Dry etch damage and its effect on electronic and optical nanostructures

The creation of nano-structures in 3–5 semiconductors is currently of great interest. If the conventional route of pattern definition in a resist followed by pattern transfer is used, this implies in most cases electron beam lithography and some form of dry etching. Using electron beam lithography, patterns of 10nm width on 40nm centre to centre spacing can be transfered to metal lines on thin substrates; even on normal wafers, linewidths of 25nm on 60nm spacing are achievable with state of the art machines.If the creation of a raised structure is necessary because of the physics of the situation, it is important to consider the damage which may be introduced by dry etching. The methods by which dry etch damage can be revealed are discussed, and the ways in which it can be reduced mentioned. Progress towards understanding the microscopic nature of the damage will be reviewed. Examples are drawn from etching of GaAs/GaAlAs in Silicon tetrachloride and methane/hydrogen.     

Pronounced negative thermal expansion from a simple structure: cubic ScF(3)

Scandium trifluoride maintains a cubic ReO(3) type structure down to at least 10 K, although the pressure at which its cubic to rhombohedral phase transition occurs drops from >0.5 GPa at ～300 K to 0.1-0.2 GPa at 50 K. At low temperatures it shows strong negative thermal expansion (NTE) (60-110 K, α(l) ≈ -14 ppm K(-1)). On heating, its coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) smoothly increases, leading to a room temperature CTE that is similar to that of ZrW(2)O(8) and positive thermal expansion above ～1100 K. While the cubic ReO(3) structure type is often used as a simple illustration of how negative thermal expansion can arise from the thermally induced rocking of rigid structural units, ScF(3) is the first material with this structure to provide a clear experimental illustration of this mechanism for NTE.     

Conical parametric scattering of a single extraordinary beam in BaTiO3 crystal

In this paper, the parametric scattering of a single extraordinary polarized beam of laser in BaTiO₃ photorefractive crystal has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The resulting pattern consists of beam fanning, isotropic ring, and anisotropic one. Among all parts of scattering pattern, isotropic ring has not been studied as much as beam fanning and anisotropic ring, and there still are some differences in reports about it. Therefore, the study has mainly focused on this part. In this experimental configuration, isotropic ring is just visible in positive angles although the other parts of parametric scattering pattern can be visible from behind and in front of the crystal. In addition to steady state pattern in forward and backward directions, its transient behavior with the rotation of crystal has been studied. The results of experiments have been analyzed carefully, and their theoretical explanations have been presented based on the standard theory of parametric scattering in photorefractive crystals. It has been shown that this configuration corresponds to the so called parametric B-process scattering.     

Diffuse reflectance laser flash photolysis of adsorbed molecules

Recent progress which allows laser flash photolysis investigation of opaque materials by using diffuse reflectance from analysing sources for the detection of laser induced transient species is described. Experimental details of nanosecond and picosecond diffuse reflectance laser photolysis systems are presented and methods of analysis of data are discussed. The potential of the technique for studying elementary reactions at interfaces is demonstrated with particular reference to bimolecular reactions of (a) the triplet state of acridine adsorbed on various porous silica surfaces and (b) ion-electron recombination following multi-photon ionisation of diphenyl polyenes adsorbed on γ-alumina. The mechanisms of formation and decay of these transient adsorbed species are discussed.     

Wetting, mixing, and phase transitions in Langmuir-Gibbs films

Millimolar bulk concentrations of the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) induce spreading of alkanes, H(CH(2))(n)H (denoted C(n)) 12< or =n< or =21, on the water surface, which is not otherwise wet by these alkanes. The novel Langmuir-Gibbs film (LGF) formed is a liquidlike monolayer comprising both alkanes and CTAB tails. Upon cooling, an ordering transition occurs, yielding a hexagonally packed, quasi-2D crystal. For 11< or =n< or =17 this surface-frozen LGF is a crystalline monolayer. For 18< or =n< or =21 the LGF is a bilayer with a crystalline, pure-alkane, upper monolayer, and a liquidlike lower monolayer. The phase diagram and film structure were determined by x-ray, ellipsometry, and surface tension measurements. A thermodynamic theory accounts quantitatively for the observations.     

Fusing multiple Bayesian knowledge sources

We address the problem of information fusion in uncertain environments. Imagine there are multiple experts building probabilistic models of the same situation and we wish to aggregate the information they provide. There are several problems we may run into by naively merging the information from each. For example, the experts may disagree on the probability of a certain event or they may disagree on the direction of causality between two events (e.g., one thinks A causes B while another thinks B causes A). They may even disagree on the entire structure of dependencies among a set of variables in a probabilistic network. In our proposed solution to this problem, we represent the probabilistic models as Bayesian Knowledge Bases (BKBs) and propose an algorithm called Bayesian knowledge fusion that allows the fusion of multiple BKBs into a single BKB that retains the information from all input sources. This allows for easy aggregation and de-aggregation of information from multiple expert sources and facilitates multi-expert decision making by providing a framework in which all opinions can be preserved and reasoned over.     

Effect of inter-miniband tunneling on current resonances due to the formation of stochastic conduction networks in superlattices

We study the effects of inter-miniband electron tunneling and electric field domains on the current–voltage and conductance–voltage curves of biased semiconductor superlattices under the action of a magnetic field that is tilted relative to the plane of the layers. For this geometry, electrons in the superlattice minibands exhibit a unique type of stochastic semiclassical motion. At certain critical values of the electric field within the superlattice layers, the stochastic trajectories change abruptly from fully localized to completely unbounded, and map out an intricate web-like mesh of conduction channels in phase space. Delocalization of the electron paths produces a series of strong resonant peaks in the electron drift velocity versus electric field curves. We use these drift velocity characteristics to make self-consistent drift-diffusion calculations of the current–voltage and differential conductance–voltage curves of the superlattices, which reveal strong resonant features originating from the sudden delocalization of the stochastic single-electron paths. We show that this delocalization has a pronounced effect on the distribution of space charge and electric field domains within the superlattices. Inter-miniband tunneling greatly reduces the amount of space-charge buildup, thus enhancing the domain structure and both the strength and number of the current resonances.     

The changing role of physical testing in vehicle development programmes

The role of physical testing in product development is changing due to the requirements for faster new product development, reduced tolerance of failures in the field and the emergence of computer aided engineering (CAE) technologies. To be used most effectively, testing must be seen as an integral part of the process for reducing risks associated with new product introductions. Quality function deployment (QFD) and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) can be used to establish effective test and development plans that integrate the use of virtual and physical testing. By effectively integrating virtual and physical test technologies significant improvements in product performance can be achieved within shorter times and with reduced development and manufacturing costs. The approach was illustrated by a process of reducing in-cab noise during the design of a new truck.     

Non-local conductivity and the effective potential in small metal particles

We discuss the absorption of electromagnetic radiation in small conducting particles, in the case where the electron motion is diffusive. We refine an earlier theory in which we calculated the absorption coefficient using an effective potential describing the screened electric field. Our new theory incorporates the effects of non-locality in the electrical conductivity, and shows how the two limiting behaviours of the effective potential at high and low frequencies can be derived from a unified theory. Our results are in full agreement with our earlier calculation. Received: 3 November 1997 / Accepted: 29 January 1998