ZrO2 films deposited by photo-CVD at low temperatures

Zirconium oxide layers have been successfully deposited by photo-CVD at low temperatures. ZrO₂ growth was observed at temperatures as low as 100 °C. When deposited at 250 °C and above, these films exhibited a polycrystalline structure with a mixture of different crystal phases. Deposition at 300 °C was found to form moisture-free ZrO₂ films with a high refractive index of 2.1, a very low effective density of trapped electrons of ∼8.8×10⁸ cm^-2 and an interface trap density of 6.6×10⁹ cm^-2 eV^-1 being readily obtained. Received: 17 December 2001 / Accepted: 6 January 2002 / Published online: 3 June 2002     

Kerr effect in liquid helium at temperatures below the superfluid transition

The electro-optical Kerr effect induced by a slowly varying electric field in liquid helium at temperatures below the lambda point is investigated. The Kerr constant of liquid helium is measured to be (1.43+/-0.02(stat)+/-0.04(sys)) x 10(-20) (cm/V)(2) at T=1.5 K. Within experimental uncertainty, the Kerr constant is independent of temperature in the range T=1.5 K to 2.17 K, which implies that the Kerr constant of the superfluid component of liquid helium is the same as that of normal liquid helium. Pair and higher correlations of He atoms in the liquid phase account for about 23% of the measured Kerr constant. Liquid nitrogen was used to test the experimental setup; the result for the liquid nitrogen Kerr constant is (4.38+/-0.15) x 10(-18) (cm/V)(2). Kerr effect can be used as a noncontact technique for measuring the magnitude and mapping out the distribution of electric fields inside these cryogenic insulants.     

Nanofabrication using liquid helium films

We propose here a technique for precision deposition of single atoms or ordered arrays of atoms onto a substrate by first suspending the atoms as ions within a superfluid ⁴He film adhering to the substrate via van der Waals forces. The ions are held within the film by a combination of image forces and an externally applied electric field. Turning off the electric field causes the ions to fall toward the substrate and bond to the substrate surface. If the applied electric field comes from a scanned probe above the film, individual atoms can be deposited with atomic precision. A uniform applied electric field can be used to deposit a crystal of ions onto the substrate.     

Kondo effect in dilute alloy films of CuFe deposited at room and helium temperature

The resistivity of Cu, Cu + 100 ppm Fe and Cu + 200 ppm Fe films was measured as a function of temperature from 1 to 300 K. The results on films evaporated at room temperature are compared with contradicting data of other authors. Disordered CuFe alloy films, produced by evaporation onto a substrate at helium temperature, failed to show the theoretically predicted temperature shift of the resistivity minimum.     

低温下氦-3/氦-4液态混合物相平衡关系

在总结3He-4He混合溶液的相图研究并整理实验数据的基础上,确定了三临界点参数的精确值xt=0.674和Tt=0.867,提出了混合物超流相转变曲线和相分离曲线方程。结合实验数据对方程进行的精度分析表明,除个别实验点外,计算值与实验值百分比误差不超过2%,均在实验测量不确定度以内。通过发展得到的高精度方程绘制了可完整描述饱和蒸气压下3He-4He混合溶液的全局相图。     

Giant photoinduced optical bleaching at room and liquid helium temperatures in Sb/As2S3 multilayered films

We report the observation of giant photo induced optical bleaching in Sb/As₂S₃ multilayered film at room and liquid He temperatures, when irradiated with 532 nm laser at moderate intensities. The experimental results show a dramatic increase in transmittance near the band gap regime at both the temperatures; however the rates at which transmission change occurs are rather slow at low temperature. The huge change in transmission is due to the photo induced intermixing of As₂S₃ layer with Sb. Our XPS measurements show that photo induced intermixing occurs through the wrong homopolar bonds, which under actinic light illumination are converted into energetically favored hetropolar bonds.     

Elastic constants of galena down to liquid helium temperatures

The elastic constants of single crystal galena have been determined from the measured ultrasonic velocities down to liquid helium temperature. A cryostat incorporating an arrangement to inject the liquid bonding material at low temperature is described. At 5 K, the values of elastic constants are C₁₁=14.9₀, C₁₂=3.5₁ and C₄₄=2.9₂×10¹⁰ N/m².     

The role of high-frequency phonons in the resistivity of simple monovalent metals at liquid helium temperatures

We derive an expression for the low-temperature electrical resistivity in simple monovalent metals caused by electron-impurity and electron-phonon scattering. Since the recent measurements of the electrical resistivity of van Kempen et al. give direct evidence for the existence of phonon drag we take phonon drag into account. Our expression is exact in the limit of strong electron-impurity scattering. For the model of an acoustically isotropic metal we obtain a simple analytical formula which reproduces the experimental data on potassium fairly well, with both fitparameters, the sound velocity and the pseudopotential, being close to the values expected from other data.     

Investigations of local electronic transport in InAs nanowires by scanning gate microscopy at liquid helium temperatures

A set of experiments dedicated to investigations of local electronic transport in undoped InAs nanowires at liquid helium temperatures in the presence of a charged atomic-force microscope tip has been presented. Both nanowires without defects and with internal tunneling barriers were studied. The measurements were performed at various carrier concentrations in the systems and opacity of contact-to-wire interfaces. The regime of Coulomb blockade is investigated in detail including negative differential conductivity of the whole system. The situation with open contacts with one tunneling barrier and undivided wire is also addressed. Special attention is devoted to recently observed quasi-periodic standing waves.     

Anomalies of internal friction in CsI single crystal at liquid helium temperatures caused by plastic deformation

Acoustic relaxation in undeformed and plastically deformed CsI single crystal has been studied using the composite oscillator technique at frequencies (1–7) × 10⁵ Hz in the temperature range 2–15 K. Plastic deformation leads to appearance of an internal friction peak localized in the temperature interval 4–5 K. It is shown that the peak shifts towards higher temperatures when increasing the vibration frequency and corresponds to a thermally activated relaxation process with very low values of the activation energyU ≈ 1.9×10⁻³ eV and the attack frequencyν ₀≈6.7 × 10³ s⁻¹. Interaction of sound with dislocation kinks migrating in the second order Peierls relief is considered as a possible mechanism of the peak. Research was made possible in part by Grants U9T000 and U9T200 from the International Science Foundation and supported in part by the Fundamental Research Foundation of Ukraine (Project 2.4/156 “Bion”).     

Propagation of heat in anthracene crystals at helium temperatures

Measurement of temperature pulses with time resolution less than 5 nsec based, on the high-speed registration of the Debye-Waller factor in the fluourescence spectrum of an impurity layer deposited on a sample, has been achieved. In anthracene single crystals, the velocity of heat propagation was found to be equal to 0.7?1.0.10⁵ cm/sec, approaching that sound; the mean free path of phonons was found to exceed 30 μm.     

Surface morphology of metal films deposited on mica at various temperatures observed by atomic force microscopy

Thin films of eight metals with a thickness of 150 nm were deposited on mica substrates by thermal evaporation at various temperatures in a high vacuum. The surface morphology of the metal films was observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the images were characterized quantitatively by a roughness analysis and a bearing analysis (surface height analysis). The films of Au, Ag, Cu, and Al with the high melting points were prepared at homologous temperatures T/T_m = 0.22-0.32, 0.40, and 0.56. The films of In, Sn, Bi, and Pb with the low melting points were prepared at T/T_m = 0.55-0.70, where T and T_m are the absolute temperatures of the mica substrate and the melting point of the metal, respectively. The surface morphology of these metal films was studied based on a structure zone model. The film surfaces of Au, Ag, and Cu prepared at the low temperatures (T/T_m = 0.22-0.24) consist of small round grains with diameters of 30-60 nm and heights of 2-7 nm. The surface heights of these metal films distribute randomly around the surface height at 0 nm and the morphology is caused by self-shadowing during the deposition. The grain size becomes large due to surface diffusion of adatoms and the film surfaces have individual characteristic morphology and roughnesses as T increases. The surface of the Al film becomes very smooth as T increases and the atomically smooth surface is obtained at T/T_m = 0.56-0.67 (250-350 °C). On the other hand, the atomically smooth surface of the Au film is obtained at T/T_m = 0.56 (473 ± 3 °C). The films of In, Sn, Bi, and Pb prepared at T/T_m = 0.55-0.70 also show the individual characteristic surface morphology.     

Raman study of a-Si:H films deposited by PECVD at various silane temperatures before glow-discharge

The ordering evolution of the amorphous network of a-Si:H thin films with increasing initial silane-gas temperatures was investigated by Raman spectroscopy. The results show that there exists a gradual ordering of the amorphous network, both in the near surface and interior region on increasing the silane-gas temperature. In addition, the increase in the gas temperature leads to an improved ordering of amorphous network on the short and intermediate scales towards the surface of a-Si:H thin films. Post-annealing at 250 °C for 3 h mainly leads to a short and intermediate range improvement in the interior region of the films. Our present results suggest that a-Si:H thin films with better quality could be deposited at higher silane-gas temperature. PACS 63.50.+x; 61.43.-j; 75.40.-s     

Kinetics of crystal growth in superfluid helium at high temperatures

The growth rate of ⁴He crystals from superfluid is measured in the temperature range 1.2–1.75 K at supersaturations up to 40 mbar. The growth rate is observed to decrease at high supersaturations: above 5 mbar in the bcc phase and above 20 mbar in the hcp phase. The temperature dependence of the kinetic growth factor K is measured in the low-supersaturation limit. In the vicinity of the superfluid transition the kinetic growth factor exhibits critical behavior: K ∝ (Tλ−T)^ε with the exponent ε=0.743±0.123. A jump in the growth factor is observed at the bcc-hcp transition point. The crystal growth kinetics problem is solved in the hydrodynamic approximation, explaining both the temperature behavior of K and the existence of the jump in the modification of the crystal structure. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 114, 1313–1328 (October 1998)     

稠密氦气辐射不透明度的实验研究

用二级氢气炮作为冲击压缩加载工具和多通道瞬态辐射高温计作为主要测量系统,测量了冲击压缩氦气等离子体的光辐亮度历史(初始温度293 K,初始压力为0.6 MPa和1.2 MPa两种).根据实测记录信号波形的有关特征量,计算得到了氦等离子体的光谱吸收系数κ(λ)和冲击压缩铝基板表面的光反射率R.结果发现:受冲击铝基板表面的光反射率～0.4(比其初始反射率0.8约降低一半),与Erskine的数据相同;对于光谱吸收系数的实测数据,本文目前未能给出合理的物理解释.     

Enhanced critical current density of MgB2 thin films deposited at low temperatures by ZnO seed impurity

We report a facile method to enhance the critical current density (J_c) of superconducting MgB₂ thin films. MgB₂ thin films were deposited on zinc acetate dehydrate (Zn(CH₃COO)₂2H₂O) spin-coated Al₂O₃ (000l) substrates by using a hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition system at low temperatures. Synthesis of MgB₂ at low temperatures can reduce the substitution of Zn into the Mg site, hence avoiding the reduction of superconducting critical temperature. MgB₂ thin films grown on ZnO-buffered layers showed a significant enhancement of J_c in the magnetic field due to the creation of additional pinning sources, namely point defects and grain boundaries. Broad peaks were observed in the magnetic field dependence of the flux pinning force density, indicating competition of different pinning sources.     

用SiCl4/H2气源沉积多晶硅薄膜光照稳定性的研究

对以SiH4/H2及SiCl4/H2为源气体、采用等离子体增强化学气相沉积技术制备的非晶硅薄膜和多晶硅薄膜进行了光照稳定性的研究.实验表明,制备的多晶硅薄膜并没有出现非晶硅中的光致衰减现象,其光电导、暗电导在光照过程中没有下降反而有所上升且电导率变化快慢受氢稀释度的制约.多晶硅薄膜的光照稳定性可能来源于高的晶化度及Cl元素的存在.