Publications

Thin films (50 nm) of Fe100-xPdx and Fe100-xMnx (x=20 and 50) were deposited by laser ablation on a Si wafer and studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS). In all cases, the XRD patterns of the target surface before and after ablation show a congruent transfer of ablated material. For the Fe80Pd20 thin, film, XRD spectra show the formation of FePd, iron, Pd oxide and traces of hematite in the ablated film. Complementary information obtained by CEMS indicates the presence of an upper 50-nm thick surface layer of hematite in the deposited film. Fe50Pd50 phase was observed by CEMS and a Pd oxide component was identified by XRD, along with traces of hematite. In the case of Fe80Mn20, the CEMS spectrum is consistent with the Occurrence of the anti ferromagnetic FeMn phase and the XRD pattern also shows the presence of Fe in the structure. For the system Fe50Mn50, we obtain by CEMS an antiferromagnetic phase of FeMn and by XRD we trace the presence of nanohematite and in-depth iron. For x=20 in both iron-rich systems investigated, we observe the segregation of iron with subsequent conversion to hematite. The study shows that the stoichiometry of the compounds plays a decisive role in determining their structural and magnetic properties. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We report experimental investigations and modeling of the electronic transport in Si-SiO2 nanocomposite films. The current-voltage characteristics measured at room temperature are interpreted as due to high field-assisted tunneling. The activation energies from the current-temperature curves,are given by the energy separations between quantum confinement electronic states, determined from a quantum well model. Consequently, the calculated mean diameter of a nanodot (5.2 nm) is in good agreement with the microstructure data (5 nm). Also, the potential barrier between nanocrystalline Si and amorphous SiO2, previously obtained for nanocrystalline oxidized porous Si (2.2 eV), is confirmed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnesium-rich Mg-Ni-Fe intermetallic compounds have been prepared by two different routes: (a) short time ball milling of ribbons obtained by melt spinning; (b) long time ball milling of a mixture of MgH2, Ni and Fe powders. The first type of samples displays an hydrogen desorption kinetics better than the second one. Pressure composition isotherm measurements exhibit for both type of samples two plateaux, the lower and wider corresponding to the MgH2 phase and the upper and shorter corresponding to the Mg2NiH4 phase. The presence of the two types of hydrides is confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. Mossbauer spectroscopy shows that in melt spun and subsequently milled samples iron is mainly in a disordered structure and segregates after hydrogenation, while in directly milled powders remains mainly unalloyed. After multiple hydrogen absorption/desorption cycles the main part of iron is in metallic state in samples of both types, those of first type preserving better hydrogen desorption kinetics. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this work, we present the fabrication and full characterization of stoichiometric SiO2 nanoisland arrays ( dots) on silicon, grown through an anodic porous alumina template. Atomic force and transmission electron microscopy (AFM, TEM) were used to characterize the morphology, size, size distribution and density of the dots as a function of the anodization time used. It was found that dot density is lower for very short anodization times, and it stabilizes after a certain time. The dot height increases rapidly after nucleation, reaching values of 8 - 10 nm. With prolonged oxidation the dots continue to nucleate to fill the available area on the silicon surface underneath the porous alumina, while the well developed dots grow in height and width, reaching saturation values at 14 and 55 nm respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron energy loss spectroscopy ( EELS) were used to investigate the stoichiometry and surface coverage of the dots.

UB4 is a moderate heavy fermion compound which does not exhibit my magnetic order down to 0.3 K. In this work, the magnetic properties of UB4 are investigated in an extended temperature range, 2-800 K. on high-quality single crystals. A cross-over from a low temperature 5f itinerant behaviour to a high temperature 5f localized behaviour is observed, marked by broad peaks in the magnetic susceptibility measured along the main crystallographic axes. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ballistic electron transport, namely quantized conductance, bend resistance, and its polarity-dependent breakdown, is studied in an asymmetric nanoscale cross junction prepared from a high-mobility Si/SiGe hetero structure. The cross junction is composed of four orthogonal leads which merge into two wide and two narrow quantum point contacts (QPCs). For a wide-narrow combination of leads the two-terminal differential conductance as a function of finite DC bias voltage reveals oscillations and half-plateaus characteristic for quantized conductance. In four-terminal bend resistance configuration with current injection into orthogonal leads negative bend voltage develops between the probing leads. Above a given current threshold the negative bend resistance breaks down just in that bias current polarity where electrons enter the cross region from the narrow QPC. This breakdown is attributed to phonon emission by hot electrons. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this paper we focus on supersaturation and migration of the atomic species involved in the growth of oxide films in order to search for new efficient methods for growth of flat, uniform and precipitate-free complex thin films with high quality. In this respect we have applied MOCVD to HTS thin films, 'interrupted growth' (consisting of on/off vapour deposition cycles, keeping the temperature and atmospheric conditions constant), similar to 'pulsed laser interval deposition' reported in the literature. We show that MOCVD can be easily and successfully applied to suppress island growth, contrary to the currently accepted idea that this approach is unique to PLD. This suggests that principles of supersaturation-migration-supersaturation cycles are universal for the films' growth. By this approach, high-quality Bi-2223 thin films with a uniform flat surface, having roughness less than half the c-axis unit cell, were grown by MOCVD. Using substrates with artificial steps of predefined width equal to 'twice the migration length' totally precipitate-free thin films were obtained: precipitates-segregates of impurity phases (Cu rich for HTS materials) are gathered at the step edges where the free energy is lowest. As-prepared films were used to fabricate intrinsic Bi-2223 and Bi-2212/Bi-2223 SIS-type Josephson junctions (IJJs).

Electron-trapped Fe+-type centers, produced by x-ray irradiation at 80 K and further annealing at higher temperatures in iron-doped SrCl2 single crystals grown in chlorine gas, have been investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance. The Fe+(III) and Fe+(IIIa) centers, produced by annealing at temperatures higher than 200 K, exhibit monoclinic local symmetry with the two g down arrow- tensor principal axes situated in the (110) plane slightly tilted away from the [001] and [1-10] directions, respectively. The Fe+(IV) center, observed after several cycles of irradiation and annealing to 700 K, exhibits tetragonal local symmetry around and a well-resolved four-component structure, attributed to the superhyperfine interaction with a neighboring monovalent impurity ion. The presence and properties of the low symmetry radiation-induced Fe+ paramagnetic centers are attributed to trapping and the thermally activated movement of chlorine interstitials. Both precursor Fe2+ and resulting Fe+ centers are perturbed by these interstitials, which are introduced in SrCl2:Fe crystals during growth under a chlorine atmosphere.

Pulse shaping introduces the method that makes possible the production of tunable arbitrary shaped pulses. We extend this method to control the prevalent growth of cubic SiC films on Si (10 0) substrates by pulsed laser deposition at temperatures around 973 K from a SiC target in vacuum. We used a laser system generating 200 fs pulses duration at 800 nm with 600 mu J at 1 kHz. The obtained structures are investigated by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and profilometry. We observed grains embedded in an amorphous texture, characteristic in our opinion to the depositions obtained with very short pulses. We present a comparison of deposited films with and without pulse shaping. Pulse shaping promotes increased crystallization and results in the deposition of thin structures of cubic SiC with a strongly reduced density of particulates, under similar deposition conditions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We achieved the growth of cubic silicon carbide (SiC) films on (100)Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at moderate temperatures such as 750 degrees C, from a SiC target in vacuum. The as-deposited films are morphologically and structurally characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM/HRTEM). The morphology of deposited films is dominated by columns nucleated from a thin nanostructured beta silicon carbide (beta-SiC) interface layer. The combined effects of columnar growth, tilted facets of the emerging columns and the presence of particulates on the film surface, lead to a rather rough surface of the films. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.