Publications

The envisaged upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN towards the Super-LHC (SLHC) with a 10 times increased luminosity of 10(35) cm(-2) s(-1) Will present severe challenges for the tracking detectors of the SLHC experiments. Unprecedented high radiation levels and track densities and a reduced bunch crossing time in the order of 10 ns as well as the need for cost effective detectors have called for an intensive R&D program. The CERN RD50 collaboration "Development of Radiation Hard Semiconductor Devices for Very High Luminosity Colliders" is working on the development of semiconductor sensors matching the requirements of the SLHC. Sensors based on defect engineered silicon like Czochralski, epitaxial and oxygen enriched silicon have been developed. With 3D, Semi-3D and thin detectors new detector concepts have been evaluated and a study on the use of standard and oxygen enriched p-type silicon detectors revealed a promising approach for radiation tolerant cost effective devices. These and other most recent advancements of the RD50 collaboration are presented. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We report an electron paramagnetic resonance investigation of the grain size effects on the polaron transport in the paramagnetic regime of nanosized La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 manganites. The temperature dependences of the EPR integral intensity were analyzed in terms of spin-spin exchange interaction and small polaron hopping scenarios. The polaron activation energy decreases with the reduction of the grain size. A discussion is given concerning the factors which could explain the observed change.

The thermal stability of amorphous Zr:Al mixed oxide films of different composition, produced on (001) silicon wafers by the atomic layer deposition method is studied, by transmission electron microscopy during in situ heating experiments. The temperatures at which phase separation and crystallization occur are composition dependent. The crystallization of thick films (55-70 nm), deposited on HF-treated silicon surfaces covered with a 15 cycles Al2O3 layer, results in the formation of cubic ZrO2 and cubic gamma-Al2O3. In very thin films (5 nm), deposited on silicon surfaces covered with a 0.5 nm SiO2 thin film, the formation of tetragonal zirconium disilicide (ZrSi2) is observed in the microscope vacuum, at temperatures above 900 degrees C. This effect depends on the thickness of the as deposited thin film.

We investigate the properties of the electron spin-transmission through an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with an embedded two-dimensional (2D) multilevel quantum dot containing magnetic impurities. A suitable formalism is developed. The amplitude and the phase of the flip- and non-flip-transmittances are calculated numerically as function of the magnetic field. The effects induced by the exchange interaction and those arising from the 2D character of the dot are shown. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Copper monosulfide nanocrystallites have been obtained by reaction between copper acetate and sodium thiosulphate (1:4) at 90 +/- 5 degrees C. The powder was studied by X ray diffraction, IR spectrometry and TEM - transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. The copper monosulfide crystallites have been obtained in spherical or discoidal "nodules" which are bonded in much bigger aggregates. The dimensions of the copper monosulfide crystallites are small (10 to 15 nm) near the nucleation center (indicated by an arrow) and bigger at the edges of the spherical nodule (60 to 80 nm). The evolution of the morphology and the shape of the crystallite aggregate with the reaction time allows to propose a nucleation and a crystal growth mechanism for this system.

A simultaneous evaluation of variation in electrical resistance and work function was carried out in order to calculate electron affinity changes induced by appearance of surface dipoles at sensor interface triggered by exposure to different gas species, respectively CO, CH4 and H2O.

Several articles report two-layer c-axis heterostructures of Bi4Ti3O12 on BiSrCaCuO. However in some applications, or for integration purposes, multi-layer geometries composed of alternating c-axis or non c-axis thin films might be useful. From this perspective we investigated growth of c-axis and non c-axis BiSrCaCuO on Bi4Ti3O12 structures. The paper mainly focuses on evaluation of the structures from the growth, stability/interdiffusion, uniformity/morphology points of view based on structural and microstructural data.

We investigate the transport through a quantum ring, a dot, and a barrier embedded in a nanowire in a homogeneous perpendicular magnetic field. To be able to treat scattering potentials of finite extent in a magnetic field we use a mixed momentum-coordinate representation to obtain an integral equation for the multiband scattering matrix. For a large embedded quantum ring we are able to obtain Aharonov-Bohm type of oscillations with superimposed narrow resonances caused by interaction with quasibound states in the ring. We also employ the scattering matrix approach to calculate the conductance through a semiextended barrier or well in the wire. The numerical implementations we resort to in order to describe the cases of weak and intermediate magnetic field allow us to produce high resolution maps of the "near field" scattering wave functions, which are used to shed light on the underlying scattering processes.

This paper presents the results of the X-ray topography investigations of mass-loading influence on electrical parameters of AT-cut quartz resonators and Y-cut langasite resonators. This study reveals that the mass-loading effect on electrical parameters of Y-cut langasite resonators is smaller than in the case of AT-cut quartz resonators. The results of the X-ray topography investigations are in good agreement with electrical measurements.

The effect of LiF content on the 2223 phase of the high temperature superconducting system Bi1.8Pb0.4Sr1.8Ba0.2Ca2Cu3Ox/(LiF)(y) (y = 0.02 to 0.15) was investigated by means of magnetically modulated microwave absorption (MAMMA). The experimental results confirmed a two fold increase of the superconducting phase content together with a slight rise (around 2 %) of the critical temperature for y=0.07. At the same time, for y between 0.05 and 0.12 the -Delta T-c(mw)/Delta B ratio was practically constant and equal to (18.5 +/- 1.5) KT-1, a typical value for 2223 superconducting phase.