Spectroscopic in situ diagnostics of boron nitride film growth in plasma-enhanced deposition

The development of in situ diagnostics of the most important species and reactions in the plasma and/or on the surface during thin-film growth is one of the current topics in plasma-enhanced vapor deposition. In situ thin film diagnostic methods which could be used in plasma processing are restricted due to the presence of electrons and ions. The advantages and disadvantages of different applicable methods will be discussed. The spectroscopic in situ control of boron nitride film growth is presented as an example of surface modification in low-temperature, low-pressure plasma processing. The growth of cubic and hexagonal boron nitride is observed by polarized infrared reflection spectroscopy in absorption and ellipsometric configurations as well as by single-wavelength ellipsometry in the visible spectral range. Modeling of the experimental results gives detailed information on growth conditions and internal stress of the films. Received: 8 August 2000 / Accepted: 12 December 2000 / Published online: 3 April 2001     

Lamb shift of laser-dressed atomic states

We discuss radiative corrections to an atomic two-level system subject to an intense driving laser field. It is shown that the Lamb shift of the laser-dressed states, which are the natural state basis of the combined atom-laser system, cannot be explained in terms of the Lamb shift received by the atomic bare states which is usually observed in spectroscopic experiments. In the final part, we propose an experimental scheme to measure these corrections based on the incoherent resonance fluorescence spectrum of the driven atom.     

Detecting exposure-dependent changes of liver detoxification capacity of children in a formerly high-loaded industrial area with a 15N-labelled diagnostic tool

The effect of remediation activities in formerly high-loaded industrial areas is measured conventionally in terms of decreased toxic loads. It is more difficult to investigate the effect on physiological parameters of the people living there. A non-invasive 15N-based organ function test, the [15N]methacetin urine test, was adapted to environmental-medical purposes for the detection of small deviations from the norm-range hepatic detoxification capacity. Parallel to the measurement of region-specific external exposure (especially by tri- and tetrachloro ethylene) and of the corresponding internal load (urinary trichloro acetic acid), the hepatic mono oxygenation capacity was determined. The study cohort consisted of 35 kindergarten children who were 3.3+/-0.5 years old at the beginning of the study. They lived in a high-polluted industrial village (n = 23) and in a non-polluted control village close by (n = 12), respectively. Children living in the polluted area were exposed a 2.3 times higher load and showed detoxification capacities 6% lower than the children in the control area. Improvement of the environmental situation led to exposure data decreasing by 70%, which is also reflected in smaller internal load and improved liver detoxification of the children in the polluted area. Then, between loaded and control area the mean hepatic detoxification was no longer significantly different (0.6%). The study shows that chronic low-dose exposure can disturb a hepatic function and that thereafter the capacity is recovered quickly in children. The stable isotope-based test is suited to characterize a health effect of multicomponent exposure by bioeffect monitoring within the framework of screening and testing the remediation efficiency.     

Complex formation between a nanoparticle and a weak polyelectrolyte chain: Monte Carlo simulations

Understanding the complexation processes between nanoparticles and polyelectrolytes is an essential aspect in many branches of nanotechnology, nanoscience, chemistry, and biology to describe processes such as nanoparticle stabilization/destabilization and dispersion, water treatment, microencapsulation, complexation with biomolecules for example, and evolution of the interface of many natural and synthetic systems. In view of the complexity of such processes, applications are often based on empirical or semiempirical observations rather than on predictions based on theoretical or analytical models. In this study, the complex formation between an isolated weak polyelectrolyte and an oppositely charged nanoparticle is investigated using Monte Carlo simulations with screened Coulomb potentials in the grand canonical ensemble. The roles of the nanoparticle surface charge density , solution pH and ionic concentration C_i are systematically investigated. The phase diagrams of complex conformations are also presented. It is shown that the polyelectrolyte conformation at the surface of the nanoparticle is controlled by the attractive interactions with the nanoparticle but also by the repulsive interactions between the monomers. To bridge the gap with experiments titration curves are calculated. We clearly demonstrate that an oppositely charged nanoparticle can significantly modify the acid/base properties of a weak polyelectrolyte.     

Interaction dynamics of elastic waves with a complex nonlinear scatterer through the use of a time reversal mirror

This Letter reports on work performed to locate and interrogate a nonlinear scatterer in a linearly elastic medium through the use of a time reversal mirror in combination with nonlinear dynamics. Time reversal provides the means to spatially and temporally localize elastic energy on a scattering feature while the nonlinear dynamics spectrum allows one to determine whether the scatterer is nonlinear (e.g., mechanical damage). Here elastic waves are measured in a solid and processed to extract the nonlinear elastic response. The processed elastic signals are then time reversed, rebroadcast, and found to focus on the nonlinear scatterer, thus defining a time-reversed nonlinear elastic wave spectroscopy process. Additionally, the focusing process illuminates the complexity of the nonlinear scatterer in both space and time, providing a means to image and investigate the origins and physical mechanisms of the nonlinear elastic response.     

The effects of plastic deformation on band gap, electronic defect states and lattice vibrations of rutile

The extensive polygonization of 200 nm rutile crystals in high-energy dry milling allowed to study the spectral properties of grain boundaries and adjacent microstrained crystalline matter. Changes in UV, VIS, NIR, IR and FIR spectra during milling were followed. For the UV absorption edge the value of unstrained rutile was retained while residual traces of anatase, intergrown with the rutile phase, continued to act as traps for photoinduced charges. The evolving broad absorption in VIS and NIR could be attributed to electrons weakly bound to defects in the packing of oxygen anions at the grain boundaries, which may relax to face-sharing Ti³⁺-O octahedra. Among the IR-active lattice vibrations, the narrow E_u⁽²⁾ band showed a shift to higher frequencies by 15 cm⁻¹ which is definitively not due to phonon confinement or Fröhlich surface modes but probably to coupling of the bulk phonon to a plasmon at the grain boundary. At the external surface of the polygonized primary particle, the regular atomic order is destroyed by milling so that hydroxylation is replaced by physisorption of H₂O, as shown by IR and TG.     

KB scanning of X‐ray beam for Laue microdiffraction on accelero‐phobic samples: application to in situ mechanically loaded nanowires

A mapping technique has been developed where a sub‐micrometer focused polychromatic X‐ray beam is scanned across a stationary sample instead of scanning the sample in front of the X‐ray microbeam. This method is applied to a gold nanowire during its mechanical loading using the tip of an atomic force microscope. During the loading process, such a sample is `accelero‐phobic', i.e. the sample scanning stages must not to be moved to avoid parasitic additional load. Without beam scanning, only one single position within the sample can be probed during the test. The probed material point may even change because of drifts or movements induced by the test itself. The new scanning approach facilitates the in situ mapping of the entire wire giving access to the evolution of the wire shape as well as to the boundary conditions. This novel scanning technique opens promising perspectives for studies where sample motion is forbidden because of the sample environment.     

The weakly neighborly polyhedral maps on the 2-manifold with euler characteristic −1

A weakly neighborly polyhedral map (w.n.p. map) is a two-dimensional cell-complex which decomposes a closed 2-manifold without boundary, such that for every two vertices there is a 2-cell containing them. We prove that there are just four w.n.p. maps with Euler characteristic –1 and we describe them.     

Chernklassen semi-stabiler Rang-3-vektorbündel auf kubischen Dreimannigfaltigkeiten

It is shown that the third Chern-number of a semistable Rk-3-vector bundle on a smooth hypersurface of degree 3 in ₄ can be bounded by the first and the second Chern-number of the bundle.     

Beiträge zur Chemie der Silicium—Stickstoff-Verbindungen, 21. Mitt.

Zusammenfassung Durch Umsetzung von Disilbercyanamid mit Organyl- und Alkoxy-halogensilanen wurden 9 bisher unbekannte zweifach silylsubstituierte Carbodiimide der Stoffgruppen (R₃SiN)₂C, [(RO)₃SiN]₂C, (R₂RSiN)₂C und R₃SiNCNSiR₃ dargestellt und in ihrer Struktur über¹⁴N- und¹H-kernmagnetische Resonanzmessungen, IR- und Raman-Spektren eindeutig als Carbodiimidderivate aufgeklärt.20. Mitt.:U. Wannagat undH. Kuckertz, Angew. Chem.75, 95 (1963).Zugleich 2. Mitt. über silylsubstituierte Carbodiimide; 1. Mitt.J. Pump undU. Wannagat, Ann. Chem.652, 21 (1962); Angew. Chem.74, 117 (1962); Österr. Chemiker-Ztg.62, 319 (1961).