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Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
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    High-temperature annealing of AlN films grown on 4H-SiC
    (New York, NY : American Inst. of Physics, 2020) Brunner, F.; Cancellara, L.; Hagedorn, S.; Albrecht, M.; Weyers, M.
    The effect of high-temperature annealing (HTA) at 1700 °C on AlN films grown on 4H-SiC substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy has been studied. It is shown that the structural quality of the AlN layers improves significantly after HTA similar to what has been demonstrated for AlN grown on sapphire. Dislocation densities reduce by one order of magnitude resulting in 8 × 108 cm-2 for a-type and 1 × 108 cm-2 for c-type dislocations. The high-temperature treatment removes pits from the surface by dissolving nanotubes and dislocations in the material. XRD measurements prove that the residual strain in AlN/4H-SiC is further relaxed after annealing. AlN films grown at higher temperature resulting in a lower as-grown defect density show only a marginal reduction in dislocation density after annealing. Secondary ion mass spectrometry investigation of impurity concentrations reveals an increase of Si after HTA probably due to in-diffusion from the SiC substrate. However, C concentration reduces considerably with HTA that points to an efficient carbon removal process (i.e., CO formation). © 2020 Author(s).
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    High temperature behavior of rual thin films on piezoelectric CTGS and LGS substrates
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2020) Seifert, M.
    This paper reports on a significant further improvement of the high temperature stability of RuAl thin films (110 nm) on the piezoelectric Ca3TaGa3Si2O14 (CTGS) and La3Ga5SiO14 (LGS) substrates. RuAl thin films with AlN or SiO2 cover layers and barriers to the substrate (each 20 nm), as well as a combination of both were prepared on thermally oxidized Si substrates, which serve as a reference for fundamental studies, and the piezoelectric CTGS, as well as LGS substrates. In somefilms, additional Al layers were added. To study their high temperature stability, the samples were annealed in air and in high vacuum up to 900 °C, and subsequently their cross-sections, phase formation, film chemistry, and electrical resistivity were analyzed. It was shown that on thermally oxidized Si substrates, all films were stable after annealing in air up to 800 °C and in high vacuum up to 900 °C. The high temperature stability of RuAl thin films on CTGS substrates was improved up to 900 °C in high vacuum by the application of a combined AlN/SiO2 barrier layer and up to 800 °C in air using a SiO2 barrier. On LGS, the films were only stable up to 600 °C in air; however, a single SiO2 barrier layer was sufficient to prevent oxidation during annealing at 900 °C in high vacuum.
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    Phase formation and high-temperature stability of very thin co-sputtered Ti-Al and multilayered Ti/Al films on thermally oxidized si substrates
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2020) Seifert, M.; Lattner, E.; Menzel, S.B.; Oswald, S.; Gemming, T.
    Ti-Al thin films with a thickness of 200 nm were prepared either by co-sputtering from elemental Ti and Al targets or as Ti/Al multilayers with 10 and 20 nm individual layer thickness on thermally oxidized Si substrates. Some of the films were covered with a 20-nm-thick SiO2 layer, which was used as an oxidation protection against the ambient atmosphere. The films were annealed at up to 800 °C in high vacuum for 10 h, and the phase formation as well as the film architecture was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, cross section, and transmission electron microscopy, as well as Auger electron and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results reveal that the co-sputtered films remained amorphous after annealing at 600 °C independent on the presence of the SiO2 cover layer. In contrast to this, the γ-TiAl phase was formed in the multilayer films at this temperature. After annealing at 800 °C, all films were degraded completely despite the presence of the cover layer. In addition, a strong chemical reaction between the Ti and SiO2 of the cover layer and the substrate took place, resulting in the formation of Ti silicide. In the multilayer samples, this reaction already started at 600 °C.
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    Tuning the magneto-optical response of TbPc2 single molecule magnets by the choice of the substrate
    (London [u.a.] : RSC, 2015) Robaschik, Peter; Fronk, Michael; Toader, Marius; Klyatskaya, Svetlana; Ganss, Fabian; Siles, Pablo F.; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Albrecht, Manfred; Hietschold, Michael; Ruben, Mario; Zahn, Dietrich R.T.; Salvan, Georgeta
    In this work, we investigated the magneto-optical response of thin films of TbPc2 on substrates which are relevant for (spin) organic field effect transistors (SiO2) or vertical spin valves (Co) in order to explore the possibility of implementing TbPc2 in magneto-electronic devices, the functionality of which includes optical reading. The optical and magneto-optical properties of TbPc2 thin films prepared by organic molecular beam deposition (OMBD) on silicon substrates covered with native oxide were investigated by variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) and magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) spectroscopy at room temperature. The magneto-optical activity of the TbPc2 films can be significantly enhanced by one to two orders of magnitude upon changing the molecular orientation (from nearly standing molecules on SiO2/Si substrates to nearly lying molecules on perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) templated SiO2/Si substrates) or by using metallic ferromagnetic substrates (Co).
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    Importance of substrates for the visibility of "dark" plasmonic modes
    (Washington, DC : Soc., 2020) Fiedler, Saskia; Raza, Søren; Ai, Ruoqi; Wang, Jianfang; Busch, Kurt; Stenger, Nicolas; Mortensen, N. Asger; Wolff, Christian
    Dark plasmonic modes have interesting properties, including longer lifetimes and narrower linewidths than their radiative counterpart, and little to no radiative losses. However, they have not been extensively studied yet due to their optical inaccessibility. In this work, we systematically investigated the dark radial breathing modes (RBMs) in monocrystalline gold nanodisks, specifically their outcoupling behavior into the far-field by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. Increasing the substrate thickness resulted in an up to 4-fold enhanced visibility. This is attributed to breaking the mirror symmetry by the high-index substrate, creating an effective dipole moment. Furthermore, the resonance energy of the dark RMBs can be easily tuned by varying the nanodisk diameter, making them promising candidates for nanophotonic applications. © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement
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    Epitaxial growth and stress relaxation of vapor-deposited Fe-Pd magnetic shape memory films
    (College Park, MD : Institute of Physics Publishing, 2009) Kühnemund, L.; Edler, T.; Kock, I.; Seibt, M.; Mayr, S.G.
    To achieve maximum performance in microscale magnetic shape memory actuation devices epitaxial films several hundred nanometers thick are needed. Epitaxial films were grown on hot MgO substrates (500 °C and above) by e-beam evaporation. Structural properties and stress relaxation mechanisms were investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, in situ substrate curvature measurements and classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The high misfit stress incorporated during Vollmer-Weber growth at the beginning was relaxed by partial or perfect dislocations depending on the substrate temperature. This relaxation allowed the avoidance of a stressinduced breakdown of epitaxy and no thickness limit for epitaxy was found. For substrate temperatures of 690 °C or above, the films grew in the fee austenite phase. Below this temperature, iron precipitates were formed. MD simulations showed how these precipitates influence the movements of partial dislocations, and can thereby explain the higher stress level observed in the experiments in the initial stage of growth for these films. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.
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    Selective area growth of AlGaN nanopyramid arrays on graphene by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy
    (Melville, NY : American Inst. of Physics, 2018) Munshi, A. Mazid; Kim, Dong-Chul; Heimdal, Carl Philip; Heilmann, Martin; Christiansen, Silke H.; Vullum, Per Erik; van Helvoort, Antonius T. J.; Weman, Helge
    Wide-bandgap group III-nitride semiconductors are of special interest for applications in ultraviolet light emitting diodes, photodetectors, and lasers. However, epitaxial growth of high-quality III-nitride semiconductors on conventional single-crystalline substrates is challenging due to the lattice mismatch and differences in the thermal expansion coefficients. Recently, it has been shown that graphene, a two-dimensional material, can be used as a substrate for growing high-quality III-V semiconductors via quasi-van der Waals epitaxy and overcome the named challenges. Here, we report selective area growth of AlGaN nanopyramids on hole mask patterned single-layer graphene using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The nanopyramid bases have a hexagonal shape with a very high nucleation yield. After subsequent AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN overgrowth on the six {10 (1) over bar1} semi-polar side facets of the nanopyramids, intense room-temperature cathodoluminescence emission is observed at 365 nm with whispering gallery-like modes. This work opens up a route for achieving III-nitride opto-electronic devices on graphene substrates in the ultraviolet region for future applications.
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    The morphology of silver nanoparticles prepared by enzyme-induced reduction
    (Frankfurt, M. : Beilstein-Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften, 2012) Schneidewind, H.; Schüler, T.; Strelau, K.K.; Weber, K.; Cialla, D.; Diegel, M.; Mattheis, R.; Berger, A.; Möller, R.; Popp, J.
    Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by an enzyme-induced growth process on solid substrates. In order to customize the enzymatically grown nanoparticles (EGNP) for analytical applications in biomolecular research, a detailed study was carried out concerning the time evolution of the formation of the silver nanoparticles, their morphology, and their chemical composition. Therefore, silvernanoparticle films of different densities were investigated by using scanning as well as transmission electron microscopy to examine their structure. Cross sections of silver nanoparticles, prepared for analysis by transmission electron microscopy were additionally studied by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in order to probe their chemical composition. The surface coverage of substrates with silver nanoparticles and the maximum particle height were determined by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. Variations in the silver-nanoparticle films depending on the conditions during synthesis were observed. After an initial growth state the silver nanoparticles exhibit the so-called desert-rose or nanoflower-like structure. This complex nanoparticle structure is in clear contrast to the auto-catalytically grown spherical particles, which maintain their overall geometrical appearance while increasing their diameter. It is shown, that the desert-rose-like silver nanoparticles consist of single-crystalline plates of pure silver. The surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) activity of the EGNP structures is promising due to the exceptionally rough surface structure of the silver nanoparticles. SERS measurements of the vitamin riboflavin incubated on the silver nanoparticles are shown as an exemplary application for quantitative analysis.
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    Magnetically induced reorientation of martensite variants in constrained epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga films grown on MgO(001)
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2008) Thomas, M.; Heczko, O.; Buschbeck, J.; Rößler, U.K.; McCord, J.; Scheerbaum, N.; Schultz, L.; Fähler, S.
    Magnetically induced reorientation (MIR) is observed in epitaxial orthorhombic Ni-Mn-Ga films. Ni-Mn-Ga films have been grown epitaxially on heated MgO(001) substrates in the cubic austenite state. The unit cell is rotated by 45° relative to the MgO cell. The growth, structure texture and anisotropic magnetic properties of these films are described. The crystallographic analysis of the martensitic transition reveals variant selection dominated by the substrate constraint. The austenite state has low magnetocrystalline anisotropy. In the martensitic state, the magnetization curves reveal an orthorhombic symmetry having three magnetically non-equivalent axes. The existence of MIR is deduced from the typical hysteresis within the first quadrant in magnetization curves and independently by texture measurement without and in the presence of a magnetic field probing micro structural changes. An analytical model is presented, which describes MIR in films with constrained overall extension by the additional degree of freedom of an orthorhombic structure compared to the tetragonal structure used in the standard model.
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    Quantitative protein sensing with germanium THz-antennas manufactured using CMOS processes
    (Washington, DC : Soc., 2022) Hardt, Elena; Chavarin, Carlos Alvarado; Gruessing, Soenke; Flesch, Julia; Skibitzki, Oliver; Spirito, Davide; Vita, Gian Marco; Simone, Giovanna De; Masi, Alessandra di; You, Changjiang; Witzigmann, Bernd; Piehler, Jacob; Capellini, Giovanni
    The development of a CMOS manufactured THz sensing platform could enable the integration of state-of-the-art sensing principles with the mixed signal electronics ecosystem in small footprint, low-cost devices. To this aim, in this work we demonstrate a label-free protein sensing platform using highly doped germanium plasmonic antennas realized on Si and SOI substrates and operating in the THz range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The antenna response to different concentrations of BSA shows in both cases a linear response with saturation above 20 mg/mL. Ge antennas on SOI substrates feature a two-fold sensitivity as compared to conventional Si substrates, reaching a value of 6 GHz/(mg/mL), which is four-fold what reported using metal-based metamaterials. We believe that this result could pave the way to a low-cost lab-on-a-chip biosensing platform.