Emerging contours of financial regulation: challenges and dynamics.

The current ongoing financial crisis is attributed to a variety of factors such as the developments in the subprime mortgage sector, excessive leverage, lax financial regulation and supervision, and global macroeconomic imbalances. At a fundamental level, however, the crisis also reflects the effects of long periods of excessively loose monetary policy in the major advanced economies during the early part of this decade. The theory and belief of efficient and rational markets have been severely discredited by the current crisis. There is, therefore, a growing agreement for much strengthened, and perhaps, intrusive regulation and supervision in the financial sector. Hitherto unregulated institutions, markets and instruments will now have to be brought under the regulatory framework. A more developed macroprudential approach will be important. Once the current financial crisis is beyond us, minimum regulatory capital requirements would need to be signifi cantly above existing Basel rules, with emphasis on Tier I capital, and supported by a maximum gross leverage ratio. Liquidity regulation and supervision must be recognised as of equal importance to capital regulation, reinforced by an effective global liquidity framework for managing liquidity in large, cross-border fi nancial institutions. The issue of remuneration in the fi nancial sector would require reforms on an industry-wide basis so that improved risk management and compensation practices by some systemically important firms are not undermined by the unsound practices of others. Whereas the suggested reform principles are being increasingly well accepted, many challenges will arise on their modes of implementation, and their practicality. For instance, once normalcy returns, the fi nancial industry will do its utmost to resist the requirements for higher capital at that time. From the point of view of emerging market economies (EMEs), the volatility in capital flows – mainly the outcome of extant monetary policy regimes in developed countries – has led to severe problems in both macro management and financial regulation. This will remain a challenge since there is little international discussion on this issue. Finally, as the global economy starts recovery, a calibrated exit from the prevalent unprecedented accommodative monetary policy will have to be ensured to avoid the recurrence of the financial crisis being experienced now.

Hollow cathode sustained plasma microjets: Characterization and application to diamond deposition

Extending the principle of operation of hollow cathode microdischarges to a tube geometry has allowed the formation of stable, high-pressure plasma microjets in a variety of gases including Ar, He, and H2. Direct current discharges are ignited between stainless steel capillary tubes (d = 178 µm) which are operated as the cathode and a metal grid or plate that serves as the anode. Argon plasma microjets can be sustained in ambient air with plasma voltages as low as 260 V for cathode-anode gaps of 0.5 mm. At larger operating voltage, this gap can be extended up to several millimeters. Using a heated molybdenum substrate as the anode, plasma microjets in CH4/H2 mixtures have been used to deposit diamond crystals and polycrystalline films. Micro-Raman spectroscopy of these films shows mainly sp3 carbon content with slight shifting of the diamond peak due to internal stresses. Optical emission spectroscopy of the discharges used in the diamond growth experiments confirms the presence of atomic hydrogen and CH radicals

High-pressure micro-discharges in etching and deposition applications

High-pressure micro-discharges are promising sources of light, ions, and radicals and offer some advantages in materials processing applications as compared to other more conventional discharges. We review here results from etching experiments using stencil masks where the discharge is formed only in the pattern cutout. The mask consists of a thin metal-dielectric structure and is pressed against a Si wafer, which becomes part of the electric circuit. Pattern transfer takes place, albeit the profile shape appears to be limited by the expansion of the plasma into the etched hole at long etch times. We also review experiments on using micro-discharges as sources of radicals for materials deposition applications. In the latter case, the micro-discharges form in metal capillary tubes permitting incorporation of gas flow and a short reaction zone that can be controlled to favour production of specific radicals. We demonstrate these concepts by using CH4/H2 chemistry for diamond deposition on a heated Mo substrate. Good quality micro- and nano-diamond crystals could be produced