Influence of multilayer modulation on structural and magnetic features in the Pt/Sm-Co system

In this work, we study the influence of Pt underlayer in Pt/Sm-Co/Pt trilayers and in Pt/Sm-Co multilayers. In both cases, Pt underlayer seems to impose better crystallinity to Sm-Co layer and certainly promotes the evolution of the hard-magnetic SmCo₅ phase. Particularly, in the case of multilayer form, where multiple interlayers of Pt each one serving as a dedicated underlayer for the deposition of a specific Sm-Co layer, enhanced crystallinity is observed. Moreover, post-deposition annealing facilitates these features at relatively lower temperatures (∼400 °C) than those met in thin-film cases. This behavior is also followed by enhancement of saturation magnetization, while higher temperature post-deposition thermal treatment seems to deteriorate structural and magnetic features. If annealing temperature gets over 550 °C macroscopic magnetic features depress, probably due to domination of annealing-activated processes such as Sm oxidation and formation of non-magnetic phases since Pt diffuses throughout the whole magnetic layer.     

Synthesis of Tl---Ba---Ca---Cu---O superconducting thin films by sequential evaporation and annealing in the absence of an additional thallium source

Although Tl-based superconductors show higher critical temperatures than other compounds, they suffer some disadvantages, such as surface roughness, non-uniform chemical composition, and the need for excess Tl from a separate source during post-deposition annealing. This paper reports a post-deposition annealing process (in the absence of a separate Tl source) of sequentially deposited metallic layers of Tl:Ba:Ca:Cu with excess amount of thallium in the multilayer. The films show uniform chemical composition and smooth surfaces. Critical temperatures as high as 101 K and critical current densities as high as 1.5 × 10⁴ A/ cm² at 77 K in zero magnetic field have been achieved.     

Pt interactions with annealed and chemically-etched Nb-doped SrTiO3(0 0 1) surfaces: Metal/oxide surface chemical effects on band bending behavior

XPS and LEED have been used to characterize the interaction of sputter-deposited Pt (maximum coverage <5 ML) with Nb-doped SrTiO₃(0 0 1) surfaces prepared either by annealing in O₂ and then UHV, or by chemical-etching in aqua regia. The annealed surface exhibits an ordered (1 × 1) LEED pattern, with additional diffraction spots and streaks indicating the presence of oxygen vacancies. Increasing Pt coverage results in the decrease of the observed Pt(4f_7/2) binding energy and the uniform shift of the Sr(3d), Ti(2p) and O(1s) levels to smaller binding energies, as expected for Pt cluster growth and surface-to-Pt charge donation on an n-type semiconductor. The etched surface is disordered, and exhibits a hydroxylated surface with a contaminant C film of ∼23 ? average thickness. Pt deposition on the etched surface results in an immediate decrease in the intensity of the OH feature in the O(1s) spectrum, and a uniform shift of the Sr(3d), Ti(2p) and O(1s) levels to larger binding energies with increasing Pt coverage. The observed Pt(4f_7/2) binding energy on the etched surface (∼72 eV) is independent of Pt coverage, and indicates substantial electronic charge donation from the Pt to surface hydroxyl species. The observation of band bending towards higher binding energies upon Pt deposition (behavior normally associated with p-type semiconductors) demonstrates that sub-monolayer quantities of adsorbates can alter metal/oxide interfacial charge transfer and reverse the direction of band bending, with important consequences for Schottky barrier heights and device applications.     

STM investigation of the adsorption and temperature dependent reactions of ethylene on Pt(111)

The adsorption and reactions of ethylene adsorbed in UHV on Pt(111) have been studied as a function of temperature by STM. The STM images taken at 160K show an ordered structure of adsorbed ethylene. Annealing to 300 K produces ethylidyne (C-CH₃) irreversibly, as has been demonstrated by a wide variety of surface science techniques. The ethylidyne on Pt(111) is not visible to the STM at room temperature. Cooling the sample allows direct observation of the ethylidyne ordered structure by STM. Annealing above 430 K results in further dehydrogenation, eventually leaving only carbon on the surface. The decomposition products appear as small clusters which are localized and uniformly distributed over the surface. Further annealing to temperatures >800 K results in the growth of graphite islands on the Pt(111) surface. The annealed graphite islands exhibit several supersturctures with lattice parameters of up to 22 Å, which are thought to result from the higher order commensurability with the Pt(111) substrate at different relative rotations.     

Variations of work function and surface conductivity on clean cleaved zinc oxide surfaces by annealing and by hydrogen adsorption

Crystals are cleaved in UHV normal and parallel to the c axis exposing polar and prism faces. Work function (Kelvin) and surface conductivity are measured, also after annealing at elevated temperatures in UHV and after adsorption of atomic hydrogen. The work function of all three faces decreases irreversibly by annealing in UHV, but only on the Zn face a measurable surface conductivity appears. Also hydrogen adsorption diminuishes the work function. Simultaneously an increasing surface conductivity can be observed on all three types of surfaces. Corresponding structures in the annealing curves demonstrate a correlation between work function and surface conductivity. By means of space charge calculations band bending values are derived and there-by the electron affinity, which is not accessible to direct measurement. It is concluded that the two clean cleaved polar faces exhibit a depletion layer, which remains on the O face also after annealing in UHV. On the prism face nearly flat band situation is found. The decrease of work function with increasing hydrogen coverage, i.e. surface electron density, can be interpreted by means of space charge calculations using the measured surface conductivity. For the two polar faces the band bending alone causes the decrease, whereas for the prism face an additional increase of electron affinity has to be assumed. The variation of electron affinity by annealing or by hydrogen adsorption might be due to a change of atomic distances in the uppermost layer, although no superstructure has been found in LEED studies.     

Nano-structures in YSZ(1 0 0) surfaces: Implications for metal deposition experiments

The surface morphology of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ)(1 0 0) single crystals are examined by AFM and XPS before and after thermal annealing in air to 1000 °C. The surfaces show a large variability in topography which can be categorized in three types: (1) surfaces with well defined terraces, (2) surfaces with etch pits and no visible terraces, (3) surfaces with large square or rectangular holes with flat bottoms. All three types of surfaces show a large number of defects (pits, adatoms, steps) originating from the manufacturing process, and certain samples show large nano-structured arrays of self-organized lines at step edges. The evolution of the surfaces with time at 1000 °C and with higher temperatures was studied. Terraces are ultimately obtained for all sample types at 1300 °C, but the terrace shape is affected by the original defect structure. This history dependence is attributed to defect interactions modifying the annealing process. This is true even for UHV samples prepared using sputter-anneal cycles. The surface type is found to affect the nucleation, growth and sintering behaviour of palladium deposited by electron beam evaporation. For type 3 samples the metal nucleates at step edges outside the holes to particles 6 Å in height, following heating to 135 °C the particles move inside the holes forming agglomerates up to 20 Å.     

The application of photoemission microscopy to the study of heterogeneous reactions over metal single crystal surfaces

The development of UHV instrumentation for photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) has opened up the possibility of investigating in situ the morphology of metal single crystal surfaces during simple catalytical reactions in the pressure range up to 10^–4 mbar. We have studied the Pt(100) surface during the transition from the high to low rate branches of the CO oxidation reaction. Steps, step bunches and grain boundaries have been identified. They play an important role in the decomposition of CO and the deposition of carbon and probably regulate the reactivity of the Pt surface.     

Structural characterization of MgO(100) surfaces

The structure, the microtopography and the cleanliness of MgO(100) surfaces have been investigated by a combination of thermal helium scattering, surface decoration and Auger spectroscopy. The microstructure and cleanliness are strongly dependent on the preparation of the surface. MgO surfaces obtained by cleavage under UHV are clean and present a high coefficient for coherent He reflection. MgO surfaces prepared by cleavage in air are contaminated and irreversibly damaged by water vapour. Such surfaces can be cleaned by vacuum annealing but the coefficient of coherent He reflection remains low because of the presence of a high number of defects.     

GaAs光电阴极片原子级表面清洁方法的研究及评价

本文对GaAs光电阴极片UHV系统中原子级表面清洁方法做了研究,它们是:光加热法、直接加热法、离子轰击加退火法、热子加热法,表面清洁效果用装于UHV系统中间在线俄歇检测,表面质量用Aa/GaAuger峰高进行比较,指出两种用于第三代象增强器光电阴极的表面清洁方法:CS-离子轰击加退火法和热子背加热法。     

XPS investigation of vacuum annealed vertically aligned ultralong ZnO nanowires

The surface properties of vertically aligned ZnO nanowires grown by chemical vapour deposition on GaN using a gold layer as a catalyst are investigated by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy as a function of annealing temperature in ultra high vacuum (UHV). The nanowires are 8.5 μm long and 60 nm wide. 87% of the surface carbon content was removed after annealing at 500 °C in UHV. Analysis of the gold intensity suggests diffusion into the nanowires after annealing at 600 °C. Annealing at 300 °C removes surface water contamination and induces a 0.2 eV upward band bending, indicating that adsorbed water molecules act as surface electron donors. The contaminants re-adsorbed after 10 days in UHV and the surface band bending caused by the water removal was reversed. The UHV experiment also affected the nanowires arrangement causing them to bunch together. These results have clear implications for gas sensing applications with ZnO NWs.     

The rate of formation of nickel carbonyl from carbon monoxide and nickel single crystals

We have measured the rate of Ni(CO)_i formation at a total pressure of 1 atm on Ni(100), (110) and (111) single crystals cleaned by argon ion bombardment and UHV annealing. The (111) surface reacts significantly faster than the other two surfaces. The partial pressure dependence of the reaction and the effect of impurities are also discussed.     

TPD study of the adsorption and reaction of nitromethane and methyl nitrite on ordered Pt–Sn surface alloys

The adsorption and reaction of the isomers nitromethane (CH₃NO₂) and methyl nitrite (CH₃ONO) on two ordered Sn/Pt(111) surface alloys were studied using TPD, AES, and LEED. Even though the Sn–O bond is stronger than the Pt–O bond and Sn is more easily oxidized than Pt, alloying with Sn reduces the reactivity of the Pt(111) surface for both of these oxygen-containing molecules. This is because of kinetic limitations due to a weaker chemisorption bond and an increased activation energy for dissociation for these molecules on the alloys compared to Pt(111). Nitromethane only weakly adsorbs on the Sn/Pt(111) surface alloys, shows no thermal reaction during TPD, and undergoes completely reversible adsorption under UHV conditions. Methyl nitrite is a much more reactive molecule due to the weak CH₃O–NO bond, and most of the chemisorbed methyl nitrite decomposes below 240 K on the alloy surfaces to produce NO and a methoxy species. Surface methoxy is a stable intermediate until 300 K on the alloys, and then it dehydrogenates to evolve gas phase formaldehyde with high selectivity against complete dehydrogenation to form CO on both alloy surfaces.     

Preparation and characterization of MgO stepped surfaces

We present a study of the preparation procedure for stepped MgO surfaces which can be used as templates for the deposition of metallic nanostructures. A cleaved sample of MgO(0 0 1) was mechanically polished to reach the desired miscut angle along the [1 1 0] direction. Then a thermal annealing was performed. The effect of an intermediate chemical etching has been also studied. The surface was analyzed by means of contact AFM in air, LEED and XPS in UHV. The role of the chemical etching and the dependence of the final morphology on the annealing time and temperature were investigated. The influence of the miscut angle on the final surface topography is also briefly discussed.     

Growth,structure, and thermal stability of epitaxial BaTiO3 films on Pt(111)

The growth of epitaxial ultrathin BaTiO₃ films upon rf magnetron sputter deposition on a Pt(111) substrate has been studied by scanning tunnelling microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The BaTiO₃ films have been characterized from the initial stages of growth up to a film thickness of 4 unit cells. The deposited films develop a long-range order upon annealing at 1050 K in UHV. In the submonolayer regime a wetting layer is formed on Pt(111). Thicker films reveal a Stranski–Krastanov-like structure as observed with STM. By XPS a good agreement of the thin film stoichiometry with BaTiO₃ single crystal data is determined. Due to annealing at 1150 K BaTiO₃ forms large two-dimensional islands on the Pt(111) substrate. Different surface structures develop on the islands depending on the O₂ partial pressure during annealing.     

Thermal faceting of the rutile TiO2(001) surface

Temperature dependent faceting of rutile TiO₂ surfaces cut to the (001) plane has been reported [Tait and Kasowski, Phys. Rev. B20 (1979) 5178]. By comparing LEED data to beam positions calculated for various sets of facet planes, the facet planes have been identified. The first ordered structure observed on annealing ion bombarded surfaces is composed of {011} facets with the facet planes in a (2 × 1) reconstruction. The high temperature structure produced on annealing above 1300K is best described as {114} facets; however, there are deviations of the observed LEED pattern from that calculated for {114} facets, possibly because of the presence of related planes. LEED data have now been obtained on the behavior of (110), (100), (011), (114), and (001) surfaces in UHV. The observed stability of TiO₂ surfaces can be related to the Ti ion coordination numbers in the surface plane as derived from stoichiometric terminations of the rutile lattice.     

Preparation and characterization of thermally evaporated titanium phthalocyanine dichloride thin films

Titanium phthalocyanine dichloride (TiPcCl₂) thin films are prepared on glass substrates by vacuum-sublimation technique. The optical constants of thin films are obtained by means of thin film spectrophotometry. Planar structures for the study of electrical properties are fabricated with TiPcCl₂ as active layer and silver as the contact electrodes. The effects of post-deposition annealing on the optical band gap have been studied. The optical transition is found to be direct allowed in nature. The invariance in the optical band gap shows the thermal stability of the material. The activation energies are determined using the Arrhenius plots between electrical conductivity and inverse temperature. The variation in activation energy with post-deposition annealing is investigated. The unit cell dimensions of TiPcCl₂ thin films are also determined by indexing the powder diffraction data. The variations of the surface morphology and grain size with annealing have also been studied.     

Effects of substrate shape, curvature and roughness on thin heteroepitaxial films of Pt on Au(1 1 1)

The growth of thin (1–10 nm) films of Pt on Au(1 1 1) was studied in order to understand and clarify differences in growth mode observed in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) studies and in electrochemical deposition studies. It was found that on flat Au(1 1 1), Pt grows in a layer-by-layer growth mode, but if the gold substrate is exposed to an acidic environment prior to Pt deposition, then the substrate becomes nanoscopically rough (islanded) and Pt growth follows a pseudo-Stranski–Krastanov (SK) growth mode in which an initially thin wetting layer becomes rougher with increasing film thickness. An analysis of curvature effects on epitaxial growth mode shows that thermodynamic curvature effects involving surface stress are negligible for the Pt/Au(1 1 1) system. Rather, the apparent SK growth is linked to kinetic effects associated with inhomogeneous in-plane elastic relaxation of Pt films on rough surfaces that drive Pt atoms from pits to the tops of islands in the early stages of growth. Implications for the control of epitaxial film roughness are discussed.     

Resonant photoemission study of Ti interaction with GaN surface

Ti/GaN interface formation on GaN(0 0 0 1)-(1 × 1) surface has been investigated by means of resonant photoelectron spectroscopy (for photon energies near to Ti 3p → 3d excitation). The sets of photoelectron energy distribution curves were recorded for in situ prepared clean GaN surface and as a function of Ti coverage followed by post-deposition annealing. Manifestations of chemical reactions at the Ti/GaN interface were revealed in the valence band spectra as well as in the Ga 3d core level peak—the discerned contribution of Ti 3d states to the valence band turned out to be similar to that reported in the literature for titanium nitride. The interaction between Ti and N was further enhanced by post-deposition annealing. The study was complemented with SIMS and AFM measurements.     

Impact of thermal annealing on physical properties of vacuum evaporated polycrystalline CdTe thin films for solar cell applications

A study on impact of post-deposition thermal annealing on the physical properties of CdTe thin films is undertaken in this paper. The thin films of thickness 500 nm were grown on ITO and glass substrates employing thermal vacuum evaporation followed by post-deposition thermal annealing in air atmosphere within low temperature range 150–350 °C. These films were subjected to the XRD, UV‐Vis NIR spectrophotometer, source meter, SEM coupled with EDS and AFM for structural, optical, electrical and surface topographical analysis respectively. The diffraction patterns reveal that the films are having zinc-blende cubic structure with preferred orientation along (111) and polycrystalline in nature. The crystallographic parameters are calculated and discussed in detail. The optical band gap is found in the range 1.48–1.64 eV and observed to decrease with thermal annealing. The current–voltage characteristics show that the CdTe films exhibit linear ohmic behavior. The SEM studies show that the as-grown films are homogeneous, uniform and free from defects. The AFM studies reveal that the surface roughness of films is observed to increase with annealing. The experimental results reveal that the thermal annealing has significant impact on the physical properties of CdTe thin films and may be used as absorber layer to the CdTe/CdS thin films solar cells.     

Temperature dependence of the epitaxial growth of Pt on basal-plane sapphire

We have investigated the temperature-dependent growth characteristics of epitaxial Pt(111) on Al₂O₃(0001) using in-situ scanning tunneling microscopy. For temperatures near the onset of epitaxy (600°C), the Pt films grown by ion-beam sputtering, are flat and well-ordered. With increasing substrate deposition temperature, the surfaces grow rougher and at 700°C display island-on-island growth with up to 12 monosteps visible. When subjected to a post-deposition anneal of 950°C, the Pt becomes very smooth and the initial growth temperature becomes less important. Finally, we show that the Pt provides an excellent seed layer on which to grow and investigate metals such as Co and Cu.