Versatile UHV system for combined far- and near-field magneto-optical microscopy of thin films

We have developed a UHV system for in situ studies of magnetic domains and magnetization reversal of thin films in the presence of external magnetic fields and at variable temperature. The system comprises a setup for magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements of magnetization curves, a Kerr-microscope for far-field magnetic-domain imaging, and a magneto-optical scanning near-field microscope in combination with a Sagnac interferometer (Sagnac-SNOM) for high-resolution imaging on a sub-μm scale. All components have successfully been tested, and the feasibility of studying ultrathin films has been demonstrated.     

Determination of the sheet resistance of semiconductor films via near-field microwave microscopy

A method is proposed for determining the sheet resistance of a semiconductor film on a dielectric substrate with the help of a near-field (NF) microwave microscope. The method is based on the theory of NF probing of the object with an arbitrary 1D permittivity profile. The theoretical model parameters are found from calibration measurements performed with the use of a universal set of reference samples. The test structures are GaN films grown on an Al₂O₃ substrate. A comparison with dc measurements indicates that the method error is approximately 20%.     

Enhanced dielectric constant resolution of thin insulating films by electrostatic force microscopy

Electrostatic force microscopy has been shown to be a useful tool to determine the dielectric constant of insulating films of nanometer thicknesses that play a key role in many electrical, optical and biological phenomena. Previous approaches have made use of simple analytical formulas to analyze the experimental data for thin insulating films deposited directly on a metallic substrate. Here we show that the sensitivity of the EFM signal to changes in the dielectric constant of the thin film can be enhanced by using dielectric substrates with low dielectric constants. We present detailed numerical calculations of the tip-sample electrostatic interaction in the following setup: an insulating thin film, a dielectric substrate (or spacing layer) of known low dielectric constant and a metallic electrode. The EFM sensitivity to the dielectric constant increases with the thickness of the spacing layer and saturates for thicknesses above 100-300 nm, when it is close to that of an infinite medium.     

Scattering theory of Bardeen's formalism for tunneling: new approach to near-field microscopy

We propose a new theoretical approach to near-field microscopy, which allows one to deal with scanning tunneling microscopy and scanning near-field optical microscopy with a unified formalism. Under the approximation of weak tip-sample coupling, we show that Bardeen's perturbation formula, originally derived for electron tunneling, can be derived from a scattering formalism which extends its validity to electromagnetic vector fields. This result should find broad applications in near-field imaging and spectroscopy.     

Techniques of microwave permeability characterization for thin films

We review the microwave methods to characterize the material properties, including the established and the emerging techniques in material characterization, especially the permeability spectra of the magnetic thin films.Almost all aspects of the microwave techniques for characterizing the permeability of thin films at microwave frequencies, including the new methods developed by our group, are presented.Firstly, the introduction part is presented.Secondly, the coaxial-line with transmission/reflection methods and the pickup coil with electromagnetic induction method are presented.Thirdly, the most widely used shorted microstrip technique is discussed in detail by the equivalent circuit method, transmission line method,and electromagnetic induction method.Fourthly, the coplanar waveguide method and the near-field probe method are also introduced.Finally, the high temperature permeability characterization by using the shorted microstrip line, the near-field microwave probe, and the shorted microstrip line probe are described in detail.This paper may be useful for researchers or engineers who will build up such measurement fixture to make full use of the existing methods or to develop original methods to meet the requirements for ever-rising measurements.     

Microstructural,dielectric and magnetic behavior of spin-deposited nanocrystalline nickel–zinc ferrite thin films for microwave applications

Nanocrystalline nickel ferrite and zinc doped nickel ferrite thin films with general composition Ni_1−xZn_xFe₂O₄; x=0.0, 0.2 and 0.5 were fabricated by the spin-deposition technique. Citrate precursor method was adopted to prepare coating solution used for film deposition. This method resulted in single phase, transparent, homogeneous and crack-free nanocrystalline ferrite thin films at annealing temperature as low as 400 °C. The substrates used for film deposition were ITO-coated 7059 glass, fused quartz and Si (1 0 0). The thickness of films was found to be in the range ∼1000–5500 Å. The surface microstructure and morphology investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed the grain size of nickel–zinc ferrite films to be in nanometer range indicating nanocrystalline nature of the films. Dielectric properties such as the real (∈′) and imaginary parts (∈″) of complex permittivity were measured in the X-band microwave frequency region (8–12 GHz) by employing extended cavity perturbation technique. The M–H hysteresis measurements on the films annealed at 650 °C revealed narrow hysteresis curves with H_c and M_s varying for different compositions.     

Thermal radiation and near-field energy density of thin metallic films

We study the properties of thermal radiation emitted by a thin dielectric slab, employing the framework of macroscopic fluctuational electrodynamics. Particular emphasis is given to the analytical construction of the required dyadic Green's functions. Based on these, general expressions are derived for both the system's Poynting vector, describing the intensity of propagating radiation, and its energy density, containing contributions from non-propagating modes which dominate the near-field regime. An extensive discussion is then given for thin metal films. It is shown that the radiative intensity is maximized for a certain film thickness, due to Fabry-Perot-like multiple reflections inside the film. The dependence of the near-field energy density on the distance from the film's surface is governed by an interplay of several length scales, and characterized by different exponents in different regimes. In particular, this energy density remains finite even for arbitrarily thin films. This unexpected feature is associated with the film's low-frequency surface plasmon polariton. Our results also serve as reference for current near-field experiments which search for deviations from the macroscopic approach.     

Investigation of ripple structures of thin polycrystalline Co films by magnetic force microscopy

Received: 14 August 1997/Accepted: 14 August 1997     

Dynamical dielectric susceptibility of ferroelectric thin films and multilayers

The thickness dependence of the real and imaginary parts of the dynamical dielectric susceptibility is investigated phenomenologically for a multilayer structure consisting of alternating ferroelectric and paraelectric layers. It is shown that the frequency dependence of the linear dielectric response can be closely approximated by that of a damped harmonic oscillator, with the static susceptibility, relaxation time, and soft-mode frequency depending on the layer thickness and temperature. When the layer thickness and temperature are equal to their critical values corresponding to the onset of a size-driven ferroelectric phase transition, the static susceptibility and the relaxation time become anomalously large and then decrease with further increasing layer thickness. A spectrum of natural polarization oscillations is predicted to exist with thickness-dependent frequencies. This spectrum includes a soft-mode frequency which vanishes at the critical thickness and at the critical temperature. The frequency spectrum lies below the soft-mode frequency of a thick film (in which the gradient of polarization is negligible). The calculations are compared with experimentally measured dispersion of the dielectric response of a PbTiO₃-Pb_0.72La_0.28TiO₃ multilayer structure. The agreement between the theory and experiment is found to be good.     

Transport and dielectric properties of thin polycrystalline CoO films

Transport and dielectric properties of polycrystalline CoO films were studied as functions of the applied field, frequency and temperature. TheI–V plots showed that the Poole-Frenkel field emission mechanism is responsible for conduction at fields>10⁵ V/cm. The ac conductivity σ(ω), the imaginary part of the dielectric constantε ₂, and tan δ plots as functions of frequency revealed three dispersion regions. The σ(ω) andε ₂ frequency dependence indicates a non-adiabatic hopping of charge carriers at low frequencies and adiabatic hopping at high frequencies. The activation energy of a dielectric oscillator is 0.15 eV. Work supported by the Office of Naval Research.     

Glass transitions and dynamics in thin polymer films: dielectric relaxation of thin films of polystyrene

The glass transition temperature T(g) and the temperature T(alpha) corresponding to the peak in the dielectric loss due to the alpha process have been simultaneously determined as functions of film thickness d through dielectric measurements for polystyrene thin films supported on glass substrate. The dielectric loss peaks have also been investigated as functions of frequency for a given temperature. A decrease in T(g) was observed with decreasing film thickness, while T(alpha) was found to remain almost constant for d>d(c) and to decrease drastically with decreasing d for d相似文献   

Resonantly enhanced strip-line technique to measure microwave permeability of thin films

The sensitivity of a reflective single-port strip-line technique is increased by 10-20 times by amplification of a measured reflectivity response at a set of resonance frequencies. The resonant behavior is organized by connecting the strip cell to a network analyzer through a capacitor with a long coaxial cable. The capacitance defines the amplification; the cable length defines the resonance frequencies. S-parameters of the coaxial-to-strip junction and the field inhomogeneity inside the cell are accounted for by a reference measurement of sample with known constitutive parameters. Two methods for permeability calculation are suggested. The fist method is based on the comparison of Lorentzian parameters of resonance reflectivity curves. The second method is based on numerical solution of Fresnel's equation. The enhancement is essential at low-frequency part of the band, where the cell reflectivity is close to unity and the sensitivity of non-resonant technique is poor. The technique sensitivity is estimated by permeability measurements of Al stripes with different cross-section.     

Ac-conductivity and dielectric relaxations above glass transition temperature for parylene-C thin films

45% semi-crystalline parylene-C (–H₂C–C₆H₃Cl–CH₂–) _n thin films (5.8 μm) polymers have been investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy for temperatures above the glass transition (T _g =90°C). Good insulating properties of parylene-C were obtained until operating temperatures as high as 200°C. Thus, low-frequency conductivities from 10⁻¹⁵ to 10⁻¹² S/cm were obtained for temperatures varying from 90 to 185°C, respectively. This conductivity is at the origin of a significant increase in the dielectric constant at low frequency and at high temperature. As a consequence, Maxwell–Wagner–Sillars (MWS) polarization at the amorphous/crystalline interfaces is put in evidence with activation energy of 1.5 eV. Coupled TGA (Thermogravimetric analysis) and DTA (differential thermal analysis) revealed that the material is stable up to 400°C. This is particularly interesting to integrate this material for new applications as organic field effect transistors (OFETs). Electric conductivity measured at temperatures up to 200°C obeys to the well-known Jonscher law. The plateau observed in the low frequency part of this conductivity is temperature-dependent and follows Arrhenius behavior with activation energy of 0.97 eV (deep traps).     

Effective dielectric and piezoelectric constants of thin polycrystalline ferroelectric films

The averaged dielectric, piezoelectric, and elastic constants of thin polycrystalline barium titanate and lead titanate films are calculated within a modified effective-medium approximation, which takes fully into account piezoelectric interactions between crystallites. Films with c-or a-type crystal texture resulting from mechanical interaction with the substrate are considered when the film becomes ferroelectric under cooling of the heterostructure. The dependences of the effective material constants of textured films on the residual macroscopic polarization of a film are described. An analysis is made of the effect of two-dimensional clamping of a film on a thick substrate on measurements of dielectric and piezoelectric constants. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 2206–2212 (December 1998)     

Formation of dielectric and semiconductor thin films by laser-assisted evaporation

Laser-assisted evaporation is an emerging novel thin film deposition technique. It has been successfully applied to a variety of dielectric and semiconductor materials. Characteristics of the evaporation process and of the evaporants, resulting from the interaction of high power radiation with matter, often result in better structural and chemical properties of the films than can be obtained by conventional evaporative techniques. Congruent evaporation, the presence of energetic vapor species, and precise rate control are important advantageous features of this technique. The physics of laser-induced evaporation and plasma formation, some engineering aspects, and properties of dielectric and semiconductor thin films deposited by this technique are discussed in this review.     

Preparation of cobalt oxide thin films and its use in supercapacitor application

Present work explored a room temperature, simple and low cost chemical route for the cobalt oxide film onto copper substrate from cobalt chloride (CoCl₂·6H₂O) precursor and characterization for its structural and electrochemical properties for supercapacitor application. The morphology and crystal structure of the film were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques, respectively. The electrochemical supercapacitive properties of cobalt oxide film were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge methods. The film showed maximum specific capacitance of (165 F/g) in 1.0 M aqueous KOH electrolyte at scan rate 10 mV/s.