Effects of sputter deposition parameters and post-deposition annealing on the electrical characteristics of LaAlO3 dielectric films on Si

The influence of processing parameters on the electrical characteristics of RuO₂/LaAlO₃/Si metal-oxide-semiconductor structures was investigated. In particular, the sputtering regime during deposition of LaAlO₃ on Si and the atmosphere used in the post-deposition annealing step were addressed by determining capacitance-voltage and gate current-voltage characteristics. These results were correlated with compositional information obtained by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and nuclear reaction analysis. A post-deposition annealing step in oxygen at 600 °C resulted in better electrical characteristics of the final structure as compared to the same treatment performed in nitrogen. This result is explained by oxygen ability to heal oxygen vacancies in the LaAlO₃ film, especially at the dielectric/semiconductor interface region. A thermalized sputtering regime during deposition of LaAlO₃ on Si leads to capacitors with electrical characteristics superior to those deposited in ballistic regime. PACS 77.84.Dy; 81.15.Cd; 81.40.Gh; 73.40.Qv; 82.80.Yc     

Smart Geodesic Tracing in GRworkbench

We have developed a new tool for numerical work in General Relativity: GRworkbench. We discuss how GRworkbench's implementation of a numerically-amenable analogue to Differential Geometry facilitates the development of robust and chart-independent numerical algorithms. We consider, as an example, geodesic tracing on two charts covering the exterior Schwarzschild space-time.     

On the Reality of the Eigenvalues for a Class of -Symmetric Oscillators

 We study the eigenvalue problem with the boundary conditions that decays to zero as z tends to infinity along the rays , where is a real polynomial and . We prove that if for some we have for all , then the eigenvalues are all positive real. We then sharpen this to a larger class of polynomial potentials. In particular, this implies that the eigenvalues are all positive real for the potentials when with , and with the boundary conditions that decays to zero as z tends to infinity along the positive and negative real axes. This verifies a conjecture of Bessis and Zinn-Justin. Received: 16 January 2002 / Accepted: 1 May 2002 Published online: 6 August 2002     

Eigenvalue distributions of random unitary matrices

 Let U be an n × n random matrix chosen from Haar measure on the unitary group. For a fixed arc of the unit circle, let X be the number of eigenvalues of M which lie in the specified arc. We study this random variable as the dimension n grows, using the connection between Toeplitz matrices and random unitary matrices, and show that (X -E [X])/(\Var (X))^1/2 is asymptotically normally distributed. In addition, we show that for several fixed arcs I ₁ , ..., I _m , the corresponding random variables are jointly normal in the large n limit. Received: 15 November 2000 / Revised version: 27 September 2001 / Published online: 17 May 2002     

Inequalities for the Moments and Distribution of the Ladder Height of a Random Walk

We obtain upper bounds for the tail distribution of the first nonnegative sum of a random walk and for the moments of the overshoot over an arbitrary nonnegative level if the expectation of jumps is positive and close to zero. In addition, we find an estimate for the expectation of the first ladder epoch.     

A primer on perfect simulation for spatial point processes

This primer provides a self-contained exposition of the case where spatial birth-and-death processes are used for perfect simulation of locally stable point processes. Particularly, a simple dominating coupling from the past (CFTP) algorithm and the CFTP algorithms introduced in [13], [14], and [5] are studied. Some empirical results for the algorithms are discussed. Received: 30 June 2002     

Structural evolution in amorphous silicon and germanium thin films.

The structural evolution in amorphous silicon and germanium thin films has been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in conjunction with autocorrelation function (ACF) analysis. The results established that the structure of as-deposited semiconductor films is of a high density of nanocrystallites embedded in the amorphous matrix. In addition, from ACF analysis, the structure of a-Ge is more ordered than that of a-Si. The density of embedded nanocrystallites in amorphous films was found to diminish with annealing temperature first, then to increase. The conclusions also corroborate well with the results of diminished medium-range order in annealed amorphous films determined previously by a variable coherence microscopy method.     

Every diassociative A-loop is Moufang

An A-loop is a loop in which every inner mapping is an automorphism. A problem which had been open since 1956 is settled by showing that every diassociative A-loop is Moufang.

     

Collisional excitation of Na-Rydberg atoms

The scattering of heavy ion with a multilevel Rydberg atom in the presence of an electromagnetic field is studied. The interaction of Rydberg atom and the e.m field is explored using non-perturbative quasi-energy technique. Although the results are presented for selected excitations but in actual calculations we have included many levels of the atom. The effect of various parameters are shown on collisional excitation process. As an illustration detailed calculations are performed for the inelastic proton-Na Rydberg atom collision accompanied by the transfer of photons and the effects of dressing due to the field are considered. The emphasis of the present work is on collision induced transitions especially the case that involves change of orbital as well as principal quantum number. Received 26 December 2001 / Received in final form 8 April 2002 Published online 19 July 2002     

Dynamic reflection holograms in CdF2 crystals with bistable centers

The diffraction efficiency and the recording and relaxation times of dynamic reflection holograms, recorded in CdF₂ crystals with bistable centers are studied experimentally in the temperature range 20–100°C. In the model experiments which measured the quality of the wave reflected from the hologram, the dynamic wavefront distortions are demonstrated to be efficiently compensated using a holographic corrector based on these crystals. CdF₂ crystals with bistable centers are likely to be useful in solving problems of correction of laser light wavefront and image correction in observation telescopes with nonideal primary mirrors.