National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PZT) oriented films deposited by laser ablation on Bu(lll)/Si(lll) have been tested by different techniques for their physico-chemical homogeneity. The samples have been divided in different zones, in order to verify the existence of chemical and structural differences between different regions. Few techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been employed for characterization. XRD analyses showed differences regarding the crystallographic content and the degree of orientation between zones subjected to the plasma arriving at different angles of incidence on the sample surface. In the same zones XPS studies have been performed by a VG ESCALAB 210 Spectrometer, using a non-monochromatic AlKalpha X-ray source (300 W) in the five channel hemispherical analyzer. Wide scans in the binding energy scale 0-1200 eV, at 50 eV analyzer pass energy, were collected both from the as received surface and after sputter cleaning in order to put into evidence all the constituents of the film. Narrow scans of Ti 2p, Zr 3d, Pb 4f and O 1s is were also acquired at 20 eV and 0.1 eV/channel pass energy and 100 ms of dwell time in order to give a better insight into the chemical bonds form and a semiquantitative analyze of the present chemical species. The piezoelectric properties of different zones were also measured, (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Thin C-60 films were deposited by vacuum sublimation of soot on single-crystal and amorphous substrates. The absence of higher fullerenes was confirmed by IR, Raman and UV-VIS spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction revealed a high density of stacking faults (probabilities in the range 10(-2)), correlated with lattice distortions. Analysis of the W-VIS absorption bands yielded values of the h(u)-->t(1g) and h(u)-->t(1u) optical gaps.

The octahedral complex [PbX6](4,) (X=Cl, Br) in natrium/potassium chloride or bromide monocrystals as well as in the concentrated solutions of these alkali halides, impurified by lead, shows a characteristic absorption in the region 250-300 nm. Using the height of this absorption band, a quantitative method for determination of lead in the range 8'10(14) - 3.2'10(16) atoms/cm(3) of halide monocrystals or 0.5 20 mg/ml of solutions respectively, was elaborated. Standard graphs of the peak extinction of [PbX6](4) in natrium/potassium chloride and bromide as function of the lead concentration have been obtained.

ESR measurements in the 9 and 94 GHz microwave frequency bands were performed on thick free-standing polycrystalline diamond films grown by microwave plasma enhanced CVD from CH4/H-2 mixtures under variable deposition conditions. An exponential decrease in the concentration of the N-0 centres with increase in the H-2 flow rate was found. Neither H1 nor H2 centres could be detected.

The local electric properties at K and Zn sites in the normal, incommensurate and commensurate phases of K2ZnCl4, as derived from a numerical computation of the lattice contributions to the electric potential V(r), electric field intensity E(r) and electric field gradient tensor V-alpha beta(r) are reported. The numerical data obtained at each cationic position were correlated with the experimental K-39 NMR, Cu2+ and Mn2+ EPR and Fe-57 Mossbauer results in pure and doped K2ZnCl4. A proportionality between crystal field and zero-field splitting was taken into account for Mn2+, whereas for K+, Cu2+ and Fe3+ ions the electric field gradient is directly related to the crystal field parameter. By this comparison, on computations done in the ionic fractional charge and relaxed lattice approximations, the insertion of probe-species of iron, copper and manganese ions on off-center Zn sites is proposed. The K-39 electric field gradient tensor calculations in the incommensurate phase fit well with the NMR data reported recently.

Two Fe+ centres have been identified by ESR after X-ray irradiation at 80 K of chlorinated SrCl2 : Fe2+ crystals. Both centres, with tetragonal symmetry, consist of an Fe+ ion with a neighbouring charged defect along the [001] symmetry axis. The substitutional Fe+ ion of the Fe+(I) centre is strongly off-centre displaced in the Fe+(II) centres, in the middle of a square of four nearest neighbour chlorine ligands.

In case of a metal finely dispersed in a C-60 matrix, the metal-to-C-60 charge transfer lowers the interface energy. The total cohesive energy per metal atom E-tot, was estimated for Au clusters in fullerite. The results show that, for a charge Q(f) greater than or equal to 1 electron (e) transferred from the metal clusters to each C-60 cage, a minimum appears in E-tot, defining a most stable cluster size. Thereby, the equilibrium dispersion state of the metal in the fullerite matrix depends on Q(f).

Data on the dielectric properties of the liquid crystal 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) have been determined onto unaligned samples, for a large scale of frequency, as function of temperature. The components of the complex dielectric permittivity as well as the corresponding dielectric parameters were evaluated using Havriliak-Negami (HN) functions. The dielectric characteristics were discussed and were compared with the literature, a good agreement being observed. The method allows to obtain for the first time the dielectric strength for a large range of the temperature and gives the two functions describing the relaxation processes in the isotropic range.

Orientational transitions induced by temperature variation, in cells with nematic liquid crystal having limiting substrates with controlled topography, are presented. The variable topography was obtained by SiOx deposition in vacuum at an incidence angle around 85 degrees, or by depositions of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with different thicknesses, on glasses with the same SiOx deposition. The experimental results are explained by a phenomenological model based on the Landau-de Gennes free energy expansion, taking into account the anisotropy of the substrate.