Fluorination of diamond — C4F9I and CF3I photochemistry on diamond (100)

The radiation-induced decomposition of C₄F₉I and CF₃I overlayers at 119 K on diamond (100) surfaces has been shown to be an efficient route to fluorination of the diamond surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used for photoactivation as well as for studying the photodecomposition of the fluoroalkyl iodide molecules, the attachment of the photofragments to the diamond surface, and the thermal decomposition of the fluoroalkyl ligands. Measured chemical shifts agree well with ab initio calculations of both C 1s and F 1s binding energies. It is found that chemisorbed CF₃ groups on diamond (100) decompose by 300 K whereas C₄F₉ groups decompose over the range 300 to 700 K and this reactivity difference is rationalized on steric grounds. Both of these thermal decomposition processes produce surface C---F bonds on the diamond. The surface C---F species thermally decompose over a wide temperature range extending up to 1500 K. Hydrogen passivation of the diamond surface is ineffective in preventing free radical attack from the photodissociated products of the fluoroalkyl iodides; I atoms produced photolytically abstract H from surface C---H bonds to yield hydrogen iodide at 119 K allowing diamond fluorination. The attachment of chemisorbed F species to the diamond (100) surface causes band bending as the surface states are occupied as a result of chemisorption. This results in a shift to higher binding energy of the diamond-related C 1s levels present in the surface and subsurface regions which are sampled by XPS on the diamond. The use of photoactivation of fluoroalkyl iodides for the fluorination of diamond surfaces provides a convenient route compared to other methods involving the action of atomic F, molecular F₂, XeF₂ and F-containing plasmas.     

Classical versus Jennings model for the ground state of H near a metallic surface

We show that, contrary to earlier reports, application of the one-parameter variational technique to the classical (image) model for H in front of an Al surface leads to energy shifts for the ground state which are very close to those obtained numerically with a more sophisticated model of the system.     

Dérivée des petites valeurs propres des surfaces de Riemann

On estime la dérivée des petites valeurs propres du Laplacien sur une famille de surfaces de Riemann. Ces valeurs propres sont considérées comme des fonctions sur l'espace de Teichmüller, et l'estimation des dérivées peut s'exprimer dans ce contexte. Received: December 21, 1995     

Sigma Models and Minimal Surfaces

Correspondence is established between sigma models, minimal surfaces and the Monge–Ampére equation. The Lax pairs of the minimality condition of the minimal surfaces and the Monge–Ampére equations are given. Existence of infinitely many nonlocal conservation laws is shown and some Bäcklund transformations are also given.     

Comparative analysis of heterogeneous solid and soft materials by adsorption, NMR and thermally stimulated depolarisation current methods

Structural characterisation of such bio-objects as fibrinogen solution, yeast cells, wheat seeds and bone tissues has been done using two versions of cryoporometry based on the integral Gibbs-Thomson (IGT) equation for freezing point depression of pore liquids and the measurements by ¹H NMR spectroscopy (180-200 < T < 273 K) and the thermally stimulated depolarisation current (TSDC) method (90 < T < 273 K) of structured water. The IGT equation was solved using a self-consisting regularization procedure including the maximum entropy principle applied to the distribution function of pore size (PSD). Both methods give clear pictures of changes in the structural characteristics caused, e.g., by hydration and swelling of wheat seeds and yeast cells, coagulation and interaction of fibrinogen with solid nanoparticles in the aqueous media, and the human bone tissue disease.     

Finite Degree Holomorphic Covers of Compact Riemann Surfaces

A conjecture of Ehrenpreis states that any two compact Riemann surfaces of genus at least two have finite degree unbranched holomorphic covers that are arbitrarily close to each other in moduli space. Here we prove a weaker result where certain branched covers associated with arithmetic Riemann surfaces are allowed, and investigate the connection of our result with the original conjecture.     

Ribaucour Transformations for Hypersurfaces in Space Forms

The theory of Ribaucour transformations for hypersurfaces in space forms is established. For any such hypersurface M, that admits orthonormal principal vector fields, it was shown the existence of a totally umbilic hypersurface locally associated to M by a Ribaucour transformation. A method of obtaining linear Weingarten surfaces in a three-dimensional space form is provided. By applying the theory, a new one-parameter family of complete constant mean curvature (cmc) surfaces in the unit sphere, locally associated to the flat torus, is obtained. The family contains a class of complete cmc cylinders in the sphere. In particular, one gets a family of complete minimal surfaces and minimal cylinders, locally associated to the Clifford torus.Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000): 53C20.     

Representation surfaces of Young''s modulus and Poisson''s ratio for BCC transition metals

 The general expressions for the compliance , Young's modulus E(h k l) and Poisson's ratio υ(h k l) along an arbitrary direction [h k l] are given for cubic crystals. The representation surfaces, for which the length of the radius vector in the [h k l] direction equals to E(h k l) or υ(h k l), are constructed for seven BCC transition metals Cr, Fe, Mo, Nb, Ta, V and W. Neglecting W, which is isotropic, both representation surfaces of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are spherical surfaces. The remaining BCC transition metals may be grouped into two classes. In the first group (Cr, Mo, Nb and V) with negative values of s_A, Young's modulus surface has eight depressed corners and six rounded protuberances at the centers of the faces. In the second group (Fe and Ta) with positive values of s_A, on the contrary, Young's modulus surface has eight rounded protuberance corners and six depressions at the centers of the faces. The contrary conclusions are obtained for Poisson's ratio.     

Depth profile analysis of polyimide film treated by potassium hydroxide

The structural change in the depth direction of a polyimide (UPILEX‐S) film treated in alkaline solution, which was a representative surface treatment used to form a seed layer for plating and to improve the adhesive strength, was analyzed by means of micro Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflection (FTIR‐ATR) line analysis with gradient shaving preparation. The polyimide film was treated with KOH. The imide ring opened through the alkaline treatment, and the amide structure and carboxylic acid salt were formed. The attainment depth of this structural change was almost proportional to the treatment time, and it reached about 8 μm after a 30‐min treatment. The degree of structural change through the alkaline treatment was almost constant after it reached a considerably degraded stage, and the chemically changed region penetrated into the inner part of the film from the surface. An intermediate layer before the final degraded stage appeared in the treated layer, and its thickness increased with the treatment time. The region that was changed chemically by the alkaline treatment progressed to the inner part simultaneously and continuously as the treatment time increased. The combined use of gradient shaving preparation and micro FTIR‐ATR line analysis was found to be extremely effective for the depth profiling of organic materials. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2071–2078, 2003     

Ultrathin Fe film on Cu(0 0 1): Exchange splitting of image states from first principles

The theoretical investigation of the image states in front of an ultrathin iron film grown on copper has been performed by means of the embedding method and a recently developed procedure for the inclusion of the image potential tail in a first principle calculation. From the electronic response to an applied electric field, the image plane position has been evaluated. This also allows one to obtain useful information about the spin dependent screening properties of the system. Exchange splitting, effective mass, and lifetime of such surface states result in good agreement with recently performed two-photon photoemission experiments [see A.B. Schmidt, M. Pickel, M. Wiemhöfer, M. Donath, M. Weinelt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 107402].