Depth profile investigations of metallic layer contacts to GaAs(100) and InP(100) by means of Auger Electron Spectroscopy and sputter technique

Summary The present technological development in the field of opto-electronics requires a sufficiently high stability of the applied metal-semiconductor contacts because of the thermal and electrical cross-section loading. Au/Pt/Ti layer contacts to GaAs(100) and InP(100) substrates annealed under various conditions were investigated by means of Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) in conjunction with ion sputtering. The diffusion and reaction behavior are discussed based on intensity-depth profiles and chemical shifts. As the main result we found that the GaAs contact is more stable. It reacts strongly at a temperature of about 450°C. On the other hand Au/Pt/Ti/InP contact reacts already above 300°C. The principal reason for the difference in the behavior of InP and GaAs contacts is the In segregation.     

Forcing highly connected subgraphs

A theorem of Mader states that highly connected subgraphs can be forced in finite graphs by assuming a high minimum degree. We extend this result to infinite graphs. Here, it is necessary to require not only high degree for the vertices but also high vertex‐degree (or multiplicity) for the ends of the graph, that is, a large number of disjoint rays in each end. We give a lower bound on the degree of vertices and the vertex‐degree of the ends which is quadratic in k, the connectedness of the desired subgraph. In fact, this is not far from best possible: we exhibit a family of graphs with a degree of order 2^k at the vertices and a vertex‐degree of order k log k at the ends which have no k‐connected subgraphs. Furthermore, if in addition to the high degrees at the vertices, we only require high edge‐degree for the ends (which is defined as the maximum number of edge‐disjoint rays in an end), Mader's theorem does not extend to infinite graphs, not even to locally finite ones. We give a counterexample in this respect. But, assuming a lower bound of at least 2k for the edge‐degree at the ends and the degree at the vertices does suffice to ensure the existence (k + 1)‐edge‐connected subgraphs in arbitrary graphs. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 54: 331–349, 2007     

Maturation of the lantibiotic subtilin: matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry to monitor precursors and their proteolytic processing in crude bacterial cultures.

Bacillus subtilis synthesizes the lanthionine containing 32-amino-acid peptide antibiotic (lanti-biotic) subtilin from a ribosomally generated 56-amino-acid precursor pre-propeptide by extensive posttranslational modifications. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) was used to monitor the production of matured subtilin within crude samples taken from B. subtilis culture media without prior fractionation. The processing reaction of subtilin was blocked with the serine protease inhibitor phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and different subtilin precursor peptides in the molecular mass range up to 6220 were observed. Two of these species were isolated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and structurally analyzed by post-source decay MALDI-TOFMS. We provide evidence that the precursor species comprise the posttranslational modified C-terminal part of subtilin to which leader peptide moieties with different chain lengths are attached. These antimicrobial-inactive species could be processed to antibiotic-active subtilin by incubation with culture media of different subtilin-nonproducing B. subtilis strains as indicated by a combination of antimicrobial growth assays and MALDI-TOFMS analyses. These achievements are strong evidence for the sensitivity of MALDI-TOFMS methodology that allows straightforward investigations of analytes even in complex mixtures without time-consuming sample preparations.     

Selective Template Removal by Thermal Depolymerization to Obtain Mesostructured Molybdenum Oxycarbide

The carbon content of mesostructured organic‐inorganic hybrid material of a cylindrical block copolymer template of poly(2‐vinylpyridine)‐block‐poly(allyl methacrylate) (P2VP‐b‐PAMA) and ammonium paramolybdate (APM) could be reduced by thermal depolymerization. By calcination in vacuo at 320 °C the PAMA core can be completely removed while the remaining P2VP brush preserves the mesostructure. The P2VP‐APM composite can then be carburized in‐situ to MoO_xC_y in a second pyrolysis step without any additional carbon source but P2VP. The molybdenum oxycarbide nanotubes obtained, form hierarchically porous non‐woven structures, which were tested as catalyst in the decomposition of NH₃. They proved to be catalytically active at temperatures above 450 °C. The activation energy was estimated from an Arrhenius Plot to be 127 kJ · mol^–1.