On the influence of the surface roughness onto the ultrathin SiO2/Si structure properties

The surface roughness of the semiconductor substrate substantially influences properties of the whole semiconductor/oxide structure. SiO₂/Si structures were prepared by using low temperature nitric acid oxidation of silicon (NAOS) method and then the whole structure was passivated by the cyanidization procedure. The influence of the surface morphology of the silicon substrate onto the electrical properties of ultrathin NAOS SiO₂ layer was investigated. Surface height function properties were studied by the AFM method and electrical properties were studied by the STM method. The complexity of analyzed surface structure was sensitive to the oxidation and passivation steps. For describing changes in the oxide layer structure, several fractal measures in an analysis of the STM images were used. This fractal geometry approach enables quantifying the fine spatial changes in the tunneling current spectra.     

On the statistical background of the correlation of the magnetic and electrical properties as well as of the creation of a spin-glass state in spinels with chromium

The relation of the magnetic coupling constants and the random distribution of dopants and defects under the percolation threshold is studied. The relation of the 2nd non-linear static magnetic susceptibility and the 2nd harmonic of the dynamic magnetic susceptibility is used for the interpretation of experimental data concerning the spin-glass state obtained as a result of different types of the competitions of the magnetic interactions. Statistical background of the electrical properties as a result of their correlation with the magnetic properties is discussed.     

Application of the NRL tight-binding method to the heavy elements Pb and Po

We have applied the NRL tight-binding (TB) method to study the mechanical and electronic properties of the heavy elements Pb and Po. The predicted properties include ground-state structure, electronic band structure and elastic moduli. Phonon-dispersion curves at T=0 K were also determined. As demonstrated in this paper, the results are in good agreement with the full potential linearized augmented plane wave calculations and the available experimental data. In addition, we performed molecular-dynamics simulations to obtain various temperature-dependent quantities of Pb such as the atomic mean-square displacement, Debye-Waller factor and thermal expansion coefficient. With our TB we have also calculated the vacancy formation energy of Pb. Finally, we report on the effects of spin-orbit coupling, through our TB scheme, on electronic structure and energetic properties.     

Displacive and order-disorder behavior of KDP-type ferroelectrics on the local scale

The modified strong dipole-proton coupling (MSDPC) model, which predicted several static and dynamic dielectric properties of KH₂PO₄ or KDP-type ferroelectrics, was used to investigate the properties of these crystals on the local scale. Results calculated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation show that both order-disorder and displacive characteristics of one PO₄ dipole are present in KDP and KD₂PO₄ (DKDP). These results correlate with experimental data from NMR and neutron scattering studies of local properties.     

Observations on the influence of pH control on the properties of chemically deposited CdS films in an ammonia-free system

In this work we report on the properties of chemically deposited CdS thin films in an ammonia-free cadmium-sodium citrate system. We studied the influence on the properties of the films of the pH control of the reaction solution. For this, we deposited two types of CdS films employing two different types of reaction solutions. The only difference between both reaction solutions was the addition of a pH buffer in one of them in order to control its pH throughout the deposition process. Several sets of CdS films were deposited from growth solutions with different contents of Cd to determine also the influence of this parameter on the properties of the films. The CdS films were studied by X-ray diffraction, optical transmission and reflection spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy measurements. We found that the properties of the films depend both on the amount of Cd in the growth solutions and on their pH control. The increase in Cd in the reaction solution yields to films with shorter lattice constant and then higher energy band gap. On the other hand, the pH control of the reaction produces higher deposition rate, larger final thickness and higher energy band gaps in the CdS films.     

Issues concerning the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond

The nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) center in diamond has been extensively studied and several novel properties identified. As a consequence the center has interesting applications. However, the center is not completely understood. In this work a new electronic model is proposed which accounts for the fine structure of the excited state and for many of the associated properties of the center. In addition the paper discusses the remaining difficulties and indicates the studies required to resolve the outstanding issues.     

Laser field effect on the nonlinear optical properties of a square quantum well under the applied electric field

In this paper the effect of the laser field on the nonlinear optical properties of a square quantum well under the applied electric field is investigated theoretically. The calculations are performed in saturation limit using the density matrix formalism and the effective mass approach. Our results show that the laser field considerably effects the confining potential of the quantum well and thus the nonlinear optical properties.     

Effects of the physical properties of atomic layer deposition grown seeding layers on the preparation of ZnO nanowires

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires are growing in interest as the number of devices for which they are well suited increases. Success in these applications requires defined and controlled geometric incorporation of the wires into the various platforms. Therefore, establishing the ability to tailor the growth ZnO nanowires to produce specified sizes, surface densities, and orientation will be important. In the reported work, the effects of the seeding layer on these factors were accessed. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to produce thin films of ZnO under varying growth and post-processing conditions. These films were fully characterized, including their thickness, surface roughness, and crystalline orientation. Using these well-defined films as the seeding layer, ZnO nanowires were grown and subsequently characterized in terms of morphology and crystalline properties. It was shown that the resulting nanowire properties are dependent upon the nature of the seeding layer, and careful production of the seeding layer allows for some control over these properties.     

The influence of plastic deformation on the magnetoelastic properties of the CSN12021 grade steel

Magnetoelastic properties of materials are strongly influenced by changes of the dislocation structure that take place during the process of plastic deformation. Such changes can be used as a basis for a method of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of the deformation level. So far, various methods, based on magnetic hysteresis loop properties as well as on the Barkhausen effect (BE), have been proposed. In the paper, the results obtained with the help of the abovementioned methods are compared with the results of the magnetoacoustic emission (MAE) signal measurements. The MAE signal is relatively easy to implement as a nondestructive method and unlike the BE effect signal gives information about the whole magnetized volume.     

Humidity effects on the stability of a sandpile

Humidity is well-known to significantly affect the mechanical properties, static as well as dynamic, of granular materials. We present the method of humidification of granular media from an under-saturated vapor that we designed in order to experimentally quantify such moisture-induced effects under accurately-controlled humidity conditions. We report the quantitative measurements of the maximum angle of stability of a pile made of small glass beads, as a function of the relative vapor pressure, up to close to saturation. The results obtained with liquids differing in their wetting properties on glass, namely water and heptane, are presented. It is shown that the wetting properties of the liquid on the grains have a strong influence on the cohesion of the non-saturated granular medium. Received 26 October 1998 and Received in final form 30 March 1999     

Sagnac Effect in the Kerr-Newman and Reissner-Nordstrom Fields

By means of a formal analogy with the Aharonov-Bohm effect, the Sagnac time delay and the corresponding Sagnac phase shift in the Kerr-Newman and Reissner-Nordstrfm spacetimes are discussed. We find that the effect depends on the properties of the source of the gravitational field. The contributions made by the electric charge of the gravitational source can be employed to weaken it in the Kerr-Newman spacetime, even if a phase shift and a time delay still appear. This is due to the properties of the rotating source of the gravitational field.     

Geographic coarse graining analysis of the railway network of China

We investigate the detailed, empirical analysis of the statistical properties of the Railway Network of China (RNC) in space L and space G, constructed by geographic coarse graining process. The RNC exhibits similar properties in the cumulative distributions of degree and strength in two spaces, and it presents the hierarchical structure, small-world behavior and assortativity, areciprocal connection both in space L and space G. We also investigate the path length that every train runs, the distribution of the railroad length per degree and the optimal distribution of stations.     

On ergodic and mixing properties of the triangle map

In this paper, we study in detail, both analytically and numerically, the dynamical properties of the triangle map, a piecewise parabolic automorphism of the two-dimensional torus, for different values of the two independent parameters defining the map. The dynamics is studied numerically by means of two different symbolic encoding schemes, both relying on the fact that it maps polygons to polygons: in the first scheme we consider dynamically generated partitions made out of suitable sets of disjoint polygons, in the second we consider the standard binary partition of the torus induced by the discontinuity set. These encoding schemes are studied in detail and shown to be compatible, although not equivalent. The ergodic properties of the triangle map are then investigated in terms of the Markov transition matrices associated to the above schemes and furthermore compared to the spectral properties of the Koopman operator in L²(T²). Finally, a stochastic version of the triangle map is introduced and studied. A simple heuristic analysis of the latter yields the correct statistical and scaling behaviours of the correlation functions of the original map.     

Investigation into defects occurring on the polymer surface during the photolithography process

With a view to improving the realisation of polymer optical waveguide some features relevant to the photolithography process are analysed. This paper focuses on defects that occur on the surface of polymer layers involved in the process. For example, depending on the heat treatment or the deposited material, some worm-like defects appear on the polymer surface. When they occur, the waveguide surface roughness becomes too high (about one hundred nm and more). This means that the optical performance of the waveguides is too poor. In this document, we show the changes in temperature on polymer film surfaces which are coated with a thin inorganic layer and the occurrence of these defects is observed. This work confirms that the defect occurrence is clearly linked to the glass transition temperature. The paper reports that, in some cases, the adjustment of thermal properties by annealing can advantageously shift the glass transition, without changing the target optical properties.     

Thermostatistics of the multi-dimensional q-deformed fermionic Newton oscillators

The algebraic and representative properties of the multi-dimensional q-deformed fermionic Newton oscillator algebra are discussed. This algebra is covariant under the undeformed group U(n). The high- and low-temperature thermostatistical properties of a gas of the multi-dimensional q-deformed fermionic Newton oscillators are obtained.     

Spin-Polarized Transport through the T-Shaped Double Quantum Dots with Fano-Kondo Interaction

We theoretically investigate the spin-polarized transport properties of the T-shaped double quantum dots coupled to two ferromagnetic leads by the Anderson Hamiltonian. The Hamiltonian is solved by means of the slave-boson mean-field theory. We calculate the density of states and the liner conductance in this system with both parallel and antiparallel lead-polarization alignments, and our results show that the transport properties of this system depend on both the tunnelling strength between the two dots and the spin-polarized strength p. This system is a possible candidate for spin valve transistors in the spintronics.     

Influence of Tb incorporation on the structural and the optical properties of ZnO nanoparticles

Structural and optical properties of the Tb doped ZnO nanoparticles are systematically studied as a function of the Tb mole-fraction. Our study suggests that the Tb incorporates mostly on the surface and affects the optical properties of the ZnO nanoparticles by influencing the attachment of certain adsorbed groups, which are found to be responsible for the appearance of a broad green luminescence (GL) band in the photoluminescence spectra recorded for these nanoparticles. It has been found that the accumulation of Tb on the surface of the nanoparticles not only enhances the band edge to green luminescence intensity ratio under the vacuum condition but also increases the band gap energy by introducing a hydrostatic compressive strain in individual nanoparticles, which provides a unique opportunity to study the pressure dependence of the optical properties of nanoparticles without applying any external pressure. The hydrostatic compressive strain is explained in terms of the increase of the surface strain energy as a result of the Tb accumulation on the surface of the nanoparticles. The average value of the surface energy density for the particles has been estimated as a function of Tb mole-fraction. The pressure coefficient of the band gap which is obtained from the variation of the band gap energy with the hydrostatic strain has been found to decrease significantly with the particle size for the ZnO nanoparticles.     

Critical thermodynamic evaluation and optimization of the Fe-Mg-O system

A complete literature review, critical evaluation and thermodynamic modeling of the phase diagrams and thermodynamic properties at 1 bar total pressure of all oxide phases in the Fe-Mg-O system are presented. Optimized model equations for the thermodynamic properties of all phases are obtained which reproduce all available thermodynamic and phase equilibrium data within experimental error limits from 25 °C to above the liquidus temperatures at all compositions and oxygen partial pressures. The complex phase relationships in the system have been elucidated and discrepancies among the data have been resolved. The database of the model parameters can be used along with software for Gibbs energy minimization in order to calculate any type of phase diagram section. Sublattice models, based upon the compound energy formalism, were used for the spinel, pyroxene, olivine and monoxide phases. The use of physically reasonable models means that the models can be used to predict properties, phase equilibria, and cation site distributions in composition and temperature regions where data are not available.     

The role of the generalized Phillips' spectrum in wave turbulence

We suggest the generalized Phillips' spectrum, which we define as that spectrum for which the statistical properties of wave turbulence inherit the symmetries of the original governing equations, is, in many circumstances, the spectrum which obtains in those regions of wavenumber space in which the Kolmogorov-Zakharov (KZ) spectra are no longer valid. This spectrum has many very special properties. We discuss its connection with the singularities which are associated with the whitecap events observed in windblown seas.