Roughness reduction in submicron waveguides by low-molecular weight development

Roughness reduction of a submicron waveguide profile in chemically amplified negative resist is here performed by proper selection of an alkali-based developer, taking into account that its smaller molecules lead to smoother resist surface by altering the developing mechanism of aggregate extraction performed with standard quaternary ammonium hydroxide. Roughness is then analyzed by means of classical Atomic Force Microscope inspection; furthermore, a non-invasive line edge roughness analysis approach based on top-down scanning electron microscope acquisition gives comparable results, in terms of standard deviation and molecular aggregate periodicity.     

Preparation and mechanical properties of layers made of recombinant spider silk proteins and silk from silk worm

Layers of recombinant spider silks and native silks from silk worms were prepared by spin-coating and casting of various solutions. FT-IR spectra were recorded to investigate the influence of the different mechanical stress occurring during the preparation of the silk layers. The solubility of the recombinant spider silk proteins SO1-ELP, C16, AQ24NR3, and of the silk fibroin from Bombyx mori were investigated in hexafluorisopropanol, ionic liquids and concentrated salt solutions. The morphology and thickness of the layers were determined by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) or with a profilometer. The mechanical behaviour was investigated by acoustic impedance analysis by using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCMB) as well as by microindentation. The density of silk layers (d<300 nm) was determined based on AFM and QCMB measurements. At silk layers thicker than 300 nm significant changes of the half-band-half width can be correlated with increasing energy dissipation. Microhardness measurements demonstrate that recombinant spider silk and sericine-free Bombyx mori silk layers achieve higher elastic penetration modules E_EP and Martens hardness values H_M than those of polyethylenterephthalate (PET) and polyetherimide (PEI) foils.     

Kaon production from 1 to 40 AGeV

Kaon production is studied within the Giessen Boltzmann–Uehling–Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) model. Results are compared with experiment and with other models. The influence of the kaon potential on the kaon azimuthal distributions at SIS energies is considered. We also discuss the role of the many-body collisions at high-density phase of reaction.     

Adhesion of polyimide films to microelectronic article components

Reactions between polypyromellitamido acid and component materials of microelectronic articles were examined by thermogravimetric analysis. Modes of modification of the surfaces of semiconductor structures to be used in formation of a system of interconnections with polyimide as interlayer insulator to obtain a high adhesion between the layers via their chemical reactions.     

Portfolio optimization in stochastic markets

We consider a multiperiod mean-variance model where the model parameters change according to a stochastic market. The mean vector and covariance matrix of the random returns of risky assets all depend on the state of the market during any period where the market process is assumed to follow a Markov chain. Dynamic programming is used to solve an auxiliary problem which, in turn, gives the efficient frontier of the mean-variance formulation. An explicit expression is obtained for the efficient frontier and an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the application of the procedure.     

Magnetic,structural and electrical properties of ordered and disordered Co50Fe50 films

Co₅₀Fe₅₀ films with thickness varying from 100 to 500 Å were deposited on a glass substrate by sputtering process, respectively. Two kinds of CoFe films were studied: one was the as-deposited film, and the other the annealed film. The annealing procedure was to keep the films at 400 °C for 5 h in a vacuum of 5×10⁻⁶ mbar. From the X-ray study, we find that the as-deposited film prefers the CoFe(1 1 0) orientation. Moreover, the body-centered cubic (bcc) CoFe(1 1 0) line is split into two peaks: one corresponding to the ordered body-centered tetragonal (bct) phase, and the other, the disordered bcc phase. After annealing, the peak intensity of the ordered bct phase becomes much stronger, while that of the disordered bcc phase disappears. The annealing has also caused the ordered CoFe(2 0 0) line to appear. When the amount of the ordered bct phase in Co₅₀Fe₅₀ is increased, the saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercivity (H_c) become larger, but the electrical resistivity (ρ) decreases. From the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) measurement, we learn that the bct grains in the CoFe film start to grow at temperature 82 °C.     

Exact and approximate results for the Anderson impurity model

This paper provides exact and rigorous upper and lower bounds to the ground state energy of the Single Impurity Anderson Model in the limit of infiniteU. The upper bound approximates the ground state energy very well and the corresponding state may be used as a starting point for further investigations. The energy spectrum of the Single Impurity Anderson Model is calculated exactly for a special non-trivial model density of states describing the bare band electrons. All approaches introduced here are compared to this exact result and to other ground state energy calculations.     

Determination of the rate of nonradiative relaxation,processes on excitation of electronic states in YAG:Nd3+

Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 229–233, February, 1991.     

The epitaxial sexiphenyl (0 0 1) monolayer on TiO2(1 1 0): A grazing incidence X-ray diffraction study

A para-sexiphenyl monolayer of near up-right standing molecules (nominal thickness of 30 Å) is investigated in-situ by X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation and ex-situ by atomic force microscopy. A terrace like morphology is observed, the step height between the terraces is approximately one molecular length. The monolayer terraces, larger than 20 μm in size, are extended along the [0 0 1] direction of the TiO₂(1 1 0) substrate i.e. along the Ti-O rows of the reconstructed substrate surface. The structure of the monolayer and its epitaxial relationship to the substrate is determined by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. Extremely sharp diffraction peaks reveal high crystalline order within the monolayer, which was found to have the bulk structure of sexiphenyl. The monolayer terraces are epitaxially oriented with the (0 0 1) plane parallel to the substrate surface (out-of-plane order). Four epitaxial relationships are observed. This in-plane alignment is determined by the arrangement of the terminal phenyl rings of the sexiphenyl molecules parallel to the oxygen rows of the substrate.     

Interaction of metals with an organic semiconductor: Ag and In on PTCDA

The interaction of Ag and In with a thin film of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) was studied by near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). Upon Ag deposition on a PTCDA film of 20 nm thickness the relative intensities and lineshapes, as well as the angular dependence of the spectra remains unchanged, illustrating the formation of a chemically unreactive Ag/PTCDA interface. On the other hand, the adsorption of 0.3 nm In strongly decreases the intensity of the π^* resonances in C and O K-edge NEXAFS spectra. This is attributed to a strong charge transfer between In and PTCDA, leading to a redistribution of the charge in the molecule. However, the absence of a strong shift or new features and negligible dependence of peak intensities corresponding to π^* resonances on the In thickness indicate that the interaction between In and PTCDA is not accompanied by a covalent bond formation.