Near-surface compositional oscillations of Co diffused into Si(100) at -60 °C: a study by high-resolution Rutherford backscattering

Highly resolved Co depth profiles have been obtained during the initial stages of Co growth on Si(100) at low temperature (-60 °C) by in situ high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. We found extensive Co in-diffusion in the submonolayer growth regime even at this low temperature, besides Co on top of the Si surface. The amount of diffused-in Co is larger than the amount of Co at the Si surface. Every second Si layer is depleted of Co, starting at the Si surface, thus giving rise to compositional oscillations of Co in the Si(100) lattice. At this low temperature the growth of metallic Co on the Si surface is observed at 0.1 ML of deposited Co, which continues for higher coverages. At much higher coverage (5.93 ML of Co) almost exclusively low Co content silicides are formed at the Co/Si interface. The data presented here are compared with previous room temperature deposition data and are different in several aspects. PACS 68.35.-p; 68.55.ag; 75.47.-m; 82.80.Yc     

Implanted π+ mesons as novel probes in monocrystalline solids

We report on the first observation of the lattice steering (“channeling”) of 4.12 MeV positive muons (μ⁺), resulting from the decay of thermalized positive pions (π⁺) implanted in Ta single crystals. The steering effect manifests itself as a peak in the μ⁺ intensity (relative height 1.25, FWHM 0.3°) in a 〈100〉 crystal direction. Conclusions on the behaviour on π⁺ in Ta as well as potential future applications of the technique are discussed.     

Electrical transport, magnetic and thermal properties of icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn quasicrystals

We report measurements of electrical resistivity (ρ), Hall coefficient (R_H), magnetization (M) and specific heat (C_p(T)) of high-quality icosahedral Al_70.4Pd_20.8Mn_8.8 phases with different thermal treatment. An improvement in the quasi-crystallinity upon the annealing treatment caused a drastic increase in ρ up to 7000 μΩ cm accompanied by a very small electronic specific heat coefficient γ. The low temperature ρ(T) data has been analyzed in terms of weak localization and electron–electron interaction effects. The Hall resistivity (ρ_H) is found to be strongly temperature-dependent and varies linearly with the magnetization (M) for the same field and temperature. Magnetization measurement reveals that more conductive samples are more magnetic and vice versa. Magnetic susceptibility (χ) data of all the annealed samples agrees with the Curie–Weiss-like behavior implying the existence of localized moments. The negative Curie–Weiss temperature (θ) indicates strong antiferromagnetic coupling between individual Mn atoms. The magnetic Mn concentration is found to be small, ranging from 1.73×10^-4 for the less magnetic sample studied up to 3×10^-3 for the more magnetic one. The small electronic specific heat coefficient obtained for all the samples suggests a significant reduction in the electronic density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level (E_F) upon thermal annealing treatment.     

Metal-oxide interfacial reactions: encapsulation of Pd on TiO2 (110)

The model system Pd/TiO2 (110) was used to evaluate the correlation between metal encapsulation and electronic structure of TiO2 crystals. We observed encapsulation of Pd clusters supported on TiO2 crystals, which were heavily Ar+ sputtered, Nb-doped, or reduced by vacuum annealing. In contrast, encapsulation was not observed on unreduced, undoped, or slightly sputtered TiO2 crystals. Our results indicate a strong dependence of the encapsulation process on the electron density in the conduction band of TiO2 and on the space charge formed at Pd/TiO2 interfaces. This behavior is controlled by the initial position of the Fermi energy level (EF) of the metal and the oxide before contact is established. We proved that encapsulation reactions are favored by n-type doping of the oxide and a large work function of the metal. On the basis of this mechanism, we conclude on general trends controlling encapsulation reactions of oxide-supported metal clusters and the strong metal-support interaction (SMSI).     

Lattice steering (channelling) of relativistic positrons from positive muons implanted in crystals

We report on the first observation of the lattice steering (“channelling”) of relativistic positrons (e⁺) resulting from the decay of thermalized positive muons (μ⁺), implanted in an Au single crystal at 100 K. The steering effect manifests itself in a blocking pattern in the lang100rang crystal directions (relative depth at least 20%, FWHM about 0.1°) and supports the view that at low temperatures μ⁺ in Au are well localized in octahedral interstices. The potential of the new technique is briefly outlined.     

A study on the self-interstitial structure of radiation damaged silicon by means of the double alignment channeling technique

The angular distribution of 2.8 MeV helium ions backscattered from silicon crystals containing self-interstitials has been calculated by channeling computer simulations for a double alignment channeling configuration. The structures of the self-interstitial defects are assumed to be the split <110> interstitial and the split <100> di-interstitial with various inter-atomic distances. The obtained profiles of the backscattering yield are found to show shapes characteristic for each structure which can be used for differentiating between these structures. When comparing these profiles with experimental profiles obtained with the same double alignment channeling configuration in a previous study one finds reasonable agreement for the split <110> interstitial defect with an inter-atomic distance of 1.76 Å.     

Reactionen des Thalliums und quantitative Bestimmung desselben

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Computer simulations of particle flux and energy peaking

A computer simulation of the channeling of 300 keV deuterons in a niobium lattice has been performed. The model calculations included: binary Thomas-Fermi interaction between projectiles and lattice atoms, thermal displacements of the lattice atoms in the transverse plane of particle motion, electron scattering of the deuterons dependent on the local electron density, and electronic energy loss dependent on the local electron density. Flux distributions and mean particle energy distributions of the deuterons were calculated in their development with penetration depth. Flux peaking and energy peaking was found to depend sensitively on the local variation of the electron density in the crystal.     

Improvement of interface structure and magnetic properties of Co on Si (100) by surfactant (Sb) mediated growth

In this study thin Co films were grown on Si (100): (1) with one monolayer of Sb as surfactant and (2) without any surfactant. The Co film, its interface with the Si substrate and the behavior of the Sb surfactant layer were investigated during the growth by high-resolution Rutherford backscattering. By the use of Sb, the evaporated cobalt grows in a layer-by-layer mode and the mixing of Co and Si at the interface is strongly reduced. During the evaporation of Co, Sb floats on the surface for all Co coverages with some incorporation in the grown Co film only for higher coverages. The improvement of the interface quality is also reflected in the magnetic properties of the Co film.