Structural modifications of diamond like carbon films induced by MeV nitrogen ion irradiation

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were deposited on Si(1 0 0) substrates using plasma deposition technique. The deposited films were irradiated using 2 MeV N⁺ ions at fluences of 1×10¹⁴, 1×10¹⁵ and 5×10¹⁵ ions/cm². Samples have been characterized by using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Analysis of Raman spectra shows a gradual shift of both D and G band peaks towards higher frequencies along with an increase of the intensity ratio, I(D)/I(G), with increasing ion fluence in irradiation. These results are consistent with an increase of sp² bonding. XPS results also show a monotonic increase of sp²/sp³ hybridization ratio with increasing ion fluence. Plan view TEM images show the formation of clusters in the irradiated DLC films. HRTEM micrographs from the samples irradiated at a fluence of 5×10¹⁵ ions/cm² show the lattice image with an average interplanar spacing of 0.34 nm, revealing that the clusters are graphite clusters. The crystallographic planes in these clusters are somewhat distorted compared to the perfect graphite structure.     

Thickness and temperature dependence of the dynamic magnetic behavior in disordered FePt films

We present in this work an investigation of the magnetic behavior of FePt films as a function of film thickness and thermal treatment. The films have been sputter-deposited on oxidized Si (1 0 0) crystals and are ferromagnetic at room temperature. Using ferromagnetic resonance techniques at 9.5 GHz we have studied a series of four films with a thickness in the range . The resonance spectra of these films were measured at and also above room temperature. The high temperature measurements produce irreversible changes in the samples which depend on the maximum temperature reached during the experiment. For relatively low measuring temperatures () the magnetic properties are generally improved, probably due to the release of stress formed during film fabrication. For larger temperatures () the absorption linewidth gradually broadens and the line could be hardly observed at room temperature if the measuring temperature exceeded . This behavior is due to the partial transformation of the metastable FCC phase to the ordered L1₀ high anisotropy phase. These data are consistent with the results found in samples annealed outside the resonant cavity.     

Influence of epitaxial strain on the terrace and inter-layer diffusions in metal epitaxy

The influence of epitaxial strain on the surface and inter-layer diffusions are investigated using molecular statics and transition state theory with several types of embedded atom method potentials for Ag and Ni. Quantitatively to analyze the competition of the surface and inter-layer diffusions in the instability to the multi-layer growth, Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier and the attempt frequencies of the surface and inter-layer diffusions by both hopping and exchange mechanisms are considered simultaneously. The attempt frequencies of exchange mechanism are larger by order one than those of hopping mechanism and especially, the difference becomes more severe for the inter-layer diffusion. Considering both the attempt frequency and activation energy barrier shows that the layer-by-layer growth is enhanced by compressive strain for Ag(0 0 1), which is confirmed by the existing linear stability theory and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.     

The magnetoresistance effect in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic barriers

The magnetoresistance (MR) effect is theoretically investigated in a periodic magnetically modulated nanostructure, which can be realized experimentally by depositing periodic parallel ferromagnetic strips on the top of a heterostructure. We find that there exists a significant conductance difference for electrons through the parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) magnetization configurations, which results in a considerable magnetoresistance effect. We also find that the magnetoresistance effect depends not only on the temperature but also on the number of the periodic magnetic barriers.     

Spin polarization and charge transfer of Co nanoclusters coated with CO molecules

We have investigated magnetic properties of Co clusters coated with CO molecules by first-principles density functional calculations. Total magnetic moment of the system decreases with the increase of CO molecule concentration regardless of adsorption sites for CO molecules. Spin polarization slightly increases as CO molecules are adsorbed on the most stable sites of Co cluster, which is caused by the increased local spin polarization of p-electrons due to charge transfer from Co clusters to CO molecules.     

Nanoscale observations of the operational failure for phase-change-type nonvolatile memory devices using Ge2Sb2Te5 chalcogenide thin films

In this study, a phase-change memory device was fabricated and the origin of device failure mode was examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) was used as the active phase-change material in the memory device and the active pore size was designed to be 0.5 m. After the programming signals of more than 2×10⁶ cycles were repeatedly applied to the device, the high-resistance memory state (reset) could not be rewritten and the cell resistance was fixed at the low-resistance state (set). Based on TEM and EDS studies, Sb excess and Ge deficiency in the device operating region had a strong effect on device reliability, especially under endurance-demanding conditions. An abnormal segregation and oxidation of Ge also was observed in the region between the device operating and inactive peripheral regions. To guarantee an data endurability of more than 1×10¹⁰ cycles of PRAM, it is very important to develop phase-change materials with more stable compositions and to reduce the current required for programming.     

Josephson effect between conventional and non-centrosymmetric superconductors

We analyze the Josephson effect between a conventional and a non-centrosymmetric superconductor to examine characteristic features of such junctions and the symmetry of the superconducting phases. As a concrete example, we consider the non-centrosymmetric superconductor CePt₃Si where Rashba spin-orbit coupling plays a crucial role and affects the Josephson pair tunneling. In this case, the Josephson coupling is composed of two parts, spin-singlet-like and spin-triplet-like components. The triplet-like component can lead to a Josephson coupling shifted by π relative to the singlet-like coupling. This has important implications on the interference effects and may explain some recent experimental results for the Al/CePt₃Si junction.     

Growth, coalescence, and electrical resistivity of thin Pt films grown by dc magnetron sputtering on SiO2

Ultra thin platinum films were grown by dc magnetron sputtering on thermally oxidized Si (1 0 0) substrates. The electrical resistance of the films was monitored in situ during growth. The coalescence thickness was determined for various growth temperatures and found to increase from 1.1 nm for films grown at room temperature to 3.3 nm for films grown at 400 °C. A continuous film was formed at a thickness of 2.9 nm at room temperature and 7.5 nm at 400 °C. The room temperature electrical resistivity decreases with increased growth temperature, while the in-plain grain size and the surface roughness, measured with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), increase. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the film electrical resistance was explored at various stages during growth.     

Chemically abrupt interface between Ce oxide and Fe films

A chemically abrupt Fe/Ce oxide interface can be formed by initial oxidation of an Fe film followed by deposition of Ce metal. Once a Ce oxide layer is formed on top of Fe, it acts a passivation barrier for oxygen diffusion. Further deposition of Ce metal followed by its oxidation preserve the abrupt interface between Ce oxide and Fe films. The Fe and Ce oxidation states have been monitored at each stage using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.     

Nanostructural and surface morphological evolution of chemically sprayed SnO2 thin films

Physical properties of a nanocrystalline thin film is greatly influenced by its morphological and structural evolution. We try to understand the transition of SnO₂ thin films from amorphous to nanocrystalline structure with XRD, IR, SEM, AFM and surface profiler studies. A 2D layer like structure resulting from quantum confinement is found for the films prepared at 400 °C. We observed a new IR band at 530 cm⁻¹ that was theoretically predicted and report it for the first time. A correlation of population of defects in SnO₂ films with change in lattice parameters and FWHM of IR bands are reported. The electric and optical properties of the films have been discussed.     

Josephson effect in supercondutor/ferromagnetic semiconductor/superconductor junctions

Using a general expression for dc Josephson current, we study the Josephson effect in ballistic superconductor (SC)/ferromagnetic semiconductor (FS)/SC junctions, in which the mismatches of the effective mass and Fermi velocity between the FS and SC, spin polarization P in the FS, as well as strengths of potential scattering Z at the interfaces are included. It is shown that in the coherent regime, the oscillatory dependences of the maximum Josephson current on the FS layer thickness L and Josephson current on the macroscopic phase difference φ for the heavy and light holes, resulting from the spin splitting energy gained or lost by a quasiparticle Andreev-reflected at the FS/SC interface, are much different due to the different mismatches in the effective mass and Fermi velocity between the FS and the SC, which is related to the crossovers between positive (0) and negative (π) couplings or equivalently 0 and π junctions. Also, we find that, for the same reason, Z and P are required not to surpass different critical values for the Josephson currents of the heavy and light holes. Furthermore, it is found that, for the dependence of the Josephson current on φ, regardless of how L,Z, and P change, the Josephson junctions do not transit between 0 and π junctions for the light hole.     

Built-in electric field effect on hydrogenic impurity in wurtzite GaN/AlGaN quantum dot

The binding energy of a hydrogenic donor impurity in a wurtzite (WZ) GaN/AlGaN quantum dot (QD) is investigated, including the strong built-in electric field effect due to the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations. Numerical results show that the strong built-in electric field induces an asymmetrical distribution of the donor binding energy with respect to the center of the QD. The donor binding energy is insensitive to dot height when the impurity is located at the right boundary of the QD with large dot height.     

Bound values for Hall conductivity and percolation under quantum Hall effect conditions

The percolation under Quantum Hall Effect conditions in inhomogeneous medium has been studied. The lower and upper bound possible values for effective Hall conductivity values have been established. It has been shown that these bound values for Hall conductivity differ from bound values for metal conductivity. It comes from unusual character of current percolation under Quantum Hall Effect conditions. The physical sense of obtained results has been discussed.     

The effects of Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit interactions on the electron tunneling in a non-magnetic heterostructure

We theoretically investigate the electron transport properties in a non-magnetic heterostructure with both Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit interactions. The detailed-numerical results show that (1) the large spin polarization can be achieved due to Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit couplings induced splitting of the resonant level, although the magnetic field is zero in such a structure, (2) the Rashba spin-orbit coupling plays a greater role on the spin polarization than the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction does, and (3) the transmission probability and the spin polarization both periodically change with the increase of the well width.     

Changes in the shapes of self-organized PbSe quantum dots during PbEuTe overgrowth investigated by anomalous X-ray diffraction

Anomalous X-ray diffraction was used for the investigation of shape and chemical composition of self-organized PbSe quantum dots covered by PbEuTe capping layers. From reciprocal-space maps of diffracted intensities measured at two energies of the primary radiation, we discriminated the contributions of the dot volumes and the surrounding crystal lattice to the diffracted intensity. We have found that the presence of Eu atoms suppresses the flattening of the dots during their overgrowth.     

The static and dynamic properties of PuCoGa5 and NpCoGa5 investigated by neutron scattering experiments

Neutron scattering results on single crystals shed light on the static and dynamic properties of the superconductor () PuCoGa₅ and its isostructural but antiferromagnetic () homologue NpCoGa₅. By polarized neutron diffraction the magnetization density in the paramagnetic state of both compounds has been inferred. The microscopic magnetization of NpCoGa₅ is consistent with the orbital and spin components of a localized Np³⁺ magnetic moment. In the case of PuCoGa₅ the microscopic magnetization is small, temperature-independent and cannot be described as a localized Pu³⁺ magnetic moment. For NpCoGa₅ a dynamic magnetic signal has been observed by three-axis spectroscopy in the antiferromagnetically ordered state. The magnetic signal is strongest at the antiferromagnetic zone center and an energy transfer of about 5 meV. Magnetic fluctuations persist at this position in the paramagnetic state. The dynamic response is similar to the dynamic response observed in other actinide intermetallic compounds. This supports the possibility that magnetic fluctuations could also be present in the paramagnetic superconductor PuCoGa₅.     

Anti-persistence in levels of Lake Naivasha: Assessing effect of human intervention through time-series analysis

Lake Naivasha in Kenya is an important natural fresh water reserve, supporting surrounding wildlife as well as agriculture and industry. Uncontrolled use of the lake water for the past few decades is causing concern for environmentalists. In the present paper, fluctuations in the lake level for the last half century are analysed using standard tools for time-series analysis. The intervals 1951-1980 (period I) and 1981-2000 (period II) are treated separately, to look for any difference in their statistical patterns. From period II onwards, increased human consumption is believed to affect the level significantly. We analyse the data using three different approaches: (i) rescaled range analysis (R/S), (ii) roughness scaling analysis and (iii) a Lomb periodogram. R/S analysis shows no difference between the behavior in periods I and II, but the other methods reveal different fluctuation patterns for the two periods. The water level shows stronger fluctuations in period I compared to II. R/S analysis, however, shows an interesting anti-persistence with a Hurst exponent 0.44, which is not usually observed in natural time series.     

Contact and phonon scattering effects on quantum transport properties of carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors

We investigated the phonon scattering effects on the transport properties of carbon nanotube devices with micron-order lengths at room temperature, using the time-dependent wave-packet approach based on the Kubo formula within a tight-binding approximation. We studied the scattering effects of both the longitudinal acoustic and the optical phonons on the transport properties. The conductance of semiconducting nanotubes is decreased by the acoustic phonon, instead of the optical phonon. Furthermore, we clarified how the electron mobilities of the devices are affected by the acoustic phonon.     

Odd-frequency pairing state in superconducting junctions

Using the quasiclassical Green's function formalism, we study the induced odd-frequency pairing states in ballistic normal metal-superconductor (N/S) junctions where a superconductor has even-frequency symmetry in the bulk and a normal metal layer has an arbitrary length. We show that the concept of the odd-frequency pairing state plays an important role to interpret a McMillan-Rowell bound state in the normal metal.     

Influence of the charge concentration on the density of states in a two-dimensional superconducting system

The gap and the density of states of high-T_c superconductors have been a subject of paramount interest. In order to explain the observed experimental behavior several pairing mechanisms in high-temperature superconductivity have been considered, by theoretical calculations. In this work, within the BCS scheme, a two-band model with energy band overlapping is introduced. The gap parameter and the density of states in a two-dimensional superconducting system are studied as functions of the charge concentration. This model is applied to Bi2212 in order to obtain numerical results.