figs No change in Fig

The use of atomic layer deposition in advanced nanopattering

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a method that allows for the deposition of thin films with atomic level control of the thickness and an excellent conformality on 3-dimensional surfaces. In recent years, ALD has been implemented in many applications in microelectronics, for which often a patterned film instead of a full area coverage is required. This article reviews several approaches for the patterning of ALD-grown films. In addition to conventional methods relying on etching, there has been much interest in nanopatterning by area-selective ALD. Area-selective approaches can eliminate compatibility issues associated with the use of etchants, lift-off chemicals, or resist films. Moreover, the use of ALD as an enabling technology in advanced nanopatterning methods such as spacer defined double patterning or block copolymer lithography is discussed, as well as the application of selective ALD in self-aligned fabrication schemes

Catalytic surface reactions during nucleation and growth of atomic layer deposition of noble metals : a case study for platinum

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of noble metals has attracted much attention in recent years for the deposition of thin metal films, as well as for the synthesis of supported metallic nanoparticles. Noble metal surfaces and nanoparticles possess catalytic activity for dissociation of metalorganic precursor and O2 molecules, which has important consequences for the reaction mechanisms of ALD. In this work, a case study is presented with respect to the importance of catalytic surface reactions during the nucleation and growth of Pt ALD, which serves as a model system for the growth of other noble metals by ALD. It is illustrated that atomic level understanding of these processes is vital for the development of novel nanopatterning and nanoparticle synthesis approaches

Strategies to facilitate the formation of free standing MoS2 nanolayers on SiO2 surface by atomic layer deposition: a DFT study

In this study, we employ density functional theory calculations to investigate the very initial formation of a buffer layer during atomic layer deposition of MoS2 at the SiO2 (001) surface. In our previous study, we described that the self-limiting atomic layer deposition (ALD) reactions using Mo(NMe2)2(NtBu)2 as precursor and H2S as co-reagent terminate in the formation of a so-called building block on the SiO2 (001) surface. This building block consists of Mo which shares bonds with the surface O of SiO2 (001) at the bottom and terminal S at the top. Electronic band structure calculations indicate that the subsequently deposited buffer-layer that is composed of these building blocks has (opto)-electrical properties that are far from the ideal situation. Based on our studies, we propose alternative ALD chemistries which lead to the formation of a so-called underpinned building block. In this cluster, the Mo atoms are underpinned by S atoms, suppressing the formation of a buffer layer. This ultimately facilitates the formation of a free standing conformal 2D-MoS2 nanolayer at the interface. Through the proposed chemistries, the opto-electrical properties of the deposited layers will be preserved

Large low-frequency resistance noise in chemical vapor deposited graphene

We report a detailed investigation of resistance noise in single layer graphene films on Si/SiO2 substrates obtained by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper foils. We find that noise in these systems to be rather large, and when expressed in the form of phenomenological Hooge equation, it corresponds to Hooge parameter as large as 0.1–0.5. We also find the variation in the noise magnitude with the gate voltage (or carrier density) and temperature to be surprisingly weak, which is also unlike the behavior of noise in other forms of graphene, in particular those from exfoliation

The use of atomic layer deposition in advanced nanopattering

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a method that allows for the deposition of thin films with atomic level control of the thickness and an excellent conformality on 3-dimensional surfaces. In recent years, ALD has been implemented in many applications in microelectronics, for which often a patterned film instead of a full area coverage is required. This article reviews several approaches for the patterning of ALD-grown films. In addition to conventional methods relying on etching, there has been much interest in nanopatterning by area-selective ALD. Area-selective approaches can eliminate compatibility issues associated with the use of etchants, lift-off chemicals, or resist films. Moreover, the use of ALD as an enabling technology in advanced nanopatterning methods such as spacer defined double patterning or block copolymer lithography is discussed, as well as the application of selective ALD in self-aligned fabrication schemes