On the growth of ammonium nitrate(III) crystals

The growth rate of NH4NO3 phase III crystals is measured and interpreted using two models. The first is a standard crystal growth model based on a spiral growth mechanism, the second outlines the concept of kinetical roughening. As the crystal becomes rough a critical supersaturation can be determined and from this the step free energy. The step free energy versus temperature turns out to be well represented by a Kosterlitz¿Thouless type model. Further a phenomenological treatment of some peculiar growth observations is given

Crystallization study by transmission electron microscopy of SrTiO3 thin films prepared by plasma-assisted ALD

The crystallization behavior of thin strontium titanate (SrTiO3, STO) films with ~15 nm thickness was studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Amorphous STO films with [Sr]/([Sr]+[Ti]) ratio ranging from 0.50 to 0.63 were deposited at 350°C by plasma-assisted ALD and subsequently treated by rapid thermal annealing in flowing N2 for crystallization. Different temperatures and annealing durations were employed to fully characterize the crystallization process. TEM analysis showed that transrotational crystals were formed and evidenced the influence of the STO composition and of the thermal budget applied on the grain size, crack and void formation. In particular, Sr-rich layers ([Sr]/([Sr]+[Ti] = 0.59) showed a finer crystalline structure which was imputed to a higher nucleation probability at the onset of the crystallization process. Crystallization into the perovskite structure was confirmed for all the film compositions studied. By tuning the STO composition and the thermal budget of the annealing step it was demonstrated that it is possible to control the microstructure of the crystallized film as a further step in optimizing the STO film properties

Study of Surface Damage in Silicon by Irradiation with Focused Rubidium Ions

Cold atom ion sources have been developed and commercialized as alternative sources for focused ion beams (FIB). So far, applications and related research have not been widely reported. In this paper, a prototype rubidium FIB is used to study the irradiation damage of 8.5 keV beam energy Rb$^+$ ions on silicon to examine the suitability of rubidium for nanomachining applications. Transmission electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy is applied to silicon samples irradiated by different doses of rubidium ions. The experimental results show a duplex damage layer consisting of an outer layer of oxidation without Rb and an inner layer containing Rb mostly at the interface to the underlying Si substrate. The steady-state damage layer is measured to be $23.2(\pm 0.3)$ nm thick with a rubidium staining level of $7(\pm1)$ atomic percentage

Improved conductivity of aluminum-doped ZnO : the effect of hydrogen diffusion from a hydrogenated amorphous silicon capping layer

Plasma-deposited aluminum-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) demonstrated a resistivity gradient as function of the film thickness, extending up to about 600¿nm. This gradient decreased sharply when the ZnO:Al was capped by a hydrogenated amorphous silicon layer (a-Si:H) and subsequently treated according to the solid phase crystallization (SPC) procedure at 600¿°C. The resistivity reduced from 1.2¿·¿10-1 to 2.6¿·¿10-3 O¿·¿cm for a film thickness of 130¿nm, while for thicker films the decrease in resistivity was less pronounced, i.e., a factor of 2 for a film thickness of 810¿nm. While the carrier concentration was not affected, the mobility significantly increased from 7 to 30 cm2/V¿·¿s for the thick ZnO:Al layers. This increase was ascribed to the passivation of grain boundary defects by hydrogen, which diffused from the a-Si:H toward the ZnO:Al during the SPC procedure. The passivation effect was more pronounced in thinner ZnO:Al layers, characterized by a smaller grain size, due to the presence of large grain boundaries. For thicker films with grain sizes up to 200–300¿nm the mobility became progressively less affected by the presence of grain boundaries. Therefore, the hydrogen-induced improvement in conductivity was less significant for the thick ZnO:Al film

Plasma assisted deposition of Au/SiO2 multi-layers as surface plasmon resonance-based red colored coatings

In this work, the expanding thermal plasma chemical vapor deposition in combination with radio frequency magnetron sputtering is used to deposit dielectric/metal multi-layers with controlled size and density of nanoparticles. The multi-layer structure serves the purpose of increasing the nanoparticle number density, without changing the metal particle size, shape and the interparticle distance. The possibility of independently tuning and, therefore, controlling the nanoparticle size and number density allows developing surface plasmon resonance-based deep-colored coatings. The influence of the number of layers, metal surface area coverage, and thickness of the dielectric layer on the multi-layer nanostructure and on the developed color is presented here in detail. The nanoparticle size and distribution have been measured by transmission electron microscopy. Rutherford back-scattering and infra-red transmission spectroscopy have been used to determine the metal surface coverage and the film chemistry, respectively. Optical properties of the nano-composite layers have been investigated by UV-VIS spectroscopy and exhibit an increase in amplitude of the plasmon absorption spectra at a fixed plasmon resonance frequency with an increase in the number of layers

Nitrogen-doping of bulk and nanotubular TiO2 photocatalysts by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition

Plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (PA-ALD) was adopted to deposit TiO2-xNx ultrathin layers on Si wafers, calcined Ti foils and nanotubular TiO2 arrays. A range of N content and chemical bond configurations were obtained by varying the background gas (O2 or N2) during the Ti precursor exposure, while the N2/H2-fed inductively coupled plasma exposure time was varied between 2 and 20 s. On calcined Ti foils, a positive effect from N doping on photocurrent density was observed when O2 was the background gases with a short plasma exposure time (5 and 10 s). This correlated with the presence of interstitial N states in the TiO2 with a binding energy of 400 eV (Ninterst) as measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A longer plasma time or the use of N2 as background gas resulted in formation of N state with a binding energy of 396 eV (Nsubst) and very low photocurrents. These Nsubst are linked to the presence of Ti3+, which act as detrimental recombination centers for photo-generated electron-hole pairs. On contrary, PA-ALD treated nanotubular TiO2 arrays show no variation of photocurrent density (with respect to the pristine nanotubes) upon different plasma exposure times and when the O2 recipe was adopted. This is attributed to constant N content in the PA-ALD TiO2-xNx, regardless of the adopted recipe

Flow cell coupled dynamic light scattering for real-time monitoring of nanoparticle size during liquid phase bottom-up synthesis

To tailor the properties of nanoparticles and nanocomposites, precise control over particle size is of vital importance. Real-time monitoring of particle size during bottom-up synthesis in liquids would allow a detailed study of particle nucleation and growth, which provides valuable insights in the mechanism of formation of the nanoparticles. Furthermore, it facilitates a rational scale-up, and would enable adequate intervention in the production process of nanoparticle dispersions to minimize the number of off-spec batches. Since real-time monitoring requires particle size measurements on dispersions in flow, conventional dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques are not suited: they rely on single scattering and measure the Brownian motion of particles dispersed in a liquid. Here, we present a set-up that allows accurate measurements in real-time on flowing dispersions using a DLS technique based on modulated 3D cross-correlation. This technique uses two simultaneous light scattering experiments performed at the same scattering vector on the same sample volume in order to extract only the single scattering information common to both. We connected the reactor to a flow-cell in the DLS equipment using a tailor-made analysis loop, and successfully demonstrated the complete set-up through monitoring of the size of spherical silica nanoparticles during Stöber synthesis in a water-alcohol mixture starting from the molecular precursor tetraethyl orthosilicate.</p

Aging and passivation of magnetic properties in Co/Gd bilayers

Synthetic ferrimagnets based on Co and Gd bear promise for directly bridging the gap between volatile information in the photonic domain and non-volatile information in the magnetic domain, without the need for any intermediary electronic conversion. Specifically, these systems exhibit strong spin-orbit torque effects, fast domain wall motion and single-pulse all-optical switching of the magnetization. An important open challenge to bring these materials to the brink of applications is to achieve long-term stability of their magnetic properties. In this work, we address the time-evolution of the magnetic moment and compensation temperature of magnetron sputter grown Pt/Co/Gd trilayers with various capping layers. Over the course of three months, the net magnetic moment and compensation temperature change significantly, which we attribute to quenching of the Gd magnetization. We identify that intermixing of the capping layer and Gd is primarily responsible for this effect, which can be alleviated by choosing nitrides for capping as long as reduction of nitride to oxide is properly addressed. In short, this work provides an overview of the relevant aging effects that should be taken into account when designing synthetic ferrimagnets based on Co and Gd for spintronic applications.Synthetic ferrimagnets based on Co and Gd bear promise for directly bridging the gap between volatile information in the photonic domain and non-volatile information in the magnetic domain, without the need for any intermediary electronic conversion. Specifically, these systems exhibit strong spin-orbit torque effects, fast domain wall motionand single-pulse all-optical switching of the magnetization. An important open challenge to bring these materials to the brink of applications is to achieve long-term stability of their magnetic properties. In this work, we address the time-evolution of the magnetic moment and compensation temperature of magnetron sputter grown Pt/Co/Gd trilayerswith various capping layers. Over the course of three months, the net magnetic moment and compensation temperature change significantly, which we attribute to quenching of the Gd magnetization. We identify that intermixing of the capping layer and Gd is primarily responsible for this effect, which can be alleviated by choosing nitrides for cappingas long as reduction of nitride to oxide is properly addressed. In short, this work provides an overview of the relevant aging effects that should be taken into account when designing synthetic ferrimagnets based on Co and Gd for spintronic applications

A solution for galactic disks with Yukawian gravitational potential

We present a new solution for the rotation curves of galactic disks with gravitational potential of the Yukawa type. We follow the technique employed by Toomre in 1963 in the study of galactic disks in the Newtonian theory. This new solution allows an easy comparison between the Newtonian solution and the Yukawian one. Therefore, constraints on the parameters of theories of gravitation can be imposed, which in the weak field limit reduce to Yukawian potentials. We then apply our formulae to the study of rotation curves for a zero-thickness exponential disk and compare it with the Newtonian case studied by Freeman in 1970. As an application of the mathematical tool developed here, we show that in any theory of gravity with a massive graviton (this means a gravitational potential of the Yukawa type), a strong limit can be imposed on the mass (m_g) of this particle. For example, in order to obtain a galactic disk with a scale length of b ~ 10 kpc, we should have a massive graviton of m_g << 10^{-59} g. This result is much more restrictive than those inferred from solar system observations.Comment: 7 pages; 1 eps figure; to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Correlative transmission electron microscopy and electrical properties study of switchable phase-change random access memory line cells

Phase-change memory line cells, where the active material has a thickness of 15 nm, were prepared for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation such that they still could be switched and characterized electrically after the preparation. The result of these observations in comparison with detailed electrical characterization showed (i) normal behavior for relatively long amorphous marks, resulting in a hyperbolic dependence between SET resistance and SET current, indicating a switching mechanism based on initially long and thin nanoscale crystalline filaments which thicken gradually, and (ii) anomalous behavior, which holds for relatively short amorphous marks, where initially directly a massive crystalline filament is formed that consumes most of the width of the amorphous mark only leaving minor residual amorphous regions at its edges. The present results demonstrate that even in (purposely) thick TEM samples, the TEM sample preparation hampers the probability to observe normal behavior and it can be debated whether it is possible to produce electrically switchable TEM specimen in which the memory cells behave the same as in their original bulk embedded state