Infrared spectroscopic characterization of the buried interface and surfaces of bonded silicon wafers

Basic investigations have been carried out on the characterization of different processing steps in bond preparation using etched <111> faces of silicon wafers for the incidence of the infrared beam to a multiple internal reflection geometry. The method is very sensitive to the surface coverage and interface. Surface activation by RCA cleaning yields an increase of water coverage and a decrease of SiH and CH groups. The detection limit for an oxide layer between silicon wafers has been found to be about 3 nm. Received: 18 July 1997 / Revised: 15 August 1997 / Accepted: 19 August 1997     

Laser studies of vibrational energy transfer and relaxation of CO trapped in solid neon and argon

The infrared emission of CO trapped in solid Ne and Ar is observed at low temperature. The first vibrational level of ¹²C¹⁶O is excited by a Q-switched frequency doubled CO₂ laser. The emission spectrum consists of several lines arising from upper vibrational levels of ¹²C¹⁶O and also of ¹³C¹⁶O and ¹²C¹⁸O which are present in natural abundance. An interpretation is proposed which is based on the assumption that long range dipole—dipole interaction is the main physical process involved in these experiments. Resonance energy transfer produces an energy migration among ¹²C¹⁶O molecules without any change in vibrational populations. Phonon assisted energy transfer takes place between vibrational levels of the various isotopic species present in the solution. In order to satisfy the resonance condition a phonon is emitted or absorbed whose energy compensates for the energy mismatch between the transitions in each interacting molecule due to isotopic effect and or vibrational anharmonicity. The range of this process is greatly extended by energy migration. At the low phonon bath temperature phonon emission is much more probable than phonon absorption. So a strong excitation of upper vibrational levels with in some cases population inversions is observed.Molecular impurities act as efficient quenching centers even at very low concentration. When highly purified samples are used, the fluorescence decay time is found to be 20.6 ms in Ne and 14.5 ms in Ar and does not significantly depend upon concentration and temperature. It is concluded that radiationless relaxation is unimportant.     

Kraftfeldrechnungen an linearen Oligopyrrolen: 2,2′-Bipyrrol, 2,2′-Furylpyrrol und Prodigiosen

Using a specific force field model, relative stabilities of 2,2-bipyrrole and 2,2-furylpyrrole conformers as well as of prodigiosene tautomers, configurations, and conformations, are studied. 2,2-Bipyrrole adopts anantiperiplanar conformation in accord with other theoretical calculations and experimental findings. Its rotational barrier calculated by this method compares favourably to the one derived by other means. For the parent prodigiosene the (Z)sp,sp arrangement is found to be the most stable one. The two possible tautomers within its dipyrrin fragment do not show a significant energy difference.

     

Photocatalytic TiO2 Coatings: Effect of Substrate and Template

Transparent TiO₂ films with a high photodegradation activity towards an azo dye in aqueous solution were prepared by sol–gel processing. Films on soda–lime glass supports protected with a thin silica barrier layer exhibited better crystallization and monodisperse nanoparticles, higher absorption of light below 370 nm, and higher photocatalytic activity than those films deposited on bare glass supports proving the detrimental effect of interdiffused sodium ions on the development of the anatase nanostructure. The effect of substrate was more pronounced in thinner films (300 nm) than in thicker ones (1200 nm), which were achieved by adding a template (i.e. Pluronic F127) to the sol.     

Biotreatment of tannin-rich beer-factory wastewater with white-rot basidiomycete Coriolopsis gallica monitored by pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Some fractions of beer-factory wastewaters represent an important environmental concern owing to their high content of polyphenols and dark-brown color. The capacity of Coriolopsis gallica to preferentially degrade lignin has been successfully applied in our laboratory to the biotreatment and decolorization of paper-industry effluents. In this work, the ability of this white-rot fungus to degrade high-tannin-containing wastewaters is evaluated. Under all the conditions studied, effluent decolorization and chemical oxygen demand reduction achieved by C. gallica at day 12 of incubation were close to 50 and 65%, respectively. No adhesion of dark color to the fungal mycelium was observed suggesting that decolorization could be ascribed to C. gallica degradation systems. Mycelium dry-weight values showed that C. gallica is tolerant to relatively high tannin content present in the effluent samples. In the sample containing the highest effluent concentration (60% v/v), dry-weight values suggested an inhibition of fungal growth at day 6 of incubation and a further adaptation of the fungus to the stressing tannin effect at day 12 of fungal treatment. Pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry results showed a decrease of polyphenols pyrolysis products, mainly phenol and guaiacol, with the incubation time. All these results indicate the potential use of C. gallica in bioremediation of tannin-containing industrial wastewaters and in other applications where a reduction in polyphenols content is required.     

Observation of the ND4 Schüler band in a neutralized ion beam experiment

The emission of the ND₄ Schüler band was observed after neutralization of a mass-selected ND ₄ ⁺ ion beam. Thus the assignment of this band to the ammonium radical was confirmed. The lifetime of the upper state (3p ² F ₂) was determined to be 4.2 ns, which is much shorter than ab initio values of the radiative lifetime, showing that this state decays predominantly by predissociation. The Schuster band was not observed, neither after neutralization of ND ₄ ⁺ , nor of ND ₃ ⁺ .     

Synthesis and dispersion of Ni(OH)2 platelet-like nanoparticles in water

Synthesis of nanometric platelet-like Ni(OH)2 particles is described. The role of several experimental parameters on the particle size is investigated. A colloidal dispersion of particles is produced by adsorbing ionizable organic ligands (trisodium citrate) on the particle surface. The stability of this colloidal dispersion and the particle charge density are determined for different citrate ions concentrations.     

Inclusion complexes of trivalent lutetium cations with an acidic derivative of per(3,6-anhydro)-alpha-cyclodextrin

The cyclodextrin derivative (hexakis (2-O-carboxymethyl-3,6-anhydro)-alpha-cyclodextrin) forms mono- and bimetallic complexes with lutetium(III) in aqueous solution; the X-ray structure of the binuclear complex [Lu2(ACX)(H2O)2] is the first example of a lanthanide-cyclodextrin inclusion complex.     

Relativistic all electron configuration interaction calculation of ground and excited states of the gold hydride molecule

We present relativistic configuration interaction calculations with the spin-free no-pair hamiltonian on the gold hydride molecule, treating the ground state as well as the eleven lowest excited states. The calculations provide a picture of the bonding in theX ¹Σ⁺ ground state consistent with previous work on this species using four-component spinors: compared to non-relativistic calculations, the dipole moment is reduced by a factor of two, hybridization (and thus participation ofd orbitals at the bonding) is greatly enhanced, the bond length is shortened by 20 pm, and the dissociation energy is increased by 50%. Comparison of the spin-averaged potential curves of the excited states with experiment suggests a reinterpretation of theC ¹Σ⁺ as the 0⁺ fine structure component of 2³Π and the prediction of a weakly bound³Σ⁺ state with weak transitions to the ground state in the range of 2.9–3.1 eV.     

Novel Access to Furan-3-thiols and Derivatives,Impact Meat-Flavor Compounds

A versatile process for the preparation of a number of 3-thio-substituted furans 1–4 is described. These products have very low odor thresholds and are thus potent flavor compounds. Fur-3-yl thiocyanates 10a , b as well as other S-containing analogues ( 2b , 7a , b , and 8 ) were prepared by a Michael-type addition of thiocyanic acid, thioacetic acid, alakanethiols, and sodium thiosulfate to alkynones 6 or 15 , followed by cyclization (Schemes 3 and 4). The thiocyanates 10a, b were converted to mixed disulfides 3 , symmetric disulfides 4 , thioethers 2 , and thiols 1 , using ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ nucleophiles or reducing agents, respectively (Scheme 6).