Tunneling in sub-5 nm La2O3 films deposited by E-beam evaporation

We investigate the leakage current in ultrathin (sub-5 nm) La₂O₃ dielectric films deposited on n-Si (1 0 0) substrates by electron-beam evaporation and annealed in situ in ultra-high vacuum conditions. We show that simple tunneling models both for the direct and Fowler-Nordheim conduction regimes can accurately reproduce the measured current-voltage characteristics over a wide voltage range. In the latter regime, it is shown the importance of considering the series resistance effect to account for the shape of the characteristics. We propose a method to obtain the series resistance’s value based on the linearization of the Fowler-Nordheim plot. Some experimental features in combination with an exploratory analysis of the fitting parameters seem to indicate that the current flow through the structure is mostly localized, which is attributed to the existence of thickness non-uniformities in the oxide layer. In addition, we show that the application of electrical stress creates traps or defects within the insulator that leads to a progressive increase of the leakage current and to a change of the dominant conduction mechanism at the lowest biases.     

Statistical properties of the dynamic dichromatic laser speckle

The statistical properties of dynamic elongated speckle patterns produced in the far-field diffraction region by a moving diffuse object under illumination of the dichromatic laser beam are experimentally investigated by means of a correlation method. The experimental results show that the correlation length of the normalized autocorrelation function of time-varying dichromatic speckle intensity fluctuations depends strongly on the fibrous radial structure of elongated speckle patterns. The qualitative discussions are given for the experimental results.     

Studies of molecular motions in the three phases of 1,1′,2,2′-tetrachloroferrocene by Mössbauer and1H-NMR spectroscopy

The molecular motions in the three phases of 1,1′,2,2′-tetrachloroferrocene below m.p. were studied by using⁵⁷Fe-Mossbauer and¹H FT-NMR spectroscopy. In the plastic phase at the low temperature, a rotational mode around the pseudo C₅ molecular axis was found to be activated with activation energy of 15 kJ/mol and in the higher temperature phase the rotational mode of the pseudo C₅ axis itself was found to be activated with activation energy of 23 kJ/mol in addition to the rotational mode around the pseudo C₅ axis. On the⁵⁷Fe-Mossbauer spectra, a steep decrease of the areal intensity was observed above the first transition temperature. The areal intensity in the lower plastic phase was estimated to be less than a few percent relative to that at 298 K. The results were discussed in terms of different possibilities for the movement of the molecules.